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> Project R33 GTS25-T Part 1
This is my own Nissan
Skyline that I have owned since 2003. Im the first Australian owner
the car was relatively stock engine and suspension wise the only modification
was a blitz blow off valve (wow). It did have the same Type M factory
kit, and 17” wheels you see on it today. The only thing I didn’t like
about it was the rear wing Im not sure what type it is but it has grown
on me as it’s a little different I guess.
The
first mod to the car was a cat back HKS super dragger exhaust the dealer
though in for nothing not sure what difference this made to the Skyline
power wise because I had only driven it once but it sounded great and
wasn’t to loud.
I was
impressed with the cars performance in stock form and knew it had plenty
of tuning potential. One problem I did however was the famous flat spot
that Nissan Skyline's are famous for and I hadn’t even touched the boost
yet. It only happened every noun again but it was bloody annoying it
was especially noticeable in second gear at 4500rpm the car would pause
for a briefly then take off again.
Living
in a country town no one really knew much about imports and mechanics
looked at as though it was some type of alien. I searched the internet
and come across a great forum called Skylines Australia I posted my
problem and within about an hour I had several replies. Basically I
was told that the standard ECU runs very rich and to try re-gapping
the plugs from 1.1 to 0.8 then to install a safc or a power FC if the
problem still occurred.
I took
the car to a local mechanic for a service, explained the problem and
asked him to install some platinum plugs gapped at 0.8. The mechanics
took the car for a test drive and said they didn't notice the problem
before or after the plugs were installed anyway they said they fixed
a cracked boost line and gapped my plugs for me. I took the car for
a drive the next day and the problem was still there (bugger) I decided
to live with the problem for now.
The
next thing I decided to do was turn the boost up I brought a 30 dollar
boost gauge and a adjustable air restrictor. I used the standard boost
solenoid and installed a switch for high and low boost settings. I installed
the adjustable air restrictor, boost gauge and switch, tuning was done
on the road, when the switch was off 6psi was achieved, and when on
10psi was achieved or so I thought (more on this latter). When the switch
was turned on you could feel the extra boost kick in but the flat spot
was sill there and more noticeable now.
I was
happy with the Skylines power but just had to get rid of that flat spot
so I ordered a SAFC. I wanted this problem fixed once and for all so
I got back on the SAU forums asked what workshops in Victoria they recommended.
After a few phone calls I decided to use ICE Performance as they were
helpful and well priced. I explained the problem and what I had done
to try and fix it, they said they had seen it many times and the Apexi
SAFC would have a good chance of fixing the problem.
The
long drive was made down to Melbourne and I left the boys at ICE to
install and tune my SAFC2 and returned an hour or so later. The results
where mixed the good news was that the flat spot was fixed Gerald (the
tuner) said the car was running extremely rich before the tune and now
all was good. The bad news was the boost restrictor I used was not working
correctly it would produce the required boost for about a second then
go back to standard shortly afterward. I was also told the boost gauge
wasn’t installed correctly as it wasnt connected to a line with vacuum.
The
boys removed this setup and boost was set back to the standard level.
They also noted that the engine was very healthy and would produce good
power when this problem was fixed. 158rwkw was produced which wasn’t
to bad considering the mod’s (Sorry I don’t have the dyno sheet to show
all). On the road the car was much nicer to drive with no flat spots
at all, a little extra power was noticeable but I was told not to expect
much until the boost problem was sorted.
First
ordered a bleed valve when I got home and decided on one from turbo
XS as it does not start to bleed air until the set boost level is seen.
The advantage of this is that no extra turbo lag is produced like most
other manual boost controllers. I installed the new bleed valve and
connected the boost gauge to the correct line. On the road I set the
boost level to 10.5psi and boy did the Skyline love it, boost came on
hard and held until 5000rpm but slowly tailed of to 9psi by 7000rpmI
was happy with the extra power.
About
6 months later I got power hungry again so I did some research on SAU
to decide my next mod. After seeing a picture of the stock dump pipe
and how restrictive it was I decided this was the next thing to upgrade.
I ordered a 3" dump/font pipe and a 3" Casco high flow cat
converter. Installing was easy with the help of a mate and a hoist we
just had to be careful not to snap any of the rusted bolts. I started
the car after installation and noticed a deeper yet quieter note at
idol (sounded better). On the road the beefier note was noticeable too
especially from 4000rpm onwards. The turbo seemed to spool quicker and
extra power was noticed particularly after 5000rpm.
Continue
to part 2 >>
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