The Snowman's Sled

[Snow]

Alright guys so I figured I might as well start throwing something together on my car since nothing exists online thus far other than a few painful experiences I’ve had with it. That and there was more talk about my car on BC240 than there was on here (and I'm no member )

I bought the car in June of last year. I looked for months and months trying to find the right one. Looked at tons and couldn’t find a single one I was happy with. Some guys lied about stupid things from exterior/interior condition to the health of the engine (one car had a fresh rebuild but the front wheel bearing was shot and hood latch broken so I was supposed to “take his word for it;” Yea right…)

Anyways, I had sold my previous car and was sitting on cash waiting for the love of my life to pop up on GTRC or CL when I magically found this ad on my BB on the way home from work one day. Although I wasn’t a fan of the kit, and its exterior wasn’t in the best condition, what it had done to it far exceeded my expectations of my first Skyline. I quickly did the math and realized that if I bought another GTS-t I could expect to spend 3 – 4 grand in aftermarket parts to get it to a similar state as this car…

This is how I bought the car… as you can imagine, I would not allow it to stay this way…


Notice how the front bumper sags because it has been thoroughly destroyed by the previous owner… and it is held on by zipties… Yes truly a Skyline indeed.

There were a few things the car needed, most importantly the front bumper, timing belt/water pump replacement, and later all the coolant lines (will post a DIY later).

I hacked the bumper so I could drive it until the end of the week when Martin (MWRacing) showed up with my new bumper.




Notice anything missing?


This is how the car currently sits:










Most Recent:






I need to paint my valve covers...

White 1993 Skyline GTS-T Type M
121,XXX Km's
Exterior:
-R32 GTR N1 Front Bumper
-R32 GTR Aluminum Hood/Grill
-R32 GTR Headlights
-R32 GTR rear spoiler
-R32 GTST Type M side skirts
-R32 GTST Type M rear valence
-HID King H1's (6000K)

Suspension/Wheels:
-HKS Hipermax coilovers
-Blitz Type 01 3-piece lightweight rims, 17x7 front with 225/40 tires and 17x8 rear with 235/40 tires

Engine/Performance:
-R34 NEO 6 turbo @ 10psi (30k kms)
-SARD racing R2D2 blow off valve
-HKS adjustable wastegate actuator
-Manual Boost Controller
-Greddy V-Spec FMIC
-Apexi Air Filter and aluminum intake piping
-FET TB-307 Turbo Timer
-Splitfire Coilpacks at 124k
-Walbro 255 Fuel Pump
-SARD FPR *Ordered*
-Top Speed Divorced Dump pipe
-Greddy 80mm Downpipe
-PDM Racing Test Pipe
-Kakimoto Racing Regu-R 3" catback exhaust
-GodSpeed Aluminum Radiator & Electric Fans *Ordered*
-Nismo single plate clutch
-Custom oil catch tank
-SPL aluminum rear subframe collars
-HAWK HPS brake pads
-Dixcel/AP racing slotted front rotors

Interior/Sound:
-Recaro SPG full bucket racing seat
-AutoMeter Boost & Oil Pressure in A-Pillar
-Momo steering wheel
-Momo shift knob

-Kenwood CD player
-Pioneer Premier GM-X602 amp
-JL audio 10" sub

Recent Maintenance:
-Tranny and diff serviced with Motul Gear 300 75w90 gear oil
-PitWorks timing belt (kit) and new waterpump
-PitWork AC Belt
-Replace Coolant/Heater Hoses
-New Intake/Valve Cover Gaskets
-Royal Purple 10w40 at 121k
-New Spark Plugs at 123k
-Newish tires in the rear at 122k

This is what I plan on doing to it in the near future… Winter/Spring time:
-New Injectors
-Water/Oil Temp Gauges
-Paint or Polish Valve Covers
-Z32 AFM
-Oil Filter Relocation & Oil Cooler
-Nistune/Socketed ECU & Dyno Tune
-Possibly full body work and paint in the summer

My ultimate goals with this are to break 300hp. Not sure on what I will have to do to get there. I don’t plan on changing out the turbo because I don’t want a lag monster. I’ve been told that the R34 Neo6 RB25 turbo is steel wheel and that it is essentially a GT28 in disguise… any opinions on this? After I reach this 300hp point I will drive it for a bit and have fun and then sell it and move to a GTR, Supra or FD as either next years winter project or when I move back east in September 2011.

I will throw some DIY’s up about my heater hose disaster and changing out the radiator once I get around to it…


Couple updates...
Here is a shot of the neffy wrapped trim piece in the car. Looks great. Picture doesn't do it justice, I find it to be quite subtle in all reality.



Also got new (to me; slightly used) tires mounted for the rear. Couldn't go wrong with the amount of tread for $100. Woooo now I can actually accelerate in the rain without going (too) sideways.




Then when putting in the rad I went the extra step and installed a thermostat system to automatically run my fans at 195F and turn them off at 185F to keep me near that sweet spot for water temperature (said to be at 190F).






The extra bung is to run a water temperature sensor for the gauge to come (once I pick one/make up my mind on brand).

Took the car in and got it aligned; it feels great. I wanted to raise the car a touch but it seems that the collars are seized. I didn't feel like paying the alignment shop $80 to take them out, put them in a vice and try and break them free so I will try and do that over the next week.

Changed out the sway bar. Polished some stuff up.

