Matty T

Sorted. Thanks to TURISMO. AAA+++ will buy again.

Hi All, Looking for a RB20DET gearbox. I am mainly interested in the gearset (I don't need the case), but am interested to hear what you've got lying around. Prefer Southside, but will travel for the right stuff. It's to go into my DR30 rally car, if it makes any difference... Cheers, Matt

So, the other weekend I am competing in a car rally, and the gearbox makes this *KA-ZIIIING* noise, and I now have a neutral where third gear used to be. Bugger. Fortunately it was a local rally, so we push on (after trying to clear out all the broken gear bits from the case) and a mate goes back to my place and grabs my spare gearbox. We ultimately change the gearbox during a service and go on to finish. Yay. Anywho - what options do you suggest for the beastie? Car is an R30 Skyline. Engine is FJ20ET. The gearbox that was in it was an RB20 gearset in an FJ20 case. Obviously I am trying to get out of this as cost-effectively (read: cheaply) as possible. Does anyone know the weight difference between a RB25 and an RB20/FJ/L Series box? Hit me with the suggestions, people.

How serious are you about Targa West? What I mean is: are you looking for an Evo that you can drive every day, and then put a bolt-in cage in and throw at the scenery once in a while, or are you looking for a serious car? Here's a nice one that recently appeared on my forum: Evo 8 or you can get the new Evo X for $41,900 from Ralliart. TBH, if you are thinking of the former, you would be better off using the DR...

Sorry, couldn't help you. I haven't labelled the fan relay (if there is one). The car is away (getting straightened/strengthened) so I hope to find some time to properly label what I can. I'll take a picture when done. If you still have a DR radiator - on the rear of the lower radiator tank, on the driver's side, is the thermo fan temp sensor switch. If you unplug it and check with a multimeter, you should have 12+ volts when the engine is running. Alternatively, bridge it with a short piece of wire, then start the car. The fans should come on. Sorry that I can't really help you more.

Is this in a DR30? (Sorry if I am not up to speed ) I had the same issue - thermos not working. Actually, the thermos would come on when I turned the ignition on (for a couple of seconds), but wouldn't kick in when the engine got hot. It turned out to be the thermo fan water temp sender (in the bottom radiator tank) was faulty. A short jumper wire and some electrical tape...hey presto! Got fans! I can't remember exactly, but I think that the fan relay (in the fuse box) is the same one as the fuel pump. I can check it out this evening - I have labeled some of it in English.

Is the diff an R200? If so, then measure the distance between the side of the diff and the companion flange. IIRC, there is about 15mm difference between them (and I think it is longer on the passenger side). Having said that, "which output shaft goes where" is determined by the ratio that you run*. The centre is offset due to the size of the pinion. If the output shaft looks like it is neatly seated (ie. on the circlip) then it should be OK. * I run a 4.625 and it necessitated having the shafts pulled apart and rebuilt with the outputs swapped over.

You need to, a) take the 'O' ring off the top of the injector, and push some EFI fuel hose onto it. b) remove the plastic pintle cap off the bottom of the injector c) transfer over the metal mounting plate, bakelite injector boss, and rubber injector ring seal from your original injectors. d) retune Done!

Don't get me wrong - the DR30 stuff is perfectly good. The (main) problem that I had was that I couldn't get enough rear bias with the factory setup. The fronts wanted to lock up and you would spear off the road. The Commodore rears gave me enough rear bias - so much so that it enabled me to put bigger calipers on the front. The pad area of the single piston DR (front) calipers is pretty big - the Stagea stuff is just bigger again. The DR rear pads are tiny things... I did have a problem with brake fade with the DR stuff, but again, I think it was related to the rear. They would get very hot, the pedal would go "long" and there would be a change in the the bias. That meant that you never had any real confidence in the brakes over any great distance. 15 kms was about where it would really start. I haven't had any problems with the existing setup. Good pedal even in 40+ km stages - in fact, once they get some heat in them, they just get better. On tar, you probably wouldn't have the bias issues that I did. I took it to Wakefield once (on the old brakes) and gave the brakes an absolute smashing. The car pulled up consistently, every single time. Afterwards though, the rear discs were blue and the fronts had cracked... As for my strut setup, see post #32 in this thread. Hope this helps!

I posted some stuff about the car in the Classic Skylines Register thread.

