Took some new pix of my car

[a_ahmed]

Dad got a new camera (Olympus E-550 18x optical zoom 7.1megapixel) and I took for the first time ever outside photos of my car.

Since then he returned it and got the E-570 (20x optical zoom 10megapixels)
which I can't wait to try on the car :P

Here are some immediate pix:

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/3809/p4140020xx2.jpg

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/1461/p4140031qe7.jpg

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/5563/p4140035ga0.jpg

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/5255/p4140041zv5.jpg

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3741/p4140047al8.jpg

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/3056/p4140051tj0.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/6477/p4140058av0.jpg

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/3073/p4140059na2.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7817/p4140076le1.jpg



Soon I'll be getting all those new goodies installed... and I am waiting on my mb competition 17x9+17 and rt-615 255/40/17 wheel and tire combo

Oh and I'm waiting on richard to come back from vacation i want my koni sexoilovers.

And def the last bit I need are the spherical bearings for the uprights I sex you please for them :) They are the last thing I need in order to install everything... :(

Hint of things to come:


http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/671/sexyp4150057qj1.jpg

[WilloW]

Looking good man, I would love to see the fitments of those Azenis on your car. I've got the same wheels as you, even the same offset.

Edit: I meant on the MB's, I've got the same wheels.

[BigOdom1]

/\/\/\he getting new wheels too


spl parts are nice, but did you see the bushings on that site for nams, or whatever

[a_ahmed]

Which one? Which bushings? Link? :)

I don't have all the parts in that pic :P Just a teaser hehe, I'll take a sex shot of them all once I get all the stuff together... :)

[turtl631]

Looks good. Too bad it's a sunroof car...at least it works!

What side skirts are those? Side skirts look so much better on S13s since they have that body line down there. S14 side skirts always look like such an afterthought unless the car is painted and stickered up enough that your eyes get distracted.

[a_ahmed]

^I know lol... its so true (s14 sideskirts)

It's Canadian stock aero (rear bumper skirt and side skirt/etc...)

[90kacoupe]

your car looks beautiful... and if i ever see it im stealing those skirts.. lol j/k but i need a set bad... i love the build ur doing

[vw_nissan]

Looks good. Too bad it's a sunroof car...at least it works!




What's wrong with sunroof? :mad:

[a_ahmed]

I need to get a hat im getting fever and headache every day from the sun lol... I have th covers somewhere though but thats heavy :P

Oh and whats wrong with it? Well weight.. I can't wait to get rid of mine, glass+misc is heavy.

[veilside180sx]

What's wrong with sunroof? :mad:

Less head clearance, especially with a helmet on. The other item of note is more weight and the chassis is less rigid.

[vw_nissan]

Less head clearance, especially with a helmet on. The other item of note is more weight and the chassis is less rigid.

I know...:D......but with the s13, since it isn't a sliding roof, is the headroom that much different from a non sunroof car? I haven't been in one without a roof, so I don't know.

Richard, did you get my PM?

[a_ahmed]

well u know i removed all those cover things, so its like plain flat glass on top.. nothing to bother my head :) I dont ge thow people get clearance issues. I am 6'2, 280lbs, big shoulders, legs, arms, a lil bit of a belly haha and i fit fine :) Only issue I ever have is seats to accomodate my shoulders, legs, chest, etc...

[vw_nissan]

It's weird....I guess it really depends on your driving position. I have to sit very far back in order to clear my knees off the steering column and steering wheel extension to accomodate my arms. I am not even 6 feet. :confused:

[rockdrummer027]

I love that aero! If I was putting a kit on my car that would be the one. Unfortunatley, on a tight budget I find it difficult to justify the cost on something thats just going to get scraped up on speed bumps and such.

[a_ahmed]

I'll keep this as my sort of build thread of sorts. I'll take more pictures especially of all the parts when I get them all in one sexy pic/in detail. I'll also weight everything, etc... for the benefit of curiosity.

I'll take new pics of the car with it all installed too of course.

Well my tires and wheels arrived and MAN OH MAN are they SO SEXYYYY.

Even my wife was like wow and woah.

They are FAT and sexy (gunmetal looks pretty good actually).

My Eastwood fender roller and heat gun came too, lots of new parts on the way too.

HERE & SOON TO BE INSTALLED OR TO BE USED PARTS
- Z32 rear aluminum upright
- Mint non-HICAS subframe
- SPL v2 Tension Rods S13
- SPL PRO v4 tie rod end set (pair) S13/S14
- SPL Solid Aluminum Subframe Bushings
- New Rear Ichiba 5 lug hubs/bearings
- Eastwood fender roller + Some hot heat gun
- MB Motoring Competition 17x9"+17 Gunmetal wheels
- Falken Azenis RT-615 255/40/17
- Rebuilt KA24DE Engine & Tranny (clutch/flywheel/etc..)

PURCHASED BUT BACK ORDERED & WAITING OR STILL ON THE WAY & SOON TO BE HERE:
- KONI 8611 Race Dampers front and rear
- Richard/Veilside's S13 front, S13 rear with z32 fork housings
- GC front Camber/Caster Plates & Tein rear pillowball mount plate
- GC Kit & EIBACH Race Springs (600lbs 6" front, 450lbs 6" rear)
- Torrington bearings
- SPL v2 toe arms S13/S14
- SPL v2 RUCAs S13/S14 (new release)
- Tein Z33 Inner Tie Rods from SPL
- S15 HLSD & correct output shafts
- Arizona Z Car BBK: Front 13"(332mm) x 1.38"(35mm) thick 2 piece rotors + billet 6-piston aluminum calipers. Rear: 12.2" (310mm) 21mm thick 2 piece rotors + billet 4-piston aluminum calipers. And Hydraulic e-brake kit
- Cusco S13 Engine Mounts
- Peak Performance S13 Pro Tranny Mount
- NEW Nissan Dash Trim Console Shift boot with Plastic Bezel (S13)
- Earls Stainless Steel Clutch Line
- NABCO Clutch Slave Cylinder (S13)
- NABCO Clutch Master Cylinder (S13)
- AMS Performance HAMMER Shift Knob (Heavy)

SOON TO BE PURCHASED PARTS
- DEF's Spherical bearings for z32 upright
- PIAA Silicone Wipers

[a_ahmed]

http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/9078/rt6151dx1.jpg

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/2532/rt6152mp5.jpg

Cell phone pix of the tires

s15 HLSD also came yesterday.

Brakes should come tomorrow :)

[WilloW]

Nice! I can't tell from your pictures, is the tire square with the wheel?

[a_ahmed]

Yeah the cell phone pix suck, I'll take some proper pix later, but yes they are definitely square. Looks awesome. Much better in real life.

[WilloW]

Thanks man, now you've got me thinking about getting 255s for my S14. Nice wheels biter.

[a_ahmed]

The brakes arrived :)

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/8718/frontrearoc0.jpg

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/4025/frontrearwheelstd4.jpg

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/746/fronts1fb1.jpg

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/8406/fronts2qr5.jpg

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/2874/rearspn9.jpg

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/3129/rearswheelhk1.jpg

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1024/wheelhf9.jpg

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/6853/wheeltire1di0.jpg

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/5724/wheeltire2ni9.jpg

I weighed my Arizona z car BBK.

