Frankiman's street/track GTR project

[felix yuen]

what's the point of this thread if ALL UR POST link doesn't work ..... ?

[frankiman]

what's the point of this thread if ALL UR POST link doesn't work ..... ?

well, MR felix, if you would have read the last page, you would have know that i busted my monthly bandwith limit because too many people viewed my project thread and my FS thread (fs thread is on 3 forums)

thats why i said i'd be waiting for nov 1st to post new chapter

sunday, all the images should be back up

[Oakville]

imageshack is poop, mad popups whenever i open a link.

[frankiman]

Chapter 5 - blood sweat and tears, part2


ok so lets pick-up where i left off, all this was done in july

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finding the reason for that damned rear slop

by slop i mean, everytime i changed gear i felt the rear end move backwards and forwards, and a rumbling noise came from the tranny around 2000rpm in 2nd gear or higher

so after talking to a few people, my guess was that the driveshaft was the culprit

then i went to a driveshaft shop with my old driveshaft and its matching hangar, to have it all swapped, since i knew that was 100% prefect



cost me 50$ and didn't change anything



--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-front brakes / front coilovers

since i kept the freshly painted and rebuilt calipers from my old GTR, i decided to swap them to get that white / blue color scheme on the car

also, i didn't know in what state the brakes were in, and going on the track without that knowledge is a big NO-NO

so i took everything off in the front




everything was in great shape suprisingly,
pads were project mu (from the color)
found stainless steel lines !!! (crap, already bought another set)
everything was dirty as hell,

while i had the coilovers out, i cleaned them, and re-ajusted them
because of my weight, the front tires were rubbing inside the wheel wells, i guess the previous japanese owner didn't weigh much

so i put them up by 1/2'', with the HKS wrenches i had just received

but HKS coilovers are designed with very smaller lower adjustment (locking) nut, and i broke each on the rear coilovers, using the wrench!
a zip tie and duct tape later, its fine

and also found out that most rubber dust seals were ripped
so i'll be ordering a couple rebuild parts this winter..



then i got ready to install my old new stuff, with everything cleaned



Hawk HP+ brake pads
Nismo rotors
custom TurboQuip brake lines
HKB 5mm wheel spacers




also, while i had the wheels off, decided to paint the center of the hubs white
thats because no one makes center caps for Work Emotion CR wheels, and i got quoted 60$/cap to get some custom made, and thats without paint

it sucks since, if i were still working as a machinist, i could have made some myself in an hour or 2

so i taped everything off, and painted just the spindle and nut with rustproof metal white paint that i got at canadian tire racing depot




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rear brakes, rear subframe

so then i got to the rear

yeah those are curiously oversized discs
started taking them off and realized i had a conversion kit
brackets and 2'' bigger discs,
these, are rare as fawk Garage Saurus Big 350mm Rotors (standard are 297mm)




while trying to take off the discs, i wiggled them and felt the half shaft turn, i bit more than i though it should have, without the driveshaft moving
so i though i had a loose rear diff, which could have been the cause for all that rear loose feel

so, not taking any chances, i decided to put the subframe from my old GTR all back together, since i would have to change the brake back plates (since they were heavily modified to fit the 350mm rotors)
and i would install the new brake parts on that subframe, instead of directly on the car

nismo rotors,
hawk hp+ pads
turboquip brake lines
brand new oem handbrake shoes
new grounding wires
also painted the center nut on each side




--------------------------------------------------------------------------
the second appointment

i called up autoworx, needing to swap the whole rear subframe assembly, Haig was like ''wtf, the whole thing?''

so i had my dad drop it off (by truck), on the little dolly,
from what my dad told me, the guys there apparently had a good laugh



so this is what was done

-empty/keep diff fluid (at 16$/L you don't want to waste that thing)
-drop old subframe
-re-install new one
-refill diff fluid
-connect brake lines, bleed brake system with Motul RBF660 i brought them
-install nismo thermostat
-install a wideband O2 sensor bung onto the downpipe (for dyno tune)

i picked up the old subframe a couple days after

as soon as is got out of the shop with the car, it felt super tight, which was what i was looking for

but by the time i got home, it felt just as loose as before
so swaping diffs didn't change anything


