Duncan's Race Car - The Most Overdue Build Thread On Sau

[Duncan]

made some progress over the weekend....

got the gearbox back from award. I actually bought this brand new from Just Jap about 10 years ago, ran it in the race for a few years until it got crunchy and then put it in the stagea where it did another 100,000klm. By the end it was pretty whirry and crunch so Award put new bearings and synchros in. Since it was the S3 33 box in the first place no parts upgrades where required. They also tightened the transfer case clutch packs while it was apart.

Also got the arms and subframe back from Chris@Craved, they were quick, cheap, and have come up awesome in nismo silver.

finished pulling the front suspension out, I think I will keep going and drop the engine as well so I can coat the front subframe too, it has been painted in the past and looks terrible. Sorry for the terrible lighting in the pic

Everything was in reasonable condition except the front passenger side wheel bearing which was farked. I'll get some pics later but I think the shop that put the driveshafts in before high country didn't do up the hub nut properly.

One thing while I'm here, one of the few mods allowed in Production Cars is to move the inner end of the LCA to get the required camber. This pic doesn't show it too well but about 1cm of material has been added and the studs moved out by the same amount to get more camber while retaining standard geometery. This subframe was originally out of the BSM IPRA car but the rules are the same in this case.

[fatz]

Should have called I have a subframe rusting in the back yard with 10 or 15mm adjustment

[Roy]

Nice...I have done all my rear end in silver too. Should be easy to pick all the leaks in my car

[Victory]

I cannot believe that I never thought of Nismo Silver for running gear components - we have built all of ours in boring black.

This is going to look soooo good when finished Duncan - keep up the good work.

[Duncan]

so finally got going again....took the motor out today.

don't believe anyone that says out the bottom is easier than out the top....this was a PITA. But it will at least make it easy to get the subframe coated, gearbox changed and find that damn oil leak

[sav man]

I've dropped mine out the bottom a few times and I found it pretty easy. What was so painful for you?

[WAGON_BOY]

Nice thread Duncan keep the updates coming!!!

[Duncan]

I've dropped mine out the bottom a few times and I found it pretty easy. What was so painful for you?

yeah look actually I guess it was OK, more just that I'm not so familiar with the tricks. I had trouble with the steering rack but could have done it differently/easier no doubt.

Now it's out it was easy to remove the box, flywheel, clutch

and change the rear main seal

also had the grumpy old man around today, the extra pair of hands made it much quicker to get the rear subframe apart and off

[XRATED]

Just out of interest, what clutch/flywheel combo are you running there?

[Neil]

Just out of interest, what clutch/flywheel combo are you running there?

Justin, he's a lazy bum.

It's nothing special at all, I can't remember what flywheel is in use at the moment, but it's just a lightened puppy. The clutch is also just your regular garden variety single plate heavy duty exedy stuff. Production class rules only allow for the same amount of plates as factory installed, so a single plate one is it, he does eat them on a regular basis though. Mind you,,, his big RPM launches sort of dictate that any clutch is in for a load of punishment. I can remember at wakie one time the clutch plate welded itself to the flywheel and fuucked his weekend.

Cheers

Neil.

[fatz]

I do believe every time Duncan drives a gtr he kills a clutch

[XRATED]

Better than gearboxes though I suppose.

Tanks chaps.

J

[Duncan]

Umm yeah sorry, kind of a slow response.

Re the clutch, the current one is some sort of generic xceed 5 puck thing with a slightly lightened flywheel. I have to keep a clutch with the same number of plates (ie 1) as stock so am pretty limited.

Having said that was much happier with my prior clutch, it was a custom single plate with billet flywheel and a full face (not puck) clutch. I used it happily for years but in the end it sometimes slipped with very big launches on sticky tyres. Once that had happened more than once I had to move to something with more clamping force because racing with a clutch welded to the flywheel is inconvenient

Basically race clutches get very hot, especially with gtr launches (eg rallies, hillcimbs etc) and having a full face greatly reduces hot spots.

Oh yeah, and the car launches beautifully, and I've never broken a tailshaft/driveshaft/gearbox/diff over 10 years of abuse

[Duncan]

Anyway, there has been some progress since the last update, including today when I lured Neil over with the promise of a 1000klm race on TV, then made him work half the day.

Picked up some finished bits:

Front sump all finished; Coated in Thermal Dispersant coating and with the Quaife diff installed

Rear diff reco-ed with new bearings/seals etc, it was otherwise OK. Interestingly Award told me I had been running synthetic diff oil which was clear due to glazing of the gears -they told me to use a mineral gear oil (Castrol Axle Limited Slip 85w140) instead so I'll give that a go

Front subframe blasted and coated by Craved

Wiper arms blasted and coated too. After 25 years they had lost a lot of paint resulting in nasty reflections off the stainless

Front and Rear Calipers rebuilt by Specialised Brake and Clutch in Penrith, then coated in Thermal Dispersant Coating by Craved. No they don't look exciting but I'd rather they cool well

New Clutch master and slave from Just Jap; the old master has been leaking unfortunately

Blasted and Painted the Brake Master....looks crap in the pic but it actually came up well. It has also had a master cylinder leak in the past

Pressed the bearings out of the front uprights and gave them a bit of a clean as well

Since pretty much everything is out, and because I am looking to make the fuel system e85 ready in the future, I decided to drop the fuel tank and clean it out

Rear end looks empty without a fuel tank and rear subframe

I expected loads of crud inside the tank after 25 years, but instead there was almost nothing. Won't bother dropping plastic tank again!

Should be up to putting things back rather than pulling them apart soon, would be nice to see the track again one day

[Duncan]

Well, Neil and Kate dropped by again today, but unfortunately it was more taking apart....there's not much left in this car to remove now even if I wanted to.

Removed the interior including dash to take the opportunity to rewire...also removed the brake booster while access to the pedal was easy(er)

I'm moving to a haltec including dash so a lot of the gauges etc are going, its a good chance to simplify everything. While this has been a race car for 10 years it was never really stripped in the first place, there is still plenty of tar and insulation, and none of the original wiring had ever been removed either

Removed the old brake booster, and the clutch master cylinder to replace them

Since the engine was on the stand and I have a shiney new front diff, we swapped the sump over too. No signs of bearings falling out for once (yet....)

[JAS-25T]

this car will be a museum piece in the history of SAU eventually

[MBS206]

So many wires for a car that in the end requires so few!

From memory a 7core trailer wire should be enough to run everything from front to rear. Overkill if you only need parkers, brakes, and fuel pump trigger!

[Duncan]

ahh yeah GTR not quite so simple...attessa computer (including ABS) and pumps are in the rear as well.

Anyway, last weekend's (belated) update. Neil put the bearings back together front and rear. All new bearings and wheel studs, and hubs sandblasted clean. uprights only got a little clean

I pulled all the looms out....looks bare...and an unbeleiveable amount of crap/oil/rocks etc hiding in all the little corners now the wiring is out

ready to strip out unnecessary wires (not that many Matty!)

previous wiring removed, including some antique turbo timer that had been there all along!

[Duncan]

so, how the hell will I live without all those gauges and wires?

Coasty Luke at Haltec sorted some new toys for me:

realistically I should have done this long ago; combined data logging and display of data and warnings in one comparably simple system. Allows me to remove all the gauges and just go back to the single dash. I guess over the years I added one gauge after another (usually after some problem that I couldn't detect) until I ended up with the mess I had previously.

[fatz]

Lol 10 years behind the times druncan