Dale FZ1

Sikaflex 227 is the stuff to use if you're looking to bond in some sheeting.

Heat impact on engine bay componentry raised its head, with convoluted conduit for the loom melting, so it was addressed before the last meeting. Exhaust lagging and ceramic coating the turbine and manifold obviously was not enough. Underbonnet paint showed a bit of discolouration, so it got a square of adhesive composite mat, with silver foil top section. The loom got a split/adhesive composite insulating material. Slips over the length of loom and then silver adhesive tape seals the join and keeps it on. The product wasn't especially expensive, and appears to do its job. Pics aren't the best but show the general idea. The ACL heat shield material is brilliant stuff around the dump/wastegate section too.

Nigel - for this event we used 14kg front, 5 kg rear. I'm interested to hear your experiences on how Winmax W7 front and rear worked out, and if you needed to do anything to get the best out of them. Application is a big factor, so I'm figuring choices would be different for a hillclimb setup compared to 20 minute sessions. Might get a thread started just for this topic. Adam - PM sent. Suggest any queries direct to MR Sheetmetal. Quality work. Christian - but it is just another 33 barge and they look much the same.

Ok, a few comments/experiences on how this thing is going. MCA shocks are brilliant gear. There is a bit of experimenting with spring rates and the current ones helped with good initial turn-in but it had horrid mid and exit understeer especially on tight corners. Hardening up the rear shocks pretty much cleaned up that issue. Highly recommend these, and the support available is exceptional. Winmax pads are worth the money. Very powerful improvement to stock R33 brakes and I can't see the need to shift away from standard spec calipers and rotors. They do not drop off in efficiency with heavy/hard/prolonged use. They do need to be run at higher temps to work most efficiently and predictably. Warm up lap really requires a focused effort on cranking some heat into the brakes, and then they are the best brakes I've experienced. The cooling system setup works. ECU datalogs showed coolant temps running between 88-94 degrees. Ambient temps around 25 degrees. Oil cooler does its job, oil temps running at 110 degrees. No complaints at this stage about the budget turbo/manifold setup. Does its job, makes enough stick and responds well and predictably in the rpm range it's being run. Probably safe to say this is severe duty application, going to be interesting to see how they survive. I'm quietly confident in them. Driving talent is the weakest link in the chain when chasing consistent speed, but it's a ton of fun to drive. Datalogs don't lie about how often and how long it's actually getting 100% throttle. One thing is for sure, these 2wd chassis are not a bad thing for the average punter - provided you don't have delusions of championship or outright potential.

Michael - results shortly. Shaun - Door cards fabrication work by MR Sheetmetal. I'll PM you to put you in touch with them. Mick - Sorry no I can't give any great discourse on ROPS legalities in Queensland. I can PM you details of a fabrication business that knows this stuff inside and out.

Couldn't do without door cards. Sheet aluminium with some stiffening reliefs rolled in, and a pull-handle made from nylon webbing. M5 retainers for this.

Undertrays/splitters have been subject of a bit of recent discussion. This is my effort, using composite signboard. Not terribly heavy material, and has a fair bit of stiffness for self-support. It's a 2 piece job, rear section extends from the crossmember forward to roughly near the radius rod chassis mount. The front section is bonded to the glass bumper, and then held together with M6 fasteners. Pretty simple and it doesn't flop about once installed.

Preparations for the next event are done. Brake pads replaced, using Winmax W7 front, W3 rear. The R33 is a nose heavy pig, will see how these things go for braking efficiency and impact on the rotors. Couple of pictures showing ducting for intercooler/radiator, oil cooler, and power steering cooler. Pictures don't show how the air exits.

Short run events like a skidpan/slalom or hillclimb is over in a couple of minutes at best. You wouldn't expect to see problems there provided belts are tight. I have found the belts need to be tighter than expected to keep things happy. Look at the belt, 3 grooves in the case of a GTSt doesn't give as much drive as the wider alternator/fan belt. Track runs lasting 10-15 minutes,or tarmac rally special stages will more likely show weaknesses in steering systems with heat soak/high pressures. GTR is not a race car out of the box, and the power steering pump is geared to provide effective assistance at parking speeds. Prolonged high rpm is likely to be running it outside efficiency zone, and pushing a lot of heat into the fluid. Much the same as overspeeding a turbo. Running a proper heat exchanger for the power steer is a good idea, and effective without changing pulley size on the pump or going to the expense/difficulty of engineering an electric power steer system.

Double post

Nothing inherently wrong with the rotating bits. The housings are likely to be physically small and not capable of flowing what the wheels can push. They do build turbos with housings more commonly fitted to those wheels. If you want "bolt on" Kinugawa then maybe look at the TDO6SL2-20G.

Pete my system works pretty well with the switch on/off points as described. So it has hysteresis. Being controlled by my ECU, it uses the temp sensor housed in the upper section of the inlet manifold as per stock. I'm more concerned with the coolant temps in the engine, not the radiator. Raising the rear of the bonnet is the old hot rodder's trick and I wouldn't use that method unless it was being trundled around at low speeds always. As road speeds rise, high pressure air forming at the windscreen base is likely to have a detrimental effect on airflow through the engine bay, and may result in a drop in the air mass going through your radiator. Leading to a tendency for reduced cooling efficiency when you really need it on the track. Some of these things you need to trial/error and ultimately use what works for you. Everyone is an expert on forums so expect conflicting information and views when chasing advice or opinions. That S chassis engine bay does look good.

