Boxheads R32 Gt-R

[K4L4M1TY]

Hey fellow Skyline fans, I'm(Ben) doing this for a friend(Paul) in hopes that he can get a good detailed credible record of the amounts of money he is going to spend in the near future and possibly save alot of time, money and years worth of stress and frustration that goes with building a dream GT-R. Believe it or not after a few years, a few smart swaps and a few grand on some of those rides, this car was originally funded by an R31 with an interior in parts and needing a transmission.

So, My best mate has wanted a Skyline forever. He's always been a keen aussie old school muscle fan wanting a torana or similar for a few grand as a project etc. but has always known an loved the GT-R since they dominated our motorsports in the R32. I am a very open minded person and appreciate quality no matter what the badge may be. I have owned hondas actually with my ITR being my pride and joy many years ago but i've driven almost every Japanese brand flagship in some model or another and many other quick cars in many different stages of performance. I have seen many imports through the businesses i've had relationships with, friends who owned them and personal hobby of knowing everything I can about any quality sports car out there. He has always liked the R32 over later models, myself finding the R33 more appealing.

Anyway I have been looking for something in the 15ish region with this site being my most trusted source of any within the price range I had. I must say that there were a couple of cars on here that we were interested in but most being located in other states than NSW made the decision harder. When the time came it was decided that a cheaper car would be ok with plans already in place for more as always. After a couple of calls and messages he was now in the position to buy his car and with the excitement and realisation that his dream was coming true, a spur of the moment decision was to drive down in a hire car that night from just north of Sydney to Melbourne. We then decided to get the first flight in the morning being only 1 1/2 hours instead of a 10 hour drive. He was deadset on buying it knowing the car in particular was cheap and from pictures was a fairly straight body. After payment we were now driving back to NSW in 'ILBW8N' haha.

http://www.skylinesa...651-89-r32-gtr/

With my previous knowledge of imports (and my mates lack of at the time) he made the big decision to give me a major say in what is done and where it gets done. I'm a perfectionist that knows you don't get the best with paying the premium but with certain things I think that's the best option to take. I immediately said I wanted the likes of Jim from CRD to do any tuning from personally seeing what he has done to friends' cars over the years. My friend was a bit unsure on having to travel to Sydney and I can understand that with the car being in such an early state of modification. Plenty of bolt on parts can be fitted or get stored ready for future plans I believe.

It's now about 8 that night and we know we're in for a hell of a drive back but who cares right? We're in his new toy and his dream car. Well that seemed so until we hit more open roads and 100km speed limits, where after giving it a bit more stick it just DID NOT want to throw me back in the seat one bit. I haven't had much twin turbo experience so with the sound of boost I couldn't tell by sound what the issue could be, it delivered smoothly but it didn't want to hit decent power 95% of the time. It just seemed, like it ran out of puff and as if there was only around half the power I expected even from a mostly stock GT-R. There was also the problem of the handbrake light coming on the dash about 15-20 minutes into the trip. This was then followed by the HICAS light not long after. Knowing there was other electrical issues I didn't take these as too serious a problem as, after pulling over for a smoke for 10 minutes the lights went out so I figured the fluids were screwed and/or electrics best case scenario, with wheel alignment problems being worst case. Besides this it sat well on the road with an rather light feel compared to what my teggy felt like, expecting something of similar strength. There was just bugger all power and I just kept saying it feels like the turbo aren't hitting boost properly.

The car appeared to only have a large unkown(as yet) brand intercooler, X-Force 3" cat back, Apex'i Power FC and turbo timer. There were new rubbers here and there and the underbody seemed very very clean along with the interior being in above average i'd say. The engine bay was a bit messy with wiring a bit unorganised, but once again I am a perfectionist.

