Chris' R34 GTT Series 2

[PranK]

Congratulations! 

 

I wish isofix was around 13 years ago. 

[hoodedreeper]

I can't believe the last update was in July! 

In September I was lucky enough to attend the 2nd show of the year dodging the national lock downs, this was Modified Live Snetterton. Would have been rude not to as the circuit is only a 20min drive away.

On the drive home the car threw up the TCS,SLIP and EML lights on with no change in the drive of the car. I took it to work the following week and I experienced a very bad misfire on the way in. 

Not having access to Nissan Consult I did the paperclip trick and code 21 appeared, which points at the coil packs. 

I removed the coil packs to check the resistance to find 4 out of 6 had no resistance. I'm guessing they're fine on initial start up but break down when they get hot (driving for 10mins after start up the misfire reappears)

I also noticed 3 out of 6 cylinders had oil down the spark plug chambers and on top where the coil pack sits. So I started to strip it down while I wait for a replacement gasket and half moons to arrive from Conceptua Tuning.

This was the first time working on the engine especially an RB, and wow what a ball ache this was haha 

With the gaskets and spark plugs changed it was a waiting game for the OEM coil packs to arrive from Auto Extreme

Refitting is very straight forward so it didn't take too long to put everything back together 

With the car reassembled it was time for a test drive. What better way than a 100 mile trip around the Norfolk coast. The car didnt play up at all and ran like a dream. An added bonus Mia had slept for the whole time, winner!

I'm looking forward to the salt free roads so I can enjoy this again
 

[DaymoR32]

2 hours ago, hoodedreeper said:

I'm looking forward to the salt free roads so I can enjoy this again
 

Thats what sealed the deal for me moving to Australia from the UK, salt free roads and the majority of the cars are rust free. means you dont have to spray waxoyl everywhere come MOT time 🤣

[hoodedreeper]

I've been wanting to try a new photo look/technique for awhile but hadn't had the spare time.

The car had been neglected since the end of summer last year and I can't remember the last time it was washed.  Unfortunately with winter and moving house it wasn't at the top of my priority list (plus living in a flat didn't help)

With the car washed, now was the time to go out and take photos. I'll let them do the talking

A big thank you to David Cox aka Shooting Dave for videos, it certainly helped. Just need more practice now

[hoodedreeper]

Sadly no updates with the car

Took the car to a couple of local meets

[hoodedreeper]

Its been a year since I last posted anything constructive (new coilpacks, rocker cover gasket etc)
 

The R34 had taken abit of a back burner, I got sucked into building a couple of daily drivers

2001 Micra K11
Started as a faded red 1.0L and a year later was a 1.4L with a 1.0L box, stripped, single bucket and a whole bunch of other stuff painted with graffiti paint

 

 

 

 

I sold that last August and bought a Mitsubishi Colt CZT which is currently under going some performance upgrades
 

 

 

 

Anyway, onto the (small) update

 

Back in 2020 when the UK went into its Covid lockdown, I repainted the intercooler pipes in a stone effect paint. While re-assembling I noticed the paint had started to come off, thinking it'd be fine. Fast forward a year or so and the paint didn't last as long as I had hoped.

With the car currently off the road for the winter, it was a good opportunity to sort this.

I went with a VHT wrinkle black paint, something subtle but not plain and boring. The wrinkle texture wasn't as pronounced as I remembered but its a big improvement from before

 

Heres a before photo

 

(Apologies for the phone photos)

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry its nothing exciting. Next up is a service and a good clean ready for spring to arrive

[hoodedreeper]

The turrets are now showing signs of corrosion so I need to start saving for the work to be done. I knew it was coming and we all know its nevitable 

[PranK]

Micra looks awesome. I bet it was a hoot!

Intercooler pipes look much better. Fingers crossed the paint lasts longer.

Any idea what the turrets will cost?

