Here, again... ???

I really do not know what this is, but its not working.

Each time I progress a little further in to this build, my body turns against me, illness, nerve pain and a new one, arthritis.

The latest one annoys me the most. I've been living with huge amounts of pain my left thumb joint at the base for some time now, and its not just a past injury.

About a year ago, I purchased some thicker/oval push rings for my wheelchair that had huge amounts of grip, powered up hills I had issues with before, the difference was noticeable. They worked much like advertised, however this was not, a good thing. In automotive terms my forearms were the engine, hands the clutch and my push-rings were really warm wide fresh slicks. The damage was inevitable. As a result some days I can barely put my shoes on, but its getting better with a little excersize.

And again I was left to stare at the empty engine bay with a LS1 block sitting there, giving me a glimpse of how cool this will be one day. And the more this goes on, the further I get from being out on the track.

Fast forward to a drift practice night at Wanneroo a few weeks ago. My friend Jason calls up and asks if im keen to go to a drift practice night. I really didn't want to go but I went along for the laughs. As we arrived, and I wandered around the pits, something quite clearly slapped me in the face, reality.




Im doing it all wrong.


I haven't sat in a drifter since the early 2000's and here I am trying to build a car with a limited budget, limited mobility, sore body and i'm trying to build it from a catalogue in my head. The huge advantage of doing a lot of fabrication work yourself is you invest in 'some' parts rather than all parts and labour thus the end result means you can dream a lot bigger in that you save in the build. This can be a deep, dark negative.

All these drivers had one thing in common, driving, meanwhile I was building. I had just sold some street/race parts from the inventory of parts ill never end up using and was about to jump into the roll cage build on the LM-3203 when I thought id be better off to invest that into a car and get out there now. But id have to keep things regular, not my usual self looking to make this a dream inspired build. Time to go simple. Rough. Cheap.

One thing led to another, the next day I was trying to setup to see a Skyline I had heard about, going cheap and ready to slide. This is my ticket. I went to see it, and for $3k, my initial instincts said to not do this, but in all honesty all I looked for was a running engine and 5 gears with a sexy R32 body around it.





I didn't want to spend 10k on a fine example, then spend more to modify it for me, again going against the idea. We came to a agreement on price, shook and I had just picked up another Skyline. I have to admit, the interior made me laugh, on the inside and out. Everything about this car is nothing like me, and thus I like it.


A couple of days later, Jason, Adam and I, along with Ivanka went to pick it up. Right near the guys house was a private road on the estate, so with his permission I took it for a quick test drive to see if it runs ok. Ivanka asked me if she can come with, so I threw the harnesses over her, buckled her in and went for a quick test drive. I just went through the gears quickly, first to fifth to make sure the gearbox is behaving as it should and then with Ivanka's permission I gave it a quick test in 1st. As it came 'online' the RB took off, the wastegate opened up and Ivanka was more than a little frightened by the noise. So in went the clutch, grabbed 2nd and just cruised down and then she says "Try again, im ready this time", so again i feed it a little throttle and she was still a little unsure why this car sounds like it does.

By now I got to the end of this little road, and I had to do a U-Turn to get it back on the trailer. So as I slowed down in first, I gave it a little hydraulic handbrake, and half spun the car, let the clutch out and finished off the 180. Half way through I look over at her, laid back in the seat hand up on window sil I can see that she feels the g-force pushing her into the seat and this huge grin on her face as she looked out the side somewhat. Came out of the 180 and she says "WHOOOOOOOOOOOA, AGAIN, AGAIN..... you don't understand, how cool that was". Oh I do !!!

Hence this is the new Nissan Skyline LM-3220 (R'32' - RB'20'DET).





And what's the plan with LM-3203?. Still on plan, just have the ability to do as I go both from both physical and financial situations. If that means it takes another year or two, im not so concerned now, and in all honesty the LM-3220 will probably keep me motivated.

Have to get back out there ....

Smooth...

So to finish the pan, we need to know the engines setup, more specifically its happy place. 

Three weeks ago I drew the flat plates that bolt up to the block, and the overkill side plate loops around the sleeve to make the engine mounts. Lets just say, broken engine mounts annoy the shit out of me at the track.

