MBS206

On the R34 can't you just unplug the IACV? This is the way I've always done it on the R33. Disconnect IACV, get it idling around 650rpm, and then do a power reset on the ECU to get it to relearn idle (factory ECU). The big reason no one has touched on as to why you'd want to get the base idle right, is that it means the computer needs to make smaller adjustments to get a good idle at 700-750rpm. Also, cleaning the IACV won't normally make the car suddenly idle lower or higher. The main issue with the IACV gumming up is that the valve sticks. This means the inputs the ECU gives, aren't translating to changes in air flow. This can cause idle choppy ness as the ECU is now needing to give a lot of input to get movement, but then it moves too far, and then has to do the same in reverse, and it can mean the ECU can't catch stalls quickly either.

12.8 for a great condition, fully charged battery. If the battery will only ever properly charge to about 12.2V, the battery is well worn, and will be dead soon. When I say properly charge, I mean disconnect it from the car, charge it to its max, and then put your multimeter on it, and see what it reads about an hour later. Dieing batteries will hold a higher "surface charge", but the minutest load, even from just a multimeter (which in the scheme of things is considered totally irrelevant, especially at this level) will be enough over an hour to make the surface charge disappear. I spend wayyy too much time analysing battery voltages for customers when they whinge that our equipment (telematics device) is causing their battery to drain all the time. Nearly every case I can call it within about 2 months of when the battery will be completely dead. Our bigger customers don't even debate it with me any more ha ha ha. A battery at 12.4 to 12.6 I'd still be happy enough with. However, there's a lot of things that can cause a parasitic draw in a car, first of which is alarms and immobilisers. To start checking, put your multimeter into amps, (and then connect it properly) and measure your power draw with everything off. Typical car battery is about 40aH. Realistically, you'll get about half this before the car won't start. So a 100mA power drain will see you pretty much near unstartable in 8 days.

How old is the battery, it's more likely your battery is on its way out.

My lord that is some low oil pressure as minimum in the manual! I guess the big part will be seeing how it changes as the engine gets more spirited use.

It only looks tidy, as most of the stuff that was on the whole back wall, is now in the trailer to go to the tip, or has been shoved in my 2.2x2.4m "Spare parts room", and now I can't get to anything in there Ha ha ha I could definitely do with a bit more space, but I'd just end up with your problems I'm going to enclose the car port beside the garage, and move a lot of stuff into it I think. OR... It will be setup as a fabrication area, and the main garage will have parts storage in it. I'm not sure yet... Need some pictures of that big shed you've got with the bikes and Skyline in

Probably a smart choice to buy one vs build, purely for the motivation part as you said! Imagine the metal dust everywhere from grinding all the steel to build one. Ha ha ha! Also, post a photo of your garage. Mine is below, this is where I've been cleaning and have already half filled a caged 6*4 trailer. And this is after my cleaning expedition mentioned previously... The middle normally has a car in it, but I'm dumping things in the middle as I sort through them. And poor skyline was dusty and has had the lightest few drops of rain and now it looks atrocious and needs to be dragged back out and washed thoroughly! And yes to the right is technically another bay, you really can only see 2 bays out of 3 in this picture.

Did the noise appear after your sand trap adventure? Could be something got dislodged and is playing rub rub. Even a rock wedged somewhere.

If you're claiming the issues are not skyline specific, then either the USA is living in the 90s / early 2000s, OR you have the issue of "survivor bias". Which is you're mainly hearing and listening to those with terrible experiences, and haven't found the guys who have cars with good decent builds and no problems. It happens in AU too, that plenty of people keep having issues, and they keep going to the workshops that are known to be shit "because I read on the internet". Even worse, are those who keep posting on the internet as though they know for a fact what something is, when they've never touched/looked at said item in their life, and again are making assumptions, based on something they read, or because it's a certain way in other cars. It's even funnier when those same people debate the facts with the people who've lived and breathed this stuff for over 15 years. Example, I've had someone tell me you can't do something with a Skyline, because they read it on the internet, except I can tell they're wrong, as I did that exact thing back in 2008 with my Skyline.

The funniest part I saw, was someone would bitch and moan on FB about something, Andy would be the one to respond, asking for more info, if he could contact them, what the engine setup is, what their config file was, and 95% of the responses were people just going "der! It doesn't work" and Andy going "What doesn't work?" And then going "The firmware!" And they'd go around in circles as no one could ever give information, and Haltech couldn't fault things on the bench, (especially when people wouldn't give any specifics). Many moons ago, when Andy was back at e420c stage, he reached out to me, and asked me to test different plug and play looms for him (already had an e420c in the car on his V1 PNP loom). And he kept asking me, as I was competent enough to be able to give him some specific feedback on what was/wasn't working, how to replicate the faults etc, and work through things with him. Most people are terrible at answering the questions they're asked, or being able to provide quality feedback other than "it doesn't work".

