Dr. Marus or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the RB26DETT

[frankiman]

try this next time, cheap and super fast, ships for montreal area

http://www.clubplug.ca/

[MarusGTR]

try this next time, cheap and super fast, ships for montreal area
http://www.clubplug.ca/

Wish I had found them two weeks ago when I made my first order, they only offer standard shipping so its too late now. Anyway the BCPR plugs came in today, I'll get them right now and put them in, hopefully the missfire is caused by wasted voltage by my current BKRs (shorter contact).

EDIT: Okay this frustration might have been worthwhile just for this mindblast from... 1990s VINTAGE, BABY, WOO!

[MarusGTR]

2013 - Prologue



^{Pictured 2013}

2013______________________________________________ _____________________________

Another year.

I was surprised at how fast the 2013 season came. I had been hoping to have finished my thesis by feburary, but editors of the journal I was publishing in asked for structural modifications to my original manuscript. This meant that the thesis had to be put indefinitely on hold while the article was polished. This further implied no income in sight, and a lot more waiting.

And it turns out, I was going to have to live with what remained of my money for a lot longer than I had anticipated.

So I'll be upfront, there was no tracking that season. I was (and still am as of writing this) on a sort of life support, just waiting for things to happen. As such I decided to renew the Skyline's plates a month later than usual; I can renew seasonal plates in April but prefer to wait to May for the soils to dry up and roads to get cleaned up. So, that year I decided to get the plates in June. That way I would save on one month of insurance.

Yes, it was that tight of a budget. But getting the car later meant I could work on my daily driver before taking the Skyline in, a car that's been affectionately named the "Slowtra", my decaying '02 B15 Sentra GXE, my first and very loyal car. All said and done, the B15 Sentra was (is) a great car, shifting is surprisingly positive, clutch gives good feedback, heavy steering, all the kinds of stuff you -cannot- find in new cars anymore. One of Nissan's last hurrah's before the full Renault let's-water-everything-down came into effect.

Or maybe I'm just giving myself an excuse to still be happy driving a car that needs a laptop handy to keep the CELs in check.

Anyway the reason why I needed to work on the Slowtra was that as I had changed the winter wheels for my Tenzo DC-6s (hey I was young, they were semi-cheap and they were a step up from what you see around here) I had noticed some discoloration in the paint of the rocker panel that was part of the left quarter panel. I poked it and my hand went through it. Bam. Right there and then, I couldn't pass inspection anymore. So, as I alluded, I decided to fix it myself with a 30$ worth of sheetmetal and bondo in addition to a 30$ riveter (rivets included!).







That'll teach me to poke things. So what caused this? Well turns out that back in 2009-ish I had done a full rustcheck of the car. I hadn't repeated the process because of budget constraints. Seems the mechanics forgot the plugs for that rocker and it rotted from the inside. Chalk one up to doing things yourself.

With all things done, it came out okay (I guess). Not too happy about it but an alternative was just not possible. But that's when it got to me. I got an idea.



So why am I taking time writing this? Well you may notice that in the last picture there are some pretty sweet wheels that are not Tenzo DC-6s. You may then recall the shitty wheels that the Skyline had been rolling on in 2010.

They came out as a perfect wheelset for the Slowtra and I was able to get some life out of the original yellow-browned finish. This donation from the Skyline made it possible for me to sell the DC-6s and buy new tires (the compound of the old ones were dangerously on its last leg). And I got to keep some money in my pocket. Some money that will be quickly used up as I was about to pick up the Skyline.

And this came in the mail, courtesy of Kunio at GTRGARAGE. Superb shipping and service and it was the perfect timing.



Just a few unimportant knicknacks to keep me busy during the summer. Although I'll find out rapidly that Murphy's law does indeed apply and will take most of my time and patience.

PS: I loved this little guy

[MarusGTR]

2013 - Wet and not-so-wild

It was time to pick up the Skyline in Moncton, and it seemed like the weather wasn't about to let go. I had been until then avoiding any kind of rain but there wasn't any other choice as they were still forecasting even worse weather for the foreseeable future.



