The Alchemist

Here are some pics of the Twin Power unit dismantled and all the black rubber sort of removed for those who are interested. Mike

I have another post on this forum about what happened ab0out a month ago...the HKS unit randomly shit itself while I was driving at 50km/hr stalling the engine. I found the problem quite quickly as the smoke was let out!!! Unpluged the harness and plugged in the factory loom and I was away again. Base at work we pulled the unit to bits to have a look at what makes it tick. Basically it has a row of 6 transitors/caps/ resistors on a board that triggers off each ignitor trigger for each coil. This is connected to a large single 400V cap that is charging of the power wire to the unit, a magnetic coil unit similar to a ignition coil which either absorbs the current dump when each ignition coil fires or stores up energy to be realeased thru the 400V cap when it fires. Finally theres a couple of timer chips and power transitors and a little power supply board in there to run the thing. Its very well made and well designed to jam everything in such a small unit. The compenent that failed was a small surface mount resistor on one of the 6 trigger circuits. Unfortunately its full of resin which had to be carefully dug out to see what the problem was. Impossible to fix! Basically I found that the engine at 360rwkw made the same power with or without the unit plugged in. Tested in house on our own dyno. Believe me I WANTED to see a difference! What we did in the end to eliminate the miss was to lean the mixture out from 11.9/12 to 12.2:1. There was simply to much fuel/air for the ignition system to ignite properly > the HKS unit cannot fix this problem. I'm sure that at some stage you will need some sort of ignition amplifier but at what that point is exactly I'm unsure as I have not reached it yet. The most important thing you can do though is to insure you have an excellant power supply to your coils and I don't mean pull out a voltmeter and and proble it to check for 12V either. You need a good scope to probe the power supply during coil firing. If you see more than a 0.5V drop when the coil fires you have a big problem. My Car had 2V drop !!!!!!!!! Old wiring/relays etc ass up to resistance that costs in voltage. I wired up a new relay in the fuse box to run my coil power feed directly and I now have a 0.2V drop when the coil fires. Makes a huge difference. Hope this helps... Mike

I run 360kw on 19psi. I use splitfire coils, $3.00 NGK plugs gapped to 0.86, standard ignitor, PFC dwell set correctly using as amps clamp (about 1.9 to 2ms)and most importantly a rewired ignition 12V feed!!!!!!! Using a high speed scope we found a 2V drop at the coil 12V feed everytime it fired. Tracing the 12V feed back through the 15year old wiring loom saw a gradual reduction from the ignition fuse through to the coils. Remember it travels from the fuse box across the engine bay into the cabin to the ignition relay then back out into the engine bay to the coil power feed. Getting a good nissan ignition relay, putting it in a spare bay in the fuse box and looping a power feed off the bottom of the ignition fuse power supply and using the factory 12V power feed to trigger the new coil saw a big improvement !!! Cheaper than a HKS box that is often only making up xtra charging current for voltage drops from old worn out wiring. I had previously tried the twin power box to try to fix a misfire I had at 6200rpm during dyno tuning. Testing with a scope using an amps clamp and secondary ignition and charging voltage showed that: all the HKS module did was to slightly increase the charging amps by about 0.4 to 0.5amps, so up to about 6.8amps or so. The charging time remained the same (controlled by dwell in the PFC, the spark duration (measured with the scope) stayed the same, about 1.2 ms, the coil charge voltage remained the same with the same 2V drop when it fired and the engine STILL missed at 6200rpm!!!! Rewiring the 12V supply to the coil via a new relay with or without the HKS module connected fixed the miss at 6200rpm > we tested it both ways on the dyno. The scope showed the same increase in charging current of about 0.4amps with the 12V feed rewire and we ended up leaving it connected as I owned the damn thing now so I may as well leave it on. This weekend (2 years later) the twin power module died randomly stalling the car in the middle of the road. The smoke was out!!! I disconnected it from the engine harness and have been busy pulling it apart so see whats in it As you do...... Interestingly enough the engine made EXACTLY the same power on the dyno with the HKS module connected or not. Believe it or not Will post some pics later. Mike

of course its ok to ask mate but he's so right.....take it to a workshop and get it checked too easy

Hi people, I have the same set up in my GTR, tomei baffle, restrictor etc etc what gave me the shits the other day is when I fitted my Defi gauge kit and noted my oil pressure disappear when you give the throttle a quick dab in 1st or 2nd!!!!!! yet the factory gauge just sits there at 3.5bar and doesn't even move. This thread has been very interesting to say the least! I will be filling my sump with the extra half a liter tomorrow and see if this improves.... cheers, Mike

