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Hey guys,
There is going to be a lot of firsts for me in this thread! 1st FD - 1st Rotary - 1st Track Build.
I come from the GTR world, currently also have a R32 GTR and R35 GTR. R32 has 525WHP and is a blast to take out on weekends, the R35 is my daily and probably has 650ish WHP, mid 10 second car.
I've been wanting to build a track car for a long time, and have always loved FD's. This one came up for sale a few weeks ago, and I actually ended up trading for another Skyline(GTS-T not GTR) I had.
The car is a 1994 and only has 14,500 miles on it! As you can tell, it's been a rough 14,500 miles as it's been a track car it's whole life.
I'm still learning about the car and what it has done to it. But essentially the motor is all stock, has some cooling mods, full cage, fuel cell, etc. It's an old/dated build so it's a great base to work with.
My immediate plans are to clean it up a bit & make some changes to get it track worthy in the fall.
I'm not quite sure what the full vision is yet, as I'm sure I'll figure it out as I go. But immediate upgrades that will happen in this thread are:
Install HKS Hypermax Coilovers
Install Sparco EVO II Seat (current seat is out dated)
Install Sparco Harness (current harness is out dated)
Build new radiator cooling ducts (car didn't come with a skid plate)
Install Enkei RPF1's & R888R's
Build a new dash (perhaps just go with Bubbletech aluminum)
Figure out some sort of headlight set up so I can take it to the grocery store at nighttime
No engine bay shots - it's stock and dirtly lol. You can kind of see it below though.
I was driving it around this weekend and temps were hotter than I would've liked - water was constantly fluctuating between 198-215F (would get hotter at stop lights). It was a hot day out - 90F. When I got home I realized there wasn't any under tray or skid plate directing the air through the radiator, so I made one real quick out of aluminum - I'll take it out today and see if it works or not
Mocked up
Tabs riveted on
Used rivnuts to fasten it on Trimmed to fit flush with the inside of the lip With the bumper on, nowhere else for the air to g
Last edited by mk3design; 05-13-19 at 01:39 PM.
Reason: Forgot pics!
Well done on the ducting. Looks like someone already got clever with your stock IC duct, but I'm sure you have some plans for the engine bay?
Thank you!
No plans for the engine at this moment - I'm going to definitely clean it up and make it presentable, but being new to racing I want to get a season in with the car stock and build from there. For now, lightweight, handling, and reliability are the goals
Pics of the seat and coilovers. Waiting for mounting brackets to come in before I mount the seat, and waiting for the new wheels/tires to arrive before I install the coilovers.
I also stopped by the previous owners house and picked up an old splitter, he couldn't find the mounting hardware so I'll have to figure something out there. It's also pretty small, it'll probably work for now but I'll probably make a bigger one down the road.
Took it out for 30-40 minutes today in 100F heat - the cooling ducting DEFINITELY helped! Water temps were consistently between 182-188F. They got up to 200-205F when I was stuck at a light for an extended period but it cooled right back down to temps after I started moving again, which wasn't the case before!
Cool project keep us updated. I ran into a similar car at Mid Ohio years ago that had been raced from day 1 with only like 15k miles. Completely stock drivetrain which blew my mind but he said that’s what made it survive the whole time.
While I wait for parts to come in, I started working on a new dash setup. I couldn't stand that hacked up OEM dash that it came with, plus the cluster didn't work.
I made a mold from the existing dash(basically just covered it in poster board and tinfoil lol) and laid some fiberglass over it. I've never worked with fiberglass before, but after I trimmed it up and test fitted it I think it'll turn out awesome. I have a lot of work to do on it still. See the last picture for how I want it to turn out. It'll all get smoothed out and covered in some sort of material. It's super light right now, even after a layer of body filler and covering it should still be waayy be lighter than OEM
Just a mock up - I have no idea what I'll be using as a main display yet, and doubt I'll have that many gauges and switches haha
Took a trip to California this weekend to pick up some Shine Auto pieces from a fellow forum member (av8r01). Feed style bumper, wide fenders, and carbon side skirts. The bumper isn't a 100% color match but the whole car will be getting painted or wrapped at some point I'm sure in the near future. I'll wait to install the fenders until that time since they are just primered.
The cooling duct I made the other week fits perfectly in the recess of the lower part of the bumper so that's cool. I need to get some fog lights and paint the lens covers as well.
Also found out my seat is too wide to fit, so I'll need to find a replacement.
A bunch of parts came in this week and are waiting to install.
eBay 99 spec corner lights - already installed these, it's nice to have working blinkers haha! Surprised the old owner left the harness in tact. I need to get the bumper lenses painted and install those next.
Trackspec hood louvers - should be fun cutting a giant hole in the hood!
Bubbletech aluminium dash - I got pretty tired of working on the FG one haha.. Will need to do some measuring and trimming to fit the cage.
New 185deg fan switch and 180deg thermostat from Pettit Racing (not pictured)
I was also thinking of wrapping the car either matte or gloss nardo/battleship gray. Still debating it!
Should be a busy weekend of installs, I'll post back when everything is in!
Anytime I have the chance to take a shot of all 3 I'll take it
For track duty, i highly recommend an upgraded SMIC at minimum and preferably v-mount. If you're tracking the stock IC, you should have water/meth injection (and even an upgraded SMIC should have AI for track days). You may also want to drill some holes out of the bottom of your intake box to let more fresh air in from the bottom (commonly refereed to as the cheap bastard intake, but without the duct). When you start opening up the intake and exhaust (hopefully you have a DP), you may start getting boost creep on the stock ECU. You will then need to port your wastegate. You really should look into a PFC and a tune. I see you have dual oil coolers which is good. Make sure they are ducted to prevent air from escaping around the sides. I fabbed some sheet aluminum for mine. Until you do all this, monitor your temps and cut your session short if you start getting too hot (over 220)
As for the brake duct, here's mine after a couple of laps. The 255 tires just yank them out. Solution is to fab some C6 vette hard ducts.
Ahh, I thought you were talking brake ducts in general don't work haha
The car has been tracked for 99% of it's life(14.5k miles) as it sits so I should be good for a season as it sits I would assume. But I definitely have plans to upgrade the SMIC, possibly intake setup as well. I'll be ducting the oil coolers like I did the radiator as well really soon.
Looks like you have the brake duct hose zip tied to keep it tight to the frame rails which is what I do. I’ve found I only get about 7/8 of a turn of the wheel with them on but that’s plenty for track use. Just make sure to check your clearance before your first event.
Looks like good progress. You’re on the right track with oil and cooling upgrades and trying to keep the engine as close to stock for longevity. Intercooler should be a very strong consideration as required for longer track use.
Didn't get as much done this weekend as I had planned with my kids dragging me down on Fathers day (ha, kidding).
They did help me get the new dash installed though! Just needed a little bit of trimming around the cage. Much needed improvement for the interior, hiding the rats nest of wiring behind the dash. I'd like to clean all of that up some day too, there is probably 15lbs of un-used wiring behind there.
Looks good dude! Can't wait to see you out at the track. I'll be out in the S13 for awhile until the S14 and FD are done. You'll get through the HPDE ranks pretty quickly I'm sure.
05-13-19, 01:09 PM