Also I had an apportunity to meet up with a new friend, fellow GTRC user Drew6, while I was there to check over some things. I didn't want to miss that window.

That's because, even if I had eyeballed the CAS angle position when it was put back on [it had been removed when I stripped the valve covers the year prior], I knew the engine could've used a timing tune up. Just making sure everything was in spec. But I didn't have a timing light and that's where Drew came in and offered to help.

Naturally, since it had been my handiwork, the CAS had been too retarded (IIRC).



I had also mentionned to Drew that I had been running pig rich at the track. Since I had been told that the ECU I bought had a Nistune board, he offered one of his limited Nistune syncs to make a data table of my current running tune.

Everything seemed tight from the fuelmap; projected AFRs were set at 11.6 (amongst other details that I don't remember or understand to the injector timing and such, as I was (and still) far from any experience in full engine overhaul). I'm happy where I am right now just making sure everything is in spec and nothing grenades.



We then set out for a few 100-200kph pulls on the highway to build the map. Hilarity ensued when the Nistune software kept crashing.



As we got back, we got curious as to check if we could lean further the mixture at high RPMs; the AFRs were ranging from 9.6 to 10.6 at WOT only in boost. Everything else was spotless. As we kept unsuccessfully trying to upload a new tune into the board, we realized that maybe the issue was with the board, not the software. Drew fortunately had his (running) GTS-4's Nistune ECU exposed and we got to take a look inside and compare boards.

Comparing apples to oranges, it became obvious that I hadn't bought an ECU with a Nistune daughter board. It had been running all this time a damn simple socketed EPROM.

So we then parted ways and of course I thanked Drew for his help. On my way back to Bathurst, I ended up using most of my reflecting time to how it bugged me that the tune seemed so tight, and yet the output map was so off from the input maps. Moreover, the closed-loop portion of the output map was perfect. Whatever had been the issue, the ECU was able to adequately run with the O2 sensors and low pressures. That is, until boost and the open-loop inputs came into effect. Drew's help had been tremendous in identifiying the problem's parameters.

I had two hypotheses; a boost leak (my best best, as leaks would richen the mixture and I had already popped hoses off at the track) or a (less likely) problem with the fuel system.

In any case, I'd have to remove the front end facia, again, to break down the possibilities.

[MarusGTR]

2013 - Pick me up; sprucing things up (Part 1)

[*cough* Well this is awkward. Being stuck in between lofty-budgeted threads that make my mind race with ideas and engineering endeavours. But I guess its worth continuing on so that I don't forget. Seems like I'm on a roll, might as well keep the pace.]

So as I mentionned, the front facia would need to be removed to check the piping for leaks. The plan was to replace the factory worm clamps with T-bolt clamps throughout. Absolutely no chances these would move under any kind of internal (pressure) or extenal stimuli (engine flex and NVH).

I had been prepared. I had anticipated that I wanted to reinforce the charge piping so I bought enough clamps do the whole system. The problem was that all these costly 3.5" clamps I bought online during the winter weren't 3.5" nominal, that is, they were stamped 3.5", but 3.5" minimum, which is to put it blunt a really, really, stupid way of categorizing clamps. So I had to wait for another shipment, crossing my fingers that they would be 3.5" nominal.

Also I wanted to make a static pressure testing apparatus, using a PVC cap, a tire stem, my dad's compressor and a tire gauge that didn't have a relief valve. That way I could also check for real-time leakage. Turns out rounding those very simple parts that wasn't so easy to do around here. Really this is where it all started, the recurring buttfuckery I had to deal with, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

In any case, it had to wait. It was okay since the weather had a brief open window and I wanted to sandblast one of the parts that had come in from Japan. I was hoping to make me feel a bit better by taking my mind off things and working on the car.



So what were the parts?

Well during the winter I had spent a lot of my free time at home window shopping on yahoo.jp auctions. I was mainly looking to change my steering wheel setup as I felt my legs were too close to the wheel to be comfortable heel-toeing in certain situations. Basically the motion of heel-toeing didn't feel natural enough. For example, I'd find that my right calf connected with the wheel if I brought my knee far enough inward for getting the smooth angle and motion on the gas pedal as I'm breaking. Obviously this would be even more awkward if my hand was thrown in the mix while turning.

