Mitch's R33 Ls Track Car Rebuild

[Mitch_Dubya]

Ran another lap dash at Wilby a few weeks ago. Ran in the top 5 for the day and a new PB of 34.1 on slicks that were way past it, two of them the first slicks I got my hands on 18 months ago, third hand, a dozen track days old. Last session for the day, last lap I cooked the brakes. I was confused as Wilby isn’t hard on brakes but a quick bleed to try and get some form of brakes for the shootout, finished P3. Turns out the blue stuffs were stuffed

Great pads but I thought they’d worn out really quick until just now when I look back at how many track days they’ve done, would recommend! Gonna try some yellow stuffs just to see the comparison.
Was excited to pick up the new trailer I had built



It’s so well balanced that I could deadlift it to tilt, chuck a block of wood under to improve the initial load angle instead of rolling onto the ramps. As I drove on the block of wood dropped away and it lowers down really softly, couldn’t be happier and all for the same price as a beaver tail I was looking at having built. Now I can finally look at a fixed front bar and splitter.
Next few projects will be a vinyl wrap, side pipe exhaust and a tune. BP sprint series at Winton on Sunday back on semis ?

[Mitch_Dubya]

Fair bit has happened late last year. I've wrapped most of the car in blue vinyl, modified the new trailer a bit, took third in the Winton sprint series and won the local car club sprint championship and shootout comp. The car then sat in the shed and didn't get touched until this week and 2019 season kicks off on Sunday. I gave it to a local tuner to swap it over to E85, i didn't need to change anything other than take the foam out of the fuel cell. He just tipped the fuel in and re-tuned it. Not a huge power upgrade but it should be safer and he tuned out a couple of issues id identified with it. I might put a thread up elsewhere my experience wrapping the car, DIY, race car style. Still a couple of hours left in it to get it done properly but its a cheap way to make it more presentable. Not expecting big improvements to time on Sunday but a couple more things id like to get done in the coming months should squeeze a little more out of it

 

[Dale FZ1]

Flares looking great!

 

[iruvyouskyrine]

How hard was it to wrap the car? Looks great in pics but hows it look up close?

[Mitch_Dubya]

20 hours ago, iruvyouskyrine said:

How hard was it to wrap the car? Looks great in pics but hows it look up close?

its not easy to do it perfectly but its pretty forgiving, especially for a track car but I've had nothing but compliments from people who've seen it in person. Some from the car club who had seen it beforehand asked if id painted it which was surprising.

I just threw pieces at the front bar because that'll be my back up/drift bar. I've got a new one to go on which ill wrap properly but it'll be intricate work.

If you don't need it to be perfect then id say give wrapping a go

[Mitch_Dubya]

Started the year off ok, third place in rounds one and two for the car club. Had a bit of an issue at Winton at higher speeds the car started to shake. I checked what I could but nothing obvious that I could see track side. I’ll get it up on blocks and check all the bearings and bushes etc to try and figure it out. Was a little unnerving north of 150kmph hoping the wheel didn’t fall off

[Duncan]

great to see you getting plenty of racing laps in, it's great fun, isn't it

with the vibration, a common cause is pick up on the tyre. If you can, rotate them or change them and see if the problem moves or goes away. It's amazing how bad a small lump of rubber can feel...

Maybe Neil should post up about the wheel (not) falling off....

[Mitch_Dubya]

Round three has been and gone. without being able to road-test the skyline prior, I rotated through changing wheels at Wilby with each session but to no avail. Worryingly the vibrations seem to be getting slightly worse with each session to the point that once I had eliminated the wheels/tyres being the issue I parked up until the top ten shootout. By the end of the straight the car was shaking so violently that the door skins were starting to look like  Rolf Harris had hold of them. Someone suggested cv joints possibly about to let go so that'll be the next thing I look at once its over the pit. stock welded diff with a couple of years pushing 10' full slicks around would have to take a toll eventually. I Literally hadn't laid a hand on the car between rounds so wrap/new front bar/splitter/new rear bar etc. are still on the to do list.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Mitch_Dubya

[MBS206]

Mitch is it speed or rpm related? 

If speed, then have to look gearbox out to wheel. 

I'd be looking at either diff if welded, or tailshafts. To easiest spots to end up out of wack. Pull the rear cover and inspect if the welds are coming out. 

[Mitch_Dubya]

19 hours ago, MBS206 said:

Mitch is it speed or rpm related? 

If speed, then have to look gearbox out to wheel. 

I'd be looking at either diff if welded, or tailshafts. To easiest spots to end up out of wack. Pull the rear cover and inspect if the welds are coming out. 

thanks mate, its definitely a speed thing. there's no sign of it even when I'm on the limiter in third and by the top end of fourth I'm seeing double. 

[MBS206]

44 minutes ago, Mitch_Dubya said:

thanks mate, its definitely a speed thing. there's no sign of it even when I'm on the limiter in third and by the top end of fourth I'm seeing double. 

I'd be definitely starting with the tail shaft and diff.

Also go over every single nut and bolt on the car

[MBS206]

Thinking on it, also check all of your suspension parts, a mount may have let go partly. Seen it in other vehicles. 

[Mitch_Dubya]

1 hour ago, MBS206 said:

Thinking on it, also check all of your suspension parts, a mount may have let go partly. Seen it in other vehicles. 

yeh no worries, thanks for that. ill report back once I get it nutted out