Front 6 piston caliper + two pads in it + mount bracket = 8lbs
Front 2pc 13" rotors = 18lbs

Rear 4 piston calipers + 2 pads in it + mount bracket = 6lbs
Rear 2pc 12.2" rotors = 11lbs

[a_ahmed]

Here is what the car used to look like when I first got it 3 years ago haha:

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1026/p1010070rq0.jpg

[a_ahmed]

More goodies in the mail

Engine and Transmission refreshments:
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/6587/enginetransmissionai2.jpg

BRM Stainless Steel Exhaust, 2.5" piping, 22" resonator, dual tip muffler, catco cat:
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/8756/exhaustcn3.jpg


The mail man keeps coming, but the main hotness is the koni 8611s... :( When will holland Koni send us these... and def's spherical that i gotta wait... i just wana put everything on already...

Also got Bings' polyurethane exhaust hangers not in the pix... and AMS Performances sent me the hammer shift knob, but I have to pick it up from UPS...

[@llan]

I envy your pile of fresh new parts

[a_ahmed]

Oh lol you found this thread. Well actually it's kind of out of date. I got all kinds of newer stuff (finally got all the arms/etc...)

I can put the car back on road.. however I'm still missing Richard's koni 8611 coilovers... and well def if he is gona finish the upright sphericals....

I'm also searching for a new good compression KA24de and manual transmission... as mine are kapoot... and I just can't find one.

I'll take new pix just for oogling eyes, but I'm a little lazy right now and busy with life.

I think this car will see the light of day in spring... even though my plan was to experiment and tune the suspension on the car whole summer on track but I fail... I spent the whole summer carless oh well. This thing takes time and money...

[Longfellow]

Those are the same brakes I'm looking into getting.

[a_ahmed]

Some crappy WIP pix... check the swaybar mount bushing...what's up with that?

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/2448/p9230737copyrl1.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6603/p9230738copymr8.jpg
http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/7048/p9230742copydz2.jpg
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/367/p9230709copyog6.jpg
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9493/p9230712copypn2.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3496/p9230724copyxc2.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/2614/p9230731copybe3.jpg
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/3485/p9230689copyvl6.jpg
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/6773/p9230690copyqt4.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/2460/p9230691copylj5.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9913/p9230692copyht5.jpg
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/1430/p9230646pi2.jpg
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4728/p9230647zp9.jpg
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/6742/p9230649qg9.jpg
http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/9732/p9230652dq7.jpg
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/5342/p9230664vo3.jpg
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/9177/p9230670iy7.jpg
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/7705/p9230675is2.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9373/p9230688pi3.jpg
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/5108/pa020744jk2.jpg
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/5534/pa020745sw8.jpg

[2Fass240us]

I think I need a tetanus shot after seeing your rear sway bar.

[ecugrad]

What wheels are those?

[a_ahmed]

The new pix suck kind of, offset by rusted parts and rusted bolts the new parts being in black mostly are barely visible haha, plus the car is very dirty. Hasn't been washed in six months~

Point of interest, the 255/40/17 17x9+ have plenty inner clearance on kyb agx/stech. I hope itll be the same with richard's housings on 6" springs. Outer clearance is another issue obviously.

The AZC brakes, had 'run out' or whatever it's called and had to be 1mm cut on a lathe, otherwise it hit the caliper. Also the calipers had to be shimmed. Spoke to Dave he said he's 'thinking' about fixing that in the future LOL. Also the rear caliper bracket ears had to be cut off from the upright (woohoo weight savings lol). Ebrake assembly, dust shields all had to go (yay weight savings).

The new subframe is sexy and mint, also has less of those balancing vibration absorbtion weights than the hicas one.

As you can see I have polyurethane two piece bushings in the uprights... bad yea?

The tanabe swaybar just barely clears the nismo power brace by a few milimeters and the yashio factory brace just barely clears the swaybar D bushings by like 1 mm or so... touching it almost but then again that's not suppose to be moving so won't be issue i think.

Also... the d bushing is pulled on can you see that? What's up with that...

The BRM exhaust had to be cut lengthwise a bit for some odd reason.. but no big issue....

The subframe three point weaksauce brace was taken off and one of the bolts snapped anyways... but what i've been told it's not necessary those without didn't complain.. but that area does look like it could use some bracing...

The tein z33 tie rods I fitted are barely any different vs the stock oem z32 ones... they are lightly thicker but its insignificant and they don't come with locking plates and instead come with a 'drifting spacer' which of course I didn't install. On SPL's site its 10 dollar difference and honestly the spacer is 10$ by itself so that says it all.... they market one for grip the other for grip but whoopie do.

The engine mounts and tranny mounts I installed are pretty pimp, hopefully no more engine/tranny movement... and combined with 1piece alum shaft (thats on its way) and lighter clutch+flywheel assembly, should give some interesting times...

The guy who did my paintjob I discovered was an asshole... but since its private not a shop (I didnt know better at the time) i kinda deserve it but still pissed... found two spots where he bondo'd the hell out of the place instead of cutting metal and welding... and also found a hole on frame near passenger side... which is not good... not major hole but still... and also in passenger fender near legs there is again a lil hole where u could touch carpet once liner was removed lol... need this fixed yea... I also messed up the driver side rear fender pretty bad with the fender roller lol... and the bottom of the fender lip is where that asshole bondo'd.. so the sheet metal slightly seperated cause rust was there and it just pulled off.. **** i wonder how this affects body rigidity... not good... hmmm i hate cars... money flys :(

Also put in new oil pan as the other one was crushed and rusted... haha... this time im putting in 10w40 redline oil also... atf syn redline for ps and as you can see new hicas rack is in there... also mt90 for transmission, 75w90 redline for diff (HLSD is in).

The stock exhaust hangers SUCKED and also the stock exhaust was mad heavy... the polyurethane exhaust hangers are quite handy... pretty tight fit... the BRM exhaust also looks much more sexy good fit minus the cutting that was required lengthwise a bit...

All the SPL arms are mint...

Also got the griffin rad in with stock clutch fan shroud proprely zipped tied to hehe... have still to do coil and wires. Also removed timing chain top and side guides so no more marble rattle hopefully.

Pretty much all the parts are installed just waiting on 1pc alum shaft from shaftmasters and richard to send me my coilovers after a long long wait... and I'm done.

[a_ahmed]

LOL@tetanus shot... uuh well yeah.... its a stock swaybar (i have a hicas/non abs car.. so im guessing its either of the bigger than 15mm swaybars). I think I'll just remove it anyways since the spring rates im getting are 600lbs/inch front and 450lbs/inch rear.. the rear will be loaded enough plus HLSD... dont wana be lifting the rear... should rotate hopefully just fine...

The wheels are MB competition 17x9+17 in gun metal :) They actually are worth the money, they are the new FNs and they are same/slightly lighter weight-wise...

[undesiredshoe]

how come your rear wheel looks so far forward?

[2Fass240us]

I can't believe the AZC stuff took that much massaging to get installed. Oh well, more fail to add to the pile.

[Epstein]

what front bar is that? I like the oil pan clearance!

[a_ahmed]

it's a tanabe swaybar and the car still needs an alignment lol the wheels are shooting all over the place, crazy camber, crazy caster, crazy toe all unequal since its all new adjustable arms

[JRas]

Nice, I remember you from Zilvia

Do you happen to know the price for those rotors and pads? just wondering how much it'd cost to replace those each time

[a_ahmed]

Theeeeeeeeeey'rrre heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrreeeeeeeeeee:

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/2999/pa210747eu8.jpg
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/6974/pa210748wu6.jpg
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/6709/pa210753je2.jpg
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3638/pa210754kq4.jpg
http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/6668/pa210756av3.jpg
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7044/pa210758ft7.jpg
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/111/pa210759rj3.jpg
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/8947/pa210763lt8.jpg
http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/368/pa210764tx4.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/1558/pa210767sk9.jpg

Only thing is I'm missing two washers as you can see on one of the front camberplates...

and I don't have the adjuster knob :(

And... i don't have the exact instructions on compress/rebound adjustment lol, first time im going to be doing this heh...

