My R from the beginning

Well why the goings good and I have some motivation to do gtir related stuff I thought I would start a new project thread on here.

(Have just read though this and tbh you might be better off skipping this post and starting on the next one as it may put you off pulsar ownership altogether  )

I will try and keep it as short as possible (whoops   ) and may do some cheeky copy and pasting from my other project threads lol.
It all started back in 2002 when I was 19 and looking for a replacement for my extremely ropey uno turbo.
Basicly back then I was just looking for the best performance to the pound I could get as I was pretty much just a traffic light grand prix racer    
At the time the escort cossie was the dieing king with all the jap stuff taking off with the skyline gtr now at the top of the pile,then you had imprezas,evos and pulsars all boosting similar performance to the cossie.
They were all out of my reach at the time tbh other than the pulsar, but with reading reviews that the pulsar was actually as quick if not a touch quicker than the above in mild tune got me interested.
Also being cheaper and not as well known and that they were always seen as the underdog compared to the above cars also attracted me,especially coming from the uno which had the same vibe which I liked.
I had also seen a couple in action and loved the sound and tbh I quite liked the looks aswell,also they were a bit different  

So pulsar it was  

It almost did not happen as no one would insure me and I was nearly limited to one trader that could do a deal with his broker to get me insured,in the end though tesco had just started and was the only company that would touch me.
Anyhow I ended up looking at an ivory one from a trader that back then was still known as a Dakar lol i.e rb light weight jobbie.
It had been sold once and had a mongoose exhaust and alarm fitted and then after a month the new owner had to sell it as could not afford to run it,and it was being resold through the trader again.

The car was really clean although it had been blown over at some point in its life,the seats where mismatched with only the rears being rb and it also had a normal ratio box (not that I would of even known the difference back then lol) but even so I knew I wanted it.
Being rb and ivory attracted me the most as these were rather rare at the time,also the BYE in the number plate helped, but the goose and the 120mph test drive the trader took me on sealed the 6k deal  .

So the car,it was pretty much stock other than tiny 14inch eneki wheels, the exhaust and cusco front and rear braces and jic top mounts.
On closer inspection though a hks turbo timer was found under the dash and best of all the rattle can black shocks turned out to be a set of ohlins suspension (although later needed rebuilding  ).
This inspection also turned up some half rollcage holes and a modified rear seat to fit said cage was also found,I was abit pissed with this at the time tbh and had alsorts of wonders as what the car had been used for  .
I got back onto the trader and had a moan but mostly due to me wanting the cage put back in it lol,he keep promising me that one would be coming over in his next batch of cars he had coming that I could have,but after months of fucking about it never happened,I was also still pretty happy with the car though tbh as it seemed a goodun.

The traffic light grand prixs were going well and did so for a good couple of years,still on standard boost with only a blitz filter and hks bov added I think.
We are talking 100s of launches here lol but over time the clutch,syncros and actual dog teeth on the gears where showing there age from the abuse.

This was the first major expense other than the ohlins rebuild with gearbox parts and a new helix paddle clutch and was the beginning of the end  
Then with the new clutch with the abilty to hold more power it would be rude not to exploit that  
So along came the actuator which still was not enough,then an avc-r with its dreaded scramble boost button lol
This proberly went on for another year or so before it went pop ,coming from the uno that could seemingly run limit less boost I stupidly hoped the pulsar would do the same,it took it well though tbh as I did take the piss.

So car now fucked and not sure what to do with the price of forged pistons and rebuild parts and what route to take etc, I do what most people would do and go out and buy another fucked gtir with a blown bottom end  
My plan was to fix this one (black ra with an rb box lol) and sell it on,things where going well tbh as I had a bit of luck with an engine that had come out of a uk sunny that had a rattle that Nissan could not fix so changed the complete engine.
Turned out the engine had genuine oversized pistons with stock sized rings,a rebuild with the correct rings and every thing was sweet as a nut.

All went well for a while,until one cold icey night when I dropped my pissed mates off at a party and one said launch it…

I remember it well,I thought yeah well why not and proceeded to bounce it of the limiter and drop the clutch,all four spinning I snatch 2nd and ooh this is strange all 4 are still spinning and its getting a bit lairy,I got this though and keep in it.
Wrong… I lose the arse and head for a grave yard  
I am proberly 100degrees off straight from where I was on full opposite lock on the grass blipping the throttle,all the while dragging the front end of my car up the grave yards over grown fence.
Its slowly starting to come back around, but then in a split second I seem to find traction and find myself being literally catapulted up/into someones gravel drive!
This ended quickly thankfully as I was semi conscious of a house being somewhere very near by,I ended up running up and over into some large rocks which had tossed me onto my side.
The only thing stopping it going right over was funnly enough was one of them large rocks which was now wedged firmly in my rear quarter panel holding me up.
I was lucky really as on the other side of the driveways enterance was a telephone pole and I beleve if I was not blipping/on the throttle I would of smashed straight into that instead.