The handbrake light and HICAS light was coming on every hour or so for most of the trip back though after topping up fluids at a servo it seemd better but still horrible in the power department. It was definitely something in the turbos which is now believed to be either a blown turbo or something inside one causing it not to work, either way NOT GOOD and I was a bit iffy. Funnily enough even with this, I must have been thanked about 400 times on the trip back for organising this car. We babied it home and took it to Selby Suspension at Tuggerah as my friend has taken all his previous cars there for mainly tires haha and other servicing mostly. All the warning light issues were fixed along with balance and alignment etc done and all major fliuds changed. As it is now, I think HICAS fluid resevoir in the boot? needs to be looked at? (any help or tips appreciated). So a gasket needs to be changed and the turbo needed to be looked at now and after another spontaneous decision a TOMEI M8260 twin turbo straight bolt on kit was ordered. This is a decision I am shkeptical about for various reasons, mainly that they aren't BB turbo's and I think pricewise it would have been better for now to just have had the stock turbos rebuilt with steel wheels.

Well now about a week later, the car is waiting for the turbo kit, we have the gasket needed, a set of HKS 600cc injectors coming, new clear cam/timing belt cover, have replaced fuel filter(which i said should have waited until all new parts were here), bolts checked all over and some locktite applied in some places, an Apex'i PFC controller is on the way too. We are now interested in getting the rest of the exhaust before the rest of these parts arrive. We have asked a few people in the industry and with the desire of an all wheel drive dyno tuning we were pointed in the direction of a places but decided on Tuff Tune Performance after a talk with the owners and a mates' plug of DVS JEZ the R33 which has been there I think or has them in his profile or something. So i'd say they have him to thank for the money about flushed into their business if they can do a good job.

Tomorrow we'll be looking at some things at home and awaiting the parts en route, so I guess we'll be cleaning everything top to bottom(will have pics of the parts changed, parts being changed and the overall sexiness of the car after it's cleaned along with the bad spots) and i'll actually get to remove a few things and have a good look. Fuel and oil pumps are high on the list of things to do next but what other upgrades do you guys n gals think are a good idea and worth the money. Nothing excessive, maybe just a couple of thousand in great or better condition parts, brand new being a bonus. My mate has a thing for brand new parts but I think if we find good parts here and there used we should jump on it to smartly save a few bucks for other stuff. Any advice on things that are easily accessible or prone to wear/damage would be a great help as i'm pretty sound with engines just want the particulars and experiences of you guys who actually own and drive these cars. I don't want to hide anything and want to make sure this car is done right the first time. After all, IT"S A SKYLINE...GT-R MUWAHAHAHHA....ok thanks guys and look forward to seeing some NSW and maybe other club members at events soon, we did have high hopes of getting it organised for Easternats Powercruise, but now we think we will attend the February Texi event at Quakers Hill. See you there!

[K4L4M1TY]

Yesterday we got the turbos out, with lots of scraped knuckles of course. They weren't as hard to remove as I expected though.

The wheels are a bit chewed out but don't seem to have any major damage, sorry for the bad pics but what do you all think?

Pipe seems great from the looks of it.

Same for the manifolds.

There was this leak issue coming from the back of the block/head. This just a bad seal you think?

After getting some time under the car I took some pics of this rusty spot which seems to be the only bad thing on an otherwise straight body.

So now we have a turbo kit from ye ole' RB30 that is brand new and the original number plates 'ILB W8N' sitting in a crate waiting to be sold to help fund more new parts for the GT-R.

Any interested PM me for details, so now the car sits waiting for the new turbos which apparently the guy who they were ordered off didn't have any in stock so they are on their way from the USA. This sucked because they were expected to be in the car by today but it seems they might arrive tomorrow at the earliest. What would be some good cheaper parts to get for preparation of these turbos going on? ie: things that will most likely break soon after the power boost.

Cheers

Ben.

[OYEAHA]

Id replace the exhaust manifold studs in the head for the sake of a few $ it's good peice of mind especially if you have time waiting for new turbos and makes cleaning the gasket off a whole lot easier !

[SHOWOFFR32]

Everything your asking for is really up to your mate/you.

How much power does he want??

How type of fuel does he want to run??

