Fry_33

Well this thread has been quiet for a while but I figured I show what I've been able to come up with so far. This is for my R33 GTST series 2. I decided to give this a go when we found the standard airbox/snorkle was a flow restriction up the top end for my setup. It's taken a while to get to where it is and after trial fit tonight realised it is fouling slightly on the bonnet at the front top setion So it's time to trim and shape a little more. I really just tried to use the standard setup as much as possible to help with fitment and not have to come up with another lid sealing design. I can't wait to finish it and see if it's helped with the flow. Standard Custom Just so you can get an idea of STD vs Custom.. I'm over sanding!

Don't forget to maintain the air filter and you might even want to change the fuel filter if it hasn't been done before.

I don't know a great deal about tuning etc but from what I've read up on etc the ECU will interpolate between cells, up and down, diagonal. So you want to smooth out the transition between cells as best you can. If the PFC uses a cell and it doesn't appear to use the one to the left of it that doesn't mean it's not affecting the timing etc. Say if the rpm falls between the two cells the one on the left is being used to help figure out the tranisiton value between them. Hope that makes sense? You may want to check your base timing is set right before starting to muck around too much. If you want to set it at say 15deg BTDC then you need to set the cells in the PFC map idle area and surrounding ones to 15 so it doesn't fluctuate and then physically adjust the CAS. If I'm way off with this then anyone please feel free to correct me!

Good work so far man. There's a fair bit of work involved there. I don't know if it helps at all but when smoothing out some fibreglass recently I tried something slightly different. I'd read that to make the bog/filler a little easier to work with you can mix it with the fibreglass resin to thin it down. You just get the quantity of base filler you want and then add some polyester resin and stir them together. Add more etc until it's about the consistency you want. You can then add the resin hardner and go for it. I added a little of the filler hardner and then about the right amount of resin hardner. Some say that you don't even need the filler hardner in there. You can even make it thin enough to brush it on. It may not help you for this project but I thought it was worth sharing as I found it to be quite good for some things. Good luck with the rest of it.

I'm just thinking about this out loud a bit here so don't flame me if I say something silly. I'm just going to throw some ideas out there which is always good as it gets people thinking about things I feel (hopefully not thinking of different ways to call me stupid ) To start with what intercooler are you talking about doing this to? If it is for a standard cooler then I'd say the first thing to spend money on would be a decent FMIC. And if you are running a pod then make sure it's blocked off from the engine bay and it's being fed air from somewhere other than the engine bay. Do you want to improve things for the street or the track. You also need to consider what you are going to gain from the a/c heat exchanger in front of the I/C. You may reduce the temp of the air traveling entering the I/C but depending on how this heat exchanger is designed it will also be adding a flow restriction in front of it. This could reduce the heat transfer properties/efficiency of the I/C and therefore negates a plus the system can possibly produce. If this is more for the street then you may want to try and stop heat soak more than anything as you're not going to heat the I/C up like you would on a track. The air flow at track speed would keep the I/C fairly cool anyway I'd assume, never driven at the track so I don't have experience with that. To stop heat soak you could possibly add a block of metal to an I/C end tank (or both?) and run a/c piping through those. I think this would draw heat away from the I/C like it would the air flowing through it. Saying this though, a water spray kit may produce a similar result which would be cheaper to set up. I don't know if it would make much difference but maybe cool the water for a spray kit with an A/C heat exchanger? You may get more benefit from having a heat exchanger in the inlet piping to cool the actual charge air rather than the air which would travel through the I/C. This would also add a flow restriction though. Maybe you can add a heat exchanger or something into an air box? I can't recall seeing any research/ figures on any improvements that ceramic coating of intercooler, plenum, turbo, manifold and exhausts etc may produce. I guess these are also aimed at helping keep engine bay/ air temps lower. You don't always get something for nothing as already mentioned. Your A/C compressor will no doubt need to draw slightly more power. I'm not sure if this is the same case for electric cooling fans or water pumps and you alternator? If you want to try it though then go for it and good luck

What cam gears are people using when they have a noisy timing belt? I'm just thinking that when a lot of people change the belt they'll also change to adjustable cam gears (normally only ex on RB25DET). I was more initailly only thinking about RB25DET as I was wondering if having a new ex cam gear and old genuine inlet gear would have any affect.

Depending on what your planning on doing to your car in the future etc, you could always go and see an auto trimmer. Talk to them and see what optoins you have. They may be able to cover it in a fabric which takes your fancy?

