Pnm35 Build Thread

[jasevr4]

So is that it? Stagea to stay as is now mate?

[PN-Mad]

Yeah, I still have all the software to tune it, so might take it for a tune to release a few ponies. However I can't justify it with the stock cats in place. So I'm caught in a catch 22. Don't want to spend on cats, but can't progress without them. A baby capsule will be the next mod, sometime in mid November.

The 180 is defiantly satisfying my need for speed and track time better than the stages. Good decision.

[WAGON_BOY]

congrats buddy, is it a boy or girl ?

[PN-Mad]

It's pit crew.

[Daleo]

*Hopes for a Pterodactyl*

[PN-Mad]

Some track vids from Wakefield. Still havent nailed the setup right, and the front tyres were epic old/bad. Hence the understeer. Still lots to learn in my driving....

[PN-Mad]

[PN-Mad]

[WAGON_BOY]

nice one Alex!!! looks like lots of fun

[Brick]

Was that a real evo that you passed in the second video? If so what the hell was he doing thru the corners? Car sounds awesome though mate. Good work

[PN-Mad]

Was the Emo white? Yeah, dunno. people have mixes of hot and cool down laps. Fast cars does not equal fast driver. Was a fun day. Wish I went faster. Massive oversteer moment on my 1:10.6 lap...

[Rudi_ARX-TURBO]

That is so cool alex , what is involved in racing at wakefield , fees etc

[PN-Mad]

So you need to get there. Need a AASA licence ($50pa) and its $120 for the weekday speed off the streets days. Pretty cheap imo.

[M35woah]

Session 2 isn't loading?? .

[PN-Mad]

ha... as i said, I was stuck in traffic the whole time, and as soon as i cleared ready to pass down the straight, I blew an IC hose off, and fouled the plugs. So not the most entertaining viewing....

[PN-Mad]

Hello old Thread!

Well, some updates. The Stagea got a full paint correction and detail by a workmate of mine, who does detailing as a part time job. Looks amazing. I was there helping out, and the levels that he went to blew my mind. Was a full day for the two of us, finishing about 5:30 in the arvo. The paintwork was brought right back down to the clear, APC washed, decontaminated with 2 methods (clay and ironX), and polished using a Sonax product and RO machines. A sealant was applied, and to finish it off, a wax. The awesome news is that when we checked the paint out with a micrometer, the paint thickness is consistent with factory paint all around the car. So that means it has never had a panel re-sprayed. A nice feeling to know. So here is a pic in all her glory on the recent Sydney Stagea Cruise.

Now quite a few things have been going on with the 180sex too. I had terrible understeer issues at wakefield the last time I went out, so I set about improving this, and adding in some extra bits, and improving reliability.

On the track, I had a turn where the power cut out, and I got swamped coming out. The motor cut out all together, and then re-started. When I got back to the pits, we had a look in the bay and saw that part of the Loom travelling down the passenger side of the car had got rather toasty. After the track day, I re-wrapped the loom, and then wrapped it up in protective heat tape. Should be fine now.

I bought a second hand Greddy Profec B Spec II boost controller. I wanted some adjust-ability to the power levels so I could learn to drive it better on the track. I wired/plumbed this in before we went on holidays and booked a Dyno date with Jez to get it setup. I hate electronics, but honestly it wasn't that hard, just crawling round under the bloody dash was a right PITA!

So, back from holidays, and off to Jez. Since it was running a boost Tee, and I never touched it, I had no idea what gate pressure was. Turns out its 10psi... hahahah. Anyway, a morning on the dyno saw the unit set up, and the mapping reconfigured to run in the low end of the map too. So now I have 3 power levels - 230kw @10psi, 270kw@16psi, and 289kw@18psi. So good result. We tried to push a little more boost, but have pretty much reached the limit of a track tune 98 oct fuel. If I want more, then e85 is the way forward. Doesn't bother me too much, as it has plenty of power.

I got home, and the rear end of the car was bugging me. There has been a knock somewhere in there for a while, and I just wanted to get everything checked over. So I dropped the rear subframe out the next day. Checking over the bushes, everything was fine, unis and shafts fine. So I popped the diff out and got Award Gearbox and Diff at Seven Hills to check it out. This gave me time to degrease and clean up the subframe. It was annoying me how dirty it was, so I pressure washed it clean! Turns out the Diff was in great condition, so they sealed it back up, and gave it back. Good insurance to know. Didn't get a picture of this unfortunately. Reinstalled the subframe, bled the brakes, and while the diff is still noisy (this is normal for the type of diff), whatever clonk was there before was gone !

Now, with the 4 point cage, the rear of the car was quite stiff, but the front was not as rigid as I'd hoped. This manifested itself in the front end being a bit hard to handle on the track. So some Stiff was in order! I couldn't fit the Tomei 3 way strut tower brace because it fouled the turbo, so I went looking for a CA18 unit - Found and bought a Cusco Steel unit on the eGhey. Fits up good, should do the job well.

Then I got recommended the Nismo power brace, which is basically the equilviant of a strut brace for the power part of the suspension. This ties the quite flexible front arms together and boxes them. Thought it would be a good addition, and who can resist some Nismo part whoring! So I'm installing that today

This came from RHDJapan... slower than expected, but I got a Nismo Sticker that's going on the M35

Last, I got some cheap Bridgestone RE55S semis to try out instead of the R888s on the front. They were quite hard, but still had some life left in them. Mounted them up on the track wheels, and put them on the rear of the 180 to ***ahem*** clean the up a little. After the surface layer was taken off I removed them, and treated them with Grip tyre softener. Pretty awesome stuff. Stinks to high heaven, but works well. They sucked up the mixture, and feel much better. They are now curing before the track day which is late October.

Also ordered a new Radiator hose, as mine had cracked internally and was slowly leaking, and some adjustable upper rear camber arms, hopefully to take some of the neg camber out of the rear for a bigger contact patch.

[iamhe77]

Stagea's paint looks bloody good Alex.

Nice to see some more pics from the Stagea meet.

Scrolled down for more, only to be greeted with the red crusty that fouls up this thread

[Jetwreck]

^^^^ that

[PN-Mad]

Le Sigh.

I'll get some more Pics up.

Its only dusty cause the infield at Wakefield was quite dry....

[M35woah]

Size of Nismo sticker?

Paint is so soft and smooth! plx no ruin paint with stickerz.