grey pearl

Anyone ???

Hi Duncan, Could you read my posts on this page and answer my questions as i'm sure you will know.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Hey Duncan,I'm thinking about becoming a paid up member of the club for amongst other benefits being able to go to race tracks on track days and give my GTR 33 a run,just wondering if you can tell me what's required of me before I can race on the track or even do solo laps to avoid hitting or being hit,as I don't want to damage my baby just want to have some fun legally??Cheers Grey Pearl.

Hi Guys, I am gonna post this question in here because there aint no exhaust forum that I can find, I just got through un defecting my 33 gtr for excessive noise out of my designer pipe which I'm ashamed to say I don't know what type it is, but it has the twin 3" outlets side by side out of the rear muffler and goes twin 2 and a quarter back to the twin hotdog resonators before the cat,anyway when I got it checked by the epa approved tester he said it was 7 or 8 db over for my model car. I asked him some questions and he told me that each cars acceptable noise level is based on it's year of registration, so unfortunately mine being an import is registered 2005 but is actually a 1995 model, is that fair that australian rego takes precedence over the actual design expectations of a 1995 car??oh by the way a 2005 car has to come in under 90db,any comments welcomed.Cheers Greypearl.

Hi again, Just an update on the new tyres I bought today in melb, I managed to get the Falken fk252 in 245x40x18 for $319.00 buying only 2 so if anyones interested i can tell you where.Cheers Greypearl

Hi All,I haven't posted for a long time as I've been away working ,so I'll make up for it with this story. As some of you will know I have a 95 GTR 33 that stays locked up in the garage unless i'm going on a trip or a decent drive as i don't like using it round town or parking it for long periods. While I was away working recently my 19 yr old son decided that he had run all the other r31 skylines I have out of fuel and needed desperately to see his girlfriend,solution get the gtr out and take that grrrr.whilst coming home he was pulled over for a vehicle check which mean't they were going to find something wrong with every vehicle to pay their way for their night's work. Subsequently they canaried the car for excessive noise and 2 unroadworthy tyres,not to mention the fact that my son was driving only on a learners permit grrrr,so when I got home I had an unroadworthy car in the garage thankfully with only minor scuff damage to the front bar,and a $567.00 fine which he will be paying. I then had to find a way out of the exhaust problem which I did,and not by cutting up my $3000.00 nismo system but by another means which I won't divulge here,by the way turns out the exhaust was only 7db over the 90db limit but still it was deemed to be more of a nuisance than a harley with straight pipes which ride the steets with impunity,how can that be? then it was on to the tyres which I believed to be in more than barely roadworthy condition and this was confirmed by a tyre outlet's inspection,however then when I took the car for a roadworthy which was also demanded by the cops I was told that the 2 rear tyres were not roadworthy because the insides were worn down for about an inch inwards even though the rest of the tread was 50 percent.I then went for the forum to see what you all thought of tyre brands and types. I had recently replaced 2 tyres with Falken fk452's 245x40x18's so thought I would replace the other two with the same,thinking they were the same tyres all around but to my surprise the ones needing replacement were falken 326's which on reading 100 or more posts on tyres I found to be absolute shit so they will not be my new choice but I am planning to put 2 more of the falken fk452's that are on the front to get them all the same. My questions are What size wheels and tyres came out on the r33 gtr of that year and were the sizes the same front and rear?? What is the max legal size for this car,tyre and rims?? also I have read on the forum that to have a difference between front and back would cause handling problems is this right?? Also what differences can I expect if I use a 35 instead of a 40 profile? will it only be a harsher ride,as I already have tien suspension all round which already provides a hard ride, or are the handling differences significant and would a mixture of these two profiles front and back affect the diffs in any way?? Someone also wrote on the forum that gtr's are notorious for camber problems which cause this premature wear on the insides of the tyres,is this a front or rear problem??do all gtr models have this problem or has it been overcome, as I don't want to lose another set of tyres at $350 a pop if I can fix it now?? Any opinions on the Falken fk452's 245x40 x18's would also be appreciated and prices and where to get them,I would like to keep all the tyres the same so I can rotate them.Cheers In advance Greypearl.

