Frankiman's street/track GTR project

[nimblestix]

Nismo Twin Copper Mix

Same clutch club ftmfw! Best performance clutch I've ever felt.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[frankiman]

"officially the most viewed thread on GTRC since sunday january 20th 2013"

[MattiasJacobs]

Time to write a best selling novel! Haha I'm just kidding. I know it's been mentioned and how you feel about it.

[frankiman]

for the amount of time it would take to make this into a paper/book format... people wouldn't want to pay the price i'd charge
maybe i could start something on Kickstarter

[curtisgoodman]

I'm a little late but the nismo twin copper mix clutch is very close to stock feel and holds the power it states plus a bit

+1 for nismo twin

and Frankiman very epic thread keep up the good work!

[NismoS-tune]

Same clutch club ftmfw! Best performance clutch I've ever felt.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Same here!!!







Until I sold it and got myself a Carbonetic twin that is! Booyah

[frankiman]

Chapter 49 - Keep on rollin'


disclaimer :
the following story depicts actions that occured on July 28 and august 5 2011
details are recalled purely from memory, so F off if it doesn’t seem perfectly accurate

so on the last update, i talked about my front wheels rubbing inside the fenders in tight corners during spirited driving

so i picked up a friend's westwood fender roller and heat gun;



it was missing nut cups, so i had to improvise and use multiple washer to be able to bolt the roller on the hub;



to make sure the radius of the roller would roller a good part of the fender, i had to unscrew the nuts of the top plate and lower it by almost an inch,

i only rolled both front fenders since the rears were done in 2009 at Autoworx

but in theory, the front fenders would be much easier to roll than the rears since the front GTR fenders are made of aluminum
but by doing it on my own, i got pretty though, since normally one person holds the heat gun and keeps hot air on the fenders to make sure the paint is soft and doesn't chip/crack, while the other person adjust the roller and puts pressure on it and actually rolls the fenders

so on my own, i had to heat the area i would roll for about a minute or twom then roll it, then swtich between rolling and heating while changing the pressure and angle on the roller till i had the right shape

i only rolled the top 60deg on the fenders, since its the area where the wheels (tires) are mostly to rub

i rolled the fenders to get the smallest possible angle, almost a full 180deg, making the most space possible for the wheels under compression

this is a transition between a rolled and un-rolled section;



since on the GTR, the front fender lines are clipped on the fenders on the inside, you actually have to remove the clips, than to make space, so the liners don't hang outside the wheel wells, i took a knife and cut a full inch off the edge on the whole liner;



and this is the final result, alot more space is obtaine;



and... to make even more space, and since the fender are aluminum, i kept the roller at the most extreme angle, but added ALOT more pressure so to pull the fenders outwards,
i could actually see the whole fender warp while moving back and forth with the roller

doing this, i gained a full 1/8th inch, you can see the outward bulge in the fender;




while working inside the fender wells, i saw that my custom ghetto plastic sheild, keeping rocks and dirt from beeing thrown inside the front diffuser;



but almost, i could easily be seen that my tires were rubbing on the front of the liners


then i cleaned my already dirty-as-fawk wheels;



but since it was just light dust from street driving, it came off super easy (this time);






next step, was to install some brand new carbon fiber pieces; front bumper canards, and vortex generator add-ons for the top secret style rear diffuser;



i got these canards from Yahoo Auction Japan, thru Adam@Feast, since i couldn't find any BNR32 specific canards anywhere on the web, of course you can trust the japanese to make these unique parts

these canards are really well made, 1 piece molded in real thick carbon fiber, a very very ridgid part

to install them, i used photos from the Yahoo auction to position the canard accordingly to hug the contours of the weirdly shape GTR bumper,

the reason for this is that since the canards are so ridgid, i wanted to make them fit as close to the bumper as possible so it would be easier to close the gap between the canard and bumper



