S15 Spec R

[RP1421]

March 2018

Quote

Interior looks super tidy, nice !

Thanks mate, appreciate the feedback! 

So the front end I was talking about. Scored this quite cheap a bit of a drive away. Not in the best of condition but it will be going to a body shop in any case to be painted. Along with this, I've purchase a replacement pair of headlight lenses. I have refurbished my current headlights a few times however the sealing is quite poor on the driver's side so it takes in water and there are a number of cracks in the lenses themselves. I think the replacement lenses are an excellent choice as it saves me having to purchase new headlights entirely. They're made by 326 Power/Behrman/Wisesquare. They're plastic like OEM items and look exactly the same in design. They also come with the top seal and butyl tape to secure them to the headlight housing. 

[RP1421]

May 2018

The car over the past few months had developed an issue on cold starts where the accessory belts would make an atrocious noise for a good 15-20 seconds. Those belt sprays only worked for a bit so ordered some new OEM replacements and got work. Generally not the most mechanically minded person but I did some research, took my time and got through it all without any major issues. Cautiously optimistic still but it seems to have solved the problem. Also my new flex-head ratchet came perfect use to tension the PS belt, allowing me to angle it amongst the pulleys and other random crap in the way, saving me having to pull it all out to adjust one bolt. Definitely worth the money! Gearwrench 81009F if you're curious

 

[RP1421]

October 2018

 

Front bar still isn't painted because I can't seem to find the right opportunity to have the car away which is now delaying a bunch of other things such as the headlight covers, oil cooler and Defi Zd Install (I've had this for way too long lol). In the meantime, I got ordered some new Rays gear since my stickers were looking a bit haggard and my gold advan wheel nuts weren't exactly complimenting the wheels and have weird discolourations on them (I suspect from the wheel cleaner I use)

[RP1421]

October 2018

OEM boost gauge has been dead and not functioning for a while. Basically stopped lighting up when lights were flicked on. And the gauge itself would only work for a few minutes before dying and sitting on zero for the rest of that drive. Decided to go with a 52mm Defi Racer Gauge. Which meant that although I have the control unit for my Advance Zd, I can run this separate and install this with just the sensor module. A 52mm also fits the factory boost gauge location on the A-pillar without any modifications. The racer gauge is also much much cheaper and has more or less the same functionality while looking just as good in my opinion. 

Mounted up against the firewall

In-place 

Start-up animation with bonus glorious VCT rattle 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CtftS6FJrU

Edited July 24, 2019 by RP1421

[RP1421]

November 2018

Ever since changing over my accessory belts, I had developed a power steering leak. After becoming sick of having to top up my fluid every few weeks since I couldn't accurately identify the exact location of the leak, I narrowed it down to the feed hose from the reservoir (the hose dead centre in the picture, below the banjo fitting). Best to remove the intake so you can get a good look at the hoses (don't forget to plug up the intake pipe, I've used a glove here, see the black round object at the top of the image). The picture doesn't exactly show it, but the lower area below the hose had become coated in oil and just looked nasty in general. I had to remove the bracket on the reservoir which holds it to the strut tower to access the hose clamp properly, as the reservoir didn't want to slide up off the bracket, and I didn't want to risk cracking it. It's only three bolts holding it in place, so no big deal. I did empty out the fluid in the reservoir using a big syringe and bit of plastic hose. Then it's just a matter of removing the clamps, pulling the hose off either end and installing the new one. Fairly painless all in all. Got the other bits back in, then gave the area a bit of a clean with some Bowden's Orange Agent. So far, looks to have solved the issue. 

[RP1421]

November 2018

Only a minor task but it might help somebody in the future. My TE37 stickers on the front drivers side has become quite worn out and with my regular cleaning, the pressure washer kept lifting the edges. So I had ordered some stickers along with the wheel nuts (better for shipping prices than just shipping stickers from Japan). I recommend giving the wheels a good clean beforehand.

