Neil's R33 Gts-t Build

[Duncan]

OK, so again it has been a bit of a break but it was around researching what had been done since I didn't have access to Neil's records and not everything is obvious without pulling stuff apart.

Happily the guy who assembled the engine had kept reasonable records, so we now know the final spec is:

Bottom end:

Standard block and crank

Ross 86.5mm forgies, 9:1 compression

Spool forged rods

Standard main bolts

Oil pump Spool billet gears in standard housing

Aeroflow extended and baffled sump

Head

Freshly rebuilt standard head with new 80lb valve springs

Mild porting/port match

Head oil feed restrictor

VCT disabled

Tighe 805C reground cams (255 duration, 8.93 lift) 

Adjustable cam gears on inlet/exhaust

Standard head bolts, gasket not confirmed but assumed MLS

External

555cc Nismo injectors

Z32 AFM

Bosch 023 Intank fuel pump

Garret 2871 (factory housings and manifold)

Hypertune FFP plenum with standard throttle

 

Time to book in a trip to Unigroup

[fatz]

Skidz

[Duncan]

So, this happened today

No, I don't have much of a future on tic tac

Yes, it needs a tune

Yes, I cut the video just before I stalled it ....gotta be nice to fresh engine. 

 

[Duncan]

And I'm guessing my GTR might be feeling a bit unloved. Had to push it out to get the R33 out, but couldn't push it back in (its a bit uphill,  haven't got around to installing that winch yet, and Kel complains that its "too hard" to help push cars uphill after her double back surgery....kids these days)

Hopefully I can get that winch mounted and get her back inside before a pine tree falls on her in the storms coming this week.

[MBS206]

18 minutes ago, Duncan said:

And I'm guessing my GTR might be feeling a bit unloved. Had to push it out to get the R33 out, but couldn't push it back in (its a bit uphill,  haven't got around to installing that winch yet, and Kel complains that its "too hard" to help push cars uphill after her double back surgery....kids these days)

Hopefully I can get that winch mounted and get her back inside before a pine tree falls on her in the storms coming this week.

Sounds like a perfect time to harness up a couple of the dogs, show the horses what real power is about!

[Duncan]

So, it went to Unigroup for a run in and tune on Friday, everything went (generally) well.

In terms of fixes, the engine was good and there were no leaks. It needed plugs (I hadn't checked them because the coil pack cover was on a new engine and I couldn't imagine they weren't new.....but turns out the temporary plugs to just keep it sealed up were in there.....new plugs gapped to 0.8 and it was fine from there.

Also, there was a little preload on the clutch slave which caused some slip. I haven't had the box off so I don't know what the clutch looks like; my guess it is brand new and the pedal had not been adjusted....backed that off a bit and it held fine.

Last thing will have Dose crying....the idle especially when cold is a bit difficult between the cams, forward plenum, atmo blow off valve and an 80s air management system. It is fine when hot but a little uneven when cold, will see if I can sort or at least improve that one cold morning.

Other than that, tuning went fine. It made 245 but was pulled back to 227 which 2 opportunities to improve in future.

1. The factory CAS is not great and was jumping around at high RPM, so Mark took 2 degrees out up top (that is why it stops making power and lost 20kw). Very safe this way and the extra power is available but will require a more modern ECU and better cam (or even better crank) sensor

2. The 2871 in factory housings is very big for a low mount, and the internal wastegate is too small, so it was creeping from mid range all the way to redline....the duty cycle on the boost controller is turned down a little for safety. That is much harder to fix, it would need a large external gate and that would require a whole bunch of other changes, so it will go as it is for now.

It feels nice and healthy and safe, so should be good for about a billion laps like this.

[Duncan]

Then today, I went to visit a man with an r33 hat

Peter and Road and Race sorted the alignment. As it is being set up for general track/hillclimbs etc it has a heap of caster (7o), less camber than I am used to (1o front and 2o rear, as the caster looks after that in turns without the braking downsides), 3mm front toe out and 0 toe rear. Will see how that goes and track tyre wear to see if it does need more camber, but adjsustment is also limited with nismo arms and adjustable bushes at only 1 end.

It does have a bent inner tie rod on the driver's side front but as it came up within spec I'll just leave that as is.

So, that is getting close to my chapter of this story....could of tidy ups then a shakedown in early October before it finds a new home.

[Duncan]

OK, few more things sorted and it is ready for a shakedown on 10-Oct, with one weird thing.

Changed the run in oil and filter for the good stuff. 8l came out, about 8.5 went in with filter so that looks all good.

Changed the starter (again), this time for a brand new one, works good. Interesting that the Taaaarks one is shorter than factory but spins harder, I guess electronics have moved on a little in the last 30 years. Will be nice to have a bit of extra space under there.

Put the timing cover back on, and noted where the cam gears were set as a record.  Will need to double check the timing but it is pretty close. Also put the coil pack cover and intake snorkel back on.

Exhaust

Inlet

Changed the water out for coolant, bled up nicely.

