My R32 GTST From Canada

[CanadianGuy]

Hey everyone! 
 

Finally after years of owning all kinds of other jdm cars (ae86, s13 with a RB swap, FC RX7, Datsun 510, 280zx etc) I’ve got my hands on a skyline! Ended up trading a Harley Road Glide for it after being in that scene for a few years. 
 

 

The previous owner started a lot of work but then had a bad motorcycle accident and the car sat for almost a year until I picked it up

The car wasn’t running and had a massive fuel leak from a pinched injector o ring but had good compression so went about trying to get it firing up so I could drive it into the garage 

 

Turned out the fuel rail which was set up to run with an aftermarket aeromotive regulator had plugged up injectors, fired in a 2nd set that came with the car and drove it into the garage. 
 

 

Once getting it tucked into its spot (have a nice 46’x26’ garage) went about tackling some of runability issues. The main ones now are between my driveway and the garage the tach decided to stop working, and there seems to be a 2500ish rpm limiter being set on the car.

The limiter I imagine has something to due with the butchery that is my afm wiring 

 

Seems someone decided to run new shielded wires from pin 2&4 to the ECU and hack together the remaining into the original harness for some reason. Going to clean that up and see if any of the afm’s that came with the car make it run a little happier. 
 

Speakimg of ECU this was a cool surprise 

 

Looks like Mines might have had something to do with the ECU at some point in its life.

Still lots of little odds and ends to work out but couldn’t be happier! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Duncan]

Will be good to see how this goes!

One suggestion with the Mines ROM tune, you should get it on a dyno and check it is safe before you push the car hard.....you never know what was done in there and for what fuel....

[GTSBoy]

7 minutes ago, Duncan said:

Will be good to see how this goes!

One suggestion with the Mines ROM tune, you should get it on a dyno and check it is safe before you push the car hard.....you never know what was done in there and for what fuel....

Or just throw it in the bin before it causes a problem.

[CanadianGuy]

10 hours ago, Duncan said:

Will be good to see how this goes!

One suggestion with the Mines ROM tune, you should get it on a dyno and check it is safe before you push the car hard.....you never know what was done in there and for what fuel....

 

10 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

Or just throw it in the bin before it causes a problem.

Both of these options are strong possibilities, a second ECU came with the car and might be getting thrown in to diag some problems.

In a perfect world I’d just say screw it and throw a stand alone in but the rb20 will probably get swapped out at some point in the future for something with a higher hp ceiling 

[GTSBoy]

This

54 minutes ago, CanadianGuy said:

throw a stand alone

and this

54 minutes ago, CanadianGuy said:

the rb20 will probably get swapped out at some point in the future for something with a higher hp ceiling 

are not in conflict with each other. A good ECU for an RB20 will run something else too.

[CanadianGuy]

1 hour ago, GTSBoy said:

This

and this

are not in conflict with each other. A good ECU for an RB20 will run something else too.

That’s fair, my main reason for not throwing the stand alone in right this moment is money lol. Figure I’ll get the thing going as is hopefully, have some fun with it then start throwing fancy parts like that towards it down the road 

[GTSBoy]

Yuh, fair enough. You've just bought yourself a path to poverty. You'll get there eventually, no need to hurry it up.

[CanadianGuy]

Got this thing up and running properly! 
 

Traced my AFM wires and the signal back to ECU was good, ground was good but no 12v! With a jumper wire tied into what should be the 12v wire it fired right up and rev’d nice and strong! One thing down at least, now to figure out where the break or disconnect is.

Tach is probably next, hopefully that’s just the signal wire from the ECU but I doubt I’m that lucky 

[CanadianGuy]

Not a whole lot done lately, front brakes aren’t engaging so need to get this thing back into the garage to see if I need to rebuild the calibers. 
 

Currently have the wife’s 1973 VW Van, my 2004 Mustang, and a 1994 Firebird in there I need to finish up first, the list of work never ends 

 

Stealing the 6 litre from the van and the interior from this parts Firebird for the other 

[CanadianGuy]

Finally had some time after working on other projects to jump back on this thing.

Pulled all 4 wheels to check the brakes over and lucked out, only needed to bleed them/change fluid to get everything working! 
 

Took it for its first quick spin (around 2km) up the road and ran great! Sounds like I have a left rear wheel bearing that needs replacing and there’s a shake in the steering wheel but the tires are absolutely junk on this thing and had been sitting flat when I went to first look at the car so we’ll see if that’s the cause.

