My Hr31 Buildup

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Good man, just been doing what i can on it. not much more to do, but it does need to go in for a check up tune before i drive it. so, maybe 1 month

Ive been busy trying to pull more weight out of the car as im allowed to go to 1,113kg.

Bought a lovely FPR boot off Fatz that saved 6kg
Passengers door has been gutted with Lexan window, saved 10kg. im leaving the driver’s door intact until I have better side intrusion in the cage.







Partycat has hooked me up with some of his plastic headlight covers, which I am just going to mount in place of the headlights all together. Another 7kg
I needed a new battery for my rover so I stole the dry cell out of the this car and replaced with a 300cca li-ion bike battery. I think it’ll be enough to start it, but I’ll test it tonight. This saves 20kg… (dry cell = 20kg, li-ion =1kg and I can move the battery under the dash and remove some cable too)

I have pulled out the thermo fans and all wiring (and headlight wiring) 5kg and the hydro h/b is now gone too

I chopped up my old exhaust and made it into a side dumper. I cut out some of the rail and welded in some plate (I will also be making a strengthining member in the car) used some 4”x2” oval pipe about 40cm long to get as much ground clearance as I can, i will need to cut a hole in the skirt for it. 10kg save here too








New engine belts are on too, so I should be able to give it a kick in the guts tonight and see if ive connected everything up right.


So, that’s nearly 60kg gone this time around J just need to get my fat ass to the gym and save even more!

Next weekend I will be modding the rear subframe so I’ll actually be able to change the static camber, rather than adjusting ride height to get what I need. Semi trailing arm IRS sucks….

[sweefu]

More progress!

Can you change the bushes to something adjustable or similar?
How do you mod the subframe?

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

basically you need to put a vertical slot in the outer subframe mounts where the trailing arm bolts up, then you can use and eccentric bolt for adjustment.

its the same as what the factory did with the inner mounts, except they were horizontal, for toe adjustment. i have no idea why they didnt do it in the first place!

[stevena]

Awesome, that's a shit load of weight. Great progress. Let me know what you get it down too.

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

haha thanks.

i think weight will be my only advantage as I think i will be lower on the power side to most other cars. that, and the suspension and geometry isnt that great either lol

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Didnt get much done this weekend, or pics for that matter.

The new battery is in, and starts the car just as well as the old one. just not sure how many starts i get Also removed 3kg of battery cable, 23kg total!

dad made a bit of extra chassis inside the cabin to support where the rail was chopped for the exhaust. he went a bit overkill but thats dads for ya lol

filled in the hole in the boot where the spare wheel well was.

"headlights" are fitted up, just need to be wraped.









Looks pretty good i reckon

[stevena]

Head light covers look great, I like how it shows off the pod. Something different.

[sweefu]

Headlight covers look mint, were they from party cat?

[szymonsta]

not a huge fan of the yellow but otherwise looks great!! R31 ftw i love the old school 80s hero skylines (R31 and DR30), so much more original and unique than the Evo brigade.

look forward to seeing this at WTAC!

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

thanks guys. yep anth, ty hooked me up. i did need to do quite a bit of work to get them to fit, as he could only pull them down so far with his mold. came up well though i think.

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Moar done this weekend im only really able do stuff on the weekends as I have to put some time in with the family during the week lol


Had a go a vinyling the headlights, looked quite shite as it was old stuff and didn’t want to go on.
Ended up just spraying with some rc shell paint, came up pretty good




Cut off the old standard tow point and relocated the tow hook to the chassis to make room for the diffuser







New harness is in as I needed 2in webbing for the HANS. Also the old belt was out of date.






Annnnddd finally got the nerve up to mod the subframe for camber and am very happy with the result, all done for zero dollars J
I followed this guide ( for z31)http://www.az-zbum.com/modification.adjustable.camber.shtmlwith a couple of variations.






We (Dad and I) didn’t like how much ‘meat’ was left after slotting the pickup point and so added some more metal






I couldn’t find any toe adjuster bolts to buy so we just made some cam washers and keyed the existing bolts to suit.







The overhang at the top are the blocks to hold the cams in place, not pretty but they work.