In 2003 I drove my 180sx drifter from Malacky, Slovakia to a little town called Nurburg in Germany, some 900kms away. About three quarters of the way over I started hearing a nasty noise, a chatter, only on boost /  acceleration. Turns out I had cracked a engine mount apart on the casting.

So to let it know how dissapointed I was, a couple laps of the Nurburgring late in the afternoon session did it. And pissed me off the whole time.


Mate of mine Todd gave me a set of Nissan Patrol trailing arms he had laying about. I cut off the arm-tube, cleaned it up and put some plates around it.  This way I drop in a Whiteline polyurethane Patrol trailing arm bush, four come in the bag, so engine and a spare set in the toolbox, plus the ability to buy engine mounts anywhere in the world, OEM or aftermarket.


I put in a laser cut order, for the pan, and these end plates a few weeks ago. I took a guesstimate on the size, and got it (the block) about 8mm off each side. Perfect, no need to trim down. The baseplate I made out of 6mm, but the side plates are 5mm, I know its minor but my OCD (I dont actually suffer OCD, but this will annoy me) wont let me off this out. It could have been 5mm, if the front end isnt behaving as it should, ill know that the extra weight of the 6mm base plate is all at fault!. Ok, maybe not.

Dry Sump Pan Day

So this has to start somewhere, the whole placement issue.

I call it a issue, because I get no fun from this task of retrofits. 

Actually, allow me to clarify, I like the job itself, I love the technical aspect of setting a engine up when you have artistic freedom, I just dont find this kind of work amusing anymore when youre in a 'chair. 

Engine in, measure and mark-up, engine out, modify, replace and engine back in again a dozen times or more if you want the pan, the engine and gearbox mounts perfect.

So to set the height, we need a pan. To finish the pan, we need the engine mounted. To mount the engine, the gearbox and bellhousing needs to fit the transmission tunnel.

What it does not.

Starting off I opted to go 316 stainless steel for the engine pan. Why, not aluminium?. Well stainless only won out because of the specific notching for the steering rack and engine cross-member, its cleaner, thinner and if I get a rock caught between it and the power steering rack, it wont wear a hole in it, and if it did I can weld stainless at a countryside roadhouse if need be. Welding aluminium is a bit more of a pain. Saying that, its not uncommon to find a stainless pan on a high end no budget Nascar motor.

So basic design is like you see on circle track stuff, but in a smaller simpler scale. Pan is rather shallow and runs a gutter along the scavenge (backside) side.





Ill run 3-points of scavenge on the pan, so ill happily sacrifice the gutter where it hangs too low.





Few test fits, markup and notch out.







Got it nice and low in the bay, and pretty hard up to the cross-member.

And in-case you're wondering, yes that is a S13 cross-member.




The inner view reveals how low it can sit. This time I won against that steering rack, however the next time we meet will be headers time, and I just know that will get ugly.

Real ugly.

There are 580 reasons to do this.

Well the time has certainly come to decide on a power plant, and I presume the image to the left caught your eye, hence the element of surprise is lost somewhat by now.

So here it is.

The all aluminium Chevrolet Performance LSA, 6.2L Supercharged V8.

 

 

"But its a LS conversion, everyone does a LS conversion..." 

 
Do they?. Well, I am aware of the loathing in certain points of the community towards the USDM engines, the Chevrolet, Ford and Mopar gear, but is it really justified?.

Is there a engine you can buy new today, that makes such power / torque with this reliability, low weight, short block length with so much aftermarket support?.

Ive thought about this, and the answer is no. While some engines tick a box or two, they are too long, or heavy, or have no parts backup. I was considering going the Nissan DOHC VK56 V8 and a Whipple charger, but im a little tired of hand making every single part. Im happy to build a car but im tired of re-inventing the wheel all the time because I wanted something no-one else has.

Secondly, ive never been a fan of low torque clutch kicking engines, this I realised more and more with my 180SX (CA18DET) I had in Europe. Its cool but its '2003' cool, hence why I went to the TB48DET option some time ago, I wanted the torque. I know there are a lot of SR20 people now cursing out the monitor, but in all honesty, I need the torque with all that will be going on in the car with my disability aswell, feet, hands. The last thing I want is to be kicking clutches and waking it up mid turns.

