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.

R33 Skyline after supply and fit of new parts!

Here she is in all her glory (well the revised engine bay). Note no mapping has been done yet, so not revving the hell out of her!

Injectors are a go go

The will they, won't they battle is at an end (or at least this chapter of it) and the injectors have now been fitted to the car!

This was done still by fitting larger adaptors to the 11 mm injectors, however this time the difference is that the adaptors were made from rubber rather than a machined part.
It is easy to be wise after the event but it turns out that tolerances are more like guide lines when it comes to this kind of thing. The fuel rail diameters are undersized for a tight fit, as were the adaptors for that matter (just not enough).
The last little fight the fuel rail put up was that the spacers were around 4mm too long and needed to be modified, but now the the injectors sit nice and tight as they should.

Fuel rail and fitted injectors! 

I am just happy that this block on progress has been lifted and we are back under way with the good stuff. I particularly like how the injectors match the rocker covers, its all in the detail for me!

The lower inlet is actually from a Spec one R33 polished and then painted black. It is one of the few original parts that I polished and finished that will remain on the car, so it is amusing that it is also one of the oldest parts in the engine bay! There are a couple of connecting holes along the top of it for the spec one fuel rail (I assume), which when I painted the part I carefully masked and cleaned up after. Funny thing is that these have never been connected to anything.. I will do my best to ignore this bit of unfinished business!

It's been a real learning process this one. But its getting there and the car should be back to a running condition by this Friday (at least that is the plan!). 

Plazmaman fuel rail

Today feels like the morning after the night before and the realisation that a growing dark cloud exists over the project that sometimes I'm beginning to wish I had never started. Less of this defeatist talk, it's all part of the game!

So to follow on from yesterdays post. I took a call from my supplier here in the UK for the Plazmaman parts. It turns out that the fuel rail of all things is the culprit for the injectors plus the adaptors not fitting and that the injector bore size has simply been made too small.

My first thought was that this not only means that my injector adaptors won't fit but even a specific 14mm injector won't fit either. However Plazmaman say it is normal for their 14mm injector rail to have holes of 13.4mm to get a "snug" fit with the O-ring.
So my supplier is off to a UK firm with 14mm ID injectors in stock to physically test them in the rail.

Will it or won't it fit! 

So there is a possible solution. It maybe that it will be a costly one but at this stage I don't care and will clutch at any straw offered!

Not injecting a bit of magic after all!

Major post edit alert.. See the red bits!


I am a firm believer in thinking things through, getting it right, not rushing in.. I think we would all like to think that of ourselves to a greater or lesser extent wouldn't we?

Soooo, lets talk injectors shall we?

STOP PRESS: Okay I have spoken to the garage. Turns out that my moderation in blaming the adaptors was well placed and the problem is with the Plazmaman Fuel Rail. The injector rail holes being undersized. At time of writing I am waiting to find out just what the hell is going on and how on earth I'm going to get out of this one..

In my previous post I outlined some of the difficulties being experienced with what should be an off the shelf purchase. A fuel rail that will fit a Greddy inlet but after the specification changed, would not fit the standard inlet. This changed to a Plazmaman which takes 14mm injectors, I had 11mm injectors to fit the Greddy. More trouble, again sourcing from Australia 14mm injector adaptors (collars that sit on the 11mm injectors).

So how did I get on with my new found antipodean friends at Flow Fittings Direct?

Yes, this is really me fuming! 

 Actually not so great as it happens, the result has not been the coveted success I might have hoped, with the garage being unable to use the adaptors. First hand, I saw that the adaptors would not quite fit the fuel rail, although assumed that they would probably need to be tight and a push fit (they fitted the injectors like a glove).
However my garage think that the adaptor rings are .25 oversized, which is enough to ruin my day! I'm still not entirely convinced that the adaptors are unusable, although am caught between two camps now of the supplier and garage.

Possibly don't buy these! 

It would be unusual for me to be down on a supplier without their right to reply so I will see what they think of my garages observation and update.  


As to plan F? Well I need a new plan.. This has become the worlds most pointless post!



Welcome to Plan F (from an empty space, my head)

Still going with the top feed plan (well I have a fuel rail now!) am going to fit 725cc 14mm injectors.

What of the old fuel rail and injectors? Well I can probably easily sell this on to someone fitting a Greddy style inlet and at least cover my costs.



If I was to conclude a moral from this 'saga' it is to trust my instinct and would never have been here if I hadn't listened to an expert on the subject way back when starting out.

My sincere apologies to SJ who lugged the original injectors back from the States.

Injecting a bit of Australian magic!

Okay from the 6th February to whatever the hell the date is now (screws up eyes at watch) ah ha, the 18th March! So what has been achieved? Car complete?? Well no, can't rush these things now can we!

(Actually since my last post I have stopped smoking (hurrah) combine this with an avalanche of bad karma, generally being wound up at home and it should make for a post of random ranting.)

With so much going on with the car in general, my current part of this adventure seems to be currently orbiting around injectors.
As with everything it is always a good idea to 'keep it simple' and keep your hand away from the confusion button. However as with everything one decision affects another, information that would probably saved a lot of pain is not forthcoming and a cock up ensues!
So this is the way of the injectors. Starting out it would have been the original intention to fit a Greddy style inlet plenum, a fuel rail and injectors were sourced to suit this set up. However the plan soon evolved and a Plazmaman inlet was sourced, making the fuel rail useless as it is designed to fit a Greddy and not a Standard inlet.
Having sourced top feed injectors I really didn't want the hassle or expense of buying side feeds, so in an inspired moment decided to go with a Plazmaman fuel rail (may as well have the complete Plazmaman set up then). Alas I was not home and dry yet, you could say I wasn't even vigorously towelling myself down, as although the Plazmaman fuel rail fits the RB25 inlet fine, the injectors it takes are 14mm and naturally the ones I have are 11mm (Apparently Japanese sizes are 11mm).