At first I was looking for a used Personal Neo Grinta 330mm in suede or, at least, a Sparco 383. Pretty specific demands. The Grinta had what I was looking for in a wheel; the form factor is purely functional with no fancy doodads. I also liked the geometric shape which I thought went well with the cluster surround. I was also a fan of the band thickness (the grip) of the Grinta and 383, as they were pretty much the thickest wheels you could buy in a 6-bolt form (from what I gathered anyway).

To find one I hired the help of Kunio at GTRGARAGE who (again, I'm very grateful) was with me every step of the way. Sadly it didn't pan out as we couldn't find the wheels. Some Grintas were found in leather, but too damaged. A bit fed up, I settled with another wheel I had considered, a MOMO Mod.78 330mm in suede. The wheel was in decent shape from the pictures but it was barely an upgrade from my current wheel, a vintage (1991) MOMO V35 350mm which was the first generation of that form factor with MOMO. This Mod.78's price was considerably reduced to the grime and amount of sticker residue on it. I still went ahead with the purchase, hoping I could clean it up.

But since I was shipping something from Japan, I told myself to indulge, look a bit more into some miscellanious parts to fill the shipping box and reduce the relative worth of the shipping costs. I ended up eyeballing a true gem, the hand grip, which I'll show later. So in the package:

-MOMO Mod.78 330 suede steering wheel, black stiching
-R32 GTR handbrake grip replacement in suede, black stiching
-HKS charge pipe, intake side only (yes, it was for looks, I admit, but it was too cheap to pass up)
-10mm Works Bell spacer



With these in sight I also bought a few other items to further complement the wheel setup:

-Used china-special Sparco spline-type quick release from a forum member (which we'll get into later)
-Used Daikei boss to replace my Works Bell boss

So I set out to sandblast the HKS pipe. If you've been paying attention to this thread, the enginebay now had all its aluminium pieces brushed; the HKS pipe wasn't going to be an exception. I did it in time as the weather turned back to rain fairly quickly.



This was the pipe in its original form, before sandblasting. It had been polished, as seen in countless occasions but in a rough shape. Also I quickly noticed that the flanges were considerably too large (too thick and flared) to be effectively used with the correctly-sized couplers. I knew people had problems with fitment but this was just a strange design choice. So I immediately started grinding down the flanges to something more proportionned and closely shaped to the RB26's TT charge pipe flange.







And this is the before/after of the sandblasting:





After brushing for a bit



After bushing a bit more:



While I was brushing the pipes, I also went brush-crazy and brushed the silicone couplers. This would make the couplers more textured and woven, and look less weak, cheap, plasticky (which, admittedly, they were).



Coincidentally, I recieved the other shipment of T-bolt clamps... they worked! The result:



Finally something to feel good about.

[JosiahP]

Just finished read through the whole thread! The car has come such a long way! Motivates me to spend some quality time fixing up mine

[rob_96]

This is a very inspirational thread... keep it up

[MarusGTR]

2013 - Pick me up; sprucing things up (Part 2)

So now that the HKS pipe was fitted, it was time to move on to the interior.

First and foremost, I wanted to check the Daikei boss' fitment. So I started by pulling the Works Bell boss off. It would have been impossible to do so without a pulley puller, as the mating surfaces had seized.



Yeah, so that sucker was on a bit tight, so I planned ahead and kept the nut on the shaft as a brake, because it was going to come off with a vengeance.

And it did.

It litterally (and audibly) popped off with a puff of metallic smoke. I ended up drilling an indent into the shaft. Absolutely no damage to the boss or its splines however, as I distributed the load on each bolt evenly with these fender washers.



The bolts and washers, however, did not fare so well.







And then I gladly put the Daikei boss in. And was a bit dissapointed. The colour and texture did not match any other plastics in the interior. The Works Bell boss, on the other hand, had matched the OEM look perfectly.

Still, I figured I could find a way to make the Daikei boss blend in.



With the weather finally clearing up, I was able to finally paint and use the sun as a curer, driving me to get the interior done even faster.

