It rained flowers when the music began..

Ms Skyline sings "Il dolce suono," an aria from the opera Lucia de Lammermoor. It is one of the most difficult arias because of its length, its soaring arpeggios, and the high F above high C.

They say the Devil has the best tunes. Well I don't know about old Lagartija Nick, but this angel has been keeping a little something tucked away under one of her wings.

So lets just sit back, relax, turn the volume to max and chill with your new favorite singer Ms Skyline, straight from the Jap car sub culture, enjoy her soft lows and screaming highs.

So get ready for a massive concussion of rock and roll with Ms Skyline with the MGT section accompaniment on piano.

Thanks are due on this occasion to Mark putting his head in the deafening jaws of the shark to record this moment to posterity.

Assembly is the reverse of installation - Left overs and a start up

Post after post of major works and dreamy excellence, just like the building of Lego one part slotting into the next, in almost perfect in design. 

Naturally this isn't so and there are a few items that caused some small difficulty along the way. 

MGT are not big fans of the Plazmaman inlet complaining about the restricted access once it is in place. Which could explain why the previous outfit Drift Street Imports left bolts off. One of the other things which didn't get put back on last time was the undertray. I somehow didn't think it would go back on this time either, as now have the RIPs extended sump, although Mark at MGT was messaging me the other day, saying he was cutting lumps out of it so it would fit!  

I think I will need a new turbo blanket, judging by the look of the other it appears a bit mishapen now and as I think they effectively 'bake' into place am not sure it is a reusable item. 

Below: This is the gearbox backplate. This needed some work as was 'clattering' against the new clutch. MGT thought that it seemed odd as some of the holes were elongated. However the car did start out as an Automatic and this would have been changed many moons ago.  

Below:  This is an image of the right hand boost pipe from throttle body. The clamp isn't really working there and it offers a potential for boost leaks. This pipe is being replaced. 

Below: Innovate LC-2 Wideband Sensor installed.  

If like me you ask, what exactly is a wideband? Broadly speaking there are two different types of O2 sensor available, wideband and narrowband. Both sensors have their place in tuning an engine, narrowband sensors are designed to be used in conjunction with a catalytic converter.

In brief a catalytic converter works on a saturate/starve principal where the fuel injection system saturates the converter then starves the converter, i.e. it runs rich of 14.7:1 (saturate) then lean of 14.7:1 (starve) and as such a narrowband O2 sensor only reads rich of 14.7:1 or lean of 14.7:1.

Narrowband O2 sensor are unable to determine exactly how rich or exactly how lean the engine is running making it useless for full power engine calibration (as under full power we need to run the engine much richer that 14.7:1 so we don’t melt pistons!).

A wideband O2 sensor on the other hand is designed to read a much broader spectrum of air to fuel ratios which makes it the ideal tool for engine calibration.

Below: One of the best ECU's available now. Sure there are others but this is pretty proven technology, mapped in the right hands can be highly effective and benefits from built in safety features.  

The Link G4 only comes as a circuit board and needs to utilize the original ecu case. As I had an Apexi Power FC which is still a desirable choice for upto 500 HP (so desirable) I had to dig out my old Automatic ECU (Mapped at Bells auto) which I originally had mapped to 320HP at the fly! 

Below: A picture of everything finally coming together. I could not resist this picture and sneaked it onto my Facebook page. Soon regretted it with the all the questions. People just do not understand 'art'. Although maybe I should understand the Facebook isn't private and it feels so ugly boasting. Am in this for me not the applause.  

Below: I would like to say this is the first fire up, it is actually the second (see rattling back plate). From here the next chapter starts. 

Thanks go to MGT Motorsport for the photos and constant technical explanations. 

Ms Skyline's Evil Clutches.. There can be no escape for the horses!

 The rebuild continues apace at MGT and the engine is temptingly close to installation. Apparently there are minor small complications where my attention to detail is not the same as anyone else's. I couldn't possibly comment without probably upsetting the whole world.