i started by drilling 1 hole at one end, then screwing into the bumper slightly with my own black screws since the provided screws were shiny silver,
then with one end screwed in, i moved the other end up and down, and when i got the right angle, i drilled a second hole and screwed in too,



then with the canards held in place, i drilled the remainded of the holes and screwed them all in little by little to deform the canard and perfectly close the gap;






afterwards, i added the vortex generators top the rear diffuser, a not-so-simple add-on, since both the diffuser and the generators are replicas, made by different manufacturers, it was kinda hard to align the holes (3) all at once with the 3 different parts; the diffuser panel, the rear spats and the generators





then i finished fabricating the brake cooling deflectors, by using neoprene hose clamp the fix them to the tension rods, then custom aluminum brackets bolted to the end of the tension rods underneath the FLCA;





this is what the finished product looked like;







during that week, i did my first track session of the summer, during the Autodrome St-Eustasche lapping evenings

when i got to the track, it started to rain, but since i was already there i decided to go on anyway, and the club wasn't shutting down the session anyway,

so while i was waiting on pit lane, alone, since i had upgraded to the intermediate drivers at the very end of the previous summer, it really, really started to pour

i got pretty extreme as we could see lightning strikes a couple kilometers away, so the organizers said on the loud speaker, that if the lightning didn't come any closer, it would be fine and the event would continue

so i finally get on the track, with the a/c and wipers full on and there is about 3" of water on the track, where some spots are shallower and some deeper;

but with my brand new Dunlop Star Specs, with super deep threads, traction was suprisingly enormous considering the conditions, the tires were evacuating an incredily amount of water,

what was more impressive, is that in those conditions, i was really hauling ass, passing STIs and even a V10 Audi S6, amongst others
(i also found out a week later that my all wheel drive wasn't even functionning properly)

afterwards, the rain came down a bit, and i got to chat with the drivers of the STI and the S6, both told me that because of my rear diffuser, on the straights were i could only reach 120-130 km/h because of the rain, i was pulling a tower of water off the track behind the car, kinda like an F1 car in the wet

but they said that there was so much water, they couldn't see the back of the car at all, only my backfires

when i got home, i realized just how much of an effect the diffusr (and vortex generators) had on the aero of the back of the car
you can clearly see the difference between the back and the sides of the car, pretty incredible



all the water, grime and dirt that was beeing pulled up by the diffuser, would get caught in a low pressure area right behing the trunk created by the interaction of the OEM rear wing and the Nismo trunk lip, and would simply stick to the back of the car,



even the wheels got super dirty during the track session;







lastly, i tried cleaning my Koyo aluminum radiator by using a microfiber rag and metal polish;



it worked so well, i tried it on my muffler, but it didn't work so well;






on the next update, i'll talk about the last time i went to a car wash, and why i never go anymore;




keep posted, another update will follow next week
thanks for reading

[MarusGTR]

I'm so jelly about the condition of your car, no surface rust on the subframes or anything

Good stuff btw, how much downforce do you think the front canards pull and did you check if your bumper could hold it without warping?

EDIT:

PS, for track brake dust I find canadian tire's brand brake cleaner, Certified IIRC, is so weak that it breaks up the dust with one wipe without damaging the paint.

For the love of god don't underestimate the real stuff though, being used to the Certified brand I got sloppy wiping my rotors with Gunk cleaner and it was melting the paint off my calipers lol.

[S13Jordie]

Always Enjoy these Write-ups. Your Brake cooling panels gave me an idea.

[Ants]

Hello,

Awesome build thread.

Just a quick question, I see that you have cut the side of the mudguard off where the plastic clips use to reside. Is this going to be issue since your mudguard will be exposed to water, dirt, dust etc...

Only reason I am asking is because I would like to do the same thing but I'm concerned about dirt and water going behind the mudguard where electrics and other wires are also located.

[frankiman]

Hello,

Awesome build thread.

