R34 Track/Street Car

[Tobz]

Only a few small updates, needed to block off the internal wastegate flap, managed to get this Cobb Racing part that looks pretty good! 

 

Having troubles getting the exhaust manifold back on. Both the original and my new one won't fit. I'm thinking the manifold studs may be warped, so have ordered some new ones and hopefully that fixes it!! It fits on the ends but not the centre studs for some reason.

Edited January 16, 2021 by Tobz

[admS15]

Was the original manifold tight to get off? You'll probably find your manifolds are warped slightly. I had 4 manis in my spare parts pile. 2 of them wouldn't fit when i tried them. 

If replacing the studs doesn't fix the problem, you could try enlarging the bolt holes that require it as a quick fix and hope it bolts down good and doesn't leak.

When i had asked an engineer at work about machining the face of the mani, he didn't recommend it and suggested heating it up and straightening it was the best solution, obviously requires special equipment. I ended up just binning it and using a good spare.

Another thing you can try is removing the studs that are fouling, put the mani on and see if you can thread the studs in from the outside. If that doesn't work, at least you'll see how far out the holes are and how much to relieve.

[Tobz]

Yer manifold was impossible to remove, used many breaker bars, however I have a replacement manifold from hypergear to go on. The new manifold may also be warped though as it's a stock manifold with an external gate welded on. I'll change the studs and see where that leaves me and then contact hypergear if there is an issue

[Tobz]

New studs arrived and now the manifold fits perfect. Looks like the studs warped pretty badly, but the manifold didn't... Which works for me!

Just need my new turbo studs and a silicone joiner to arrive and then it should be all back together. 

Also does anyone know what the effect of swapping to a proper cooler from a return flow, and going from an iwg to ewg would have on the tune? I'm getting the car retuned either way, but just interested to know if I can take it for a bit of drive to test everything is bolted up right (and get it on boost to see if all the couplers and such are all holding fine).

Edited January 24, 2021 by Tobz

[Kinkstaah]

Cooler? Nothing - Unless your IAT actually changes as a result of it. I've seen people spend big on an intercooler for an 0kw difference.

IWG to EWG will make a considerable difference as this actually changes boost. Presumably though if you're already MAP based going from say 16PSI IWG to 16 PSI EWG won't change much, you're more likely to notice that your 16PSI is actually holding rock solid to 7500RPM whereas it may not if 16PSI was your target on an IWG (i.e as hard as you could max it out).

You may notice something by holding boost better. Most people go EWG when they cant hit their desired target with IWG.

[Tobz]

I didn't think it would be much of an issue. But thought I would consult first

 

[Unzipped Composites]

Yeh just keep an eye on your boost levels, both mods have the potential to change how much boost and when it comes on, which can mean you run lean in certain areas of the map.

Intercooler doesn't necessarily have to change your IAT, a return flow is always going to be a fairly large restriction to flow. If you then change that and make it flow a lot better, you lower the potential for boost drop, and more importantly you allow the boost to come on earlier. Depending on how your car was tuned, that could be an issue if you have moved the boost graph to the left. If you have a good boost controller you should still have the peak boost level under control, but where it occurs on the map is potentially different. Couple that with the effects of changing to a EWG as well, which Kinkstaah nailed, and you have potentially given yourself quite a bit of extra range in the map where you are at peak boost. 

 

So just be aware. It's definitely one where you want to get your tune checked, because who wants to lunch a motor (especially in this day and age!) because their mods worked. I wouldn't be too scared to take it for a test drive and at least get it ramping up to full boost in 2nd gear, but I wouldn't be holding it on peak boost just for the sake of seeing if your couplers are holding. 

[Tobz]

Finally got the car back together and took itmfor a drive. 

Changes to the intercooler and external wastegate have changed everything.

Before I was told the turbo was being restricted either by the intercooler or exhaust.

Having swapped out the return flow and also going to an external gate has released the restriction

It needs to be retuned as the power is defo coming on early, but also the ebc cannot control boost. Did a slow pull in second and the boost crept past 20psi which should be the limit.  It's a Mac valve and a 14psi spring on the gate. Looks like it may need some setup done on it

AFRs all looked good.

Trying to organise a time to get retuned now. But overall so far I'm very happy

Also added a 5inch body venom cat, installed some Sparco r100 seats and got the harness installed! 

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by Tobz

[Kinkstaah]

Thank you for posting a pic of Sparco R100's - I was thinking of putting those in.

