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Thread: Chris' R34 GTT Series 2

  1. #91
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power hoodedreeper's Avatar
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    Not much had happened since the last update, only a couple of Cars & Coffee meetings along with helping a couple of friends out with Prom runs.

    That time had soon passed and the Pistonheads 25th Anniversary was upon us.

    Our initial plan was to drop the kids off at the inlaws,travel down on the Friday and we'd only be a short (17 mile) drive to Bicester Heritage the following morning.

    That's until I mentioned Caffeine & Machine was 'kinda' close by... by that I mean an additonal 48 miles futher north. Mrs Reeper was happy enough to head there as we both enjoyed our first visit (which happened to be August last year in the recently purchased MX5 NC1)

    Upon arrival we were asked if we would like to park on the grass bank or to the left on the gravel amongst the trees, which is where I went (knowing it'd make some good photos as the sun set)

    As always the atmosphere is fantastic, very chilled with great food and a good variation of cars to look at.















    Sorry for the photo spam, this has been a venue I've wanted to take the car for awhile and couldnt resist taking loads of photos

    We arrived at Bicester just after 7am and were guided into position inside the hanger where the Reader's Ride display was.

    Visiting Bicester was another venue ticked off the list after seeing photos of a Sunday Scramble that Speedhunters had covered.

    The show was divided into areas with selected cars that the Pistonheads staff had to choose. During the awards it was mentioned that they had 1400 applicants and 200 were chosen.



    I never thought I would have gotten chosen,given the calibre of cars in the Readers Ride section. I did feel abit out of place and I wish I spent more time at the car incase anyone wanted to have a chat.

    A thank you to Rob aka RSD 25 for these photos





    One thing I had recently noticed with the car was the paint on the roof. I spotted a slightly duller patch above the driver side window. Looking at it closer you can see fine sanding marks as if there isn't enough paint applied.

    The car was resprayed by the previous owner in 2017. The car is currently stored outside in direct sun, so I'm gonna take a guess and say that has accelerated this.



    While cleaning the car at home in preperation for the show I noticed more of the roof had gone dull towards the centre. The lighting inside the hanger made it more obvious.



    While cleaning the bonnet at the show I noticed that had started to go too, great!



    It wouldn't bother me as much if this was the original paint, but it's not

    With the already expensive list of jobs waiting, this doesn't help. Having to constantly repair the daily Accord also isn't helping with my bank balance. But I guess the saying is 'Rome wasn't built in a day'

    Well thats true, but my money can only stretch so far which means it's going to take a considerable amount of time to sort.

    Anyone got the winning lottery numbers? please?

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    HarryB (08-16-2023)

  3. #92
    Individual-1 ☚ ☻ ☛ Agent☣Orange's Avatar
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    Not photo spam at all. I love looking at scenes from around the world!


    No todo que es oro brilla.

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    hoodedreeper (08-14-2023),MaRcOp01o (08-18-2023)

  5. #93
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power hoodedreeper's Avatar
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    I've been getting a sqeel from a drive belt now and again, but from what I could see they looked ok. I had some free time after a Cars & Coffee event last weekend (Bank Holiday) and made a start.





    Removing them was quite straight forward, I cover the steps required in a Youtube video (link at the end)

    Gates were the brand of choice. Been using them for years and very rarely have any issues.

    4PK868 - Power Steering
    4PK913 - Air Con
    4PK890 - Alternator





    I know the tops of the belts don't make any contact with any other pulleys/tensioners but they still look as new





    There's no cracks or any signs of wear amongst the belt ribs either. Perhaps they just needed re-tensioning....who knows lol





    New belts now on and tensioned





    The only part I struggled with was the PAS tensioner bolt. For some reason Nissan made it waay too long and a normal length spanner is too big. Find yourself an old spanner and cut it in half to do this job, it'll save you alot of time faffing around trying to access the locking nut.

    While undoing it, it got about half way and it became even more of a struggle. I knew the thread was covered in dirt which didn't help, turns out the thread was damaged too





    I gave it a going over with a wire brush and ran an M8 die down it to clean the thread as much as possible. There's still evidence of some minor damage, but the nut goes through it no issues. I replaced the locking nut with a stainless one which changed the spanner size from 12mm to 13mm





    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=838zBLX2m50

  6. #94
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power hoodedreeper's Avatar
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    My driver side window has been operating slow for a little while, it was make this weird squeely noise too. It then stopped working all together which became a huge inconvenience.

