djr81

Despite all available evidence being to the contrary I still maintain that I am not a complete idiot. So, yes I have checked. For track use I would like to run toe out, unfortunately the only two tracks available are quite a way from home, respectively 300 kms for Wanneroo and 80kms for Collie - each way. If the SES runs at Northam next month make it closer to 400kms for that. So I have to run a set up that is manageable for the road. Rear is bugger all anyway. The local shops don't calibrate their wheel alignment equipment, so playing around with 0.5mm increments is largely a waste of time. Pineapples I don't have huge amount of faith in, but are on the list for adjustments - from neutral to less squat. Shocks aren't adjustable - they have been matched to the spring rates. For one I wouldn't mind seeing a histogram from the shock dyno, as I reckon it would be illuminating..... As the post said it has mid corner understeer & push understeer on corner exit. If I can fix the mid corner issue the amount of push being shown will become less of an issue.

2. It is pretty easy to swap over the upper control arms, only 2 bolts. If they are the same series then stick a camber kit in the current car and swap the arms over when the new one arrives. Good call, I will have a look - if the bushes are all contained within a control arm the it should be sweet. I trust the '89 is no different to the 94 on an R32 GT-R. 4. What's the rear hide height? If higher than 345 mm, then worth trying down to a min of 330 mm. They are extemely sensitive to ride height. You should be able to feel the differences, 2-3 mm is noticeable. I went with the settings that arrived on the dampers - haven't fiddled with them. I am a little worried about the rear guard clearance, but 5mm shouldn't hurt. The car looks like this on corner exit. http://www.circlework.com.au/ Then go to the Speedeeventseries on the 18th February, Page 4 - it is the white R32 in the top right hand side of the page. The photo is on exit to the corner coming onto pit straight at Wanneroo - power is down & the front end is pushing pretty hard as you can see. Front camber is woeful... cheers - even bigger grin...

Thanks Gary, Answers as follows: 1. Toe the front out about 2mm each side Basically running very little positive on the front end. Bit worried about what toe out may do on the road. 2. It needs at least 2.5 degrees negative camber on the front to match the 1 degree negative camber on the rear. I am waiting for my 94 to be complied & will put the camber kit into that. At the moment it needs more -ve camber at the front, but I don't want to waste the $500 to do this & then sell the car in a few months. 3. Don't have the front ride height too low, around 350 mm is as low as I would go. They can easily run out of travel. Ride height is set at 350mm as recommended. 4. All the fast circuit race GTR's have zero rake (ie; they are NOT nose down). The roll centre is much higher at the rear than the front, if you run it nose down, that just makes the difference greater. This causes the excessive roll to the outside front tyre. Match the roll centre more closely and you don't get that. See answer to #3. 5. You could stiffen up the front bar to fix #4 but it may lead to corner entry understeer as you don't get that initial bite from the weight transfer. Try the ride height first, then maybe try increasing the front bar setting just to be sure you have some logic to the adjustment process. Might try lowering the rear ride height, just hope I dont end up with too much -ve camber....

Um, no hadn't tried that. Can I ask for the reasoning why? I had thought of going back to the stock front, but it is hollow & hence I can't get a feel for the difference between it & the Whiteline 22dia solid bar. If it was solid it would be about 70% the stiffness which is about right assuming each adjustment on the sway bar is approx 5 - 10 %. Unfortunately Whiteline don't make a 20mm dia front bar for an R32... What are you running in terms of suspension Richard?

You are right in what you are saying, but I suppose like any suspension fiddling it is a matter of degrees. obviously more front end grip is a better fix than less rear end grip. That is in part why I was looking for a softer front sway bar- I thought about 20mm diameter would do the trick. I have wound the castor rods up as far as they will go, so there is no more castor to be had. Yep it does need more -ve camber at the front end, but the difference between the kits isn't huge & I am not sure it will make sufficient difference in any case. Wanneroo has two large radius 180 degree corners where slow in fast out doesn't really work - it isn't really a point and squirt circuit. Apart from mid corner understeer, power on understeer is killing my lap times. Has any one run the complete Whiteline kit on track with R compounds?

Russ, Do you have the spring package as well as the swaybars? I found the car to be more neutral with the front spring rates lower than the rears (I put the sway bars on before I installed the spring package) - which is what you would expect really. Also, what tyres are you running as I found my car was much more prone (willing) to power oversteer with street tyres rather than R compounds. It presently feels like it cannot overcome the available rear grip & hence power on understeer is there in abundance. The ATTESSA system doesn't actually feel to be doing much - the gauge barely moves when punching out of 3rd gear corners. As for alignments: rear toe in is 0.5mm per side (ie not much) front 0.25mm per side (ie even less) Rear camber is -1 degree, front is much the same as I haven't yet fitted the camber kit. I measured the tyre temps after a three lap run at Wanneroo. The track was cold (25 degrees - it was night) but the loaded ie left hand side front was a good ten degrees hotter than the rear. I had thought that if I can find an adjustable 20mm diameter front bat that may do the trick. Cheers Richard

Terminal understeer & damn near terminal frustration. I have fitted the Whiteline suspension kit to my R32 GT-R & unfortunately with the rear sway bar on full hard & the front on full soft the thing still doesn't want to turn. It rides the bumps beautifully (Now that the workshop trimmed the bump stops properly) & puts its power down wonderfully (maybe too well), but as I said it won't turn (HICAS is locked). I have some questions: 1. Can I reasonably revert to the standard front bar (ie 20mm instead of 22 which is about 2/3rds the stiffness assuming both are solid) 2. What (in % terms) is the approximate change in stiffness between the pick up points on the lever arms on the sway bars? 3. Does anyone else supply a softer, adjustable front bar? Anyone running the Whiteline kit on the track (with R compounds) able to help? The part numbers are Springs 73157 front 70191 rear Bars BNF27Z front & BNR26XZ rear.