Now you can choose to do this with the wheel on or off, depending on the space you have. I opted to leave it on the car since it was comfortable enough for me to work on the floor in my garage. Before beginning work, I masked off the corners where the stickers are so that I know roughly where I need to apply the new stickers. This tape is 3M painter's tape, can get it from bunnings for a few bucks and pretty handy for a number of things (like when I do paint correction). From here, you have in my opinion, two options. A plastic scraper or a razor blade. The plastic scraper works better when the edges are lifted like on the Volk Sticker. However it will struggle to get under stickers like the Rays one which had mostly stayed on. Best to use a new single edge razor (can get them from the chemist) as this will allow you easily get under the edges. As long as you approach the sticker with a very shallow angle, you will not damage the wheel surface. I had no issues using a razor and had no damage. 

Once the sticker is off, just a matter of prepping the surface. I used Bowden's Own Orange Agent for the heavy lifting then finished with Gyeon Prep Spray (love this product) to remove any remaining residue. 

Now you can apply the sticker. If you applied the masking tape well before hand, it might be a bit difficult to apply the new sticker without catching some of the masking tape (very easily noticeable with green tape!). So I recommend removing one edge, so you've got some room to work with. These stickers have a double layer type application. So you apply the sticker itself and a larger clear sticker. This allows you the chance to line things up before applying even pressure. I left the big sticker on while I applied the other to give some time and avoid lifting the main sticker. Once you're sure there's enough adhesion for the main sticker, you can lift the larger clear sticker.

If all goes well, you'll have now applied a new sticker successfully. Tidy up the surrounding area and you're on your way.

[RP1421]

November 2018

Small update for today. Not quite sure but I had managed to crack one corner of my coilpack cover, so it wouldn't seal up properly. Must have accidentally overtorqued it or something after a service (see picture). Not a big deal really , but it was something I was looking to address. 

Just so happened this week, a parts reseller had what I needed. With the Weld covers being a lot harder to come by second hand, a Tomei one would work just fine. This looked to be in brand new condition and priced very well. Although upon picking it up, I had noticed a blemish/burn of some sort at the back of the cover. Not necessarily a major issue as that sits at the back of the engine bay. 

I knew this would be a job for some metal polish. This stuff I rarely use but it always manages to surprise me. Cover was fairly clean but gave it a quick clean and then applied the metal polish to a buffing pad (a hand pad, not machine) . To my surprise, with very little effort, the blemish lifted off very easily. Applied it to the rest of the cover to get it looking nice and job done. No picture mounted in the car because my rocker cover needs to be redone, but at least I have a good reason to. I did notice however the cover does not sit very flush in its spot, not sure what the go is there but it bolted up just fine. On that note, I do need to change the OEM cover bolts for something a little newer, maybe with a hex head instead of T25. Enjoy the remaining pictures (note the metal polish: California Custom Purple Metal Polish [got it from Autobarn]).

[RP1421]

December 2018

Earlier in the year I picked up a genuine aero bumper with the intention of having it repaired (see back a page or two) and then painted to match. After letting it sit in the shed while I was attending to other things, I found a workshop who fit my criteria. Some don't want to take a few minutes to chat and having to transport a bumper around as well as the car is a hassle in itself especially living on the north side when most decent shops are south side. Eventually I found a shop who were close to me, had excellent previous work with other cars and gave me the time of day. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves but I am very stoked with the outcome. The bar came up great. I also took this opportunity to have the bootlid holes filled (where the centre post sits on the factory wing). After getting the car home that afternoon, I immediately pulled the front bumper off and did the Wisesquare headlight lens replacement. This task was daunting but a guide helped a lot in easing those tensions. Just needed to increase the heat to 90C and the lenses came off quite easily. Then just a matter of getting the butyl tape out while it was hot. And the results speak for themselves.