 

Tach randomly started working but I notice if my hicas light comes on the tach stops working 🙃 yay for electrical gremlins 

[CanadianGuy]

Little more work!

 Did some body work on the rear wheel arches and since the paint was a cheap spray job before figured I’d do something to tide me over until I wrap the car. 
 

Colour might not be everyone’s choice but I like it and it’s only temporary, just hate having primer from the wheel arches standing out. 
 

Keeping an eye out for a decent set of wheels to throw on now. Wheels and tires on the car are junk

[CanadianGuy]

Really should be putting some time into other projects but screw it 😂

Got brave and cut back my hood, a lot of measuring and taking it very slow with a Dremel and it turned out not bad! 
 

 

Still need to weld the inner/outer back together and clean everything up but I’m happy with how it turned out 

[Roy]

Mint. Good to see another GTSt getting love and coming back to life. Did I miss what colour you are going to wrap it?

[CanadianGuy]

On 4/10/2024 at 11:39 PM, Roy said:

Mint. Good to see another GTSt getting love and coming back to life. Did I miss what colour you are going to wrap it?

Thanks! I haven’t 100% decided but I’ve always been partial to the R33 midnight purple even before I could drive

[CanadianGuy]

Well hit the first larger snag in the build! 
 

Car wasn’t running 100% right even before I took it for a drive, starting slow and felt like a bit of a miss so compression tested it once I got it into the garage and on stands for the winter.

 

That would do it…

 

Got to tearing everything out and was greeted with this

 

Seat looks a little mangled but somehow the cylinder is fine

 

Will check the turbine next wonder if the piece made its way in there and chewed up some fins. 
 

Once I survey the extent of the head damage I’m going to have to make a decision. Cylinder 4 is kind of low anyway so might not be a bad idea to take a peek at the bottom end while I’m already in it

[GTSBoy]

Shit's f**ked. Looks like there might be a crack to the intake valve seat on the opposite side of the chamber also.

Defo pull the whole thing down. Nothing good can come from just doing the head on a motor with comp figures that low anyway. You'll hate yourself less in the long run.

[CanadianGuy]

1 hour ago, GTSBoy said:

Shit's f**ked. Looks like there might be a crack to the intake valve seat on the opposite side of the chamber also.

Defo pull the whole thing down. Nothing good can come from just doing the head on a motor with comp figures that low anyway. You'll hate yourself less in the long run.

I’m not sure if it was just the way coolant ran as I flipped the head for that pic but went out to double check and there’s nothing there, 100% looks like a crack in that picture though so will be doing some more investigating. 
 

Definitely doing something with the bottom end if I decide to stick with this engine, considering grabbing a rb25 as an alternative but we’ll see. Built my fair share of engines so only labor I’d be looking at is the machining/hot tanking if I just go for a rebuild but might be worth the bit extra to go bigger while it’s already apart 

[GTSBoy]

49 minutes ago, CanadianGuy said:

I’m not sure if it was just the way coolant ran

I see now that it is liquid.

50 minutes ago, CanadianGuy said:

considering grabbing a rb25 as an alternative

Highly recommended. I have 25Neo in mine. It is nice to have some torque, any torque at all. Something that the RB20 is just completely bereft of. Mine will** pull away from 800rpm in 5th. Same rolling start is best done in 2nd with a 20!

**Will, and does regularly. Might even be able to do it from 600 rpm, but that's not really all that feasible in traffic where it would take a bit too long, and is the only place where I roll around that gently.

RB30 even better! (Perhaps just not under a 32 bonnet).

[CanadianGuy]

30 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

I see now that it is liquid.

Highly recommended. I have 25Neo in mine. It is nice to have some torque, any torque at all. Something that the RB20 is just completely bereft of. Mine will** pull away from 800rpm in 5th. Same rolling start is best done in 2nd with a 20!

**Will, and does regularly. Might even be able to do it from 600 rpm, but that's not really all that feasible in traffic where it would take a bit too long, and is the only place where I roll around that gently.

RB30 even better! (Perhaps just not under a 32 bonnet).

I’ve gone down the Rb30 rabbit hole the past few days and it sounds pretty sweet, only thing that really turns me off is the $2500 price tag for a bare block people are asking around here. That being said I’ve got a snowmobile I could sell to get the majority of the bottom end done lol

[GTSBoy]

You'll need a 25 head. It's no bueno doing it with the 20 head. The bore diameter is....different. Very different. Hasn't been done in the wold since the larger bore twin cam heads became an option (ie, not since the early 90s!)