[hoodedreeper]

On 30/01/2022 at 10:57 PM, PranK said:

Micra looks awesome. I bet it was a hoot!

Intercooler pipes look much better. Fingers crossed the paint lasts longer.

Any idea what the turrets will cost?

It was very fun to drive even on its first track day. The reason for selling was to gain any more power would cost a considerable amount of money (80hp aint much on track). SR20DE could have been on the cards but i'd need another daily haha

Turret repair prices vary alot on condition and whats hiding underneath, it also depends who you go to. It can be from £1500 ($2860 AUD) to £4500 ($8580 AUD)

A friend has a converted R34 GT which had rust bubbling when he first bought it 5 years ago. Didnt do anything and left it, now its undrivable and he's now at the higher end of the price bracket

[PranK]

On 31/01/2022 at 7:05 PM, hoodedreeper said:

It was very fun to drive even on its first track day. The reason for selling was to gain any more power would cost a considerable amount of money (80hp aint much on track). SR20DE could have been on the cards but i'd need another daily haha

Turret repair prices vary alot on condition and whats hiding underneath, it also depends who you go to. It can be from £1500 ($2860 AUD) to £4500 ($8580 AUD)

A friend has a converted R34 GT which had rust bubbling when he first bought it 5 years ago. Didnt do anything and left it, now its undrivable and he's now at the higher end of the price bracket

Holy smokes! Thats some serious cost.

[hoodedreeper]

Apologies for the thread bump, another year has passed since the last post, hopefully 2023 will have more updates.

As always, the daily driver gets more attention and the R34 gets neglected. The Colt CZT was sold last August and I purchased an MX5 NC1 Sport. From October 2021 > October 2022 I had only driven the Skyline 1000 miles

I'm due to get married in April and have been holding out spending any money on mods for the MX5 till after the big day. Rather than doing that I promised myself I'd drive the Skyline more and sort out a couple of minor things on it.

I usually wait until March/April to put it back on the road, but the UK weather had been dry and the roads reasonably salt free. So with that, I decided to tax the car, give it a clean and blow off the cob webs (litually).

I remember driving the car last year and hearing a whistle/whine on acceleration aswell as a struggle to build boost. I did a smoke test and there were no leaks. I also did a vacuum pressure test on the actuator and it held pressure no problems.

I removed the intake hose to check the play to find it does have about 1mm in-out play, the same amount the last time I checked (April 2020) Not ideal!

With the car back together I took it for a test drive and it all seemed fine. The Greddy Profec OLED boost controller was set to my low boost setting (7-8psi) and it built up boost with no issues. The whistle/whine noise had disappeared too, strange. I also blanked the blow off valve to see if that eliminated any issues, but it drove the same.

I made a video for my Youtube which goes into more detail of getting to the turbo etc including some in-car footage of me driving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JQzwBkaaBk

I purchased a used turbo with the intention to send it away to be rebuilt, easier said than done. I contacted the first 1.5 pages of a Google search and not a single company can do a standard rebuild on this turbo, only a Hybrid rebuild.

Not wanting to constantly buy used turbos to get by, I started to crunch the numbers on what was required to go the hybrid route. The kick in the teeth was having everything previously purchased but it all got sold to pay off debt

The cambelt is due this summer as it'll be 5 years since it was last done. The clutch will also need replacing because I don't have any history or evidence of what it currently has. I don't want to go through all of this effort and it slips on the dyno. 

I've spoke to a local tuner (J's Garage, whos very very familiar with RBs) and he's advised on what needs doing.

Hybrid Turbo rated to 450hp (AutoExtreme)
Fitting Kit braided lines, genuine gasket set (AutoExtreme)
Xtreme Heavy Duty Clutch & Lightened Flywheel
GTR Injectors

Link G4X
IAT sensor
J's Garage Trigger Kit
Boost solenoid
Injector flow test & fitting
Fitting and Mapping

Tie rods/track rod ends/wheel alightment needed too

With a geniune cambelt kit/waterpump the total for the whole lot comes to around £6800 GBP / $8k USD / $12k AUD

Which means the MX5 will be up for sale in the coming months to help pay for it.