Is this car going to see track time??

What's the condition of the parts already on the car??

All these questions will either add or subtract parts from a list that could be small or would be quite large.

In my opinion, get a oil cooler/relocator kit as one of the first things you should invest in, helps keep temps low and allows easy oil filter changes.. You can never service your car too much (with-in reason).

Also, wait until you knows for a fact that it is the turbos that are causing your lack of power, I honestly don't think that the slight wear on the blades would cause a situation like you have at the moment. Maybe the actuator spring is jammed open? Maybe it's a over/under fueling issue? Your best bet would be a dyno run with a tuner who knows RB26s to find the root of the problem..

You don't want to buy up all these parts to find out that there's something wrong in the motor and a full rebuild may just be in order.

Owning a GTR is an amazing thing (I personally own a R34 V-Spec) however if your not careful with your mods and think about reliability before power, then your pride and joy may just turn into a nightmare quite quickly...

Remember, with a RB26, it's all about oil delivery, control, temp. These are the things you need to be buyig parts for above all others.. For starters.

Just my two cents, feels free to PM me if you'd like to ask any questions.

Cheers

Brad

Edited January 16, 2012 by SHOWOFFR32

[Bsa]

i would be putting it in the dyno to cheack the tune there are heaps of places on the coast no nee to go to sydney. have you comp tested the engine?

[K4L4M1TY]

Pretty sure it was and pretty sure it wasn't great results, the new turbos arrived today too and as I had feared, the M8260 kit is too much for a stock motor. They state in the booklet that the pistons won't take more than 22ish psi @550hp, so i'll be suggesting it stays under 500 for now on lower boost. Will have some pics of the turbo size upgrade soon, so what and where should we look for internals to cope with the minimum of 600+hp from these and possibly a higher spec set in the future? We're giving TUFF TUNE a chance at Tuggerah to see what they can do as they have a 750hp 32GTR sitting in their shop so I expect them to have some decent experience, what are some other places to look at around the area for parts etc? I grew up in Sydney so that's my base of knowledge.

Edited January 17, 2012 by K4L4M1TY

[Bsa]

They are only new that's tm autosports old shop before they shut down call DVS jez he owns a 300kw gtr

[K4L4M1TY]

Well, it's been debated and argued now for a while but it seems the 32 will be getting forged internals to have these new turbos working in their effective range. I didn't want to have to spend the dollars on this stuff but Boxhead is paranoid about his engine. Here's some pics of the new kit that came the other day:

Here's some pics showing the difference between the old and new ones.

These were cleaned up nicely too. The exhaust sides were ported out a bit to get some better flow.

So today, after all this stuff has been pulled off the car I have got a decent compression tool to do a test. Get ready for some woeful results methinks. Just to finish off here's a couple of pics of some random things I took pictures of.

This is what the engine is looking like currently, I'm not happy with this, but eh, it is afterall a project now.

The underbody is very clean compared to the rest of the car I think, though there's many hidden spots I haven't seen yet i'm sure.

It's amazing seeing parts from companies I had no idea made those parts, like these Cerumo Sports rims. Shame they're horribly gutter-bashed.

For a laugh:

THE GOOD:

THE BAD:

THE UGLY!!:

Anyways, I have tried calling DVS JEZ on his mobile number, but his phone was off both times, I hate leaving messages etc. Can anyone tell me if JEZ can rebuild along with tune the car? There's a few issues that need sorting out and i'm hoping it is before the next big SAU event.

Cheers,

Ben.

Edited January 22, 2012 by K4L4M1TY

[Bsa]

Paul from red r racing is the man for the build just txt jex he will get back to you

[blk180]

Didnt paul go oversea's? Those turbos look nice.

[K4L4M1TY]

Everything is now back on the car, gave it a couple of starts last night after checking the ECU (which turnss out to be a standard Nissan item, not an Apexi as thought) and a few error codes were coming up. Most were sorted but now it has an error code 43 on the ECU which says it's the Throttle Position Sensor. There is also an error code 21 coming from the ATTESSA ECU in the boot which also says throttle sensor. Getting to the point where I think it needs to go into a professional to go over the bugs and sort other problems out.

