Sydneykid

Bitch of a job, not all blocks will accept the threads and you can't tell until you start machining. S1, S2, Commodore, Skyline and turbo blocks, makes no difference, about 1 in 10 will take squirters. So we stopped fitting them about 60 RB30's ago, we machine oil squirters into the conrods, works perfectly. For heavy duty applications (over 750 bhp) we ceramic coat the piston crowns and oil retention coat the skirts. Cheers Gary

All RB cranks are nitrided standard. Cheers Gary

The HKS early pulleys were not sufficiently hardened, teeth wear was obvious after as little as 5,000 k's. So simply going on brand name alone is not always a good idea. We use Jun, never had a problem, so I haven't bothered to change. Cheers Gary

We don't "measure" harmonics, we feel them. The gear lever is not bad for that. On the engine dyno, you can feel it through the flooor. Cheers Gary

There is a further complication, there are 7 "standard" RB26 oil pumps available from Nissan; 1 .R32GTR Early 2. R32GTR Late 3. R32GTR V Spec 4. R32GTR N1 5. R33GTR S1 6. R33GTR S2 + V Spec 7. R34GTR all models #1 is not the same as any other RB26 pump, plus it has the narrow drive flange, and it is the same as RB20, RB25 and RB30 (late) #2 is the same as #5 #4 is the same as #6 and #7 except that it has a higher pressure relief spring I have yet to see/measure a guaranteed #3, although I suspect it is the same as #4 So when I say a "standard" RB26 oil pump is the same as N1 oil pump except for the pressure relief spring, I am not talking about #1. That should be obvious as #1 has the narrow drive flange whereas #2 and all subsequent RB26 oil pumps have the wide flange drive. Thinks that's complicated, but wait there is more. Don't expect to be able to go into a Nissan dealer and order #2, #3 or #5 as their part numbers have been superceded by #6 and subsequently #7. Cheers Gary

The cheaper ones I have seen tended to be made of hardened alloy and the teeth wear out fairly quickly. Cheers Gary

No, S13's don't have HICAS or double wishbone front suspension Cheers Gary

Car Model: R32GTST Year: 1990 Rim size: 17 X 8 Rim name/type: Speedy Hollow Type R Rim offset: +35 Rim internal diameter: 410 mm Front Brake brand: R32GTST M Spec Caliper size: 4 spot Disc size: 340 mm x 32 mm DBA 5000 Series Pads: Hawk Car Model: R33GTST Year: 1996 Rim size: 17 X 8.5 Rim name/type: Enkie RPF1 Rim offset: +35 Rim internal diameter: 400 mm Front Brake brand: R33GTST Caliper size: 4 spot Disc size: 324 mm x 30 mm DBA 5000 Series Pads: Bendix Ultimate

As you know, you can rotate the offset bush to a forwards and backwards position to get more or less caster. But you can also use it in the fully up or fully down position to change the antidive. Remember the offset crush tube is locked (by the through bolt) to the subframe, so the effective pivot point is the outside of the crush tube. Got it? Cheers Gary

Polyurethane in the standard subframes and control arms, IP regs don't allow spherical bearings or replacement arms. Cheers Gary

You would enjoy this one then. It was a red manual with 16 x 8 Simmons gold 3 piece wheels and a 5 litre with the twin throttle bodies off the Group A Vittesse. The 5 litre was the all alloy P76 block, with a forged crank, rods and pistons from the Formula 5000 engine run that was built for the Ansett Elfin (later Anset Charger). It made ~375 hp at the wheels on the Town & Country dyno at Hornsby. I drove it from Warwick to Ipswich and it hardly got below 200 kph all the way. Nice car that one, I didn't like giving it up. Cheers Gary

I know exactly what you mean. Cheers Gary

Personally I wouldn't recommend changing the front lower control arm inner pivot points on a GTR. They have an intrinsic relationship with the drive shafts and even small changes effect the bump steer and Ackerman rather rapidly/badly. It took about 3 days to fix the bump steer on John's Z32 because of moving the front lower control arm joints. The Ackerman is still under reconstruction, very tricky to get right in the space available. Unless you have considerable experience with correcting those things, it is best left alone, there are more gains to be had elsewhere with far less downside. Have a close look at the radius rods front mounts, the answers are quite simple once you work out what changes are required. Cheers Gary

10,000k pa. Tyres.....$3,300 (the tax man helps me pay for race tyres for the R32GTST) R&I........$2,400 (includes race car & enclosed trailer insurance as the Stagea tows it) Dep.@15%...$2,500 Petrol...10,000@14l/100 @ $1.50.... $2,200 Mtce, oil changes and mods .......$2,500 Total... $12,900 Cheers Gary

Width is irrelevant That's not correct either, in two ways; 1. In R33GTR's and R34GTR's there is always some torque to the front wheels, that's due to the residual pressure in the hydraulics of the ATTESA. That's why you can't put R33/34GTR's on a 2wd dyno without disconnecting the front tailshaft. 2. The ATTESA ECU doesn't care about slip (wheelspin) it looks at G forces, that's why GTR's are so much better on the circuit than any of the front wheel drive 4wd's like Evos' or WRX's. Cheers Gary