 Anyway. The clutch (always useful) is in. This is a Xtreme 230 mm organic sprung twin plate clutch, all the way from Australia (where huge chunks of Ms Skyline are from)

Clutch plates, The rest of the photo's show in order of installation. As a twin plate you get to see everything.. twice! But I have included all of the pictures as a fitting memorial to the new clutch that will (hopefully) not be seen again for a long time. 

A twin disc works by effectly doubling the amount of frictional area used when connecting the engine to the drivetrain, which doubles the amount of grip from the engine to the transmission (Same theory applies when people choose to use wider tires and rims, they want a bigger "contact patch" with the road). There are many ways a clutch can be designed to increase grip from the engine to the transmission, increasing the frictional area is only one them. Multi disc clutch setups are favorable (despite their high price) because they offer more grip without neccessarily increasing the clamping load of the pressure plate (which is very bad for the crankshaft).

On a regular single disc setup, the friction disc rubs on the flywheel's face, and on the pressure plate's face (two fricitional surfaces). The frictional disc itself is connected to the transmission via the input shaft, and the flywheel and pressure plate are bolted together (they are connected to the engine via the crankshaft).

On a twin disc setup, there is a center plate which rotates with the flywheel (effectly this center plate is an extension of the flywheel). You can consider this plate to be a second flywheel. Sandwiched in between the two flywheels is the first friction disc. On the other side of of this center plate, there is the second friction disc. After the the second friction disc comes the face of the pressure plate. Here is the order:

flywheel -> friction disc 1 -> center plate -> friction disc 2 -> pressure plate

This makes for a total 4 frictional faces (flywheel, two sides for the center plate, and the pressure plate). This is DOUBLE the amount of frictional surface area than a single disc setup.

To visualize how this kind of setup works, you have to keep in mind what is attached to what. There are only two rotating bodies here (think to yourself "engine speed" & "drivetrain speed"). The first body is the a splined input shaft from the transmission that is connected to the two friction discs (the friction discs spin with the transmission). The two friction discs spin together because they are both connected to the transmission's input shaft. The second body is the flywheel, center plate, and pressure plate which are all bolted to each other and spin together in unison with the engine's crankshaft. Any difference in rotational speeds between these two rotating bodies happens when the clutch pedal is depressed down (when the clutch disengaged) or if the clutch is slipping under power.

So clutch all mounted up and now time to 'insert' engine here

An engine is no good without a gear box

And below, the end of a days work.

All pictures kindly supplied from MGT Motorsport

Engine build up

Now the all the parts are here the car is going back together. Although as it is the 24th February it is not an ideal time to call an anniversary! 

Having the super shiny sump fitted at MGT Motorsport is a major lurch in the right direction though. 

A bead of the sticky stuff

And on she goes (never to come off I hope). 

MGT certainly do not hang around

Ric Woods Machined head with Tomie Pom cams in place

Looks more like an engine (as I know it) every minute. 

Much shining N1 goodness on show here

Even as I type pictures keep flowing in..

Custom made and red crackle coated front cover back on

6 Boost Exhaust Manifold welded back up

Should help keep everything in place and no leaks! 

Mark at MGT gave me a slight telling off for the cap head bolts holding the covers on (he wants everything 'correct' which is nice). The Nissan ones have a flange etc. so tighten up with equal force and although am sure these are lovely. Ms Skyline does like the odd sparkle and it looks like they did tighten up okay.

Cylinder Head Porting

Sometimes in an effort to understand things it helps me to write them down. Which kind of sums up the whole of the blog and a general lack of my listening to people! For instance there are things I will never understand, such as why is it that so many UK Nissan GTR drivers are such porky pigs?

One thing that I was keen to do but didn't really know why, was to get the cylinder head ported and flowed. I mean how can porting make such a difference to output?

Cylinder head porting refers to the process of modifying the intake and exhaust ports on the engine to improve the quality and quantity of air flow. As manufactured heads would not have the attention to detail that porting offers due to manufacturing constraints. Porting gives that attention and brings the engine to much higher levels of efficiency. The porting process is greatly responsible for the high power output.

Imagine the air around us, we breath it but do we feel it "as light as air" which is to say it has no substance as we move slowly through it. However engines operating at high speed need to force and suck air, pulling it in and spitting it out again, so in this instance, air becomes unwieldy, sticky and heavy.

