Shoota_77

Oh yeah, also I put all new genuine hoses under the intake manifold. If it worked for the last 20 years it's good enough for me to use genuine again! Cost an effing bomb though.....

Didn't get much done this weekend which is shit considering it was a long weekend.... Painted the balance tube (??) section of the intake manifold. No prizes for guessing what type of paint..... I'm pretty sure the only items not wrinkle black will be the plenum of the intake and probably the fuel rail which will both be wrinkle red. I hate Essendon footy club so not sure about the colour scheme... This section is pretty much ready to go onto the head now, just need to decide what happens with the throttle body section. It will be bloody hard to paint neatly so it might go in the too hard basket...... At some point I'm going to get over painting shit so stay tuned for some not painted stuff getting whacked on fairly shortly...

You've got too much time on your hands to have done that!!

Um.... Dunno! That's my feedback total count so there's probably more that haven't bothered to give me feedback hence not adding to my total.

Hmm... Could be purchase 544!

Looks the goods. How much of da monies?

A more appropriate question for me would be "What haven't you bought off Ebay" to which my reply would be "Um..... nothing!" I bloody live on the stupid thing. I think I might have the male version of a womans handbag addiction. And I'm tipping a large number of you other blokes on here are in the same boat! I'm up to 543 purchases on Ebay now. I tried to tally it up at a few years ago (they've changed it so you can't look it up anymore) and it was well over $10000 worth of stuff. I'd reckon it's maybe close to $20K now. I think I need to do an online shopping addiction therapy session....

Painted the intake manifold last night. Going for wrinkle red. I can't find any photos of it done before so not sure how it's going to look with all of the engine covers, turbo pipe, etc in black and the intake red. Be nice if it looked (and went!) like a Ferrari! Is it just me or does this photo make the manifold look like it's floating...... Nah, just me! First coat and cook- Finished. Didn't wrinkle quite as well as my past efforts have but I still like the textured look even without the wrinkles- Next up I need to try and work out where the fark all the other little fiddly bits and pieces a) have got to after moving house twice since dismantling the engine and b) go on the engine! My recollection on both a) and b) are pretty bloody foggy after 3 1/2 years of being dismantled. I'll be relying on a lot of Google images and good old trial and error! I set the goal of having it running by the end of March but sadly that is drawing near and not looking likely. If I can at least get everything done to the engine apart from bolting it back in then I'll be pretty happy.

Pretty much. You'll be able to see the valves through the ports but mainly you will be able to see the difference in height of the valve tip/spring when the compared to those next to it. If it's stuck open it will be sitting lower than the other valves when they're closed. If it's hard to turn over when the lifter starts to climb the lobe (on the problem cylinder) then the valve could be bent but straight enough to close but then grabbing in the guide when it tries to open.

Yeah they don't take much to bend. Put the belt on (timed correctly obviously) and turn the motor over. Check to see if the valve is fully seating once it comes off the cam and is closing (watch the spring to see how smoothly it closes the valve). If it either grabs then releases or just doesn't seat at all them I'mm sorry to say but get that head off again!

I've been tied up concreting garden borders, fixing my Kubota tractor and generally piss farting around not concentrating on the car. My Datto 1200 ute finally made it's way to it's new home after being in storage at my parents place for 3 years. It was almost like a barn find it had that much dust and bird crap on it! It's another distraction I don't need. I've already started ordering parts for it.... I've only done a few little bits and pieces on the engine. I'm prepared to be set alight by the haters here but I bought a Freddy intake manifold. A) to help with the aledged leaning off in cyl 6 and B) because it looks good! Performance wasn't a factor but if it helps then great! The quality was pretty shit. I had to get the mating faces of the two halves to the manifold machined as it was a bit warped. I also port matched it to the gaskets so it should flow perfectly now. In terms of the thickness of the alloy that I have seen questioned in the past it was fine. I drilled at tapped 2 holes in it for MAP and IAT sensors and it was plenty thick enough for that. Hopefully get the intake manifold painted in the next few days and I can get stuck into it again. Hoist in and car up- Freddy- Masked up ready for painting- I've "ceramic" (high temp paint anyway) coated my exhaust manifolds so we'll see how resilient that is. I need to heat cycle them to try and lock the paint in place- A snap shot of my next 6 years of spare time.... I'm getting reverse cycle air con installed in the next few weeks so hopefully that makes life a little more bearable all year round! Less excuses then anyway!

Received my guard badges today, they look awesome! Tim was great to deal with and great communication so get on board!!

The dog loves his new water bowl!

Didn't get a lot done the last few weeks. Always excuses popping up... Anyway, here are some further progress pics- Sump going on- Ready for the head to go on- Head on- Yes they're two generations of Tomei timing gears. I actually kind of like the difference. Not that it'll matter once the trigger kit cam pickup goes on- Got my hoist bolted down and tidied up the shed a little bit anyway.... Just waiting for the electrician to come and wire it up and I'll be in heaven! I've got a week off work coming up so hopefully I can get a bit more done on the engine then.

I've also heard negative stuff about the Ross which is a shame being an Aussie part. They do seem very concious of fixing the previous issues though. A big reason a lot of crank snouts get rooted is balancer bolt tightness. They need to be stupid tight (400ish Nm of torque), waaaaaaay tighter than a rattle gun will go. It must be done by locking the flywheel and an extended breaker bar.

