Safc Install In R32 / R33 Gts-t

[predator]

SAFC / SAFC2 Install

Tools Required:

1. Wire Cutters / Strippers

2. Crimping tool

3. Bullet connectors (I used 4mm, but if doing again I'd probably use 3mm)

4. Philips head screwdriver

This is on R32 GTS-T, but the wiring process /pins are exactly the same for R33.

I bought 2nd hand a slightly older SAFC bluescreen (not SAFC II). Really the wiring is pretty much identical, except for the addition of the knock sensor wires in the SAFC2 (see SAFC2 install manual diagram N4-c on www.apexi.com site for details). All else goes in same place.

BEGIN

Firstly, locate your ECU. This is just in the passenger footwell, behind a plastic panel. There is about 3 screws on the outside, and then the cover should pull off. You might have to slightly pull up the plastic door rub strip.

To properly access the ECU, you'll have to undo I think 2 extra bolts, one up top left, and one at the bottom, which brackets to the ECU. You should then be able to pull it out, with the loom still attached.. You will probably see a clear plastic cover over most of the wiring, which can be pulled off with a flathead screwdriver to get access to the wiring. See below:

Now you should have access to all the wires that you will need to modify to install the SAFC.

NOTE that i am referring to all pins as it is sitting in that photo (from the top – nissan sticker up).. the SAFC install manual assumes you are looking directly AT the plug from the front. With the loom the way it is, its much easier to work with it facing AWAY from you)

MAIN AIR FLOW (AFM) WIRE

Now you will need to find the airflow meter signal wire. This is the main one that you are feeding into the SAFC, and what allows the SAFC to do its magic.

Basically AFM voltage goes into SAFC, modified values are put out for different RPM & throttle positions.. and modified air flow voltage goes to the ECU.

It should be a BLACK wire, and with the ECU facing up as shown, should be 7 pins to the LEFT of the main centre bolt (looking from top). That doesn't necessarily mean 7 *wires* as not all wires are attached to pins (depending on factory options), so count out on the plug itself. Here you can see it in my fingers.

So carefully chop it through, and strip back about 5mm of the plastic using the wire strippers.

Now its up to you how you want to connect it. I used crimp bullets (shown below), so that I could easily unplug it at anytime and go back to factory quickly (hmm, wonder why). You may choose to solder the wires to the SAFC harness instead, but I liked the bullet idea for ease of removal.

** NOTE: If you have the choice, I'd probably go for a slightly different style of bullet than those crimp ones I had sitting around. The ones that you fold the ends over the wire then squeeze down are better.. as these give a stronger connection **

So what you need to do, is bullet on a male and female version on each end at the factory setup. And on the SAFC to the IN (white) and OUT AFM wires (yellow), a male and female as well. But make sure you get the SAFC IN and OUT correct via male->female.. so IN (engine side) is coming FROM AFM to SAFC (white), and OUT (yellow) is going TO the ecu. Make sure the connections are tight on the wires, and give them a good tug to make sure the connectors are not going to come off easily.

The dirtiest way is to twist wires together and wrap in electrical tape, and I know you can be tempted to save a few dollars. I'd recommend against that at all costs, as its slightly possible for the wires to come apart later. If this happens while the car is under full steam, an AFM cutout could quickly destroy your engine. This wouldn't be pretty.

So connect up the bullets and they should go nicely fit together. We have FROM AFM (loom side), to SAFC Input on SAFC... then SAFC output on SAFC goes direct to ECU.

Thats it for the most important part.. the rest are really splice wires, which means they tap off the existing loom wiring for the SAFC (read only), rather than totally create a new connection.

TACHO/RPM signal

This is what the SAFC reads to show you the nice ricey RPM display. This is 4 pins to the RIGHT of the centre screw (looking from top), and is yellow/red stripey. Now we need to tap the SAFC green wire into this wire.

What you need to do, is get the wire strippers, and pierce the plastic of the wire...And then pull back this insulation, without cutting through the actual wire core itself. Then you need to wrap the SAFC loom wire around the core wire several times to create a connection.