So the options were

• LS3, and at 430hp N/A a fine motor to run. Down the line that has two sub options, High comp 13:1 E85 N/A and bump it to 416cubes or such, with a individual throttle body setup and try to get my own version of a SBC sprintcar / Nascar motor in a LS, something very snappy and ready to fight. This isn’t a cheap option to build on-top of the original cost of the engine.
  
  The next option is a 2.9L Whipple and thats $7k (USD) and another engine build ontop of that, so again were talking big numbers invested.

Or

• LSA. At 580hp (AU HSV version. US version is 556hp) its already a incredibly impressive setup that has a smooth torque curve and will be a charm to drift. This has its own sub-options but they are far easier to attain for now, where you can add a cam, pulley, injectors (depending in base pressure) and you’re already into the 700hp range on E85.   

Of course down the line I may go a Whipple charger on-top, but from now till then this seems to be a far better option.Turbocharging is my #1 method of fast engines, but I didn’t want a drifter with turbos, a maze of manifolds, lines, intakes ... too much to go too wrong and make you regret doing it. This is exactly why I originally wanted a high comp LS3/7 setup, simple. Oil goes in here, water goes in there, fuel goes in that and you turn the IGN on.


With the contradicting selling point of the drift community on one hand saying "bring what you got" as in chassis and engine combos, but then saying "... and no you cannot cut the firewall", you are essentially giving people the option of tired SR20's, long and heavy 2JZ's that cant be set back, or V8's ... that clearly people dislike, just so they can dislike.

Yes there are other set-ups no doubt, but its far from a generous selection of setups. Take Formula Drift US, how many SR's are left in that ?. Soon it will be the same for RB and JZ motors, and its going to be the LS cup.


Sure I could have gone 2JZ-GTE, but I have such a moral problem with a Toyota engine in a Nissan. Thats like a LS in a Mustang, ask either community what they think of that combo and the answers get ugly. Secondly, id spend the whole amount building a tired 2JZ on what I spent to purchase the LSA.

And the LSA is still unique in my opinion.

Version 2.0 ...?.

Ugh.

That one word sums up how im feeling on this matter. Ugh.

Firewall modifications are now a no-no in AU, EU and US drift. Well, almost everywhere. In one way, I totally see and understand why Formula Drift USA (seems to be leading the charge to over-regulate drift) goes about this, to stop tube framed self built cars that will either cost more than most FIA GT cars, or to stop humans getting crumpled in a pile of home-made garbage.

Safety ?. Cost ?.

However, not allowing firewall cuts to allow better engine placement, means that one day, every drift car in the world will be running a LS series Chev. Well ok maybe not every.

While that seems far fetched, what other brand / type of engine gives you such a short length, is as light, with such reliability, torque, power and ease of access to racing parts anywhere in the world to give you infinite amounts of seup combinations?. I cant think of many that fit the bill as well as the current range of SB LS series of engine. And compared to the TB48, that will be flat out boring.

I wanted to create something unique, something very competitve, yet out of the norm. So far ive got about 11k in engine and loose parts sitting in crates, and now I am going to have to abondon the whole idea, and, the car itself.

The issue is that i've cut the firewall on the 32, and now its "illegal". I wanted to be unique, and fit a taller, heavier and longer engine, that has the ability to make a LOT of power into the Skyline, but im now going to be boring and drop in a LS Chev. The TB is far too long to sit in the engine bay, and its too heavy for this Skyline to sit in a general location, much like the RB.

And thus my prior problem, what to go with?. I dont want to go RB26, so my next option is LS/SB Chevrolet. While I know I can build a unique and powerful V8, it isnt the option I wanted to take. And this hence ... ugh.

Thankfully, to resolve the issue of a new chassis, I managed to score another rolling shell for $650. Getting tired of re-drawing the map on this ...

Lets hope this fresh start will be a positive one.

Firstly I wanted to appologise for being so quiet. Its been a hard couple years, with health / paraplegia woes, but were on that case.

As a stay at home dad, ive also taken some time with my awesome daughter Ivanka, and while I love racing, she will only grow up once, and I wanted to be right there in the passenger seat. 

Even now she tells me "... when we build the racing car, .. ".

Understood. Ok lets get this moving.

Damn that time ...

Id say where does the time go, but I know the answer to that.

