Another year, another bonus check, another slew of parts!
Last year, I bought the front wheels. Matching SSR SP4-R, but 17x9.0 instead of 17x10
The plan is still to wrap these with 255 wide tires up front and 275 wide in the rear.
But the big fun time stuff is happening this year. Motor work.
I ended up purchasing a Garrett GTX 2867r Gen II turbo with an 0.86 A/R turbine. It'll be here sometime in April. In the meantime, I ordered all of the main components for the motor.
From Mazworx, I ordered their CP Piston/Manley H-Beam rod combo with Calico coated ACL Race Bearings. Those are currently in transit.
I also ordered a metric but tonne of Tomei stuff.
Tomei Type A springs. I had considered going with Solid Pivots, but in the end I decided for what I was after, it would be a lot of work for negligible gains. The turbo I chose runs out of steam over 7000 RPM due to the T25 style turbine housing, so the primary benefit of solid lifters was made moot. Then I'd be introducing the need to reshim the head every so many miles. The GTi-R uses solid pivots from factory and recommends a service interval of every 12,000 miles.
Now why didn't I get titanium retainers? Simple. The factory tool steel retainers are sturdier than the titanium retainers and won't wear out nearly as fast. Since I'm not planning on spinning the motor greater than factory redline, the advantage of the slight mass reduction of the titanium doesn't really come into play. Also, titanium isn't nearly as durable as steel in this application meaning the titanium retainers would wear out quicker. So I felt the benefits didn't outweigh the costs.
Since I had decided on keeping the HLAs, that meant I could choose my cams.
Tomei Procam 260° 12mm lift. I really had my heart set on these, and almost couldn't get them. It turns out, Tomei US no longer carries the variety of Procam they used to. The only Procam is a 272 high lift designed for solid lifters. The only other cam Tomei US offers is a 258 Poncam with an 11.5mm lift. All of the stateside vendors I spoke with can no longer get the old style Procams. Thankfully, RHD Japan can still order the older SKU. You just gotta pay a bit more and do international shipping.
I do want to find the moron who generated this notice and beat him with a broken camshaft.
I ordered a gasket set (not pictured) from The Nissan Race Shop (formerly The Nismo Shop I think?) and also got some ARP head studs from Summit.
It's been a decade since I built a motor, but I will always swear by this stuff. Best engine assembly lube I ever used.
Before I ordered the pistons from Mazworxs, I tore the block down just to inspect the cylinder walls. This motor was M I N T
The head was clean and had minimal oil staining
All of the cylinder walls were in fantastic shape. No sense in showing too many pictures, since they all look the same.
But this motor was treated like a well mannered lady before me. Even the valve cover had never been removed (it still had Nissan factory grey sealant on the half moons). Now she's gonna get a fat bottom end and breath a whoooooole lot better on the top.
Since the cylinders looked so good, I decided not to bore out the walls and ordered a set of 86mm CP Pistons. I'll order a Cosworth head gasket after the head and deck are checked in case I need to upsize to a 1.8mm gasket.
I was also feeling spry and ordered a few things I've been meaning to get for a while.
GKTech overflow tank. Mine is like most other S13 owners: s***
And then on a whim, I checked ebay and managed to score a perfect set of Acura TSX projectors from an '06 model. Doing this swap has been on my to do list ever since I put the Silvia front on the car.
To take advantage of the projectors, I ordered a Morimoto D2H conversion kit with 5500K bulbs. The TSX uses D2S bulbs natively, so this D2H kit will work nicely. I'll do this upgrade sooner rather than later.
The plan is to have the motor worked on over the course of this year, and then next year, have the car's paint and body done. Once the paint is done, then I can actually put all of these parts I've been hoarding for years onto the car.
Over this next year, I'll be purchasing a set of 1000cc injectors, a radium top feed fuel rail, and a Nismotronic engine management to round out the rest of the motor stuff.