NZ RB25 two tone S13
BenRice
Well-Known Member
So have been battling but succeeding with this thing.
The door pin bushings were a job i don't want to repeat again. Ever.
But in other news, I think i've found the issue with the lag. This was the dyno graph, and the boost response is the thing to note, with 10psi not coming up until close to 4k:
Sure enough, VCT wasn't working. Kind of pissed Dynopower didn't bother looking at that, but they're rotary specialists not RB. And they're cheap so can't expect too much
The journey:
After pouring over a bunch of wiring diagrams and confirming the solenoid wasn't getting 12V, i traced the wire through the loom to find the feed terminated 4 inches into the cabin. Brilliant, I've got a bodge job on my hands.
Confirmed the VCT solenoid still worked, then noticed the factory 12V feed was getting a minuscule amount of voltage (0.06V) so adding a fresh 12V feed didn't work. Then checked the voltage at the AAC valve, factory boost solenoid and the O2 sensor (take their 12V feeds from the same circuit) and it was the same 0.06V. THEN noticed it was the same voltage on the signal wire to the O2 sensor, and the voltage increased to ~0.4V when the car was running and the O2 sensor was plugged in, so pulled the O2 harness apart and checked for breaks. No luck.
After wiggling the loom trying to find where the feed was coming from I was about to give up. Finally i tried pulling the plugs on the 3 solenoids to see if one of the grounds was back feeding and found the small amount of voltage was coming from the AAC valve. I don't even run idle control so unplugged it, then wired in 12V to the feed in the cabin and we're golden. Can hear the VCT solenoid switching just off idle, and PFC hand controller confirms it is working.
During all this wiring I've also cut out a bunch of unused wiring on the passenger side of the engine bay. I thought about running the remaining loom through the guard but was able to tidy it & hide it sufficiently.
Now going to book it back in to get the tune redone up to the VCT switch point, then am dead keen to get it road legal and take it to the track. Looking for a 3.9 diff to make use of the soon-to-have low down torque and drop down open road rpm.
The door pin bushings were a job i don't want to repeat again. Ever.
But in other news, I think i've found the issue with the lag. This was the dyno graph, and the boost response is the thing to note, with 10psi not coming up until close to 4k:
Sure enough, VCT wasn't working. Kind of pissed Dynopower didn't bother looking at that, but they're rotary specialists not RB. And they're cheap so can't expect too much
The journey:
After pouring over a bunch of wiring diagrams and confirming the solenoid wasn't getting 12V, i traced the wire through the loom to find the feed terminated 4 inches into the cabin. Brilliant, I've got a bodge job on my hands.
Confirmed the VCT solenoid still worked, then noticed the factory 12V feed was getting a minuscule amount of voltage (0.06V) so adding a fresh 12V feed didn't work. Then checked the voltage at the AAC valve, factory boost solenoid and the O2 sensor (take their 12V feeds from the same circuit) and it was the same 0.06V. THEN noticed it was the same voltage on the signal wire to the O2 sensor, and the voltage increased to ~0.4V when the car was running and the O2 sensor was plugged in, so pulled the O2 harness apart and checked for breaks. No luck.
After wiggling the loom trying to find where the feed was coming from I was about to give up. Finally i tried pulling the plugs on the 3 solenoids to see if one of the grounds was back feeding and found the small amount of voltage was coming from the AAC valve. I don't even run idle control so unplugged it, then wired in 12V to the feed in the cabin and we're golden. Can hear the VCT solenoid switching just off idle, and PFC hand controller confirms it is working.
During all this wiring I've also cut out a bunch of unused wiring on the passenger side of the engine bay. I thought about running the remaining loom through the guard but was able to tidy it & hide it sufficiently.
Now going to book it back in to get the tune redone up to the VCT switch point, then am dead keen to get it road legal and take it to the track. Looking for a 3.9 diff to make use of the soon-to-have low down torque and drop down open road rpm.
BenRice
Well-Known Member
Thanks man. It's been a way bigger project upgrading this turbo than i thought but it's taught me shitloads more about the car, especially the wiring.
I always thought the small-ish intercooler up front would hold it back pretty soon in the piece, being an old stock Audi unit. But it flows perfectly fine, and proves you don't need a whopping great 600x300 fridge to make power.
Then there's things like how well, cheap & simple the stock S15 injectors work in RB25's (more people should use them), and how useless aftermarket adjustable FPR's are (should have kept stock), and how the Power FC is still perfectly fine and easy to tune on, and how clunky the AVC-R is (wouldn't use again).
I'm committed to rationalising a lot more unused wiring out of it, especially around the engine bay fuse box - i want to move the 3 relays running the two fans and the sprayers to inside the factory fuse box, and strip all the old auto wiring out that clutters that side of the engine bay.
Watching Jimmy Oakes on YT is a big inspiration for tidy wiring if anyone is that way inclined too
I always thought the small-ish intercooler up front would hold it back pretty soon in the piece, being an old stock Audi unit. But it flows perfectly fine, and proves you don't need a whopping great 600x300 fridge to make power.
