brdflus 83 Nissan Skyline Coupe (KHR30)

[kyteler]

Discuss;

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=36171

Many of you will already be aware of this but I figured I'd actually put a post up in regards to it, mostly for any help people might be able to offer with options in regards to suspension suggestions, etc.

I was directed to this on trademe.co.nz by Edward, who has been providing me links for potential 30 coupe purchases for many years, though this time I was finally in a position to buy the damned thing. Previously, most had been in the North Island and generally fell by the wayside due to needing to spend over a grand above purchase just to get the car down to Invercargill. This one, however, was the measely 560km away in Christchurch. The problem being it doesn't go!

The trademe.co.nz photos which didn't really show a hell of a lot...

...and the description was quite vague though sounded promising

Here is a rare Japanese classic:

R30 Skyline coupe, Brought as a project but never really left the ground as i a havnt got the time or money anymore to fix it up the way it deserves.

Specs:

L28e motor

Manual gearbox

Factory Alloy wheels

All round disc brakes

Power steering

Electric windows (full pillarless)

Towball.

This car would be a great project for someone with the know how or money to get it back on the road as it is not currently running and there is a wee bit of work involoved.

any questions please ask

Thanks

With the help of Hamish (unhuman) I was provided extra pictures of the condition of the car over and above said and shown trademe photos. You can see them here if you're interested.

These photos provided me with hope and many text messages were sent back and forth with the seller trying to nut out more information and weasel a bit of a deal. The problem was without seeing it in person myself it was hard to manipulate any manner of deal so the decision was made to allow the auction to run the second time around and if no-one had bought it then I would hire a trailer and drive up to Christchurch to take a look and if I liked what I saw then I would bring it home, the existence of this thread indicates the obvious, that I took it home. I did manage to get the price down a few hundred from what he wanted and although it was probably an over-priced purchase it did mean that I finally had myself a 1983 Skyline coupe. Thank crap for that because it's only a matter of a few years (I think) before the prices of these go a little bit silly.

The weather has been really quite terrible since I've had it home and I've not had a lot of chance to get anything done, however, most days I've taken a look at at least one thing.

I'll compile the workings on the car in the following posts, this is more than enough text for one thread on it's own let alone one post . If you get this far down though then well done and again I'd like to take the time to thank those people who aided me in getting this car in various aspects; Edward (Orion), Hamish (unhuman) & Chris (Dattochriswagon). Cheers guys, it's very much appreciated.

Discuss;

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=36171

[kyteler]

When I arrived to look at the car on the Sunday morning (09/09/2012) the guy wasn't there as he'd popped out to do something but the lady there said I was welcome to look over it, this worked out quite well as it gave me a good chance to go over the car without being distracted and bamboozled. One of the first things that caught my attention was the lack of a sump/oilpan! The other was the quality of the manual conversion which left a little to be desired. The good part was that the majority of it is actually in good shape, considering it's an 80's Japanese car, I expected a lot more rott, I have a feeling (due to a few "fixes" I've come across) that this car used to belong to an older gentleman who took quite good care of it. There's also evidence of over polishing the edges which also lends itself to someone who liked to make sure the car looked clean and shiny.

The first job I tackled amongst the terrible weather was the passenger door, which was catching on the replacement guard that had been installed along with a replacement bonnet and LHS headlamp after an altercation with something solid. The door was catching on said guard not allowing it to open fully and bending said guard whilst trying to. This was a very quick bodge on my part simply to gain access to the passenger side of the car. I undid the lower guard fixing bolt which gave me enough gap to lever the dent out with my fingers and subsequently the use of a piece of wood and a large flathead screwdriver . Rangi, but it worked.

The second job which although not really required, was something I needing to do to calm my OCD, the lower apron and LHS guard and front of RHS guard had not been painted black as the rest of the car had, this made the car look terrible (IMO) and half assed (more so, obviously).

Mind the wolf.

After that I managed a large enough gap in the rain after work one day last week to try on my SSR's from the Sunny. The result was a car that went from this;

With it's horrifically large rear tyres (235/60R14) and smaller but still large front tyres (205/60R14), to this

Guard gap and positive camber much? A much too much!

Whilst performing this little sample test, I discovered the rear shocks are a mismatch of brands and are strangely stiff. The car is a GT-EX which means from factory it would have had adjustable front and rear shock stiffness, these are well and truly gone, in their place Monroe (spewwww) and I'm not sure what else. Not cool.

[kyteler]

The next day I shot to Repco after work and got myself a battery for it so I could check just how bodged the electrics may or may not have been. This revealed a few problems but for the most part eased my mind. It appears that they've only tried to alter the engine loom and the rest of their interfering hasn't adversely affected the performance of things like the fuel-pump, lamps, and general operations.

When I inspected it, I asked the chap why the RHS doorcard had been removed, he informed me that it was due to trying to get to the bottom of why the driver's window wasn't operating. No big deal, I thought. That is until yesterday (15/09/2012) when my brother came over and we tried to get to the bottom of the electrical gremlins...

...it turns out the problem with not only the driver's window but the passengers also was that the lack of use for however long had rusted and seized the motor cog to the toothed runner, the driver's side seems to slowly be coming right after being freed though the passenger side is another story, the rust has eaten away at some of the teeth and now it skips and doesn't operate even vaguely smoothly, I'm going to either have to get a replacement mechanism or try to build the teeth up with more metal or weld or some such. Not sure, I'll figure it out though.

