Neil's R33 Gts-t Build

[Duncan]

From there, it was just a quick electrical check, prime the oil and start her up

Which, is not what happened.

1. Bloody seppo Aeropro battery holder. Not only was it too tall for the battery (which I'll forgive them for, I have another battery the same nominal size that is taller than Neil's one, but the bracket is a fixed height so the battery was spaced up) But the thing that really shits me is the hardware to hold it on requires a 7/32 Hex key. WTF. No-one will ever be able to remove or install the damn thing without a hex key they don't own

2. Kill switch no longer worked once the console was installed. Neil mentioned above he had to adjust the length but it no longer cleared the console once installed. Sorted.

3. Suspiciously, the brake light holders were hanging in the boot with no globes. Sure enough the stopper on the brake pedal was missing so they are always on unless the kill switch is activated. Will pick one up tomorrow (turns out 32 and 33 don't use the same stopper)

4. All that sorted, I turned on the kill switch, turned the key to ACC. Nothing. Turned it to IGN. Nothing. Checked some fuses and found the main IGN in the boot was missing which improved things once it was replaced. Now ECU and dash lights turn on with IGN but still no fuel pump.

5. Turned it to Start....ECU on, no fuel pump, no starter. Plus the voltage dropped straight to 9v.  I suspect the starter is f**ked but am going to have to work through it all and see what is happening, really looks like more than one issue.

Does anyone have the R33 fuse box key with the circuit it sources from (eg BAT, ACC, IGN, SRT etc) and supplies? I can find a translated list showing Amps and circuit without supply circuit, and I can find supply circuit without Amps and target circuit.

[MBS206]

Silly question, as I bet you've checked already, but the motor turns over by hand yes?

I suspect Neil has a spare starter, though if not, I believe I have a spare R33 (or two) starter.

[Duncan]

lol yeah I'll check that, reminds me of the LDV thread!  I don't think that is the problem here, the starter doesn't even solenoid click.

I did do a super quick test by removing the starter motor's power cable from the engine bay fuse box and the battery voltage was still 10v, so something super fishy is going on.

BTW here is a R33 fuse box table I threw together from a few sources....use at own risk!

R33 Fuse Box and Sources.xlsx

[MBS206]

Sounds like the solenoid might be cactus, if the solenoid trigger wire was still attached (and it was just the main power to the starter itself remove).

Just to provoke Neil haunting me for the rest of my life... Have you tried tapping it with a hammer while someone switches the key to start?

This might work for the fuel pump too... 😛

Edited February 10 by MBS206

[Duncan]

haha funny enough I did ask him wtf he had been up to with the electrics....but no answer

[The Bogan]

3 hours ago, Duncan said:

haha funny enough I did ask him wtf he had been up to with the electrics....but no answer

I'm sure he has left signs, or, he is looking down, laughing

That's my cunning plan for when I leave, lots of half finished projects, with no rhyme or reason of where I was actually up to, just to keep everyone on their toes

[MBS206]

6 hours ago, The Bogan said:

I'm sure he has left signs, or, he is looking down, laughing

That's my cunning plan for when I leave, lots of half finished projects, with no rhyme or reason of where I was actually up to, just to keep everyone on their toes

He'll be looking down and swearing about "the damn apprentice" for trying to convince Duncan to use percussive maintenance... 😛

 

[Duncan]

Nah he was mega organised, the sort of guy that put (almost) every tool back every day, it made trying to work out where things were up to possible. 

My shed needs a swedish death clean, I would have >20 part done jobs, its particularly hard to collect all required parts for a job ahead of time when you can't just pop into a shop and grab things

[Duncan]

As you can tell from updates....I haven't had a lot of shed time lately.

When I'm on this though, I feel like I'm reliving Neil's last days. Everywhere I go on the car I seem to come across something he was working out.

When I went up to his place just after he passed, I noticed he had a RB starter motor in the vice. And sure enough, this was my shed today

So, last episode I mentioned the battery had 12.4ish volts but when I turn on the kill switch it drops to 9ish volts. Even with the stater main power removed, same.

Matt said above:

On 10/02/2025 at 8:09 PM, MBS206 said:

Sounds like the solenoid might be cactus, if the solenoid trigger wire was still attached (and it was just the main power to the starter itself remove).

And yep, when I removed the solenoid power from the starter, the voltage jumped from 9 back to 11.7ish. Thus my testing the spare starter this arvo. Spare is good to go, just need to throw it in tomorrow.

