Steve's R33 LM Limited Upkeep

[West]

On 11/7/2019 at 5:55 PM, Steve85 said:

Had an internet friend come around... we took the LM around the block a couple of times. Quickly.  (but at compleeeetly legal speeds). I don't have any pictures or video...

We also spent some time poring over the magazines and brochures we have. It was fun to have someone around who is also super excited by these irrational items.

 

 

 

 

I too get excited over them irrational items, do you think i could come around and you could take me for a spin in the GTR?
?

[Steve85]

Do you promise you're not a murderer? lol Just introduce yourself on social somewhere (with your real name) or in person, you never know. 

[Steve85]

A couple of weeks ago I took my car out to the Datsun Day in Templestowe. 

It was awesome to drive my car out there (I used some of the performance on the way!). 
I got to catch up with heaps of my old friends and made some new ones too. I'm afraid I've become a bit of a cliche and recognised most people by their cars.

It was an excellent meet with new and old cars, heaps of friendly people. (This image stolen from a friend on Facebook).

 

I also received Nissan of the day, which was a big surprise considering there some very nice Skylines there. 

 

[The Bogan]

5 minutes ago, Steve85 said:

A couple of weeks ago I took my car out to the Datsun Day in Templestowe. 

It was awesome to drive my car out there (I used some of the performance on the way!). 
I got to catch up with heaps of my old friends and made some new ones too. I'm afraid I've become a bit of a cliche and recognised most people by their cars.

It was an excellent meet with new and old cars, heaps of friendly people. (This image stolen from a friend on Facebook).

 

I also received Nissan of the day, which was a big surprise considering there some very nice Skylines there. 

 

Cool trophy, what's its story?

Congratulations 

[Steve85]

On 12/3/2019 at 5:10 PM, mlr said:

Cool trophy, what's its story?

Congratulations 

I have no idea, I think that the organisers went with a cool design for each of the trophies, they were all car parts mounted on these blocks of wood. 

There were some really cool ones made from spark plugs and rad caps.

[Steve85]

So, have been planning to put a stereo into my car since i bought it, just never had the time. Well last month i bit the bullet and got it done. 
I already had a semi-capable head unit, so left that in after a quick test. 

I purchased one set of 6.5" splits for the front, and a pair of 6.5 co-axials for the rear. They currently run from the head unit, but I will be putting an amp and sub in sometime next year to fill out the sound.

The process of getting started was relatively straightforward. As a mid-30s guy, my first car was a Japanese hatchback. Turns out, all 90s Nissan's are put together the same way, so I had no troubles taking apart my interior. I took out the front passenger and rear seats, to make life easier. Same with the dash panel and gear lever surround. I find it easier to just remove things completely, than to try to negotiate around them.

The first (and GIANT) issue was my doors. Someone has/had taken a bloody hole-saw to the door skin!!! Saving what i imagine to be approx 500-800grams from the cars total curb weight! Totally worth it in a 500kw car. 

Next I pulled out the old front speakers, one was not connected at all. Both were 6.5 component speakers, but there was no crossover or tweeter to be found. (no wonder they sounded terrible).

I gave the front speaker cables a test (they both worked), then moved to the back of the car. I dodgied up some connections using solder (yeah I know, but it was just for testing), absolutely nothing. Moving to the head unit, i discovered that the rear speaker wires had simply been cut at the head unit. So to fix, I soldered in (I had no cirmps) about 10 cms (3") of wire. Problem Solved.

I then created some speaker mount templates for the rear speakers and took my sweet time getting them bolted down and the speakers screwed to them. They are 100% not moving anywhere (good in an accident, also good for sound and no rattles). 
With the rears done, I could change over my parcel shelf, as I had the non-speaker grill unit previously. The speakers don't line up completely, but it's better than nothing.

Moving the front splits, I couldn't bring myself to drill a hole in the door card or dash and didn't have a mounting point for the tweeter. So instead, I went full dodgy, ramped up the gain for the tweeter and set it into the door behind the door card. It worked surprisingly well...

