Bills 33 Gtst Streeter/track Car

[MBS206]

30 minutes ago, admS15 said:

I forgot to mention, there is another speaker/device the Germans call a soundaktor. It's located on the firewall behind the engine and I believe it simulates engine induction sounds. Lol, bloody Germans.

Unsurprisingly, this exhaust speaker crap is rife in Euro land. Audi, VW, BMW and Maserati to name a few all use them.

I was very aware of them using the car's audio system to bring an "exhaust note" into the cabin. BMW years ago started doing things with the M3, like a small acoustic tube off the exhaust, aimed at the firewall to make the exhaust sound louder in the car, without making the exhaust actually louder. 

 

This speakers in the exhaust thing though is totally weird, and I nominate everyone to use peer pressure to get the speakers in the exhaust hooked up to a car stereo...

 

You know, two 2Ohm speakers in Series is a 4Ohm speaker, and now you've got one channel for a car stereo  Go on! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!

 

Imagine rolling into something like a Cars and Coffee meet and getting to Rick Roll everyone with your exhaust

 

DO IT DO IT DO IT!

 

As Nike would say... Just Do It!

[Kinkstaah]

Ye, I think there's a fundamental difference between augmenting sound for the driver... and augmenting sound for people outside the car...

I can totally see running a tube from the intake through the firewall that you could open/close. Saw a good video on a guy doing it for a supercharged mustang. 
 

Could see people (Dose) doing this for turbo sounds.

[admS15]

@Kinkstaah that video sounds like my Mini Cooper s with open air box, hahaha and the turbo on my RB when it lost a turbine blade.

 

The Audi system doesn't use a tube like that or play the sound through the stereo, it's a standalone speaker. Ze Germans be crazy, add like 600 different modules in a car for no reason and call it technological advancement.

@MBS206 I'll put it onto the to do list.

[admS15]

Minor update. The zestino 07a where fitted to the 33 recently. I tell you what, tyre fitting prices have gone way up. $40 per tyre is the going rate now, Sheesh. Rang around locally and one bloke said $30 each if I took the old tyres away. I was happy with that, as that was the plan. 

The ad08r that came off where promptly posted on marketplace as skid or fitment check tyres for $100. Gone a few hours later. Net cost of tyre change was $20. Excellent.

Tell you what, the zestinos grip really really well straight line. I'm quite impressed, can almost put all the power down in 2nd gear, even in the wet they hold on better than expected. 

Sure, the ad08r that came off where old and rock hard but I really don't remember them being any better for straight line traction when they where brand new. 

Only downside is it feels like Ive lost 100rwkw, no more 3rd gear power slides and baking the tyres at will🙁.

SQ5 has been going well and chopping just about everything at the traffic light gp. It's been happy motoring.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

25 minutes ago, admS15 said:

SQ5 has been going well and chopping just about everything at the traffic light gp. It's been happy motoring

Vorsprung durch Technik

[admS15]

Have booked in for a track day at Sandown this weekend for a bit of a shakedown. First one in 3 years+. Yay.

Got to work last week and refitted the track pads, wheels/tyres, rollcage, race seat and harness. Took me a few hours all up. Also re bled the brakes while at it. Ready to roll.

Will be going out on 5 year old nankang ar1's, I know I won't be going anywhere near a pb but should be ok for a shakedown.

I have a can of octopus grip tyre softener in the shed. What do you guys reckon, should I use it to treat the tyres or just leave them as is and hope for the best?

 

[Duncan]

unless you had it for a reason, I would give the tyre goop a go.....not like you can make a wrecked tyre more wrecked.

[Kinkstaah]

18 hours ago, Duncan said:

unless you had it for a reason, I would give the tyre goop a go.....not like you can make a wrecked tyre more wrecked.

I mean... a more-wrecked tyre can make a _car_ more wrecked though...

[admS15]

On 19/09/2023 at 9:25 AM, Kinkstaah said:

I mean... a more-wrecked tyre can make a _car_ more wrecked though...

This is very true and I won't lie, I am slightly concerned about a tyre possibly delaminating (hence asking the question here) but I think if that was going to happen, it would regardless of tyre softener usage. I'm going to roll the dice and use it but will be cautious and check the condition of the tyres like a hawk between sessions. I think I'll take the street wheels with the zestinos as a back up, wouldn't mind cutting a couple of laps with them to see what they can do.

 

[Kinkstaah]

I also replaced my old RS4's (about 4.5yr) with new RS4's. The difference was staggering... I would not be surprised that new zestinos do better than old AD08R's by the way, at least until they get some heat into them.

That said, anything on the track is fun

[admS15]

Yep, you're probably right. The idea is to burn up the old track tyres to get new ones and not wreck the new street tyres but if it has to be done, it will be done.

You should bring your R34 out, we can torch tyres together, lol.

[admS15]

Octopus grip has been applied, 1 coat went on on Tuesday and a second went on today. Shed smells really funky, like an Asian massage parlour on roids (think tiger balm X 1000 strength). Your meant to wrap the tyres in plastic after the 2nd application. Will get around to that tomorrow.