Finally put a rebar in there, so the bumper doesn't sag. It actually helps with it bumping and dragging on stuff. Going to try and pull out the fender liners tonight and that might rid some more of those nasty noises.

I also replaced my coil packs with some new Splitfires, the car really hauls now

Thinking I might go into Z-Tune and get some injectors before they close up. Then go to RG and get a good tune and what not in a month or two.

Also going to be getting in touch with a couple paint shops for sometime this summer. Want to go a high-gloss white. Then I'll bomb around in it for a few weeks/months and then sell her off to someone I hope doesn't run it into a wall...

[RABBIT]

man rebar is for pus$ies ,
nice start looks really aggressive.

[DreadedFist]

Looks good as always, Snowski. thx for the strut bar :P PS: was that turbo on the car when you bought it, or did you bolt it on? I want one

[RWD_GTR]

i hate you for ruining that bumper.. i wudve totally bought that for a drift spare

[M13]

i hate you for ruining that bumper.. i wudve totally bought that for a drift spare

meh, would have, could have, should have < DID.

[Snow]

i hate you for ruining that bumper.. i wudve totally bought that for a drift spare

You could find one for less than shipping from Vancouver to Lethbridge....

And it will still be in one piece.

Matt the turbo was on the car when I bought it...

[DreadedFist]

How do the stock injectors handle the bigger turbo at 10psi? I'm thinking of grabbing an rb25 turbo and running it at around 10psi as well... Have you had the chance to find out what their duty cycle is?

[M13]

How do the stock injectors handle the bigger turbo at 10psi? I'm thinking of grabbing an rb25 turbo and running it at around 10psi as well... Have you had the chance to find out what their duty cycle is?

it will be up in the 80's...

stocks are 257cc's, and the 25 turbo flows a lot more air. Best would be to do the fuel pump 255LPH works well, then get an adjustable FPR to suit as a bandaid solution but proper would be to get tunable ecu, and larger injectors to suit power levels.

I prefer to stay maximum 85% duty cycle at top boost.

[Skym]

Stock injectors go up to roughly 95% duty cycle (max) on stock fuel map. Knock map is up to roughly 102% duty cycle.

Stock fuel system (stock 135lph fuelpump, stock 259cc injectors) can handle 160-170rwkw or 215rwhp-228rwhp.

On one R32GTS-T (had a bad coilpack) 166rwkw / 223rwhp with hybrid stock turbo (at 12psi), intake, exhaust (from stock dumppipe), ECU retune (safe 11kw / 15hp retune). Roughly 166rwkw + 48kw (rough manual transmission, drivetrain losses) = 214kw / 287hp at engine.

ECU retune can go as high as 30hp (aggressive ECU tune) with FMIC, fuelpump upgrade. The stock SMIC tends to limit the ignition timing you can run, as it heat soaks after few dyno runs and intake temps go up and can result in engine knocking. Cleaning SMIC and put a aluminium ARC louver panel in plastic archway panel behind SMIC helps.

ARC louver panel -

http://www.arcinter.co.jp/arc/products/exterior/wind_master/index.html

Add fuelpump, FPR, 259cc injectors can be pushed to 380hp at engine when at 100% duty cycle.

[DreadedFist]

I have a fmic, straight through exhaust, an apexi pod and a mines chipped ecu. Currently my car peaks at 12psi on a stock turbo. On the dyno, the AFR's are pretty much perfect. I guess I'll buy a walbro 255, adjustable fpr and a wideband before i go with a 25 turbo.

Sigh. $$$

[M13]

Sigh. $$$

no ****...

[Snow]

I was running at 15psi for a few nights... The car was awesome, a lot of fun... But I worried about leaning out so I turned it back down to 10 (that and my boost controller pooched so it would spike to 18). I have no idea what duty I'm at, but it's gotta be high.

I've officially driven this car too much it seems... I'm used to the power. I'm excited to get some good injectors and a nice tune for a little more oomph...

As far as cars being costly haha it's a hobby. Yes they're expensive but those purchases should make your mouth water and pants bulge. Even then... a 255 pump ($100) and FPR ($100) doesn't add up to much. Most tuners will have a wideband they can use to tune your car so you wouldn't need to buy one (although it would be a good idea). Even the RB25 turbo you can pick up for $300-$400.

Like I said in other threads, I could be selling my 25 turbo. Depends how badly I want more power and whether I keep the car or not...

[Snow]

Might be selling the car...

Was thinking about building it out mildly and tuning for 300whp but with gearing and a number of other things, I'm looking at other options as well. It needs a Z32 AFM, injectors and tune for 300. If you or anyone you know may be interested PM or email (chrisjsnow@gmail.com) would be good. Of course all the specs are here on the car... Putting in a few gauges in the next week or so, otherwise everything here is pretty up to date.

May make an official for sale thread later, but for the time being this is all I will do to throw the word out. Not particularly interested in parting out unless you've got the stock counter-parts (in good condition) and want to swap them out yourself, and give me the cash on top.

Looking for $8500 as it sits.

[Oakville]

:0 If you were to sell it, would you buy another later (if you move out here)?

[Snow]

I might. I may not. I will not be entirely out of the Skyline theme I predict. Whether it's just got the heart of a Skyline or I get another one... I'm sure I'll revisit.

I also might not sell this one. I'm on the fence about selling or building. If I sell it might only be for a GTR, I might get out of this build before I'm super deep into it. It might also be to move to something more comfortable but still a blast to drive (01-02 S4).