The rest of the gremlins were bad connections, either corrosion or a complete lack of connection. The rear indicators needed a scuff to get working properly, the tail-lamps needed switched over from one side to the other and the horn & LHS guard indicator simply needed plugged in.

The only thing that's not working (other than the motor) is the washer pump. Not a big deal.

Random roof console picture;

[kyteler]

With most of the little niggly bits out of the way, I decided to try and figure out why the passenger side footwell was damp. After removing the carpet I discovered damp was actually wet so I left the carpet on the clothesline and the doors open with the car in the sun to try and dry out what's sitting there.

Of course whilst the sun was out I figured it would be a good time to take a few photos of how rough the car is/overall shots;

I put a sticker on it too, ooooooooh...

[kyteler]

[kyteler]

I just shot out there again before and started trying to remedy the headlights being on the piss. The LHS was substancially lower. It's taken a little punt in that corner at some point so I think that's were the problem lies. I fucked around for a while and have straightened it up well enough that it's not as drastically noticeable as it was before. Also tried to get the gap between the bonnet and guards even and reconnected the apron to the guard on the LHS. Carpet is still soaked, that's going to take a while to dry. I'll check the footwells in a few days anyway to see whether they're drying out or getting worse.

[kyteler]

So ahh... I jacked it up just now to take a look at the motor. I had already taken the cam cover off to make sure the top side was hunky dorey and it appeared to be so, so the effort moved to the underside. I already knew there would be something up as the sump wasn't on it and didn't come with the car and there's a mains caps in the boot with a new bearing on it.

Jacked it up and spied this from the side...

Not a good start, partially undone mains caps all over the place.

Then...

Yep. That explains why it won't turn over. It's missing a piston end cap for #4, I dug through the trash in the boot and found an open set of bearings but no end cap so I'm thinking the easiest port of call here is to do exactly what I had planned on doing anyway and getting an L20ET complete out of another car. I could get this one going with a myriad of parts that I have kicking about at various places (folks, brother's, here) but considering it's an L28 and the wiring, dizzy and lack of turbo exh. manifold, the rest of the fucking about getting it to run and then be denied a warrant for a larger engine, just isn't worth the fucking about, I don't think.

Anyone got a complete and running L20ET anywhere?

[kyteler]

As per RC; http://blog.retro-classics.co.nz/?p=4578

[kyteler]

The chaps on S-Chassis let me know some secrets in regards to suspension with the R32, that you could put the shorter fronts into the back with a change of tophats. This wouldn't mean anything to me except for the fact that 32 rear suspension can be used in the rear of the 30, thereby, shorter 32 front with a change of top hat should work in the rear of the 30. Knowing this, it took me a good week to remember that my brother had a 32 parts car. So today I ripped the fronts out of that to test the theory.

Test complete;

Yes, I did it in the lounge with from wrapping to keep anything getting dirty. It's cold tonight dammit.

You can see the 32 front sitting underneath the 30 rear, it's a fairly dramatic difference in length, which should bring the car to a more respectable level and if not then a simple addition of lowering springs with some brand new shocks and Robert is your father's sibling.

I'll slap them into the back of the 30 tomorrow when the daylight returns. It'll at the very least be better than this;

[kyteler]

A pretty promising little experiment.

So, lowering springs and a set of replacement KYB's and this may well be the route to take. (Although maybe not with the 195/45R14 on the XR-4s but only time will tell as that's always going to be a big gap to breach.

[kyteler]

To see what I am up against in the tyre situation with this car, I decided to put the Z alloys on it with the 185/60's that clad them, this resulted in massive difference to the monster truck tyres that were on there. It also gave me a good idea of where I stand with height in regards to the front as well as the chassis to ground measurement.

In order to fit a tyre 185/60 profile (or thereabouts, 195/55, 225/40, etc) I would need to lower the rear 20-30mm to just be in line with the top of the tyre.

For the front I would need to remove 130mm, again, just to be in line with the top of the tyre. It is there that we run into a problem. At the moment the back has the front R32 springs on R30 shocks & tophats, making it a decent amount lower than factory, in order for the front to be level with the back it would need to come down about 20-30mm. That would then put the chassis 100-110mm above the ground. Meaning that in order for the arch to be in line with the top of the tyre, the car would not be able to move, as it would be on the ground. Damn.

Ah well... pictures.

Also.

Damn again.

[kyteler]

My inspiration;

[kyteler]

So, this weekend I went to a house auction and won. Huzzah! Next month I take possession and as such this along with my other two Skylines will come together and all be in the same space for the first time ever. They'll live in here;

The Skylines won't be getting a lot of attention until a few bits on the house are sorted. It needs the exterior painted before things get to a point where something further than a paintjob is needed so I'm hoping to turn it from this;

Into this (or thereabouts);

Which probably means I will be painting the shed a similar colour.

...one day.

[kyteler]

Just won an auction solution to my engine problem.

Choice. Will be picking it up around the 15th.

[kyteler]

So I finally got all the kids together to take a family photo;

[kyteler]

[kyteler]

The new parts car, it's pretty fucking tidy though so I don't know what to do just yet.

[kyteler]

So I did this the other day;

[kyteler]

Then today I did this;

For the most part, it cleaned up quite nicely...

What's troubling though, is the scary shit hiding behind this abortion...

[kyteler]

:/