I'm not convinced that is the only issue as the voltage still drops from 12.4 to 11.7 when I turn the kill switch on, but first things first

[Duncan]

OK, starter changed for a spare without much trouble.

Neil had kindly left space to get to the top starter motor bolt from above with a long spanner which makes the whole deal much easier, and everything else was neat and easy to get at from underneath.

Once the starter was changed everything was good, unplugged the CAS and turned the motor on the starter to make sure everything was free and happy.

Onto properly priming the oil and first start.

I'd picked up one of these oil prime kit from Boost doc a while back and this was my first time using it. 

https://boostdoc.com.au/products/engine-oil-prime-kit?_pos=1&_sid=28c628a65&_ss=r

While I'd organised all the fittings to hook it up to my GTR (sump plug to -6 feed and -4 T to tap it in and retain the oil pressure gauge, neither suited on this car as the oil pressure needs to T into 1/8 NPT not -4 and the Aeropro sump has some massive drainplug not that factory whatever it is. So, waiting for a couple of fittings, then I'll prime it and do first start, hopefully next weekend.

Other than that going well, there is very little stopping a final alignment, tune then shakedown day

[Duncan]

OK....so something that works like it said on the tin!

Fitting the pressure feed into the car was an absolute PITA because the oil filter is in the standard location and then there is a fitting to run to the oil cooler. On the other side between the filter and the steering box is the standard oil pressure sender (not working for some reason, something to check) and 2 tapped 1/8 BSP threads for the oil temp and pressure gauges.

Unfortunately it is really tight in there and it took a hours of stuffing around to get a t fitting to connect the priming pump and retain the gauge sender.  Also, the Aeroflow sump has some massive drain plug (needs a 32mm spanner) so I couldn't use the regular fitting there either.

In any case....once it was all hooked up, like magic

15 sec, 3 bar of oil pressure.

Left it running a couple of minutes to push through everything, looked good 

 

[Duncan]

Next pic will probably bring back Charlie's PTSD

So yes, pump is back out.

I hooked the fuel return up to a hose into a container to flush out the first litre or 2, jumped the Fuel Pump relay and.......nothing....

Turns out the pump I had pulled out, checked, cleaned everything....was dead.  I hadn't actually hooked 12v to it to check it worked before I put it back in.

Anyway...Neil had kept the old pump which still worked, so I just swapped it back in. All good, flushed the lines out, ready to start

[Duncan]

 So yes, it started and sounds excellent....good times. One leak from the oil cooler fitting but otherwise all good for both oil and coolant.

I didn't get time to set the timing or check the idle control, and it needs a new battery, but it sounds awesome and runs fine with a bit of throttle. And obviously that power steering belt needs a bit more tension.

[MBS206]

Amazing work Duncan!

It is never easy to pick up someone elses project and work all the parts out that are missing

[Duncan]

Been down in Tassie for 2 weeks (a cruise, not a race for once) but spent a little time on her when I got back.

I worked out the injector settings in the PowerFC were not correct for nismo 555s, set those to 66% +10ms and added a little air at closed throttle, set the timing (approximately, because it has some weird non 15o cells around idle) and now she starts and idles properly.

She purrs like a kitten (ignore the co2 alarm in the background, I did  )

Next step, off for run-in, tuning and alignment!

[robbo_rb180]

Great work Duncan, any events local you will give it a test once all done? 

[fatz]

Give it 40psi and send it to the moon

[Duncan]

7 hours ago, fatz said:

Give it 40psi and send it to the moon

fkin reckon, pretty sure it has head studs and a steel wheel in the turb

10 hours ago, robbo_rb180 said:

Great work Duncan, any events local you will give it a test once all done? 

I'll likely do a practice /shakedown day at Wakie before I call it ready to sell, then the new owner can have the first chance to put it in the trees properly  

[robbo_rb180]

25 minutes ago, Duncan said:

fkin reckon, pretty sure it has head studs and a steel wheel in the turb

I'll likely do a practice /shakedown day at Wakie before I call it ready to sell, then the new owner can have the first chance to put it in the trees properly  

Hope it finds a good home and is well looked after and appreciated, be a great car for Morgan Park sprint series and the odd hill climb. 

[MBS206]

31 minutes ago, Duncan said:

fkin reckon, pretty sure it has head studs and a steel wheel in the turb

I'm not sure if Neil did head studs, but it is definitely steel wheels in the turbo.  unless he stitched you up and left a standard turbo on the new motor and not the high flow 😛