[veilside180sx]

The adjustments are wicked easy, and the instructions hardly really explain anything.

Some of the 8611's come with a knob and some don't. I just opened up the boxes and worked with what was there.

[turtl631]

What's the purpose of the white plastic washers above the gland nuts (Richard?)? I saw those in my bag of koni stuff but didn't use them.

[veilside180sx]

Increase rebound damping is counterclockwise, less it is clockwise.

Increase compression damping is clockwise, less is counterclockwise. Compression has actual clicks, whereas rebound does not.

[veilside180sx]

White washers are just to keep some dirt off the seal is all

[a_ahmed]

Increase rebound damping is counterclockwise, less it is clockwise.

Increase compression damping is clockwise, less is counterclockwise. Compression has actual clicks, whereas rebound does not.

Just curious where could i order some spare knobs? My dad has koni yellows, so ill borrow from him the two knobs for compression lol.

The compression is the top and rebound bottom right?

The turns they have a limitation right? I mean, they are not infinite like those jdm things.. where you keep rotating in one direction and it never ends.. or it has a limit (basically so i can know the limit or the start/end).

I guess I should start with a little bit of it dialed in? Or should I just go on road test and adjust from there.

I should do compression first then rebound adjustment right? First time I'm dealing with double adjustment lol, this'll be fun :)

Also where can I get the GC coilover sleeve wrenches of sorts? To adjust preload on spring and all that...

[Def]

Only need 1 knob - no reason to have them stay on the shocks.

There's a hard stop on the end of each adjustment. I'd say maybe 1.5 turns from full soft on rebound and 3-4 clicks of compression will probably feel good on the front. No idea on the rear.

You probably won't be anywhere near preloading the springs, so no need for an adjuster wrench, as the adjuster perch will turn by hand.

[veilside180sx]

FRONT
Rebound
Setting is Too Firm– Can cause the car to “jack
down”which can cause the driver to think the car
is too firm in compression.Can also cause a lack
in grip from the tire not separating from the chas-
sis fast enough and cause the car to understeer.
Setting is Too Soft – Though a soft rebound
setting will allow better compliance with the road,
the car may feel floaty or excessively oscillate
after hitting bumps.
Compression
Setting is Too Firm– Can cause the car to feel
skittish and lose grip over rough sections of
pavement. Can cause outside tire to be loaded
too quickly.The car won’t stabilize in a turn.
Setting is Too Soft– Can cause a corner entry
understeer. Can possibly cause excessive sus-
pension movement.
REAR
Rebound
Setting is Too Firm– Can cause a snap over
steer on corner entry from rear tires losing con-
tact on bumps. Can also cause the car to “jack
down”in the rear and less grip.
Setting is Too Soft– Can cause a corner entry
oversteer and corner exit oversteer.Vehicle may
feel floaty or excessively oscillate after hitting
bumps.
Compression
Setting is Too Firm– Can cause the car to have
a snap oversteer, especially on mid-corner
bumps.Car won’t feel stabile in turn and skittish
on rough pavement.
Setting is Too Soft – Can cause corner exit
understeer and possible excessive suspension
movement.
The following is a guide to try to fix handling problems AFTER the car’s initial setup has already been found.

[veilside180sx]

"copied" from Koni Motorsports catalog

Rebound is the top, compression is the bottom.

[veilside180sx]

Your mechanic needs to hit that top nut with a air gun to snug it up. I just tightened it by hand.

[a_ahmed]

Yeah I noticed. I could untighten it by hand too lol. Any torque specifics?

[a_ahmed]

Yay just found this too:

http://www.salug.org/~davidm/cars/koni.html (http://www.salug.org/%7Edavidm/cars/koni.html)

Adjusting The COMPRESSION (Bump) Damping Control

(Very Important to do this FIRST!)

Bump damping controls the unsprung weight of the vehicle (wheels, axles, etc.). It controls the upward movement of the suspension as when hitting a bump in the track. It should not be used to control the downward movement of the vehicle when it encounters dips. Also, it should not be used to control roll or bottoming.

Depending on the vehicle, the ideal bump setting can occur at any point within the adjustment range. This setting will be reached when "side-hop" or "walking" in a bumpy turn is minimal and the ride is not uncomfortably harsh. At any point other than this ideal setting, the "side-hopping" condition will be more pronounced and the ride may be too harsh.

STEP 1: Set all four dampers on minimum bump and minimum rebound settings.

STEP 2: Drive one or two laps to get the feel of the car. Note: When driving the car during the bump adjustment phase, disregard body lean or roll and concentrate solely on how the car feels over bumps. Also, try to notice if the car "walks" or "side-hops" on a rough turn.

STEP 3: Increase bump adjustment clockwise 3 clicks on all four dampers. Drive the car one or two laps. Repeat Step 3 until a point is reached where the car starts to feel hard over bumpy surfaces.

STEP 4: Back off the bump adjustment two clicks. The bump control is now set. Note: The back off point will probably be reached sooner on one end of the vehicle than the other. If this occurs, keep increasing the bump on the soft end until it, too, feels hard. Then back it off 2 clicks. The bump control is now set.

Adjusting the REBOUND Damping Control

Once you have found what you feel to be the best bump setting on all four wheels, you are now ready to proceed with adjusting the rebound. The rebound damping controls the transitional roll (lean) as when entering a turn. It does *not* limit the total amount of roll; it *does* limit how *fast* this total roll angle is achieved. How much the vehicle actually leans is determined by other things such as spring rate, sway bars, roll center, ride heights, etc.

It should be noted that too much rebound on either end of the vehicle will cause an initial loss of lateral acceleration (cornering grip) a that end which will cause the vehicle to oversteer or understeer excessively when entering a turn. Too much rebound control in relation to spring rate will cause a condition known as "jacking down." This is a condition where, after hitting a bump and compressing the spring, the damper does not allow the spring to return to a neutral position before the next bump is encountered. This repeats with each subsequent bump until the car is actually lowered onto the bump stops. Contact with the bump stops causes a drastic increase in roll stiffness. If this condition occurs on the front, the car will understeer; if it occurs on the rear, the car will oversteer.

STEP 1: With rebound set on full soft and the bump control set from your earlier testing, drive the car one of two laps, paying particular attention to how the car rolls when entering a turn.

STEP 2: Increase rebound damping three sweeps (or 3/4 turn) on all four dampers and drive the car one or two laps. Repeat Step 2 until the car enters the turns smoothly (no drastic attitude changes) and without leaning excessively. An increase in the rebound stiffness beyond this point is unnecessary and may result in a loss of cornering power. Note: As with the bump settings, this point will probably be reached at one end of the car before the other.

However, individual drivers may find it desirable to have a car that assumes an oversteering or understeering attitude when entering a turn. This can be easily "dialed-in" using slightly excessive rebound settings at either end.

[a_ahmed]

hey richard, do you think its a good idea to cut the bump stop a bit in the front? I think you did that for one of the other guys to add some travel. The fronts do have little travel, even though these are 600lbs/inch springs... but... what you think?

The front just doesn't look like it has enough travel.

[veilside180sx]

I already trimmed the bump stops on yours.

