Update: 23/06/2016 - Heater Matrix Replaced

Big update since last time

Was all going fine since last update, was all ready for track day on the 29th April until 21st April when this happened....

Noticed that the car got very hot very quickly but never over heated. Got back to work and spotted this....

Steamy windows & a wet passo floor can only mean one thing....

....A leaky heater matrix...

Nursed the car back to my folks house not too far away after dumping water into the rad to keep it going. As we were right in the middle of moving house and I was about to travel with work for a few weeks, I left the car in my folks for a while. Needed to dry out anyways.

After researching what was needed when I got back, I ordered a new replacement heater matrix from Conceptua in the UK and some new black coolant & breather hoses from Boostjunkies to match the black turbosmart kompact recirc valve which was replacing a leaky OEM recirc valve.

Conceptua Heater Matrix & new hoses

Here is the kicker, I got the AC all re-gassed when the bodywork was getting done. With a heater matrix it all has to be de-gassed again! Very annoying and waste of money but what can you do. Found a mobile AC guy to come out and remove the gas safely.

AC de-gas

After that was done, I now had to get the car from my folks to our new place so I could replace the heater matrix. Rang AA and got a flat bed out at no cost to me with my membership which was handy

AA serious flatbed

Got it home & after a few days of the various parts arriving, I went to start on it on the one free day I had and what happened?

Started chucking down rain of course with thunder & lightening thrown in for the crack

Drained remaining coolant then started the tear down

Some pics(in no particular order) of tear down & putting it all back together again - no bits left over either!

Dont worry, the AC evap box / rad got all cleaned up

Old vs New. Old one had burst bottom right corner

Start of re-assemble. pretty tight space to tighten up these 8 screws. Thanks to Gus for hand here

While I was at it, popped on the new rad hoses & turbosmart kompact recirc valve(now have new mikalor clamps to go on)

Rad was then filled up and whole system was checked for leaks - no signs so happy camper. Bled it several times over the course of a few short drives. think all of the air is out of the system now.

Since changing a few of the breather / IC pipes, I seem to have a boost leak only on low boost. High boost is ok. So next will be to diagnose where its coming from and sort it. Then get it down to TDP for remap and check over in prep for upcoming trackday.

At this stage, I think I have been unlucky & had all the common things go wrong in a short space of time. Hopefully I can get some decent KMs on her this year & enjoy it. Turbo / injector plan is still in the pipe work at some stage. All when funds allow.....

That is all for now, stay tuned for next update....

21/04/2016 - Leaky Heater Matrix.....

More to come.....

Update: 08/04/2016 - Bodywork TLC

Over the winter when it was off the road, I was finding puddles of water in the boot. Over time the boot / lights seals crack with age and allow rain to get in so this had to get sorted with priority to avoid any potential damage/rust etc. So organised with Armstrongs to drop the car down in early March to get the following done.

However, things quickly escalated. As you are probably aware, just like most JDM cars, Nissan's suffer from rust if not looked after in very specific places. On the R34 it is around the boot lid brake light for example. On the R33s the suspension turrets can get it bad as multiple layers of sheet metal get moisture in them and they start to bubble and in some cases can be very much rotten all the way through the turret.

It was only in the last 2 years really that I noticed the turrets starting to rust but I didnt want to let it get any worse so decided to get them sorted, along with aircon regas(not been filled in years), front lights cleaned up, few stone chips sorted on the roof, rear arches protected, boot / lights sealed up and protected, wind deflectors stuck down & some sticker removal.

Highly highly recommend Armstrongs in Wicklow. The father & son combo have worked on quite a lot of skylines in the past so I knew she was in good hands.

All totaling 18 hours of work, but it is worth it.....

Got the car back but wasnt running very well but figured out that the LINK ECU didn't like that the AC had been re-gassed. Basically with the heater on and AC on I would get rock solid idle but no cold air. With the heater on but AC off, i would get dire idle and run like shit and the AC clutch was kicking in and out.

Onto the LINK ECU forums for support to discover that the AC clutch AUX output#3 needed to be switched from low to high polarity. Did this via the PClink software(cool bit of software) and now with AC off, i get rock solid idle but with AC on, i get cold air but not as solid idle that i would like so need to get TDP to check out the map.

