Sandman's R33 Skyline Drift project

[Sandman]

Made up the return line from the cooler to the filter the next day but forgot to grab a photo. Then went about removing the factory oil filter block, this turned out to be way more of a saga than I'd hoped. With its location under the intake manifold and the general lack of access from both above and below I ended up having to crack the bolts off with a 1/4" ratchet which was also not ideal. To add insult to injury the top left bolt could not be accessed without unplugging one of the water lines and thus draining the coolant. That said what I forgot was this has a factory oil heat exchanger on it so draining it would've been required anyway. So I've got the combo sensor and all the plugs all in the new oil block now and by tomorrow the thread sealant should be cured and ready to bolt onto the engine. Then I need to block off the lines to the factory heat exchanger and make the remaining two AN lines. Enough to keep me busy.

Factory oil block and heat exchanger off

New oil block with Bosch combo sensor swapped across

 

[Sandman]

So this is taking way longer than I'd hoped but getting a little bit done when I get the time. Removing the gasket off the side of the block was a royal pain, done with brake cleaner and a razor blade on my back at arms reach. 45 minutes later the surface was clean and could put the new oil block on. Then put a stopper on the forward water line where the heat exchanger had plumbed into. The rear one of these will be blocked off by a male stopper in the hose, but waiting for that to arrive still. Ideally I'd remove the hose completely, but I can't access that without removing the whole intake or engine so the stopper it is. Also my box of oil arrived from the boxing day sales too, another box of stuff to cram into the garage.

Accurate depiction of the access I had to fit this oil block. Pipe above the block was what got blocked off with the cap.

Stopper

Keeping Penrite in business

 

[Sandman]

Ended up bridge the coolant hose which had run through the factory heat exchanger, due to it being suggested to me to keep the fluid flowing as RB's can be fussy with this. No photos of this as seen above gettign photos of this kind of work is nearly improssible.

Did manage to finish all the AN lines for the filter and oil cooler though and got them plumbed. Plan this weekend is to change the oil and fill it with coolant and hopefully start it once again, I do need to get some large rubber hose to stop it chauffing on various parts though as although this bends alright for AN lines, it still holds a shape and only bends so tight.

Lines running past the radiator to the cooler

Lines running into the cooler

Relocated oil filter, it actually isn't as tight as it looks for servicability. That said its the best of the crap places I had to choose from.