Duncan's V37.......race car?

[Duncan]

On 28/09/2024 at 9:08 AM, r32-25t said:

It’s over 25 years old, there’s probably a loophole to be able to be able to register it now 

Pretty sure I could do but it would need to be exported and reimported as the current import approval is race only. But in practice there are plenty of other practical reasons it can't be a road car despite their potential value these days like stripped interior looms, cage to cut out etc

On 28/09/2024 at 10:32 AM, MBS206 said:

Does this mean now that it doesn't need to meet Targa spec you can ditch the twins, and crank up the power?

Nah, no mods to it other than updating the roll age to current regs. It makes about 350 (laggy) kilowatts on the N1s at 18psi which is enough to push it around the place

[Duncan]

Did a little bit on the V37 today.

I bought this LED kit out of the US https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/125953603618. Best I could find online but didn't look great, in the end the quality was pretty much right and it did come with locations for each light including rear number plate and a few spares. The factory owners' manual was also useful with information on where to pop each light out without damage.

I prefer the LED look as I use it daily including at night and the LEDs are both brighter and the white light is easier to read with.

Vanity mirror comparison, LEDs just look more modern

The glove box was the only difficult one (and the only one that was previously blown.....), steps were

Open glovebox 50% but not fully open
Push up on bottom of the box to unclip it on both side, not screws or pins to remove
Remove the top stays at an angle, right side then left, because....
Before dropping the glovebox totally, remove soft close clip on left
Then, remove 7 screws to release the glovebox surround
Twist the globe holder anti clock to release it from the surround
In this case, the LED globe supplied was wider than factory and did not fit, so I ground down each side about 1mm then inserted it
Last trick, start engine to check the LED polarity is correct, the globe only operates when the engine is running (whether the box is open or closed)

I also moved the 4G booster and wifi across from the Fuga, a little frustrating as I could not find a good Accessories ACC source anywhere in the boot so I'll run a wire from the cabin next time I get a chance. Also, unlike the Fuga the external antenna wire does not quite fit between the rear windscreen and the body so I think I'll have to drill a hole in the roof to mount it. Probably not that interesting for most people so I'll just post once complete

[MBS206]

On 9/28/2024 at 7:04 AM, Duncan said:

 

@Duncan for the antennas for the 4G booster, send me a photo of the connection type it uses, and what sort of bands it picks up on, and a photo of the existing antenna itself.

I have some interesting ones coming into work soon that may suit your needs really really well AND stop you drilling holes in the roof.

[Duncan]

This is the current antenna, 4g bands are the ones I'm after, particularly the Telstra long range one which I think is 850Mhz? It has an SMA connector to a 3 way splitter, one runs to the Cel Fi and 2 to a USB 4g wifi stick

The problem is not the antenna, the problem is that the V37 has a slightly smaller gap between the rear windshield and the body which prevents the line from being tucked away under it as it was in the Fuga. Therefore, I have about a meter of cable that I can't adequately secure running down the outside of the car to enter the boot....I figure I need to use a roof mount antenna instead and run the cable inside the car

The other option I'll look at is removing the factory shark fin (which I assume is factory GPS, which is crap, I use TomTom app on my phone) and I'll bet there is already a hole in the roof under that I could use.

Any alternative approach is very much welcome!

[MBS206]

11 hours ago, Duncan said:

This is the current antenna, 4g bands are the ones I'm after, particularly the Telstra long range one which I think is 850Mhz? It has an SMA connector to a 3 way splitter, one runs to the Cel Fi and 2 to a USB 4g wifi stick

The problem is not the antenna, the problem is that the V37 has a slightly smaller gap between the rear windshield and the body which prevents the line from being tucked away under it as it was in the Fuga. Therefore, I have about a meter of cable that I can't adequately secure running down the outside of the car to enter the boot....I figure I need to use a roof mount antenna instead and run the cable inside the car

The other option I'll look at is removing the factory shark fin (which I assume is factory GPS, which is crap, I use TomTom app on my phone) and I'll bet there is already a hole in the roof under that I could use.

Any alternative approach is very much welcome!

Interesting that it has 2 to the USB stick. Are the ones to the USB stick different? Or labelled anything at all?

Telstra 4G is Band 28 is the long range one you want, it's 700mHz.

I'm trying to do some reading on the Cel-Fi stuff, but I can't find any decent info online that makes me feel comfortable being able to work out the sort of antennas we could get away to swapping it over to.

