Finally have my car back on the road again, after 7 whole months!
Was a good break from the car, which was much needed after the disappointing time I had last year/season.
Anyway, got the caster rods modified and fitted with the help of a mate and a lathe.
Previous caster rod position with MAX rod:
Current setup with modified GTR caster rods, flush with roll bar for more clearance:
Got some tyres mounted on the R33 GTR wheels, 215/40′s though I kinda wish I got something bigger, think i’ve gone off skinny tyres!
I also got kinda bored in the evenings when I couldn’t work outside on my car, decided to try tinting my crystal rear lights all-red to see what it would look like, wasnt sure..
They dont look too bad but im not convinced, i used tint vinyl so can remove easy enough. Think im going to re-fit the OEM lights but make up some cool LED boards for them myself for something to do.
Other than that, I picked up a black Apexi AVCR boost controller for a good price:
Think im picking up a Garret 2871r .64 turbo on the weekend along with some Nismo 740cc injectors, then I think that will be all the parts for the power hike collected, still debating poncams though. The car picks up awesome with the 4.3 final drive welded diff I fitted, not to mention the wedled diff is absolute night and day to drift with in comparison to the tired 2-way LSD that was fitted before, feels good to be back!
Apologies for the rambled post and shitty pictures, just getting back into the swing of things!
Been working on the Silvia over the last few days in between the shit weather, most of the work under the car is now done, I fitted a replacement 4.3 final drive diff that I had welded up. It has UK output shafts, so I converted the driveshafts/inner CV to UK stuff to suit. This wasnt a big deal as one of the import CV’s had exploded and was useless anyway.
This is all that was left when I removed the old shafts and diff. The boot had split all round, and there were no ball bearings in there at all, and half the bearing carrier had gone haha!!
Had a bit of an impulse buy recently and picked up an Apexi Power FC ECU with commander, its and L-Jet so uses an airflow meter, I bought a Z32 AFM from the same dude selling the ECU for a good price. Keep telling myself that its stuff I can always sell on for the same price if I never get round to power upgrades, thought id just aswell get the ball rolling collecting all the supporting mods for a bigger turbo, should be good!
Went to plug in the Power FC just to check it worked ok and the display on the commander worked, then noticed a red wire randomly sticking into thin air at the ECU plug, found that the wire had snapped out of pin 105, which is the ‘Fuel Pressure Control’, which isnt very cool! Not sure if it snapped as i was unplugging the stock ECU or if it had snapped off before. Kinda hoping when its fixed it will cure the low-boost issue ive had, the car only boosts to .5 bar for some reason, hoping its the ECU capping the boost because of the fuel signal not being there hahah.
So seeing as ive deleted the aircon, im going to take the pin for that out and replace the pin which the wire snapped out of.
So the last thing on my list is to fit some new caster rods. I’m using Part Shop MAX arms at the moment, but they’re way too chunky and are limiting my steering lock. To the point where the wheel using the rods as the lockstop instead of the lower arm. I bought some Skyline GTR rods from driftworks, these are kinked and generally thinner so will allow for more clearance. They need a few tweaks to make the the most out of them on an s-body. In their shortest setting theyre still too long, so the orange threaded sleeve part can be cut down a bit both ends to make the rod shorter. Also the holes that mount to the LCA are different so you have to slot the forward most hole to suit the LCA. Last of all, the inboard metal spacer that mounts at the front can be shortened , to allow the front joint to move further inwards and generally brining the whole rod further in. With these tweaks the rod should be at least flush with the roll bar, which will be alot better!
And this morning I picked up some R33 GTR wheels, will be using them on the rear at drift days as it sucked bending TE’s last time! Going to run the full set for a bit while I get the TE’s straightened and potentially sold for something different as I fancy a change!
Obviously i’d stopped blogging on WordPress for a while and created a Tumblr, not sure why. Tumblr is pretty good but i’ve been getting pissed off with the same stuff going around over and over again, it’s cool to have stuff you like all in one place, but thats about it.
Anyway, i’ve decided to start using this WordPress again to try and motivate me to do shit on my car and other projects!
The last time I used my Silvia was back at the end of July, at Awesomefest weekender here in the UK. It was set to be the biggest event of the year at probably the best place to drive in the country, I spent a fair amount of time and cash getting my car up together and solid so I could go hard all weekend and have maximum fun. Didnt really work out.
I got food poisoning on the friday and basically spent half of the saturday shitting and puking, while missing 3 track slots that day. Finally got out while feeling rough as, and on the first lap one of my boost hoses popped off, had to sit out the rest of the run until I could get to some tools. Changed some hose clips round and went out for my last run of the day, got to lap two this time before the same hose came off again. Fixed the problem once and for all on the Sunday morning while feeling like death still, but amped to get out for my first session and go at it. Second lap, first corner I came off the track and hit this massive kurb at the edge of this rumble strip, bent my rear lower arm in half and slightly bent a rim. Goes to show, a genuine wheel put up more of a fight than a chunky OEM steel lower arm!
So obviously pissed off with that and generally feeling like I wanted to give up, my good friends kept me going and subbed in cash to buy some adjustable rear lower arms from the Driftworks stand at the track! Amazing! So there was a mad rush to swap out the bent rear LCA in time for my next track session, but I made it out!
Although on the second lap I span at the same fucking corner and coursed-out towards the same kurb, hit my front right wheel, bending the rim again and kinking a tie-rod. So now the car felt like a complete wet turd to drive, with around 4* of camber on one wheel at the back, and some stupid toe-in on the opposite wheel at the front. There was one more session left of my weekend, the last whole session of the weekend in fact.
Went out and gave it absolute shit, and had the best session of the whole weekend. My car was battered, bent and only running .5 bar for some reason, but I drove it foot the the floor and had a blast!
Here’s and in car vid from the weekend. Stoked about the uphill ‘esses’, cant wait to go back again and go harder!
Also in this video a few times, and in the second video being chased my my friend in his S13 (towards the end).
So all in all a massively disappointing weekend, once I got the car home it was left for weeks in a state, didnt want to touch it. I also cracked the diff casing at the track, so after about 2 months I took the diff out to inspect it. I’ve never touched the diff before and was told it was a 2-way when I bought the car. Turns out its a worn-out GTR 2-way with piss weak ramp angles. Hopefully this explains why the car is a stuggle to keep sideways without having my foot nailed down the whole time!
Without wanting to spend big money on a car I was starting to lose interest in, I decided to look for a short final drive 4.3 diff that I could weld. After being messed around by people trying to source one, I finally found one about 2 weeks go, so its been about 5 whole months since I drove my car properly!!
So those have been the main events over the past few months. Other than that I fitted the other rear LCA, so the rear is completely adjustable now, also fitted adjustable front LCA’s as I needed proper lock-stops and less track that the extended S14 LCA’s gave me. Also picked up some kinked GTR caster rods for the front, to give me more clearance on lock, until the roll bar anyway.
