Ryno's R32... Over A Decade And Counting

[Ryno]

I'll take that under advisement, but I had a short shifter in my RB20 box for around 8 years and it was the torque that recently killed it (not the shifter).

[Notorius]

It all depends how you change gears, it's not the short shifter that kills it, it's people smashing gears with short shifters.

[DJRIFT]

I've been using my car for Motorsport duties for 5 years with a r33 box and short shifter. I wouldn't have it any other way and gave never hurt a box. but plenty of people brake boxes with them.

[Ryno]

I always loved the feel of the short shift on my RB20 box, as it had stiffer springs and felt really precise. However from what I've read online about those that have installed a short shifter on the RB25 box, I'm now sitting on the fence. The risks of damaging the synchro's doesn't really bother me, as I've never had an issue with the old (and weaker) RB20 box, but some have reported they get more gearbox noise through the cabin after installing the short shifter, and I like the luxury of quiet cruising.

What I've done (for now) is chopped the height of the shift down to suit my gear boot and knob - I then tapped a M10x1.25 thread into it, screwed in a bolt and chopped off the end. So if I ever wanted to put a screw in gear knob back on, I've got that option.

[Miguelone]

A lot of the cheaper short shifters are solid units instead of a multi piece unit with rubber inside the shaft to dampen vibrations etc. Which i'd imagine would be the cause of more volume and damage to synchros given there won't be anything to dampen the force of a hard shift at all.

[Ryno]

My Vibra-Technics custom gearbox mount has finally arrived!

For those of you with a RB25 Gearbox in a R32, Vibra-Technics now have a modified design that fits perfectly, so get in touch with them rather than going with the dodgy option of a modified standard mount.

[White GTS-T]

That looks excellent. What did you do to retain the speedo?

[Ryno]

It's a modified Navara sender with the RB25 cog attached... The link below has some good info for the mod

http://www.jdmlegion.com/KnowledgeBase/Engine%20and%20gearbox%20conversions/Making-a-mechanical-speedo-sender-for-the-RB25-gearbox-f0271b89-cd6e-425d-bc0a-ee62f51dfaa7

[Ryno]

After getting plenty of motivation from the likes of Antz and $$slowmedown, I decided to jump on the band wagon with some VHT Wrinkle paint. I planned to do just my Nismo strut brace (as the paint was flaking off in places) but ended up also doing the windscreen wiper motor and the upper radiator supports...

In other news the car has been re-tuned as it was starting to play up in the cold temps (with the tune we did in summer). The car definitely makes more power now, but weren't able to get a max power reading as there was a slight miss at around 5500 - 6000 rpm. It did make 260 rwkw at that point (with the power almost climbing vertically) so I'm guessing peak power is probably at least 280 rwkw.

To fix the miss I've just changed to a colder plug (BCPR7ES) so we'll see how it goes.

Also I've just purchased a GTR front bar and Reo (from RBMunkie) so when I can get it painted I'll put that on and work out if I'll have enough clearance to also purchase an ABFlug front diffuser.

[iruvyouskyrine]

Hey mate, just confirming that this is the mount that you used? It says its for R33 but it mounts up fine for 33 box in your R32?

[Ryno]

No that is the mount for the R33... I gave them the measurements so they could modify that mount to suit the R32 (with the RB25DET gearbox) and they made it up for me.

Now that they have the design my understanding was they were going to advertise it as a new model, though either way if you email them they will make one up for you. Just mention you want it the same as the one they made for Ryan (in Australia) back in March/April.

Edited July 21, 2013 by Ryno

[iruvyouskyrine]

No worries then man, cheers for that. How much was it if you don't mind me asking, same price as the R33 one?

[Ryno]

Yep same price... It's a quality piece of kit, so worth the money for sure.

[Saroon]

I got a genuine 32 GTR hooked up to my GTS-t. To get a square fit we had to cut a little bit out of the middle and plastic weld back together, otherwise it wouldn't fit nicely. Worth it tho, best front bar for a 32 imo

Loving reading your build, keep it up!

Edited August 6, 2013 by Saroon

[Ryno]

Due to being pretty unhappy with my last two tunes, I've decided to take matters into my own hands and permanently wire in a wide band sensor. After reading some good feedback (on SAU) about locally made Tech Edge wide band sensors, I ordered the 2J9 unit with LX1 screen.

I installed it this weekend and routed the wires through the bung where the CAT temp sensor usually goes, then under the carpet through the car.

Fortunately both the Power FC hand controller and wide band screen manage to fit into the dash pocket... so I can keep the goodies hidden away.

This photo doesn't do it justice, but the LX1 screen is much brighter and easier to read than the Power FC one.

[Ryno]

After a week of driving with the wide band fitted, I stoked by the result. The changes I've been able to make to the tune (on the fly) have transformed the car. My car has had around 6 full dyno tunes over the time I've owned the car and it has never been right on light load... I've now been able to get that part of the map perfect.

If you have an ECU with a hand controller, this is one mod I highly recommend - I just wished I installed the wide band around 8 years ago!

[Ryno]

Just fitted the R32 GTR front bar and reo... I'm very happy with the look of it. I didn't have to modify the bar at all to make it fit, though I did re-drill the corner mounts (under the indicators) as the hole in the GTR bar seems to be further rearward by about 10mm.

Of note this is the 6th different front bar I have had on the car since I bought it around 15 years ago.

[White GTS-T]

Looks excellent.

[Ryno]

Arggghhh... I have finally fixed my tuning woes - Here are the details

I've had a weird drama with my tune changing. The car would run fine for a few weeks then on random occasions the whole tune would go rich or lean, then then next day it would be fine. This has been happening on and off for around the last 8 years, but has been more apparent lately.

Then about a month ago I had the whole tune shifted to a lean condition and stayed there. I initially thought this could have been a faulty Fuel pressure regulator, but swapping this out did not change the fault, so that led me to the airflow meter. After cleaning it, the tune went back to normal and thought I had fixed the issue, then a week later it happened again.

I was pretty positive that the AFM was causing the problem, and this led me to the idea that the wiring was at fault, so I bought a new Tomie Z32 plug to wire in.

I had my mechanic at the time wire in a stock Z32 AFM plug around 9 years ago. It turns out that plug never had the 12v ground connected and only had the three stock RB25 AFM wires connected. Once I fixed the wiring (by connecting the ground) the whole tune has gone super lean but this has fixed the problem!

I reset the Power FC tune back to factory and am now in the process of tweaking this tune, but it is already a massive improvement to what I had before. The tune hasn't been stock for around 9 years, as each dyno tuner would tweak the tune to suit the conditions of the day, their tuning style, and the dramas my AFM was giving them (which was unknown at the time). I was quite hesitant to lose my tune and go back to a 'nominal' Power FC tune, however then engine has come alive, especially in the mid range.

So my lessons from this are:

1. I had my z32 afm installed by a mechanic that apparently knew what they were doing - this blind faith in them at the time has caused me around 8 years of frustration with an intermittent/changing tune. So do the research and modifications yourself (if you have the skills) as you know the job that has been done.

2 I would have been unable to get to the route of this issue, without the wideband wired in 24/7. This has been the single biggest improvement to the drive-ability of my car (as I'm constantly aware of my tune and have been able to perfect it via the hand controller). It also gives you a much more complete picture when diagnosing problems.

[Jazzadub]

Good job on fixing that yourself!

I'm now really glad I asked my engine builder to put in a wideband sensor, even though I hope I don't have any problems with the MAP/Link combination!