En Guard - Yey, they're here!

Yay, woot, tops, gold. Front guards have arrived and now the build can move forward. Remembering that Cabin Autosalon is coming up very quickly. These are M Sports/Wise Sports 50mm Wide Guards and they're very nice indeed. I'll be dropping them down to the 'body guy' over the weekend as he lives about an hour away. Will try and grab some pics of the shell while there as the rear guards should already be on and moulded in.

A special thanks to Jeff at C-Red for getting these freighted in for us. Oh, and also to the top model in the photos - 'Woody', for holding the guards while I snapped away.

Pics of the guards (well one really):
- Quick Testfit on a shell - they're wide for sure
- Outside
- Inside
- Rear

For information and pricing on these check out the C-Red site:
http://www.c-red.com.au/parts/aero.shtml

Cheers
Brendan

Exhaustive Efforts

Recently saw the chance to grab a different exhaust manifold from the china copy that I already had. Bought it as an unknown japanese brand as unlike all the china copies, it hasn't been mirror polished (not that that really means anything). I've felt the the joining of the first runner to the collector in the china copy I have is a little on the severe side, coming in at almost 90deg. When I saw this japanese one, it immediately looked better, and also different too as the runners are lined up to the collector as opposed to being in a quadrant (square) type collector.

Anyway, here are a few pics of the differences between the two. I have noticed that a few of the china copies come out now are getting better - but the price of this 2nd hand was only $230 so I can't complain. I'll take to C-Red and see what they say about its likely strength as it has minimal bracing. Note that the china copy looks cleaner at this point because it's been ceramically coated. This will be done also to the Jap one, and may also consider cryogenically treating it to give it some extra strength.

Pics of the SR20DET manifolds:
- Side View Jap | China Copy
- Top View Jap | China Copy
- Inside Collector Jap | China Copy
- Mounting Plate Jap | China Copy
- Inside Runner Jap | China Copy
- Thickness Difference

If anyone has any comment, or recognises the manifold and it who it was possibly made by, please let me know.

Cheers
Brendan

Bit by bit

Slowly getting things in so we can get the car on the road as planned. Where I can I'm buying good used parts both privately or suppliers. Reason for this is I don't mind cleaning parts up to look like new and most of the time they'll be changing colour anyway for the stealth look I'm after - not that it'll be very stealthy on the outside ;)

Pics of the completed conversion:
- HKS Stainless 3" Front Pipe
- Cusco OS Rear Strut Brace
- ADM S15 200SX/Silvia ECU

The front pipe will be given a fresh coat of black exhaust paint before going on. The strut brace will have the end plates painted in silver or black, and the cross bar will be done in black wrinkle coat. I may make up a Cusco sticker or have the logo engraved in the bar later on. Also have the Cusco OS Front Brace coming in and a boot brace of unknown origin as well (actually the boot brace may not happen). The ECU will get the new version of the BikiROM installed including the Boost Controller and Turbo Timer options.

Cheers
Brendan

The Doof Factor

It's been hard for me to come to a decision on how far to go with a stereo install. Considering the last Silvia I had I ripped out the head unit and speakers and the GT-R only had a basic system run off the head unit, I thought it time to look at something a little more serious. After hearing a mate's (Angry13) system with 3-way splits for front stage and single 12" subwoofer - it was a direction I'd be happy to take for the minimal weight it's going to add.

So basically, using the Alpine 2-way splits that came from the GT-R, I'm adding to this an Alpine Type-R 12" Subwoofer (new) powered by an Audison SRx-3 Amplifier. The head unit is yet to be decided but will stay with the Alpine brand and be either a 6835 or 6855 unit. This should allow me to get a decent quality system, with minimal weight addition. The sub box will also be fashioned in such a way that I can easily unplug it and the amp, undo some latches and remove in one piece for track work.

Pics of the proposed components:
- Alpine 2-way Splits & Alpine 3729 2-way Passive Crossover
- Alpine 6019 Exponential Horn Tweeter
- Alpine 6058 5.25" Woofer
- Alpine 1241 12" Dual-voice Coil Subwoofer
- Audison SRx-3 Amplifier

Cheers
Brendan

Galant T25G Conversion Complete

Well, after a couple of days on the T25G I'm very happy with the results of changing the turbo over from the Mitsubishi TC05-12A to the Garrett (Nissan) T25G off my old Silvia on the 4G63B you see here. There were a couple of problems with correct vacuum lines and having the standard SR20DET BOV venting to atmosphere, but once the BOV was 'plumbbacked' and Roy from C-Red sorted out the vacuum lines, all was running much better. Unfortunately I can't screw too much boost in due to a detonation problem, and the boost cut that the standard ECU has (50% injector duty cycle).

Next I'll be getting the vacuum advance sorted out and then look into how I can change the fuel and stop the boost cut. We were going to be intercooling it but couldn't find an easy route to the front, but we'll be looking at moving the washer bottle and overflow bottle soon which may give us access through to the front area. Unfortunately, unlike the Starion, there's no room to go around the sides of the radiator.

Pics of the completed conversion:
- Overview (from top)
- Garrett T25G
- Garrett T25G
- T25/T28 Adaptor Plate
- Standard Internal Wastegate Actuator
- Standard S13 SR20DET Blow-off Valve
- BOV Return Pipe (uses part of an R33 Skyline return pipe)
- BOV Feed adapted into Intake Hose (I cringed when he cut this - they're hard to get hold of these days in good condition)

Of course it will never be 100% complete, but she goes a little better and sounds better now with the soft woosh of the BOV between gears. I have a small feeling that once the vacuum advance has been sorted out, I might be able to get a bit more out of her before hitting boost cut.

I also suspect some of you are asking yourselves why? Well, at first I thought the old TC05 was on its way out because I thought he compressor was banging against the housing - I now know the sound was the engine pinging its tits off! But the T25G turbo from my old Silvia I once owned and cost me all of $200. It's bigger than the TC05 too and in relatively better condition to boot. The cost of the conversion was more my time as I had a contra deal already setup with Wayne & Irene at Embleton Engineering in Myaree. As you can see, a top rate job was done. It will also allow me to use cheap T28 flanged turbos in the future - which reminds me I have that HKS GT-RS I should give a go for Drag Combat this weekend ; )

Cheers
Brendan

Sigma off for Surgery

Yeah, I know, not another post on the damn Sigma - but shit happens.

Well I dropped it off this morning to Embleton Engineering for the turbo swap. Read down a couple of posts to see what's happening. Should be there for 2-3 days getting the work done, and left a little standard Silvia/180SX intercooler in the boot hinting that if they have time, to try and fit that up too : )

While I was surfing the Austarion Forums over the weekend, I came across some instructions for modifying the gearstick for a shorter shift, so I've emailed the instructions to Wayne hoping that he might be able to accommodate that modification at the same time.

Will report back later in the week to tell you all about it.

Cheers
Brendan

Quick update to Blog

I have added a permanent link to the right side white box that will give access to the main 'plan' for the car. Enjoy.