Project: Wangan Racing

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

Well, finally I have gotten around to putting together a timeline of my car. I wrote one last year but fogot to save it when I reformatted my computer.
Anyway, here it is:

Stage 0 - Purchase
I shopped around a lot of dealers when looking for my GTR. I found that the quality of cars on auctions such as Yahoo were not as good as the sellers said they were, and I didn't feel comfortable buying from a private individual. I found a 1991 GTR at a local used car dealer, and they had great service which kept me at ease. The car had HKS coilovers, however they were blown. The dealer offered to put the stock suspension back on, however I asked them to put in new HKS coilovers, which they agreed to. The car was mint, the paint was original and looked brand new. The interior was very good minus a few minor things.

Here are the specs when I bought it in Dec. 2005:

1991 Skyline GTR (Sept. build, updated headlights, updated doors)
- 89,000kms
- HKS Oil Filter Relocation Kit
- HKS Oil Cooler
- HKS HiperMaxII Coilovers
- HKS Legal exhaust
- HKS Turbo Timer
- Tomei Boost Controller
- M's Boost Gauge
- Nismo bumper
- 18" Stern Wheels
- 255/40/18 Falkan Azenis
- Cusco front and rear strut tower bars
- HKS master brake cylinder stopper
- Alpine CD Player
- Kenwood & Pioneer speakers
- 6 Point Roll Cage
- optional driver kneepads

Here are some pics of the day I brought it home. It started snowing just as we were getting ready to leave the dealer. It was the first time I had driven a rear wheel drive car, the first time I had driven GTR, and the first time driving standard in about 3 years. So needless to say, I was very nervous driving home in the snow. But I made it home just fine.
Here are some pics from the first day:









During the spring:

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

Stage 1 - Refresh & Restyle - 2006
The first thing I wanted to do was to replace the small things that needed replacing, to bring the car back up to "like new" condition.
I replaced the following things over the next year because they were discoloured, dirty or broken:
- Glovebox handle
- Inner door handles
- Windshield wiper arms (all 3)
- All emblems, rear "GTR", side "GT" and front "S"
- Center console
- Shift and eBrake boots (Thanks GTR-Guy!)
- Stock mint steering wheel
- Stock shift knob

I was also surprised at how awful the stock projector output was. I installed a PIAA HID system and was very satisfied with the results.

Next it was time to work on the body. I bought a clay bar, cut polish and wax. I spent 3 days working on the car and the results were incredible. I HIGHLY recommend everyone do these 3 things to your car. It made the paint feel smooth as ice, and it made the car look and feel brand new.

Here is a pic after I finished working on the body:



Next, was to restyle. I wanted to create an individual look as there are so many KH2 Gunmetal GTRs around, but I did not want to stray too far from the stock look. I found a reasonably priced set of used Nismo side skirts and picked them up. Also, I bought some FRP rear mudguard pieces that are a complete knock off of the super rare dealer optional mudguards. I had them repainted and installed and am very happy with them.

Next, I found some M's intakes brand new at Up Garage and super cheap. I installed those next and managed to crack the entire top of the MAF taking out the stock box. Nothing a little Krazy glue couldn't fix

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

Stage 2 - Power Up - 2007
After collecting parts over the winter and spring I was ready for the next stage. After buying and then selling parts, then buying other parts I finally settled on what I wanted.
Here is a list of parts that were installed in August 2007:

- HKS 2530 turbos
- Trust Extension Front Pipe (turbo outlet & front pipe combo)
- HKS cat
- HKS Silent HiPower muffler
- HKS Intercooler
- Nismo MAFs
- Nismo Thermostat
- Tomei fuel pump
- Tomei fuel pressure regulator
- Tomei fuel delivery pipe
- Earls stainless mesh fuel lines
- Denso 700cc injectors
- Apexi Power FC & Commander
- Apexi Power FC Boost Control Kit





The parts were installed by a Garage Real Emotion in Kasugai, Japan. The tune was not so good, but since I was low on money, I just decided to leave it for the time being.

