GOD12A

Heya guys, I've been wet shaving with a double edge safety razor for a few weeks now and actually enjoy shaving. After a bit of research I bought the following kit: http://www.mensbiz.com.au/mens-biz-standard-wetshaving-kit.html Not overly cheap, but google tells me they're quality components. Currently using Proraso shaving cream, Derby blades, Bloc Osma alum block and Geo.F.Trumper Skin Food. I've always shaved every day. Being Italian I could grow a full beard within 24hrs from the age of 6. Now, I can stretch out to two days and still have an acceptable appearance. BUT, I shave everyday for the enjoyment. Never thought I'd say that... Get on DE shaving! Very happy I made the switch and trying to convert my mates. Can't beat the consumable costs either. $20/100 blades that last me nearly a week each. $15 for shaving cream that will get me past 6 months etc etc Add to that the environmental and health positives, the only real reason NOT to DE shave is the extra time involved. But hey, you deserve it Thanks for some of the info in this thread guys, it helped me make the switch. Mark

Heya guys, Anyone looked into jamming an R34 GTR helical centre into a 32GTR housing? I'll be throwing some 4.4s in soon and wondering if I should move from the Nismo 2way (that has me a little unsettled into corners) to a helical. Only problem with helical is lifting a wheel and having no drive, but if I upgrade I might just have to stop using inside ripple strips to powerslide the car into line Mark

Heya DMAN Oil in the compressor isn't a result of engine blowby. As mentioned on the phone, check for oil restrictors for the BB turbos. They shouldn't see more than 45psi at max revs which is less than an OE RB26 oil pump will produce. A 1.0mm oil restrictor in each turbo should reduce the oil bypassing the turbo seals (unless the turbos are just old and need seals anyways) Reducing boost will not change the oil bypassing the turbo oil seals, it'll only reduce blowby. That might be reason why you're still getting smoke on low boost. Pop your cooler off and drain it into a container Engine blowby is a different kettle of fish. Happy to chat more after work during the week if you guys are free Mark

Heya JR, Transfer case will best come out with gearbox. Rear diff is straight forward. Front diff centre can be removed from sump in situ, but it sucks. Next time your engine is out you can remove the box with the engine and do whatever you want. If the sump comes off, also a good time to get some breathers welded in to reduce the effect of your blowby Mark

Heya DATO, I made 340rwkw on 20psi after a simple rebuild of the factory 26 (hone, rings and bearings) Didn't require boring or decking. BUT I did balance it. http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/93880-rb26-turbo-upgrade-all-dyno-results/?p=7142672 As long as it has oil pressure and a good tune, it should rule out the majority of excuses to go bang. Maybe consider breathers from your sump to your cam covers? (similar to 'head drain' mod, but cheaper with same result) Mark

Heya JR, How'd the new G-sensor go? If you want a hand band-aiding the blowby, I still have an oil/air separator to 'test' Mark

If there's still space, I'm in Mark

Possibly P0420 code. Not unusual for picky ECUs with aftermarket exhausts. As Scotty mentioned, ECU reset and see if that helps. If it pops up again, throw a can of upper head cleaner through it, that has fixed a few P0420s for my clients. Worst case, rip the cat off and clean it properly. Absolute worst case, move the cat/O2 sensors to near factory positions. Hope it helps. Mark

Sounds like an awesome day indeed. I'm super keen, but not 100% JUST yet Mark

Heya DIY Polishing everything sucks. I polished everything in my RX3 enginebay back in the day and I hated hand polishing it every few weekends and I did it full time! Each to their own There's no clear coat on the planet I was happy to use. Every one of them will either wreck the finish (introduce orange peel or dull) or not stick to the highly polished surface. The most obvious choices are: Powder coat. Is too thick (dulls and orange peel) 2K paint. Won't stick and will brown with engine heat. Best to hand polish it every few weekends with Mothers or Meguiars polish. Autosol works great for chrome and stainless but it's too course for perfectly polished aluminium (although great to remove water marks and light corrosion). Mark

Oh yeah, I suggest dipping the emery paper in a cutting compound regularly so the paper doesn't become loaded up with swarf. It'll work faster and look better as well as using less emery paper for the same job. As mentioned, kero is the best cutting compound, but water will work OK. When moving to a finer grit, change the direction of polishing by 90deg. If you keep polishing in the same direction when you move to a finer grit, it'll take longer and the result is not as good (you're polishing along the previous grooves/valleys, you want to cut across them) Mark