The reason why I wanted to change the steering boss was so that the new quickrelease setup would blend more neatly with the cluster. The Works Bell boss was better suited to complimenting a nice wheel and interior, not a more race-oriented setup.

So as I had previously mentionned, the quick release was a knockoff Sparco spline type. I would have never considered even touching a more common ball bearing QR, fake or not.

My feelings on the spline type quickrelease however, were different. While it is considerably more difficult to align the wheel and slide it on, the steering wheel would be locked by proper spline interference, no chance for play. I was however fully aware that the item I bought had been manufactured with subpar materials, but I was willing to give it a shot and closely monitor the wear. I wanted to make a proof of concept; eventually, if I do get into the big builds, I'd was anticipating using this exact QR so now I had a chance to try it, albeit with a bit less confidence (I wouldn't use it in a rally course, that's for sure).

All and all it wasn't too bad; it was made with low carbon steel, the locking surfaces are very soft and won't last nearly as long at the real item I'm sure, but they should hold well to any light-to-medium abuse.

Since I had long fingers I had also anticipated that I'd require a spacer to reach the unlock ring without cramping. This is where the Works Bell spacer came in, which I rapidly painted to a texture that I thought would match the QR.



And for the Daikei boss, I was looking to get its texture closer to the OEM texture. So I started sanding it down to get it ready for paint.





This is the same krylon camo that was used for the lip and my wideband plating. So the boss come out well, but putting it back on the car I was still unsatisfied, since the matte wasn't blending with the steering surround's glossier (plastic) finish.

So I then opted to use krylon fusion in semi-gloss, the actual same leftover paint can that was used to refresh my headlights a few years prior. While it gave a very artificial gloss, I've found that I can blend paint to a more natural finish by sanding it with 2000 grit.

So I wasked back to the garage...



And then as I went to the right of the door, I was surprised by this little guy.



And then there was thrashing at my feet.



I looked at my old dog and chimed: "Really Pooch? You had one job." To which she replied with a glance and got back to sleep.

[bobbo]

So hard to find good four legged help these days isn't it!
Good to see you're keeping entertained Marc!

[MarusGTR]

So hard to find good four legged help these days isn't it!
Good to see you're keeping entertained Marc!

Trying to keep the good faith, yes. It's nice to have something to focus on, keep myself from losing my critical thinking, feels like my brain is physically wasting away.

Although it wasn't all that great as you may remember, bad part of the story is coming soon.

As for Roxbox, the poor old girl, she's just a big softie.

EDIT: Speaking of unpleasantries, my last chapter got lost when I tried to post it. All of it. Back from scratch we go.

[MarusGTR]

2013 - Put me down; Things going wrong (Part 1)

So now that I had the steering wheel layout completed, I needed the appropriate industrial-grade fasteners for its assembly.

I had actually anticipated my needs more than a month earlier. Although fastener suppliers that sell by the unit are horribly scarce in Canada, I had happily found a locally-operated shop a short drive away that could get everything I needed. I had made my case to the owner and he had been happy to take an order for some fasteners. I wanted metric Class 10.9, nothing less, in black oxide; "They'll be here next week", he had said.

More than four weeks later, it was about that point where I realized that over here things go FUBAR by default.

Some of these fasteners were for the wheel setup, but the others were for another light project. I was going to push my custom shifter surround setup a bit further. Why?

Well if you remember, I had bought a universal short throw kit the year prior and to my dissapointment, it didn't come with an RB26 transmission bushing, only an RB20. But unexpectedly, I was able to sleuth myself a supplier of that ST and made an arrangement with Daryl on getting me an RB26 bushing for what had been a useless kit.

I could finally use my not-quite-so-custom setup.



So while I was waiting for the fasteners, work went underway to change the shifter. The knockoff shifter had telltale signs of its origin; it was chromed and the channels for the guiding pins were pretty rough and sharp edged. So I tried my best to file things down before assembly. The kit came with nylon bushings to replace the OEM items, which were now very yellowed and worn out. These also needed a bit of sanding to take the rough edges off.

