Bills 33 Gtst Streeter/track Car

[admS15]

Thanks Dan, took your advice and bought these.



The offender



Calliper being stripped



New seals in and a pair of new seals in between the removed old ones



The remains of the old seals, i think only 1 was still in 1 piece, was definitely a good idea to rebuild. Lucky my local jap parts supplier had a set of seals in stock.



Just got to refit and flush/bleed the fluid. Job done.

[No Crust Racing]

Nice work. 

Do the rest before you refill the system.

 

[admS15]

Decided it was time to replace the plugs on this nugget and thought it would be a good idea to do a comp test while i was there. Results where pretty good, ranged from 156 - 161 psi. Number 4 was the lowest with 156, the rest where 160 ish. Not bad considering this engine has done around 20-25 track days, 200k+ km and is 23 years old. When i first bought the car 3 years ago, the engine tested around 165-170 ish on the same gauge from memory. So im pretty happy with todays result. RB25 toughness.

 

Results below, from 1 to 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And gotta love e85, look how clean the plugs where after around 15k

 

 

 

 

 

[No Crust Racing]

When treated well and not too heavily modified, they are such a good thing. 

I wonder how long some of them would have gone if Nissan had of put a good breathing system on them (and I mean any Nissan engine of the typical JDMs we all buy). 

 

 

[admS15]

Been a while, time for an update. Didn't do any track days for a while due to welcoming a 2nd baby girl into the world. Decided a couple of weeks ago it was time to get out there again.

Settled on a Sandown event, was on at the right time and close to home just in case anything went wrong (good decision that was).

I went easy in the first session as it's been a while since I've been at Sandown and i wasn't really feeling it plus tyres where pretty shagged. I knew i wouldn't be setting any pb's, main aim was to have a bit of fun. Car seemed to be running good, top speed was down a bit, probably due to warmer weather and less boost.

Second session i started getting with it and pushing a bit, managed to get into the 25's. Was happy with that.

Third session decided to have a crack and on lap 2 disaster struck. I was at the top of 3rd gear about to get off the gas and hit the brakes when all of a sudden i heard horrible noises and felt bad vibration, I thought i blew a tyre. Limped it back to the pits making shocking crunching banging noises.

Turns out gearbox lost it's will to survive, 3rd gear kamikaze'd itself. I packed all my gear and drove it home. Was carrying on like a bucket of bolts but it got me there. Spent the rest of the afternoon removing the gearbox.





Wasn't too difficult to get out but i know it's going to make my life difficult once its time to put it back in.

So now the search for another box was on. I rang around to a few wreckers and replied to some gumtree and ebay ads. Are these guys on drugs or something, most wreckers are asking around $1800 for a second hand 20+ year old gearbox which has copped who knows what sort if abuse. No thanks

To be continued...

[admS15]

This is what the insides of box look like.






As you can see, 3rd gear is kaput. Metal fragments and chunks of teeth from 3rd gear went everywhere.

So the next option for a replacement that i came across was a supposedly rebuilt box on eBay. When asked the question of what was done in the rebuild, i got a pretty vague answer that it was inspected and only what needed replacing was replaced without telling me what. Was done inhouse by them which are some sort of wrecker. No thanks to option 2.

Option 3 is getting mine rebuilt. I saw prices starting at 2k not including any gears or synchros that may need replacing. Yeah, nah.

Option 4 Brand new in box r33 gearbox. I had seen an ad up all of last year for a new box for 3k and thought that would be a good option if i ever needed. I rang the shop up enquiring and was told that Nissan has discontinued rb gearboxes and they sold they're last one last week and couldn't get any more. Fuarkk. They then said they may be able to get me an r34 box, i got a call a couple days later saying they had got one for me. Problem solved. Id rather pay 3k on a brand spanker in the box than some unknown 2nd hander or pot luck rebuild thats probably got chinese bearings in it.

Box received today



Just got to change the front plate over on it and drill and tap a couple of holes for the slave cylinder and it will go straight in. Not looking forward to trying to fit it in my driveway but a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do.

Rear main and spigot where replaced today. Couldn't get a thrust bearing today as the npc clutch uses a Datsun 120y bearing but I'm getting one brought in tomorrow. The npc clutch is still in good shape, so thats going back in as is.