Just a quick question, I see that you have cut the side of the mudguard off where the plastic clips use to reside. Is this going to be issue since your mudguard will be exposed to water, dirt, dust etc...

Only reason I am asking is because I would like to do the same thing but I'm concerned about dirt and water going behind the mudguard where electrics and other wires are also located.

well there is still alot of the inner fender protection the inside of the fender so i don't think it can cause issues

but when you stop to think about it, most of the drifter guys, or guys that have their car super low, don't even use the inner fenders since they'd be destroyed instantly, and even they don't have problems. i think


anyway, i cut those inner fenders 1,5 years ago (july 28 2011 as stated at the beginning of the update) and i've put over 13,000km on the car since, and many many track days, whilst driving in all sorts of conditions, and haven't had any issues yet

[S13Jordie]

but when you stop to think about it, most of the drifter guys, or guys that have their car super low, don't even use the inner fenders since they'd be destroyed instantly, and even they don't have problems. i think

I drove my s13 for 3 years without inner fenders. the only thing was that the engine bay got dustier. I had tucked and re wrapped my harness to prevent any issues. On my skyline i think i will go to the franki route as well

[freezingcoffee]

Awesome Thread! I would move to Canada just to buy a GTR and attempt something only half awesome as this project.

[frankiman]

Chapter 50 - Hard Parking


disclaimer :
the following story depicts actions that occured on July 30 and august 6 2011
details are recalled purely from memory, so F off if it doesn’t seem perfectly accurate

by winning a trophy for best R32 GTR at Skymeet East 2011, i got overly confident and two weeks after i registered to my first ever car show, the Sherbrooke Sweet'n'Shiny

it was said to be a big event, with over 200 cars and local celebs like drifter Carl Nadeau and actress Annie Dufresne (google her), there was also compagny booths like Standard Suspension and StreetFreaks detailling and many more
there also was a DJ, a portable Mustang Dyno on the back of a big-rig trailer, even a dB competition

not knowing what i was getting into, i packed a camping chair and a cooler full of water bottles

the show was about 90 minutes away, and it was fun to cross path with groups of modded cars going to the event, giving them thumbs up and blasting past them

i get there maybe a bit early, didn't seem to have many cars yet,
the show was held in the parking lot of a big mall, so i pay the registration fee, drive inside the closed off area, park the car, start wiping it down while other cars are coming in

i see some guys, regulars i guess, doing complete car washes with buckets and jugs of water a stuff, darn

after i'm done, i don't know exactly what to do, so i simply sit in my chair, 10 feet away from the car and wait for the show to actually start, like a douche

then i realized that the enclosed area is huge, but was completly empty, basically only a handfull of cars had showed up, not a single one of the cars i passed on the highway, huh?

now this is where it gets weird, from what i was told, there were 2 seperate events that weekend, 2 car shows held in the same city on the same day
again from what i was told, in the past the show had been huge, but the organizers had a falling out, but since they still wanted to make the show, they each started their own,

now it gets tricky, both shows were heavily advertised on facebook, with the same date, same city, and similar names :





so from what i could understand, the whole thing was a big clusterf**k and out of the 200 cars that would show up, 130+ made it to the other show, while only about 70 made it to the show i was at..

so eventually, people started coming in, looking aroung, and since i didn't want to sit next to my car the whole, i did the same



i saw alot of regular bunched up in little camps, under casebos, and i realized, that most of these people go to every car show there is, so its always the same people, that they meet again and again, "compete" against the same people again and again, its like their bi-weekly meet, just like me and going to the track every couple of weeks with the same people, same thing really

but beeing at a car show doesn't mean i like car shows, and it just solidified my point of view,
i hate purpose-build show cars, that aren't really cars anymore, but just canvas for anything people can come up with
see... for me : function > form

but thats just my opinion

even though, i walked around and found a couple of really nice cars and really cool people, people that are as passionnate as me about their car, so that was alot of fun

