Hanaldo's R34 Gt(T) Skyline Build

[Hanaldo]

Well couple of updates to mention. After going away on holiday shortly after my last post, I came home with almost 0 motivation to do anything on the car. But, my Powercruise invitation arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago, and then there was the news that E85 is now available at the pump in WA. Ignoring the fact that the only pump is 60km away from where I live, this gave me a semi.

So, first of all. I pulled out the thermostat (prick of a job with the Plazmaman plenum ), and it was farked. Half the seal was missing, meaning it was half open all the time which explains the running cold business. So I picked up a Tridon replacement from Auto1 for thieves money, and sorted that out. Took it for a drive, all good again, back up to a rock solid 78.3 degrees within 10 minutes or so of driving. Naice.

Then, before doing anything else, I wanted to make sure the engine is still actually ok, I haven't checked since pulling it apart and given the horrific results I've had, I wouldn't have been surprised if something had given up inside. Compression test revealed:

Cyl 1: 145psi

Cyl 2: 150psi

Cyl 3: 155psi

Cyl 4: 150psi

Cyl 5: 150psi

Cyl 6: 145psi.

I also tried a wet test, but didn't see much of an increase in those numbers. So they are a bit lower than the 180psi across all 6 that I got last time I tested the motor, but that wasn't totally unexpected due to now having the Tomei camshafts. All in all, I think it's quite safe to say that the results are generally quite ok.

Next on the list of things to check is valve lash. Running on a current theory after talking with Lithium, if the valve clearances are too tight than that would actually explain nearly ALL my problems, ie. low power, laggy, high idle (~1200rpm), hard to hot start, etc. Now the valve clearances WERE set by Headtorque when the head was rebuilt, and they installed my cams so they should have used the Tomei specs and they SHOULD be correct. But, it is a little too coincidental to ignore, so I will be checking them anyway to rule it out. I actually tried to do this on Friday, but only got as far as removing the breather hoses before I realised I don't have a 27mm socket to turn the motor So I will borrow one from my dad tomorrow evening and get back into it on Tuesday.

Then, the other thing I am doing on Tuesday is installing this:

My new Walbro F90000267 E85 specific fuel pump. After chatting with my tuner, I decided the old GSS-342 was running too much of a risk, even if some people say they work fine with E85. Better to be safe than sorry, and a bit of extra pumping power won't go astray anyway.

Then of course, the last piece of the puzzle before I give my tuner a call:

Ignore that picture as it is just one I found on Google, my Zeitronix ECA kit is still coming in the mail I would just like to say, I emailed Alpha Omega Parts and Services at about 8pm on Wednesday night, Wing replied within 5 minutes and then again on Friday when he let me know that my money had cleared and my stuff was on it's way. Just about the best customer service I have experienced, and they had the cheapest price I could find for the kit, so big thumbs up to Alpha Omega!

That's about it for now really, stay tuned for more soon

[Hanaldo]

New fuel pump is in its cradle. Tight fit, needed to modify the cradle a bit to get it to fit, but it's pretty good. Almost had it finished tonight except I bought the wrong size terminals to rewire the relay with so had to delay it to tomorrow.

Am upgrading all the wiring between the relay and the pump to 12 gauge wire to handle the ridiculous current this thing draws. Means no more stock plug though, so I am using superben's idea of using ls1 coil pack cover bolts as terminals through the lid. I'll finish it off tomorrow and post pics.

[34GeeTeeTee]

Sexy updates Mr Martin!

[Hanaldo]

Better bring this up to date, been pretty busy since I last posted here!

I pretty much got stuck straight into mounting the flex-fuel sensor - a job easier said than done! Despite the new flow-through design of the sensor, the thing is still quite physically large which makes it hard to find a place to mount it in the engine bay. I eventually found a place on the chassis rail:

I also drilled and tapped holes in the rail for the other two mounting holes on the sensor, so it's nice and solid.

I then started on mounting the ECA display. This is where I wanted it to go:

However it wasn't enough for me to simply mount it there, I wanted something a bit more custom. You probably all know what this means by now... I started with this:

Used it as a plug to make a mold, then used this:

And did this:

To make this:

A bit of dremel work later, and I was finished with this:

For those of you wondering what the little switch in the corner is for, I'll get to that

In the mean time, I ran the wires for the sensor through to the cabin. While I was under the dash, I winced at the wiring job I had done a few years ago when I installed my gauges. I just couldn't let that remain as it was, so I decided to completely rewire everything:

While I was at it, I ripped out the Apexi turbo timer that was in there, and was just shocked at the wiring job the workshop that installed it did. I mean my wiring was messy and I knew it, but it was at least connected properly. Unfortunately I didn't think to take photos, but I'm talking like they spliced into my ECU harness and other wires by tying granny knots in the wiring... No solder, just stripped the wires and literally tied the turbo timer wiring onto it. It was horrific. But all gone now!

Fast forward a few days, and this is how my wiring looks now (ignore the unplugged harnesses, not much I could do about them! ) :

I managed to get rid of almost half a kilo of unnecessary wire! And I set up these distribution blocks as sources for my earth, constant 12v, switched 12v, and illumination 12v:

Perhaps not up to the standards of say Simon-S14's work, but it's a damn lot better than what it was and I'm much much happier with it!

