R33 GTR Build

[Shoota_77]

Looking great so far mate, well done!

Nothing wrong with those welds, TIG is bloody hard to master. Your welds are far better than mine!

[Robocop2310]

On 10/31/2018 at 12:45 PM, AntsR33GTR said:

You sure about that? Most I have seen end 15mm or so before the edge of the bonnet...

 

I can confirm that the bonnet lip doesn’t go completely from one side to the other but most cheaper copies may be longer. 

I personally prefer the shorter one but it’s doesn’t matter.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Robocop2310

[AntsR33GTR]

Bit more progress...

Got the Grex remote oil filter unit mounted. I didnt want it up high in the engine bay so found a spot that seems to work Ok. (Dont worry about the dented filter it was just for mock up purposes) 

Lines back to the block. I wrapped the lines in plastic conduit to give some extra protection against rubbing etc.

Oil cooler installed. I will probably make some ducting for this.

Lines back to the oil filter block finished off.

Nuke B/V installed. It is a direct fit onto the OEM gtr hard piping piping making things nice and easy.

Oil catch can breather finished off. I want to try and keep as much oil smell out of the cabin as possible so hopefully this will help.

 

Edited November 4, 2018 by AntsR33GTR

[AntsR33GTR]

Got some more work done. Turbo and wastegate installed for hopefully the last time (wont be). Heat wrapped dump pipe.

New plugs and NZEFI R35 coil kit installed.

Fast response IAT sensor fitted. I may move this to the intercooler pipe in the future.

[Robocop2310]

On 11/12/2018 at 6:51 AM, AntsR33GTR said:

Got some more work done. Turbo and wastegate installed for hopefully the last time (wont be). Heat wrapped dump pipe.

New plugs and NZEFI R35 coil kit installed.

Fast response IAT sensor fitted. I may move this to the intercooler pipe in the future.

Amazingly clean engine bay that looks great!

[Taha]

Top job  

[Gigan]

The Nicest R33 Ive Seen in a good bit, top job mate keep it up.

[AntsR33GTR]

Made up some ducting for the oil cooler. It is fed through the air vent in the indicator surround.

 

[AntsR33GTR]

Good push over the weekend, got most of the final bits sorted. Had to relocate Oil filter block as the new radiator is too thick and was hitting it in the origination location I chose. Managed to squeeze it in the space near the transfer case which in hind site is a better spot anyway.



Purchased a new Koyorad radiator.

Unfortunately the one that was supplied did not include the sensor bung for the thermo fan which is located down near the lower hose exit. There was none of the other versions available instock so tapped the thermo sensor into a radiator sensor adapter and placed it in the lower hose.

Painted radiator and installed

Relocated Bosch air temp sensor into the cooler pipe

Completed all the wiring. This included wiring up the crank trigger sensors, oil and fuel pressure sensors and the air intake sensor.
Added head shield cover to exhaust rear housing and installed boost control solenoid which will be run by the G4+.
Engine bay pretty much sorted now.

Plugged in the G4+ and configured crank triggers and other required settings. Engine fired up nicely once timing was all adjusted. Warmed it up and checked for leaks, small coolant and fuel leak needed to be sorted but other wise all good. Still have to tidy a few small things and install new fuel pump setup and then off to the dyno.

Edited November 25, 2018 by AntsR33GTR

[Shyboy]

Looks and sounds awesome ? 

[jmknights93]

Nice and simple build. I like it a lot.

[AntsR33GTR]

So go the last few small things buttoned up and got the car out o the shed for a wash after 4 months.

Then off to the dyno.

Some interesting results. The car made 305kw ATW on wastegate pressure (14 psi) and 385kw ATW on 20psi. While the power is solid, the response is not as great as I was hoping. It has always been hard to get any solid data on anywone using these SX-E turbos on RBs so was a bit of a punt to try one. I found a fairly significant boost leak at the inlet manifold where it looks like i have damaged a gasket which wont be helping but overall it looks like this turbo could be sized a little too big for a stock Rb26 on 98 (E85 not an option for me as too hard to get sadly). I will get the boost leak sorted and we haven't played with cam gears to see if that will wake it up a bit. I have seen some smaller housing options available in the USA which may help also but it is looking likely i will change to an EFR to gain back some response.

Dyno graph for those interested. 

[AntsR33GTR]

Following up on where I am at.

The boost leak turned out to be this...