[a_ahmed]

Still looks like not enough travel don't you think? When I just came home now, I looked at the pictures again and thought hmm. Plus showed a few friends of mine and one guy i showed to he noted the same thing... he's like even 12kg springs will travel more... and these are 10.7kg.. i mean i dunno... but what do you think... Certainly not a good idea to be riding on bumpstops lol... infinite spring rate ahoy

[veilside180sx]

Have you installed them? I bottomed them all the way for shipping.

[a_ahmed]

actually.... LOL.. I think you're right they're all the way to the bottom... aah im tired... going to bed... not yet installed... but soon... the fronts will go on prolly tomorrow and rears well im waiting on def's rssbs to arrive in the mail... :(... hopefully they come tomorrow or something.

Ooh man... and winter is so close :( I hate canadian weather...

http://www.sr20forum.com/gallery/data/500/medium/brianscoil.jpg

But look at yourmom's setup.. see what i mean. You didnt trim as much as this mine though.... he runs 550lbs/inch with 7" springs right?

[veilside180sx]

Your flanges are welded higher than his. So your setup will have more than an additonal inch of travel already.

[a_ahmed]

well news flash update. They are on, and so are def's sphericals and z32 uprights. Just doing some final brake work and need to do alignment tomorrow hopefully all goes well...

The tires fit much better now that i can adjust front camber, still have to do correct alignment but it seems the front and rear when rotated to full turn hit slightly the bottom of the bumper and bottom of the sideskirt or so it seems... im also worried a bit about the top seams that run along if you know what im talking about and the wiring harness (which could be prolly moved).

I didn't cut the bump stops it'll be fine it seems, I moved the sleeve collar all the way up... and damn these things dont have much droop thats for sure heh. Still im so frickin excited to get the car rolling...

The front fenders are hell to pull and the asshole that ripped me off on the paintjob used SO much bondo its NUTS... argh... i had to smash it away looks ugly as hell but blah ill be replacing everything with frp/carbon down the line anyways and getting a proper paintjob....... sigh...

I took some new pix of work in progress but forgot cable at parents' home heh... will post tomorrow

The coilovers are absolute baller, and so are def's spherical bearings. The car looks so fresh and sexy now, its unbelivable.

[veilside180sx]

The seam should've been folded flat with a sledge...eons ago, and the harness moved outside the fender. (like...that is sooo....5 years ago=)

[a_ahmed]

New pix I took the other day, since then a few more changes were made but anyways pix are always fun:

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/5930/pa230784wg1.jpg
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/4396/pa230798be1.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6581/pa230801fv6.jpg
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/9161/pa230803jq1.jpg
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/9813/pa230804gt1.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/7581/pa230808wg4.jpg
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/3368/pa230813me5.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/2080/pa230818wl2.jpg
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/5043/pa230826wn3.jpg
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4561/pa230830so2.jpg
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/625/pa230831xe3.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/192/pa230832eb9.jpg
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/3707/pa230834vv5.jpg
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8231/pa230842na5.jpg


Well since then I banged up the seams, pulled front fenders, removed rear swaybar, everything is on.

Still need to probably somehow tighten upwards the front fender harness wiriing... finish brake line modifications for brake bias adjuster and hydraulic line lock for parking (the bracket has already been made)... also the new clutch master and slave needs to be bled, the brake lines need to be bled.

Alignment to be done... will run what racepar1 suggested

Front
-3.0 camber
0 toe
7.5 caster

Rear
-2.0 camber
1/16" toe
3/8" shorter than stock traction arms

After that i'll be able to further roll and massage the front and rear.

Then I'll drive around... and see how it goes and work on the dampening tuning...


*yikes* and i'll have to fix the horn... it keeps jumping out boo
Will take more pix, but progress is being made at last 99% done :D

The next project once this is done is definitely body work... and chassis work... proper rear widebody and frp all around to save weight and lose the ugly bondoish rusted crap...

I might just go kat for some good ol 250whp fun plenty for 911 automotive munching... but still dreaming for that ls v8 swap hehe... i love low end torque :)

[Def]

Glad you like the RSSBs.

What length spring is that up front? Any pics of ride height?

[a_ahmed]

ill take pix tomorrow with it after alignment.. still have to rework some stuff before it goes on ground... but it's 99% all done...

The fronts are 6"x2.5" 600lbs/inch eibach springs and rears are 7"x2.5" 450lbs/inch.

One thing to really note is daammmn there's so little droop... i sure won't be doing no rally or movie chase jumps with these springs lol.. I'm pretty sure i'll be switching to something else...

Kind of makes me wonder.. in such a circumstance... if the car gets air high for whatever reason.. how will the springs be held in place?... i know this sounds noobish but its not like they are tied to the top mounts especially not being so long. Kind of a worry.. not that ill be taking any jumps >_>

Tanabe swaybar up front im gona put on the lower setting to test out but still take advantage of the much lighter weight it being hollow but much thicker of course... and the rear no swaybar...

Will need to get another set of wheels with r comps but ill test out things for now like this to get a feel of it all and well i doubt ill be able to manage a track day (nor do i want to kind of with the weather and well most track days being on sundays when i work...)... soo.. spring time is the real deal... God willing..

[Bumnah]

Great stuff! I love your front brakes. I wish I had gone with AZC for my front brakes I'm not entirely sold the AZC rear brake options. Let me know what you think. Some people have said the hydraulic line lock lets up after a while. I just don't like the idea of routing the hydraulics into the cabin, knowing me I'd have it leak somewhere in the cabin.

How hard was it to push the new bearings into the upright? Do you have any pictures of the uprights alone with just the new bearings? I'd love to see pictures of that. I'm not sure how sold you are on the Tanabe sway bars, but check out the progress sway bars too. I hear they have a good end link design.

Hopefully I'll be where you are in the spring.

Best of luck.

[Def]

Do you mean droop as in the shocks going down, because they look to have plenty the way it is now, or do you mean droop as the springs pressing against the tophats with the shock going down? If the later, then yea, you'll only have about 1.25-1.5" of travel up front before you have no pressure on the shock. That's why I'm going with some tender springs in the rear to give a little more travel.

[a_ahmed]

to bumbah:

Thanks man. Well azc setup is not bad, but one member on here has a thread on just this and he's making an awesome kit, i would have went with his setup if i knew earlier. The azc kit is not bad... its a good what you get... the rotors and pads are wilwoods but the hatdesign is from dave from azc... the rotors had run out that needed to be grounded down by 1mm... the calipers also needed to be shimmed... the rear upright brake mount ears had to be saw'd off... and e-brake assembly went off. Soo.. a line is going to be running in cabin with line lock and brake bias adjuster it feels like a race car LOL im such a wanabe :P... anyways itll be awesome BUT that does worry me too honestly............................. it letting go... like damn.. id hate to one day go to the car and see it some place else if you know what i mean hehe... ill still put into first gear obviously but of course its all scary a bit...

Unfortunately i dont have pix of the uprights... i should have taken pix of them being pressed in argh.. sorry man :-/ Def should have some from pj and the other guys that got it.

It wasn't hard honestly, no different than presing in and out any other bushing. It's fun :) A press, some gizmos and tools to press out and to press in.. thats it.. just make sure not to press on the bearing itself heh.. only the sleeves.

Good luck on your project too :)

Def:

Droop as in, its alot less than what it used to be with the kyb agx/stech combo... the way the wheels hang down suspended in the air. But it shouldnt matter that much right?... as is? Jjust its alot less than ive seen on a car personally, im a newb after all :) Ace/PJ ran helper springs in the rear for that reason and his lifting problem due to the hlsd right?