WHEN USING DATALOGIT, WHAT ARE THE "UNITS" for manifold pressure as displayed when logging as they are obviously not the same units as what you set under "boost settings". Thanks, MIke

Checked oil pressure today with a mechanical gauge: Cold engine: idle 60 psi, 3000rpm and over 95psi Hot engine: idle 30psi, 5000rpm and over 95psi Seems ok to me..... May be the old ring issue as we used the rings that came with the ACL/Ross pistons not genuine GTR rings. That together with high oil pressure when cold and the oil squirters under the pistons may behalf the problem.....as it almost completely clears up when engine is up to temp > ie oil up to temp not just the water up to temp, bout 20 minutes running.

i HAVE A r32 gtr WITH AN n1 pump, REBUILT ENGINE 10,000km ago and it eats oil We have checked on the dyno and the road and found that there is no excessive blow by from the breathers under boost conditions , no oil on vacuum overrun (a good thing) but it has a blue oil haze from the exhuast in direct proportion to how much boost you give it. Its much worse when cold too ie clouds of smoke with only 3 to 4 psi boost but much less once warmed up to operating temp. Engine has forged pistons. Breathers are open to the atmo Turboes are Garrett RollerBearing -5's with the HKS restrictor in the banjos Compressions are good engine was run in on the dyno Head has a 1.2mm restrictor Sump has tomei baffle kit only. Have tried several oil viscosities with similar poor results! I am about to check oil presure with a manual gauge as I am concerned that it may be pushing oil past the piston seals in the turboes? Is this possible? Where else can oil come from under boost conditions only????? Help

I see what you mean as long as it works..... But I'm one of those annoying people who just like to know "why" ? and "Why not" I say

WELL, heres the preliminary results...... Charging voltage stayed exactly the same starting at 13.7 volts dropping out to 13.4 volts once the coil had charged, so the red wire into the HKS unit and the coils is just a power wire to run the module I guess Charging amps rose slightly from 5.9/6 amps to 6.4 amps however dwell time remained unchanged as I expected. The secondary burn voltage stayed the same at about 0.6kv and burn time remained a bit short at 0.5ms but basicaaly remained unchanged. These tests were done at 17psi then we ran out of time, BUT will be doing high boost dyno runs tomorrow so will see what happens then and report to this thread. At this stage it seems the Twin power unit increases charging current slightly which MAY help misfires at higher boost settings but certainly makes little or no difference to your car if your engine is running OK and not misfiring to start with. Mike

I saw this post ages ago but never had a twin power to play with well now I do I also have not been able to fine a definative explanation anywhere on the net on what it does exactly other then Sydneykids. Just heaps of advertising junk. I've set up my R32 GTR on the dyno which has a misfire at 6200rpm on 19psi with a 0.8mm gap. At 17psi there is no misfire, so it is boost and therfore cylinder pressure sensitive. I have tried "everything" to get rid of it .... a good test mule ! Setup: I have removed number 1 coil and placed a normal ignition lead between the coil and the plug no I can measure true secondary firing pattern and examine the burn voltage and burn time. I have an amps clamp on the ignitor earth monitoring charging amps and dwell time. I have channel 1 monitoring the primary input voltage on coil number 1. I have a new set of BPCR5ES plugs gapped at 0.9mm (knowing this will make my misfire worse at 19psi and will load the ignition system to prove or disprove the twin power's effectiveness) Its all set up and we will commence testing tomorrow > stay tuned for the results Mike

If you have the money and time the Tomei Cams 260/260 9.15mm are a great upgrade. We have done several back to back upgrades now and gained 35kw at the same boost with no loss of torque down low at all. The gain shows up over 4500rpm, as you would expect. Turboes spool earlier also. With cam timing adjustments you generally gain quicker spool up (400rpm or so) with no loss in the top end if done right. Win - Win. They also complement turbo upgrades like the -5's which tend to spool slower with the standard cams and can be a bit laggy. My GTR with the -5's and the Tomei cams reaches 18psi by 4000rpm on the button

WOT HE SAID BUT > after you refit your new ECU get a large hammer and bash the MINES ECU firmly and squarely in the middle of its backing case Mike

easy peasy mate. Make as adapter up and pressurize your intake system, 10 to 15psi should do it. Will show up any intake leak. The pipe or hose is probably still leaking or damge may have been caused elsewhere on that intercooler pipe. Mike