From memory 1984 (Rovers) was churns and 1985 (Jags) was an overhead rig, no maybe we didn't use overhead rigs until the BMW's. Too many Bathursts ago, 1,000's and 12 Hour races to remember, maybe time I got the video out again myself. When they were used, the churns were filled from 44's, which were on scales to record their usage. My pit job was crunching numbers, TWR had their own technicians, no Aussies got to touch the cars much at all. The #1car was Percy and Walkinshaw, finished 3rd The #3 Car was Goss and Hahne, finished 1st The #2 car was Soper and Allem, it swallowed the glass. The foam air filters were directly behind the headlights, one on each side, so it is possible that the broken headlight (reflector) punctured the filter and got sucked in. There were pieces of glass and reflector that fell on the pit garage flooor under the car when it came back. The car went back to the UK untouched, I never saw it with the bonnet open, so I don't know the real story if it was any different. We got a couple of drivers drunk during the celebrations, as you do, but we couldn't get anything contrary out of them. I have seen Gossy a number times over the years and he sticks to the corporate line, maybe that's all he knows as well. Cheers Gary

I worked at JRA, so I don't know anything about Walkinshaw's other cars, so let's stick to that. If you check the Bathurst results you will find that both cars ran shorter distances between pit stops on their tanks than the competion. Which if they were running oversized tanks would not have been the case. If you have the 1985 video, then please check the length of the pit stops, you will find that the fuel refilling is very similar timing to the other cars. Which would not be the case if the tanks were of larger capacity, hence taking longer to fill. The cars did have a 6/7 litre reserve, a warning light came on on the dash when they fuel level got that low, the driver them switched to the reserve, I can't remember what the switching method was, if I ever knew it. I never saw any more than the legal amount of fuel put in the cars from Wednesday to Sunday. The refueling rig was calibrated and they used scales to measure the fuel put in at every pit stop, my maths is good enough to do the sums on the SG of the fuel used. The Rovers were good cars, nicely prepared, very well balanced, with great handling and brakes. They just lacked capacity, torque really, which at Bathurst is primary. We did a press day at Oran Park and Percy whipped in a few laps at close to lap record pace. The long climb up the mountain really hurt them, but on a handling circuit they were rapid. Cheers Gary

Since I was the Motorsport Manager at JRA from 1984 to 1989, would you care to elaborate? Cheers Gary

Every day Cheers Gary

The problems we found with Supras when we raced them; 1. the standard sequential turbos are a pain in the arse 2. the siemesed dump pipes costs a bomb to replace, you have to make them, nothing off the shelf is any good. 3. the turbo location (being designed for the left hand drive US market) means the brake and clutch master cylinders overheat all the time 4. the exhaust system (being designed for the left hand drive US market) cooks the drivers feet and lower legs 5. being only 2wd they are rediculously heavy, more than a 4wd GTR 6. the single throttle body makes the response very poor in comparison to a GTR with its 6 throttle bodies 7. their rear centre of roll (CoR) is too low in comparsion to their centre of gravity CoG) so their roll couple (RC) is too big 8. their front centre of roll (CoR) is too high in comparsion to their centre of gravity CoG) so their roll couple (RC) is too small 9. they don't have enough rear squat geometry for good traction 10 they have too much front dive under brakes, not enough anti dive geometry 11 when you lower them (not rediculously) they bump steer something chronic at the rear and their front camber curves turn to shit 12. the Getrag is an OK box, but they cost a bomb to replace 13. until the later models, the brakes were simply abismal 14. the off shelf availability for adjustable suspension bushes is very limited Enough? I can go back to my set up book and find some more if you want. Cheers Gary

We have to abide by the IP regulations, so we can't run spherical bearings, plus we have to use the standard radius rods. We can move the pivot points (within a limited radius), so we are allowed to redrill the mounting holes. Plus we use polyurethane bushes in the standard radius rods with offsets so we can adjust the anti dive through a range from around - 5 mm to + 10 mm. I'll have to stop there, as the knowledge starts to get proprietory, it belongs to the race team owner, not me. I can talk freely about the GTST's (R32 and R33) as they are my knowledge but not the GTR's. Cheers Gary

Depending on the track and conditions, we run from 3 mm to 12 mm of anti dive geometry. Cheers Gary

We just cut the rear lower control arm front pivot point brackets off the subframe, move them downwards to the limit of the IP regs and then weld them back on. We have been doing that since the mid 90's on the circuit cars (R32's, S13's and Z32's). From what I have seen that is pretty much what Tomei do. Moving the whole subframe (with pineapples) is much easier for the DIY'er as it doesn't involve cutting and welding. The bonus is you get the ability to quickly change it for different disciplines, drag, circuit, drift and road. Plus it is easily reverseable when you sell the car. Cheers Gary

They actually have squat geometry standard, not anti squat. If you remove the squat they don't transfer as much weight to the rear and so you have less traction on acceleration. For a drag car you add squat, for a drift car you subtract squat, for a 2wd circuit car we tend to leave the subframe at the standard angle but use the Whiteline Rear Subframe Alignment Kit (pineapples) to remove some of the compliance. A very high powered RWD R33 and R34 circuit car usually benefits from a bit more squat. R32's in have a bit too much rear squat, whereas R33's and R34's have a much more circuit friendly amount. If an R32GTR suffers from corner exit understeer then we subtract a bit of squat, same as what we did on John's Z32 as they have similar amounts of squat geometry standard. Cheers Gary

I spend more on tyres than I do on petrol. Rego and insurance costs more than petrol. Depreciation makes petrol look cheap. Cheers Gary