For what you said next, i didnt quite understand you... I moved the little rotating sleeve thingamajig (thats called collar right) all the way up if you look at it... cause the spring was hanging down.. of course when its on the ground itll touch the top hat but i thought about it... how it hangs so much and doesnt touch the tophat... when on ground shouldnt be issue unless im airborn right lol... i dont know what im talking about maybe but if i move the gc collar thing on the coilover sleeve all the way down.. the spring is just floating not touching the top... if you get what i mean... i am not sure how that all works im sure richard could chime and you as well you guys have alot more knowledge and experience im just learning :)

[veilside180sx]

Your rear springs are 7"

ill take pix tomorrow with it after alignment.. still have to rework some stuff before it goes on ground... but it's 99% all done...

The fronts are 6"x2.5" 600lbs/inch eibach springs and rears are 6"x2.5" 450lbs/inch.

One thing to really note is daammmn there's so little droop... i sure won't be doing no rally or movie chase jumps with these springs lol.. I'm pretty sure i'll be switching to something else...

Kind of makes me wonder.. in such a circumstance... if the car gets air high for whatever reason.. how will the springs be held in place?... i know this sounds noobish but its not like they are tied to the top mounts especially not being so long. Kind of a worry.. not that ill be taking any jumps >_>

Tanabe swaybar up front im gona put on the lower setting to test out but still take advantage of the much lighter weight it being hollow but much thicker of course... and the rear no swaybar...

Will need to get another set of wheels with r comps but ill test out things for now like this to get a feel of it all and well i doubt ill be able to manage a track day (nor do i want to kind of with the weather and well most track days being on sundays when i work...)... soo.. spring time is the real deal... God willing..

[a_ahmed]

Oopsies http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/SMirC-shy.svg/50px-SMirC-shy.svg.png *edits post*

Soo.. about the fronts.. and what i mentioned what say you captain my captain

[veilside180sx]

It's not a big deal. Anytime you shorten a damper it's going to lose some shaft travel, but it's not required since it won't compress nearly as much as your stock 130-150 lb spring.

It's not going to come unseated with the weight on it, just when it's lifted up on a jack or hoist.

[Def]

Droop refers to how much usable travel you have, as in the spring is trying to press the strut down and it can't anymore, that's limited by droop travel. You don't have that now.

It's normal for the springs to not see any weight with the car up in the air. Spring preloading is gay and completely unnecessary. It's only good if you want to go super stupid stupid low and have some semblance of travel. But at that point, you're introducing a whole nother set of problems, mainly essentially NO droop on the unweighted corner. That's why you see dorifto cars pulling about 0.3 G's in a "fast" drift with the inside wheel off the ground.

[a_ahmed]

Well last night bled the brakes and clutch completely no air hopefully left in any of them. Filled the new sexy hicas steering rack. The steering feels ultra mega smooth and light. Removed the rear thick hicas swaybar and leftovers. Made custom endlinks (modified PDM's spherical whiteline ones) with a JDM tyte yo yo chromoly L bracket lol, got the car started for the first time.. seems to have a leak near cat due to gasket not fitting properly (I think).

Car purrs nicely, very quiet but aggressive enough at higher revs. It' won't grab attention I'm very very very glad http://www.613driftwerks.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif

No more marble chuckles, only thing I could hear was PS pump methinks but its cause we had to just put the fluid in.

I rolled and massaged all four wheel wells as much as i thought was necessary. Will do further work after perfect alignment but so far so good. Fronts wont be issue at all actually with camber at -3.0. Discovered bondo madness (should have taken pictures), this Jamaican guy that did this poop for me should be sued by the next person that gets work done by him. I found like 5mm of bondo and underneath its purely healthy metal no rust nothing, what a jack ass.

I wish I had money as I'd start buying now some frp and carbon parts... and prepping the car for bodywork but alas not gonna happen for quite some time http://www.613driftwerks.com/forums/images/smilies/gay.gif I'm quite enthused in finishing the whole project in that respect as well but $$$... so donations are welcome http://www.613driftwerks.com/forums/images/smilies/dancingnaughty.gif

Will most likely have car on road Monday/Tuesday. Everything is done, just need alignment.

Also discovered that for compression to be adjusted in the rear.. must disconnect the shock mount. Not much of a big deal I guess.. just won't really be able to do this on the go :'(

Going to take mucho grande time to fine tune the dampers I guess...... I wish it was summer http://www.613driftwerks.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif

[veilside180sx]

Compression isn't changed very frequently. You'll probably wind up setting it on 2-3 clicks and leaving it.

Rebound, I'd start at 1 turn from full soft and work stiffer.

[a_ahmed]

So like.. I need help urgently.

Everything done... put the car on the alignment rack... problems.

The rear adjusts all fine.... but the front we're having problems.

I didn't lower car at all, I pushed the sleeve collar thingamajig all the way up for maximum height... any lower and im gona have issues cause as is problems.

The camber we can't get it any lower than like... -4.6? basically -5.x

Tried to max out the camber plate... nothing....

My friend/mechanic he's like should we shorten the LCAs? Or do you need LCAs? I'm like nope... for obvious reasons...

Explain?

:-/

I took the car for a spin... and I'm guessing, cause of the massive negative camber, massive oversteer lol... well not 'massive' but its on throttle oversteer alright... it is late so i just literally went up a street down, uturn and thats it.... uturn was fun hehe... missed driving rwd cars...

Anyways... need this sorted out.

Also.... with rear toe.... we put it at 0.12 degree total toe in... 0.06 per side... im still frickin confused about the 1/16" to degrees/minutes whatever conversions....so thats another worry.

Didn't touch compression or rebound, just went for a spin, no rear swaybar also....

The car is so frickin soft its amazing considering the springrates are like 4 times as much...

Smelled lots of different smells + tired not sure if it was any fluid or clutch or brakes (probably fresh brakes) since everything is new.

Felt some rumble in the rear but will have to investigate....

OH YES just remembered... caster.... oh man...

Had to REALLY mash the inner seam near the rocker panel and upwards...

The canadian sideskirts touches on bottom edge, and front bumper on bottom edges touches... I mean we can cut it but...

It was I think now at 7.0 caster.... at 7.5 no way.... not to mention 8 or 8.5, i have no idea how ppl manage to run 8.5 caster... wth?!?

Tips all welcome cause this car is on insurance now and well.... need to get it on road for further testing... really vital to figure out this camber issue please ASAP

[veilside180sx]

There's two sets of bolt holes in those camber plates. Did you move the bolt holes to the second set so you can adjust it for more camber?

7" springs probably won't be a bad idea down the road I guess up front.

[a_ahmed]

Well I'm trying to make it -3.0 camber.... it's 2 degrees off and it cant go further.... -5.0 like woah... i thought the other guys were having problems getting this sort of camber lol... I'm exceding the expectations hah... like wth to do? I need these very real issues sorted out and asap... time is money...

[a_ahmed]

HOW am I managing -5.0 degrees of camber up front?!?!?!?!? I can't go lower to get to -3.0 wth?!

[veilside180sx]

Are you estimating, or do you have it on a Hunter rack?

Do you have a pic of the camber plates from above that I can see?

[Epstein]

Just got mine on a Hunter yesterday. The damn thing needed recalibration, but I got -2.0* front easily. I have slotted my top spindle hole 1/8", but my calcs say that I should have been able to make just less than -2.0* without doing that. I'll post impressions this afternoon when I get more miles.

[a_ahmed]

It's a laser rack just like this one basically:

http://www.snaponequipment.com/johnbean/images/products/aligners/prism/prism-banner.jpg

If I recall, it was late last night we basically worked into the night until 1am....... we moved the slotted holes all the way and couldn't get more positive camber out of it... its so negged out like woah.......

