Chris's R34 Gtt 4 Door Diary

[jrm]

They are the factory optional parts, the wrecker that I buy parts from reckons it was a Nismo option. Wouldn't surprise me given the amount of factory fitted Nismo parts.

They look identical to the skirts on my R34 sedan - which were just regular factory/dealer-optioned Nissan parts. I don't believe there were any Nismo side-skirts for the sedan (like there were for the rear-bar and front-bar).

[Chris32]

They look identical to the skirts on my R34 sedan - which were just regular factory/dealer-optioned Nissan parts. I don't believe there were any Nismo side-skirts for the sedan (like there were for the rear-bar and front-bar).

Yeah that's what I've always thought, at least they are plastic and not fibreglass - the kids always seem to be kicking them getting in and out

[Chris32]

Been wanting one of these for ages, a genuine Origin carbon roof lip.

I was swapping between buying a black one and painting it the same as the car, or plastidipping it black like the weather shields, however the carbon fibre looked great when we tested it on the car to see how it looked - and it could go straight on without paint etc

It's a nice blend between th silver on the roof and the dark tint on the window, really happy with it

Cheers to Christian at Savanna Motorsport, big help and great customer service! I think I've found my new favourite parts shop http://www.originaustralia.com.au/

[V28VX37]

Looks great in carbon! Much nicer than my Origin's matte black home job

[Chris32]

Another round of servicing completed over the Christmas break. 130,000kms now

New front pads in, went for some Intima SS. So for they are great, no noise or dust!

On the to do list - front ball joints, right hand wheel bearing

Rear tie rod bearings

Shocks getting a bit tired also

On the parts bench waiting to go on is a HKS 2535, need to source some injectors first

[Chris32]

Well since the last post I’ve had a few upgrades over the last few months! Most of this stuff happend late Feb / early March. Half tempted not to post up the turbo results as I can't be bothered with delaing with all the stock injector / afm hate!

Anyhow, here it is, it all works extremley well and I couldn't be happier with the results so far

I’ve been detailing them in a draft to post in one hit, enjoy

Radiator Upgrade-

A leaking radiator saw the stock setup replaced with a 40mm Alloy radiator purchased locally through Garage 7.

I most likely could have bought the same setup off ebay, however with some horror stories floating about I thought I’d buy local and if I need any after sales support then I can get it. Happy to pay a bit extra for this, and they are great guys to deal with.

Fitting it was very simple, with the shroud bolting up to all the right spots, and enough clearance to clear the stock fan setup. As it turned out, the fan had a few cracks in it, so on went the spare I have had sitting in the shed from when I had my R32.

While I was at it, I removed the overflow bottle and gave it a good clean and flush to remove any old crap in it. There was a small layer of rust/dirt in the bottom which was hard to get out, but it looks nice and clean now!

The stock radiator core measured 15mm in thickness, which is deceptive given the thickness of the plastic top tanks. The build quality of the alloy radiator is quite impressive given it’s a mass produced China spec item, I used a bit of plumbers tape on the temp sensor plug it has on the bottom of the tank to ensure it didn’t leak, and the drain plug had a decent rubber washer on it.

All the hoses lined up perfectly, with the top hose needing around 10mm chopped off as the radiator sits a touch close to the block. I could have left it as it, however it didn’t look quite right and was an easy fix.

The block was drained via the bung at the back of the block and I gave it a good 5 mins of flushing with the hose to be sure all the old coolant was out. I decided to leave the thermostat alone, as the car gets up to temp quick and I have never had any cooling issues.

Turbo Upgrade –

Whilst draining the cooling system and removing the old radiator, I was on a bit of a roll and the turbo sitting on the shed shelf kept reminding me it was there waiting to go in.

I figured ‘why not!’ as the coolant was out already, so a few hours later I had the stock turbo sitting on the bench for comparison with the upgraded unit I had bought months ago.

