Just After A Little Advice On My S1 R33 Gtst

[zacariah]

Hi all,

I recently bought a 1995 s1 r33 gtst, and have noticed a few things not right, and things that i'm going to need to start fixing. It has a few mods, most are pretty basic and were all done by previous owner.

- Power AFC

- Blitz V2 Electronic Boost Controller

- Lock Bar

- Front Mounted Intercooler

- Dual core radiator system

- Brake stopper

- Sard fuel pressure regulator

- Walbro 550 fuel pump

- H&R Coil Overs Green fully asjustable damper/height

- HKS Pod Filter

- Turbo timer

The current problems i've noticed are

- Gearbox bearings must be starting to go, or something like that. reverse is horrible. I've done quite a bit of searching and a few people have had the same sort of problem, horrible noises when letting the clutch out. It was explained in the threads but i can't quite remember what caused it. I think it'll just be one of them put up with it things, till it breaks.

- Possible diff noise, either way i'm pretty sure the diff has more or less had it. Doesn't lock up, just one wheel spins. I don't know what i'm going to do here yet. The noise is really bad, and someone has mentioned it's probably a pinion bearing. Just sounds like a hell of a lot of road noise or a really loud whine. starts at about 60km, and gets worse with speed. at 80-100, you can't even hear the engine/exhaust. so i need to look into this, Maybe try and find a second hand diff, or get a new lsd. I don't really know, the whole diff/lsd thing confuses me a little.

- Theres also a bad misfire(check engine light flashes) on boost at high rpm, which i'm pretty sure is just the coil packs, I'm going to get some decent electrical tape, and tape them up, as i'm sure they're probably cracked a little, but eventually i'd like to get a new set of spitfires, so i can put the new set of iridium plugs gapped at .11 i bought the other day in (current plugs must be gapped at .8, as it misses so much with the .11 plugs.

- Power steering resevoir is leaking out of the skinnier hose, pretty sure it's just the hose, so i'll have to try find a new one.

- New rocker cover gaskets as they are leaking. There also seems to be a tiny leak out of the intake? i'm pretty sure it's the intake.

- There's a really bad camber on the rear tyres, and also the fronts. I'm not sure how to fix this, I'd like to try do this myself, but i don't even really know what i need. A few people have said just need adjustable camber arms, others have said you need the adjustable rear radius rods as well.

Other than that, theres just a few cosmetic things i want to do, and a few locks and stuff that need fixing. So basically i'm just asking for any advice on the problems i've currently got, and when i do get them fixed up, what i should look at doing to get a little power.

Once i've got these problems sorted out i'd like to do a few track days, and maybe even a few runs down the strip.

Thanks!

Zac.

[t_revz]

Sounds like if you don't turn the boost down the engine might be rooted before the diff or transmission let go. The engine light is most likely flashing because its knocking.

Check knock on pfc and above 60 it brings the light on. How much boost is the poor standard turbo pushing?

[zacariah]

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I fixed the engine light/misfiring problem today, with a little gasket silicon, and electrical tape around the coil packs.

It has a electronic boost controller which was set at 9psi, 12psi, 7psi, 7 psi, then theres another setting which i'm not sure what it is, then off. I don't really know how to use it, it was just set like that when i bought the car. I usually run 7 or 9 psi, (was still misfiring at 9psi) and occasionally 12, rarely though. After i taped up the coil packs, i can boost at 12psi, through 1st, 2nd, and third up to 6000-6500rpm before changing, no check engine light, and no stutter/miss.I had a look at the pfc, at the knock, it doesn't give me a number though, just a sideways line graph sort of thing, from take off the line moved a tiny bit, but after that nothing. so i don't think it's knocking. but i really don't know.

What is the knocking? how should i check for it?

[t_revz]

When looking at any of the figures on Powerfc for the 8 available sensors. Pressing up will show highest reading since start up.

[Bergo]

Hey mate congrats on the new car. I also ought a s1 33gtst late last year and this is what I would recommend;

1: get the spitfires ASAP. As soon as I stopped messing around with taping the coilpacks my headaches went away. (Also leave the coilpacks valley cover off to allow more cool airs to get in and around them ) 2: if your centre console latch is broken there is a really good guide on sau somewhere showing how to fix it. (I swear 90% of them are broken and it takes 5mins to fix) 3: pretty sure you can just use adjustable upper camber arms to take some of the camber out. Otherwise try raising the car with your coilovers. They should automatically straighten up a little as you do that. Good luck with it!

Ps:get reading up on how to use that pfc. I wish I had the cash to afford one as you should be able to pick up on allot of problems before they give your engine an early retirement.

