Tale of too many Silvia's - Vegemite Edition
Discussion
Have been flat out with work, just trying to sneak an hour or two here and there.
Clearanced the chassis for the intercooler.
And it now cleared the front reo.
I thought it was all done until I went to install the head light. Ah s
t lol.
I'd kinda forgotten about the headlight and that the front support needed to be there for it to bolt to.
No matter..
Tried to upload a video showing it's still stiff (that's what she said huhu) despite being cut in half but youtube is being a dick.
There was still the matter of the IC sitting too high. Had a bunch of these thick washers left over from the camber delete bolts which just happened to be the right diameter and worked a treat.
And it's not too low at the front.
With the ic finally sorted I could mount the oil cooler.
I wanted to put it in the front drivers side here and it all looked pretty good.
Except (and I didn't get a photo) it sat too low below the bar. One nasty bump or errant wombat and I'd up st creek.
The next best spot was up high under the rad support. What's a few more holes.
It hangs off the rad support and the flat holds it in place laterally so it is spaced off the intercooler. The mounts that came with the cooler have foam to help with vibrations, I'm only using one of the mounts so stole the rubber off the other for the flats.
Now the oil cooler was in it's spot I could make up the lines. I like 200 series becauase I find the olives easier to fit than trying to squeeze braid into the fitting on the 100 series. When I ordered everything from Marcos (ex MSCN now The Race Shop) I told him I wanted firesleeve to put on the lines not for heat protection but just to stop the braid chewing through everything it touches. The downside is the fibreglass gets dirty and soaked and coated in road grime. Marcos recommended I use 200 series but with a PVC outer sheath. It's good stuff.
It goes together like normal 200 series except some of the pvc outer needs to be stripped to get the fitting on and then patched with heavywall heatshrink.
Looking back through the photos I need to redo the first one I did. I thought the teflon bottomed out mid way but after doing the rest of them realised it bottoms out on the edge of the olive. Got some spare olives on the hunch I'd fk something up lol.
Ran the line through to the relo plate and cut the hose to length.
First line done.
Second line a repeat of the first just a bit longer.
When I ordered the hose I based it on putting the oil cooler in the front wheel well so I ran a bit short, waiting on Marcos to package up some more hose and 2x extra straight fittings for me ready for the long weekend.
In other news the red car's bodykit finally arrived from Japan
.
Actually it's been sitting at Import Monster for months I just hadn't time to pick it up so Aaron kindly dropped it off. Taking the entire long weekend off work so the other job I have to do is to put the subframes back in the red car so it can come off the jack stands and off to DT Panels.
Clearanced the chassis for the intercooler.
And it now cleared the front reo.
I thought it was all done until I went to install the head light. Ah s
t lol.I'd kinda forgotten about the headlight and that the front support needed to be there for it to bolt to.
No matter..
Tried to upload a video showing it's still stiff (that's what she said huhu) despite being cut in half but youtube is being a dick.
There was still the matter of the IC sitting too high. Had a bunch of these thick washers left over from the camber delete bolts which just happened to be the right diameter and worked a treat.
And it's not too low at the front.
With the ic finally sorted I could mount the oil cooler.
I wanted to put it in the front drivers side here and it all looked pretty good.
Except (and I didn't get a photo) it sat too low below the bar. One nasty bump or errant wombat and I'd up s
t creek.The next best spot was up high under the rad support. What's a few more holes.
It hangs off the rad support and the flat holds it in place laterally so it is spaced off the intercooler. The mounts that came with the cooler have foam to help with vibrations, I'm only using one of the mounts so stole the rubber off the other for the flats.
Now the oil cooler was in it's spot I could make up the lines. I like 200 series becauase I find the olives easier to fit than trying to squeeze braid into the fitting on the 100 series. When I ordered everything from Marcos (ex MSCN now The Race Shop) I told him I wanted firesleeve to put on the lines not for heat protection but just to stop the braid chewing through everything it touches. The downside is the fibreglass gets dirty and soaked and coated in road grime. Marcos recommended I use 200 series but with a PVC outer sheath. It's good stuff.
It goes together like normal 200 series except some of the pvc outer needs to be stripped to get the fitting on and then patched with heavywall heatshrink.
Looking back through the photos I need to redo the first one I did. I thought the teflon bottomed out mid way but after doing the rest of them realised it bottoms out on the edge of the olive. Got some spare olives on the hunch I'd fk something up lol.
Ran the line through to the relo plate and cut the hose to length.
First line done.
Second line a repeat of the first just a bit longer.
When I ordered the hose I based it on putting the oil cooler in the front wheel well so I ran a bit short, waiting on Marcos to package up some more hose and 2x extra straight fittings for me ready for the long weekend.
In other news the red car's bodykit finally arrived from Japan
. Actually it's been sitting at Import Monster for months I just hadn't time to pick it up so Aaron kindly dropped it off. Taking the entire long weekend off work so the other job I have to do is to put the subframes back in the red car so it can come off the jack stands and off to DT Panels.
ChrisCh86 said:
Wow - what a history and build thread! 
I've been thinking about why you guys in Oz (and MCM) are so interested in old Silvia's - I guess because there's not much rust they hang around a lot longer than in the US or in Europe - plus they're probably a bit easier to import from Japan.
Yea that's true mate. I see the battles you guys have with rust over here even with reasonalby modern cars.I've been thinking about why you guys in Oz (and MCM) are so interested in old Silvia's - I guess because there's not much rust they hang around a lot longer than in the US or in Europe - plus they're probably a bit easier to import from Japan.
