180sx Vh45

[farch]

bonnet's finally finished, it took two bonnet's to make. Cutting the induction hood out one and grafting it to the other. Kreative in windsor did all the welding work. dan's place (also in windsor) did the prep and painting (he also seem welded the some of hood again, the welder was worried about warping). it's a little warped on the front at the sides but a little persuasion on seans part seemed to fix that.

Edited August 24, 2010 by farch

[ezy_09s]

Good stuff sean and farch...how far away is this now from driving ?

[farch]

these pics are what the car looks like now with bonnet complete and engine bay pretty much complete as well. only thing left are new custom front sway bar and calibrate the speedo and put a converter in the dash to get the 4 banger tachometer to display a v8 signal correctly. then engineering!

[W0rp3D]

Looks like it came from the factory like that, good work.

[farch]

if i had my way there would be no bonnet bulge at all. one day i might put a new intake manifold on it. runs pretty quiet when part at throttle, very unassuming until you put the hammer down then every knows whats in it. The noise coming from the engine is louder then the exhaust, a lot louder. I drove it down the road to try and get a pink slip for a unrego'd vehicle temporary license, and I'm quite amazed at the result. It's not a stupid amount of acceleration, its linear. speedo looks like tacho when accelerating from about 50km/hr in fifth gear, goes up faster then it feels. guess I've gotten used to boost. Sean thinks it'll go faster with taller diff gears to make better use of the torque cause it's currently got the tomei 2 way 4.363 from the ca18, might have to drop it to about 3.9.

Edited September 25, 2010 by farch

[GTRsean]

So close to being road registered woot. Hmm maybe some 10 inch wide wheels out the back to aid in traction and toughness.

[farch]

10inch wheels at the back, hell yeah. we'll make'em fit, 17*9's at least.

[farch]

I'm actually quite surprised how good the 32 GTR wheels look on it. match it perfect, if they were only an inch or so wider.

[OKBANANA]

Awesome stuff mate.

Not too many people can see past the potential of the typical, or normal RB/SR configuration.

[GTRsean]

Thanks for the kind words!

Yeah, a lot of time and effort spent on it too!

Hows Canberra going for you?

Read a bit about you project on DRN motorcars folder too, and loved how people did not have a clue what engine you had!

[Liz]

hey guys

I was so impressed when i first heard about this, glad to see it has come together nicely! can't wait to see it around time and i better get an invite to the track if you end up going down for a few test laps! hehe.

[farch]

been doing some research on my diff ratio. which is currently the ca18det manual trans ratio of 4.363 which means, assuming that 7000 rpm is my red line and the 300zx gear ratio's are:

1st 3.214

2nd 1.925

3rd 1.302

4th 1.000

5th 0.752

this should mean each gear maxes out at:

1st 60km/hr

2nd 100km/hr

3rd 146km/hr

4th 191 km/hr

5th 254km/hr

and at 100km/hr in 5th gear the rpm should be 2750rpm. (quite high for a v8)

or the other other option is using the ca18 auto trans diff ratio of 3.9 which is:

1st 66km/hr

2nd 111km/hr

3rd 164km/hr

4th 214km/hr

5th 285km/hr

and at 100km/hr in 5th gear the rpm should be 2500rpm.

worried if i go any lower in the ratio I'll loose out on too much acceleration.

or i use a 4.11 out of an sr20 s13:

1st 63km/hr

2nd 104km/hr

3rd 156km/hr

4th 203 km/hr

5th 270km/hr

and at 100km/hr in 5th gear the rpm should be 2600rpm.

I'm thinking the 4.11's what does everyone think?

[ezy_09s]

I would be staying with your current diff ratio.

[farch]

it looses traction just off idle in 2nd gear, i was getting it to a tow truck and i had go over a speed bump. just gave a little throttle in 2nd as i idled off it and it steps out. crazy response.

[GTS4WD]

unfortunately those calculations you made dont factor in aerodynamic drag the car has to overcome.

Either way, my hat goes off to you boys. I been following this and its very very impressive!

Whats the plan for the car? What will be its duties? That will influence diff choice too.

Id be waiting till you get wider rubber then see how traction is before you go changing diffs

[farch]

unfortunately those calculations you made dont factor in aerodynamic drag the car has to overcome.

Either way, my hat goes off to you boys. I been following this and its very very impressive!

Whats the plan for the car? What will be its duties? That will influence diff choice too.

Id be waiting till you get wider rubber then see how traction is before you go changing diffs

drag is a factor of the power needed to overcome it, the ratio tells me with enough power what maximum speed the car is capable of. the main point of it is to calculate the cruising rpm of highway driving.

the plan for the car is mainly street performance will see the odd track day and drag strip. hence the Na con-fig and 5 speed manual. the diff ratio will probably end up as 3.9 to get the best out cruising and acceleration with out too many draw backs in either one.

by the way the custom front sway bar is fitted, same diameter as the white-line adjustable that it replaces.

[bubba]

Awesome build! that bonnet kind of makes it look like an old 300zx..

As far as diff ratios go..

I did something similar with the RB30DET, it didn't rev it as much so lost speed in each gear (made me slower than a stock RB20).

Going from 4.3 to 3.9 made better use of the abundance of torque and while being a bit less brutal, it was much nicer to drive.

[ichizora]

This is an awesome build

Did you have to weigh your engine? It's one of the requirements here, such a nuisance!

[Rolls]

looks awesome but dont change the diff, if you are spinning the wheels just get some semi slicks and youll never look back, the lower the diff ratios the better as it = more tractive torque at the wheels at pretty much every speed.

engine noise is very loud, doesn't sound normal, my mate has a vh41 that wasn't anywhere near that loud, is it possible the valve train is all gummed up with oil?

Edited November 4, 2010 by Rolls

[OKBANANA]

This build just keeps getting better.

Looks like it came factory, which is what I'm after myself.