Noise sounds to me could be either wheel bearing related (have had similar from bearings going) or that tail shaft is still loose. Or something like a heat shield touching the tail shaft.

I find it funny that the USA is finding out all this really really weird stuff, and people from the USA are coming here treating it like gospel, yet, all the info on solving those issues is here on these forums for the last 15 odd years... Also, I know how much heat it takes to ignite the hood lining of an R33 skyline. I worked it out myself... It also took a LOT of time, and heat for it to do it... Big single, and I needed to drive the car, so retarded the timing off to "protect it". Yeah, that was a bad move for cruising on a freeway with only 15 degrees of timing on it. That was a lesson I learned around 2009. So that's over 15 odd years ago. Aligning water and oil, that's identical for any turbo engine, it's not Japanese specific. If a shop doesn't know how to make sure the core is rotated the right way, then they shouldn't be touching any turbo engine. That's not a matter of "We haven't had Skylines for that long here"...

He still had the suspension dialled in for him! I would have sworn the lowest weight he ever got to was 1300kg though Maybe Neil had been drilling a LOT of holes somewhere you haven't found yet... 😛 Or has he also drained all the gearbox and diff oil out too, between it, and a tank full of fuel there's about 65kg to 70kg to add back in I'd guess. 😛

To do the ones around the fuel tank, as in the external ones, you'll likely want a hoist, and to drop the tank. That's the way I'd do them again anyway.

Depending where the whole gets drilled, and what country/state you're talking about, quite likely not. Under ole vehicle mod rules in NSW, VSI06 allowed for drilling of holes in "non structural" areas. So you could drill a hole through the inner guard, and not need engineering. You couldn't drill over seams, and it was advised to add extra reinforcing around the hole, as well as something to protect from sharp edges. Again, it's all about finding the documentation for where the mod is to be done, AND then being able to explain the situation, with the documentation as to why you don't need engineering, with a positive attitude, to any one of the likes eg, police, vehicle inspector, etc.

I'd enquire on the wrecker starter too. Likely it could be bad. The check Duncan has mentioned too, is also a great point to look at. If it was a wrecker engine too, it could be bad, OR it could have an issue such as being hydro locked. Pull all of the glow plugs out, and see if it will turn over. (I'm assuming that LDV motor has glow plugs).

As Mark eludes to, it wouldn't matter even if you lived next door a lot of the time. Flat is flat...

I've been close enough to stupid heavy things falling when a hydraulic lift broke and dropped a Merc V8 and subframe a foot and a half...

For that price, why not consider a hoist, even if you don't take it up to full height? I can see benefits like being able to put it away etc, which is useful for people who only use it occasionally, but I feel for those with project cars / race cars, I'd stick to a full hoist, especially if the car has a permanent home where the hoist would fit.

The easiest way would to be ignore the oscilloscope, grab a multimeter, and make sure all the main connections are right. An oscilloscope will give 99.9% of even technicians so much grief, as they have no idea what things should even look like on an oscilloscope. Which is also even more likely for someone who's first ever major work on a car is this If the battery volts are dropping down so low, the LDV will reboot the ECU, when it does so, it will drop out the start circuit. If this is occuring, the battery voltage should also come back up. Give it a few tests, even simple ones like when you're attempting to crank it, measure voltage from the engine block, to the negative terminal. You might find you've got really bad connections somewhere. My guess is the "new" motor has something like a shit starter motor, at which point, you can swap the starter motor from the old motor, to the new motor. Before I did any of the above though, I'd 100% confirm the battery in the vehicle. Most jumper packs are absolutely useless, especially if a battery has a bad cell for example. Also the new modern "jump packs" if you don't know what you're doing with them, you won't even get them into high current stage. So go back to basics, check the battery, especially with a known good one as a replacement test. Check ALL the wiring, this includes where they're bolted onto the battery, and bolted onto the starter motor. Check all the earth straps are on. Measure your resistances across your earth straps. A good check here is to measure voltage across the earth straps while you're trying to crank it. If you're seeing voltage, you've got high resistance joints! Oh, and once you've done the above, check the battery over again.

For most rotisseries, as Duncan has mentioned, you really don't want a full car on it, you want a stripped shell. And imagine how many more weeks THAT is going to add to working on the car...

I've sent JaseR33 a private message in the hope he gets an email and contacts you

GTt too. But GTt being R34 they're a lot newer. From memory the R34 also runs a nylon rear wheel instead of ceramic. I might be wrong on it being nylon, but I'm certain they moved away from ceramic when they went from R33 to R34

Looks like all those cheap spares can be accounted to the blue guy on row 3 on the inside... Looked like he gave the one in front a helping hand sideways, and someone did it to the pink MX5 too

I'm just shocked there's a euro driver on our roads who is thinking of other road users and not attempting to blind everyone. I wonder if Prank uses his indicator too...

The above video is working normally. That is, that's how the right hand indicator should cancel when rotating the wheel left.