The green stuff you mentioned is probably Bondo (filler/ bog). I don't know where you get bondo from here as it's more of a US thing I think. You can probably use something like K&H Kahfil (http://www.khst.com.au/index_autotrade.html). I haven't really looked for any finer fillers than this. They would be better for finishing things off. I think you may need to go to a body products store rather than repco, supercheap etc for the finer stuff? You won't need it for your project but you can also use Kahglass to fill more product and the fiber glass strands in it make it stronger. Here are a few run throughs of what a guy in the US does. His skills are pretty good and you might see something that helps you out. There are others from him on the same forum. http://floridastreetscene.net/showthread.php?t=25112 http://floridastreetscene.net/showthread.php?t=44870 I gave a boost gauge a go and the above info helped me out quite a bit for ideas. I just added it to the standard A-Pillar cover. I needed to use quite a bit of Kahfil for this as I couldn't get the material stretched to exactly how it needed to be. Needless to say I had to do quite a bit of sanding. I added a few coats of fiberglass too but it's only holding a pod so probably didn't even need that. The other thing you can use as a filler is fiberglass resin mixed with a fine dust, like MDF dust. I think I've even heard of people using talcum powder. This gives you a paste but it will no doubt be harder to sand down than the fillers/ bog. Your panel looks good so far, good luck with the rest of it.

Basically as already mentioned. Note: This worked for me and I'm fine but do this at your own risk and don't blame me if it goes pear shaped. Take your time and don't rush it. Disconnect battery and then press brake a few times or turn on your lights to remove any residual charge. Remove two small side covers and the one underneath it. Disconnect the plug for the air bag which was under the small lower cover. Use a T50 torx bit to undo the side bolts. Airbag should now be free. From memory there is another plug exposed now which you should undo. Undo the large nut which holds the steering wheel on but leave the outside face flush with the end of the thread. Grab the steering wheel and then pull it towards you while shaking it side to side. It should come off fairly easily. Take the nut off and have a look at the shaft and steering wheel section which goes onto it. If there are no marks or dot's for lining it upthen you may want to do this. My R33 series 2 has it already and the steering wheel also has some small locating pins on it's back so you may be fine. Steering wheel should now be off and free. Just remember when putting the wheel back on, line up the marks on the steering wheel. Also line up the tips of the two arrows on the airbag ring (yellow) which ist under the steering wheel. There is also a lug on this which pokes through a hole in the steering wheel you need to make sure is lined up. Found a photo which may help. Make sure you plug everything back in and do all the bolts and nuts up. Connect the battery. I was pretty paranoid doing this the first time and was trying never to be right in front of the steering wheel when pulling it apart. As long as the battery is disconnected first and you remove any residual charge you should be fine.

Timing belts always track to one side due to the way the tensile cords are put in the belt. The flanges on pulleys/sprockets are what keep the belt from tracking off. The distance between the flanges will be less than the width of the other pulleys in the system. So I would assume that the problem is something to do with the flagnes, ie the crank pulley as already mentioned. The other cause for the belt tracking incorrectly is misaligned pulleys. Being an engine though this shouldn't normally be an issue unless things haven't been installed correctly. The crank pulley is pushed/pressed on from memory so maybe it just isn't pushed on far enough? Tension does not make the belt run off of the edge of a pulley. Either way you don't want the belt running off of the edge of a pulley as it will reduce the belts life.

I'm around 6'3" too and I have had R33 GTR seats before. It's been ages since I had the standard R33 GTST seats so it's hard to remember exactly but the GTR seats do sit lower. The only problem I find though is that the steering wheel still gets in the way of my knees. Mainly left knee when using the clutch. The foot rest sits further forward than the clutch pedal so you have to lift you knee towards yourself to get it up and onto the pedal. This is when I have issues with the steering wheel getting in the way. I think the best way around this would be to get some recaro or similar seats and have the seat rail made to suit you and your driving position. I guess it will also depend slightly on whether your height is based more around your legs or torso.

I've got a 2530 on my R33 GTST and it whistles too. I too wasn't sure if this is right. It has been checked and no vacuum leaks could be found. Mine starts to whistle at about -0.8 Bar and then it becomes harder to hear after about 0.5 Bar or somewhere there. I'd be interested to hear some other peoples experiences. I've got the standard plumb back BOV, standard air filter and HKS dump. What boost are you rinning?

As mentioned on the phone, consider the airbox sold. I'll call you on Monday to arrange pick up. Cheers

I don't think it's that you just need to check what the actuator is rated at. For example the HKS upgraded actuator for R33 is a 1430-RN006. This has a boost rating of 78.5-88.3kPa (0.8-0.9kgf/cm2) = 11.4-12.8psi. I assume this is affected further by the turbo you have, how much preload you put on the actuator rod etc. I assume this means it has something like a 12psi spring. If you need something larger then you can always contact someone like GCG and get it made to what ever you need. This way your boost controller doesn't have to 'fudge' things as much. Saying all that, it doesn't mean the ~12psi rated wastgate won't allow you to run 14psi with a bosst controller.

You can definitely get new air conditioning lines made up. First point of call should be an air conditioner workshop as they will be set up to make replacement lines so they should definitely be able to produce custom ones of any sort. The hose needs to be a 'barrier' hose. The gas permeates through rubber so there is a liner aronud the inner hose tube to stock it escaping, usually nylon. Not all air conditioning hoses are compatible with every gas, but I assume 99% of them out there will be fine for automotive aircon gas, typically R134A. If you can't find an air conditiong workshop close then try a hydraulic hose place, something like a Hardy Spicer, Hydraulink or Southcott. The Gates hose available for this is their PolarSeal hose. I don't know what other brands have but they will have them also.

