My Gts25T

[KwS]

Well, here it is. After a year of being without my old one (since it was stolen and not recovered) i have finally made it back to an R33 coupe.

Loved the first one so much, that i couldnt resist trying hard to get back to another one. Sure, the Integra was fun, a hell of a lot of it infact, but it was starting to become impractical to use as my daily (tiring to drive, too tempting to do license losing speed etc).

I swapped the integra (300hp turbo type R) for a SR20DET Nissan Laurel, which although it looked cool also didnt fit the criteria of daily driver for me (mainly comfort and the exhaust was WAY too loud), not to mention laurel chassis are as flexible as a freakin sheet of thin plastic. Whilst owning that i noticed a couple of R33 coupes come up forsale, so i offered a potential swap to both of them. One was a green series 1, 25T manual. High K (200 ish), and not too tidy overall. The other was a white series 2, 25T auto. Low k and immaculate. Needless to say, i went for the low k white one. Easier to convert to manual than to convert to S2 front (S1 is UGLY) and low ks

As purchased,

116000ks

2 Owners in NZ (im the 3rd)

Service history, cambelt done at 100,000k

Very straight body, interior also very good bar a couple of old tiny ciggy marks on the seats

Drives great, but when i tested it it was down on power. A quick look under the hood quickly showed that the owner had bypassed the factory boost solenoid and was running wastegate pressure (5PSI vs 8PSI). This was one of the first things i changed, hooking the solenoid back up and then grounding the wire to deliver 8PSI constantly (rather than the stock 5PSI under 4500rpm and 8PSI over it).

The car did come with the factory rear strut brace, although when the owner changed the battery he was a bit useless and didnt know how to get the bolt hole in the brace to line back up (needed to loosen it off in the middle of the brace), so that was quickly and easily fixed. No front brace though sadly. The car is lowered on some unknown springs.

I also kept the polished R32 GTST wheels that were on the laurel, as i liked the look of them and didnt want the R33 stock wheels the owner was offering with the car instead. At only 16x6.5" and an offset of 40 they are quite a bit on the small side for the skyline. They look great side on, but are easily swallowed up by the massive guards at any other angle. They are also on the short list to get replaced by 17x8s with fat as tires on them (245s on the rear hopefully, like my old R33 had).

I started ownership by making a list of things to get done to the car. This included a damn good service (oil, filter, plugs, silicon up the coils, clean IACV, replace rear wiper blade, and check the air filter). Finished the service yesterday, giving it some fully synthetic valvoline 5w-40 and a nismo filter. Although the coilpacks werent cracked at all, and were in good condition i still decided to smear some sealant on them to lessen the risk of them arcing. Also turns out it has a (very dirty) K&N panel filter already in it.

So the list as it stands now,

New 17x8 wheels and tires

Fix up the damaged paint on the front bumper (from me clipping a hidden concrete drain as i parked at the supermarket )

Install my Sony headunit (requires me to purchase a din pocket and antenna adaptor)

Polish headlights

Possibly a manual conversion in the far future

Possibly a decent boost controller set to 10PSI with the hopes it will get boost to come on a bit quicker too

Otherwise the car is fantastic to drive, and the auto makes it great around town.

Anyway, pics.

[KwS]

Some small progress....

Installed my stereo

Btw, repco "Raptor" brand wiring adaptors are ****. I purchased them becuase they were half price, and i didnt want to cut the factory harness. Firstly, the plugs in the middle to join the two halves (you purchase them in a car side and a stereo side) are loose and pretty average. Secondly, why the hell was the ground wire in their harness going to a nonexistant pin on the cars harness?! Wasnt a hard fix, and a new ground is probably better than the factory loom one.... but ****, how did they stuff that up?

When i first got the car i pulled the panel filter out, and noted although it was black, it was still in one piece; Gave it a shake and put it back in. When i went to do my spark plugs i took it out again, in the clear daylight and saw how bad it really was.

Also turned out it was a genuine K&N filter (yes, when cleaned an un-oiled, its white. Oiled, its red... and mine is black). I did intend on getting a filter cleaning kit, but i decided i cant be without the car for a day or so until it dries, so in the mean time i went out and got a Simota panel filter for it.

The difference is amazing. Im now getting full boost quicker and harder, with less throttle. Intake is a lot louder too. Seems it was more stuffed than i thought.

Next up was the battery ground. When i was resetting my ecu i took the negative terminal off via the two bolts on the boot wall. Once i got these off i was dismayed to find very little bare metal for the earth to conduct through... its all painted! In an effort to improve on this system, i decided to get some 4gauge cable, some gold plated terminals and make another ground.