    I was lucky enough to win a replacement regulator and motor on eBay but life got in the way and I could never find the time to do the swap (aswell as a day dry enough)

    With the window stuck fully up, this restricted access to see most of it. I was preparing to remove the glass and strip most of the door panel to change it (hence the dry day). But after seeing the replacment on the floor infront of me, it was only 6 nuts/bolts



    With the door panel off (I cover this in the Youtube video) it's time to tackle the regulator

    Unplug the large grey connector

    Starting off with the 2x 10mm nuts either end of the regulator that holds the glass





    Next was a bar/bracket which looks to be the adjustment, going by the lines either side of the 10mm nuts



    The last step is to remove the 4x 10mm nuts holding the motor to the door panel



    Luckily the glass stayed up and the unit could be pulled through the bottom hole in the door panel.

    Fitting is the reversal. Make sure you start with the motor

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuP6Z-rgrRQ

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    HarryB (09-05-2023)

  8. #95
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power hoodedreeper's Avatar
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    I've been having starting issues for quite some time. I put it down to the limited use the car receives, sometimes it could be used once a week sometimes it could be once in two weeks.

    I would charge the battery and it would start fine. At one point I exchanged the battery under warranty and that was fine for awhile, until recently.

    On the way home from the Pistonheads show at Bicester I stopped for fuel. Upon returning to the car it wouldn't start. I checked the battery terminals and they were tight on the battery posts but I noticed the cables going into both terminals weren't as tight as I'd like. After a little wiggle the car started, so that must be the issue?!

    Once home I removed the cabling and cleaned up the copper core and refitted. It started fine so I left it. Fast forward a couple of days later when I wanted to use the car and it wouldn't start. I charged the battery up and it started, could it be a dodgy battery?!

    Then next time it wouldn't start, this was becoming more and more of an nuisance. I disconnected the subwoofer positive and it started?! Hooray! But my luck came to an end rather quickly.

    The battery terminals rely on a screw at the top of the terminal to hold the cables in place.



    I wanted a more secure solution so I sourced some terminals with an 8mm post. The new crimp on ring terminals were quite beefy and my crimping tool would'nt be good enough to do the job. So I called upon a couple of friends who would have the equipment to help.

    So I begun with disconnecting the battery, but when I moved the positive terminal to one side it moved more than it normally does.

    Next thing I know, I'm holding the positive cable but it's not attached to the car.



    Turns out its been joined in the past, but what wire is it?

    The alternator got disconnected and we checked continuity to the broken cable, nothing. The concerning thing was the broken cable was the same as the battery earth which is black with a yellow trace. But this was 100% connected to the battery positive.



    You can see the broken cable where the yellow heat shrink is on the end (this was capped at the end of the night)

    The broken cable goes into a loom covered in conduit which splits into a Y. One side goes to the Alternator and the other side goes towards the back of the car, where the Starter Motor is.

    The insulation on the alternator live was peeled back to reveal a white cable, this was traced back to the fuse box.

    So the broken cable must be the starter motor then. We had some spare red cable long enough to run a fresh live from the starter motor to the battery, bypassing the original loom for testing purposes. The car started first time with no hesitation.

    The new live cable was cable tied out of the way to get me home.





    Fast forward a week to my next day off and I decided to tackle the original wiring conduit to make things tidier.

    I began by removing the OEM conduit and insulation tape.



    The old starter motor live was then accessable and could be removed. Most would have left this in place mainly for ease, but lets not do things by halves.



    Over time insulation tape seems to get stickier. I removed the old tape and gave the conduit a wipe over with some brake cleaner





    I also removed the aftermarket earth kit and cleaned up the contact points with a wire brush drill attachment



    I used some insulation tape to keep the loom together, refitted the conduit and the wrapped it all in tesa tape. Once the battery was reconnected I then cable tied the loom to keep it nice and tidy



    I even covered the new Starter Motor cable in tesa tape so it wouldn't stand out too much





    A couple of hours well spent and my starting issue resolved

    Although google searching for an answer could have been quicker, there's some fun fault finding yourself and you learn along the way

  9. #96
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power hoodedreeper's Avatar
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    For the past couple of years the car has had inner tie rod(s)/track rod end(s) advised on the MOT. With the limited annual miles the car does, I've been putting it off

    With the recent motivation for sorting out the odd jobs, this was on the list too. I ordered replacement parts from Conceptua Tuning, very fast delivery as always! The weather hasn't been great the past week or so, finding a break in the rain was difficult to judge but it finally happened. My friend Danny came over to help and brought along a tool to help with the job.

    It looks like they haven't been touched in a long time



    With the lock nut cracked off and wound down the inner tie rod next was the top nut on the track rod end. My impact gun made easy work and with a swift swing of a lump hammer, it released from the hub. I made sure to count the number of turns the track rod end had to help with re-aligning.



