Poor Mans Race Car

[Grease]

I have been tossing up for a while whether or not I should do a thread on my build as I feel like I am doing the exact same thing that everyone else has done, in saying that Maybe people can share some ideas with me to help point me in the right direction or maybe someone might find what I am doing interesting, Also a way for me to keep track of time and mods etc. Who knows what I am getting myself into but here goes.

The story of where and how this began. I had a new guy come work with me who owned a R33, I always loved Skylines but never owned one and had not been around them a whole bunch. Even though this 33 was a pretty rough and was in need of some love and care I still remember loving every second in it. After a few weeks sure enough my now good mate unfortunately lost his license and had the car defected pretty badly. I still decided to buy it off him with the intention of fixing it up….. Was not to be as the list was massive, so I stripped what I could, GT3076, FFP, Jasma Exhaust system. It was great fun stripping it down. I got to learn a whole bunch about the RB25 and 33's alike.

Shot of what she looked like

As you can see we did not have huge amounts of garage space to work with but like most people with these cars, you make do.

Once everything was taken that was worth while I went on the hunt for another 33 that would be clean and limited mods (cheap so the mrs would approve). certainly took a little while but when I compare to how long some people take to find the "perfect" one I realise I bought mine really quick!! So that’s when I found her. The car and the owner, it was 94 s1 silver 33, Had tein adjustable coilovers, Nismo cluster, EBC and a few other goodies, limited mods exactly what I wanted. Female owner who had a passion for cars and was awesome to deal with. Not to mention her brother in law having an incredible AE86 out the back that we got to look at and talk about while we signed everything!

First photo I took: Wing was removed at some point, had 350z wheels and was a generally clean car, 20 year old car never going to be immaculate

I now owned two skylines with the intention of flogging the old s2. (our last photo together)

Managed to do just that, it was gone two days after buying my new one. While buying the new car I was fortunate enough to meet someone who would be able to help me through the adventures ahead, Luckily enough a Exec for SAU NSW so now I wont feel awkward going to events! Or trying to rip something apart because he can come fix it

[Grease]

At first I had no idea what I wanted the car for I just wanted one so badly but now came the time to decide is this a daily, a drift car or am I going to do Time attack or just a fun all rounder. Lets get to that decision later and start on what has actually been done. Regardless of what I wanted the car for it would always need some supporting mods in place ready for more power down the track.

Off I went to Just Jap & super cheap and picked up a Oil Cooler kit, new oil, spark plugs, oil filter, Blitz Radiator, some new gauges, lock out bar (still not on) and managed to score a genuine GTR boot and wing which Matt was great about and really helped out with. I also picked up a boss kit, quick release hub a sued steering wheel. (do yourself a favor and buy genuine boss kit bought a cheap one from Ebay and sure enough didn’t fit) With the intention of being ready in a few weeks for SAU Texi day, I also grabbed an extinguisher.

Pull her apart.

Obligatory photo of all my new goodies.

Oil cooler in

Gauges in (thoughts on location??) Boost controller next to it as well but will be moved soon.

Mess as always! The daily has now been put outside to allow more space.

I dropped a bolt into the abyss for the 46th time that day. Mate is seriously unimpressed!

AND we are done....

[Grease]

YEAH RIGHT!!

That was fun and I learnt a lot as well as having the realisation I know NOTHING! regardless I then went down the nasho for a run to see how everything was going. Ran beautifully! temps were perfect car handled well.

I had now been driving around a few weeks with a white boot and wing which didnt bother me at first but was now starting to annoy me!

I also realised that I was not a huge fan of the silver on silver wheel and car combo. Time for some paint! Since I am planning on having two sets of wheels I decided the Mighty Car mod method of painting my wheels would be fine! While I am at it I can spray the boot and wang. (vid link below if anyone wants to do it)

So off to Supercheap to get my colour match rattle cans. Here is my spray booth

Tape em up

final few coats

This actually ended up costing a fair amount and I think in future just pay a bit more and get a pro to do it, My job on the wheels was fine but the boot and wing look horrible so I will be getting that re done professionally in the next couple of weeks. I am now living the saying the poor man pays twice on a few things. Trying to do some things on the cheap is not worth it, other things hell yeah!!

