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Trying again with a new R33

4K views 16 replies 3 participants last post by  ZeroNZ 
#1 ·
So it's been a long while since I have had a Skyline that I could drive around, and my last one spent the most of the time that I owned it in a garage in pieces due to one unfortunate happening or another.

I was offered my new one for a steal and after parting out my old R33, I bought this one! Its in need of a few items to be road worthy, but with a bit of TLC it should be ship shape (hur hur R33s are boats).

Quick spec list:

1995 Nissan Skyline GTS25T M-Spec

  • Standard engine with aftermarket turbo, unsure as to specs on turbo.
  • Link G1 ECU, no specs on previous tuning, but it pulls quite a bit harder than a factory one. Has a wastegate screamer that's blanked off on the manifold.
  • Large front mount intercooler, larger radiator, deleted AC.
  • R33 GTR front and rear seats.
  • Nismo dash.
  • Rota Grid 18x9.5 +44 all around with 235/35R18 Bridgestone Potenza RE050s.
  • Unknown lowering springs.

First stage is to get it road worthy over the New Zealand winter, and I have a list which is fairly extensive already of items to take care of.

I have invested in buying every replacement bush for under the vehicle from Whiteline and SuperPro, uprated front and rear sway bars and front and rear strut braces. I have to repair a hole in the boot floor from rust, and repair a chassis rail where it was jacked up by a bottle jack. I also have to replace the front brake hoses, and rear shock absorbers. All pretty small things in the grand scheme really.

Will take more photos as I go, and maybe write some guides as I go haha.
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#3 ·
Hey thanks, it's been quite a while since I have had a working Skyline so I am very much looking forward to being able to drive this one around!

I'm finally going to be able to start getting into working on the car this week, and I'm going to be taking it to get some pictures done of the chassis damage from the bottle jack and the boot floor so I can get them priced up to be repaired. Luckily I know a guy can do these repairs for me as I'm not the best with body work and I want it done properly.

The panels on the car are a bit of a strange one, I'm 99% sure its a series 1.5, being a 1995 and it has series 1 headlights, and spoiler, no airbags but series 2 ignition coils (can't be sure though as it's running a Link ECU). The previous owner put a series 2 bonnet and front bar on it, but left the series 1 headlights, so its a bit of a mash up. I'm trying to decide if I should go full series 2 with replacing the headlights and the rear spoiler, or put a GTR kit on it with a series 1 bonnet.

But first things first, I'll be doing a complete service on it, and hopefully sort out the intermittent misfire it has. I also have to replace the front brake hoses, replace rear shocks, and replace the underside bushes. I'll also be purchasing a Walbro fuel pump, Tomei FPR and installing my Nismo 555 injectors before getting it retuned, just so I can have a reliable base to work with. I've given myself a 5 month time frame on that as I want the car on the road by my birthday in July!

I have factory M-Spec R33 coupe side skirts and rear spats to put on the car but they were from a previous build and will need to be painted to match, or since I will be changing the cars colour at some point I might just plasti-dip them white for now (don't know about that one!) and mount them.
 
#4 ·
Oddly enough when I got mine it had spec 1 grill and headlights although it was a spec 2. It didn’t really notice too much but when I spotted it (eventually) it irritated the heck out of me so I changed the grille and lights to spec 2.




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#5 ·
Small update:

I was driving it home after taking it to get quotes on having the rust done and the steering starter to go heavy, and then the PS pump started grinding... Got it in the garage and there was a large puddle underneath where the PS pump is, not great. After some investigation I found that the shorter of the two hard lines on the back of the steering rack had been knocked and pinched at some point and had finally blown the seals in the pump. I have had the line remade and replaced it, and I have a seal kit for my pump. I can't find anyone willing to rebuild it for me, so I'm going to give it a go! I've found a rough guide, so hopefully it won't be too difficult. I'm toying with the idea of converting the rubber lines to AN fittings and braided lines, and I've got some poly mounts for the steering rack, just have to find a way to justify it haha.

