The R32 Chronicles

[nissanr34cal]

So time for a little update.

got some goods from the UK r32 og.

Nice mantra for the car haha.

Decided to take the car on a trip to get some more miles on it, 50 mile round trip to work and back one Friday. up at the crack of dawn.

Car took it like a champ. Just slowly building my confidence in it. I have touched every part of this car so im fully expecting something to let me down at some point.

Parked it at work. The lads i work with have heard so much about it so they were interested to have a look around it.

I got a decent 2.4L fire extinguisher for the car. I will probably get another soon too. Fire scares the shit out of me.

then i had the task of figuring how and where to mount it. Whilst i had it at work i knocked up a mount. I wanted to put it somewhere that i could quickly and easily grab it, but it also wasnt in the way. With my seat being fixed on the drivers side i decided to mount it in front of there using the front mounting bolts of the seat.

came out pretty nice and its sturdy as fuck.

Then i cruised it home in the beautiful weather. It all started to make a bit of sense. The stress money and time kinda started to be worth it. (My passenger snapped this shot from my perspective. Honest)

i got home and noticed the rear screen had come loose. I was never happy with it when it got refitted the first time. I told the guy that and he said it was fine. However it lifted exactly where i thought it was shit. So he has since come back and removed it and refitted it again. Its much better.

i also fitted some new rear speakers. Because whats a street car without music.

I even managed to refit the original parcel shelf just to tidy everything up.

I want to make a panel to go where the rear of the rear seat would of gone and audio carpet it just to tidy it up some more. But thats a future callum problem.

I also put a better effort into filling the bootlid. Sorted that out. Its one final light skim away from done. But I’ll dont that when i prep it for paint. Just slung some matt black back over it just so it looks slightly less awful.

Got it out the following weekend. Gave it a wash because it was covered in filler dust and looked even more ropey than usual.

Now when i fitted my defi’s i broke a couple of wires. No biggy i thought. Then i looked at the prices. Holy fucking shit. So i remortgaged my house and bought a new oil temp and water temp sensor wire. And set to work fitting them. I didnt take any photos for some reason. But i ran some wires from the bay under the dash. Not thrilling content anyway. Plugged them in, water temp works a treat no oil temp. Swap the wires. Gauge works. But i need an oil temp sensor. So that sucks. But at least i now have a water temp gauge.

whilst i was in the footwell i decided to sort another fucking annoying issue. The throttle pedal. Its an s14 pedal and cable and its always sat high as fuck and been massively uncomfortable. So i took it out. Beat it with a hammer and put it back in.

Much better. Back to where a throttle pedal should be.

I am trying hard to sort the interior bit by bit and make it a more pleasant place to be. One thing thats really bugged me is the holes in the dash where the vents are fucked. Now i looked into buying vents. £110 each plus shipping and tax from japan. I told one of the lads at work about this and he suggested just making some. So we did. And considering they were like an hours work they’ve come out pretty good.

Not bad at all. I painted them matt black and offered them up.

not perfect obviously but fuck me. Dramatically improved. They will do for now. Also need to make a dash panel to hold the wideband and defi controller.

Also fitted a check valve in the brake booster line. So i how have brakes when i come straight off hard throttle and the ability to left foot brake if i need too.

Then i took it for my essential shopping trip.

shit photo but even on a warm day and some spirited acceleration to the speed limits. it didnt go above 85 degree water temps. So im happy with that.

So that kind of catches you up. I took a trip to mexico and ripped a little burny to see if my check valve was working but i cant upload that on here for some reason. Sounds great.

At the minute its just the world most impractical shopping car haha. Im working through all the little bugs and slowly trying to improve the car. Soon ill be lowering it to the correct ride height, aligning it and starting to get it looking how i want it too. When I’ve saved up it will get paint. I can’t wait to get it looking nice because it does look rough at the minute. But its a fun place to be.

 

[BenRice]

I can imagine how much fun you're having right now, after all that work and having that much power under your right foot on "essential shopping" runs, i know there's been a fair few smiles had!

