Hello all,
Yeah, the 33 still exist (sort of) even if fate struck again...
But more about that later, now it's time to speak about what had been done in February alongside the strut tower renovation.
Part 1 : Renovation
As I said in my previous spot, rust took its toll but now it's fixed. As the body shop seems to well know the R33 (for a continental Europe shop), I decided to do some others small fixes on the car.
- Pillar gauges : Even if it was functionnal, I condamned the air vent with my previous installation and it was far from esthetically nice. So say hello to the pillar gauge mount.
- Repainting the motor covers : Polished cover seems always cool on the internet but the result on mine was not pretty. So goodbye to polish and hello again the black paint. And just for the bling, I choose a vermiculous paint instead of a classical one.
- Replacing the third light in the spoiler : It seems that some leds were dead on mine so I ask the body shop to repair that. When the guy take it out, it appeared that it was already repair once but not in the best way (a lot of sealant was used to cover the real state of the lights)
 |
| What really lies below a lot of sealant .... |
So at this point I was pretty happy, the car was nicely refreshed and the only step that was left was a remapping of the ECU.
Part 2 : when fate strike again
So begin May, I went by Evolve performance to take car of the mapping part.
All goes well until the car suddenly shut down ...
We check the oil pressure, timing belt, etc ... All seems Ok but the car won't restart or only a few seconds and with a rattle sound totally not reassuring ...
As the boss of Evolve perfomance is also a Skyline owner and had already work on some RB26 by himself, I decided to let him the car for repairi ...
At this moment, I was so upset that my only idea was to repair it and sell it as soon as possible.
So what happened?
Basically, the bearing rod on piston n°5 welded with the crankshaft
It seems that Nissan crankshaft have not the same dimension everywhere. When I decided to go on reinforced bearings rods, I asked the motorist which dimension I must take but he replied that the standard will be enough.
He was wrong but given my driving style with the 33 (more often cool than angry driving), it took some time to make some damage to the motor.
I'm some sort of lucky that it happened on a dyno and that the pistons and chambers were intact.
So next step :
- Forged connecting rods (OEM woudl be good be the forged ones are easier to get).
- "New" crankcase (in fact a used R32 one but with the reinforced end).
- New bearings (included crankcase bearings which following the motorist were in bad shape ...).
- Replanification of the cylinder head.
- Complete new joint sets.
I don't go to forged piston partly for a question of budget and partly because I didn't seek for power.
Even if I kept it, I'd rather spend money on the chassis instead.
The work already begun and is now at this stage
Part 3 : What's next ?
And here comes the question again. Just before part 2, I decide to keep the car regarding all the work done on it (and the stories that are connected to that car).
When the motor broke (again) , I must say that it was the last straw that breaks the camel back.
Since the begining it had been a love/hate story (or drive/repair).
I invested a lot of money (too much to be honest) in that car and the running costs/ upgrade costs are not low ( more if I look how much I really drive the car ) .
There's also two other things that I consider :
- I always fear that fixing the next trouble will be beyond reach (budget speaking or will ).
- I'm more and more tempted to make a restomod project on a Datsun 510 or a
toyota Ke70 and the budget is not infinite (I always have my 1976 mazda
808 and my BRZ aside)
So the first reaction was : Fix it so you have something right to sell.
Six months later, I'm less decided to go to this route.
I suppose that I have to drive it a bit when it will be repaired before taking any decision.
As I already said some months ago , to be followed ...
