Shoota's R33 GT-R RB30/26

[iruvyouskyrine]

On 7/7/2021 at 10:04 PM, Shoota_77 said:

$70 posted from a guy on Facebook. Very much a bolt in thing with only minor mods required. 

Noice, i'm lazy and this is what i wanted to hear haha

 

On 7/7/2021 at 3:31 PM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

I have a spare 350Z pedal, PM if you want brah...

I ended up sourcing a G35 one because it's rubber, not alloy like the 350Z

Will do thnx bby

[Shoota_77]

Certainly NOT going to claim this as progress until it actually becomes something but I did spend a very short time working on my motor today.

I don't think I posted about it but a slightly funny story around getting my block machined for the PRP brace....  The first place I dropped it to told me it would be a few weeks. I was happy with that, a few weeks wouldn't dampen my enthusiasm I'd built up after spending another few thousand $$ on my car for the brace, manifold etc (as that seems to be the only thing that gets me motivated again, feeling like it would be a waste to spend all that money and nit finish it off....).  Anyway,  waited 3 weeks, no news so rang "really busy, I've read the instructions,  we'll start it next week".  I waited 2 weeks, nothing.  I rang and got a similar story.  I rang another week later and he told me they can't do it....  (they're a full machine ship mind you...).  I said "Why not? It's just like decking a block but you're decking the bottom of the block??" He says "Yeah I agree. Let me talk to my main man, I think we can do it "  I made it very clear that if they could do it, great, if not let me know ASAP so I can take it somewhere else.  "He says "No worries!"  Another 2 weeks later I'd had enough.  I rang the machinist but no one answered which pleased me no end...  So I jumped in my ute and drove around there.  When I walked in no one was in the office or at the front counter.  I walked towards the back of the business where the machining is done and saw a guy.  He saw me and spun on his heels as fast as he could and walked away.  So I said "f**k it", picked up my block and brace that were still in nearly the same place as I'd dropped them, threw them in the back of the ute and drove off.  That was a few weeks ago now and they still haven't called to admit to losing my block or ask if I took it!  The boys at work were trying to egg me on to call them and ask of it was ready yet! 🤣

  So I took it to another place and had it back completed within 10 days.  

It was yet another kick in the balls though and surprise surprise when I did get it back that magical motivation had f'd off on me again!  God I'm a sook...

So today I decided to give the block a thorough clean out and gave the paint a refresh as its now 7 + years ago I did it last.  Actually came up pretty good!

Is this a start? We shall wait and see....

Before-

After-

Dust thickness on the poor old girl is coming in a little over 3mm currently....

 

[Shoota_77]

I forgot to mention, I have one concern…. After grinding out the reliefs for the sump brace “clamps” for want of a better term and then the sump rail holes getting enlarged to 8mm, I’m left with minimal meat for the brace to block bolts.  It scares the shit out of me and could come back to hurt me but I test fit the brace to the block and torqued it all up and there were no zero torque bolts which astounds me considering how little meat there is!

Fingers crossed it’s all good.

You can see how thin it is below-

[Old man 32 GTR]

On 04/09/2021 at 6:22 PM, Shoota_77 said:

Certainly NOT going to claim this as progress until it actually becomes something but I did spend a very short time working on my motor today.

I don't think I posted about it but a slightly funny story around getting my block machined for the PRP brace....  The first place I dropped it to told me it would be a few weeks. I was happy with that, a few weeks wouldn't dampen my enthusiasm I'd built up after spending another few thousand $$ on my car for the brace, manifold etc (as that seems to be the only thing that gets me motivated again, feeling like it would be a waste to spend all that money and nit finish it off....).  Anyway,  waited 3 weeks, no news so rang "really busy, I've read the instructions,  we'll start it next week".  I waited 2 weeks, nothing.  I rang and got a similar story.  I rang another week later and he told me they can't do it....  (they're a full machine ship mind you...).  I said "Why not? It's just like decking a block but you're decking the bottom of the block??" He says "Yeah I agree. Let me talk to my main man, I think we can do it "  I made it very clear that if they could do it, great, if not let me know ASAP so I can take it somewhere else.  "He says "No worries!"  Another 2 weeks later I'd had enough.  I rang the machinist but no one answered which pleased me no end...  So I jumped in my ute and drove around there.  When I walked in no one was in the office or at the front counter.  I walked towards the back of the business where the machining is done and saw a guy.  He saw me and spun on his heels as fast as he could and walked away.  So I said "f**k it", picked up my block and brace that were still in nearly the same place as I'd dropped them, threw them in the back of the ute and drove off.  That was a few weeks ago now and they still haven't called to admit to losing my block or ask if I took it!  The boys at work were trying to egg me on to call them and ask of it was ready yet! 🤣 

.

this is so typical, happens far to often and I honestly don’t know how some of these shops survive. We are suckers for punishment I guess. 
good to see is still progressing, even slow progress is progress, mine is moving at a snails pace at the moment and current restrictions in Sydney isn’t helping. I should be getting the rest of the front end parts for mine this month so will try to use that as motivation to push forward. 

