Shoota's R33 GT-R RB30/26

[Shoota_77]

Ok, going back a step, here is the piston to bore clearance I was talking about (hopefully this works!)-

http://s933.photobuc...3AFEB8FCA26.mp4

This is a picture showing the horrible attempt by whoever built it of drilling the tensioner stud hole into the head stud hole-

Continuing from where we left off, the next thing I discovered was when I removed the sump there was a huge amount of "material" in the sump. By material I mean, copper/brass bearing material, excess sealant and other junk. You can see the pretty copper below-

I pulled all of the pistons out to check the big end bearings and all of them were in pretty good condition, no spun big ends which would explain the bearing material in the sump. They were slightly scored from the crank which is scored itself. The rods are SEXY. They're one of the solidest rods I've seen in any engine. Very heavy though which will affect initial rev up but should hold good revs which can help spooling back up out of the corners as the engine doesn't drop off speed as quickly-

So seeing as big ends were fine it had to be a main. Removed the girdle and it was pretty obvious where the problem was. The thrust bearing was rooted. It was severely worn on both sides and the main bearing face had started to de-laminate. It hadn't spun yet but it was a bees dick away from it. I'm not sure what caused it but something isn't right. The bearing possibly had too little clearance between the thrust surfaces of the crank and the bearing which caused it to heat up and stuff the bearing. The crank should be salvageable after machining-

Here you can see some of the random bits of sealant that was making its way through the engine. A good lesson in why you don't overdo sealant application in assembly! The bearing was minutes/hours from killing itself-

There were other little bits and pieces but I think you get the general idea, the engine is a pig!

Now I promised a happy ending to the story and no, it wasn't at the hands of a Thai masseuse! The guy I bought the engine off (who will remain nameless unless he gives me the ok to name him) is an absolute legend. As I bought the engine off him based on it being in a certain condition, he was incredibly decent enough to cover what it will cost to get to that condition. Truly a standup guy and I hope he's happy for me to mention his name as it's actions like his that restore my faith in humanity.

The block is at 87.5mm and needs a bore so it's done it's dash. Unfortunately the pistons which would have been reusable are no use to me as it would mean having to bore out a new block to 87.5mm which would be wasteful as there's no life left in a 87.5mm block. So, new block, new pistons on the way and reusing rods and crank (hopefully if not too rooted) plus new bearings throughout. Tossing up if I do a low fill Hardblok and would love some feedback on if guys have had any overheating issues with a low fill??

So hopefully should have pistons in a few weeks and we can get cracking again...

[Shoota_77]

Dads little "trade assistant". He's a great help. By help I mean massive pain in the arse! He's showing potential though!

[dkbcleaner]

Nice build mate, and enjoyable reading too

[r33_racer]

Quick question. Are those main studs in upside down? Or they some non standard type? Shouldn't there be a hex in the top?

[Miguelone]

I did yes. Still work for Bayford but now at Camberwell Volkswagen.

Do you work for the group as well?

I was an apprentice in the Gearbox & diff workshop but that didn't end up working out.

Quick question. Are those main studs in upside down? Or they some non standard type? Shouldn't there be a hex in the top?

They look like JUN studs.

[r33_racer]

Ok. The nuts look like arp. But usually there is the Allen hex in the top, but those seem to not have it. Curious to know what they are.

[Shoota_77]

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. Glad to know someone is actually reading my waffle!

With the headstuds, with how rooted/wrong everything else is I wouldn't be surprised if they were in upside down!

I'll pull one out when I get a chance and have a look.

[Shoota_77]

I pulled one of the main studs out and it's not in upside down. There's no allen key head either end so must be another brand. The nuts are ARP however so not sure what happened there??

Finally ordered my pistons today after a heap of toing and froing with the shop in US where I'm getting them from. It's hard when only a few hours of each day overlap between Aus and USA. It's going to take 5 or 6 weeks to get the pistons which is going to be a killer....

Specs of the pistons are custom made CP forged 86.5mm, 9.5:1 comp ratio (with 26 head), ceramic coating to piston crown, low friction coating to the skirts, 22mm gudgeon pins (wrist pin as the Yanks say). Decided to go with the coatings to reduce friction a bit ( teflon on skirts) and reduce likelihood of detonation (ceramic on crowns). It cost another $50 per piston to get both coatings done. It might be overkill but if it means I can poke another few PSI in then it's worth it. I'm pondering the idea of getting the combustion chamber and valves ceramic coated as well to really make the thing detonation proof (as always up to a point anyway).