 

 

 

Weather is looking good for Sunday, 23° and sunny. Should be decent track conditions. 

In other news, while looking around the shed, I found 2 boxes of front brake pads, turns out there's an almost new set of front pads, much better than the ones that are fitted ATM (I was sure I had a decent set but couldn't find them on the day I was doing the brakes, the ones fitted are around 50%, should get through the day ok). I'll keep the newish ones for when I get new tyres.

The boat has always struggled with rear brake wear, it's kind of weird as every other skyline owner reports minimal rear wear. Maybe it's because non abs model, possibly has slightly less front bias or maybe just overheating. To try combat this without upgrading the rear brake setup, I'm trying out Circo m119. They've been fitted, we'll see how they hold up.

[Kinkstaah]

I had a problem with rear brake wear. I don't remember the setup you have with regards to brakes. I have a front BBK and I would go through rear brakes at a ratio of 3:1!

(not to mention braking was always exciting for me, but I didn't have a reference point for tracking a skyline)

I upgraded my BMC to a BMC57. Problem very solved.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

If you run larger front brakes with the stock rear calipers, you'll torch through pads as the bias is off.

A few options, one is to go larger rears such as GT-R Bangbros or simply install a brake bias valve.

[admS15]

On 22/09/2023 at 9:51 AM, Kinkstaah said:

I had a problem with rear brake wear. I don't remember the setup you have with regards to brakes. I have a front BBK and I would go through rear brakes at a ratio of 3:1!

(not to mention braking was always exciting for me, but I didn't have a reference point for tracking a skyline)

I upgraded my BMC to a BMC57. Problem very solved.

I have a stoptech st40 kit with 332 X 32 rotors. And 3:1 is around the wear rate. Braking is good though. I did also have the same issue with stock brakes but probably 2.5:1. The bm57 may be an option but don't know how it will go with the fronts, stoptech matches the kits to the factory master cylinder. The pistons in the caliper are pretty small from memory, smaller than GTR brembos.

On 22/09/2023 at 12:07 PM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

If you run larger front brakes with the stock rear calipers, you'll torch through pads as the bias is off.

A few options, one is to go larger rears such as GT-R Bangbros or simply install a brake bias valve.

Brake bias valve sounds good and fits in with the tight arse nature of the car. Will definitely look into it if problem persists.

 

Thanks for your thoughts gents.

[Kinkstaah]

The difference in my experience made this a must-do-mod. As in, get it installed before the end of the week for your track day for maximum results (if someone has one on a shelf)

Locking rears before your fronts even apply their max force is as dumb as it sounds

[admS15]

Unfortunately won't be happening b4 track day. Surprisingly I don't have rear brake locking issues, just high wear. 

The only time I can recall pinching a rear was mg corner T10 at Phillip island. It is downhill and off camber so kind of explainable. 

Looking forward to Sunday and just getting some leisurely laps in 😂

[admS15]

Track day, done and dusted. Tyres actually gripped ok, managed a 1:26.1 which is around the expectation I had. Could of gone a bit quicker but there where some issues encountered.

Had to get towed off half way through 1st session. First time ever having to be towed off. I heard some weird electrical arcing noises, flashing air bag light and dash going crazy followed by smoke coming from the boot. Car lost power and came to a rest.

Thankfully my questionable tow point was strong enough for the task and once back to the pit area it was a simple fix.

 

The direct power wire from battery to fuel pump shorted on my amp, must of been cutting into it over time. Wire was removed and bush mechanic repaired/joined together and reinsulated with a combo of insulation and Gaffa tape.

 

 

 

Car fired up and all was well again. 2nd session was fairly drama free and I did the 26.1 , by the end of the session the brake pedal went real long. Most probably a combination of the breaking in of the new rear pads and old low front pads not cutting it. Was fine after a couple of cool down laps.

 

To be continued

[admS15]

Session 3, first few laps went ok, brakes felt good, starting to get into it a bit and then disaster struck and had to be towed off again. This time it was terminal. I knew from the moment I heard the bang and saw the smoke pouring out the back that this was serious. Luckily there was a tow truck in the car park and I was able to find and convince the bloke to tow me home.

Not good

 

I had a quick peak under the bonnet and it wasn't looking good, big oily mess.

 

Picture doesn't look that bad but there's oil everywhere in that corner of the bay. At this point I was thinking the worse, possibly Rodney had left the room.

Within half an hour of the incident I was home and started investigating. Sump was overfull and the radiator empty. 

 

 

Hmm, starting to hope that maybe it's just a head gasket and the smoke out the back is the result of the sump being overfilled. 

Got underneath and started looking around, looking at the mess underneath there, things are looking more serious again.

These where found sitting on the cross member and PS rack.

Rodney well and truly has left the chat and thrown a leg out of bed. f**k...

Today I got underneath again and had another look and found the secondary additional pcv site.

And found it

 

R.I.P RB you served well.

WTB RB25DET 

[Duncan]

Oh that is not ideal.

Perhaps ship it over to "I do cars" to tear down and make back the cost in youtube views?