I bought the car in early July as a pretty much standard cat (it had a cat back exhaust and some Tanabe Coilovers). I used it for my wedding
At this point nothing had been done to the car by me.
Over the next couple of months i decided to get the car remapped with a PFC, to make this worthwhile, i also fitted an HKS induction kit, a decat pipe, walbro pump and removed the standard boost restrictor. This is essentially the performance i have now. Which has been dynoed twice at 425/337lbft. The car is quick as is, but unfortunately reliability of the turbos is questionable due tothe fact that standard ones have ceramic exhaust wheels, so can shatter above 1 bar is used hard. So no more power is available from them really.
After deciding that i was definitely entering time attack i decided to plan out what i would need to ensure that the car would be competitive. I also wanted to do this on the smallest budget possible, but gaining the maximum amount...who wouldnt.
So in the last couple of months i have been aquiring parts for this task when they have come up to buy mainly second hand.
This includes.
Spare engine block
700cc Injectors
Steel Turbos
Adjustible Suspension arms
Better brakes
Boost Controller
Oil cooler
In addition to that as i was progressing i added tothe list some things that i did not have on my previous impreza that i really should have had.
Roll cage
Swirl pot and upgraded fuel system
These last 2 i think are actually going to be two of the most key upgrades this car will have. The fuel system was a major fault of the impreza, take any best with any conviction and fuel cut was hit....even with near half a tank. Not good enough. My new fuel system entails the following:
1 x Walbro Lifter pump
1.25litre Swirl Pot
2 x Bosch044 External Fuel Pumps
2 x Billet Filters
This will flow enough fuel for 900bhp easily.....
The roll cage i think is needed as the car is basically a lot older than the other one and as such is simply not as stiff. This will also allow me to push that little bit harder knowing that even if i rolled the car, i would be perfectly safe (unless i REALLY messed up)
There were also certain parts that i need in order to support some of these upgrades, you may have noticed for example that i have not mentionned upgrading the manifolds, or downpipe. The latter of those i will be addressing, the manifold, and the turbo elbows i am simply going to port out a little before refitting the turbos, this will maintain reliability that cast metal gives, with the added benefit of slightly increased exhaust flow. I also needed to replace the AFMs to allow higher output to be read safely. This has come in the form of 2 x Z32 AFMs, which will allow the PFC to read air flow up to 750bhp.
The final element to the overall upgrade are the aerodynamics of the car and overall car weight. Thankfully the R33 is actually very slippery through the air, if my research is correct the drag coefficient is similar to that of the veyron, so not a bad start. However, these things can always be improved. I like my cars to feel planted, so the suspension and aero package i think is fairly key. I have aquired a set of autoselect canards that have been fitted, and i am also in the process of designing my own front and rear splitters to work with the car. The addition of a GT wing on an FRP boot shoudl help keep the backend down a bit and help keep the power down through the corners. The remaining issue is car weight. The skyline is not a light car, but thankfully there are a fair few ways to get a fair chunk of weight out of them. I have already visited a weighbridge, and with an empty car and 1/4 tank of fuel the car weighed in at 1540kg. In the next few weeks, the interior is due to be stripped, the air con removed, and stereo equipment removed. This along with boot trim etc and spare wheel should come to around 90kgs. The next stage (and another reason for having a cage with doorbars (admitted the cage will add back around 30kgs..) is to fit FRP doors, boot and bonnet. Which alone will save a further 75kgs.
In the next few weeks i will post up more pictures as we are working on the car. The current list of things to do is:
Fit Turbos
Fit Downpipe
Fit Catch Can
Fit Injectors
Fit AFMs
Strip interior/stereo/aircon/carbon canister/boot
Mount Fuel system in the boot
Fit HICAS lock kit
The remaining suspension parts are being purchased and fitted in february.....then it will be playtime......you have been warned
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