RB30 to what...

[Patrol'n]

Howdy all,

Firstly, sorry, I'm sure this had been asked before....

So I love my GQ, the condition, looks, off road ability, way I've set it up for camping etc, even fuel economy ain't toooo bad. (Ish).

The one thing it lacks is power, yeah I know, 3lt petrol, heavy patrol etc. That said, it has met every off road challenge I've given it so far, although I don't do comps or anything.

The main thing that bugs me, is speed on the highway since we travel around in it a fair bit and at highway speeds, it just feels like it needs more. Plus on big dune climbs a bit more would be nice.

It already has extractors and exhaust done, and revs freely, have had it at about 5000 up a hill before, doesn't smoke etc, and will hold the highway speed ok on the flat, it will even hold (mostly), on moderate hills, so long as I use 4th and have the revs above 3200 or so. I would however love to not have to work it so hard for extended periods on highways and even perhaps have the opportunity to overtake occasionally.

So my question, what's the best for this, EFI, Turbo, TB42 etc? (I can't afford a diesel conversion I think), this is more asking are there any realistic and practical options that I can do for reasonable cost vs the return, or do I just gotta put up with it? If there are options, is there anything specific I should be aware of?

If cost was no option I'd probably go for a 6.5 chev conversion, but that ain't gonna happen, I'd like to keep my truck, and I might not do anything right away, this is more some initial research, but I figure others must have tackled this and I can learn from others mistakes and successes!

Cheers all, thanks if you read this whole long winded post 😀

[nissannewby]

Efi with turbo from a vl commodore. Everything will bolt on. You will need to make sure you get harness ecu etc and also the fuel pump i believe

[mudnut]

Being a little engine it certainly
is no powerhouse, but it has
the advantage of having a
much higher rev range.
On some recent trips I've
had the thing revving to 6000rpm
and above, no worries. On sand this
is great but it does struggle with the
slow stuff where torque is needed.

The RB block is able to churn out
some remarkable horsepower
when properly converted.

Alitis 007 is the man to talk to
about EFI and turbo conversions.

[threedogs]

Bolting on a turbo might give you 50% more power.
IMO keep as close as possible to STD, But efi and turbo is STD lol

[pat in a troll]

cost vs return, turboing your RB30 yourself would likely be cheapest, second cheapest (or could be cheaper depending on luck) would be as stated, vl turbo engine + ecu etc. out of a vl turbo. i'm not sure if the patrol RB30s came with the existing provisions for oil feed and return, but if the block doesn't have them then you'll have to do a little bit more fiddling with plumbing than dropping in a VL engine with the existing hard lines (but they're likely going to be old anyway). you can spend a decent amount of money getting plumbing lines made up, and you'll need to get a custom dump pipe made up to go to the rest of the exhaust. I think the stock VL turbo starts spooling at 2800-3200 RPMs, and there are lots of options out there to have a responsive and torquey RB30 turbo