I would leave them where they are. I've set mine up slightly looser than factory specs as it's a brand new head with new seats and new valves so will recess slightly as it wears in.

Welcome! Just so you know it was 43 degrees celcius here yesterday, what did it get to in Ireland, did it get passed 5? If that's your S14 in your pic it looks great. Enjoy your time here!

Hi guys, I was trying to track down part numbers for RB26 valve clearance shims and stumbled across this brilliant website that lists every single shim available and the genuine part number. Very handy if you're adjusting clearances. The best way to find them is hit CTRL and F to bring up the "Find" box in the top right hand corner. Click in the Find box and type in the shim you're chasing. If the exact shim you need doesn't come up, delete one number off the end (so if the shim was say 3.27mm drop off the 7 and run the search again) and pick the closest shim by rounding up or down. 0.01 of a mm won't cause any dramas with your clearances. http://nissan.epc-data.com/skyline/bcnr33/3936-rb26dett/engine/130/13201H/ Screen shot-

Looks a bit rough but hard to get into the sump with the die grinder! Had to remove the standard studs out of the sump to allow for fitting the sump adapter. Trial fit the sump to check clearances and checked pickup depth to bottom of the sump. All looks pretty good. Sitting at about 10-11mm from the bottom so all good. Trial fit the sump about 4 times which is a bloody arduous job! They're such a big heavy cumbersome thing! If it was evenly weighted (not with the diff hanging way out to one side) it would be a lot easier to manhandle but alas, it isn't, it's a prick!! Still waiting on a few shims to tidy up some of the valve clearances a bit before I bolt the head on. I could put it on now but a lot easier getting cams in and out with the head on the bench. It makes it a lot easier checking the valve locations now that I know the intake and exhaust valves hit at full opening.... It's a frustrating part of the build at the moment, I'm getting lots done but it's all time consuming stuff modifying things to suit the different setup. When you strip an engine and just reassemble the same thing it's easy but when a lot of new things are thrown into the mix it makes it a lot more time consuming. All part of the "fun" I guess!

Why would you if you don't mind me asking? You can but you need to change the setup to accommodate the internal igniter style of the 34 coils. Personally I'd go with an aftermarket (Haltech etc) either internal or external igniter or just whack a set of Splitfires in it. There's guys making pretty decent power with Splitfires still in them.

Valve clearances are a bit all over the shop so need to order some new shims.... Tried swapping a few shims around but still have a few clearances out of whack. Sick of pulling cams in and out a few times I'll tell you.... With slightly lumpier cams and heavy valve springs it's a bastard. I also discovered that with oversized valves and greater lift the valves can touch if the same lobes are at full lift on the same cylinder..... Thankfully no damage, could have been a costly discovery. Finished off my little man cave sink corner- Rear plate and rear main in, sump adapter in place ready to be bolted on next foray into the shed. It needs to be done at the same time as the sump as there are bolts along the front and rear that go through the plate rather than locking the plate to the block like the rest of the flush cap head screws. The photos might explain what I mean (countersunk holes along the side and standard drilled holes front and back of the engine).... I had a look at the sump and I've decided I'll attack it with the die grinder before putting it on as there is a bit of a lip (3-4mm) that would stop all of the oil draining out during an oil change. The claggy oil sitting on the bottom of the sump is the stuff you most want to get out so I'd rather avoid that if possible.

There's a clip at the top (flat screw driver down from the top of the trim and gently lever out) and once clip is popped out out they slide upwards (I think it's up!!).

Only done bits and pieces the last few days. Been bust doing family stuff for Christmas and went back to work between Chrissy and New Years. Fit all my nice shiny new coolant pipes into the block. No corroded fittings for me thanks! Nothing worse than stuffing with coolant hoses under the inlet manifold.... I've got all new genuine coolant hoses to fit when I reassemble it all. The last hoses lasted 19 years so I'm sure the next lot will do much the same with how little I'll drive it. Head studs are all in so I'm nearly ready for some head.... As a mini side project i had a bit of a tidy up of my sink area in the corner of the shed. Put up some $3 sheets of particle board and mounted a stainless splash back above the sink. Put up a shelf, a dart board and mounted one of my stupidly large quantity (about 8 or 9 at a guess) sets of spanners just to free up some space in my toolbox. I'll give it a quick lick of paint later today if I can be bothered bearing the 40 degree temps out in the shed. I also need to confirm that my valve clearances are correct in the head before I bolt it on so that'll be another job for later. At some point during one of my two house moves some of the buckets fell out of the head and mixed up a few of the shims so I might need to swap a few around to get them all within spec. Annoying little things like that can be quite time consuming. Takes farking ages each time to take the cams in and out.

I agree, R32's seem to have skyrocketed the last few years coincidentally with similar timings to the US now being able to import them. Also, I guess 20-25 years is the age when a car goes from being a 'dorky car from a few years ago' to a relative classic. If it's stood the test of time and is still as popular as what the GT-R's are, then they're destined to go up in price.

It happens to the best of us, life rears its ugly head and gets in the way of our passions!. Stick with it mate, the desire always returns eventually! Mine has been in bits for 3 years and my motivation has only just come flooding back now. All the best with it.