Interestingly enough, I’m pretty sure the stock OP6 turbo has been replaced at some stage. The stock turbo had numbers written in a white paint pen, like you’d expect from a wrecker. It’s in excellent condition however, and I’ll keep it as a spare for the time being. I actually think its a VG30 turbo looking into it, as it seems to have a steel compressor wheel and the OP6 rear housing??

Having used a small HKS turbo in my R32 build years ago (2510) I have always been a big fan of the bolt on kits HKS do for the RB20 and 25. I wanted excellent response, with a decent amount of power to bring the car up to a level it really should have left the factory in, so with that in mind I picked up a second hand HKS 2535 a few months back.

Having never swapped a turbo before, and reading how these kits are sold as a straight ‘bolt on’ upgrade, I figured I’d have the new turbo on in the same time it took to remove the stocker. How wrong I was

Technically, yes it ‘bolts on’. However the kit you buy that is a complete bolt on setup also consists of oil and water lines, a 90° bend outlet from the compressor cover to the intercooler pipes.

The hard oil and water line fittings from the stock OP6 turbo are much larger than the GT25 series Garrett core, and would not go close to fitting, so after a bit of head scratching and talking myself out of putting the stock turbo back on, installation was left for the next day.

A trip down to MTQ the next morning with both turbo’s saw me leave with an off the shelf braided oil and water line kit to suit RB25 using a Garrett core. Amazing how all this stuff is available pre-made and ready to go, I thought it was well priced at $220 too, and included all the bits and pieces required to get the turbo in.

Being a second hand turbo, the guys at MTQ gave it a quick look over and gave it a clean bill of health. Apart from a few tiny nicks in the comp wheel (which I knew about when buying) it had no obvious signs of being busted, but without pulling it down to check seals etc they said it looks to be fine. Bearing play was normal for a ball bearing turbo, which was nice to know.

I decided to assemble all the lines to the turbo, attach all the fittings to the block and then install it. One problem however – the oil drain off the OP6 turbo is bigger and the bolt holes don’t line up. It was a Thursday night, so I decided to push on with the installation and pickup the oil drain in the morning from MTQ

Everything installed, minus the oil drain. The braided kit was a huge help, as the lines had enough length to be able to jiggle and wiggle the turbo into place. The next morning I was back at MTQ , and $50 later I had a new drain to suit the core and some oil hose to connect it to the drain in the block.

Now, anyone reading this who is swapping a turbo – make sure you put the oil drain in first!

It’s such a hard spot to get too with the turbo in place. Not impossible, but very difficult. Anyhow, after a good hour of messing about the drain was in, and everything was ready to put back together.

The only ‘mod’ I guess you’d call it is cutting the coolant hard line that pops around the back of the block and feeding on the braided line. Cutting it with a proper pipe cutter, I added a small flare on the end with a screw driver to make sure the hose doesn’t slip off.

This is secured in place with a normal worm drive hose clamp. There is enough length in the supplied hose to feed it right up to the mounting bracket before it disappears behind the block, and I added a second hose clamp for peace of mind. I was a little concerned about this at first, as it runs pretty close to the exhaust manifold and rear housing of the turbo but being braided hose it should be fine.

My split dump pipe bolted up perfectly, and after double checking the wastegate operation I was happy enough that the flapper wasn’t fouling on the wastegate pipe. While it was off I had Boostworx weld up a crack that occurred after some damage from a friends driveway.

I had to pick up a 90° 2-2.5” silicon bend from Autobarn for the compressor to intercooler plumbing and all the intake plumbing was put back in place, and for all intents and purposes it looks like a stock turbo. The standard heat shield required some modification to clear the braided oil line, but nothing 15 mins with a grinder didn’t fix.

For the intake pipe, the previous owner had installed an Autobahn88 silicon intake pipe, so this was reused. I’ve read a few things online about these sucking shut but I can’t see it being a problem.

After everything was double checked, I filled it up with Nulon Long Life Coolant at 40% concentration.