[hoodedreeper]

One thing that kept sticking out like a sore thumb were the chipped intercooler pipes visible through the grille.

"Taking the bumper off and painting the pipes won't take me long"...a phrase I said to myself numerous times, how wrong was I.

The rubber couplers put up a fight but they pipes were finally removed. Unfortunately I forgot to take some photos along the way, but it's all shown in the Youtube video at the bottom of the post.

The pipes were badly chipped/corroded so I took them right back to bare alloy with a wire wheel brush ready for painting.

The bumper brackets underneath the headlights had corroded badly and were in desperate need of a repaint too. A minor set back but a job I thought wouldn't take too long. 

There were stripped back to bare metal too, followed by Hammerite Kurust and then Hammerite Smooth Black

Thats when I noticed the holes in the engine bay had chipped and corroded. I couldn't leave it like it so I got stuck in sanding that down ready for rust treatment

The opposite side was quite bad too so I did that at the same time

The area was keyed,cleaned and masked up ready for primer and paint

I wish I had known about this sooner, I would have taken it to have the paint scanned for a colour match aerosol. Unfortunately all I had was gloss white, so the shade is waaaay off, but at least its treated and sorted.

The turrets will need sorting at some point so I'll get the engine bay re-painted at the same time.

The side areas underneath the headlights also had light corrosion so they received the same treatment

I ran out of daylight, impatience got the better of me and rather than waiting a week for my next day off I carried on into the night under an LED work light.

There's something about freshly painted parts and new hardware that gives you a great feeling of achievement no matter how big or small the job is/was.

I wish I had taken the front reinforcement bar off to treat and paint but I wanted it back together so I could drive it. When the bumper is next off I'll do it then

Here's the Youtube video with more details

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJKvthyFoNI

[hoodedreeper]

You may remember me making my own rear diffuser back in June 2020.

The company who powder coated it, didn't do a great job and it was flaking after a year. It's been one of those jobs I've been meaning to do and I finally had a chance to sort it.

It was most noticable along the edges and around the bolts/rivets

I found someone new to sand blast, he had them for a couple of weeks before they were ready (he does it in his spare time). I didn't take any photos during this next process, but I did film it for the Youtube video which will be at the end of this post.

I started by cleaning up the parts with a wire brush, wiping them down with white spirit before I started the painting stage. I gave the parts a coat of Kurust to help with any corrosion followed by Zinc Primer, black stone chip and then Hammerite Smooth Silver.

There was an issue with the main body of the diffuser, the powder coat just wouldn't come off. The guy who blasted it said he tried various ways including increasing the pressure but didn't want to go any higher because he didn't want to distort the panel. He tried a carpet pad with 40 or 60 grit paper and it still wouldn't shift. 

I thought about getting it acid dipped but it'd already took more time than I had hoped to get to this stage. In the end I purchased another sheet of mild steel and re-made it.

It didn't take long to get it cut out and drilled

It then had a coat of stone chip and 3 coats of Smooth Silver

To help prevent it going rusty and prolong its life I decided to add a bead of clear silicone around the edge of the fins and over the top of the rivets. I know its not a very neat thing to do, but I don't think many will be on their hands and knees to check the condition.

While the diffuser was off I checked the condition of the boot floor and found alot of surface corrosion. I did my best to get the majority of it down to bare metal and treated with Kurust.

I found my first hole With the wedding just weeks away I'll have to get this sorted at a later date

 I then did the same with the diffuser and gave it a coat of zinc primer followed by underseal. (I didn't have any stone chip at this stage)

The exhaust heat shield got painted in VHT Black and refitted with stainless hardware. Sadly no photos of that.

The hicas wiring wasn't secured very well, I honestly can't remember how it was prior to removing the diffuser. 

