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

[Duncan]

it's a bit of a sidetrack, but this webpage was absolutely awesome and I used a lot of the advice from it for my wiring job https://www.rbracing-rsr.com/wiring_ecu.html

Obviously I'm no sparkie but I've done a fair bit of wiring over the years including a bunch of annoying failures when I hadn't done stuff properly and everything those guys said made sense.

Doing so much wiring from scratch, particularly when you have "plug and pin" sets mean you can run single new wires from point to point without any dodgy joins.  I used:

<5a/signal wires: #22 raychem wire and deutsch DTM connectors

5-10a power or earth (almost every power circuit): #20 wire and deutsch DT connectors

>10a: #16 wire and deutsch DTP connectors

Some bigger wires like main battery and earth I had to run 00 or similar and have a big battery lug crimper for it.

For joining any wires (eg factory loom power sources to the smartwire) I used these awesome heatshrink splices. You crimp them down (the usual red/blue/yellow sizes) and then melt the heatshrink to allow glue to support the joint instead of the crimp, they are great. http://www.solidkit.com.au/product/krimpaseal-heat-shrink-crimp-waterproof-butt-splice-joiners-bulk/. I also used a few super helpful reducers in the same stuff eg red to blue or blue to yellow, really helpful for joining 2 wires into 1 where needed. They are semi-transparent so you can see if the wire is seated properly too,

Crimping the deutsch terminals is super easy because the tool for each size holds the pin and crimps it in 4 places which is almost impossible to get wrong, I think I literally only stuffed 1 in the entire job.

For things like earths I used regular crimp terminals in red/blue/yellow with a ratchet crimper which is much easier than the cheapy plier style ones.

I also have a generic crimper for non-insulated terminals which was OK but got very painful by the time I finished all of the smartwire and haltech pins. And the smallest size on this was still to large for the AMP/haltech pins so I needed to tighten each further with pliers which sucked. If I had to do more of them I would have bought the proper tool for these too.

All of the gear including the proper crimpers cost a bit but I expect it to be super reliable now.

I also used a lot of dual wall / glue lined heatshrink where cables come together and between cables and connectors. Also spiral tubing and electrical tape on longer runs

The key idea is to avoid soldering (because it makes wires brittle due to heat and solder's lack of flexibility) and to support the wire other than by the actual join/crimp on the wires (ie by it's insulation/heatshrink/tape/spiral cover etc) to limit the strain on the wires and minimise the chance of the actual wire being damaged. And the other key thing is to test every single connection by giving it a reasonable tug after crimping; if it falls apart now it won't last long on the track.

[tweety bird]

no it's not sold but it is kind of like the red-headed step child, I just don't have time or patience to get to it.  It's with the same mechanic it has been (for years) but it will be sold as soon as its running....either the MCM guys want it back or someone else who appreciates some of nissan's most unique engineering....

Let me know.

[BOZ22N]

You seam to really like wires haha
Looks great mate.

[boxheadmr]

it's a bit of a sidetrack, but this webpage was absolutely awesome and I used a lot of the advice from it for my wiring job https://www.rbracing-rsr.com/wiring_ecu.html
Obviously I'm no sparkie but I've done a fair bit of wiring over the years including a bunch of annoying failures when I hadn't done stuff properly and everything those guys said made sense.
Doing so much wiring from scratch, particularly when you have "plug and pin" sets mean you can run single new wires from point to point without any dodgy joins.  I used:
5-10a power or earth (almost every power circuit): #20 wire and deutsch DT connectors
>10a: #16 wire and deutsch DTP connectors
Some bigger wires like main battery and earth I had to run 00 or similar and have a big battery lug crimper for it.

For joining any wires (eg factory loom power sources to the smartwire) I used these awesome heatshrink splices. You crimp them down (the usual red/blue/yellow sizes) and then melt the heatshrink to allow glue to support the joint instead of the crimp, they are great. http://www.solidkit.com.au/product/krimpaseal-heat-shrink-crimp-waterproof-butt-splice-joiners-bulk/. I also used a few super helpful reducers in the same stuff eg red to blue or blue to yellow, really helpful for joining 2 wires into 1 where needed. They are semi-transparent so you can see if the wire is seated properly too,

Crimping the deutsch terminals is super easy because the tool for each size holds the pin and crimps it in 4 places which is almost impossible to get wrong, I think I literally only stuffed 1 in the entire job.

