Finally!......

Mornin,

So yesterday it finally happened....



She’s on the road! First job of the day was 4wheel alignment



Crappy video of driving there, GoPro rattled a lot

https://youtu.be/pGK0FSSaJ3Q  

First time it’s been drivin in 6 years!!

Set it up at home with the laser kit I bought, and the guy couldn’t believe how well I’d done, to the point the rear was absolutely bang on



So from there to mot station

Very boring video, really boring:

https://youtu.be/2lFWIuTtV6U

8min 30 - 8min 50
10min 30.....  probably best bit for turbo noise






Small oil leak, grrrrrr



So she passed with flying colours, would have been pissed off if an advisory had been put down

Taxed it and off to petrol station, then for a 100 mile drive round north wales and into the forests





All that work and take it through a forest

Engine is spot on, no issues as of yet, few minor things like the oil leak on transfer box, alarm periodically goes off for no reason, something fell off at 120mph obviously not needed , annoying rattle from vents on dash, only blows air out of front vents doesn’t change to screen only, screen wash pump failed 60 miles into trip......

Oh and the coil overs are mega harsh! Not a fan of them at all, going to look at recon’ing my nismo struts, if I’m honest it ruined the drive for me, thought my Mini Cooper s was a hard ride, felt like a luxury car when I drove it later

So get a few more miles on her, and do an oil change for decent oil..

Mad driving it again after 6 years off the road!!

Gaz

Very very nice Gaz, top job you did there

Now youve completed it your gonna get bored, no more trips to the garage to escape life

Great to read this - she looks spot on so good job there mate !
Even with the tiny issues sounds like you really enjoyed it and that's the main thing !
Top Man !

In the grand scheme of things, all very minor issues mate so congrats on getting her back on the road! Bet it feels good to be driving it again!!!

Yep average coilovers are junk and a downgrade on real roads
Blueprint do washer pump and they pretty cheap http://www.gtir-motorsport-club.com/t6434-washer-motor-replacement-and-heater-problem .
Stop playing with babies and get the niggles sorted ...

I bet you have Teins....

Great job

Looks awesome .... Glad all the hard work has payed off ... Even with the few niggles it's nothing compared to all the work you have done to it ...

Good work looks mint

Cheers guys, definitely still puts a smile on my face although I don’t drive it fast by any means anymore, quite happy plodding along seeing other road users looking at her, wondering what the hell it is.  Had quite a few bikers having a good look when over taking, thumbs up etc

The screen wash is even easier than I thought, turns out I just need to put some in

Coil overs are brand new bc racing RA’s, can I swap the springs for a better softer ride? I think I went with 6 and 4kg? What ever was recommended, each shock is set to softest setting, hate to think what the hardest setting is like!  Flat roads was fine, but pot hole rough roads just bonkers!

Still not happy with the paint, although the pictures look amazing, up close needs attention mainly rear quarters. Guy who sprayed is a knob basically, looking at colour sanding rear quarters later in year seeing if I can remove or even reduce the orange peel and paint defects. If not will get the quarters painted, it’ll be the only way I’ll be truly happy with it.

I’ll get my restoration thread finished over the coming weeks, since the photobucket saga I’ve lost interest tbh, using post img now but need motivation to get it uploaded etc.

Suspension:

Fronts 5kg rear 4kg, is whats on it.

Could I go say 3kg front and 2kg rear?

Trouble with BC and all the taiwan coilovers is
1; strut stroke WAy too short
2: valving is junk

4 and 3 makes it bit better but as soon as go too soft you run out of travel and banging on the stops or don't have the droop for effective contact/grip .
Road here are awful and I killed BC's in 6months, best thing for them as f00king lethal on rough roads . Ohlins best I had for out the box solution, Bilstein R36 inserts been my solution for rough road spirited driving.
Rough B roads require setup more similar to gravel rally, The taiwan coilovers good at smooth tarmac and not a lot else and if you experience decent suspension you will realise how poor they really are .

Is a couple recent posts on suspension and one with interesting options form europe and US .

