Anyone track their RB25 swapped 240?

[marshallpre1]

I'm trying to build my 240 into a reliable, entry level track/circuit car. It's currently 100% stock RB25DET setup. However, the more I read about RBs the more scared I get. What is the truth about all these oiling issues? Can I get away with just an oil restrictor up front and blocking the rear feeds? Do I need to install a drain from the head back to the oil pan?

This car will probably only see 300whp at most on street tires. I'm just a beginner but I want to make sure I don't mess the motor up on my first time out. I have more questions regarding oil cooling, but maybe I'll ask them later. Just looking for people with a lot more experience than me.

Thanks,
Jeremy

[datsunnazi]

I'm trying to build my 240 into a reliable, entry level track/circuit car. It's currently 100% stock RB25DET setup. However, the more I read about RBs the more scared I get. What is the truth about all these oiling issues? Can I get away with just an oil restrictor up front and blocking the rear feeds? Do I need to install a drain from the head back to the oil pan?

This car will probably only see 300whp at most on street tires. I'm just a beginner but I want to make sure I don't mess the motor up on my first time out. I have more questions regarding oil cooling, but maybe I'll ask them later. Just looking for people with a lot more experience than me.

Thanks,
Jeremy

THE oil problems that you hear online are most likely not going to be an issue... just google is and there is a thread on here about the oiling issues...

[marshallpre1]

THE oil problems that you hear online are most likely not going to be an issue... just google is and there is a thread on here about the oiling issues...

Well, from what I've read, the oil gets stuck in the head and therefore you get starvation at the bottom end. Is this just for cars running slicks? It's possible I won't generate enough cornering Gs on street tires to cause this issue. I just want to be sure. There's a track even in November and I would try to make it depending on whether this car is "reliable" enough.

Thanks,
Jeremy

[slideslidegnarslide]

the car will be fine i know quite a few people tracking their rbs and i actually drive an rbed car so youll be fine

[marshallpre1]

the car will be fine i know quite a few people tracking their rbs and i actually drive an rbed car so youll be fine

At what point do I need to start worrying about this? Keep in mind I'm keeping the stock redline at 6500 rpm, street tires, and 300whp.

Any of you guys running oil coolers?

[slideslidegnarslide]

for some reason i wanna say more than 1.5 gs but youll never reach that on a street tire

[mrflip69]

You should be more worried about your oil pump going out and investing in a crank collar, but at 300whp (near stock), you should be fine. These things can handle a decent amount of abuse!

[GSXRJJordan]

I've built a couple, helped with a ton, and enjoyed my S14 on big rubber with it's RB25.

I highly recommend a new RB25 OEM oil pump... I looked into getting the RB26 N1 pump but you'd need machining to the head to avoid the situation you talked about (oil pooling in the head at high RPM), and the factory RB25 pump produced great pressure through my setup. I also got a Rb26 N1 water pump to avoid coolant cavitation at high rpm.

At what point do I need to start worrying about this? Keep in mind I'm keeping the stock redline at 6500 rpm, street tires, and 300whp.

Any of you guys running oil coolers?

If you're running slicks, oil windage and starvation become more of an issue (high G's keep oil away from the pickup). The stock windage tray is pretty good, but if you're really worried about it, an Accusump is cheap insurance.

As with any forced induction car, I'd recommend running an oil cooler. The turbo is more oil-cooled than water-cooled while running hard and you'll keep your coolant temps considerably lower with a proper oil cooler setup.

I have some fantastic (read: high-end, popular with my LSx/FD3S and Corvette guys) oil cooler kits with and without Accusumps that are priced lower than competing products from JDM-land. I'm not a Zilvia advertiser at the moment, but will be putting up a group-buy thread soon... in the mean-time feel free to shoot me a PM. I ran one on my SR, and then my RB25, and now my LS6.

You should be more worried about your oil pump going out and investing in a crank collar, but at 300whp (near stock), you should be fine. These things can handle a decent amount of abuse!

The crank collar is a source of concern for the OEM setup. Here's my crank and OEM oil pump when I replaced the pump with a new one:
http://uqup2q.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pFe4BqQUpx0DHtqvS_kmEdbWeN1symsiH_Xy4qwWKva8MexN Bm6LYyszUNU28bJKS2C2E1BX-Si0pJMNxqtVQrKhAXLLQ8CB8/DSC05938.jpg?psid=1
http://uqup2q.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pAx3w1ITX9yvi0F5-BH_d40lYoMNCSBlUwZAh0yliQ8zbem_2RDKM5IHA6FdNhsxt-Q2CIshN4uCwV6_1Iutu9LtApemmoLz4/DSC05939.jpg?psid=1

As you can see, there's a very small amount of the collar that actually acts on the pump. In my opinion, if your engine is apart, add the crank collar... if it's not, put a new pump on there and run it for 50k miles then worry about it.

[LSjauN]

I got my friends running a month or so ago, (25 swapped s13), and the only issues we had was oil temperature. I put an Oil Cooler on his car and changed the oil pump to a "Nismo high performance"(thats what he THINKS he bought, but he's an idiot, yet it does look decent), put a catch can on it as well, and it's been amazing since then.

This weekend I'm putting a diff. turbo on it,(not sure of the brand/code cause he ordered it), in order to get rid of the sketchy Ceramic bladed turbo. The kid I help knows nothing, while, he pays me and all, i REALLLLLY don't want to have to take everything apart due to something that can be solved before hand

[Silviaoneday]

[QUOTE=GSXRJJordan;3686718]I've built a couple, helped with a ton, and enjoyed my S14 on big rubber with it's RB25.