What rails did you use? There's an ebay mob selling a kit, but I never got that far. I wanted the black leather ones 😛

How do they work/fit/comfort wise? Looks like enough clearance.

[Tobz]

12 hours ago, Kinkstaah said:

What rails did you use?

I used the crank motorsport seat subframes and just universal rails

 

clearance was more than fine. Seats are a little hard but more than fine, nice bolstering. Overall I really like them

Edited February 9, 2021 by Tobz

[Manuel Kasko]

Oh man what a journey! I just read from start to finish and I'm stoked with what you've done with the car since I sold it. 

Keep the updates coming Tobz! 

[Tobz]

1 hour ago, Manuel Kasko said:

Oh man what a journey! I just read from start to finish and I'm stoked with what you've done with the car since I sold it. 

Keep the updates coming Tobz! 

It was a super solid base to work from! Love the little beast!

[JarrettL]

How does the X-Trail pedal fit up compared to the 350Z? I've read that the Z just bolts right up, but the pad position falls slightly too close to the brake pedal unless modified.

[Unzipped Composites]

5 hours ago, JarrettL said:

How does the X-Trail pedal fit up compared to the 350Z? I've read that the Z just bolts right up, but the pad position falls slightly too close to the brake pedal unless modified.

 

Can confirm on the 350Z pedal. It's super easy though, just throw it in the vice and bend it a little bit. Its a steel arm, so not going to break and you can manipulate it around to your liking. It only needs to move like an inch to the right, and fitment otherwise is perfect.

[Tobz]

Went to the dyno day today. Can now compare all dyno runs I know of.

First is from the previous owner when it was first tuned in Feb 2017 from DVS (287kw)

Second is from August 2019 (271kw) when I did a dyno day in Canberra at Autotech Services

Final one is from the SAU dyno day today (305kw) at JEM

I don't believe there was any changes to car between 2017 to 2019 other than an owner change

Changes from 2019 to now are basically Haltech, external gate and a proper intercooler. It is also now running a bit richer now (afr went from! low to mid 12's from 2019 to low to mid 11's now). This is due to the car doing a lot of track work now.

It isn't making as much power as I wanted, but I actually think this is fine, it comes on hard but stays super flat to redline. Very happy

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Tobz

[Tobz]

So car was running fine and then I went on a holiday before all of Australia locked down. The car sat all alone doing nothing for about 2 months.

Got home and took it for a spin and it started leaning out. Looks like the injectors may have clogged up while it was sitting as it was still on E85 and didn't have any fuel stabiliser in it before I went away. I assume this is a thing?

Anyway got the injectors out today and will be sending them to get cleaned and flow tested.

Not sure why but have also decided to swap to a Plazmaman front facing plenum. I know it doesn't really do anything, but I wanted to clean up the engine bay. Also the way my car was converted to DBW it meant I couldn't run a strut brace anymore, and I know it doesn't do a lot but I do miss it.

Put the order in today and looks like it's a 7 week wait! But I think it will clean up a lot and just make it easier if I need to do any troubleshooting trackside.

Super annoying that there was an issue with the car, but at least it happened when I can't use the car anyway!

[Unzipped Composites]

It shouldn't really happen, we've got a couple of track cars on E85 that don't get used much and often don't get started for 18 months - 2 years, but they always start up and run ok. You obviously wouldn't do any full load stuff, the fuel won't be any good anymore, but that's more about its ability to prevent detonation than it is about clogging anything. 

 

That said, it's possible, and always worth doing a full check of the fuel system as you're doing.

[Kinkstaah]

Consider your fuel filter. I had considerable issues with the R34 Ryco style fuel filter if I changed fuels, or let E85 sit around. It would clog to the point where making 300+kw would start to run lean.

Something to check if your injectors come back OK. Well worth checking the injectors first though/as well, as you don't want to be running rich on 4 cylinders, and lean on 2 etc!

[Tobz]

I pulled the filter and it seemed pretty clean, I'm going to give it a good clean later on (have an inline micron filter with the stainless steel mesh).

However I don't believe it is the filter as my FPR is on the return line and I get my fuel pressure from that and it didn't drop pressure... Was holding pressure really well.... So I'm hoping it's the injectors, as that's a super simple fix. They are currently off being cleaned and flow tested

[Ben C34]

How many microns is the stainless filter? Just saying micron makes no sense.

 

Plenty of those filters are only good at catching rocks.