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
preperations for D-day (dyno day)

i got the car back from autoworx on a friday
and my appointment for the dyno tune was tuesday

monday morning i got my baffled twin turbo pipe from MWracing



so i installed it, and re-checked all of the clamps
made sure i had no leaks

also re-checked all of the spark plugs, and added a grounding wire to the coilpack rail



the actual dyno tune will be covered in next chapter


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Some porting, some polishing, some painting, alot of elbow grease

a couple days after the dyno, i decided to ''pretty up'' my engine bay a bit

my old twin turbo pipe had been hand polished a bit, which looked great
so i started sanding it,
which gave me the idea to do the same thing with my HKS suction kit elbows

this is how the pipe came out after awhile



then i wanted to do the same to the intake manifold because its paint was starting to flake
not wanting to lose the car for a couple of days, i took the manifold off my old engine



so just for fun, i took the pipe and manifold to a polishing / chrome plating speciality shop to get a quote

LOLZ
for the pipe; 125 polished, 230 chromed
for the manifold; 460 polished, 800 chromed

at that point, i kinda decided to do everything myself
but polishing the intake manifold would have taken days
i went to canadian tire racing depot again, and found a high temp paint color that would match the engine covers

before painting it, i decided try to port all the openings, sanding them with up to 800grit paper and a bit of polishing paste
and i did the same to the twin turbo pipe, and HKS elbows, which all had very rough interior surfaces (like most aluminum castings)
probly not going to do much, but it can't hurt thats for sure

i even cheaped out on a good sandblast job, (since i didn't know of any place close that could do it), BIG MISTAKE
it took me 7 hours to scrape and sand the paint off,
i blocked all the bolt holes, and used masking tape for the opening

i think it came out great, after 7 coats of paint, and 2 coats of clear








i enlisted the help of another GTR owner, former GTRC member BNR69, former beause he sold his GTR and bought a G35coupe, at least its still a nissan

it took us 5 hours to take the old manifold off and put the new one back in, mostly because the oil filter was in the way, using the metal gaskets from my old engine

i also got a great polished Greddy oil filler cap from a GTRC member who i can't recall



so this is how the engine bay as looked since then



heres a before/after shot, big improvement i think, does anyone else?

BEFORE

AFTER

[RHDskyline]

Engine bay looks hawt, all you need is to match the timing belt cover to the rest of the engine

[frankiman]

Engine bay looks hawt, all you need is to match the timing belt cover to the rest of the engine

yup thats on the to-do list for next year

[archaeic_bloke]

frank i can't believe how much work you've done to your car man, great job! its coming along really well!

[Oakville]

Wow man that looks insanely good, I love that HKS decal too.

What kind of camera and lense are you using? I would love a fish-eye for car shots as well as skateboarding lol

[r32king23]

I'm lovin it!

[frankiman]

Wow man that looks insanely good, I love that HKS decal too.

What kind of camera and lense are you using? I would love a fish-eye for car shots as well as skateboarding lol

most of the pictures were taken with my 2.0 mega pixel cellphone camera from my Samsung Instinct

but those fish-eye pics come from my GoPro Motorports Hero camera, i usually use it for action shots or rolling videos, but the effect is just too cool, and it takes 5.0 mega pixel pics
anyway, i'll have a chapter just for those pictures
teaser;

[Rapier46]

Franki I love you... I can't get enough of this thread.

[Oakville]

k now I am buying one of those cameras. Without a doubt, right now.

[xcye]

That rotor is on the wrong side of the car. You need to swap the rotors around since those rotors are directional like most high performance tires.

I really enjoyed reading your posts! Keep it up!

[frankiman]

That rotor is on the wrong side of the car. You need to swap the rotors around

yup i know now, but anyways those rotors are no more

[Rapier46]

looks like you had a bit of an issue taking them off?


i love everything. the engine bay looks so slick. ****.

one thing i am quite dissapointed at though, is that you arent doing all of the work yourself? such as the engine swap. im sure you have the know-how. i do all my own work. do you not have the time?