Law of Murphy at Play for This Daily Driver BNR32

[bobbo]

I've got 160k on my motor. The head and Pistons haven't been touched. I did the oil pump, drive and bottom end bearings this year. Even after countless track days & TAs the oem pump looked very good.
All of the things you mentioned above won't make a significant difference to making your car go faster. In actuality it's going to make things much more difficult because of the countless adjustments you'll have to deal with. The KISS method applies very well wrt suspension set ups early on. The most important adjustment is made on the nut behind the steering wheel as they say.
With everything you mentioned you're overlooking two of the most critical components to making the car handle better. The oem rear diffs can't take much track abuse. They overheat, wear quickly and subsequently begin to slip. The most obvious component(s) is tires. Pick up a set of R33 wheels and a set of 255/40/17 stickies.
All of that said I understand that people spend big money on their cars and taking their investment to the track is scary. In my mind it makes no sense on having a car with huge potential and pissing around on the street with it. Much like dating a super model on not wanting to "sleep" with her.
Do you have an oil cooler fitted?

[louis110]

I've got 160k on my motor. The head and Pistons haven't been touched. I did the oil pump, drive and bottom end bearings this year. Even after countless track days & TAs the oem pump looked very good.
All of the things you mentioned above won't make a significant difference to making your car go faster. In actuality it's going to make things much more difficult because of the countless adjustments you'll have to deal with. The KISS method applies very well wrt suspension set ups early on. The most important adjustment is made on the nut behind the steering wheel as they say.
With everything you mentioned you're overlooking two of the most critical components to making the car handle better. The oem rear diffs can't take much track abuse. They overheat, wear quickly and subsequently begin to slip. The most obvious component(s) is tires. Pick up a set of R33 wheels and a set of 255/40/17 stickies.
All of that said I understand that people spend big money on their cars and taking their investment to the track is scary. In my mind it makes no sense on having a car with huge potential and pissing around on the street with it. Much like dating a super model on not wanting to "sleep" with her.
Do you have an oil cooler fitted?

No oil cooler for now but I made space for it where the intake snorkel used to be. I never thought about a rear diff upgrade. I guess what I'm envisioning is a tighter chassis as opposed to racecar like handling. As much as I'd like to think it's a track car, it's not. It's a street car with occasional track/autoX use, where I have to drive 3.5 hours one way to get to the nearest track, and track days don't even occur on weekends.

I have an addiction problem though. I keep buying cheap parts from auction, but they're all things I need for my turbo swap. Got a lead on brand new HKS metal exhaust manifold gasket for $30 and a brand new JUN 256°/9.15mm exhaust cam for $100.

Just need to find a matching intake cam now. I could either go with the same size or go with slightly longer duration on the intake side with 264°/9.15mm.

[louis110]

Also picked up a test pipe and Tomei 260°/9.15mm IN cam that should be in the mail shortly.



Took advantage of Right Drive ' s Black Friday sale and picked up a Deatschwerks 300 fuel pump ($180 for a pump with rave reviews), Tomei oil restrictor, CV boot kit, and a spare coupler.



Unfortunately the piping on the Fujitsubo downpipe is 15mm smaller than my HPI dump pipes.
HPI dumps on the exit side - 70mm inner diameter


Downpipe on the inlet side - 55mm inner diameter


Test fit of dump pipe and downpipe. Looking through the dump, you can see how much of the downpipe flange sticks into the exhaust flow.


I'll have to send the downpipe to a shop to have them weld on new flanges with reducers to ensure smooth flow.

[louis110]

Update time:

Installed my ZLED taillight kit. Looks awesome and really makes the car stand out from the rest of the Skylines. I also made a DIY video if anyone is interested.

Annnd all dis will be going into the car. Will be dropping the motor and putting these good bits on:
- Kakimoto Regu 06&R exhaust + Fujitsubo EQ downpipe + test pipe + HPI dumps, everything wrapped in heat wrap
- KTS metal steering bushing, Nismo engine + tranny mounts, Nismo clutch slave cylinder
- Cosworth headgasket (1.1mm thickness, 87mm bore) + ARP head studs + HKS metal exhaust mani gaskets
- Deastshwerks 300 fuel pump + Sard high impedance 550CC injectors
- Nismo Lemans turbos + HKS wastegates + Cusco split pipe
- Tomei IN cam (260 deg, 9.15mm) + JUN EX cam (254 deg, 9.15mm)
- Tomei oil restrict or
- Innovate scg-1 boost controller/wideband combo gauge
- DEI Cool-Wrap for under hood and firewall
- Nismo rear lower arms and traction rods.

[louis110]

My laptop is toast and the new forum update isn't compatible with Tapatalk so I haven't been able to update this thread. Easter long weekend, I took the car out of storage and took it straight to the auto club on base to start on Operation Actually Make Decent Power. Dropped the engine in 6.5 hours, and the next couple of days was spent removing the turbos, manifolds, pumps, etc.

[louis110]

When we took off my high flow cat, it really explained the stink my car was making hahah


Everything has been unbolting off the motor with ease. Nothing was seized and we only sheared a couple of small bolts that just held down some of the brackets. With everything out, I degreased the engine bay, and really wanted to control radiant heat under the engine bay. Last year I was running spacers under the hood hinges and it actually helped a bit. In addition to all the wrapping, I'm installing a carbon fiber NACA duct in the hood as well.