Thanks GTR, The colours are similar across most brands. GENERALLY you go from darker to lighter colours. The lighter the colour, the finer the compound. There's exceptions to this, but as a DIY rule of thumb, it'll get you over the line The JOSCO kits from Bunnings etc work ok for the DIY'er. Just remember, hardest to softest, darkest to lightest and NEVER mix compounds. So your sewn mop (hard buff) should be used to grey/brown/red compound and your loose mop (calico/soft) should only be used with the white/blue compound. Kerosene is the best cutting compound for aluminium, it's also great to clean the left over compound off your job. Many people like to polish down to 2000+ grit. This isn't necessary if you intend to hit the part with a sewn/hard buff. The compound will glide over the top of the fine 2000 grit scratches and won;t do much. The compound needs something to bite into to work, so 400-600 grit should be fine with a bit of extra time on the buff. With my hardcore setup, I'd never go finer than 400 grit and sometimes I'd even bypass the roughing stage all together and hit the buff straight from cast (obviously a little further advanced mop and compound selection with a 1kw buffing motor). Any questions, just ask away. Mark

Heya GTR, I used a Dremel tool and made my own polishing bits. To DIY, you can use some balsa wood (soft craft wood) and some 400/600 grit wrapped around it to polish the tight stuff, then you can squeeze a small buffer in there, or go at it with some Autosol polishing paste on a rag wrapped around a balsa wood stick. It really depends how far you want to go. Here's a 12a twin dizzy timing cover for a well known RX3 I did a while back: And a gearbox for the 2005 Summernats Grand Champion: Both had some intricate work to get in the tight corners. I've done shedloads of 20B and 13B REW intake plenums and polished between the lettering to make it look nice, it just takes time and an eye for detail. Mark

Hey guys, My DIY suggestion would be to go down to 400, maybe 600, grit then use a bench grinder with pigtail on it so you can spin on a stitched buffing wheel and go nuts with a grey or red/brown compound till you get an even shiny finish everywhere. Clean that down with a few clean rags and kero/WD40/metho/petrol. Go again with a loose mop buffing wheel and white compound for a nice finish. Don't get the aluminium too hot (keep moving the work piece) otherwise the white will streak. Streaks can be easily remove with kero, just wipe them off and go again. I suggest wearing gloves to stop your hands from burning from the heat and ALWAYS wear safety glasses. A dust mask is suggested. If I can help further, lemme know. I spent a few years running my own metal polishing business and worked on a few show winners here and there. Mark

Let the kids throw all sorts of fake stuff on their cars. There's no reason to be butthurt. A true enthusiast knows when there's a fake around, whether it be a GTR badge on a civic or a Mugen sticker on a hyundai, have a chuckle and let the kids that don't know any better believe that shit. Only a true enthusiast won't fake-up their ride. It makes it much easier for true enthusiasts to see who is who in the scene Kinda like the kids trolleys at Bunnings with the red ball on the vertical stick thing, you can see them coming, so you keep your distance. Mark PS: Reminds me of the kids with their JDM stickers (Wakaba, yellow/green V-shaped sticker) that actually mean you're an inexperienced driver (Jap version of an L-plate)! Hahahaaa kids these days, all the information at their fingertips and yet they still screw up!

Give it a service. Ultrasonic injector clean, change all filters, coolant/brake fluid/oil flush, maybe even do transmission flush. There's a few hours and a few bucks. Also makes the car easier to sell when you show the prospective buyer how much you care for it even though it's up for sale Mark

My Repco brand one has held up pretty well. A cheap one will just bend. Spend the extra $5-10 and get a branded one that'll last a lifetime of weekend use. Mark

Hey SKYRINE The crank sprocket can be a biatch. Clean the crank nose 100% and make sure they're no burrs on the keyway so you don't damage the sprocket or crank. hit it with WD40 and lever it off square (apply pressure at 0deg then 180 then 90 then 270, repeat process till it pops off. Getting it started is the hard bit. Balancing the rotating assembly is suggested if you want to make power. I've never built an unbalanced engine. if you're putting the same parts back in the same position they came from, it'll be OK (well it lasted 180k kms already!). If you want to make power, get the whole rotating assembly balanced. OE RB26 spec is +/- 1g per piston and +/- 1g per rod, so each set can be out by up to 2g. When balanced as a rotating assembly, they will get each set within 0.5g easily then they'll dynamically balance the crank with flywheel/pressure plate/balancer so it's dead on neutral. Do a google image search for crank good/bad pics. It's common sense if you're mechanically competent, so it sounds like you'll be right. If you're paying to get the block cleaned, give them the extra few bucks to do the whole lot, you'll thank yourself for it I suggest a hone, even if the bores are on size, you want to bed-in new rings on a fresh bore. They'll seal better after a decent run-in and will have less drag (friction) in the long run. on that note, I prefer to run engines in hard as I'm confident my clearances are dead on. My last engine was assembled fresh then driven 15min to the dyno for 35+ power runs. Ask the engine workshop to supply rings for you, they usually get them cheaper than you'll find elsewhere. Should be under $150 for a set of moly rings. They can probably get good prices on bearings too. If you're not confident stripping the engine, go nuts with a digital camera, taking note of how everything fits and locates as you strip it One tool I've used for 20yrs and couldn't live without when building an engine is a good oil stone. Basically a sharpening stone with two grits on it for getting things dead flat and removing burrs etc Not sure if it's just a tool every engine builder uses, but I couldn't build a motor without one. Mark

