Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

I've been having starting issues for quite some time. I put it down to the limited use the car receives, sometimes it could be used once a week sometimes it could be once in two weeks.

I would charge the battery and it would start fine. At one point I exchanged the battery under warranty and that was fine for awhile, until recently.

On the way home from the Pistonheads show at Bicester I stopped for fuel. Upon returning to the car it wouldn't start. I checked the battery terminals and they were tight on the battery posts but I noticed the cables going into both terminals weren't as tight as I'd like. After a little wiggle the car started, so that must be the issue?!

Once home I removed the cabling and cleaned up the copper core and refitted. It started fine so I left it. Fast forward a couple of days later when I wanted to use the car and it wouldn't start. I charged the battery up and it started, could it be a dodgy battery?!

Then next time it wouldn't start, this was becoming more and more of an nuisance. I disconnected the subwoofer positive and it started?! Hooray! But my luck came to an end rather quickly.

The battery terminals rely on a screw at the top of the terminal to hold the cables in place.

53184157377_5b4b59a4ee_c.jpg

I wanted a more secure solution so I sourced some terminals with an 8mm post. The new crimp on ring terminals were quite beefy and my crimping tool would'nt be good enough to do the job. So I called upon a couple of friends who would have the equipment to help.

So I begun with disconnecting the battery, but when I moved the positive terminal to one side it moved more than it normally does. 

Next thing I know, I'm holding the positive cable but it's not attached to the car.

53185238023_0000a63f2d_c.jpg

Turns out its been joined in the past, but what wire is it?

The alternator got disconnected and we checked continuity to the broken cable, nothing. The concerning thing was the broken cable was the same as the battery earth which is black with a yellow trace. But this was 100% connected to the battery positive.

53185071090_3b5c2a6051_c.jpg

You can see the broken cable where the yellow heat shrink is on the end (this was capped at the end of the night)

The broken cable goes into a loom covered in conduit which splits into a Y. One side goes to the Alternator and the other side goes towards the back of the car, where the Starter Motor is.

The insulation on the alternator live was peeled back to reveal a white cable, this was traced back to the fuse box.

So the broken cable must be the starter motor then. We had some spare red cable long enough to run a fresh live from the starter motor to the battery, bypassing the original loom for testing purposes. The car started first time with no hesitation.

The new live cable was cable tied out of the way to get me home.

53184157352_08177019eb_c.jpg

53185071085_eac54d0678_c.jpg

Fast forward a week to my next day off and I decided to tackle the original wiring conduit to make things tidier.

I began by removing the OEM conduit and insulation tape.

53184157332_fa7c050809_c.jpg

The old starter motor live was then accessable and could be removed. Most would have left this in place mainly for ease, but lets not do things by halves.

53185238008_1f7b3ae471_c.jpg

Over time insulation tape seems to get stickier. I removed the old tape and gave the conduit a wipe over with some brake cleaner

53184868671_a0bf46fcdd_c.jpg

53185071065_59c014ffaa_c.jpg

I also removed the aftermarket earth kit and cleaned up the contact points with a wire brush drill attachment

53185237988_93de8c82b5_c.jpg

I used some insulation tape to keep the loom together, refitted the conduit and the wrapped it all in tesa tape. Once the battery was reconnected I then cable tied the loom to keep it nice and tidy

53185071060_4f9ed8016e_c.jpg

I even covered the new Starter Motor cable in tesa tape so it wouldn't stand out too much

53184157292_5c8ddf0f0e_c.jpg

53184157287_45d4226279_c.jpg

A couple of hours well spent and my starting issue resolved :)

Although google searching for an answer could have been quicker, there's some fun fault finding yourself and you learn along the way 
 

  • Like 4

For the past couple of years the car has had inner tie rod(s)/track rod end(s) advised on the MOT. With the limited annual miles the car does, I've been putting it off :(

With the recent motivation for sorting out the odd jobs, this was on the list too. I ordered replacement parts from Conceptua Tuning, very fast delivery as always! The weather hasn't been great the past week or so, finding a break in the rain was difficult to judge but it finally happened. My friend Danny came over to help and brought along a tool to help with the job.

It looks like they haven't been touched in a long time

53201600988_bc5aa10f8d_c.jpg

With the lock nut cracked off and wound down the inner tie rod next was the top nut on the track rod end. My impact gun made easy work and with a swift swing of a lump hammer, it released from the hub. I made sure to count the number of turns the track rod end had to help with re-aligning.