Jader1973 said:
Quick question: why register the red one in NSW if you live in Melbourne? I thought NSW has annual roadies?
That's true and it makes a little bit harder, but the police are less interested when an import is driven by a 65yo farmer lol*- because it's his car
Great thread and a fantastic amount of work.
I've never owned or driven a Silvia but have always thought that they were a great looking car in pretty much all of their guises/generations.
See less and less over here in the UK these days for reasons mentioned above I guess.
North America were able to get a V6 version weren't they?
I've never owned or driven a Silvia but have always thought that they were a great looking car in pretty much all of their guises/generations.
See less and less over here in the UK these days for reasons mentioned above I guess.
North America were able to get a V6 version weren't they?
Finished the oil cooler this weekend. The last of the job was the jiffy tites off the oil plate and lines back to relo plate.
The jiffy tites are a dry break fitting. The male and female ends are a tight fit.
Which means the lines have to be spot on in length. Too long and it pushes on the fitting making it too hard to get on and if too short, well then they're just too short.
And the first crack I had at it the line was too fkn short, swore I'd measured it right. Pulled the fittings apart and tried again triple checking my measurements, but this time it was too fkn long and the jiffy tite wouldn't line up .
After beating myself up realised the drama I was having was the relo plate didn't line up with the 90's off the jiffys and when I was measuring it I couldn't get the deflection in the line right.
Re-did the bracket so everything lined up. It's a small ally channel and nice and stiff.
And what do you know it all lined up. Feed line done.
And the return.
Final check.
And nipped up.
They come off and go back on pretty easily.
https://youtu.be/UtImXKniB2E
If I were to do it over I'd put the jiffy's straight off the relo plate so they were on a straight section of the line and not off a 90 but it's done now.
It's a bit of a milestone because it means I can now bolt everything back on this side of the motor.
The jiffy tites are a dry break fitting. The male and female ends are a tight fit.
Which means the lines have to be spot on in length. Too long and it pushes on the fitting making it too hard to get on and if too short, well then they're just too short.
And the first crack I had at it the line was too fkn short, swore I'd measured it right. Pulled the fittings apart and tried again triple checking my measurements, but this time it was too fkn long and the jiffy tite wouldn't line up .
After beating myself up realised the drama I was having was the relo plate didn't line up with the 90's off the jiffys and when I was measuring it I couldn't get the deflection in the line right.
Re-did the bracket so everything lined up. It's a small ally channel and nice and stiff.
And what do you know it all lined up. Feed line done.
And the return.
Final check.
And nipped up.
They come off and go back on pretty easily.
https://youtu.be/UtImXKniB2E
If I were to do it over I'd put the jiffy's straight off the relo plate so they were on a straight section of the line and not off a 90 but it's done now.
It's a bit of a milestone because it means I can now bolt everything back on this side of the motor.
Speed1283 said:
Great thread and a fantastic amount of work.
I've never owned or driven a Silvia but have always thought that they were a great looking car in pretty much all of their guises/generations.
See less and less over here in the UK these days for reasons mentioned above I guess.
North America were able to get a V6 version weren't they?
Thanks mate cheers.I've never owned or driven a Silvia but have always thought that they were a great looking car in pretty much all of their guises/generations.
See less and less over here in the UK these days for reasons mentioned above I guess.
North America were able to get a V6 version weren't they?
I think north america had the ka24, but i think it's still an I4 motor.. I've seen a few people turbo them over there but I think swapping a SR in it's place is pretty popular choice.
It's been pretty cold in Melbourne of late and hard to get motivated to get into a cold shed. Heater and chocolate buns are helping.
And I got myself a new toy.
To get at the bolts that hold the oil cooler on I have to remove the radiator, not ideal.
I should have got these yonks back, nutserts are the st.
Much better.
Next job was the swirl pot.
SARD have the swirl pot on the drivers side which didn't make a lot of sense because 3 of the 4 outlets are on the passengers side. Reckoned passenger side was the way to go.
More nutserts.
More!
All the lines still fitted.
Except the top bugger to the overflow. Need to get some more hose.
Coming together slowly. Couple more weekends should have it ready to go to Sabbadin.
And I got myself a new toy.
To get at the bolts that hold the oil cooler on I have to remove the radiator, not ideal.
I should have got these yonks back, nutserts are the s
t.Much better.
Next job was the swirl pot.
SARD have the swirl pot on the drivers side which didn't make a lot of sense because 3 of the 4 outlets are on the passengers side. Reckoned passenger side was the way to go.
More nutserts.
More!
All the lines still fitted.
Except the top bugger to the overflow. Need to get some more hose.
Coming together slowly. Couple more weekends should have it ready to go to Sabbadin.
motomk said:
The metal mounts...Are they steel or Aluminium? I would like to move the transmission cooler mounting bracket on my ute so I can fit a different intake.
Can I just go to Bunnings Performance to get that stuff?
Sorry mate for the slow reply. Yep just ally and you can get it from Bunnings Can I just go to Bunnings Performance to get that stuff?
The SR20 comes with a perfectly good clutch fan from factory which works really well. So it makes no sense to use it. I was hoping to get away with the AC fan wired up to a thermo switch but a quick google proved this be a worse idea than using the excellent clutch fan.
Guys have used AU thermo fans with good results, but I'd snookered myself with the oil relo and only had 60mm to play with. The AU fans are 90mm thick or thereabouts.
Was a bit worried I'd have to redo the fkn oil lines again but then found a twin 12" spal setup that was 58mm thick and pulls 3100 odd cfm. Happy days.