Then there's things like how well, cheap & simple the stock S15 injectors work in RB25's (more people should use them), and how useless aftermarket adjustable FPR's are (should have kept stock), and how the Power FC is still perfectly fine and easy to tune on, and how clunky the AVC-R is (wouldn't use again).
I'm committed to rationalising a lot more unused wiring out of it, especially around the engine bay fuse box - i want to move the 3 relays running the two fans and the sprayers to inside the factory fuse box, and strip all the old auto wiring out that clutters that side of the engine bay.
Watching Jimmy Oakes on YT is a big inspiration for tidy wiring if anyone is that way inclined too
BenRice
Well-Known Member
So update time
Retune is done, response is back and car has now gone full retard
Scroll to the right to see the latest dyno sheet
Blue is with VCT on
Red is with it off (2 months earlier)
Green is with standard turbo/injectors/9psi
Went straight from there to get it road legal, then drove it 2hrs to the track and back 2 days later.
Helped out a little, but spent most of the day catching up with mates tbh. Took a pair of half worn tyres down and snuck out at lunchtime for a play to test Track 3 in reverse (sketchy). Car is savage now, midrange is so immense
A couple of things came out of that trip that i wanted to change, but nothing to do with the new setup:
Softer front springs - 12kg springs are great for the track, but not for the road. Have since fitted 10kg front springs because 8's are too soft with the heavier engine
Reduce front camber - the car felt skitterish on roads with a lot of camber / taper, so have rotated the strut tops around to run less camber and have swapped the 25mm bolt on spacers for 5mm slip ons.
The S15 seat was crap on track (too high and not enough bolster) - on the lookout for GT-R seats. Will just swap in my Racetech + pillow in the interim lol
Also, the engine bay looks rather drivers side heavy: the adj FPR, fuse box, battery and combined oil catch can / coolant overflow on the drivers side, and just the filter and PS reservoir on the other. I wasn't happy with the combined catch can / coolant overflow, and the feed to the oil catch can was close to the throttle cable so moving the catch can to the other side would be the best idea.
After a lot of searching for an angled catch can to follow to contour of the inner guard the only thing close was the S13 alloy coolant reservoirs. I was going to run one anyway as an actual coolant reservoir so grabbed one off aliexpress and played around with rotating it and fitting it to the passenger side as an oil catch can. After a bit of fettling it looks like I'll need to extend the turbo intake to get the filter & AFM further forward to get it out of the way, but it's shaping up like a goer.
I've bought a cheap pit bike air filter that will fit over the reservoir cap neck and is short enough to clear the bonnet (yes i will repaint the chrome satin black to match the Apexi filter). Will stuff the inside with a bunch of steel wool too.
Only downside of this setup is going to be the catch can feed is near the bottom. Ideally i want it to come in higher up and drop to the bottom to avoid residual oil draining back down the line. Might put a check valve in or try extend the feed fitting inside the reservoir to finish higher up but it's not the worst issue ever encountered.
Have a bunch of adhesive shrink wrap coming in to help tidy up the last bits of the wiring project. Look out for more pics in the future of the affore mentioned engine bay remodel and it getting out & about
Retune is done, response is back and car has now gone full retard
Scroll to the right to see the latest dyno sheet
Blue is with VCT on
Red is with it off (2 months earlier)
Green is with standard turbo/injectors/9psi
Went straight from there to get it road legal, then drove it 2hrs to the track and back 2 days later.
Helped out a little, but spent most of the day catching up with mates tbh. Took a pair of half worn tyres down and snuck out at lunchtime for a play to test Track 3 in reverse (sketchy). Car is savage now, midrange is so immense
A couple of things came out of that trip that i wanted to change, but nothing to do with the new setup:
Softer front springs - 12kg springs are great for the track, but not for the road. Have since fitted 10kg front springs because 8's are too soft with the heavier engine
Reduce front camber - the car felt skitterish on roads with a lot of camber / taper, so have rotated the strut tops around to run less camber and have swapped the 25mm bolt on spacers for 5mm slip ons.
The S15 seat was crap on track (too high and not enough bolster) - on the lookout for GT-R seats. Will just swap in my Racetech + pillow in the interim lol
Also, the engine bay looks rather drivers side heavy: the adj FPR, fuse box, battery and combined oil catch can / coolant overflow on the drivers side, and just the filter and PS reservoir on the other. I wasn't happy with the combined catch can / coolant overflow, and the feed to the oil catch can was close to the throttle cable so moving the catch can to the other side would be the best idea.
After a lot of searching for an angled catch can to follow to contour of the inner guard the only thing close was the S13 alloy coolant reservoirs. I was going to run one anyway as an actual coolant reservoir so grabbed one off aliexpress and played around with rotating it and fitting it to the passenger side as an oil catch can. After a bit of fettling it looks like I'll need to extend the turbo intake to get the filter & AFM further forward to get it out of the way, but it's shaping up like a goer.
I've bought a cheap pit bike air filter that will fit over the reservoir cap neck and is short enough to clear the bonnet (yes i will repaint the chrome satin black to match the Apexi filter). Will stuff the inside with a bunch of steel wool too.
