Shoota's R33 GT-R RB30/26

[Ben C34]

Now knowing that it worked I am happy to take credit for the drill bit suggestion. It definitely makes it look a whole lot crazier, so that has to count for somthing also!

 

 

 

 

[Shoota_77]

You can have a little bit of the credit! Not too much though....  

[Shoota_77]

The second gearbox is fully stripped and the counter and main shafts have been robbed out of it. The second box is a lot older but the shafts look to be basically identical so hopefully no dramas there. 

Everything is cleaned up, wrapped in packing paper and sent off to Neat Gearboxes in Adelaide for surface treatment and then reassembly. I'm actually going to get them to reassemble the gears and shafts back into the centre plate just to make sure its done right. Can't believe I'll be paying someone to do something....

God dam there is some weight in just the gearbox parts BTW! All up the inner workings of the gearbox (so just the centre plate, no housings and no transfer case) weighed in at 36kgs if anyone ever needed to know! I ended up buying a tough storage box from Bunnings as the arse would have fallen out of a cardboard box. That wouldn't be great half way between here and Adelaide...

Hopefully they'll only be a few weeks with it so I can get it back, slap the housings back on and transfer case back on and in she goes!

My diff guy is still laying low so I'll find out what he's up to so I can have the sump back on and engine all back together ready to bolt the tranny back on straight away. Nothing worse than a loose tranny....

Still need to weld a fitting into the manifold for the pressure sensor to be able to measure Emaps.

At this rate it might be nearly back to driveable by Christmas. Only 12 months later than the last time it was nearly ready.  Surely not.....

[Shoota_77]

Spent most of the weekend stripping down parts to get ready for powder coating.  I’m getting k-frame, trans cross member, main body brace (goes under trans), p/s oil cooler pipe, exhaust heat shields plus a whole heap of other little bits and pieces coated.  Pretty much everything from the front end that is looking a little bit like it’s 25 years old....  I’ll do the arse end suspension parts whenever I decide to change over to the mechanical (non active) LSD diff I sourced for it about 6 years ago.

I’ve also decided to ditch the wrinkle red on the inlet manifold at the same time.  I’ll see how that comes out before saying/showing anything about colour.  
 

On other matters I’ve finally got my front diff/sump back today.  Hopefully all perfectly setup now.  I can’t wait to do my first dual LSD launch!  Hopefully not at the expense of my gearbox.....  Speaking of the gearbox, it has arrived at Neat Gearboxes in Adelaide but they’re mid workshop move (not great timing for me!) so probably won’t see the gearbox back till mid to late October.  In that time I’ll get the sump refit to the engine and have all the parts back from powder coating so will be able reassemble all of the k-frame (steering rack, cooling pipes etc) and get the engine remounted up waiting for the gearbox internals so as soon as they arrive I can reassemble that and bolt it back on the engine.

A few other bits and pieces I have to do are fitting the weld on fitting to the exhaust manifold for the EMAP pipe to connect to.  I also have to wire in the EMAP sensor to the ECU, hopefully I have a spare input readily available....  I’ve also decided to replace my head drain/breather with the new PRP dual water/oil drain fitting.  I’m not sure if I’ll do it straight away but I’ll enventually fit a header tank linked to that fitting.In the meantime I’ll fit a terminated hose to it poking from around the back of the engine as I don’t think I’d be able to get one fitted once the engine is back in.

Still a huge amount of little bits and pieces to do but we currently have a couple of things that have been severely lacking over the past 10 months (motivation and progress) so I’ll capitalise on those while it lasts!  I’m pretty confident that this time is finally the time it gets to the point of hitting the road.  Maybe, just maybe.......

I’ll post some piccies once I actually have some decent to show!

[Shoota_77]

Another one of those times I wish I hadn't started something....  Because I decided I want to change the colour of my intake plenum and I want to powdercoat it I decided to weld the two sections together and ditch the rubber seal between the two sections. 

Because I've basically done zero alloy welding I started on the bottom as thats invisible once back on the car. The idea was right but it didn't end up with the result I was hoping for....  The bottom ended up really good and the top shite!  I found out why later on..  My gas hose had cracked where it bends over coming out of the machine so the second half I welded with no shielding gas.  Added to that being chong a long alloy its pretty porous so bubbled up a bit.  I got some filler wire and spent a few hours filling up some of the holes and the porous bits. With a few cycles of welding and grinding hopefully it comes up ok for powdercoating. 

I got a whole heap of other stuff back from the coaters that came up really nice. I regretted going gloss black initially but in hindsight I actually like it. The exhaust heat shields came up like new after sand blasting and coating. 

Picked up a few other bits and pieces (Whiteline swaybar, PRP head drain/vent, etc) to add on when it all goes back together.

Slowly, slowly. 

