My 1995 GTR project thread.

[cortexx]

Next up is an upgrade in the fueling department , I have my new engine pretty much ready to roll out but want to get a handle on the Vipec system on the old engine and develope a base map before dropping in the new unit .

A quick pic of the engine as it stands today



Its missing a few things like the oil pan (being modded) and the CAS etc but it's patiently waiting action

I procured an old RB25 ECU for a donor box for the Vipec Link Ecu board .

this is the cover off shot



the old board out and the new one in ...



a closer shot of the install



I gave the scruffy looking covers a quick coat of black plastidip , i prefer powder coating things like this but it wont be visible so this is fine

[cortexx]

O it's time to get back on track and start to share more updates ... this last year has seen some quite expensive purchases so that kind of curtails the number of installs or cool parts

First of all I managed to locate some R33 white face Nismo Gauges on the Japanese yahoo auctions and frantically contacted Adam at Feast to buy them asap and ship them (which he did with speed and efficiency) . They turned up last Tuesday at work and were installed Tuesday Evening

In the box nicely wrapped from Adam :-


The old dash before removing it ..


Installed into the car a few hours later




A big thumbs down to image shack for reducing the size of the images on their free hosting service , id have to pay to make these images bigger . maybe ill gradually move it all over to a different service when time allows

Rehosted on google picassa web , ill gradually move all my images over to the new service

Last year saw some relatively expensive upgrades , the factory front seats came out and made room for a pair of Bride Vorga reclining seats . These came in blue with a carbon back to them and also fitted a pair of Bride lowmax rails to drop them pretty much on the floor . Overall these seats allow my 6'7" frame to have enough headroom to wear a helmet for the track , and another 4 inches of legroom which is a night and day difference. These seats are also alot more comfortable than the already good factory GTR seats , something i was pleasantly surpised about .



Onto the next upgrade which was sourcing a set of new rims. Nothing wrong with the Works emotions i had but i wanted something that had a bit better fitment and gave the car a more traditional japanese tuner look . I really have wanted a set of TE37 for a long time but didnt really want the SE series or the tokyo edition so i contacted Daryl at Rightdrive and he ordered a set of 18X10.5 +15 Rays TE37 original in bronze from Japan. These wheels were made to order as they have been discontinued and took a little while to come because of this but the wait was worth it and i really prefer the original design of these They fit perfectly of course



all 4 rims were shod in Bridgestone Potenza 265 X 35 X 18 RE-11 which are alot quieter on the road than my previous dunlops , but they dont have the same grip by any stretch of the imagination .

[Skynet1]

Cortexx you sir are a legend. This thread is so great, full of information, tips and THAT parts list! damn. Very nice build you have going here, any updates for this year??

[GoldNinja]

Nice frog lol!

Great looking build!

[cortexx]

Almost - im 46 .

I come from England mostly where there is no job security , you can be in and out of a job in 3-6 months on a regular basis .

It doesnt take long to rack up a long employment history - and it's quite common to switch and train for different trades also .... Welcome to the world outside the north american lifestyle

[r32king23]

Actually making things like this is relatively easy once you get started. As for my occupation ? I run a computer retail business/service center that specializes in onsite service , corporate networking and security

After leaving my original career I was originally trained for electronics specializing in analogue and digital microprocessor control systems, trained to repair TV's and videos later on then took a complete change of direction and did a 3 apprentiship as an auto technician . After another 3 years i went back into electronics programming and repairing pinball, slot machines, juke boxes, and arcade gaming equipment, then i spent 5 years reclothing snooker tables and pool tables before retraining yet again for computer tech , then i moved to canada 16 years ago and have been repairing and networking computer equipement since.

I have also picked potatoes for farmers , gutted and prepped fish for sale in a fish market, worked in a fish and chip shop, delivered booze to retired military personel , construction labourer and a few others i could go into ...

Basically what ever it takes to make a living - I lived in England and Germany most of my life - moved around a bit because of different deployments and postings .

Are you a hundred years old?

