[RB28]

Wasn't there a video feature on this shop recently? Possibly by Motive Video? I'm sure I've seen that shop somewhere, the Z-Tune was in a carcoon style bubble too. I can't see places with a Z-Tune, 400R and several Mines GTR's being too common... Lol

Yeah quite a few features are out there. 1320 Video did one too. Some pretty cool cars on the way from Japan, including the Midnight Purple Z-Tune and a HKS Zero R

 

[rmiguelcar]

That's the car. I was lucky enough to go cruising the streets with it on the night it arrived. Awesome looking and sounding car! RB28 with Titanium rods im told:bowdown1:

Really? Tomei made them?

 

[RB28]

Really? Tomei made them?

Yes, Apparently all 3 Mines Vspec N1 Demo cars have them and so does the Millenium Jade VspecII Nur Demo car, the one that Mines always used at Nismo Festival and R's Meeting.

 

[RB28]

I was able to get my hands on these out of production Tein RS Circuit Masters. There are rare and are hard to acquire. The spring rates are F12K R10K with helper spring setup. Fully damper and rebound adjustable. The cool reservoir oil canisters look great. The shock cylinders are fully anodized aluminum in Tein green. The surface is textured with fine vertical striae for a more 'upmarket' feel. The strut tops are a bit weathered because they are 'used' afterall.

They will be overhauled and revalved in custom Racepace spec by Fulcrum in QLD who is the official Tein distributor in Australia. Custom Eibach springs and custom top hats will also be added. The Racepace suspension setup is proven on a number of competitive Targa and circuit cars.

 

[RB28]

Ive decided to delete the Hicas system on my car when the Teins go in. Wasn't a big fan of the rear moving around when I was going around a corner at 140kph:chuckle:

Other aftermarket suspension components on the car include:

-Nismo Upper Circuit Link Set
-Nismo Sway bars (Front & Rear)
-Nismo Upper Link Set (Front & Rear)
-Nismo Tension Rod Set
-Mines Titanium Strut Brace

RacePace will add

-RacePace Hicas Delete Kit
-Tein RS Circuit Masters (Revalved with Custom Eibach Springs)


The Tein RS, aka 'Circuit Master; Super Racing Spec', has been out of production since 2006-2007. They were the top of the line in the Tein catalogue for production cars at that time. In some ways, I feel that the materials used and the way it was manufactured surpass what's commonly available today, even the premium priced shocks.

Details of the RS are listed below (sourced from US based my.is forum in 2002)

MATERIALS AND FACTS:

DAMPING MECHANISM:

45mm diameter pistons

Double shim stacks (near unlimited tunability with knowledge of shim valves)

Two 'special form' adjustment needles

SHOCK/RESERVOIR BODY:

Monotube shock body

53mm outer diameter

Aluminum alloy (A7050) seamless tube, CNC'ed, green (hard?) anodized

Inner tolerances:

diameter: ±5µm

roughness: ±1.6µm

Reservoir body interior is PTFE (Teflon) coated

CNC'ed aluminum alloy eyelet, Tein rubber bushing, steel pivot

SHOCK SHAFT:

14mm diameter

Chromoly (SCM435) steel, Ti-N coating

SHAFT SEAL/GUIDE:

WRC spec

PILLOWBALL MOUNT:

Aluminum alloy, CNC'ed, Powdercoated (gold)

SPRINGS:

Main and helper

Steel, ground and tapered, enameled

12K front, 10K rear

SPRING PERCHES:

Aluminum alloy, forged and machined

SETTINGS:

-34mm front, -12mm rear (easier measured as 335mm both from the center of the wheel to the fender lip, front and rear)

10 clicks rebound front

10 clicks compression front

10 clicks rebound rear

13 clicks compression rear

Will post pictures of all components when the Teins have been finished:thumbsup:

 

[RB28]

Quick update on things.

The car is currently at RacePace getting the coilovers and hicas lock bar fitted. Rebuild took a bit longer due to Christmas. Cant wait to get it back!