Next, it was brake time.
I bought a set of:
- used BCNR33 GTR Brembo calipers front/rear set (had them fully rebuilt by Nissan before installation)
- BCNR33 GTR Project Mu SCR 8 slit rotors
- Nismo stainless mesh brake lines (BCNR33)
- Nismo S-Tune brake pads

Nissan installed the brakes for me and did a fabulous job. The car stopped much quicker, and the brakes look great.



Over the next few months I changed a few things, swapped out the Cusco front and rear tower bars for Nismo, changed the headlights to N1 black housing ones.

Next I took the car to Network in Iwakura City.
http://www.network1991.com/ , my car is also featured in their blog http://network1991.blog86.fc2.com/page-2.html
They are an old school GTR shop, starting up around the same time as the BNR32 was released. They have a sub 9 second drag GTR which is insane, and are an Apexi Pro shop which was a huge plus for me in terms of tuning the car properly.
I was unhappy with the PFC tune and also the lack of low RPM grunt, so I had Tomei Type B camshafts, and Tomei adjustable cam gears installed.




Then they hooked up the laptop and wideband sensor and took off for some real time tuning on the street.
The tune as satifactory but I wanted some more fine tuning. I took the car back again a few weeks later and swapped out the HKS intercooler for a brand new Trust Spec-R intercooler and intercooler piping kit. The reason for this is that we believed that the boost was lagging a bit due to pipe flexing and also the intercooler was a little too big for my goals.
They set everything up and we tuned the PFC again with better results.
Also, I had all the boost controller hosing cleaned up, and had them rerun some wires and hoses to clean up the engine bay.

Next it was on to suspension again....a full Nismo suspension link kit.
- Nismo front upper links
- Nismo front upper link bracket (Nismo Circuit link kit)
- Nismo front transverse link (Nismo Circuit link kit)
- Nismo front tension rods (Nismo Circuit link kit)
- Nismo rear a-arms
- Nismo rear upper front links
- Nismo rear upper rear links













Lastly, I bought a set of BNR34 wheels to replace my Sterns. The Sterns were nice, but I wanted darker wheels, and since the BNR34 wheels are GTR wheels, they fit nicely into my "keep it as stock as possible" plans.



I had a bit of free time and decided to clean up the interior a bit. I moved the turbo timer from the dash and concealed it in the ashtray. It fit perfectly however I had to cut a hole in the back of the ashtray for the wiring.
Also, I made a holder for the Power FC Commander from a cell phone holder and some brackets.
Note: Old steering wheel and shift knob back for the winter






Thats it for the build in 2007, time to save some money and plan some other upgrades for late 2008.

Late Decemeber I had the dreaded shakken, $1300 for nothing The car failed emissions (at full throttle) and safety (roll cage interferes with rear passengers) however the boys at Nissan were kind enough to look the other way.

Also, I am still having some issues with the tune. No matter what I set the boost controller at, full boost only gets up to about 0.8-0.9kg. This is kind of strange and kept my dyno numbers low. Thanks for GTR-Dad for giving me some pointers on how to diagnose the problem, however I can't figure it out.
The car will go back into Network later this month for more testing to see where the problem is. Most likely it has something to do with the actuators or boost controller.

Here's a list of parts I have waiting for install, but no time to do it:
ATTKD catch can
Trust A-pillar pod
Defi Control Unit (Haven't decided which meter to fill the other hole in the A-pillar pod with yet)
Trust carbon air diversion plate (have to cut it to fit around my HKS oil cooler bracket)

Maybe I will get around to it in the spring!