Final product!!

[Grease]

After everything was in and working I just started to enjoy the car for a bit, that’s when WTAC was on and wow was I amazed at the cars and talent of the people driving them. Went into the pits with Pulse racing and chat about what goes into them.

I think I have found a new passion. Big aero, big power and all about your ability. Should I try and build a Time attack car? Maybe. Lets see what this car can do at a Texi day.

quick vid:

1080p.mov

25OCT15 Texi event:

Keep in mind never done anything like this at all. I had never handbraked my daily commodore before let alone try and accurately slide my car around cones.

Sorry for some of the shots looking like they were filmed with a potato, Iphone did not want to focus.

Wow it was good fun hooked on this as well. Towards the end of the day I stopped limiter bashing and starting to use a bit of throttle control as well as knowing roughly what the car was going to do. Sad to see some casualties but apart from chewing a set of tyres nothing went wrong in my car. WIN!! Even managed to get 1^st on one of the courses.

[PranK]

Those gauges may be prone to knee bumps all the time. That will probably get irritating.

Car looks great, awesome project!

[Grease]

They certainly are Christian! Have been bumped off a few times. Not sure where else to put them? Don't want them on the dash, trying not to draw any more attention than they already do.

[Grease]

Next was a set of Nitto Invo and off to the megalong valley cruise and then just last weekend the Nasho cruise and breakfast, both good grounds to see how the car handles around some tight corners while getting to have a meal with some great people and chat about funnily enough car's.

Few shots from both cruises.

Little trailer for a project that I am working on.

Between texi and the cruise I had enough evidence and people saying…get a diff. Got some cash together to get a diff and all of a sudden a wild Haltech Platinum pro plug in appeared on FB for $1200 yes $1200!! I was in the car 15 min later, on my way to pick it up. So that delayed a few upgrades I still want to improve my driving skills and cars handling before adding more power. If I cant control the car running stock power how can you expect to do it running 300kw.

So this brings us to today and today consisted of another visit to Just Jap for more parts as well as waiting for some other goodies to come from Queensland so stay tuned will update next week once everything is in!

[levinboy]

What a nugget hahaha

[RBrennan25]

I'll be following this closely. Nick will be stoked to see another pulse skyline

[levinboy]

I'll be following this closely. Nick will be stoked to see another pulse skyline

And I get to drive this one perks of fixing it haha

[V28VX37]

...

This actually ended up costing a fair amount and I think in future just pay a bit more and get a pro to do it, My job on the wheels was fine but the boot and wing look horrible so I will be getting that re done professionally in the next couple of weeks. I am now living the saying the poor man pays twice on a few things. Trying to do some things on the cheap is not worth it, other things hell yeah!!

...

^^^ This. I've now sandblasted/sanded/prepped/primered/painted/waited/clearcoated two sets of R34 GTT stockies and thought exactly the same after each time. It takes pretty much two full days DIY and you need couple of cans of primer, 3-4 of paint and one or two of clear coat, it all adds up.

Painting is one of my least favourite things to do, so much prep and it takes so little to stuff it all up at the end.

Anyway cool thread mate, keep it up!

[Grease]

^^^ This. I've now sandblasted/sanded/prepped/primered/painted/waited/clearcoated two sets of R34 GTT stockies and thought exactly the same after each time. It takes pretty much two full days DIY and you need couple of cans of primer, 3-4 of paint and one or two of clear coat, it all adds up.

Painting is one of my least favourite things to do, so much prep and it takes so little to stuff it all up at the end.

Anyway cool thread mate, keep it up!