The car was already to sell before that aswell,gutted    
Well lesson learned and all that,for the crashing at least…

The car was roughly bashed out straight again and I continued to use it but soon fell into the old trap again off messing with the boost.
Although a lot less than last time it was still enough and it done a ring land again,game over for this car.

So what to do next,apex at the time had some good deals on wiseco pistons so I rebuilt the engine from the black car and put it in the white one.
Traffic light grand prixs had long died off by now and I had started to grow up abit lol and was just using the car mostly for a weekend fun car.
I still had a launch fetish that I had to itch now and again though,and one evening I thought why not do a timed run.
So mate with stop watch in hand I line up for a fix...
I must of moved an inch at most followed by an almightly bang followed by the smell of warm gear oil,thats that fucked then.
The gearbox had exploded and ruined every gear in the box,tbf it had done well over the years though especially with the paddle clutch and relentless launches,still not what I was planning tbh though lol.

A short stint on an rb box for a while then more money on getting another ra box then its back to normal again.

Then I think the next issue I had was playing with my cousins evo where I missed a gear and threw a rocker which in all took out 4 other rockers aswell and a chunk out of the cam.
So head off and I had got of light with only very minor contact and a couple of bent valves.

I then put it back together and get 10miles up the road to find an oil leak from the crank pulley,head home and it starts rattling.
Long story short the crank pulley had come loose(the leak),but more alarmingly so had the flywheel.
I aint got a clue what happened here tbh as the flywheel had been un touched side the rebuild 5k odd miles ago,maybe the over rev loosened it?

Then not long after this my turbo takes a dump,I knew it was iffy but at the time did not have the cash to replace it,the thrust bearing completely feel apart dropping parts of it in the sump.
Second hand turbo fitted and was good to go for a while again although still not a great turbo as still smokeed abit but not half the play in it like my last one.

Next I notice the expansion tank pushing more water out than it should.
Head gasket this time,my fault as it was a reused hks gasket,infact it was its fourth outing lol.
It was on the black car when I brought it and used from then on,not the best practice and would have been better using a stock jobbie tbh but I got away with it so many times I though it would be alright again,what caused it (other than reusing it for the 4th time lol) was the skim job on the head was to rough.

So head off again and I was greated with some suspect looking marks in the bores,still unsure of what caused these tbh but could have been the turbo that died and also possibly may not of been run in hard enough,either way not happy with it.
So I completely strip the engine again and completely redone it,new shells and re ringed,honed etc.
I also had the crank ground and the block line bored as first time around if I am honest I knew it was not perfect but I was strapped for cash at the time.
I also had plans for a 2.2 big bore setup and ported head as the ultimate build which I still have the parts for so was mainly planning ahead for that at the time but it never happened.
Anyhow other than the dodgy looking bore marks though that engine ran fine,good compression etc and nothing notably wrong,I just knew I was not right lol.

So back up and running again and a harsh running in session on bedding in oil,infact it was up santa pod within the first 200miles lol
During this time I had done a fair few more mods and a lot of them where not really to insurance friendly like the cage and seats etc and tbh I was running out of cash again,and was not really using it much on the road anymore so decided to make it more of a track bias car instead.

The turbo again is starting to get even more smoky by this point and being tight and not wanting to spend out anymore until I can afford to go the whole hog z32,injectors,turbo,remap etc I continue on.
So first track day,unbeliverbly all went well, happy days, and although smokey the turbo has held out just fine.

Then onto santa pod for maybe one last run before I save for a new turbo etc.

This did not go well…
First up straight of the trailer my starter packed up,never mind carry on and tbh I am glad I did as I posted my pb of 12.3.
But then at the end of the day I thought just one more run,well this did not go to plan lol
Right in the middle of the que I notice my battery light is on meaning I have lost my belt,balls I should not run really but I carry on in blind faith hoping the battery will get me through and it will be alright.
Well it was not happy tbh and the knock meter on the afc2 showed some high readings through out the run,proberly due to the car not getting 14v and possibly running abit lean and detting,stupid of me really but after traveling so far and queing so long I pushed my luck for the greed of a better time which did not happen(12.4).
Also on that last run the syncro hub in the gearbox broke on 3rd-4th gear to add even further insult to injury  
What worries me though is my last run was filmed and right at the end on lift off I get a big puff of smoke,I am pretty sure it the dieing turbo but its not what I want to see.

So from there I head home to lick my wounds praying that my engine is alright,I done basic checks like comp test etc(perfect) and the smoke seemed no worse than it ever was so fingers crossed.
I think it was ok and being forged I know it aint done a ring land like the stock pistons would have but even so it plays on my mind especially with my last ever run in it puffing smoke at the end of the run  

So that’s how its sat for the last 4+ years as that was back in june 2009!

I lost intrest after this and wanting to go bigger turbo etc and not using it on the road it has just sat there .
I got back into my uno turbos again of all things lol and have been completely distracted by them over the past few years but now the uno is on the road (although not finished  ) I have started thinking about the gtir again.

Shes looking pretty sorry for herself tbh and after doing the uno I think the gtir could do we a redo underneath again aswell as its just on the turn.
The shell is really solid tbh as its been garaged all the time since I have had it, although it does need abit of paint work to make it nice again, and bodywork(filler prep and paint) is my nemisis .

