Duncan

On an rb26, when the belt is on correctly and the crank pulley mark is aligned with the oil pump mark, when fitted the harmonic balancer would be at 0o timing. I don't know if an rb25 neo has marks that start at 0 or not. Some engines start at 10o etc, and required base timing is different too (noting that can be set in some aftermarket ECUs anyway) Assuming your balancer is in good condition, it does not matter where the balancer timing mark ends up when you assemble it. You can and should freely rotate the engine once the belt is on. The harmonic balancer is located by the woodruff key in the crank. If you want, you can turn the engine with the balancer on and something soft in cylinder 1 spark plug hole to determine actual TDC. It is possible for the outside of a balancer to fail and spin relative to the inside because it is just 2 parts glued together with rubber. If the outside of your balancer turns independently to the crank after installation it is NFG and needs to be replaced.

The R32 GTR manual explains the process, but you are thinking of it backwards. The belt does not determine the pulley locations. Put the crank and cam pulleys aligned to the marks as best you can, then put the belt on. The tensioner needs to be pulled out of the way using the allen key slot. Once the belt is on release the tensioner and turn the crank at least twice to set the right tension, then tighten the tensioner nut. It is pretty hard to get the teeth wrong, just go with it. Once the engine is running use a timing light to set the base timing (RB25 is different to rb26) and it will all be good to go.

Firstly, don't worry about replacing the oil pump. I thought from the first post that pic on a stand was your engine but I think it was just and example. Unless you have some reason to suspect an oil pump problem, leave it there, because as you say the only practical way to change it is engine out. You would only change an oil pump when rebuilding an engine and checking out the rest of the oiling system at the same time. Regarding timing. Yes you have to be careful, but on the other hand it's not black magic and the timing marks are there for a reason. Yes, you can use a something through the spark plug hole to find TDC for cylinder 1. Ideally something with a plastic not metal end but even then a screwdriver is a pretty common choice. What you CANT do, is turn the crank or cams a significant way without a timing belt on. RBs are interference engines which means if the crank turns without the cams (or vice versa), the pistons will hit the valves. So, any adjustment you make to either crank or cams by more than a few degrees, do it slowly (watching for resistance suggesting a valve is impacted) and evenly across the engine and both cams. The timing marks show you with reasonable accuracy that the crank and cams are at TDC1. You don't need more than that for a timing belt install because once they are the right relative position and the belt is on, the engine (top and bottom) is safe to turn as required and you just set the base timing by adjusting the crank angle sensor. Basically....you are overthinking this issue. If the second and 3rd pic in the first post are from your engine the cams are 1-2 teeth out, just turn them back into place. Assuming the crank is the same (few degrees out), just turn it back too and put the belt on.

It sure sounds like a lost turbo wheel if it idles and drives OK off boost but won't make boost. As you don't have a cat you are unlikely to ever find the missing wheel. Having an intercooler pipe blow off or split is another potential cause and can sound terrible, but the car almost always won't start or idle in this case. Best to carefully check each large intake pipe before you start pulling turbos off, as well as obvious failures like pipes not being connected there can be harder to identify issues like splits under hose clamps for example. Least likely but still possible is you've had an engine problem at the same time, eg broken ring lands. A compression test will tell you if there is a problem but again this is unlikely if it starts and idles OK. If it is a turbo wheel coming off I have heard of engine damaging resulting but have never seen it personally. Apparently ceramic from the turbo wheel have more velocity than exhaust gases and can travel through the open exhaust valve into a cylinder, scoring it badly enough to require on oversize piston rebuild.

nothing like that easy, the whole front end is different between 2wd and 4wd for both GTT and Stagea. If you want a 4wd R34, best to source a gts4.

Lumleys. I've never had to claim but sevice and price are good

pretty sure the MAF is 5v not 12 so NFG. Also pretty sure haltech stopped selling smartwire because they sell nexus now, and dont support their old products. you should be able to get one more eaily from racepack in the us anyway. I don't know how much power the WB heater draws. I used a separate 10a circuit from the smartwire which is of no use to you

sure...but not for long in the scheme of things. having said that my race car is 30 years old this year, and the average age of an improved production field is even worse

I don't run the haltech WB but I do have platinum pro, io expander (because you need it for e85 sensor in RBs), can expander, smartwire, IC3 and IQ7 dash. As I understand it the only trick with the WB module is you need to use a separate 12v and earth due to the current the WB heater draws, whereas all other CAN devices can run off the internal ECU power supply (which is why they supply that adapter cable with the 12v and earth running off them. Yes the CAN plug is different from Plat Pro to Elite, but if you put the adapter first (as you have above in the pic), I'm pretty sure you can then run the more convenient Elite style CAN hub with the DTM-4 connectors; the protocol is the same only the plugs are different. And yes, when you order IC7 you can choose either OBD (which you don't have with Plat Pro unless you've added it) or Haltech CAN (DTM-4)

Looks like a tough interpretation of rules considering likely % of total emissions from race cars, but I guess we all need to do our bit. On the bright side it only seems to affect internal combustion engines, so electric cars should be fine

what sort of motorsport are you doing to need anti-lag, and what other features are you looking for to suit eg track logging, launch control, traction control etc? Seems to me that PowerFC is the "best" ECU for almost all RB applications given its price and simplicity. You only need something more expensive if you have particular feature needs.

