Aberax's R33 Build

[Aberax]

Here is a little story about my ownership of my R33, and the future of it also. To skip the history and get to the main part of my story/build, Scroll down to "October 12th 2010 - SAU:SA Track Day #2"

I bought my Series 2 1997 R33 Skyline back in October 2008 as a 22nd Birthday Present to myself - 1 week early present. The car was reasonably stock, it had

Rims

Cat Back Exhaust

Whiteline Sway Bars

Bilestein Shocks

Pod Filter

GTR Wing

I had a compression test a few months later and it turned up to be around 149psi over the 6 cylinders, had a Power Run on a Dyno aswell

I soon noticed that the steering was shaking a fair bit and the tyres were a bit low on tread. So I went and had new tyres put on, and was told that the Rims were wonky, and no matter what they could do, the rims would not balance correctly. So I went and had them fixed.

Car on Stands while Rims are repaired

Rims Repaired

As you can see the rear bar has a bit of paint damage, aswell as the Drivers sideskirt and a bit of the front bar.

Somewhere along the line I had them repainted, an FMIC Installed, windows tinted, replaced the broken Boot Lock with one I bought off of a SAU User - Barrel swap guide here, and the stock seats replace with R33 GTR Seats.

During 2009, I began acquiring parts to modify the car, the parts I acquired were

Garret 3076 0.82 - Bought as a kit off of a SAU User, came with lines and dump pipe.

Nismo 740CC Injectors - Nytsky's Old ones

Bosch 040 - Bought from SAU Group Buy

Haltech E11v2 with 3 Bar Map and Boost Controller - SAU Group Buy

During October 2009 I had the mods installed and tuned at Horsepower In A Box

At the same time I had a catch can and a hard pipe from Pod to Turbo made up.

When I picked the car up from the Tuner, it was on the Anniversary of when I bought the car.

2 days after I picked the car up, I had booked myself into a country car show at Loxton, was plenty of time to try out this new power.

Beached As!?

During the next year I fried the OEM clutch which was then replaced with an Extreme Heavy Duty. Went to a SAU:SA Track Day and blew an Exhaust Gasket, Numerous Car Shows...and then the worst happened in October 2010.

October 12th 2010 - SAU:SA Track Day #2

I did one of the most incredibly stupid things possible that day - Before I go any further, Yes I know it was my fault. I had 2 drivers for the whole day, 1 Driver would go out in 1 group for a 20min session, come in and we swap drivers for the 2nd group for another 20min session. About half way through the day the car was making a weird squealing noise, I paid no attention to it, think it was just a seal. I then let another mate that was there take it out for a spin to feel the power of a 3076 and how the car handles with whiteline sway bars. During 1 of his laps, down the back straight of Malalla, the car lost all power and began blowing smoke, he pulled into the pits.

The oil dipstick was being blown out, a little bit of oil in the catch can, and LOTS of white smoke blown out of the exhaust..even at idle. Luckily enough there was a mate their with his car trailer, and another mate that lives nearby. So the car was loaded up onto the trailer, and taken to my mates nearby.

A few weeks pass, and I go back out to my car and do a compression test. All the cylinders were down on compression, 5 cylinders were around the 120-130psi mark...but 1 cylinder in particular was down in compression, by a lot. Cylinder 4 was only making 5psi of compression, so I am guessing the rings are gone, or maybe a nice hole in the piston. I haven't got round to ripping this engine out yet, as I have no room to do it...my solution is to build up a block, and swap them over.

Onto the Build.

Over the past course of 2010, I had been acquiring parts for a project engine I wanted to build. The idea came from an article about a SAU:WA member in HPI #81, namely about the RB27 that is/was in his car. I thought it was a really good idea, so started sourcing parts to build this. I bought a RB25 block and R34GTR Crank from an SAU User, and managed to find a RB25 Head from a friend of a friend.

*NOTE* Yes, I do know a RB25/30 will make more torque/power...I don't care. I am doing this build to be different and to learn, as I shall be building this myself with the help of my Tuner.