Cams: YES definately Cam gears: absolutely you'd be nutz not to. Cam gears netted me another 15kw with proper adjusting on our dyno plus brought in the boost 500rpm earlier with no loss in the top end (gained 15kw) Sure you get a gain with just cams but the cam gears will get you even more. Mike

Hey people, one of my AFMs just died last week. Started with intermittant rough running and stalling that would restart fine run ok for a few minutes then run rough again etc etc. Turned out the signal return pin was the one with the dry joint and would not resolder until I cleaned it up. AFM works fine now but I'll need to tidy up my power FC map now as the car was tuned with the dry joint which would be causing the voltages to be compromised. Something for other people to consider too...... Cheers, Mike

I had a similar problem with my car.....it would run fine one minute then lean miss/surge the next as you're cruising. Scoped the AFM's with FC-Datalogit, I have a power FC, and found 1 of the afm dropping out to 0.3v or so then back up to normal. Resoldered the 4 pins under the AFm lid and problem fixed. The signal wire pin had dry jointed to the terminal for the plug. It looked soldered but wasn't. Simple fix. Mike

hi, the power supply to the coils is the 3 wire plug at the back of the GTR tappet cover, left hand side. Its easy to identify as it is a 3 wire, 2 being black and the center one being a large white wire. This is the power supply. Simply hook up the scope to back probe this wire, set sample time to around 10 to 20ms and have a look at what the voltage is doing. If it sits on 14v battery then drops down as the coil charges, measure the voltage drop. Anything over 0.5V means your coil charging will be compromised, even if you increase the dwell (charge) time this won't compensate for low charging voltages. Mike PS, I see you have a GTS-T. The principle is exactly the same though. To locate the 12V feed, unplug a coil, turn the key on and look for battery voltage on one of the 3 pins, trace the coil loom back to the main multiplug and locate the 12v feed and back probe there.

One thing to check is voltage at the coil from the ignition relay. You need to use a scope as a voltmeter is not fast enough to "see it". Anything larger than a 1/2 V drop from battery voltage is cause for concern. This robs the coils of charging voltage and current and can cause a high rpm/high boost misfire. Skylines are old vehicles and so is the wiring, relays and connectors. One length of wiring from the ignition fuse in the engine bay around to the large multi plug by the airflow meters was losing 0.8Volts in my GTR!!! Once we reached the coils it was down to 12V each time the coils fired....... Worth a look... Mike

Arrive at good reputation workshop with 1 x GTR R32, R33, R34 who cares......... Open cheque book and say " how much for 500kw at the rear wheels?" Expect to write a cheque for at least $30,000.00 Arrive 2 to 3 weeks later to pick up 500kw GTR Drive off down the road smiling smuggly to yourself knowing that you will have one of the fastest cars to 50km/h on the planet.

Well its Friday today so I'm looking foward to "Beer o'clock" Cheers, Mike

Graphs as promised. Mike

Both set ups with the same Tomei cams 260/260 9,15mm nly the turboes changed

Having run both turboes, the GT-SS and the Garrett -5's (2530's) and can safely say that the -5's are the better turbo ..... for me I can supply this thread with a direct comparo on the exact same engine combo with the only changes being the turboes to show the differences in boost response, torque and outright power produced by each. Only 3000km engine time separates the comparison. Upgraded "cos I can" and felt their was more to life than 290 rwkw Interested? Regards the efficiency arguements, both turboes are happier at 18 to 20 psi rather than 14psi when run on the wastegates. This is evident by the large jump in power when you cross over the 17psi threshold eg: with the -5's 311kw at 17psi but a massive 365kw at 19psi. Also the boost seems to hold steadier at the higher boost levels. This is not a bad thing though and tuned correctly should not be a problem with a std GTR. At this power level I found the difference academic with regards to the power you could actually use on the road or track with 1st and 2nd gear losing all traction in the dry with 4WD and 3rd gear just holding, 4th gear is insane. Both are very good turbo combo's on a standard GTR but with Tomei cams fitted they become outstanding!! Both reach 17psi , with cams, at 4000rpm but the 2560 -5's walk away in the top end. This is with cams dialled in correctly and time spent tuning for good response etc etc. This only difference I found was a 20kw better top end and a bit more overall torque with the -5's which is very noticible on the road. Hope this Helps, Mike And "yes" the number plates are different for those observent people out there but they are personalized plates on the same car

With the "RS" I'm not sure but judging by their specs a bit more laggy, a bit more power