For things like earths I used regular crimp terminals in red/blue/yellow with a ratchet crimper which is much easier than the cheapy plier style ones.

I also have a generic crimper for non-insulated terminals which was OK but got very painful by the time I finished all of the smartwire and haltech pins. And the smallest size on this was still to large for the AMP/haltech pins so I needed to tighten each further with pliers which sucked. If I had to do more of them I would have bought the proper tool for these too.

All of the gear including the proper crimpers cost a bit but I expect it to be super reliable now.
I also used a lot of dual wall / glue lined heatshrink where cables come together and between cables and connectors. Also spiral tubing and electrical tape on longer runs
The key idea is to avoid soldering (because it makes wires brittle due to heat and solder's lack of flexibility) and to support the wire other than by the actual join/crimp on the wires (ie by it's insulation/heatshrink/tape/spiral cover etc) to limit the strain on the wires and minimise the chance of the actual wire being damaged. And the other key thing is to test every single connection by giving it a reasonable tug after crimping; if it falls apart now it won't last long on the track.

What strippers are u using with the wires?

[Duncan]

mmmmm strippers.....

This style are good because as well as doing the stripping automatically, there is a plastic guide you can set to consistently strip the same amount of insulation to remove

[MBS206]

I used to have a pair of those strippers, they were awesome, now I'm back to utilising side cutters...

[boxheadmr]

I bought the Stripmaster ones for the mil spec Teflon/Tefzel wire.
Seems to work well with a clean cut.

[Leroy Peterson]

I have the same boxhead, but they do a shit job with the really small OEM wires

Mind you, i use tools lying around from work, clearly y'all have tool budgets larger than most people budget for the entire electrics on their cars...

[Duncan]

Or if you look at it another way, all those tools cost less than a race tyre....

[Duncan]

Well no pics from this weekend although there was a little progress.

All of the intake, exhaust, power steer, radiator etc is all back on and ready to go, and I fixed 2 sensor plugs where I had f**k ups because the replacements arrived during the week.

Also added rear diff oil, power steer fluid, attessa fluid and coolant....which only really leaves brake fluid, clutch fluid, fuel and windscreen washer to add. Man these cars take a lot of fluid, and will require a shit load of bleeding once everything is running.

A while back boxhead asked...

On 6/26/2016 at 10:04 PM, boxheadmr said:

Hows the fitment of the cooler with the exhaust?

I thought it was OK, but it's not. Clearance was fine with just the rear part of the exhaust hung, but with everything bolted up properly it touches by 3-5mm which means I need to move it....just another job for the final tidy up list

[Duncan]

Outrageous. Finally completed the final connections for power at the battery, put it in, connected the earth......and the car didn't blow up!

Neither did anything bloody work, due to the very simple issue of putting myself in a loop. The kill switch cuts the earth connection from the battery and requires 12v battery feed.  I wired that 12v battery feed into the smartwire which doesn't supply power when the earth is disconnected. Anyway, once I ran a temporary wire from the battery to the kill switch power everything started up OK (I'll have to fix that properly later).

At which stage I totally scared the shit out of myself because I saw something huge moving in the car and stuff was flying everywhere.  I quickly disconnected the battery to make sure it didn't actually burn down until I realised I had just accidentally turned the wipers on sometime in the last 2 years, resulting in tools, wiring, boost lines etc being thrown off the windscreen where I had been safely storing them.

Other than that, the first power up was pretty uneventful. The haltech dash is on full time which I'll have to sort and I have about 1000 circuits to test, but so far everything except the kill switch 12v is perfect.  

Hopefully more updates over the (sort of) long weekend instead of trying to fire up Andrew's car!

[Duncan]

mixed luck today (sorry no pics again).