[EricG-SkylineGTR]

A day and a half of reading this build from the start and wow! Nice build cortexx! Gonna have to refer to this thread when I get into my engine! Sub'd for future updates

[cortexx]

ok on with the details - I am beginning to assemble a list of fittings to plumb in the turbo oil and water lines . I have spent hours researchingt o find out what everyone else has used and there is a suprising lack of info on the net about it .

Found a website that has alot of fittings and this is what I have figured i'll need for the oil .. ( minus the lines themselves and the oil drain fitting on the actuall turbo case )

www.anplumbing.com


earls and XRP fittings for oil lines .


3/4” NPT to -10 AT981609 (oil drain to block)
90 Deg. Ti-Tech Hose End -10 209010TT (90deg oil drain hose end)
Straight Ti-Tech Hose End -10 100010TT ( straight from oil drain flange hose end)
M12 x 1.5 -4 871204 (oil feed from block ADAPTER)
90 Deg. Ti-Tech Hose End -4 109004TT (oil feed from block hose end)
150 Deg. Ti-Tech hose end -4 115004TT (oil feed to top of turbo hose end )


Ill be adding to this list as I go so hopefully it'll help others out with a list for a single turbo conversion.

I started with retapping the rear water feed on the block tonight , not to change the thread , more to clean out any rust etc ..

this is an m14 x1.5 thread if anyone was wondering what fitting to use ...




after chasing out the junk i smeared some lithium grease in it to keep the thread clean and prevent corrosion .




The Borg Warner EFR 7670 was a long time coming but it did finally arrive earlier this year . I bought the internal wastegate unit on the T4 twinscroll flange with a 92.AR . These units should spool faster than my tomei twins and give me more than enough power to have fun ..

In Hindsight it may have been easier to buy the fullrace unit but i did buy the 6boost (both of which are great manifolds and are widely used) , so im going to make it all work .

The first small issue was simply that the studs in the mainfolds t4 flange were too long for the turbo's exhaust casting ....




2 options are , gring the turbo or use a shorter stud , ill be removing the stud and grabbing some shorter ones soon (tm) .

The next issue is a bit more or a pain in the ass in that the waste-gate actuator is mounted on the left side ( looking at the turbo from the front ) . On a 2JZ engine this wouldn't be an issue but this is an RB26 and the turbo is on other side of the engine - which means the waste-gate canister clobbers the cam cover . We either machine the T4 flange to tilt the turbo out and get clearance OR I guess i could relocate the bracket on the cannister ....

This is the original canister location as it comes from the factory ...



This is not good , i needed to drop it down below the level of the cam and have it sit just about the manifold.

So i had some scraps of T304 stainless steel bar and plate in the workshop that i decided would make great bracketry

This is my first attempt - took about 2 hours to drill , machine and grind this to shape . T304 is not the softest metal to fabricate things with ....



put the wastegate back on , tried it with 20 psi carefully and it worked but this plate had alot of flex in it , need to modify it to stiffen things up .

So i set about to make another bracket to brace this one and stop flex .... more stainless and a cobalt drillbit to make a hole , i have a pile of melted HSS bits from trying to drill this stuff , the cobalt bits are the dogs bollocks for doing this on slow speed in a drill press with more lube than Freddy Mercury and Elton john would use in a single night ..



Then i loosly assembled it all on the turbo and clamped it down on my Welding table ready to tig ...



Here is a closer shot to show this clearer ...




Once tack welded , I removed it from the turbo so that i dont damage anything on the turbo assembly and finish welding the bracket . I dont like welding t304 much , it's a bit easier with a mig but i wanted the cleaner finish of the Tig , although It's not exactly a piece of sculpture it'll work




I also countersunk the 2 screw holes so that the original countersink screws could be used ..

BOlted back on the turbo to make sure it all fits and to make sure the welding didnt warp anything ...



a slightly different angle . What you can see here is that the extra piece has affectively braced the plate i made and rendered it completely rigid . No flex - good wastegate response



Voila .. view front the front and you can see the relocation , it now has plenty of room and doesnt foul anything ....




and another angle so you can see the orientation a bit easier ....



