CLEM0

Thanks. I did a wet test and it jumped about 7-8psi. So i'd say rings aren't amazing. How often would you suggest a change in oil?

Thank you- that came across better than how I summarised it. I would not be getting the car tuned on 98, and if E45 and E85 are minimal in regard to knock resistance, then if I got a bad batch of E85 it wouldn't be detrimental to the performance or safety of the car- so essentially unless I do plan to run flex/98, the only benefit i'd get is consistent fuel trims/AFR and more consistent economy/cold starts.

Thank you all for the great replies. The car plan is straight E85- as the engine isn't in great health with 130psi across all 6 cylinders on a factory 25DET- so low compression. I want to prolong it while I save up for a rebuild. But I do hope for mid 400whp with E85 in the meantime. I am thinking about not using the Flex sensor- unless the tuner will drop a bit of 98 in the tank to bring it down to say E60-70- but they'd probably not do this and just tell me to get a flex fuel tune. I haven't put it in yet and $250 back into my bank account will certainly be beneficial to me right now. So basically a good idea if running flex, bad/pointless if running straight E85 since it won't effect knock anyway- only stoich point- that's the summary i've got.

Hey all, Is an ethanol content sensor required for an E85 only tune? I was under the impression it was due to the variable nature of pump E85- which can vary wildy in ethanol content. I guess my question is- can a tuner compensate for this with a flex fuel sensor or is it not required for straight E85? I just bought one but i'm unsure if I should just return it. Cheers all!

My apologies- I stand corrected. I'd assume the loose balancer from OEM + bad washers is the bigger picture then. Potentially yours failed from high bolt torque compressing the washer beyond necessary? I just found it hard to be true as many cars use similiar washer on crank systems and have no dramas- and the washer is very thin as is- before any compression. I personally have 1 PRP one OEM. Thanks for the info. Always happy to know more.

Correct mate. The timing shield/washers as another poster suggested is nothing to do with the issue. Plenty of other cars run a similar setup with washers and have no dramas or issues. The only issue is badly made tolerances on Nissans part. Get a properly made balancer, get the snout repaired/crank replicated and make sure the snout is perfect. Balancer should not be possible to put on by hand/hammer. Correct tension and interference requires a pusher tool- if you don't use one- the balancer is too loose. No other cars use slip on balancers really- besides Nissan for whatever reason. That little tiny gap may be nothing at low RPM- but that gap at 7,8,9,10k RPM or higher than stock power and driving etc is going to move the balancer, loosen the bolt, and either mince the crank snout, wack out the keyways, or- as in my case, do both! Hopefully you get it sorted Micrometer the balancer and the snout always!

Hey mate. No trouble - still active thread. Happy to help. Unfortunately unless you have a great machine shop (I found one who would weld the entire nose of the crankshaft- re-cut the keyways, and grind it exactly back to spec) but it cost more than a used crank as it's a lot of work. As for what I did: New-ish condition second hand crank, polished it, new ACL bearings, extended crank collar, made my own custom keyway, and had machine shop cut the slot for it (NOT REQUIRED- THIS IS NOT THE ACTUAL ISSUE, OEM keyways are totally fine, they should never hold pressure like Nissans seem to- I realised this later) and put it all back together with a brand new OEM bolt. However- the brand new OEM balancer- on a great condition crank, measured perfectly in spec with a micrometer, still slips on by hand. Both balancer and crank were factory spec, measured by micrometer..... They're not made right- ever. The only fix is a high end balancer, such as Ross, as well as a new timing gear- I went with PRP but didn't use their trigger kit- just the timing crank gear. Both fit extremely snug- still able to get on with a balancer assembly tool (the fact a tool exists for this task and Nissans balancers don't require it is worrying enough) and it fits tight interference. Snug as it should be- normal ~150nm torque on bolt. Good to go. Do not use a factory OEM balancer if you can- get a new/used crank, OEM/Nitto keyways + high end balancer and (non nitto- they're loose) timing gear. PRP fit snug. Nitto do not. Nor does OEM Nissan. Get it all back together. Not worth saving that crank IMO- but it's possible. However: No point saving the crank then repeating the exact same issue. If you do get it machined- have it done the tiniest bit oversized to compensate for the shitty balancer tolerances- that'd probably work too. Heat on the crank snout is bad however, so would I use a welded crank for a high power/rpm build? Not a single chance whatsoever. Especially given the harmonics that are capable of cracking oil pumps- i'm sure they could hurt a snout of a crank too, if it's been welded and heated in one spot. It's quite funny to me even high end builders- such as Lewis Engines, don't notice this. They just say torque the bolt to obscene levels- like 450+nm of torque, as it masks the issue- not fixes it. Obviously no high RPM or high power cars use factory balancers so they seem to survive, but give it 5 years and it'll be back to square one again, as harmonics gradually loosen the bolt as the balancer clearances allow it to shake still, as the tolerances are wrong. Good luck mate. It's not a hard fix- buy the high end balancer- it is the only proper, safe fix in all circumstances. Apologies for the long reply- I want anyone else suffering this issue to realise exactly why it's happening, and how to fix it with no corners cut.

