1992 HCR32 type m battleship (esh build)

[esh]

Thanks man!

[esh]

My bad its been way too long...just passed emissions test today and car will be officially back on road tomorrow with new sticker.


More pics/updates to come for now, here's how she sits:

[Oakville]

What a step up from the oem wheels man, looks great

[magular]

well im stoked i finally took a look at this thread. the rear subframe is pretty much everything that i want to do. its like a guide lol. im just still new to this kinda stuff and have not many tools and no torches... so i might have to pay someone to do the ball joints and so on. but you're doing a fantastic job. i like it.

[esh]

What a step up from the oem wheels man, looks great

Thanks!! I wish I could afford something with serious dish, but these will have to do for now.

well im stoked i finally took a look at this thread. the rear subframe is pretty much everything that i want to do. its like a guide lol. im just still new to this kinda stuff and have not many tools and no torches... so i might have to pay someone to do the ball joints and so on. but you're doing a fantastic job. i like it.

Thanks for comment! It was a learning process for me too lol. Tools...there's decent ones when they go on sale at Canadian Tire. Could also pick up a propane torch for less than $20 there....good for burning out bushings, checking for boost leaks, and heating up fenders for when u really wanna pull them lol.

[esh]

Finally have some time for a story post...here's how it went down this year:


Decided against working in the states and got myself a software eng job downtown. After last summer, I thought it best that any car work would not happen on my driveway. I was going to rent a garage, but decided to clean up my garage instead.

With my old man, we constructed some proper shelves near the back of the garage, and also above the garage door for storage. Also made a tire rack, installed more shelves along the walls. Spent a lot of time cleaning the garage and organizing everything.






Went from not being able to put anything in the garage...to being able to fit a skyline with enough room to work. Also picked up an ATD-7325 jack - really good for loooow cars, and can reach my diff no problem.






Last summer, whenever I yanked my ebrake, the ebrake button (with spin turn knob) would fall out when letting go of the handle and keep the ebrake engaged, causing me to spin out. So I installed an s13 handbrake cover, which is tight against the spin turn knob and prevents it from coming out randomly.






I proceeded to remove the rear subframe again. Switched the arms out to PBM/SPL for more low car clearance. Also I sprayed the whole subframe with rockguard (got that idea from tamiya_s2000).






For more tension rod/sway bar clearance, I removed my r33 flcas and got my old r32 flcas freshened up and extended 50mm with adjustable bumpstops by Centerline Motorsports. Has brand new s14 balljoints (which are same as hcr32). The guys at Centerline do awesome work, I highly recommend them. You're probably thinking 50mm ?!?! Read on...






I installed z32 oem front tie rods, and SPL v5 outer tie rod ends. I also re-centered my steering rack by removing the u-joint that connects the steering shaft to the rack. Most people re-center via the steering wheel...which I'm not a fan of. While I was doing that, I installed Bings solid aluminum steering spacer. Yes, its possible with the engine still in the car - I used a ratchet with extensions and a u-joint.






Removed both front fenders and cut the driver side brace so that I could really tuck the harness up in there. I braced that brace afterwards...I'll prolly get it welded over winter.






Installed J-Speed fender braces that I got from Adam@Feast a while back.






Ziptied the harness so that it will never get touched by any tire....ever!!






I finished taking care of the front wheel well clearance. That tire cutting seam that lies above the tires in the well....I smashed that over with a hammer until it was nice and smooth. Forgot to take an after pic though.





While installing the fender braces, is when things went really bad. My doors became misaligned, but worst of all, the top bolt that holds the driver door stripped its corresponding nut that's welded on to the frame. This would render the fender brace useless, so it had to be fixed. I had to remove the entire dash and through the smallest space, attach a nut on the end of a new bolt, through the same top hole. Took me several evenings after work to accomplish this. Probably the hardest/most annoying task I've had to do on this car ever. Dash removal/install was quite easy though....except while dash was out, I was tempted to remove unnecessary wiring lol






Around this time was when extra motivation arrived lol






Once the above door bolt problem was fixed, I brought the car outside. Proceeded to align the doors and tightened the fender braces down with the car on ground.






Then I removed the rear shocks and proceeded to get more clearance with a newspaper pull. Had a lot of fun jumping in the trunk lol. Some people stopped to watch and probably thought I was crazy.







