Bnr32 Gtr, saving a Datsun

[Stephen_rx7]

 

Alrighty so now that my jzx100 build is nearing its end I decided to move onto something a bit more sports car like and legendary 

So i figured id set out to buy a coupè thats abit more of a sports car, I've had 6 fc rx7s in the past so a series 5 was highest on my list, as was the ae86 hatch and the r32 gtr.

After not being able to find much on offer for all 3 of these models i got a lead on a sprinter shell locally at a reasonable priced, i purchased the sprinter after a thorough inspection, it needed quite abit of work, had abit of rust in the sills and usual door jambs, but it copped a punt in the rear which ended up being the reason i on sold it to someone that wasn't as fussy.

After looking at another local silver sprinter, a gunmetal 89 r32 gtr that was very rough and a 89 s5 rx7 i came across a 92 r32 gtr in Melbourne 

The seller was looking to sell to expand his business, it looked promising, i got alot of photos taken especially of the rails as they are a problem on these cars and it looked to check out

I transferred the cash and the freight was aranged to brisbane

All in all it took about 2 months before it arrived which was a difficult wait

I was now the owner of a gtr (scarey if your a toyota person), the previous owner had planned to track this thing so he had removed the engine to do oil pump, water pump, tomei sump baffle and a few other things.

In the process of putting it back in he has broken the rad support , its never a good idea to put these engines in with the box attatched 

Also the front and rear seats had been sold, single turbo sold, drivers window switch broken and various other odds and ends lost, so this build will require alot of chasing up fiddly little bits

I am also a stickler for oem bolts, various bolts i notice have been lost and random bolts replacing them which ill need to fix.

Enough talk so heres some pictures 

 

You can see the broken rad support

Check out the injector wiring and exhaust leak on the firewall 

When it arrived in brisbane the morning i picked it up

So the bonnet had seen better days and the cars suppose to come with a brand new n1 bumper minus lip and vents so i picked up an n1 bumper in japan which ended up costing  $900 shipped! And a local genuine n1 bonnet

Out with the old

In with the new

Theres nothing i hate more than cheap Chinese shit parts, the factory wheel was removed and binned by the previous owner, for a fake omp flimsy pos wheel 

So i bought a genuine r32 gtr wheel which is inthe process of being recovered right now 

Also picked up some genuine n1 skirts

Now all i need is the heaslights and boot lip

Shes going to be slow going but hopefully one of the cleanest gtrs around one finished

 

Note 

Ok well I have actually started this build on another forum, but because of a lack of interest being a skyline on that forum I've decided to move it here, so until I'm up to date most of it will be a copy and past

so bare with me on that 

 

cheers 

[Stephen_rx7]

So while on holidays i decided to have the steering wheel sorted, ill take a picture when im home of the junky wheel that came in the car but I'm a fan of oem so here it is 

Beforehand, all pretty worn 

 

And afterwards, results speak for themselves, pretty amazing

[Stephen_rx7]

Not really an update but anyway here goes

So i'd made the decision to remove the single turbo setup and ideally i wanted to run a pair of gt2860-7s, 

So first thing first i removed the single turbo manifold 

 

I also managed to find a cool pack cover, i really don't understand where these go or why previous owners remove them, but one popped up for a decent price, half of it looks sanded so it looks pretty terrible but this is the base and it can only get better from here..... i hope haha 

A couple random pictures 

The pair of gt2860-7s, trying to find some info on these, they seem a bit unusual 

Serial numbers are 14411-AA403 which is the later model r34 gtr n1 turbos with .42 front housings, somehow they are rated to 500hp the same as the earlier AA401 and AA402 34 n1 turbos with .6 front housings 

So sadly the further i dig in this car the more i see questionable workmanship, so I've decided to pull the motor and go over it top to bottom, redo the rocker covers, do a complete vrs kit on it 

Have the rad support repaired and whole bay painted while im at it before the cleaned up engine goes back in

Cheers

[JH32]

Haha, gotta love that with these cars..."I'll just do this and while I'm at it I'll do that"....Nekminnit the engines out! 

Steering wheel looks great

[Stephen_rx7]

Haha it tends to always be the way especially with these old girls 

 

Alrighty then

Sometimes to go forward you need to go backwards, which is a pain but its the nature of the beast

So after seeing questionable workmanship i thought the motor had to come out to check what else was shonky

Half way out 

 

Dirty bish all the way out

Those playing at home, this is why you run at least a full length dump pipe when runninh your car, it makes a f $#^ing mess!!!, studs missing between head and manifold also makes a massive mess, dont do it! 