I did end up getting some pics from the track day from John at track side action photography who posts them on farcebook. Here's a couple. Will post more later.

[admS15]

Moar pics

[Steve85]

Congrats on another child! Hope all is well.
Bad luck on your gearbox. Sounds like some pretty crappy luck there. And for the record, i think you've made the right choice paying a bit more for something brand new. Plus you've now got a bunch of spare components (minus third). [emoji16]

[Kinkstaah]

I was reading the sad gearbox post and I was about to say "This is why people are using CD009 <--- 350/370z gearboxes" which beat the RB box hands down.. and you get another gear!

Sadly the R33 gearbox prices you were quoted is the norm nowadays.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Mashallah!

Congrats on the kid

 

Problem with CD009 conversions, they end up costing 10k. With that kind of money you could nearly slot in a helical cut box.

[admS15]

Thanks guys, the thought of cd009 did cross my mind. Brand new box is similarly priced and 2nd hand can be picked up for reasonable money but i didn't fancy the idea of the changes i would need to make to get it to work. I went with the keep it simple option.

[Steve85]

4 hours ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

Mashallah!

Congrats on the kid

 

Problem with CD009 conversions, they end up costing 10k. With that kind of money you could nearly slot in a helical cut box.

Saw this one on the mobile app, I read:

Congrats on the kid problem.
?

Edited March 22, 2019 by Steve85

[No Crust Racing]

10k for CD009 conversion? Wot.

Nice choice on the new box, maybe I will go that route too, tho I was planning z32 for the remote shifter assembly making life easier in a Silvia. Can you still get those new?

I like the pic of you up on the ripple strip.

Congrats on the grub. Booked in for the snip yet? 2 girls is enough, trust me lol

[admS15]

10k for CD009 conversion? Wot.

Nice choice on the new box, maybe I will go that route too, tho I was planning z32 for the remote shifter assembly making life easier in a Silvia. Can you still get those new?

I like the pic of you up on the ripple strip.

Congrats on the grub. Booked in for the snip yet? 2 girls is enough, trust me lol

Thanks Dan, i seriously doubt Nissan still makes the Z32 box but you never know.

Yeah I reckon that pic is worthy of being framed.

Snip, still in negotiation process. Not sure how i feel about being cut down there.

[No Crust Racing]

Just don't do what I did and ignore the post surgery instructions of taking it easy.

I felt fairly fine the next day, not realising I was still under the influence of pain meds, and climbed around in my roof doing things.

I was black and very sorry for the rest of the week lol

[admS15]

Opened the box up today,







Yep, definitely brand new. Nissan ships these filled with oil, fitted with sensors minus the speedo drive, new thrust bearing and fork setup. Unfortunately i wont be using those as i had to convert to push setup.

I did that this avo, just had to remove the cover plate behind the thrust bearing and replace it with the 33 one and then fit the 33 thrust bearing and fork. Once that was done, got onto drilling and tapping the holes for the slave to M10 x 1.5. All went well.









All done. I organized for my dad to come over tomorrow morning to give me a hand to fit it up. I thought i should set everything up so when he arrives we can get straight into it.

I had changed the rear main seal, spigot bush and refitted the flywheel yesterday. I wacked the npc clutch back on today, then put the gearbox onto the jack. I started jacking it to get it up near the engine, everything looked like it was lining up well so i kept going with it. I gave the jack a little nudge forward and to my surprise the gearbox was in place. Couldn't believe how easy it was, took all of 10 minutes. Win. I threw a few bolts in and called it a day. Will finish up tomorrow.

Earlier i got a phone call from the shop that sold me the box. They just finished putting one in an r33 and worked out the shifter wouldn't go in because 34's have a smaller bushing. They were nice enough to leave one in their letter box for me and i went and picked it up when I was done.

On another note, I've been waiting all week for a pair of rear rotors, the last set developed cracks at Sandown. I get an email saying they've been delivered. Get home, nothing. I spent 45 mins on hold, dumb driver dropped them at wrong address. Great, f**ken fastway. More like slow way.

[No Crust Racing]

Box looks great, nice work on the install.

[Count Grantleyish]

Good work Billiam

[admS15]

Good work Billiam

Thanks Gnart, I'm good at breaking and then fixing things.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

New box, sounds like a 2nd gear clutch dump is mandatory lol