I also sent my intake manifold/throttle bodies/intake runners to one of the workshops at work and had it hot pressure washed in their parts washer. Perks of the job sometimes!

[louis110]

When I was bored of engine stuff, I would move to some of the other parts of the car like installing this KTS solid steering adapter.


Finally got the head off last week, and dropped it off at Best Engines in Edmonton. The plan is to have them resurface the deck, port the exhaust manifold runners, inspect the seals and valve guides, clean everything out, and install my Jun/Tomei camshaft combo. With the head out of the way, I scrubbed off all the carbon build-up on the pistons and mating surface. Installed the Tomei oil restrictor pill as well.

[grapejuice]

Looking good! I'm sort of at the same point with starting to get my car running with the power it should be at after fixing all the little things like leaks and cv boots.

[bobbo]

That's some nice shopping you've been doing!
May I suggest replacing all of your cooling and vacuum lines while your engine is out?
I bought an Autobahn 88 kit from Daryl for a couple hundred $.
Your heart must've been in your throat cutting your hood for that NACA duct.
Nice work as always! I love the look of your car!

[louis110]

That's some nice shopping you've been doing!
May I suggest replacing all of your cooling and vacuum lines while your engine is out?
I bought an Autobahn 88 kit from Daryl for a couple hundred $.
Your heart must've been in your throat cutting your hood for that NACA duct.
Nice work as always! I love the look of your car!

What was the kit called Rob? Heater hose kit?

I'm also contemplating getting the reimax gear set for my stock oil pump. What do you think? Not necessary?

Haven't cut the hood just yet! Going to see if any of my body shop friends are willing to give me a steady hand.

[bobbo]

I'm not sure. Daryl will know what you mean.
I would recommend while you have the engine out do all the PM your budget will allow.
I did the collar and reimax gears. Cheapest way to get that overrated oil pump paranoia out of the way.
Have a look at my build. You'll see what I did. Easier than retyping

[louis110]

I'm not sure. Daryl will know what you mean.
I would recommend while you have the engine out do all the PM your budget will allow.
I did the collar and reimax gears. Cheapest way to get that overrated oil pump paranoia out of the way.
Have a look at my build. You'll see what I did. Easier than retyping

I see you're using the N1 pump. I'm considering shimming the spring in the OEM pump but there isn't enough material online about doing that.

Out of curiousity, are you running the stock crank pulley? I knicked mine a bit when I was using the removal tool on it. The first 3 threads in 1 of the 2 tool insertion holes pulled right out along with the material around it. It's very minor, but it's making me want to replace it with an aftermarket one.

[bobbo]

I was on the fence wrt whether or not to upgrade but mine was in excellent shape so opted not to. I kinda wish I had.
It's about $450 for a fluid damper. Your call if you want to add that to the budget. Many of these depend a whole lot on how long you plan on keeping the car.

[louis110]

I ordered the Reimax gears, and random gaskets from RD earlier last week and am still waiting for my head to get finished at the machine shop. Over the last week I prepped my turbos, installed my ARP headstuds

Ported my exhaust manifolds and polished the spots I grinder out. Enlarged the exits by about 9mm!



And completed a full hicas delete including all the hydraulic lines and front solenoid, and removed the PS impeller. It ended up being about 50lbs of stuff!



My subframe collars and hicas bar from GKTECH showed up today. Unfortunately they sent me some prototype hicas bar that they haven't even released yet lol. I ended up using this, but it meant buying rear toe rods to essentially make my own HICAS delete kit. I went with baller SPL rear toe rods. Also got a silicone heater hose kit to replace all the old rubbers.

[louis110]

Wow, long overdue for an update! I successfully finished my build last Summer but not without some hiccups. Here's a quick and dirty since the last update:

My head was significantly delayed by Best Engines Edmonton. What originally was supposed to take a week ended up taking 2 months. Their poor communication resulted in massive delays with parts ordering and doing things on time. They snapped my Tomei intake camshaft upon installation and needed me to order another one. After a huge headache and some very pointed conversations, I eventually got my head back resurfaced, refreshed, exhaust runners ported, new valve stem seals, and upgraded cams (in Tomei 260 deg 9.15mm lift, ex JUN 256 deg 9.15mm lift)




While the head was at the shop, I took care of all the things I could get my hands on. This included:
- upgrading the oil pump gears to billet Reimax gears and shimming the relief valve for higher pressure
- relocating the washer bottle to the trunk
- GKTech slip in solid rear subframe collars
- GKTech HICAS cancel bar, with SPL toe rods and Energy Suspension bushings for a full HICAS delete including removal of the HICAS lines
- Installed Nismo rear arms
- A/C delete
- Nismo engine and tranny mounts

After removing the oil pump, the stock pump/gears looked pretty good still, and the crank snout looked in good shape as well.


Here's the OEM oil pump with new Reimax gears installed.





Some suspension upgrades and washer bottle relocate



Getting a bit closer with the head mated to the block.