The car is an original 1982 Nissan DR30 Skyline RS, imported into Australia about 5 years ago. The previous owner had plans of using it as a rally car, but ran out of time/money/patience and never finished the project. I purchased it in early 2005. It had a cage, and the original normally-aspirated FJ20E, but that was about it. Everything else was standard. In fact, it wasn't even standard - someone had already pinched the DR30 brakes and factory LSD! Anyway, over the course of the next (last) couple of years, I have rebuilt or replaced almost every single piece on the car - some a few times! This is as it sits now: Body: Factory DR30 4 door shell, some (very little) stitching. CAMS Log Booked. Single roof vent. Painted in replica Peter Jackson colours, similar to George Fury's (and Glen Seton's) DR30 Skylines from the Australian Touring Car Championship back in 1986. Interior: 14 point roll cage, CAMS ROPS certified. Sparco race seats. 3 inch harnesses. Momo steering wheel. Terratrip rally computer. Terraphone Pro intercom system. Battery located behind passenger seat. Engine: I have 2 engines for the car at the moment. #1: FJ20ET, rebuilt 3 months (2 events) ago. Factory 8.5:1 pistons. Standard T3 0.63 A/R turbo. 500cc Bosch injectors. 14 psi boost. 600 x 300 intercooler. Winged sump. #2: FJ20E, rebuilt 1 month (1 event) ago. Factory 9.5:1 pistons. Factory everything, in fact. Winged sump. (Quad 45mm throttle bodies and headers yet to be installed) Engine Management: Megasquirt 'n' Spark ECU. FJ20 distributor handles the crank angle duties. Bosch 124 ignitor. Bosch MEC coil. Exhaust: 3 inch -> 2.5 inch exhaust. 1 muffler at rear. (1 hot dog at front when normally-aspirated) Fuel Pump: Bosch 968 pump. Clutch: 240mm 5 puck sprung centre Exedy clutch on FJ20ET flywheel. Gearbox: FJ20 gearbox casing, machined to accept RB20 internals. 3 piece synchros on 2nd and 3rd. All new bearings and synchros 3 months (3 events) ago. Standard ratios (for the moment). Diff: R200, 4.625 ratio (4.375 and 3.9 ratio options). KAAZ 16-plate limited slip centre. Rebuilt R200 halfshafts. Front Suspension: Custom struts based on DR30 units. 40mm Commodore Bilstein inserts, rebuilt and revalved by Heasmans 1 event ago. 200 lb/in King springs on adjustable spring platforms. Custom adjustable strut tops. Modified radius rods. +6 degrees of caster, -2 degrees camber. Rear Suspension: Bilstein 46mm shocks, rebuilt and revalved by Heasmans 1 event ago. Adjustable platforms. 175 lb/in King Springs. Plated and gusseted trailing arms. Plated rear crossmember. Brakes: 1 inch Patrol Master Cylinder on small can Datsun 180B booster. Lines through cabin. Rear pressure limiting valve (driver adjustable). Hydraulic handbrake adapted to factory ratchet. Nissan Stagea 2 piston sliding calipers on 280mm x 30mm ventilated discs on the front. GavSport pads. VT Commodore rear calipers on 295mm x 18mm ventilated discs at the rear. Lucas pads. Wheels: 15" R30 Skyline Ti wheels (17 of them), 15" DR30 Skyline RS Wheels (4 of them). Tyres: Whatever I can lay my hands on! Generally 205/65-15 Dunlop or MRF rubber. Fronts last about 6 months, rears (depending on compound) last about 50 km competitive! I am sure that there is more that I could tell you about, but I can't think of it at the moment.

Packy, I really should put something together, detailing the specs. Probably best for it's own thread. There's a couple of recent photos on flickr: here and here.

As the title says - I am looking for a strut brace for an R30. The one I have got turned into a banana... PM or email me if you have one that youa re willing to part with. Cheers, Matt P.S. I am also looking for a pair of adjustable strut tops. It doesn't need to have the alloy plate with the 3 studs - I am mainly interested in the (sperical bearing/pillow ball/heim joint/whatever you want to call it) housing.

All of the Aussie-spec R30s (L24) came with the "stumpy" 5 speed. It was also a FS5W71B, just like it's "long" brother. Datsun 1600s also used a "stumpy" 'box.