Ordered it along with a Davies Craig controller from https://thermofans.com.au/. These guys were great and had it packed and to Melbourne from Canberra within 2 days. The controller is handy because it takes a water temp trigger and also a trigger from the AC clutch on.
The shroud and fans fit well width wise, were just a bit tall.
Just a bit off the top (bottom).
It now fitted, but I had no base to bolt it to the car. I would have glued it if I had glue on hand, but it's a Silvia so zipties abound.
Rivnuts ftw.
Had to also swap the bypass flaps around too, luckily they work both ways but on the downside they were an absolute kunt to get back in. Had to heat them up and push pull them with pliers to get them back in. My finger tips are burnt sore.
Sealed up the gaps.
And it was good to go in.
Clears the oil filter by a bees dick if the bee had a good size donger. Had to massage the ac hard lines but overall pretty happy with how it's worked out.
Went to supercheap to get a longer radiator overflow hose but all they had in 5/16 was powersteering hose which is armoured so bought a bunch and replaced all the clear lines for the swirl pot too.
Next weekend plan to get over my rational fear of wiring and install the fan controller.
Guys have used AU thermo fans with good results, but I'd snookered myself with the oil relo and only had 60mm to play with. The AU fans are 90mm thick or thereabouts.
Was a bit worried I'd have to redo the fkn oil lines again but then found a twin 12" spal setup that was 58mm thick and pulls 3100 odd cfm. Happy days.
Ordered it along with a Davies Craig controller from https://thermofans.com.au/. These guys were great and had it packed and to Melbourne from Canberra within 2 days. The controller is handy because it takes a water temp trigger and also a trigger from the AC clutch on.
The shroud and fans fit well width wise, were just a bit tall.
Just a bit off the top (bottom).
It now fitted, but I had no base to bolt it to the car. I would have glued it if I had glue on hand, but it's a Silvia so zipties abound.
Rivnuts ftw.
Had to also swap the bypass flaps around too, luckily they work both ways but on the downside they were an absolute kunt to get back in. Had to heat them up and push pull them with pliers to get them back in. My finger tips are burnt sore.
Sealed up the gaps.
And it was good to go in.
Clears the oil filter by a bees dick if the bee had a good size donger. Had to massage the ac hard lines but overall pretty happy with how it's worked out.
Went to supercheap to get a longer radiator overflow hose but all they had in 5/16 was powersteering hose which is armoured so bought a bunch and replaced all the clear lines for the swirl pot too.
Next weekend plan to get over my rational fear of wiring and install the fan controller.
ChrisCh86 said:
I can't believe how little rust there is. That is a clean example.
Sounds like you're making good progress
Mate I feel sorry for you guys, we are really lucky not to have to worry about rust. To us the S14 underbody is OK and if you reckon the S14 is clean I'll take some photos of the S15.Sounds like you're making good progress
Let me preface this by saying I am 99% st when it comes to wiring.
So if I sound dumb it's because I am.
The davies craig instructions are thorough and help though.
Hooking up the fans, earth and temp sensor are easy enough. Ignition and air-con clutch I was going to splice after the fuse.
Power is easy to get at, but should there be an in-line fuse before the controller? With the fan fuses after the controller doesn't this mean the controller gets fried before the fan fuses pop?
Sent my (silly?) questions to a mate and while waiting on his reply made up a bracket.
Still waiting on advice so got to doing a job I'd been putting off for a while. The red car has Apexi gauges which I wanted to use in the S14. The only drama being the wiring for the gauges is a prick to get at and the air vents in the dash are an absolute pain in the neck.
All the gauge wiring comes to a control box.
Got that off without breaking the dash somehow and then started following the wires.
Bent over upside down lying across the tunnel, if it wasn't lockdown mk6 would have gone to the physio after.
The three dash gauges are connected via a daisy chain which are behind the air vents.
There are two clips, one at 12oc one at 6oc that are tight af. The only way to get at is a slim screwdriver, lots of jiggling and a couple of hail mary's. If you're lucky you'll get them all out without damaging the dash. Back in the day this wasn't such a drama but now S15 dashes are worth what a rolling shell used to be I really didn't want to fk my dash.
Better to be lucky than to be good.
The a-pillar wasn't too bad and plastic interior tools things help, toledo need to make one for s15 vents.
The sensor looms went through a factory plug which was up high under the dash. Didn't get any photos of this because I'd left my phone on the bench and buggered if I was going to entangle out of there again to get it. I don't know how auto elecs do it.
After what felt like ages had everything out.
The S14 doesn't have any factory vents that suit 52mm gauges like the S15 unfortunately.
So rice it is.
The gauge holders are actually going to do two jobs. The dash in the S14 has a few little rips and like everything people want drug money for good ones (dash looks super shiny because I just wiped it off) so when I get more double sided tape they'll go over the rips.
Will look something like this, fnf spec.
Ran out of time to finish the controller. Need to pickup a set of crimpers, work out what rated fuse I need for the power and hopefully finish it off next week.
t when it comes to wiring. So if I sound dumb it's because I am.
The davies craig instructions are thorough and help though.
Hooking up the fans, earth and temp sensor are easy enough. Ignition and air-con clutch I was going to splice after the fuse.
Power is easy to get at, but should there be an in-line fuse before the controller? With the fan fuses after the controller doesn't this mean the controller gets fried before the fan fuses pop?
Sent my (silly?) questions to a mate and while waiting on his reply made up a bracket.
Still waiting on advice so got to doing a job I'd been putting off for a while. The red car has Apexi gauges which I wanted to use in the S14. The only drama being the wiring for the gauges is a prick to get at and the air vents in the dash are an absolute pain in the neck.
All the gauge wiring comes to a control box.
