Shoota_77

Stunning car! Good luck with the sale.

No issues with using them but you're dead right, don't touch them with your fingers, use gloves. The acids in your skin/sweat can cause a reaction with the metal and in time weaken them. I'd imagine it would be pretty rare that a failure could be atributed to it but better to be safe than sorry!

Sorted out the alternator today. It's just a 120 amp Maxima alternator. $95 delivered off Ebay so a cheap option! As a tensioner I used a spare (RB26) power steering tensioner and just chopped it up a bit and drilled an extra hole. It's not show car worthy but quick and easy. Once I paint it up it will look a bit nicer- And after an amazingly long time, she's home! Albeit temporarily while I finish off the wiring. It will need to go in an out a few more times to get everything right.

Engine and transmission now mounted to the k-frame, the string hanging from above is to align the k-frame to the car so hopefully the car drops directly in line with the engine- Transfer going on-

Not a lot of visual progress, it's like the last month of building a new house, it's when a lot of the fiddly stuff gets done but it's hard to see any sign of it! Still fiddling with wiring and mounting all of the new sensors. Also playing with an affordable alternator option (Nissan Maxima 120amp) will post details once sorted. Alternator was only $95 so hopefully it all works! Pretty new BOV hoses- Gave my headlights a run on the buff, need more of a sanding to get rid of ultra fine cracks but the improvement is incredible! Tipped over the engine and poured as much oil into the oil pump and inner oil galleries as possible to help with initial start-up and priming oil system. I should have popped the champers at this point as this is the first time in about 3 1/2 years that the engine has been off the engine stand!!! Seemed like a significant moment! Dog was thrilled... God it's a shame to hide these things, such a work of art! Obviously put in a new spigot bush while I was at it. Feels like progress! On a side note the shed is getting a little more comfortable every day, now have the footy and Netflix, I think my wife is getting nervous I could be moving out here soon... Shit the bench is a brothel.

The pics are still there, just click on the links.

I agree with Duncan, let's lay off the sarcasm. Forums are about helping each other, not making them too embarrassed to ask what to some is an obvious question, to others is not.... If he's clearly asked the same question before and been given the same answer then yes I agree, it can be a little annoying.

Front bar is 400r, side skirts are something else. Waaay too Batman looking for me that whole concept. Each to their own!

I've ordered an Aquamist HFS-3.1 which has all of the fail safes built in as standard. It also operates differently to the other kits in that it runs at constant pressure and operates by opening a fast acting valve to release the pressure to the jet. Time will tell how well it works!

320kw. Engine bay is gunna look a million bucks after a paint. That bitch is filthy!

Sell it and buy another Toyota then? Or ditch the AWD and throw a 2JZ in it. I had an N1 oil pump. I didn't limiter bash. It died. I'd flick it while you have the chance. At the very least whack a set of billet gears in it for a bit of extra protection.

Thanks for the kind words! Your engine bay looks very nice! Very clean. I always use heaps of rubber grease when I'm installing o-rings or seals so hopefully no fuel leaks for me!

Had a bit of a play around with mounting the Haltech coils today. Not sure if this is the way it'll end up but it should do for now! Couldn't decide on the direction to face the coils so ended up going with symmetry! There were only certain ways they could face so they didn't hit anything so it'll have to do for now until a better option comes up.

Finished off the transfer case today (finally...). Ended up stripping my spare transfer case to use the housing as the broken chain had almost completely chewed through the housing. It can't be far off going right through. New housing - Stuffed housing (you can see the groove which is 3 or 4 mm deep)- Comparison - Set-up the discs in the alternating driven/friction pattern. With a bit of trial and error (luckily had 3 sets of clutch packs to choose from) managed to get the right clearance once assembled. Was a bit of a mission but with the right tools and some patience it's a job that someone with slightly above average mechanical skills could have a crack at. Some progress and final product shots - Now back to the wiring.... Faaark!

I've already got the doc to whack a knot in it a few months ago so I can run around the paddock without any mishaps! You definitely had a bad trot mate but at least you had someone to blame. When mine f**ks up I've got no one to blame but myself! 100% accountability! Mine is far from a great build mate but hopefully showing some the basic stuff I'm doing (which no doubt bores the more advanced readers) helps motivate people to have a go at it themselves. It's amazing what can be achieved by just having a crack! Start on small stuff and grow as your skills and importantly confidence improve.