What are alternative options to Apexi ECUs these days? Tuner at the shop we been going to says get a haltech, i'd prefer something from a Japanese company though ie: Blitz, apexi, greddy etc...

EDIT: Just found out the bolt on the throttle sensor to mount it snapped, can anyone tell me off hand what the name of the part that it mounts to?

We may be getting another one instead of fixing the snapped bolt

Edited January 28, 2012 by K4L4M1TY

[Deano 1]

just get Jez to get ou a NISTUNE they the simplest for your setup. If you dont like nistune than get him to sort you a vipec, contac jez his got all the answers, he lives for this stuff!!!! His your man, he wont sleep till its perfect, trust me this is from experience

[DJBarnstar]

I can't believe you got the manifold off without snapping a stud!!!

Did you replace them?

[K4L4M1TY]

Didn't replace the studs as they were in very good nick, but yeah was a bugger to get it all back into place, had to leave most bolts loose and mount it all before trying to get to them.

[DVS JEZ]

Apologies Ben and Paul, my phone is never off but it may have been on another call.

I have organised with Paul to check his baby out monday.

As above its all about what sort of use he has for the GTR and how tame he wants the animal to be.

[K4L4M1TY]

Been a couple of weeks since I updated here, Jez from DVS Tuning has seen the car now and is organising a few parts for it. Turbo side is completely back in with a new front pipe also fitted. Forgot to take some pics before we put it on but you can still see some shiny goodness.

Paul had to be different and get these K&N filters which led to lots of fun when trying to mount the new alloy airbox. Not only did they hit the top but there was a fair bit of modification required to get the box in and from the looks of it, is only about half as useful as it was before needing to be cut. Should have some pics of it up soon to but as of now, the car has had the plenum and throttle bodies removed in Paul's quest to replace every hose and line on the car.

Piping was also revised by paul and painted a few parts to clean up the overall look under the bonnet. He's going crazy with blue hoses, the engine bay is going to be very bright from the looks of things so far.

Hopefully it's only a couple of weeks now until she is completely sorted and ready to get tuned, thanks guys for pointing us towards Jez and DVS, he's a great guy and been a genuine help for parts and advice so far. Cheers.

Next mods planned:

Oil cooler and relocation kit

Need bolts for cam/timing belt cover

Looking at oil pumps for near future

Ordered Link ECU

Metal intake gaskets, going for nitto as they seem most common.

Edited February 8, 2012 by K4L4M1TY

[K4L4M1TY]

Bought these items off a member last night and can't wait to get it on, cleaned up real nice.

Not too shabby for the price, cheers to the seller if he sees this :cheers:Link ECU is hopefully the next big thing coming our way, along with all new intake side hoses and clamps, and a few parts waiting to be picked up from Pro Coat and a few more to be taken in. It's definitely not going to look like your ordinary RB26 engine bay that's for sure

[K4L4M1TY]

Intake and a few other parts are back nice and chrome, but after spending most of tonight trying to figure out the next little parts I have two questions maybe someone could answer easily:

1. Are all four timing belt cover bolts and grommets the same? I have looked at some diagrams etc but none seem to specify.

2. Is this kit going to replace ALL hoses on the intake side under the plenum? Need all those hoses but can't find many full kits and don't want to have to figure which individual ones I need.

Cheers and hopefully i'll have some more pics up soon.

[K4L4M1TY]

Little update, Link G4 ecu is waiting to be put in, bought a pair of 19 inch chrome rims for cheap just to move the car around as it was missing two tyres. now just waiting for some little bits and pieces that are becoming a pain to find, anyone suggest some good wreckers with skylines around Sydney/Central Coast?

[SiR_RB]

coming along nicely,......as for the timing belt cover bolts, think there are 2 long and 2 short ones

as for second hand parts try justjap.com.au