Duncan's Race Car - The Most Overdue Build Thread On Sau

[Anfanee]

Man this thread makes me want to get a dedicated track car...

Keep up the good work Duncan!

[Duncan]

RIght-o, time for another burst of updates now my unplanned week off contract is over.....

A few years back when I had a rush of castor-rod-break-itis, it really brought home how unprotected the main wiring loom in the driver's side wheel well was.  So I took the guard off and have mounted proper cable tie saddles nice and high so I can easily remove/reattach everything there. Once again the rivnut tool was awesome

Not so the "stainless" fasteners that we put in a few years ago, they were all rusted in place and one required an easy out to remove (the hardest one to get to of course)....cars have a way of making simple jobs hard...

 

[Duncan]

Also did some mounting brackets so the oil cooler is now properly held in all 4 corners (the workshop that did it originally only had it supported at the top)

And I've built a bracket to an LED light bar for night events while everything was apart. 2 uprights into the reo (cut down gudgeon pins because I have so many around) and a second support back to the bonnet latch to make sure it all stays straight (and allows a little up/down adjustment). It will have to run without the grill in place with the light on but airflow is still good which is more important

Oh, and I've fitted the new n1/base model headlights with LEDs

[Duncan]

Next up was mounting the ECU etc in the passenger footwell (still in mdf because the carbon fibre fabricator hasn't been around recently),

and the power distribution module under the centre of the dash

[Duncan]

Other than that, the engine bay loom is in place and tidied up, including some new saddle mounts for the starter motor/alternator loom. Also you can see the new kill switch unit in the bottom right (black box with red writing), it is a solid state relay that disconnects the earth from the battery, and sends a kill signal to the PDM or ECU when the internal or external kill button is pushed.  Should be more reliable than the usual big switch + pull cable that I used to have

I've also added a new grommet in the firewall to deal with some of the new wiring without having to run it through the wheel well. That was a real pain because the firewall is double skinned there with body sealer in between I've also installed the boost logger required for production cars....yes $700 for a unit that logs boost and can't be used for anything else. awesome.

[Duncan]

Next steps now that all the major components are in place is to mount a couple more things (dash, intercom, video cam, rallysafe, terratrip etc) and then run all the wiring for all of those + the new sensors for the haltech.  

But at least it's finally progressing, and I should get more time over xmas to make more progress.

In the meantime we also solved one of hillclimbing's major issues......how to get a decent coffee in the middle of nowhere.

Thanks to nissan's designers for their usual over-engineering to make that possible....there is a 140a DC/DC converter that is powered by the main battery. As well as coffee the system can provide about 8A@240v for a bit over 24 hours on a fully charged battery for things like keeping the house running in a blackout.

[260DET]

Great 'how things should be done' thread.

[Neil]

On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 7:05 PM, Duncan said:

In the meantime we also solved one of hillclimbing's major issues......how to get a decent coffee in the middle of nowhere.

Thanks to nissan's designers for their usual over-engineering to make that possible....there is a 140a DC/DC converter that is powered by the main battery. As well as coffee the system can provide about 8A@240v for a bit over 24 hours on a fully charged battery for things like keeping the house running in a blackout.

Oh that is bloody awesome. I now love the Leaf forever.

[Leroy Peterson]

Looking good.
What sort of stand-off/insulating fasteners did you use for ECU mounting?

[Duncan]

sorry I intended to take a pic of some spares once I got back home....turns out I didn't have any anyway.

so all the haltech stuff is set up to be mounted using server "cage nuts"...I've run 2 in each channel in the rear so there are 4 fasteners for each box.  I've then used 4x m6 rubber mounts for each unit. The smartwire came with mounting tabs (much easier) so I've just used the rubber insulators there.

These are the mounts I used: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5PCS-M6-Rubber-Double-Ends-Screw-Anti-Vibration-Mount-Silentblock-For-Gasoline-/201279211695?hash=item2edd2d08af:g:aSoAAOSwIgNXlWer 

[Duncan]

I've been in the strange position to have 2 weeks off work, so lots of progress on the car (not that it looks like it!)