[Shoota_77]

On 05/09/2021 at 1:46 PM, Old man 32 GTR said:

On 04/09/2021 at 6:22 PM, Shoota_77 said:

 

this is so typical, happens far to often and I honestly don’t know how some of these shops survive. We are suckers for punishment I guess. 
good to see is still progressing, even slow progress is progress, mine is moving at a snails pace at the moment and current restrictions in Sydney isn’t helping. I should be getting the rest of the front end parts for mine this month so will try to use that as motivation to push forward. 

Yeah you trust someone to do work for you and they let you down....

Glad I can do most stuff myself or there would be even more frustrations no doubt!

In terms of motivation I'm the WORST for losing it quickly.  There is a guy on YouTube called Kalvin Malli who is a dude in the US that bought an R32 GTR from Japan that ended up being a basket case with extrene rust, blown turbo, stuffed engine, etc.  You can see his frustrations but he powers through the setbacks and keeps pushing on.  I put myself in his shoes and realised I have nothing to complain about or get to a point where I feel the need to give up.  This gave me a bit of a kick along to get back in the zone and soldier on!

[Old man 32 GTR]

Yes, I’ve seen his videos, that car was in real bad shape (white R32 GTR) if it’s the one I’m thinking of. Almost beyond repair, that guy has some drive. And skill to fix it. 
My issue is, I’ve probably gone a bit too far, in terms of restoration, I’m not building a show piece, I want something I can drive and enjoy. 
Looks like I’ve secured a 6 speed getrag so that should take care of gearbox duties till I can afford a sequential.  

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

On 05/09/2021 at 6:53 PM, Old man 32 GTR said:

afford a BMW DCT swap

 

[Old man 32 GTR]

On 06/09/2021 at 10:26 PM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

 

😂😂🤣or that! 

[Shoota_77]

Started welding on my EGT bungs today.  Spent the extra time to try and get them all lined up as straight as possible.  It's an internal battle every time I do something somewhat technical between my OCD and inherent laziness...

Ran out of Argon at a bad time so will finish it off once I pickup a new bottle. I had a whoopsee on one of the bungs so ordered a new bung to replace the one I killed with some stray TIG action...

I hope you like my extremely accurate spacing measurement device!

[Shoota_77]

Straightish...

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Nice choice in manifold, funny enough 6Boost started to divide the pulses to the gate seat now.

Where as before that wasn't the case. 

[Shoota_77]

On 11/09/2021 at 8:04 AM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

Nice choice in manifold, funny enough 6Boost started to divide the pulses to the gate seat now.

Where as before that wasn't the case. 

Yeah its a nice bit of kit.

It may not be as pretty as it was before....  I was having a lot of dramas tigging the egt bung's on.   The manifold was just not tigging nicely. It was popping and carrying on like it was contaminated. I tried super heating it with the blow torch to try and cook it out but it just wasn't playing. While lying on bed that night I thought "fu(€ it" I'm migging these pricks on...  I turned down the settings, did some test welds and went to work. Wire feed was still a bit strong so the result is far from pretty but they ain't moving! Regret it? Yeah a little bit.  Is it worth stewing on?  Nope,  it's progress so I'll see it as a positive! Still waiting on a replacement for the bung I killed and I'll butcher it the same way do it doesn't look out of place! 🤣

Pics for transparency (I'm normally not good at admitting to my mistakes) -

Also, because I need another hobby (not) I decided to make a sim rig and do a bit of make believe Skyline driving seeing I may never drive my own!

I'm not going to get too into it, just do it on the cheap.  For now....

The seat I've had for 10 years so basically zero cost.  It was supposed to go in my Datto ute but never made it in there prior to sale.  There's about $65 worth of 50mm angle iron (so far).  The second hand Thrustmaster TMX Pro steering wheel and pedals was $260 and the shifter was $300. Total investment under $650.

Looking forward to the next Forza coming out in November. I've never really been into driving games which is a bit bizarre given my Skyline interests plus the fact I've worked in the automotive industry for my entire career! Hopefully this doesn't turn into an addiction! 

I'm just making it up as I go, no plan or measurements. I've build some adjustability into the base plus made multiple mounting points for the shifter to get it just right. Please leaves room for a hand brake if I decided to get into drifting. 

Just waiting for the steering wheel and pedals to turn up before I can finish it off.

 

@Dose Pipe Sutututu has Skylines and home Reno's, I have Skylines and sim builds!

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Those EGT bungs will definitely do the job!

And nice work on the rig, any plans to add motion to it?