Got that off without breaking the dash somehow and then started following the wires.
Bent over upside down lying across the tunnel, if it wasn't lockdown mk6 would have gone to the physio after.
The three dash gauges are connected via a daisy chain which are behind the air vents.
There are two clips, one at 12oc one at 6oc that are tight af. The only way to get at is a slim screwdriver, lots of jiggling and a couple of hail mary's. If you're lucky you'll get them all out without damaging the dash. Back in the day this wasn't such a drama but now S15 dashes are worth what a rolling shell used to be I really didn't want to fk my dash.
Better to be lucky than to be good.
The a-pillar wasn't too bad and plastic interior tools things help, toledo need to make one for s15 vents.
The sensor looms went through a factory plug which was up high under the dash. Didn't get any photos of this because I'd left my phone on the bench and buggered if I was going to entangle out of there again to get it. I don't know how auto elecs do it.
After what felt like ages had everything out.
The S14 doesn't have any factory vents that suit 52mm gauges like the S15 unfortunately.
So rice it is.
The gauge holders are actually going to do two jobs. The dash in the S14 has a few little rips and like everything people want drug money for good ones (dash looks super shiny because I just wiped it off) so when I get more double sided tape they'll go over the rips.
Will look something like this, fnf spec.
Ran out of time to finish the controller. Need to pickup a set of crimpers, work out what rated fuse I need for the power and hopefully finish it off next week.
Wiring misadventures chapter 1.
Started with the easy stuff first, power. Mate recommended putting an in-line fuse in so got one of these things from repco.
These thingos make it easy.
Next up were fan 1 and 2. More in line solder heatshrink thingos.
This left earth, ignition (yellow) and AC trigger (green). I won't bore any one with the earth. Figured I could kill two birds with one stone by getting ignition and AC trigger from the AC compressor relay. Que pulling apart the fuse box to get at it.
The AC compressor relay is on the ignition circuit and is normaly open, closing to run the compressor. I thought this would be good to kickstart the thermo fans when AC is on (incorrectly as time will tell).
Because I didn't have a lot of confidence I didn't want to splice into the loom. Thought I might be able to run the controller wires into the relay directly.
Battery had decent charge somehow after sitting around for yonks.
With the key in ignition we have power, woo.
And back together.
For the AC trigger I wanted to hook into the open side so when the AC turns on the relay energises switch closes starting the thermos.
It was at this point one of the boys in the chat shat in my cornflakes. He explained to me that the AC compressor doesn't always run when the AC is on. It runs to build pressure and then cuts out. If it were to run all the time it would eventually blow up... bugger. Managed to find a european S14 wiring diagram which has to be close to the ADM model I have and it's right (I think this thing makes sense almost).
Oh well back to the drawing board. There's the stock ac thermo fan relay which in hindsight seems like a much better choice doh. Before doing that thought I should check if the fans would run thermostatically. They're set to turn on at 85 degrees so heated the temp sensor up with the gun (106 degrees not 901 lol).
Except the fans didn't turn on :s. The earth at the fans is good (the battery had dropped some charge during the day) but nothing when the temp goes past 85 degrees. I can hear the relays clicking on and off and the fuses on the fan leads are good but no fans??
Felt dejected so gave up and cleaned the shed instead, fking wiring.
Started with the easy stuff first, power. Mate recommended putting an in-line fuse in so got one of these things from repco.
These thingos make it easy.
Next up were fan 1 and 2. More in line solder heatshrink thingos.
This left earth, ignition (yellow) and AC trigger (green). I won't bore any one with the earth. Figured I could kill two birds with one stone by getting ignition and AC trigger from the AC compressor relay. Que pulling apart the fuse box to get at it.
The AC compressor relay is on the ignition circuit and is normaly open, closing to run the compressor. I thought this would be good to kickstart the thermo fans when AC is on (incorrectly as time will tell).
Because I didn't have a lot of confidence I didn't want to splice into the loom. Thought I might be able to run the controller wires into the relay directly.
Battery had decent charge somehow after sitting around for yonks.
With the key in ignition we have power, woo.
And back together.
For the AC trigger I wanted to hook into the open side so when the AC turns on the relay energises switch closes starting the thermos.
It was at this point one of the boys in the chat shat in my cornflakes. He explained to me that the AC compressor doesn't always run when the AC is on. It runs to build pressure and then cuts out. If it were to run all the time it would eventually blow up... bugger. Managed to find a european S14 wiring diagram which has to be close to the ADM model I have and it's right (I think this thing makes sense almost).
Oh well back to the drawing board. There's the stock ac thermo fan relay which in hindsight seems like a much better choice doh. Before doing that thought I should check if the fans would run thermostatically. They're set to turn on at 85 degrees so heated the temp sensor up with the gun (106 degrees not 901 lol).
Except the fans didn't turn on :s. The earth at the fans is good (the battery had dropped some charge during the day) but nothing when the temp goes past 85 degrees. I can hear the relays clicking on and off and the fuses on the fan leads are good but no fans??
Felt dejected so gave up and cleaned the shed instead, fking wiring.
Didn't feel like failing at simple wiring again so pulled the radiator and fans out to put some adhesive on the bottom edge of the shround as I didn't have any a few weeks back.
And had to replace the zip ties with a proper bracket. It is a Silvia but onw can be only so dodgy.
Wannabe blinky time.
Okay so if it was real blinky they'd be half as big to save 5 grams.
The other job I had was the oil temp sensor. Being Japanese it's a fine metric M12x1.25 thread. The Greddy sensor bung is PT thread (similar to NPT or BSPT). Guess how hard it is to find a PT to M12x12.5 adapter that's not made with sweet and sour pork. Turns out very hard, the hydraulic bloke we use for the excavators and the local Enzed had nothing.
