Timmy's R34 Gtt

[timmy_89]

Hi all,

I've been a member on here for a little while now, but have only start becoming fully active in the last few months.

I purchased my silver R34 GTT last year around mid-August I think it was. Appearance wise it was completely stock, but it had a few performance goodies. It was nice to finally get a turbo car, my first car was a '94 Suzuki Swift GTi, and after that I had a '00 S15 Autech, both were nice, but obviously wouldn't compete with this performance wise. I live in Dubbo NSW, where there are a few imports getting around, but not many, mostly P platers in non-turbo Supra’s haha.

At the time of purchase the Skyline had the following mods:

• Apexi Power FC + hand controller (tuned prior to the hiflow turbo to 206kw)
• e-Boost2
• Hiflowed turbo
• Splitfire ignition coils
• Trust front mount intercooler (retaining factory piping holes)
• Trust pod filter
• 3" turbo back exhaust
• JVC head unit

It also has a factory sunroof. Not something I was looking for but figured it was a bonus, though, after driving it for a few weeks I realised how tiny it was



The car had close to 150,000kms on it, but the previous owner who lived in bathurst was a guy in his mid-thirties who had owned the car since 2001 and had all receipts from when it was imported, its services, and all work carried out on it. He was pretty meticulous. The km's didn't bother me after seeing the condition of the car and meeting the guy. We settled on a decent price and I was a happy Skyline owner

I will also note that this is my secondary ‘toy’ car. I own a VY Commodore for my daily duties, and because my girlfriend is at university and I wanted something easy to travel in, so it does that well.

At first I didn’t do anything to the car, I wanted to drive it for a little bit and enjoy it without spending money. It only took me a couple of weeks before I decided to pull off the NEO engine cover though, and also take out the factory air intake ‘snorkel’. It looks pretty crappy but I wasn't a big fan of the cover either.



After a couple of months of ownership I decided to head to a local drag meet which is a 1/8th mile, held at an old airport near Wellington. I went with a friend who has a Sil80 pig. Wasn’t expecting any amazing results, just wanted to go for the fun of it and ‘play’ in a legal environment. It’s the only ‘track’ related thing I can do without travelling 4 hours. I had a number of runs throughout the day, and was improving each run, until my diff begun to play up. It started doing singles and was launching terribly. I think the best run I managed was a low 9.3. I know I could’ve definitely done better, but I was still learning.



After the drags I obviously needed to fix the diff, so I decided rather than repair it or replace it with a stock diff I would go a 1.5way. I decided to go with the Nismo Pro GT LSD 1.5way so I ordered this online.

While waiting for the diff I bought some second hand King Springs and Bilstein shocks from a forum member. I decided it was time to fix the ‘boat-ish’ look the Skyline had. They never turned up. Luckily, having paid using PayPal I got my money back, and bought another second hand set of springs on eBay. I chose spring for the current time as after putting coilovers on the S15 I previously owned I got sick of the roughness on the ‘country’ roads too quick. Once these turned up I got a mate to help me fit them and I was amazed at the difference. It looked better and drove firmer too, but still not rough.

Once lowered I decided I needed to source some wheels. I kept my eyes on the forums and soon found a set of Rota DPT 18x9.5 +22 for sale with tyres for a reasonable price. So I
purchased these. I was a little unsure how the fitment would go, but from what I read I was hoping they would be fine. I also rolled the rear guards in preparation for them, just using one of the the ‘cheap’ eBay guard rollers. This worked a treat. When the wheels turned up they had a few more marks around them to what was pictured/described, possible because of the poor ‘protection’ the seller provided when having the wheels delivered. But anyway, I guess that’s part of the risk you take when buying second hand.



I got home from work the next day and went to fit the wheels all excited and discovered that my wheel nuts were not going to fit. I raced around town trying to find some that would fit to no luck. As a result I bought some 50mm extended wheel nuts from Cartel Aus, and opted for blue ones, as I thought they would match the black wheels on the silver paint. Once these arrived I fitted the wheels and was happy with the appearance.

Not quite ‘build’ related, but I went for a bit of a drive one weekend when I had nothing better to do with a mate Kam, also a member on here, who just recently purchased a R32 GTR. Originally I was just going over to visit him (about an hours drive) and we would drive to Mudgee for lunch. This ended up in about an 11hr round trip drive for me after we decided to drive all the way to Bathurst and cruise around Mount Panorama before heading home.