53201712885_4fcc1fc611_c.jpg

The steering rack boot had a small pinch clip on the outer end and a wire type clip on the inner. With those removed and the boot slid off, it was time to remove the inner tie rod.

This is where Danny's tool came in to help. On the end it has 3 round teeth on what looked like a bearing.This part goes over the knuckle and the tie rod shaft goes inside (giggidy!). As you turn the shaft the teeth grip onto the knuckle. I've probably explained this terribly sorry!

Anyway, it worked really well and they were off in seconds

53201226244_22402328dd_c.jpg

I forgot to take a photo here. I ended up re-using the original locking washer, I just didn't like the look of the new ones. With the new inner tie rod knuckle screwed into the steering rack it's just a reversal of what was done before.

The larger metal clip for the steering rack boot snapped on removal so we had to resort to cable (zip) ties. Not ideal, but the shaft size on the new inner tie rods are smaller so the outer clip wouldnt work anyway.

53201226229_943abf0156_c.jpg

The wheels looked straight so it was good enough for a short journey in the morning to have a proper wheel alignment.

I was lucky enough to get the car booked in with one of the STS Tyre Pros branches in Norwich at short notice. I used to take my supercharged MX5 here for any alignment, they always do a great job :)

I didn't realise how much rear camber it had, I'd prefer less camber but I'd need some camber arms to do so. Something to consider later on

53201226219_f252b04f3e_c.jpg

  • Like 1

One of the bigger jobs on the list was to underseal. I recently reached out on social media regarding brands and like most things, you ask 10 people and you'll get 10 different answers/recommendations.

My friend John who runs JD Motorsport Engineering responded and invited me over to put the car on the ramp so we can have a good look. I travelled over this morning after the wheel alignment to have a chat.

53201377331_343bd25e6f_c.jpg

When I purchased the car in June 2018, the car went to H&S Performance for a large amount of work including undersealing. I understand garages can't spend hours upon hours prepping and treating so that they'll clean the surface and go over it with a Schutz gun. 

But looking at the underneath, I can't see any evidence of any underbody seal with the exception of the wheel arches. I did ask them to underseal those areas before fitting the Meister R coilovers, whether they mis-understood what I asked or just didn't do the underneath who knows. I've been using them for 15 years and I'm not start slagging them off. I was just shocked to see the current 'protection' so thin, you can litually pick it and it'll flake straight off.

Anyway, onto the current state of the underneath....

53201227359_b58ebc01a1_c.jpg

53201601383_55215ef224_c.jpg

53201227339_6867cdd08e_c.jpg

53201227329_d5e9a4f323_c.jpg

53201601468_9ddaec3e11_c.jpg

53201601448_6e7492aed3_c.jpg

53201227244_a893b3d676_c.jpg

53201377401_26cfeba231_c.jpg

53201713380_20d51ec9d9_c.jpg

53201377386_8d4037a704_c.jpg

53201227209_4edb25ce51_c.jpg

53201227189_cab451341f_c.jpg

53201227149_32ef0786ef_c.jpg

You can see the area we started to pick at, it really is that thin :(

53201601318_047529892f_c.jpg

53201601328_b87611aaa1_c.jpg

53201601308_010855871b_c.jpg

John picked, tapped and scraped the areas that had surface corrosion. He said although there IS alot of surface rust, its a very solid and clean car (considering). Obviously until it's took back to bare metal I won't know if there's any potential repairs.

The plan was to hire a ramp and do this myself, but John has offered to help but it'd be a full strip down of all the componants (except engine/front subframe). The price will depend how far I want to go with it, but if everything is being removed, it may aswell be refreshed at the same time.

So that'll include:

subframe, suspension arms and hubs powder coated
polybushes
anti roll bar & bushes
camber arms
SR Autosource zinc subframe hardware kit

I can skip the subframe refresh and do that at a later date if I don't have the money in time. 

John also looked at the front struts. From a visual perspective they're good but we all know what lies underneath. 

He's suggested to tackle the underneath first before that gets too bad and then do the strut tops and front subframe refresh at the same time.

So another expensive bill, but I guess thats part of owning cars like these. We have to do such jobs to keep them in tip top condition and road worthy.

When it happens there will be plenty of photos :)

  • Like 2

Oof, sounds like a big job. Looking forward to see how it goes though. I think it may be one of those things that'll hurt but will feel much better about the car afterwards. It also makes me want to not look too closely under my car.

