33 with a 33 and only $33 Part 1

Haven't really had much time to sit down and just jot some thoughts down. I feel like being 33 has been blur as of late with work driving into high gear. Recently, decided to trade the NSX for another R33 in a "spur of the moment" deal and finalized everything within 2 hours. I honestly didn't plan on another R33 but purple cars truly hold a special place in my heart. I've also forgotten what a true money pit these can be hence I am now 33 years old with a BCNR33 and only $33. 



On a Saturday, Elvis jokingly said we should trade cars and 2 hours later, Cho and I decided to drive straight to Sacramento in the NSX to trade cars. In the 100F weather, day and night, the NSX didn't have any hiccups and drove perfectly fine all the way. On the way down, the R33 was relatively trouble free except for the bumpy HKS coilovers and loud R888R. However, about 20mi from home, the MAF started to show signs of taking a fat shit. After trying to diagnose everything from TPS, vacuum leak to bad wiring, we finally decided on the MAF. Shitty part is, MAF are expensive to replace but getting a Haltech Elite to hold me over is about the same price so I went with that. The ECU is pretty good for what it is but it just wasn't something my tuner was familiar with. Before jumping onto the dyno, I had to install my wideband which was, of course, seized inside the hole so Ken had to cut and weld me a new o2 bung. Managed to get about 270whp on SP Engineering's dyno. With all the band aid in place, it was time to really order what I want. I know I said no more large projects after FRS so yes, I managed to keep everything at a moderate level. 

At the Grapevine

At the gas station before hopping onto the freeway
Downpipe with seized o2 bung

Had to use a plate since the original o2 bung was larger than the new one

MAF Delete pipe

All 270whp LOL

I tend to usually order Hypertune whenever I can but unfortunately, their V2 intake manifold was a bit messy to me with having water lines running out and into a reservoir. Due to this, I went and got my first Plazmaman manifold. Another reason was to ditch the OEM ITB for modern DBW and DBW pedal. Since I went away from stock ITB and into DBW, I also needed to upgrade my ECU. I really did want to keep the Haltech for a bit longer but with my tuner not feeling 100% with it and the lack of DBW capabilities, I went with Motec M150 from Powertune. I had a M130 on the white R32 but we were close to maxing out the channels on it which led me to a M150. Lastly, since my stock white face Nismo cluster wasn't working and replacing one would be about $2,000 in the used market, I opted to go with a Motec C1212 digital display for just a bit more.

Typical cluster problems
Powertune C1212 with OEM Skin

On the turbo side, stock is just too cramped for my liking so I went with a single setup. Originally I wanted the Hypertune manifold but I've never had a chance to play with a non OEM IWG setup. Weirdly, the only company that made an IWG manifold for RB26 is Full Race. I've had their manifold before on my 2JZ and it was very well built so I didn't have issues paying a bit more for it. Also, I just wanted to match with my cousin so 🤷🏻‍♂️

Another thing I know won't last is the stock block with added power so in preparing for it, I ordered a new RB block and head from Cody @ Zero. It's a bit back ordered but that shouldn't be an issue. The HKS VCAM is also pretty back ordered so it doesn't matter. For the stroker, I initially wanted to go with HKS but they're pretty lacking in information. With that said, I figured I'd go with a Nitto stroker and oil pump since they seem to have very good experience with RB. Luckily their stuff is either in stock or can be made so I'll order that when the block lands at the warehouse in Japan. Though everything is sourced, hopefully I can find a good builder to machine and put everything together. I think that'll be the hardest part about this entire process so far. 

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