can someone dish the dirt on RB26DETT engine?

ScottS

Member
i wanna swap it into my car, but i wanna know if its really for me. i want a car that will thrash most on the road, (my cars very light) and one that can keep the traction and handle well also.

is the engine reliable, easy to maintain, anything you can tell me about it would be fantastic, would it be worth the amount of money i will be spending
 

chris

Active member
the RB26DETT (Race-Bred-2.6-litre-Duel over head cam-Electronic fuel injection-Twin Turbo) is definitely worth considering, they are race bred engines so are made with power in mind. found in the skyline gtr's (r32, r33 and r34) it runs 4WD standard and puts out around 330bhp, although official figures will tell you about 280bhp. in terms of wanting power there really isn't a much better engine you can go for, the tuning capabilities are as limited as your budget, they can be modded to well over 1000bhp, ive seen a 700bhp r32 gtr race a 550bhp ford sierra cosworth down a strait mile and the skyline left it for dead.

it will keep the traction with the 4WD gearbox,possibly would have traction issues with a RWD box, simply due to high power and torque, but then 4WD setup would be difficult to transfer to a RWD, or FWD car, but it has been done, a s13 180sx i saw down the london miss banzai tunnel run (onother run THIS sat if people up for it!!) was running a RB26DETT, so it can be done. you can go for the RB25DET engine which is RWD, save some work, out of the skyline gts-t. not sure what car you have but anything can be made to go in anything with enough money and know how, and heres the proof, check out this corvette 7.0 v8 ls1 powered ek civic hatch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DudjNvnsfKE

in terms of handling well, that depends on the chassis and set up of the host car, not too much to do with engine, maybe exept Weight distribution changes...you need a sport oriantated chassis for the best handling, such as the civic ek9 type-r which comes out of the factory with a seam welded chassis. reliability should be high as its a nissan engine. so if you do it right it will definaltely be worth doing, not much in terms of cars on the road would give too much trouble.

a few vids to give you some ideas of the possible power,

1000bhp r33 vs hayabusa motorbike, (considered fastest bike on planet!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBbzUNbPwyc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k90jYI4eBLs

mine's r34 at tsukuba raceway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9YEFEkAvJk
 

Tricky

Member
Buying an RB engine is not what it does but what it can do all RB engines offer a tuning base ,the comment about any engine above is true in a sense but the reason that the RB engine is so widely used by top tuning companies around the World and a popular conversion for home tuners as well as RB engines cars having the World AWD drag record and the UK drag series this own owned by a RB Skyline is due to the amount of power these engines offer and the strength tunablility and easy way to free its power,you will find that people can release nice power figures just by taking the cars to a local garage,there is a Rb25det R33 Spec 1 in my town i see the owner for advice for my Skyline,he runs a dynoed 800bhp and does all his work with ramps outside his house.
Easy to maintain bits are expensive but there are a mass of aftermarket parts out there to look for deals,i always shop around.
Money wise for the engine there area a good few options from the RB20det,RB25det and the RB26 as you know to the RB30.All offer different tuning levels.
The RB26 comes stock ata around 330bhp above what paperwork says due to regs,but takes upto 600bhp with stock internals and well over 1000bhp with mods they say the power runs out when your bank does.

http://www.skylineowners.com/forum/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1cDRbLk9HM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSTNc1Vo5Qc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46ovPtkNoxQ
 

mmm2

Member
Need more info about the model of your car. Also chances are it probably won't work. RB's are not cheap to mantain but thats relative. It you have a job making ends meet. Probably no for you. If you have a career with disposable income then I would consider it. Also the RB26 is not the end all engine, you can buy almost any engine with a good aftermarket parts base and tune it to out perform an RB in stock form. Tuning is always the key to building a fast car.
 
Top