Whats your budget for exhausts? I have a HKS Silent Hi-Power on my 180sx. Its awesome. 3" system going to a 5" can and I have measured roughly 80dB at various tracks over the past few years.
Oh and thats coupled to a stainless manifold, PSM downpipe and decat
Haven't really looked into exhausts for the past few years so can't comment on any others. I'm sure Apex do a quiet exhaust though?
Great build Dave,it was good to see the car 'in person' yesterday & a pleasure to meet you.
Hope the amp works fine & I was a little helpful!!
Looking good. Not sure I would have a harness on a standard passenger seat though, could be quite dangerous in an accident...
It was a last minute bodge just to carry passengers at Cadwell Park and not a permanent soltution - I have another Cobra Suzuka to fit when I get round to designing some mounts.Originally Posted by Dave270r
That said, only the crotch straps are non functional, the other 4 harness points are mounted to the cage harness bar and through eyebolts in the original seatbelt harness mounting points. Also the head rest stays are sufficiently wide to permit the shoulder straps to go through them, according to the Schroth mounting instructions. So while not the perfect setup, a properly mounted 4-point harness, with a roll cage and helmeted passenger has to be safer than the standard 3-point inertia reel, no cage and no helmet? I wouldn't have let my mates sit there if I didn't think it was safe (though I'll freely admit I'm not an expert on harness fitting).
Thanks for the tip. No real budget as such, whatever it takes to get the right item I guess. I suppose I need to get my current exhaust system measured and then I have a reference point for how much quieter I need to go.
Cheers Ian, was great to chat to someone local with lots of SX experience, will be bugging you in the future for bits and info for sure!
So as a general update I managed to stop the horn working by removing the airbag harness when I had the dash stripped out. It seems that you can't just ditch every bit of the loom that's yellow! So that will be going back in.
Also going to re-fit the Apexi boost gauge that came with the car, to monitor boost and detect potential problems more readily (I had previously assumed the readout on the AVCR would be sufficient). Trying to find a roll cage gauge mount bracket or something not too bling.
As for the post-Cadwell repairs, I've got hold of an ignition amp (thanks Ian), just need some replacement connectors now (anyone know where to get these?) and need to order a turbo gasket kit from Apex. I already have braided oil and water turbo lines (thanks to a previous owner) so I'll soon have all the parts to do the repairs.
Also bought some samco coolant hoses off a guy on here, as I'm not happy with the kink in the top stock hose where my sender is fitted and the wider Koyo rad, and the bottom hose was a bit tatty.
Other than that, I'm trying to find time to prep and paint the interior, make up some mounts for the passenger seat, and an endless list of bits and bobs...
Only thing about the standard seat and a harness is you cant quantify how the seat will deal with the additional loading from the harness through the seat back. Might be ok, might not. Hard to say.
For the amp plugs why don't you just try Penny well road Nissan mate.Only in Lawrence hill/old market.
Oh, and this is what the ignition amp currently looks like. Still working though!
great build so far. where did you get the radiator from. has it helped keep the temps down.
Wow that ignition amp is cooked!! Lol
Got it from Sumo Power though they had to source it from Europe. Running this rad and standard coolant, plus a baffled sump but no oil cooler, I peaked at about 105degC water and 130degC oil at Cadwell Park.
Previously, at Castle Combe (admitedly a warmer day and more of a power circuit) both temps were going off scale unless I really backed off. So I'm hoping that's my cooling sorted, at least at Stage 1 powers.
Update to cover the last month or so. Have been prepping the interior for some paint, firstly by treating the surface rust:
Then had to sort out my tractor-esque turbo gasket. Sounding like a VW camper, when you're not driving a VW camper, is most uncool. This was the cause:
Using the excellent guide someone did on here, it took about 12 hours, a couple of hours a night (after work, putting the baby to bed, having dinner, etc etc...), but that included changing the bottom radiator hose (notices it looked a bit worn and didn't want to risk it), replacing melted wiring, relocating the ignition amp and boost solenoid, touching up a bit of paint here and there...
Well pleased, never done any engine work of that magnitude before, and I had no real issues apart from the fact that it's a bit fiddly and access is a nightmare.
Turbo gasket (with locking nuts, locking tabs, exhaust paste and an extra nut on each stud for luck - hopefully these will stay tight for a while!
New ignition amp and location:
Boost solenoid now out of harm's way:
Took it for a spin today and it's running nicely. Only snag is the ABS light is now on - I'm assuming I must have knocked a connector whilst working in the area - hopefully...
Last edited by daveyboydave; 03-09-2014 at 20:11.