Other than that, the arms are part way through having the bushes removed, and I have decided to paint the arms but how I'm going to achieve that yet I'm not sure (maybe POR15, considering powdercoating). The bolts that came out of the front suspension were in a pretty bad shape, all rusted and just not good. I watch a fair bit of restoration videos on YouTube, and I had come across a product called Metal Rescue. I went and got some from the local hardware store and it has blown my mind. I unfortunately didn't take any before photos but they almost look brand new! Would definitely recommend. I plan to get the zinc coated before reassembly so that way I can be assured that they won't rust in the coming years.

I gave myself the task of cleaning the wheel wells at the front and they are so filthy! Took me a good hour to clean out the grime from one wheel well! Haven't tackled the other side yet, but will take to parts of it with a wire wheel and then I plan to undercoat it before reassembly.

Not much more to update other than that, will post a load of photos once I'm done with the front suspension.
 
#7 ·
Decided to post a little bit of what I've done today, kind of like a running commentary for myself ?

Repaired the wiring on the headlights and fog lights, seems the previous owner had a thing for half doing wiring! Luckily I studied automotive electrical so I was able to work out what they were trying to achieve haha. Rewired it all and installed it back in so that was another thing checked off the list!

Still waiting on getting the arms back from my mate, so I started tackling the rust in the boot... And it's a little worse than I anticipated. Still within the realms of repair, but I am going to give a go at repairing as much as I can of it. Heres some photos of it all.

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Before attacking it with a wire brush

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And after... Holes a bit bigger than I had anticipated! Will be hitting it with a wire wheel on the Dremel tonight or tomorrow, see if I can clean it up a bit more before sending it to the panel shop.

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Removed the tail lights as there was some rust up on them too, gotta tackle this at the same time.
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Not sure what happened here, but they left it all like this. Gonna terminate these in a connector for easier removal in the future seeing as they are already cut.

Gonna take the spare to the tyre shop next week and take the tyre off and restore the spare too, no point having a corroded spare if the boot is new haha. Any one know where to get the stickers on them?

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Small snap of the front wheel well, gonna underseal it soon :)
 
#8 ·
I also noticed that the radiator has a small leak from it's bung and is only running water, I have a genuine thermostat and water pump ready to go into it, but was thinking I might do the timing belt at the same time to cover all bases at once. Might have to carry out a radiator flush to see if there's any build ups in the radiator, it didn't get too hot at all while driving so I have no worries but I want to be double sure.

I have also ordered in some HEL brake lines through work, not sure when I will install them as one of the problems I found was that the passengers front brake flare was rounded, so I am getting that replaced as soon as possible.

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Damaged flare.

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New HEL lines :) strangely cheaper to get these than to order in a replacement set of rubber ones!
 
#9 ·
Bit of good news, and a bit of bad news. Today is day 1 of quarantine for the Corona virus here in New Zealand, which means I'm stuck at home for a month (minimum at this point, thats if we can contain this damn thing). Good news is that I have the Skyline at home with me so I can get work done, bad news is that I am missing a bunch of parts and can't get them until the lockdown is lifted!

Since last update:

  • Bushes have been pressed into the arms.
  • Damaged brake line has been repaired with a new flare.
  • Bought a bunch of parts to start to do wiring repairs in the boot.

So here's what I've got planned for it in the month:

  • Replace the rear speaker trim/cover with a better one.
  • Partially reassemble front suspension (I planned to get all the arms powdercoated, but that didn't happen in time).
  • Install new brake lines.
  • Remove rear suspension and subframe, and soak all bolts in anti-rust solution.
  • Remove exhaust (it's a weird home made one piece item that is all rusted).

Things I have planned post lockdown:

  • Remove bushes from front arms again (I know, I know)
  • Order special colour powdercoat from Prismatic Powders.
  • Get arms and subframe powdercoated.
  • Once special colour powdercoat arrives, get brake calipers and rocker covers done.
  • Replace rack ends and sway bar links with new items.
  • Re-replace bushes in front arms, rear arms and rear subframe.
  • Get all underside bolts zinc-coated.
  • Underseal arches (had planned to do this while at home but ordered in the wrong underseal and didn't have time to get the right one).

I'm sure there's a million other things I'm going to do in the mean time, but will update.
 