I picked up a 200cel sports cat that I need to fit and do the 2nd calibration of the wideband(basically wave it around in clean fresh air lol) to keep things all happy. So hopefully will get to that over the next few weeks(in between another house move).

Will be out on track on the 29th April so really looking forward to that & seeing how the Nismo S-Tunes & Goodyear Eagle F1s handle Mondello.

Oh & I picked up a spare stock turbo.....Owen Developments now do an RB25 hybrid with all new MTX technology so trying to get a price as it is all bolt on which will help keep the price down-ish...... or go with my tuners turbo option. Still to be discussed

Anyway, less talk, more pictures. Some before, during & after pics along with some shots of Link ecu software in no particular order.

Stay tuned.....

Update: 7/3/2016 - All ok!

Clocked up a small 250km over the weekend. It seems so much quicker now with the new tyres on it. can pull strong to the redline without any hint of slippage.

Ordered a 200cel sports cat(last one was 100cel and wouldn't pass NCT). It promptly arrived during the week so will fit that as soon as I get a chance.

Dropping the car off to a body shop on tue to get the rear boot / rear lights resealed as they are a bit leaky and to get the air con re-gassed. Also a few other little bits fixed up that have been annoying me for a while.

It appears that she is using a bit more fuel when cold, especially as it looses all heat heading down the hill from the mountains but once fully warmed up, it pulls hard despite the aging turbo.

Brakes are all ok, checked the fluid with a tester and it appears to be still fresh-ish so all ok there. might check out some DBA 4000 T3 discs for the front with some CL RC5+ pads to replace the EBC red stuff.

Regarding the turbo, i have 2 options. 1) - replacement 400bhp hybrid to fit in stock location or option 2) is a Garrett GTX3076R w/.82 housing & vband with ext WG & 6boost manifold which is obviously alot more expensive but would make it mental. Will have to wait & see how the funds are. right now I am just going to enjoy it.

Anyway... some pics

200cel Sports Cat

Brake fluid test

As always, stay tuned......

Update: 02/03/2016 - Back on the road for 2016

Taxed today & back on the road finally. Been a long wait since 1st Dec!

Have a few things to take care off body wise then get Elite Auto Clean to work some magic on it during the month of March.

Japspeed 200cel sports cat on the way so will fit that once it arrives. Innovate LC2 will take care of the fine tune once the sports cat has been fitted.

Will be using it as a daily now also soon enough again.

Thinking towards a potential wheel color change as they will need a refurb at some point this year. They are Rota GTRs in bronze & the car is white. Dont want black as you can loose the design of the wheel.

Suggestions below in the comments section please! Either stay with the bronze & refurb or refurb and complete wheel color change.

Here is the car as it stands today

As always, stay tuned for more updates!

Update: 15/01/2016 - New Rubber!

no major updates as the car is off the road from 1st Dec until 1st March. May get it back on the road in Feb but will see how the weather is.

Had been looking at getting new tires for a while now & was waiting for a good deal in Discount Tyres in Dublin - recommend them.

so bit the bullet & took the 4 wheels off and dropped them over on Sat & picked them up on Thursday with 4 new Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 rubber all round.

stayed with the previous sizes, 235/40/18 on the front with 255/35/18 on the rear. Decent bit of rim protector also. The threads look beefy as hell.

Technically there is a bit of life left on the Falken FK452s. While they were reasonable in the dry, they were completely useless in any form of damp/wet conditions and made the rear twitchy(which is fun dont get me wrong, just not at 120km on the motorway when over taking lol).

I did bring the old tyres home, will sell them to anyone who wants them.

Apart from that, just keeping the battery topped up by starting it every week and checking things over. Serious amount of wind/rain down our way recently so have stripped out the boot to keep on eye on any potential water pooling in the boot.

The plan in 2016 is to get out on track a few times. Got a new Sparco lid at christmas from the new wife so looking forward to using it. Will be using it as the daily as often as I can so will get some KMs on it. Got some roadtrips planned so will take it instead of the daysul.

Still doing alot of research on all the bits i need for the next power stage - injectors, turbo, downpipe, lines etc so starting to make a plan & possible purchase over the next while. Good deal on nismo 750cc injectors on RHDjapan at the mo.

Any, some pics

New Foam Lance to keep the snow foam flowing instead of leaking into my hand


Aerial Shot


New rubber


Serious thread


Love this pic of the rear lights


Stay tuned....