BNR34 Full Custom Stainless 3" Exhaust

So after the Tomei Expreme Ti had proven too loud for my liking I decided to go for a full custom exhaust. Ended up at a workshop which won't be mentioned and has since disappeared (I wonder why?) and got a good sounding exhaust. Unfortunately that's about as good as it gets... The exhaust was horribly designed which led to a defect for the exhaust hanging too low, and after closer inspection it also happened to have pinhole leaks at the welds. In the end I can't really complain, it's my fault as I went for the cheaper option and was expecting too much.

I then went to Rob from Sabbadin Automotive and asked  for a quiet yet high flowing exhaust that also sits up high. I was advised I only needed 3" piping with good flowing mufflers to achieve my power goal and keep sound to a minimum. Long story short I ended up with ~350kw at the wheels on e85 with -7 turbos at both Sabbadin Automotive and Chequered Tuning dyno's. Spot on with the power goal.

Back to the exhaust - Sabbadin Automotive worked their magic and achieved the following:

Front pipes back - the centre muffler hadn't been welded on yet

The cat - re-used from my previous setup

The centre muffler - again, not welded on yet, just sitting in place

To achieve the fitment of the centre muffler displayed above, the top of the muffler was modified so it won't interfere with the drive shaft.

Here you can see how high the exhaust will eventually sit

And here's some final photos of the completed exhaust. As you can see, the centre muffler sits up higher than the rear diffuser, a better outcome than I ever expected.

The same could be said for the piping to the rear muffler. The piping isn't only more straight, it doesn't even need the factory cutout in the diffuser because it sits up so high.

Note: The darkened area on the rear bar around the muffler tip is from the previous exhaust, I hadn't gotten to cleaning it yet.

The exhaust is nice and quiet and has no drone at all, makes great power and sits up extremely high - exactly what I was looking for.

If you're looking for something similar I highly recommend having a chat to Sabbadin Automotive.

Reverse and Fog light restoration

Another minor restoration done a while back. The small details make a big difference, before and after images speak for themselves.

I used the Meguiar's Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit. The heavy duty version comes with sealant - extremely important as without it your lights oxidise again very quickly.

Before:

After:

R34 GT-R Tomei Expreme Ti Exhaust

Here's an old first start up video with the newly fitted Tomei Expreme Ti exhaust system. A beautifully designed exhaust, aesthetically pleasing and sounds incredible, only weighing in at a total of 7kg.

Just a shame it's too loud for my liking.

BNR34 MFD screen repair

One of the first things I did after I picked up the GTR was fix the MFD's screen. The damage is usually due to the age and heat/cold cycles throughout their lifetime. See above photo - trust me when I say this photo DOES do it justice; it looked much worse up close from the drivers seat. You'll see what I mean below.

Before I get into things, please note this is not a comprehensive guide. I did this about 2 years ago and don't have many photos so I worked with what I could find. Feel free to comment if you require any assistance though and I'll be happy to help.

What you'll need:

- Scotch double sided tape (small roll)

- De-Solv-It (or something that can help to remove adhesive)

- A sharp flat blade

- Usual screwdrivers/sockets to remove the MFD from the car and disassemble

- Adhesive backed polarizing film - You can buy this from many sites including eBay. Make sure you get extra just in case.

- Something to squeeze out air bubbles from the film, a credit card or similar will work

Now here's a photo of the LCD once the MFD was disassembled:

What you are seeing is the badly cracked/damaged adhesive polarizing film. The yellow stuff around the edges is a soft rubbery-like glue. First remove the soft rubbery-like glue, this is quite easy and the De-Solv-It helps. Then start removing the old polarizing film by using a sharp flat blade to lift up the edge, peel very slowly until it all comes off. Mine broke into separate pieces due to the cracks everywhere. Keep at it and then use some De-Solv-It or similar to remove any leftover adhesive on the screen. Patience is the key during this, don't try to rush it as you may damage the LCD screen.

You should end up with this:

Next, cut a piece of polarizing film to the size of the black area of the screen, the edges don't have to be perfect as some of the screen will be covered by the plastic housing. Don't worry about placing it on the wrong way as only one side is adhesive. Once the film is seated properly you will need to squeeze out the air bubbles.

TIP: Leave the thin protective film on until after you've squeezed out all air bubbles, this will prevent nasty scratches from being left on the polarizing film.

Once you're happy with the film's placement, go ahead and stick some double sided tape on the housing in place of the rubbery-like glue you removed and re-assemble.

Here's what mine looked like once complete and installed:

The "light bleed" you can see is made more obvious in these photos. It's quite an old LCD so don't expect it to look like a screen you can buy nowadays. It will look like brand new out of the factory as long as you did the job correctly and your LCD isn't damaged.

If you are undertaking this job, good luck!

Apologies for the lack of photos, this was done quite a while ago and I hadn't planned on uploading a guide.

Over the past few months I've been doing some work on my R34 GT-R and taking pictures of most things along the way. I figured other people may find the information and photos useful just as I would have; the result of which is this blog.

So to start things off... I picked up my 1999 BNR34 GT-R V-Spec back in November 2012, no sign of rust, no underbody or random sections painted over to cover it, and a straight and clean body. Mildly modified with the usual - some random Jap exhaust system, coilovers, pod filters, and lucky for me it also had a Nismo Oil Cooler fitted (These cost over $2k) - as you may have noticed by the the vents on the passenger side of the front bar.