R33 GTR project- From engine change to full refurb! - GT-R Register - Official Nissan Skyline and GTR Owners Club forum

cooper86 · 27th June 2008, 12:16 PM

I had always wanted an R33 GTR had 2 s14a's one which i put an rb25det in and i have had a gtst. The time came where i thought i could afford a GTR so i began looking. I found a few around my budget but all needed work on them. Then i cam accross mine 96 on an N in silver 56k on the clock but blown engine. I went to see it and it looked good surface rust underneath as it had been stood for some time in a barn. It also came with a low milage lump on a pallet form japan. So i parted with my cash and paid 7k for the lot, whole car with blown engine and a complete low milage lump.

I was looking forward to start work on my new GTR, a nice simple engine change...BUT!

On removal of the engine i found small patces of rust on both strut tops, after a quick look on here i found this was fairly common so not too worried!

But i also found patches on the front and rear faces of the struts and inside the wheel arches, where your feet would be on the inside. If that makes any sense?

so I decided to go crazy and do the whole lot, i stripped the engine bay and front end completly, inc subframe etc.

FRONT END STRIPPED

I then began work on the rust first the strut tops, i cut away the part beggining with 'f' cant remeber the name at the min!

STRUT TOP REMOVED

I then got rid of all the rust to see what i was left with

I also found a hole in the C section that the top arm mounts to if you to the left of the pic above you can see where i have welded a new piece in, it was about 6inches long by 3 inches wide (welding skills arnt great i know but i am learning!)

Next was to weld a new piece into the top of the srut, i had a donar vehicle but on removal they wernet great so i decided to use new metal and shape it to look as factory as possible. i did this to both sides as well as weld new metal where any rust was.

i then stripped all loose paint etc off the front end

i also seam welded the strut tops. I then filled where i had welded then sent it to the sprayers on my raf base and had the engine bay painted, on its return i wax oiled the inener wings inside the chassis legs and the underneath of the front of the car.

While doing this all of the subframe, suspension arms, hubs, steering rack etc was away being shot blasted and powder coated!

I ordered all new ball joints and track rod ends

I wil add pics of these soon

i also started on the engine, i was goin to just drop the new engine in but i got hp hungary so orderd

N1 oil pump
N1 water pump
Cambelt kit
Crank shaft oil seal
2xGarrett gt2860-5
splitfire coil packs
tomei 1.2mm steel headgasket kit

I also sent all my cam covers, cambelt cover inlet plenum, coil pack covers and twin turbo pipes to be shot blasted and powder coated.

I stripped the engine and sent the block and head to be cleaned and re-faced. i also took the crank and pistons and had them cleaned and all the bearings checked to see if they need replacing.

I was told that the bearings were all good and that the engine showed signs of being very low milage which i was pleased about.

This is the stage i am at know i will update as i progress!

M3Ni · 27th June 2008, 12:27 PM

Looks good mate, fancy doing mine?

SmigzyGTR · 27th June 2008, 12:29 PM

AWESOME WORK mate!!! Bringing 'em back from the dead is where its at not breaking 'em!! Top effort, will be watching this one progress, good luck!!

Ben

cooper86 · 27th June 2008, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M3Ni

Looks good mate, fancy doing mine?

I am at raf leeming prob a dist but if you were willing to travel i would happily help you got 99% of tools inc 2 poster and 4 poster, welder press etc etc so if anyone needs a hand or use of these facilities drop me a pm and i will sort it out!

cooper86 · 27th June 2008, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmigzyGTR

AWESOME WORK mate!!! Bringing 'em back from the dead is where its at not breaking 'em!! Top effort, will be watching this one progress, good luck!!

Ben

thanks for the comments!

M3Ni · 27th June 2008, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cooper86

I am at raf leeming prob a dist but if you were willing to travel i would happily help you got 99% of tools inc 2 poster and 4 poster, welder press etc etc so if anyone needs a hand or use of these facilities drop me a pm and i will sort it out!

I might very well take you up on that! Thanks!! Good luck with the project, nothing like a bit of DIY!!

