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.