I presume living in the UK is not helping here. You'd get a solid two days of driving out of the car if you only took it out on nice days ;)

It makes me sad seeing Skylines driving around in the filth and slush of the northern hemisphere and having their undersides turn that disgusting shade of red.

The underside of most Australian Skylines (the ones that haven't been abused, anyway) shows no surface rust, no rail rust, no rust on the suspension and steering arms, subframes, etc etc.

Its been in the UK since 2016, I purchased it in 2018.

I've never driven it on salt roads, I can't say how the previous owner used the car.

Having the same layer of protection for the past 7 years will certainly wear out and start exposing the metal :(

21 hours ago, soviet_merlin said:

I presume living in the UK is not helping here. You'd get a solid two days of driving out of the car if you only took it out on nice days ;)

We've had a pretty good summer this year surprisingly lol

Last year I only managed 700 miles/1120km use.

This year I've done almost 1700 miles/2735km

It doesnt sound alot but for pure weekend use thats quite abit for me (i wish it was more!)

It was that time of year where the car goes in for its MOT (annual inspection for those overseas). I did a mere 715 miles between Oct 2021-Oct 2022, this year I had covered 1736 miles. Certainly not the most exciting or interesting but it's great to be able to enjoy the car more.

53220553320_d876190d4b_c.jpg

I made sure I stopped on the way to capture this odometer milestone. I installed a new Nismo cluster in December 2018 which starts the odometer from zero, hence the low miles.

I even treated it to a full tank of fuel ready for the next couple of weekends of driving before it gets taken off the road for winter.

53219172007_eb3f5179cc_c.jpg

The tyres were advised again for another year. I'll get those changed next year as they'll now be approaching 5 years and are now showing early signs of cracking inbetween the treads. Its a minefield when it comes to tyre recommendations.

The only other thing that was picked up was a front tension rod. The bush on the passenger side is now cracking but not enough to cause any concern (yet)

53219171982_51e006829a_c.jpg

Looking at replacements, my options are Driftworks, Japspeed, Hardrace and Nismo. I would LOVE a full set of Nismo arms but looking at the price for a pair of these, I can only imagine a full set would be eye watering.

Driftworks Front Tension Rods

Japspeed Front Tension Rods

Hardrace Tension Rods

Nismo Front Tension Rods

I'll probably go with the Driftworks ones, they also offer the other suspension arms too which will get replaced at some point.

A couple of random photos

53219194132_9f69b245f1_c.jpg

53220045601_08dddc199d_c.jpg

4 hours ago, hoodedreeper said:

I would LOVE a full set of Nismo arms but looking at the price for a pair of these, I can only imagine a full set would be eye watering.

Nismo arms are of no value. Expensive version of a stock arm.

My recommendation for caster rods is to only use those with spherical joints. Any sort of bush at the front end of the caster rod allows for waaaay more movement than is desirable. And in my experience there is absolutely no NVH penalty with sphericals in that location. And.... they seem to last forever. I never have to do anything to them. They're mostly out of the road/wheel spray and don't seem to get dirty, sticky, etc.

So, of that lot, you might as well buy local and get the Driftworks ones.

  • Thanks 1
On 9/22/2023 at 9:27 AM, GTSBoy said:

It makes me sad seeing Skylines driving around in the filth and slush of the northern hemisphere and having their undersides turn that disgusting shade of red.

The underside of most Australian Skylines (the ones that haven't been abused, anyway) shows no surface rust, no rail rust, no rust on the suspension and steering arms, subframes, etc etc.

My R33 has been 1.8m under water in the middle of a friend's farm, and then left to sit for two years without even a door opened.

It has sat in sheds, driveways, and even my old backyard just on grass.

It looks a million times better than the northern hemisphere cars!

 

I've never once in my life, for any of my car's thought about resealing the bottom of one, as that stuff never wears off in my experience. Even on the landcruiser, which has over 450,000km on it, and has been driven in some horrible dirt/gravel/mud!

 

It is good to see this R34 is being looked after and cleaned up!

  • Like 1
  • 7 months later...

I've only ever washed the R34 and used quick detailer, I've never polished/waxed it which is shameful to admit.

I got a friend over who's recently started his valeting company to come give the car some paint love. He didn't machine polish it so there's still some minor swirls, plus with the roof and bonnet having some paint defects he wanted to be careful (see a previous post about that)

53745394729_4fa57c475f_k.jpg

53745394719_28c299ef1f_k.jpg

53745394734_c4f83db323_3k.jpg

53745483400_98b033a8f3_k.jpg

53744143332_70fb04e09d_k.jpg

53745394739_b39f160754_3k.jpg

Having not covered not many miles since ownership, the cambelt was due to be changed from age. Wayne at Auto Extreme supplied me with a genuine belt kit and waterpump.