Benji406V6Coupé · 27th June 2008, 01:50 PM

Heart-warming thread this!

look forward to the updates mate!

good choice of blowers! take it your porting and polishing the head and forged internals?

keep us posted chap!

cooper86 · 27th June 2008, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benji406V6Coupé

Heart-warming thread this!

look forward to the updates mate!

good choice of blowers! take it your porting and polishing the head and forged internals?

keep us posted chap!

heart warming lmao
will be when i get to drive it never bought a car and never driven it!

would love to go forged etc but just cant afford it with payin for my weddin on a very very small wage! might hold off puttin it together and go forged, you have put a little devils wisper in my ear!

pupsi · 28th June 2008, 07:59 PM

Best to do it now, you will want more power, trust me.

alex2005 · 30th June 2008, 10:03 PM

Cool!

I remember when mine was just a bare chassis like that!

cooper86 · 1st July 2008, 01:59 PM

ok Decided to leave internals just dont have the fundings and when i do i will just take it back out

So Started building the engine back up last nite
bottom end rebuilt head on with 1.2 tomei gasket, cams back in rocker covers back on block and head had a fresh coat of paint, n1 oil pump fitted, n1 water pump fitted, i will post pics 2mow.

Any comments welcome

kismetcapitan · 1st July 2008, 02:29 PM

you want a sump baffle. I went Tomei, seemed simple enough. You need a Power FC and Z32 air flow meters. Keep the redline down to around 7500rpm and with a good, safe, solid map, you should get some good mileage out of that stock bottom end.

btw, what were your bearing clearances when you rebuilt the bottom end?

cooper86 · 2nd July 2008, 01:01 PM

Cant remember what they were have them written down somewhere! will see if i can dig them out, taking the car to rising sun for there managment, Going for nismo afms next year with some bigger injectors. Was going for d-jetro but got advised not to bother!
What sort of power should i see?

nozza1 · 2nd July 2008, 04:08 PM

Nice, good effort. Seeing a bit of dejavu here. Post up more pictures as the pics will speak a thousand words!

kismetcapitan · 2nd July 2008, 04:09 PM

the stock AFMs can't measure airflow over 450bhp - the car can run over that, but in a sense, your ECU is running blind. You absolutely need an ECU - if you run 2860-5s with the stock ECU, even with a boost controller and keep things at 1 bar (they won't boost lower than that), you will blow a piston at some point - I've seen that exact combination do exactly that. The guy was saving up for the supporting mods but the engine blew up too fast for him, so he had to start all over again, and buy new pistons in the process.

27th June 2008, 12:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
cooper86 GTR Register Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 100	R33 GTR project- From engine change to full refurb! I had always wanted an R33 GTR had 2 s14a's one which i put an rb25det in and i have had a gtst. The time came where i thought i could afford a GTR so i began looking. I found a few around my budget but all needed work on them. Then i cam accross mine 96 on an N in silver 56k on the clock but blown engine. I went to see it and it looked good surface rust underneath as it had been stood for some time in a barn. It also came with a low milage lump on a pallet form japan. So i parted with my cash and paid 7k for the lot, whole car with blown engine and a complete low milage lump. I was looking forward to start work on my new GTR, a nice simple engine change...BUT! On removal of the engine i found small patces of rust on both strut tops, after a quick look on here i found this was fairly common so not too worried! But i also found patches on the front and rear faces of the struts and inside the wheel arches, where your feet would be on the inside. If that makes any sense? so I decided to go crazy and do the whole lot, i stripped the engine bay and front end completly, inc subframe etc. FRONT END STRIPPED I then began work on the rust first the strut tops, i cut away the part beggining with 'f' cant remeber the name at the min! STRUT TOP REMOVED I then got rid of all the rust to see what i was left with I also found a hole in the C section that the top arm mounts to if you to the left of the pic above you can see where i have welded a new piece in, it was about 6inches long by 3 inches wide (welding skills arnt great i know but i am learning!) Next was to weld a new piece into the top of the srut, i had a donar vehicle but on removal they wernet great so i decided to use new metal and shape it to look as factory as possible. i did this to both sides as well as weld new metal where any rust was. i then stripped all loose paint etc off the front end i also seam welded the strut tops. I then filled where i had welded then sent it to the sprayers on my raf base and had the engine bay painted, on its return i wax oiled the inener wings inside the chassis legs and the underneath of the front of the car. While doing this all of the subframe, suspension arms, hubs, steering rack etc was away being shot blasted and powder coated! I ordered all new ball joints and track rod ends I wil add pics of these soon i also started on the engine, i was goin to just drop the new engine in but i got hp hungary so orderd N1 oil pump N1 water pump Cambelt kit Crank shaft oil seal 2xGarrett gt2860-5 splitfire coil packs tomei 1.2mm steel headgasket kit I also sent all my cam covers, cambelt cover inlet plenum, coil pack covers and twin turbo pipes to be shot blasted and powder coated. I stripped the engine and sent the block and head to be cleaned and re-faced. i also took the crank and pistons and had them cleaned and all the bearings checked to see if they need replacing. I was told that the bearings were all good and that the engine showed signs of being very low milage which i was pleased about. This is the stage i am at know i will update as i progress!