No, it wont turn.

Yeah I'm not an expert in this sort of issue, best to talk to the engine shop. But I understand if you bottom out a stud in it's hole this could be possible, same if there was some sort of fluid in the bottom of the hole under the stud. I would have thought twisting under power issue would show up between cylinders middle/rear of the engine...if so time for a shiny purple block brace...

any theory on the cause of the cracking? were you running ARP head studs? how was it torqued down?

Is your bonnet open? Most likely a fuse blew with the wiring issue (no detail supplied, so an educated guess), suggest checking them all first.

interesting. R32 workshop manual says the actuator starts opening under direct pressure at 0.8 bar / 12 psi (EN-24)

In other news, I installed the english conversion from our russian friends this evening. Reasonably straightforward with the manual to show where to start and where the hidden clips are. Simply unclip some panels (hopefully finding the few screws rather than breaking the trim), the unplug a couple of plus, then as they say, assembly is the reverse of disassembly Here is the rear of the japanese (left) and english units....15 (yes 15!) on the japanese unit and a mere 9 on the australian one)

Good call, I poked around the US M35h manuals tonight and the Fuga also seems to be as you described above....coolant pump is for the battery active cooling and oil pump is for the auto trans

I don't want to sidetrack your thread too much because it's not specifically about that, but PFC handcontroler has been so successful because it is a cheap and easy display that can be mounted somewhere to keep an eye on things (as well as the fact you can make adjustments to ECU settings and tune quickly if necessary). That makes it a little different from your product which will need a separate display hardware of some sort. Of course what you are providing is more modern and functionally rich, but the functionality is not identical.

Made some progress on minor improvements to make the car easier to deal with day to day; LED interior and exterior lighting - interior all done (except passenger reading light due to ordering error) and exterior rear (reverse, indicators, rego plate). Exterior front I need to take the front bar off to check globe sizes Deep cycle battery to minimise those annoying "I haven't driven the car for a fortnight and now it won't start" morning - done...switched the odyssey in from the cima. Phone holder/charger etc - pending 4g booster and wifi - done, all tucked up under with parcel tray in the boot, very short antenna on the roof (will see if it makes any difference, coverage is patchy on Syd-Cbr freeway let alone once I start driving home off the freeway) Big light bar to see skippy - ordered a big dual row one....hope it fits / stay tuned.... Larger diameter tyres with a little more grip (came with sucky eco tyres) Power for fridge in the boot I've spent a bit more time in the car last 2 weeks and some of the automation features are growing on me. The distance control assist (DCA) is good in the city but does not always activate so you can't trust it alone, very good is stop/ start or slow flowing traffic. The Lane Control Assist (LCA) is a pain because it activates a little soon, and the warning only (not autonomous) setting is OK but also a pain on rural roads where the centre of the road (where there is open view) is the safest place to be. While poking around in the boot I noticed everything is electric not mechanical. I'd figured the power steer and aircon was electric, but even the water pump and oil pump are (I guess the engine is turning and needs lubrication when it is not running).

Excellent work there! Does the PFC have passthrough for the hand controller? your unit seems to use that port

exactly. you'll never remember where you parked your ute that drunken night until the dam drops below 2 metres.

That is just about right. The thermostat is what Nissan use to set the normal operating temp, so 79-90 is great. I would not be concerned up to 100, and if it went over about 115 it is time to stop. Everything might survive over that but it is getting pretty sketchy. OP, any water temp gauge is fine, they are simple things. You don't even need to mount it really, just have a gauge somewhere you can see it to allay your concerns....because 99% there is nothing wrong with your car's water temps.

yeah that sucks. I was lucky when I had a cam break due to an oil problem, was the second last journal and no piston damage. Did need a new head though. do you know the root cause of the failure yet?

It's probably worth a separate thread, but I'd say that is very interesting. Lots of people running PFC, since nothing has changed about the fact they are a cheap and easy way to tune an RB for 90% of uses. Plus I think they will start to be desirable for the "keep the purity" crowd who want period modifications.