Luckily the original oil plate that came with the S14 has those big anodized gold bolts with holes in them.
And the toolshop had a M12x1.25 tap.
Consulted the chart and a 10.2mm bit for M12. 10mm is close enough surely.
Nope, pitch wouldn't change it?
Try a 10.5mm.
But still nope, bit hard to see but the tap bottomed out when it got to width.
Had another gold bolt with a hole in it and used the 11mm bit this time which finally worked.
Nice clean thread.
Thread sealant for good measure.
And in missing the shroud by a few mm.
Spent the rest of the day cooking rice. Started with plain rice.
Oem JDM white face cluster rice.
Aftermarket JDM gauges rice.
JDM louis vutton handbag equivalent (unneccessary and overpriced vanity purchse) rice.
And lastly a little bit more aftermarket JDM rice in the powerfc hand controller (buttonman this is the only reason I'm keeping the powerfc, feel free to tear into me lol).
It's been a long time since I could sit in a car and make engine noises let alone drive one, so went to put the seat in. I should have a fixed rail but I want my mate's to be able to drive it and they're either giants or short arses so adjustable it is.
Unfotunately my arse is too big and the seat doesn't fit. Next week I'll pull the rail out and redrill the holes. Need to do something about the half cage too.
The passenger seat is the same as the drivers, but held off putting this until I wire the gauges in.
Overall happy with how it looks. Want the car to have a 90s JDM look about it.
Lastly Dan at Razz got me some RS4s before the price jacks up and I finally got to pickup my wheels. They've been sitting at Dan's for a good six months. I've had more sets of RPF1s than I have Silvia's. They're still my favourite wheel, light and cheap relative to other JDM wheels and you can buy them in singles when you wannabe drift king into a gutter. Ask me how I know.
They're 18x9.5 +15 with 265/35.
Rears will fit with a bit more of a pull on the guards, but I think the fronts will need some fibreglass guards and a stload less castor lol.
Eventually the car will go to Dan's for an alignment and will see where the wheels sit once it's all measured up. Until then they're in the most reliable cupboard I own.
And had to replace the zip ties with a proper bracket. It is a Silvia but onw can be only so dodgy.
Wannabe blinky time.
Okay so if it was real blinky they'd be half as big to save 5 grams.
The other job I had was the oil temp sensor. Being Japanese it's a fine metric M12x1.25 thread. The Greddy sensor bung is PT thread (similar to NPT or BSPT). Guess how hard it is to find a PT to M12x12.5 adapter that's not made with sweet and sour pork. Turns out very hard, the hydraulic bloke we use for the excavators and the local Enzed had nothing.
Luckily the original oil plate that came with the S14 has those big anodized gold bolts with holes in them.
And the toolshop had a M12x1.25 tap.
Consulted the chart and a 10.2mm bit for M12. 10mm is close enough surely.
Nope, pitch wouldn't change it?
Try a 10.5mm.
But still nope, bit hard to see but the tap bottomed out when it got to width.
Had another gold bolt with a hole in it and used the 11mm bit this time which finally worked.
Nice clean thread.
Thread sealant for good measure.
And in missing the shroud by a few mm.
Spent the rest of the day cooking rice. Started with plain rice.
Oem JDM white face cluster rice.
Aftermarket JDM gauges rice.
JDM louis vutton handbag equivalent (unneccessary and overpriced vanity purchse) rice.
And lastly a little bit more aftermarket JDM rice in the powerfc hand controller (buttonman this is the only reason I'm keeping the powerfc, feel free to tear into me lol).
It's been a long time since I could sit in a car and make engine noises let alone drive one, so went to put the seat in. I should have a fixed rail but I want my mate's to be able to drive it and they're either giants or short arses so adjustable it is.
Unfotunately my arse is too big and the seat doesn't fit. Next week I'll pull the rail out and redrill the holes. Need to do something about the half cage too.
The passenger seat is the same as the drivers, but held off putting this until I wire the gauges in.
Overall happy with how it looks. Want the car to have a 90s JDM look about it.
Lastly Dan at Razz got me some RS4s before the price jacks up and I finally got to pickup my wheels. They've been sitting at Dan's for a good six months. I've had more sets of RPF1s than I have Silvia's. They're still my favourite wheel, light and cheap relative to other JDM wheels and you can buy them in singles when you wannabe drift king into a gutter. Ask me how I know.
They're 18x9.5 +15 with 265/35.
Rears will fit with a bit more of a pull on the guards, but I think the fronts will need some fibreglass guards and a s
tload less castor lol.Eventually the car will go to Dan's for an alignment and will see where the wheels sit once it's all measured up. Until then they're in the most reliable cupboard I own.
Won one and lost one.
Win first. The davies craig fan controller came with a 1/4" NPT sensor which didn't fit in the Koyo rad. Had to order a 1/8" NPT to replace it.
Which worked great. Not. Not only didn't it fit the rad is not a NPT thread despite what the google machine said.
With that out had to find another spot to put the temp sensor. There is a 1/8" NPT port on the water neck spacer but this is used by the swirl pot. This is the highest point in the motor so I want to keep this for the swirl pot to get any air out.
The bolt next to it is the stock bleed hole. When filling up the engine with coolant and bleeding it you can undo this bolt so the air can whistle out until it sprays coolant everywhere. Figured I could tap another port here given I'll bleed the coolant from the swirl pot now.
Got myself a 1/8" NPT tap. Little thing is kinda cute.