TBH it made NO noticeable difference, but meh.... puts my mind at rest. Might help make the alt last a bit longer. Cant see it normally anyway.

Also found out why my speakers sound like complete ***....

[KwS]

Selling my wheels, so borrowing a mates. 17x8 on front, 17x9 on back. Suit the car a hell of a lot better, just a pity he put lightly stretched tires on them (wider tires wouldve been much better).

[KwS]

Replaced the rear speakers today, they were beyond shot. The ****ty parts bin 100w 6.5" 2 ways make the stereo sound a million bucks now compared

Whilst doing the rear speakers, i managed to find a couple of JDM gems, along with $2 under the rear seat!

Petrol card, a calling or gym (?) card, a random little sticker and an old jap sticking plaster (unused, but threw that out after the pic as it was a bit icky)

Also fitted my JDM Klaxon air horns too. Should scare some of the dickheads that keep cutting me off or sitting at the green light for too long.

Similar to these, but silver. The pair fit into the factory location, and factory wiring.

[KwS]

Did the O2 sensor yesterday, as my milage was so bad that i went from 20l/100km to 19l/100km just by unplugging the old O2 sensor Thats how stuffed it was.

Got a mint price on a genuine one from Nissan ($340 something RRP), so decided to bite the bullet and do it, in the hopes it would save me a tank of gas a week.

Before the change, on a full tank, the first 40km would use 1/4 of a tank Now ive done 40km and the needle is still above the Full mark.

I wouldnt recommend changing it without getting or having an O2 sensor socket... incredibly hard otherwise (due to angle and lack of space). Powerbuilt part number is 648442. 7/8" or 21mm.

[KwS]

Been playing around with my new wheels, to see how to make them fit.

17x8.5 (235/45) for the front, and 17x9.5 (255/40) on the back.

Needs 8mm spacers to clear 4 pots. Just need to source longer studs, and then ill fit them once and for all.

Edited December 7, 2010 by KwS

[KwS]

Okay, long time no update.

Black center wheels have been swapped with my mate, so now im the owner of the white RP01s from above. Put my wider tires (235 and 255 front/rear) on them, and looks a ton better.

No work to be done yet, as im saving up for manual conversion. Hopefully ill be able to do that around feb 2011.

Some pics i took today.... in need of a clean, but still looks nice.

[KwS]

Managed to score a J-Pipe to SMIC pipe from trademe, to replace the blitz pipe and BOV.

From

To

Made a hell of a difference. Boost comes on much stronger and much quicker. Getting full 7psi almost instantly. Idle is also smoother, and better throttle response. Hopefully this will cure my fuel use problem.

My theory is becuase the BOV had no vacuum line attached to it (as it was incorrectly hooked up to start with), it mustve been creeping open slightly, causing a boost leak.

Also checked my manifold to turbo nuts.... sure enough, loosen off the locking tab and the nuts were finger tight. Tightening them up has increased response, and fixed the loud howling i would get at high rpm on boost.

Great success.

[KwS]

Okay. Managed to get hold of an R32 RB20DET wastegate actuator.

From factory, R33 actuators run lower boost (5psi) under a certain RPM and then 7-8psi over that. The WG actuator has a softer spring to accommodate this change (auto R33 is about 5psi). So running a line from intake to WG directly results in 5psi all the time.

If you ground the factory boost control solenoid, you can get it to stay at the high boost all the time, instead of low than high. I did this as soon as i got my car, as it was running WG pressure when i got it.

The 20DET doesnt run the 2 stage boost, and has a 12psi spring in the actuator. Thus installing one of these puppies on a 25DET will result in 12psi all the time.

pretty easy to install, take off heatshield, remove circlip, unbolt old WG, remove vacuum lines. Refit new one in reverse.

Took it for a quick boost, and by god its quick with that actuator. Boost comes on quicker, harder and holds stronger. Wheel spin from a stop was pretty much a given.

Unfortunately the high ambient temps, and the 95 oct gas in the tank showed its nasty side whilst giving it some stick. Heard a couple of little pings of det as i was boosting. Quickly backed off and cruised home, before i make my pistons religious.

In the mean time i have reverted back to the old 25DET actuator, just to be safe. Before the 20DET one goes back on, ill be fitting the manual conversion, front mount, walbro and a tank of 98. Just not worth the risk.

Can also see my fancy new BOV-less intake pipe here...

WG pressure yo!

space...

Old bits

My chur-bro