Modifying a Skyline - An Honest Perspective

[inmaniac]

Modifying a Skyline - An Honest Perspective

THIS THREAD IS LOOOONG. SKIP TO THE END FOR SUMMARY!

Hey SAU.

I was originally going to write a Newbie Introduction thread, as I realized I never officially introduced myself. However, I really want to talk about my experiences modding my car, so instead I'll post a very quick introduction here  My name is Josh, I'm 28 from Sydney and I've been lurking SAU on and off since 2013. I originally joined to talk to a guy about buying an R32 GTST which I ended up doing in 2013, before selling it in early 2016. About 3 months ago I picked myself up a nice 40th Anniversary Silver R33 GTST with the intention of making it into a zippy streeter that I could use to fulfill my goal of getting on a track.

 

With that out of the way, I thought I'd write about my experiences buying parts, installing them and tuning my R33. So this is like a build thread but I'm already 90% done. Part of the reason I wanted to do this was to write about my mistakes. Things I did wrong, things I should have researched and advice I ignored. So many people have tried to cut corners when it comes to working on their cars, including me, and I want to write honestly about what I've done and how I did it so others can learn. Oh, and hopefully you can also learn a few positive things as well!

So let's start with parts that I wanted. When I got the car, I was getting together a small slush fund to get parts, but was still pretty tight on budget. I set out with the goal of 250rwkw. For this, my shopping list was (the usual):

• Turbo
• Injectors
• Fuel Pump
• AFM
• ECU

Before going out and buying them, I set about doing all of the maintenance items on the car. Oil, filter, fuel filter, coolant, and I went as far replacing transmission oil as well with Redline Shockproof. During this first couple of weeks driving the car, I really didn't like the brakes as the previous owner had let the car sit for a while and the rotors were shot. So I ended up buying a set of DBA slotted and dimpled rotors and QFM brake pads all round. This combo worked extremely well, but was extremely noisy, a problem I have to this day. Here comes my first piece of advice: if you're going to replace your rotors, you may as well clean up your calipers and hit them with some paint. Mine could really use it but I never did.

It was after this I wanted to get started on parts. However, I couldn't at the time afford everything at once, and I thought I was going to wait a few months. I therefore, for some reason, decided to get my Nistune ECU before anything else. I really don't know why, I guess because I was very excited and I thought the car might run a bit quicker with Nistune, considering it already had supporting mods (zorts, intake, EBC). So I bit the bullet, hit up Toshi and ordered my Nistune. I thought I may as well, seeing as I was going to need it anyway. This was completely stupid. Do not be like me and waste a tune and dyno time for no reason. If I had my time again I would have been patient instead of stupidly enthusiastic.

It ended up being more of a blunder as I got my work bonus a week later and I started ordering parts immediately. The first thing I ordered was injectors. After doing a bit of research, I thought that the easiest way to get to my goal was to stick with side feeds. However, I didn't anticipate they'd cost so much, with a set of NISMO's quoted to me for $1150. So off to Ebay I went. Here, I found "JECS 550cc RB25DET Direct Replacement Injectors" (they ended up being STI injectors with harnesses). I read SAU, and didn't find too much other than generally I should stick to genuine stuff. I then read ebay reviews and reviews from other websites. It seemed hit and miss. I thought f@#k it, and bought them. For less than $400 I thought I couldn't go wrong. We'll come back to these.

I then looked up AFM's. Again, I was shocked to find Z32 AFM's around the $300 mark. So off to Ebay once again. I found "Bosch Z32 Replacement" AFM's brand new for $90. Score! Or so I thought. Do NOT cheap out on AFM's. This unit did NOT work, despite the crazy positive reviews. Take the advice from others and go genuine.

For a fuel pump, I wanted a Walbro 255. For this I had a mechanic mate who happened to have a new one on his shelf that he sold me for $100. Easy, and one of the few things I did right.