Last year I went to Europe for a few months, to see some Drift Allstars and enjoy the sight. Plus i was really burnt out and needed that time away to get some motivation and enjoyment back into it.

I have all of these pics and vids yet to upload, and of course ill add something here. So for the lacking content, im sorry, but i do promise its going to be a lot busier now.

Ok, related content - After deciding with Glenn (AKA Lumpy) we need to abandon the Chev bell housing to the TB48, and go with a Nissan unit, then adapt the Tremec at the main case was great to hear, because I was thinking it and had hoped to hear a similar thought.

The biggest sole issue I have with using the Chev bell housing, is that the starter motor is going to be a logistical nightmare to mount, as the starter location is on a web of the block for the bolt pattern. No go.

So it came to finding a aluminum Nissan Patrol bellhousing to suit. After 4 days and many many calls across many wreckers here and over east, I managed to find one - yes. So now onto mounting the gearbox to the engine, so I can then mount the engine in the chassis and laser-line it all up for engine mounts.

More soon !

Turbocharger Acquired !

This morning I was woken up to the sound of the courier playing with the doorbell. 

I got up earlier this morning, and sometime later heard my daughter calling for me, so I went and layed down next to her, she grabbed my hand and next thing I hear is the door bell ... 10:07 !!!.


Ok that was a nice surprise. The Garrett GTX-4294R is finally here after not being sent from the seller for a week, but all is well now.

This is the new GTX series, forged and then CNC milled 94mm compressor wheel, this should get up and move us along at a incredible rate.

I still cant get over its size, I keep thinking "This is going to be toooo big" but keep reminding myself that it is almost five liters in displacement.

Lets see ... 

Things have been slow

Of late, things have slowed down a bit, not by choice but by circumstance. 

Ive come to a realisation on how much I dislike fabricating on customer's cars, and after 20 something years im burnt out. And it slows the enthusiasm for my own build too. I am going to look for another line of work soon, in a totally different industry, but still be self employed.

Then there is the health part thats kept me indoors for a few weeks with a bleeding foot.

Damn sock rolled down in my shoe, and as a result I have a huge blister on the back of my heel thats taking its time to heal, making it very difficult to do what I do. Its hard to fabricate in Crocks and socks, because you cant put shoes on. Of course thats irrelevant to customers, who want stuff done yesterday, and another reason im baling out.

Never manufacture .... its the bottom of the barrel. Sure retail has its downsides too, but I have to manufacture, and I have to retail it out (AKA deal with customers).

Enough with the misery. Parcels have been arriving of late, and this morning the crown jewel of the boot compartment, the ATL 10gallon (40L) fuel cell arrived. At 40L with a 4.8L engine making good numbers, on E85, it will seem too small. But id rather re-fuel often, then carry amounts of fuel sloshing back and forth as reserve.

Really nice bit of gear, will get onto a Cr-Mo 4130 brace for it and get it mounted.

www.ivansafranek.com

Sump You Win, Sump You Loose.

The OEM TB sump is a 2pc, cast alloy upper, and steel pressed lower.

I thought i would get away with plating the upper alloy one with a flat base .... and trimming it back some, but the fabricator that sits on my shoulder, kept saying "4130 Cr-Mo ... go on, you know you want to, easily repairable anywhere in the world with Gas, Oxy, ARC, MIG and of course TIG".

It also weighs a lot for a alloy casting. Damn you. It will be a better proper functional unit, so its a win I guess.

ivansafranek.com

The TB48 Test Fit

This evening was a huge win for the test fit, as this was really the only part I was till this point dreading. 

This afternoon Wayne came past, and gave me a hand to test fit the engine, and after a few more cuts to the firewall the engine was ready for its first test fit, and with all the voices of "Its too large" and "You wont get it into the firewall, it will be so heavy over the front axle" swirling around in my head, I couldn't wait to even remove the lower pan on the wet sump, but wanted to give it a go. 

Once we had worked it into the firewall, it became apparent, I had made the right choice, and that this would be a on track project, no turning back now. I measured up the distance from the block to the shifter and simulated its position to what im shooting for via driving position with my fabrication hammer, and its all coming together too well. I say too well, as there always has to be some snag.

The laser line in the left pic is the front of the strut tower, and in the right pic, is the firewall line across the block to show how far its gone back.    