Justin, You need to match the piston area in the calipers if you are to keep the front/rear bias as is presently is. The Brembos have an area 5300mm2 so look for a caliper that has a number close to that. Bigger pads will help too as the Brembo's pad is basically the same size as the stock R32 pad, ie 116 x 50mm.

No problem, just a pain the arse.

I suspect he may have gotten some bad advice. By all mean use a mineral oil to run the motor in, but once that is over there is no reason not to use a fully synthetic oil, especially on a turbo motor.

Pardon my ignorance, but how does the oil viscosity relate to the likelihood of glazing your cylinders bores?

You only need one.

How much minus wheels & turbo's?

More castor makes the steering heavier, or seen another way makes the power steering pump work harder - hence the heat build up. 16 degrees is a massive amount of castor so be careful. Disabling the HICAS at the rear leaves the oil cooler circuit in place (There is a long post on the just recently) and will let your system run cooler. Just keep in mind the temperatures are mostly the result of the system being asked to do something unnatural....

My plan a was to use an R33 master cylinder to allow for larger piston areas front & rear. Yes it will make for a harder brake pedal, but only 12% by my calculation (ie26.9 sqrd/25.4 sqrd) - so I can fix this by going to the gym. If I then get some cheapoid Brembo rears & match them with some sort of new front caliper with approx 5300mm2 of piston area on a 324 rotor things should be sweet. I would use the front Brembos as well, but they are too expensive & they only use the same size pad as the poverty pack GT-R's. I will just have to trawl around the various shops & find the info/prices. You ever tried asking technical questions of the 17 year old answering the phone? Quote: "I will ring you back" - yeah, sure you will..... The knee point for the R32 GT-R braking system is at 284psi & then a reducing ratio of 0.4. Hence line pressures front & rear are different. This is why I wanted to use the calculated ratio shown earlier rather than express it as a % front to rear braking bias. The numbers are not the same. I have seen some brake upgrades that do wonderful things to the front & nothing to the rears. It actually makes the braking performance worse as the balance is then out. Mostly, from what I understand, for your (lowered, R compound tyred, unladen) road/track car you can usefully run more rear bias than the standard car. For anyone interested there are some very useful articles on www.stoptech.com which I would recommend. And Roy, it is not good form to leave site on your week(s) off and not get on the plane three parts p!ssed. Cheers Richard

Thanks Roy, you are a champ. Now atleast I have a snowballs chance of balancing the thing front to rear. Did some quick calculations: Basically worked out a number that is the front piston area * the rotor diameter divided by rear piston diameter * the rotor diameter. In each case these worked out to be R32 GTS-T 2.11 R33 GTS-T 2.231 R32 GT-R 2.232 R33 GT-R 2.282 So should I try & keep these ratios similar if/when I spend large on new front end brakes?

cheers mate.

Roy, I tried to find the post you mentioned, but failed rather miserably. Can you point me in the irght direction? Cheers

Your best bet may be to find whichever class of racing uses R compounds by way of a control tyre. Over in WA the street sedans use them, not sure who uses what in Queensland but may be worth asking around at the raceway.

Have you had all the wheels aligned?

Adam, you can do it this way quite safely. However... The results aren't as predicatable as you may have been led to believe. The results people get vary from car to car. A better bet is to spend all of $80 or $90 on a Turbosmart bleed valve. That way you can set exactly the boost you want (up to a point). A bleed valve will not always give a straight line boost response. Mine (by way of an example) carries a little more boost lower in the rev range than at the upper end. A properly set up EBC will give you a flat line all the way across the engine rpm - up to the point where either the turbo can't move sufficient air (& the boost will drop off) or the waste gate can't move sufficient air(&the boost will climb).

It is adjustable - so you can set it to whatever you like within a range of about 7 lb to 14lb.

I have owned three GT-R's and never laid a spanner on any of the motors. They are a very strong motor, but like all motors do get tired with age. The reason you see threads about blown RB26's rather than threads about motors not having blown up is that people only seek advice after their engine has gone bang. No one needs to submit a thread starting "My engine has not blown up..." If you want a GT-R don't let the strength of the RB26 be an issue. Before you purchase the car get the engine checked, ie a compression test & a leak down test. Ask the owner for a dyno sheet (If modified) & have a look at the AFR's on the plot. Check out the engine bay for signs of heat stress. Talk to him/her - if he or she is a tool don't buy the car - go somewhere else. IN SHORT BUY A GOOD ONE, NOT A CHEAP ONE.

Does the extinguisher have to be inspected & tagged for your events?