In the meantime I visited Japan with a good friend of mine (he owns the blue R34 GTR with HKS livery here in Aus) for Nismo Festival. It was my first time in Japan and wow! We visited Omori Factory and saw the Z-Tune P001 and all the Clubman Race Spec cars

Nismo Festival was the GTR and Fairlady Z 50th anniversary. Nismo brought all the GT500 cars, Hakosukas, Kenmeri's and even the actual R35 Nismo that did the 7:08 lap at the Nurburgring! We rented a R35 GTR and drove from Tokyo to Mt Fuji, spotting many other GTR's on the way.

we also visited Nissan HQ, Nissan Crossing in Ginza and Daikokufuto, where we saw a M-Spec Nur with a 2,8, Vcam and T51R setup!

Needless to say this has given me some motivation for my car

 

[RB28]

The coilovers are in and my initial thoughts on the rebuild are as follows,

The rebound is phenomenal compared to the old suspension, it reacts exactly how I wanted it to when I spoke to the owner of RacePace.
The car is extremely forgiving with the current spring rate/valving combo. I'm impressed with how the car deals with mid corner bumps, when the coilvoers are already on load, any bumps mid-corner are ironed out, even at high speed. I'm told the car is set up somewhere between a Targa car and circuit car at the moment.

The ride height has been cut in half and makes the car look so much better! I copped a fair bit of 'Nissan Patrol GTR' jokes over the last few months haha.

I'm also really enjoying the hill runs without Hicas! some people love it, I was not one of those people haha. Having the rear of the car feeling tighter and more predictable, gives me a lot more confidence in the hills.

Over all im very happy with the results of the RacePace Hicas lock kit and RacePace Spec Tein RS Circuit Masters.

I'll be doing some photo shoots in the coming weeks, as the car has just had a level 2 paint correction & kamikaze ZIPANG detail, will post pics of the new ride height and gloss lol

A video shoot with Ben Hartnett from Hartnett Media (Check out his channel on YouTube for amazing JDM content) is on the cards too.

 

[etang789]

The coilovers are in and my initial thoughts on the rebuild are as follows,

The rebound is phenomenal compared to the old suspension, it reacts exactly how I wanted it to when I spoke to the owner of RacePace.
The car is extremely forgiving with the current spring rate/valving combo. I'm impressed with how the car deals with mid corner bumps, when the coilvoers are already on load, any bumps mid-corner are ironed out, even at high speed. I'm told the car is set up somewhere between a Targa car and circuit car at the moment.

The ride height has been cut in half and makes the car look so much better! I copped a fair bit of 'Nissan Patrol GTR' jokes over the last few months haha.

I'm also really enjoying the hill runs without Hicas! some people love it, I was not one of those people haha. Having the rear of the car feeling tighter and more predictable, gives me a lot more confidence in the hills.

Over all im very happy with the results of the RacePace Hicas lock kit and RacePace Spec Tein RS Circuit Masters.

I'll be doing some photo shoots in the coming weeks, as the car has just had a level 2 paint correction & kamikaze ZIPANG detail, will post pics of the new ride height and gloss lol

A video shoot with Ben Hartnett from Hartnett Media (Check out his channel on YouTube for amazing JDM content) is on the cards too.

Been following! Nice building going on here!

Please post the YouTube link when the video is ready!

 

[RB28]

Been following! Nice building going on here!

Please post the YouTube link when the video is ready!

Thanx Etang, Hope your 2.8 build with the big single in going well in Hong Kong! Unfortunately covid-19 has put a bit of a hault to our video and photoshoot plans. I will upload these as soon as we can shoot and get the editing done.

 

[RB28]

In the mean time I've changed my Mines steering wheel to a custom Jastec Design wheel.
This is Nappa Leather with carbon fibre inserts and is actually more comfortable than the Mies wheel imo. As seen in the pic, the carbon matches perfectly with the Robson Design carbon.
I didn't want to get the carbon for the MFD or aircon surround as there is quite a bit of carbon in there at the moment. Steering wheel, Speedometer carbon overlay, dash matt & centre console. You can actully see the Carbon Ganador mirrors in this pic, these have now been replaced with the Mines typeII aero mirrors in green carbon.

