My New R33 GTR - so it begins...

[ColinR33]

So, time for an update, have been working on various things, finally got a few of them complete.
Being a cheap bastard (half Scottish and my wife is Chinese) I could not justify $4-500 for powdercoating my brakes (lots of other placess to spend my money) so I took it on myself. First thing is to disassemble the brakes, use compressed air to force the pistons out, make sure to have a block of wood in between to make sure the pistons don't shoot out, and do not get your fingers in there!

Once all the pistons are out:

Use a sharp pick or Xacto knife to take out the old seals, be very careful not to scratch the insides of the pistons!

I then stripped all the paint off using a chemical stripper, got them all down to their anodized coating:

Cleaned thoroughly inside and out, taped off the piston holes and all bits I don't want painted

Painted with VHT black caliper paint and put on the Brembo stencils and painted the Brembo logo.


Then clearcoat, turned out pretty good, we'll see how long it lasts, see if it was worth the effort compared to powdercoating, total cost about $150. Make sure you leave 5 days between the different coats and bake the calipers in the oven to help cure the paint as the caliper paint is heat cured. Now I just reassemble with new seals and dust boots.


Also, since I went with a Vipec, I sold my MAFs and had to get MAF delete pipes, but agaian being cheap I didn't want to spend a couple hundred on the HKS or some other units, so spent $8 on a couple squares of 5mm aluminium plate and sacrificed some leftover 70mm CAI piping from my Altima. Some drilling, grinding and welding later...

Total cost, $10 and a few hours of my time.

[ColinR33]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. I am having a lot of fun doing this build and learning a lot along the way. This forum and others have been a great source of information and inspiration. Hopefully will have more updates in the next couple of weeks. James, I am looking forward to the summer track season as well!

[Voodoo_ChildR32]

I've seen Colin's work in progress, and I must admit it is one of the cleanest builds I have seen in person. The car is a monster, all I remember from the last time he took me for a ride was my head bouncing off the headrest between shifts lol. Can't wait to hit the track with ya this year, you'll bury my car but it'll be fun trying to run away from ya.

[bellis_GTR]

Awesome stuff ! Love the work and pictures

[M13]

So back to suspension installation, did the Driftworks HICAS eliminator kit tonite, pressed in the new bushings, went in pretty smooth:

Then bolted up the bits, trick is to loosely fit everything together before tightening up.

DING DING DING DING.

So many ppl have problems with this, it's not even funny. GREAT build thread!!

[JZ]

Loving this thread.

I know HICAS was lame in the 32's, which was why eliminating them is almost imperative but the revised system in the 33 is supposed to be pretty decent. Personally my butt is not very sensitive so with or without HICAS is lost on me.

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

I would love to hear your opinions after you drive it this year, it's always interesting to hear real-life comparisons!

[ColinR33]

In some of the lapping sessions and autocrosses I found it made the car rather "twitchy" in some instances, when the hicas reacted to change the steering angle of the rear wheels midway thru a turn as I am accelerating out of a corner I did not like the feeling (could also be due to a shot ball joint I found). Also didn't like the way it reacted to a slide. True test will be when I do my first sessions with the eliminator kit. It has been the subject of numerous discussions with very polarized views.

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

Personally I'm very happy with my HICAS

[cortexx]

I wonder about the hicas - why do so many people remove it ? Did the original GTR's that raced have them intact , and if so Nissan must have a logical reason for incorporating them .

Do the benefits not outweigh the disadvantages ? I'm surprised no one has overhauled and modded the Hicas to improve its function , almost all other areas of our cars have been modded at some time ..

Just thinking out loud here

[ColinR33]

Thanks, I have Whiteline subframe bushings on order, if they come in before track season starts I'll go back and drop the subframe to replace them.

[frankiman]

i love how the electric hicas rack looks soo much different from hydraulic ones on r32s

and great job on the DW install, the kits looks awesome

[r33_gtst]

Lookin good man
I did the dw hicas removal last year along with upgraded fuca, toe links, traction rods and a good alignment.
Car handles awesome but it made me realize how important the subframe bushings are. Mine are junk, need replacing. Definitely the Achilles heel of my suspension right now

[ColinR33]

So today I finished off the rear suspension by installing the traction rods and rucas, looks pretty sharp, actually getting used to the DW orange....

Used the oem parts as jigs to adjust the new pieces:


Takes a little fiddling to get them right.
Also did the front tension rods, had to disconnect the link from the knuckle to drop it and allow the 10mm hex drive to fit in there. One was cross threaded and a cast iron b*tch to get off, happily the DW kit came with new bolts and nylok nuts.

[Voodoo_ChildR32]

From what I've read about HICAS eliminators/locks is that the car will feel more like a RWD in that it is more predictable while powering out of corners. I also understand it makes it easier to drift with because the HICAS system isn't trying to correct the input you give the car. I'm just waiting for warmer weather to get rid of it on mine, icy roads are fun enough with it working.