Drum and Bass, I mean Hubs and Brakes (sorry, bad humour friday)

Friday, 21 July 2006 | Comments (2) | Categories: Brakes, Driveline

R33 GT-R 5-stud Hubs

Here's a pic of the R33 GT-R hubs I cleaned up and painted last week. These will match up with the GT-R half-shafts and of course the 5-stud hubs I have for the front.

R33 GT-R Rear Brake Disc Shield

DBA4000 (4929) Rotor sitting in shield

Also mentioned previously that I straightened and painted up the R33 GT-R rear brakes disc shields, so here's a pics, along with one of my new rear DBA4000 rotors sitting inside it. Fronts are on back-order from Victoria.

- DBA4000 4929 (Front of Disc)
- DBA4000 4929 (Back of Disc)
- DBA4000 4929 (Box)

Front DBA4000 Specifications:
- Model: DBA 4928S (S = Slotted)
- Diameter: 324mm
- Thickness: 30mm (Minimum 28mm)

Front DBA4000 Specifications:
- Model: DBA 4929S (S = Slotted)
- Diameter: 300mm
- Thickness: 22mm (Minimum 20mm)

This discs are specified to be used with the R32 GT-R V-spec, R33 GT-R and R34 GT-R Brembo brakes which I have. Back to the workshop tomorrow for (fingers crossed) some bolting things together.

Cheers
Brendan

Still no bolting together - but I can feel it getting close

Monday, 17 July 2006 | Comments (0) | Categories: Brakes, General

R33 GT-R Handbrake Assemblies

I know I mentioned that I was going to be bolting some stuff together on Saturday, but it just wasn't meant to be. Roy called on Friday and said that I'd have to look at getting the GT-R hubs out from the back corner, as the Just Jap 5-stud ones won't work with the GT-R half-shafts (or something to that affect). So first up I go the hub carriers and hubs etc off of the subframe that I'd been using, then it was a matter of taking it all apart. Thankfully it all came off fairly easily, with Roy using the hub carriers for another C-Red project that's being bolted together for the Perth Autosalon at the end of this month.

While I was at it I had to disassemble the handbrake assemblies, picture above. These basically are a small drum brake system (mechanical rather than hydraulic though) that pushes the drums against the inside of the brake disc/rotor. The hubs themselves were a little rusty in parts, so after a little bit of a scrub with a drill and nylon abrasion wheel/brush, it was masked and hit with a light coating of black paint. Also part of this lot were the rear brake rotor guards, which after a little bit of bending back into shape, a good clean with the prepsol, were also treated to a quick coat of satin black too.

Re-coated (Zinc/Gold) Assorted Bolts

I mentioned also in my last post about getting a box of bolts etc re-coated in zinc (gold). Here they are, by no means are they the last of them, but it's a good start. Of course as soon as I looked under the car again, I spotted more that I should have done. Oh well, I know I'll have to do another batch anyway.

Thanks for listening.

Cheers
Brendan

Diff done

Tuesday, 11 July 2006 | Comments (3) | Categories: Driveline, Suspension

GT-R Diff with S13 Rear Cover

Dropped into C-Red today to check on some parts I left drying over the weekend. All looked good. While there, Roy and I quickly changed over the driveshaft flange on the GT-R diff to one from an S13 diff to match up with the S13 drive shaft (funny that). We also fitted the nice shiny rear cover (and new gasket) and the results speak for themselves.

- GT-R Diff with S13 Rear Cover 1
- GT-R Diff with S13 Rear Cover 2

Also put back together (after painting) the braces I got in last week - being the Do-Luck 'Style' Ladder bar brace, which ties the chassis rails together around the front section of the gearbox, and the rear lower tie rod brace, which ties the lower tie rods together where they bolt up to the somewhat thin part of the rear subframe. Look good don't they.

- Do-Luck 'Style' Ladder bar brace (Front Chassis Brace)
- Rear Lower Tie Rod Brace

Over this period of pulling apart the rear end, I've slowly been gathering an assorted of nuts and bolts - all looking a little tardy, so I grabbed the box that I was collecting them in, chucked in all the other assorted nuts and bolts around the car, and dropped the box off to the Zinc Coaters. Have asked to be ready on Saturday so I can bolt the stuff together.

Cheers
Brendan

No slacking off yet

Monday, 10 July 2006 | Comments (2) | Categories: Driveline, Suspension

S13 Rear Sub-assemblies (aka Hub Carrier or Spindle)

First of all, no I haven't been slacking off. I have been doing work on the car, but it's really restricted to Saturday's and sometimes a little of Sunday's...would make a good reason why it's taking so long to finish the car too.

