Nissan Skyline R32 GTR - Group.. A?

[alexcrosse]

Penguinracer said:

Alex...I apologise for being a thread hijacker.

Don't get too close to the 944 - don't get that "Champion of the Underdog" disease which afflicts so many U.S. -based 944 Turbo tuners - keep your eyes on the prize.

I'm loving the dedication to the finest details in your build - it's definitely a labour of love which motorsport connoisseurs will appreciate.

No need, good to see the car pics yeah the 944 seems a much bigger deal in the states than here. This thing is far from pretty once you get close, but its a tool for a job, and hopefully it'll be pretty good at that!

trails said:

Sounds like it needs it's own thread...

Sure sounds like it... but will potentially keep this one a bit quieter. I'll see how fancy I'm feeling.

The main threading that needs doing is practicing threading a trailer down my shared driveway...

[alexcrosse]

Progress? Progress.

This one’s should be good. Favourite suspension component is first up.

[alexcrosse]

Jon_Bmw said:

Excellent Alex.

Thanks to your video I've finally seen the benefit of 4 sided chucks


We have some super old xyz millingachines at work with massive DROs, because old! I seem to remember he can setup basic programs on them, pockets, lines etc. Can you do that with yours? Dare I ask how much it cost to retrofit yours?

So the 4 jaw on mine is important because my 3 jaw is horrendously inaccurate lol. So I tend to use it all the time. But yeah, offset too, although you can space out a 3 jaw to do the same.

It really wasn’t much, for what it is, maybe £250. Mill was £350 from the school. So all in a great setup for the money.

Edited by alexcrosse on Wednesday 7th September 08:26

[alexcrosse]

Hello pistonheads. Another update, nice to see things migrate from concept, model, and finally metal.



Took the porsche slightly to bits also. Found the crank pickup was 90% cracked, welded and reinforced it. Sent it off to the platers with a load of bolts for zinc and de-embrittlement. Hopefully have that up and running in a few weeks now which will be nice. Working cars are nice.

[alexcrosse]

B'stard Child said:

Enjoyed that although I will admit that I struggle with how the jig will be reversed to cope with both left and right sides

[alexcrosse]

MDifficult said:

Delighted we're back onto Skyline stuff. Also delighted that we're in one of those 'I've no idea what on earth he's doing here but I know the journey and end product are going to be pretty interesting' phases of the project

As always, I'm in total admiration of your skills

haha cheers dude, glad you're enjoying it.

SBF said:

Thoroughly enjoyed this one Alex, it’s an awesome amount of work and effort. The reverse engineered 3D printed bracket was a particularly great solution. Are you likely to make any more of the Group A specific parts to sell on? Or as spares? As you mentioned you were conscious not to fill a shelf with loads of jigs.

Ref the above, I assumed the ‘cat-hand’ jig can be reversed by disassembling, flipping the base plate over, and reassembling? But I’m probably wrong!

There's a couple of potential customers of parts, but that's mainly to support real cars, be them gpA, or retrofitted gpN. No ground up GpA stuff as of yet.

In terms of road cars, this kit is quite all or nothing. So the market is very limited given the cost associated with the fabrication / machining time and materials involved.

& yeah you got it mate. Flip the base, then the pins are aligned with any bolt axes so it can serve both sides.

[alexcrosse]

Anymore for anymore?

Fabrication half done on the 3rd link now, bit of bending a welding to go - oh, and the other side.

[alexcrosse]

Haha too dirty in there for his immaculate paws at the moment

[alexcrosse]

Haha cheers guys, plenty of cock ups certainly happen, in both fabrication and filming.

These are taking a while, but almost done, video next week and then I think a spectacular tangent is well overdue

[alexcrosse]

There we go, links are done. Suspension wise, will probably get the arms done next, maybe start them in December.

[alexcrosse]

Cheers guys, I’ll keep going, never need to worry about that glad it’s being enjoyed

[alexcrosse]

Cheers chaps, yes new video up. Good to pick up the camera again.



So some PH extras...

I've not just been building tools for the last six months. One big task has been remanufacturing Group A suspension arms for a track car, I wanted to see if they could be mounted to ball joints, the answer is no. The arms are super light, and very strong in compression, but the lever of a ball joint cant be contained by the relatively small fittings. Hence... one of the subframe builds. These will be going back on the car with a proper subframe and proper bearings.



The years of research, learning and investment have not gone unrecognised by others, which is a good feeling. I was fortunate to be asked for some advice on the BP car which was recently up for auction, and I subsequently drove out to Spa to see it being delivered and meet the owner. A great day out, the white group N pictured raced in the 24hr. I'm looking forward to supplying some parts to get these cars back to competition.



Most recently I was invited to Anglesey for another meet up. Unbelievably I was offered a drive in the Kyoseki Group A car, which was an offer I couldn't turn down, but did reply with "are you sure?" quite a few times. The car was incredible, the feel of an R32 was there, but lightness and rigidity of everything really shines through, the change of direction is really immense. This was a massive motivation boost for my own project.



At the moment I'm working on lots in parallel. Will keep updates coming on the subframes and video a set of arms being built. But there should be some very exciting components on their way in Autumn.

[alexcrosse]

Years in the making. Freshly cast magnesium Gr.A uprights.

I take your out of control project car and raise you this