Perhaps here would have been the perfect point to get side feed injectors after all and just write off the original injectors as a bad idea... But wheres the fun in that?

So logic dictates that there must have been others faced with this problem and to the internet I went. Turned up an 11mm to 14mm adaptor from Speedflow.

• Aeroflow Fuel Injector Insert Adapters.
• Made from 6061 T-6 Aluminium.
• These handy little insert adapters allow you to use 11mm o-ring injectors in your 14mm o-ring fuel rails.
• Simply fit these over you injector and then fit them into your rail.
• Aeroflow Part No: AF889.

I sourced these from Flow Fittings Direct in NSW Australia. As time is super short on the project now I had to pay extra for expedited despatch (like twice the cost of parts!) and am now waiting with baited breath to see if one, they turn up on time and two, if they are actually any good (I just live for the excitement). 

Covers completed (well almost).

The pace of any modification seems to be stilted, you have a rough idea of what you want to achieve, then you have the reality of what can be achieved so you adjust your thinking and budget accordingly. Put said plans into action, rushing here, sourcing there and then wait. Small bursts of activity followed by, well nothing much, just hanging around really.
It's usually in the periods of 'hanging around' I like to think I'm at my most dangerous to the budget, as the original plans change in the early phase or at least the larger items are sourced, my attention starts to turn to all manner of smaller items and it is normally here where the budget slips on such odds and ends like pipework or even screws.
One source of amusement for me to play with has been the clean up and finish on the RB26 covers. As posted previously the front pulley cover needs to be modified for the Variable Valve Timing which sticks out the front of the RB25 engine.
I also wanted to go with a classic feel for the engine itself and being of advancing years I recall from my youth that anything 'cool' would feature a red top engine. Just say no to flip paint, to manga girls in states of undress and Japanese flags. Oddly enough you would think it easy to get a rough finish crackle powder coat although there are not a lot of places who actually do it. Eventually I found Maldon Shot Blasting who do a lot of restoration work on classic cars. It's pretty important to remember that not all powder coaters are equal at this point, what works for your garden furniture does not always hold true for your pride and joy. Otherwise this is known as 'getting what you pay for' (crap is crap).

Anyway onto the main course..
I started out with some respectable second hand covers that had already been well painted in a flip HKS type purple. As you can see from the photo the front cover was then modified to take care of the VVT bulge and the ghastly RB26 was sanded away.

Original RB26 covers after front cover modification. 

At this stage I started to look around for a replacement 'Nissan twin cam' ornament as the original was showing some small sign of age. I also managed to drop it, dinging a corner. If you want a new cover, good luck.. Although Nissan's of Chesapeake in the USA have some (I don't mind letting you know as I have mine now).

Close up of front cover modification.

It was pretty important to me that I retained the original look and feel of the RB25 front cover 'bulge', ironic as it is difficult to reproduce a pressing, however the result is pretty stock looking.  

Close up of Crinkle Heat Resistant Paint

The finish up close of the crinkle powder coating. Text from Malden's web site..

No more rattle cans giving an uneven or inconsistent finish.

Available from stock. In Ferrari Red or Black.

Maldon Shot Blasting & Powder Coating Ltd. now offers a new Crinkle powder coating system for a variety of cam covers and engine parts in Black or Ferrari Red. This new system has been approved by three local car restoration companies, JD Classics, Fox Hoyle Racing & Jennings Engineering.

Our work is carried out to a very high standard;  for instance cam covers are chemically stripped (no acids are used) then washed and  ultra cleaned in our phosphate plant,  threads and inner chambers are then masked off.

Some clients require us to mill off raised areas of the work such as logo’s and ribbed parts for a better effect. This can be done in two ways, either by a simple D.A fine sanding of by milling. Milling leaves a far superior surface, however this will add further costs to the work as a local engineering company carries out this work on our behalf.

Pulley cover in paint.

If you are interested in this new powder coating finish, we would be happy to run a small sample, using parts supplied by the client.  Sample swatches can be supplied on request.

Overall view of covers with ornament plate and AN10 fittings.

 Fitting the AN10 bungs. These are supplied slightly oversize for a tight press fitting. However you don't have to worry about hiring a giant press to fit them! I used some copper slip for lubrication on the shaft and inner diameter.
Pushing the fitting in by hand so that it lined up correctly I then covered it with a cloth and gave it a couple of good taps with a weighted non rebounding plastic hammer.

Standard 'tap' with a hammer. Don't be an oaf! 

Good job! 

AN10 fitted

The Nissan 'Ornament' plate is a simple peel and stick item. Not hard, although very sticky! Only a problem if you have OCD like me and need all the gaps around the edge the same. Also take note of which way up you want the plate. I guess there isn't a wrong way of doing it although technically the opposite way to mine would be upside down!

Nissan Twin Cam plate installed. 

Okay I have at time of writing to refit the baffle plates (Had run out of instant gasket) but think I can cope..
The main centre cover bolts are M5 x 25 Cap heads. Although there are two at the end significantly smaller.

Here are some gratuitous shots of the finished item so far.

RB26 Side view

I never get 'excited' about this 'car stuff' although am often disappointed. However in this instance I am willing to go as far as saying I'm pleased with the results.

RB26 Top View

RB26 Plan View

No onwards with the other multitudes of work. Next? The head is currently awaiting a trip to the machine shop, so it's time to sit around 'waiting' again.