A Nismo GT500 Urethane gear knob and Carbon look dash matt was added to finish off the interior. I say 'finish' but we all know we never finish building these cars

 

[SkylineGTRCy]

Interior looks superb!!
Jastec steering wheel is far superior than MINE's IMO. Do they have a website you can see at all options and purchase directly from them?

 

[RB28]

Interior looks superb!!
Jastec steering wheel is far superior than MINE's IMO. Do they have a website you can see at all options and purchase directly from them?

Thanx Tony! The Jastec also feels more comfortable as the Mines thumb inserts just aren't shaped as well imo. I also prefer having a steering wheel that nobody else has. The Mines one is extremely popular here in Aus. Here is Jastec Designs website JASTEC DESIGN | ジャステック デザインは、BMW ベンツ フェラーリ ランボルギーニ ポルシェ マセラティ アウディect、全自動車メーカー純正ステアリングをベースに、カーボンステアリング ウッドステアリングを完全オーダーメイドにて製作いたします。天然本杢 レストア, ウッドパネル, カーボンパネルも製作いたします。

I'd just email them and maybe a phone call or two wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

[RB28]

I finally got a picture of my car after the Tein RS's were fitted. Sitting a lot lower now and looking way better! Thanx to Paul from PT Works for the pic!

This was taken about 6 weeks ago when I was getting an alignment done at MK Motorsports. One of the downsides to having a white car, is you lose some detail in photographs when it is bright. As you can see, I've somehow lost my Z-Tune guards and R-Tune bonnet in the picture below lol.

I'll also be getting my Nismo Intercooler refurbished to look new again.
outside,

 

[RB28]

I've managed to get my hands on a genuine Mines Carbon prop shaft. This came off a Mines built car when it was imported from Japan. These were never offered to the public,as far as i'm aware, unless you bought a full package from Mines in Japan. Which means you'd have to send your car to Mines for extensive upgrades before you were given the option of ticking the "carbon propshaft" box. It weighs about half that of the standard shaft, at just over 7kg, but more importantly adds +5 street cred.

I did plan on getting a Driveshaft Shop one from the guys in the US, but when this was offered to me I couldn't pass on the opportunity. Dino from Speedhunters put a carbon driveshaft in his R34 GTR and has a write up on Speedhunters. Here is a small segment on his article.

"Well, as you can imagine, 5kg removed from the rotational mass can be felt instantly. When driving the car around, the driveline reacts much faster when you get on the throttle so the response is greatly improved. There is no more hanger bearing there to sap such feel from the driveline as there was previously with the stock item. But the most pleasing thing is zero harshness or driveline shunt when accelerating and backing off the throttle, like in stop and go traffic. It all runs smooth and I’m more than pleased with it."

Full article here:

Project GT-R: Lightening The Driveline - Speedhunters

Tuning is not only about upping power and shooting for greater performance, it’s about refinement too. One of the nicest upgrades I’ve ever made to Project GT-R was replacing the slipping stock clutch with something more durable. At the time, ATS had been on the market for a couple of years with...

www.speedhunters.com

 

[JapFreak786]

Keen to hear your thoughts on the driveshaft. The CF one is on my list of things I wish to buy for mine but haven’t committed yet as I’m not sure it will suit a street car incase it affects drivability, read some reviews that it can hamper the experience

 

[RB28]

Keen to hear your thoughts on the driveshaft. The CF one is on my list of things I wish to buy for mine but haven’t committed yet as I’m not sure it will suit a street car incase it affects drivability, read some reviews that it can hamper the experience

I've driven some R34 GTR's with Carbon shafts before and they definitely don't hamper drivability. I've driven the car this shaft came off many times and it felt great. It will be good to compare before and after with my car though. I'll definitely keep you posted, JapFreak

 

[RB28]

So we have started filming our video with Hartnett Media. The theme of this video is HKS RB28, so I think the soundtrack will be pretty good!

