Mitch's R33 Ls Track Car Rebuild

[Mitch_Dubya]

The story. I am very late into the race car scene an was convinced by a mate to take his 33 to a track day and I was hooked from the first spool an had to have one. I've only ever owned one car (V8 67 fairlane I build 10 years ago with my dad) and as much as I loved the boost and chu chu, n/a V8 always made more sense for me.

I was selling cars at the time so over 6 months I bought/sold/traded my way to where I'm at now, rebuilding and reshelling an LS power r33. I initially bought this r33 from a guy in Ballarat

Which came with a free 33 rolling shell which I figured I could sell some parts off to buy more parts to eventually LS swap the silver car.

My mate half suggested leaving the shell behind but it turned out to be a wise decision to trailer it back to Wodonga. The trispoke wheel on the spare had proper semi slicks which I'm still getting use out of. The giant dual blade wing has since been swapped for a fibreglass flush mount boot etc.

I did a few track days in the silver 33, worked through a few issues it had and got a crash course in turbos. I then had an opportunity to buy/sell/trade up into a ready built 33 ls1 with two racing seats, serious roll cage, drift wing, cam, drift steering/suspension setup far cheaper than I could ever build myself

[zebra]

Cool build

And ZA Fairlanes ftw!!

[No Crust Racing]

So did you get the clutch sorted?

[Mitch_Dubya]

So I did an khanacross/skid pan day, had a blast then put the semis on for a track day. First lap coming onto the main straight in third gear, nowhere near the limiter it revs out like it popped out of gear. I shifted to fourth... Nothing. I shifted to third... Nothing there. Assuming I've blown the box somehow I roll down the straight and around the corner and for some reason tried again to find another gear and away I went. Through the back onto the main straight and same again. Came good after 10 seconds, so next lap tried to short shift into fourth and crunch, couldn't get it in. Throughout the day I stuck with 1st through 3rd, even finding the limiter in 3rd if I eased through it and kept putting better laps down with the obvious handicap. Last sprint for the day, took off 1st, 2nd and leave it in third for the whole session, put some good laps in, my best lap even. Tried to downshift into the pits and couldn't, came to a complete stop and still couldn't hit any gear but third.

Limped it onto the trailer and off to the farm for major over haul

[Mitch_Dubya]

A few things that troubled me with the blue one helped me to the decision to do a reshell with the white one.

Blue one had a sunroof (that leaked) and fouled my helmet, boot leaked, every panel was rough as guts, wiring was non existent, no gauges worked, paint was awful... Etc.

So plan of attack;

Engine & tran out/indentify problem/fix

Put back in white one doing a better job

Swap all the good bits from one to the other

Deadline early April for second sprint event (away on honeymoon for first)

[Mitch_Dubya]

The spec list from the blue skid pig which should translate to the rebuild minus a few kilos, plus a few functioning gauges.

LS1 R33

T56 gearbox

Extreme clutch

Cusco coilovers

Castor rods

Camber arms

Lengthened LCAs

Rear camber arm

Hicas lock bar

Cam spec half cage

Hydro handbrake

Surge tank

Bosch 040

Fuel pressure reg

Sparco harness

Fix back buckets

Oil cooler

Power steering cooler

New ss rad

Thermo fans

Baby cam

Drift wing

New push rods valve springs etc

Tuned at jaustech 260rwkw 756nm

[Mitch_Dubya]

The car is at my old mans farm, he's been a mechanic for 40years and is more into race cars than I ever knew. I've got a month off coming up to do a few things... Rebuild race car, get married, go o/s for honey moon, rebuild a race car!!! My old man has already put a few days spanner time into it, I only hope I get to put some time into it myself. I'm genuinely excited to learn first hand and get the car the way I want but I can't complain I guess.

Within an hour he calls me to say the engine and tran are out and he's found the issue.

There had been an issue previously with a stripped/broken bolt in the gear selection somewhere which had been solved with dropping an oversized bolt in and pointing a mig welder in the general direction

The bolt was catching 6th gear, munched away, filled the box with metal and eventually the weld let go. There was also the issue of burnt out clutch plate

f**ked flywheel

And a few bent fingers

Inside the t56 we've got to replace the 3rd/4th sycro and a few ramps as well as have my uncle (engineeer/engine builder) weld up so alloy in the trans housing and helicoil the plate back.

Not sure which issue came first and if it caused the others, doesn't really matter I guess. Time to get started

[Mitch_Dubya]

Can't afford a new/2nd hand t56 or new HD clutch so soon after buying this and so close to the wedding so for now it'll be new synchro and ramps ($91), weld up trans housing ($0 thanks uncle tony) and rebuild the tranny. As much as I know it's not the done thing to put a 2nd hand clutch and flywheel in, it's the only way I'll have the car racing this year so my brother is picking this up as we speak

Xtreme HD button clutch and flywheel that has apparently only done 1,000kms and then removed to go auto.

Paid $300

[No Crust Racing]

Awesome.

Old clutch was KNACKERED.

[Mitch_Dubya]

So stripping all pipes, clips, wires and anything in the engine bay that's sharp enough to cut your hands up (old mans pet hate).

We also deduced that at some point the trans had been removed without the engine coming out. When it went back in, a lot of the bolts towards the top never went back in. When it comes time to massage the trans tunnel we'll make sure we leave room to work on it down the track to put a new clutch in.

The extractors on the drivers side pass between the chassis rail and steering box with little clearance. The chassis rail gets a 'massage' to help there but the extractors were never bolted on 100% as the whole bank had soot marks out the top. Another thing to do better the 2nd time round

Also look to put another heat barrier between the extractors and steering box, car runs a power steering cooler, I assume this contributes.

[MBS206]

Hey Mitch,

I've got a spare T56 with short shfiter and standard clutch sitting round pending what you have spare to pay?

Message me if you want.

Other wise, AWESOME build. I never finished mine, can no longer justify the dollars

[Mitch_Dubya]

So wedding been and gone, was a good night. Now back to the race car. Got the new clutch, was missing a few bolts so I'm happy I'll get a decent run out of it for $250. Stripping out all the interior, dash, heater box etc. swapping parts across one at a time, I've underestimated how much time this is going to take...

Finding better places to run wiring, mount ecu.

Got the trans housing welded up and a few new ramps and syncros ready to rebuild the box as good as new

Ground off all unnecessary bolts sticking out of the firewall that'll rip your hands up

[No Crust Racing]

And I thought I had a bit of work to get done...

[Mitch_Dubya]

Yep, Lap Dash 2 on the 3rd of April is the target. 1 month and counting

[Mitch_Dubya]

Yep, Lap Dash 2 on the 3rd of April is the target. 1 month and counting

[No Crust Racing]

Thanks for the heads up. Logic or Wilby?

[Mitch_Dubya]

Logic. I'm half tempted to do the SAU autokhana day in Shep, May 14th. You ever done one?

[Mitch_Dubya]

Logic. I'm half tempted to do the SAU autokhana day in Shep, May 14th. You ever done one?

[No Crust Racing]

I've done DECA before. Fun event but not enough track time for me given the drive.

[AMR33]

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