Heya guys, I used http://www.rawbrokerage.com/ for my last RB26 rebuild. Cheapest OE gasket kit by far (nearly half price incl delivery) and cheap Tomei Poncams (~$500 at the time) Ebay is good for piston/rod/bearings. Mark

Heya SKYRINE If you're stripping the bottom end, I suggest a hone and some piston rings. No need to bore if they are within spec. Same as decking the block and head. Unless they're out of spec, just clean them up. Marking everything as it's removed is also good practice if you're reusing them, so pistons, rods, caps etc etc Texta won't do. I usually pull bits out one by one and add a little tap with a centre punch or number stamp. If you're going to get the block chemically cleaned, give the workshop a box of all other bits like stripped oil pump, pistons, rods etc etc Let the chemicals do the hard work for ya While your sump is off, throw a breather/vent on both sides as high up as possible. I usually vent these to the cam cover breathers on RB26s and block the PCV. I then fabricate my own oil/air separator which vents clean air just before the compressor on the rear turbo (or between air filter and turbo on single setups). This is also ADR compliant as it's closed loop. My biggest advice is learn how to measure properly. Having $2k worth of measuring tools is useless if you can't use them properly. And I don't mean hold them right, I mean, repeat results within one increment of measurement consistently. Whether it be 0.01mm for a digital caliper or 0.001mm for a micrometer. IMO, engine building is ALL about measuring. I've always been taught 'bad data is worse than no data' , meaning, if you measure something wrong and rely on that measurement, you're gonna have a bad day; safer to not have an incorrect measurement to incorrectly rely on. My background is in toolmaking, CNC machining, metrology and quality assurance for the military, mining and high voltage power transfer sectors. I'm also a qualified mechanic and hold a motor vehicle repairers licence. Sorry for the long email, got on a roll while having a drink Goodluck! Mark

Heya Mischa, The only difference in the Tomei Type-A and -B is exhaust duration (A=252deg, B=260deg) Don't forget when you drop in the new cams, you'll need to reshim the head, they're not a COMPLETE drop in like some people think! I refreshed my engine with rings and bearings only. Didn't even require a bore, just a quick hone and she's making 340rwkw The whole build with all new gaskets, Tomei cams, shims, ACL Race bearings etc was <$3k There's heaps of info on oil pumps. In my opinion, unless you're going for a Tomei, the factory pump with a billet gear (RENIK or similar) is as good as you're going to get for a factory'ish setup. Extra oil volume will do nothing unless you're spinning the engine at high revs and have built your engine 'loose'. But that's my opinion, do your own research If you're running Garrett turbos and OE turbo manifolds, hit them with a die grinder and match port the suckers, there's a bit of material that can be ground away Drop me a line if you want to chat engine building etc Mark

Hi GODZIRA83, I assume you mean forged conrods rather than billet? I recently threw some Poncam Type-Bs into my freshly rebuilt RB26 (rings + bearings) and was happy with the result in power. When tuning from the old cams we took out a bit of fuel under 4500rpm, but obviously added more above 4500. We shifted the intake cam gear a bit, but I can't remember where it ended up. The cams didn't affect the idle too much, they sounded nice, but not tough. So we played with the idle ignition map in the Haltech Platinum Pro to get a nicer idle. Basically we pulled out timing at 1000rpm and added timing at 900rpm, so the car sounds a little tougher than it really is. PLUS, I have a strong background with ported rotaries and love the brap The end of this dyno vid will show what I mean with the ignition timing. Mark

RE: Impact wrench I bought a Milwaukee 1/2" a few months back and love it. http://www.milwaukeetools.com.au/products/m18/show/hd18hiw-402c I've historically used Snap-On impacts, but didn't want to pay for the name. The Milwaukee is as good (possibly better) then the Snap-On and MUCH cheaper. Problem is they're rarely on sale at a super good price, so do a quick shop around and go with the cheapest. In the few months of looking around, all the tool places that had big sales would not discount the Milwaukee range. I haven't had a fastener it struggled with yet, nor have I run out of battery, even after a full day of hard work. Mark

I'm glad I could help. I must inform you, when shit hits the fan, don't come running to me!! hahahaa I prefer the R32. it's older/cheaper, lighter and has less 'smarts'. It requires mechanical modification to swap to 2WD making dyno runs a little more expensive (but how often will it need a dyno) and switching to RWD for the sake of ripping skids and acting like a dick much harder. The R33 does have a much faster reacting ATTESA and ABS system, but they're a tad heavier and will cost a little more. I guess it's personal preference if you have the money to go either way. I've always loved the look of the 32's, even when I owned nothing but rotaries. The R32 GTR was the car to beat at the street runs 15yrs ago when I was buzzing around in stupidly overpowered Mazdas! Mark

Any EFI car will prime the pump for a few seconds when the key is flicked to reds. If there's power at the pump but no fuel coming out anywhere, your pumps dead. Mark