Unfortunately there was not enough room to get them both in so no good tapping a hole here.
Thought about trying to tap another hole in the water neck spacer but there's not a lot of room and I don't have a bench drill so my holes often wander.
Figured the next best spot was the flat section on the top of water neck. There's a reasonable amount of meat here.
This was the first time I'd ever taped a tapered thread. Did what the book said and drilled out a 8.5mm hole as I don't have a reamer. I could only find a bottoming tap but it started OK, as it started to get to the top of the taper it was pretty hard to turn and I was worried something might snap.
Got there in the end.
Well almost. The sensor was bottoming out before getting tight. I should have backed the tap out sooner derp.
Thought the sensor was solid and maybe I could get away with trimming the sensor back. Tried the 1/4" sensor first it being surplus.
That would be a no then.
Plan B, which probaly should have been Plan A.
Meets the industry standard extra chewy gum packet clearance.
And all back together.
Had a smoko break next. Who needs a toaster when you have a heat gun.
Needed to eat something because the next job was wiring misadventures 2 return of the st. Having access to an A1 plotter is a real boon when you're blind as all fk.
Pulled up the other day stuck on where to get the AC trigger for the thermos from. The previous plan to use the AC clutch relay was a fail beacause it doesn't always run when the AC is operating. Given I was looking for a thermo fan trigger from the AC it made sense to look at the stock AC thermo fan relays (hindsight's grouse). The S14 and S15 have a lo and hi speed relay which runs the single stock AC thermo fan. The circuit is closed via the ECU and a bunch of complicated AC switches that I didn't understand (not shown, the detailed circuit diagram is 5 pages).
The question was whether to get a trigger from the lo or hi speed relay. Logic said the hi speed relay in case the ECU turns off the lo speed circuit when the hi speed turns on at higher temps. Nearly went this way when google came to the rescue. Essentially the stock AC thermo fan has three modes Off, Low and High. When the AC is turned on the lo speed relay operates as shown. When AC is turned off the lo speed relay turns on from 95 deg C and then the hi speed takes over at 100 deg C. Because I'm using the davies controller for thermostatic control I'm only worred about the AC being on which in this case means taking a trigger from the lo speed relay.
This took at least two hours to get right in my head, but with that sorted out pulled the low speed relay apart.
Figured I'd check to see if the manual was right because it came from a S15 write up. With the AC switch off there is nothing at both the hi and lo relays.
With the AC on.
Nothing across the hi speed relay.
And volts across the lo speed relay, happy days.
Matched the circuit diagram above to the apparently standard nissan colour codes and it matched the brown with white striped bugger.
And triggered.
Well triggered if you're not a dhead and you thread the wire into the relay cradle the first time.
And all back togther.
The davies craig controller switches the fan 1 relay first, and then the fan 2 relay 10secs later. The video starts with the AC off. You can hear the factory relay click on, then the davies craig fan 1 relay immediately afterward and the eventually the fan 2 relay. I then turned the AC off and all three open.
Success, so that works how it should but the fans didn't turn on. Thought they may not turn on if the car's too cold so warmed up the sensor. It's a bit hard to hear with the heat gun going but the relays all turn on like the should, but still no fans.
Apologies if this next bit is a bit boring, but this was stting me. With all the relays closed I checked for volts at the fan plugs and there's nothing (the fan wires have a separate earth wires from the controller, it's earthed at the factory lug just off the rail).
Fuses are good. Maybe it's an issue with the fuse carrier.
Nope (the controller earths to a factory spot benath the fuse box).
Bypassing the relays there is power at the fans so all the wiring/connections to there are good. Wtf.
Double checking (the controller is upside so it's 110 deg C in the first pic and it doesn't matter in the second lol). The relays close at 85 deg C.
It has me stuffed. If somehow sees something that my dumb arse isn't please let me know? The relays are energising and switching but the circuits aren't closing. Have checked all the earths and they're good. My only guess is there's something fky on the open side of the relays in the controller but because the thing is IP46 or whatever it is they're sealed tight and I can't pull it apart to check.
Wiring can go get fked.
Apart from that had two wins really. Top fella messaged me on fb and said he had genuine plastic kouki side skirts for sale and didn't want covid tax pricing for them, they're in really good nick and even have the end plates which no one ever has.
After seeing the RPF1's on the car decided the Origin kit wasn't going to work. It's pretty out there and needs heavy dished wheels to match it (imho you might disagree). Saw this zenki on instabook the other day and it has the Origin front bar, kouki skirts and jdm zenki rear bar with pods. I've got the front bar, skirts and pods now, just chasing a jdm zenki rear bar. Looks really good I reckon.
Might get it all fitted and the car sprayed if I can ever get these fans working.
Win first. The davies craig fan controller came with a 1/4" NPT sensor which didn't fit in the Koyo rad. Had to order a 1/8" NPT to replace it.
Which worked great. Not. Not only didn't it fit the rad is not a NPT thread despite what the google machine said.
With that out had to find another spot to put the temp sensor. There is a 1/8" NPT port on the water neck spacer but this is used by the swirl pot. This is the highest point in the motor so I want to keep this for the swirl pot to get any air out.
The bolt next to it is the stock bleed hole. When filling up the engine with coolant and bleeding it you can undo this bolt so the air can whistle out until it sprays coolant everywhere. Figured I could tap another port here given I'll bleed the coolant from the swirl pot now.
Got myself a 1/8" NPT tap. Little thing is kinda cute.
Unfortunately there was not enough room to get them both in so no good tapping a hole here.
Thought about trying to tap another hole in the water neck spacer but there's not a lot of room and I don't have a bench drill so my holes often wander.