53745247313_bb178cc661_3k.jpg

I took the car to a local garage AP Tuning to have the work carried out. Gary has an incredible reputation when it comes to Evos in particular but is very knowledgable on all things japanese too.

53744133972_c25a84d54f_3k.jpg

The daily has been off the road for a couple of weeks so the R34 has been on daily duties. I forget just how nice it is to drive and was a great change. I just wasn't a fan of the fuel consumption (to be expected)

A couple of random photos one evening after work

53745072936_1f0bff7b21_3k.jpg

53744142492_ef93ab4658_3k.jpg

A bonus pic of the daily Mazda 323F V6 on recently fitted R32 GTR wheels

53712603280_c0a49ce6e0_4k.jpg

Edited by hoodedreeper
can't spell
  • Like 3
  • 11 months later...
Posted (edited)

Sorry for resurrecting an oldish thread

Not much has happened in the past year since the last update. The car did another 1000 miles or so and failed the MOT for the first time in October (failed on tyres which had been advised for a couple of years)

In October the car got put up for sale and was removed in November due to no interest, being so close to christmas it was to be expected. The roads were dry in February so I decided to tax it early and get the new tyres fitted.

 

Fast forward to April, I got someone in to give the car a good clean after sitting for the winter.

 

54471993328_581ae5bc22_c.jpg


54471994253_032e723433_c.jpg

 

54472086200_19932789fd_c.jpg

 

54470886812_188ca0a30a_c.jpg

 

54471723571_4469f35f6f_c.jpg

 

54471993083_5720fea44b_c.jpg

 

54471993483_233a2e741d_c.jpg

 

54471723031_bb3e9748ac_c.jpg

 

54472085015_ec16548dfc_c.jpg

 

54472085210_24fd6bbfdc_c.jpg

 

54470886622_03a32f2789_c.jpg

 

54471993878_2a0fb5d458_c.jpg

 

54472085175_1e4857e27f_c.jpg

 

54470886117_6c0f40284b_c.jpg

 

54471993798_dcb313c52b_c.jpg

 

54472085695_7e07cb5745_c.jpg

 

The car got re-advertised and today (Saturday 3rd May) the car sold. The new owner is planning a GTR conversion at some point and a respray in the same pearl white.

It's bitter sweet, it's a shame to have the car sit there for half the year and then only do 1000 miles. The kids are growing too quick and space in the back is getting limited.

It's been a great 6.5 years of ownership

Edited by hoodedreeper
  • Sad 2
  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/5/2025 at 5:44 AM, hoodedreeper said:

The car got re-advertised and today (Saturday 3rd May) the car sold. The new owner is planning a GTR conversion at some point and a respray in the same pearl white.

 

  • Like 1

What a wonderful journey to read. Loved the photography. Literally found this an hour ago and couldn't stop reading, plus checking out a couple of the links. Was interesting as you had a few mods very similar to my sons Gtt, including the sheetmetal homemade V-Spec II rear diffuser, can't be too many of them around the world.

Only to find it sold about three weeks ago. Well at least I won't have to keep re-visiting for updates.

Anyway, well done on not just the car but the well written story and descriptions, and of course the pics.

Good luck on your next one.

Rob

  • 1 month later...
On 19/05/2025 at 11:01 AM, Shizu said:

Amazing build thread mate. I wish mine was still on here too. Love the seats. How did they wear overtime? Great to see you are still working on it bud. 

The seats had very little wear, probably due to the limited use haha. Sadly it's no longer in my possession 

