My 500 Doller Four Door - Before / Transform & Now

[xcl08]

Hi

First of all I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Campbell, 28 years young and have a strong passion for cars, bikes and well anything Motorsport & with a bloody engine! Will give the time of day for anyone at a car event no matter their car, in the end we are all there for the same reason, the drive and passion for the cold steel rolling chassis we love.

ANYWAY - enough about me onto the car

Introducing a 1993 model, R33 GTST Four Door, was purchased out of a backyard locally in town, she was in bad shape. It had been ratted for parts 2 weeks prior to me buying it. Had a list of things missing, and a 1.5" hole in the block...

I got it towed to work, the beauty about having a workshop big enough that after hours and on weekends I can muck around and see what I had purchased, shocked with what $500 had got me. Within the first hour I had landed on a mini gold mine, Rays Engineering Evo3 rims, bilstein suspension all round, whiteline sway bars front & rear, HKS Log style exhaust manifold & Turbonetics Turbo, and this was the blow away a freaking Link G4 ECU! Crossed my fingers that the stock auto had some sort of high stall converter & shift kit but that was still unknown

At this stage, I was not sure what to do...part it further and make my money back and then some...or give this ole girl a new life... I was undecided if I was going to join my local car club and use this as a track car, not ideal being a four door, but for a $500 shell I was not complaining at the time.

After a little research, I had decided to keep what I had and go on the hunt for a replacement engine. Around $1540 later I had scored myself a replacement RB25DET motor, copy GReedy intake manifold, throttle body, 1000 I.D injectors, Tomi reg and rail. At this stage I had removed the old holy engine, pulled it down and from memory number 5 rod had rolled around made one hell of a mess and wanted to escape out the side.

Trying to shorten this story a little, as I know some readers are just looking at the images now, but the engine I had received had sad ring glands, this is common to the RB engine when more boost and lack of fuel goes into said motor so I was told. The engine was stripped down, more crappy news as the crank was also slightly bent, so in the end of the day I had one good block and head. A friend of mine sold me a Rb26 short engine for cheap, although it needed some lovin, I removed the Rb26 crank, rods, oil pump and took to the engine builder. He made a good clean short RB26 engine, in my existing block, done a few extra things while I was there, grub screwed the crank and also threw in some forged CP Pistons. The head was overhauled and hey presto, I had a new RB26/25 motor.

At the same time the turbo was removed and rebuilt, HKS log manifold sold off and replaced with a steam pipe high mount. Intercooler and home made pipe works.

With this setup, car running and slowly being run in on the dyno, it was then found out the automatic gearbox had a stage 2 shift kit and a mild stall converter, that being said she made 290kw at the wheels. This alone was fun enough to own, 290kw, shitty grey R33 4Door skyline. Had plenty of power and left a nice number 11.

A couple months past and my original idea using this as a track car came back into play, the automatic gearbox was removed, as I purchased a wreck from the auctions. I used the manual and all bits required to make it work in mine. The wiring was easy to make work also with the help of the internet. Back on the dyno from auto to manual we got 330kw with less boost which is only normal as the converter sucks up some of that power.

Next on the imaginary list of shiz to do was a fresh paint job, Cherry Black with some Red candy to get some depth into it..Now I don't know if anyone else reading as ever done a full body respray but quite a few long pizza fueled nights and two months later it was a bloody good job well done.

And, well I was proud to compete Saturday just gone in my very first ever track day, let me just say what a amazing experience it was! The rush, feel and response from your car when you are legally racing around a track. The local track is small, but still worth it! My plans now with this boat is to invest in some new tyres before next month and see a tyre & suspension shop for some advice on setup with the front wheels.

Well thats me & my 4dr - Feel free to ask questions, and add some advice into camber setup on this thing. I am a little lost here and just started researching it today.

Thank you for taking the time to check this out

[KiwiRS4T]

A lucky purchase but you've done a great job with it - well done!

(For track only try -3 deg camber at the front)

[junkie]

Looks good, that paint came up really well. Always liked the four door cars, my 34 is also a four door that could have ended up at a wrecker but too clean to just get pulled for parts

[xcl08]

Thanks for the positive feedback so far, it has come a long way.

Going to try and get outa work early or at lunch to talk about the camber on this, will I need to invest in adjustable arms?

[KiwiRS4T]

Thanks for the positive feedback so far, it has come a long way.

Going to try and get outa work early or at lunch to talk about the camber on this, will I need to invest in adjustable arms?

Yep and adjustable castor rods (if not already fitted).

[DJBarnstar]

Thumbs Up!

[PranK]

Build thread!! This is awesome! Well done!

[xcl08]

Build thread!! This is awesome! Well done!

Did I post this in the wrong area on the site?

So got on the phone to Hard Race Performance today, and their upper front arms will give me -5 camber. This arm uses a spherical bearing, they also have a harden rubber option available.

I am yet to head to my local brake and wheel alignment shop later this week to see what they want me to do under there also.

Tyres are the next issue, so many semi slick options out there but I've been pointed in the direction to look into Hankook Ventus Z221 - Rim size I have are 17x8 on the front and 17x9 on the rear. Tyre pattern below, just looks the goods...

Plan to keep this thread up to date through out the year with car shows, modifications and track days!

[PranK]

Did I post this in the wrong area on the site?

No no! This is a good spot for a summary. Build threads go into more detail and are kept up to date as things progress. You might get more people taking an interest in your car in a build thread.

We can convert this to one if you'd like? It looks like you're going to keep it up to date anyway.

[EliseViv]

Looks like a good project, I love seeing potential wrecker fodder retreived and made whole again!

$500 was a good buy, but I suspect this will be an insignificant project by the time your finished ;-).

Cheers

Brett

[xcl08]

No no! This is a good spot for a summary. Build threads go into more detail and are kept up to date as things progress. You might get more people taking an interest in your car in a build thread.

We can convert this to one if you'd like? It looks like you're going to keep it up to date anyway.

That would be awesome, get this out there more and some more feedback would be great. Just wanted to show the other 4 door guys what I've been up to

Can you paste a link to where it gets moved to?

Cheers,

[KiwiRS4T]

For a track only (not road registered?) car I would forget the semis and go full slicks

[xcl08]

For a track only (not road registered?) car I would forget the semis and go full slicks

I still need to drive it to & from the track - Full slicks are not road legal are they?

[Leroy Peterson]

I still need to drive it to & from the track - Full slicks are not road legal are they?

nope. and some track days/insurance wont allow people to run slicks without a 6 point cage. it can also introduce new issues to oil and fuel supply, though some get by just fine.

[RBrennan25]

Loving the work so far mate, look forward to seeing more updates. Reading this really makes me miss my R33 4 door.

Keep it up mate

[xcl08]

So below images are of what the turbo setup was before to how it sits today.

There was a HKS Log style manifold that came with this car when I purchased it, I did use it for a little while around 6 months, but the oil return from the turbo core to the block was not big enough. I noticed after starting up the car from cold, and not touching anything and letting it idle it would smoke, until the engine came up to operating temp. I found out after changing the manifold setup and oil return likes to dash 12 this issue went away, so my guess is that the oil was to thick when cold, backing up in the oil return line and passing through the oil seals in the core of the turbo.

Images of the two setups below, what is your opinion of the two setups below. I like the high mount option, way easier to work on when needed!

One image I found of changing out the auto to manual

Still waiting to get the car over to the wheel alignment shop this week to see what options I have for camber adjustment!

Cheers,

[PranK]

That would be awesome, get this out there more and some more feedback would be great. Just wanted to show the other 4 door guys what I've been up to

Can you paste a link to where it gets moved to?

Cheers,

Moving it now, I'll leave a link in the old forum for it also.

[xcl08]

Moving it now, I'll leave a link in the old forum for it also.

Awesome !

[WTF-33R]

Love the new lease of life you gave this car.

I have a massive love for the R33 4 Doors!!!!

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Wow, mad score!

What manifold you using? From one of the pics it looks like schedule 10 stainless rather than steam pipe