TOM'S 96 Rev 3 GTS - BREAK ME UP, BEFORE YOU GO GO

[tiff_lee]

They didn't steal it you gave it to them!.........

Yeah if you go for the top up do it sooner rather than later, having done all the maths on POET course will help and would be relatively fresh compared to my 7 year gap, looking at calculus now makes my head hurt.

Not sure under what import rules there were referring to on the Aus forums as the whole process is pretty confusing regarding imports in general and then imports under the personal import scheme. Meh, I suppose it doesn't really mater now anyhow like you say you ain't going anywhere...

How is that leather centre console cover doing? I bought pretty much everything from topgaiters in faux suede and 4 months later i'm sending it all back after making a paypal claim, it has all faded and shrunk! the dashboard cover is about 70% its original size!

[C35Rob]

ah no, that's not ideal! mine is still perfect, but then my car lives in a dry garage out of the sun.. I suppose it gets pretty hot inside the car over there if it's used and parked up outside during the day!, I lifted the edges and re-glued them when I had the console out to run the cable for the hand commander with some decent contact adhesive as the spray glue I used first time was a bit weak.


just had an email from DHL wanting vat and import duty on my FPR before they deliver it on tuesday (annoying, but the first time in ages i've not "slipped through the net" when ordering from Japan) and 3m of -6 hose was delivered this morning so hopefully get that fitted next week

[C35Rob]

I've not given this a proper update for a while, but today has been a good day so I thought it'd be good to have a catch up of sorts, although if you follow me on instagram or we are friends on faceache then you'll already have seen all of this.

Ages ago my standard fuel pump died, which I replaced with a Walbro 255, when I removed the tank the flare fitting on the supply line was massively tight, impossible to undo in situ so I had to remove the whole line up to the fuel filter. unfortunately this kinked on refitting and I wasn't happy with it.

as I intend on running a bit more power I thought it would be wise to upgrade the fuel system to suit

so I bought a few AN fittings (EARL's and Speedflow - I actually prefer speedflow over any other AN fitting on the market, but the earls stuff is high quality too and works out quite cheap if you buy it from summit racing) and hose and replaced the line from the tank hardline (which already has the same ID as a -6 hose) to the Fuel filter like so:



which attaches to the existing hard line with an Earls 5/16th to AN6 compression fitting



and to the filter with an m12-an6 adapter.

I then gathered the rest of the parts I needed



a flow matched set of Siemens DEKA high impedance 80lb injectors



some injector height adapters



and a generic "hks style" top feed fuel rail.. (more on this later)



the final piece of the puzzle was a Tomei fuel pressure regulator and gauge from RHDjapan

I then fitted all of the above (a couple of weeks ago) completing the -6 line from the other side of the filter, to the new rail, the return from the rail runs over the top of it and then to the regulator which is mounted on the leading edge of the passenger side shock tower, right next to the coolant filler cap.

I really wasn't happy with the way the injectors fitted.. due to the grommets on the top of the height adapters being quite squishy (technical term...)and the lower O ring on the injector to head adapter being firm the grommet was fully compressed when the rail was tightened up which left the injectors not tight against the head.. I really didn't want to risk a massive boost leak, or worse a fuel leak so I sacked the cheap fuel rail off and decided to buy a proper one..

more money deposited with RHDjapan saw this thing of beauty in my hands



which is a proper SARD fuel rail, only £150-ish delivered too, which makes it cheaper than the Racer-x and Wolfkatz rails, it used all three mounting points on the head unlike theirs and it's got a 1/4npt port on it too so I can mount a fuel pressure sensor directly to it in the future if I feel like it.

the eagle eyed amongst you will see that sard supply hard plastic spacers to replace the rubber grommets on the injector height adapters, coupled with that and the fact the injector to head adapters are better the injectors now fit really well, they seal perfectly against the head and I've got absolutely no concerns about fuel or air getting out of somewhere it shouldn't.

so this afternoon I dragged myself into the garage and this happened



it all went back together, I bypassed the injector resistor pack and altered my injector scaling on the ECU and it fired up, one tiny drip of fuel from the rail-FPR line which just needed nipping up and all is good. to say I'm happy is an understatement, it runs great, idles perfectly and now I have a fuel system that is good for more power than I'll ever make with the car

[2mad]

Very snazzy fella ... good work

[gnzyza]

Looks good mate, whats the general goal power wise? See you got a new turbo as well?

[C35Rob]

Looks good mate, whats the general goal power wise? See you got a new turbo as well?

Thanks! Yeah I bought a T35 - 6471 from owen developments, I've been looking at it for a few weeks, going back and forth between that and a TD06, then I missed out on a pretty nicely specced KKK K27 that compressor racing had for sale so went back to the 6471. It's basically a journal bearing GT3071 so ideal for my goals, which for the time being will be testing the limits of the stock internals (probably 350ish bhp) with the help of a squirt of water/meth then when it all goes bang I'll build a proper bottom end for it.

[ashley]

Good work...that fuel rail is very pretty!

You far off running it now?

[C35Rob]

Good work...that fuel rail is very pretty!

You far off running it now?

Thanks!

Well, it all depends on what you mean by running, it starts and drives now the injectors are in, but "running" in the sense of actually being on the road it's probably 6 months off. Deciding to buy a proper turbo has set me back a few months since having a baby and the mrs going back to work part time has somewhat hurt my disposebale income so things need to be saved for. I need to re-buy the oil drain hose and fittings in -12 as I sold the -10 ones with my Beijing spec t04e. I need to take my intercooler into work and repair a bracket that has snapped (quality greddy copy ) I will replace it with a bmic or cc at some point but I just want it back on the road first.

I've got all the nuts, studs, gaskets, HFH etc from toyota ready for the turbo install, as well as some 3" mandrel bends to make a downpipe.

