Jump to content
SAU Community

R31 Vh45/41

Mika
 Share

Recommended Posts

Mika Collaborator

Mika

Posted
Posted

Hi guys,

Have been toying witht he idea of building an R31 tow car for the odd Winton and Heathcote trip and have been looking for info on fitting a VH series motor into an R31. I know it has been done before, but info is very scarce.

Essentially, I'm after info on compatible subframes, gearboxes (would like to keep it auto) and I guess any pros and cons to do with the swap.

I'm not after anything more than having it as a daily driver that can tow.

Why R31? Because I want my tow car to look like a big version of the car it'll be towing!

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers

Mika

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/273389-r31-vh4541/
Share on other sites
Ghostrider Grand Master

Ghostrider

Posted
Posted

As a tow vehicle, it doesn't rely so much on the power, as it does the RATED towing capacity of the vehicle.

I have an MX83 Cressida with an 1UZ V8, has bags of power and torque to do the job, but Toyota DO NOT under any circumstances recommend towing more than 1500kg and therefore the trailer and car total mass can't exceed this to be legal & the highest capacity tow bar is made by Hayman Reese and it has a 1500kg rating as the MAXIMUM towing rating for the car is 1500kg.

Check the ratings for the R31 before you enter into this conversion as you might just find it a waste of time for the purpose you plan it for.

Just as a reference, you have to be caught for it to be illegal, but if you are & your involved in a fatal accident, your going to GAOL, think about this when your planning this conversion. And another thing, and I don't know how they get around it, the max capacity motor that can be put into a vehicle is 3 times (3 X) the body weight and I would be surprised to find the R31 of any description would weigh 1500kg dry.

Cheers, D

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/273389-r31-vh4541/#findComment-4639841
Share on other sites
warps Mentor

warps

Posted
Posted
Just as a reference, you have to be caught for it to be illegal, but if you are & your involved in a fatal accident, your going to GAOL

Not only that, but if you have ANY accident while towing the trailer, the indurance company wont pay as they can say that this contributed to - or caused - the accident.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/273389-r31-vh4541/#findComment-4639846
Share on other sites
benny_blanco Proficient

benny_blanco

Posted
Posted

I thought the R31 skyline would be fine for towing cars, my trusty old pintara wagon towed a few cars in its time my family and myself owned the car and that only had the shitty CA20 in it.

the money saved doing the conversion im sure you would rather be spending on your track car :D

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/273389-r31-vh4541/#findComment-4639962
Share on other sites
Ghostrider Grand Master

Ghostrider

Posted
Posted

Hayman Reese make the biggest & best towbars and their top of the range receiver hitch for the R31 is rated at 1250kg with a tow ball weight of 120kg, so I'm afraid your out of luck. You can put an 12L Scania truck motor in your Skyline and you still wont be legal over 1250kg. That's car & trailer max load.

Cheers, D

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/273389-r31-vh4541/#findComment-4640974
Share on other sites
DR JOSH Community Regular

DR JOSH

Posted
Posted
I thought the R31 skyline would be fine for towing cars, my trusty old pintara wagon towed a few cars in its time my family and myself owned the car and that only had the shitty CA20 in it.

the money saved doing the conversion im sure you would rather be spending on your track car :D

Just because it can do it doesn't mean it's either safe or legal. Take an R30/31 roughly 1200kg, a car trailer 500kg+ depending on how it's built, throw in all your tools and spares and what every necessary for a track day your looking at a fair amount of weight being pulled, supported and slowed down by your car. it's not something you want to be mucking around with, especially if you plan on doing interstate trips where you could be towing at 100-110kmh.

I do a lot of towing, my tow car is a turbo diesel nissan patrol with 3.5T towing capacity which it does tow rather nicely and loves it (my dads boat is 3.5T, maybe a smidge over with both petrol tanks full :) ) I wouldnt have it any other way. :)

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/273389-r31-vh4541/#findComment-4640993
Share on other sites
R30-RB30DET Apprentice

R30-RB30DET

Posted
Posted

Allthough im speaking from NZ experience(a little more relaxed laws in that respect and more ruthless people like me) dont underestimate a R31 for its abilty though as my old HR30 L20E 5 speed used to tow a heavy trailer but well built 700-1000kg ish with a 1450kg stockcar on it on regular trips around the country as long as it was loaded properly, you didint drive like a mooron and were carefull with long down hills(lol at R30 std brakes) it was sweet as and R31s are a bit heavyer so I cant see why one wouldint be a good towcar(legalitys aside obviously)