The assembly of the kit was actually simpler than it had been for the stock item, as the circlips weren't used. For some reason, some still use the spring washer for the short throw, but I saw no use to use it as its purpose was in conjunction with the circlips. One of the difficulties was in the shifter's design though, as it came quite obvious, where apparently the pastry-sized boot that's supposed to seal the transfercase had been an afterthought; the way they designed the flange, it was only going to stay on with a prayer. So I had to resort in making my own seal from the boot (may it rest in pieces).



One glaring problem came from trying to assemble my custom setup; the bolts were too short with the added thickness of the seal. In fact, the bolts were too short, period. The assembly would buckle under the unstable clamping pressure. Still, the weather had finally started to clear up for the long run, and I was itching for a drive. So I assembled it as most stable I could, without the seal, and screwed my custom-machined shaft on.

I thought to myself that maybe a dribble would make its way through the assembly, it wasn't much trouble.



The sun had set down by the time I put my old V35 wheel on and drove out the driveway. Sensory overload, the lack of rubber insulation made the transmission scream like a banshee in heat. It was glorious. I didn't care if I couldn't see inside the car, in fact I couldn't even think over the noise. I then proceeded to the highway for a good pull and the AWD engaged.

*sigh*

And that's where I was glad that I typically brought shop towels with me on test drives, because my arm was getting soaked with hot fluid. I proceeded to the closest lit parking lot to clean my mess. You idiot.

As I was leaning towards the dash to soak up the fluid, car parked and running, my attention was brought to my oil pressure gauge. It was barely registering, the light wasn't on but there wasn't much left before it would light. "No, no no no not that, no." It was a teeth clenching moment.

It was bluffing, the gauge was bluffing. I was sure it was just a bluff. So I drove back home. I had remembered that steady drop in pressure from the FSM's specs at idle, 3000 and 6000RPM during the last season, right after using Royal Purple on my first trackday. I was going all in with my hand, on varnish.

The next day I received my 17mm stubby wrench. A special purchase I had to make because apparently 17mm wrenches are bad luck when sold in sets? I can get why they don't include 19mm (3/4"), but not 17mm? I finally got my sensor off and lo and behold, there's my problem.



After cleaning the nozzle with motomaster brake cleaner, the sludge began to pool outward. Notice the black spots.



I repeated the process, flicking the tip a few times with my finger, until the solvent wouldn't change colour.



I was satisfied, but I still had my suspicions. "Hmmph. I wonder." as I shaked it next to my ear. Barely audible sloshing sounds. There was still something in there!

I then went for my Gunk brake cleaner, which made the motomaster stuff look like plain rubbing alcohol. The stuff nearly ruined my calipers' paint once.

Nothing.

Still, I left the sensor on the counter with the nozzle saturated and turned around to the engine bay. I wanted to check the hole for any obstructions.



Clear. Alright then. But as I turned around I was greeted with a gurgling sound. Note that I had left it on the counter with the brake cleaner flush against the tip, nowhere close to the amount that was coming out.



After a bit more of a proper clean up, I'm happy to report that as I started the car with the sensor on, oil pressure was spot on.



A bit later I called the fastener guy, expecting him to tell me "next week, I have a big shipment" again.

"I lost the order... actually it was never made".

"Wait, what?"

"Uh, I uh lost your list when you gave it to me."

Needless to say I was out the door and at the local hardware store looking for fasteners better suited for assembling sinks. It would have to do for the time being.

[amnash]

thread is looking good!!!

[frankiman]

i learned a long time ago that te only way to get the exact fastners you want quickly (next day delivery) is to go with McMasterCarr, but i think they only ship to businesses now, but thats a small hurdle imo

http://www.mcmaster.com/#

these guys have it all, almost

[bobbo]

aaahh. One day Marc you'll look back on all of this and think "those were the days".
Good job man. Keep it up because nothing worth doing is ever easy.

[S13Jordie]

i learned a long time ago that te only way to get the exact fastners you want quickly (next day delivery) is to go with McMasterCarr, but i think they only ship to businesses now, but thats a small hurdle imo

http://www.mcmaster.com/#

these guys have it all, almost

Spaenaur is also another good option. We use them all the time for fasteners/ hardware that we don't vender manage.