That's good to know. My tuner suggested I go 10:1 or 9.5:1, I chose the latter. He builds a lot of GTRs, and immediately goes 10:1 when building them. I hope the 9.5:1 will not be too laggy with the GTM TT kit:)

choosing compression really depends on what fuel you plan to run and how much boost. i wanted better response off boost and didn't plan on running more than ~18psi on pump, so i chose 10:1

Hey Nick, one more question about the gasket kit. Nissan has valve stem oil seals as part of the kit but they are not on your list. Did you reuse yours since you didn't mess with the heads?

If he didn't disassemble the heads, then he definitely didn't replace those.


(just built a head for an RB)
(big pain in the ***)

what I thought, thanks!

yeah I didn't touch the head, no point.

So i just heard back from the guys at R.A.D., one of the head gaskets failed, which we knew, but nothing is warped, which is great news. There was also no damage to the bearings and no signs of detonation at all, so the engine is healthy.

Now since the engine is out, time for some upgrades:

Cosworth headgaskets
R.A.D. v-band exhaust manifolds
Tial v-band turbine housings
Tial external wastegates
Re-routing the coolant lines to the turbos
AeroJacket vented hood, being delivered next week.

The plan is to see how this holds up next summer. Assuming theres no overheating issues I will likely upgrade to GTX2867R compressors.

pheew! Glad to hear everything is ok!

Please show us how they do this. It's one of the things I'd like to do before next summer.

Great to hear. I am nipping at the bit to see those R.A.D manifolds.

Open Dumps.. cough cough.

you'll never catch me running open dumps, sorry dude :tup:

Haha I don't blame yah. I have been toying the idea of changing it up myself. :tiphat:

Small update, I've decided to keep my current manifolds/housings/internal WG's, just upgrading the head gasket, fixing the coolant lines, swain tech for all the exhaust components (previous ceramic coating was not rated high enough and flaked off) and bracing the driver side manifold.

Why brace the manifold? Here's mine after ~10k miles:

http://i.imgur.com/V1CCSHs.jpg

That highlighted area would be a crack. Every GTM manifold I've seen that has a few thousand miles on it cracks in this same spot.

The shops fabricator is going to repair this and then make a brace to help support the weight of the turbo from the block. I hope the new GTM manifolds everyone is waiting on no longer have this issue!

Cracks Cracks Cracks.. Forgot to ask you today, are your Manifolds Coated as well?

they were but my coating was **** and didn't hold up well. once they are repaired I'm getting them coated by swaintech