Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Not exactly fair criticism IMO. The R32 GT-R was probably the largest volume seller of any Group A model in the world (ie versions with the same engine as the race car).

The RS500 Sierra was also built to exploit the rules as much as they could. And if you want to talk boring, that car all but turned Group A into a one make race series. Everyone had them - even Brock. Nissan were about the only ones who genuinely challenged them with the R30 and 31 Skylines before they got serious and revived the GT-R brand with a lot of innovative thinking for the time. It could just as easily have bitten them in the arse if they didn't get it right - more complicated things tend to be less reliable, as a rule. So it was a big gamble by Nissan to build the GT-R. Ford only built 5,500 Sierras with the Cosworth motor in total. Nissan, by comparison, built about 44,000 RB26 engined GT-Rs!!!

GT-R only cost twice as much as a Commodore here because Nissan only brought in 100 of the damn things, not confident of being able to sell them here. The price in Japan was 4,450,000Y - roughly equivalent to $44,500 at 1990 exchange rates. VL Walkinshaws sold for $47,000. How many countries did they sell them in? lol They could barely sell their homologation runs in time here. And how many countries did they sell those 5,500 Sierra's in??? And how much would one of them have cost to buy here!!!

For what it is worth the did make/sell more than the 500 cars necessary for the VL Walkinshaw. I say "sell" but they were stinking up the forecourts for long after they were made. Also they only ever made 300 of the VN Group A Commodores.

There were 500 of the evolution Sierras made after the initial 5000 for the homologation although the earlier version ran in 1987 (even 1896 in a different version) before they did the evolution of it (not including the Sapphires for rallying) - bit like there were there were only 800(?) R31 GTS-R's and 560 Nismo GT-R's which were the homologation model. Depends on how pedantic you want to be with what constitutes the base model and the homologation version. The Rovers and Jaguars were nothing special and for that matter the VK Commodore was in the over 5 litre category on debut because they hadn't sold enough of the slightly smaller displacement 304 V8's yet.

Bit pointless criticising the manufacturers for using the rules the way they were intended. If you want volume you need to look at the rally cars built under group A. Nissan Micra March Super Turbo anyone?

But for what it is worth I reckon the figures quoted at the time by Freddie Gibson about costs were mostly bullshit.

Edited by djr81

supercharger first, then a bypass valve opens for the it when the turbo takes over.....interesting little thing....I think there were some heavy drugs done in Nissan engineering dept in the mid to late 80s.

BTW, do you think Gibson spent more or less than they said? It was without a doubt the best engineered car on the grid, even the 31s were very impressive for their base

Less. I sort of suspect they rolled all the sums for R&D into the costs for the engines etc. So you get a phone number for an RB26 and think well it is a, say, 600hp motor and uses standard rods and standard exhaust manifold etc etc. Even today it is hard to figure out why it would cost so much.

Having said that their electronic gear would have been ruinously expensive and they had the best of everything. But a Hollinger costs what a hollinger costs and the cars did without alot of things. Didnt even have in car adjustable sway bars.

Their standards were high but no higher than the best of the Sierras or Frank Gardners cars. Would have hated to be the bloke signing cheques for Bob Forbes team.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Next, remove the upper and lower radiator hoses, both are held with a spring clamp. While you are under there, tackle the Auto Trans cooler lines.  Again both are held on with spring clamps, and as mentioned above you should cap them on the radiator side with an 8mm cap, and on the car side loop them with a length of 8mm pipe - this will stop you losing a dangerous amount of AT fluid during the rest of the job If you've been meaning to add a sender for AT trans temp, this is a great time to do it; put a sender fitting into the passenger side line as that is the inlet to the cooler/radiator.
    • Next you need to remove the intake duct (as with pretty much every job on these cars), it is a series of clips you gently remove with a flat bladed screwdriver. They do get brittle with time and can break, and I have not found a decent quality aftermarket one that fits (they are all too soft or flimsy and don't last either) but the nissan ones are a couple of bucks each (ouch).  Once the clips are off (either 8 or 10, I didn't check) you lift the intake duct out and will see the reservoirs Undo the line into the radiator side cap (some bent needle nosed piers are awesome for spring clamps) and then remove the 4x 10m nuts that hold both in place.  I didn't get these pics, but remove the line under the radiator reservoir (spring clamp again) then remove that reservoir. Then you can get at the intake reservoir, same thing, spring clamp underneath then remove it. BTW This is a great time to put in a larger (+70%) combined reservoir that AMS makes..... https://www.amsperformance.com/product/q50-q60-red-alpha-coolant-expansion-tank/ They also make an Infiniti branded and part# version if that is your thing
    • To drain the Intake Heat Exchanger, there is a crappy drain plug in front of the driver's side front tyre: You should use the largest headed phillips screwdriver you had, and in my case I needed vice grips on the hose above as the plug was tight (tighter than it needed to be, since it has an o-ring seal).  After you have a tray down and open the drain, open the intake heat exchanger reservoir cap (drivers side one) and you should get a couple of litres of coolant To get to the radiator, you need to remove the plastic engine undertray. It is held on with a series of 10mm headed bolts and some clips. For the radiator, there is another type of crappy drain (kind of like a plastic banjo bolt) and you should attach a length of hose to direct the stream of coolant per this pic (otherwise the coolant hits the rad support and goes everywhere). The drain is on the rear of the radiator on the driver's side and a bit hard to find. Put a big tray or bucket down (5l won't be enough) and slowly unscrew the fitting by hand. You only want to remove it far enough for coolant to flow, it you unscrew it right out the whole fitting and direction pipe will come off and you will get a coolant bath (yum!). Undo the radiator reservoir cap and it should empty about 8l
    • So, this shouldn't be such a mission, but there were a few tricks so I thought I'd post up a DIY for it. This was on a Q50 Red Sport but I doubt any other V37 model is very different (maybe just less steps for the intake heat exchanger hoses) I pulled the radiator out to flush it because the car was running hot at the track, but obviously the same steps apply for changing a radiator for any reason including an upgrade. If you are removing the radiator, you of course need to drain and refill, so have 5+ litres of blue coolant ready. You also need to drain the intake heat exchanger to remove the radiator so you will need a couple of litres for that as well. You will also need something to deal with the auto transmission lines, I used 2x 8mm rubber caps on the radiator side, and a short length of 8mm pipe on the car side.....unless you can block these lines quickly you will loose AT fluid and it may be enough to hurt the transmission if you don't refill it. 2 other tools that really help dealing with coolant lines and spring clamps are Bent Needle Nose pliers Hose pliers Between them they will reduce the frustration (and injury) potential by about 1000% Other than that....lets go... "First, jack up your car". Yes really, and put it safely on stands. If you are not confident doing that you need to give this job to a mechanic
    • If the forester is anything like our old 2007 GTB Liberty, I could near on run ling Long's and "rate them", as no matter what, it just hung to the road, even when abusing it in a hard launch in the wet, or throwing it at corners.
×
×
  • Create New...