Mark And Duncans R32 Build

[unique1]

hey John thanks for the info on the power steering etc. I am interested in the pedal box now, im just wondering if anyone has any pics of them installed in skylines? will they sit nicely on the gtr floorpan or is alot of work required to make it fit right? Do u then not need a booster and the pedal still feels fairly easy to use? Im still stuck whether to use abs or not, i would love to remove it from the engine area but if its gonna be a downfall on the track without it then its worth keeping i suppose. Will the pedal box and no booster/abs work well or does it take alot of getting used to not locking up the brakes all the time?

Edited August 1, 2008 by unique1

[Beer Baron]

it is a fair bit of work to fit a pedal box into a skyline (or any road car for that matter). it does also take a little while to get used to, even just the angle of the floor hinging pedals is quite different to what you are used to, and the brake pedal will be rock hard. once you get used to it though it should be excellent.

[Dahtone Racing]

you don't have to get floor mounted pedals though

there are hanging pedal boxes available

[unique1]

it is a fair bit of work to fit a pedal box into a skyline (or any road car for that matter). it does also take a little while to get used to, even just the angle of the floor hinging pedals is quite different to what you are used to, and the brake pedal will be rock hard. once you get used to it though it should be excellent.

i think ill run abs and booster for the start and then look into the pedal box/no abs/no booster setup in the near future. still wouldnt mind a pic or two to see how they fit up

Edited August 1, 2008 by unique1

[Marlin]

I'm going to remove the booster on my 32 guys. I'm not going to put a pedal box in it, just some modifications to the factory arrangement will/should allow for a different pedal ratio. I'll get pics up when I do it and advise how it feels.

[haw001]

Enough people have done it that I'm sure we'll remove it as well. Call it weight savings or just to give us more room up in that corner.

Is there any clear advantage to using the pedal box, or could it not be just as effective to modify the existing pedals to give them shorter throw/more direct action?

[Duncan]

abs is lone goooone in this car, and won't be missed. The 32 gtr system has to be one of the slowest ones I have ever seen - to be fair I guess it was really early days for ABS.

Re the pedals and the booster....still TBA.....need Brad to fix his car, I need convincing yet. But they will probably both go.

Power steering will stay, even once you get moving these things a real heavy to steer. Even more so as you add more castor. Next time you are at the track pull the power steer belt off for a session and see how it feels

Re the windows....this car is not anywhere near ready yet. Having seen a lot of cars with plastic windows it is definately worth doing (they are way lighter) if its a track only car. But yes they quickly become cloudy and scratched and I would expect to have to replace them every couple of years.

[benm]

Whats the deal with removing the ABS unit? Remove it and remake the brake lines or is their anything electronically that needs to be done?

[Duncan]

yeah we grabbed brake lines from a non abs gtst but you can also make up the hard lines. Also need the non abs master cylinder or a junction box because you need an extra outlet from the master cylinder.

As for electrickery, removing ABS kills ATTESSA - you need to pass a wheel speed sensor to attessa for it to keep working - I don't have the exact details yet but will hopefully sort it out (otherwise we've just built the worlds most colourful gtst)

[dazmo]

yeah we grabbed brake lines from a non abs gtst but you can also make up the hard lines. Also need the non abs master cylinder or a junction box because you need an extra outlet from the master cylinder.

As for electrickery, removing ABS kills ATTESSA - you need to pass a wheel speed sensor to attessa for it to keep working - I don't have the exact details yet but will hopefully sort it out (otherwise we've just built the worlds most colourful gtst)

I removed the abs on the car that i built for a mate that competed in super lap (26R32 rego) grey R32GTR 8th outright and the 4wd works perfectly no problems at all and i have also removed the abs on my own R33GTR curruntly being finished off running the new engine in now and the 4wd works fine in that car aswell but for R34 it will definatly effect the 4wd.Should not be a problem in your car guys.

[haw001]

I've disconnected the ABS on my car more than once to see how it feels and there are no negative effects on 4wd. The 4wd computer that I borrowed from Powerplay one year at targa killed the abs while being used. It might be worthwhile getting a lend of the 4wd computer so that I can copy the chip.

Mark

[Risking]

With the pedals the easiest way is to use a hanging pedal box or something similar to mine which is identical to those used in the gibson cars.

