Shoota_77

Stripped the tank down and gave it a good scrub. It came up really good! Not sure if I'll just put it back in like that or give it a blackening treatment (such as Bowdens The Black Box). That might give it a matte look so might just run it as is.

@MBS206 Ha ha, yeah ADHD is a daily battle to not get drawn in to doing things you want to do that you know you shouldn't do! Every single time I walk into my shed I end up doing something I started the day having zero intention of doing! I keep mentioning the 1 step forward, 3 steps back scenario and I'm tipping people that are blessed with ADHD (yes, blessed) are the worst at that!

Fuel tank is out. Looks pretty bloody good under (ie above) the fuel tank. Amazing how good the factory e-coat holds up in the hidden areas. No where near as much body deadener to get rid of as the front but still not looking forward to it! Shit of a job. I'm thinking I might grab a needle scaler and give that a go before I attack it with the angle grinder and wire wheel which is how I did the front 2/3's of the car. Feels good to be working on the car again but who knows how long it will last! Hopefully I can get it further forward than where it was prior to this last block of work when I decided to go back 10 steps further down the rabbit hole from where i already was! The problem is, I'm realising how hard it will be to repair and paint the bumpers, which cannot be put back on the car, and have a good paint match. There are also areas where it would be VERY hard to hide the new paint where it transitions from old paint. Like this- There is only one way to do that perfectly and I really dont want to have to do what that means I would have to do... 🤦‍♂️

I don't run the spring but it means you need to set your own belt tension. I put tensioners on both sides too.

I'd be lost without it!

Yeah I agree, it's almost impossible to get them out without inflicting some sort of damage to the subframe! Especially when you get excited with the air chisel like I did! I'm not fussed, it's a somewhat non-critical component in terms of inhibiting function if there were dags or slight damage to the bore of the bush location. Once you bolt it back up it never moves. It's not like a suspension arm that needs to move through a range of motion that damage would actually make a difference to.

I have started repairing them but left it for more important things... Rather than clutter your post, this is the link to my build - https://www.sau.com.au/forums/forum/190-members-cars-project-overhauls-restorations/. One day I'll go back and replace the photos Photobucket deleted...

Awesome mate, sounds like an awesome car! My 33 has the 400R/Nismo front and rear bumpers and side skirts. They're in terrible condition though so I either need to fix them up or toss them and get new, standard bumpers and skirts. I wish the Nismo stuff was FRP not fibreglass as they're always one nudge away from complete destruction!

Stunning car. Looks amazing! You're in the UK? How the hell do you stop your car rotting away beneath you? British cars are the WORST I've ever seen in regards to rust. Some of the cars SR Autobody have done are borderbeyond saving.

Happy new years folks! Wishing you all a successful year of money pit ownership! So the subframe bushes are out.... Ok, who else has done that job before?? What a C U Next Tuesday of a job that is! Be glad to not do that again in a hurry! I think I explored every option available to chop the middle section of the bushes out, most of them unsuccessfully! I tried a holesaw, die grinder, normal drill bit, air chisel, etc, etc. The true success happened by accident when I'd decided to try a step drill I spotted on the bench on the way passed. See, there are benefits to never cleaning up after yourself! It RIPPED through so so much better than the drill bit. It has to be the skinniest one available so its small enough to fit between the inner tube and outer casing but it made easy work of it. First one i hammered the shit out of... New method- 20250102_185506.mp4 I did the other 5 in less time than I fluffed around with the first one. With the first couple I used the cut off saw (sawsall as the yanks love to call them) to cut a break in the outer casings. Even with that they're still a prick to hammer or air chisel out. The last few i just went rambo with the air chisel without cutting them. I over cut one of the early ones so will hit the with the mig to fill the cut then sand it off smooth. The carnage left over- I've also been "nesting" ie, cleaning up my babies nursery, ie cleaning the f**king pig sty of a shed. I've got that much shit laying around it's as cluttered as my head! Getting things put away, in boxes, on shelves, hanging off walls, all to get some working space back again. Hopefully that keeps me motivated....

Welcome back to the scene! Godzilla Motorsports were well regarded back in the day. My GT-R had work done there prior to my ownership. SRS (Street Race Solutions) in Toowoomba worth a look. They've built some pretty wild Skylines. Their YouTube channel is comedic to watch! I'm sure they're all on the glass BBQ but they get shit done! 🤣

That's a given! Bit hard to powdercoat it properly without removing them! 😁

Well, it's taken me until the last week of 2024 to actually do something on the Skyline but I consider it a good head start to 2025's efforts! I managed to justify (to myself anyway...) my purchase of the lift table. It made taking the rear subframe out a lot easier than it would have been without anyway! Everything is out and stripped down ready for a clean then powdercoating. She's pretty grubby under there but pretty good condition for a 38 year old Japanese tin bucket. 12 years of zero street time have obviously helped that... I need to decide which of the factory suspension arms I will keep and replace so I only get what I'm keeping powdercoated. Baby steps but it's a start!