I was reading the speaker install and thinking "rear firewalls look ugly, i hope he can find a parcel tray" and lo & behold

What's the plan for the door cards? If you're sorting the vents i can only imagine the lack of door cards is irking you as well

I'll be copying that idea on the fire extinguisher mount too, i've seen them done a few times like that and it makes sense

 

[nissanr34cal]

I can imagine how much fun you're having right now, after all that work and having that much power under your right foot on "essential shopping" runs, i know there's been a fair few smiles had!

I was reading the speaker install and thinking "rear firewalls look ugly, i hope he can find a parcel tray" and lo & behold

What's the plan for the door cards? If you're sorting the vents i can only imagine the lack of door cards is irking you as well

I'll be copying that idea on the fire extinguisher mount too, i've seen them done a few times like that and it makes sense

Thanks man. Door cars are killing me. Looks so wank. I want to retain stock boys somehow but i dont think its happening. Probably going to go for something like the caged laser ones. But not sure if I’ll buy them. Or make them

 

[nissanr34cal]

So a tiny update. Been working through the little jobs here and there.

welded some -12 an fittings to my rockers.

Then i had them powder coated candy red.

which has tidied up the bay nicely. Just need to order a catch can and some fittings and i will finish the breather system.

Been out in the car getting a few more miles on it. All with relative success to be honest. Its surprised me.

I am now however going to put the car in the unit and pull it apart and sort some issues out, need to rebuild the calipers now all the stuff has arrived. Need to sort a seal on the fuel tank, need to lower and align the car.

However all in all. So far so good.

 

[tristram]

oooh i'd like to see that burney… and hear it too probably. is there something wrong with me that this is the first time i hear about a "check valve"? what exactly does it do?

 

[nissanr34cal]

oooh i'd like to see that burney… and hear it too probably. is there something wrong with me that this is the first time i hear about a "check valve"? what exactly does it do?

brake boosters work on engine vacuum to assist the brakes taken from the inlet manifold. Once a turbo car is up in the revs the turbo creates boost, which is positive pressure in the inlet manifold, which in turn pushed positive air pressure (boost) into the brake booster effectively doing the exact opposite of what the booster should do, it makes the pedal rock solid. Because the stock master is designed to work with assist.

a check valve is another word for one way valve. Basically it can still pull a vacuum from the inlet manifold. But it shuts and stops boost being able to be pushed into the booster

 

[tristram]

brake boosters work on engine vacuum to assist the brakes taken from the inlet manifold. Once a turbo car is up in the revs the turbo creates boost, which is positive pressure in the inlet manifold, which in turn pushed positive air pressure (boost) into the brake booster effectively doing the exact opposite of what the booster should do, it makes the pedal rock solid. Because the stock master is designed to work with assist.

a check valve is another word for one way valve. Basically it can still pull a vacuum from the inlet manifold. But it shuts and stops boost being able to be pushed into the booster

This is awesome! never thought about that lol... so car developers didnt do this stock? if the car never was N/A? sounds stupid right?

 

[Spawn_CA18]

N/A cars usually don't have a one-way valve on booster the reason being that they never produce positive air pressure during engine operation.

 

[nissanr34cal]

So i had a little job to do following the rockers being powder coated. I needed to replace my CAS gasket. The old one was covered in paint and fucked.

Much better.

I also went and welded in an awesome r34 gtr cage into a veilside top speed car that is being rebuilt currently.

was hard work but came out sick.

and finally for those who have been waiting. I took a trip to a private road in mexico

great noises

 

[nissanr34cal]

So the cars back in the unit.

And things have really escalated.

Having a rethink about a few things and making a few changes to the car.

I accidentally built a track car that could go on the road, rather than a road car that can go on track. So some changes are coming to make the car a lot nicer place to be on the road.

 

[counteract]

At least it's all complete to a point now, especially the engine and mapping. I guess it's just a case of re-assembling in a more street friendly configuration?

 

[Gabriel90]

"HELP! I accidentally built a track car!" should definitely be the new headline...

 

[nissanr34cal]

At least it's all complete to a point now, especially the engine and mapping. I guess it's just a case of re-assembling in a more street friendly configuration?

yeah just put an intank fuel pump in thats man enough to run 450bhp. Then seeing as my mapper is a mate of mine I’ll just get him to check all is well. Going to add a bit more sound proofing and just make the car a nicer place to be in general.