Pumping air at high speed is a major problem and bottle neck, so head porting helps to eradicate this.

My head was CNC machined on behalf of MGT Motorsport (or on facebook) at Ric Wood Motorsport who specialise in design, development and build of race winning engines and components.

All of the pictures below are 'after' shots. When enlarged the quality shines out.

A small video of a cylinder head in action.

The whole process was proving to be the Achilles heel of the project at one point. MGT's usual machine shop being too busy and wanting a long lead time. Fortunately Ric Wood Motorsport stepped in and saved the day, although also rather unfortunately at a cost to the budget. 

Ideally I should have purchased a second hand head last Summer and just sent it up to MGT but getting work done wouldn't be the same without a healthy dose of stress.  

Hydro-graphic dipping

I have looked at this in the past, even had a go at it myself Hydrographics or HydroGraphics, also known as immersion printing, water transfer printing, water transfer imaging, hydro dipping or cubic printing, is a method of applying printed designs to three-dimensional surfaces. The hydrographic process can be used on metal, plastic, glass, hard woods, and various other materials.
It really has come on in recent times though, the most famous supplier in the UK being Wicked Coatings. They seem to work out a bit more expensive than others although I can't fault their workmanship.
Just a quick post to show a steering column shroud that a friend of mine has recently had done.

The Key to her heart

Many owners I know have a key to their car (obviously) and no spare! They know that they should get a spare, but haven't got around to it. Of course this will only prove a bit of a stumbling block when they lose their only key!

For all of you out there (in the UK at least). Go get a key, even the worst shop will be able to supply you with a new key that works (more or less). R33 keys for both models are, due to the glory of a shared parts bin, the same as Micra keys.

Naturally I already have four copies, the original two plus two more. However these keys are so, well how can I put it... Boring!

Key types:

I had seen a brand called 'Royal' plus a couple of others that just dripped with Japanese bad taste. Absolutely loved them. There is the obligatory GTR branded key and everything in between.

Above: Typical R33 key with GTR logo. This is probably the most widely available key for Skylines, although I always thought it a shame that they only 'do' a GTR version, when you stop and think it is actually quite fitting for the 'brought not built brigade' to have these. A key like this costs around 7k yen (£45)

Above: Still keeping with Nissan's official keys we have that mighty Nismo logo, exactly the same key though but a different price tag, at time of writing this is 22k yen (£140) 

Above: Nismo? Is that the best you can do?? Here is the mighty 400R key in all its glory.. Yes identical to the two before it but this weighs in at a whopping 500k yen. Yes that's 500,000 to you! Around £3200 in UK pounds or US$4452.60 

Above: A bit of fun, Japanese fashion keys. 

Above: and why not?

I especially like the way they say 'for Skyline' am assuming in case you forget. This one is a handy small size to reduce trouser bulge?

Above: one of my favorites, Has a lovely retro feel to it. 

Above: This is my choice. Made from titanium it is strange to the touch and light as a feather! At 4k yen £25 it was reasonable. Although Japanese auctions do have a tendency to rocket on final figures once all the charges have been taken into account and this was closer to £40 by the time I was done. 

Getting keys cut in the UK.

This can be more of a pain than you might think. Many major chains on the high street will not entertain cutting a blank supplied, stating that the cut key could snap in the ignition for which they would be liable. So they point blank refuse to do it. However I have heard exceptions to this.

You can usually get your local key cutter to have a look at doing it though. It is just a question of shopping around.

There are a few methods of key cutting as well. The majority using the old key as a master, following the contours and cutting directly, others laser scan and cut. 

Talking to my key maker he said that Nissan keys are a pain (to him) as they move about in the jig. I think this is due to both sides being cut (see picture) which can cause some difficulty once one side is done. I have on the other hand heard from a key cutter saying this is nonsense. 

What I do know is, you do not want to be spending lots on a key only for it not to work!

So I had my key cut and... it didn't work. However comparing and the application of a file and yes the ignition turned, a little more work on the grooves and all the doors unlocked. So am happy that I now have what may not be the most unusual key in the world. One that is a little different from the rest.