R32 Nismo #129

[maxster17]

Hi All,

I've had my skyline (NISMO #129) for about a year now, but finally am getting down to the business of nurturing it back to health. Work's been pretty busy, I'm in the military stationed in Okinawa, but it's going to slow down for me in the next couple months.

I believe the car's been through some hell, some kids just beat up on it and put underbody lights on it, as well as some shoddy electrical work. This is my 'rescue ride' of sorts. I'm looking to do a smooth and steady clean build, and will try to detail it on these. I'll admit to being new to this, so comments and critiques are welcome.

Anyway, from what I can tell these were some of the things done to it:

The original engine was replaced (dunno what they ended up doing to the original NISMO block, as that's a shame. Would have been a better collector vehicle had they kept it.)

From what I was able to find, it looks like they put a N1-Nur in there. I'd appreciate independent confirmation on this as the only thread I could find about identifying it was this:

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/192670-rb26-block-with-r-engine-number/

Other research I did made it seem that the blocks were numbered sequentially with numbers starting with '1' originating in 1990, and '7' blocks were made generally in the 2000s.

Anyway, I had to pull the engine because I found a bunch of oil in my coolant and thought I had blown my head gasket. Didn't bother doing a compression test because figured it would need to get rebuilt anyway. I wanted a fresh start with this vehicle all around as I'm getting it ready to head back to the US. My engine builder said from what he could tell, the engine was never pulled apart, but it did have N1 internals and the R34 CAS. Gold cam covers would imply a Nur as well, but those are easily replaced. We were a bit thrown off that all the exterior bits (N1 turbos with the 14411-06U00 part number and steel turines, oil pan) were R32 parts. Again, researching a bit more made me think they just replaced the block and put the original bits on there. It still had the original R32 1st Gen push-type tranny on there so they would have had to keep the front diff. I don't know if that would have meant they had to keep the R32 oil pan then, but it's a guess.

Some good news was that the block was still good, and it seemed the head gasket was too, so it is still somewhat of a mystery how oil got into the coolant. The only other place I thought was the modine/oil heat exchanger. (My builder said it was unlikely because there was no coolant in the oil, usually it's a two way thing)

Other mods, it had tein coil-overs put all around, some VIPER security system that kept acting up so I disconnected it, HKS air filters/SSBOV, and some HID lights that would sputter every so often. On the HID lights, I think it was faulty connections, so I will try to clean that up.

NISMOs were originally gun metal grey, obviously this one was repainted (seemed like decent work, even got the inside of the engine bay and trunk. I guess white is a common color as it's the national racing color of Japan. Whomever owned this thing originally really went the full nine on it. I assume they went bankrupt along the way as the car made it's way into the hands of people with tighter and tighter budgets.

Anyway, I have the following enroute

Suspension NISMO all around:

Front:

54556-RS580: No 5 Front Upper Arm Set

54501-RS585-R Circuit Link Set (right)

54502-RS585-R Circuit Link Set (left)

Rear:

55135-RS580 No 12 - Rear Arm Link Set - Rear

55550-RS580 No 8 - Rear A Arm Set - Left and Right Set

Driveline:

ORC-559D-01N - Ogura Racing Clutch (559 series twin plate, push type)

Cooling:

12024412 Greddy - Oil Cooler Kit - Relocation - Nissan

*I figure probably best to replace the modine unit anyway, so I bought this.

R020214 Koyo Aluminum Radiator

Exhaust:

10129001 Greddy Downpipe

193084 Tomei Expreme Exhaust Manifold kit

421101 Tomei Exhaust Turbo Turbine Elbow Pipes

31019-AN011 HKS Silent High Power Exhaust

Fuel:

17042R585 Tomei Fuel Pump

Engine:

152009 Tomei Intake Camshaft Pulley

152010 Tomei Exhaust Camshaft Pulley

143018 Poncam Type-B Camshafts (260in/ex duration0

Miscellaneous:

NISMO parts

54440-RS580 Reinforced Steering Gear Mount Bush

11200-RS580: Engine Mounts

56000S210: Tomei HICAS lock

I sourced my parts from

nengun.com and frsport.com

So I'll let you know how they do on getting the right stuff to me.

I threw all the part numbers in there because I was really anal about trying to research everything myself. If I was able to search by part number, that would have made things a lot easier, so hopefully my meticulousness will help someone else in the future.

I mirrored my parts list off the Eric Hsu build on motoIQ:

http://www.motoiq.com/magazine_articles/id/949/bnr32-skyline-gt-r-stage-1-part-2.aspx

It made sense to me. Hopefully I don't screw this up.