I highly recommend a new RB25 OEM oil pump... I looked into getting the RB26 N1 pump but you'd need machining to the head to avoid the situation you talked about (oil pooling in the head at high RPM), and the factory RB25 pump produced great pressure through my setup. I also got a Rb26 N1 water pump to avoid coolant cavitation at high rpm.

Hey hey don't hate on the n1 lol! Like Jeff said go with the oem. I'm running the n1 I haven't had any problems yet. Quit worrying so much 300whp is nothing. Replace the oil pump get a n1 water pump and a oil cooler and call it a day.

[sleeper108]

I've gone completely overboard on my RB, as I plan on being in high RPMs very frequently. I have the tomei oil restrictors, an N1 oil pump, and oil cooler. Granted I am running a journal bearing turbo (no water cooling). Im only pushing 400HP aswell.

with a new OEM pump (at 300, N1 isn't needed, especially if you are going to daily it aswell) and with an oil cooler you'd be very safe.

[mrflip69]

Yeah, I've seen new pumps get damaged right away because of the crank issue on stock setups, but you might as well just enjoy it while it lasts until you need to open up the engine for other things.

For me, doesn't make much sense to have that work done on a perfectly fine engine if you're going to build it later on. That was the advice that was given to me, and I agree wholeheartedly with it.

[marshallpre1]

Thanks guys. I'll consider replacing my oil pump.

In the subject of oil coolers, what approach do you guys do? I know there's a stock oil cooler there. Do you guys just leave that and install a generic sandwich adapter right where the oil filter screws in? What about the adapters with the thermostats? I've also read that many people are having issues getting the car up to operating temps on cold days because they DONT have the thermostat adapter (which bypasses the cooler when the car is still warming up).

Thanks,
Jeremy

[GSXRJJordan]

Thanks guys. I'll consider replacing my oil pump.

In the subject of oil coolers, what approach do you guys do? I know there's a stock oil cooler there. Do you guys just leave that and install a generic sandwich adapter right where the oil filter screws in? What about the adapters with the thermostats? I've also read that many people are having issues getting the car up to operating temps on cold days because they DONT have the thermostat adapter (which bypasses the cooler when the car is still warming up).

Thanks,
Jeremy

Leave the stock oil->water cooler on there and bypass the water lines, then get a spin-on block and oil filter relocation. Whether you run a thermostat is up to you and where you live - at the track you'll never have a problem getting oil up to temp with a turbo car, but on the street your oil can fall to "cold" levels... I run (and recommend/sell) Amsoil Dominator (their re-named racing oil) which has a pour point of -54*F, so it's pretty safe to say that even if my oil was 100*F (very cold) it would still flow and protect.

Here in southern california, there's no need for an oil thermostat, but I still stock them and sell them with my kits (Earls -10AN external thermo). The metric o-ring to -10an male fittings and matching hose ends needed to add it to your oil cooler setup cost almost as much as the thermo itself lol.

If you're looking at spin-on adapters with thermostats installed, they offer a decent value, but don't give you the option of relocation and don't allow the plumbing of an Accusump (since the AN fittings are both thermostat controlled), so I don't stock them.

[marshallpre1]

Leave the stock oil->water cooler on there and bypass the water lines, then get a spin-on block and oil filter relocation. Whether you run a thermostat is up to you and where you live - at the track you'll never have a problem getting oil up to temp with a turbo car, but on the street your oil can fall to "cold" levels... I run (and recommend/sell) Amsoil Dominator (their re-named racing oil) which has a pour point of -54*F, so it's pretty safe to say that even if my oil was 100*F (very cold) it would still flow and protect.

Here in southern california, there's no need for an oil thermostat, but I still stock them and sell them with my kits (Earls -10AN external thermo). The metric o-ring to -10an male fittings and matching hose ends needed to add it to your oil cooler setup cost almost as much as the thermo itself lol.

If you're looking at spin-on adapters with thermostats installed, they offer a decent value, but don't give you the option of relocation and don't allow the plumbing of an Accusump (since the AN fittings are both thermostat controlled), so I don't stock them.

Do you have a website? Can you PM it to me? Sorry if I can't see it since everything is blocked at work

Thanks,
Jeremy

[GSXRJJordan]

Do you have a website? Can you PM it to me? Sorry if I can't see it since everything is blocked at work

Thanks,
Jeremy

Website is basically a blog that gets updated a few times a year, I haven't launched the E-commerce portion yet.

I'll shoot you a PM with info about our kits.

[marshallpre1]

Bump? Any other opinions?

[P-Funk alot]

gsxrj pretty much covered all your questions

[Coolwhip]

I too agree with Jordan.

At 300whp you won't run into the more intense oil system modifications as you may have read. Normally those mods come up when really taking the engine to the next level and they're pretty much the 'tricks-n-trades' of making a RB stand against the abuse.

We track a 410whp RB25 GT35R car that runs on a OEM RB pump and N1 water pump. As I respond to customers that ask the questions regarding their oil system... you should treat your oil pump and related components like insurance. In most cases there is no need to spend $1500 on oil parts if you don't have that much in the long block.

The crank collar should be the first place you look when it comes down to it though. Regardless on what kind of pump you have, if that collar rounds off you're toast.

[marshallpre1]

Thank you guys. So it looks like there are a lot of unfounded fears regarding RBs 300whp range. I'll install an oil cooler and if I have some major downtime check the collar.

Will update when I do. Thanks