The actual reality of putting a TB48 into a R32, and still doing a V-Mount setup, was too much to stop me smiling all night long !

www.ivansafranek.com

Plasma Makes The Job Easier !

This afternoon was a quick in and out job to give me access into the engine bay, and to also prepare it to be tube framed from the front of the struts, so off came the front end. 

I just wanted it off for now, and decide where I want it cut back to later on, so for now out came the plasma cutter.

After 10 mins or so of cutting, this is what were left with. A considerable amount more will be cut off, this was just a trim to get the whole front radiator support off.

Easy access to clean up whats left, and start cutting that firewall.

This evening a buddy of mine, Ramon, stopped past, and gave me a awesome little Tremec 6sp '8 Ball' shifter knob.

I was looking at these, and thought about buying one actually, as its a nice "all business" type of deal.

So here's to you mate, lets hope it brings some results !


www.ivansafranek.com

A Online Bargain

This Peterson 4 gallon (15L) dry sump tank just came in for the Nissan, one that I purchased from a Nascar trader online.

I hate purchasing used things online, especially race parts, however this caught my eye. At $285 and $77 freight, I just couldn't say no, as the retail is $516 and over $100 in freight from Jegs, plus a dual clamp fitting kit for $88.

I purchased a new clamp kit for it, I noticed that the ones on the tank were different, but still functional, so they will get a clean, wrap and into the "spare parts" box to take trackside.

I split the tank this evening, and had a look at the unit, apart from outer scuffing and mild blemishes, its perfect. Ill finish it up to a new condition right after I fit it in the boot, and decide where and how it will sit. Ive got some heater pads coming in for it, and we will be in business. 

As it was split, it still had a light film of very light engine oil through out.

Lower half and pickup, is all like new.

Engine & Gearbox Acquired

The Nissan power plant and Tremec gearbox are now on the ticked part of the list. 

 

Work on the Skyline has been very slow, thanks to a number of factors and this summers heat. I have however been on a constant lookout for a engine, a task harder than it seems. 

 

 

The TB engine is very pricey, and rare to find, however they do popup. With that said im a patient buyer, its rare that I jump into a purchase without many a thought.

Finally one came up locally, and as a result it now resides on the engine stand, ready to start ploughing its way through the Skylines firewall and into a position much better suited to the cars balance.


The one thing that needs to be said is that its not a engine, its a power plant. When i think of the word plant in a industrial sense, I think of huge piping, cooling towers, generators, people being told by the safety crew "Anything here can kill you" ... and this is just that. The motor is only 95mm longer and 40mm taller than a RB26DETT but it looks like a main sail on a yacht when on the engine stand. Perhaps its the perception, that the CA18DET was on that engine stand till then.

To make it somewhat realistic to work on I cut the vertical beam on the engine stand down by 220mm, notched it and welded back the top pivot tube and added a few gussets for some strength. So now were at the point of clean and prep, as it starts to make its way into the firewall.

 
The final gearbox selection came to the legendary Tremec T-56 Magnum, a box that managed to tick more boxes than anything else. I had a number of other big name brands on thought, but some didnt have a strong aftermarket, some were too pricey, wrong ratios, weaker gearsets, not enough gears, incorrect shifter location and so on.




Well fact is that I think this will be a incredible box, and best part is that its brand new, not something that was already behind a 2JZ-GTE with a T-88 strapped to it for a number of seasons. A few modifications and we shall see if it was the correct choice, of what im confident.

Keep up to date at www.ivansafranek.com !

Illness

This week has been a total waste, as I had hoped to get a considerable amount of progress on the rear end, what didnt end up happening as ive had a head splitting headcold, and just ill in general.

Yesterday I did manage to crawl under the car and drop the standard tank out, in a attempt to setup a fuel cell.

I had considered not going a cell, but in all honesty its the safety factor that pushed me over that line. That and also greater ability to control fuel delivery and its weight transfer sloshing back and forth with a smaller tank.

As i dropped the OEM tank, im without a doubt its the right thing to do. I hope the car never back-slides into a concrete wall, but if it does ill be a lot more content knowing I did all i could to contain a fire.

 Ok granted, not much of a update, but with some health this week will start on some more work.