I really wanted a solid suspension and good flow first before I really dug into the boost and ECU. http://www.topendperformance.com offered a great deal on the Haltech ECU, a compatible rail and FPR, and RC Engineering 1000cc injectors. After purchasing all those parts above at once, and paying for the engine rebuild, I'm a still hesitant about jumping straight into the standalone process. More $$$, more time. Also, we don't have a dyno or a good tuner here. It will be a good bit of time until I can make it back to the States and bring the car to a proper tuner, so I'm still debating it. I plan on doing it, but whether I do it this month or within the next year is the question.

Overall my goal would be a 400whp daily driver. Now, with all the parts that are going in, a lot more power could be achieved, so we'll see. It's more important to me I have a reliable car than something that's going to be a dyno wonder.

Anyway, a newbie's thoughts. Welcome any advice. Thanks!

[dampachi]

Impressive stuff seeing a genuine car like this.

Best of luck with the build

[maxster17]

Thought some pics would help visualize stuff. I'm new to the forum thing. Didn't realize how to post multiple pics without using the attachment function.

[Toho]

A Nismo BNR32 *-* you are a BOSS *-*

but what you say about the History from THIS car sounds weird...THIS car must remain original...you made a good job

i don't know then the Nismo Engine was so different a original RB26....I thought only the body was different and small parts on the BNR32 o_O

what is all different?

Thank you!

Greetz from Germany

[PN-Mad]

USMC?

Living out in town?

I had a look around the parts cars on Camp Foster a couple of years ago.... but thats another story

[maxster17]

Nope, Army guy living in the American Village area. A lot of the GT-Rs have been picked pretty clean here if they are any where close to the bases. Trying to figure out how to get into the yahoo auction gig, but they don't seem to like foreign credit cards here. Nengun.com does some decent service for it, but it'll add up real quick at $15 per item no matter the cost. How are you enjoying Sydney?

[PN-Mad]

Sydney is great mate-I grew up and have always lived here. Worked in Oki for a couple of months. I know American Village, its a nice place to live over there.

Can you do paypal or something on the YAJ site or anything?

PS- you need to pick up a little boot lid spoiler that the Nismo version had

[maxster17]

So yes, I did have the boot spoiler, but mine rusted from the inside around where it mounts to the boot lid. So I removed it for the time being since it was causing rain water to get into the trunk. I'll see about getting a new one put back on. I know that was an original piece. Is that your NISMO in that pic? Really nice example if so.

[maxster17]

anyone know what this is?

I found it with both terminals attached to the negative side of my battery. No idea what it does.

The wiring was a nightmare. Pulled off some shoddy Viper and Hornet system.

Never realized underbody lights could have that much wiring though.

I'll have to research this later, but the steering column adjustment is loose. If I crank hard enough on the steering wheel it won't stay in place. Looks like the spacer/washer for the tension bolt has bent in the last 20 years of use. (Not sure if I'm using the right terminlogy at all). Pretty easy fix.

Anyone have/seen good ideas on the center console? I'm thinking of doing some kind of custom job and wiring a tablet PC in there. Especially if I do a PnP ECU. Think that'd be pretty interesting. I do like old style gauges though. We'll see, one step at a time.

[maxster17]

Alright, so I thought it was time to update this post.

Wow, it's already been a month. I wish I could say I was completely done at this point, but this project has literally taken a stranglehold on my life for the last month. I can imagine a lot of people on this forum can relate to the obsession of trying to get a car done as quickly as possible. Sometimes the parts you need aren't there when you need them. As a side note, Okinawa is a terrible place to do custom work unless you know the right people.

So for OEM stuff, I'll put a shout out to Toguchi Auto Parts. If you work on cars on Okinawa, keep this place in mind.

Upgarage is another option. They've got some interesting things from time to time. Check out the website (use the button with the magnifying glass to search parts). They can order from mainland, but there's a pretty good shipping charge involved, so be ready for that.

Obviously yahoo auctions works, but if you don't have a Japanese credit card or bank account it can be a pain.

Bill at BandM Motors was the biggest help. He's usually pretty swamped though, so come to him prepared with exactly what you want. Great source for used parts too since he's into the local drift scene.

The junkyard thing really was not fruitful for me. There are a lot of people better at it than I am, so for me it was better to go through the above sources.

Finally, Tomo at Torii Auto Skills was great, thanks a lot for the patience. Sorry to keep you past closing time all those days.

I'd like to thank Matt of MJR Performance, AKA the writer of this how to build article on the RB26. Matt, thanks a lot for the build. Greatly appreciate having "the guru" actually work on my motor. Let's hope I don't F this up.

If you're a car guy on Okinawa, that's my 2cents on who and where to go. There are guys that specialize in their own areas as well, but I'll leave that to them to get their names out.

Edited December 16, 2012 by maxster17

[maxster17]

Alright, step 1 was Electrical

This is what I had to start with:

That was...