I need a solution people :-/ :(

[veilside180sx]

Do you have a pic of the camber plates from above that I can see?

[a_ahmed]

ill take the pix as soon as i get him to open shop ill be going there 10am, its 8:30am now... i was observing racepar1's pix also, as he runs 7.5 caster and his stuff doesnt touch, i think you know those stock two piece chouki bumpers, they have that smaller two piece part... ill take that crap out or cut it to hell... and the sideskirt, i guess i'll have to take it off or cut it up to hell like he did, problem is the bolts that hold it on are what would need to be cut methinks... as they were touching the wheel at lock to lock, i know i know usually would never go lock to lock but its a platora of issues and we tested it out, it does rub... but again this may all be due to the insane negative camber.. like holy crap.... i didnt believe him over the phone as he was doing it (i left briefly to pick up my wife from school).

When I came there I was like :eek: daymnnnnn

[veilside180sx]

Take a pic from the side and let us see the ride height as well.

[racepar1]

You have 2 caster adjustments on your car. One is the length of the tension rods, and the other is on the camber plates. You probably have the camber plates adjusted in-correctly and that is why it rubs like that. As for the camber, it is also possible that the plates are installed wrong. Take some pics of the camber plates from the top and the ride heighth from the side. Without pics of how everything looks it is nearly impossible for us to help you figure out what is wrong. I wouldn't imagine that Richard's housings are THAT bad, so I would say that something is installed in-correctly.

[Epstein]

You aren't trying to run S14 lower arms, are you?

How feasible would it be for you to round up some Canadian sidekirts in WK0 pearl white for me? Seriously.

[veilside180sx]

The housings are identical to everyone else. So I know it's not a housing issue.

Looking at the pics again of the GC plates, you need to remove the back two bolts and move them into the other holes so you can move it all the way back. I'm assuming you had not already done this. (this is why a pic from the top of the strut tower would be very beneficial)

The GC plates don't seem to have as much positive camber travel, but it should easily be workable as well.

[veilside180sx]

How feasible would it be for you to round up some Canadian sidekirts in WK0 pearl white for me? Seriously.


I'll keep an eye out here for those. We get most of the stuff from BC down here.

[veilside180sx]

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

[a_ahmed]

i came back from the shop... im tired, drained, just ate... sick of the car.

Now turns out some other issues popped up, brakes are not okay, clutch is not okay (moving in 1st gear when car stopped wtf? Plus it was slipping yesterday when i briefly drove the car for like 3min from simple gear changes)

Alignment is hell to get working.

I took pix but too lazy to post now.

Basically we did already that, all maxed out, still was mid to high 3s of negative camber. Too much... THEN switched plates around, the part with the offset holes, tried that way... then genius idea that we concluded, that way if we started grinding the plates, we could manage MORE positive camber to get the camber down and we did... to -2~ish and the plate is still usable but then there was some issue to adjust it that way so i was tired and it looks ****ed up angle... then my genius mechanic friend comes up with the idea: lets get some camber bolts... Clearance wise there is like 2-3mm clearance between coilover and wheel so its okay, so no negative camber to be had there... but he said how about we push it out to gain positive camber using camber bolts... put plates back to how they were the grounded stuff shouldnt make diference, and see what that does...

So we will see...

I'm tired, disapointed, exhausted... thats all im gona post for now.

It seems the housings are made for more negative camber gain combined with GC plates resulting in this weirdness, i dont know...

I'm tired... end of post for today

[2Fass240us]

When you get up the energy to post again, please splain what's wrong with the brakes.

[veilside180sx]

You can just take a rounded file to the strut flange. It would take at the MOST 1/8th of an inch to get it down to 2 degrees. Don't trust trying to run crash bolts for positive camber.

i came back from the shop... im tired, drained, just ate... sick of the car.

Now turns out some other issues popped up, brakes are not okay, clutch is not okay (moving in 1st gear when car stopped wtf? Plus it was slipping yesterday when i briefly drove the car for like 3min from simple gear changes)

Alignment is hell to get working.

I took pix but too lazy to post now.

Basically we did already that, all maxed out, still was mid to high 3s of negative camber. Too much... THEN switched plates around, the part with the offset holes, tried that way... then genius idea that we concluded, that way if we started grinding the plates, we could manage MORE positive camber to get the camber down and we did... to -2~ish and the plate is still usable but then there was some issue to adjust it that way so i was tired and it looks ****ed up angle... then my genius mechanic friend comes up with the idea: lets get some camber bolts... Clearance wise there is like 2-3mm clearance between coilover and wheel so its okay, so no negative camber to be had there... but he said how about we push it out to gain positive camber using camber bolts... put plates back to how they were the grounded stuff shouldnt make diference, and see what that does...

So we will see...

I'm tired, disapointed, exhausted... thats all im gona post for now.

It seems the housings are made for more negative camber gain combined with GC plates resulting in this weirdness, i dont know...

I'm tired... end of post for today

[Def]

Why do you want -2 deg? I always liked -3 deg camber or so for an aggressive front grip setup. The wear will be even if you drive it hard every once in a while(track/autox etc).

[a_ahmed]

I was getting -5, not -3, couldn't get it to there. That's what the issue was.

Anyways will do what richard suggested...

[veilside180sx]

That's going to be the easiest way to do it, and it shouldn't take more than 15-30 minutes depending on how good you are with a file.

[a_ahmed]

After filing the flange, we were able to get the front to even 0 camber lol... now its fully adjustable and got it working...

However now there's another issue... the rear end is loose. Swaybar is off.

After 60-80km/hr the rear end is loose... even in straight line... what's up?!

Not enough toe in?

0.06 per side, 0.12 degrees total toe. That's what the machine says.. -2.0 camber and 3/8" shortened traction arm...

I think I read racepar1 said -2.0 is perfect for stock traction arm length, so... im gona try -1.5 rear camber?.... and what about toe? 0.14 total toe is 1/16" i just read in another thread.. or is it 0.14 per side, then that would be 0.28 total toe in or its 0.14 total toe meaning 0.07 toe both sides?

I'm going back to the shop... i'll wait for response while we try some stuff.

Didn't adjust compression or rebound yet... car is VERY soft lol... FRICKIN INCREDIBLE considering the spring rate being like what 4 times what it was before front and rear ... heh amazing.

Front is -3.0 camber, 7.5 caster, 0 toe...

Height of car, well i upped the sleeve all the way up, so its 1.5" drop or something?... No more methinks.

[veilside180sx]

and the pictures are....=)

Given your spring rates, I'm going to say it's definately a rear alignment issue.

[turtl631]

Loose in a straight line? What does that even mean? The back of the car wanders if you're just accelerating in a straight line with a stock KA and 255 RT615s?

[veilside180sx]

Sounds like it's crab walking a little from not being adjusted right

[racepar1]

It is hard to find a good alignment shop. I personally would never take my car to a shop that uses a laser machine again. Last time I did that the rear camber was visibly off and the guy just looked at me and said that the machine was right and I was imagining things. I ghetto adjusted it and went to west end alignment, my ghetto adjustment was actually pretty close too! Find a guy that does it the old school way with camber/caster guages, some paint, a "needle", and a good old fashioned "tape measure". The old school guys who do it like that know what they are doing. Laser machines are accurate as long as you don't drop the heads, keep it calibrated, install it correctly, and the wheels on the car don't have excessive runout. If any one of those things goes wrong the alignment comes out like crap. A_ahmed, what front LCA's do you have on the car? Stock s-13 or others?

