Another Street Gt-t Build

[RBrennan25]

Hey all, I've had a lot of people asking about my mods and various other things so I thought I'd just start a thread and have all the information here.

I've had 2 skylines before this 1, but I've always wanted an R34 so I started searching for something that looked nice and wasn't abused. I didn't find a single one in Australia that fitted that description and were even remotely in a real world budget. So where else to look? Japan obviously. The wait to get it here nearly killed me as I was borrowing my mums Kia. I found the car online myself and paid Someone to bring it in for me (BIG mistake but I don't think I can name and shame?) with the help of a mate. The car landed in Australia and I still found myself waiting nearly 2 months before I could drive it and the tyres were well and truly illegal and unsafe (something else wasn't done as promised as well but I forget what, it was 2 years ago).

But anyway it was obviously a huge step up from the Kia but it was never going to stay standard for long. When it landed it only had a HKS silent hi power cat back, so the first mods were to finish the exhaust with a split pulse dump pipe custom made by pulse racing at Menai and a hi flow cat, a cooling pro return flow intercooler (for the blackness), and a turbo smart eboost street boost controller. With all of this fitted it was chucked on the dyno and pulled 217.8 rwkw at 12psi. This was P100 when united used to sell it, so I think it was definitely worth using. Such a shame they don't make it anymore.

Anyway it now pulled really hard on the street and was a really fun car to drive and I was happy with it for quite a while. I will call this 'stage 1' haha. Pictures will follow tomorrow

[RBrennan25]

Few pictures.

The day I got her home

The intercooler

Stealthy

Exhaust

[RBrennan25]

So after driving for a few months, it was brilliant. I loved it and it wasn't too bad for a daily. But the daily driving meant that the K's added up pretty quick and all of a sudden the clutch was sounding a bit off and slipping on WOT. So with a few recommendations on here, I rang NPC and told them it was a daily and that it would probably see more mods eventually and they recommended an organic clutch to keep the standard pedal feel but hold 300rwkw and that seemed more than enough so I bought it and it was at my doorstep 2 days later. Great service and product so if you're after a clutch give these guys a ring.

So it was around this time I started getting more and more involved with SAU. I'd been stalking the forums for a while but had never really posted anything or met anyone or anything of the like. I then saw a post advertising a restaurant (ribterranian freaking awesome btw) by a bloke named James so I went down to check it out and met James and his brother Danny. They talked to us for ages about cars and cruises and the like and said they had organised a cruise for a couple of weeks time on SAU and I should come along. This was the first of a tonne of cruises haha

[RBrennan25]

So after a few more cruises with the boys and meeting a tonne of really nice and knowledgable people I decided it was time to sign up for a paid membership. Certainly haven't regretted that. All the members have been extremely welcoming and always help out with whatever they can, definitely recommend signing up.

Now on the cruise to Wollongong through the national park I developed a misfire under a fair bit of load so it was decided that I would change my coil packs to splitfires, which I planned to do anyway. The misfire went away unsurprisingly.

This is the beginning of stage 2 haha.

The power bug had bitten and I was determined to get more out of the car. At the time I was working around 80 hours a week and actually getting paid over time so saving was very easy and with all that time at work (the place was the deadest you've ever seen so I had lots of time to think) I started planning the next step. I knew I needed certain things, like turbo, ecu, injectors, fuel pump and a few other things and there is a plethora of options available and opinions for and against most of them. So I decided the best thing I could do was follow a few build threads and see what things they had in common and ask a few questions of the owners. I messaged a guy named Mat (34GeeTeeTee) and he was extremely helping in telling me about his car and what he liked etc and this really helped me choose a few parts. The only real difference in our cars was that his was a little more track focused and I wanted to keep the turbo a low mount.