Couple of weeks ago on Saturday (wife calls it Saturday morning creche), it was time to get the rear sub-assemblies off (otherwise known as Hub Carrier or Spindle I believe). This was a right pain in the a$$. After the half shafts being in them for over a decade, they were well and truly stuck fast. After plenty of Rost Off, belting with a hammer and one worse for wear half shaft, the shaft finally broke free of the sub-assembly. That was just one side...thankfully the drivers side came free with only 10 or so bashes with the hammer.

S13 Rear Stock Suspenion Arms

While I was at it, I removed the rear arms for cleanup and paint. Now although these won't be fitted to the final product, I thought I'd make sure they were at least worthy of being bolted up temporarily.

You may recall me doing the diff and half-shafts from an R33 GT-R a few weeks ago, well as planned, I found an S13 Rear Diff Cover which didn't have too many munted fins and prepped and painted it. I started out with just a coat of VHT Cast Aluminium paint, but thought why not a coat of clear to make it easier to clean (same theory as brakes - smooth surface, easier to clean). So on went 3 coats of clear and the results were great. So great I also hit the gearbox housing and the new Trust Sump with the same treatment.

- S13 Diff Housing 1
- S13 Diff Housing 2
- Nissan Differential Gasket
- Trust Sump - painted Cast Aluminium and Clear

Last week I finally took delivery of my new Nismo Power Brace, rear lower tension-rod brace and Do-Luck 'Style' Ladder Bar brace (goes under the gearbox and ties the chassis rails together). The Power Brace will stay its standard Nismo silver, but the other two braces were a mix of blue and polished alloy. These have now been painted Satin Black as per the rest of the under body parts.

- S13 Nismo Power Brace
- Do-Luck 'Style' Ladder Bar Brace (crap photo)

Rear end parts

With all these bits painted and ready to go, it's almost time to bolt some of this stuff onto the car! Doh, just remembered I need to get all the bolts zinc coated first...

Cheers
Brendan

Moved to www.sillbeer.com

Friday, 7 July 2006 | Comments (0) | Categories: General

Well, first up, many thanks to the domain owner Ryan for letting me use his domain name for my project - sillbeer.com, thanks mate.

So this is a move that should make it much easier to remember where to see the progress of the car.

Cheers
Brendan

Plated…GOLD!!!

Friday, 30 June 2006 | Comments (0) | Categories: General

Well not quite, but great nonetheless. Got home this afternoon and in the mail had come the notification that my number plates are ready for pickup. They are 'SILLBEER'. Some of you may have wondered where I came about this name. Well if you've ever been to the Japanese Yahoo Auctions before (a boon for used cars and parts from Japan), and subsequently used say the Google Translator service, when Silvia is listed, it is translated to 'Sill beer' or 'Sillbeer'. Here's a link to the Nissan section of Yahoo Japan Auctions:

Japanese Yahoo Auctions - Nissan

Down the left you'll see the names of the cars, some familiar, some not so, and you'll notice 'Sill beer', sitting there above Skyline. Some other interesting translations are Grolier for Gloria, Fair ready for Fairlady and Seaming Machine for Cima. Oh, and if you ever read 'minute mountains' in the text, I think it's short for millimetre.

Cheers
Brendan

Brembo’s All Done

Tuesday, 27 June 2006 | Comments (4) | Categories: Brakes, Paint

R33 GT-R Brembo (Rear) - Silver with Red Logo

On Saturday I finally completed the R33 GT-R Brembo Brake calipers. Original Black with a White logo, I wanted something different, so using VHT's special Caliper spray paint in Cast Aluminium, Red and Clear, the transformation is now complete.

Cheers
Brendan

Take a brake

Friday, 23 June 2006 | Comments (0) | Categories: Brakes, Paint

R33 GT-R Brembo (Front) - Silver with Red Logo

R33 GT-R Brembo (Rear) - Silver with Red Logo

Well, I went home last night - and between my son Kai crying, I managed to paint the red logos onto the calipers. The mask/frisket worked well. Although, I didn't have any idea when to remove the mask, so I tested one of the fronts and it came off OK, with only minor blemishes. Tried one of the rears however and it wasn't as successful. I left the second rear until this morning and it came away really nicely (as pictured). It's not bad for an amateur job, and once it has the clear coats on, the finish should be pretty flash.

