davecarter

Hey guys, my name is Dave.



From an early age I've been into cars and motorsport. When it came time for me to get behind the wheel, I followed my father's influence and hopped straight into a Volkswagen.



While I still love Vee Dubs, my horizons expanded and I became interested in Japanese cars. I then proceeded to buy probably the least Japanese Nissan there is; a base model, Australian-spec R31 Skyline.


I've had a lot of fun with this car, finding a true passion in drifting and learning a lot of things mechanically through turbocharging/working on it myself.


I've also done a lot of dumb things with it, namely a bit of a burnout in my driveway.



Now after something like that I thought it would be a good idea to lay low for a bit, and that's where the Lexus comes in.



An elderly family friend had an LS400 sitting under his carport that barely got driven and after a bit of convincing, he decided to let it go.





It was perfect for my needs. It had a comfortable ride, power everything, a sunroof, a comfortable interior and a V8 that made all the right noises. What more could you want from a daily?



Anyway, after that I went to Japan for a while. I saw some really cool stuff over there and it gave me some ideas for the Lexus.



I managed to pick a table up for it from UpGarage.



I also found some 19x9/10 +25 AME Shallens for it on Yahoo Japan.



So that's where I'm at right now. Future plans are pretty simple:

- Throw in some coilovers
- Fit the wheels
- Get some new window tint
- Get the air-con working again (compressor died from lack of use)
- Make up a nice exhaust for it
- Maybe put some stereo gear in it
- Fight off *****es with a stick

UCF11R

First of all welcome to CL and good to see another member from Aus!
Look forward to seeing where this goes from here.

Also would you happen to have a link for the table? Haha

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Congrats on the LS, looking forward to seeing the parts put on.

davecarter

Thanks mate!

Unfortunately it was just a second hand part that happened to have been sold to UpGarage so I was pretty lucky to stumble across it. If you keep searching for your model on their site though I'm sure one will pop up eventually, and maybe some other cool gear as well.

alexrx7

Congrats brother

Looks great i envy that engine bay. It has every oem part to include the damn battery case!

UCF11R

+1 for OEM engine bay haha, I'm still trying to find a good condition air filter shroud.

Ah that's okay, I'll have a look, thanks though. Where abouts in NSW were you? Might have to do an Australian roll call. Haha

davecarter

Just in South East Sydney mate, how about yourself?

UCF11R

Ah I'm a Gold Coast local, I was hoping you'd be in northern NSW haha. Ah well, I'll be sure to hit you up when I'm down that way again! I grew up on the north side, over near manly

Jordanf

That skyline is freaking awesome

davecarter

Test fitted the new wheels today; 19x9 +25 and 19x10 +35 AME Shallens









Pretty damned happy with how they sit, although this has confirmed that the guards will definitely need rolling. Might space the rears out a touch if they come in a lot with the camber gain. Thinking of running a 205 of some sort on the fronts and a 225 or 235 on the rear.

Now for the coilies!

davecarter

Also, I noticed a recurring issue today that some of you might have experienced and fixed. When electronically locking the doors (either remote or the door switch) my passenger door keeps trying to flick to the locked position but won't quite make it. After a bit of use it seems to fix itself again then will get stuck for a day or two. Any ideas?

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

Welcome!

dying door lock actuator.


more R31 pics pls.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

welcome! funny to see RHD cars that are badged lexus (usually toyota in japan) but of course you are from NSW. love to see enthusiasts worldwide!

as for tires, or is it tyres, i recommend 225 front and 235 rear as the offsets are fairly conservative. i would lower the car first before buying the rubbers. what "coilies" are you planning on getting?

davecarter

Doorlock actuator seems like the logical thing to be failing, thanks mate!

Coilovers will be a set of these: http://pbbrakes.com/suspension-kits/...nsion-kit.html

I'd never heard of them before but a friend is running them in his LS and absolutely loves them. I can also source them pretty cheap so it seems like the way to go over BCs or some of the other lower end stuff.

Will definitely be sorting the guards and ride height out before committing to a tyre but unless the fronts come in a lot I think it will need at most a 215 from the test fit. I am wrong a lot though, so we'll see.

Oh, and here are a couple more pics of the 31 as requested






I've got a pair of 15x9 0 SSR MK3s for the rear (the red ones in the back of the Shallen pic) that have been freshly sprayed silver and will be going on once I get the car back from getting a roll cage. It's also getting some modified knuckles. The car is really just focused on being reliable and getting to as many events as possible so I'm smashing out a bunch of stuff on it now then the Lexo will get all the attention... hopefully!



The engine bay really needs a tidy up but I've been more focused on just getting it running reliably. It is currently making a touch over 200kW on 14psi due to ignition issues during the last tune that are now fixed. The Holset HX35 is barely huffing at that boost so it's going back on the dyno on Feb 8th for either 20psi or whatever the GT-R injectors can flow. Should be fun

davecarter

Chucked some new bits in old mate today to address a slight, intermittent misfire I've noticed.



http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LS400-SC4...dd961c8&_uhb=1

I followed the guide here, which is absolutely fantastic: http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/ignition/sparkplugs.html




I couldn't believe the amount of **** that has to come of to get in there, what a joke!




I also couldn't believe how clean everything was when pulling it apart. The old dude who owned it before me really must have looked after it.



Getting to this point I thought it would be as simple as ripping the distributor cap and rotor button out and replacing them but after consulting the the workshop manual/LEXLS guide, I couldn't believe the amount of stuff you're meant to rip off to get in there.




After a bit of thinking and some consultation with Dad we figured that if we ripped the timing belt off (ended up replacing it as well because why not) that we might be able to get the front timing covers off just enough to undo the cap bolts. It ended up working sweet as!



Reckon I found the cause of the miss as well. Both of the rotors were in pretty poor shape and this was the worse of the two.



There were a bunch of metal shavings in there as well from the end of the rotor wearing down which I reckon wouldn't have been helping things either. Gave it a blow out and it all looked good.



Also decided to take a bit out of the airbox to free up the intake a little bit. Completely invisible from the top, gives it a bit of a mean noise and probably gives it an extra half a retarded pony.

So yeah, it's back together now and running mint, happy days!

Next step will most likely be exhaust and coilovers, happening at the same time because while my mate does the exhaust, I can throw the coils in on his hoist. I'm thinking of getting rid of the cats as I've heard they're what hits road first and running a single one higher up after the pipes merge. Will then go back into the stock centre pipe and muffler then where it splits, cut off the factory mufflers and run twin 2 or 2.25-inch stainless pipes to the rear. Planning to have it flanged so the stock system just bolts straight back up.