Power FC won't be configured to control thermos. Many/most current type aftermarket ECU have the ability though. There are stand alone control units available that will do a good job. I find mine does a good job with a kick-in point of 94 degrees and switch off at 91. Sitting at idle it cycles in/out more frequently so it's only a preference. Properly functioning OEM fan probably does the best job for a car doing lots of idling and slow traffic work. Hopefully the shroud fits your radiator nicely and is sealed around the edges to make sure the majority of air is pulled through the core. Adhesive rubber tape does a great job. No point having fans continue to run after the engine is shut down, not enough coolant will circulate through the engine to make an appreciable difference. If you're concerned about track use, simply idle the engine for 3 minutes after a run/race while you check the car over. Lift the bonnet and let hot air dissipate from the engine bay. Thermo conversion is not a must-have but I found it certainly is not a bad thing. A really flash setup would probably be with twin fans controlled to come on in a staged manner according to temps. Lower fan noise and electrical drain so easier to control idle speeds too.

My undertray also goes past the crossmember, as per James. It was conceived to assist solve cooling issues, and to date seems to have hit the mark. The front end grip improvement is an added bonus, can only think that a decent splitter takes it up a notch or 3 depending on detail. Composite board prices seem pretty steep down South, more like $80 in Qld.

Drift boy and street-cool culture has people thinking the fast way to good setup and handling is drop the ride height really low. With help from a very experienced suspension engineer, I have learned that there is a window within which you can get decent handling without making it ridiculously low. Any tarmac event is going to require an amount of bump and droop travel so that the wheel stays in contact with the ground. Traction under all conditions rules. Hopefully you've got something more like 100-120mm total travel, and a good 60mm of bump. Harry is right in suggesting not spending too much or changing too much. Run what ya brung but try to get setup within a happy window so it has a chance of working but not throwing you off the road. Eg slightly too stiff springs won't be great but a bump steering pig will make the event a whole lot less fun. Another recent thread in this section has addressed that issue for a track Skyline. Helper springs only compensate for shock and spring length settings at full extension so the spring doesn't rattle on/off its seat. You'd expect a touring category isn't too serious and gives you a "come and try" taste for this style of event.

Firstly find out what wheel/tyre limits/constraints are placed on entries for touring events. Presumably there are some events you particularly want to enter, so speak to people from the organising club(s) and clarify. Nothing inherently wrong with KU36 rubber, or Achilles 123S for that matter, you aren't on special stages. 6&4 kg springs should offer some hope of working. Spend time and if needed, money, to ensure you have decent droop travel with those shocks. And that both ends don't have silly bump steer issues. Then if the car goes off the road it's because of driver/navigator error. Some of the things you're asking aren't going to be best resolved on a forum - get involved with people doing what you're wanting to do and see what works (or not).

What you actually want is not clear other than "a little more response". Bigger hp number? Stick more boost into it and tune. Different torque delivery on boost, or spool characteristics? The FP turbo appears to be a good thing, retaining existing manifold/gate/piping. Split pulse might have the upper hand in lower/middle range rpm but you're into new manifolding, gate(s) and piping. Cost consideration. More off boost torque and earlier transition into boost? There's no substitute for cubic inches.

SL2 turbine probably should respond faster, due to less inertia When building these 30DET you can't set cam timing from an unknown starting point. The cam timing markers don't line up to zero. Highly recommend paying the relatively small cost for an experienced builder to correctly set both cams using degree wheel and dial indicator. Then you've got a proper starting point if you wanted to play further on the dyno. Achieving low rpm gains will still come at a cost of higher rpm losses. If bottom end grunt and instant response is the target, I wouldn't think the 30DET is the best spec. Small capacity engine in heavy truck can only do so much. These things still need to turn a few rpm to work well. TB45/48 with a GT37 would be hard to beat, provided you could keep fuel and clutches/gearboxes up to it. I'm certain that there would be some good info out on forums covering Patrols, Off Road racing etc.

The performance goals are achieveable with either the 3076 0.82 combination, or a Hypergear unit. Begs the question of why muck around with a RB, when big cubes TB45/48 engines are made to run in the 1500-4500 bracket. Best torque for an average 30DET should be in the 2500-6000 range, using budget gear as per the build spec notes from OP. Getting strong turbo-assisted torque below 2500 is likely to result in exactly what happened with the TO4E. I'll throw in an unusual budget suggestion: Kinugawa TDO6H-20G 10cm.

VMX-M 75/85. GL4 spec is what these boxes like.

The sort of front end device we're talking about won't really produce downforce to the extent that aero loading increases the effective vehicle weight above static. An effective splitter design should protrude a fair bit, and its height above the ground has a big bearing on efficiency/effectiveness. The outcome I found with my undertray (no splitter) is noticeable reduction in high speed understeer, less tendency to run wide through high speed sweepers. More front grip at speed is good .

They will perform well. The rim width looks spot on for that rubber.

Go do a few track days without changing anything. The car will have far more speed than you can extract out of yourself.

If you're purely looking at the Kinugawa range then on a RB25 you'd look closely at the T67-25G and E85. You might also look at the Hypergear derivative, evidently his thrust bearing is a worthwhile upgrade - unless Kinugawa are/have incorporated something into their range.

That VW didn't run with super/turbo on the Golf R says something. I tried the 118 TSI but prefer the 103TDI,