Nissan Skyline GT-R

The first Skyline GT-R appeared in 1969 and built its name in Japanese touring car racing. A second generation followed in 1973 and was gone within months. The badge then rested for sixteen years.

The R32 revived it in 1989, built to win Group A racing. It paired the twin-turbo RB26DETT straight-six with the ATTESA E-TS all-wheel-drive system, and it dominated the Japanese championship so completely that the Australian press named it Godzilla.

The R33 followed in 1995 and the R34 in 1999, each keeping the RB26DETT. R34 production ended in 2002. The GT-R that arrived in 2007 dropped the Skyline name and the straight-six; it is part of the history here but outside this page's detailed specs.

The RB26DETT was designed with racing in mind, and tuners have spent three decades finding out what that means. This section covers the engine's strengths and its documented weak points, and how the all-wheel-drive system shapes what a tuned GT-R can do.

Most of what follows comes from tuners, parts makers and magazines rather than the carmakers, and several of those sources sell the parts they describe. Each point names its source. Power is given in the unit the source uses, and figures "at the wheels" are lower than figures at the engine.

• Gaskets before boost. Tomei, which makes turbochargers for the engine, names the head gasket as the RB26DETT's first weak point, with the intake manifold, exhaust manifold and throttle body gaskets close behind, and advises metal gaskets at the very least before boost goes up. With those, it puts the engine at 500 PS on its own T550B turbos at 1.1 to 1.2 kg/cm² (15.6 to 17.1 psi). (source 1)
• The limits Tomei gives. Stock pistons: about 500 PS; forged pistons allow 1.5 kg/cm² (21.3 psi). Connecting rods: a weak point, to be replaced above about 550 PS. Camshafts: change them above 1.4 kg/cm² (19.9 psi). Airflow meters: about 400 PS. The stock blow-off valves also leak boost at high pressure. (source 1)
• Oil and revs. Oil pump failure is a known RB26 risk, and an uprated pump is a priority once power goes up, along with an oil cooler. Option Motorsport found the crankshaft visibly shaking above 7,200 rpm, so Drifted advises a crank damper and a limit of about 7,000 rpm. (source 2) Nissan's own N1 engine for the R34 points the same way: it had uprated oil and water pumps, stronger pistons, rods and rings, and all-steel turbine wheels in place of the standard steel and ceramic ones. (source 3)
• What ATTESA E-TS does with more power. The system sends between 2 and 50 percent of the torque to the front wheels. An R32 can run almost entirely rear-drive; R33s and R34s always keep about 10 percent at the front. The controller reads its sensors 10 times a second on the R32, 100 on the R33 and 1,000 on the R34. Above about 680 Nm (500 lb-ft), the life of the factory front differential is in question, and the R32's has half the spider gears of the later cars. Re-stacking the transfer case clutches takes it to roughly 880 to 950 Nm (650 to 700 lb-ft). Aftermarket torque-split controllers and upgraded G-sensors change how the split is decided. (source 4)
• R34 points. The Getrag six-speed is known to jump out of first, and regular oil changes help it last. Super HICAS works above 80 km/h (50 mph), and some racers removed it. Vacuum lines, coil packs and airflow meters are age items, and the standard exhaust is restrictive. (source 3)

GT-R aero tends to follow function, and the Nismo parts set the tone. Around them sits a full range from the tuning houses that built their names on this car.

Documented builds, each credited and linked to where it was first shown. We describe them; the photos and the full story stay with the people who made them.

The ones that don't fit anywhere else. Engine swaps nobody asked for, body conversions, and ideas that should not have worked.