So fitted up to the stand looking like a filthy whore, had only just been out but no attempt at cleaning anything at all 

So abit of time with acid and a gurney and we have this

An rb26 that looks pretty clean :-)

The intake side is still fully dressed so hasn't been done to the same extent but will be when the plenum is removed 

Head has been reco by someone else so I'm just hoping its been fitted properly, i can see it actually has arp head studs like its supposed to

Picked up some factory piping for the 2860s

Also found bolts for cas were incorrect length and munted the cam gear 

Im hoping that's the last of the f**k ups

[Stephen_rx7]

A couple new parts purchases also 

Mint Factory airbox from japan 

New radiator support section, gearknob, rubber gear boot, number plate bracket, corner bumper brackets, and some other odds and ends 

 

Looks like it had a flogged out patrol gearboot or something 

New gearknob, looks like someone tried to eat the old one haha, its not actually grey in person lol something to do with the flash 

Not happy with the gear boot or handbrake boot and handle, so they will be redone later on

And i picked up another set of front seats because I wasn't 100% happy with the old ones

 Need to find a rear set to match now as my current ones are abit faded 

Hope those following are enjoying it so far 

And if you are following please comment  ;-)

[Stephen_rx7]

Ok next update 

There was mismatched sized bolts in everything so i thought it wise to run a tap through everything, amazing how much swarf came out of the threads 

I then did abit of a dummy fit of the twin turbo setup, still waiting to find a set of decent dumps and front pipe, sadly can't find anything decent 

 

So then stripped back apart, exhaust housings removed and the whole lot sent for hpc and powder coating 

Cam covers and plenum also removed and sent for powdercoating, this is the last time this engine will look this bad under my ownership lol

Ok so NEW PARTS time, everyone loves new parts!

I managed to pickup a brand new n1 front bar and lip!!!! Pretty amazing and glad to be able to fit them to my gtr, also managed to sell off my second hand n1 bumper, lost abit of money on it but that's cars i guess 

Some brand new xspurt 1000cc injectors to suit rb26, need to look into how to clean up the fuel rail tho, its looking abit sad, possibly re-zink coat it, anyone done that before?

Power fc pro, z32 afms and a walbro 450 pump 

Im tossing up ditching the pfc in favor of a plug in haltech platinum 

I'll be receiving the covers and turbo setup back in about a week so stay tuned for abit of rb26 porn!

[Duncan]

well, at least you're on the right forums now. and your engine is in the usual GTR location (on a stand)

It might just be the pics but the timing belt looks worn; unless you know for sure when it was last done it is a good time to do the belt, idler and tensioner bearings, idler stud and water pump

[WantGTR]

I follow your thread on jdmst, its the only reason why i log onto that site anymore lol.

 

Epic transformation. Im stealing your nismo wheels by the way!

[Stephen_rx7]

51 minutes ago, Duncan said:

well, at least you're on the right forums now. and your engine is in the usual GTR location (on a stand)

It might just be the pics but the timing belt looks worn; unless you know for sure when it was last done it is a good time to do the belt, idler and tensioner bearings, idler stud and water pump

Haha it seems a common trend, im having thoughts of weather i should build it now or not

 

The belts new but your right it doesn't look it, so ill be replacing the lot with new oem gear

 

 

28 minutes ago, WantGTR said:

I follow your thread on jdmst, its the only reason why i log onto that site anymore lol.

 

Epic transformation. Im stealing your nismo wheels by the way!

Haha thanks man, alot of people read along there but don't like to contribute 

Lol i love the nismo wheels too, took me a long time to get 10s

 

Cheers 

[Stephen_rx7]

Heres half an update 

This is literally the number of stufs that were fitted to the manifold for running 5 out of 12 haha 

I can't stand things not right so here goes

 

Pulled the old studs and cleaned up the surface with some emery paper

Latest revision of studs from nissan japan

I tapped out the threads because they were abit hairy, new studs went in easy as pie

Oem studs fitted up and some multi layer steel gaskets because nissan graphite gaskets are crap and only a single use item

Brand new bar and lip mated up together, looks the goods

Some new parts from kudos, r34 gtr engine ornament and hks intake gasket kit

I dont like to hide the fact I'm not a fan of nissan engineering, and where ever i can I've vowed to toyotaise this datsun as much as i can

First thing is the cam cover rubber washers, the nissan ones don't age well and lose their integrity as you can see in my picture, my rb26 had about 5 out of 20 still intact, the rest had disintegrated

As you can see the toyota part is slightly smaller, these are used on the jz series of engines, they are a third of the price of their nissan counterparts and last much longer (my 2jz still has the original washers on it from factory)

So a handy tip for any nissan folk, i need my cam covers back before i can fit them but once they are back ill show pictures

[Scooby32]

Hi Stephen can you please tell me where you got the steering wheel redone?

