Lost Birds Rocket Bunny

[doodoojin]

I don't post here at all, but I figured I would do a build thread on this car. My wife , Allison, was the progentior of the Lost Birds GT-R, a project that kinda got lost in a lot of paperwork shuffle and frankly has since been abandoned. It still sits as the pictures in print and online sow it, but it will likely fade back to a stock GT-R and be sold off.

ENTER THE HERO.

People that know this car will hate me but we've acquired this car, for better or for worse and alot is going to change.

I'll run down the parts list I got to start with. I know people are gonna say, " It's already done", but trust me it isn't. I'll bring up problems as I approach them. Anyway, enjoy.

Parts now:


RB26DETT w/ RB25DET tranny
Turbo’s Twin TD06 20G w/ 6cm & 8cm housings w/ trust TD06 manifold
HKS 60mm wastegate
R33 crossmember and using RB25DET Nismo motor mounts
HKS twin plate GD Pro clutch
Tomei 264 intake cams and 272 ex w/ 9.7 lift
Tomei valve springs
N1 oil and water pump
Light port and polished head
Tomei 1.2mm headgasket
RC 1000cc injectors
Circuit sports coolant overflow tank
One piece driveshaft from Mckinney Motorsports
Tranny mount from Mckinney Motorsports
GTR 3 Core Koyo radiator w/ some cheap E-bay fans (these work great)
DIF dual fan controller
Mckinney motorsports intercooler piping
GTR front mount intercooler
Grex 10 row GTR oil cooler and oil relocator kit
HKS cam gears (old school ones)
Greddy Fuel Rail
Twin walbro 255 Ltr in tank fuel pumps
Aeromotive FPR
GTR diff, hubs, and axles
Greddy Profec B II boost controller
Tein Tie rods, rod spacers
Apexi Power FC L Jetro
Twin Z32 Maf’s
Billet Power steering reservoir
Greddy type R BOV

____________________________________


Ichiba 5-Lug conversion for the front
R32 GTR calipers all around
R32 GTR Dixcel slotted rotors
E-brake extension cables for drum brake setup in the rear
Power Agency Steel braided brake lines all around
Cusco collar bushings in the rear
Ebay special toe, camber, caster arms all the way around (work great)
Tein HA coilovers 12kg front and 7kg rear
Juran upper sway bars front and rear

____________________________________


Work VS-XX wheels
Fronts: 18×9.0J -4 offset
Rear: 18×11.5 +2 offset
Tyres: Fronts 235 40ZR 18 Indoradials (need smaller tires)
Rear 285 35ZR 18 nitto 555R drag radials
Final Konextion clear S13 headlight covers
Clear front bumper and corner lights for S13
6666 Customs 7 piece wide body kit (front 40mm, rear 60mm) Sil80 version

____________________________________


Greddy Boost, Oil press, Oil temp gauges
Recaro racing seats x2
7 point cusco roll cage
Battery relocator kit
2 Liter oil catch tank
Autometer 3 3/8 tach, fuel level, water temp
AEM wideband
Pivot digital speedometer



Some of this stuff has already been replaced, or actually wasn't in the car when I got it. Here's some pictures from the day I gave the old owner all the money









Some progress will be slow, some will be fast, but we will get it done.

[doodoojin]

So here was the interior when I got the car. Kinda gives you an idea about what else I might find as things unravel. The headliner is stained with tobacco smoke. The wife is going to recover it in black tweed. Thought about changing the roll cage padding to some other color, but not really important right now. The dash is an S15 dash, but it looks to be from a wrecked car as the passenger airbag was previously deployed and the dash is in general, scratched to hell. It also does not line up correctly on the far right by the drivers door. In addition to all this, the center insert was hacked up so that some gauges would fit. THe real kicker is that the gauges do not even work...... whatver, I'll get around to it



Cleaned up inside a little and put some seats and belts I had around the house in there. I'm going to do the car from the inside out basically.. unless some serious cancer shows up, I don't plan on taking the interior down to bare metal to repaint or anything.

[doodoojin]

Also as good measure here is the best power reference I could get for the car. Dynolicious is a great program, and works great if you know the actual weight of your own car with gas and you in it.

In this graph I just take off from a stop normally and get to third gear which is around 3/4 into the graph and then I punched it. On the RB25 transmission, 4th gear is 1:1, but those speed are highly illegal here, so I just had to live with third. doesn't really matter. What's represented here is the tires breaking loose just as the car gets close to 400 RWHP. The tires are shot so I'll try it again when I change them to something not bald and 4 years old. at the peak you can see the ups and downs of me trying to reengage the tires after slipping, but they just kept letting go.