If you guys haven't seen any of Ben's videos, you're definitely missing out. Some of my favourites include detailing vidoes of a Hakosuka with 13 000km on the clock and the Midnight Purple 3 Z-Tune (build #15) that only has 38km on the clock.......yes 38km. It was detailed by the same guys that did my car, Auto Attention.

Here's the Z-Tune video

 

[RB28]

So I've acquired some more Carbon bits for the GTR.

A Garage Defend Cooling Panel is on the way and I also picked up some Fujimara Carbon wing stands from a good friend. These are similar to the Mines wing stands in size, being 30mm higher than stock. The quality of the stands is great! Most of the carbon wing stands available are really cheap. The Mines ones are an eye watering $2000 AUD new.

Here's a link to the Fujimara ones I've got. https://cartune.me/notes/dlfMzlqPic

Here's a quick pic of the Fujimara stands on my friends car. He bought some stock wing stands in QX1 Pearl White to replace them. The QX1 Pearl White is noticeably more yellow than QM1 White. These will obviously be painted QM1.

My Mines carbon propshaft should get fitted this weekend if I have time. Keen to drive it and feel the difference.

 

[RB28]

Went to a friends workshop to install the Mines carbon driveshaft. To my surprise I found out it was actually for a R32 GTR and had some spacers and adaptor plates to fit a R34 GTR. I had also bought a Driveshaft Shop one to compare them, The Driveshaft Shop carbon shaft was all round a better item. The weave looked better, well balanced, better finished and lighter.

I have a Japanese brand theme on the car but considering the condition and quality of both items (also that the DSS one was actually made for a R34 GTR and the Mines one is for a R32 GTR) I decided to go with the DSS item. It was also a brand new item, rated to 1200hp and has a 1 year warranty, so was a no brainer. I have yet to drive the car with the shaft installed but here are some pics comparing the two shafts and up close images of the DSS one.

I put the DSS one on the scale and it only weighed 7.5kg which is remarkable. I'll weigh the stock one on the same scale (should be 13-14kg) and will try weigh the Mines one too before it is sold.

Here is a description from the DSS website.

Product Description
This is the complete Carbon Fiber driveshaft for the R34 Skyline GT-R.This is a 3.25" High Modulus Carbon Fiber shaft that uses a CV in the rear but has had the internals changed to a higher grade chromoly and is a direct bolt on. This single shaft eliminate the factory 2 piece shaft. By removing the factory 2 piece shaft the car will lose the excessive motion caused by the hanger bearing moving up and down when you step on the gas. This will make the car react faster to throttle input and make the car feel more responsive. Rated to 1200HP with a 1-year warranty. Here are some of the other benefits of our Carbon Fiber shafts:

1. Direct-fit flange to mount up to the transmission
2. 3.250" High Modulus Carbon fiber tube with New DSS bond method. The Tube is smaller than others offered so there will be no clearance or heat issues.
3. New version 300M Spline for the CV mount that is stronger than the rest of the shaft
4. Custom modified High Speed 108mm CV with special boot and grease that is a direct fit to stock differential flange.
5. All Hardware included
6. 1 Year Warranty
7. 1200HP Rated
8. Balanced on one of the most sophisticated balancing machines in the industry.
9. Carbon shaft will be about 1-2lbs lighter than the Aluminum shafts but are much more torsional and will reduce noise in the cabin.


Herewith some pics.

 

[RB28]

More goodies arrived from Kudos Motorsports and Vspec Performance. While the car was in the shop I decided to add a few things to the list.

• New OEM Nissan Fan Shroud
• New OEM Nissan Brake Line Clips
• New OEM Nissan VIN Plate Pins
• New OEM Nissan Front Lip
• Garage Defend Carbon Cooling Panel
• New Speakers all round
• Mines Titanium Fire Extinguisher Bracket with Fire Extinguisher (For Track Days)