So engine first and that’s where I am at atm,I am still praying that its still ok from its last outing and also that its sat so long.
I have horded many parts to basicly finish the mechanicals now and get it to its final spec,if the engine is toast though I am not sure what I will do.

Reading all the above and reminiscing it may well be time to break it if it all fails as I have come very close these last few years.
Knowing me though if its fucked I will fix it again, as after all this time it almost part of the family  


I do look at the above though and think wtf am I doing,maybe I should have thought about the more happy times in the thing but hay ho  

Anyhow I will update this thread with some piccys and try and keep it up to date if my motivation holds out lol

I did decide to heat rap the standard manifold though to try and keep the under bonnet temps down. I still need to port the manifold out though when I have time
rebuilt another gearbox with shotpeened internals and sandblasted and painted the case.

Next I moved on to the interior as I had parts waiting to be fitted.
I had brought a cobra imola 2 seat originally for me but unfortunately my fat arse would not fit in it, more on it:lol: So I got an omp rs-pt seat from eBay in new condition for a good price and its a far more supportive seat and I fit!
The mounts for the seat was another job that took a long time and was a complete mare to get right.
I also fitted a trs harness on the driver’s side with fia spec fitting which I had to weld to the floor

I also had a safety 21 roll cage to go in which was a complete nightmare to get it in how I wanted it, it did not help that I wanted to pad it which made it even tighter to fit.
For the main hoop I welded a plate under the floor and on top of the floor with a 5mm thick plate under the car to clamp it all down. I did the same for the front legs as well but only welded a plate on the inside this time with a 5mm plate under the car again to clamp it down. I then seam sealed everywhere I had been welding on the floor and painted the front section of the floor under the carpet in a thick coat of white hammerite.
I also sprayed the cage in 2pac marble white and fully padded it in offset padding which was a right pain to do, and on my first outing in the car I managed to put a cigarette burn in the padding by the indicator switch:doh:


I also had the dash out and removed the last of the aircon welded up the clutch bracket on the bulkhead and had a tidy up under there.
I also connected up a fia spec kill switch where the cigarette lighter was and also made some carbon mounts for the avc-r and afc2 in the dash
I also wired in a pivot shift light I got of eBay for £5 and have to say it works pretty well.


I changed the steering wheel for a chavy flat sided omp kubic that once again I got of eBay which did not cost anything in the end by the time I had sold the hubs that came with it. I needed a smaller steering wheel to make it easier to get into the seat as it has high side bolsters.

Next up I fitted some aerocatch bonnet pins as In the future I want to fit a radiator cooling panel and the stock bonnet latch gets in the way.

I also managed to dent my passenger door trying to loosen a bolt on a shitty vr6 I had, I slipped and bumped into it with my arse:doh::evil:It was only a little dent that could have been fixed by a dent man or something but me being me lost my rag in a major way and tried pushing it out myself. In the end I made it worse, with in and out dents so I just lost it and took the sandpaper to it to fill and paint it.
By this time I wanted it back on the road for a santa pod rwyb my mates wanted to go to. So I run it in hard for 100 miles then I was of up santa pod still with only 200miles on the clock by the time I got up there.]
The weather was a joke very very wet with piles of snow still about, and the track was only open for a couple of hours before they shut again. My best that day was only a 13.1 but with2.2- 2.5 60fts and not really giving 100% due to how wet it was.

I then took the car of the road as I was not really using it that much and decided to try and use it as a track car.
I then booked my first track day at brands hatch and wanted to fit a swirl pot set up in the boot to stop fuel surge before the track day.
It took a while to get neat but was a pretty simple job really, although I had to remove the rear sub frame to fit it.


I also fitted some evo3 calipers and clio 172 discs with carbotech xp10 pads before the track day and I was amazed at how good they were. I don’t think I will ever use a different type of pad.
I also knocked myself up a head light vent to get more air to the filter, it’s not finished yet but you get the idea.

While at brands I found out that the mongoose exhaust was making 104db so I then looked into ways of making it quieter.
I looked on a few forums and the hks super dragger was always mentioned as a quiet exhaust plus you can get a bung for them to make them quieter. So I thought I would get a hks silencer off an evo as they come standard on them and then I would mod it to fit.
When I got the silencer I soon realised it was too big to mount how I wanted so I had to mount it on the n/s of the car instead. It looks proper chavy but has quietened it down so I will have to live with it:lol:

Also while I was there I heat rapped the exhaust where it go’s under the fuel tank and rear floor because at the track day the rear floor was getting upto 60degrees c and heating up the swirl pot and pump a bit.

Next up I went to santa pod again and as I took it on a trailer this time I was going all out to beat my pb of 12.8.
I did manage it and got a 12.3@112mph but at the same time my starter motor died then my fan belt pinged off somewhere and finally the syncro hub on 3rd-4th cracked ending my day:evil:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5asl5vvpZ8
Now it’s in bits again lol with the box stripped ready to be fixed plus other things that need doing like that door needs finishing and bumper and bodywork needs tidying.
Also my turbo has been smoking for a long time now and has loads of play in it so I am sort of back to where I was wanting a gt3071r etc, trouble is I should really sort the suspension out first if I want to do more track days so I am not to sure where I am heading yet.












