Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Bought a cheap stocko gts4 sedan in april last year, it had a slipping clutch and a few other issues. was originally going to be a stockish daily driver as I have an R31 coupe that's a bit harsh and peaky for a daily.

Fitted some 32 gtr v-spec bbs wheels I had bought for another project and never used, tidied up the interior a bit. drove it for a couple of months until I discovered a leaking brake master, and 1/3rd of the exhaust manifold studs had snapped so decided to take it off the road for a while for a tidy up. typically it snowballed and ended up taking much more time and money than originally planned. I decided I'd played enough with rb20s and didn't really want to buy a house just yet.......so I picked up an r32 rb26 and it went from there

How it looked last year

100_2430.jpg

and today....where did all that money go??

100_2764.jpg

Rb20 being pulled apart to be removed

100_2498.jpg

Engine out, bit of a mess

100_2504.jpg

100_2520.jpg

New engine

100_2522.jpg

Being 20 years old, it needed a bit of a spruce up, fitted new gaskets and coolant hoses to the intake side, exhaust side got new studs, gaskets, water pipes etc.

Didn't want to use 20 year old ceramic turbos so saved up some more coin and picked up a pair of garrett 2860-7's along with a trust combined dump/front pipe.

100_2726.jpg

100_2721.jpg

Engine bay got some tlc

100_2726.jpg

100_2733.jpg

And then it slowly started to go back together

100_2740.jpg

gtr calipers fitted with new rda rotors and qfm a1rm pads

100_2756.jpg

100_2754.jpg

And now today its drivable again. still a few things to do here and there.

100_2772.jpg

100_2773.jpg

100_2771.jpg

100_2765.jpg

For anyone looking at putting a 26 into a gts4, its a very easy conversion, just an awful lot of work. It would have been easier to pick up a gtr, but it probably would have recieved a similiar amount of work, and it was easier to start with a 4k car than something of similiar age and condition for 15+. The wiring is all plug and play, except for the ignitor pack, which just needs to be wired into the black 8 pin plug on the pass side strut tower. The cooler holes are center punched ready to drill. I swapped the sump from the rb20 onto the 26 to keep the gts4 diff ratio. The fiddliest bit was trimming the front bar to fit around the intercooler.

long term I plan to put a gtr bonnet, grill and front bar on, and I have a rear wing in the shed to go on. Would love to eventually have it repainted in the r32 silver.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/308990-r32-gts4-sedan-project/
Share on other sites

Thanks for the comments

Regarding the suspension I removed the original shocks and springs, put in the nismo s-tune stuff that you can see in the photos, which is about 30mm lower. Purchased a set of selbys swaybars recently, fitted the front last week, need to do the rear when I get time. Put a hicas lock bar in the rear with new rack ends, thats about it, the rest is standard.

  • 5 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Cheers for the comments guys

engine bay images look good as well. how much cleaning and paint did you use to do that?

Engine bay was nothing fancy. I took everything out, pressure washed to remove all the muck then degreased/washed a few times. Gave it a good sand with flexible sanding pads, washed then grease/wax remover, etch primed any bare metal. Paint is epoxy enamel out of a spraycan. Its a bit ghetto but it gives a good finish for an engine bay and is bloody tough. used two cans.

This is a hr31 I did with the same type of paint a couple of years back.