(photo shown except bottom one aren't actual rpm wire)

Effectively you are creating a “T” junction off the wire to read the signal, but not effect its normal operation to the ECU.

There is no easy way to tell if you have made a good connection at this point with everything off, so wait until everything else is hooked up. If the SAFC doesn't seem to be reading/displaying any RPM values when you have finished, you know which connection to check.

THROTTLE signal

Exactly as above, we need to tap into this one.. this is 8 pins to the RIGHT of the connector (from top) on the 2nd row and is WHITE. T in your grey from SAFC into this. This is basically your “foot to the floor” meter.. and shows you how much the throttle butterfly is open as you are accelerating.

IG Power

This powers the SAFC, and gives power when the ignition is on. This is 19pins to the LEFT of the connector, 2nd row down (2nd pin from the end). It is a black and white striped wire.

Bridge in as above, using the red wire of the SAFC.

KNOCK signal 1 & 2

This is for S-AFC2 only, and allows knock readings to be checked, to aid in tuning and monitoring. If you have an S-AFC2, knock#1 is 3 pins to the LEFT, and kock#2 is 4 pins to the LEFT on the top row of ECU.

GROUND

This is 20 pins to the LEFT of the connector, 2nd row down (end pin and next to POWER above), and is mainly black (with white dashes) as well. This one is a bit different, as you have to tap TWICE into this GROUND wire. The manual is adamant that you must tap the BROWN SAFC wire closer to the ECU side, than the BLACK SAFC wire, and at least 1cm apart. So basically like so...

The manual says its for proper unit operation, so make sure you DO connect it up like they say.

Thats it for the wiring part.

CONNECTING SAFC

Connect up the SAFC subloom to the main wiring plug out of the unit, and place the unit where you feel comfortable.. On R32 this isn't too bad a spot if you ask me, although not right in the line of sight (I've removed the ashtray). Up to you.

BASIC SETTINGS

Here are the basic settings you'll need for a GTS-T (r32 or R33).. Please refer to the proper APEXI manual for full details (free download online). Get into the ETC menu, SETTINGS, and then we want:

car type: cyl: 6, RISING (diag right arrow)

sens. type: HOTWIRE and then IN OUT both set to (1 1).

Leave sens-cal to: 1 1 for IN and OUT

FINAL TESTING

Don't put your ecu back into place yet! Time for testing. Firstly I would start the car up, and let it idle for a bit.. pump the accelerator a few times and check all items are displaying correctly (throttle %, AFM voltage, RPM). If you can, do this while jiggling / pulling all the connections around the ECU. If something drops off the display or is intermittent, check that connection again. Its best to have a loose connection be sussed out at idle, rather than when the car is on full pelt and about to melt.

Tape up and isolate the remaining plugs (used for different cars).. and if you like use cable ties or electrical tape to wrap the end. If you are careful, you should be able to slip the original wiring plastic cover back on.

If all is ok, screw the ecu back into place, and the plastic kick panel back over it. Again, start her up and check all values are ok. Softly kick the ecu and make sure nothing drops off easily.. why? your mate or partner is accidentally going to do it one day without you noticing.

Take it for a drive and make sure its all driving as normal.. with no correction values, it should just be behaving exactly as normal. Take it to a workshop and get them to dyno tune it. Probably just saved about $100-200 installation cost by doing it yourself, which can pay for the tuning instead.

DISCONNECTING / RETURNING TO STOCK

May as well throw this in.. Say you want to totally remove the SAFC (to go for say a PFC), or to temporarily remove...

Pull everything apart, disconnect the bullets to SAFC and simply bullet back together the AFM wire as per factory. You can also disconnect all your splicings and for the original wires, simply wrap each one in electrical tape to prevent any voltage jump onto other wiring.

Put it all back together, wrap the whole loom in a wad of electrical tape, and nobody will be the wiser. Afterall, it is back to factory setup

[OnDubz]

Hey great post,

Just wondering what kinda of power gains did you get from the SAFC when you got it tuned. And also did you notice any gains in fuel economy?