Long overdue update. Just a couple of jobs tackled recently, been busy with work. The car has put in a stirling performance as a sensible (ish) commuter with me travelling around the country every weekend!
I reinstalled a boost gauge, this time I just strapped it to the roll cage A-pillar using a cheapo eBay mount and some cable ties! Not pretty, but effective:
Also, I modified my SSQV to be a recirc BOV as this seems like the optimal setup. Used some marine-grade hose and an SSQV adapter by Jon200 off of here, and I made a little aluminium tube adapter out of some old curtain rail for the inlet side!
Not convinced it is operating as I would like as I am getting lots of flutter, the same amount of bangs, and the half-second of lumpy running after a big-lift-off (owing to over-fuelling) after a big lift-off - all of which I would have expected to stop.
I've got a growing list of niggles to address before I continue the modding, including:
-Sort out to BOV situation.
-Fix a squeeky wiper spindle
-Investigate fuel smell when leaving the car after a run - not sure if this is a leaky line or just a symptom of overfuelling
-Possibly fix a noisy clutch release bearing
-Change the gearbox oil and investigate a couple of small weeps
-Replace some missing wheel arch liner that got ripped off after fording a small lake
-Get my NATS keyfob working after changing the battery
-Investigate why boost is creeping over the 0.8bar setting on AVCR. Do I just need to recalibrate it?
-Investigate the ABS light
-Investigate slightly lumpy idle when warm, and slight hesitation when blipping the throttle from idle.
Not much then! But actually these are minor-ish niggles, the car is generally running well.
So I finally got some time to spend on the car.
THE GOOD: Instead of fixing all the numerous issues, the most important thing was to fit a sunstrip!
THE BAD: Did a boost leak test. It failed:
THE UGLY: Temporary repair until I can get the pipe welded up / replaced:
Anyone know what brand of intercooler piping this is? Possibly DB Power?
Had a bit of time to do some bits and bobs to the car:
More permanent repair to the intercooler pipe hole (used some liquid metal stuff, holding tight so far):
I removed the bracket that the pipe was rubbing against, and used some bungee to provide extra support to the washer tank instead (ghetto mods!):
Finally got round to finishing heatshielding the bits and bobs around the exhaust manifold, just in case:
Unseized a rear brake caliper and changed the discs (stoptech premium) and pads (DS2500s):
Made a super gucci boost leak rig (£6 ebay boost gauge so I can read the pressure more accurately when pumping it up as I don't trust my 7bar bike pump gauge!):
Took this:
Did this:
To end up with this:
Because racecar. I was tempted to buy some fancy R32 Skyline-esque ducts like Blaktooth but I decided it wasn't worth it on my tatty old bumper and attacked it with a holesaw instead! I may join the middle to holes together into a large oval to get rid of the odd rectangles from the previous number plate mountings.
I'm going to have a lot more time to work on the car over the winter - without needing it to commute 250 miles in it every weekend like now - so I have a deep maintenance period planned. To include:
-Finish sealing and painting the stripped interior, make some heel plates for the footwells.
-Mount my passenger bucket seat.
-Get a different diff to drop the ratios (with solid diff mounts).
-Change the gearbox (mine is grouchy and whiny).
-Change the clutch and rear crankshaft seal at the same time.
-Sort out the lumpy idle when warm - believe the lambda is faulty.
-Upgrade the engine and gearbox mounts, I think they have seen better days.
-Get a quieter exhaust.
-Do a compression test, inspect spray bars, other engine bits and bobs for piece of mind.
-Fix the bastard squeaky wiper spindles.
Not much then! The aim is to sort out all the niggles and properly finish what has been started rather than any more upgrades (except the diff...). I'm hoping to have a properly sorted and reliable car ready for some trackdays come Easter.
Last edited by daveyboydave; 03-09-2014 at 20:08.
Looking awesome mate, and some good plans! Don't forget you can always message me with any questions. The fmic is a db power onean original when Dan started to sell them.
Looks good, very aggressive
The car is coming along nicely since my last visit, I did same thing to my uras bumper as about half the cooler is blocked
I did a line of 3 inch holes then a staggered line of 2 inch iirc (maybe 1.5 inch I did it 3 years ago)
like this https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/...28&oe=54614F42
the bumpers not the best design/style and I as after max air flow over how it looks tbh
Last edited by ANDY black s13; 03-09-2014 at 14:02. Reason: korekted speeling mishtakes
Thanks for the support fellas!
Just realised how dirty it looks in the pics. It looks worse in real life! Proper clean for the weekend methinks.
Any update?
Did you sort the abs light? If not it might be worth checking the plug joiner for the front sensor that's beside the ignition amp as it might be melted
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