Thanks mate. Yeah certainly a timely process as well. I Just picked up a new wing today that will need paint, dont think I will do it myself as much as I want to. If I owned the compressor and guns would have no problem at all. Lets see how we go.

[Grease]

This weekends goals/achievements.

Bee*r GTR Wing. Certainly an aggressive look and will hopefully do more than just look good. Picked this up from Carbonetics out at chester hill. Check them out!

Do a complete brake flush and top up with Motul RBF 600, pop in a complete set of QFM A1RM's Picked these up from GSL Rally sport or Brakes direct. Same same but different. I have heard that these are better than the Bendix and are less dusty. Anything will be better than whats in at the moment which are giving me very little stopping power.

CUSCO Adjustable camber arms, the rear already has some adjustable arms in there. Should be fun with the instructions being in Japanese!

Greddy cooling panel, Went to pop it in and see what I might need to do and it does not even come close to fitting so obviously a bit of chopping will be needed.

Rear strut brace.

Lucky last is the Lock out bar.

After everything is in its off to Pedders on Tuesday for an alignment, check over and to get some negative camber. Have been doing a bit of reading and think I will be going -1.5 degrees front and rear to begin with. The car is used during the week for work commute on occasion otherwise the other bus in the background is used, also used for track days. I don't think going -3 is worthwhile as I will just chew through tires. Anyone found a happy balance on this?

Will post a few pics tomorrow of the bits that I manage to get in.

[Dale FZ1]

Keep the rears standing closer to upright. Target 0.5 - 0.75 neg. This will give best contact patch, which only decreases as the rear squats under acceleration.

Fronts with <1.5 neg otherwise yes you will notice heavier wear. If it's only seeing track or hillclimb (ie not seeing any regular road use), target >3.0 neg.

[Grease]

Alright well over the last week and a bit everything listed above has gone in. I also decided to enter the CAMS supersprint championship for 2016. Didn't take many pictures as I am sure most people know what sway bars and camber arms look like fitted. I also decided to pick up a second front bar also a m spec and luckily in the same color. I decided I wanted to have a crack at some time attack next year so will be having a front bar and splitter combo built in January this meant getting another bar that I could street. I also painted my wang satin black.

Tomorrow is a speed off the streets day at Wakefield so will be heading there tomorrow morning to see what kind of time I can get.

[Grease]

Wakefield track day:

Setup to this point is

- Whiteline Sway bars (full hard setting)

- Tein Adjustable coils (full stiff on dampener)

- Cusco adjustable camber front (-2 degrees)

- Ikeya Formula rear (-0.75 degrees)

- 2.5" cat back exhaust system

- Greddy EBC (9psi low - 12psi high)

- New FMIC

- Oil cooler

- Blitz Radiator

- Apexi Cold air intake

- Cusco front and rear Strut braces.

- Lockout bar

- QFM A1RM pads all round (RBF 600)

- Tyres: Nitto Invo 245 rear, Achillies 2233 in a 225 front

Was a hot day 32 degrees or so, the day did not go according to plan. Nick came down and took the car out first to make sure everything was working properly, Came in after his session and everything was fine managed a 1:16 I think and was confident could go quicker (good sign). My session came up and I was hell excited went out just taking it easy and making sure I knew braking points etc had a "fast" lap on lap 5 and did a 1:22.00. At the end of the next lap went to cool the car down and towards the end of the straight foot went flat to the floor no brakes!! Talk about shitting bricks!! Managed to pull it up enough to take the corner, took it slow for the rest of the lap and brought her back in. Was not happy at all with time but first time on the track so cant really expect sub 1:15's.

Anyway next up Nick went out again to see if it was me riding the brakes to much or if we actually had an issue with the brakes (sure enough it was me riding them to much) He came back in only about 10 minutes into the session which of course had me worried. Said he had a vibration coming from the front left so of course we both think its something major and looking at everything behind the tyre when we should of just looked at the tyre.