Thought I would update this thread a bit,,not that I have done much since the last update

As I am still skint and my R is still off the road I thought I would do a few of the cheap/free jobs that I have never got around to.
First up I wanted to make myself a brake master cylinder stopper.
I used some old 3mm steel sheet I had laying about and used the end of an old g-clamp for the part pushing on the master cylinder.
I just hope it misses the engine when I put that back in.


up I also wanted to knock myself up some fender braces.
As now the roll cage is in the car it feels very stiff, but when jacked up on the front cross member you can still feel a small amount of flex when opening the doors.
Also while the wings were off I painted behind them to clean it up abit.
There not the lightest of things at around 3kg each:shock: but it was all I had for steel laying around.
There just steel box sections with ground down old door hinges welded on
I also welded a thick plate up by the suspension turret as the other end of the braces will be permentaly fixed and welded onto the car.
Not 100% finished yet but you get the idea.


I also put a heat sink on my ignition module.
I used an old heat sink out of an old playstation2 and used some rubber stops of an old boot lid to space it away from the head a bit.

I had also purchased a gspec oversize water pump pulley that I have now fitted along with a forge power steering pump pulley I got of ebay for a £10.

I have also completely re-plumed the rear of the engine with samco and rally design hoses.
I have also bypassed the heater matrix which I hope may help aid cooling a bit?


I also got a nismo low temp thermostat off someone on the mods site and polished its new home:wuss:

I have also started to try and mod a standard grill into a kudos style item.

Next up on the cheaper mods list is to make some radiator cooling panels and slam panel blank somehow,and fit the braided brake lines I have already brought and maybe paint the calipers and think about a big disc conversion for the back.

June 2012
Well thought I would drag this thread back from the dead

Basically I just slowly lost interest in the thing after the gearbox breaking at santa pod in june 09,it was also in desperate need of a new turbo back then as well.
So with just generally being fed up with fixing the thing and not really sure on what direction to go with it and also being skint :lol:I just parked it up, now the mental scars of working on the shitter have healed I thought I might slowly start giving it another pop.

It was not until around mid-2010 that I started to fancy something abit quicker than a diesel again, the gtir could have gone back on the road with just a stock turbo, but with insurance costs and fuel I would not really be able to afford to run it, and it is not really the easiest road car with the buckets seat etc. so I started thinking about something else, just a nippy cheap run about like the (boring) golf vr6 I had.
I am not sure if the gtir will ever be on the road again tbh,although I will always leave my options open, I think it is just going to be a project/track/play car now.

Anyhow while looking about there was always this grotty looking boy racered 3 spoked mk1 uno turbo that would pop up local, I had one of these as one of my first cars and although it was extremely ratty at the time I loved the thing, loads of fun8).
I had always tryed avoided getting/looking for another one because I know how truly shit they are :lol:and like to rot to pieces, I have always liked the engines though.
Anyway this local uno had been for sale for ages,infact I think the add was well over a year old as it was well over priced, I think I had even tried ringing the fella in the past before I brought the vr6 years back to make an offer but he would never answer back then.

Then on this off chance my mate got hold of him….

Long story short what was going to be a quick bodge/weld it together and run it for a year bit of fun, turned into an epic 2 year 3 uno adventure which I am still yet to fully finish
:doh:

So with the gtir still sitting there years on I start to wonder if I should call it a day after 10 years and break it up, even when done its not going to get a lot of use so why keep it?
All it needed is a turbo to get it running in reality, but to make it into a decent track car it would need thousands.

In the end I thought sod it I can still have fun with the suspension and brakes that it’s got so I just need a turbo to get the ball rolling.
I swore I would never buy another used turbo as they are sometimes iffy, and before you know it you could of refurbed your one or brought a new one for the cost of a few second hand jobbys(maybe i should have listened to my own advice at this point:oops:).

Anyhow I keep my eyes open for something that fits the bill as brand new is a load of cash, then a recentaly refurbished td md204 (disco potato) pops up on eBay, I would of liked something a bit bigger but for the price and as it an easy bolt on I thought I would go for it, it was recently refurbished by td and unused so has got to be ok, right?
Well being more interested into if the turbo was genuine with a bb core etc. (I had never seen one before) I neglected to check the exhaust a/r , which once I had got it home I noticed it was the .64.
Turbo dynamics have never sold an md204 with a .64 hot side so I am not sure what happened here, it’s not really the sellers fault as I assume he did not know, and td never gave me an answer so maybe it was just a genuine mistake,the turbo over all seemed fine though.
So at this point I am unsure as what to do as with the .64 hot side, it would basically only just make as much power as the stock turbo, and be flat out with the power I would of liked tbh.