 

[counteract]

yeah just put an intank fuel pump in thats man enough to run 450bhp. Then seeing as my mapper is a mate of mine I’ll just get him to check all is well. Going to add a bit more sound proofing and just make the car a nicer place to be in general.

It's funny how your original plan can soon change once you achieve it, even loosely, and realise how unreasonable it is for doing anything other than drifting!

 

[nissanr34cal]

It's funny how your original plan can soon change once you achieve it, even loosely, and realise how unreasonable it is for doing anything other than drifting!

Thing is I’ve kinda built the car for what i was doing 3 odd years ago when i was drifting pretty much every month. Ive since bought a house and got engaged, just dont have the time or budget anymore to drift every month. So I’ll be using on the road as much as I’ll be drifting it. So a few small changes just to make it a bit more pleasant and enjoyable on the road. Fundamentally im happy with it. Just need to change a few small bits to give it some better road manners.

 

[BenRice]

Like door cards

 

[nissanr34cal]

Like door cards

Also on the to do list

 

[nissanr34cal]

So some things have been done.

i have been chasing a front wheel wobble. So whilst everything is apart i chucked the front disc’s on a lathe at work to check they are straight and true and because im tight. Whilst i was there i gave them a quick skim. Once i figure the issue I’ll chuck new disc’s on it.

Also meanwhile my callipers have been being rebuilt.

We discovered that i only had one functional piston out of 4 in each front calliper. The other 3 were seized. So thats not ideal, also all 4 were seized on the rear callipers. So the brakes were pretty fucked. God only knows what they will be like when they work. I can’t wait. Just waiting on some new rear pistons to turn up because a couple of the rears were unsaveable. So hopefully they will be done soon.

meanwhile i created this monstrosity quickly in a lunch break, derek the dinosaur.

Weird looking guy. But here he is in place

Just something to try and protect the loom a bit in its usual place because im a helmet and didn’t relocate it and i cant be fucked to do it now haha.

Then i fitted my new battery tray i made at work.

And fitted it up where my swirl pot setup used to live.

Then onto my next job of improving my life in the car. This one was an experiment and its not perfect but it a hell of a lot better and should only improve things.

a set of r33 rear seats, cut all the wire strengthening out of them so they were just foam and cloth, i shit you not the back of that seat took me 3 hours to kick, punch and swear into position. Fucking miserable and literally the worst job ive ever done. But i think its come out pretty good and made the car look much more “complete” inside.

im happy with how its come out, im fully aware its not perfect. But for seats fitted around a weld in cage that arent even from this model of car, it looks good.

Ive also since run all new fuel lines in the car again, because I didn’t want joiners in them from the tank to the engine bay. So i ran new braided line throughout. As well as a brand new walbro 450 in tank pump. Got the tank back in the car and hooked up, sorted the wiring out, got the fuel gauge working again. Also got the car back up and running. My god i wish i had done this from the start. So peaceful haha. Such a better place to be without that fucking bosch buzzing away.

Ive also got the speedo connected up and working which is an absolute bonus. So we have an rb25 box working on a cable driven r32 speedo.

Also fixed a few little wiring issues. Just getting through the list of shitty little jobs but hopefully making the world a better place.

Now question boys and girls. I need an opinion. On my quest for making my car a nicer place to be. I need door cards. No door cards is fucking miserable. Now do i got for sheet metal ones/ carbon ones. Flat panel to clear the cage. Or do i cut the stock door cards that i still have to clear the door bars and sheet the bottom that i have to cut off. What do you reckon boys?

Hopefully soon it will be back on the ground with brakes and i can take it for a drive and see how much better my life is with all these new changes.

 

[e30h26]

Carbon ones. Do not cut the stock door cards, I've never seen it turn out nice and it'd be a shame to ruin their resale value.

 

[Bu11et]

Cut the stock door cards - I have done it in mine, ye its a shoddy job and only quickly measured - but having a nice arm rest and your window buttons in the stock positions are GREAT!!

I feel having a flat sheet metal door card takes away the comfort of a street car...