I found the grommet inside the boot and pulled the wiring through

It always seem to rain on my days off so refitting was no different haha But I'm glad its all back together now, it looks complete now

I'm very happy with the result, it'll be much easier to touch in any stone chips or sort any corrosion/damage in the future. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52d79-maH_Y
 

[Kinkstaah]

This is magnificent, and gives inspiration to get someone to make me a diffuser

[hoodedreeper]

No updates on the car I'm afraid except it's been getting plenty of use.

I got married a couple of weeks ago and of course we had to get some photos with the car

[soviet_merlin]

Hah, love the first one! Congratulations!

[hoodedreeper]

Back in 2020 I applied for a show called Players Classic held at the Goodwood Motor Circuit. I got accepted but my wife was heavily pregnant with our first child. The Covid pandemic started and all tickets were transfered to the following year.

In 2021 car shows started to happen with restrictions, but we were expecting our second child so I had to get a refund.

Fast forward to this year and I applied again on a whim knowing I probably wouldn't get chosen. To my surprise the R34 got accepted into the show's 'Parc Du Concours' area.

I don't think the Work Emotions have had a good clean in a long time. So I took this opportunity to remove them from the car and clean the inner barrels thoroughly.

The calipers hadn't been cleaned since I painted them

Thats much better!

Another little job I've been meaning to do was to repaint the wiper arms

Next was to give the interior and exterior a good clean

With the kids dropped off at the grandparents and the car loaded up it was time for the 4.5hr journy south west to Goodwood.

We arrived at the show in good time and were parked up about half way amongst the other cars

Having only been to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed a few years ago, it was a great experience visiting the Motor Circuit for the first time. I've read and seen some very good things about this show so expectations were high, and it didn't disappoint!

Yes there were alot of stance builds but we all know its one of the biggest followings/trends, but there was also a great mix of other types including track ready, resto mod,drift and just clean and simple. (I would say the R34 falls into the last category)

Many many photos and hours walking around it was time to head off to the hotel. Sat Nav took us through a twisty mountain road which felt like a budget touge. Was certainly looking forward to driving it the following morning!

Sunday morning was here and we ventured off to the show. This time a silver Evo 8 followed us through the english touge (haha) which put a smile on our faces. The symphony of a screaming turbocharged 4 banger and an RB25DET was certainly enough to fuel you for a day full of awesomeness. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos or videos.

The Sunday part of the show allows all of the cars parked in the Parc Du Concours area, to move across and park on the circuit. This did make for some nice photos

Unfortunately we left at mid day, purley because my feet couldn't take any more walking and I knew the drive home wasn't going to be much fun with the M25.

Another show I applied for and surprisingly got accepted for was the Pistonheads 25th Anniversary. This is on Saturday 12th August at Bicester Heritage 

Very nervous about this one! Being apart of a show and shine area parked amongst hundreds of other cars is one thing, but being a part of a limited number display for the Readers Rides display is a whole new level.

[hoodedreeper]

Not much had happened since the last update, only a couple of Cars & Coffee meetings along with helping a couple of friends out with Prom runs.

That time had soon passed and the Pistonheads 25th Anniversary was upon us.

Our initial plan was to drop the kids off at the inlaws,travel down on the Friday and we'd only be a short (17 mile) drive to Bicester Heritage the following morning.

That's until I mentioned Caffeine & Machine was 'kinda' close by... by that I mean an additonal 48 miles futher north. Mrs Reeper was happy enough to head there as we both enjoyed our first visit (which happened to be August last year in the recently purchased MX5 NC1)

Upon arrival we were asked if we would like to park on the grass bank or to the left on the gravel amongst the trees, which is where I went (knowing it'd make some good photos as the sun set)

As always the atmosphere is fantastic, very chilled with great food and a good variation of cars to look at.

