Shoota's R33 GT-R RB30/26

[Piggaz]

OSG 5 speed assuming a 265/35x18 tyre, 4.11:1 diffs and 8000 rpm is

87

138

190

234

290 or 310 using the stock 5th ratio.

Factory is

75

120

180

234

310

Having spent the time, effort and money OSG 5 speed (and breaking it with 470 rwkw), it really is a sideways step. Same result as a factory box (they break) and the gear ratios SUCK. They’re just too tall not to mention the 5 speed setup isn’t the nicest box to shift.

Getrag’s as mentioned above are not worth it anymore BUT they are a much nicer shifting box.

With the 3.0 you won’t want a Getrag/4.11:1 anyway. Be rowing gears like a stock evo BUT a 6 speed does wake the car up so much.

Question, IF this 5 speed doesn’t last behind the 3.0/8474, what will you do then... apart from put it up on jack stands and cry.

It’s a shame there isn’t a decent synchro 6 speed box that is strong as an ox, large input shaft, synchro that bolts straight in and can get replacement parts for.

It’s one of those things as a GTR owner is almost like a rite of passage. Up the grunt, build a big donk, blow the driveline to the moon. Bit like realising you’ve spent 10 years playing in the sandpit with twin turbo’s thinking they’re the “way it has to be” 🤣.

[Shoota_77]

@Piggaz ha ha, good post.  Chock full of truth!  Yes if I bust it there will be jack stands, beers and tears!

Yes an affordable 6 speed (H pattern OR sequential) would be incredible.  The PPG path is the path that could be the most affordable and I don't doubt the effort they put in to development but I really reckon over $20K is gouging.  The actual cost of the raw parts and the machining time would be a fraction of the cost.  Again don't get me wrong they deserve every dollar they get for developing it but mid teens is a much more realistic value for it.  They would sell a shitload more an potentially make more money via volume.  And not just in Australia but across the world.  Why pay $15K for a Getbag when you could get a sequential for the same money.

No I'm not riding the Speedtek bandwagon (yet, final opinion pending...) but if they got on board (which looking back through their Facebook posts it appears they've dabbled) and pumped out a quality unit for decent money they could make a killing.  It would be a massive task to get it up and running in the first place however.

I'm actually surprised that there hasn't been a Chinese brand rip off one of the big boys (Albins, Samsonas, Hollinger, Quaife, etc) and make their own version.  God knows they have no issues ripping off anything else they can make an earn on!  Or have they and we just haven't cottoned on to it yet?

[Piggaz]

Sad thing is, with a >500 kw GTR, the driveline costs to do properly just as much as the engine.  Anyone can chuck a big turbo at it, making it reliable and useable is a totally different kettle of fish. 
Diffs (front diff on these things are THE BEST MOD YOU CAN DO), transfer case and box. 
*insert throwing cash out the window .gif*

[Shoota_77]

@Piggaz I've got the transfer case modded, got the front LSD (not Quaife that I know you rate! ☹) just need a gearbag that's up to holding 500+ killer wasps and I'm good to go....  I can't drive for shit so dunno if I'll ever be exploring the upper limits of my power anyway 🤣🤣.  As long as it cops a few runs at the drags for bragging rights and the odd valve bouncing launch from time to time then I ask for no more!

[Shoota_77]

Because I'm incredibly gifted at coming up with ways to slow the progress on my car I bought an el Cheapo EBay powdercoat gun so I can have a crack at powdercoating a few more bits and pieces as I go.

I've tracked down a 900mm wide oven that should be big enough to fit decent sized parts in.  It should fit rocker covers, valley covers and hopefully my turbo dump pipe as I've got some hi temp powder to put on that.  I'll do the turbo housings at the same time.  It's rated to about 700 degrees C which is probably not enough for a turbine housing and dump pipe but we'll see how we go!  Hopefully if it is too hot for the powder it just discolours it rather than peeling off in big chunks.

After I get a bit of practice I'll probably powdercoat my wheels as well as they're a little bit chippy and could do with renewing.