With that all done, I finished running the ECA analog signal wire and pinned it into the ECU expansion harness, and also tidied up my ECU wiring loom and everything while I was at it. I then connected all the wires using bullet connectors, and put everything back together:

None too shabby! Time to light it all up... This brings us back to that little switch next to the ECA display, which allows my to display both ethanol content:

And fuel temperature:

Something I'm quite pleased about being able to monitor. This will help me decide whether my setup requires a fuel cooler in the future.

So I'm pretty much done now really, I just need to set up the sensor in the ECU which shouldn't be too hard, I'll do that just now. Then I'm ready to convert the thing to ethanol!

[B-rice]

i received mine too and was wondering where illl put my sensor but decided to put it next to the fuse box. Where did you get your 12v from. Did you splice into the cigarette lighter

[Hanaldo]

Next to the fuse box? So you're running quite long fuel lines to it? I was going to do that but was reluctant to have longer fuel lines than necessary. The spot I ended up putting it works quite nicely because the sensor fits well and I only needed to add half a meter or so of fuel line to tee it in.

I got my switched 12v source from the cigarette lighter, yes.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Hanaldo

[B-rice]

ill put a bracket where the Brake Cyliinder stopper is and mount the sensor there shouldnt need longer lines hopefully.

[boostn0199]

Where did you get those xenon insert light from?

[34GeeTeeTee]

E00 = Failing at life!

[Hanaldo]

Where did you get those xenon insert light from?

You mean the projectors? Got them from the retrofit source, but they aren't exactly inserts haha.

[Crans]

Wanna come do some CF wrapping for my wifes xr6 turbo?

[Hanaldo]

Haha maybe. PM me if you like, depends what sort of stuff you want done, if I don't think I can do it nicely then I won't risk ruining parts.

[Crans]

Just some dash parts that are scracthed, though it would look good in CF

[Hanaldo]

Small update.

Finished and refitted the rest of my carbon parts:

I messed the clear coat up in a few places, so some areas look a bit messy. Will fix that when I can be bothered haha. I've also decided to ditch the white interior bits. Was a silly idea, not sure why I went for that. Have ordered black leather gaiters for the centre console, gear surround and handbrake. Also want to get the steering wheel retrimmed, as it's looking a little worn these days.

Otherwise, I tried to set up the ethanol sensor in the ECU software, but couldn't get it right. No matter what settings I used, I couldn't get the ECU to read the same as the Zeitronix display. Have asked for help on here and on the Link forum, but so far no replies. Hoping to get a reply soon, because I plan to book the car in for the tune this week, so would like to know for sure that my Zeitronix kit doesn't have an issue before it goes on the dyno.

[34GeeTeeTee]

So much carbon!!!!!

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

oooo good job, really like that distro job too

might borrow that idea haha.. I've just got 1x IGN cable and like 3 fuse holders coming off it

[Hanaldo]

So much carbon!!!!!

Haha I think I'm going to leave it at that. Was tempted to do the cluster surround as well, but I do think it would be a bit much. I'm probably going to make some other parts to tidy up the engine bay some more, carbon airbox, fusebox and radiator shroud maybe...

oooo good job, really like that distro job too

might borrow that idea haha.. I've just got 1x IGN cable and like 3 fuse holders coming off it

Haha go for it man, it works really well. The distribution blocks I used are just from Jaycar, cost about 3 bucks each. Each screw has a pin coming out from behind it, so I just bridged them all together with 12ga wire.

[Hanaldo]

Well, just had a good chat to my tuner about doing the flex fuel setup, and it's got me a liiiiiiittle bit nervous haha. He said basically he has never done a Link flex setup before, so he doesn't know how accurate their calibration for the sensor is. He knows Haltech is perfect, but having never done a Link before it means that I am trusting that Link have got their calibration for the sensor spot on.

Normally I'd be fine with that because I've seen the guys on here using Link to setup flex fuel, and it works perfectly by all accounts, BUT. Having setup everything my self and knowing that Link uses the calibration for GM/Siemens ethanol sensors for Continental sensors, as well as the fact that I can't get my ECU to read the same as my Zeitronix ECA display... I'm a tad nervous.

So my tuner invited me to a tech night tonight, which is actually about Haltech products, but he thinks flex fuel is going to be a major talking point so it might be worthwhile for me to come along and I think it sounds interesting so I'll probably go check it out.

[34GeeTeeTee]

Well, just had a good chat to my tuner about doing the flex fuel setup, and it's got me a liiiiiiittle bit nervous haha. He said basically he has never done a Link flex setup before, so he doesn't know how accurate their calibration for the sensor is. He knows Haltech is perfect, but having never done a Link before it means that I am trusting that Link have got their calibration for the sensor spot on.

Normally I'd be fine with that because I've seen the guys on here using Link to setup flex fuel, and it works perfectly by all accounts, BUT. Having setup everything my self and knowing that Link uses the calibration for GM/Siemens ethanol sensors for Continental sensors, as well as the fact that I can't get my ECU to read the same as my Zeitronix ECA display... I'm a tad nervous.

So my tuner invited me to a tech night tonight, which is actually about Haltech products, but he thinks flex fuel is going to be a major talking point so it might be worthwhile for me to come along and I think it sounds interesting so I'll probably go check it out.

Ahh the reason for the question lol... Cant hurt to go along and learn man!

[B-rice]

Same problems im having here, tuner doesnt sound 100% familiar with flex fuel setup. So i might have to get it tuned normally then take it to Sydney or Melbourne for a thorough flex tune.