I have strong doubt it's the slave too- but for $100 worth a shot. Otherwise tow car then box out. Beginning to hate this car more than I love it haha. 6 weeks on road, 10+ Months off it since ownership. Expensive too... As for the mangled keyway, bought a used crank, did new ACL race series bearings, oil pump collar, custom single keyway mod, and a ross balancer. Nissan balancers are not made properly and shred the keyways, regardless of bolt torque. It's a design/tolerance fault and I confirmed it by using a micrometer, as well as several OEM balancers- new and used. They never fit properly snug, and rely on bolt tension instead of interference fit! I can't even begin to imagine how many RB series engines are currently driving around with shredded crank snouts as a result- probably a tonne.

I believed it may be the slave- it does move but apparently it must move almost the whole way, which it didn't seem to. It was close- but it could be 1-2mm off and that might be all it takes. If it was the clutch pivot, or even fork for that matter, wouldn't it lose all feeling immediately, as it requires those parts to even move the pedal? Not after opening the slave bleeder? It felt totally normal and made no sounds until I opened the slave cylinder valve. I suppose this doesn't rule out throw out bearing- I will get a camera in there today and update. Cheers.

I sadly think this is the case too- based on how sudden it is. I've decided to buy a new OEM slave cylinder just in case but that all appeared to work. The second I opened the breather however it just never bled properly, so maybe a seal in it has gone suddenly. Unlikely but trying before box is out. Any clue if I can check clutch pivot with a boreascope camera?

Thanks for the advice- hsve read about this issue but mine is good, works as it should.

I will eventually but for now I need to sort this issue first

Hello. Having some 'fun' with this new setup on my 1995 S1.5 R33 GTST: I have a brand new Exedy (extra extra heavy duty) 500kw single plate ceramic clutch kit, new aftermarket throw out bearing + holder, new Exedy spigot with all parts having only 750-1000km on them. Today while driving I gave it a fairly hard (5000rpm or so) shift from first to second gear and now I can't disengage the clutch. Limped it home in second so the clutch is engaged, but can't get it to move gears whatsoever. Goes through all gears when engine is off. It made no noise when the clutch stopped working- nothing went bang or made any odd sounds and drove it home fine in second gear. I checked the pedal adjustment and it's as high as it'll go (most movement of pushrod on slave) and had someone push the pedal down while watching. The slave pushrod moved about 1.5 inches which is apparently the correct amount of movement. Decided to try and bleed the clutch to rule that out, and now all of a sudden there is no pressure on the pedal- it just falls to the floor and stays there. Tried bleeding master and didn't do anything. A fair bit of air comes out of the slave when bleeding, but continues and gets no better- with no change in pedal. What on earth is going on? The slave worked fine before opening the bleed valve, now the pushrod won't move, and still obviously can't disengage the clutch as I have a pedal that flops to the floor. Tried compressing and bleeding master 30 times or so with no change. Anyone got any idea what is causing this? Why did the slave suddenly stop, or was this the issue all along? Cheers everyone! Sorry for the long one.