Shoota's Powdercoating Services ready for business....

[Dorifudo]

Hey @Shoota_77 

Good to see your car coming along nicely. Be really interesting with how your gearset turns out. I was in the same dilemma about 2 months ago regarding gearset. Being in NZ one of the recommended gearbox rebuilders only recommended me to go for the OS gearset but was going to cost me about $12.5k NZD which i wasnt prepared to pay. I ended up getting in touch with Sam from Neat Gearboxes and settled with the PAR straight cut synchro box with the OS centre billet plate.

 

Jeff 

[Shoota_77]

13 hours ago, Dorifudo said:

Hey @Shoota_77 

Good to see your car coming along nicely. Be really interesting with how your gearset turns out. I was in the same dilemma about 2 months ago regarding gearset. Being in NZ one of the recommended gearbox rebuilders only recommended me to go for the OS gearset but was going to cost me about $12.5k NZD which i wasnt prepared to pay. I ended up getting in touch with Sam from Neat Gearboxes and settled with the PAR straight cut synchro box with the OS centre billet plate.

 

Jeff 

If its holding up to 600+ kW in yours then the PAR must be the goods!

There's a few guys in NZ running the Speedtek and putting some decent power through them so hopefully it will be all good!

My balls are on the line if its not!

[IMACUL8]

34 minutes ago, Shoota_77 said:

My balls are on the line if its not!

Yep  

[Dorifudo]

3 hours ago, Shoota_77 said:

If its holding up to 600+ kW in yours then the PAR must be the goods!

There's a few guys in NZ running the Speedtek and putting some decent power through them so hopefully it will be all good!

My balls are on the line if its not!

The gearbox is currently still getting built, just waiting on a few bits as i had opted for the GM 26 spline input shaft. Hopefully it would allow me to be a bit more aggressive on the shifts. 

Yea theres a few NZs running the speedtek gearsets and seem to be good.

Jeff

[BK]

58 minutes ago, Dorifudo said:

The gearbox is currently still getting built, just waiting on a few bits as i had opted for the GM 26 spline input shaft. Hopefully it would allow me to be a bit more aggressive on the shifts. 

Yea theres a few NZs running the speedtek gearsets and seem to be good.

Jeff

Hey this setup sounds familiar 😀

Mate you'll like it, as with any dog box my PAR does full power clutchless upshifts. Who needs a sequential ?

[Dorifudo]

3 hours ago, BK said:

Hey this setup sounds familiar 😀

Mate you'll like it, as with any dog box my PAR does full power clutchless upshifts. Who needs a sequential ?

Hey @BKi opted for the synchro box as I still wanted a semi comfortable street car haha

[BK]

😭Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !

[Shoota_77]

Picked up my powder coating oven today. She's a bloody beauty! Think of the chips and pies I can now have for lunch out here!

First powdercoat job I did was to powdercoat my favourite Canadian Club drinking mug! Yeah strange choice I know! I just wanted to throw some powder around to see how it comes out of the gun. I meant to do it in chrome but accidentally put the transparent metallic black in the gun instead! A lot of the powders look the same until you cook them so it looked like the right one till I pulled it back out of the oven and then read the bag....

Anyway,  all good. I'll keep playing around until I'm confident enough to coat stuff that matters!

[Shoota_77]

Ok, long time no update....

So, my completely honest opinion of Speedtek as promised.

Main problem I experienced - not understanding the term "managing expectations".  If they'd told me 12 weeks and we got to now (12 weeks) and the gearset and centre plate were done, I would have been thrilled.  Problem was, I was told 5 weeks.  Each update (generally only received after a bit/lot of badgering by myself) was again, way under what became reality.  Again, i would have preferred and been happy with longer dates had they been what I was given and what I received which they NEVER were.  I feel there may be more to the story (parts being made overseas?????) but the blame over the last 6 weeks has been "the anodisers doing the plates are holding things up"

Allegedly my parts are now on the way to Neat Gearboxes as we speak (the TNT tracking number they gave me was wrong so I can't be sure......).  Once he has them and has had a chance to completely go over them and assess how well they're made I will then know whether it's all been worth it!