I liked it more than previous versions. Dumped it as soon as Stalker 2 came out and haven't played it since. Absolutely hooked on Stalker...

Don't give my son ideas....

I'll be sure not to put a full motor/transmission/subframe on it then! I've got a setup for that already so shouldn't have to use it for that.

I hope you're right and it somehow justifies it's existence!

Right, so God, it's been nearly 12 months since my last confession.... The main confession is I'm a horrible car modifier (amongst other things). Obviously the pool was a massive distraction for the entirety of last year but really doesn't excuse me for doing nothing at all on the car for this year. To be honest this year was a mental break to get over the extreme mental torment and pressure I put myself through putting the pool in! It really was a slog. The pool is still not completely finished but it might never be.... The kids love it and the wifey and I love it so mission success! I have spent a grand total of 30 minutes working on the car since when I commenced on the pool. I just have not had a spare brain cell to be able to focus on it. The thought of working on it just seems abhorrent to be honest. My heart is just not into it. Yet..... What I have done is decide that I'm a clown to not paint ALL of the underside of the car while I'm at it. Originally I was stopping at the start of the rear subframe to then "get back to it later on once I'm ready". Let's be honest, later on might never happen so may as well keep diving in! I'm already balls deep so may as well go a bit deeper! So...... I've just purchased a hydraulic scissor lift table to be able to take the rear subframe out as a whole unit without having to dick around with jack stands rolling around on the ground. Us 6' 8" blokes don't operate well at ground level! One of these- Anyway, will the investment in an expensive tool that I'll probably only ever use for one job motivate me to crack on? Only time will tell..... Wish me luck!

Bugger.... Thought I was on there for a second!

Enjoy Japan! Need someone to carry your bags........??

Woo hoo, nearly back in action! Heading in the right direction anyway!

Towards the end of Motives latest video it echoes exactly the discussion in here about the cycle of GT-R modification- stage 1 - bolt on parts from Japan, stage 2 - fab your own parts because Japanese parts are out of date…. Aussies (and the Kiwi choice bro’s) went through the cycle years ago, America is going through it now and then in time they will start to align with Aus/Inzid and get busy cranking out their own stuff which some companies obviously are but no where near the scale of Australia particularly given the size of the US market. When they do, it will be to the benefit of all!

Sounds amazing! Please share some body work inspiration! We all need to soak up each others progress to help us out with our own!

Any development on the mighty RB is always well and truly welcomed IMO. You do have to get to a point where you say enough is enough however.... Particularly for us non Sydney based "normal" GT-R owners that don't want or need 1000hp. It may be an unfair opinion but I really feel that the Japanese (tuners/worshops/performance part manufacturers) have become irrelevant in many ways. The vast majority of the "big name" tuners and workshops are just basic workshops using basic tools and basic principals. There are obviously some that are absolute artisans at what they do and for some, the work they do is what they're after. The Japanese have become famous for NOT innovating. Take cars and motorbikes for example. Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi to name a few sell very outdated, very basic vehicles. They're running "new" tech that Euro brands were using 5-10 years ago.... All of the motorbike brands we knew and loved as kids are now so outdated they're almost not relevant in todays offroad market (Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki are the main culprits). When I was 12 or 13 I would have given anything to own a KX80 or CR80 two stroke dirt bike. They were just so iconic back then. Now there's no chance I'm riding anything other than a KTM, Husky, etc as they're chalk and cheese in terms of tech, bike weight, ergonomics, etc. I bought a brand new Suzuki for my son a few years back and it was so bad (heavy, drum brakes, etc) that I sold it and bought him a 2 years older KTM 2 stroke that is 10 years more advanced than that bucket of a Suzuki. Greddy to name one previously massively respected and somewhat innovative brand has to a large part realised they're no longer relevant and are leaning on Aussie companies (PRP, Artec, etc) to supply "their" new tech. Maybe HKS are still big enough and relevant enough to actually pull off some significant RND and then produce some up to date components to bring to market? As previously stated however they're living in the past when they were still relevant when they work out their pricing. It's ludicrous what they charge for their "Fine Spec Engines". I'd go to CRD/Powertune/Dahtone/ETC and spend half the money for twice the outcome any day of the week. HKS are only relevant to American Youtubers who haven't caught on yet (yes you TommYFYeah you flop) that Japanese stuff is (unfortunately) not what is used to be. Who knows, maybe this will be the first big step in the right direction and inspires other Japanese performance shops to break the mould and move with the times! The yanks will no doubt really ramp things up over the next few years too. Through shear weight of numbers they will come to the party with development of new RB platform add ons. Copies of Aussie stuff to start with then they'll no doubt find their own lane and add their own spin on things. Either way it's awesome that so many businesses across the world are still developing a dirty stinken lump of steel block from back in 1985!

Awesome! So..... Have they given you the FULL story as to what it was? Warped sleeve, cocked sleeve, cracked, driver error 🤪...??