Some Viper alarm system that would short out periodically and not let the car start until I reset it

Greddy turbo timer

3x different horn systems, that never seemed to work when I had the car

2x different sets of underbody lights

2x different sets of interior LED systems that flickered more than worked

Greddy turbo gauge

Some solar power battery charger crap that drained my battery

Probably some stuff I'm forgetting, but if it didn't look stock, I pulled it

A guy I know will be happy to figure out how to use these things

So now I have:

There's still a little bit of cleaning, but at least I don't have to worry about having a foot caught in a tangle of wire and dying of the inevitable electrical fire

Edited December 16, 2012 by maxster17

[maxster17]

Alright,

So there was a mixup at Nengun with my order which meant

54556-RS580: No 5 Front Upper Arm Set

and NISMO motor/tranny mounts did not come in.

However, everything else went on, and I'll get pictures of those up soon

54501-RS585-R Circuit Link Set (right)

54502-RS585-R Circuit Link Set (left)

Rear:

55135-RS580 No 12 - Rear Arm Link Set - Rear

55550-RS580 No 8 - Rear A Arm Set - Left and Right Set

55125-RS580 No 10 - Rear Arm Link Set - Rear

For the fronts the circuit link set does change some of the geometry from stock. The rears, nothing changes. I wanted new bushings all around as this car is close to 20 years old. I figured it would be worth it to just go for NISMO pieces all around. I could not afford some of the nicer adjustable ones out there (ikeya formula, etc.). I figure less for me to screw around with though.

[adicted2boost]

Nice! You still in Oki bro? I'm in sasebo but I'm headed to Oki on July. I just ordered some parts from nengun myself. Well see how it works out. Good luck with the build bro!

[gtr jet]

Looks like a great build. I like the way you're going with all the original parts. I take it you've still got the original Nismo 32 turbo's? Plan on upgrading them?

[BuuBox]

Great to see you're restoring the car back to its former glory.

[maxster17]

A NISMO car gets NISMO parts!

yup, the original turbos are on there still

I'm assuming that a pair of these are rated up to 600hp, assuming all the air flow is good to go. That's good enough for me.

I'm trying to avoid going obscene power on this one, because then everything else on the car starts breaking

[maxster17]

After messing up the wiring (forgetting to plug in the rear knock sensor and AAC plug, I found this reference) Hopefully it will help someone with the electrical when pulling an engine and wiring it back up:

Basically it labels everything on the electrical harness. From what I could remember, all the plugs were still different so I didn't think it was absolutely necessary labeling everything. Then again, I probably wouldn't have screwed up the knock sensor thing and avoided having to pull the collector after putting the engine back in. (Actually it kinda worked out because I had to do it anyway when my sandwich plate for the oil cooler wasn't sealing properly) Can we tell I haven't done this in a long time?

Best of luck to anyone else trying to do engine electrical!

Edited December 19, 2012 by maxster17

[maxster17]

Alright, so this was a long time coming.

Car's registered and legal in Massachusetts. I dropped it off at Kaizen Tuning and they have made some recommendations as far as taking this project further. I'm just looking for input from the gurus here.

Sorry, no pics as I'm deployed right now, but will be back in a month or so and post them up.

Kaizen Recommendations (by priority):

Coil Pack Harness

New Coil Packs

Gauges (some wiring issues I wasn't able to finish - boost & A/F), + an aftermarket oil pressure gauge, and convert to a MAP setup

Custom hardpipe intake

Mishimoto aluminum radiator with electric fans

Oil Cooler install

Fuel Lines to XRP race hose (some hard lines were damaged I guess from an improper jack point, no leaks, but may be a problem)

Transmission inspection, potentially broken rear seal

Turbo inspection, possible blown turbo

Replace down pipe

HICAS delete

*some other notes

The car wasn't making boost, but am pretty sure it is a vacuum leak that needs to be figured out Kaizen told me that they saw oil in the intake piping so they are suspecting a blown turbo.

My personal goal for this build is a daily driver that will make safe power with the stock N1 turbos on it. I would like to track it once in a while, but that's not the primary purpose of the car. I just want something reliable I can drive around town that makes good power while keeping its NISMO character. After sorting out the electronics/engine/turbos, my priorities are the drivetrain then suspension.

This is a really slow build for me because of the moving and school. Car just got here about two months ago, and now I’m TDY for most of the summer. I dropped the car of at Kaizen primarily so they could install the Haltech ECU, track down why it wasn’t boosting, and be an expert eye to check what else needed to be done. My goal is that the car should get tuned unless there is something like a blown turbo that would prevent it from doing so.

So here's what I’m thinking based on their feedback, I’m also listing by priority.