Only downside of this setup is going to be the catch can feed is near the bottom. Ideally i want it to come in higher up and drop to the bottom to avoid residual oil draining back down the line. Might put a check valve in or try extend the feed fitting inside the reservoir to finish higher up but it's not the worst issue ever encountered.
Have a bunch of adhesive shrink wrap coming in to help tidy up the last bits of the wiring project. Look out for more pics in the future of the affore mentioned engine bay remodel and it getting out & about
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BenRice
Well-Known Member
Made some moves as planned and it's all come together as expected (for once)
10kg springs are in, 25mm bolt on spacers have been switched for 5mm slip on's and strut tops rotated to reduce front camber. Just an alignment to go to set the toe
Then got to work on the new radiator overflow / oil catch can setup
Radiator overflow fitted a bit cack. The tab that was supposed to mount on the strut tower was too high, but that's probably because I've introduced my guards to Mr Sledgehammer. 9mm drill and an M6 rivnut fixed that
Fitted a 45 deg 80mm joiner to put the AFM & air filter more in the corner to give the space needed.
And the process for fitting the oil catch can as requested by @Bu11et . It's rotated 90deg clockwise compared to the radiator overflow. I trimmed the PS reservoir mount in order to get the catch can inboard enough for the filter to clear the hump on the underside of the bonnet. Then tried to line it up as straight and as level as i could. The front can come up 5-10mm without fouling the bonnet, but will tackle that another day. The now rear mount needed to be rebent to suit the angle of the inner guard and then the 9mm drill / M6 rivnut combo came to the rescue again.
Rotated the cam breathers 180deg to now face backwards and flipped the hoses side to side, then ran the breather hose in behind the PS hoses to keep it tidy. Sleeved the inlet on the catch can with some 8mm ID / 16mm OD hose and the breather hose slipped over nice and snug and clamped tight.
I was going to build a mount for the remaining outboard mount but it's pretty solid as it is. If it needs one I'll either make it out of some M6 rod from the outside of the engine bay, or from a tab down from one of the guard bolts
Still need to repaint the shiny bits on the catch can filter satin black to match the air filter, and put some steel wool in it (written it on the grocery shopping list for this week lol) and i can put a pin in it.
Have some time coming up at the end of the month with no wife or child in the house, so while finishing off the wiring rationalisation now the heat shrink has finally arrived, I'm considering moving the fuse box into the new vacant space between the radiator overflow and the battery. Would make oil changes much easier and allow me to hide my dented inner guards too
10kg springs are in, 25mm bolt on spacers have been switched for 5mm slip on's and strut tops rotated to reduce front camber. Just an alignment to go to set the toe
Then got to work on the new radiator overflow / oil catch can setup
Radiator overflow fitted a bit cack. The tab that was supposed to mount on the strut tower was too high, but that's probably because I've introduced my guards to Mr Sledgehammer. 9mm drill and an M6 rivnut fixed that
Fitted a 45 deg 80mm joiner to put the AFM & air filter more in the corner to give the space needed.
And the process for fitting the oil catch can as requested by @Bu11et . It's rotated 90deg clockwise compared to the radiator overflow. I trimmed the PS reservoir mount in order to get the catch can inboard enough for the filter to clear the hump on the underside of the bonnet. Then tried to line it up as straight and as level as i could. The front can come up 5-10mm without fouling the bonnet, but will tackle that another day. The now rear mount needed to be rebent to suit the angle of the inner guard and then the 9mm drill / M6 rivnut combo came to the rescue again.
Rotated the cam breathers 180deg to now face backwards and flipped the hoses side to side, then ran the breather hose in behind the PS hoses to keep it tidy. Sleeved the inlet on the catch can with some 8mm ID / 16mm OD hose and the breather hose slipped over nice and snug and clamped tight.
I was going to build a mount for the remaining outboard mount but it's pretty solid as it is. If it needs one I'll either make it out of some M6 rod from the outside of the engine bay, or from a tab down from one of the guard bolts
Still need to repaint the shiny bits on the catch can filter satin black to match the air filter, and put some steel wool in it (written it on the grocery shopping list for this week lol) and i can put a pin in it.
Have some time coming up at the end of the month with no wife or child in the house, so while finishing off the wiring rationalisation now the heat shrink has finally arrived, I'm considering moving the fuse box into the new vacant space between the radiator overflow and the battery. Would make oil changes much easier and allow me to hide my dented inner guards too
BenRice
Well-Known Member
No worries. It's worth having a catch can just in case, most tracks insist on one over here, but not a must-have if it's not forced on you.