The floor mounted pedals require the floor to be "flattened" by one of a few methods and unless your prepared to move the seat back and space the steering wheel you will also need to modify the bottom of the fire wall tp get them to sit under the factory location.

You can utilise the original pedal but need to move the master cylinder down and modify the pedal to get the required pedal ratio which is what marlin seems to be doing. (yes it will work Marlin)

Its not about making the throw shorter or the pedal more direct Mark. The idea is to remove any incosistancys in the pedal travel that the booster can cause.

Another massive advantage is the use of a proper balance bar and the ability to use various sized masters.

The only other disadvantage of using the original pedal is I can garantee you WILL bend it fairly easily. Ive made a few tough pedal boxes now and even 4mm thick material has flex in it when braking hard.

On the pedal feel if its done correctly in no way should the pedal be "rock hard" like some think it is. A well set-up system using the correct pedal ratio and master cylinders for the callipers and vehicle weight etc will have a pedal that feels very much like a standard pedal once the brakes are warmed up. If its hard then there is something not right and the brakes wont be working to their potential.

Week or so Duncan and you'll have to make the trip out to Oran park for a Drive.

Edited August 3, 2008 by Risking

[Duncan]

excellent idea. we had a good look at the chasis and the possibility of floor mounted pedals - like you said out of the question without moving the seat way back. looks like nissan spent a long time looking at this to get it right.

there was a little progress today. engine bay and front loom have been stripped and cleaned for priming and painting. Should be able to get through the first coat tomorrow.

also hoping to drop of the rear subframe for it's mods tomorrow.

[giant]

hey mate

our r32 has the pedal box mounted on the floor, we didnt move the seat or steering wheel.

but we did have to make a box into the wheel arch to get it forward more, hanging pedals is a good idea as the box was a bit of a job.

interestingly we are keeping the booster on the r34

BTW like risking said has to be a good pedal setup or you will bend it! we bent the cheaper tilton setup with about half an hour of driving

Edited August 3, 2008 by giant

[Duncan]

pfft who cares what you crappy drag racers are up to

[Duncan]

btw congrats on your results at Mount Cotton today

[unique1]

abs is lone goooone in this car, and won't be missed. The 32 gtr system has to be one of the slowest ones I have ever seen - to be fair I guess it was really early days for ABS.

Re the pedals and the booster....still TBA.....need Brad to fix his car, I need convincing yet. But they will probably both go.

Power steering will stay, even once you get moving these things a real heavy to steer. Even more so as you add more castor. Next time you are at the track pull the power steer belt off for a session and see how it feels

Re the windows....this car is not anywhere near ready yet. Having seen a lot of cars with plastic windows it is definately worth doing (they are way lighter) if its a track only car. But yes they quickly become cloudy and scratched and I would expect to have to replace them every couple of years.

thanks Duncan, just about the power steering we have removed the belt on a mates supra and it was rock hard but if u remove the fluid from the rack and remove the lines its remarkebly light in comparision, its also a stripped out track car and weighs in at 1200kg but its 2wd, which might be the difference.

are u guys retaining the heater so u can use the demister on wet days, or havent u ever found fogging up windows a problem? i am in the stage removing the air con unit behind the dash etc but im pretty sure that the a/c unit sits in between the blower fan and the heater box which is a problem, unless i make something to join the two.

ive started pulling carpets, seats, interior trims etc out of the car and alot of the stuff is really light and makes me think removing 100kg+ from the car is gonna be harder than i imagined.

[Duncan]

I haven't run the heater in the car for years, as long as you use fogex on the inside of the windows regularly (say every 3 months) and keep the windows clean it is fine. We run rainex on the outside too which seems to worry other drivers when we are heading down the freeway with wipers off lol.

This includes cold (eg Targa in Tassie), humid, mornings, nights, night races etc etc. Just keep em nice and clean and you will be fine. The AC does sit between the heater and fan and I couldn't be stuffed doing anything about it. Plus heater hoses only get in the way every second week when the motor needs to come out.

100kg is an amazing amount of work to get out, isn't it? Tar is only about 20kg. Looms are maybe 20kg saving if you ditch everything else. Add cages, big wheels, big brakes.....loosing weight in a car is damn hard work. Thats why we are being as hard as we can on this car.

[giant]

you a classic dunc..!

[giant]

interesting stuff about removing fluid in the power steering,

when we blew a power steering belt it was undriveable , could not turn it fast enough and definately couldnt catch it if we had a bit of a moment.