Leadfoot

If you think about it the Iridium plugs may actually be best value for money. Iridum plugs should at least outlast 5 sets of coppers, and on that basis alone they are around the same total cost. Then, when you factor in the time taken to change a set of plugs, at least half an hour if your being careful not to strip the threads and remove all the coil packs and wiring harnesses, the irridium plugs make a whole lot of sense. Especially if you value your time at around $50/hr. As an added bonus irridium plugs give an extra 5 to 10 hp gain on the dyno. This is apparently something to do with being able to run a bigger gap due to the much sharper point of the iridium electrode.

A bargain for $150. I have some Kingies on my line and can only sing praises for them. Issue 50 (or 52?) of HPI has a write up on a GTST which has had some track success with these.

Hey Noble, I need a new gearbox badly. QUOTE: "gearbox- manual- turbo (excellent condition was 12,300k's since rebuilt)-$1200" Questions: 1) What model car was this from originally? 2) How many kays had it done before the rebuild (probably irrelevant, just wondering)? 3) What was done in the rebuild? 4) I need a clutch as well (gonna need a strong clutch with the mods I have planned). Can you help here as well? Please PM ASAP. Andre

Okay, Thanks for all the input so far. I made some more checks last night. Just idling in the gargage I can sometimes get the engine above 2500 rpm by letting it idle for a while but it still seems to be lacking pickup and power at all rpm's. Sometimes it will rev over 2500 rpm and then other times it wont, theres no rhyme or reason. All engine sensors appear to be behaving sensibly according to my power FC hand held. ie Air flow, air/fuel ratio, timing, rpm, water temp, voltage, injector output and boost pressure. All intercooler pipe connections seem to be sound as far as I can tell and there is no sound of air escaping. Water temp is okay it did not exceed 90 deg C. Turbo appears to be okay or at least I can hear it spooling and there is no exhaust coming from the radiator cap or water from the exhaust so I think the seals are okay. The problem starts from a cold engine so problem is not engine heat related. Idle is very smooth but then the missing (or lack of power) at higher revs appears to be all cyclinders at once so this seems to point to either fuel supply or complete ignition breakdown. The spark plugs are at least 10,000km old so I will change them tonight, not being really sure how long to expect in an RB25. If that doesnt fix it I will change the fuel pump over to the Bosch 044 I have waiting. Failing, that I'm thinking an electrical breakdown to the coils and something for a workshop to sort. Cheers for all the help.

Good point, will check the AFM. Not sure about limp mode as the car has a Power FC which I forgot to mention. IT s not a hard 2500 rpm limit, just feels like fuel starvation at anything above this. The PFC lets me see all the engine instruments from the display. The water temp was only 95 deg C, and I recall the AFM seemed to be producing a sensible reading when revving up and down. It doesnt know the A/F ratio which would be handy. I am going to have a closer look tonight to see if I can hear the turbo spooling and some sort of boost being made and post back tommorrow.

Was driving home last night and every time after pulling up at lights the car would surge momentarily when accelerating away. Whatever was causing this, it must have got worse because a couple of blocks from home I couldnt get above 2500 rpm. The more I put my foot down, the less power the engine had. It felt similar to fuel starvation however after popping the bonnet I noticed there was no pressure in the radiator hoses. The overflow tank was mostly full so I had not lost a lot of water. I am going to give it a throrough checkup after work today but could this be a ceased shaft turbo and blown water seals. Stock turbo at 75,000 km. I already have a spare fuel pump ready to go as these are renown for blowing up but I am still confused by the lack of water pressure.

Put me down for an 044. You have PM.

Well, I think this is all over nothing as the best time MOTOR magazine achieved for the HSV Clubsport R8 was 5.83sec 0-100 @29degC and 38% humidity. This was performed in controlled conditions using the most aggressive driving techniques. This is a long way short of the 5.5sec that Skylinekiller quotes as a "bad day" and as for 4.99 sec, that must of been a downhill run with a 150kmph tail wind. Skyliner killer lost all credibility with me at that point. Since those MOTOR boys now what there doing there might be a few more tenths better 5.83 than in cooler weather, so maybe 5.5 seconds on the best day. Figures are in the latest PCOTY (on the shelves as of Monday) for the world to see.

