89' Called, They Want Their S12 Silvia Turbo Back

[Nomisf]

Right, so historically I am useless at project threads - I'm sure this one will be no different, but I am going to try my hardest, honest

Way back this time last year, I had an S14a - it was an OK motor, but the previous owners had pratted around with it so badly that EVERYTHING on the car was unreliable. Not just modified car bad, but Friday lemon bad. I got fed up eventually, and traded up for a Jaguar XJR, 4.0 V8 Supercharged goodness. Being the monumental prat I am, I got very bored very quickly of piloting a rocket powered cruise liner and decided what I need, is an S-Body, again.

Inspired by a friend of mines old EC9 Civic (Awesome project thread here - http://www.4guk.co.uk/viewtopic.php?...1115&start=330 , gearbox rebuild and all ), I figured I wanted something old, rusty and unreliable - so I decided to look for an S12

The market being what it is, and good ones being hard to find - I decided to mount up and make a 400 mile round trip to look at an 89' Mk2 Auto. I didn't want an auto, but I figured if the rest of the car is what I want, its not great shakes to convert it.

I had a chat with the guy, then went - with these promising pictures to guide me !












So when I got there, for the first time in my life, the car was as clean as it looks in the ad!

Had some minor welding work in the sill, but everything else is covered in Waxoil. It has receipts for everything - literally, including a turbo rebuild, shocks / springs / ARB's. Nearly a years test, cobra alarm and immobiliser - and best of all it starts with less than a single crank of the engine.

Naturally it had to have its little foibles, it stutters at low rpm then goes like it should, and the drivers seat frame is bent to the side (seller was a chubby chap!).

Either way, parted with £1500 and drove 210 of the 211 miles home without a hitch. Then broke down , a half mile from home the engine died - suffering from lack of fuel. A few minutes later it started right up and drove home without a hitch

Its now sat happily outside my house in the sun, let the tinkering begin!

[Nomisf]

So, looking through the history it turns out this car was sat off the road since 02, and put back on the road in 10, when it had a whole load of stuff done to make it mintier. Finding this out, did however, make it much more obvious why when reversing out of my drive, on of the PAS pipes developed a pinhole leak and sprayed all the fluid out.

Popped the belt off while I get some new pipes made up !



Now the car was , well, less mobile ( steering this thing with no PAS is like a 70s DAF truck :P ). I decided the sensible thing to do was to ignore the major problems, and play around with the creature comforts, to cheer myself up before attacking the stutter.

Pulling the radio out, revealed the last owners attempt at wiring...


I will be tackling that when my order arrives from Vehicle wiring products EU! Next on the list was to figure out why the rear speakers weren't working. Taking off the covers revealed these ,


Vibe Slick 6x9s, mounted on what appears to be offcuts from washing machine metal. I will be replacing that with some more acoustically friendly material when I properly look at the audio. Either way, the speakers weren't connected , maybe they were amped before who knows. I dug out the audio loom, connected them up and they seem to be working fine. At this point my OCD was twinging, so I had to get it looking stock again... covers back on and breathe!


Pioneer radio in, and USB tucked in the fag tray - almost looks retro, like an old Pioneer home amp


Cuddlies added to please my other half, the pheasant is a leftover from the Jag - didn't keep the pipe and slippers though...



And finally, just to ruin it a little, I own a sticker cutting getup, so I attached some of my own wares... how gash Even after a year of doing it, I still get air bubbles

[Nomisf]

So the post lady delivered me a crate of parcels


Including some replacement bits,


A Genuine SARD pressure reg, got this very cheap from a good contact - and also bought the gauge,


Also got some dirtbag oil from Tesco for £7.50 a tub, good for flushes and slipping things up


I also got a fuel filter that I totally forgot to take a picture of.

I set about checking out the fuel system, only to find this in the fuel filter - holy


Looks like there may be rust in the tank , eeeeek...

Popped the tiny little pump out, gave it a clean - not too dirty and no rust in the tank... curious...