[a_ahmed]

yeah they are stock s13 LCAs. Brand new from PDM-racing with polyurethane crap inserted + new balljoints from like two years ago.

Well the camber issue was resolved by filing the strut flanges... :)

So anyways specs that are on now are:

Front:
Caster: 7.0
Camber: -3.0
Toe: 0

Rear:
Traction arms: 3/8" shortened (he said he measured it, i eyed it and it looks the same both sides...)
Camber: -1.5
Toe: 0.20* total toe (0.10* both sides)

Got the steering wheel centered, car goes straight alright :D

Cut the front fender plastic for more clearance as it just barely touched on full lock.

The car drove much better, however now there are some other non suspension related issues.

Suspension wise the car is just slightly a bit bouncy and such so i need to work on the dampening adjustment.

I am not gona touch that as I got discouraged by some other non-suspension related issues. However the suspension is AMAZING... I can feel the potential, these dampers are insane, combined with all spherical bearings = Amazing.... Absorbs all bumps despite 10.7kg/mm ront and 8kg/mm rear spring rate.. like wow. Impressive. However yeah, still need to make it tighter in feel by adjusting compression and rebound. BUT WOW WOW WOW :D I'll talk about the feel of driving a bit later.

I'm having still a bit brake issues, the hydraulic lock thing don't work jack ****... so I don't know.. I press in the brake pedal and press the button, let go of the brake pedal, and it holds.. holds...holds.. then pop, click it clicks out and car rolls. So I'll just keep it in first gear... bloody useless thing. Brakes were bled, numerous times, no air left.

Didn't get much to play with brake bias adjuster though... it was all the way on less brakes end, so the front was locking up. Whole point of installing this was to make the rears not lock up... so fronts locking up would mean turn knob less :P So I did... and didn't manage to lock it afterwards but I ran into another issue... BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM knocking sound when holding brake down... wth... so maybe more run out issues? non straight wilwood shiznit rotors?....

Will have to look into that...

....

....

THE BIG issue is the transmission... it's a new one, replacing my old one which was kaput... bought it for 200 off a local guy... combined with new xtd stage 3 clutch, light flywheel, megan racing v2 short shifter and shaftmasters aluminum driveshaft... and hlsd...there's some kind of constant clicking noise coming from inside the transmission....

When clutch is depressed and in neutral i hear slight hiss or something, when i let go, its gone. Not a big deal... HOWEVER... When I drive, the transmission makes some kind of noise, from time to time, like DUG DUG DUG DUG not quite grinding or anything but hitting coming from shifter hole (from transmission)...

If i press the clutch in at that moment the sound is gone... Flywheel touching or something? My mechanic is like, oh don't worry.. im like wtf?! LOL I think he is lazy to adjust it or something? WHATS UP WITH THIS? Anyone know what it actually could be? Is it flywheel? Is it something inside the transmission itself?

Also when letting go off of throttle decelerating in gear there is some whining sound of sorts... and again dug dug dug dug dug but alot less.

The LOUD DUG DUG DUG DUG comes and goes from time to time...


In the rear end.. i dunno if its diff or what... there is some noise from time to time, it's an HLSD so its not suppose to make noise right?...

Also another issue that's plagued me for the longest time EVEN WHEN I bought the car and it was auto LOL... when i press throttle suddenly then suddenly let go... it would make a clunk click in the back...

Now with new HLSD in, new driveshaft in... peak performance racing tranny + cusco engine mounts... still makes that clunk.

I've done it before and I've done it now... I can move the driveshaft for like an inch back and forth, makes that same clunk click... im sure of it.. but mechanic was like.. oh thats normal... IS IT?

Car overheated despite bigger aluminum griffin radiator... so it seemed to be timing, car leaned out too much, as I after ran car and didn't overheat. So thats non-issue now I think, not thermostat...

Sorry for long rant, I want these lil quirks sorted out so I can concentrate on suspension refinment....

Suspension wise, well... the rear still doesnt quite feel like its biting or planted... its gripping but feels at the limit.. so yeah I know I have high spring rates and i didn't fine tune the dampers, but maybe I should try -1.0 camber in rear... the +0.5 of camber added in the rear helped the rear stabilize.. and slight toe in increase helped too... It's not rolling enough? lol...

When I drive my daily volvo now, I can feel it biting/gripping into the road when it rolls. With the 240 from brief lightweight driving during 20min it was not quite biting into road, but it was flat alright... i was a bit afraid to push it as when i spun it that one time in a corner it was more pronounced sudden (tires less forgiving i guess? Than my old gs-d3s plus i didnt drive an rwd car for a while).

When I went into a corner car sort of gripped then as i throttled her she spun just at the limit.

Watching racepar1's car grip as it grips, he lifts the front, not happening with me :P

Anyways before I get into that, whether it be less rear camber, or more toe in even further or dampening, or bigger or stickier tires (uuh not yet im sure i havent met the grip limit yet lol) or even changing springs, i want the new transmission **** sorted out... ****en ****.... *@#@* always something comes up...

Well better state than last few days ago hehe.. My friend/mechanic is sick of my car... so now he just wants to get rid off me from the shop lol... End rant...

Criticize me :) Talk to me :) I need it all... but car is making progress...

[a_ahmed]

Oh and... I've used 10w40 engine oil, MT90 for transmission and 75w90 for diff all redline fluids... if that makes a difference. I don't think he also added enough tranny fluid... so will check that tomorrow... Wasn't grinding when shifting though... very quick click shifts heh..

[a_ahmed]

Meh no idea on tranny and whats up.. to summarize the above end of night rant, cliff notes:

It shifts smooth and quick, no grinding, easy clutch, picks up easily from standstill super easy all's good... however this new tranny is giving me the following issues...

I get some kind of clicking coming from the tranny.... I thought first it was the new exhaust leaking but nope... all is well not a single leak and it turned out clicking is definetely from the tranny as I put my ear right there (yeah smart if something blows LOL). No its not the marble noise from the engine (although similar), i had the chain guides removed. No more marble noise http://www.son240sx.org/forums/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

So thats the first issue

When I drive it, more annoying... sometimes this violent clunking of sorts inside or dung dung dung dung comes on... but if i press clutch it goes away. It comes and goes.... So flywheel touching or something?! But my friend/mechanic is like no probably not that... but i don't know, and he wants me out of his shop as the car was being rebuilt for like two months on his hoist lol...

The third thing is, on deceleration there is a slight very barely audible dung dung dung (while in gear and u let go off pedal).

I need some tips to resolve this asap... this is annoying and its a set back in finishing the car. I have to sort out these few quirks out of the car to consider the car safe... not very confidence inspiring when driving.

Suspension is done all mint, drives amazing, just needs to be tuned... but this is annoying and I need this sorted out first...

[turtl631]

dung dung dung dung comes on...

there is a slight very barely audible dung dung dung

Maybe some of these are in the tranny:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a160/turtl631/dung-beetle-05a26002.jpg

[a_ahmed]

lol thats awesome.

Well anyways I'm gonna drive the car around for a while and discover issues.

The rear has some clunk on the toe arm I think it was or something like that,when car is moved around it clunks clunks... spherical bearing issue?... I wasnt undernetah car my mechanic was poking it and i was moving car.

The transmission noise I'll see what to do about it but meh...

The front coilovers I got an issue here what do you think lol... the shaft relative to the body it moves and the top nut is tightened... whats up?... as if there is space between damper insert and housing... It's like a small movement but its a movement, and everything is tightened. Top nut, the camber plate, the strut flange bolts.. even the collar is tightened all around everything is tightened front and rear... double checked everything..