30th June 2008, 10:03 PM	#10 (permalink)
alex2005 GTROC Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: In the Garage Posts: 620	Cool! I remember when mine was just a bare chassis like that! __________________ not just a car, a responsibility! My rebuild thread http://www.gtr.co.uk/forum/96129-r32-gtr-engine-bay-makeover-rebuild.html

2nd July 2008, 04:08 PM	#14 (permalink)
nozza1 GTROC Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 691	Nice, good effort. Seeing a bit of dejavu here. Post up more pictures as the pics will speak a thousand words! __________________ . . . . . . . . . . . AUDI QUATT TURBS 20V, LANCIA INTERGRALE EVO 2, GOLF TDI ANNIVERSARY CHIPPED 250 BHP, KAWASAKI ZX7R

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27th June 2008, 12:27 PM	#2 (permalink)
M3Ni GTR Register Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Surrey Posts: 126	Looks good mate, fancy doing mine?

27th June 2008, 01:50 PM	#7 (permalink)
Benji406V6Coupé GTR Register Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Nottinghamshire Posts: 419	Heart-warming thread this! look forward to the updates mate! good choice of blowers! take it your porting and polishing the head and forged internals? keep us posted chap!

28th June 2008, 07:59 PM	#9 (permalink)
pupsi GTROC Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: West London Posts: 1,910	Best to do it now, you will want more power, trust me.

1st July 2008, 01:59 PM	#11 (permalink)
cooper86 GTR Register Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 100	ok Decided to leave internals just dont have the fundings and when i do i will just take it back out So Started building the engine back up last nite bottom end rebuilt head on with 1.2 tomei gasket, cams back in rocker covers back on block and head had a fresh coat of paint, n1 oil pump fitted, n1 water pump fitted, i will post pics 2mow. Any comments welcome

1st July 2008, 02:29 PM	#12 (permalink)
kismetcapitan GTR Register Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Seoul Korea Posts: 6,315	you want a sump baffle. I went Tomei, seemed simple enough. You need a Power FC and Z32 air flow meters. Keep the redline down to around 7500rpm and with a good, safe, solid map, you should get some good mileage out of that stock bottom end. btw, what were your bearing clearances when you rebuilt the bottom end?

2nd July 2008, 01:01 PM	#13 (permalink)
cooper86 GTR Register Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 100	Cant remember what they were have them written down somewhere! will see if i can dig them out, taking the car to rising sun for there managment, Going for nismo afms next year with some bigger injectors. Was going for d-jetro but got advised not to bother! What sort of power should i see?

2nd July 2008, 04:09 PM	#15 (permalink)
kismetcapitan GTR Register Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Seoul Korea Posts: 6,315	the stock AFMs can't measure airflow over 450bhp - the car can run over that, but in a sense, your ECU is running blind. You absolutely need an ECU - if you run 2860-5s with the stock ECU, even with a boost controller and keep things at 1 bar (they won't boost lower than that), you will blow a piston at some point - I've seen that exact combination do exactly that. The guy was saving up for the supporting mods but the engine blew up too fast for him, so he had to start all over again, and buy new pistons in the process.