Been a while since I’ve last posted an update but since we’re on lockdown nows the best time to update what’s been going in with the car, it will be a long one.
So ill start by going through what’s I’ve been doing to it and what’s since happened to it, some good things and some annoying things but I guess that’s the fun part about dailying an S15, so first thing is before the last update, when I got the car a few bulbs in the cluster were blown so I though with them not being very bright from factory I thought it would be a good idea to get one led bulbs for the cluster of eBay and put them in instead of a normal bulb, so bought a set of eBay for around £20 I think from Auz, a week later they came so when I got home I took the cluster out and went to install them, at first they wouldn’t work, they are polarised but even after turning them around they wouldn’t work, figured out the contacts needed bending to have a good connection, after messing about with them for at least an hour I managed to get nearly all of them working bar 1 which was the bulb for the speed 0-80, after fiddling about I managed to get it working then all of a sudden the cluster started smoking so I quickly turned the ignition off and pulled the cluster out, it only went and shorted a trace wire on the circuit board so now the speed bulb would not even light up, so I took all the LEDs out and put some bulbs in I had from an S13 cluster. I had to drive about for about 2 months without being able to see what speed I was doing. Just before Christmas I managed to find a used one from a guy in Malaysia for about £180 posted which is money I was gonna spend on some rear spats but they will have to wait,
If anyone is tempted to buy an LED conversion kit for the cluster then DONT!! Its a bad idea
Next thing that happened was my power windows and power door locks stopped working, kinda knew it was gonna be the wiring loom in the wheel arch that had been partially rubbed through when I first lowered the car, so I read up on the S15 electrics manual and found which wires were for the power windows and then carried out voltage drop testes to check where there was a short circuit, so I started by checked all relevant fuses, all fuses okay then I started at the battery and had 14v (battery charger on) then went to the consumer which was the power window switch there was 0 volts at the white and black wire, so I followed the wiring diagram back to the power window relay, checked pin 3, 0 volts also removed the relay and tested, relay was working perfect. Checked power to pin 1 which was getting 12 volts and earth connection was good so I followed the diagram back and then checked power to the circuit breaker, again 0 volts, followed diagram back and check voltage to E101 to M10 wiring harness connector (big block connecter in drivers footwell which engine loom connect to interior loom) again 0 volts, I had 14v at the engine bay fuses so the break in the wire is somewhere between the engine fuse box and E101 so that meant the wiring loom had the come out.
So after a lot of F***ing about trying to get the wiring loom out the interior due to a previous owner installing something like an alarm system idk but the wiring under there was a complete mess and needs to be sorted out one day, I plan on removing the whole dash and sorting it out then but that will be a job when ive got a second car but for now I got the loom out and checked the wiring. Found multiple broken or damaged wires so I spent a few hours cutting and soldering the broken or damaged wires back and the power window wire was broken along with a big white wire which after checked the wiring diagrams still cannot find what its for, does anyone know? Fixed all the wires the taped up and tucked as far into the wheel well ass possible to stop the tire from catching it again, another problem was water ingress into the drivers footwell due to the wiring loom seal being damaged, I know you can’t buy these separately so I tried to make do and cover it with some sticky backed aluminium, it worked for a while but ended up coming off so what have people done to stop water ingress through this seal? Ive ended up having to remove the carpet due to the water ingress and I don’t want to put it back in until the problem is fixed.
Christmas came and got a new Apexi air filter of the Mrs, sounds mint with the turbo flutter so much louder than stock!
My Work T7Rs finally came from driftworks after about 1 and a half months of waiting, first one I pulled out the box had a paint defect which is annoying, Driftworks were very helpful though and arranged collection of the wheel at no cost of mine and ordered a new wheel from Japan but 2 months later I’m still waiting for the single wheel back so its been 5 months since I bought them and I still don’t all the wheels, annoying as I want them on now but oh well. I did do a test fit of the wheels just to see how the would look and fit, the specs are 18” 9.5J ET12, I wanted a more conceived wheel and a low offset, the wheels fit fine with no spacers front and rear but you can see how much they poke out but that’s the look I want, I’m gonna get 225/35/18 tyres for them and see if any more arch rolling the get them to fit.