Ca S14 zenki VVL super build

[blackdragon328]

aaah, gotcha, that makes more sense.

so yea onto them color suggestions if someone has some...

[STEVES14]

hows the car running?

[Big Zee]

the ford fusion black with rainbow flake

its realy nice and you don't really see the flake untill you get about 5 feet from the car.
which stock ecu do you use to run the motor ?

[blackdragon328]

sooooo bit, my mechanic got a track car in (from some team I dont know) so he did NOTHING on my car this week....so I understand it...track car, its got to be running fast so it can go back to racing...still kinda bit.

so I talked to him today n he said that next week on friday, we are starting the S14...it better happen. so unfortunately, not running yet..

as for the fusion black...hard to tell from pictures, Imma go see if the ford dealership has one and take a look at it, thanx for the idea. We are using a reflashed ECU for the intial startup simply to make sure there are no odd noises or anything like that. The VVL doesnt work on that ECU so we arnt gonna rev it or anything I dont think.

[STR8E180]

Originally Posted by Yellow4g63

Some AUS guys have done the swap with the P12 head. I can't remember his name but it's a white 180sx.

must be talking about me

[blackdragon328]

damn str8e180, I like the numbers on ur dyno thread, its got me twice as excited to get mine dynoed....

[STR8E180]

yeah i was impressed as well didnt think it would make that much power
our australian dyno's read lower then you guys in the states as well

555kw on 33psi
621kw on 44psi

its pretty responsive as well 300kw is made at roughly 4000rpm

[compactfean]

Can someone tell me why the crank pulley has to be machined 3mm besides belt alignment? Can I just machine the vvl crank collar 3mm and be cool? Not understanding the need for a spacer AND machining the crank pulley.

[2000gtx]

jus got my s14 with vvl head running myself ...if you need some help let me know...i am using p12 cam sensor with chevy coils...

[blackdragon328]

months and months and months of freakin work on this car guys....
sorry I havn't updated in a while...its taken a ton of my time to do this car and I have very little time as it is.

So, after literally month of trying to get all the bugs out of the system we have the base tune done.
359whp at 7500rpm at 14psi boost. Not bad for a base tune. (final tune will be 9000rpm and 18-22psi boost)

right now the biggest problems we are facing are:
1) that the water temp is a little high (102-105) and im not sure what more I can do to cool the car
2) the wastegate is too small (38mm)...easy fix, I need to get enough cash together to buy a 44 or 46mm one
3) the boost controller (blitz) is not good enough, we need one that will work boost/rpm...so same thing, I need to buy a new one.
4) the wheels baaaaarely clear the bbk (by like...less than a cm). I know the calipers are stationary and the wheel should never flex but it still scares the crap out of me so I bought some 20mm front spacers and 25mm rear spacers to fix this. problem is, now I have to go to 50mm front fenders (yaay...more money to spend).

heres all the pics I could dredge up, its not the most exciting thing ever cuz most of the work done was electrical/tuning/other stuff u cant actually see.
I do finally have a video of it revving to 8k rpm (fb link towards the bottom) hope you enjoy that

finally found a rear wing for it that wasnt out of this world expensive and that has a nice subtle style to it (those arn't my wheels btw... I like the FNO1s but this particular set is only on for tuning to clear the bbk properly)


on the dyno


whooo spacers...


couldnt get the timing perfectly right for a long time so we took a look around the head again to check things out


on the dyno some more


closed the hood....doesnt clear the block (see how its all bowed in the middle n doesnt fit flush with the headlights)...still havnt fixed that but well have to cut the interior of the hood out and if that still doesnt work put spacers on the back of it


almost every piece custom made...such a pain to do but very rewarding in the end to know its mostly custom built


hey look...its on the dyno...yet again (these are each different times we tried to make it run properly btw...not just different shots of the same day on the dyno)


GTR brakes (gtr 33? 34? dont remember...)




and FINALLY....this is the base map tune. this was our first few pulls with the VVL disabled and 12psi boost. we went back later and did a pull WITH VVL at 14psi boost, which gave us that extra 50whp


aaaand finally here is the link to my FB for the video of it starting/revving a little. im pretty sure I made it public so I hope it works for yall...tell me if it doesnt.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...3305887&type=3


oh...and I just found this picture as well....this is kind of a funny story that happened when we first started the car. my mechanic sent me the pic via phone to prove it happened before I could come down and see it for myself....my muffler expelled its innards due to the ridiculous backpressure in the exhaust....He had never seen this happen.... I have never seen this happen... My mechanic said the muffler was done....I took a glove, shoved my hand in there, gutted the last remains of it n handed it back to him n said "straight pipe" XD and thats how were running the car now and it sound gorgeous (at least I think so). here's the pic for it.