In the end after looking at my options I think the best thing to do instead of changing the exhaust housing would to be to upgrade the compressor wheel instead.
So after reading around many many forums for bloody ages I send it back to td and settled on the 71mm 52trim comp wheel, as it seems a good match for the .64 hotside, spec wise I think its somewhere in between a md205 and md214 now, basicly a 52trim gt2871 .64 which is pretty much the same as a hks gt-rs, what a load of bollocks

It is now around the sort of spec I would have liked in the first place, I am not sure if I would have originally have chosen the .64 but after reading up I think its proberly a good match for the solid responsive 350/350 I would like.
I also had the wastegate ported at the same time which was pointed out to me by Danny and also from what I had read, so I am hoping any boost creep will be kept to a minimum, I will be running a 18psi actuator so I may not even notice it?

Maybe I should have just brought a new turbo from the start:lol::doh: as it would have been pretty close to what I have spent, but all in all and after all the recent research I am hoping it will all turn out ok in the end.
If I brought a new turbo there is chance I would have gone straight for a .86 gt3071, I am not knocking this turbo as it is proberly the best performance to the pound turbo you can get for the gtir,but with all the stories of lag and needing to run high boost for the turbo to come alive is just asking for trouble on my car, that will always be running a stock box and mostly be used for ¼ miles and track days.
Only time will tell if this is a mistake, but if I am honest I was happy enough with 1bar mong power, but you always want more…

I don’t think it will be going anywhere soon but I would hope to have it running this year and maybe complete by next year.
I have started to make a 3inch elbow and have plans for a few other things aswell, it’s just good to be doing something with the shitter again and sort of having a plan for once:lol:.
I am glad I did not sell up in the end, as like many others, and also going by the uno, I would have always wanted another one, they really are a fun car when all is well, and a buzz I would like to hold onto8).
I think this time I am just going to take my time with it and try and enjoy working on it for once.


Well that’s pretty much it lol

I lost interest again last year but in the mean time i have been hoarding a few more bits.
I think I am pretty much there now in terms of parts and now just need to bolt the thing back together.
Will be making  a few minor changes but if the engine is all still good this should be its final spec and done mechanically,I hope..

Even if all is still good it could still go tits up as I am considering  trying to map it myself with nistune lol
Not sure yet but its something I would really like to learn,and from what I have read the nistune does look pretty user friendly.


Anyhow here is the full spec of the rotter and the only recentish pictures I have,will try and keep this  thread updated as I bolt it back together.



1991 RB Pulsar GTI-R

-ENGINE AND TURBO-
-2046cc.
-8.8:1 c/r.
-Wiseco 87mm forged pistons.
-Cometic 1.8mm steel head gasket.
-Rebuilt skimmed head with mild port and polish.
-Greddy rocker stopper kit.
-Crack tested head/crank/rods.
-Arp rod bolts.
-Line bored block.
-Fully rebuilt bottom end with 0.25 Acl/Calico ct-1 coated bearings on mains and big ends.
-Turbo dynamics md204s upgraded into a gt2871r 52trim .64ar with bronze ball bearing carriers and ported wastegate.
-Forge motorsport adjustable actuator with 18psi blue spring.
-Peterson 700 series -4an 60 micron turbo oil feed filter.
-Torquesuk -4an/-6an forged fittings with teflon braided hose for turbo oil and water lines.
-Forge motorsport alloy power steering pump pulley.
-Alloy alternator pulley.
-Nismo engine mount.
-Silicon filled front and rear engine mounts.

-BREATHING-
-K&N rc-2960 filter with 3.5inch cold air feed from n/s brake duct.
-Z32 afm with jwt 6inch pop charger adapter and Tomei plug.
-Custom 2.25-3inch stainless/silicon intake pipe.
-Hks super sqv blow off valve.
-Rebuilt ported polished and port matched intake manifold.
-Heat wrapped and ported standard exhaust manifold matched to metal gasket.
-Janspeed 3inch elbow/downpipe.
-Custom downpipe back 3inch exhaust.
-Hks super dragger 2 silencer modified from evo 8 exiting on n/s of bumper.
-Modified rocker cover with -10an breather outlets with Torquesuk and Motamec fittings and aeroquip hoses.
-Modified Cusco oil catch tank with -10an fittings and 32mm K&N breather venting to air.
-Removed pcv valve and blanked pipe work.
-Removed carbon canister.
-samco/rmd vacuum hoses.

-COOLING-
-D2 power bar and plate front mount intercooler with modified pipe work.
-Samco boost hoses.
-Mikalor boost pipe clamps.
-Twin core copper radiator.
-Stant 19-21lbs racing radiator cap.
-Nismo 62c thermostat (for track days).
-Gspec performance oversize water pump pulley.
-Bypassed heater matrix (for track days).
-Removed water heated inlet manifold piping.
-Samco water hoses.
-Mocal 13 row front mount oil cooler with stainless braided lines.
-Relocated power steering cooler behind front grill.