It made 260kw / 340hp at the wheels, so 425hp at the fly (blue line). Up from 216rwkw/280rwhp/350fwhp (green line). Red line was when the VCT wasn't working
1 bar by 3400, tapering off to 13psi at 4700 and holding that to 7400. The difference in mid range torque between 3000 and 5000 is insane
It made 260kw / 340hp at the wheels, so 425hp at the fly (blue line). Up from 216rwkw/280rwhp/350fwhp (green line). Red line was when the VCT wasn't working
1 bar by 3400, tapering off to 13psi at 4700 and holding that to 7400. The difference in mid range torque between 3000 and 5000 is insane
BenRice
Well-Known Member
So the tidy up continues:
Will be getting these air diversion panels stripped and powdercoated to get rid of the logo. Looks tacky at the moment
Wanted an HKS oil cap with the red centre, but cannot find one for the life of me. Tomei one was a good compromise
Took my 2yo son out in it a couple of weeks ago. Not having air bags meant he got the front seat and was proper stoked
Then drove it to work last Friday as i was heading straight from there to Hamilton (1.5hrs away) so a mate could cut, polish and wax it. Ever since the respray 2 years ago I've been wanting it done.
And the after shot. It's not a huge difference, but the main benefit is how dirt just falls off when you hit it with a hose. Which was handy as I then had to drive it 1.5hrs home after the clean
My mate really wanted to spend a weekend on it and 3000 grit sand out the fine scratches and get some real depth. Have that planned for next year
Will be getting these air diversion panels stripped and powdercoated to get rid of the logo. Looks tacky at the moment
Wanted an HKS oil cap with the red centre, but cannot find one for the life of me. Tomei one was a good compromise
Took my 2yo son out in it a couple of weeks ago. Not having air bags meant he got the front seat and was proper stoked
Then drove it to work last Friday as i was heading straight from there to Hamilton (1.5hrs away) so a mate could cut, polish and wax it. Ever since the respray 2 years ago I've been wanting it done.
And the after shot. It's not a huge difference, but the main benefit is how dirt just falls off when you hit it with a hose. Which was handy as I then had to drive it 1.5hrs home after the clean
My mate really wanted to spend a weekend on it and 3000 grit sand out the fine scratches and get some real depth. Have that planned for next year
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BenRice
Well-Known Member
In other news, I've been doing work on the interior again
What started this bit of work was breaking the glovebox handle. This happened because i had the heater controls and the mini 4 channel amp in there, which just put too much load on the latch.
So one of them had to come out, and i chose the hardest of the two. What made this possible was an extension loom that popped up for sale for $30 which got me thinking about what an old mate did with his R32:
https://dsd32.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/doing-work/
https://dsd32.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/plugging-a-hole/
So aim was to put it in the arm rest center console. Once the extension loom turned up i realised it only extended 2 of the 3 necessary plugs, so without a second HVAC control unit to disassemble i elected to cut the plug off the factory loom and extend it.
12 wires were needed so i grabbed 2m of 7-core trailer wiring. Two lengths of this would give me 2 spare wires for anything else in the future.
Netflix and wire
What made all this waaaay less daunting was an auto wire stripper and these little buggers called solder heat shrink butt connectors.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/50p...s-with-Soldering-Sleeve-0727/32825723124.html
The red ones are a perfect size for your standard size wires, but the white ones can do it at a pinch. Am all out of red ones already so have just ordered a hundy pack of them.
Sleeved the trailer cables with braided sheath, and sealed the sheath to the cables with some adhesive heat shrink (has glue that melts on to make it permanent).
At this point i wanted to find out why my temperature control had always been via pushing/pulling a primitive cable hanging out the side of the dash.
I then discovered the presence of 3 different S13 heater control units:
The manual cable operated ones, where the heater mix door is operated via a cable connected to the heater unit
The auto ones, where the heater mix door is operated via a rod connected to a motor
The digital ones, which are an unknown (possibly operate the temperature via same method as the auto units)
I have an auto heater control unit, and a manual heater core. Hence the presence of the cable hanging out of the dash. I either needed a manual control unit or a mix door motor and rod. With the move to relocate the control unit to the centre console, space at the back of the unit would be limited, so getting a cable to fit would be tricky. Also the extension loom i bought would then be useless as the plugs are different between the manual and auto ones. Luckily another two-tone owner had a spare mix door motor and rod and has just popped it in the post to me
So cracking on, made a template of the back of the heater unit to trace into the bottom of the centre console so i knew where to cut holes for the plugs. Then made a simple bracket to hold it in place and fitted an M4 rivnut into the centre console and she's in there
Got it all reassemble last night and tested up well enough. Plan is to make a panel on top how Dan has done, but want to hold off until i can confirm there's nothing else i want to fit in there.
I have a replacement latch for the glovebox so will fit that once i decide what to retrim my glovebox and door cards in
What started this bit of work was breaking the glovebox handle. This happened because i had the heater controls and the mini 4 channel amp in there, which just put too much load on the latch.
So one of them had to come out, and i chose the hardest of the two. What made this possible was an extension loom that popped up for sale for $30 which got me thinking about what an old mate did with his R32:
https://dsd32.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/doing-work/
https://dsd32.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/plugging-a-hole/
So aim was to put it in the arm rest center console. Once the extension loom turned up i realised it only extended 2 of the 3 necessary plugs, so without a second HVAC control unit to disassemble i elected to cut the plug off the factory loom and extend it.
12 wires were needed so i grabbed 2m of 7-core trailer wiring. Two lengths of this would give me 2 spare wires for anything else in the future.