Removed the rear brake pads (well worn factory sumitomo ones!), gave the hardware a good clean and reassembled. I've put bendix XP on the back again because the price is excellent at $150 a set and they worked well on the V37. Front pads have plenty so no issue there

[Duncan]

So thing that had me stumped, but I think is OK....is that when it was up in the air, in neutral I had it running to bleed to coolant while I put the wheels back on. I noticed the rears were turning (slowly) which I'd never seen before

 

 

Because there had been an issue with clutch slip due to pedal adjustment on the dyno, I assumed there was still and issue so spent some quality time upside down under the dash adjusting the pedal....but no matter what I did the wheels still turned in neutral. Even disconnected the master cylinder to pedal rod and same. In despair, I even removed the clutch slave so there was no chance of any preload causing it.....still happened.

So either:

1. Something is not right in the bellhousing, or

2. Its a thing sometimes with cold, thick gearbox oil

Internet says it might be 2, I hope so!

[GTSBoy]

37 minutes ago, Duncan said:

Interesting that the Taaaarks one is shorter than factory but spins harder, I guess electronics have moved on a little in the last 30 years.

Starter motors used to use the weight of metal (magnets) to provide torque. Now they use (more) current instead.

35 minutes ago, Duncan said:

2. Its a thing sometimes with cold, thick gearbox oil

This. It's completely normal.

[MBS206]

10 hours ago, Duncan said:

So thing that had me stumped, but I think is OK....is that when it was up in the air, in neutral I had it running to bleed to coolant while I put the wheels back on. I noticed the rears were turning (slowly) which I'd never seen before

 

Because there had been an issue with clutch slip due to pedal adjustment on the dyno, I assumed there was still and issue so spent some quality time upside down under the dash adjusting the pedal....but no matter what I did the wheels still turned in neutral. Even disconnected the master cylinder to pedal rod and same. In despair, I even removed the clutch slave so there was no chance of any preload causing it.....still happened.

So either:

1. Something is not right in the bellhousing, or

2. Its a thing sometimes with cold, thick gearbox oil

Internet says it might be 2, I hope so!

Just as a thought, if it's in neutral, thats your drive line disconnect, not the clutch.

Clutch slip at the dyno with pedal fully out, is actually adding a second disconnect. So it's not a clutch issue if you're in neutral.

Just a bit of friction dragging the output around while in the air.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

On 13/09/2025 at 6:02 PM, Duncan said:

Last thing will have Dose crying....the idle especially when cold is a bit difficult between the cams, forward plenum, atmo blow off valve and an 80s air management system. It is fine when hot but a little uneven when cold, will see if I can sort or at least improve that one cold morning.

lololol... you know what fixes all of that? Drive by Wire throttle  

 

 

13 hours ago, Duncan said:

So thing that had me stumped, but I think is OK....is that when it was up in the air, in neutral I had it running to bleed to coolant while I put the wheels back on. I noticed the rears were turning (slowly) which I'd never seen before

Pretty sure mine does the same thing as well. You can stop it with your hands right?

[Duncan]

Yeah it is very gentle, easy to stop.

Definitely not a GTR thing, but I guess they have almost twice the driveline weight to turn.

3 votes for "its normal" so I'll move on!

[Duncan]

Well, 50 pages and the end of a chapter for this car.

We took it out for a shakedown at Wakie yesterday, and everything went well.

There were a couple of niggles:

- Oil cooler fitting leak - tightened, cleaned, stopped leaking

- Radiator cap overflow fitting was leaking....Mark called it, the overflow fitting was threaded in and not tight....tightened, tested and held pressure

- Small oil leak at the rear of the block, probably the turbo oil feed - too hot to get at it comfortably but probably just needs to be nipped up

- leak at the driver's side rear brake line where it meets the hardline. Fitting wasn't loose, so Matt backed it off and back on, no further leaks

- there's also a leak somewhere on the top of the fuel tank, maybe that cross over fuel line - that was has been left to fix when its on a hoist

Otherwise than those niggles the car went great, turned great and stopped great so it was a very successful day out. I'm always really nervous when a car first hits the track after a long break, especially with a brand new engine as well but it was great.

 Big thanks to @The Bogan who dropped by and helped out, @MBS206 and my nephew Lachlan the apprentice. 

Neil's wife Mel also surprised the hell out of all of us by dropping by; she's up in Tamworth these days but was travelling to Melbourne so had plausible deniability for turning up at the garage, it was great to see her but also obviously a bit sad all round.

[Duncan]

And so, to round this out, I couldn't be happier to confirm @MBS206 has decided to buy the car. He drove down from sunny QLD with a trailer last week and it is off to its new home today.

I'll let Matt confirm on next steps but I understand broadly that the plan is to leave it pretty much as is, and just get some quality wheel time with a nicely balanced car that is pretty much track ready. There are a few a jobs still to be done first but nothing too major and I think its a very smart buy

Dinner last night at the Paragon with a round of VBs (mostly) for Neil

[The Bogan]

It was a great, but typical track day, and some VB was ingested at the night time debrief 🤪

[fatz]

Have a vb in honour of the car comming back