Looks like the Achillies got a bit hot and a chunk got ripped out while heading over a rumble strip. Vid below of the day.

So that was my day done and a lovely 2.5 hour drive home with awesome vibration running through the steering wheel the whole time. Car is getting another 2 Nitto Invo's for the front from Taleb Tyres. He is right when he says he cant be beaten on price for the nitto's. Looking forward to the Putty Rd cruise on Sunday and that will most likely be it for this year as I am heading overseas next week for a month. Cheers for the people following and reading feel free to add some comments of ideas and thoughts.

[zebra]

I too have done the no brakes into t1.

and I was on a heater.

its not fun.

cars looking good

[Calsonic14U]

Hey great build mate. First you let an 86 past you haha nah. Go out to wakefield heaps in the formula fords when im training drivers and with the race team. Only tips really i can see from that short video.

1. The 'Kink" before 1 at that speed should be able to be taken flat then straight after hard hard on the brakes aimaing the car to the outside of the entry to T1, downshift in the straight line while braking and then hook her in. (depends on how good your brakes are of course but most cars with decent pads i read you had issues on the day. back to 3rd or 2nd depending on how deep you go in.

2. The left hander going up the hill way more speed can be carried.

3. Turns 3 and 4 at the top of hill can also carry more speed, good lines.

4. the 'Fish hook or T5 and 6 pretty good through there. Maybe can take more ripple strip on that right hander sweeping. and same rule as T1 aim for outside of entry then hook in for a later apex carry more speed out.

5. Other then that the lap looked good obviously had to let the other car throigh which stuffs the lap

P.S You know you want the 32

[Grease]

Well not much happening have all my dates for events this year locked in, stuck my numbers on for the supersprint series.

Plan is to pull the diff out this week and re shim it. Also going to strip the interior.

Below is everything I am planning on attending (not racing all of them) if anyone else is in any of these let me know!

CLUB TRACK Velocity Car Club Mar-14 Wakefield CAMS supersprint RD 1 Apr-10 Wakefield SAU Championship RD 1 Apr-20 Wakefield Nulon Nationals RD 2 May-14 Bathurst CAMS supersprint RD 2 May-15 SMSP GP circuit SAU Championship RD 2 Jun-05 Texikhana at Nirimba CAMS supersprint RD 3 Jun-19 SMSP North circuit CAMS supersprint RD 4 Jul-10 SMSP Extended Circuit Nulon Nationals RD 3 Jul-23 SMSP - CAMS supersprint RD 5 Aug-21 SMSP GP circuit SAU Championship RD 3 Aug-29 SMSP South circuit CAMS supersprint RD 6 Sep-11 Wakefield WTAC Oct-14 SMSP WTAC Oct-15 SMSP CAMS supersprint RD 7 Oct-16 SMSP South circuit SAU Championship RD 4 OCT?? SMSP Drags

[Grease]

Alright, time for an update.

A crap ton has happened since the last proper update. Going to try cover it all just so I can enjoy the read a few years down the track

To start with decided a more practical work station was needed so built some benches for the shed and organised it for about 5 minutes before crap was everywhere again

Okay so picked up Cobra seat and Sparco 4 point. Gutted the interior completely, will go back over it with the dry ice soon.

So decision was made to take the plunge and get a few more killer wasps out of the old RB. Jez was of course the man to take it to. Lucky enough to come across Eric's unicorn.

So what went in:

1150cc Injectors
Surge tank with internal 460 pump

255 in tank pump as well
(Aftermarket industries supplied it all)

Haltech wideband and gauge

New exh Manifold

GT3076R

custom piping

Forward facing plenum

New gaskets for everything

Haltech ECU controlling it all

E85 only.

Unfortunately didn't get the power we were all thinking it would get, still not 100% why considering this setup on most other cars would pull 300kw. Thinking it might be the small rear housing but not sure. Still a lot of extra power and now sounds awesome!