Its getting replaced with a Walbro as soon as I get one, so back in it went.

While doing this, I found two interesting things - some kind of useless pikey strut brace... which came out ASAP


And a random green wire, which I chased right through the car removing everything in its path... I had shat wiring..




Only to locate a snipped dead end - looks like it went to the boot switch for an alarm at one point.


Gave me a chance to refit some carpet and tidy up, and check the sills from the inside, which look ok!


After all these bits, its still stuttering - so the search continues! For now its back in one bit, plus Amstrad CB sticker!

[ANDY black s13]

Wow that is a time warp machine!!,looks like a lovely unmolested example and ripe for a CA18det swap when you bin the slush box maybe?,what you got planned for it?,I'm not fond of red but that is nice

[Mr C]

Shame it's an auto but what a nice motor, it's actually still red as well. Does the A/C work too?

Trawl through the mountain of paperwork and see if the fuel pumps ever been replaced.

Good find

EDIT: DOH! Too slow, I see you've had the fuel system apart.

[Nomisf]

Yeah, one way or another I need the S12 manual box - they are a bit shorter in the rear casing than CA18DET S13 boxes - but the bellhousing will swap for any nissan C trans, I was thinking maybe put an SR20 bell housing on it and go for a 300~ BHP SR setup, maybe an RB20 of some sort. It will be a way off, as I need to save up some cash, but any time I find a manual I will be doing that straight away, 3speed + Overdrive is getting tiresome!

I think its had a blow-over in the spray booth at some point, its VERY red, aha. AC clicks on, then straight off a moment later. I will be sorting it out at some point, as I love AC!

Also thinking it may be in need of some of these rims... not sure though, he

[Jonny Wilkinson]

That looks like a really good find but do you need to pimp it ? Couldn't you just make a really awesome sleeper. I can understand not wanting to leave it auto.

That does look super-clean.

[Nomisf]

The wheels will be the only visible "pimpage" I think, the rest of the car I think looks gorgeous as it is, and I wouldn't want to deface a near classic Also, whichever way I go with suspension (s13 stuff, or leave it) I need a different offset as the rear wheels are very lost, and quite close to the suspension.

[pdh 14a]

Looks a cracker mate,very nice!

[Mr C]

My A/C condensor up front turned into aluminium powder held together by the paint, you could actually poke your finger right through it, sadly never got it working

They handle very well with some sensible lowering springs and a set of decent gas shocks on.

[nismo]

Looks a good clean example. Not many left now...

[Nomisf]

So in a further hunt for my stuttering problem, which nearly stalls the car when trying to pull away, but disappears at higher RPM - I hooked up a £10 Pressure gauge I got from ebay to the fuel lines to see what was going on. According to spec, its not behaving right at all - it should be 2.06 Bar (30 PSI) when idling, and jump to 2.55 Bar (36/39 PSI) as soon as you WOT the throttle (I assume 0 PSI regulator pressure). As you can see in the video below, the rail pressure starts to spike wildly when WOT and the pressure does not build. I have no idea if this is the source of the problem, but in good sense I have ordered a Walbro 255 anyway, as it can never hurt. I have the SARD regulator ready to go on, but may pick up a standard one to get it running right first !

[CNHSS1]

If its stood for a while the std fpr could be stuck. Usually have the engine running ans give the fpr body a tickle with a ring spanner or similar. Dont use a hammer as you dont want to dent the housing just some gentle percussive maintenance!

[Nomisf]

If its stood for a while the std fpr could be stuck. Usually have the engine running ans give the fpr body a tickle with a ring spanner or similar. Dont use a hammer as you dont want to dent the housing just some gentle percussive maintenance!

Ah that's interesting, never heard of a stuck FPR before - is it a common ailment ? I'm off to find my spanner!

Edit-o !