I connected 20 psi to it and checked the operation of the wastegate and it's tight precise and nothing moves that shouldn't .

Next up i have to assemble the list of parts for the water lines , then i can put an order in for the parts and hopefully they dont take too long to arrive ...

More soon

[cortexx]

Hi Guys

Its been far too long with no updates so i figured id post up some pics for you tonight and some info on what ive been up to.

The one thing i have been working on is making the Borg Warner turbo fit on the 6 boost manifold without fouling the cam cover , i did fist the old one until it fitted but when i tested it with a air line for operation the waste-gate canister actually had movement with the bracket flexing .

This was mostly because i had hammered it flat and twisted it to make it fit but was only able to utilize 2 of the countersunk mounting holes on the turbo casing.

Constant usage would eventually break something due to fatigue so i set about to make it better. And a flexible plate allowing the waste gate canister any movement is obviously going to create latency int he waste gate operation - not good for my responsive to be engine

[sb119]

Obvioulsy being 6ft 7" means wearing a helmet for the track became a headache with a lack of headroom so a Set of bride Vorga seats have been ordered that will pretty much sit me on the floor and give me plenty of headroom ,

Awesome build man! I'm about the same height as you and have the same issues with headroom while wearing a helmet but every race seat I've sat in the holes for a harness are half way down my back. I've sat in a few Bride seats but never a Vorga. Are the harness holes any higher than other seats? Or do you just have your harness come up and over your shoulder?

[bimmertech]

just skimmed through, nice car.

I too have a 7670 with a 6boost manifold. I experienced the exact same fitment issue you are having.

i am very eager to see your solution. mine was to flatten out the bracket, then twist it a bit. however i moved the bracket to the last two holes on the compressor housing thus only using two of the three mounting screws. wastegate adjusted well, and clears everything pretty good. i haven't driven it yet though.

[MattiasJacobs]

Jesus murphy! That's a wicked parts list! Very jealous...

[cortexx]

Thanks for the comments

We'll nothing very exciting at the moment .. but ill shed some light on whats going on in the meantime ...

I finally managed to get my hands on my much anticipated Borg warner EFR 7670 twin scroll internal wastegate turbo . I threw it on the engine to see what fitment was like but the 6 boost manifold make the integrated wastegate actuator clash with the exhaust side cam cover so i will be fabbing a new bracket for the actuater that re-positions in under the turbo instead of above it.

I got my new clutch from Japan at last , a dual plate carbon Excedy race clutch that has a very light flywheel , its pretty , purple , and much lighter than the nismo one on the car at the moment. Going to help response on the new engine.

I ordered some new rims - a set of bronze TE37 18 X 10.5 -15 al round with a set of 275 35 18 R888 tires for mostly track use , should be here in July .

Obvioulsy being 6ft 7" means wearing a helmet for the track became a headache with a lack of headroom so a Set of bride Vorga seats have been ordered that will pretty much sit me on the floor and give me plenty of headroom , also baan on a diet and lost almost 40 lbs to make sure i fit in them properly


A set of Takata black edition harnesses are about to be ordered , also want some kind of rear cage that will not intrude into the front of the car or make me decimate the interior , looking at cusco cages and HKS kensai service cages at the moment .


The efr turbo means i can dispense with all of the recirculation pipes , valves and such and cut down on alot of junk under the hood so i bought a Miller 180 diversion TiG to make up some nice new shiney piping ( there will be lots of pics for this ) .

Upgraded my small lathe to a much larger floor standing unit so that i can work with larger pieces . This has just been installed ready to use.


Got a new CAT to replace the 17 year old tired unit .


The engine is not being swapped in until end of the summer as im driving the car now and i want to take it to the track some time this year . Looking at transmission options to do at the same time as the engine swap , might just as well do it all in one go ...

[ms33]

What a fantastic thread, just been right thru it, any new updates?

[steveo1502]

Wow, lol