[Mikester]

I remember when that monster was a stock, black 180SX. The guy who did that build originally is one of my best bros. Not sure how many times it has changed hands since then; but I hope that you will take good care of it=)

[codyace]

How'd the body work on that? I'm always curious as to have some of the internet famous cars are in 'real life' in regard to total fit and finish. Always liked the look of that car tho!

[doodoojin]

Skrappy is pretty chill from what I can tell. I actually ran into him at the post office, lol. He just walked right up to the car, like "Hey I'm Skrappy." he hasn't owned it for at least two years, and out of those 2 years it just sat for a full year outside.

The hatch has rust bubbles in it. Every single suspension component is bone dry. The whole car squeaks and squawks like an old dump truck pretty bad.. It's loud enough to be embarrassing . I play to put it on a lift and hit everything I can see with a grease gun. 4th gear is about toast, but I plan to replace the gearset anyway with something a little less 185MPH oriented. Where am I going to do that ever.... Not like any flightlines are closing down for the texas mile any time soon.

I'm trying to find a carbon hatch over here. Don't really want to order one internationally from Seibon as the shipping and consumption tax would straight fart on my face. I know there has to be a company with one on offer over here. A repaint is in the future too, but not to worry, it's likely the Lost Birds livery will either not be used or be very limited (not a promise!!)

For those that care, here is the Lost Birds R33 GTR









And the reason Lost Birds came to be, on Mt. Fuji

[doodoojin]

Originally Posted by codyace

How'd the body work on that? I'm always curious as to have some of the internet famous cars are in 'real life' in regard to total fit and finish. Always liked the look of that car tho!

the fit and finish is excellent. The spacing between the doors and fenders for instance is as close as a modern car. So close that I kinda worried about it, but nothing touches. The hood and hatch close with no effort. I hate that the hood has standoffs, but that isn't part of the kit. The hood will hit the engine without them. I believe it is the mounts that are causing this, because I have seen plenty of RB26s in a Sil80 and the hood closes just fine all the way around. To me the kit makes the car what it is. It just has that wild look, but still in a controlled manner. I never thought I would own a 180, but the first time I saw this particular one drive by, I pointed it out to my wife like GAWD DAMN, not knowing it had power to spare or any other goodies.

[fliprayzin240sx]

What the fuck happened to the R33 anyways? YOu still got it? Cut the stock fenders, lower the car. Funny thing is, you can probably go to the same guys that painted the car and they'd probably fix the paint for fairly cheap. This paint job wasnt your run of the mill oki paint job. Same guys that painted Rick's Midnight Purple R32. Talk to Josh at the hobby shop, maybe he can talk to the paint guys for you since he's koo with them.

[doodoojin]

Yeah I can see that they had it down to the frame essentially. I told Patrick I was going to paint this one MP as well and call it the LaST Chance.

The GTR is at my house just chilling. It has developed quite a few structural issues and its to the point where I think about whether the shock tower is going to fail when I turn. I have asked around about competent repair shops on island but I am going to sell it at some point. Waiting on a call back from the Prince and Skyline Museum in mainland. They have expressed interest in putting it on display.

[doodoojin]

... If they decline then it is gone. But not before a good wetsand and polish. :-)

[hvp014]

Whats up Collen? Looking forward to seeing some progress on this!

[2tonecoupegrl]

Thats sweet about them considering putting it on display!!! Sweet 180 too!

[doodoojin]

Originally Posted by hvp014

Whats up Collen? Looking forward to seeing some progress on this!

Thanks man, same to you with your car!!

Originally Posted by 2tonecoupegrl

Thats sweet about them considering putting it on display!!! Sweet 180 too!

It would be sweet! But I need them to hurry up already!

All I did today was clean the MAFs on the 180 today which solved a host of issues.

It no longer hunts for idle and dies. The power delivery is so smooth now . It doesn't blow out unburnt fuel anymore from the exhaust which should mean my fuel economy will improve vastly.

[forgotten]

I Love your s13 a real model for the rocket bunny kit, are you changing the wheel setup in your futur updats?

[doodoojin]

Yes, I am. I don't dislike these wheels, but honestly for the money they cost, it's interesting that you see them on so many S Chassis cars. I'm not a fan of the rounded lip, or the huge dish either for that matter. To make it worse, the chrome and gold combination is probably my least favorite (due to how common it is). For now I will probably mirror the Lost Birds GTR with rim choice. I also am going to install the Stoptech BBK in the next week hopefully. Just gotta get through Christmas and it will be go time on continuing the build up.

[fliprayzin240sx]

NOOOOOOoooOOOOOOOOOOO I LOVE THOSE VS-XX!!! Then again, thats probably a good step to make it into YOUR car vs Skrappy's old car. I still say lower the damn thing after you cut the front fenders...that was my biggest gripe with the car the last 3 yrs.