#10 ·
Due to the power steering leak, and not being sure where the leak was coming from I have gone and bought a complete AN fitting and braided line kit:
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But seeing as I'm still running the factory reservoir I'm not sure how that will work. I have heard that they sometimes leak from a part which can be solved with an adaptor from Two Six Engineering to convert to AN so I might look into that depending on how the kit fits up:

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Really tossing up whether or not I should drop the steering rack at the same time, as I am replacing the mounts with some poly ones, and I can probably replace the rack ends and tie rod ends at the same time, and clean up the rack. Not sure how far down the rabbit hole I want to go with that one! Have to be realistic sometimes!

Once the AN kit arrives, I will measure it all up and see how it all fits, I'll probably get that fitting as to eliminate any possible leaks in the future but will see!
 
#11 ·
My power steering kit has arrived now but I suddenly realized that the pump that came on the car is a non-HICAS pump!

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Which is alright but I think that does explain the shaky rear end, either that or old tyres! Will have to look to see if the HICAS is still connected, I think it is but will investigate.

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Here's the kit, might look into that other fitting from the US seeing as this kit doesn't seem to seal too well on the pump side of things. Another issue I may have is the rebuild kit I purchased was for a HICAS pump, and the part numbers are different. The only difference that I can see, is the seal sizing being 17x30x7 on the non-HICAS, and 18x30x7 on the HICAS. Better to be safe than sorry, I will order the other kit once everything is back to normal!
 
#13 ·
Hey cheers man! It seems to be under control at the moment but I'm still waiting on this lockdown to end so that I can get it to the panel shop and get it properly sorted!

In the mean time, my powdercoat has arrived! So I will get the brake calipers split asap and get them to the powdercoaters, and order a new seal kit and maybe pistons through work for a completely upgraded system. Here's a sneak peak of the colour!
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I also checked with the supplier for the AN fitting on the power steering pump and he won't have any for the next few weeks but I will check with him on that and hopefully have one within the month.

Haven't been able to do too much more since then, and I have a few plans for the next few weeks but getting to work on the car is going to be the hard part. But getting it on the ground and rolling is going to be the big one, and reassembling the suspension is gonna be the biggest part, which won't take long but I will have to take it back apart to get everything else overhauled!

Wish me luck!
 
#14 ·
I also realised that I had done a bit of a derp moment, the R33s have Super-HICAS so the pump does look the same, as the rear rack is electronic so it wouldn't need other hydraulic feeds! Probably means my kit is a good one so I'll run with it for the time being and get that rebuilt as soon as possible.
 
#16 ·
Suspension will feel good after the poly bushing. Did you get the extra load anti roll bars? I got whiteline ones plus the adjustable drop links still looking and feeling brand new after 10 years.

What shocks/coils are you going for?
Yeah I have the Whiteline front and rear sway bars, I luckily work in a parts shop and we used to be a Whiteline supplier and we had one of each left in stock when they changed suppliers and I got both front and rear which was awesome. The ones I got are the BNF24Z and the BNR11XZ kits, I've only got factory links at the moment but I can get some uprated ones through work again when the need arises.

As for shocks, I've only got Cobra lowering springs as coilovers are real expensive in NZ, about $1500 for a set of BC Gold ones and you also have to get them certified which costs another couple of hundred at least and it makes sure that everything is good for road use on the car. It'll be something I want to do in the future, but it's a bit out of my price range at the moment!
 
#17 ·
Ordered a few more bits and bobs for the car, got a rocker cover dress up kit from Franklin Engineering, in black, to go along with the AN fittings that replace the rubber hose fittings. Will get them all pressed out and sorted so once they are powder coated I can fit them all back together easy enough.

I got my mate to swap over the springs on the rear shocks, so that's another task done and I will be putting them back in the car this weekend hopefully! Also going to try to get the front suspension back together this weekend so I can get the car rolling.

Next stage will be to get the brake calipers done, and I'm considering splitting them myself and have ordered some seal kits through work, and getting them powdercoated as soon as feasible. After getting the brakes sorted, I will be able to take the car to get the rust in the boot taken care of and then I should have it in a place where I can piece the body back together, and then start working on the engine side of things! Fingers crossed that all goes well!
 
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