I am offering this tutorial as a diy specific to GTR33 owners who wish to avoid damage to their car and do the job properly where others who do it for money cannot spend the extra time to do it properly because it is too time consuming and fiddly, and because when I searched for info on this topic I couldn't find all the info in one place and spent hrs searching. Tools required: phillipshead screwdriver,longish flat head screwdriver,ratchet with small extention and an 8mm and 10mm socket,a small jemmy bar or lever,a good soldering iron and solder preferably flux cored,and 250mm of 4mm shrinkwrap for electrical wiring,two people preferably, but one can do it with a lot of patience. Time for two; Approx 2hrs - One Approx 4hrs. Right, firstly put the 8mm socket on your ratchet and undo the bolts that are visible on the front steel tabs of the bottom part of the rear seat,there's 2, one on each side,then gently prise up the under side of the seat with your lever as close to the hooks that hold the seat in as possible,theres 2 of them about 2oomm in from each end of the seat,you can feel for the hooks first then lever close to them,these hooks are secured in a white plastic mounting which may come out with the hook but may not,it doesn't matter,they will go back in fine either way,once the hooks are completely clear of their mounting pull the seat towards you in a seesaw motion gently but firmly as it is a tight fit,until it comes out being careful not to scratch the car on the way out the door with the steel tabs and hooks.There is one more steel loop in the middle of the seat on the under side but this just pulls forward and shouldn't hook on anything on the way out at least mine didn't just be gentle until you get it out. Next put your 10mm socket on the ratchet and remove the 2 bolts holding in the vertical part of the seat,you will find them at the bottom near the corners one each end,gently ease the seat back up about 100mm to let it clear the 3 hooks that hold it in at the back make sure the seat belt locks go down though the slots they are in as you do this and the seat should come out ,again be gentle as the seat is a tight fit ,put the seat outside the car and you are ready to take out the parcel shelf. The speaker grills are connected only to the carpeted shelf you are about to remove so don't try to get them off separately they come out attached to the shelf.Firsty go to the boot and put your hand up under the shelf at the furthermost back edge of the parcel shelf and run your hand gently along,you will find that there are three small tab locks made of thin steel,one in the middle and one each end,these pivot sideways to unlock the shelf from the mounting,these can be very difficult to turn so it's easier to get someone else to push down the back edge of the parcel shelf on the inside of the car while you turn the 2 outermost tabs 90 degrees,leave the middle one as it will pull out with the shelf,next go back inside the car and gently slide your hand under the parcel shelf and you will find 2 door card push button plastic clips about a third in from each end holding the shelf to the car bodywork,it's hard but you need to gently prise these out with a long skinny flat head screwdriver,be patient as this is one of the harder parts of the job,you may have a look in the boot to see if you can push them up from the bottom which would be easier if there's enough room getting past amps etc,if you're rough with them you will break them out of the parcel shelf and won't get them to hold it down on the reinstall. Now you can gently wiggle the shelf toward the front of the car and remove it but be aware that it is also locked in on the edges somewhat but it will come out with patience,you can bend it a little to ease it out just be gentle as the shelf can be brittle,now you can remove the existing speakers,again you will need your ratchet and the 10mm socket without the extention,there are 3 screws on each speaker holding the plastic pods in,lift each speaker out pod and all and cut the wires as close to the factory connector as possible where they go into the speakers as the wires are very short and you need all the length you can get for later,now remove the speakers from the plastic pods making sure you know which one belongs on which side as they are left and right hand pods,cut 4 pieces of electrical wire 120mm long and strip both ends about 8mm, solder them to the new speaker terminals on both speakers,I used slightly thicker wire for this, 3mm as opposed to the factory 1.5mm and will explain why later,now cut 8 pieces of the shrinkwrap about 35mm long and slide them onto the extention wires you soldered on the speakers,slide two of the shinkwrap pieces up as far as you can onto any exposed wire where you soldered onto the speaker terminals and shrink them on using either a cigarette lighter or a match waving flame quickly along the length of the shrinkwrap which shrinks very quickly so don't overdo it then place the new 6.5 Alpine R's into the pods complete with their extention wires fed out the bottom of the plastic pods and the two remaining pieces of shrinkwrap for the last two connections to the factory wires,do not screw the speakers into the pods yet,work on one at a time and place the speaker within the pod on the metal of the parcel shelf,gently strip the very thin wires of the factory wires about 8mm being careful not to take any wire strands with the plastic as there are precious few of them in the factory wire and you need them all or the sound will be compromised,on the thicker extention wire peel back 2 or 3 strands of the copper then push the factory wire into the extention wire end on to intermingle the two wires whilst keeping the diameter as small as possible to enable the shrinkwrap to slide over later when the soldering is done,then wrap the strands you peeled back around and around the join to hold it in place while you solder it, solder each wire making sure you put the two solid wire colours together as the solid coloured wires are the positive and the striped negative,don't worry about the colours,the positive on the Alpines are the widest terminal.Now slide the shinkwrap over the joints and shrink them on,then place the pod into it's original position in the shelf,it has locators in 2 positions and feed the wires into the boot area and place the new speaker into position in the pod,do not bolt anything in yet,you will notice that the Alpines have capacitor coils on their underside and the cutout in the parcel shelf has one flat side to avoid the shocker tower mount,and that if you put the speaker terminals in the front where the factory wires come off the parcel shelf like the original speakers were, the capacitors will foul on the flat side of the cutout this is why we had to put the extention wires on, so now we have to rotate the speaker until the screw holes into the pod line up and the capacitors no longer foul on the body work,once you have established the correct positioning of the speaker to the pod lift them out of the hole and screw the speaker into the pod using the same screws that came out of the factory speakers, then the pod into it locators and bolt the 3- 10mm screws into the bodywork being careful not to catch any wires under it and not to overtighten so much as to break the plastic but firmly enough to avoid vibration. Now you are ready to reverse the procedure you followed to get everything out,but with a small mod to make it easier than taking it out,get the parcel shelf and inspect it to make sure all the foam and spongy packers are intact and where they should be and glue them with contact adhesive if necessary,it is a good idea to inspect it when you get it out to give the glue time to set ready to reinstall,put a small amount of vaseline on the two push button plastic clips in case you ever want to get the shelf out again and also put some on the 2 metal tabs that are at 90 degrees this makes them much easier to put back,ease the shelf over the speakers to avoid tweeter damage and put it back making sure you don't fold any foam packers on the way over the shelf supports and line up the middle tab at the back of the shelf with it's corresponding hole, go to the boot yourself or get your helper to rotate the clips onto the steel edge in the boot whilst making sure the rear of the shelf is straight all along the back of the rear windscreen,once you are happy with that push the push button clips into their holes ,you will find they go in easily with the vaseline on,and you can put the seats back in in the reverse order,I think if you follow this guide to the letter that you will have success with this job as I know how difficult it was for me not knowing the clip points and how many there were,good luck and enjoy the great sound your GTR now has.Grey Pearl.

