My Cursed R32 Sedan

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Hi all,

So I finally decided to post a build thread about my R32 sedan.

It all first started in January 2011 when I purchased my first skyline, a black R32 GTS sedan with a boat anchor RB20DE and 149,000 on the clock (Probably more like 300,000 from what happens later). At the time the car was unregistered, from interstate and in need of a bit of TLC. I got it at at a pretty good price since it was unregistered so i thought what the hell and decided on a bit of an ongoing project.

this when i first bought it and sadly where it stayed for 3 months.

It had a bit of damage on the rear and the bonnet had seen better days.

So from being from interstate it needed to go through the pits to get registration. Of course this did not go well and came home with a big list of stuff to fix. Rear subframe bushes, rear tie rods, front tie rod ends etc all had to be replaced.

So about 8 months later after doing all the work myself in the very little time I had since being an engineering student, I finally got it all roadworthy and took it through and got rego.

Car after a good clean up.

After this the car has been plagued with problems.

Head gasket blew......

Water pump went, alternator broke, fuel pump died, the gearbox input shaft started to get pretty noisy and finally I spun a bearing. Most of this is probably due to how much you have to rev an NA rb20 to get anywhere.....

After contemplating what engine to put into it, I was pretty keen on just an rb20det to keep things cheep and the ease of the swap since I was pretty happy on how my mates 32 went with one, But realised it would be even worse under boost that my NA one was so decided to go 25.

So now being on uni break (sound like one of those school holiday kids ), dad reluctantly let me use the shed for the conversion. Currently the engine is out and picking up the new engine tomorrow.

Just Jap Front mount installed. Had to remove the front auto spoiler which was a bit lame but well worth it.

Day one of conversion, mostly the day was taken up with cleaning the shed so i could use the space.

Day two engine out, gearbox off.

The plan for now is just to bolt the gearbox and clutch to the engine. This is probably not ideal since the gearbox is an NA box and the clutch is just a HD organic clutch for the rb20de so it is actually smaller than the turbo model ones. So hopefully for now the clutch will be soft enough to stop the gearbox from exploding. Then when money permits an rb25 box will most likely go in with a better clutch.

Plans for future.

R33 brakes with 5 stud hubs

R33 abs unit cause this is the second r32 unit that has started leaking on me

Wheels of some kind

Stock shimmed R32 diff or better

Coilovers (undecided on what just yet)

3 or 3.5" exhaust

rb25 gearbox

Bit of body work and a respray.

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Delete

Edited July 6, 2012 by HR32GTS 4DOOR

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Update,

Got it running today just off the TPS and no front pipe. loud As F*** pics soon

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Ok so it's been a while since I bothered to post anything on here.

what has been going on since the engine conversion.

I had a few issues with injectors and what not, but is all sweet now and running well.

Few more bits added.

New Xtreme twin plate clutch

also another rb20 gearbox as my old one had a horrible isb noise.

In the middle of a 5 stud conversion,

r33 brakes

Also have some Gktech ADR approved braided brake lines.

painted them black

got a second hand set of wheels nice and cheap

the paint was a little sh*t so i painted them copper.

Primer

Final coat

Just need to get my hands on some hubs then bolt everything on

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Also went on a little drive with some mates, made me realise my car is a boat and needs a better suspension setup

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Forgot to actually upload a photo with the 25 in the car

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Ok so its been a while since I have bothered to update this, but had the car out at Tailem Bend for the oz gymkhana come and try and today at Collengrove hillclimb. Managed a 39.87 on terrible Nexen N6000 (read treadwear 300 )

Since The last update, I poped the stock turbo at the gymkhana day and bought what someone was advertising as a stock turbo but took one look at it and knew it was highflowed. Turned out to be a hypergear 21U highflow. currently still on stock ECU and checked with knock headphones on road to make sure it was safe on the stock tune. Pulls harder up top but a little laggier on light throttle. Will be tuned soon once I figure out what I want to do with the fuel system. Hopefully make around 240rwkw

Ill upload a vid of Collengrove soon if I remember

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Here is the best run of the day, after lunch so the VLSD had cooled down so I could actually get some traction up top. A 2way definitely one of the next things on the list.

Edited March 31, 2014 by HR32GTS 4DOOR

[SiR_RB]

Nice mate keep the updates and pics coming

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Man only Just saw that someone replied to this.

Updates so far.

Turns out one of the pickups for the passenger side rear LCA decided it didn't want to be part of the car anymore. For now its just welded back on to get me by cause its still my daily.

Bought a reinforced s14 subframe that I'm going to put in when I get some time as I'm doing honours at uni atm and have sweet FA time to work on this thing. Going to pretty much mount it as high as possible with a 2mm or so piece of polyurethane in-between the chassis and frame to help damp the gear mesh noise form the diff. Also re bushing the whole rear end and buying new toe and traction arms (already have camber, didn't do my research and now realise if you only use them it sends bump steer all over the place) and set up the rear bump steer as best I can to make the car feel a bit more lively.

Will post pics when I have time, which will be during uni break probably

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Did a motorkhana today at monarto.

Car ran well engine wise all day, but had weird issue with low oil pressure at idle (around 10psi on aftermarket gauge) but was fine once you lift it a few rpm. Will have to look into this to see if the gauge is playing silly buggers or if something is going wrong. Wasn't any lifter noise when pressure came down so I don't think its actually losing pressure.

The diff sucked major ass most of the day. Just wanted to single peg leg. Bought a gtr diff, shafts and hubs that i probably should have put in before hand, but I was too lazy. So this will fix that problem.

The biggest problem I had was with the power steering.

Hopefully someone can shed some light on this as I have been having it for a while now.

When going from left to right really quickly like slide one way then traverse the other, it would feel like I loose all power steering. ie just bind and get real heavy.

Didn't get any better or worse throughout the day so I don't think its related to the fluid overheating. Also the fluid in the reservoir was not bubbly.

Fluid was changed about a year ago so would think it's not too old.

Running hicas lock bar with the lines blanked off behind the rear solenoid.

I'm thinking it could be one of two things.

1 - pump failing

2 - combination of an rb25 balancer running an r32 pump meaning the pulleys are the wrong combination.

have an r33 pump that came off this motor when I bought it which I will put in and remove all of the hicas crap form the car when the s14 frame goes in. Hopefully this will fix it as its really hard to get the car to do what I want it to on the tighter stuff.

All in all. A dam good fun day and it was only $25 for entry!

[Dylan454]

How did you go about the wiring for the 25 swap?

[Sparks]

Gotta say it sounds awesome! that video shows off plenty of rev limiter and backfiring. Yum!

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

How did you go about the wiring for the 25 swap?

Wiring wise I just used the original rb20 loom, cut off the plugs for the injectors and soldered on the plugs for the 25 injectors. Then swapped injector pins 4 and 6 (I think). Everything else just plugged in and ran. This was a series 1 motor. Series 2 is a little different regarding the knock sensor sub loom

and tps wiring but still pretty easy.

[HR32GTS 4DOOR]

Finally getting around to sorting the rear end out.

Painting up the subframe and arms before it goes in. Funny how this will have better paint than the outside of the car.

Just need to track down some GTR bottoms for my coilovers to fit the GTR hubs and it will all go in.

Hoping by raising the subframe so it is a few mm from the body will eliminate the need for adjustable arms to get the alignment right.