Netflix and wire
What made all this waaaay less daunting was an auto wire stripper and these little buggers called solder heat shrink butt connectors.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/50p...s-with-Soldering-Sleeve-0727/32825723124.html
The red ones are a perfect size for your standard size wires, but the white ones can do it at a pinch. Am all out of red ones already so have just ordered a hundy pack of them.
Sleeved the trailer cables with braided sheath, and sealed the sheath to the cables with some adhesive heat shrink (has glue that melts on to make it permanent).
At this point i wanted to find out why my temperature control had always been via pushing/pulling a primitive cable hanging out the side of the dash.
I then discovered the presence of 3 different S13 heater control units:
The manual cable operated ones, where the heater mix door is operated via a cable connected to the heater unit
The auto ones, where the heater mix door is operated via a rod connected to a motor
The digital ones, which are an unknown (possibly operate the temperature via same method as the auto units)
I have an auto heater control unit, and a manual heater core. Hence the presence of the cable hanging out of the dash. I either needed a manual control unit or a mix door motor and rod. With the move to relocate the control unit to the centre console, space at the back of the unit would be limited, so getting a cable to fit would be tricky. Also the extension loom i bought would then be useless as the plugs are different between the manual and auto ones. Luckily another two-tone owner had a spare mix door motor and rod and has just popped it in the post to me
So cracking on, made a template of the back of the heater unit to trace into the bottom of the centre console so i knew where to cut holes for the plugs. Then made a simple bracket to hold it in place and fitted an M4 rivnut into the centre console and she's in there
Got it all reassemble last night and tested up well enough. Plan is to make a panel on top how Dan has done, but want to hold off until i can confirm there's nothing else i want to fit in there.
I have a replacement latch for the glovebox so will fit that once i decide what to retrim my glovebox and door cards in
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BenRice
Well-Known Member
So after a bit of finagling the heater controls are working.
I found I had a mix door motor already in it but it was missing a clip for the rod. It also needed an air flow sensor plugged in. With a clip robbed from the replacement mix door motor, and an air flow sensor taken from a replacement stereo surround we were in business.
Will leave it 90% finished for a while in case I get inspiration to fit anything else in there.
Next project is relocating the battery:
The blue battery is an eyesore in the engine bay, and as the bay gets tidier it sticks out more and more. So the plan is to relocate it to the boot, but me being me I want to do it stupidly complicated
The standard plastic battery box in the relocation kits was going to be too big for the space available, and i wanted something a little more interesting and less expensive
So I grabbed one of these in a bit of a Drift Army tribute:
$25 delivered meant the price was right. Next was the cabling.
Found an online store that supplied 25mm2 CSA welding cable by the metre, and fitted lugs for free. Guesstimated some lengths and will add the extra lugs later. Then a quick shop at Uncle Ali's netted me a circuit breaker, 12v power stud, 3GA to 2x 8GA amp fuse holder and a couple of fused relays and relay mounts.
As per the above diagram I'll be mounting the circuit breaker and amp fuse holder in the ammo can with the battery, as well as the fuel pump and radiator sprayer relays. The can is going to be more than just a battery box and more of a self-contained, isolatable power source.
I'll be removing the isolator switch up front and reusing it on the side of the box and this will be the only thing visible from the outside, apart from some conduit coming out the bottom. I've already run the power cable from the boot to the front and made a grommeted hole in the firewall for it.
Plan is to run the main power cable to the starter solenoid, then another length from the solenoid to the alternator, and another from the alternator to the power stud (the engine bay fuse box will take it's 12V from the power stud).
Opening the can lid required some tricky-dicky ideas, but I'll run through that once the bits have arrived
I found I had a mix door motor already in it but it was missing a clip for the rod. It also needed an air flow sensor plugged in. With a clip robbed from the replacement mix door motor, and an air flow sensor taken from a replacement stereo surround we were in business.
Will leave it 90% finished for a while in case I get inspiration to fit anything else in there.
Next project is relocating the battery:
The blue battery is an eyesore in the engine bay, and as the bay gets tidier it sticks out more and more. So the plan is to relocate it to the boot, but me being me I want to do it stupidly complicated
The standard plastic battery box in the relocation kits was going to be too big for the space available, and i wanted something a little more interesting and less expensive
So I grabbed one of these in a bit of a Drift Army tribute:
$25 delivered meant the price was right. Next was the cabling.
Found an online store that supplied 25mm2 CSA welding cable by the metre, and fitted lugs for free. Guesstimated some lengths and will add the extra lugs later. Then a quick shop at Uncle Ali's netted me a circuit breaker, 12v power stud, 3GA to 2x 8GA amp fuse holder and a couple of fused relays and relay mounts.
As per the above diagram I'll be mounting the circuit breaker and amp fuse holder in the ammo can with the battery, as well as the fuel pump and radiator sprayer relays. The can is going to be more than just a battery box and more of a self-contained, isolatable power source.
I'll be removing the isolator switch up front and reusing it on the side of the box and this will be the only thing visible from the outside, apart from some conduit coming out the bottom. I've already run the power cable from the boot to the front and made a grommeted hole in the firewall for it.
