So, after the complete calamity of my R33 skyline that was an absolute sh!t show of hidden rust, my mind for some reason thought the best thing to do was to go out and buy another skyline, right? I mean, I'm not entirely sure, but it's mine now so sod it. I've purchased this with intentions of taking whatever I can from my R33 and putting it into this to make it better, engine, gearbox, ecu, digital dash etc. Considering I spent a facking fortune in parts on my R33 (close to the sum of 33k), then in reality I could have a pretty sweet R32, for those of you who don't know, I bought an absolute lemon of a 33, came delivered with a fresh lick of paint and plenty of filler hiding rust, turned out to be a complete dog...
Anyway, I did do some looking around to see what was out there and I found this.
So I hopped on the train and set off on my journey from Cornwall all the way up to Nuneaton, it wasn't the best train journey I've had, 2 out of the 3 trains A/C either broke down or couldn't keep up as they were packed with people, one of these was delayed at a passing point making me miss the next train, then the last one didn't have a toilet which was less than ideal as I was breaking my neck for a slash, not even the station toilets were open, so after 8 hours I finally made it to the sellers house, car was up on a ramp so I could poke around it, it looked as good in person as it did in the photos and most importantly felt solid as I was knocking on various know rusty points, nearly everything underneath had been removed, blasted, painted and or re-zinc plated.
After a detailed story of his ownership and a swift test drive I held out my hand and told him to say goodbye to it. As soon as I got off the M42 and hit the M5 the heavens opened so I just spent the rest of the drive down chilling at 60mph with everyone else, I stopped at Exeter to refuel the car and myself, this is where I found out that the rear windscreen wasn't actually bonded to the car, thus wasn't because all the rain had found its way inside, it was just I saw the window pop out the frame when I shut the drivers door, it actually didn't leak at all which I was baffled by, after further inspection the only bit of bonding agent that stuck to the glass was around the wiper spindle, I organised to have it taken out and bonded back in a few days later, on my way down to this appointment the window smashed into a million pieces less than 2 miles from the destination #f**kmylife... Nowhere close to me can source a replacement glass, so I think it's going to be a polycarbonate job for the meantime or spend ages sourcing a replcement from japan maybe.
So, I then decided to just start taring into it and getting it ready for the engine swap, this came with a 430BHP semi built RB20DET with forged pistons, shot peened rods, cams, and a few other bits, overall not a bad set up, but there were a few things i didnt like about it like the nistune ecu chip, MAF, modified stock exhaust manifold, internally gated turbo which had been welded shut and most annoyingly of all a rather bright gismo boost controller that is perfectly placed to blind you at night, so time for it all to go bye bye, the RB20DET gearbox in it is right on the edge of power before it goes bang so that's coming out too, it does have a OS giken twin plate clutch I will rob for the RB25 as they're interchangeable.
A recent picture once it was all in and running.
So this is where I'm at currently, engine out ready for the work to continue.
Just need to find the time to do some stuff to it, hard to do so with my job, but as and when I do I will post stuff up, if this tickles your fancy then follow along.
Anyway, I did do some looking around to see what was out there and I found this.
So I hopped on the train and set off on my journey from Cornwall all the way up to Nuneaton, it wasn't the best train journey I've had, 2 out of the 3 trains A/C either broke down or couldn't keep up as they were packed with people, one of these was delayed at a passing point making me miss the next train, then the last one didn't have a toilet which was less than ideal as I was breaking my neck for a slash, not even the station toilets were open, so after 8 hours I finally made it to the sellers house, car was up on a ramp so I could poke around it, it looked as good in person as it did in the photos and most importantly felt solid as I was knocking on various know rusty points, nearly everything underneath had been removed, blasted, painted and or re-zinc plated.
After a detailed story of his ownership and a swift test drive I held out my hand and told him to say goodbye to it. As soon as I got off the M42 and hit the M5 the heavens opened so I just spent the rest of the drive down chilling at 60mph with everyone else, I stopped at Exeter to refuel the car and myself, this is where I found out that the rear windscreen wasn't actually bonded to the car, thus wasn't because all the rain had found its way inside, it was just I saw the window pop out the frame when I shut the drivers door, it actually didn't leak at all which I was baffled by, after further inspection the only bit of bonding agent that stuck to the glass was around the wiper spindle, I organised to have it taken out and bonded back in a few days later, on my way down to this appointment the window smashed into a million pieces less than 2 miles from the destination #f**kmylife... Nowhere close to me can source a replacement glass, so I think it's going to be a polycarbonate job for the meantime or spend ages sourcing a replcement from japan maybe.
So, I then decided to just start taring into it and getting it ready for the engine swap, this came with a 430BHP semi built RB20DET with forged pistons, shot peened rods, cams, and a few other bits, overall not a bad set up, but there were a few things i didnt like about it like the nistune ecu chip, MAF, modified stock exhaust manifold, internally gated turbo which had been welded shut and most annoyingly of all a rather bright gismo boost controller that is perfectly placed to blind you at night, so time for it all to go bye bye, the RB20DET gearbox in it is right on the edge of power before it goes bang so that's coming out too, it does have a OS giken twin plate clutch I will rob for the RB25 as they're interchangeable.
My plan going forward is to do a refresh on the RB25 and do a basic piston, rod and ARP bolt build to get some more ponies without running the risk of punching a hole in the block, also upgrade the the N1 oil pump and have the crank snout machine to take the collar, something Nissan should have picked up on during production, also upgrade the brakes, looking into the R35 GTR kits, but it ain't a cheap conversion in the slightest so I may go down a different route yet.
My RB25 has a good list of parts bolted to the outside of it to keep it in check, all the sensors are bosch/haltech, Walton motorsport stainless manifold, turbosmart wastegate, Ross performance cam and crank trigger kit, intake manifold, Bosch injectors, uprated R8 coil packs, a lightened nismo flywheel, all controlled by a Haltech elite 2000 ECU with a Haltech IC7 digital display. I may go up a turbo size too if it doesn't perform as expected on the dyno. But that's a few months away yet, like probably early next year at best.
Few pictures from when I was building it when I took it out the r33 to remove the broken manifold studs from the head, that's all that was meant to be, new studs and gasket, nearly 3 years later and it's still not see the road again.
Few pictures from when I was building it when I took it out the r33 to remove the broken manifold studs from the head, that's all that was meant to be, new studs and gasket, nearly 3 years later and it's still not see the road again.
A recent picture once it was all in and running.
So this is where I'm at currently, engine out ready for the work to continue.
Just need to find the time to do some stuff to it, hard to do so with my job, but as and when I do I will post stuff up, if this tickles your fancy then follow along.