First startup was a bit nerve racking! I decided to turn the engine over with the fuel pump fuse pulled to make sure the turbo bearings had oil through them before initial startup. So I cranked it and gave it 15 seconds with oil pressure to give everything the best chance of success.

Having installed the radiator too, I had to complete the bleeding process while keeping an eye on the turbo to make sure there were no leaks etc. After a few minutes running and a bit of oil burning off the exhaust housing (I’d filled the bearing with oil and wiped the whole thing down with RP7 to store it before installation) the radiator was bled and the turbo seemed to be operating perfectly!

A quick trip around the block and re-check, and everything was fine. I turned it off and let everything cool while I cleaned up the shed, and after half an hour I double checked all the fittings and everything was sweet. I have since had to slightly move the oil line as it was leaking a tiny bit, topped up the overflow for the radiator and re-bled - and all is now 100%.

One thing I had forgotten about which was quite rewarding during the early hours of the morning was hearing the turbo spinning away for a good 15 seconds after turning it off!

Driving to work the next day (taking it easy as it wasn’t tuned) I was surprised how laggy it felt. Just normal driving that would get the old turbo spooling up saw next to no boost pressure on the gauge?

That night after some head scratching I found that the wastegate actuator wasn’t shutting the flapper for the gate, so off came the actuator and a few bends later it was re-installed. It now had a little bit of preload on it, and it has about 95% response of the stock turbo. For all intents and purposes it drives like a stock turbo, which is awesome.

Tuning wise it was always going to be limited by the stock injectors and AFM, however I think 255rwkw is a fantastic result. Boost wise we decided on 1.1bar, being controlled by the AVCR using the stock R34 actuator. Boost tapers off from 16 to 15psi right up top, but as the graph shows this thing pulls hard right up until the limiter.

Flat 12 AFR's right the way through, with a decent amount of timing seems to be the key to the power its making.

On the road it feels like a jet preparing for take off, it just keeps hauling! Having a good month or so to get used to it now, it really is a joy to drive.

Big thanks to Shaun at Boostworx, he’s looked after me for over 10 years now with tuning and is always happy to listen and let you have input into the tune.

Given HKS’s rating of 340ps (they rate this at 1 bar) I’m sure there is another 15-20kw hiding in it with more boost and bigger injectors etc.

I’d really like to get the Nistune Flex Fuel feature pack and tune it up on E85, but that will have to wait. For me to justify injectors, AFM and Nistune upgrade I’d look at a different turbo, as the gains to be had from the 2535 wouldn’t be worth the investment. However as with everything, I’m sure sometime in the not too distant future I’ll get bored of this setup and look for more kw’s

Cheers to forum member and 260RS owner Flavzz for lending a hand too, thanks mate

Edited April 14, 2015 by Chris32

[Ben C34]

Nice result!

So was the ecu tuned at all? You mentioned getting a nistune later?

[Chris32]

Nice result!

So was the ecu tuned at all? You mentioned getting a nistune later?

Thanks Ben, both results are with the Nistune, hoping to get the updated flex fuel feature pack down the track

[Ben C34]

Thanks Ben, both results are with the Nistune, hoping to get the updated flex fuel feature pack down the track

Cheers,

That makes total sense.

For a moment I thought you had some freaky result with an untuned ecu.... Which would have been special!

Its so awesome that nistune now has the flex fuel capability.

[Chris32]

Cheers,

That makes total sense.

For a moment I thought you had some freaky result with an untuned ecu.... Which would have been special!

Its so awesome that nistune now has the flex fuel capability.

Yeah, it's such a cool feature. Weighing up the options I'm not sure if the cost will be worth the gain in the short term, with this turbo anyway.

Still thinking about it really, the furthest I've ever had to drive the car is to the Yorke Peninusla and back, so I could most likely get away with running a straight E85 tune.