After not being satisfied with my pbm coilovers, I went for a set of Stance. 10K front, 8K rear Swift springs. The rear coilovers are actually s13 coilovers, which happen to fit hcr32 but with more adjustability for low....without drooping . I could probably put the rear subframe on the floor with these. Big thanks to Stance for hooking these up.






Threw the front bumper back on, and thought I was done....remember the 50 mm extended flcas?? they led to oni-kyan, 326 power style crazy camber! I think it was around -9 or something crazy like that...I got my temp sticker around this time, and the above July 25th post still featured this camber. Drove around for a bit like this, and realized it wasn't gonna fly....my bad






So I went back to Centerline Motorsports and they hooked me up by making the flcas only 25mm extended over stock instead of 50mm. Centerline also welded my diff for me again with a heavy duty MIG as I believe the TIG welds from SG weren't holding up. I'm sure Sasha would have taken care of it, as he had told me if the welds failed, he would get it MIGed at a shop next door. I chose not to bother him about it as SG is closed these days, and I was already getting the flcas from Centerline. Time was of the essence at this point.






While I waited for flcas and diff, I removed the whole A/C system.






Including the ZEXEL box under the passenger dash, with all its dirt, yuck






I then got the car aligned and corner balanced at CAN-Alignment. Even though my ride height was killing him inside, Scott did an awesome job. If you need an alignment or corner balance, CAN-Alignment is definitely the place to go. Really grateful that he was able to fit me in before a track day! The 25mm extended flcas gave me exactly, -5 camber each side...very precise work by Centerline there. Went grocery shopping with said drift car lol






Finally, I made it out to a TOPP drift day. Spent most of the day getting used to the car on the skid pad. At this event I was running a much stiffer Tanabe front swaybar and stock rear swaybar. Understeer everywhere! Had to disconnect the front swaybar at the event.

[esh]

A week later, I was supposed to attend a CoolKidsClub/Drift Ops drift....but on the friday before the event, my car had a major coolant leak while driving during rush hour near my house. I thought I would have to remove the intake manifold to get to it but, was able to get to it by just removing the starter. Even so, it was a PITA. I missed the drift day, and had to wait until after I got back from a Miami trip to fix.






Damn hole in hose almost cost me my engine






All fixed up






A few weeks later, I made it out to another TOPP Drift day. This time I had the front Tanabe swaybar attached, and an oem GTR swaybar installed as well. Car felt a lot more balanced. Had a lot of fun, except those 3-4 laps where I lost my focus and kept spinning out on the same corner...kicking up dust everywhere. Car really needed a cleaning after that. Left the event with a bruised/sore body, and realized that I really need a bucket seat. I had more bruises on my legs from drifting than I've ever had from playing a really rough game of soccer. So much fun though!







It's been quite the learning experience so far this season, both in terms of building/fixing the car and drifting it. I still have a long ways to go before I'm satisfied with my proficiency in both. Definitely a lot of fun, and well worth the late nights in the garage. I'm hoping to make it out to a couple more drift days before I store the car for winter.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

[DiiCii]

very nice build! i'm going to do footwork next winter build. you're very lucky you noticed the coolant leak before it was too late. i had a leak on the same hose which costed me my engine keep up the good work!

[S13Jordie]

that hole did cost me my engine

[jface]

nice build i have seen you before working on your car while walking my dog about a year or so ago (we live in same neighbourhood) but i live more near major mack .. looks good

[esh]

very nice build! i'm going to do footwork next winter build. you're very lucky you noticed the coolant leak before it was too late. i had a leak on the same hose which costed me my engine keep up the good work!

Thanks! Let me know if you have footwork questions. I was quite lucky with the coolant leak. When I caught it, there was smoke coming out of the bay and the stock temp gauge was at 3/4.

that hole did cost me my engine

Yeah I was worried mine was toast too. Still need to do a dreaded compression test

nice build i have seen you before working on your car while walking my dog about a year or so ago (we live in same neighbourhood) but i live more near major mack .. looks good

Thanks! Nice to know there's a fellow skyline enthusiast in the neighbourhood!

[esh]

A few pics from near end of summer, when I was driving the car daily:









Last drift day of the season was a Drift Ops/Cool Kids Club event that happened at end of october. Shannonville full track, on a cold, wet day. Lots of corners and lots of fun!















On the way home, from above event:






I can't wait until next season