For turbo choice, I actually came to this forum and took the advice given to me. I ended up going with a G3 21U High Flow turbo from Hypergear. At $1100 it was one of my steepest purchases but well worth it.

So, I got a week off work, hijacked my in-law's driveway and shed full of tools and set about installing the parts with the intention of getting Toshi out to tune my car when complete. Luckily, I had experience swapping a turbo out from my R32 so this wasn't too bad. I had the turbo swapped out in about 10hrs. My only advice for this is to get yourself a 24mm ratchet spanner to attack the inside banjo bolt. IT IS A B!TCH! I'd also suggest bringing the dump out with the turbo, BUT taking it off to install the turbo. This is how I did it, but I was working alone. After installing the Turbo, I put in new coolant and oil and took it for a brief spin. All good. Yes, I'm a grub.

The next day I set about installing the fuel pump. I've never worked with fuel systems before, but after following a how-to on SAU I got there in the end. It's important to note that I did NOT do the "earthing mod" as I didn't know about it at the time. Please do your research and do this at the bare minimum. Ideally though you will do the fuel pump rewire with a relay etc, as I will be doing myself soon. If you do not do these your pump will not get the full voltage it needs.

After taking the car for another spin, everything seemed fine. This was where I was getting scared, as I was about to tackle injectors and AFM. I knew I couldn't test the car for anything from this point until Toshi came for the tune. I decided to attack injectors first. Once again, I followed a guide I found on SAU. I did NOT have to take off the plenum or the IAC valve. It is an 11/10 B!TCH to reach into and work on, but you don't have to remove them. Others suggest you do, but I didn't.

It took me about 2 hours to get the rail out for a first timer. The hardest part for me was actually unplugging injectors 4 and 5, as my fat bloody hands couldn't unclip the 20yo plastic. I eventually use a bent screwdriver as a hook to unclip them but it took me a good 15mins to just unplug these injectors. Once the rail was out, I was told that pulling the injectors out would be quite difficult. However, for me, it was quite easy. It was a bit of a pain I admit to get the screws out from the injector hats, including one screw being completely rounded, but I fixed this up with some multigrips. For the injectors themselves, I used a bit of muscle to twist them in their rail, and then using a large, flat, wide screwdriver, I SLOWLY and carefully levered them out, from just under the plug connection. Others had said not to do this, but I did this with ZERO damage. After this, I installed the new injectors using a little bit of motor oil as lubricant and reversed the order of everything to install. Once again, the injector plugs made me want to off myself. The rest was easy.

I then installed the AFM using yet another guide on SAU. Make sure you use solder and insulate PROPERLY with heat shrink and tape, For R33s, solder the 2 Earth's together from the Z32 plug to the Earth on the 3-wire harness. Do NOT ground any of them to chassis, as I read on another guide. 

With everything installed, it was time to tune. I got Toshi over, but the car was running like dogshit. After process of elimination, we got it down to one injector. Injector number bloody 4. With nothing he could do, Toshi went home, and I went and cracked a cold one so I could start sobbing. The next day, I pulled everything apart and found this:

This is what happened when I tried to reach in and squeeze shit together. A BENT BLOODY PIN. I fixed this and low and behold, the car started and idled nicely! It was then time to get the car tuned again and chucked on the dyno!

During this dyno run, the car unfortunately misfired. Toshi pointed out that it could be the coils or the fact I never earthed the fuel pump, as I mentioned above. After quickly earthing the pump, I still had a misfire, and drove away with an unfinished tune making 184rwkw @ 10psi. 3rwkw less than I orginally had before the mods...

It was at this stage that I needed to get coils. After looking through reviews (but not enough of SAU) I ended up buying Yellow Jacket coil packs. These coils have a reputation for failing here on SAU. However, mine have not been the cause of my issues, but I only have 400km of driving on them. I also happened to get custom plates at the time because why not.

I then installed the coils and gave Toshi a call. I went to him to get the car tuned but yet, the car still misfired and the AFR's couldn't be put under control. It was at this time that it was cemented to me that the injectors were the issue.