So the list consisted of:

ID1000's

Walbro 460 fuel pump

Haltech ecu and flex fuel set up

Metal intake pipe

But I hadn't decided on a turbo. There were loads of options and all had positives and negatives. Then all of a sudden my choice was made for me, Stao from Hypergear had a bunch of ATR43SS2's lying around and decided to have a sale - $999 + delivery for the turbo, braided oil line and spacer for the manifold. $1000 for a bolt on turbo capable of well over 300rwkw!? Bargain of the decade and I was all over it like a rash

Somehow this is the only pic I took of the turbo :S but gives a bit of an idea

[RBrennan25]

With the turbo bought I set about collecting the other parts I'd need, albeit slowly as the mrs and I moved to a new unit and I had to focus on buying a few furniture things and what not. With that out of the way the focus returned to the car and I placed an order with Scotty to get the injectors, fuel pump and intake pipe, and booked the car to go in to Pulse Racing to have everything fitted but I left plenty of time in between when I booked it and when it was going in, just to allow for unforeseen things.

Then the most surprising thing ever happened. Without going into too much detail, my mrs sister had a problem with her ovaries and might no be able to have kids, so the doctors strongly suggested that my mrs Beth go and get tested. So I dropped her off to the doctors with her mum and started heading to work when I got a phone call and Beth was in tears. My heart stopped. Basically the doctors had said that it doesn't look like Beth will have trouble having kids, as she was already around 2 and a half months pregnant! Neither of us could believe it, and took quite a while to sink in.

So I thought maybe I should sell the car and buy something semi sensible, like a stagea. Big thanks to Alex and Nick the stagea guru's who gave me some amazing advice on buying a stagea. I found a great car from a reputable dealer up in Queensland and asked them to send me some pictures and a video so I could give it a close look before I flew up. I looked at the car very closely, and they were also very good at saying there were a few tiny issues with the interior and exterior of the car and took photos of them so I could see the extent. Looked like extremely simple fixes so I rang them back to put a deposit on it, and wouldn't you know it, someone had walked in off the street liked it and put money down on it in the space of 2 hours.

That sucked. But I decided that if I already had my 34 and all of these parts sitting in the spare room to go on it I was never going to get my money back on it anyway, so I took it off the market and bought a very sensible daily, a mighty Camry wagon. I love it, it's so comfortable and quiet and the air conditioning is unreal haha. So with a massive savings account still, after buying the Camry and a whole heap of baby stuff, the skyline went in to Pulse Racing to finish stage 2.

Paul was excited to do the car and the goal of 300rwkw on E85 was set, with a full flex tune as well. I basically said I don't care what it makes on 98 just so long as I can physically drive it if I have no other option.

I popped in a few times while it was in to check progress and the boys were very pleased with it. The only issue was the intake manifold where the radiator pipes go into was fairly corroded, which I'm told is fairly common. So we had to wait to chuck a new one on, which pushed the car back a few days, and unfortunately Paul had already organised to go on holidays after WTAC (the poor bugger, he was absolutely flogging himself in the lead up to that. Really earned that holiday haha) and my car would have to wait.

Finally it was ready for a tune and Nick (levinboy) went down to watch everything. He said he was extremely surprised by the result and Paul gave me a ring the next day and said much the same so in I went to pick it up.

We made 244 rwkw at 15psi on 98 on one of the most conservative tunes ever, which is exactly what I wanted so I was happy with that. Then the E85 stuff. 281.5rwkw at 15psi which I thought was incredible. Now time to turn the boost up, although we were limited to 22psi with the internal MAP sensor. But we managed 320.6rwkw at 22psi which was incredible.

On the road the car feels incredible! It feels like an NA car off boost with E85 which is pretty high praise for a big turbo car, and anything about around 2800rpm you can really feel it surging onto boost. Full boost is made around 3800rpm from memory but it goes like an absolute missile from about 3500rpm. You can see on the dyno that it builds really fast and then basically plateaus for the rest of the run. There could be a few reasons for this but I think I'd mostly say it would be the standard cams and valves more than the exhaust or anything else.

[MrFijiGold]

Finally! Its about time you got a build thread up mate..

You know its gonna be a cracker gtt when you read "I messaged a guy named Mat (34GeeTeeTee)" lol

Needs more stage 3

[RBrennan25]

Sorry for the crap pic but its the best I can do for the moment

[RBrennan25]

So the future plans for the car (in order):

Almost nothing other than servicing for the next 12-18 months with the buns due on march 17th

But I'm going to do a service this weekend and I'm thinking about putting on a front sway bar just to kill a bit of occasional under steer.