Figured the next best spot was the flat section on the top of water neck. There's a reasonable amount of meat here.
This was the first time I'd ever taped a tapered thread. Did what the book said and drilled out a 8.5mm hole as I don't have a reamer. I could only find a bottoming tap but it started OK, as it started to get to the top of the taper it was pretty hard to turn and I was worried something might snap.
Got there in the end.
Well almost. The sensor was bottoming out before getting tight. I should have backed the tap out sooner derp.
Thought the sensor was solid and maybe I could get away with trimming the sensor back. Tried the 1/4" sensor first it being surplus.
That would be a no then.
Plan B, which probaly should have been Plan A.
Meets the industry standard extra chewy gum packet clearance.
And all back together.
Had a smoko break next. Who needs a toaster when you have a heat gun.
Needed to eat something because the next job was wiring misadventures 2 return of the s
t. Having access to an A1 plotter is a real boon when you're blind as all fk.Pulled up the other day stuck on where to get the AC trigger for the thermos from. The previous plan to use the AC clutch relay was a fail beacause it doesn't always run when the AC is operating. Given I was looking for a thermo fan trigger from the AC it made sense to look at the stock AC thermo fan relays (hindsight's grouse). The S14 and S15 have a lo and hi speed relay which runs the single stock AC thermo fan. The circuit is closed via the ECU and a bunch of complicated AC switches that I didn't understand (not shown, the detailed circuit diagram is 5 pages).
The question was whether to get a trigger from the lo or hi speed relay. Logic said the hi speed relay in case the ECU turns off the lo speed circuit when the hi speed turns on at higher temps. Nearly went this way when google came to the rescue. Essentially the stock AC thermo fan has three modes Off, Low and High. When the AC is turned on the lo speed relay operates as shown. When AC is turned off the lo speed relay turns on from 95 deg C and then the hi speed takes over at 100 deg C. Because I'm using the davies controller for thermostatic control I'm only worred about the AC being on which in this case means taking a trigger from the lo speed relay.
This took at least two hours to get right in my head, but with that sorted out pulled the low speed relay apart.
Figured I'd check to see if the manual was right because it came from a S15 write up. With the AC switch off there is nothing at both the hi and lo relays.
With the AC on.
Nothing across the hi speed relay.
And volts across the lo speed relay, happy days.
Matched the circuit diagram above to the apparently standard nissan colour codes and it matched the brown with white striped bugger.
And triggered.
Well triggered if you're not a d
head and you thread the wire into the relay cradle the first time.And all back togther.
The davies craig controller switches the fan 1 relay first, and then the fan 2 relay 10secs later. The video starts with the AC off. You can hear the factory relay click on, then the davies craig fan 1 relay immediately afterward and the eventually the fan 2 relay. I then turned the AC off and all three open.
Success, so that works how it should but the fans didn't turn on. Thought they may not turn on if the car's too cold so warmed up the sensor. It's a bit hard to hear with the heat gun going but the relays all turn on like the should, but still no fans.
Apologies if this next bit is a bit boring, but this was s
tting me. With all the relays closed I checked for volts at the fan plugs and there's nothing (the fan wires have a separate earth wires from the controller, it's earthed at the factory lug just off the rail).Fuses are good. Maybe it's an issue with the fuse carrier.
Nope (the controller earths to a factory spot benath the fuse box).
Bypassing the relays there is power at the fans so all the wiring/connections to there are good. Wtf.
Double checking (the controller is upside so it's 110 deg C in the first pic and it doesn't matter in the second lol). The relays close at 85 deg C.
It has me stuffed. If somehow sees something that my dumb arse isn't please let me know? The relays are energising and switching but the circuits aren't closing. Have checked all the earths and they're good. My only guess is there's something f
ky on the open side of the relays in the controller but because the thing is IP46 or whatever it is they're sealed tight and I can't pull it apart to check.Wiring can go get f
ked.Apart from that had two wins really. Top fella messaged me on fb and said he had genuine plastic kouki side skirts for sale and didn't want covid tax pricing for them, they're in really good nick and even have the end plates which no one ever has.
After seeing the RPF1's on the car decided the Origin kit wasn't going to work. It's pretty out there and needs heavy dished wheels to match it (imho you might disagree). Saw this zenki on instabook the other day and it has the Origin front bar, kouki skirts and jdm zenki rear bar with pods. I've got the front bar, skirts and pods now, just chasing a jdm zenki rear bar. Looks really good I reckon.
Might get it all fitted and the car sprayed if I can ever get these fans working.
This was stting me so pulled everything apart to check it all again and on closer inspection the relays could come out off the controller.
Had power across the coil but nada across the switch, hmm.
No power at the fuse from the battery either, hmmmmmmmm.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
So basically I am fkwit who can't crimp for st. I should have picked this up earlier when the relays clicked but had no power at the fan plug.
I actually crimped the power wire and what do you know, power at the fuse and at the switch on both relays.
My mate made the point of reminding me how much time I've wasted to my fkwittery lol, but at least they're working.
Works off thermo too (skip to 35secs).
Spent the rest of the day putting everything back together and tidying it up. Nice to tick this job off.
???????
tting me so pulled everything apart to check it all again and on closer inspection the relays could come out off the controller.Had power across the coil but nada across the switch, hmm.
No power at the fuse from the battery either, hmmmmmmmm.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
So basically I am f
kwit who can't crimp for st. I should have picked this up earlier when the relays clicked but had no power at the fan plug.I actually crimped the power wire and what do you know, power at the fuse and at the switch on both relays.
