Ryno's R32... Over A Decade And Counting

[mii11x]

hey mate, well done on keeping the 32 for so long. question about the xt7's. they are 17 inch, but what offset front and rear?? also the taper (concave-ness)? the olds have a place down at greenwell point, maybe i could come check it out??

[Ryno]

Hey Mick,

My wheel offsets are: Front = 17 x 8 + 32 Rear = 17 x 9 + 44

Not sure how I'd measure the concave, but as you can see in the photo's the rears have much more concave than the fronts. If you want to check out the car just send a PM and we can sort it out from there.

Ryno

[Ryno]

I decided to "get on the tools" this weekend and fix a problem that I should have remedied years ago...

The Fiberglass front splitter I've fitted is designed for a GTR, so initially it took a bit of tweaking to get it to suit my GTS. Since install it hasn't been completely flat as it touches the front sway bar. Over time this has been rubbing and has started to wear through.

So to fix this I cut out the sections that were rubbing and used a section of PVC pipe as a mold. I then fiberglassed in that new shape, which will wrap around the sway bar. I then popped off the PVC pipe and 'ta daa' a new design that fits much better:

[Ryno]

After a couple of frustrating days hammering away at the car, the new inlet plenum is now fitted.... Off to the mechanics tomorrow to get the new exhaust manifold fitted and dump pipe made.

[Ryno]

I apologise for the blurry photo, but this is how we decided to lock the internal wastegate shut. We did it this way so that if I ever wanted to swap back to the internal wastegate (or sell the turbo) I can just grind the tab off and it'll be back to stock.

The new dump should be bolted on today and hopefully it will hit the dyno tomorrow!

[Ryno]

Here's a picture of the new dump pipe and wastegate return.

[Ryno]

New piping and dump all completed and installed this morning... this is how the cute little GT-RS looks mounted high and proud:

Unfortunately it is over 40 deg in Nowra today, so we only put it on the dyno to do a quick tune to ensure it is safe to drive. We did only did a couple of power runs on the low boost setting (wastegate pressure of 14 psi only) and this is the power it put down...

Even though this is only 235rwkw, it is quite remarkable considering that with my old plenum and standard exhaust manifold (on this same dyno) my car only put down 230rwkw... at 18psi!

Also that was on a 20 deg day, not the 40 deg plus we were seeing in the workshop today.

On the AFR side of the equation, because of the temp today we left it a little on the rich side for safety (around 11:1). When we can find a cooler day, I'll get it back on the dyno to give it a full tune and wind the boost back up to 18 psi.

On the response side of things the GT-RS is now every bit as resposive as the stock turbo. I'm getting 5 psi of boost at 2000 rpm and full boost before 3000 rpm.

[Ryno]

The only downside for me in fitting the MX Performance plenum, is I am unable to fit my existing carbon strut bar... and as you can probably tell, I'm pretty fond of having as much carbon in the engine bay as possible!

I've now fitted a Nismo Strut bar in its place, and fabricated a spacer to sit underneath (on the drivers side) so hopefully the plenum won't rub.

Here's what the engine bay looks like, with everything back it its place...

[G3TFKD]

nice build mate! looking very good and good to see you are still enjoying the car after all this time.

quick question, how thick is that little spacer that you made to sit under the strut bar. assuming there are no issues with closing the bonnet with the spacer?

also loving the full length cf air guide that you have

[Ryno]

quick question, how thick is that little spacer that you made to sit under the strut bar. assuming there are no issues with closing the bonnet with the spacer?

I cut the spacer out of a piece of nylon chopping board ~ It's around 6mm thick. I have no problems closing the bonnet, though I'm running a carbon bonnet, not the stock one (with the support braces underneath etc).

[Ryno]

My car has now been tuned properly and the results are even better than I imagined. When driving the car, it feels like it is supercharged as the turbo response is almost immediate. It makes 2 psi of boost at 1000 rpm!! Here's a power run that wasn't fully wound out, but you get the idea...

And here is a comparison of before and after the inlet and exhaust manifold changes at the same boost level...

[Ryno]

And here's footage that shows pretty effectively the power it puts down to the road right through the rev range - 4th gear roll on from 1000 rpm

[Ryno]

The problem I have now is that the R32 turbo gearbox has started to make a fair amount of bearing noise, so it is not quite as happy with the new found torque as I am.

A R33 gearbox is definitely now on the cards.

[Ryno]

A brand new ECR33 gearbox has been ordered from Just Jap... Hopefully after that's installed it will be the last major expense in making my R32 the perfect daily drive. In any case, I'm out of ideas on how to make the car any better!

[Ryno]

Purely a 'bling' item, but I purchased an Alloy Footrest (or deadpedal) that was apparently an OEM option for the R32/R33 Skyline. When I received it I noticed the lower grip pad was missing.

So I decided to replace all the grip pads with carbon. The left picture is how I received it and the right is after the refurb.

And here's what is looks like installed in the car:

[R31 POWER]

Video doesn't work Keen to hear it

[DJRIFT]

Hmmm I have one of them. It was fitted to a street car. Just that no blingy pedals. I swapped it into my race car as it was more race. Haha.

[Ryno]

Video doesn't work Keen to hear it

Not sure why you can't play the video, as it works fine for me

[Ryno]

Got my new box of goodies (from Justjap) installed today... Brand new ECR33 Gearbox, Nismo clutch slave and Redline oil...

Here's a pic of it installed... Weird to see a skyline gearbox without oil stains and road grime:

The gearbox crossmember is only attached via two bolts at the moment, but I've got a new custom crossmember/mount being made by Vibratechnics in the UK.

The car is now very nice to drive with the brand new box, though I'll have to swap out the stock shifter for a short shift as the long throw is killing me!

[#skyginer]

Enjoy and get used to the throw, it may kill you but short shifters kill pretty boxes