Of course I am familiar with double clutching in trucks and ultra slow synchro boxes, but I won't be doing it in a gtr as I said in the post if you take the time to read it properly.grey pearl

Thanx for that mate,but for the money I'm spending and since really my box is great except for lazy synchros which shit me, and a leaking seal which was the main reason for doing the job, most of the box except the case will be replaced,maybe only the countershaft,and some gears will be re-used but if I did it again I would do it the rhd way for sure and could have sold my old one complete for a good price,oh well my own fault for not asking the question sooner.Cheers for the info Grey Pearl.

Hi mate' Do you know much about what these gearboxes will fit and if they are just a box or have the bellhousing as well and if they are pull or push type bellhousings or do you just fit the new box straight to your existing bellhousing.also what's the difference between the two types of boxes you listed.Cheers Grey Pearl.

Thanx for your replies guys even though your comments came too late for me to save the cash I'm going to outlay as my car went to the workshop this morning.I did all my calculations on the info that a new series 3 box was worth $3200 and I was getting mine recoed to that spec for around $1700, also I didn't know the implications of a series 3 box fitment to a 95 model, bellhousings push pull etc so went this way maybe to my detriment considering freight costs will be in the order of $400 as well just to get the right people to work on it.any more info on the finer points of fitting a series 3 to a 95 model would be interesting to me anyway and to others as well I'm sure.Cheers Guys Grey Pearl.

Anyone??

Hi all,Well finally the time has come to take my gtr33 to the workshop and have the gearbox pulled out and sent to Sydney for an upgrade to series 3 internals, have it returned, fit Jim Berry clutch,upgraded spigot bush/bearing and fork pivot boltand hopefully have a smooth fast changing gearbox for a long time to come. My main question here is whether the clutch will remain a push or pull type when it is reinstalled after mods as I actually don't know what type a 95 gtr comes out with and how hard or possible it is to change operation type if it does change.I seem to remember Jim asking me when I chose his clutch, whether it was a push or pull mechanism and I didn't know so I hope he knew and made the clutch accordingly,or maybe it doesn't matter unless you change the bellhousing,any info would be much appreciated as it goes in tomorrow morning and I want to make sure all will be well,Thanks in advance Grey Pearl.

I am always disappointed when I hear people advising others to drive gtr's or any other skyline for that matter with double clutching ,heel toeing etc,they didn't come out of the factory having to be driven like this so why would we want them to become vulnerable to the dunnydores etc by driving them in this manner, I'm not averse to a throttle blip on change downs to assist synchro meshing speeds but can you imagine racing something half decent using double clutching rather than fixing the problems that are the cause of these symptoms and expecting to win?? most off the lights drags that we are all expected to do to uphold the reputation and street cred of skylines will be won or lost in 200 mtrs so do the marque a favour and fix the synchros and use the right oils nissan recommends and keep them performing and winning not being too scared to flex a muscle when it's needed otherwise buy a mini or something where street cred doesn't matter,Grey Pearl.

