Another BK R32 GTR money pit...

[BK]

Haven't been very active lately updating my other build threads, mainly because of this car consuming most of my spare time over the last year or so. Here it is, completely unintentional, another single turbo R32 GTR that I'm building up / restoring which is now a 3rd GTR to take all my time and money. It's a November 1989 BNR32 which was originally a KH2 grey one that was resprayed to 326 white at some stage. This is actually a joint project between myself and my father Lyle, so this is going to be his GTR as I really have my hands full already with my own 32 and 33.

The history on the car is a bit non existent, but basically the old man wanted a project now he has officially retired. He already has a WRX and an FG XR6, but wanted another GTR as he'd sold his previous KH2 1992 R32 GTR about 8 or 9 years ago for around $25k - and has been kicking himself ever since for not keeping it. So after a bit of searching we decided to obtain this GTR which was located in Sydney with a damaged engine. We flew over to inspect it in June 2019, said ok and went halves in it. Had to be shipped back to us in the NT not running at about $2500 alone. When it finally got here in August 2019, got it back to his house and inspected it properly - we both looked at each other and went "What the F have we just done ?!". Basically the car is heap of shit and will require a massive amount of work.

Dad, you wanted a project - well you sure as hell have one now....

So up it goes onto the stands. Engine out and disassemble, gearbox out and disassemble - strip everything from engine bay. Problems we found (I'll keep it short for now):

-Main and big end bearings on #1 completely stuffed

-A few cracked piston rings

-Crankshaft damaged, not salvageable

-Water pump corroded and almost seized

-Motor was not even bolted onto engine mounts ! Completely freeballin !

-Engine sump completely wrecked. Had been drilled out at the back and destroyed - guess someone tried to change an oil pump without removing the engine from the car and couldn't get to the rear main seal properly

-Everything crappily resprayed black. I mean everything. Intake plenum, intake manifold, intake air chamber balance tube etc.etc.etc.

-Completely blocked radiator

-Transmission completely stuffed on input shaft gear, 1st gear synchro and main gear, 2nd gear synchro and main gear and all bearings stuffed. Gearbox loom damaged.

-All wheel bearings and hubs destroyed

-All ECU and engine bay wiring in poor condition. Had a link G4 in it that looked like a 10 year old thought was good enough install. Too much to mention but stuff like poor injector connectors with wires pulling out to stuff totally not installed or missing (eg. the entire knock sensor and oil pressure / temp harness missing ? Obviously no knock sensors installed either.)

-Vacuum lines missing or plugged everywhere, absolutely no clutch or brake booster vacuum assist connected.

-All brake pads and rotors destroyed

-All brake calipers seized and leaking

-Rooted suspension bushes and components everywhere

-Crappy exhaust setup. No plumbed in external gate - had gate outlet pointing directly to chassis in engine bay, no cat, restrictive varex muffler, poor and inadequate hanger anount

-Had twin Walbro 460 pumps, both stuffed. Wiring completely inadequate also for the setup.

-Fuel system half assed installation. Stupid Bosch 2000cc gas injectors installed, AN8 single feed to single entry rail using the factory poxy 5/16" hardline return on a crappy FPR800 fuel reg with 1/8NPT line fittings. Restrictive return ? Nah, not at all !

-Crushed chassis rails

-Crushed outer sills. Really bad at front

-Damaged headlights on housings, mounts etc. Headlight wiring loom butchered. Headlight sub harnesses missing.

-Damaged at.... oh wait, I was going to keep it short.

Anyway there's much more stuff that I'll mention later but basically the last 2 dropkick owners and the crappy Sydney workshops (some who I see regularly mentioned as being good and frequently used on SAU) who worked on this car need their arses kicked and shouldn't be own or be anywhere near RB26s or a GTR. Clearly the abortionists that worked on and modified (I mean butchered) this car had absolutely no idea. Something drastic labour and parts wise is needed ASAP.