When you do decide to check (and it is a pain in the arse because you have to crack the brake lines and then bleed the entire system again), here is what to look for: The residual pressure valves are located behind the adapter nuts where the brake lines screw into the master cylinder. Once you undo them, they are seated inside. In the picture, the one on the left is from a disc-braked end, and the other is from a drum brake. Notice the two slots on the left one - they let the pressure bleed back into the master cylinder, whereas the right one does not. A small amount of pressure remains in the line (the rear line in this case) and that keeps the drum brake slave cylinders pressing out just a little, ensuring that the shoes are ready for action. if the pressure wasn't there, the shoes could "chatter" and thus you would have a "long" pedal on the first brake application. If you put disc brakes on and do not either a) put slots in/put the right R.P. Valve in, or b) remove it completely, then you could end up with a caliper "dragging". Sorry, I can't help with a rear arm.

I am OK for trailing arms at the moment. I have a spare set here that are already modified for my rear calipers (VT Commodore rears). I may have to call on you for (at least) a strut brace though. Oh, have you got any companion flanges? 6 bolt ones.

Not all that quick. We hit at probably 25 km/h or so. Maybe a bit quicker. Basically, we went straight through a crossroads in third gear, I laid in the boot, 14 pounds of boost kicked in, the back tyres were already destroyed, and she snapped sideways and off the road we went. It was a basic Driver error. I was already tippy-toeing the car beacause I knew the tyres were gone (second set of rears for the day. Grr.). I thought I had more grip than I did. I now have 5 weeks to straighten the car, plate some trailing arms, get some new spherical bearings and front control arms, and build a normally-aspirated engine. I hope the missus and kids like 2 minute noodles...

Heheh, yeah I did. I will take a photo of it when I take it off the car (not that it looks that impressive now - I got Neal Bates' service crew to weld it up for me). It snapped because I hit a 1 foot high grader ditch with it. Hit it hard. You can't really see it in the photo, but the front end is much worse off. The front wheel was pushed back into the guard, which pushed it into the front door. The front radius rod washer got inverted (but the rod didn't break. Yay!). The strut tower was moved up an inch and inwards by an inch. It tried its best to punch the spherical bearing out of the strut top. Tie rod got bent. My splinky Cusco strut brace now looks like a banana. I didn't know I had done so much damage at the time. Sure, the steering wheel was off by about 90 degrees, but that happens when you hit stuff. It wasn't until I got back to the service park that I saw that both the front and back end were messed up. We got the back end welded up (as I mentioned), and in the front I replaced the tie rods and lower control arm. We went back out again, but only lasted another 2 stages before the rear end failed. And there's the pic!

Yeah, same thing. Don't know which is the proper name. I have always referred to them as "trailing arm"...

For the rear of a (D)R30, use Bilstein part B46-0057 HO. King make springs to suit as well. You will want 300mm long springs. In my rally car, I use 180 pound springs - you may want to go stiffer. The spring platform is located with a circlip in a groove cut into the shock body. If you know someone with a metal lathe, you can have additional grooves cut into it and move the platform wherever you want. 20mm lower on the strut equals 10mm in the body. Trust me, I just went through all this on Friday at my suspension place. You can also get an adjustable spring platform for the B46 shock. Just remember to get an appropriate length spring to suit your new platform height. Everything was good until I snapped the trailing arm...

I have asked there as well. Just covering all bases.

As posted in the Parts Wanted section, I am after a (good) set of extractors / headers for a normally aspirated FJ20. Pics / price via PM or email ([email protected]) please. I am in Canberra. Will pay postage.

As the title says, I am after a (good) set of extractors / headers for a normally aspirated FJ20. Pics / price via PM or email ([email protected]) please. I am in Canberra. Will pay postage.

I believe m'learned friend was referring to the fact that you posted this question in the "Classic Skylines" forum, rather than the Forced Induction Performance one. So what part of your question has anything to do with Classic Skylines? Let's see: S13 Silvia - NO R34 NEO - NO R33 Series 2 - NO I think you summed it up nicely.

I meant to post a reply to this a while ago... I found that the R30 rubber gearbox mount is crap. They don't really take much punishment at all. I ended up using one from a Datsun 180B/200B/240K/Bluebird. It doesn't quite fit - you need to extend the holes in the gearbox crossmember a few mm, but they are much stronger.