Should look something like this (just the coating, not the piston itself)-

I'll get my turbos hotside (and possibly exh manifolds) ceramic coated to drop engine bay temps a bit too.

Need to drop my crank off to the machinist to get the shagged main bearing journal checked out to see if it's salvageable or if i need a new crank too. It was supposed to have had a longer oil pump drive snout on it but it didn't..... Another thing I've had to order.

Ordered a set of oil gallery plugs as well, one blanking and the other 1.3mm orifice.

I also ordered a new CAS as when I got my 26 tuned it seemed like the timing was fluctuating a bit so worth the investment I think.

I think that's it for now. New block has hopefully started getting tidied up, heaps of other stuff to do before the pistons eventually get here. With my slow rate of progress I'm sure the slugs will be here before I'm ready for them.

[RB2600]

Good work on the build mate. Look forward to seeing results with the 9.5:1 comp pistons.

Should be a good thing considering everyone complains about lag with -5's or bigger turbos on stock displacement.

[Jamie72]

glad the guy you baught it off came to the party,I just paid $9500 for a 26/30 from a sau member and its completely stuffed,and he kindly said too bad,you must have done it,suck an egg ...

every part of the head conversion was done roughly,block completely ruined... i never even got it in my car...good to see there are some decent folk out there..

Edited January 23, 2013 by Jamie72

[Shoota_77]

Shit mate, sorry to hear that! Yes the guy I bought it off is a top bloke. He bought it off someone else under the same understanding that I did (that it was basically a brand new engine). Unfortunately it was far from it and very poorly done as well.

Thankfully for me I bought the right one. Still a massive pain in the arse though as I'm starting all over again with only a set of rods to show for it!! I was hoping to bang a head on mine and off i go but no.... Ah well, it's all good fun! Means I get to build it exactly how I want it now, albeit 3 months later than hoped by the time it's done.

You should name and shame your guy if he doesn't offer any assistance so others can be wary of him in the future.

[Jamie72]

he wont be helping me out at all made that very obvious,I ended up with a clutch,the 26 head,rods and pistons,balancer,and my engine was sold to me as new,only started twice,built by a well known sydney engine shop,good for 450 + kw,

they also drilled into the head stud,and caught the oil drain also,was only that i pulled the sump off and found metal all through the thing that i got my tuner/builder over to check it out,

they damaged the stud but re fitted it upside down,and it appears they were made up from hi tensile bolts ! same thread pitch on both ends,cut not rolled...

the holes werent relieved on the deck and on every stud hole the deck had burred up,the rhr stud hole had been heli coiled and drilled at an angle so the stud leaned in towards the bore,

deck is cracked from one of the coolant holes about 10 or so mm, also when he/they fitted the os giken clutch the std flywheel bolts were shortend as per normal but no chamfer on threads,crossed or pulled the thread from the

crank, so now makes an effective door stop.

just careless stupid things that ruined the whole engine,it has a moroso external oil pump fitted which is full of metal from the engine also,...the list goes on ...

when approached about helping me to get a new block sorted ,he then claimed that he was only the half owner and i should contact his mate and try for the money ..no response at all.

I let him know about the metal the day after they delivered it to me, "its only normal run in stuff " "it was sitting for while with the turbo drain exposed,must of got in there !! " he said...

i sent photos of all the damage and a list 4 pages long of problems that my engine builder wrote out upon inspection of the motor..theres more to it but ive hijacked your thread plenty already ...

http://www.skylinesa...mplete-package/

Edited January 25, 2013 by Jamie72

[r33_racer]

Mate that is unfortunate!

I read the thread, who the hell is TRP? Clearly they cant be known building tough motors if this one was stuffed before it even ran! How dodgy is their workmanship!