Plan is to run the main power cable to the starter solenoid, then another length from the solenoid to the alternator, and another from the alternator to the power stud (the engine bay fuse box will take it's 12V from the power stud).
Opening the can lid required some tricky-dicky ideas, but I'll run through that once the bits have arrived
Olly - Sil80
Active Member
Looks great Ben, loving the sub as well haha.
BenRice
Well-Known Member
Battery box is done almost exactly as per the above diagram. Shifted the amp fuse holder to the side and added a fuse for the switched power feed for the relays.
Fitting the temporary battery straps and circuit breaker:
Fitting the relays, the fuse holder and bolting to the boot floor:
Finishing the wiring and the kill switch added:
And how to open the lid:
The panel with the sub on it is bolted to the boot floor. The panel with the battery box on is secured with 1 (soon to be 2) push button quick release hood latches. Because there are 2 hinges to allow the rear of the boot panel to open up to get at the spare wheel area, the same hinge allows the battery box panel to flip up.
For those wondering:
3GA / 25mm2 CSA cable works fine
A 150A circuit breaker works fine
The positive terminal on the battery does not hit the lid (checked with Bluetack) and i've insulated the lid just in case
I am replacing the DIY bracket stuff with aluminium flat stock
Once this was complete I threw a pair of Advans with 3mm of tread on them in the boot, swapped the S15 drivers seat for my Racetech fixed back, an assortment of basic tools and drove to the second day of our Spring Matsuri to help with instructing. Caught up with all the lads over on T2 then went to T3 to help the newbs. After a few outings I got the itch and got the car ready to hit the track. Process from road to track is:
Swap rear muffler for twin 3.5" tips
Swap rear wheels
Remove half the DIN panel and bolt the handle onto hydraulic handbrake
Clip the 4-point harnesses in
Set all dampers to full hard
Car felt great on track, and had been almost 3 years since i'd done T3 but felt at home after one lap. Ran out of time to get my sprayers wired up and needed them after 3 hot laps. Tyres only lasted 1 more lap anyway so not too fussed, but shows i need to get that sorted
No photos of the car in the pits or on track that i know of sadly
Now am in the process of fitting S15 carpet, which does fit almost perfectly btw. If you have an S13 that you drive on the road you'd be a fool not to do this
Once the interior's back together I need to sort out the rubbing in the rear then i might be driving it over to Mad Mikes thing in a few weeks as it's the only event on before Christmas. Otherwise will take it to the local round of D1 mid Jan with my son and show him drifting for the first time, just sad it had to be competition drifting lol
Fitting the temporary battery straps and circuit breaker:
Fitting the relays, the fuse holder and bolting to the boot floor:
Finishing the wiring and the kill switch added:
And how to open the lid:
The panel with the sub on it is bolted to the boot floor. The panel with the battery box on is secured with 1 (soon to be 2) push button quick release hood latches. Because there are 2 hinges to allow the rear of the boot panel to open up to get at the spare wheel area, the same hinge allows the battery box panel to flip up.
For those wondering:
3GA / 25mm2 CSA cable works fine
A 150A circuit breaker works fine
The positive terminal on the battery does not hit the lid (checked with Bluetack) and i've insulated the lid just in case
I am replacing the DIY bracket stuff with aluminium flat stock
Once this was complete I threw a pair of Advans with 3mm of tread on them in the boot, swapped the S15 drivers seat for my Racetech fixed back, an assortment of basic tools and drove to the second day of our Spring Matsuri to help with instructing. Caught up with all the lads over on T2 then went to T3 to help the newbs. After a few outings I got the itch and got the car ready to hit the track. Process from road to track is:
Swap rear muffler for twin 3.5" tips
Swap rear wheels
Remove half the DIN panel and bolt the handle onto hydraulic handbrake
Clip the 4-point harnesses in
Set all dampers to full hard
Car felt great on track, and had been almost 3 years since i'd done T3 but felt at home after one lap. Ran out of time to get my sprayers wired up and needed them after 3 hot laps. Tyres only lasted 1 more lap anyway so not too fussed, but shows i need to get that sorted
No photos of the car in the pits or on track that i know of sadly
Now am in the process of fitting S15 carpet, which does fit almost perfectly btw. If you have an S13 that you drive on the road you'd be a fool not to do this
Once the interior's back together I need to sort out the rubbing in the rear then i might be driving it over to Mad Mikes thing in a few weeks as it's the only event on before Christmas. Otherwise will take it to the local round of D1 mid Jan with my son and show him drifting for the first time, just sad it had to be competition drifting lol
Last edited:
ifyoucantbeate
Member
Love the time and quality of this build
BenRice
Well-Known Member
Thanks man
Reuby got some nice "glamour" angles after Teeboon stopped selling the Toyota dream
Also featuring How-To on team drifting with C's Garage lol
BenRice
Well-Known Member
And interior all buttoned up & carpet vacuumed:
Threw the S15 front seats in and S13 rear seats. Still tossing up pulling the trim off both S15 and S13 rear seats and fitting the S15 trim to the S13 base. What's putting me off is all the info out there says the swap leaves some "big" gaps on the side of the S15 base. However after the innanets "you can't put S15 carpet in an S13, it doesn't fit" bullshit i'm less inclined to believe it
Threw the S15 front seats in and S13 rear seats. Still tossing up pulling the trim off both S15 and S13 rear seats and fitting the S15 trim to the S13 base. What's putting me off is all the info out there says the swap leaves some "big" gaps on the side of the S15 base. However after the innanets "you can't put S15 carpet in an S13, it doesn't fit" bullshit i'm less inclined to believe it
BenRice
Well-Known Member
Right, so S15 rear seats in an S13 Silvia, If you've wondered about doing this you would have come across this thread:
http://www.nissansilvia.com/forums/topic/317300-s15-rear-seat-install-guide-for-s13/
Unless you've got the sharpest eyes in the world, or have a set to dummy fit yourself you wouldn't notice the glaring issue: height. Some people commented on it, and in the pics the guy uploaded you can just see it poking higher than the stock seat. That is in actual fact a good 80mm above the line of the parcel shelf and looks shit.
