project track

[johnny rosso]

As a new Skyline owner, gotta say, how refreshing this site is in the amount of help and advice offered,
Bought my bog standard R33 GTsT about a month ago(pic below) and set about with a few mods to start off its 2nd life as a road & track car with a track bias.
Living in the Midlands had a good recommendation from this website to go to MGT in Nuneaton where the guys took all my money
Buying some quality pre owned parts allowed me to get more done than the retail bits, so had the car much lowered with Tein adjustable coil overs, had brand new discs and pads plus braided hoses the week before I bought it, so will shred them first before upgrade although a Moff is going on this week.
Had a large FMIC fitted with new plumbing, new s/steel turbo elbow, de cat and full system with single stage boost adjust and bar increase.
Summit light alloy strut brace firms the front a bit (as does the roll cage)
Bought new 18" wheels as the old wheels were both kerbed and tyres shot.
Had a good deal on used quality full roll cage with door bars from the MGT guys, fits around the dash so didnt have to butcher it,rear seats gone, also bought 2 good Recaro Sp buckets on correct slide frames,new 3" 5 point FIA harness going in this week, as safety is a major concern of mine as walls dont bend
Also picking up a plumed in fire system Saturday to stop major barbecues.
Left the Hicas alone as its works fine at the mo
Have the car in body shop at prez for a front bumper chop & paint to allow air into the FMIC.
Now skint, load to do on the brakes and suspension later, but for the moment, will get Tracking in late march , will add a few pics when the cars cleaned after the body work is done,

[dawsonr]

Good luck with the project

[AndyP]

Would love to do something like that.
Best of luck with that....hope to see it in action in the future.

late March?! That's a short time frame....you'll be busy

[Moff]

Good luck dude...

Stopper in the post for you

[johnny rosso]

bumper chop 1.jpgbumper chop 2.jpgbumper chop 3.jpgbumper chop 4.jpgbumper chop 6.JPGWent to the body shop today, they have chopped out the front part of the bumper and using the removed material section plastic welded in the new side panels to make the bumper mouth strong and smooth !
its now in primer having been filled and will be painted tomorrow in the low bake oven.

One of the side images does show how much its dropped in height with the new Tein adjustable coil overs compared to the standard car when I bought it.

The car looks pretty sorry for itself, covered in dust and missing the front, however, gives me a chance to clean up the replacement large Intercooler and pipe work easily and finish off the bumper support brackets to make it nice again
links to images below'

[chrisR33]

Looking good there. Got a lot done in a short time.

Hope to see it on track at some stage

[johnny rosso]

bumper chop 11.jpgbumper chop 12.jpgGot the car back today from the paint shop, well pleased with the front bumper modifications and repaint, also removed the lower bumper side grills for better air flow into brakes and FMIC cooler pipe elbows,
then painted the cooler itself matt black to retain the dark mean look,might paint a yellow happy smile on it ?
weekend should see the harness sets in and new Hicas wheel boss on & then a suede grip steering wheel,

[saltyno1]

nice work looks good

[Dan]

Looks like you have been busy.

I want to swap my Half cage for a full roll cage, but cant be doing with the cutting the dash, yours looks perfect.

[johnny rosso]

Looks like you have been busy.

I want to swap my Half cage for a full roll cage, but cant be doing with the cutting the dash, yours looks perfect.

Just dropped on lucky really was also going for a half cage, but the guys at MGT in Nuneaton had bought a race car from Japan with this cage in it, custom made to wrap around the dash,not cut through it, both sides of the cage are different to allow for the door panel switches which stick out more on the drivers side, anyway, after a bit of a financial tug of war we agreed a deal and they fitted it into my car, the door bars are screw adjustable to make sure it absolutley rigid when fitted.
collected the harness eye bolts today, fitting them and harness tomorrow, will update with a few pics

[johnny rosso]

4 point harness.jpgpassenger harness.jpgroll cage top bar.jpgrear fixings.jpgsunny days are back
so had the opportunity to fit the new harness into the car today,(retained the standard belts for road use and MOT) rear fixings a doddle with the amount of pre-drilled seat belt fixings the car provides, anyway, all went in easy, also had the chance to retape all the roll cage foam, loose wiring that was under the rear seat which is now gone and taped over any holes which may let in back fumes.
later fit the alloy passenger compartment foot plate,
nothing worse than being strapped in and your legs flap about,
more updates next week if the weather is good,
going to have a go at a plumbed in fire extinguisher system and external battery cut off

[johnny rosso]

bonnet catch removed moff fitted.jpgmanaged to sneak an hour today and removed the bonnet catch in prep for fitting pins, then realised what a huge obstruction the entire bonnet catch frame is especially now the larger FMIC already blocks the rad,
if you take into account the fan alongside as an obstruction,theres not much clean air about under there, with everything off much more cool air will get in so took the lot off.
Temp bolted the horns on until it stops raining perhaps at the weekend when I will re route properly and hide behind the front shut panel,
oh and fitted the Moff also, so getting there,
looking for a R34 big mesh type front replacement grill to get more air in, bought one recently, but it came with no rear fittings, any good calls on a quality replacement part

[johnny rosso]

bpins2..jpgpgrill & pins..jpgbpins3..jpggrill2..jpgbpinsgrill 4..jpgtoday managed to have a few hours and decided to custom chop the front grill, so clipped it out, cut out the centre bar and surrounding material, bought some good quality metal diamond mesh and set about shredding my hands to pieces, after about an hour of cutting and bending fully wrapped the original grill, refitted the original badge and clipped it in, I like the look a lot it kinda keeps the same theme as the FMIC in black, also fitetd a set of stainless bonnet pins, rivetting on the top plate rather than screws, neat job I think and fits great, fitted the new shorter number plate to one side and started adding a few vinyls, all in deep silver to make it tracky?

[johnny rosso]

almost there, had the replacement mesh grill fitted today and alloy pedals, suede steering wheel,also have put on the vinyl stripes and decals to match my mateys 360 Challenge car, although his cars red of course, fluids and track tyres this weekend then were off