 

Thanks

[Stephen_rx7]

Hey Scooby, i had it done overseas while i was on holidays and the place was super difficult to find, if your still interested pm me and ill try find the details but itd be easier locally 

A few more pics of broken things being fixed 

I decided to pull the throttle body assembly apart and the runner that bolts to the head, what do you know reused paper gaskets lol

This is a no no, reusing old paper gaskets is no good, and paper gaskets in general especially on a boosted engine are a bad idea

The previous owner also fitted some silicone hoses under the plenum, im going to give these a chance but if they leak they will be replaced by oem hoses, the kit isn't comprehensive either so i have ordered the remaining old hoses from nissan

It takes ages to scrape all the broken gasket off

Now clean as a whistle 

All cleaned up and abit of paint, i noticed the o rings to the vaccum chamber were rather tired, tried to get them from local auto stores but they are odd sized so have been ordered new from nissan 

I bought about 14 tridon Hose clamps because i like things to be uniform, and surprisingly just about every hose on these engines is the same diameter 

Also bought some turbosmart 3mm and 6mm vaccum line, Every hose on this engine is old and perishing so they are all being replaced

This is basically how its sitting for the moment till my parts are finished being coated 

The fuel rail and my newly aquired r34 dumps and stainless front pipe still need coating tho too

So the next update should be a better one with the covers and pipes fitted 
 

 

[Stephen_rx7]

Pretty happy with how the loom looks now 

So the update everyone is probably waiting on, wondering what colour ill do my cam cover set 

So i picked the parts up from being coated, i was abit dissapointed that some parts didn't get done so ill have to take them back, but the parts that were done look excellent 

I had to think long and hard about what colour to do the covers for the head, red and black are the common two combos but everything has been done from grey to green and even silver 

So what colour did i choose? 

 

 

Yes gloss white! Something that you don't often see done, the only other one ive seen with white is the powertune white elephant 

Theyare literally only just sitting on for these pictures 

So it took abit of mucking around but they are bolted down now, you can see the neat little toyota rubber washers 

Amazing what a bit of effort and elbow grease does haha

 

Fitted a brand new cas gasket

And assembled the turbos 

I hope this update was somewhat eyegasmic lol

Enjoy

[WantGTR]

cant get enough of this build seriously.

[Duncan]

good to see you fixing all the old dodginess, although I'm not sure corolla spec parts are an upgrade.

the other thing you should do while it is all apart is take the sump off, upgrade the oil pump and put drop some baffles in the sump. Not much extra work or money from where you are now, but great for peace of mind

[Stephen_rx7]

Lol i don't know about that, i trust corolla parts more than nissan parts personally, that and they look better, do the job better, last longer and are a third of the price, seems a no brainer to me?

If i could toyotaise the engine internals i would haha 

Its got a brand new n1 oil pump and a tomei baffle, dont know if that'll suffice for what I'm doing or not tho 

Billet oil pump gears would be nice, its a long nose crank engine so touch wood no issues there 

[Duncan]

unless you are racing the tomei baffle is enough, but the n1 pump has had some bad outcomes, I'd suggest aftermarket gears at a minimum and preferably a nitto or tomei pump

[JH32]

2 hours ago, Duncan said:

unless you are racing the tomei baffle is enough, but the n1 pump has had some bad outcomes, I'd suggest aftermarket gears at a minimum and preferably a nitto or tomei pump

Don't forget to recommend a sump extension if going a tomei pump!

[Stephen_rx7]

11 hours ago, Duncan said:

unless you are racing the tomei baffle is enough, but the n1 pump has had some bad outcomes, I'd suggest aftermarket gears at a minimum and preferably a nitto or tomei pump

I've known a few people to use them without problems, I think if you don't sit on limiter and abuse them they are fine at moderate hp levels 

I'm running -7s so it's not going to be any record breaker 

I don't like the idea of the nitto and tomei pumps pumping more oil than they need to then having to add resirictors and open up bearing clearances to deal with it 

Ideally I'd like to run the n1 pump with billet spline drive gears and a sump extension but that means tunnel boring the mains because rbs aren't precise in the tolerances to run them out of the box

For now I'm hoping the n1 pump will do 

Hawkins is running 500kw on a stock motor/pump/sump, if I can go 350-400hp that'll do me