Sorry for the photo spam, this has been a venue I've wanted to take the car for awhile and couldnt resist taking loads of photos

We arrived at Bicester just after 7am and were guided into position inside the hanger where the Reader's Ride display was.

Visiting Bicester was another venue ticked off the list after seeing photos of a Sunday Scramble that Speedhunters had covered. 

The show was divided into areas with selected cars that the Pistonheads staff had to choose. During the awards it was mentioned that they had 1400 applicants and 200 were chosen.

I never thought I would have gotten chosen,given the calibre of cars in the Readers Ride section. I did feel abit out of place and I wish I spent more time at the car incase anyone wanted to have a chat. 

A thank you to Rob aka RSD 25 for these photos

One thing I had recently noticed with the car was the paint on the roof. I spotted a slightly duller patch above the driver side window. Looking at it closer you can see fine sanding marks as if there isn't enough paint applied. 

The car was resprayed by the previous owner in 2017. The car is currently stored outside in direct sun, so I'm gonna take a guess and say that has accelerated this.

While cleaning the car at home in preperation for the show I noticed more of the roof had gone dull towards the centre. The lighting inside the hanger made it more obvious.

While cleaning the bonnet at the show I noticed that had started to go too, great! 

It wouldn't bother me as much if this was the original paint, but it's not

With the already expensive list of jobs waiting, this doesn't help. Having to constantly repair the daily Accord also isn't helping with my bank balance. But I guess the saying is 'Rome wasn't built in a day'

Well thats true, but my money can only stretch so far which means it's going to take a considerable amount of time to sort.

Anyone got the winning lottery numbers? please?

[hoodedreeper]

I've been getting a sqeel from a drive belt now and again, but from what I could see they looked ok. I had some free time after a Cars & Coffee event last weekend (Bank Holiday) and made a start.



Removing them was quite straight forward, I cover the steps required in a Youtube video (link at the end)

Gates were the brand of choice. Been using them for years and very rarely have any issues.

4PK868 - Power Steering
4PK913 - Air Con
4PK890 - Alternator



I know the tops of the belts don't make any contact with any other pulleys/tensioners but they still look as new



There's no cracks or any signs of wear amongst the belt ribs either. Perhaps they just needed re-tensioning....who knows lol



New belts now on and tensioned 



The only part I struggled with was the PAS tensioner bolt. For some reason Nissan made it waay too long and a normal length spanner is too big. Find yourself an old spanner and cut it in half to do this job, it'll save you alot of time faffing around trying to access the locking nut.

While undoing it, it got about half way and it became even more of a struggle. I knew the thread was covered in dirt which didn't help, turns out the thread was damaged too



I gave it a going over with a wire brush and ran an M8 die down it to clean the thread as much as possible. There's still evidence of some minor damage, but the nut goes through it no issues. I replaced the locking nut with a stainless one which changed the spanner size from 12mm to 13mm



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=838zBLX2m50

[hoodedreeper]

My driver side window has been operating slow for a little while, it was make this weird squeely noise too. It then stopped working all together which became a huge inconvenience.

I was lucky enough to win a replacement regulator and motor on eBay but life got in the way and I could never find the time to do the swap (aswell as a day dry enough)

With the window stuck fully up, this restricted access to see most of it. I was preparing to remove the glass and strip most of the door panel to change it (hence the dry day). But after seeing the replacment on the floor infront of me, it was only 6 nuts/bolts 

With the door panel off (I cover this in the Youtube video) it's time to tackle the regulator

Unplug the large grey connector

Starting off with the 2x 10mm nuts either end of the regulator that holds the glass

Next was a bar/bracket which looks to be the adjustment, going by the lines either side of the 10mm nuts

The last step is to remove the 4x 10mm nuts holding the motor to the door panel

Luckily the glass stayed up and the unit could be pulled through the bottom hole in the door panel.

Fitting is the reversal. Make sure you start with the motor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuP6Z-rgrRQ