Hi mate,I'm in the same boat and am about to get my series 1 gtr 33 box speced up to series 3 by a company in sydney called Award gearboxes,it probably wouldn't be fair to tell you the quoted price he gave me to do all synchros input shaft bearings seals etc but I think the price was very reasonable and Terry has done lots of them before so he knows all the bits to buy and gets good deals from nissan in melb.Third gear in the series 3 box has a better holding mechanism than the clips that hold in the series 1 third gear which will cause serious damage if they let go, and they do frequently, and a bigger input shaft,I'm doing the jim berry clutch upgrade and a nismo clutch pedal bracket and fork pivot bolt at the same time. Pulling a gtr box out and in is expensive and labour intensive and for that reason I didn't want to take a chance on a second hand series 3 box just in case it had to come out again ,so I'm going this way to avoid disappointment and extra expense,hope this helps.ps don't use redline smurfs blood in the new box use vmx 80 or an equivalent imho.Grey Pearl.

Bursons are the approved distributor for redline products and have it on the shelf.Grey Pearl.

Scrub that comment, of course there's no room between white gauges,lol haven't used my car for so long had to go have another look at it.Grey Pearl.

No for that you need a product called envirosol, it is a product specifically designed to remove tar on gas pipelines and will work a treat on your tar problems, also I believe prepsol which is used by panel beaters in preparation for painting is good too,but always try the product sparingly on a non conspicuous place first to avoid any adverse effect.Grey Pearl.

Thanx mate,Can you give me a run down on how to remove the dash facsia as I don't want to break anything and need to know what to watch out for. also does anyone know the correct colour name for the chocolate looking dash surround in gtr33's Cheers Grey Pearl.

Hi,Anyone know if clr clear is safe to use on paintwork as I have calcium spotting from letting my car get wet and not shammying it before putting it in the shed??Grey Pearl.

Anyone have the answer to my question above??Grey Pearl.

I agree with most of the comments that have been made here about this issue, most of all that slandering any business on the forum puts the admin of the forum at risk,this same discussion about the rights and wrongs in the incident could have been had without mentioning names and would have still enpowered the complainant with moral and ethical support to pursue the relevant action with confidence.What I don't agree with is that any business can take your order and your money and then deliver the wrong goods and say only sorry ,or in this case,it's not our fault,the manufacturer of the clutch or pressure plate cannot imo be held responsible for the wrong goods being sent, they only made the products and distributed them to the parts suppliers we buy off and it is the sellers responsibility to know their stuff enough to check it and send it to you knowing that it is correct. I agree with Duncan that these things happen all of the time, far too much imo, and it's always muggins at the bottom of the pyramid that pays the costs in time and inconvenience which is clearly wrong,but I only accept overseas transactions as my problem when I get the wrong parts due to in most skyline cases to the language barrier which always lends itself to misunderstanding,and anyway most parts you import will be well sought after on this forum so easy to sell on. Also to the suggestion of having the installer be inconvenienced by putting your car aside while the crap is sorted out is in most cases not an option for the installer both in tieing up hoists and valuable workshop space,and most workshops unless specialists in the particular vehicle don't want to stuff around ordering the parts, in case you don't end up using them to do the job or your car is there waiting to have the job done and tieing up space while they wait for the parts which very often are the wrong ones for workshops as well,they have a business to run too. Lastly I agree with Saliya who though painting an extreme case scenario as to how far you could lawfully take these things ,seems to know the law and gives good advice regarding it,my advice to Slide would be to consider the options both in the amount of money at stake, the reasonable terms you have proposed, 50 percent, and future business with the forum members and re-imburse the small amount which could end up a lot uglier if taken further,and of course in the future be sure to check all goods thoroughly before sending them therefore being able to take responsibility for any mistakes made,just my 2 cents .Grey Pearl.

Thanx Rush, Awesome link ,now all I have to do is get the gutz to do it, shit scared of stuffing it up worse than it is now,anyone know how much a new surround is for GTR33?? Cheers Grey Pearl.

I'm suss on the centre tailshaft bearing even if they said it was alright get a second opinion,I have learn't so many times that self diagnosis is the worst advice you'll ever get unless you are a good mechanic,anyway at the worst you'll have nearly re-coed the car and will reap the rewards in the future.Good luck Grey Pearl.

Thanx mate, Do you know if A gtr fuel filter is the same as an r31.Grey Pearl.