Frankiman's street/track GTR project

**frankiman** · 09-21-2009, 12:40 AM

click here to jump to;

chapter 1 - where it all began
chapter 2 - out with the old, in with the new
chapter 2,1 - answers
chapter 3 - bringing home baby, parts 1-2
chapter 4 - SSTLC - some skyline tender loving care
chapter 5 - blood sweat and tears parts 1-2
Tech article 1 - rant about BBKs
chapter 6 - Tuning sessions, #1, dyno style
Tech article 2 - how to make an effective ''for sale'' forum ad
chapter 7 - 2009 track days, parts 1-2-3 **videos**
chapter 8 - 2009 meets, and GTRC members
chapter 9 - the UltraRide 2009 **videos**
chapter 10 - The Master Plan, parts 1-2
chapter 11 - GoPro photos galore
chapter 12 - Remembering the fallen (2008), parts 1-2
chapter 13 - Theworkinprogress, week1, parts 1-2
chapter 14 - Theworkinprogress, week2, parts 1-2
chapter 15 - Theworkinprogress, week3, parts 1-2
chapter 16 - Themoreworkinprogresshaagettingtired, week4
chapter 17 - Theworkinprogressgotcustomstuff, week5
chapter 18 - Theworkstillinprogress, week6
chapter 19 - Theworkinprogress, week7
chapter 20 - Theprojectthatshouldbedonebutstillinprogress, week8, part1 / part2
chapter 21 - The Epic CustomWerks week, week10, parts 1-4
chapter 22 - Finally some results, week11, part1 / part2 / part3 / part4
chapter 23 - Almost there, week12-13, part1 / part2 / part3
chapter 24 - Because MOAR is MORE, week14, part1 / part2 / part3
chapter 25 - Bolt-on? not so much, week15, part1 / part2
chapter 26 - And she lives, week16
chapter 27 - And she drives, week17
chapter 28 - Tuning sessions, #2, dyno revisited
chapter 29 - Tuning sessions, #3, Suspension Calibration
chapter 30 – Needs restraining
chapter 31 – Patience, it'll get done, part1 / part2
chapter 32 - The Mad Dash
chapter 33 - 2010 photoshoots of teh GTR
chapter 34 - The Ultraride 2010, part 1 / part 2
chapter 35 - 'The' trackday 2010, part 1 / part 2
chapter 36 - The Fix
chapter 37 - The end of an epic summer 2010, parts 1-2
chapter 38 - The master plan continues, week1
chapter 39 - That good ol' feeling of hard work, week2
chapter 40 - Carbolicious, week3
chapter 41 - Caged in, week4
chapter 42 - Interior Works, week5
chapter 43 - Interior Works continued, week6
chapter 44 - Carbolicious², week7
chapter 45 - Enlightening, week8
chapter 46 - So fresh and so clean, week9

^^ you wouldn't want to see the code behind this link dump

**frankiman** · 09-21-2009, 01:45 AM

Chapter 1 - where it all began

took me a long time to come around to starting my own project thread

before i get started, heres some info on me
-i'm 21 years old as of june 23rd 2009
-my only car prior to buying a skyline was a beat-up mazda 323
-i'm a student in Mechanical Engineering @ ETS university
-i've never had a full time job, only compensated internships
-i have never worked as a mechanic
-and i'm like a freaking SHAMWOW with all car related information, mostly driving physics and mechanism, i absorb them

so here we go, got alot of stuff to cover

i got my first GTR back in august 2007
pretty much stock car, with coilovers, cat back exhaust, oldschool HIDs and AVS wheels
good interior fully stock
stock exterior with worn paint and moldings
A1++ mechanical condition, engine had just been replaced as a condition of purchase
well worth the 12,5k i paid worth it back then, from JDM Montreal, tip top shop !

took the car to the drag strip a couple times (since i had the most powerfull car (wow stock GTR) out of all my friends
also took it to the track for half a dozen 20min sessions, but unfortunately it was all in the rain

then, i started pilling up parts for it,
so i decided to jack the car up for a couple weeks for well deserved upgrades

finally took me 3 months to do the lot, because of parts beeing on back order,
and also it was my first time doing some heavy mechanical work on a car (compared to changing brake pads and air filter on my beater mazda 323)
and i'm proud to say i did everything on my own, without any support except for my dad's advices, but he never touched my car out of respect
(didn't know GTRC existed back then)

i was really proud of what i had accomplished, even if i hadn't driven the car for the full summer
then, exactly a week after the car was off the blocks, i signed up for the "UltraRide", which is basically just a cruise, with 40 others cars

i got overconfident, as many young drivers get with powerfull machines

and this happened, scroll down
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nobody got hurt, i only had a couple scratches from getting out of the car
the body was so badly damaged, there was just no chance in hell of getting the car back into shape