    The steering rack boot had a small pinch clip on the outer end and a wire type clip on the inner. With those removed and the boot slid off, it was time to remove the inner tie rod.

    This is where Danny's tool came in to help. On the end it has 3 round teeth on what looked like a bearing.This part goes over the knuckle and the tie rod shaft goes inside (giggidy!). As you turn the shaft the teeth grip onto the knuckle. I've probably explained this terribly sorry!

    Anyway, it worked really well and they were off in seconds



    I forgot to take a photo here. I ended up re-using the original locking washer, I just didn't like the look of the new ones. With the new inner tie rod knuckle screwed into the steering rack it's just a reversal of what was done before.

    The larger metal clip for the steering rack boot snapped on removal so we had to resort to cable (zip) ties. Not ideal, but the shaft size on the new inner tie rods are smaller so the outer clip wouldnt work anyway.



    The wheels looked straight so it was good enough for a short journey in the morning to have a proper wheel alignment.

    I was lucky enough to get the car booked in with one of the STS Tyre Pros branches in Norwich at short notice. I used to take my supercharged MX5 here for any alignment, they always do a great job

    I didn't realise how much rear camber it had, I'd prefer less camber but I'd need some camber arms to do so. Something to consider later on


  10. #97
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power hoodedreeper's Avatar
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    One of the bigger jobs on the list was to underseal. I recently reached out on social media regarding brands and like most things, you ask 10 people and you'll get 10 different answers/recommendations.

    My friend John who runs JD Motorsport Engineering responded and invited me over to put the car on the ramp so we can have a good look. I travelled over this morning after the wheel alignment to have a chat.



    When I purchased the car in June 2018, the car went to H&S Performance for a large amount of work including undersealing. I understand garages can't spend hours upon hours prepping and treating so that they'll clean the surface and go over it with a Schutz gun.

    But looking at the underneath, I can't see any evidence of any underbody seal with the exception of the wheel arches. I did ask them to underseal those areas before fitting the Meister R coilovers, whether they mis-understood what I asked or just didn't do the underneath who knows. I've been using them for 15 years and I'm not start slagging them off. I was just shocked to see the current 'protection' so thin, you can litually pick it and it'll flake straight off.

    Anyway, onto the current state of the underneath....



























    You can see the area we started to pick at, it really is that thin







    John picked, tapped and scraped the areas that had surface corrosion. He said although there IS alot of surface rust, its a very solid and clean car (considering). Obviously until it's took back to bare metal I won't know if there's any potential repairs.

    The plan was to hire a ramp and do this myself, but John has offered to help but it'd be a full strip down of all the componants (except engine/front subframe). The price will depend how far I want to go with it, but if everything is being removed, it may aswell be refreshed at the same time.

    So that'll include:

    subframe, suspension arms and hubs powder coated
    polybushes
    anti roll bar & bushes
    camber arms
    SR Autosource zinc subframe hardware kit

    I can skip the subframe refresh and do that at a later date if I don't have the money in time.

    John also looked at the front struts. From a visual perspective they're good but we all know what lies underneath.

    He's suggested to tackle the underneath first before that gets too bad and then do the strut tops and front subframe refresh at the same time.

    So another expensive bill, but I guess thats part of owning cars like these. We have to do such jobs to keep them in tip top condition and road worthy.

    When it happens there will be plenty of photos

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  12. #98
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power hoodedreeper's Avatar
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    It was that time of year where the car goes in for its MOT (annual inspection for those overseas). I did a mere 715 miles between Oct 2021-Oct 2022, this year I had covered 1736 miles. Certainly not the most exciting or interesting but it's great to be able to enjoy the car more.



    I made sure I stopped on the way to capture this odometer milestone. I installed a new Nismo cluster in December 2018 which starts the odometer from zero, hence the low miles.

    I even treated it to a full tank of fuel ready for the next couple of weekends of driving before it gets taken off the road for winter.



    The tyres were advised again for another year. I'll get those changed next year as they'll now be approaching 5 years and are now showing early signs of cracking inbetween the treads. Its a minefield when it comes to tyre recommendations.

    The only other thing that was picked up was a front tension rod. The bush on the passenger side is now cracking but not enough to cause any concern (yet)



    Looking at replacements, my options are Driftworks, Japspeed, Hardrace and Nismo. I would LOVE a full set of Nismo arms but looking at the price for a pair of these, I can only imagine a full set would be eye watering.

    Driftworks Front Tension Rods

    Japspeed Front Tension Rods

    Hardrace Tension Rods

    Nismo Front Tension Rods

    I'll probably go with the Driftworks ones, they also offer the other suspension arms too which will get replaced at some point.

    A couple of random photos




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