Beer Baron

I don't think we are talking about 30 year old hummers here.... so it has no relevance. it's like saying they let you keep factory seatbelts on EP3 civic imports, that doesn't mean you can for a nissan atlas does it? yes older cars can be kept LHD and the rules on this vary from state to state. but that has absolutely nothing to do with what we are talking about here.

thanks mate, had another bloke out on the weekend. he seemed a bit confused though. he was talking about buying his mates 350z, a new MPS, or a typhoon, or my RZ.... I was beginning to doubt he actually wants to buy anything. for anyone serious about a nice, neat, tough, rare RX7, send me a message, I'm motivated to sell and will talk deal for a serious buyer.

how does the beaded seat cover you ordered make it fun to drive? I guess when you go into turn 1 a bit too quick and clench hard you might 'accidentally' suck one up the jacksie! nasty. I have to say apart from that I am a bit excited to see fatz back in a GTR on the track. it's been a long time mate. plus you can actually drive half as good as you talk smack. should give a few people a fright... how long since you first had your old GTR? must be 5 years now? bit more even?

sounds good to me mark. I can't see why it wouldn't work. I guess there has to be some kind of wear component in there somewhere but as long as the arms tube is softer than the bracket then I guess you just have to replace that when they get a bit sloppier than when you started...

I actually think it could be the latter! I've ordered a number of R34 n1 Nur crate motors from nissan japan. all of them I had pulled down at an experienced workshop in japan. 1 was excellent 3 needed work, 1 in particular (farken my one!) was very poor and we actually got money out of nissan JP to pay for the work needed to get it right. some parts of it were excellent, but piston finish was poor for some reason, piston balance was out too (supposed to be hand balanced and the other ones certainly were), crank was perfect, rods were perfect but overall it was a bit of a surprise. the shop I use it japan does it as the basic for any street/track GTR freshen up. buy new crate motor so you're starting with everything brand new. pull it apart! fix what's wrong with it. port head as desired (depending on use how far you go here) add metal head gasket to enable it to live with some higher than intended cylinder pressures (don't go crazy, 1.2mm max is needed really) port out oil returns, add oil feed restrictor. and then they're good to go. at the same time generally they add a set of cams and a few other bits as desired but that's the basic idea. and they seem to live pretty well. having said all that it's quite possible the material varies just like the workmanship...

I have seen pics of a nice looking direct port GTR set-up in here somewhere. I had a feeling it was actually in the for sale section but I did a search and couldn't find it in there. it must have been somewhere here in FI section.

it will need to be converted to RHD mate. no two ways about it.

I don't think any factory front undertray covers the sump. they mostly stop just before it.

there is no way to guarantee what is safe and what isn't. I have run one R32 GTR on stock turbos at 14psi at lots of track days without problems. on the other side I know of plenty that died on their first track day at stock boost. it's a risk. you might be fine, you might not. there is not way to tell. sure running less boost should improve your chances so keep it to 10 or 12psi would be a good idea. an oil cooler is a good idea too on any GTR going to the track and a proper oil pressure and oil temp gauge is handy too as the stock ones are pretty hopeless. keep the revs sensible (no need to rev a mild GTR past 7500 or even 7,000 really on track) and keep an eye on temps and you SHOULD be fine. no promises though.....

well wings are ok, but they just give more room for the oil to move away from the pick-up. but with the right type of 1 way trap doors etc they can be made to work pretty well. some people do fall down though by just making sump bigger (wider) and thinking that will help). what you need is that narrow depth like the trust one to keep the oil around the pick-up, but of course you sacrifice clearance for it. ideally you would have a 2 foot long box section off the bottom of the sump that was only 10cm X 10cm with a hose running to the bottom of it as a pick-up! no oil surge ever but you would need to mount the engine about half way up the windscreen height..... could be a problem. and yes it was yours I was thinking of dundan. just didn't want to name names.. at least it was easily fixed.

my advice is buy some reimax gears for the pump you have. should be cheaper than any of the other options listed and they are good. very good. they have the runs on the board as far as I'm concerned.. http://www.reimax.com/pages/products/lower-area/index.html

it's nothing to do with rack. it's to do with the fact that your car is 4wd and as such has front driveshafts. imagine the driveshaft angles!! that is why you cannot get much steering lock on any awd car, front driveshafts. the only way out is remove the drive shafts, weld up sump etc. but it's a shitload of hassle. would be far easier to just start with a 2wd car. plus with your current car you still ahve extra weight of transfer case and any other awd associated bits.

btw, don't forget who gave you that turbo on your birthday. true I didn't buy it, or order it, or make it but I gave it to you....

that pic angle makes it look far worse than it is. judging by that pic it looks like the front diff is below the subframe! they looks worse than they are in reality. I know of lots on circuit cars and can only think of one I know of that took a hit and was broken. and I know of a couple factory sumps that have been smashed so in that case you never know if a different sump would have survived the hit or not.