[Ben C34]

1 hour ago, Shoota_77 said:

  I got some filler wire

Did you weld the rest with no filler? It's not a good idea to do that with aluminium as it can crack. Probably won't in that application considering it is also bolted together.

 

 

 

[Shoota_77]

Yeah just fusion welded it. I'll have to keep an eye out for cracks and an ear out for strange whistle-whooshka noises then! I've ditched the bolts as the bolt holes would have been a leak point without the seal in it. No backup from them.....

Like I said, my first gig at any AC welding so stumbling around like a drunken blind dude with that side of it! ?

Let's be honest, based on past history ill probably never drive it so it doesn't really matter. ?

[Shoota_77]

Got a bit of practice AC welding joining a couple of bits of alloy 90 together. Starting to get the hang of it a little bit. Not show car worthy but meh.

Spent waaaaay too long with the angle and die grinders today grinding off the bolt flanges, taking off the "badge ridge" thingy and reshaping the intake manifold. Totally not worth it but ah well, custom now, limited edition.  ?

Still got a few low spots to fill in then grind off then its off to powdercoating.

[Shoota_77]

Definitely winning zero awards for my alloy welding but as long as it lasts then all good.  Once powdercoated it might look better!

Next step is to make up a bit of a jig to support the k-frame on jack stands so I don't scratch the shit out of my new powdercoat!  It's a bit sketchy just putting the stands under the k-frame as well so this should balance it a bit better. 

[Shoota_77]

Gave the intake manifold a sand blast and one last weld and she's ready for powdercoating. I cannot believe how much time I've wasted on this bloody thing.... I could have carved one out of a piece of stone quicker.... Ahh well, its been good for the alloy tigging practice. 

[mr_rbman]

Considering you've done hardly any ally tig that is pretty darn good..

I was nervous reading you hadn't used filler, very glad you have for the finished product as i'd hate to imagine what'd happen..

[Shoota_77]

@mr_rbman cheers, I think once you’ve got the hang of one type of tigging the other varieties are a lot easier to pickup.  Once you’ve got the hang of puddle control and feeding filler it’s just a matter of understanding the idiosyncrasies of the different styles.  In saying that I tried to weld up an engine cover I smashed on my motorbike on the weekend and made an absolute meal of it!  That was junk alloy plus being oil soaked it just turned to poo.  Binned that part.....

Wasted $200 for a box of Jappo spec bolts so shiny new bolts for days!  Most of the original ones came up ok after a good clean but you can’t beat brand new ones!

 

[Looney_Head]

so much shiny

[Shoota_77]

2 hours ago, Looney_Head said:

so much shiny

Most of them will never be seen by anyone other than myself but I'll know!  

[Shoota_77]

Snuck out to the shed tonight and quickly whipped up my k-frame jig to sit on jack stands prior to reinstallation of the engine/trans assembly from underneath the car.  It should make it a bit easier to support the whole thing even with that. 

[Shoota_77]

Didn't get a chance to do much over the weekend. Fitted my newly powdercoated exhaust shields with nice new bolts. The little things!

Finished off my jig.

Hopefully get some stuff done during the week this week as we're heading away next weekend for AFL grand final weekend. 

[AntsR33GTR]

Looks so good man! Awesome progress

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

I should send you my R33 lol

[georgev]

On 10/14/2020 at 7:03 PM, Shoota_77 said:

Wasted $200 for a box of Jappo spec bolts so shiny new bolts for days!  Most of the original ones came up ok after a good clean but you can’t beat brand new ones!

Where did you get these from?

Good to see you are progessing...

Edited October 30, 2020 by georgev

[Shoota_77]

23 hours ago, AntsR33GTR said:

Looks so good man! Awesome progress

Thanks mate!  Slowly but surely.....

 

18 hours ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

I should send you my R33 lol

Aaaaahhhhh, are you happy to wait another 8 years?  Actually I can't even say it would be that quick..... 

 

15 hours ago, georgev said:

Where did you get these from?

Good to see you are progessing...

Cheers!

Just got the bolts off Ebay.  There's heaps of different kits, I got the 825 piece kit.  Thought I'd be better off over doing it than wishing I'd bought a few more!

This is the kit - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NUT-BOLT-KIT-825PC-SUIT-NISSAN-SKYLINE-GT-GTS-GTIR-GTR-R30-R31-R32-R34-R33-R34/163924964563?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

Away on the bikes again this weekend and still building more sheds at home (on to my fourth shed in total now....) so hopefully back into it in 3 or 4 weeks once that's done.  I really don't want to leave it too long as northern Victorian summers get stupid hot out in the shed (40+ degrees regularly) and I stupidly didn't put in any insulation when I first built it.  Another job for another day.

Transmission is not back from Neat yet.  They've started on it but no word for a week or so, I'm hoping it's close....