Anyway there was no use whinging about it, basically this was going to need to be a complete ground up restoration of everything now. Time to get to it and start repairing things.

First things first was to build up a new long engine for this thing - the easy part really.

 

 

 

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

I don't know why so many shops still use those horrid CNG injectors.

It has been proven time and time again, they simply cause more problems then solve.

I suggest you give your old man a Samsonas 😂

[Old man 32 GTR]

Look forward to seeing what you do with it, you going to paint it? Or leave it white? 

[MoMnDadGTR]

ahh she will be a gem when your done with this one. nice to see her in the hands of someone who can fix it properly. good luck mate. your dad is a deadly dude, if my father ever said he wanted to go halfers on a gtr id drop dead in my tracks lol. anyway i dont follow many threads but this ones gunna sick. cheers.

[BK]

1 minute ago, MoMnDadGTR said:

ahh she will be a gem when your done with this one. nice to see her in the hands of someone who can fix it properly. good luck mate. your dad is a deadly dude, if my father ever said he wanted to go halfers on a gtr id drop dead in my tracks lol. anyway i dont follow many threads but this ones gunna sick. cheers.

Thank you good sir ! I just wish the car was a bit better base to start with for his sake. He is 76 now and jumping under the thing is getting harder and harder for him to do.

4 hours ago, Old man 32 GTR said:

Look forward to seeing what you do with it, you going to paint it? Or leave it white? 

After discussion, the car will be completely redone again in Nissan 326 R32 white but will retain a black engine bay.

When I say destroyed outer sills, I mean it. Probably the worst I've seen in 20 years.

She'll be right mate, that'll just buff right out 👍

 

[MoMnDadGTR]

when I buy a skyline I always feel I looked at every inch before i buy it. then when I get it home im like wtf how did not see this, that, rust, ding, tick tock motor lol. maybe its the passion or excitement at time of purchase but im sure your not the only one that's missed a few things here and there! if those are the worst spots on the (from pics) then she definitely savable! i crashed my car this summer and thought it was unfixable, my quarters were f***ed and my side skirts were pushed in, lots of other damage too. amazing what talented people can do to fix that type of damage. good luck mate dollars and hours will be flying out the window like trump at the white house. cheers.

[BK]

I have a solution...

 

Brand new outer sills from Japan. Not cheap at $2300 delivered incl. Tax

[MoMnDadGTR]

Just now, BK said:

I have a solution...

 

awesome mate i figured this was the route you were going to go, do it right. i want to replace these on my project 89 r, if you can send me a link to where you got those that would be awesome mate. I've been looking for a set but I'm not the best at finding parts and being stuffed in a small town in Canada my resources are small. 

[MoMnDadGTR]

sorry for the double post but i was looking at nengun, but they seem to be out of stock...

[BK]

Hey no worries. I got mine from RHDjapan at about $1400ish for the pair, then a bit under $600 for freight, then a bit over $300 in GST / import duty / govt tax. Nengun was more expensive even before tax. Amayama was the cheapest at a bit under $1300, but wanted nearly $1200 to ship them ! Admittedly that includes all import duty and tax, but far out it seemed excessive.

I've been sourcing stuff for a long time and no one is faster or more efficient than RHDjapan. Nengun is ok, but never ever are cheaper or faster than RHDjapan. From order to my door in two weeks.

Amayama is generally good, but has been painfully slow since the pandemic hit. Still a good choice if you're not in a hurry.

[MoMnDadGTR]

17 minutes ago, BK said:

Hey no worries. I got mine from RHDjapan at about $1400ish for the pair, then a bit under $600 for freight, then a bit over $300 in GST / import duty / govt tax. Nengun was more expensive even before tax. Amayama was the cheapest at a bit under $1300, but wanted nearly $1200 to ship them ! Admittedly that includes all import duty and tax, but far out it seemed excessive.

I've been sourcing stuff for a long time and no one is faster or more efficient than RHDjapan. Nengun is ok, but never ever are cheaper or faster than RHDjapan. From order to my door in two weeks.