so there you have it gents... its slowly getting there. for the last 2-3 months we've been working all the bugs out (dreadfully annoying and slow) and now it finally starts and runs so we are now working the new bugs we found with it running.... ill try and keep this more updated... I donno how many more pics I'll have since its again mostly elec work n such.

comments? concerns? things I forgot? am I screwin up somewhere? etc etc...feel free to tell me, we got 2 sets of eyes on this car but its both our first times doing a VVL and this is my biggest build to date so if I'm missin something I wont get offended, ill just be happy if someone points it out so I dont go n kill myself or worse...wreck my car.



CJ

[blockedwizard]

Nice update!! And I would have never thought that could happen to the muffler haha

[Yellow4g63]

Why not put the fan clutch back on and the shroud? also a coolant swirl pot to keep the system bubble free.

[blackdragon328]

thanx blockedwizard.... and yea, I was stunned when I saw that. really bizarre. scared the crap out of my mechanic, he thought the engine exploded or somethin when it happened

4g63, would that work better? a single fan on clutch with the shroud rather than 2 electric fans (also with a shroud actually)
the swirl pot I definitely agree with though, totally did not think of that.....Imma start looking into it, thanx for the idea.

[Yellow4g63]

I had twin fal flex a lite fans on my RB20 before I went to the factory clutch fan. My temps were 204-210 depending on outside weather. I had my fans on a pivot fan controllers, they would come on once the temps got over 190 and were suppose to shut off @ 188. They never turned off unless I shut the car off. With my stock fan clutch and shroud I see temps @ 184 when driving and 195 sitting in stop and go traffic in the summer time. Car runs way cooler with the fan clutch than it ever did with the electric fans.

[blackdragon328]

interesting. Well I'll have to try that then. I'm definitely looking to be more in the 180-198 range so that would be perfect.
I know several companies sell SR20 shrouds in the US now so that shouldnt be a problem to find. I'm not 100% on this but I seem to remember that the KA clutch fan is interchangeable with the Sr (can someone confirm/deny this?)


If I can get a hold of a clutch fan/shroud I'll do a comparison on the dyno at op-temp to see exactly what is gained or lost both in hp (which I know is negligible) and much more importantly, change in temperature.

[blockedwizard]

Ya I'm sure with al that back pressure causing that muffler to separate it made a hell of a noise, on the clutch fan I loved running the stock shroud and clutch fan on my old sr, would never have temp problems. Got stuck in 3 hours of dead stop traffic one day and thought I was going to be screwed. Not even a hiccup. Wasn't making serious power or anything as serious as you are but from what I've heard from most people with alot more experience then me you can't go wrong with the stock setup.

Anyway love the build!!!!!!!!!!!

[rbs14kouki]

If you go back to clutch fan ! Make sure you Use a sr20det water pump not the ve one .

Gktech makes a realy nice fan (flows more) to replace the stock one



And what is it under your valve cover just in the back of your cam gears ??? Id that a guide?

[Yellow4g63]

RBS14 it looks like a cheat type tool to make sure they have the cam gear timing right would be my guess.

[blackdragon328]

blockedwizard : thanx im not a huge fan (ha...pun intended) of how the stock shroud and fan look but if it works better... that's whats goin on there.

rbs: were already running and SR water pump but yes indeed. and ill definitely look into the GKtech fans, thanx.

and yes, 4g63 is right, the weird looking metal thing under the valve cover (well not under but that we were using with the valve cover off) is just a cheat tool. I think we were using it to keep track of where the old timing was so that even if we screwed up the new timing (dropped chain or something) then we'd have the old marks... I wasn't there when James finally got the timing right but I heard it was a massive pain.

anyway... here is the final tune for now. I will need to get a new boost controller (likely an AEM running off the ECU) and a bigger wastegate (likely 50mm) before I can tune it again. However at 500whp I need to change the fuel setup to a dual external pump anyway so I'm going to wait a little, save up and do all 3 of those and get it retuned sometime down the line.
as it is, James says I need to drive it (which I will likely do for the first time within the next few days) because its already "powerful enough". I want to push over 550whp out of this car but I can see the wisdom of getting used to it at 450whp before moving up (fastest car I've owned was previously at 337whp no vvl.....so this will be good jump already).

heres the latest dyno sheet on it.

[Yellow4g63]

very nice pump gas power, make sure you have some good rubber on your wheels or it's going to be a scary ride.

[PoorMans180SX]

Very solid build so far sir, engine looks fantastic.

Have you installed those subframe bushings yet? They look like offset bushings made to put a S14 subframe into an S13.

Also, what does your wastegate tube off the manifold look like? I'm assuming it's a single gate. Is it divided all the way up to the very face of the flange? I am led to believe, by your dyno graph, that it is not and is costing you significant spool time with that turbo.

Why do you say you need a larger wastegate?

I am very jealous of your FN's also, haha.

[blackdragon328]

thanx! yea, definitely pump gas for now. I have no E85 stations around Santa Barbara and I dont want the extra hassle of ordering big drums of it or something.

and yes, I dont remember quite what I have on there. I know I'm running 10s all around on the Eurolines. I think 255 (maybe 245s) rears and 235 fronts. the fronts are currently falkens and the rears are federal rsr's if I remember correctly. I'll be switching over to something a bit more grippy as soon as they are dead tho (which probably wont take long)

[blackdragon328]

poorman:

thanx,

yes, subframe bushings are WRONG!! I'mma sell em off I guess cuz its been so long since I bought them I doubt they will take them back.

right now the wastegate tube runs down as a small tube. I'd like to make a 1.25in exhaust pipe running all the way to the rear tho. makes it sound nice and looks intriguing.

well, right now we dont have a boost controller...so the the turbo is spooling very slowly anyway. but no, its a 1st gen full race manifold which was not split. I'd absolutely love to upgrade but its not my priority atm.

I need a bigger wastegate (unless the boost controller fixes it) because we are getting boost creep.... we WILL try the boost controller first, then changing the spring...but ultimately I may need a new wg

and lol, those are nice FNs but they arn't mine.... they are just on for dyno. actually I was looking at the pics and found that James took them off the customer's car next to mine (I hope he asked the guy). its a nice one too...kouki s14 with an SR similar to mine but with no VVL.

[PoorMans180SX]

Originally Posted by blackdragon328

poorman:

thanx,

yes, subframe bushings are WRONG!! I'mma sell em off I guess cuz its been so long since I bought them I doubt they will take them back.

right now the wastegate tube runs down as a small tube. I'd like to make a 1.25in exhaust pipe running all the way to the rear tho. makes it sound nice and looks intriguing.

Right on man, it's going to blow your mind when you fix the tube! Looking forward to more updates.

[madserv]

Subscribed good project..

[Drift_FX]

blowing out the innard on a muffler is common in motorcycles because the packing inside will wear out and they need to be repacked.... weird to see on a car though... my vvl s13 build is almost done as well.... good luck man. keep the updates comming!

[rwtf]

Originally Posted by Drift_FX

blowing out the innard on a muffler is common in motorcycles because the packing inside will wear out and they need to be repacked.... weird to see on a car though... my vvl s13 build is almost done as well.... good luck man. keep the updates comming!

lol my first s13 did that.

[blackdragon328]

thanx guys

drift fx: interesting... never heard of repacking an exhaust but I like mine straightpipe anyway.

rwtf: cool, im glad im not the only one where the exhaust went all stupid XD


small update: I should HOPEFULLY be driving the car for the first time thursday or friday this week, maybe even driving it home if im lucky and everything works well. I'll put up a video link either way.

[blockedwizard]

Nice I'm sure you're excited

[blackdragon328]

yes indeed, super excited.
Ive been driving it on and off for two weeks now. its amazing but needs some serious suspension tuning...doesnt handle anywhere near as well as it should at the moment.
also....the power sits a little too high in the rpms for it to be a good touge car now....kinda sad but I have my miata for that anyway and I dont really wanna take this car out too much since I would hate to even nose it into a canyon wall.

Ill put some more pics up asap. Since its been home the cage was installed as well as a few other small things, strut bars etc, and I started the sound system as well as the conversion from all plastic interior parts to fiberglass, which is entertaining but very time consuming (and now im itching all over...hate fiberglass for that).

still kinda looking for color options...right now it seems like I will be doing a very very dark metallic blue or purple (almost black but with a tinge of blue or purple in it)...but im definitely still open to suggestions.