DJZ's DR30 Skyline

[DJZ]

So I ended up with this thing:

1983 Nissan DR30 Skyline iron mask. I manage to work out a deal with my mate for it, picked it up last night which is the first time I've driven it.

It's pretty much stock, somebody has put what I think is a Supra intercooler on it at some stage which is bent and has average looking metal piping and a couple of split rubbery joiners. It has a Trust/Greddy adjustable boost relief valve installed instead of the stock one.

There's some work that needs to be done reasonably urgently some of which is:

Find out why it has 4 heat range plugs instead of the stock 6's in it, I put some 6's in it last night and I think I've fouled one up driving to work this morning, the AFM has been played with.

Gearbox has a rooted bearing(s) by the sounds of it.

Replace the intercooler and intercooler piping.

There's some noise from the engine bay, I think maybe the oil pump is being starved, will have to have a look underneath and see what the sump looks like.

Lose the wheels, will be giving these back to my mate and fitting the Pismo wheels of my other Z to it for a while.

Fix the leaking rocker cover, all the spark plug tubes had oil in them, I've got new genuine gaskets to do this.

It has some sort of problem where if you drive over bumps it seems to cut out, not very useful with Christchurch roads at the moment.

Plans at the moment are just to tidy it up, it needs a lot of work and drive it around for a while. Maybe fit an SR20 computer to it and a slightly bigger turbo which I've got sitting on an RB20 at the moment. It needs to be lowered, it has Cobra "lowered" springs in it but it looks higher than it probably was standard.

[DJZ]

Had a bit more of a play with it tonight, couple of the things that need attention:

Split intercooler hose

Bit of oil in the intercooler

Missing EGR, the block off plate somebody has made is too thin and is bending, I've just replaced it with an L series EGR valve for the moment

Non recovery coolant system for some reason? Will be adding an overflow bottom and proper cap

Bent intercooler, I've just pulled it out, will have a think about what to do in the mean time, might just leave it off for a while

Oily, yummy

I've put one of the Pismo wheels on, it sits out a little bit from the guard but I think they'll be alright - I'm not actually sure if they are the same width and offset front and rear so when I pick up the other 3 tomorrow I'll have a look

Once my mate finds it I'm probably going to fit this old HKS Twin Power that I used to have on the Z many years ago, bit of a period item

[DJZ]

Oh, it has at least one broken exhaust manifold stud too, yay!

[DJZ]

So today I:

Removed the intercooler & piping, the piping is steel and was starting to rust inside and out, bits of it were crushed and bent too

Removed the inlet piping for the turbo, air flow meter and air filter box

Removed the charcoal canister and related piping

Removed the engine brace, the bush in it was rooted and I needed the room

Started cleaning down the front of the motor, it's going to be a big job getting rid of all the oil/grease

Fixed one side of the front bumper which was loose

I had a whole bunch of ali pipe, silicone bends and a K&N from the old R30 and piping I used to have on the Z so I have temporarily come up with this:

Until I can get one of these:

I'm planning on running the piping over the top so the brackets are going to be on the wrong side.

I also fitted the rest of the wheels, the back ones are just outside the guards and the front ones are out a little bit further than that. Took it for a quick drive and after giving it a little bit of stick it decided it didn't want to run, got out and got a hand pushing it from some random dude towing a Starlet around my neighbourhood. Turns out I'd popped one of the pipes off, I really need to get a more accurate boost gauge and see what boost it's making as it feels a lot faster than it should be. The wastegate line has been cut previously and has a bit of brake line or something in it but other than that I can't see any reason why.

[DJZ]

Forgot to say, I put about 2L of oil in it which seems to have quitened it down a bit. Just changed the spark plugs back to the 6's, one felt a bit funny coming out and when I got it all the way out the washer was half way down the threads and had a little dent in it, I thought that's funny so I had a look down the spark plug hole and there was a whole spark plug washer down there! Looked at the old plugs and they were all there, looked at the 6's I had in there the other day and they were all there so where did it come from?

[DJZ]

Got the original tiller for it today and swapped that back. I don't like the original gear knob so I took it off and surprise, it's got a 10mm thread, the shifter is actually more like a C series box shifter - it's rubber filled. I had a dig around and found one very similar that had already had the thread cut off it, I think it came out of a 430 Cedric? So I cut a bolt in half and welded it into the hole, and yay, 8mm thread so I could fit the original gear knob from the Z. The only problem now is the rubber boot is too tall and it looks a bit silly. When I take the console out again (which will be when I take the gearbox out) I'll try and get a leather boot for it.

I got another tail light to replace one of the broken ones and I've got some other bits and pieces around to put in it - sorry I know the photos really suck but my camera is average and the lighting in the garage is really terrible:

Bosch fuel pump ex Cosworth Escort I think

A HKS EVC3 boost controller and an HKS turbo timer, it already has a turbo timer but I'm going to pull that out

I got the ADthree wing that was originally on it, I'm still deciding whether to put it back on or not, you can see the rooted boot paint

[DJZ]

So I thought I'd do a little bit of preparation for when I fit the intercooler and boost upu.

