LuckyX2's S13 SR Build

[LuckyX2]

Winter update since I've been daydreaming about getting back to this lately...



Some of the many axles I went through trying to find the right ones haha.



Front Ohlins were busted beyond repair so I needed a quick fix. Got a nice price on Fortune Auto 500's with swift springs and radial bearings so I went for it.



Front suspension lined up and ready to go.



Installed, but as you can see, the FLCA fits like shit and is crooked. Couldn't even get the rears on, and the fronts barely worked. Just gonna take these off and stay stock I guess. Problem is that I need an S14 balljoint for the Geomasters, so I'll either have to press that in or buy S14 arms. Guess that's what I get for buying cheap...

[PoorMans180SX]

Originally Posted by LuckyX2

Guess that's what I get for buying cheap...

I have discovered that every time I try and do something "on a budget" this kind of thing happens. It's so frustrating but one can only blame oneself. Patience is so hard, haha.

Anyway, build's looking good man! Keep it up.

[RalliartRsX]

Can you give me more details on your brake setup?? I may have missed it in the thread (read: part manufacture and number for rotor, hat, hardware and bracket used)

Thanks! Looking good!

[LuckyX2]

Originally Posted by PoorMans180SX

I have discovered that every time I try and do something "on a budget" this kind of thing happens. It's so frustrating but one can only blame oneself. Patience is so hard, haha.

Anyway, build's looking good man! Keep it up.

Yeah, it's tough trying to maintain quality on a 23 year old college kid budget... Graduation is in spring though and that means full time money coming in this season. Hoping to get this "finished" (we all know we're never really done) by summer's end.

Thanks for the compliment! I try and strike a balance by spend money where it matters and cheap out on what I can get away with. I thought I could cheap out on control arms since it's a simple piece of mostly straight steel, but I guess not. Something like a turbo that sees 150k rpm or dampers that need to be precise and durable, I wouldn't cheap out on (wish I just stayed with my $3k Koni setup since the front Ohlins were trashed). I guess you could say cost effective is what I'm shooting for.

Originally Posted by RalliartRsX

Can you give me more details on your brake setup?? I may have missed it in the thread (read: part manufacture and number for rotor, hat, hardware and bracket used)

Thanks! Looking good!

Thank you, I'm using Def's brackets and hat with off the shelf Wilwood components for the rest of it. Installed them back on page 3.
Here's some more info for you:
http://www.nissanroadracing.com/showthread.php?t=4590

It's a great setup with altima or z32 brakes in the rear. Locks up my 245 street tires at auto-x speeds too easily if anything but it's nothing a delicate foot doesn't fix and it's perfect at higher speeds. I have to tell people to brace themselves on the dash before I give them a 0-60-0 run.

[PoorMans180SX]

Originally Posted by LuckyX2

Yeah, it's tough trying to maintain quality on a 23 year old college kid budget... Graduation is in spring though and that means full time money coming in this season. Hoping to get this "finished" (we all know we're never really done) by summer's end.

Thanks for the compliment! I try and strike a balance by spend money where it matters and cheap out on what I can get away with. I thought I could cheap out on control arms since it's a simple piece of mostly straight steel, but I guess not. Something like a turbo that sees 150k rpm or dampers that need to be precise and durable, I wouldn't cheap out on (wish I just stayed with my $3k Koni setup since the front Ohlins were trashed). I guess you could say cost effective is what I'm shooting for.

Yeah man, I'm 26 and paying off some student/other loans, so I feel you there. I have the same way of doing things. They're all good lessons learned I guess.

[LuckyX2]

Yes, much learned on this car... I could have easily bought something prebuilt for less but it wouldn't have come with the 5 years of lessons I have under my belt now.

Also, I really don't want to be that guy who speaks before he delivers but I'm VERY much considering a twin scroll 7163 as a graduation present to myself in the spring/summer... I think my engine is built well enough to be a good showcase for it between my high compression forged bottom end, top end good for 8-9k and E85. Would be cool to set the standard for a 500whp SR build. I'm gonna grenade my stock trans for sure though.

I'd like to change the thinking around here with a well executed, unique build. Not many people that actually increase compression around here and I think they're missing out on a lot of area under the curve. I make more power out of boost and the same power at lower boost compared to the low compression guys. A lot of the focus here is simply on peak tq/hp. I'd like to see people more aware of the finer details that make a car fast like area under the curve, time to torque, boost loss between shifts, where the torque is rather than just how much of it there is, etc.

I have some pretty great datalogging capabilities and would love to a back to back showcase of the finer differences between a 2871 and 7163 if I got one.

[futures14drift]

This thread is absolutely amazing, the attention to detail is on point..but you seem to be buying a lot of suspension pieces multiple times, lol.

Keep it up man, and im really interested in the ITB's setup, how much did they run you, how much power gain is expected? thanks.

[LuckyX2]

Thanks! Yeah, one of the unfortunate parts of slowly building a car on a budget is sometimes you don't have a clear idea of the finish. Plans evolve over time and unfortunately that can lead to redoing some things. Hopefully as I get older and better funded, my next build will be better planned.