[1jzjoey]

have fun trying to have a convo with your passenger with those seats lol

[nujabe]

This is gona be good!!

[anthonyr sil8ty]

custom headlights?

[doodoojin]

they are pretty much just a variant of something like these.

triple beam dreams: S13 silvia triple projectors, corner lights, and grille


So, this project is already being derailed by the engine. Looks good in pictures, but it isn't running so hot. I am going to get in there and start figuring out what's up tomorrow. but I either have a pretty good boost leak or surging... or both, or I could have a bad piston ring... i dunno. Here's a video of me putting the pedal down in third right in the RPM band where boost starts to build.. LOTs of hesitation and general lack of performance, and boost builds closer to full boost, the power smooths back out and I get an incredible cloud of black smoke




I/m thinking maybe boost leak, because the AFR meter is going crazy and if metered air is escaping , it's gonna throw it way off.. I hope that's all it is!

[brewster240]

Replace the mafs.

[fliprayzin240sx]

Did you pressurize the system to see if you have any boost leak?

[doodoojin]

MAF swap did nothing, so that isn't the problem I gather.

^^ I am going to a boost leak test tomorrow. I need to get some couplers in the right size to block off these turbos.

[fliprayzin240sx]

Go to Makeman and get 2 3" PCV pipe plugs, should fit into the intake necks since they're the same size as the MAF. Drill one of them out, stick a valve stem thru it, if you wanna be fancy, you can stick a gauge on there too. Use the compressor at the hobby shop to pressurize it and keep it down to about 2 bar. You should hear where its leaking, if not, spray Simple Green on all the couplings, should bubble up if its leaking and doubles as you cleaning the pipes when you wipe them down.

[doodoojin]

Originally Posted by fliprayzin240sx

Go to Makeman and get 2 3" PCV pipe plugs, should fit into the intake necks since they're the same size as the MAF. Drill one of them out, stick a valve stem thru it, if you wanna be fancy, you can stick a gauge on there too. Use the compressor at the hobby shop to pressurize it and keep it down to about 2 bar. You should hear where its leaking, if not, spray Simple Green on all the couplings, should bubble up if its leaking and doubles as you cleaning the pipes when you wipe them down.

This may seem like a stupid question, but don't I need to remove the pipe from the plenum and block it? otherwise seems like air would just find the way out the exhaust, unless there is a point where all the valves are closed on an RB26.

[codyace]

Originally Posted by doodoojin

This may seem like a stupid question, but don't I need to remove the pipe from the plenum and block it? otherwise seems like air would just find the way out the exhaust, unless there is a point where all the valves are closed on an RB26.

Throttle body closed will help indicate if you have leaky pipess, but as you said it doesn't allow for a true total system (as in, to include intake manifold) check. For that a smoke machine would be best.

[doodoojin]

playing with wheels. So I'm new to S Chassis, but I heard there is a mod to do on S13 that will move the lower suspension mount inboard?? This is what I'm working with

[fliprayzin240sx]

Just to clarify, since ZY was all over the place, what size wheels are they and what was the sizing on the VS-XX. Other than it poking out, its also rubbing the coilovers right? If so, how bad? Fender clearance wise, that isnt bad. I vaguely remember you saying they were 10.5j from the lost bird R33 thread, thats why I said go 235/40-18. You want the least amount of rubber for those tires to tuck under the fender some. And no, there is no way in hell they'd let you pass JCI with those wheels. Go borrow some JCI wheels from other people. Also, if you plan on taking it to somebody for JCI, Taki Motors across Camp Foster's main gate on 58 would more than likely pass that. You'd be looking at 60,000y to pass it.

[doodoojin]

Now that's some good info right there. Thanks.

The wheels are 18x10.5 +15. If the coilover wasn't in the way, the outer edge of the rim would sit at the exact same spot near enough as the VS-XX, which are 18×9.0J -4 offset. I think 235/40 might be too extreme for my tastes as far stretch goes on a 10.5. I am going to try a bunch of different sizes as I find people throwing them away though. I would like to start with 265/35/18 and work down. I'll get them on there! I know that JIC coilovers have a very compact coil design, but I just saw yesterday that the FLT-TARs for s13 are discontinued by them. ah well. I need the most compact coil I can find, and one with pillowball top mount and either adjustable lower mounts or a pointer in the right direction on where to get my lower mounts extended...


Here's the rears with a 20mm spacer

[fliprayzin240sx]

I've managed to clear 18x10 +18 with no spacers on Topline Aragostas. You're 10.5 +15 is only 3mm more inside. I'm saying 235/40-18 unless you plan on running stupid amount of camber on wider tires.

I'm running those sized tires on my 10.5j on the rears: