VL Calais RB26DETT

Latest News

15/01/02

As you can see, i havent updated for a while, as ive been workin on the car and been working full time again. Lots of stuff has been happening in the meantime.

First of all, engine bay has been completely smoothed out all over (1 weeks work preparing it) and has been painted in purple, same colour as body (almost a perfect match) and its 99% done at the moment and just needs a few more coats and a few coats of clear laquer to make it shine.

The sump is now completely finished and on the engine :)

Aldo during the week i got hold of a custom surge tank which will be used later on when i set-up the fuel system.

The 3" dump pipes off each turbo are also 99% done and almost ready to install on engine and they are looking mighty good hehe.

i will put some more photos up in the next week or so

thats about it for the moment

28/12/01

Quick update for today...

Well today i decided the engine bay did look pretty shit and a few people have been telling me, so i've decided to paint it now, hehe, and we are goin to paint it gloss black, which i hope turns out alright. We are goin to bog up the humps and bumps, and then use heaps of spray putty in the entire engine bay and then rub it back till the whole engine bay is super smooth. I have started to take parts out of the engine bay like the fuse box, fuse box wiring, brake lines, fuel lines, and heater hoses and the grommets. I still got to take out the brake booster and master cylinder and the power steering rack also.

We also purchased a rb30 sump gasket today to use when we put the sump back on in a few days after we have welded it. We also layed all the parts on the floor that i got with the car and now its just a matter of sorting out what is for what and what goes where, which is harder than it seems.

I also tested how my intercooler will fit and i got pics of it on the Photos page of how its gonna look (minus the bricks holding it up, hehe).

Thats all for now

Brad

27/12/01

Well this is the first update after xmas, and luckily for xmas i got a digital camera :) So from now on there will be heaps of pics, trust me, hehe.

Today is the first i've touched the car since the last update, and we decided to try and find the tailshaft yoke today, and we rang about 50-60 places around Perth and even over east for the 300zx twin turbo yoke. I rang one place a fair drive away and they said nope they aint got any 300zx ones, but they told me to take the box in a see if any others would fit. So we get the gearbox out the garage and begin to load it into the car and I thought I might as well try the vl turbo manual tailshaft once more just incase it fitted (we tried it before when box was in the car and it didnt fit), and it bloody well fitted perfect , so that saved me alot of stuffing round now.

Next task was to pull the motor out to get the sump off and weld it, and to make the new 3" dump pipes. So we hired the engine lifter and pulled the motor out and it was pretty easy. Also took the sump off to check the bottom end out and it looks mint. I have taken heaps of photos so i put them all on the photo page.

thats about it for now

Brad

22/12/01

Well in the past few days i been trying to get together a list of what needs to be done and in what particular order. I decided to paint the engine bay, but now im thinking i can't be stuffed, and would rather drive the car :)

I am probably gonna get 2 K&N Pod Filters, as i've been told they can be legal and i will be able to get permits for them, so i gotta goto the transport place and find out for sure. For the last week almost we have been searching for a gearbox/tailshaft yoke from a 300zx Twin Turbo, which is a bloody nightmare cause the 300zx is an imported model so even nissan dont stock the parts. All the wreckers said they didnt have em and one wrecker said "it will be like trying to find ice in the Sahara Desert" so we gotta look around abit more, maybe some import engine places will have one, or we got to ring over east and get one sent here or last option is to get nissan to order one to come from Japan which is really expensive.

I'm also trying to decide what type of clutch to get, either brass button or a normal heavy duty one. I'm thinking brass button at the moment cause i been told they will take the power no trouble and have bugger all slipping, but the downside is they are a pain to drive in traffic i've been informed. I have a contact for a really good clutch place over east from my uncle (he does drag racing) and he reckons they make clutches for full drag set-ups, so i'll give them a call or maybe email them and see what they have to say.

Also rang around looking for the biggest Bosch fuel pump available and finally we got hold of the part number for the Bosch Motorsport 044 fuel pump which flows enough fuel for 350kw at the wheels at around 45psi (info from Zoom Magazine). The fuel pumps retail for $798, but luckily i have a friend who can get trade price at Coventrys, which saves a few hundred dollars.

I have found out i need an adjustable panhard rod to fit the 4" exhuast system, so i'll be getting one of them as soon as possible from my dad's friend who owns and runs Malaga Springs & Suspension (Perth), for anyone who wants good suspension stuff, give them a call.

Other things to be done are, get a good radiator, new front and rear lights, install air con, throttle cable, heater hoses, fuel lines, bov's, charcoal canister, clutch mast cylinder, starter motor, cruise control, interior parts installed, and paint window frames black, get new legal black tint once i rip the mirror tint off. Get intercooler piping made in aluminuim piping i think, and get the exhuast system made. Install ECU and get the car dynoed, and get permits, thats about it :)

cya

Brad

17/01/01

Yesterday i was informed (well 99% sure) the gearbox is infact from a Z32 Twin Turbo 300zx, and has a RB25/RB30 bellhousing. I was also told they are as strong as, if not stronger than the rb25det box. The 300zx its from, has the same power output as the rb26dett so it should be good. We will probably shorten the shifter abit to make it suitable for the vl trans tunnel and centre console. At the moment in deciding whether or not i should take the motor out and paint the engine bay purple as well.. we will see.

thats all for now...

15/12/01

Well so far i've just found out that the gearbox i got with the car might not be a rb25det box :(

Gotta look into it abit more yet. Today we found out the vl turbo manual gearbox mounts bolt str8 up with the new gearbox so thats easy enough. We also pulled the gearbox out and noticed it has an external type shifter, instead of the standard vl style where it comes outta the top of the box. So the shifter is about 9cm too far back, but we will see what happens in regards to that.

Went and spoke to the local performance shop who will be installing the Autronics system for it. He said roughly $3500 for the SMC (i think) and thats for dyno tuning, installation and boost control, auto-tune, etc. He is also going to be making the exhuast system, which will be 3" dump pipes out of each turbo and join into one single 4" pipe that will run into a high flow cat, then over the diff into a highflow muffler, then to the 4" stainless tip. Also have been told not to run over 14-15psi with the stock turbos cause they are ceramic.

Also had the luck to go for a drive in the GTR "ND4SPD" and god damn its fuckin crazy :P

has made 420hp at the wheels (only has bigger turbos and bigger cooler) and has run 11.5 at the drags before.

I cant wait to get the car on the road :) should be around 2 months now, cause the Autronics takes around 4 weeks to come after i order it :)

ill update again soon...

13/12/01

well i thought i might as well start a site (note: shit site atm) on my new vl calais which i just purchased which has a r33 rb26dett engine in it, and other goodies :)

the car atm is unfinished and still not running due to no ecu at present.

The car is an original VL Calais series 1 Turbo, and the previous owner said it had a mildly worked rb30et in it with intercooler, microtech mt8, extra injectors, etc, until he wound the boost up too much and melted a piston :( So he said stuff fiddling with the old rb30et and with the help of one of his mate's who worked at a jap engine importer, they decided on the rb26dett would do the job nicely. So he ended up testing lots of different rb26's and found this r33 engine with roughly a low 29000km on it to be perfect, and he purchased the entire r33 front cut. He then got hold of a gts-t (rb25det) 5 speed gearbox to use.

Prior to him blowing the old rb30 he got another friend in the panel and paint business to respray the car from its boring stock white colour (no offence anyone), to a custom 2 pac purple mix which looks pretty decent (a few minor areas need attention) he also got new front and rear bumpers and a "group A" grille as well.

the car is still the same as i purchased it (only 2 weeks ago now).

it has 2 pac purple paint, polished calais rims, 3" exhuast system (from old rb30), microtech mt8 ecu (not hooked up), lowered with king springs and bristein shocks (i think), weird coloured/powdercoated engine bay colour (i'll get pics soon), immaculate interior, r33 rb26dett engine, gts-t 5 speed box, 3.45 mini spool vl turbo diff, gtr front mount intercooler, extremely dark dark mirror tint (2 layers), Autometer Phantom Boost Gauge, turbo timer, all calais options, etc

the car/engine transplant is only 90% finished atm.

things to be done:

-pull motor out and weld sump.

-mount clutch master clyinder from rb25 gearbox

-mount pollution bullshit (charcoal canister, etc)

-put motor back in

-rip the 2 layers of mirror tint off

-install power steering (not sure whether to use rb26 or rb30)

-install air con

-get cruise control hooked up if i can

-get custom tailshaft made with z32 300zx yoke

-mount r33 gtr cooler and install intake pipes.

-get cooler piping and exhuast dump pipes made

-get autronics installed and tuned/dynoed

-get FULL permits for every single mod on it.