mechanicaly, the car was fine, only the front had gotten damaged (bumper to plastic fan)
and while the car was upside down and i was waiting for the tow truck, me and my buddies found some rust behing the passenger tailight, which really got me pissed for some reason

and to make things worst, THE SAME DAY, september 21st 2008, about 10 hours after the accident, my garage caught fire

because of an old leaking air compressor

so i swallowed my pride

, decided to buy the car back from the insurance and got it towed home, next to the burnt garage,
my neighbourgs were all like WTF

and the car sat there all winter, while i reflected ont the situation

lets just say i kept the insurance compagny really busy for a while
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after having sorted all the insurance stuff out, my dad decided to get a new and improved garage
so i said, F**K YEAH, me too

so we had a new garage built to our spec, knowing that we would actually put a car in this one

as soon as the garage was done, we put the old GTR in it, and started taking it the F**K apart

so now all the parts are up for sale
and obviously, i'm only selling parts that are still in perfect condition

so thats all about my old GTR

Chapter 2 - out with the old, in with the new

so fast forward to february 2009,

i was an intern @ Pratt & Whitney Canada, working on a energy saving project
so i had alot of time on my hanbs :wink:

at this point, i had reflected alot on my situation and the idea of leasing a brand new car (mazda3) was coming back to me all the time like a boomerang

but my thirst for GTR godliness was still unquenshed

and my "wise" father said that i would never be satisfied with anything else than another GTR, to finish what i had started

so before making an actual decision, i had to make sure what options were financialy feasable first
so i got really serious about it, everything was going to be planned in advanced, everything would be calculated to the last penny
i started building a budget considering the next 72 weeks (till my next internship)
and i didn't want to miss a payment again

so the moment i realized that i actually could buy another GTR, i picked up the phone, call the bank and got another loan the same day (my first loan was cleared after my insurance money for the car and the garage got in)

so there i was, with an extra 12,5k sitting in my bank account, waiting to be spent on a new set of wheels

but i had still not checked the Montreal JDM market yet for GTRs, so i had the money, but nowhere to go with it

so i started peaking around the JDM shops, my first stops were JDM Montreal and JDM Nagoya Auto Parts since i had good connections there, but they didn't have what i was looking for, which basically was the exact same car i had and placing a special order would have taken months

and my father had warned me about this, he called it "car rebound", i just wanted my old car back

so finally got over the fact that my car was gone forever

finally found a good candidate at Japan Domestic Motors in Montreal
a black 1990 GTR, with not many mods, seamed to be in really good condition, but interior was a bit worn out

but it was clear the engine was runnig on only 5 cylinders
since i was really interested in buying the car, i asked them to get it check by a professionnal shop (i.e autoworx)
so after a couple visits to the shop, they never got the car checked and it was still running weird, and they argued me that it had old sparks plugs, the engine wasn't up to temp, needed more gaz (they kept the gas tanks of all their cars practically empty, wtf)
so just for argument's sake, i asked to take it out for a test drive
engine kept stalling repeatedly on my way out of the shop, on a stock clutch, the engine was just no good
so the vendor got pissed, told me he would drive it, since i "couldn't drive manual JDMs"
he had to rev the engine like a mother fu**er not to stall it, drove around the block, again, it was clear the engine wasn't doing well

so i got out the car and litteraly told them to suck my nutsack

at this point, i had visited pretty much all the shops i knew existed in montreal, but still no luck finding my "precious" and felt a bit beat

but right after i left Japan domestic motors, i drove around the block next to a shop i never knew was there,
and laid my sight upon this gem..

to be continued tomorrow... edit story continued on page 2

feels like i'm writhing a story more than an actual build documentation..that will change soon

**archaeic_bloke** · 09-21-2009, 10:21 AM

wow frank, thats a pretty fantastic story! can't wait to see more.

i won't be at the track i have to work today, but awesome stuff~! ...that looks fantastic, ive always really liked white GTR's.

what happened with the accident? how did you roll the car like that? speed?

**greddytrustGTR** · 09-21-2009, 11:09 AM

holy hell, thats quite a flip glad to hear no one was hurt and thats not the first time i heard of Japan Domestic Motor being assholes. a buddy and i went down to that shop cause we heard they had a lot of nice wheels for sale and they did, but i would have to give them my first born for a set... bronze TE37's 18x7.5 for my STi they wanted 3k for em, and the dumb salesman kid kept telling me i didnt know anything and would never find a set for cheaper than 4k, he had a broken toe in a bandage so i "accidentally" dropped one on his toe and left... hate that shop... oh and they pour oil in their motor cylinders through the sparkplugs to clear Compression tests and Leakdown tests, we caught them once.

**NismoS-tune** · 09-21-2009, 02:13 PM

Crazy story I gotta say. Why didn't you get a stock GTR the first time rather than a fast one..? Also, I gotta ask, how does a student afford all this?