Front brakes are on, and we went to bleed the system. The shiney new braided rear lines proceeded to leak like sieves, need to get some that are actually made properly I think  Score 0 on that job. Imagine ebay letting someone down!

Testing of the electrics went well, everything was working correctly with no grey smoke. Minor issues with the intercom (mistake with the plug/pins, sorted), the iq3 dash (always on, I've since found where to program that in the smartwire so it comes on with IGN), and the stock dash comes on with ACC instead of IGN (reprogramming smartwire needed). Score +1. Kill switch, ACC circuits (mostly new) and IGN circuits that I've tested so far are all working OK.

Once all the circuits have been tested I flushed out the fuel lines, found a couple of fittings I hadn't tightened yet  Still on that job, but once it's finished the car should be OK to start up and idle on the haltech base tune. Score +1/2

[260DET]

My head spins every time reading this, there is comparatively a lot to be said for a CAMS 2A Sports car, start with a Ebay 8 circuit loom and proceed

[Duncan]

Yeah I guess there are 2 ways to approach any track or race car. Almost everyone one SAU has taken the "add to a factory car" approach because a modern car just has so many damn systems to look after.  Building/wiring from scratch is very unusual here and only really used with engine swaps, but would result in a much simpler system.  I kind of look at mine as a hybrid because I ran under the "add stuff" model for about 15 years before this rebuild where I removed all the unnecessary stuff.

But when you think about a GTR for rally use, as well as the obvious engine/ecu/fuel/ignition stuff, you've also got

ABS

ATTESSA 

power windows and doors with central locking

all the road lights; parkers, headlights, taillights, reverse lights, number plate lights, indicators

rally equipment and comms; intercom, terratrip, rally safe, car to pit comms for racing

camera and charger

data logger, gps, brake pressure etc to actually learn something about how you're driving instead of guessing

zoomy stuff like boost control, boost logger, e85 sensor

reliability stuff like logging voltage, fuel pressure, oil pressure, oil temp, water temp

It really starts to add up, and that's why I gave up on the "add stuff" method and moved to the haltech/smartwire/dash setup to make life a little easier and more reliable

[Duncan]

But all that aside, I finished testing all the extra circuits, flushed the fuel lines, shortened the oil cooler lines for a better fit.  Fixed the standard dash coming on with ACC instead of IGN (setting in the smartwire) and the Haltech dash always being on (CAN power is also configurable in the smartwire). And I worked out how to dim the Haltech dash when the headlights are on, just need to run in another wire into the spare remaining smartwire switch input.

Got all the way to trying to start it which didn't work.....

Turns out there is some issue with the CAS signal (not sending) that I'll try and sort out next weekend, assuming that's the only issue running it will be off to painting.

Also Neil banged together the switch panel, looks great, but I'll hold the pics of awesomeness until it's in the car.

[Duncan]

Well there's a mystery solved.....went to swap back to the powerfc to see if it would start the car....and found out the bloody haltech wasn't plugged in.  I had dummy fitted the wiring to check for length and didn't come back to plug it in properly 

plugged it in and rpm (and everything else) started coming up ok, even the fuel pump trigger was working. On the down side it still doesn't start but since it's a untuned base map I'll do a few other checks before trying the PFC again

[260DET]

Pic of Haltech not plugged in? For lols

Happens to all of us.

[Duncan]

yeah I didn't get a pic of that. the damn thing was in place to make sure the wiring was long enough but I hadn't cranked down the screw properly. So it looks like it's connected but no dice.

I plugged the PFC in because I know the car runs on that, but it did the clicky reset thingy; so I'm pretty sure the problem is with the ECU power supply. I removed the ECCS relay and replaced it with a smartwire feed so I'll check that out when I get a chance.

In the meantime the team fabricator finished the carbon fibre work for the switch panel, so I cut the labels and put the switches and lights back in

and in place.

assuming I've wired everything up OK it should be easy to use and reliable for the life of the car. ignition key is gone too.

[V28VX37]

LAUNCH BOOST ... my kinda switches right there!! Nice work Duncan

[Duncan]

And the first button is connected directly to the left hand seat