Not having faith in the judgement, and desperate not to spend $1k+ on injectors, I got the second opinion of Johnny (dose pipe). He took a look at my car for me and tuned it up to a point where it at least drove and boosted. He was bloody awesome about it too, can't talk him up enough. However, the car was leaning out in the top end, and he advised this is likely the injectors as suspected, or the fuel pump running out of juice. As mentioned before, if you upgrade your pump, make sure you re-wire it!

After driving the car for a bit in low revs, it started running like a dog and not boosting, and misfiring at low revs. It was almost 100% the dodgy injectors. So, whilst crying into my wallet, I forked over the cash for new NISMO 740cc injectors from Just Jap.

This brings us to now. I'm installing the injectors next Saturday before once again attempting a tune. Hoping all goes well, my combo should net me around my 250rwkw goal.

I'll update this thread when done, but to summarize what I would like people to take from this thread:

• Take the advice of people on SAU. They've done it before.
• 5 star reviews from anonymous people mean shit. See the point above.
• Buy GENUINE. Do NOT buy re manufactured.
• Be PATIENT. I could have saved a lot of money just by doing things in a better order and not being stupid.
• As above, do't get ahead of yourself. Walk before you run. Make sure your car is in tip-top shape before modding. If it isn't now, it won't handle modification.
• Most of all, HAVE A BLOODY GO at doing things yourself. I have limited experience on tools and have had no training. I'm self taught from YouTube and from SAU guides. It's extremely fun and rewarding, even when you've had speed bumps like me.

I think that's enough haha. More updates to come  

Edited June 15, 2017 by inmaniac

[inmaniac]

Reserved for update.

Edited June 15, 2017 by inmaniac

[inmaniac]

Had some free time tonight and wanted to get a head start on my work to do this weekend so I completed the relay mod. Wasn't too difficult at all

 

 

[kingtube69]

Looks good mate, I hope things work out well for you 

@Dose Pipe Sutututu is a great man and definitely an asset to the community. Helped me a lot in the past and may help with my Launch Control soon

[inmaniac]

18 minutes ago, kingtube69 said:

Looks good mate, I hope things work out well for you 

@Dose Pipe Sutututu is a great man and definitely an asset to the community. Helped me a lot in the past and may help with my Launch Control soon

Thanks bud. Yeah he's awesome and is helping me with a tune this weekend. Praying all goes well after I install the Injectors.

If I still have an issue after that I'm gonna lose my mind >.<

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Thanks guys

Also I love the fact you used heat shrinks, 20 points! 

[vxsr33]

Thanks for sharing, hopefully this info can help steer some people in the right direction.

Always a hit or miss with cheaper ebay stuff.

[inmaniac]

Chucked in the NISMO Injectors today. Started her up and she purrs like a kitten even before tuning. Considering how shit it idled previously it seems my issue was definitely injectors. 

Keen for the tune tomorrow! No dyno but will report back on how it goes  

[AngryRB]

Thanks for this build thread, was a great read.

 Is that a neo head cause the cas doesn't look like r33? 

 

[iruvyouskyrine]

Coilpacks can't face back to front and facing each other in a neo. Very late model R33's use a black plastic CAS just like the Neo one.

Very good write up mate. I was exactly like you when I first started, Reading forums for advice and how-to's and being a little worried when doing mods. But I have been doing if for about 7 years now and you learn so quickly how every little part of your car works. It was very satisfying for me to see my skills grow as I do more and more work on my car, hopefully you get that same feeling!

[inmaniac]

Thanks guys.

So my update for today is this: Yellow Jackets are shit. 

I had one fail after only 400km today during tuning. Swapped it out for my old OEM pack with 200xxx kms on it and it worked!.... for a little while. The car is doing funny things  the car was pulling hard after we replaced the bad YJ coilpack, but after letting it sit for an hour then going for a spin the car started stuttering haarrddd. Went back home and swapped out all coil packs for my OEM ones. The car runs much better, but is still misfiring under boost and has a slight stutter on idle. 

Im not sure if my issue is only coilpack related, or also ECU related, as my tuner said there might be an issue with it. 

Speaking of which, shoutout to Johnny @Dose Pipe Sutututu for being a legend and once again helping a brother out. Top bloke ?

For me, it's time to upgrade to splitfires, LIKE I SHOULD HAVE FROM THE START. Will also likely ship off the Nistune ECU for an upgrade with feature pack. 

Also to come: rear brake bad replacement (source of squeals), wideband o2 (Innovate mtx-l) install

[admS15]

@inmaniac You can get splitfires from kudos Motorsport on eBay for 550. 15%off if you buy b4 midnight tonight and use voucher code cracker when you pay by PayPal. That would make it $467.50 for a set. As cheap as you'll ever get I reckon.

[inmaniac]

Thanks for the heads up @admS15 - I only just saw this and have already pulled the trigger haha. It's not all bad, I got a good price thanks to a friend at JustJap.

As an update to my situation, thanks to some investigative work by Johnny who's been in contact with Matt at Nistune, there's a *possibility* that my ECU is the cause of a lot of my problems, as it's a Z32 ECU and not the easiest to work with on an RB25, not to mention there *may* be an issue with the install of the Nistune board.

Look out for my WTB thread for an R32 ECU >.<

[inmaniac]

Update time. 

Things really aren't going my way for what was supposed to be some simple bolt-ons >.<

I installed the new Splitfires and everything seemed fine again. However, 10mins later, the engine turned to shit again. Frustrated, I had a look under the hood in case I could see anything. 

While doing this, I could hear a slight hissing sound. At first I thought it was coming from the IAC valve as it was coming from the firewall side of the plenum. On closer inspection and a lot of head scratching, I happened to notice there was a bolt missing from my fuel rail. Confused, I pushed on the rail and the hissing stopped. Fk my life, the hissing was cylinder 6 sucking in air from around the injector, or pushing air out under boost causing my rich misfire.... sigh. 

When I had a good look, the worst was yet to come, as it seems through heat and vibration the bolt has sheared off! It likely happened whilst tuning with Johnny as I was flogging the car a bit. When doing the fuel rail last time I must have tightened it too much and then some heat and vibration was enough to break it  

So I've got a job ahead of me, I have to pull off the plenum and get an EZ Out onto it, or hope there's enough thread to still get a bolt in there with some washers/spacer. 

So yeah, if you've got tips on taking off the plenum of getting broken bolts out let me know

[Kane_R32]

mate, not having much luck atm. Will be good to see it all come together in the end. Big fan of Johnny also!

[BunsenBurna]

Josh I commend you on this well written thread and helpful photos that should encourage us all to get on the tools a bit more. I'm sure you'll sort it all out soon! Good luck

[Trex]

Great read Josh!

 

Keep at it matey! You're almost there!

[inmaniac]

Thanks for the kind words fellas. 

Update: My R32 ecu I ordered has arrived. Decided to go with that despite my current ecu being vindicated by this broke bolt issue. Reason is (aside from already having purchased it) is that I'll have more flexibility with the Nistune in getting installed on it. 

I'm working this weekend, which means I'll attack the bolt issue next weekend, by which time hopefully I'll have my new R32 Nistune back and I can finally nail this tune!

[inmaniac]

Update time.

Bolt issue was sorted in this thread (and it was a b!tch): 

 

I also installed new Rockford Fosgate speakers in the back and I chucked the new R32 Nistune ECU in for a test. Car starts and runs but it's pig rich. Luckily Johnny is hooking me up with a tune in the coming days and fiiiiiinally it's dyno time on Saturday!

Pray for me bros. Pray that I have no more gremlins to sort >.<

[admS15]

May the son of rajab be with you [emoji3]