Equal performance

* GT-R engine hand built * Nissan's best engineers assemble unit * We witness process...

Equal performance

After it's been assembled, each engine is subjected to a short test run up to 200rpm in the clean room, to ensure that it is fundamentally sound.

It then leaves the room to be 'dressed' with ancillaries such as the exhaust and intake manifolds, before heading for the engine test room.

Where a standard engine production line is usually subject to spot checks, every GT-R engine is put through its paces to ensure it meets every performance criteria.

They are rigorous tests, too. At any time there can be three engines on the dyno, being subjected to a 30-minute warm-up and then 15 minutes at full loads and a further 15 minutes of reduced running to check for vibrations and noises.

By contrast, a standard road car engine that is selected for checking will be run for only eight minutes at full loads.

Inevitably, problems are thrown up. When the build process began, one or two engines a week were rejected, although this was usually because of small faults that could be rectified rather than catastrophic failures.

Now, though, with production processes and parameters well-established, the number of engines that have to be sent back to be stripped, checked and reassembled has fallen to less than one a week.

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