Got a fancy Bosch HEC71something coil from Zac, didn't want to butcher the original wiring or DR coil/ignitor setup so I got one of my spare ignitors (this particular one is from a Z31) drilled out the ali rivets holding the ignitor on and used the original bolt holes for the coil bracket, once I get the car down to work I'll make up a plate that I can bolt them both too so they can't come loose and tidy up the wiring a bit.

Also got a new thermostat as it doesn't seem to be heating up very quickly/enough but when I took the old one out it didn't actually look that old, who needs a gasket when you've got goo? The new thermostat didn't look quite right and didn't have a jiggle pin so I cleaned off all the goo and put the original one back in with the new gasket.

Will order my intercooler tomorrow and try and fit it one night this week down at work, I'm going to fit my fake Tial BOV that I originally had on the Z and see if it works any better on this thing. During last week I had a bit more of a look over the engine bay and found a vacuum tube that didn't go anywhere - I think something has been removed from the very left rear of the engine bay behind the strut tower, the vacuum tube had a screw it in but the tube was split so I just took the whole thing off.

Also I thought I'd replace the spark plug leads, the ones on the car have either 1992 or 1998 written on them, can't remember but interestingly enough one of the local Repcos had what was supposed to be a FJ20 set in stock! I went and had a look and they might work but I think I need to take the round rubber pieces off the original leads, I might try and find another 2nd hand set to try and get them off before I root mine.

[DJZ]

Failed a warrant today on a few things:

LH Headlight aim

Brake master cylinder leaking

Excessive playing steering idler, steering box and lower ball joint.

I've got a new master cylinder on the way, hopefully it's correct, idler bushes are in stock at Repco and the ball joint is unfortunately not a bolt on or press in so I'm going to have to get it rebuild by HBI which means taking the whole control arm off, goody.

[DJZ]

Driving home I realised it's not the headlight aim but the low beam not working, I flicked it from low beam to high beam in the driveway when I got home and it came back to normal - strange, might investigate earths etc.

[DJZ]

So I took the left hand side steering apart:

I couldn't feel any play in the idler arm bushes but I don't really know what I'm feeling for, they look possibly original and new Nolathane ones are cheap.

The bottom ball joint feels okay to me, I'll get the guys at HBI to feel it up and give me their opinion, the boot is split.

The outer tie rod end boot is split and it's full of dirt but it didn't fail on this, the boot on the inner tie rod is also split. There is some play in the drag link joint that connects to the idler arm if you grab the idler arm and lift it up and down but I don't know if it's supposed to be like that?

Sway bar bushes are also rooted.

[DJZ]

So I got these:

New idler bushes and new sway bar link bushes.

The bottom ball joint felt okay but had up and down play apparently so it's getting rebuilt. I've ordered some outer tie rod ends - they are on clearance for $6/piece apparently! The inner tie rod end is getting a new boot fitted. Also ordered some of the fanciest bulbs that Repco had, 60/55 but +120% hah, we'll see what they are like.

[DJZ]

Fitted the new idler bushes and mucked around with the brakes, managed to get the master cylinder off but I had to disconnect the pipes from the proportioning valve as I couldn't get the nuts into the master cylinder loose, will have a look at them later once I figure out what do to with it. Looks like the DRs have 1" bore masters which aren't very common in the old stuff, I can "upgrade" to a later S15/Z32 1" master but that means doing the same thing I did on the Z with removing the external proportioning valve and joining the brake lines up above the booster which might not be a bad thing as the valve on top of the booster is pretty ugly.

I've decided the original vacuum piping for the brake booster is really ugly and unnecessarily long so I'm going to make something a bit shorter and neater.

And it looks like it's almost impossible to get the brake booster out of a DR without removing the inlet manifold or possibly the steering box.

[DJZ]

I've been thinking and I'm just going to get the original master cylinder rebuilt, it seems like the best option at the moment.

Had a bit of a play with the bulbs as well, I think it's something dicky in the headlight switch that's causing the problem, when I was playing with it before if I turned the lights on the LH light was dim but when I pushed the indicator down by mistake the light came right, but when I tried it again later it wouldn't.

The new bulbs seem about the same on low beam as the +50s in the Z but brighter on high beam that the Z bulbs and the original Skyline bulbs, the original Skyline bulbs seem brighter on low beam than both the others. So what I've done is put the new bulbs in the Skyline and I've put the old blueish bulbs from the DR into the Z. Will drive around for a while and see what I think, might end up swapping between the cars.

[DJZ]

Remember when I said looks like it's almost impossible to get the brake booster out of a DR without removing the inlet manifold or possibly the steering box?

Pow - almost impossible but not quite. Can you tell the master cylinder has been leaking?