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

    • From there, it is really just test and assemble. Plug the adapter cables from the unit into the back of the screen, then the other side to the car harness. Don't forget all the other plugs too! Run the cables behind the unit and screw it back into place (4 screws) and you should now have 3 cables to run from the top screen to the android unit. I ran them along the DS of the other AV units in the gap between their backets and the console, and used some corrugated tubing on the sharp edges of the bracket so the wires were safe. Plug the centre console and lower screen in temporarily and turn the car to ACC, the AV should fire up as normal. Hold the back button for 3 sec and Android should appear on the top screen. You need to set the input to Aux for audio (more on that later). I put the unit under the AC duct in the centre console, with the wifi antenna on top of the AC duct near the shifter, the bluetooth antenna on the AC duct under the centre console The GPS unit on top of the DS to AC duct; they all seem to work OK there are are out of the way. Neat cable routing is a pain. For the drive recorder I mounted it near the rear view mirror and run the cable in the headlining, across the a pillar and then down the inside of the a pillar seal to the DS lower dash. From there it goes across and to one USB input for the unit. The second USB input is attached to the ECUtec OBD dongle and the 3rd goes to the USB bulkhead connected I added in the centre console. This is how the centre console looks "tidied" up Note I didn't install the provided speaker, didn't use the 2.5mm IPod in line or the piggyback loom for the Ipod or change any DIP switches; they seem to only be required if you need to use the Ipod input rather than the AUX input. That's it, install done, I'll follow up with a separate post on how the unit works, but in summary it retains all factory functions and inputs (so I still use my phone to the car for calls), reverse still works like factory etc.
    • Place the new daughterboard in the case and mount it using the 3 small black rivets provided, and reconnect the 3 factory ribbon cables to the new board Then, use the 3 piggyback cables from the daughterboard into the factory board on top (there are stand offs in the case to keep them apart. and remember to reconnect the antenna and rear cover fan wires. 1 screw to hold the motherboard in place. Before closing the case, make a hole in the sticker covering a hole in the case and run the cable for the android unit into the plug there. The video forgot this step, so did I, so will you probably. Then redo the 4 screws on back, 2 each top and bottom, 3 each side and put the 2 brackets back on.....all ready to go and not that tricky really.      
    • Onto the android unit. You need to remove the top screen because there is a daughterboard to put inside the case. Each side vent pops out from clips; start at the bottom and carefully remove upwards (use a trim remover tool to avoid breaking anything). Then the lower screen and controls come out, 4 screws, a couple of clips (including 3 flimsy ones at the top) and 3 plugs on the rear. Then the upper screen, 4 screws and a bunch of plugs and she is out. From there, remove the mounting brackets (2 screws each), 4 screws on the rear, 2 screws top and bottom and 3 screws holding in the small plates on each side. When you remove the back cover (tight fit), watch out for the power cable for the fan, I removed it so I could put the back aside. The mainboard is held in by 1 screw in the middle, 1 aerial at the top and 3 ribbon cables. If you've ever done any laptop stuff the ribbon cables are OK to work with, just pop up the retainer and they slide out. If you are not familiar just grab a 12 year old from an iphone factory, they will know how it works The case should now look like this:
    • Switching the console was tricky. First there were 6 screws to remove, and also the little adapter loom and its screws had to come out. Also don't forget to remove the 2 screws holding the central locking receiver. Then there are 4 clips on either side....these were very tight in this case and needed careful persuading with a long flat screw driver....some force required but not enough to break them...this was probably the fiddliest part of the whole job. In my case I needed both the wiring loom and the central locking receiver module to swap across to the new one. That was it for the console, so "assembly is the reverse of disassembly"
    • But first....while I was there, I also swapped across the centre console box for the other style where the AV inputs don't intrude into the (very limited !) space.  Part# was 96926-4GA0A, 284H3-4GA0B, 284H3-4GA0A. (I've already swapped the top 12v socket for a USB bulkhead in this pic, it fit the hole without modification:) Comparison of the 2: Basically to do the console you need to remove the DS and PS side console trim (they slide up and back, held in by clips only) Then remove the back half of the console top trim with the cupholders, pops up, all clips again but be careful at the front as it is pretty flimsy. Then slide the shifter boot down, remove the spring clip, loose it forever somewhere in the car the pull the shift knob off. Remove the tiny plastic piece on DS near "P" and use something thin and long (most screwdrivers won't fit) to push down the interlock and put the shifter down in D for space. There is one screw at the front, then the shifter surround and ashtray lift up. There are 3 or 4 plugs underneath and it is off. Next is the rear cover of the centre console; you need to open the console lid, pop off the trim covering the lid hinge and undo the 2rd screw from the driver's side (the rest all need to come out later so you can do them all now and remove the lid) Then the rear cover unclips (6 clips), start at the top with a trim tool pulling backwards. Once it is off there are 2 screws facing rearwards to remove (need a short phillips for these) and you are done with the rear of the console. There are 4 plugs at the A/V box to unclip Then there are 2 screws at the front of the console, and 2 clips (pull up and back) and the console will come out.
×
×
  • Create New...