-FUELING-
-Denso 720cc injectors.
-Hard wired fuel pumps.
-Nissan skyline gtr in tank lift pump.
-SM engineering 1 litre swirl pot.
-Bosch 044 external main pump.
-Goodridge 200 series braided fuel hoses with Goodridge and xrp fittings.
-Sytec bullet motorsport fuel filter.
-Nismo R-tune fuel pressure regulator.
-Sytec pressure gauge.
-Modified stock fuel rail with -6an fittings
-Braided fuel lines with Motamec and Torquesuk fittings.

-IGNITION-
-Msd 6A cdi ignition control box.
-Msd blaster hvc coil.
-Magnecor kv85 coil lead.
-Heat sink on power transistor on modified bracket.

-ECU-
Nistune realtime ecu.

-TRANSMISSION-
-Fully rebuilt shotpeened standard gearbox with a slightly lower ratio 5th gear.
-Sand blasted and painted gearbox case.
-Hks clutch cover.
-Helix 4 paddle center plate.
-Nismo clutch fork pivot.
-Reinforced clutch fork.
-Goodridge braided clutch hose.
-Clutch pedal support bracket.
-Modified standard short shift gear lever.
-Energy suspension shift linkage bush.
-Solid metal insulator linkage bush.
-Powerflex front gearbox mount.
-Silicon filled rear gearbox mount.


-SUSPENSION, WHEELS AND BRAKES-
-Nismo dampers.
-RS-R lowering springs.
-Cusco type AS front strut brace.
-Cusco type AS rear strut brace.
-Cusco type 2 lower brace.
-Custom fender braces.
-Arc adjustable pillow ball anti-roll bar links.
-Arc 22mm hollow rear anti-roll bar.
-Polysport rear anti-roll bar bushes.
-Whiteline subframe align and lock kit.
-Seam welded front control arms.
-Powerflex front wishbone bushes.
-Whiteline anti-lift/castor kit.
-Powerflex front anti-roll bar bushes.
-15inch white Buddy club P1-racing alloys.
-Evo 3 front calipers.
-Clio 172 front discs.
-Carbotech xp10 front pads.
-Do-luck power line brake lines.
-Wilwood exp 600 plus brake fluid.
-Custom brake master cylinder stopper.
-Brake stone shields removed.

-INTERIOR and ELECTRONICS-
-Safety 21 7 point bolt in roll cage painted marble beige and fully padded in blue offset padding.
-Omp RS-PT driver seat on steel Omp/custom low profile seat mounts.
-Cobra Kevlar imola 2 passenger seat on alloy Cobra/custom seat mounts.
-Trs magnum 5 point harness with fia spec fixings for driver.
-Rear passenger seats removed.
-Omp suede kubic steering wheel on OMP hub.
-Pivot super quick-x shift knob.
-Apexi avc-type r boost controller.
-Apexi super afc-2 fuel controller.
-Carbon mounts for apexi avc-r and safc2 set in dash.
-Removed stereo and relocated standard oil temp/pressure/boost gauge cluster.
-Lockwood white dials.
-Pivot super shift lamp pro.
-Apexi el system meter boost gauge.
-Hks turbo timer.
-Ebay air temp gauge.
-Battery in boot in rally design battery box with inline fuse.
-Fia spec battery cut off switch.
-Windscreen washer bottle in boot.
-Fuel swirl pot set up in boot.
-2kg Fire extinguisher.

-BODYWORK-
-Colour coded in KJ7 white.
-Clear side repeaters.
-Modified cut front bumper.
-Laguna front spoiler.
-Aerocatch plus flush locking bonnet pins.
-Custom front tow hook.
-Alloy exhaust silencer heat shield.
-Fully painted underside and rear subframe, tie bars, anti roll bars, etc.
-Custom headlight air intake (for track).

-OTHER-
-Forge motorsport oil cap.
-Painted rocker cover.
-Polished plenum.
-Polished thermostat and water outlet housings.
-Polished engine mount.
-Various blue /red hose finishers and alloy/stainless bolts.
-Various engine brackets removed.
-Various extra engine earths.
-Air con fully removed.
-magnetic oil sump bung.
-Foliatec blue painted brake calipers.
-Reinforced mounting points for roll cage.


Stock turbo unmapped.
295bhp 285ft/lbs @ 1bar boost.
12.8qtr@108mph@1bar boost.
12.3qtr@112mph@1.2/1.3bar boost.

Wow epic read that some nice work there ...

Very nice car and spec mate

Now i read all, i'll go to bed! Ah ah
Huge work you done there! Congrats

Cheers guys  ,i am hopeing 2014 will be its year,thats if I don't have any major hiccups:lol: 

jeez that's some build thread there rich  
didn't read all of it but you've done a mighty lot of good work there
and the car looks to be done to really high standards so well done mate
hopefully youll be able to enjoy it next year and reap your reward so to speak

Thanks Bob  yeah I got abit carried away reminiscing  

It also seems I forgot most of the more fun times I had in it though lol, and to be fair it did me well when I most needed it, and most of its problems where either my own fault or from just me abusing it.

Yeah I hope all go's well and I can get some use out of it,its been along time now and I have pretty much forgot the buzz these cars can give you,memorys of the stress,paranoia and heart ache are still quite vivid though it seems  

I like a lot of what you've done mate but preferred the standard look, But I've done a lot of what you have in the past so been there got the t-shirt and want a different look myself this time. But I really like the restoration stuff you've done under the car you can keep the interior I'm afraid I prefer comfort these days lol.