They were only $165 shipped on eBay amazingly. Wasn't looking for them but found them and couldn't say no at that price. I'm actually not expecting much of a power gain at all from it. What I am expecting is better throttle response, more low rpm torque and hours of me cursing at my computer as I try to tune the damn thing. Since my car is primarily autocross focused, it should prove useful.

[soundboy]

very interested in the LS coils.

[LuckyX2]

What about them?

[soundboy]

Gimme a review of it..

Sent from my GT-P3110 using Tapatalk

[LuckyX2]

Well, spark is never an issue for me, that's for sure. These are some of the most powerful coils out there. They're also plentiful since they're on a lot of GM cars/trucks so you can find them for cheap at junkyards. They get rid of the ignitor chip too, so that's one less point of failure. All in all a good mod, more spark power, more reliable, cheaper than stock coils; I've got nothing bad to say about them.

[LuckyX2]

So I went home for spring break and it's finally back on it's own four wheels!

I ran into a lot of issues but thankfully got it all taken care of in a week. First I put the stock FLCAs back on since the ones I had were crap. I needed to swap in S14 balljoints to do that though. Then I found out I needed longer tie rods than my stock ones and when I used the offset spacers, it was then too long. So I wound up buying 97' Maxima tie rod inners and S14 ends since that gen of Maxima has 11.5" inners. Turns out the aftermarket companies only make them 13" now, so I had to cut some threads off. Finally it was back on the ground, I started it and let it idle to warm up when I noticed my battery spewing out acid gas... Only about a year old and I brought it inside for the winter too, what terrible luck. So I got a new battery and took it for alignment. Got it back from alignment and the toe wasn't to my spec at all (1/8" out front, 1/16" in rear), I questioned it and found out they have never heard of toe measured in fractions of an inch! So I converted it to degrees and they fixed it. Took all day waiting for that...

But it's back on the road now and driving well (it made the 300 mile drive from Allentown PA to Rochester NY). It just has some intense chatter coming from the new clutch type diff. Gonna pick up some friction modifier and that should help it. I used Motul 90pa which has friction modifier in it already, but I guess not enough. Also my idle controller isn't liking this un-seasonal weather. Gotta mess around with the adjuster and the tune.

Picture time!
Looks like crap since there's still bodywork and the rest of the vinyl to do, but I'm happy with how the kouki front and GT-1 rear looks. I have some chuki side skirts ready to go on it too.










Steering lock! (And yes, I tightened that coilover nut) I'll get an underside picture of it up here soon too. The arms are all nice an parallel to the ground now with the Geomasters. I took it out to an open parking lot for some "skidpad" testing and even though it was 40F and wet out, the grip was intense. The turn-in is quick and sharp and it holds a tight radius very well

[LuckyX2]

Got some interior goodies







Haven't gotten the seat in yet because it's been raining, so in the mean time my friends have been using it as a chair. It's more comfortable than our futon surprisingly.

For anyone interested in sizing info I'm 5'11", 165lbs and have a 32" waist and the Suzuka fits me pretty perfectly. It's a bit snug but manageable on my friend pictured above who is 5'9", 180lbs and 34" waist.

[LuckyX2]

Pro tip: Never buy Buddy Club seat rails or any modeled after them... My seat sits way too high now, my head hits the ceiling.

[OLDSCHOOLRICE]

Originally Posted by LuckyX2

Installed, but as you can see, the FLCA fits like shit and is crooked. Couldn't even get the rears on, and the fronts barely worked. Just gonna take these off and stay stock I guess. Problem is that I need an S14 balljoint for the Geomasters, so I'll either have to press that in or buy S14 arms. Guess that's what I get for buying cheap...

In case you still have and are interested in running the godspeed (or Defsport “budget baller”) front lower control arms...

The arms (with the tension rods mounted to the top) cause the arm to rotate and contact the spacer, which appears to be your issue. If you mount the tension rods to the bottom side of the control arm this issue will likely be corrected. That’s how I fixed my poor godspeed fitment and I believe there were a couple related posts in the suspension pick-up thread and maybe even in Def’s budget baller thread.

[LuckyX2]

I tried both top and bottom and had a terrible time with them. The two holes on the tension rod just physically did not line up well with the two holes on the control arm.

[LuckyX2]

Did my first autocross of the season today at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Took second raw and third PAX in my class. Aside from almost taking the first directional cone on the wrong side, it was a pretty solid run.

[LuckyX2]

Here's last weekend's FLR event. Same deal as last time, second fastest raw time and third PAX in SM.



Also, I just graduated college and did some moving...

[LuckyX2]

Did a little work on my diff today. Stupid thing was making an awful amount of noise. Like, is my rear going to explode kind of noise. I was also having an issue with understeer on corner entry and oversteer on corner exit. These symptoms can all come from a diff that's too tight.

So here's how I fixed it:

First step was just getting it out




Then came pulling out the internals. Note there is a slot for both 1 and 2 way. I left it at 1 since I autocross and don't want much if any lock on corner entry.


Then I adjusted the lock by changing the order of the disks. The top picture is 100%, while the bottom has a set of disks cancelled out bringing it to 80% lock.