Buy Spitfire coil packs with new harness. (coils from FRSport, harness probably eric’s performance parts)

Oil cooler – I had a generic kit on there that was a desperate install as I was PCS’ing and had to get the car together for it to be shipped. So all kinds of fitment issues. They’ll reposition it and put new hoses on it. That sounded good to me. *the modine unit had leaked previously so that was removed and this kit installed

Turbos – Kaizen’s asking to take them off to inspect these as well, but I didn’t see any smoke while driving it. Overall, there probably isn’t more than 20 miles in the USA thus far. I never honked on it though either since it wasn’t boosting. I’ve heard that blown turbos don’t always smoke. I’m thinking to just have them try to tune it first because if the turbos aren’t blown it couldn’t hurt right? Assuming they are ok I save on the labor costs of removal and physical inspection. At a minimum I want them to verify the vacuum lines, boost controller, and actuators are working properly.

Gauges – I have an A-pillar mount, so will probably put them there (boost, A/F)

I was thinking of doing something different for the center console by installing a computer there. Touchscreen monitor, so a low brow version of the Tesla setup. What this does is allow me to interface with the Haltech without having to plug in a laptop, and also set up a custom gauge display. *reason why gauges ranks so high is because Kaizen is saying it will help in the tuning.

Fuel lines – I don’t remember how bad it looked, but I was considering waiting on this to do it myself. If they’re about to go, then I will definitely replace them. Just a matter of going custom braided lines or OEM.

Custom intake – they quoted me at $1200+ The advantage would be with the MAP setup the AFMs could be removed. I’m sure Kaizen would do a good job appearance wise, but I’m just not sure if it’s necessary. I really just want the car running now and may revisit this later when the budget allows.

Transmission – Ugh, after having just pulled the motor and tranny before having to ship the car, and the $1500 they are asking for labor, it’s making me hesitant. I’m still waiting to clarify if it’s because they observed a leak, or if they just want to inspect it. I don’t remember any leaks when I had everything out, but it was my first time (and we all know how that goes). I may have messed up and didn’t replace the seals or didn’t put them in correctly. (I thought I did, but this was over a year ago and I just can’t remember) The clutch wasn’t slipping when I drove it to them, but again, it wasn’t really pushed that hard yet.

HICAS delete – I was researching switching out for an S14 subframe, removing all the HICAS BS, and switching out the power steering pump. Anybody out there done this? Some parts look to be the same based on the NISMO catalog, but others, like the rear lower control arms are not, so I’ll have to keep digging into it. I believe offset bushings are required. Most of the link bushings were replaced in the transition to NISMO pieces, but I think the swaybar and subframe bushings need to be taken care of. My thought was that the subframe switch gets rid of the HICAS, saves me from buying a lock out kit, lets me switch bushings I needed to anyway, and with the S14 – gives me a wider rear track.

Electric fans + radiator – I think I’ll pass on this one, although it looks like the mishimoto setup is ~$500. I’m still pissed about that Koyo radiator that got taken out by my waterpump. There is a stock-size aluminum replacement (another koyo) in there right now. I just don’t feel like buying another radiator having barely used this one.

That was based on Kaizen’s feedback. Other plans I have are the following. I think I will be able to pass through Japan next month, so I was hoping to pick up some parts while I’m in the area from R-international (Hisashi Hara). For sure ones that are more expensive to get stateside. (I’ll probably be hoarding interior trim pieces off yahoo auctions as much as I can in my spare time).

NISMO front and rear 1.5 LSDs

NISMO white gauge cluster *purely for aesthetics, and because I’m paranoid they will disappear since the car is so old now.

NISMO short shift kit

I don’t think I can afford it just yet, but I was thinking of getting the 1,2,3 OS Giken gear kit and use that to rebuild the spare transmission I have. (Another reason why I don’t want to pull the transmission off the car now, I figure I can replace it with this spare if it really starts to go. For me, it drives fine now). *figure this won’t be necessary unless I go for bigger turbos, but if I’m going to need to replace the tranny, I’d rather just do it with something bulletproof.

Also, wondering about rebuilding the transfer case? Read on some of the forums that the clutches in here can wear and can limit the effectiveness of the ATTESA-ETS system. So another wish list mod would be this programmable controller.

Ok, I think that’s plenty to keep me busy for the next year. Thoughts?

[Redline_GTR]

Sounds like you've got a bit of work ahead of you mate!
Gonna be awesome

[gtr jet]

Coil packs/Harness aren't necessary unless there is something wrong with yours. No problem with refreshing the 20 year old stuff though.

Gauges aren't necessary on a daily but are handy so I'd probably put them in.

Converting to MAP insn't necessary but if your going to a Haltech ECU then it is worth while. You'll probably need some sort of hard pipe kit if you're getting rid of the AFM's.

Stick with the radiator you have. The standard one is fine, even with mild track work.

I'd be searching for vacuum leaks and other issues that are stopping the car from making boost before pulling the turbo's out as that's a very labour intensive job and probably isn't the issue.

For the Hicas, I'd just throw a lock out kit in. No point in swapping sub frames. Just change out the bushes needed while you're under there.