Rob

Yeah its funny how time can change you,when I was up loading the pics and looking back I was thinking I proberly had most of my fun when it was mostly stock.

Don't get me wrong I still like how it is now but I am more continuing on the vision I had from many years ago.
I cant deny I still cant resist abit of bling though as I still find myself polishing random bits of alloy now and again  
If I was to start again though it would be a lot more subtle and proberly not half as modified.

Also with the power chasing,you always want more and to be fair I aint finished/driven it yet, but still, i cant help but think that these last upgrades I am doing are a bit of a waste of money.
I was quite happy as a 1bar monger if I am honest and with performance to the pound and reliability I think that's proberly where it was best left.

Also with like you say the interior and also the swirl pot,this alone sort of fucks it off from being a road car any more, or more precise a daily driver and not just an expensive weekend toy/second car.

I miss when I sort of classed the car as a daily driver/ weekend drag car lol and that was basicly when I first got it.

If I was to start from scratch right now it would still be tweaked but it would be no more than 300-320bhp, stock turbo, tmic,and proberly forged for peace of mind and be a daily driver.
As it is now i will proberly get it on the road to map it then it will proberly be used mostly as a track car a few times a year, which is abit of a waste tbh.
Although it will be nice to have a running car in the garage other than an engine and shell like it has been for the last 4 years  

The above is half the reason its taken me so long to get back around to sorting the car out tbh,as where i wanted a fun affordable daily driver i looked else where and went back to my unos   .
I proberly got carryed with the uno though if i am honest and modded it more than i planned,although its abit more subtly done than the gtir.
I can honestly say though i have as much fun driving the uno on the road as i did the gtir ,it helps that you can scare yourself in it and still be within the speed limits  

As for the underside it needs doing again really,its still good but could do with touching up in places as it was done a long time ago now.
If all go's well with the engine i will completly redo it,either from bare metal or if i can get only the stone chip off i will go off the original finish.
After doing my unos to abit better standard i think it would be rude not to redo the gtir as well, especilaly while its still in good shape.

What a read. Car looks awesome.

It's nice to see someone not miss understand my comments and kind of agree lol, It is a nice car but not very practical for a road car, Like you I preferred my old Pulsar when it was 304 bhp then I got carried away with power hungry eyes and ruined it totally, 500 bhp was nice but not really half as much fun as ragging it across country maxing out the limits in it's old form, There was no way you could get close to maxing it out with 500 bhp you'd be dead lol.

Nothing stopping you returning to a more normal looking car with a smaller turbo, It would be pretty bullet proof then, But it would be a lot of work but maybe worth it long term.


Rob

Yeah 300-320hp is around the sweet spot with these cars imo, it also gives the gearbox half a chance at surviving with prolonged spirited driving  ,and proberly is the performance to the pound sweet spot.

Some people would disagree but I would still class it as a fast car at this power level,mine ran low 12s which imo is more than enough to keep with most things on the road,and if you do get beat its proberly by a car worth 3-4 times as much.

I struggle to even hit the speed limit round my way tbh, with all the slow 40mph a-roads about  ,and being abit more sensible nowadays I don't tend to blow past as many cars as I use to as I seem to get a thing called guilt that I never used to feel  

I do admit though when it last was on the road and all was clear 9 times out of 10 I would see at least a ton on most journeys, sounds bad but that's just stretching its legs really and just touching 4th.

Anyhow i am going to stick with what I have got now and just see how it go's,the turbo that's going on it now is still what I would class as sensible,and even though the power gremlins maybe saying to me i should of got a 3071 deep down I am secretly glad I didn't,well at least at the moment I am

I am hoping the .64 2871 should still be quite responsive, and at the same time give my gearbox a chance.
I am planning to get it mapped to around 1.5-1.6bar or where ever its still efficient to just make the most of it, and then proberly run it at actuator pressure of 1.2 bar most of the time.
I am hoping the higher end will see 350+ and the lower end 320ish,if it starts stripping gears or anything silly maybe I will have a re think.

Cant even imagine what 500bhp feels like in a gtir,but looking at you power graph it was proberly like a high powered 2 stroke motocrosser,but instead of trying to throw you off the back it proberly tried to throw you into a ditch instead

Did it actually put the power down well or spin up the wheels coming on boost?  

gtirx2 wrote:

Did it actually put the power down well or spin up the wheels coming on boost?  

Actually as long as it wasn't wet it was pretty good, It would scrub the tires a little and could struggle to keep it's short little arse in a straight line on full boost but it was very very fast indeed, Way to fast actually!

I'll only be running 1.5 bar on my new set up so should really be around the same 350-380 bhp just will a comfy interior/air con/heated windscreen and lots of other little luxury's your little rattle box hasn't got anymore lol

Haha its always been a rattle box,but since the tight fitting padded cage its creaks like an old ship aswell now,then there is the bastard loud fuel pump...