Took the rocker cover off to get it stripped and painted, haven't decided on a colour yet but it'll either be wrinkle coat black or red, I'm leaning towards black. Not a lot in there once you get the rocker cover off!

Also it looks like the car has a full Motec Systems exhaust. I mean HKS. Note: for competition purposes only!

[DJZ]

Got the brake master cylinder back and painted the booster, the booster itself it pretty pitted but it's at the bottom so you can't really see it. I'll keep my eyes out for another one and if I ever take the motor out (which I think I'll have to do at some stage) I'll swap it over.

Reinstalled the booster and master last night, I really hate trying to get under the dash to get the clevis pin & r clip back in, what a pain in the ass but it's all bolted back together, just need to put the reservoir back on and fill/bleed it.

I wire brushed as best as I could the area around the steering box where the master has been dripping on to and put some rust killer on it, I'll probably give it another wire brush and another coat of rust kill before I primer/paint it.

Also found a very odd looking patch where it looks like some rust has been cut out in front of the steering box on the inner guard, it's been patched but hasn't been painted on the engine bay side, can't really see anything on the wheel well side so hopefully they haven't just patched over the rust. There's not much that I can do about it without taking the engine out (which I think they probably would have had to do to put the patch in there in the first place). Makes me wonder who complied it when it came into the country and if it was there before that.

Still waiting to get the lower ball joint back from being reconditioned, should hopefully have it back sometime next week then I can get it back in for the recheck. I still haven't had a good look at the head lights but I had to take the steering wheel off to get under the dash so I might just swap the indicator stalk unit for the spare I've got.

[DJZ]

Got these sweet fittings today, they are aluminium. I got them so I can keep the check valve that comes on the Bosch pumps, no check valve = have to keep cranking till fuel gets back up to the rail.

Here's a bad picture of the patch, I can't really get in there to get a good photo.

Master back in place, I have to put the wiper motor back in, I've just given it a little coat of paint. You can see the outline on the strut tower where there was probably a strut brace back in the day.

I replaced the fuel filter tonight, it was a JECS one so might be factory? Also confirmed the ignition leads were made in 1992.

[DJZ]

Did the Mazda ratchet chain tensioner mod today, little bit fiddly but pretty easy.

Original at the top, Mazda one at the bottom after I removed the rubber pad. The little spring right at the bottom is part of the ratchet mechanism, yes, I did put it back in

Gasket in the hole, you can see at the bottom right it's just touching on part of the casting

Used the die grinder to put a bit of a chamfer on the tensioner body to clear the casting

The guides I found on the next said to cut the spring down to 53mm, I'm not really sure why they suggest you cut it that short, I measured the overall length of the original plunger and spring then cut the new spring down to make them the same length, I removed about 6mm of spring.

And then I forgot to take a picture of the finished installation but you get the idea. After dinners mission is to start on the fuel pump swap.

[DJZ]

Drained the diff oil while I was under there, it was a bit of a mission getting the back of the car onto the ramps, I had to let some air out of the tyres so I could get them under the wheels hah. Anyway, the oil was red and looked reasonably clean but I'll change it anyway.

Removed the original fuel pump, it had really tiny wiring going to it so I might have to do something about that. First problem was the new pump has what looks like a 5/8" inlet, I managed to stretch some 1/2" fuel line over it, I think it'll be fine for the moment. Second problem is the new pump doesn't fit in the old holder which I was expecting so I've just bought one of these, just have to wait for it to turn up. The old pump is about 54mm OD, new pump is 60mm.

[DJZ]

Drained the diff oil while I was under there, it was a bit of a mission getting the back of the car onto the ramps, I had to let some air out of the tyres so I could get them under the wheels hah. Anyway, the oil was red and looked reasonably clean but I'll change it anyway.

Removed the original fuel pump, it had really tiny wiring going to it so I might have to do something about that. First problem was the new pump has what looks like a 5/8" inlet, I managed to stretch some 1/2" fuel line over it, I think it'll be fine for the moment. Second problem is the new pump doesn't fit in the old holder which I was expecting so I've just bought one of these brackets, just have to wait for it to turn up. The old pump is about 54mm OD, new pump is 60mm.

[DJZ]

Made up an adaptor after work today to mount the pump bracket onto the original mounting plate that bolts to the floor of the car. It's mounted but it's a bit of a tight squeeze, I'll try and get a pic tomorrow.

Discovered a problem though, I've measured the fuel line and it's only 10mm coming out of the tank all the way to the pump, the rubber line between the metal line and the pump is actually stretched over the 12mm barb on the pump from the factory by the looks of it. I've got some ali tubing so I'll make up an adaptor from 10 to 12mm tomorrow.

I'm picking up the rocker cover from being hot tanked tomorrow, I just have to find an oven big enough to fit it in after I paint it. There's a small chance my lower ball joint will be done tomorrow but probably next week.