R32 Sedan - Grip and Drift (have my cake and eat it too build)

[CRSKmD]

Got the new diff setup at 1110 Engineering and into the car.

decided i should really try and clean up the exhaust while i was at it so future leaks are easier to find and hopefully reduce the smell.

I also fixed up the varex wiring which had been not used for the last 4+ years. Turns out the varex had been slightly closed all this time

Bought some Acostal knuckles with custom Ackerman specs to better suit the use case of the car. These will go from stock (+20°) though to essentially parallel (0°).
Some other benefits are:

• Change of KPI for less camber gain but with more static camber
• LCA pushed lower from some correction
• shorter steering arms for a faster ratio

VS. stock knuckle

test fit

The plan will be to get an alignment in the +20° position with the toe set for grip and street duties

Then another at +5° with more toe out.

This way i should be able to drive to the track then, for drift days, in 20 mins or less swap the ackerman position and adjust the toe (ideally in 0.5 turn increments) for drift.

I am also looking at moving the steering rack forwards 25mm. which will also effect ackerman but reduce chance of bind 

[CRSKmD]

After years of avoiding it due to it effecting/reducing the ackerman and being potentially worse for grip. I finally have relocated my steering rack forwards. I picked up a spare crossmember so just in case i hate it i can revert back to stock position.

hopefully this will eliminate the binding at lock while drifting. 

closer look

I used a engine support beam to hold everything up while i dropped the stock crossmember out the bottom. It all went pretty quickly but, of course, not without issue. In typical Nissan fashion the engine mount split, though only on the passenger side. It looks like heat from the turbo may have been a factor.

[r32-25t]

It’s usually the torque from the engine pulls them apart, most people just fit a solid one to the passenger side 

[CRSKmD]

Torque for sure helped pull it apart but I think the heat helped to perish the rubber. I replace both together in 2019 ish. The driver side is still supple and rubber feeling. The passenger one is much more dry and cracked. 
 

eitherway slapping another oem style on in for now as I was able to grab one from a mate in reasonable condition. But may look into other mount styles in future. 

[robbo_rb180]

A bit of heat shielding sheet bent over the engine mount could help with the heat.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

I use these things, not sure if it works for your car

https://www.vibra-technics.co.uk/nissan/skyline_r32_r33_r34_gts/657/NIS242MX/engine_mount_r33_gts_t_rb25det_r34_gtt

 

[DaymoR32]

i've got solid billet engfine mounts in mine, no vibrations at all. i was actually suprised when i saw them with how smooth the car feels.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

5 minutes ago, DaymoR32 said:

i've got solid billet engfine mounts in mine, no vibrations at all. i was actually suprised when i saw them with how smooth the car feels.

dat Inline 6 life!

Try that with a SR20 lol... the whole car feels like a vibrating sex toy

[CRSKmD]

14 minutes ago, DaymoR32 said:

i've got solid billet engfine mounts in mine, no vibrations at all. i was actually suprised when i saw them with how smooth the car feels.

Really!? I tried a billet gearbox mount back in the day and it lasted all of 5mins before i went to a harder rubber Nismo one. Thought it would be worse with motor mounts 

[DaymoR32]

2 minutes ago, CRSKmD said:

Really!? I tried a billet gearbox mount back in the day and it lasted all of 5mins before i went to a harder rubber Nismo one. Thought it would be worse with motor mounts 

Honestly, thats why i was suprised when i saw them!

[CRSKmD]

did some eyeballing of where the current 285mm tie rods could get me and found they were ~15mm to short to get my drift alignment settings.

Found RE-844L which is meant to be 300.5mm long. Turns out the "ROADSAFE" version is 306mm long

bolt everything to check clearances in each setting.

Grip

"Drift"

 

pretty cool what one bolt and then some toe adjustment can do to hopefully mean i can drive to the track on a street/grip setting and reasonably quickly change it to a drift setting.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Very cool!

Just a question (besides extra lock, and reduction in camber ramping), what are the real differences between grip and drift mode?

[CRSKmD]

25 minutes ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

Very cool!