I set it to max camber and toe out to see how much adjustment there will be, Hard to see in this pic but they are currently sitting at -1deg camber and 0mm toe uncelebrated eye measurement. Camber was around -4 -5deg. hopefully should translate into more rear grip.

I want to set the rear to (static) -1.5 deg camber and 1mm total toe in and go from there.






Im going to try and finish the little bits during the week and also book it in for the retune. Next wend i'll be making the rear diffuser.

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

I dont know it this shows well enough but you can see the difference of the rear camber/tow to the front. there is a full inch on both rear tyres that never get dirty... will still be shite trailing arm irs but a little less "oh your comfortable? well let just mix things up and BAM!, sidways" lol

[mungy]

Good to see the car is coming along nicley, definatley one of the best home builds ive followed.

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Thanks Mungy

More progress

One piston on the rear right calliper has seized at some point and has been pushing the rotor into the calliper, So I rebuilt the rear callipers during last week and bled the system on the weekend. Very happy as I made my own line from the bias adjuster to the rears after I removed the hydro. Pedal is a lot firmer than it has been in some time Also gave them a paint to match the fronts.

Rolled out the car to bleed the coolant, bought a cool vacuum purge kit to do it but my air compressor is piss weak. Ended up doing it the old fashioned way, by raising the front and running the car. This led to another issue, ive have to rev the car to 2500rpm to get the alternator to kick in, now with the underdriven pulley its has to go to around 3500. Didn’t know this and ran it off the tiny battery. lasted about 10 min and wouldn’t restart, lol… quick jump start and rev and the battery charged itself enough in a couple of minutes to be able to restart again.







Made the rear diffuser, out of a scrap - 31life, but I think it’ll work well. Goes from the subframe, sticks out about 50mm past the bumper and has a 9deg upswept angle. just needs the rear mounts to be made. Again not many pictures as I only have so much time to get everything done on the wend. I'll get a pic tonight of it on the ground.

[stevena]

Will your rear diffuser act like a parachute? Do you need to leave a gap from the diffuser to the bumper to allow air that goes over the diffuser(under the car) to escape at the rear between the diffuser and the bumper? Looks good though

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

thanks mate, sill a wip. but yeah, theres a 2in gap at the top.

[stevena]

Sweet . 53 days to go

[Dan_J]

good progress on this am liking it

with the eccentric bolts did u just drill and tap a thread into the washer?

was wonder how to make up my on eccentric bolts without getting the bolt and washer milled

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

“Do you know how fast you were going back there son?”





Well yesterday was a mix of good and bad. (above is just a bad taste pic as they were visiting the neighbours)


First up was a wheel alignment, Camber mod is a success, the rears are sitting at -1.5 deg camber and 1mm toe in. Front is -4 camber, -5 castor and 1mm total toe out. I’ll probably dial out some more front camber at the track, but is fine for slicks atm.





Then off to ESP for a check-up/tune. Quick reset of the timing and roll up on the dyno, and the wastegate failed. Leaking boost again and over boosted too 21psi before the boost cut, cut in. looks like the valve shaft has worn and is leaking there.

Mate took a video of it running, i think it sounds awesome. as soon as he sends it to me i'll post it up

The guys at ESP have also recommended that the gate is too small for what im doing with it now, so ive bit the bullet and bought a new Turbosmart 45mm HyperGate.
now i need to either mod the new manifold to suit or sell it and buy another.








Hopefully it’ll control the boost better now and be the end of my wastegate issues. Silver lining here is at least ive found out now rather then at a trackday or wtac.




quick snap of the diffueser in place






pirtty black brakes

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Basiclly the washer is just a 4mm bit of metal, cut round with the hole drilled offset to match the OEM ones. then you have to mill/grind/file a flat section on the the thread of the bolt and put a weld in the hole of the bolt and file flat to match the bolt. will look like a 'D' shape. this is done to 'lock' the washer to the bolt.

good progress on this am liking it

with the eccentric bolts did u just drill and tap a thread into the washer?

was wonder how to make up my on eccentric bolts without getting the bolt and washer milled