My mate made the point of reminding me how much time I've wasted to my f
kwittery lol, but at least they're working.Works off thermo too (skip to 35secs).
Spent the rest of the day putting everything back together and tidying it up. Nice to tick this job off.
???????
Cheers fellas.
Been chipping away at this little bit at a time. Bought a proper cable stripper which after only ever having had cheap stripper/crimpers is better then sex.
Finished wiring in all the gauges. Managed to lose the cluster lights in the process by shorting out the dimmer switch, that was a weekend lost working out how I buggered that up but got there in the end.
The loom from the fusebox to the car runs under the drivers side guard and a lot of gremlins come about because the tyre rubs through the loom. The fix for this is to cut and reroute the loom into the engine bay or lift the loom up higher on the chassis under the guard.
Having fkd up just about wiring job so far I decided to lift the loom lol.
Put the strut brace in too.
Up nice and high. Some people find that the tyre rubs closer to the firewall but I've never had this drama, I think it's because running more castor than stock brings the wheel forward in the well.
Got to sort out the seat rails, boost controller, vac lines and run the sensor looms and that's about it before it can go to Sabaddin (I think).
Been chipping away at this little bit at a time. Bought a proper cable stripper which after only ever having had cheap stripper/crimpers is better then sex.
Finished wiring in all the gauges. Managed to lose the cluster lights in the process by shorting out the dimmer switch, that was a weekend lost working out how I buggered that up but got there in the end.
The loom from the fusebox to the car runs under the drivers side guard and a lot of gremlins come about because the tyre rubs through the loom. The fix for this is to cut and reroute the loom into the engine bay or lift the loom up higher on the chassis under the guard.
Having fkd up just about wiring job so far I decided to lift the loom lol.
Put the strut brace in too.
Up nice and high. Some people find that the tyre rubs closer to the firewall but I've never had this drama, I think it's because running more castor than stock brings the wheel forward in the well.
Got to sort out the seat rails, boost controller, vac lines and run the sensor looms and that's about it before it can go to Sabaddin (I think).
Been a while between drinks.
Needed a few more holes for the boost controller wiring and vac line.
Nice surprise to find decent selection of grommets at bunnings.
Solenoid in and on.
Vac line runs back to the controller inside the car.
Hoping this will keep it on lol.
All done.
One drama I've had with all the s-chassis's I've owned was fitting in them. Bought the lowest rail I could find from the land of the jandle.
Unfortunately even on the lowest setting I still couldn't fit with a helmet on. I'd waited a while to get the rail and was a bit pissed off which lead to (irrationally) removing the mounting rail.
I didn't have a spot weld bit on hand so made do.
After more swearing at myself..
I need to weld a support in under the floor to replace it and to mount the seat to but on the plus side I now fit.
Mate had borrowed my driveshaft to get his sized up for his CD009 box. Got it back so I could put it back in and fill the box with oil.
The CD009 box is a bit notchy and the serial9 shifter I've got which shortens the throw doesn't help. The yanks reckon this stuff helps, keen to see how it goes.
Rob Sabbadin made the exhaust for the S15 originally.
New mounts.
And it almost fits.
In the past Rob's done all the fab work on my cars. For the S14 I need IC piping, intake, dump pipe and the exhaust modified. I'd planned to ask Rob to do it as usual but decided it was about time I learnt for myself. I can weld mild with a MIG okay, but have never welded aly or stainless with a TIG.
First step was to shift the cars around to make more room.
Second step is to wire up a 15A socket. The main board has a 32A cb to the shed which will work OK and there's space on the board in the shed. I mounted the gpo and conduit and one of the sparky's from work is going kindly wire in the cb for me on Monday.
Third step is to start having a crack. Am off work until the 10th and am hoping by then I don't completely suck. Will take a while before can do all the fab done on the S14 but it's only been two and half years, what's a couple more lol.
Needed a few more holes for the boost controller wiring and vac line.
Nice surprise to find decent selection of grommets at bunnings.
Solenoid in and on.
Vac line runs back to the controller inside the car.
Hoping this will keep it on lol.
All done.
One drama I've had with all the s-chassis's I've owned was fitting in them. Bought the lowest rail I could find from the land of the jandle.
Unfortunately even on the lowest setting I still couldn't fit with a helmet on. I'd waited a while to get the rail and was a bit pissed off which lead to (irrationally) removing the mounting rail.
I didn't have a spot weld bit on hand so made do.
After more swearing at myself..
I need to weld a support in under the floor to replace it and to mount the seat to but on the plus side I now fit
. Mate had borrowed my driveshaft to get his sized up for his CD009 box. Got it back so I could put it back in and fill the box with oil.
The CD009 box is a bit notchy and the serial9 shifter I've got which shortens the throw doesn't help. The yanks reckon this stuff helps, keen to see how it goes.
Rob Sabbadin made the exhaust for the S15 originally.
New mounts.
And it almost fits.
In the past Rob's done all the fab work on my cars. For the S14 I need IC piping, intake, dump pipe and the exhaust modified. I'd planned to ask Rob to do it as usual but decided it was about time I learnt for myself. I can weld mild with a MIG okay, but have never welded aly or stainless with a TIG.
First step was to shift the cars around to make more room.
Second step is to wire up a 15A socket. The main board has a 32A cb to the shed which will work OK and there's space on the board in the shed. I mounted the gpo and conduit and one of the sparky's from work is going kindly wire in the cb for me on Monday.
Third step is to start having a crack. Am off work until the 10th and am hoping by then I don't completely suck. Will take a while before can do all the fab done on the S14 but it's only been two and half years, what's a couple more lol.
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