So basically £800 wasted

If the Nismo shocks were not leaking fluid I stick them on, would have to get it aligned again though or use my laser tool. Are inserts still available? I remember a thread on here sometime ago about inserts.

inserts are custom effort, you give bilstein lengths you want and style of strut and they make them.
R36 fit in 50mm strut bodies so want GAB struts as donors or other 50mm body R struts (standard fronts are 46mm bodies)
You can use off shelf inserts close to measure lengths you need but stroke length always bit shorter than what best .
Reality is you looking at about 1,500 to 2K for decent effort on suspension.
Money well spent as BC made my car almost undrivable on undulated roads where overhead road piles mixed with road subsidence from wet/dry seasons made repetitive undulations in the road, I can hit them now at 80mph+, similar on Taiwan coilovers over 40mph through you out of lane and bashed you and car senseless .
Standard struts with custom springs based closely off whiteline spring rates also give good results for daily road use .

Makes it more exiting having coilovers one minute you are on the one side of the road next you are not lol I remember my Dad trying to keep up with a stock civic in his Skyline r33 on some of the back roads with coilovers it left us for dead as it was damn right dangerous bouncing all over the place.

^ Yep average coilovers should be MOT failure, they fo00king dangerous and total handling downgrade .
Fit something decent and difference is UNREAL .

Glad you have got it back on the road can't imagine what 6 years would be like I have been waiting to get mine sorted for 6 months and that's enough. It's funny all the looks you get these days I'm going to try and ditch my mongoose as it's a bit abnoxious now

Mr B wrote:^ Yep average coilovers should be MOT failure, they fo00king dangerous and total handling downgrade .
Fit something decent and difference is UNREAL .

Yeah I put some shitty gab on it atm but got some Koni inserts to put on I got off here years ago it's a shame they concentrated on coilovers for the R and no longer do anything else. I have had tein. D2 and also ran the gab and kyb special rally which were pretty good.

^ Just junk the goose rear bean can pipe and make a custom rear proper silencer box section, exiting on left is best for exhaust design but can u bend it back to come out on right but it tight bends and limits box size .

GAB kyb and japan ohlins all pretty decent but all old and past best these days .
Coilovers can work fine if where built to requirement but they just use a standard strut body and do no real R&D so you get stupid stroke range and ridiculous spring rates, it only customer complaints that got retailers start offer spring rate options .

GAB still make suspension for the R, but again coil overs...

http://www.gabsuspension.com/product-application/gss-nis-371

Will give them another go over weekend, got no option tbh, still waiting on the money trees first harvest Let me down year after year, amazing what you buy down the pub

Scorpion exhaust, nice and quiet, ditched the goose ages ago, had HKS before that, mild steel, didnt like UK weather

Best thing you can do is keep watering the trees while conclude your next move on suspension then flip the BC and harvest a crop of sterling and invest in something decent.
PROPER suspension is worth the COST, it massive upgrade for R handling/performance and saves fatigue on the car and potentially save you and car from death .
Bilstein is easier than you may think and plenty small rally prep shops can custom valve and service the R36 inserts at minimal costs (used a lot in budget rallying).

Mr B wrote:GAB kyb and japan ohlins all pretty decent but all old and past best these days .
Coilovers can work fine if where built to requirement but they just use a standard strut body and do no real R&D so you get stupid stroke range and ridiculous spring rates, it only customer complaints that got retailers start offer spring rate options .

Yeah luckily I have a scorpion like burrows although a bit of a compromise it's a lot better. I'm sure you will get used to the suspension a bit more burrows not driving an R for that long will be a shock whatever lol

I have bc on the R I sold jack decent bushes all round not updated but good standard ones white line rear arb on soft. Car was stripped in rear. 16 pro race 1.2. Michelin piolot sport 3 tyres ,spacers on front to clear brakes. Not dangerous or bouncy or any of the above

Yes there is better but no need for a grand a corner for lots of B road abuse and odd track session
Also finding new dampers and springs I found not a easy task

Go pro might not help but yours looks bouncy. How far have you adjusted the springs up ?

I don’t mean you personally but I think people buy coil overs and put them on and  never set them up correct more looks or go to low etc. No corner weighting the car etc ( they take time over springs n shocks)