well driving your car on the street you are right. in any kind of traffic or low speed limit zones you never really get a chance to get it right up onto boost with the gate open so you always feel like you're getting half screwed and let go every time you shift up at 4,500 or so. the only way around that is drive like a loon and revs the nuts off it in 1st and 2nd everywhere but that wont win you any friends. and it feels like it is breathless under about 4,500. but mate, once the road clears and the speed limit goes up you get it up in the fun zone and it's awesome. it's the perfect car to 'cruise' on the street. and then thrash it on the track. and even if it's not quick low down it sounds amazing. on the street a good sounding car is enough to keep me happy, cause a car with lots of torque just gets you in trouble as they are still quick at 'street rpm'. the grass is always greener. i would trade you my silvia for your 32 any day, but with how serious your 32 is now that would just be an insult to you.... having said that put a TD06 on the silvia and a few other little bits and it would be a closer fight. man I still want to buy that 32. every month or so I remind tets I want it, but he is still not selling. the owner practically never drives it anymore which is sad as it is apparently a very nicely sorted car. it's my dream package. prime garage built 2.2 SR20, from memory it was a 3037 or 2835 with external gate, all the other good gear engine wise, motec ECU, lots of good stuff. then we could really play

are they standard or aftermarket? unfortunately different brand/type wheel nuts have different sized heads even though they may all have the same size thread. they come in all different size heads and lengths too. some even need their own propriety socket to undo. you are best off just measuring them with a set of vernier calipers, if you don't have a set, buy some, cheap plastic ones from bunnings etc less than $2.

hell yeah. I remember a few years back when you were just starting to get serious with the GTR. adding ducting etc. the first serious GTR is always like that. it's an evolution from street car, to mild track car, to all out track car and lots of compromises get made along the way. the REAL GTR track car comes with version 2. then you can start with a clean slate and a picture of where you want it to end up and correct any compromises or mistakes that were made in version 1. look at mark and russ. their 32 was like that, got added to and changed as things got more and more serious and as their aims for the car changed. it got there in the end but I reckon if you asked them now they could build one in half the time, for 2/3s the money and have it going quicker. look at their R34 for example... it's everything they learnt from the 32 and then some! so the moral is, do another GTR. start from scratch and keep the old girl around for me to drive should I be over your way. (hopefully will be soon). did you ever end up running those tein RAs? my memory sucks, I seem to remember you went even more serious shock wise?

trust one is not too bad value for money. just need to cut your sump and weld it on. comes with new pick-up too. they are simple but work well. just try not to smash it on a ripple strip!

go the RB20. it sounds like a sweet trumpeter under your bonnet. SR20 sounds like someone ripped an engine from the closest tractor. the sound alone is almost reason enough to love the RB20! having said that I wouldn't be chucking the SR20 out of my silvia in a hurry either. good power and torque, just sound like rubbish and they do like to break. in fact, troy knows one day my track car will be an R32 GTST with 2.2L SR20. or maybe try a 2.4L RB20. but I reckon a nicely built 2.2 SR20 with a good sized turbo (around 3037) in a GTST would be a nice thing.

my advice, don't stay near tokyo station. it's not really an exciting place to stay in the city. better to stay near shinjuku, shibuya somewhere like that if you want to be near a JR line, or even roppongi. if you want to be near a transport hub you're far better off at shinjuku. many different lines meet there inc tokyo metro, JR, odakyu and on and on. and it's a busy, exciting place to stay. lots and lots of choices hotel wise in the area. the place doodz recommends looks good too, very cheap for tokyo standards and being near a station that is on the yamanote line means easy transport access to the rest of central tokyo and beyond... and it's close to the Marunouchi subway line too which is very handy to get around tokyo quickly.

yep, I vote for the motul chrono 300V too. it's a great oil. I have done UOA (used oil analysis) on my old GTR and the results were very good, I've also got some info from motul here on their analysis and as expected it's a great product. expensive but worth it in my opinion.

go tacker! how can you loose, you've got the aussie spirit mate. and hopefully a put crew that knows good sabotage techniques. oh, did I say that out loud? try not to get arrested.... lol. good luck mate, and definitely give the GTR a few good runs. forget this viper nonsense. deep down you know it's a car built for some bald american wanker with a big gut, a mid-life crisis and a mildly successful job who thinks he's awesome, so he can cruise around in it near the beach, chucking the odd lame skid and hoping to one day get laid.... the GTR is the same, but for japanese middle age guys....of the 90s... go the GTR!!!

Steve, love the GTI-R. it looks very nice. any more info on it? or more pics?

agreed! the first time I replaced R32 upper arms by myself I had trouble getting the f**kers out of their brackets so I had a bright idea. why not just remove the bracket and arm together.... it was a piece of cake on the drivers side. passenger side was a CNT! I did manage it without removing the abs. may have moved it around a bit though, i've blocked the memory of that bright idea... I like your little arms you've made. very nice. I might have to get some made myself... it seems to be the way to go.