Build Plan

After speaking to my tuner, he has suggested I build the bottom end first, and then sort out the head. Parts list for my build are;

Bottom End

- ARP Head & Main Studs - USA

- CP 86.5mm Pistons with I-Beam Rods

- ACL Bearings

- New Welsh Plugs

- OEM Seals/Gaskets

- ACL Headgasket

- Nitto Oil Pump

- OEM Water Pump

- Baffled Sump

- 1.3mm Oil Restrictor

Head

- Moderate Port

- Performance Springs

- Tomei 256 8.5 Inlet & Exhaust

- ISC Exhaust Cam

- Head to Sump Drain

During January 2011 I went to Japan and managed to buy some parts - Videos from Japan Trip

HKS Type S Oil cooler Kit

Air Diversion Plate

A new car alarm

March 4th

Bought some ARP Head Studs and Main Studs from the USA, less then $400 delivered. Shall hopefully arrive next week sometime.

Removed most of the welsh plugs from the block, I left the one behind the Thermostat, and I can seem to get the rear 1 out - shall try later.

Shall hopefully buy the Pistons and Rods from the US next week or the week after.

[HOSTILE]

So far so good bud!! Aim to have it built before Skyline nationals??

[DR 32R]

Nice build, doing a similar rb25 26 crank rebuild also.

[Aberax]

So far so good bud!! Aim to have it built before Skyline nationals??

Would love to drive it over there...so got 7 months to get it done - would also be an Anniversary present...and another Birthday present to myself

Nice build, doing a similar rb25 26 crank rebuild also.

Good to hear, I haven't seen many of these types of builds, especially documented ones to use as a guide.

Update

Apparently my ARP Main Studs were posted today, still waiting confirmation on Head Studs.

[Let Me Drive]

watching abe LOL

[Aberax]

watching abe LOL

Oh No....now you can see my project crash and burn

Apparently my Main Studs are in Australia and out of Customs, should be here later this week. My Head Studs are still in America, awaiting to be shipped.

Spoke to Rhemac today about having machine work done.

They plan to do;

Hot Tank Block and Crank

Crack Test

Grub Screw Crank

- Fit ARP Main Studs

Line hone Main Tunnel

- Fit Bearings

- Run Mic over Crank

Bore and Torque Plate Block

- Slide Crank in

Dummy up a piston/rod

Deck block - Check Deck Height

Balance Rotating assembly

Just need to sort out bearings, Rods and Pistons. I may get them to start work on the block, that way they can tell me how the block will turn out and what size pistons I will need.

Edit - Just picked up my ARP Main Stud kit from the Post Office

[Aberax]

Wednesday 16-03-11

Organized to have my Block and Crank to be picked up tomorrow from a Mates house by Rhemac so they can start doing their machine work. Got a message from my tuner to go and see him about Pistons, Rods...and Tomei cams.

He has a set of REVS I Beam rods and is getting a set of CP pistons for me, for the same price I could pick up a Eagle Rod and CP combo for from the States. He also has a set of unused Tomei 256 8.5mm poncams for an Rb25 I can have for a good price.

I believe my build is progressing a better pace then I had hoped for

I need to ring Rhemac tomorrow and change a few things on the job card, so I can hopefully save a few $$$.

My ARP Head Studs should be here in the next few days, hoping tomorrow.

[Aberax]

Got a phone call yesterday to say my Pistons had arrived, so I went and picked them up today, so here is some pics.

Box of 6 R.E.V I-Beam Conrod's with ARP Bolts

My box of CP

As far as I know about the block at the moment it has been Line Honed, as the Machinist has been held up with other jobs, and they have been waiting for me to give them the rods and pistons as they can do everything else. They should have the rods and pistons in the next few days, and work can continue on its way.

[Aberax]

Got word from Rhemac today about the progress on my block and parts.

Machining is almost finished. The R.E.V Rods only had standard ARP bolts installed, but had ARP2000 bolts loose in the box. So they installed the ARP2000 bolts and checked the bigend's, due to the extra clamp loading there was some variation and distortion, so they had to be honed again. This may have been avoided if I had gone with Eagle rods, as they come manufactured with ARP2000 bolts.