Amayama is generally good, but has been painfully slow since the pandemic hit. Still a good choice if you're not in a hurry.

thanks mate straight to the point good help. wont poach your thread anymore. your a gtr beast thanks for your help good chap. i think its great you are doing that for your dad, thats wellness right there. 

[GTSBoy]

Hmm. Money pit seems to be the right word. What's the interior like?

[BK]

21 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

Hmm. Money pit seems to be the right word. What's the interior like?

Not too bad. Has pretty good condition 95/96 R33 GTR seats, carpet, instrument gauges, aircon controls functional, rear seats, gearshift and centre console trims, front and rear ashtrays, glove box, sunvisors, roof trims, door window and mirror controls, all seat belts and rear parcel shelf all great. Stereo headunit is ok, door release handles are ok.

Interior that we have already replaced in addition is all new aircon dash vents, rear parcel shelf vents, new seat belt upper and lower trim caps, door speaker holders and speaker trim covers, new door grab handles and screw blanking caps, inside mirror triangle trims, full steering column trims, new ignition key surround and cap screws everywhere.

Things that need addressing is no floor mats, new front speakers, replace cracked kick panels, dash clock not functioning and the door cards will need replacing or retrimming.

[Duncan]

well you probably already know, but the dash clock is on Nismo heritage. Came across it while looking for something else the other day

[BK]

Nah I didn't actually, thought they were still normally available.  the last one I got out of RHDjapan for the other 32 was about $200, but guess It will be more expensive now

[Robzilla32]

$330 from Kudos

[BK]

What a rip-off... More inclined to pull it apart and repair the solder joints.

[MoMnDadGTR]

1 hour ago, BK said:

What a rip-off... More included to pull it apart and repair the solder joints.

thats how i fixed mine....was a simple job. much like fixing the atessa computer when it fries from leaking boot.

[BK]

On 10/01/2021 at 11:26 AM, Duncan said:

well you probably already know, but the dash clock is on Nismo heritage. Came across it while looking for something else the other day

RHDjapan reckon $226, but would be old stock if original Nissan like Kudos stock. Can't find a reference in Nismo, but I am pretty retarded sometimes. Original part is 25820-05U00. Might just have to pull it apart and repair as mentioned. Still have my spare other 32 one too

[BK]

Completed long engine and assembled. All block and crankshaft machining, crack testing, balancing work performed by Rick Corbett engineering in Adelaide. Details are:

RB26 05U block - machined to 86.5mm bore

Stock long nose 26 crank fully balanced

ACL race series main bearing

ACL race series big end bearings

ARP 2000 main studs

Spool forged I beam conrods with ARP 2000 7/16 rod bolts - the big bastard rod bolts 💪

CP 86.5mm forged aluminium pistons and rings 9.0 CR

Platinum 1.1mm block oil feed restrictor

Nitto oil pump using single spring at 75psi max pressure

R32 GTR 05U water pump

Tomei sump baffles

Tomei 1.2mm head gasket

ARP 2000 head studs

Supertech Viton valve stem seals

Supertech single valve springs with titanium retainers

New OEM RB26 valve guides, valves and lifters

OEM camshaft bolts

Head mild port by hand

OEM harmonic balancer (at this stage)

Franklin engineering AN10 head drain / breather kit

Stock 05U RB26 camshafts with Tomei adjustable cam gears

It was a last minute to use stock cams. Had Camtech 272deg / 9.7mm cams to go in, but opted for stock on this engine being 2.6 street car. Don't really want to compromise the low end too much.

Haven't worked out the cost but that is about as budget as you can get for an effective forged bottom end RB26 I would think. 

Lyle blitzed it. I assembled the valve train as them collets can be a bit fiddly and bolted on the head / torqued the head studs down, but apart from that it was all him. I didn't touch the bottom end at all. Not like it's anything new for him really as he's a fully qualified mechanic and diesel fitter for over 55 years and can still show me a thing or two👍