Sorry to hear about your bad luck with that buy mate!

he wont be helping me out at all made that very obvious,I ended up with a clutch,the 26 head,rods and pistons,balancer,and my engine was sold to me as new,only started twice,built by a well known sydney engine shop,good for 450 + kw,

they also drilled into the head stud,and caught the oil drain also,was only that i pulled the sump off and found metal all through the thing that i got my tuner/builder over to check it out,

they damaged the stud but re fitted it upside down,and it appears they were made up from hi tensile bolts ! same thread pitch on both ends,cut not rolled...

the holes werent relieved on the deck and on every stud hole the deck had burred up,the rhr stud hole had been heli coiled and drilled at an angle so the stud leaned in towards the bore,

deck is cracked from one of the coolant holes about 10 or so mm, also when he/they fitted the os giken clutch the std flywheel bolts were shortend as per normal but no chamfer on threads,crossed or pulled the thread from the

crank, so now makes an effective door stop.

just careless stupid things that ruined the whole engine,it has a moroso external oil pump fitted which is full of metal from the engine also,...the list goes on ...

when approached about helping me to get a new block sorted ,he then claimed that he was only the half owner and i should contact his mate and try for the money ..no response at all.

I let him know about the metal the day after they delivered it to me, "its only normal run in stuff " "it was sitting for while with the turbo drain exposed,must of got in there !! " he said...

i sent photos of all the damage and a list 4 pages long of problems that my engine builder wrote out upon inspection of the motor..theres more to it but ive hijacked your thread plenty already ...

http://www.skylinesa...mplete-package/

[r32-25t]

I read the thread, who the hell is TRP? Clearly they cant be known building tough motors if this one was stuffed before it even ran! How dodgy is their workmanship!

actually trp (tony rigoli performance) is very well known for building very tuff cars. Sounds like he lied about who built it or the mechanic who works there (this junior guy) is just a mechanic and not an engine builder

[Jamie72]

yeah I really dont think trp was responsible for the bodgy work on the head conversion,i.e the roughly tapped head stud threads,the buggerd up tensioner relocation,

the thread tape and sealant used to try and hide the oil leaking from said tensioner...the block/bottom end was certainly new,

but as said before was damaged beyond useable and likewise the crank,by whoever put the 26 head on and fitted the clutch..no way a shop like TRP would do the long list of rough as gut crap we found in this motor..

[Shoota_77]

Still waiting on my pistons from the states but a few nice bits turned up during the week. Trying to get everything else ready so once the machining is done I can bolt it all together and put it straight in. Hard to get motivated until bits like this turn up-

Brand new head-

Supertech 1mm oversize valves-

New ARP head studs seeing some dick drilled into one of the last set-

Supertech valve guides that I now don't need seeing I bought the brand new head-

[Shoota_77]

Received my sexy HPI dumps today. I thought they were supposed to be 76mm??? Mine measure up to 72mm at the dump.... My old ones are 57mm so either way it should make quite a difference.

They're one heavy bit of gear. Amazingly good welds and finishing off. I don't want to fit them to the car, they're too damn pretty!

I received a new (Australian made but won't mention brand) oil pump drive collar and measured it up prior to sending it to my machinist to fit it to the crank.

I found the clearances to be massive! Across the drive flats it was 9 thou one side, 10 thou the other and 6 thou around the curved section. This appeared waaaay too big to me. I contacted the seller asking his advice. He tells me that it's 'matched to factory specs'. I measured my 33 crank (which has done around 90K) and found to to be 0.12mm larger across the flats. That's 5 thou less clearance than the supplied collar. No way I'm using it. I might get one custom made so I know it's perfect. I don't particularly want to destroy a nice shiny Tomei oil pump...

[NYTSKY]

This is why you should ALWAYS measure any engine parts that need to be assembled to a tolerance. Even big name brand companies have flaws is their parts.

[Shoota_77]

This is why you should ALWAYS measure any engine parts that need to be assembled to a tolerance. Even big name brand companies have flaws is their parts.

Hell yeah. I'm sure many an engine has been bolted together without clearances being checked only to grenade soon after.

As good as your machinist is it's just not worth the risk of 'presuming' it'll be ok.

[Shoota_77]

Cleaned up a bit of wiring, stripped off old conduit and electrical tape and reapplied it-

Playing around with cam gear cover-

If you haven't get on board the aqua blasting bandwagon then get on! Brings up an amazing finish on all metal bits regardless of how soft (alloys, aluminium, etc)-