The antennas I'm starting to do some stuff with at work, are a transparent antenna. They're designed to stick onto the window. Which means you wouldn't even have the antenna outside the car. Volkswagen have just started using the exact same types of antennas on some of their new cars (And from the same antenna manufacturer). But, RF stuff is a bit of a dark art some days, and getting it wrong in your car could make for a terrible waste of money trying to swap antennas :S

[Duncan]

That will be a very good thing if they provide decent improvements, obviously lots of OEM use in screen antennas and even the Stagea's digital TV back in the day had that sort of thing. For now my plan is to replace the existing shark fin with a through roof 4g stubby antenna, will find out if the shark fin held anything important 🤣

In the meantime, proving I have the same sickness as Mark (modifyitis) but a much less severe case, I've sourced a pedal controller for the car, it was about $250 landed with quick shipping

https://roarpedal.com/products/roar-pedal-controller?variant=43907318448371

Obviously the red sport has eco, normal, sport, sport+ modes and the main difference is the throttle curve. Even so it was clearly early days of calibrating such things and even in the higher modes (which you need to set each time you start the car) it still has a dead spot off idle that really annoys me. Plus the factory sport/sport+ have the the rev hang and fake engine noises that are pretty annoying for road use (would be fine for racing)

The throttle controller is a simple pass through with 2 plugs, 2 minute install then bluetooth configuration from an app.

Unlike the factory stuff the setting is retained across drives. It basically has a bazillion options (2 types, 5 modes and 9 settings per mode so about 100 settings), I'm currently using p mode, sport+, level 6 which is nice and responsive but doesn't spin the wheels on dirt every time you touch the pedal.

Obviously this car is getting a full tune one day which will include proper throttle mapping, but in the meantime this has transformed how the car feels driving around.....

[soviet_merlin]

I always thought those throttle controller kits were essentially snake oil. Good to see that it can actually make a difference!

It really bugs me how modern cars tend to revert all the settings for each startup. At least Honda got it somewhat right with the Type R where the default is sport mode. And have to switch to go to comfort...

[Duncan]

Yeah the difference is massive, but I'm sure it varies per base car and what you want as a driver.  

The Fuga (2014) and Titan (2015) also had horrible factory throttle mapping but in both cases I had done an uprev tune which fixed the response without needing a throttle controller.  Whoever was in charge of Nissan e-throttle mapping in that period has a lot to answer for

[MBS206]

8 hours ago, soviet_merlin said:

I always thought those throttle controller kits were essentially snake oil. Good to see that it can actually make a difference!

It really bugs me how modern cars tend to revert all the settings for each startup. At least Honda got it somewhat right with the Type R where the default is sport mode. And have to switch to go to comfort...

Those controllers don't do anything, except change how the signal appears to the controller.

So for example, to make it more sporty, where you first put a little bit of throttle in, it instead will send a higher impulse, and then taper it down towards the target.

 

In theory, you can learn to do what the throttle controller does, but it feels unnatural, for example a normal take off at 15% throttle input in sport mode on Duncans setup, might actually tell the ECU, give it 75% throttle for 0.5 seconds, and then drop to 25% for a second then tailor it back to 20% throttle and maintain that. Compared with the normal throttle might have gone "I'll give you 50% of what you asked for, then half a second later I'll give you 50% more of what you're asking compared to what you have, and then in the end I might let you have 13% in total.

 

At the same time, engine setups like when cruising on the highway, while on light throttle may have the actual throttle 70% open, and playing massively with variable valve timing. A small change in your throttle request will see the motor just mildly tweaking torque request by adjust cams every so slightly, but give it a sudden gut full quickly, it'll bring the cams back into a performance mode ready to go, and then the throttle to follow the position of the pedal, which gives a lot more response. Hence the controller giving a much bigger input to the ECU then back it off, makes the throttle overall feel more responsive.

 

Peak power etc overall though is unchanged.

 

And as Duncan has said, this is why they have to make a different controller mapping typically per make/model as they are all doing different things etc.

[Duncan]

So, with the USD on the way down with Donald's pending election, I went on a bit of a buying spree at Z1, there is a fair bit of aftermarket stuff for the v37 platform and it looks reasonably well engineered and made.

First, a weight adding change - new undertray for the front, but usefully it comes with a port to get at the drain plug and oil filter without having to remove the whole damn thing like the dumb factory setup. 

Also....

2 reg compliant tow straps

Red radiator hoses (preformed silicone)

Red vacuum hoses

Catch can kit (might need some massaging to fit RHD)

Diff brace to add more that one mount point to the rear 

I'm not planning to put the silicone lines on right now, but they should help with quicker work on the car instead of just being a mass of black stuff under the bonnet

[Duncan]

Tow hooks fit neatly in the factory holders front and rear, easier than bodging something up myself.

Hopefully I'll never have to test if they can hold the whole car's weight like Mark did on his 32 back in the day...

[Duncan]

So, to run the 4g aerials to the booster, I had to get access to the rear bulkhead....bit of a mission.

Hot tip, don't offer to help change the rear shocks for a mate with a v37....