Yeah be interesting to see what your turbo makes, it was a gtx 2863 wasn't it,or was it a 67?

Either way I don't think I have seen one used on a gtir yet.  

gtirx2 wrote:

Yeah be interesting to see what your turbo makes, it was a gtx 2863 wasn't it,or was it a 67?

Either way I don't think I have seen one used on a gtir yet.  

Was thinking about the 67 but the 63 has better matched wheels so I'll probably go with that, And it makes what it makes its not a problem if it's only 340 bhp but I'd like to think it could do 380 with the other mods, But I'll make the final decision once I've spoken to Owen developments in a couple of weeks.

I remember Rishi had a massive pump in the boot it was bloody awful lol


Rob

yep have to say that its a case of never being happy with what you've got

ive swapped things round so many times from big power to less power then back again and wasted god knows how much money in doing so...........never happy lol

this time im trying one of the precision turbos quite a few are raving about so gone and got myself one after recently seeing lens car make so much power so easily
heres a recent dyno readout


as you can see the potential with these is enormous and they are not roller bearing so much more durable.
this was at just over 1.2 bar and the map looks lovely to me with gradual power and matching torque curve so good driveability. believe it or not he was still running a stock gearbox when this was dynod but the bearings started to fail so power was capped. with more boost power comes in very early for a big tubby and it makes the power well within rev limits so no need to rag the living daylights out of it.

il be running this with either motec or pfc as I have both and to keep charge temps down im using the pace charge cooler
if it all comes together as planned then should be a very drivable car but with manageable power when you want to give it a footfull

knights of nee wrote:

gtirx2 wrote:

Yeah be interesting to see what your turbo makes, it was a gtx 2863 wasn't it,or was it a 67?

Either way I don't think I have seen one used on a gtir yet.
 

Was thinking about the 67 but the 63 has better matched wheels so I'll probably go with that, And it makes what it makes its not a problem if it's only 340 bhp but I'd like to think it could do 380 with the other mods, But I'll make the final decision once I've spoken to Owen developments in a couple of weeks.

I remember Rishi had a massive pump in the boot it was bloody awful lol


Rob

Yeah think they should all do 380, or atleast I think I have seen them all quoted as being able to.

I think owens can also possibly offer a 68mm hta wheel which I think is fp's version of a billet wheel.

GTI-R US wrote:yep have to say that its a case of never being happy with what you've got

ive swapped things round so many times from big power to less power then back again and wasted god knows how much money in doing so...........never happy lol

this time im trying one of the precision turbos quite a few are raving about so gone and got myself one after recently seeing lens car make so much power so easily
heres a recent dyno readout


as you can see the potential with these is enormous and they are not roller bearing so much more durable.
this was at just over 1.2 bar and the map looks lovely to me with gradual power and matching torque curve so good driveability. believe it or not he was still running a stock gearbox when this was dynod but the bearings started to fail so power was capped. with more boost power comes in very early for a big tubby and it makes the power well within rev limits so no need to rag the living daylights out of it.

il be running this with either motec or pfc as I have both and to keep charge temps down im using the pace charge cooler
if it all comes together as planned then should be a very drivable car but with manageable power when you want to give it a footfull

Its not often people with gtirs stray away from the tried and tested garretts,i see the evo lot are also liking the precision turbos and also the borg warners for the bigger power builds.

Talking of evo turbos that's one I always fancied, but played it safe/cheaper with the bolt on gt28.

I quite liked the look of that turbine tech manifold so that you could run an evo turbo,there stock turbos seem pretty reliable and make upto 400bhp with the larger housing and still with good spool,or the smaller 9.8 housing would make a good 350-380 car.
I think the above would proberly out perform a similar powered gt28 setup.

Well the engine is finally back in but if I am honest I am still struggling with the enthusiasm to work on the bloody thing   

I am at the stage where I am just slowly mocking every thing up where there has been a few changes and need to re route a few things.
Still unsure where I am going to mount the fpr atm , and I am also needing to get some fittings welded onto the catch tank and the inlet pipe welded up to start making progress again.

I have also started making a downpipe back exhaust,I maybe being a bit optimistic as I am going straight through and hoping the hks backbox will be enough to silence it   

Anyhow heres some poor pics of how its looking…

Turbo lines with a heat shield for the filter


Exhaust


Janspeed downpipe/elbow I got of bob


Brake stopper fitted


Larger hvc coil I got of steve p many moons ago


Mocking stuff up

One word... WOW    That's a lot of work there mate & looks like its all paid off.. Well done. Love it

While the going is good I thought I would update this but I doubt my luck will last out lol.

Had a dash light electrical issue that put me right off the car again and other issues like gummed up fuel pumps.

Anyhow the engine is now looking like a engine lol and only the intake pipe and filter to change now once I swap to the z32,720s and map.

Fingers crossed I can get it to the mapping stage as I don't trust my will or the car

A few piccys...

New remounted mocal cooler.



A 6 year old vision of how I wanted the breather and fuel set up,waste of time really for power but had all the parts so had to follow through.



And a couple of engine pics...