Then the next thing will be a set of coilovers and camber arms and possibly castor arms

Then after that would be the head. In the long long run I would like a set of Tomei cams, some valves and springs and then put in a bigger MAP sensor and see what I can get out of the turbo but that is many years away and who knows what the future holds

[RBrennan25]

So lastly just some thanks to a few people:

Firstly to James and Danny for getting me more involved with SAU. The cruises have been great fun and I've met some amazing people through it

Thanks to Mat (34GeeTeeTee) for helping answer all the questions I had. Very knowledgable bloke and incredibly nice as well

Thanks to Nick and Alex and Pete the stagea gurus who gave me some incredible advice on looking for stageas. Your depth of knowledge was incredible and I will definitely be getting myself a stagea once the bubs has grown up a little bit

Thanks to Raj for taking me for a spin in his car and letting me check out the suspension work. Showed me that not everything you read on the Internet is true (who knew!?!)

Thanks to Scotty for setting me up with some great parts at great prices

Thanks to Stao for a weapon of a turbo, I absolutely love it

Thanks to my mate Nick up in QLD who is an absolute genius at cars and has given me so much advice over the years

Thanks to Paul, dave and all the rest of the boys at Pulse Racing. These guys are genuinely nice guys and do the most professional work I've seen. If you need a work shop in the south of Sydney these guys are the best.

And the biggest thanks of all goes to my amazing partner Bethany. She was there day 1 with me to pick the car up. She has dragged herself out of bed at stupid o'clock to come on cruises. She has listened to my ranting and rubbishing about cars (and loved it haha). And most of all she supported me through everything. She knew how much I love the car and never wanted me to sell it, which I can't thank her enough for

Sorry if I forgot anyone but I have the memory of a goldfish.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to chuck any questions up and I'll keep updating any progress

[RBrennan25]

Finally! Its about time you got a build thread up mate..

You know its gonna be a cracker gtt when you read "I messaged a guy named Mat (34GeeTeeTee)" lol

Needs more stage 3

Hahaha yeah what a car he has. One day we'll be ripping up hill climbs with him haha

[RBrennan25]

Now some random photos of cruises and the car

[levinboy]

Haha look at this nugget

Looking good man now let's you to the track

[RBrennan25]

So pumped for the track, hurry up and get back from Japan and get yours fixed so you can drag me there haha.

Nulon nats team of '16 haha

[Redline_GTR]

Looks good Brennan.

Glad to see the build up, about time lol.

[RBrennan25]

Thanks mate, has been a long time coming haha

[Ben C34]

Great write up.

Congrats on the baby.

Your life will hang so much for the better. Seriously you have probably had people tell you that before, once the bub is born you will know what I mean.

All the best.

[RBrennan25]

Great write up.

Congrats on the baby.

Your life will hang so much for the better. Seriously you have probably had people tell you that before, once the bub is born you will know what I mean.

All the best.

Thanks mate, yeah I can't wait. I've always wanted a family so I can't wait til she gets here

[DoseVader]

White 34's all the way

[RBrennan25]

Well a bit of an update. The skyline got some love on Friday with an oil and filter change and some new plugs. Much better on cold starts now the old plugs were definitely on their last legs.

Here she is doing her best GTR impersonation (in garage on jack stands)

Now the bad news, at work on Friday night some low life arsehole slashed the valves on my tyres so 3 of them were buggered. I borrowed some wheels and tyres off Raj and chucked them on but when the wheels came off we saw at least one of the wheels is completely buggered. So at the very least I will need 3 tyres and 1 wheel as well as balancing and alignment. The only good news is that it happened at work so it's covered by Work Cover otherwise it'd be off the road for quite some time. Will post the results from tomorrow and see what the tyre shop says. Hopefully it's all resolved quickly.

Big thanks to Raj for dropping everything on a Saturday morning and helping to swap the wheels and for providing them in the first place. And thanks to Nick, Terry and Matt for also offering to help

[MrFijiGold]

Most welcome buddy. Hoping insurance gets sorted soon and your on your way to get some nice rims/tyres.

Lol at GTR impersonation!!