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/273389-r31-vh4541/#findComment-4641732
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • MBS206
      R32 GTS (RB20DE) clogged cat

      By MBS206 · Posted

      The hot exhaust light will come on not from just the cat being blocked, but it's just a temp sensor, and it's designed to warn you to not do things like park in long grass.   If you've been pushing the motor a bit, it can cause the light to come on.   Second if the cat is rattling, I'd suspect it's not blocked, but instead falling apart inside.   The easiest "fix" until you can get a cat put back in, is to unbolt your one, bash the rest of the insides out, and then bolt it back in.   For a daily driver/street car, I am in agreeance of put a cat in the car. If it were race car I wouldn't care if it were removed.
    • Sean'O
      3D printing fun

      By Sean'O · Posted

      No worries at all 🫡 I think the most satisfying things to make are the little bits that are just impossible to find or they're no longer manufactured. Generally I always try to replace parts with OEM wherever possible. This little project is also great because it'll never see the light of day, but strengthen these brackets so it's not just relying on the little standard screws in the headlight plastic. As soon as I saw the standard brackets and screws I thought, "well I'm not going to install with just the screws, the plastic tabs will just snap off". It's crazy how expensive everything has become yeah. But I suppose that's supply and demand; granted it's a lot easier to get brand new genuine parts these days which is fantastic 😊, I don't have to get totally reamed at the local Nissan dealer ha ha We sure are lucky we have all these manufacturers making parts these days, a few really great Australian companies too like Platinum Racing Products and Fit Mint Automotive, what a time to be alive ❤️ . I've got my eye on the RB26 head by PRP as mine has a very fine hairline crack, so that'll need to be addressed some time in the future. If you have any requests or odd things to make feel free to let me know and I can have a crack at making replacement parts ✌️
    • Duncan
      3D printing fun

      By Duncan · Posted

      Thanks for sharing this, and BTW if your headlights are in good condition they are worth thousands....you might want to consider replacing them with brand new LED ones like this (https://www.nengun.com/78works/full-led-headlights-r32-skyline) and making enough profit to buy a house in Sydney
    • Duncan
      R32 GTS (RB20DE) clogged cat

      By Duncan · Posted

      I'm not sure what sort of shops are nearby, but I'd expect any reasonable exhaust shop could put a cat in it that will not restrict the power that engine makes. Otherwise, if you want to remove it, short lengths that replace the cat are readily available online, search for "de-cat pipes" or "test pipes"  
    • Sean'O
      3D printing fun

      By Sean'O · Posted

      Howdy friends, So another weird one today, I was looking into replacing some broken clips holding the front grille for the R32 GTR (part number 01553-03831), and noticed the brackets which are supposed to hold the grille in place were also missing 😑. I do recall seeing this issue many years ago, but didn't fix it at the time. A quick look on eBay and I was able to find the genuine brackets, along with all the screws which suited the headlights (part numbers 26042-08U05,26092-08U05). Happy days!....  Once they arrived however there was an extra nut in the packaging which implied that there should also be a bolt or a stud, and sure enough, after a bit of searching I found this thread from 2013, and @Ants clearly shows a stud should be present. Reading around a bit more, it's possible the headlights on my car are the "povo pack" headlights as mentioned by @funkymonkey in this thread way back in 2008. This could explain why the studs are missing on my set of headlights. Looking at the headlight diagram I wasn't able to see a suitable part number for the stud itself. The headlight did indeed have a recess that looked like it would accept a stud, but interestingly no thread or anything obvious how the stud would be affixed to the headlight, I suspect it may have been glued in, press fit, or melted into the plastic at the factory. Another member may be able to clarify if they happen to have a genuine set of N1 headlamps. The only thing we have to work with within the recess is a keyway which likely is there to prevent the stud from rotating within the recess. In any case, back to 3D printing, I put together a model which acts like a pug with a friction fit inside this recess, making use of the keyway so it doesn't rotate while tightening a bolt. Printing in TPU will allow it to slightly swell making a nice snug fit without cracking the part. I've designed the adaptor it to accept an 20 mm M6 bolt (stainless with a cap head in my case), as opposed to the standard M5 stud and I made use of the standard galvanised split washer that came with the genuine brackets from Nissan. Once the bolt and screws were all in place, giving the bracket a gentle shake gave the classic "shaking the car" feeling, very solid, which gives me confidence this is going to be able to hold on much better than the janky solution which seems to have been here for the past decade or so. Overall I'm really pleased with how this turned out and maybe there are more people out there running these headlights without a centre stud at all! Link to the freely available model on Printables: Click here Regards, Sean  
×
×
  • Create New...