[Shoota_77]

On 11/09/2021 at 5:02 PM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

Those EGT bungs will definitely do the job!

And nice work on the rig, any plans to add motion to it?

Definitely zero plans to add motion! Let's see if the steering wheel even gets out of the box first! I may have just inadvertently made a very comfy chair for the shed!  That's what would have happened to that seat if it hadn't ended up on the sim. Well, one day it would have....  Maybe.

[Shoota_77]

Boring content apologies but I started the unenviable job of dismantling and cleaning pistons. Because I dicked around so much chasing initial start-up issues the first time around the pistons are filth!  Definitely worth the effort of a clean. It makes it a bit more like starting from new again.

I'm up in the air about whether I'll change the rings. They don't need changing but I'm still tempted to do it anyway. Hopefully I don't...  I'm definitely replacing big end and main bearings however. Again, just because...

[Shoota_77]

After avoiding working on the GT-R for the vast majority of the last few lockdowns I absolutely banned myself from doing anything  BUT work on the Skyline today. Nek minnit I'm reallocation power points in the shed and watching BMX Bandits with the kids.  Oh FFS.... 

But I did manage to get my exhaust manifold and the intake plenum prepped and powdercoated.  The exhaust I was always going to do but the intake was one of those things I was just going to stop dicking around and whack it on. So glad I did it though as it came up awesome! I'm really happy with it.  The exhaust came up so-so.  It has a few lumps and blemishes in it but by the time I've run it a few times I'm sure they'll be invisible anyway.

Just got the plenum to head spacer to do tomorrow then both sides are done. I'm going to have to get the local powdercoater to do my dump pipe and wastegate pipes as they're too big to fit in my oven in the shed. Might need to update to a newer/larger model!

I made up a bit of a jig to hold the exhaust upright in the oven to stop it touching on anything. It worked quite well.

The exhaust is a high temp powdercoat and just satin black for the cold side. Really don't know how the high temp powdercoat will hold up. Presumably not as good as ceramic coating but as long as it holds the rust at bay it's worth it!

Some action shots from the day-

 

 

[Shoota_77]

Another day of masking things up and then powdercoating them then taking 2 hours of masking off in 20 seconds...  Masking is a laborious task at best!

Intake plenum spacer, oil pickup and turbo exhaust housing all done now. I THINK that's the bulk of things sorted now that would hold me up were I to start bolting it all together. 

Time will tell how resilient the high temp powdercoat is especially on the turbo....

I'm still a little torn as to whether I do the front housing on the turbo. I don't want to end up with too much black. It's already going to be very black in there... 

Today's pics-

[Shoota_77]

Rechecked my piston ring gaps over the weekend and because of being a bit too big I decided to whack a set of rings in it....  Not sure if they were too big from the start or whether giving it a hone opened them up a bit.  Either way it's shit however you look at it....

Sent the turbo dump and wastegate pipe to the powdercoaters with my high temp powder.  Their oven doesn't go hot enough to really bake the high temp properly but a few heat cycles on the car and they'll be well cooked!  Very happy with how they came up. 

Caved in and followed the Insta-crew and got titanium turbo flange and exhaust manifold studs. You know, for the likes on 'Gram?

[Shoota_77]

Managed to spend a bit of time on the motor on Melbourne Cup Day. My new piston rings hadn't turned up yet so cleaned up all the engine bolt ons (water pump, rear main housing, oil pump, etc, etc) so everything is ready to bolt straight back on during the reassembly process.  Still have a few more bits to powdercoat but 90% of stuff is ready to go back on.

Made up a piston ring installation tool to position rings at a set height and square to the bore for measure ring gaps.  Used a couple of stainless plumbing wall plates total cost of about $14....  Tigged the two bits together. May have overcooked one hole....

Rings arrived yesterday so hopefully can get them gapped and ready to throw it back together. Got some new Plastigage to check clearances again with the new bearings. 

It's time to start doing a few nights in the shed to try and smash it out before Christmas.  The missus will be thrilled....

[Shoota_77]

Got the new rings and checked all the clearances.  In all honesty straight out of the box the ring clearances are on the upper end of the scale....  I'm not sure if when they honed the engine when I got the brace done they got a bit aggressive with the hone and took too much material out?  It's shit but I'm not going to worry about it.  I'm not binning a set of pistons that have only left the shed in a box, not the engine....  Better make sure my breather setup is on point....

 

Rechecked the main bearing clearances just to make sure the  new bearings are all good and no random big clearances introduced.  They were all pretty good.  a bit tight on the front journal but pretty consistent overall,

Got the crank back in and buttoned up after checking clearances ready to reassemble the pisons and whack them back in-

Slowly, slowly.  Progress is progress no matter how small!

Off riding again this weekend so no more Skyline time for a few weeks.