Yep I am special... managed to crack the runner when reinstalling the intake manifold. I am guessing it bound on one of the throttle body dowels and it snapped when i tightened it all down. It was on the underside of the manifold so could no be seen. So sourced a replacement stock mani along with some Tomei steel gaskets and put it all together again again. This time I pressure tested the complete system and had no leaks so problem solved.

Fixing that issue defiantly improved the response of the BW SX-E. It is certainly not the most responsive turbo around but it is actually not too bad in the real world. Below is a graph of boost response on low boost and high boost taken from logs out of the G4+. These were done on open road full throttle pulls in 3rd gear (stopped at 7K but gives idea of real world response).

As stated it is nothing amazing response wise but not the complete dog that the dyno graph combined with boost leak issue made this combo out to be. Also remember these turbos are very cheap in comparison to the big dollar BW/Garrett stuff (3rd of the price give or take). Once it spools up its a fun setup to drive and pulls hard but obviously it is a bit lacking when it comes to transient response. I definitely think you can live with this setup though if the budget cant stretch to the top end stuff.

In saying that I decided I am this far down the road I might as well finish things off so picked up this guy...

EFR8374D. In terms of physical size it is actually slightly smaller than the SX-E 8376 (SX-E Compressor cover is BIG) but they are very close. Plan is to get it installed over the coming weeks (Need to make up water lines and modify dump etc) and get the car back on the dyno to check things over.

Edited February 7, 2019 by AntsR33GTR

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

wow, solid stuff man - love seeing data, like they say without data it's just an opinion.

[AntsR33GTR]

41 minutes ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

wow, solid stuff man - love seeing data, like they say without data it's just an opinion.

Cheers man. Yea I think the SX-E would go great on an RB30 build if you wanted something low cost that can make decent power.

Will be interesting to do dome back to back data comparisons between the SX-E and the EFR...

[AntsR33GTR]

Update on where I am at with the car.

I managed to get hold of a tidy second hand Greddy/Trust 100mm intercooler which was awesome as I had been wanting to upgrade the factory one. Wont be as good as the latest Plazmaman/Hypertune stuff but price was right and should be an improvement over stock.

Mounted up

Bit of trimming to the bumper to let it fit but came out ok.

Next it was time to swap out the BW SX-E for the EFR. Out came the SX-E.

Comparison of the two side by side.

There is significant differences in the rear housing designs between the two turbos so the dump pipe needed quite a bit of modification to fit, they also use different style v bands. I made up new water lines and oil drain to suit the EFR. Also modified the heat shield i made to protect the body better and give me easier access to the wastegate lines. I also got distracted and decided to change the color of the cam covers. I managed to put some decent chips in the gold paint as I was doing all the fab work so decided to strip it all back and go for a new look.

I picked up a set of carbon covers from Alibaba lovingly hand crafted by a 12 year old. They are not to bad quality wise but needed a bit of work to get to fit nicely.

Test fitting, managed to get everything to line up fairly well.

I decided to paint the valve covers a dark gloss grey to try and get them to blend with the carbon as best as possible which turned out OK.

Covers installed and EFR mounted up. 

Heat shield has a removable panel (not installed below) to allow access to the wastegate lines.

I added an inline Turbosmart oil filter for safety. All the lines have heat shielding to try and protect as best as possible.

As the engine sits now, it is almost ready to start up. I need to swap out the EFR integrated blow valve for a Turbosmart blanking plate as I will keep the Nuke unit I have. I also have to tidy a few other little things and its ready to go back on the dyno to check the tune on the new EFR.

 

Edited April 7, 2019 by AntsR33GTR

[ludi_konj]

Awesome car. Neat and tidy work too, well done!

[Roy]

Love the car and build....one silly opinion though....is there a chance with the breather from the catch can to get oil condensing in the low end of the bend and hydraulic the breather system?  I guess if the can is effecient enough than the line to the breather wont have enough oil to condense and drop ou

[AntsR33GTR]

On 4/14/2019 at 10:58 AM, Roy said:

Love the car and build....one silly opinion though....is there a chance with the breather from the catch can to get oil condensing in the low end of the bend and hydraulic the breather system?  I guess if the can is effecient enough than the line to the breather wont have enough oil to condense and drop ou

I have stainless mesh in the catch can which will hopefully catch most of the oil mist before it gets to the lower air filter but I guess the point you raise is a possibility mate.

[phatgtr33]

Awesome build bro!!