Hello- I have just got my RB single keyway from Platinum Racing Products that I planned to pop into my crank, however it appears that the key is not a super tight/interference fit in the balancer (Brand new never ran OEM). At $45 a pop i'd rather make sure it's perfect before running it. It is fairly close, but it 100% has some extremely minor movement. This movement at 8k RPM is probably much less than ideal as this is where it's a massive issue, and is capable of destroying cranks (did this on my old one- the reason for rebuilding) Does anyone run a single keyway, and has any experience with them? Thanks!

That's what they're going for now, especially tidy ones- what did you pay for it when you got it? Bet it was no where even close to $30k!

Hello- Just got a query regarding the fitment of an RB25 balancer/crank pulley on the crankshaft. I have tried two seperate engines with a brand new balancer on them, and 2 seperate used balancers, and both engines with all 3 balancers are fairly easy to get on by hand, and can spin fully around just by hand. It isn't loose but not what i'd consider tight/interference fit. Is the interference fit on the face of the crank when the bolt it tightened, or the the sides of the crank? I don't know why this is not rock solid... Are both crankshafts out of round, or is this how they're meant to be? I am struggling to believe that two seperate good condition engines that both ran perfectly before taking balancer off (timing belt) - both don't fit very tight with a brand new genuine OEM balancer. It just seems odd. Cheers.

Probably a substantially better Power:weight though

Certainly not a race car (yet, until it decides to fully blow itself) just a daily, around 450whp at the minute. Cheers.

Thanks mate- it's only going to be at 450whp at most, and mainly a daily driver- maybe cop a limiter here and there but nothing insane. Thanks for the reply.

G'day guys- Might be a stupid question but i've never built an inline 6 cylinder engine, and I am looking at replacing the crankshaft only in my RB25DET. I have tracked down a good condition crank which I would be getting the basic machine work cleanup (polished, crack tested, etc) and then installing myself- but since i'll be reusing the pistons, rods and most other parts besides bearings obviously- is there any balancing that needs to take place, i.e piston and rod weight checking etc. Cheers all!

That honestly makes me so depressed. Love the GTI-R. As for those dirt cheap skyline, I always planned on a GTST anyway as I was too late to miss the GTR hike, but that never bothered me. An AU$ 7-8k R33/R32 GTST was always the goal, then drop in a forged 25 or ideally 25/30 or 26/30 and have it forged, making insane power for less than or around $25-30k. Would be a monster street car. And wouldn't break the bank. Now i'm $20k+ deep in the hole for just a f**king old car. Honestly I always wanted one since I was 16 and since I studied I couldn't buy it until I was 19. No longer studying and covid hit the car market as soon as I had money. I might sell the car. It's too expensive now since I missed the cheap ones last year LOL. It pains me but I don't know what to do with these things 😂

I know this thread is old, but it's insane how these cars shot up in literally 1 year. You were all right! I just paid almost $20,000 for an R33 GTST as it was my 'realistic' dream car from many years ago. I'm a teenager- and I worked my ass off to buy one. I never wanted to pay anywhere near this but I bit the bullet and unfortunately it's already off the road for fixes! Reading this post- everything came true. I should have found this last year when I skipped over several very good 7-8k Skylines, and bought a cheaper daily! I miss the days when they were a dime a dozen, I passed up on so many of them it's crazy- just to lose out on big $$$ now. HANG ON TO THOSE GTST SKYLINES!

I was googling this as you replied. The manual is stupidly low, I wonder if it's a translation/conversion error, as it is really low. Will crank it up a bit on the stock bolt, once I know the torque specs.

Yikes. That doesn't sound fun. I've decided- Going to torque the factory one to factory specs first. I don't want to be going above and beyond if factory is fine to hold it all. #1 is making sure the bloody key fits!

I've got it all off besides bumper but there is room- but I only have a MIG welder right now, my TIG died. Hopefully MIG works (it should), I have a die grinder with a bunch of bits to sort the shaping. It's going to suck doing this but realistically a good fill of MIG on the broken side, filing it well, fitting the key firmly and loctite hopefully works. New balancer and bolt too. Gotta figure out locking the flywheel! People do loctite only on MX5s all the time- on the crank pulley itself! If the bolt is tight- it SHOULD be fine. Hoping it goes well cheers for advice.