but you see, i was alone, and there weren't that many cars, so i got bored at warp speed, but i had to wait till 5pm for the trophies, because YEAH i'll admit it i went there to get a trophy, OK

at least some guys from the Sherbrooke University SAE team were with their SAE racer, i got to talk engineering with them for awhile



afterwards, i went back in my chair, under the hot 35+ weather and cloudless sky, i almost fell asleep,
when suddently a wild buddy appears !
it was Paulski from http://fuelriders.com/, who was there to cover the went for the organizers



so i got to hang out with him for the majority of the day, but going out for lunch for an event in itself, weird city with sudden crazy elevation changes made it tricky to find "the" McDonalds, had quite a bit of fun, which made the day bearable

every time i would stand close to my car, i'd have to explain to bystanders why the steering was on the right.. lol



had someone fiddle with my horn button while i wasn't there, not cool



saw some crazy big block mustangs on the dyno, even a stock C63 AMG making good numbers

but finally, came the time for trophies, handed out by the beautiful Annie Dufresne
my car was clean so i had good chances i thought



predictably, i won best RHD, beeing one of only 3 at the show, and the other two beeing total crap



anyway, i got my trophy and i was happy to get the hell out of there

drove part of the way back with Paul, which wanted to take rolling shots, i just remember this epic sight of him driving his truck on the hard shoulder on the highway to get the right distance and holding his camera out the window with one hand while driving with the other, clicking away

and he got one of the best pictures of my car ever :



a little video of the event;

http://www.affairesdegars.com/car-show/sweet-shiny.htm

i have to say that this video confuses me because there seem to alot of shots from the other show as well, cuz i don't remember seeing half those cars, and the cars i saw weren't in the video... whatever

---

then a week after, i went yet to another car show, the Full Throttle



this was supposed to be THE biggest show in Quebec, held at ICAR circuit, with contests, booths everywhere, bikini girls, drift demos on the circuit

i waited ages to get in, seems the registration process wasn't clear so stuff wasn't ready because we only started coming in about an hour after the said opening hour



the event was indeed huge, but not as huge as the previous year
again i saw pretty much the same people from a week before, plus alot of crazy crazy cars, some of ImportFest's best

didn't know where to park, so i found another RHD Nissan and called it a day...



again, i wiped the car down super clean, on my knees getting a rag inside all the nooks and crannies of the wheels





again.. i had gone there alone, but knew some people and there was alot more action, so it was a really cool day

Jemery Alan Glover (JAGimaging) was there to cover the event from MontrealRacing.com, and he got a couple really nice pics of my car



dam the car seemed so bright white




the coup-de-grace was when the drift demo started, i climbed to the highest spot of the stand

the cars would come straight out of the pits from "behind" the stand and drift the track right in front of the stands, but i couldn't see anything from the pits, so i would hear them coming, roaring V8s, screaming straight 6s, boosted turbo 4s, and then see a cloud of smoke with cars somewhere in them


saw some awesome drifting during that ~30 minutes demo;



after that, there was a FAIL burnout contest, just retarded;

a guy on a Harley almost crashed 3 times trying to do his burnout, stupid

there was also a demo of motocross bikes doing backflip on ramps, it was a big event indeed

in the end, came time for the trophies,

since there was a Nissan Z/S/R class trophy, i thought i had a chance, but of course the big buck built cars of the ImportFest guys won 1st and 2nd prize, Neil's pinky R32GTR and the godzilla R34 kited skyline (with horrrrible wheel offset)

at least a buddy of mine won for best Subbie with his sick slammed wrapped STI



a little video of the day

haven't done so much hard parking since, but i try to go to a car show here and there, always fun to answer people's questions..


next week i'll change things up, and talk about the first Time Attack event I did, cuz Track > car show

[bellis_GTR]

Awesome stuff buddy! I'm comin up to Quebec for some time attack this summer! No more sayin I willl!!!