Would I use them again?  Probably.  Would I double the time they told me I would get the parts?  Definitely.  Would I recommend them to other people?  I can't fully answer that until the parts are fully inspected by Neat (and I've "inspected"them by smashing a few 500kW launches through them, specifically loading up full noise on the typical cream cheese and balsa wood constructed 3rd gear!) but if the quality is good then definitely I would recommend them but with SPECIFIC warnings about what i experienced.

As I've probably mentioned, if they weren't the price they were, I probably wouldn't have gone with a billet gearset.  The OS Giken equivalent with centre plate would have cost over $2000 more for the same thing.  Fingers crossed they're up to the task!

I'll report back once Neat have given me their opinion of them.

Hopefully getting a completed gearbox back inspires me back into action again.  I've barely touched the car since before I ordered the gearset so I'll need to put a serious rocket up my clacker to get back into it again.  It's nearing to motorbike season again and I go completely missing during that 6 months of the year as I'm addicted to tearing up the mountains.  Even more so now as I have a (near) new toy.

Isn't she beautiful!!

 

Please pray for my motivation to come rushing back like a Victorian COVID lockdown under Daniel Andrews!

[IMACUL8]

Mate - why did you bother with that Muppet.  Sorry to hear - but we all honestly knew this was going to be the case.  Not saying it wont be a good product in the end - only time will tell - but its fair to say he is full of sh*t.

Hope it works out Ewan - really do.

[Shoota_77]

32 minutes ago, IMACUL8 said:

Mate - why did you bother with that Muppet.  Sorry to hear - but we all honestly knew this was going to be the case.  Not saying it wont be a good product in the end - only time will tell - but its fair to say he is full of sh*t.

Hope it works out Ewan - really do.

Apologies if my post came across as a whinge, it wasn't that at all!  It was just my honest experience.

Considering he had nearly $5000 of my money I was extremely patient and relaxed about the whole affair!

I knew what to expect so I was ready for it.  I honestly had that much going on the last 3 months I didn't have time to get too worked up about it anyway.

I guess to a degree he had managed my expectations as I had very low ones based on everything I'd read and you guys told me!  

If the product is good, I'll be absolutely thrilled and any of the issues over the last 3 months will be completely forgotten about!  I'll be driving off into the sunset with a big smile on my face and some faint movements in my pants!

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Did someone say BMW DCT conversion?

 

[Kinkstaah]

^-- looked into the above for my LS, but there's no real kits on the market yet, the info is pretty light on the ground sadly.

I'm sure it'll become a thing soon, though.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Cheap than Samsonas, more boners to be had.

[Shoota_77]

Heard back from Neat Gearboxes today to say they've got the gearbox internals back from hardness testing and they were all "exactly where they need to be" which is good news.  He said formerly Speedtek stuff had been overly hardened (brittle) so they must have improved on that process of late.

Sam is peening and polishing it all as we speak before re-assembly within the next week or so.

Hopefully they can send me some photos as otherwise it will be the only part on the car I haven't seen the inside of!  Should look pretty sexy after the peen/polish job on the gears.

I'm losing my licence soon (long frustrating story but ultimately from constantly speeding but in the end not why I lost my licence...) so I'll probably be doing less camping and motorbike riding and might be able to actually get some work done on the Skyline.  Once the gearbox is sitting on the floor of the shed hopefully that is enough to make me pull my finger out and finish off this damn, epicly long fiasco!!

Finally then I will discover if I still have it in my heart to keep it or whether I'm so over it I can't bear to look at it anymore!  It would be bittersweet if I did sell it.  Obviously the cash would be handy and take 10 years off the home loan but I don't know if I could ever forgive myself for giving up an amazing car.  I still kick myself from time to time about getting rid of my old Datto Ute but this would be on a whole different level.  The Datto was totally the wrong vehicle for me but I still loved it!

I'll post up some photos of  the box bits if anything comes back.