Piston oil squirter notches elongated, as the stock ones came rather close to the squirters.

Block was faced at the minimum of .004" to clean up the deck. This now means my pistons will protrude out of the block by .019"-.020" with a 1.2mm (0.51") head gasket, so a thicker head gasket (1.5mm) is now on the cards.

They are also going to install new oil gallery plugs also.

Should hopefully be able to get the block back sometime in the next 1-2 weeks

[Aberax]

I called into Rhemac yesterday (Monday 2nd May) and spoke to the guys there about the progress of my machining.

It is all pretty much done, just needs a slight clean, and the grub screws installed into the crank. Also got to see the block and parts, it looks good

They also showed me around their machine shop a bit, got a nice set up there.

Once I have paid for the work, which turned out a bit cheaper then I expected, they will deliver to my mates work, where I can pick it up, and begin to give it a final wash and begin assembly

Hopefully more updates towards the end of next week.

[Let Me Drive]

awesome mate what head gaskit are you going to run????

[Aberax]

awesome mate what head gaskit are you going to run????

Not too sure yet, maybe a Cometic MLS 1.5mm, I need to use a slightly thicker headgasket as the pistons protrude the block by 0.19"

[Aberax]

11th May 2011

Rhemac delivered my block, and other parts back yesterday afternoon.

So today I had a day off and decided to set my gear up at Horsepower In A Box and begin working on the block.

Today consisted of cleaning the bores, applying oil to the bores and test fitting the rings. The 2nd rings all had a gap between 0.022 and 0.024", so they were fine. The 1st rings were about 0.012", so these will surely need a file fit which may be done this weekend.

So here is a few pics of the shiny goodness

The block after machining, you can see the 2nd rings in the bores, the girdle in the background with the crank next to it.

Hmmmm, Shiny

[Let Me Drive]

keep up the photos i wished i had a lot more photos of everything

[Aberax]

So, its been just over 2 months since my last update...why!? you may ask, Well nothing has been happening

I let my tuner/engine builder use my engine stand to build 2 RB26's for customer while I saved more money, but things finally got moving yesterday 12-07-2011.

Yesterday we gapped the piston rings, which took 30-1hr to do...but took longer as of interruptions, and the occasional side track of conversation.

Today, 13th, we washed the block, squeaky clean, the bores are brilliant. Test fitted the front and rear bearings with the crank, with a coat of oil, and that was turning perfectly with no travel.

Tomorrow, 14th, we should be cleaning the crank, installing the grub screws and beginning to bolt things together...YAY!!! Progress, shall post photos tomorrow afternoon if I have time

[GTS-t VSPEC]

Good stuff, will watch the build with interest

[dori34]

good to see you trying something differnt and whacking in the rb26 internals.

I went down this path mid last year but with a R34 RB25 neo motor and it turned out i needed custom pistons to clear the head (due to smaller CC). i didnt have time for a 16wk wait from the US to get these made so i ended up ditching the rb26 gear and went all rb25.

Will be following this build thread and cant wait for completion..

keep up with the good work!

[r33_racer]

When you tested the crank in the block with the front and back bearings were you checking crank runout on the centre main?

[Aberax]

When you tested the crank in the block with the front and back bearings were you checking crank runout on the centre main?

correct

which leads me now to my next item.

Yesterday when we checked for runout, it was about 0.01-0.015", being concerned about this we rang a few places and they said it would be fine. Double checked it again to today, and realized it was out by 0.015-0.02" instead

So I have ordered new bearings, should be here tomorrow - Friday, and next week we'll assemble it, and take it to a crank machinist to fit the run out...so another $500 to spend on new bearings and machine work and stuck with a set of bearings I cant use, anyone know anything cool I can make out of bearings.

The head and sump were sent off to Lewis Engines today for them to extend and baffle the sump, recondition the head with new seals, springs, and a mild port job and install my sexy Tomei cams.

So updates and pics next week now...hopefully

[r33_racer]

Man that is alot of runout! Good choice on getting it straightened.