Then it's the suspension that's the last bit, I need some new coilovers (or good used ones) and I need to fit the rear hubs I refurbed ages ago. As part of that I need to make some wilhelm style drop brackets for the rear tie bars to go with my RCA's and fit the powdercoated rear arms that are currently in the boot.

So, in the grand scheme of things, not a huge amount of work, but finding dry days when I can get away from the mrs and baby without getting it in the neck is the killer!

[C35Rob]

Got home today and this was there to greet me



I was going to order the oil return line and fittings, and a 4 bolt to v band flange for the turbine housing today, but my daily got jealous that I was spending money on something else, half way home I started to feel a light judder through the brake pedal and heard a bit of a grumble from the rear left wheel, I nursed it home to find the caliper siezed, the pad I can see is toast (drivers side is fine) disc scored, the wheel was red hot and covered in brake dust so tomorrow I've got to buy and fit rear discs, pads, handbrake shoes, a left rear caliper and wheel bearing to that in the freezing rain so I can drive it back to work on Sunday

[C35Rob]

nothing really interesting to report, other than fixing the daily volvo outside in the rain is really, really boring!

trying to organise my limited storage space so did a little reboxing/packaging things today.. obviously while it was all out I couldn't not do this..



wastegate,turbo and ATSracing adaptor plate mocked up before I tucked them away somewhere safe and warm till I'm ready to fit them. I feel like I'm beginning to turn a corner with this now, I'm going to remove the Intercooler next weekend and take it into work for repair the following week so it's all coming together, albeit slowly.

[C35Rob]

since progress on this is slower than glacial drift I thought I'd update it a little to motivate myself

trying to remember what I've actually bought since the turbo is difficult, my short term memory is terrible! so excuse me if this isn't in chronological order

I think I mentioned a page or so back that one of the brackets had snapped off my intercooler, I removed it, made up some gussets for the brackets that mount to the body and took it into work to glue it together



not the prettiest tig work ever, but it's back in one piece and it's never going to break again, I've also re-jigged the pipes to and from it to incorporate more silicone hose and less hard pipe so there's more give in it - I think the lack of flexibility in the previous set up was the culprit of the damage with the movement of the engine pulling at the core. the core is back in place now but the pipes have been left off cause it'll all have to come off when I swap the turbo over

I bought a Garrett 4 bolt to 3" v band adapter, the same as this



obviously being a generic part it needed modification - this was taken into work and given to a mate who had some free time on his hands to mill some reliefs into the chamfered area near the centre so I could drop in bolts long enough to firmly hold it to the turbo and also to cut a groove into the v band sealing face so I could use a male self locating V band flange on the downpipe - I'm not a fan of flat V band flanges, they can move around when you're tightening them up and the locating ring on the male/female ones stop that from happening. I can't find a pic of the finished item on my phone but I'm sure you get the idea.

I bought all the bits and bobs to knock up AN12 oil return lines, when I dry fitted the return flange to the turbo I realised that the hose end was going to catch on the back of the compressor housing - specifically one of the bolts securing the comp housing to the back plate - this left me with a couple of options A) drop back down to a -10 return line which while Owen Developments said is totally fine I didn't really want to B) modify the fitting, or file the bolt down that holds the compressor housing on - not really good engineering practice or C) make a new custom extended drain flange to clear the comp housing

so... I cut the -12 threaded section of the drain flange off, bought a long -12 weld on stub and took them into work, had the flange milled flat, shortened the stub on the lathe and I'll have them welded together this week



I sold my Laurel too, which means i'll have more space, time and money to spend on the mr2, and an even bigger incentive to finish it cause I won't be driving anything remotely interesting till I do!

anyway, I actually did sensible adult things with the proceeds of the sale but I kept some money back and bought these



and I've bought a full superpro rear end poly bush kit, new ball joints, and I've got a parcel on it's way from Japan with some cool stuff in it too

I even actually moved it out of the garage for the first time in, oh, months? I can't actually remember



but only because I had to move some bits around and fit a better lock to the door

it was soon back where it has been since the end of 2014




I've got a couple of weeks off at the end of march though, and I will be fitting the new turbo then, I promise!

[gnzyza]

I keep buying parts I intend on fitting too

Its coming along nicely and now the Nissan is sold hopefully you can be driving this in summer

[C35Rob]

Got the flange welded today, I'm super happy with how this turned out, not because it's anything complicated or anything but because it's the right thing for the job, not a Bodge or a load of adapters screwed together... I'm actually a bit gutted nobody will ever see it haha!





Bought some goodridge firesleeve for the oil lines today too.. Getting there

[JD]

You weld that yourself Rob? It's good.

[C35Rob]

You weld that yourself Rob? It's good.

I didn't actually mate, I'm mega busy studying for a Mechanical Engineering Science exam I've got on thursday so I dropped the bits off along with a packet of biscuits to one of the welding instructors at work who blobbed it together for me

I can weld ally though, this is one of my pieces from a few years ago

[2mad]

You weld that yourself Rob? It's good.

I didn't actually mate, I'm mega busy studying for a Mechanical Engineering Science exam I've got on thursday so I dropped the bits off along with a packet of biscuits to one of the welding instructors at work who blobbed it together for me

I can weld ally though, this is one of my pieces from a few years ago

Thats a pretty weld ... teach me to do that lol

[JD]

Very tidy. Got to learn that myself.

[C35Rob]

It's not hard at all mate, just takes practice, I actually think TIG is easier than mig, mma and oxy just because it's so slow and controllable, especially with a pedal

[gnzyza]

That's nice welds. I'm thinking about doing a night course using mig/tig before buying one .

[2mad]

That's nice welds. I'm thinking about doing a night course using mig/tig before buying one .

Great idea buddy