Tuesday, 22 March 2005 | | Categories: Engine
Was my birthday recently, so as a present to myself (and using cash I got as presents), I bought myself a new steering wheel so I could play Gran Turismo 4 with a little more realism. The unit I got was designed to work with GT4 and is the Logitech Driving Force Pro force feedback wheel. It's a pretty nice wheel too, giving you much more realism and feel than a Dual Shock controller. While I got the wheel, I walked past this racing seat that had in store at Harvey Normans, so I bought that too to make it more real. When I got it home, I played for a few hours and soon realised the standard seat sucked ass big time, I needed about 4 cushions strategically place to get a decent position. Then I remembered that I had a couple of nice Recaro's that aren't likely to be used for quite a few weeks just yet. So I went down to C-Red with the seat frame and Recaro in hand and bribed Roy to fit the seat to the frame. With the use of 4 small ally tags and some nuts and bolts, I now have what some would believe as a very nice setup.
I tried it out on the weekend just gone, and yes it's bloody great. The seat holds you in nice and tight, and you don't get the feeling you've been sitting on a concrete slab for 6hrs.
Cheers
Brendan
Wednesday, 16 March 2005 | | Categories: Engine
Have just had word from Roy at C-Red that the head is now back from the machinest. While there the new exhaust valve guides were fitted along with some stiffer valve springs (Tomei Type A 7500RPM limit). The camshafts being used have a 260deg duration with 11.8mm left on both intake and exhaust side. A Tomei Rocker Arm Stopper (RAS) Kit will be fitted and the head screwed on with a Tomei 1.5mm Metal Head Gasket being used as the meat filler. Will get some pics of the setup the next time I'm in at the workshop.
It's envisaged that this setup, along with the previously mentioned ported intake and exhaust ports should make use of the rest of the setup being bolted in place.
Yay, finally some movement, although it'll have to slow for a bit while I get some cash together to get the GReddy Plenum and then have the plenum and rocker cover done up in red crackle paint (as per FJ20ET style).
Cheers
Brendan
Monday, 14 March 2005 | | Categories: Engine
Apologies for the delay between updates. There has been movement in the right direction, with the completion of the short block now taken place. All is nice and shiny (technical term used to describe a well built engine) with the bores looking very smoove. You'll notice the block as been sleeved, more because of the piston size than any performance enhancement. If anyone happens to know what type of forged piston these are, let me know. They're connected to Arias forged rods, all hanging onto the prepped and knife-edged crank.
Short block pics:
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Just like new-
Top-
Beautiful sleeved bores-
GTi-R Oil Pump-
Bottom-
Big-ends-
Crank cradle/girdle-
SerialThe head is also almost ready to go - these pics taken just before it went off to have the guides replaced for good measure. The intake ports have been ported and now have a nice sharp edge too. Just need to get in there and give it a nice smooth finish by hand:
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Serviced Head-
Intake PortsOver the last few months, I have been collecting various parts ready for the assembly phase. Here are a few of them:
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HKS Stainless Steel Turbo Dump Pipe-
HKS Stainless Steel Turbo Dump Pipe-
Stainless tubular manifold (heat coated)-
Stainless tubular manifold (heat coated)-
Nismo 740cc Fuel Injectors (straight-fit)-
Sparco 90mm Deep Dish suede steering wheel-
Nissan Aero Sport ('Nismo') rear podsUnfortunately the body hasn't gone too much further since the last update, there being a delay while we wait for a parts shipment to come in from Japan. All I have repeat is that the rear
Wise wide-body guards are on.
Thanks must go to Roy, Josh, Jeff and Marc over at
C-Red for their help thus far on the project. Can't wait to get the body back to see if the QF's are going to fit ; )
Cheers
Brendan
Tuesday, 1 February 2005 | | Categories: Engine
Well, seen as it's been over a month since the last update I thought I'd update everyone on the current situation.
Basically we're making slow progress. Mainly because of the christmas period with people taking holidays, parts taking longer to get delivered etc etc. A few things that have come in though include my Recaro's and Nissan Aero Sports rear pods (aka Nismo rear pods).
The Recaro's are in pretty good condition and as mentioned out of a Honda Integra Type-R. They're extremely comfortable and have a good amount of under thigh support which is a must for long distance travel (such as down to Collie). The rails are from a Honda, so will need to organise new rails for fitment into the Silvia, hopefully they won't mount the seat to high in the cabin.
The pods I managed to find through a 'wanted' ad on NissanSilvia.com. dannydriftking sent me a PM, we agreed on a price and he sent them across. No dents or tears in the plastic, so they'll make a good addition to the body kit. You may ask why I'm not going for a brand new rear bar, and the simple answer is I don't really like the shape of the current ones available. I wanted more of a 'race car' type look where the line at the rear goes up, as opposed to the 'drift' type rear bars that flick out at the back if look side on. I'll get Tom who's doing the body kit fitting to possibly modify the rear pods slightly to match up with the M Sports side skirts, but keep essentially the same lines.
Now the engine progress. Over the Christmas break it's been hard to get parts in a timely manner so that put a delay on it. Not that it's a real problem considering I have no car for it to drop into, but I do want it complete before I get the body back so it's as simple as dropping it in and getting it going. We are having to sleeve the block though due to one of the bores being a little larger than the rest, and we're fitting new rings to the forged pistons. The short block should be fully balanced and blueprinted within the next couple of weeks. Then it's just a matter of rebuilding the head with new springs, cams and the obligatory Rocker Arm Stoppers (RAS) kit from Tomei and we're ready to rock. The HPI manifold has been dumped as an idea mainly due to the number of half-decent china knockoffs going around. Also the fact that Derek (Yorik) has sent me his exhaust manifold to be checked out and it's already been ceramically coated, something that I would have had to do anyway.