I just went out to clout the FPR with a spanner, and grabbed my compressor and pressure gun on the way. I tried disconnecting the FPR and varying the vaccum as per the Nissan service manual, and it appears that the FPR is working properly. While doing this is noticed a sequence of events that seemed odd to me...

1) FPR is disconnected
2) Start the Car
3) Fuel pressure is 2.55 Bar (As Expected without vac at FPR)
4) Car revs up fine, no stuttering or hesitation - idle is OK despite high fuel pressure.
5) Let the car idle for a few moments
6) Fuel pressure drops to 1.9 Bar, car becomes lumpy and won't rev
7) If the engine is stopped, and stated immediately the exact same thing happens every time.

The fuel pressure doesn't drop until the car has been idling for a few moments, if you rev it up it will stay happily at 2.55 Bar all day long. As soon as it idles for a few moments, it drops off. I tested the FPR while the pressure was correct, and it seems to function perfectly - so thats good. I am now facing two options (and i have a walbro on the way anyway!),

1) The ECU is slowing the fuel pump for idle, but either the pump is weak or the ECU is not responding correctly to the throttle opening (I have check the idle switch etc)
2) The fuel pump return valve is weak and gets overcome after a few seconds of high back pressure from idle conditions.

I suppose I will have to wait for the new pump and see what happens, in the meantime I am going to run a battery live to the pump terminals and see if it helps at all!

[docwra]

The other thing they all seem to suffer from sooner or later is corrosion under the coil, its worth giving it a bit of a cleanup as its only a 5 minute job. Image do very similar wheels to the ones you have posted BTW, if not Rota Alecia's arent too far off

[Nomisf]

The other thing they all seem to suffer from sooner or later is corrosion under the coil, its worth giving it a bit of a cleanup as its only a 5 minute job. Image do very similar wheels to the ones you have posted BTW, if not Rota Alecia's arent too far off

Thanks for the tip, it does look a bit worse for wear under there - will take a look at that this evening!

Oh and thanks for the tips on the rims

Just been out and attached my variable power supply directly to the pump loom. Cranked it to 14v and it seems to be able to hold pressure, closer to normal volts it exhibits the same symptoms - so I think a weak relay/loom and an old pump are working together to cause the issue. I will be re-wiring it this evening then waiting for a new pump to arrive !

[skinz180189]

Probably worth beefing up the ignition wiring too dude, what with it's age.

[Nomisf]

So, I went on a hunt for the low pressure problem. I figured since my new pump won't arrive for some time, I would check the wiring. First port of call, as always was the earth.

I checked the service manual to familiarise myself with the circuit, and jammed my multimeter probe into the fuel pump earth.


Since I was being too lazy to find a clean earth , I popped some cable into the negative terminal on the battery...


I put the multimeter in the middle, set to Amps DC to see if the new earth was carrying much beef, low and behold nearly 5 amps!


I then took my jury rigged jalopy round the block, and BOOM, the stutter was gone, checking the fuel pressure confirmed it was bang on spec!


I started to investigate, I know this car has had some paint at some point - so I figured the earth may be poor or loose, didnt expect to find it attached with an aluminium screw to a painted surface! So I scraped off some extra paint around the ring clamp. I will make this a bit neater when I confirm it sorts it!


Turns out this hasn't helped much - so I am going to go loom hunting to see what I can do, or so I thought.

A friend of mine rang with immediate need to drive to Peterborough to pick up his latest automotive purchase. Leaving the rigged earth in Place, I set off. The old thing made the trip flawlessly, 300 mile round trip with no stutter, and OK fuel economy. Only report being I could feel the timing retard due to Det when holding boost, but I put this down to no intercooler and dirtbag texaco petrol (no super was available on the trip!)

A sort of beauty shot...


My mates new whip, its a Seat Cordoba SE TDI Vario 1.9 , with OMP coilovers and bucket seats

[915nismo]

Any updates on this?? I love s12's!

[Jonny Wilkinson]

Any updates on this?? I love s12's!

Last update 6 hrs ago. Have you been drinking, young man ?