Next the diff arrived and I tried to find somewhere local to fit it. After being refused service by about 5 different local ‘transmission and differential’ shops, absolute joke but I guess that’s half the trouble with living ‘rural’ with an import, I finally found someone who would fit the diff for me. I must say, best thing I have done to a car so far. After driving the car for 20minutes I felt like I learnt so much. The car felt so much nicer to drive too.



After fitting the diff I haven’t done much with the car, just been driving it around to bed in the new diff. Did go for a cruise out of town with a mate in his XR6 and a couple of mates with bikes.

I attended a local car show with Kam in his GTR and a couple of other mates, who had R32 GTST, XR6 turbo and a Supra (N/A). It was good to attend this and push some local support for imports. I wanted to do this because the ‘charity car show’ had about 16 trophies covering Holden, Ford, muscle, bikes, utes, even ‘country utes’ and tractors, but nothing for imports. We gave them a bit of shit about it haha. Ahh to be in the country *bliss*.



After the event we went for a bit of a drive. Along the way, the clutch slipped in 3rd gear, and later slipped in 2nd and 3rd. Time for a new clutch.

Because I’m saving for a month’s holiday in Japan my budget is tight. But I wanted to replace it as there is a motorkhana event on locally at Easter which I want to attend, and have already paid to enter. I picked up an Exedy heavy duty clutch (just a basic one) on eBay for cheap that was coming out of a wreck. I received that a couple of days ago and am going to get a couple of mates to help with getting that fitted.



Soo… this gets us to present time. Let me know what you guys think and I’ll update more as things happen

Tim

[darksky34]

great writeup mate, i'm really jealous of your red S badge

[timmy_89]

Cheers
I'm not sure why all the photos went small but I've reported to get a moderators help to fix it up lol.

I never realised the red S badge was so uncommon until somebody else mentioned it to me :S

[psikazi]

Great build thread. +1 subscribed

[34GeeTeeTee]

Rims look awesome mate

[timmy_89]

Rims look awesome mate

Cheers man

I was super happy with the fitment. The rear wheels paint was a bit screwed, so I resprayed (pressure pack) them the other weekend. Not perfect but a hell of a lot better! I want to do some out there colour but can't decide what. Orange, green, blue, pink?? I don't know

[34GeeTeeTee]

Cheers man

I was super happy with the fitment. The rear wheels paint was a bit screwed, so I resprayed (pressure pack) them the other weekend. Not perfect but a hell of a lot better! I want to do some out there colour but can't decide what. Orange, green, blue, pink?? I don't know

Depends where your mods list goes as that screams "defect me"

[darksky34]

saw a honda jazz with roof spoiler and fluoro green rims yesterday. even the girlfriend pointed and laughed at it. so...your choice hahaha

Edited March 11, 2013 by darksky34

[timmy_89]

Depends where your mods list goes as that screams "defect me"

saw a honda jazz with roof spoiler and fluoro green rims yesterday. even the girlfriend pointed and laughed at it. so...your choice hahaha

In an ideal situation I would actually like to get some Varrestoen 2.2.1's in black for street and spray these something for track wheels. I'd rather do some more performance mods first though

[Hanaldo]

In my opinion, fluro rims can only be pulled off by an all out time attack/drift spec car. And I'm talking like a sponsored, proper track car. It needs that real track-only look to command the respect that you lose by running fluro wheels. Put them on a street car and you're just a dude that likes bright colours and cheap cars.

OT, build is looking good mate, will follow!

[timmy_89]

In my opinion, fluro rims can only be pulled off by an all out time attack/drift spec car. And I'm talking like a sponsored, proper track car. It needs that real track-only look to command the respect that you lose by running fluro wheels. Put them on a street car and you're just a dude that likes bright colours and cheap cars.

OT, build is looking good mate, will follow!

Cheers

I know exactly what you mean about the wheels. That's why I haven't done anything yet and would like to do it after I get other wheels and then these would be my track wheels. Still undecided though.

[timmy_89]

Edit: double post

Edited March 11, 2013 by timmy_89

[timmy_89]

Not really a 'car' update, but I decided to buy a GoPro. Got the Black Edition. Went for a quick drive with it yesterday to test it and will have a bit more of a play on the weekend but so far so good

I've got a suction mount to use with the car, and I'm also going to use one of the clip mounts on my helmet for when I'm doing car events and for when I go go karting

Edited March 15, 2013 by timmy_89

[timmy_89]

Pics and full details to come.. probably tomorrow.
But the short details, got the new (used) clutch in. Hicas lock bar fitted. Handbrake 'drift' button fitted.