So really, as for major parts to get now, there's the new oil pump which is on its way, need to find a HKS (or knockoff) front pipe (which I may get from driftshop.com.au). There's also the Trust sump and GReddy intake plenum, fuel regulator and some lightweight pulley's.
Once the body is finished, it will be off to get sprayed in the beautiful Yamaha R1 'Lava Red' which should look tops. Target for finishing the project is prior to Cabin Autosalon, but there's a lot of work to do before then.
Feel free to post comments or questions, would like to start getting some discussion going about what I'm doing.
Cheers
Brendan
(aka Grandpa on SilviaWA and sillbeer on NS.com)
Thursday, 16 December 2004 | | Categories: Engine
Just picked up my new helmet. This is the first helmet I've owned, and having borrowed a few in the past, I went for something a little more expensive and very light. It also looks pretty cool too. It's made by Simpson and is the Bandit model.
Cheers
Brendan
Thursday, 16 December 2004 | | Categories: Engine
Well I spied these on SAU For Sale section last week and I had to have them. They're the seats out of a Honda Integra Type-R, with the Alcantara suede on the outer, cloth inserts and red stitching. These should go well with the red of the car. Will possibly look at re-trimming the interior to match the seats. Pretty sure they're the equivalent to the Recaro SR-II out of Japan. Will just need to arrange seat rails now.
Shipping from Sydney will be costly, but they're exactly what I'm wanting.
Cheers
Brendan
Thursday, 2 December 2004 | | Categories: Engine
Just got advised that my block has been dropped off for the bottom end rebuild. The forgies that we found in it are already 87mm in size, but due to the way the engine was rebuilt in J, I am going to get a bit of piston slap noise on cold startup until they expand. The bores were in pretty good condition and will be honed and the crank has been knife edged too for better oil management I guess. Have asked for the pistons to be ceramically coated too, and the rods are new forged Eagle rods.
I guess it will be a couple of weeks before it get back, so in the meantime I have a head to clean up. Once all the moving bits are out of it, I'll take to it with a die grinder and remove all the dags off the casting. The inlet ports will get a clean up and then we'll be bolting it all back together.
I have a few parts that I've already collected including the HKS GT-RS turbo, HKS stainless dump pipe, Nismo 740cc injectors and just recently found a HPI manifold at a very good price. Just need to locate a good HKS front pipe now and then all the hot parts (exhaust turbine housing, manifold, dump and front pipe) will be sent off for ceramic coating.
It'll be good to have the engine ready to be fitted as soon as the shell gets back.
Cheers
Brendan
Tuesday, 16 November 2004 | | Categories: Engine
Well, just to update all. There's a delay at the moment while we get in some front wide body guards from J. Once we have those, all the new panels can be test fitted for gaps/clearances and then the widebody rears and be attached and moulded in. With the G-Speed Drift event down at Collie on the weekend, the previous week was pretty busy at C-Red, so my engine still sits on the racks. Hopefully I'll be able to coax it down and onto an engine stand this weekend and get Roy to crack it and see what needs doing other than the bits included in the planned rebuild menu.
At this point, I'm hoping to have it ready for CABIN AutoSalon next year so look out for it there.
Monday, 18 October 2004 | | Categories: Engine
Well the shell went off a couple of weeks ago to get the Wise Sports rear guards fitted up and expect the next stage will be a bit of panel and paint. There's a few dents here and there but nothing out of the ordinary.
The colour I've been tossing around for sometime, moving from the beautiful yellow on the Lamborghini Mercielago (sort of a pearl the moves from yellow to orange). Then I thought a nice candy red would be nice, something as seen on the current Subaru Foresters or BA Falcons. Then I saw a motorcycle on the street one day and decided to look in that direction. The final choice was found a the latest Yamaha R1, and the colour is called LAVA RED. Here are some samples of the bike in the colour:
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Sample 1
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Sample 2
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Sample 3
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Sample 4
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Sample 5
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Sample 6
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Sample 7
As for the Vinyl Cutter I purchased, the weekend came to get it running and my PC gave up, so I had to order a new PC. Have now got it up and running and doing a vinyl application course later this week to get clued up on how to put the stickers on like a pro. I have put together a collection of over 130 logo artworks I can call upon, with most of the major and not so major Japanese brands, tyre manufacturers and car audio brands. I'll be doing custom stuff as well, and a bit of corporate stuff too. That's all for now.
Cheers
Brendan
Tuesday, 21 September 2004 | | Categories: Engine
UPDATE (27-SEP-2004): Cutter has finally been shipped, should get it some time next week.
Well, as of today, I've decided to get into a little side of the car industry where I can apply my design skills too. I'm buying a 2nd hand vinyl cutter so that I can create and sell graphics for cars - mostly shopping list type stuff, but the occasional custom work. Here are some pictures of the model I'll be getting, a Roland CAMM-1 CM-24:
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Picture 1
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Picture 2
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Picture 3
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Picture 4
This is a full industry grade cutter with a taking stock up to 610mm wide and around up to 29 metres long. Will give an update once it arrives on the plans for her. Needless to say I'll be working some minor magic on my own car, but nothing to garish (I don't get into that).
Cheers
Brendan
