LotusGTR

Hi, I'm not getting email notifications. Just me?

Again interesting as I've heard this before, especially with R32s. I can't imagine how annoying it would be banging your helmet on the cage would be.....I'm 5'9" but even so my head is already really close to the roof lining at the top of the door openings. Add a cage and a helmet and we're taking mm's of clearance. Probl too close. Looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and strip the old girl. Now I'm finding Roy's word ringing in my ears as I'm going to have to wreck my nice car.

Interesting as mine does have the diff whine....(adds to the list $$$). How much weight do you shed getting rid of the interior?

I beleive this is mostly covered earlier in the thread. You'll no doubt be steered away from bolt in cages and even welded ones with bolt in side instrusion. I got told, do not be 'half pregnant' with a cage, and especially for tarmac rally.

Well, I've made some progress in that I've got a navigator lined up. He has no experience, but is just the right kinda guy and has a close friend who is a rally navigator instructor and used to nav for a works Toyota rally team who is prepared to help. Great contact I'd think. My nav also has some contacts who could form part of the service crew I'm slowly pulling together. It all needs to come together of course, but I've got a good strong direction on this now. Happy. Re the cage, I've got this idea that I'm going to keep the interior as it may be a track / sprint car too and get road driven to and from local-ish events. I'm not sure how much I want to be driving / competing in a gutted car that's like being inside a Coke can. I'd like some feedback on this. Am I being naive about this? Am i being soft? Is the reality if it's going to be a targa car I may as well go the whole hog? Is weight saving that important (i.e. chucking out the interior) bearing in mind I'm in this for fun, not winning. I want to get my head in the right space on this issue so feedback appreciated.

Alignment done and ride heights now 340mm rear, 350mm front. Not quite as tough looking now but only rubs on large compressions. I rang 'the' guy who rolls guards in Melbrourne (well known on this forum - thank you Hamish) and guess what, he told me I should roll my guards as a last resort. Said as the GTR has aluminium guards they are hard to roll and often in doing this the panel gap from door to front qtr panel widens which needs to be corrected by a panel beater. Said if I was fussy I ought not to roll the guards. You also lose the front guard liner, so all the road craps goes up into the guard and will sneak into your engine bay. Probably promotes corrosion too I'd think. So, I'd think a lil more neg camber in the front will be my next move. Out to -2 degrees.

lol at Achilles. I bought a car from a dealer with compliance tyres called 'Mayruns'. I asked the bloke selling it to me if he had any idea what tyres were on my car and he didn't. He laughed his ass off when he found out and offered to give me $400 off the price of the car so I could fit something decent myself. Even he said they were dodgy as........

How much should you / can you cut the bolt down by?

Thanks for the (mostly) positive comments guys. Re the powdercoater, they're in Hastings (look it up) so unless you're down that way it won't be worth it. Any good powdercoater will do. PM me if you want more details. Noone, I actually measured the ride heights quite carefully over the weekend. Measuring equipment wasn't the best, nor was light or space for that matter, but what I've come up with is 332mm front (it varies a couple of mm from side to side) and 337mm rear - centre hub to guard. So, with handling in mind, far too low at the front. I will be getting an alignment done as the car is set up as per how it came in from Japan and I'll get the front height lifted to at least 340mm. Those that know will say 350-355 is ideal, so even higher again. I'm not sure how much this will help with the rubbing though. Somewhat I'd guess. I'm actually surprised they rub as there doesn't seem to be any controversy over 9.5 +22 (unlike +12). Tyres are 265/35 Nittos and I wonder if they are a large fit such as an RE55 which has exacerbated things. Once step at a time. I'll post up how I go.

Piece of piss like you say. A wide pallet knife is a good thing for this job. There are 4 clips top and bottom and you use the knife to lift up / down the vent and it pops off and slides out.

and they're gone.

Same colour as mine. Gunmetal. Red calipers are for try hards. If you want to show off with brakes, then get some APs or Alcons. Otherwise stick with STD. Just tidy them up. My 2c.

And roll an ATM lol

And cross fingers lol

I guess the OP has a GTR, so if it were me I'd get the engine out, get an extended and baffled sump, get the front subframe out and widen the front track, remove the 4ws, replace hoses, get an ally rad, an oil cooler, some good oil water temp gauges, oil pressure too. I'd put in a very safe tune and limit power. Not sure about brakes. Perhaps fronts only? Suspension, just go Tein SS from Yahoo and whiteline roll bars. Get it aligned by some who knows. Then go do.

Thanks guys. Anything more specific?

DJR, I'm not sure what advice to offer? Yes, it's a heart ache and yes it's a beautiful thing (GTR fiddling). I guess my point is that it doesn't have to be that hard. Preserve the engine and drive around weaknesses in suspension, driveline, and brakes until they're sorted. Yes, you may break things and yes you won't be fast, but that's kinda tough. I agree with other comments here in that unless you have a lot to spend then you're going to be wanting getting a well turned out GTR to go reliably fast. Perhaps the GTST route is better......but I've not gone that way myself. And it's cost me....

I want you to open these photos with the 'Oh Yeah' song by Yello from Ferris Buller's Day off, in your head........Eat your heart out hellaflush crew. Trouble is they RUB. Yes, 18 x 9.5 +22 rubs. Front is too low, but.....the back rubs too. What do you know eh? It's either up the height or.....wait for it.....roll the guards. Hope it ain't the latter, but I'm in love with these rims and they've got to fit somehow....

None of this stuff is any good if you have a blown motor. I know through bitter experience. I'd be spending my cash on reliability / oil control mods first, doing the best I could with all the other things and feeling my way into it and upgrading as time and money allow. The upgrade journey is fun. Worst than can happen (outside of your engine blowing) is you're not 'fast'. The improvement of which is something to look forward to with each mod and increased experience. My car does 1.25 (fast enough considering 400rwkw dedicated track cars in very good hands do 1.16) at Sandown in my hands which means it's got at least 5 seconds in it in the right hands, and it's an easy street car (bit loud, but then again I'm old), if not a daily. So, if I was to pick from DJRs list I'd start with the motor.

Got these back from the powdercoaters today and I think they look sensational. 18 x 9.5 +22. Colour is Precious Gunmetal Kinetic. The colour and look is very similar to the finish on the standard R32 GTR rim, although having reviewed the post they look much lighter in the photos than they are in the flesh. I'm getting them wrapped up in some 265/35 Khumo KU36s this arvo. Can't wait to see them on the car(s). Hope you like.

you're next in line as that's the second firm offer.

They would be fine for road use, on the proviso you know that they are hard and therefore going to be generally poor, terrible in the wet and not advised for high speed work. If you're talking for doing normal street duties and you take care, then no problem. End disclaimer They're taken for now but if it falls through I'll be sure to let you know.

Guys, got a new one of these as my original collapsed. Is there a trick to getting these unit out and in? Looks like there are some clip in tabs and you just push it into place and these clips self locate? By this logic I'll need a pallet knife to release these on the old unit that's coming out? Is any adhesive required / expected? Any help that can be offered would be great. Hopefully a simple job.

A tyres for beer exchange has been arranged for Saturday. Unless this falls through, these are taken.

Cheers. So about 1 degree neg.