[darksky34]

what lock bar did you go with mate?

[timmy_89]

I'm pretty sure it was an ISC lock bar. I bought it about a month after buying the car and only just got around to fitting it haha.

[darksky34]

cheers. looking for one myself, they all seem the same to me (lock bars). keep us updated

[timmy_89]

Yea I couldn't find anything saying that there was any differences at the time of looking. I think I paid around $70 delivered? Forget exactly. Definitely recommend fitting one. I had only driven a Skyline with HICAS and my previous S15 had it as well so I didn't really know any different. I had an hour drive after fitting it and could definitely feel the difference though. Kinda feels like it was more 'boat-ish' and 'sway-ish' before and more firm/predictable now.

Will post pics and more details about everything else tonight

Edited March 21, 2013 by timmy_89

[timmy_89]

Ok so here's the slightly more detailed run down..

I went to Mudgee to a mates (guy with the XR6T in a photo in my first post) place while he was home from work. He has a pretty big shed, and a good mechanical knowledge, so I thought I'd use his expertise in changing the clutch. While I was there I thought I'd also fit the hicas bar that I've had laying about for months. Also Kam (psikazi - yellow R32 GTR pictured above also) gave me a 'drift' button that he decided not to use so thought I'd fit that while we were at it. He came to help when he was free also.

First step was to obviously get the car off the ground, I think we achieved that rather well seeing as we didn't get access to the hoist as originally planned.

Heres a shot with my GoPro with the gearbox pulled down, exhaust pulled off, etc.

Centre console pulled out.

Kam with his multipurpose (anything related to cars) flanny on. What else can you expect from us 'country' guys haha

Comparison of the standard pressure plate (right) and the new/used Exedy pressure plate (left). As you can see the stock one had taken a bit of a beating and heat abuse.

Being that I travelled over after finishing work it was well past business hours by the time we got everything off/down, so we had to wait until morning to drop off the flyhweel to get machined. Apparently I forgot to take a photo of that, but lets just say it was well f*cked. Being that we had to wait we decided to get the hicas lock bar fitted. This was extremely easy, I'd read a lot of different reports of people having power steering issues which made no sense to me. Turns out the older hicas unit Nissan used was hydraulic and used a power steering pump/fluid to work. The newer ones are electric, which mine was, which made it an easy case of just fitting the bar. I now have a hicas light obviously, but I will remove the light from the dash when I get the chance. I will also be getting it aligned very soon, but it was barely out so I didn't worry about it before heading home. This is how it looks .

Then we fitted the 'drift' button for mad skid performance, or something along those lines. This was pretty easy, the hardest part was getting the handbrake grip off. Unhook the spring, put the grip back on and jam the button in. Works a charm.

After this we had lunch then went to pick up the flywheel. Having never done this or seen a flywheel before (I'm really not that mechanically hands on) I didn't realise how bad it was until we picked it back up. Nice and shiny

Got the clutch fitted back up and then went on to the gearbox. Was a bit of a pain as we didn't get it perfectly aligned to begin with, but once we fixed that it practically slipped on, wish a good push anyway . We filled it with new oil, then bled the clutch fluid and was on my way to bolting everything back up. I had my 'childish' moment though. Had to start it up quickly before bolting the exhaust back on (only removed it from the cat back). It was... loud. Haha. After a laugh we got that fitted back on and got it back on the ground. Went for a bit of a test drive and then my travel home begun.

I took some timelapses with the GoPro over the 2 days as well. When I get around to putting them together I'll post some links

I am entering the motorkhana for the Toyota Nationals which is held here in Dubbo annually on Easter weekend. I'm not Toyota but they are letting me in anyway . I'll probably have more pics/updates then. Cheers

[Hanaldo]

Jack stand on the chassis, tsk

Word of advice with the HICAS light, don't just remove the bulb. If you ever need to get the car inspected, the pits guys know to look for that. All the lights should come on when you switch the key to on, if it doesn't they know you have removed the bulb. Best way to get past it is to wire that bulb into one of the other bulbs, so that it will come on when the key is switched on.

Strangely enough they aren't worried about HICAS being deleted, just the fact the light doesn't work. They're an odd breed.

Edited March 22, 2013 by Hanaldo