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

Here is the full spec list of my car in 1 shot (as it currently stands Jan. 2008):

Engine:
M's intakes
Nismo MAFs
HKS 2530 turbos
Tomei Type B camshafts
Tomei adjustable cam gears
ATTKD oil catch can (not yet installed)

Cooling:
Trust Spec-R Intercooler
Trust Intercooler piping
HKS Oil Filter Relocation Kit
HKS Oil Cooler
Nismo Thermostat
Trust Carbon Air Diversion Plate (not yet installed)

Fuel:
Tomei fuel pump
Tomei fuel pressure regulator
Tomei fuel delivery pipe
Earls stainless mesh fuel lines
Denso 700cc injectors

Electronics/Interior:
Apexi Power FC & Commander
Apexi Power FC Boost Control Kit
HKS Turbo Timer
M's boost gauge
Trust A-Pillar pod (not yet installed)
Defi Control Unit (not yet installed)
Alpine CD Player
Kenwood & Pioneer speakers

Footwork/Body reinforcement:
BNR34 18" wheels
255/35/18 Falkan Azenis
HKS HiperMaxII Coilovers
Nismo front upper links
Nismo front upper link bracket (Nismo Circuit link kit)
Nismo front transverse link (Nismo Circuit link kit)
Nismo front tension rods (Nismo Circuit link kit)
Nismo rear a-arms
Nismo rear upper front links
Nismo rear upper rear links
Nismo front/rear strut tower bars
6 point roll cage
optional driver kneepads

Brakes:
BCNR33 Brembo calipers
Project Mu SCR 8 slit rotors
Nismo brake lines
Nismo S-Tune brake pads
HKS Master Cylinder Stopper

Looks:
Nismo front bumper
Nismo side steps
Dealer mudguard FRP knock offs
N1 headlights

Here are some recent pics as well:

Oldest castle in Japan is in the background on the hill...my town's claim to fame!

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

Also, here are 2 dyno plots, the first is at the stock build, the second is after the mods above.
Both dynos were done at Zero Sports in Gifu on their Dynapack.
AS you can see, 371.0ps is not a big increase, however the boost was topping out lower then at stock.
Picked up a bit more torque, but again, everything is happening abot 1500rpms later, showing the extra lag from the bigger turbos.
With everything working better, I hope to see 410-430ps at around 1.25kg/cm with the same build.

First Dyno
307.7ps @ 7025rpm
0.95kg/cm boost



Second Dyno
371.0ps @ 7502rpm
0.85kg/cm boost

+


Some video clips:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DBUEkF5e_8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9il7vKKxXFw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGVDRBDyFWA

[Bruizer]

Now THAT'S a clean car Daryl! now I'm gonna have to take up some of your ideas you have there. I'll surely have some questions about your intercooler set up and your full link set Also, how far do you plan on going without touching the internals? Any goals?

Franc <-- Green with envy

[The Stig]

Great write up Daryl, and gorgeous car!

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

Now THAT'S a clean car Daryl! now I'm gonna have to take up some of your ideas you have there. I'll surely have some questions about your intercooler set up and your full link set Also, how far do you plan on going without touching the internals? Any goals?

Franc <-- Green with envy

Franc, thanks for the compliment!

This is as far as I will go on the current internals. If I can get everything working OK, and get the boost working up to 1.2kg/cm then I will just leave it at that for now
My goal was 450ps on this stage of the build.
The turbos, MAFs and fuel system were built to handle up to 600ps, however I won't be able to take it that far on my internals. They were installed for future potential and plans, not current.
I will most likely have the engine rebuilt later this year, or next year, and have Tomei internals put in at that time.

As for future goals, I'm hoping for 500-550ps. I won't be going higher then that.
The main purpose of the car is weekend driving and going to the circuit sometimes, so I do not need more then that.
I will also be adding Nismo stabilizer bars later this year to complete the foot work part of the car.

[christino]

Daryl, awesome job u did on ur babe indeed
but mind me asking why u switch the cusco bars to the Nismo and u aint get the cusco brace bars either even though they r cheaper then the nismo ones. Any particular reason?
regards~
CHris

[GTR--J]

Nice example of a GTR Daryl!