Run-It-Hard

I received an SMS from Benny today about a wing that was on SAU. So I checked it out and after looking at the original photos I PM’d the seller. A few hours later I was at his doorstep picking up this cool looking rear spoiler and a few other pieces (more on that later). I asked the original owner if he had any photos of it installed, but I had no luck. So I’ve got no idea what this wing is, or what it looked like on a car. A did a quick mock-up on my 33 tonight and it looks pretty cool. If I get a chance this weekend I’ll bolt it onto the boot lid. Best of all, I bought it for $30! Winging!

Part of the new turbo setup arrived today. Here’s the mighty Garret GT3076R struttin’ it’s stuff. While were at it, here’s the Tial waste-gate too. All I’m waiting on now is the manifold from New Zealand which should be here in a few days.

SOLD!

Hey guys, I'm after a HKS intake cam gear. We have VCT disabled on my new engine and I have an exhaust gear off my old engine. Located in NSW, happy to buy interstate. Cheers, Adam.

PM'd.

With the engine setup out of the way. It was time to source a clutch that will handle the abuse I’ll undoubtedly give it for many years to come. My first prefference was an ORC twin plate item. I had one of the Ogura clutches in the MX-5 and I loved it. I beated on it like no tomorrow and it never batted an eyelid (not that it has eyelids, but you know). Unfortunately I couldn’t find any used ORC clutches anywhere, and I didn’t really want to fork out $1500+ for one. So I kept looking for a suitable candidate. A little bit of searching on Yahoo found me this Nismo tilton twin plate which was used for a mere 5000km. While I was at it, I also ordered a KTS clutch pivot ball to replace the standard item. Can never be too safe!

Ok so is it a S2 spoiler? got any pics?

what spoiler is it?

got a S2 rear spoiler?

Now I’ve made the decision of starting fresh, I was stuck on whether to run the same turbo setup or not. I’ve never owned a car with gate, and as we all know, bitches love gate. I advertised my current tubro on SAU at a price I’d be happy with and a deposit was put down the day after. Nice! looks like I’m changing setups after all. The old setup was a Garret GT3071R, standard manifold, split dump pipe and a 4 inch intake. The new setup is the following: Garret GT3076R .82 rear housing Tial wastegate V band dump pipe High mount manifold The manifold of choice is actually off Ebay, yeah we’ve all heard horror stories of cheap shit manifolds from EBay cracking, like Yuan’s manifold on his 180SX. But this doesn’t look like a bad bit of gear. Being mild steel I guess it’ll be easier to fix too. The JPP R33 skyline has been running the same manifold for a couple of months now with no issues at all (pumping out over 450hp with it too). I know it’s only been a few weeks, but I can’t wait to drive this car again!

Every time I’m on the net, I’m always chatting to my man Benny. What Benny likes to do when he’s surfing the interwebs is look for wheels. He is probably the biggest wheel whore I know. I think he has like 3 sets and 4 pairs now or something. Anyway, when we chat I always ask him to find me wheels for shits and giggles. He always manages to find dope wheels that tempt both of us to make the purchase. So last week we were doing our thing and he found a set of Super Star – Leon Hardiritt Waffe wheels on Yahoo, Ben sent me the link then saying “You’re going to hate me”. I open the link, see some dope Super Star wheels in offsets that’ll work on both the Stagea and Skyline (with widebody). As for the price, let’s just say landed, you’d be hard pressed to buy a set of Rotas. Probably something unheard of with Super Star wheels to go so cheap. In saying that, they do need a bit of cleaning up/have some gutter rash. Actually I did see a set of Leon Hardiritt Ordens (The best wheels ever!) in S chassis offsets go for a little more then these did. Mind you they tempted me so so bad and I probably would of gone with them if I wasn’t to go widebody on the R33. The waffe wheels will probably be the Stagea’s new shoes for a while until I get my widebody rear guards on the R33. With that in mind, I went on a hunt for some coilovers. I then stumbled across these suckers. Here’s hoping they get the Stagea nice and low to the pavement with minimal fuss. Now the wait begins!

Going back a little here, just been hard pressed for time to update the blog. With Wakefield Matsuri two weeks away, we were in quite a rush to get the Skyline running properly. The plan of attack was to swap out the oil pump and hope that fixes the oil pressure problem. With help from Anthony (who drives a sick 180SX) and John we managed to swap one out within a Saturday. After bolting it back together, I flicked the key and the RB25 cranked to life. Unfortunately it was still running low oil pressure, so we were back at square one. A few days later I went over the R33 again and noticed the oil was a milkshake colour. So this happened. Nick, Paulie and I managed to get the engine back together on Friday night, the night we planned to leave for Matsuri. Crank it over and there’s just too many issues worth fixing. It was late and I pulled the pin. We ended up getting to our hotel in Goulburn around 2am that night. Anyway, after replacing the headgasket and oil pump it is still running low oil pressure. Next step would be the bearings but I’m over fault finding. The plan of attack now is a new engine, more on that later.