Remove seat base, 2 clips that slide forward to release it the it lifts straight out

Fold down rear seat (pull in from boot)

The side bolster of the rear seat is not connected to the middle parts that fold. To remove unbolt at the bottom bolt then push it up off the top hook

Then there is a plastic surround behind the seat back, 2 pop out clips, 2 bastard clips, some swearing at it is out

Pop the rear seat latch surround off

Remove door surround lower trim then side trim 

Remove c pillar trim - 4 clips, pull inwards not forwards

Remove metal brace - 5 bolts 1 nut

Then you have got to the rear strut top...what a pain!

[Duncan]

So, to next task....the carbon fibre steering wheel was either an expensive factory option or a chinesium special. Either way, I don't like either the flat bottom or thick ring style, so it had to go

So...to remove the steering wheel....

First, disconnect battery negative and stomp on the brake pedal for a few seconds.

Then, remove the small circular covers on each side of the wheel's rear surround to uncover the airbag clips.

You need to push something like a flat bladed screw driver through, to push the steel clip inwards and pull the side of the airbag forward. Once you've done the easy side, same on the centre console side. You can see the tab you are shooting for circled in red

Then, disconnect the horn spade connector and for the yellow airbag plug you need to get something small under the black locking tab to pop it out, then the connector releases......airbag is off

 

[Duncan]

Once the airbag is off, to remove the steering wheel....

Undo the 2 plugs into the clock spring, and the horn connector from it's clip.

Hit the 19mm nut with a rattle gun (preferably) or if you don't' have one, you probably want an assistant to hold the wheel in place while you use a breaker bar to undo the nut

Then, screw the nut back on 3 turns, and pull the wheel sharply towards you. If that doesn't work hit it medium force with a rubber mallet on either side, or possible behind if you can get there. If that all fails (it shouldn't!) you might need a steering wheel puller

[Duncan]

In my case, the standard wheel I had was in good condition but the buttons had more wear, so I swapped them across from the original wheel from the car.

The plastic rear cover is held on by 4 tabs, and once the wiring is removed you can get access to 2 screws on each side the hold the buttons in

From there I just swapped the wiring over.

What was interesting is the standard style wheel is 2.0kg but the carbon fibre one is 50% heavier at 2.9kg. It even has a weight inside the wheel at the top to make up for some sort of imbalance in the design. weird

[Duncan]

From there, as the manual says....assembly is the reverse of disassembly, no tricks worth mentioning

Much better (for me)

[GTSBoy]

Much less twat-tastic. CF wheels are too garish for civilised use.

[Duncan]

Last of the maintenance items for now....not sure why but the drivers side window switch had heaps of wear on the right front and right rear switches

Unfortunately, unlike earlier Skylines the controls are bolted to the door trim from the inside. So....off the with door trim. There are bolts or screws:

Behind the door handle cover, pop it off from the handle side

Under the rubber trim at the bottom of the door pull (also just pops up)

Behind the courtesy light at the bottom.

Other than that, just window down then pop off the usual selection of push in clips around the perimeter and the trim lifts up

Interesting that they have a bolt on cover instead of the old school plastic held on by goop....I guess they prioritised sound levels over price

Then, 2 screws and 2 plugs to replace the switch (looks identical to the Fuga/Q70 one incidentally) and put it all back together.

Also much better

[Duncan]

Catching up on a post, I've replaced the external shark fin with a small 4g antenna (no further drilling, just a 1mm embiggening of the existing hole, and run that to where the dual battery models have the battery in the left rear guard.  No idea what the factory antenna did, but removing it had no impact on anything I use, according to the US manual the GPS antenna is in the dash and it still works fine

Also ended up stealing battery power from one of the amps and ACC power from a unit nearby to add an ACC relay to power it.

The mounted the booster, wifi, power socket and antenna splitter in the rear left guard out of the way, all out of site with the boot trims in

[Duncan]

So, the other thing I've sorted is a baseline dyno run up at Unigroup's new location.

The auto trans was a little unco-operative by both shifting down when the throttle was floored on the dyno (so Mark had to ramp it up more slowly than in a manual) and also by shifting up at 6,000 even in sports mode instead of the indicated redline of 7,000

Still, on a hot day it made 240rwkw at 16psi which seems about right for 300kw (400hp) through an auto at the wheels. 

The shape of the curve is not quite right because it was not full throttle to about 4,500 to stop it kicking down, but until I can get a tune on the auto trans control this was the best we could do.....full boost will be well below 5,000 once that is sorted, I'll get some data logs when I can to confirm

For comparison, the R32 made 255 at 12psi (at 4,500) on the same dyno with tune, n1 turbos, cam gears, big exhaust but otherwise all standard so the v37 is likely a little better out of the box.

One thing that is very clear is that the standard water to air intercoolers are not up to sustained use at full throttle in warm ambient temps. After about 5 runs (so only a few minutes full throttle), it was pulling boost and timing and dropping 10-15% power. Unfortunately I didn't get that printout and the Unigroup guys are away at the moment, will try and get hold of it on their return.

So, looks like a healthy engine to start modifying and the only real area of concern is the w2a heat exchangers which the aftermarket has plenty of solutions for