100_1749.jpg

100_1796.jpg

Edited by Dave R31

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Nice, thanks for sharing your progress....that's a pretty long list you are putting into it!
    • Decided to upgrade my pressurised plastic coolant expansion tank for a fancy pants alloy version The OEM versions can get brittle, even the new plastic one I got when I first got the car is a starting to show signs of "stress" I wasn't cheap, but it is basically unbreakable
    • Morning all, I have an RB25DET Neo that's in need of a rebuild. Will need new pistons etc due to detonation damage. Would anyone be able to recommend a shop in Southeast Queensland who I could bring my long motor to for a rebuild? Just want someone who knows RBs and whos built a bunch of them before. TLDR - recommended engine shops for RB rebuild.
    • Gday Thought it was about time I started a build thread! As expected this project has snowballed into a huge financial liability, but unless you’re strong willed and responsible, it’s not a surprise. Background -  My first turbo car was an R32 GTS-4, got my full license and then totalled my Au Falcon a week later, so while trying to sell my RMZ450 dirtbike to buy another car a bloke offered to swap the R32 which at the time I felt like I was ripped off but looking back and seeing prices of those now ($40kish) it was a good deal, I didn’t know enough about these cars to appreciate what I had so sold it before the RB20 blew up. Between here and there, out of 12 cars I’ve owned the note worthy ones are a V8 Lexus SC400 (soarer), a couple of XR6 Turbos and my beloved S15 which I had for about 3 years, picked it up for $12500, repairable write off but she was fine, gun metal grey/pewter and bone stock/unmolested until I got my hands on it. Ended up spending about the value of the car and 280kw, 2 demerit points by the time I got defected and sold it for $14500 (also $40kish in today’s market, rip) Fast forward to the present day, I’m in a much better position financially and daily an MQ Triton (great cars, pipe down Ranger Bois), I cruised marketplace and car sales for a few months looking for another R32, the best deal I could find was an absolute rust bucket half finished project for $12000, until this R33 popped up in Port Macquarie for $18k - unregistered and barely running but decent shape, kept an eye on it for a few weeks and the price steadily dropped, $16k then $15k then $14k, that was the point where I was like shit someone’s gonna snatch this up! It was owned by a young bloke who had big plans but him and his missus just had a baby so smartest move financially for them but big gain for me. So 2 days later I’m towing a car trailer to pick this thing up. Roughly 2 weeks and $3500 later I’m cruising around Newcastle in my beat up R33 all smiles and dose noises! It only needed some basic shit to get it going, coil packs and air flow meter, electrical stuff and all fluids changed, 158k kms and running pretty good, nice smooth engine after oil and coolant flush - when I say coolant I mean it had been filled up with tap water, every gallery and heater element was filled with rust, 8-9 flushes later and still had brown liquid coming out but she’ll be right. The car was painted R34 Bayside Blue at some point but whether it was a cheap job or just not looked after is anyone’s guess, clear coat flaking like sausage roll.  Was rethinking my choices and contemplating life, had it up for sale for $22k - still cheaper than any registered R33 but got little interest, next minute I had an opportunity at work - 6 months overseas for good money, so that was a no brainer, fast forward again and here we are with a 50% finished project. Current Mods - 200ish KW according to butt dyno Was tuned with Apexi PowerFC EBC (old school Greddy Profec)  Stock turbo (more shaft play than a Tinder date gone right) 3inch turbo back Varex muffler  Aftermarket injectors of mystery size, Power FC showed 36% duty cycle at full boost so not behd good size Someone had good intentions but stuck with the stock R33 MAF so we had misfires at 6000rpm due to the MAF hitting 5.2V So far I’ve redone the entire interior with carpet form Car Mats Direct, new Seats and steering wheel from Autotechnica, also sound system by Autobarn (mainly Kicker) Also MCA pro comfort coil overs - Hands down best purchase yet, worlds of improvement over the tired 30yrold shocks Goals - 450kw/600hp on flex tune New paint job - Midnight Purple 2 Engine is at the shop getting rebuilt with forged rods a pistons, new valves and springs, ATI Harmonic balancer, Aeroflow 7.5L sump, rear head drain and oil restrictors as per oil control thread* and cam covers modded for larger breathers, other stuff I can’t recall of the top of my head Parts purchased and to be installed once the engine is done -  Engine loom from Wiring Specialties including these options: Haltech Nexus S3 R35 Coil pack conversion  PRP Dual Trigger kit Fan controller  Other Parts -  262 Kelford Cams Turbo - Hypergear ATR43SS3-ProS with T51R mod (whistly boi) 6 boost manifold (high mount) 50mm Turbosmart Pro gate (plumbed back for legal reasons) HKS Super Turbo Exhaust with High Flow Cat Custom 3.5inch dump and front pipe 1500cc Bosch injectors  Fuel Pump walbro 525 Haltech MAP and IAT sensors Haltech Flex Sensor Fenix Radiator with dual thermo fans LS1 Alternator Kit Oil Filter Relocation from EFI solutions and Cooling pro oil cooler Many other things sitting in my garage waiting for that engine to come back. Progress pics to follow -  
    • Losses have to be less with DC coupling. Provided the battery inverter has decent MPP tracking ability - which really shouldn't be a problem. It's not 2005 any more.
×
×
  • Create New...