Don't forget that a series 2 standard turbo has a nylon compressor wheel and ceramic turbine wheel. Just based on the weight/inertia of them it should spin up quicker than a steel wheeled unit. I know there is more to it but even with a GT2530 I still get the feeling that it doesn't have the initial poke of the standard turbo coming on to boost. Hard to tell without a dyno of it to compare properly though. Also just a note the standard replacement HKS actuator I got for my turbo was only rated at around 12psi not 14psi that I've seen a lot of peopl mention. It could be a different model though?

I remember seeing the thread where someone modified their snorkle. Any bumper repair place or somewhere that can weld plasic should be able to help you mod it. My intercooler uses standard piping so I don't have this issue. From what I've seen the R33/34 GTR airboxes are a better design than the R33 GTST ones so it might now hinder power quite the same. The path the air has to travel through it is much more direct. Here's a few pics to show the differences. Not too sure about the snorkle on the GTR though. R33/34 GTR R33 GTST You can see how the AFM entrance is at 90degrees to the filter panel and the flat triangle face you see from the top is basically level with the base of the filter panel. This would block off a large amount of the filter surface. I've also shown a view from the end of the snorkle looking in. I figured I may as well post these as it saves anyone else having to take theirs off to have a good look.

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately that's all been looked at. I did buy one of those silicone inlet pipes a while back but I don't really rate them. I don't want to start a war on that though, just my personal preference. I have a piece of stainless steel inside the rubber inlet pipe so it should not be sucking closed at all, pretty sure this was looked at as a cause anyway. I think this is what you mean by the rev210 mod?

I have 200rwkw with a GT2530 turbo. I have the standard airbox and a pipercross panel filter. It is currently tuned to correct AFR's. These turbo's generally make 220-230rwkw's going by the results I've seen. There was a dip in the upper range of my power curve and it is annoying to know it could do better. We took the airbox snorkle, lid and filter off and I instantly gained 13rwkw. It doesn't sound like much and there was still a dip up high in the rev range. However, since the engine could breath better it must have started looking up another map section as the AFR's became rich in the dip section. If these were sorted out then it should hit the typical power figures. If you actually take a good look at the snorkle and airbox lid they are pretty restrictive. You probably won't notice the lack of power changing from pod to airbox on the street as you aren't really driving high in the rev range which is where the most potential for improvement is. The other point is if you change something and don't tune it to suit it you won't know what affect it had on AFR's and whether there is more/less potential. The less flow restriction (pressure drops) there are to the air going in and gases coming out the easier it is on the engine and turbo.

We actually tried it with the filter, lid and snorkle off. It was late and if I had of thought about it more I would have tried it with the filter in and then with just the lid, no snorkle. I am running a Pipercross panel filter which should be ok but without trying it on the dyno it's hard to tell. The standard snorkle does look to be a bif restriction. It looks big from the top but take it off and look at the bottom and through it and the cross section is reduced greatly. This is due to it being moulded to go over the turbo outlet/ intercooler inlet pipe.

Yeah, it's good, just have to be careful in the wet Took the airbox lid off and it picked up 13rwkw up high straight away and even a touch through the rest of the midrange. Don't really want to put a pod back on so I'll need to figure out what I'm going to do to the airbox now.. may even spool slightly faster?

Since this is about smal turbos I thought I'd show the results of my R33 with GT2530 as a comparison. Z32 afm, injectors and fuel pump changed to make sure it's got plenty of room and not running on component limits. Airbox restriction is stopping it from making more power, should get 220rwkw or something similar when that's sorted.

You probably need a Z32 AFM and injectors and some form of boost crontroller (there's a few options) to pull some decent power out of the engine (say above 200rwkw). Make sure your fuel pump is in good condition too.

I think it may have to be replaced as part of the compliance process. The rules may have changed slithly over the years so if your mates car was complied in an earlier year then it may not have been required to change it then? Mine came like yours.

I know autometer make dual pillar pods for R32 & R33. You could try and find out if they make one for R34 too? You could always make a custom one up. I just made one up for my R33. I have a 60mm gauge but it doesn't matter about the size. I had a Pillar Pod and I think the brand was DFECTV. The pod was good but I felt it stuck the gauge out too far and it wasn't at the best angle. I found the following tutorials which are a big help. Anything by the author nexson is usually good. http://floridastreetscene.net/showthread.php?t=25112 http://floridastreetscene.net/showthread.php?t=35359 http://floridastreetscene.net/showthread.php?t=40113 I didn't end up taking many inbetween pics but I got this one and some of the final. I might need to fix up the paint a bit but I'm reasonably happy with it.