Fitting the S15 rear seat base looks amazing with the S15 carpet as the cut outs line up, but throws up an issue with the design. It has an extra 3 inches of lumbar support that the S13 base doesn't have:
Note where the middle hump finishes on the S13 base vs the S15 base. There's even a bit of a seam on the S15 base to highlight the extra bit. This is the cluprit
The S15 top is within 5mm of the height of the S13 top, so no issues there. They aren't stood straight up in the pic
I initially thought about removing the fabric from both bases and fitting the S15 fabric to the S13 base. They are close enough in shape and it would bolt straight in. Only issue are the slots for the seat belts: S13 are side-to-side, S15 are front-to-back. In addition, getting the fabric to fit tight in the arse contours would be a PITA and probably turn out crap.
I'm left with modifying the S15 base. Plan is to depin the fabric around the lumbar section, trim the foam, then repin the excess under the seat, ala:
The downside is i lose the steel loops / top mounting points for the base. With this in mind i will need to make sure the top half fits "snug" so as to hold the base in place. I'm still trying to think of an alternative mounting system for it as this doesn't seem ideal, but trying to mount foam to steel isn't easy
Short story = work from the top down: fit the top half first and get it sitting right then trim foam off the base
Will update once i have progress
http://www.nissansilvia.com/forums/topic/317300-s15-rear-seat-install-guide-for-s13/
Unless you've got the sharpest eyes in the world, or have a set to dummy fit yourself you wouldn't notice the glaring issue: height. Some people commented on it, and in the pics the guy uploaded you can just see it poking higher than the stock seat. That is in actual fact a good 80mm above the line of the parcel shelf and looks shit.
Fitting the S15 rear seat base looks amazing with the S15 carpet as the cut outs line up, but throws up an issue with the design. It has an extra 3 inches of lumbar support that the S13 base doesn't have:
Note where the middle hump finishes on the S13 base vs the S15 base. There's even a bit of a seam on the S15 base to highlight the extra bit. This is the cluprit
The S15 top is within 5mm of the height of the S13 top, so no issues there. They aren't stood straight up in the pic
I initially thought about removing the fabric from both bases and fitting the S15 fabric to the S13 base. They are close enough in shape and it would bolt straight in. Only issue are the slots for the seat belts: S13 are side-to-side, S15 are front-to-back. In addition, getting the fabric to fit tight in the arse contours would be a PITA and probably turn out crap.