I've finished mounting everything internally and adding the wiring for each: Terratrip, Rallysafe on the Nav's side, Camera in the middle rear where either driver or nav can see and reach it. USB to charge the camera (sooooooo annoying to find out at the end of the event that your awesome one time only move didn't get captured for history)

(and you can see why it's time to repaint the interior too....)

snazzy new intercom has been mounted up on the roof where the cabin light once was with rivnuts, and wired up. Only problem is that it is a euro unit and has driver on the nav's side and vice versa. can't really mount it upside down to fix that either because then up volume would be down volume....will see how it goes. It's a single, digital unit with phone bluetooth, camera output and radio which means way less complexity than my old system (and I can get rid of the stilo adapters too as it's native) Pretty much all the auxiliary wiring has been run to the smartwire now, only the new LED, the wb02 sensor and the heated windscreen is missing I think. Still need to wire the car's old fuse box outputs to it though. And still have all the sensors to wire back to the haltech

[Duncan]

Another couple of days on the car, and the progress is not obvious....but it's there

the factory looms are all tidied up and back in the car (temporarily), and all the wires have been run to repace the fuse box/relays etc with the smartwire. 

next up is the switch panel and it's wiring, and the haltech's extra senders and their wiring. Also need to get the clutch and brake lines and masters back in, and throw the motor/front subframe back in. Oh and then test every damn thing.

[Duncan]

slow progress with the hot weather and fidly jobs today, but both master cylinders are back in (clutch new, brake only used on a sunday), brakes lines cleaned and back in including the modified front line with brake pressure sender

Also finished the looms and plugs for the new Haltech senders (oil pressure, oil temp, brake pressure, fuel pressure, e85 and wb02).

Hopefully engine and front subframe back in tomorrow

[Neil]

Geez what have I done,,, I've committed tomorrow for a days work on the old shitter.

Engine in apparently.

I feel nervous.

 

[MBS206]

So is the engine in yet?

[Duncan]

got to here, but Neil wouldn't let me press the down button.

something about blah blah check everything blah something blah

[Neil]

Jeez, can we at least put gearbox oil in her before you make it harder to do.

A full bolt check before I loose knuckle skin should also be in order.

 

Happy new years all you dickheads.

[MBS206]

14 hours ago, Duncan said:

got to here, but Neil wouldn't let me press the down button.

something about blah blah check everything blah something blah

Sign him up for a day of bolt checking and oil filling... Right before so press the down button

[Duncan]

OK, engine is back in, everything was very straightforward there. Down about 70% of the motor's height with the hoist, then subframe/engine up on the lifting platform. Actually I can't remember any issue at all with this, it was good

Lots of bolts and stuff to do after that of course, the upper control arms have always been a bastard in this car (something about the alignment/chassis) and I managed to strip a bolt in the upper arm while doing it up to Nissan torque spec which is a prick as it's an unusual thread and I don't have another. Also the steering splines are not quite right, and I have to re-wrap the starter motor loom because it's not in the right place.

Also, Neil put together the switch/light panel, just needs the carbon fibre sticker and no-one will ever know it's MDF. Still needs to be wired of course.

[Duncan]

Despite the good progress on switch panel and engine in, yesterday was one of those frustrating days where lots of little things went wrong. I stripped a bolt in the upper control arm while torquing it up (probably had it threaded all along because my UCAs are a PITA for some reason, presumably something has been bent over the years). Also the steering splines were short and the starter motor wiring was as well.

Today started with more of the same. Went to put the tailshaft in...

The problem is really not obvious to look at, but when I had the tailshaft reco-ed they replaced the centre bearing, and put the bracket back on to hold it in place. In fact they took the initiative and welded the upper and lower halves of the bracket together. With the bracket backwards. Took me a while to work out, particularly since it all looked one piece since they painted after welding it on.

Anyway some angle grinder loving to sort that, and the tailshaft is in