Took off the bumper to get better access to the bolts securing it to the inside of the front guard. You can see the condition of the lens, a lot of the damage was inside so a simple restoration (which I had done) was fairly limited in the benefit achieved

Baking in the oven to get the tape/glue nice and soft 

With the two pieces apart. Best to get the glue out while it's hot out of the oven, otherwise it stiffens up significantly and you want to remove as much of it as possible to get the new  tape in and create a good seal. Sealing the two new pieces together was the hardest part in my opinion because the butyl tape is quite unforgiving and you need to apply a lot of pressure to get it right.

The new lens waiting to be installed with the shroud transferred over. Some people opt to paint this but I quite like the dark grey colour

The all important finished result 

[RP1421]

January 2019

Minor update this time around. 

Car had reached its minor service interval which consists of oil, filter and spark plugs. I maintain a spreadsheet which I keep track of what needs to be change at certain intervals (based on the service manual's recommendations). This has made me realise that next service will require a gearbox and diff oil change which is not fun doing off the floor, so I'll be trying to sus out a friend with a hoist to make life a bit easier. With my current mileage, I don't anticipate having to do this until Winter, which is some consolation. Though prices can be absolutely insane, can't say enough good things about this Snap-On torque wrench. The battery connector is a bit finicky but it is miles easier just selecting the specified torque and then just waiting for the tone. Very simple and intuitive. 

I've known in the back of my mind that my tyres are/were getting close to their end of life. However, I didn't realise how soon until this morning when I was undergoing some other inspection. The picture says it all really, this is the front passenger side. The driver's side wasn't anywhere as bad. You can see the aggressive camber wear but this was expected, based on the size of the front wheels and the requirement to have the wheels inside the guards. Had a fairly good run with these tyres (about 4 years) including a track day. 

Given my use of the car (primarily street), I again went with RE003 in 225/45 (Front) and 245/45 (Rear). While they are quite pricey, they've given me a good balance of dry and wet weather performance. Thankfully I have a contact who had the tyres in stock and by lunch time I had the new tyres on, balanced and aligned. 

Edited July 24, 2019 by RP1421

[RP1421]

June 2019

Update time! 

As I probably posted a few years ago now, I had collected the following: 

• Defi Zd Gauge System
• PWR Oil Cooler
• Tomei Oil Filter Housing block
• Greddy oil filter relocation
  

Finally, these parts are on. The cooler core tucked in nicely behind the driver's side foglight and the filter has been relocated near the sump. I will likely change  from OEM filter to a HKS filter (using S13 filters) as the OE filter sits a bit too low for my comfort. Setting up and changing the settings on the Zd are horrendous, given the various combination of buttons you have to input just to get a certain menu and then the menu controls change in each menu. But whatever, most of the default settings are quite good and required minimal tweaking. Also for whatever reason my defi control unit was dead but thankfully a friend had the exact same model sitting around which did the trick. Here are some pictures. Another update coming very soon

[video=youtube;jbrGyehjRZM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbrGyehjRZM&feature=youtu.be[/video]

[RP1421]

July 2019

Two updates in a week! 

Again, after a lot of reading and learning, I decided to go with a Gen II GTX2867 .64 rear. The plan being that this will be a replacement for the factory turbo fitment-wise, while complementing the current modifications and standard engine. While I had planned to run these in conjunction with some drop-in cams (Tomei Poncams), I may push to have the turbo done on its own to see how things are. It may well be the case that cams will not be needed for a turbo of this size. Hopefully I won't have this sitting around for too long! 

[RP1421]

July 2019

This weekend, a set of MCA Blues were available for a reasonable price. My Endless Zeal coilovers, while good, have a tendency to crash over bumps a lot and as such, is not giving me the handling I'm chasing. With the MCA blues, I will be able to utilise their advice and get the car handling how I want to. The MCA workshop is only about 15 minutes from where I live, so I can drop them in if required and get help in getting the car handling properly. 

[The Bogan]

Love the car

Love the work space and tools

Looks like your enjoying life

Nice work

[Robzilla32]

What a cool ride you have there. Really nice work all round - love the head light resto.