Just a question (besides extra lock, and reduction in camber ramping), what are the real differences between grip and drift mode?

so the knuckle changes to stock:

• Change of KPI for less camber gain but with more static camber
• LCA pushed lower drop knuckle from some correction
• shorter steering arms for a faster ratio
• use of 350z bolt on hubs which are easier to change and bigger/stronger
• adjustable ackerman, in my case 0, 5, 15 and 20

so all of the above benefits/changes stay the same all that changes between my drift/grip setting is the ackerman and the toe.

As a starting point i'm trying out but will keep adjusting to find what works for me.

Grip:

Camber: -4°

toe: -2mm total

Caster: 7°

Ackerman: +20°

Drift:

Camber: -4°

toe: -8mm total

Caster: 7°

Ackerman: +5°

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

@CRSKmD thanks for that!

Very cool insight for sure  

 

I guess with drifting you want massive turn in, hence the toe out. Can't imagine how fun/not fun that would be driving to and from an event lol... the car would tramline all over the shop on our shitty Aussie roads. 

[CRSKmD]

8 minutes ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

@CRSKmD thanks for that!

Very cool insight for sure  

 

I guess with drifting you want massive turn in, hence the toe out. Can't imagine how fun/not fun that would be driving to and from an event lol... the car would tramline all over the shop on our shitty Aussie roads. 

yeah the the "inside wheel" becomes your "lead wheel" and the "outside wheel" becomes your "trailing wheel" so where they are loaded up and when is almost flipped

[CRSKmD]

Enjoy some POV footage of the new setup with my first time on the DSA RA2 Reverse layout of the Tailem Bend stadium circuit.

 

 

[CRSKmD]

After dealing with temp issues most track days with oil reaching 130°C *

(*oil temp sensor maxes out at 130°C)

I decided to look at upgrading the cooling system.

To start with i got two new oil temp sensors from Metric Motorsport, one to replace the existing one on the sandwich plate and one additonal sensor to place on the relocation block so i can see the temp delta and the effectiveness of the cooler. Though looking at oil flow direction I may need to get an inline -10AN fitting so the sensor can firmly be in the return path post cooler as the current position is on the hot side of the loop.

The plans for this upgrade:
- Bought a Koyorad to replace the old cooling pro ebay radiator i got in ~2013
- Larger oil cooler to replace the 10row trust core, 25-30 row if i can fit it
- Watersprayers
- Ducting

[robbo_rb180]

2 hours ago, CRSKmD said:

- Ducting

This is key to any heat exchanger. Getting fresh air in and across the whole surface.
25 row oil cooler will be enough.

With old cooling pro radiator (fully ducted from front bar) and setrab 20 row oil cooler (open air) with thermostat (85C) on the rb25 (half grout filled) in s chassis.
93C Coolant Temp, Oil temp around 96 after 5 laps QR on a 30 degree day

[CRSKmD]

The biggest cause of heat is the undersized turbo. With the same setup on the RB20 where the turbo sat in its efficiency range I’d never cross 100° oil temp. Now where it’s sitting outside I have seen manifold temps of 1200° according to the ceramic coaster when he looked at the car recently and have seen the exhaust housing glow red ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
 

But I am avoiding the snowball that will be changing out the turbo. 
 

so fingers crossed all the above with better ducting will be the solution. 

[joshuaho96]

3 minutes ago, CRSKmD said:

The biggest cause of heat is the undersized turbo. With the same setup on the RB20 where the turbo sat in its efficiency range I’d never cross 100° oil temp. Now where it’s sitting outside I have seen manifold temps of 1200° according to the ceramic coaster when he looked at the car recently and have seen the exhaust housing glow red ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
 

But I am avoiding the snowball that will be changing out the turbo. 
 

so fingers crossed all the above with better ducting will be the solution. 

Curious to know what others think of this, in my head this doesn't quite make sense. I'm thinking the explanation is more like the RB25 can keep the turbo spooled for a wider powerband so more power on average -> more heat to dissipate. Everything else kind of seems like a 2nd or 3rd order effect that wouldn't make a 30+C delta in oil temps.