‘ 1000hp, that’ s your road car that you go to the shop in, with air conditioning and power steering. All of our cars are like that.’
Little changed on the RB26DETT over its 13-year life. It was powerful and durable from the start
‘ 1000hp, that’ s your road car that you go to the shop in, with air conditioning and power steering. All of our cars are like that.’
Being able to keep an eye on everything thanks to modern sensors and ECUs is essential for this level of tuning, too.‘ We can monitor everything. We run sensors everywhere. Exhaust back pressure, exhaust gas temperature, and obviously Lambda. Most of my engines run the factory six throttle bodies, so pre and post throttle sensors. So we know the difference across the throttle plate.’
When the R34 went out of production in 2002, so did the RB26DETT. It took five years for Nissan to put the GT-R badge on another car, the R35 GT-R. The Skyline name was not included, and neither was a straight-six. The VR38DETT V6, a 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 with anywhere between 480 and 600hp, powered this new ballistic four-wheel drive coupé. Anthony has started working on these cars now too, and he’ s a big fan of the engine.‘ Up to 1300, 1400hp, you just run factory everything and it works. It’ s such a powerful torquey engine. The only disadvantage for me is the sound. There’ s nothing like an RB, sound-wise.’
Even though the RB has been succeeded, that won’ t stop tuners from continuing to develop this straight-six.‘ You’ ve got companies building billet blocks and cylinder heads to keep pushing and go beyond what we can do with the OEM castings. It’ s very important for the big horsepower stuff because the OEM castings just aren’ t up to the task of 1700, 2000, 2500hp.’ There is, and there will be for many years, demand for more and more power from the RB. Nissan has started to remanufacture engine parts, too. Its fans might be a little unhinged and see the world from a different perspective, from a vantage point where 1000hp and 9500rpm is completely normal, but you cannot deny their dedication. But of course, with the RB26DETT, there’ s a lot to love.
32 The Engine Rebuilder Issue 03