skyline heads????

[VL Berlina 5speed]

today at work i was told a intresting fact that got me thinking,
my mate who works at a wreakers said that the skyline head is stronger then the holden head......

he stated it was casted diffrent to the holden built heads and is off a diffrent producton line, and becuase skylines are not as common as vls for cracked heads was because of these facts,

is it true?
is it worth sourcing a skyline head instead of a vl head if later on the head fails?
and
did the rb3o that was fitted in the vl have a smaller head (hight wise) so that motor could fit under the low bonnet? thus making a skyline head (if they are stronger) not fit in the engine bay of a vl?

[J_D]

Yes head on the VL was made smaller and thats why they crack heads, because the smaller head (and water gallery redesign) doesnt allow for even heat distribution creating hot spots on the head. As to weather the R31 head will fit under the bonnet of a VL I dont know.

An interesting upgrade ive heard of is taking the twin cam RB20 head off an R32 and fitting it to the RB30, Of course you would have to change inlet and exhaust parts as well.

[VL Berlina 5speed]

yah the twin cam convestion of the other rb motors, but i was just curious about it as it seamed like afair explantion in what the said,
and if i was to eventull get a new head and give it a working over would i bother get a skyline one or the vl head.

so now i might ask has anyone fitted a skyline head on a vl? and did it fit under the bonnet?

[harry3]

the skyline engine also has bleeder bolts and presumably the same steam trap possibility but skylines arent known for cracked heads

[Grantis1976]

I think the cooling system setup in VL's doesnt help the cause, but you hear more about cracked heads in commies because there is so many more of them cruizing the streets than the equivilant skylines.???????

[bangers]

its because the radiator is mounted lower in a vl. the only difference i've heard in the head is the sillhouette might have a different cam. and i wouldn't put an rb20 head on a rb30 as it holds smaller cc's.

[Nobody Actually]

i had a guy come into work the other night and tell me that the r31 heads were quite different, even down to the point where the port castings were bigger, etc.
does anyone know if this is the case? or should i slap him and call him a fool next time he comes in?

[rb26dett]

its because the radiator is mounted lower in a vl. the only difference i've heard in the head is the sillhouette might have a different cam. and i wouldn't put an rb20 head on a rb30 as it holds smaller cc's.

I agree with this.

And if your going to do the twin cam head swap, go the RB25 or RB26.

RB20 is not going to flow as well as the standard head.

[VL Berlina 5speed]

its because the radiator is mounted lower in a vl. the only difference i've heard in the head is the sillhouette might have a different cam. and i wouldn't put an rb20 head on a rb30 as it holds smaller cc's.

just looking up some stuff on skylines and found this
-GX, Executive, GXE, Silhouette, Ti - 3.0 L RB30E SOHC I6, 155 hp (114 kW)
-GTS1 - 3.0 L RB30E SOHC I6, 176 hp (130 kW)
-GTS2 - 3.0 L RB30E SOHC I6, 190 hp (140 kW)
the models and powers, the silhouette is in the same power band as the exctive etc so i think the engine would be unalter meaning same cam. where the gts's could of had a diff cam or/and computer.

The R31 Skyline was also produced in Australia, with a 3.0 motor (RB30E) available in sedan or wagon form. (i cut out the part about the pintara) These cars were manufactured in Australia due to the heavy import laws which made it expensive to bring cars into Australia.

would this mewan that the engine would most likely came from the same factory as waht the holdens motor did, or would the motor got imported and just the car built?

link for the info is http://www.answers.com/topic/nissan-skyline and the r31 section is just under halfway

[snake_VL]

i think you will find that the only difference between the lowest spec skyline motor and the vl is the name on the rocker cover, from my knowledge they are identical. the higher output models had a different cam and some slight head work i think, i don't know about the computer though.

the cracked heads issue is simply because the vl has a low slopey nose and the radiator sits too low, hence the bleeding procedure needed. but the head or rocker cover aren't a different size. skylines have a high square nose so this isn't a problem with them.

so my advice is to not worry about the skyline heads unless its one of the upper spec models. people like to bullshit about these sorts of things and all sorts of stories get around

[Nobody Actually]

cool, consider him slapped

[BigDaz]

lol he's gunna get a shock

"hey man whats up *SLAP!* .......... what was that for "

[VL Berlina 5speed]

"hey man whats up *SLAP!* .......... what was that for "

"that was for the head.................................info"

[Marco-EFIVL]

You'd have better chances with an RB25 head me thinks, might be easier to fit as there is less contrast between engine sizes, hence bore dimentions... However, I could be completely wrong in that case....

[VLDavo]

the vl engines are exactly the same as what came out in the nissan skyline .....in 86-88 when holden where makeing the rb30s holden was going broke and found it was cheaper to buy the engine off nissan then it was to actualy make them themselfs so unless nissan where tampering with the stockloads of engine it was sending to holden there exactly the same

[Marco-EFIVL]

Will the Holden motors are retarded one tooth compared to the R-31 RB30's...

[nsladden]

The timing for the Holden version was retarded 1 or 2 degrees and they also had different cams in them so the Skyline always went harder than the Commodores.

[bangers]

i was told the cams are the same.

[VL Berlina 5speed]

just looking up some stuff on skylines and found this
-GX, Executive, GXE, Silhouette, Ti - 3.0 L RB30E SOHC I6, 155 hp (114 kW)
-GTS1 - 3.0 L RB30E SOHC I6, 176 hp (130 kW)
-GTS2 - 3.0 L RB30E SOHC I6, 190 hp (140 kW)
the models and powers, the silhouette is in the same power band as the exctive etc so i think the engine would be unalter meaning same cam. where the gts's could of had a diff cam or/and computer.

as i posted before, only the GTS range had a diff computer and/or Cam,
as far as retartding the cam belt i havent read a skyline manual and a holden manual so i cant say, but i wouldnt say it would be alterd

if some one could scan the page in the holden manual saying teeth number then i would belive it more if some 1 had the skyline manual and showed it to

and it just dosnt make sence why would holden get the motor then take it appart to alter its power out put to make it lower, then place it in the cars, and same gose for the nissian factory changing them y would they do it, to rip off holden???

[Nobody Actually]

he has been quite suitably shamed.


that's all i'm going to say about that.

[nsladden]

Im quite sure that the cam is different & timing retarded but ill check as the person who told me this owns 2 Skylines AND a VL so ill find how much power each one makes. Maybe Nissan 'detuned' the engine as they wouldnt want the VL to be faster than their Skyline....

[snake_VL]

the two engines have the same power output which leads me to believe they are tuned the same. i work for a parts shop so i'll see if i can get my hands on a skyline manual and confirm

EDIT: did some research and yes they are the same, 53 teeth on both skyline and vl

[VL Berlina 5speed]

but wasnt the big question about the diffrence over the the counting, in japan they count from 0, eg:0,1,2,3,4, etc and here we start from 1, wg:1,2,3,4 etc so the total workes out diffreant,

but then it gose back to why would holden bring over a engine in pieces then build it. when they designed the vl they had not alot of money and had to cut back on things and rebuilding the motor would cost for labour

[cohn]

i got a vl skyline rb30 in my car and a vl rb30 in the garage, there was a difference in where the harness ran, the type of connectors used, but the holden rocker cover fitted on the skyline head so i say theres no difference, just computer tune and maybe ignition timing maybe.
The power steering pumps used are different and alturnator but thats bout it.