I'm left with modifying the S15 base. Plan is to depin the fabric around the lumbar section, trim the foam, then repin the excess under the seat, ala:
The downside is i lose the steel loops / top mounting points for the base. With this in mind i will need to make sure the top half fits "snug" so as to hold the base in place. I'm still trying to think of an alternative mounting system for it as this doesn't seem ideal, but trying to mount foam to steel isn't easy
Short story = work from the top down: fit the top half first and get it sitting right then trim foam off the base
Will update once i have progress
BenRice
Well-Known Member
A little more progress, as seen on the Gram
Put the S13 base in with the S15 top to look at dimensions
Sure enough, the S15 top is a little bit shorter. But considering the planned changes to the S15 base it wouldn't be an issue
The gap between the sides of S15 top half and the S13 trim panel
So next step was to de-pin the lumber part of the S15 base and see what we're dealing with. Found a metal frame embedded in the foam on the underside that the fabric clipped to, somewhat expected tbh
So out came the knife and hacked off a good chunk. I was left with a frame that ran from left to right that got in the way of the top half coming down. I didn't want to cut this off, but as there were 4 rods coming out underneath (either side of the arse indents) that attached to the side-to-side rod I figured I could leave a little excess a bend them up as mounts
Will finalise the front mounts first then use some M6 bolts and rivnuts for these
And everything dummied in place
The new height of the top half:
Plan is to make some small adjustments to the new rear mounts on the base and get that mounted front & rear with M6 bolts and rivnuts, then remove and re-secure the fabric. Will then reinstall and work on setting the new position for the strikers for the top half. That will leave me with the option of adding extender plates for the bottom mounts on the top half so it can be folded down (i see this as a nice to have at this point)
Only downside I'm seeing now are it's harder to access the eyelets for my harness to clip in but I'll sort something
Put the S13 base in with the S15 top to look at dimensions
Sure enough, the S15 top is a little bit shorter. But considering the planned changes to the S15 base it wouldn't be an issue
The gap between the sides of S15 top half and the S13 trim panel
So next step was to de-pin the lumber part of the S15 base and see what we're dealing with. Found a metal frame embedded in the foam on the underside that the fabric clipped to, somewhat expected tbh
So out came the knife and hacked off a good chunk. I was left with a frame that ran from left to right that got in the way of the top half coming down. I didn't want to cut this off, but as there were 4 rods coming out underneath (either side of the arse indents) that attached to the side-to-side rod I figured I could leave a little excess a bend them up as mounts
Will finalise the front mounts first then use some M6 bolts and rivnuts for these
And everything dummied in place
The new height of the top half:
Plan is to make some small adjustments to the new rear mounts on the base and get that mounted front & rear with M6 bolts and rivnuts, then remove and re-secure the fabric. Will then reinstall and work on setting the new position for the strikers for the top half. That will leave me with the option of adding extender plates for the bottom mounts on the top half so it can be folded down (i see this as a nice to have at this point)
Only downside I'm seeing now are it's harder to access the eyelets for my harness to clip in but I'll sort something
BenRice
Well-Known Member
So a local tyre shop had a Christmas party so shower time
And hard park
After this it was time to get back into the wiring. After the battery relocation there were 2 relays running off a distribution block next to an empty cavity. The fuse box was also sitting in no mans land and in the way of a few things. And a power stud needed to be added.
Initial thoughts were to move the fuse box in front of the coolant overflow, but no dice
Before:
In progress:
After:
Horn relay moved to bottom left, fuel pump, N&P and AC relay's removed, 13" and 10" fan relays added, ON switched 12V feeds for thermoswitch and fan relays taken off old fuel pump fuse
The final bits of the S15 rear seat install are being ticked off too, namely the base is mounted and has extra foam underneath:
And banged on some parts I've been sitting on.
Auto Collect Storm bumper guides:
Some fender braces a mate made up:
And mounted the a-frame plug where the old latch was. Will be painted black eventually
And final thing is the intercooler piping. It's been running some old steel 2.5" piping that was zinc plated gold about 8 years ago. It was cobbled together at the time, and features some of the most ghetto flaring you'll ever see. And weighs a metric tonne too
The hot pipe went through the outside hole in the arch, then snaked along the edge of the bumper & guard. It was 4 joiners and 3 hard pipes.
A mate threw up a well-used generic S14 intercooler kit for sale so grabbed that off him. After pulling the steel pipes off and test fitting the alloy pipes it looked like I'll be able to do both sides in one pipe each
The hot side needs a 60 degree bend, but nothing is available so a pie cut will have to do and a mate has already offered to weld it up
The cold side kit goes to a 2.75" bend but will fuck that off in favour of a 2.5" 90 degree bend. Should have it glued together in a few weeks
Considering getting a new oil catch can and mounting it down in the now unused outside intercooler hole. Will see what's out there that'd suit
And hard park
After this it was time to get back into the wiring. After the battery relocation there were 2 relays running off a distribution block next to an empty cavity. The fuse box was also sitting in no mans land and in the way of a few things. And a power stud needed to be added.
Initial thoughts were to move the fuse box in front of the coolant overflow, but no dice
Before:
In progress:
After:
Horn relay moved to bottom left, fuel pump, N&P and AC relay's removed, 13" and 10" fan relays added, ON switched 12V feeds for thermoswitch and fan relays taken off old fuel pump fuse
The final bits of the S15 rear seat install are being ticked off too, namely the base is mounted and has extra foam underneath:
And banged on some parts I've been sitting on.
Auto Collect Storm bumper guides:
Some fender braces a mate made up:
And mounted the a-frame plug where the old latch was. Will be painted black eventually
And final thing is the intercooler piping. It's been running some old steel 2.5" piping that was zinc plated gold about 8 years ago. It was cobbled together at the time, and features some of the most ghetto flaring you'll ever see. And weighs a metric tonne too
The hot pipe went through the outside hole in the arch, then snaked along the edge of the bumper & guard. It was 4 joiners and 3 hard pipes.
A mate threw up a well-used generic S14 intercooler kit for sale so grabbed that off him. After pulling the steel pipes off and test fitting the alloy pipes it looked like I'll be able to do both sides in one pipe each
The hot side needs a 60 degree bend, but nothing is available so a pie cut will have to do and a mate has already offered to weld it up
The cold side kit goes to a 2.75" bend but will fuck that off in favour of a 2.5" 90 degree bend. Should have it glued together in a few weeks
Considering getting a new oil catch can and mounting it down in the now unused outside intercooler hole. Will see what's out there that'd suit