Dan and Liz Thanks for another great event. As an organiser myself for a different club I can really appreciate the effort that goes in behind the scenes to make everything work. Definately some nice scenaery on the way past Cottesloe and Trig! PACEY Bummer about that flash incident. I saw it go off and was pretty sure there would have been another vehicle in the photo from where I was sitting.

Looks like the one in the High Octane 2000 DVD. Check out the "Option Speed Trial" segment. An identical spec (wide body, Top Secret, gold, 2.2L motor) was entered in this high speed trial in NZ in 2000. The original motor was replaced with the short motor for improved circuit racing handling to bring the center of mass closer to the back of the car. THe car kept blowing off hoses (too high boost) and did not perform as well as it had in Japan, ie +300kph. This is quite a good DVD by the way.

I read Ferni's tales a week ago and is why I rang virtually every Nissan Oultlet in Australia hoping that someone would be lower than all the rest. New prices were all between $4500 and $4900.

All right, I'll post the first bit to get things started. After scouring the entire WWW this is the best I have come up with: 1) Output shaft bolt come loose NissanForums - Transplanting a R33 box into S13 2) Secondhand R33 5 speed boxes all show various degrees of damage to 5th gear cog. Cant remember the link but was someones observation who knew someone with a workshop. The damage is caused by wear in the layshaft which then puts additional load on the 5th gear cog. In buying a secondhand box it would be good idea to remove the rear gearbox housing and inspect it if possible. 3) How to guide on replacing all the gearbox bearings with pictures at every step SkylinesDownUnderForums link If you cant access this link you may need to first become a member of SkylinesDownUnder. This link is really has the best info I have come across so far. 4) What I really need now is some diagrams etc, from the gearbox workshop manual. If anyone has any, please post for the benefit of all. The GTR is very similar to GTS so even that would do. The R33 gearbox is not covered in the engine manual which I have.

It seems from the number of stories on SAU that the weak point of the GTS 5 speed is the synchros and 5th gear. At 67,000kms I can vouch for both. This is a real pity since the box is otherwise in perfect mechanical conditions?. My options seem to be 1) Buy a 2nd hand one for around $1500, - (Very hit and miss, too risky) 2) A new one from Nissan for $4500, (that would buy three 2nd hand ones) 3) Rebuilding my current one - (not as hard as you think). I have been told by Nissan that the synchros and layshaft bearings I need will set me back around $500 which I am happy with. Whilst I would prefer option 3) there is very little information anywhere about rebuilding. The R33 workshop manual is only an engine manual and has nothing about the gearbox. All I need to know is the recommended end float. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has some gearbox diagrams or experience to share given this seems to be one of the most common Skyline common.

Thanks Joel, Its good to know that I can expect another 100,000 kms! I might slip in some heavier weight oil like redline shockproof heavyweight though, just to see if it doesnt make the 5th gear a little quieter and take up some of the the slop in the lay shaft bearing. It sounds as though getting secondhand box is a waste of time if its done over 60,000 kms, thats if your looking for a dead quiet gearbox anyway. I am considering reconditioning if the noise starts up on all gears. For now, I think it was either making the noise when I bought it (4 weeks ago) or it has just started. Do you think it is possible for someone with the typical garage tool setup to strip and repair a RB25 DET box?? Apparently fitting OS Gikken parts is not as simple as it sounds as double synchros have to be fitted and not cheap either at around $4,500 a set.

I am the same as -Joel- Mine is a 1996 GT25ST series II with 65,000kms (hopefully). Vibration only occurs in 5th gear as well. It is most noticable when either accelerating or decelerating. Neutral acceleration is quiet. The reason I believe is that 5th gear (or overdrive) uses a second gear-rail in the gearbox not used by any other gear ie 1st to 4th. The second gear rail does usually not have as good bearings and such can become noisy as the end float increases with general wear. Overdrive is usually the weak point in any gearbox and for that reason most manufacturers never recommended towing in this gear. I am not too worried as a I have a borg warner T50 in another car with the same noise since the last 100,000kms. The fix is to crack open the box and shim the end float to manufacturers tolerance - very cheap fix but time consuming. I am going to change the oil to see what happens. I would be interested to hear at what odometer reading -Joel-s and others cars have started making the noise.