Taking extra fuel is out of the question, as any long trips will involve carting the kids bikes and associated stuff in the boot! I've already mastered loading the boot to the hilt, and I'd probably need a flexible fuel bladder to make that a viable option

[GH05T]

Its so awesome that nistune now has the flex fuel capability.

did not know this, do they have any flex fuel capabilities?

[Chris32]

did not know this, do they have any flex fuel capabilities?

Yeah, they have released a upgrade pack a while back - http://www.nistune.com/news.php

Launch control also included. Saying that its a basic lower rev limit when your clutch is engaged, not traction control managed.

Available for 32R mate

[MC-WOSHY]

Awesome thread thus far man!

Keen to see more

[flavzz]

Excellent write up mate. I can personally vouch that the car is super responsive with more than enough power for the street. The HKS 2535 is almost the perfect match for a stock RB25. The Neo head gives it that extra breathing capability too.

I know Chris and I were predicting around 230-240kw so when it came back from Boostworx with 255 it was a nice surprise. It's also a testament to a good thorough install process with attention to detail. The car is an example of a really well modified streetable daily driven car which can be enjoyed without concern of major wear and tear.

[Chris32]

Bit of an update -

The car has been feeling flat, and although it still made good power it had lost the edge it had when it was tuned as per the previous writeup.

I kinda figured I'd just gotten used to it, and it was time for some more tinkering! However after a good country drive I noticed the boost pressure was maxing at 0.9bar, which had me scratching my head.

A quick check of the controller showed that indeed the set boost pressure was 0.9, and the duty set to around 58%. To this day I have no idea how it was set lower - either my son grabbed it and pressed a few buttons, or when it was setup on the dyno we only upped the solenoid duty cycle and not the target boost pressure, so its adjusted itself back to 0.9 bar from 1.15bar after its seen it was overboosting?

Either way, the solution has provided me with an improvement in how it builds boost. I'd never really taken much notice of how the AVCR worked, but setting it up to run 1.15bar again I've improved response coming onto boost as well as holding boost higher in the rev range.

Setting the target boost pressure of 1.15bar, I gradually crept up on the solenoid duty cycle a few percent at a time and it's now set at 65%

I also played around with the F/B setting on the AVCR, which controls how fast the solenoid operates.

This was set at 3, with the selectable range being 1-9 - with 9 being the fastest. I ended up at 6, and it now comes onto boost a lot quicker, and also holds it more up top. I'll have to chuck it back on the dyno to double check this isn't leaning it out but so far, so good!

It's got the feel back it had when first tuned now, so I'm very happy

[Chris32]

2 year anniversary of ownership

[Chris32]

Replaced the drivers side rear wheel bearing the other day. That's both sides done and hopefully they last a while!

Few snaps after a wash and a drive a few weeks ago, some rare sunshine in between rain this winter

[Chris32]

A while between updates - mainly because nothing has changed! Everything is running sweet, really enjoying driving it the way it is at the moment

Just servicing and tyres happening over the last 12 months

Switched from Penrite Racing 10 to Nulon Synthetic 10-40 last service, actually seems to be a bit quieter in the valve-train so I'll use that from now on

On the list of future things to do -

- Replace shocks - the Nismo S-Tunes are getting a little tired, the back right makes the odd noise

- Injectors... Although I'm in two minds as the next step will basically mean upgrading AFM also to support 300+kw. The 2535 would be lucky to have another 15-20kw hiding in it running pump 98, and being a daily I can't justify E85 given it's more than 98 at the moment

- I'd love a new set of rims, just a bit bored with the current look

Until then, keep enjoying it!

[Chris32]

Inovit ST15 18x9.5 +26 all round went on last week

Needed a bit of a pull to fit at the front with 245's on

Really happy how it's looking now. Other than usual servicing that's been about it for the last few months

Can cover gaskets and half moon seals going to be replaced shortly too

[Chris32]

First decent clean after all the winter weather, 245's all round now and pulled the front guards a bit more

Cam gaskets have arrived so still deciding on painting the cam covers or not before I take them off