I put everything back together, ran the car and gave the stereo a test using none other than Sash!. It's a 90s car after all. I am very pleased with the stereo now, it plays music (a big improvement) and can be heard above the noise of the exhaust, turtbo, road, and fuel pumps. I'm calling this one a win!!!

PS: I don't seem to have any pictures of the final product. I'll go take some shortly.

[admS15]

I spy weight reduction. Someone went to town with a holesaw. Brb, looking for my holesaw.

[Steve85]

53 minutes ago, admS15 said:

I spy weight reduction. Someone went to town with a holesaw. Brb, looking for my holesaw.

I was very, very unhappy when I saw this. Ashamed to say I absolutely lost my sh*t. 
Neighbors copped an earful of me, literally yelling at the car and complaining about humans in general. Still I felt a little better after. ?

But seriously, unless it's a drift missile, who could be bothered? Just take out the passenger seat if you're that committed. It wieghs a ton, can be removed in 5 minutes flat! I don't get it.

[Shoota_77]

Wow, someone needs to be shot for that!!  As you say there are so many better ways than that to lighten a car!!!

Crazy.

[admS15]

True that. If that was done to my gtst, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest, a bit different when it's an lm gtr. It is what it is though, put the door trims back on and pretend you never saw it. 

[Shoota_77]

Yeah thank god it's hidden behind the door trim.  That could be worse though, you always know it's lurking in there!  Ah well, all Skyline doors are the same so can easily be replaced if it rots Steve's brain too much!

[PranK]

It looks like they got tired when they got to the passenger side, it seems far less holey than the drivers side.

Maybe they drove on left-hand circuits? 

That would really piss me off. Sorry Steve. 

26 minutes ago, Shoota_77 said:

Yeah thank god it's hidden behind the door trim.  That could be worse though, you always know it's lurking in there!  Ah well, all Skyline doors are the same so can easily be replaced if it rots Steve's brain too much!

Yeah, this is the kind of thing that I couldn't leave. 

God I hope they didn't do this somewhere more nefarious. 

[Steve85]

2 hours ago, Shoota_77 said:

Ah well, all Skyline doors are the same so can easily be replaced if it rots Steve's brain too much!

 

1 hour ago, PranK said:

Yeah, this is the kind of thing that I couldn't leave. 

Guess whose already planning the panels he needs for when the car gets a full engine out, resto/paint job???

I also need a new wing base as mine is cracked. I need new brake ducts, and I need to have one of the jacking points, unfolded. 
Somehow this car continues to need work despite the fact it was "finished" 3 years ago. ?

[Steve85]

1 hour ago, PranK said:

It looks like they got tired when they got to the passenger side, it seems far less holey than the drivers side.

I have two theories;

1. The hole-saw was blunt by this point.

2. They were attempting to compensate for the driver.

Either one is full blown crazy! ?

[Robzilla32]

I reckon he tried to do this to the doors:

[admS15]

Considering the extensively modified nature of your LM, it's not the end of the world. Kind of fits the theme really, sort of. 

Could of been worse, imagine you took the door trims off your wifes stock gtr to find that some spastic swiss cheesed it like that... Fuuuark.

[Steve85]

13 hours ago, Robzilla32 said:

I reckon he tried to do this to the doors:

 

I didn't know the inside of the doors played a role in the Aero!!! Hahaha

[Steve85]

30 minutes ago, admS15 said:

Could of been worse, imagine you took the door trims off your wifes stock gtr to find that some spastic swiss cheesed it like that... Fuuuark

I like where your head's at. This is actually a good way to think about it. You've cheered me up! 

[Steve85]

So, i did go and take photos of the stereo. But... there's really nothing to see. 
The most interesting part is probably the change of parcel shelf. Anywho here's the pictures. (Yes, I know they're terrible). 

[Steve85]

I also made some progress regarding the awful fuel smells coming through the cabin. I replaced two missing panels inside the car with parts scrounged off the internet. One is the panel that seals the fuel tank/fuel pump from the boot area, the other is the removable panel between the cabin and the boot area.

These two panels have been missing for my entire ownership. Time to add some weight back into the car... lol