Thanks! Yeah the turbo hoses are a pain but so much nicer to look at than the crappy hard lines. Definitely a job I'm glad I did out of the car, props to you for doing it in the car! My shed is my palace, I love it! It's a bloody mess cause I'm a bit of a hoarder but it's so much better than working in a garage where it all started.

Thanks Pete, mate I wish I knew when it would be, it's starting to hurt not driving it! I've got a few days off next week that is purely for working on the car. We'll see how true that is... I've tried before and always seem to get roped into looking after the kids instead...

Thanks guys. I'll post up another vid once I've done enough to justify it... As per the video I fit the cam sensor component of my trigger setup (1/2 Hi Octane, 1/2 Ross. Also fit the balancer for the first time. I'm leaving off all of covers so I can check for leaks and make sure the cam belt is all fine once it's up and running As a side note, below is a list of all of the bearings required for a transfer case rebuild. Ignore the last bearing on the list as that's the A/C tensioner pulley bearing that I pressed out and replaced ($7.60 instead of $160 to replace the whole pulley...) In addition to the bearings every seal in the transfer case came to about $130 (genuine). So all up around $200 in seals and bearings to reco it. I'll be reusing the clutch plates and adding some spares I have to change the friction/driven plate combo. Obviously it would add extra $$ to replace those too. Farken wiring...

I thought I'd do something a bit different this post and do a quick video update instead of photos. I did the video unscripted and pretty late last night so hopefully I don't sound like a complete nuffy! One thing I discovered is I really hate the sound of my voice! Anyway, see what you think. If general consensus is that it's shit then I promise to never do it again!

Ripped the K-frame out so I can install the engine and tranny from underneath. There's so many things that need painting or cleaning but I'm trying to get it done rather than this turning into a full restoration at the same time. I know I should but I want to get it up and running and if I can be bothered going back later for a resto then great! I learnt on a previous Datto Ute (not my current one) that if you get too deep sometimes you can get so far into it you feel like you're drowning and give up. I'm still painting heaps of stuff don't get me wrong but stopping short of going the whole hog. Some things I'm just doing a quick blow over with some paint to tidy up for now which is a bit rough but meh! Anyway, a few picks of the car sans K-Frame and front hubs-

Check the seat pressures VERY carefully. A lot of the Jap branded springs are pretty light. The BC (Brian Crower) have good pressures and well priced. I'm sure there're others that are good too.

Selector has to come off. There is a double roll pin (smaller roll pin inside a bigger pin!) Knock the small one out first, then the bigger one. Don't try and take both out at once. You need to slide off the selector AS you're removing the transfer case. They need to be separated a bit first to allow room for it to slide off the selector shaft.

Finally sorted out my turbo oil drains. Was a pain in the arse to get right. I wanted to have both drains going back in to the main oil return but it was just too hard. I ended up using one of the extra AN fittings I had welded onto the sump. I recommend anyone doing an RB30 conversion to do the same. It turned out fairly neat in the end. My poor AN fittings got a bit scuffed from having to remove them a few times. Almost worked like this but sat a tiny bit too low and hit the drive shaft- I tried a 45 degree angle but that then lined everything up with the exhaust so back to the drawing board! Ended up like this with individual drains. All flows nicely now with good angles, still had to angle everything to keep it away from exhaust and other components-

Thanks for the very kind words. Yeah it's been a bloody drawn out process I know! Getting pretty close now so it'll all be worth it soon (I hope!!). I will be pooping washers when it comes time to hit the key for the first time!

Started stripping the wiring loom to rewire it for the new ECU plugs and to add the additional sensors. With the terminals backed out oof the ECU connector it looks a bit like Medusa's hair do! Unfortunately the terminals are different in the new plugs (Deutsch style) so I'll have to chop them all off and re-crimp on the new ones. I want to try and neaten the wiring up a bit but can't really see a way to do it. I'll run a few wires inside the guards but most will just stay as they are. Ripped the transfer case off the gearbox and was going to just give it a wash and bolt it on to the new tranny but thought "nah, I'll f#$k my brain even more and rebuild the transfer case while I'm at it. In hind sight it was bloody lucky! This is the reason why, when I separated the cases this fell out of the bottom- Which when I pulled it all down resulted in this- Potentially it was gunna go boom at some point! It was well and truly due for a rebuild (gravelly bearings, blocked filter, bloody filthy etc) so glad I decided to do it now. It took me a good half a day to clean everything up to be ready to be reassembled but she's good to go once the new bearings and seals arrive. I'll be playing around with the plates as well to do the "transfer case mod" as it's known. I've got a spare set of discs (and a chain luckily!) so hopefully that makes a nice difference.