Cheers
Brendan

Driveline time

Thursday, 22 June 2006 | Comments (5) | Categories: Brakes, Engine, Driveline, Paint

R33 Skyline GT-R Differential

A couple of weeks ago I had to remove a diff for the project from a subframe. This item was from an R33 Skyline GT-R and is a Viscous LSD. Unfortunately it was at the back of the workshop under another two fully loaded subframes. It took a good 30 minutes just to move the one I wanted into a clear area and another hour to remove the differential and half-shafts from the subframe...ugh! I hurt myself in a number of ways while doing this. The reason for going the GT-R diff route rather than a mechanical is that this will be daily and 'grip' driving fun car, not an all out 'drifter', and secondly, I'm running short of funds to purchase a $1500 diff - there's other more important stuff to still get yet.

Once I got the diff and half-shafts home, it was time for a quick de-rust of the diff housing before a rust inhibitor primer and a few coats of the satin black. Looks good too. The rear cover will be replaced with a prepped and painted S13 Silvia one, and the front yoke will be changed to suit the driveshaft. As for the half-shafts, there wasn't so much rust as there was baked-on grease covering the boots. I had a quick go with the prepsol and discovered that with a bit of elbow grease, removal of the nasty grease coating resulted in a new looking boot. Took about 45mins for each half-shaft but the result was worth it, a quick mask and paint and the half shafts were done. At the same time as doing these, I also cleaned and painted up the drive shaft. It's looking pretty schmick, but for the life of my I can't find any photos.

- GT-R Differential Top
- GT-R Differential Bottom
- GT-R Half Shafts
- GT-R Half Shafts Boot closeup

R33 GT-R Brembo

Now another list on the prep list were the Brembos. These are items I kept from the R32 Skyline GT-R that I wrote off a couple of years ago now. They were in top condition and once I decided on colour scheme, it was time for a quick clean and mask followed by 3 coats of the Silver base coat (using VHT Caliper - Cast Aluminium paint). I've now masked up for the new logos to be painted in Red and finally I'll run another 3 coats of the new VHT Clear Gloss Caliper Paint to make it nice and easy to clean the brakes after the hard yards.

- Brembos Prepped and Ready for Paint
- Front Brembo - VHT Cast Aluminium base coat
- Rear Brembo - VHT Cast Aluminium base coat
- All Brembo - hanging in the cupboard
- Front Brembo - Logo Mask
- Rear Brembo - Logo Mask

I couldn't help myself and wait another day to paint the red logo, so have done up a quick and dirty mockup in Photoshop.

R33 GT-R Brembo - Silver and Red Mockup

Onto another item now. I originally had a China Trust 'Copy' Sump installed on my engine, but after just sitting there for quite a few months, there's evidence of oil leaking. As such, I decided to purchase a genuine Trust/GReddy Oil Pan/Sump. Paid $510 for this from Tanghy on SilviaWA new (thanks Andrew).

- Trust Sump (Top)
- Trust Sump (Bottom)
- Trust Sump (Parts)

Will post up a shot of the Brembo's once finished (like you knew I would anyway).

Cheers
Brendan

Quickie…

Tuesday, 6 June 2006 | Comments (0) | Categories: Exterior, Driveline, Paint

Front chassis rails painted

Nothing much to report really, I went in and finished up the underside on Saturday and completed up to the front of the chassis rails (removed front bar to do this). I've now got the all the Brembo's off the Pig now, so will be cleaning and painting them sometime this week. At the moment the plan is to go silver with red Brembo logos - still not sure if these will be painted on or stickered on with a clear over coat.

Gearbox Tunnel painted

Next on the prep list is the driveshaft, differential (GT-R) and half-shafts (also GT-R). These are still at the workshop for the time being because if I bring too many parts home the wife gets a little miffed which is quite understandable.

Would have done more work on the car over the weekend, but had to get the bathroom and laundry ready for the tiler starting today. This job was a real paint in the arm. I had already removed the tiles, but that left the adhesive still intact. So out with the bolster and hammer on the walls (hit my hand several times), and them my trusty Ozito jack hammer on the floor. All up I was going at it for 10hrs straight over the weekend.

OS Giken STR Twin-plate Clutch

Oh, and I've decided to not much around with the clutch and have an OS Giken STR Twin-plate on order.




The New OS Giken STR series can handle up to 600hp, yet retains drivability very close to standard with 30% lighter pedal effort than most multi-plate clutches. By using special new plate and diaphragm designs, OS Giken has achieved ample power handling with just 715kg clamping pressure. This makes the STR series perfect for everyday driving applications, along with most race and drift applications.


The clutches come complete with lightweight chrome-moly flywheel, ruby red-anodised billet aluminium clutch cover and the required bearing/carrier set or pull-push converter kit where required.



On blog matters, I've managed to secure the use of www.sillbeer.com as a domain and am just awaiting the owner to redirect the DNS records to my server before I move the blog over to it. Stay tuned.

Enough for now, more next week.

Cheers
Brendan

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