Near run thing.

Hello, hello, here I am. Got lots to post and not been as regular as I could with my usual mix of nonsense, about Ms Skyline herself. I suppose I am the Watson to her Holmes, always playing second fiddle to her more glamorous and interesting lifestyle.

What have I been up to? Well lots, little and large things. There are posts of the usual disasters and errors. Possibly even a couple of wins. But they are to come, for now will ease into things with this...

I have been working on diverse parts like headlights, room mirrors and a small engine rebuild. 

Lets have a quick look at the impressive stuff left like a ticking bomb after my last work. 

So the engine is coming out for rebuild (no not yet, more on that later). When I dropped the car in I mentioned that something was not right, that I could hear the exhaust blowing a bit although the manifold looked okay. I had half convinced myself that this was just my imagination as the car performed as it should. 

Turns out I was looking in the wrong place. It was the turbo clinging on by a bolt.. Yep the other had left the building (or was forgotten on build). 

The bolt has 'bolted'

Couple to the the joy of a cracked weld in my 6 Boost manifold 

Having a cracking time

The result was as shown in the video (yes we have gone 21st century here). Of course in this instance I got away with it.. Fair makes me shudder to think about it though.

So.. Okay it is rebuild time and yes this isn't because the engine is dying, but more because it is a mountain I want to climb and spit off the edge. Just so I can.

Am sure it's simple? Ermm!

6 Boost manifolds and parts supply

Recently (seems long ago now!) I decided that a normal fast car just wasn't good enough, that what I really needed in my life was a huge hole in my bank account and a ballistic missile for a car.

After what some might consider a bit of a shaky start, I actually managed to get down to business talking to Wayne Taylor over at Auto Extreme. So the inevitable horse trading began, with what I thought I wanted and what he thought I should have, it was all quite an enjoyable experience and Wayne is very knowledgeable about all things turbo charged and not only is a supplier for Australian Plazmaman products but 6 boost as well. In fact when put to the test, there wasn't anything he could not lay his hands on at what were very reasonable prices.

Although not a 'new' thing 6 Boost mainfolds are still making a name for them selves in the market place. Certainly ideal for a top mount set up on a R33 Skyline they are fabulous high quality parts, heavy thick mandrel bent 'lumps' of metal with heafty tig welds and a manly shot blast finish. These are certainly not for the feint hearted or short on budget as they are reassuringly expensive. However for the performance inclined, they are the business, reducing spool time, increasing responsiveness and best of all not cracking like the majority of manifolds available out there.

Whilst I was trying to be cheap I spoke to a guy in New Zealand selling 'steam pipe' manifolds. He said his were good, not as good as a 6 boost though! With that high quality selling technique I decided to go with the 6 Boost for me.
It also helped confirm my decision when at Drift Street Imports I saw that they were pretty much using these exclusively on their competition drift cars.

In a quite timely manner I see that there is a large three page spread in this months Banzai Magazine highlighting 6 Boost and its benefits (open pictures in new tab, else text a bit small!).

There are two sets of folk, them that has one of these and them that want one (but hate to admit it).

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Every single drive I take now is an absolute joy, the car has taken a few trips to 'adapt' to it's new found powers and it can be difficult to live with a car trying to constantly 'tear your face off' (thank you MB Automotive). However it has such a good map and is so docile in traffic that I just can't stay out of it!

Car stuff - Boring.. But there's cake!

Yet another Birthday has sneaked past me and I had a delicious cake baked for me

Yum!

As for my actual Birthday treat I elected to work on the car all day. In fact for a present my girl super spoiled me with a 400R carbon rear blade set up. Can't be bad can it? I must be doing something right, although am perplexed if I know what it is!

400R Style rear blades

Just the tonic I needed really!

I recently managed to acquire an original set of 400R bits made specifically for a GTST by that little known style house 'NISMO'. Yep genuine original parts that I'm pretty certain the copy shops would have loved to get their hands on to make some molds! To be honest I wasn't aware that Nissan even made these parts for a GTST and only produced them for fat bottomed GTR, but I can't argue with my own eyes! 

So I have got as far as test fitting the bumper (got bored with sanding).

excellent fit! 

Happily as an original Nissan part it needs no fettling and looks pretty promising. The exhaust is due adjustment this week. In fact I am having a new one made (but that is for laters!). 

I also took the car to a scratch specialist

Chips Away are a franchise operation operating in the UK. I obviously can't speak for all of them, but would like to say a big thank you to Steve and his team in the Reading Berkshire branch. Usually Chips Away use mobile specialists, although in Reading it is a drop off service. This results in much more clean conditions, which therefore obviously means a much better chance of a good job! 

I wonder if that tickles?

Both the scratches in the rear quarter panel were touched in. This isn't perfect 'but will do' for now and are only really visible if you tilt your head and screw up your eyes (in the right light conditions). As for the larger scratch in the front bumper.. It is gone! Chips Away doing one of their 100% repairs to the affected area.

As to the engine bay, it looks this good!

Taking the car for a drive has become a very entertaining experience now and I really can't fault Drift Street Imports Build or MB Motorsports map. In fact I feel like a stake holder now in the BDC where Drift Street and MB compete in the Pro events. 

This is something else! 

So what a muddle this post is although it sums up the eclectic mix of mini posts that I have been too busy/idol/indifferent to write lately! 

This weekend there is Japfest, a celebration of all motors Japanese, although most of my readers are overseas and it looks like a very wet one, I am looking forwards to saying Hi... 

Trials and tribulations

It was supposed to be the grand finale of car modification, it would have been as well had it not been for amateur errors which have already cost and will continue to cost me to put right.

So we can break this down into two areas.

Things people got wrong.

1. No gasket on the cam angle sensor
2. The world’s worst map

Things no one will admit to.

1. Damage to the front pulley cover paintwork
2. Damage to the car paint work
3. Damage to the rear bumper
4. Exhaust badly adjusted in wrong position
5. Rear number plate deep scratch (how the hell did they do this!)

The camera never lies 

Melted Rear Bumper from badly adjusted exhaust

Front wing scratch

Rear Quarter Scratch

Rear Quarter Scratch

Initially I am going to try and have the rear quarter body panel 'touched up', as there is no magic repair short of a respray that can be done. The front bumper (for which the scratch is legendary) I will have sprayed.

The rear bumper is obviously knackered. However before I can replace this I will need to go to a specialist exhaust center to have the overall length of the back box shortened by about 20/25mm and lowered by the same. It could be that there is adjustment for lowering on the de cat silencer, however this will not shorten the overall pipe length which was probably affected when the new down pipe was made up. 

Funnily enough I was already working on the replacement for the rear bumper and side skirts before this, so do have replacements. However I was planning on enjoying working on the body in my own time and not having to make it a top priority (let alone the expense of spray work).

I am not in the mood to comment on Abbey Motorsport, Drift Street Imports and Auto Extreme at the moment. Although am sure that each will get a mention as I cover various parts of the correction and look at the actual results of the engine work.