Lastly, I changed the number of cone springs in the center of the spider gears. These are the brass colored disks in the picture below. There were three cone springs in the center, I reduced it to two. This reduces the amount of preload to give a lower breakaway torque. I'm not sure what the stock number of cone springs is but my guess would be two and the previous owner had thrown in an extra. There were also two washers. I assume this is the stock amount.



Conclusion? The reduction in preload from removing a cone spring has eliminated the chatter completely. Smooth and silent now. Less preload means a lower breakaway torque which lets the wheels will more easily rotate separate as they should in a corner. So I'm expecting the car to rotate much better now with less preload. Also, the reduction in lock should help me get on the gas a little sooner on corner exit. Before, when I would get on the gas coming out of the corner, it would go full lock and the back end would slide out. Now the lock is less aggressive so I should be able to get on it a little earlier and put the power down in a usable way.

I'll be attending the Philly region autocross this weekend and will report back with how the changes felt.

[LuckyX2]

Finally got my twin scroll EFR7163 after two years of daydreaming...

What's in the box?!


Oh, just an awesome turbo


Shiny billet compressor


Side view


Closer look at the mixed flow TiAl turbine


Divided wastegate


Manifold and downpipe too


This manifold is perfect




Big thanks to Full-Race for being an awesome company with the highest quality stuff and to Def for throwing together a group buy.

I'll hopefully have this installed within a week and can do some datalogging. Don't expect any dyno pulls soon though, I'm leaving for a cross country drive mid August and will be gone for 2-3 weeks.

Also, I just recently did my once a year reshimming of my head and saw I ate yet another shim. High lift, stiff springs and solid lifters just aren't nice to the shims.
Time to switch to a VE head I guess!



Hey, Full-Race posted my picture on their Facebook HERE. Pretty cool...
Thanks Geoff

[LuckyX2]

Started putting the 7163 on today. My oil feed isn't as long as I thought so I'll need another, I snapped an exhaust stud and the downpipe doesn't want to line up with the turbine outlet. Typical issues...

[LuckyX2]

Well, it's gonna be a little while before I get this thing running now...



That's the banjo bolt for the oil feed line and yes, that's the threads from the block broken off in it

Either going to helicoil it or thread it out to 1/4" NPT since that would be just a little larger than the M12 bolt that was in there. Not sure yet.

Also, I have no idea how the intercooler piping is supposed to fit. I bought THIS kit and absolutely cannot see a way it would go together. I'm starting to think they sent me the wrong pipe actually, the pieces are different than in the pictures. Next skill on my to learn list is definitely welding so I don't have to deal with stupid things like this.

In good news though, I got the downpipe to line up after loosening everything and going back at it. Probably a leak from it not lining up right where the downpipe meets the exhaust but I don't really care. It's after the turbo and after the O2 sensor, so whatever. So once the oil threads are fixed and I get some piping that works, it will be good to go.

If anyone reading this is in east PA, I definitely recommend Nyco for any of your fitting needs. I walked in with my old bottom mount oil feed line, told them I needed the same thing but twice as long and $36 and 15 minutes later I walked out with this:

Very pleased with Nyco.

[LuckyX2]

Update, the install is VERY close to being done. I just need a 45* or 90* fitting for the coolant feed since the wastegate actuator blocks a straight fitting.



Tapping the oil feed to 1/4" NPT went smoothly. Time consuming, going just a turn or two at a time but no issues.



Even got my eBay piping to work



For those considering this pipe for a top mount, here's the pipe I had to cut and how much I had to take off. I needed to use one of my own 90* elbows too, since it wasn't supplied.



And here's the finished product:

[LuckyX2]

Well, she finally runs. Here's a little clip of the boost recovery for everyone. 3rd gear, about 3k and I floored it. Let off the throttle after it got into boost a bit and then got back on the throttle and it was right back where it left off in an instant.

More info soon.

Update: Had a boost leak in this vid... I'll make another at some point showing the improved spool.

[LuckyX2]

2015 Season First Update!

After a lot of going back and forth last season about where I want to go visually (Paint? Vinyl? What fenders? What bumpers? etc) I finally got my act together. Vinyl was a bad idea as I should have known, so I'll be getting an HLVP gun and spraying it myself. As for the body work, I didn't like the fenders I got, there was a gap at the "point" up front and on my driver's side, it liked to rub the door when I opened it, and it broke a small chunk off... So I just picked up some Koguchi Power fenders. Got KP rear overs too, which will cover up the dent, from rolling, nicely.

Should look a little something like this with the new KP goodies. Yum.


Now I just need to decide on sideskirts (old ones fit like ass, surprise, surprise) and I'm set to paint. What are some good fitting ones that will flow well?

[vox]

Hi Lucky what is the power your marina on the efr 7163?

[LuckyX2]

Not sure yet, planning on tuning it soon and getting some numbers.

[insa]

Hey there.

Any updates on your car? Did you have the time to have it tuned, yet?

[LuckyX2]

Hi. Sorry, no tune yet, other things just keep coming up to do on the car and more power has been getting put aside for now. Next purchase is a new LSD and then hopefully tuning after that.