Deposit taken!

Hey guys, Looking to sell my turbo as a kit, as I'm going for a new engine setup. The following is included in the kit: Garret GT3071R (unsure on exact specs) internal gate Standard manifold with spacer welded on it 4 inch intake with K&N filter (will need to modify if you are running an AFM) all lines intercooler piping off turbo split dump pipe. (mounts up to a HKS 3.5 inch exhaust perfect) Turbo was purchased in late 07 by the looks of things (reciepts from old owner) and I believe it was installed in 08. Minimal shaft play, great condition. Only selling it all is because the current engine has shitted a bearing. So I've got a rebuilt engine on the way and I'd like a slightly bigger turbo with some external gate goodness. Willing to do a trade on a 3076 + cash or what not. The car made 240rwkw on 14psi with this set up (on a hot day too). It's a great package, and really fun to drive with. Located in Liverpool region, NSW. Will ship at buyers expence. Still bolted upto the car at the moment, will remove prior to purchase. Looking for $1600 ono. I'm willing to sell my HKS super dragger 3.5inch catback exhaust too in the package for $1800 firm. Thanks, Adam.

I used to have pretty good teeth up until this year. I've started grinding on them when I'm asleep. Now they are all ground down and shit.

I'm not too sure at this stage. As it'll idle normally for a few seconds then start hunting (hovering around 1-2000rpm). I was watching it and it seemed to start building pressure. Then a minute or so later it would start loosing pressure. If the oil pressure is still a prick, I'll be having another look at the pickup. If that doesn't fix it then I give up! Stupid cars!

lol, yeah I was talking about the dowel, stupid me. Anyway, managed to get it all back together on the friday night. Fired it up and it was hunting for idle so we pulled the pin and headed out without my 33. Got home yesterday afternoon, pulled the throttle body and intercooler piping off and saw that the plenum was missing those little rubber gaskets. might fix that this week if I get the chance, then see what happens I spose.

That's normal. The hotter the engine is, the more oil will thin out resulting in less oil pressure. So on a cold start oil pressure will be very high. On operating temp it'll probably be around a quater of what the pressure is on cold start.

There's a little missing before this post, but when I get a chance I'll do some updates to the blog. I've been rushing around franticly to get out to Matsuri this Saturday! So, managed to get the head off tonight. Suspisions confirmed, headgasket is a goner. Interesting reason towards it though. I don't know how, or why it would happen. But the head and block have been elongated in two parts (both on the passenger side). I'm guessing snapped head bolts or what not. So it makes me think why the head has been off in the first place. The piston tops look amazingly clean for a suspected 140k engine ... hmm. Anyway, so the holes were elongated and a inner ring was placed in there to fill the new OD. But whoever has fitted this has also elongated the head gasket to suit. The photo below is probably where it failed, as it's right next to the water/oil jackets. So yeah as soon as we pulled the head gasket off and touched the enlongated part, the copper washer built into the gasket fell out. So the plan of attack is to get another pair of inner rings in the same dimensions, cut two down to suit the block and leave the current two in the head. That way it'll still bolt together without needing to chop up the head gasket. I need to get this car back together by tomorrow night if I have any chance of getting to Matsuri. Fit inner rings, headgasket etc. Reassemble head Install manifolds correct timing change fluids a few times to get all the shit out of the system Skids Wish me luck boes!

So, managed to get the head off tonight. Suspisions confirmed, headgasket is a goner. Interesting reason towards it though. I don't know how, or why it would happen. But the head and block have been elongated in two parts (both on the passenger side). I'm guessing snapped head bolts or what not. So it makes me think why the head has been off in the first place. The piston tops look amazingly clean for a suspected 140k engine ... hmm. Anyway, so the holes were elongated and a inner ring was placed in there to fill the new OD. But whoever has fitted this has also elongated the head gasket to suit. The photo below is probably where it failed, as it's right next to the water/oil jackets. So yeah as soon as we pulled the head gasket off and touched the enlongated part, the copper washer built into the gasket fell out. So the plan of attack is to get another pair of inner rings in the same dimensions, cut two down to suit the block and leave the current two in the head. That way it'll still bolt together without needing to chop up the head gasket. Thanks for all your help Joey, legend!

can't read your post bro, can you make it big and bold please? kthnx.

I think you're onto something mate! Going to rip the head off tonight and see what happens.

doesn't look like there is oil in the coolant, but I've probably run the car for 5 minutes max. Oil is milky looking in the oil cooler, and lines. So I'd presume if I were to drain it, it would all be milky.

Took the oil cooler off last night. Made no difference. I then noticed the oil in the cooler being a funky brown colour ... can a blown head gasket cause a pressure drop?

New pump is in, but it didn't sort the issue. So I've pulled out of Matsuri and I'm expecting to either replace, or rebuild the engine at this stage. Alloy rad was a champ, didn't go over 90 degrees but then again I wasn't giving it too much stick either.