[zacariah]

Do you find you get much crap in the top of the engine without the valley cover off, the top of mine is already so filthy with sand and stuff, i'm too scared to try changing the spark plugs or anything untill i can get an air compressor or figure out a way of getting all the shit out of there.

And yeah, i will definitely have a read through the manual and see what i can find around here.

Thanks.

[Bergo]

Um I try to just avoid leaving the car outside overnight to stop the dust and stuff getting in there but under my cover got just as dirty with it left on somehow haha. I think the pro's outweigh the cons as I'd rather spend a bit of time blowing out around the plugs from time to time than Spending another 500+ on new spitfires again haha

[zacariah]

Yeah, that makes sense, cover is off for now, and i'll probably leave it off, thanks.

I checked the knock today, normal driving in the morning to work, on 7psi, after about 15 minutes of driving was at 12 (the knock) on the way home, running 12psi, with quite a few 6500rpm changes. knock was at 75. I didn't see the engine light at all, but it's pretty easy to miss, especially during the day.

Is this normal? What would be causing it.

[t_revz]

Knock at 75 isn't good. Keep the boost down til its sorted. Above 60 the light will be on. Might be running lean, tune out of whack etc.

Put it on a dyno and get it checked/touched up. Might be a fuel issue.

I generally see less than 10 for knock

[zacariah]

Thanks for that, i'll keep the boost down and drive like a nan till i can get it looked at.

[zacariah]

Sorry for the double post, With a tune, i've never had it tuned, but the previous owner told me he had to tuned by cypher. I assume seeing as though cypher has closed down, i'd have to take it to a new shop and get a new tune? Which would probably cost around $1000?

[t_revz]

Most places charge around 100 to just run it up and have a quick look to see what's going on. If they touch up the tune, maybe double that.

[zacariah]

Oh okay, that's good. Any recommendations on where to take it? I'm in Rockingham, but i'm not bothered about traveling.

[t_revz]

Plenty of places around. Everyone has their own preference. Go somewhere that does skylines and Powerfc and they should be able to sort it out quickly and hopefully cheaply

[Bergo]

Just as a note: wouldn't any coilpack dramas be causing some of this high knock?

[zacariah]

Now i actually have serious problems. Car starts, but acts like it's only running on 4/5 cylinders. injduty is at 4.5, ignition timing is at 23 degrees (i swear it's normally 15 degrees)

I did give it a bit of a thrashing yesterday, running 12 psi (is when the knock read 75) on the drive home the normal sucking noise the engine makes under acceleration sounded really tired, idk. like louder and tired.

Now i guess it could be that one or two of the coil packs had just died, a fouled up spark plug? i'll have a look at the spark plugs, but i'm not sure how i would check the coil packs? some people have mentioned the fuel pump might be on the way out? this would cause a knock as well, wouldn't it?

the other thing is, i start the engine, small amounts of smoke come up from the turbo side of the engine, (exhaust leak?) and it blows so much smoke out of the back, but i guess that's just because it's running so rough?

I've just got no idea what to check, and i can't afford to get it towed anywhere

any ideas?

Edited February 13, 2013 by zacariah

[t_revz]

Check cooler pipes/joiners for vacumn leaks. Could have been the original problem causing the knock and now its gotten worse.

[zacariah]

I've checked all the intercooler pipes found one that was alittle loose, ended up taking it all apart, a lot of oil in and crud in them. the whole inside of all the pipes is covered in oil, not enough to pool out or drip, but every bit of pipe is covered in black oily soot, that you can scrape off. i don't know if thats normal? i've read a little bit is normal. So i've put it all back together nice and tight, still running the same, sounds a little bit better maybe.

I took the spark plugs out today, pitch black, so i put a new set of spark plugs in there, didn't change anything, took one of them out to check and it was pitch black, motor only ran for about half a minute. i guess thats just due to the fact it's running so rough/rich. it's also blowing unburnt fuel out of the exhaust, and really black smoke. I can borrow a second coil pack tomorrow and see if that makes any difference. i tried pulling one of the leads at a time, couldn't hear any difference at all, unplug about 3/4 of them and i can hear a difference, so maybe they are stuffed?

someone mentioned it could be the fuel pump/fuel pressure regulator, but it seems as though the engine is getting enough fuel, just not enough spark?

so frustrating.

thanks for your help guys.

[zacariah]

cleaned the afm and that made a little difference, hopefully i'll be able to get a hold of some coil packs over the weekend. i'll check the pcv valve as well.

Any other suggestions as to what to check? i'm pretty sure theres no leaks in the cooler pipes, i guess there could be a tiny crack in a weld that i've missed or something.