[junkie]

Love the attention to detail! Looking great

[mr_rbman]

I would personally recommend doing cams at the same time...

I installed the same exact specs turbo (Though the Kinugawa equivalent) and wish i did cams...

Coming from an RB background i didn't think they were a big gain but SR's just love baby cams, big gains to be had for little outlay...

[RP1421]

Major update time. After many months of researching and planning, this is the end result. Items added:

- Garrett GTX2867R II
- HKS 264 12mm Cams
- Supertech Valve Springs and Retainers
- Turbosmart Kompact BOV
- Koyorad Alloy Rad
- Greddy Intercooler
- Catch can

Tuned once again by 101 Motorsport who did the tune back in 2016.  Car made a healthy 230kw which is what I was expecting. Haven't had much of a chance to drive it given COVID-19. All important pictures! 

New cooler peeking through (much larger than my old Gktech return flow)

At 101 

Custom made catch can and Koyorad. We found the stock rad struggling to keep temps down. I was planning to upgrade the rad sooner or later but this necessitated it now. 

Rocker cover redone in wrinkle red and I managed to nab a Top Secret oil cap

Turbosmart Kompact BOV + all new piping 

Fab work is top notch 

Turbo at home

Defi is not new but shot this while out taking the first picture. It actually came in handy because I was too busy enjoying the car to notice the temps. I had set up limits on the Defi so once it started beeping at me, I quickly realised something was up (the rad).

 

[RP1421]

Next up on the to-do list is a thorough decontamination, paint correction (where required) and application of a new protection kit. Perfect isolation activity and I'll be utilising the Easter long weekend to good effect. Further details and write-up coming shortly. 

[RP1421]

Detail Time!

Some years back I did a Duragloss paint protection kit and it worked quite well for my purposes and provided excellent gloss and beading. It was time to renew the coating to renew the bead. However, this time I went with Gyeon Mohs. 

With some planning and scheduling, Easter weekend was a perfect time for this task so I could take my time. It ended up taking 17.5 hours over approximately three days to complete. 

Day 1

• Strip foam wash + normal two bucket wash

• Iron fallout remover spray (surprisingly not a lot of fallout shown in the paint)

• Clay towel (wasn't a fan of the towel over the bar)
• Masking up of trim
• Plates cleaned up 

Day 2 
I did not enjoy this day as it was very tiring and a lot checking, rechecking to check for effectiveness. I ended up doing a heavy cut all around but there were not many scratches except for "high traffic" areas meaning the wash procedure is going well. Did not chase down every single scratch, keeping in mind this car is 20 years old. So areas likes the bonnet etc will have some obvious chips and scratches. 

Finished up with a polishing step using Menzerna Super 3500 but did not feel like it added anything of benefit to the finish. Quickly moved onto removing the residue to prep for coating. 

Day 3

Very important to do this after a good rest as this step needs a lot of focus to make sure you're keeping on top of the instructions for application. Double checked for any compound residue and watched Esoteric youtube application video. Focus needed to ensure you're covering all areas of paint, buffing off prior to full flashing of product and then follow up. This was a relatively easy process compared to day 2. I did two coats and I used the last drop as I was on the last panel. 

Overall: Very happy with outcome, lots of depth and shine. Coating is still curing so cannot test beading yet. 

Time-lapse of the job 

http://youtu.be/mvfjFncY1tI

Edited April 13, 2020 by RP1421

[RP1421]

S15 is going great, prices are all kinds of weird right now. I've always wanted a JZ-powered daily, preferably a JZX100. But with the market as it is, I couldn't justify it. So I ended up going for a JZX110. Originally I was going to import as I couldn't find one locally in the spec I wanted but managed to get one that wasn't advertised for a good price. While this will be a daily, mods will be happening and I've already got parts on the way. Rego asap (driving around on VIC plates in QLD might get some funny looks with current situation). Camry life is great.