[predator]

thanx, its fairly easy to work out, but sometimes it helps to have the photos.

Still haven't got it tuned I have self-tuned it myself for the midrange a bit though, so it pulls a noticeable amount better there.. Just don't want to lean it out at the top without a dyno tune in case I get detonation.

I have noticed quite a good difference in fuel economy just with my fiddle tune, especially during city driving (where you are using the accelerator a lot).. Its down to about 12L/100km city, and highway is around 10-11L/100km.. Before it was a couple of L/100km more than that.

When I get it tuned, I will post the results, but I will have a different turbo so it won't be a great compariosn to just "std vs std+safc"

[Josh]

Excellent Pred! My mate just got one of these installed on his MK III supra.

[ATTN]

I've look at my ecu and its different wire colors i own a series II skyline iam i right?

[predator]

probably - just check the pinouts on the ECU, the important ones will be the same.. they might be different colours, but they will be in the same position.

[leech_]

that is a great post i had my SAFC fitted but the guy who has done it looks like either he hasent hooked up the knock sensor or something weirds happened. with this thread i should be able to look myself thanks heaps.

[ecl]

heya

just a quick question

on the harness i have a additional pink, orange and blue wire

do i ignore these?

thanks

Eric

[predator]

yup, you can ignore them, they are for other vehicles.. I think I mentioned that in the guide somewhere

[kezza]

hmmm.... how much are they worth...2nd hand?

wouldnt mind getting one for my R32... so they come with a standard sort of tune?

[justin911]

i sold my safc2 for like $150 which was extremely cheap i think

They dont come tuned.. but it would only take like an hour or so of dyno time to get it tuned.

[sl33ek]

I found this really useful predator, thanks

Just want to add that in my Series1 r33 my AFM wire was orange (with a thin light bluish stripe I think) - but it was in the same location as yours on the ecu

Edited December 2, 2005 by Gengis

[maximumrpm]

awesome tutorial...i used it for my r33 s1 and it worked a treat..but i found the same problem as gengis...but the wire numbers are still the same...i also found this problem:

sens. type: HOTWIRE and then IN OUT both set to type 4 (4 4).

if you set it to 4 and 4 the car stalls at idle...i left it at 1 and 1

keep up the good work champ

[Carlito]

Just fitted a black SAFC-2 to my R32. I already had a digi-dash fitted where the ashtray was so I mounted mine behind the steering wheel, about where the auto PRNDL display is (below the wiper switch). Barely fit. Now I have to sort out the tuning... but since I hardly have any mods (yet) I don't expect I will make much more.

Edited January 5, 2006 by Carlito

[NathR32]

Is anyone able to post up results and/or dyno graphs of gains they recieved by fitting an SAFC II? I'm currently looking into purchasing one but would prefer to see results from other skyline owners first.

Cheers,

Nath

[Mr Italy!]

Hey guys!

Just had mine installed and tuned and heres the dyno sheet:

Red line = before SAFC-II

Green line = after SAFC-II

Blue line = Ignore this - after SAFC-II but after the mechinc did the "High boost mode" trick to run 9PSI all the time.

POWER

TORQUE

So pretty much i picked up 10rwkw and a fair bit of torque.

The car feels much more responsive. No more super rich backfires at 3500RMP. Fuel economy seems to have increase - usually i get about 340km when i drive like a granny - should get atleast 400km out of this tank and i've been boosting the titts off the car since i got it back, its such a joy to drive again

I feel that it will pay for itself in the long run!

Justin

[Wink]

This is my AFTER graph

Before peak power in hi boost mode was only 185 rwkw with really crap low end. Low end was so crap I ran it in lo boost mode, which gave me better low end but a lower peak power of 174rwkw.

Regardless of boost mode it would still run obscenely rich (AFR close to 7) at the top end. My rear bumper would also get very dirty quickly from running this rich.

[Mr Italy!]

Wink - what are the current mods on your car?

[blu3chip]

installation seems tuff'..

[Munkyb0y]

this is an old thread, but i got a question.

do you need to disconnect the battery before you begin installation?