Brakes vibrate a bit or something... but just by a bit...

Gotta adjust dampers though as its bouncy a bit and over bigger bumps its like it goes up down like a jump heh...

Anyways if I'm to adjust compression on the rear, i have to unbolt from the shock mount... do i have to have the car lifted or what.. tips lol.. i dont wanna do something lame and very stupid LOL like a bum that I am hehe... its hard to reach for that ****

When I dont have my own garage... thats what happens... my next wishful mod for car will be a house or something... my wife and i live in an apartment for now heh. And I don't wanna bother my mechanic for a while now lol, he's realy sick of my car. I used his hoist for two months now :| ... and he gave me a mad discount on hourly rate 50 dollars an hour and minus'd alot of hours for the labour he did... just cause we're friends and the broke ass that I am lol...

I'll take the car to Sasha at SG-motorsports, he was a champ in a GT series up here in canada with his 240 Im sure uve seen his car with the full underbody... he knew about koni 8611s by the way :P He asked if they were 8612 actuall. He sounds like a cool guy while I was talking to him on phone... I'll ask him for advices here and there as well

I've got lots of pictures, but nothing exceptionally interesting except that everything is installed now.

[turtl631]

Sasha has a cool 350Z now that he's racing.

Don't expect miracles in terms of hitting bumps with these things- they're still twin-tube, OTS dampers, with pretty substantial springs on 'em. Not gonna feel good no matter what, although your definition of "big bumps" could be different than mine. Chicago potholes take no prisoners.

[a_ahmed]

My wife hates the car now lol, it was the first test drive... too loud I would say. I didn't get higher than 3500rpm most of the time, above 4500rpm car was raging, she pissed her pants (ok not literally lol) and put her hands on her head and ears.

It's 'only' 2.5" piping, stainless steel, 22" resonator and dual tip magnaflow muffler with a high flow cat. But with cusco engine and peak perf. race tranny mounts i guess it all adds up together. Past I would say 4500-5000rpm the car is an animal noise-wise.

Hmm I should maybe just maybe put an interior back in LOL... I have to adjust the compression and rebound though... next to do list.

The clunking and clicking in the rear has increased, is it normal with spherical bearings?

[Def]

No one else has reported noisewith the spherical bearings. Double check that the bearings
weren't improperly loaded during installation. You can just grab each arm at the spindle and see if it moves sideto side.

[Epstein]

My now all-spherical/heim setup is competely silent as far as rattles and clunks. A little road noise, but that's about it.

[a_ahmed]

Well here's some pix, didn't know what to take pix off of, but first batch is clearly while we were still having alignment issues, then the last batch is when car was ready to drive.

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/5412/pa280847yl2.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/2652/pa280851gc8.jpg
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http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/2764/pa280878pk1.jpg
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http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/8138/pa280896dz9.jpg
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/6670/pa280898in6.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/3760/pa280900fx3.jpg
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http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/3605/pa310973yc3.jpg
http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/691/pa310974qq9.jpg
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/8671/pa310975ai8.jpg
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/5651/pa310979nu5.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3151/pa310980mf7.jpg
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http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/6875/pa310984ww4.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/9841/pa310993vz2.jpg
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/74/pa310998ya6.jpg
http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/6002/pa311001qr4.jpg
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/1305/pa311002rs5.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/7742/pa311003tk6.jpg

[a_ahmed]

So I didn't know what interesting pix to take honestly. Tried my best to get pix of arms and such but its kind of hard...

Tried to take some angled pix and ass pix too, here n there.

Car is pretty dirty.

Took some pix of the grinding mess which was unnecessary after filing. As was discussed tried to install offset plate backwards and grind the mofo to get more positive camber lol... issue resolved by putting back together as was meant to be and filing strut flange...

Will take interior pic with the brake bias adjuster installed. It seems to work alright lol.. i just have to play with it some more. It did change the way brakes lock up... Just the jammar/hydraulic lock crap dont do jack it unclicks after several seconds sigh..

The exhaust despite being for quietness not 3.0" with a resonator, cat, etc... is raging with the polyurethane exhaust mounts, engine/tranny mounts, etc... like omg...

5k+ rpm the car is a MONSTER sound wise. It vibrates like a mofo, like the tranny is gona explode and the engine has this raging not quite rasp but RAGE sound i cant explain. Just sounds mega menacing lol. When i shift at 7k rpm it feels like i just sent an army of zombies to hell. And their raging death cry echos in the abyss or something followed by killer bees and killer dogs that consume them


I am not liking the pad that much yet, it's not a track only pad, i forget which one it was Dave gave me, but it doesnt have an initial bite as the HP+ did, I kind of like some bite like that as opposed to having to press all the way in.. but of course dont wana lock up... will see about that in near future. I don't know maybe I'm just not used to it. I don't like the brake pedal to go too far, I like to be able to modulate it, but not have to go far down or for it to be initially too soft... me no likey, I guess habit from the HP+.. but... the HP+ has sudden lock up and lack of modulation which was gay.

The alignment issues were obviously resolved.. but still work to do... maybe a lil less camber but more caster up front would be interesting. Car has awesome turn in though... not too sure on rear toe settings though, car still wants to come around a bit. I know I know.. I have to play with the dampening but... I think alignment matters more first right... But the car definetely oscilates and jacks down lol...

What should I do to safely unbolt the rear shock mount to adjust the car? Tips? Just raise car up on one end? Unbolt?? do it, rebolt? I dunno... I have to do it at a friend's garage as I don't have one of my own sadly...

The clicking clunking in rear... I'm afraid if the guy didnt install it properly hmmmmm... :'( but what would be the right way to anyways.. i mean how hard can it be.. its a bolt and a hole... and then adjust the length of the arms...

If i recollect the right toe arm was having a bit movement from the upright spherical bearing, like u could move it around a bit but just tiny bit... i cant recollect now honestly...

The brakes pulsate a bit... its not very confidence inspiring yet... or is that just cause the rotors are slotted. I never had that issue with the slotted rotors on the z32 setup though... but maybe i just dont like the brake pad yet either... I'm not so sure.. Many things going through my mind and lots of new things to absorb in... The pedal is definitely softer than the z32 setup which was rock hard stiff lol... All is bled well though. ATE Type 200 fluid. I'm not liking that though... I prefer a stiff pedal with not so long travel...

The tranny issue.. i dunno... still have to investigate a bit as its quite anoying alright...

Richard chime in on this one. When in air, the dampers or shaft of dampers can move around by a small notch making a slight clunk.. i didnt notice this but my mechanic did... not much we could do about it, it was both of them and i think he said all of them, but i only noticed on the fronts.... as if there was slight movement of damper within the housing...

Trying to think what else... I'll post when I remember........

[pedroramosjr]

It could be just me, but your swaybar end links look like they are setup in fashion that limits their movement. You should place some washers between the swaybar and rod end to allow greater movement.

[veilside180sx]

I thought they were tight in the housings. You can throw a small washer in it to shim the damper, or the gland nut could've come a little loose as well.

[turtl631]

Sounds liek the brake setup is pretty janky. I never realized AZC was such a shady outfit. Was the line lock for the ebrake from them too?

Can't you get R32 GT-Rs in canada now? What made you to choose to go with an S13 and spend metric tons of money on brakes, suspension, etc..?

[a_ahmed]

Yeah but the gtr is ever so much heavier, albeit doublewishbone front and a much better motor and chassis i guess u have a point lol, but meh its all good. Comes about the same in the end when you're going all out on something, no matter what car you chose, you end up spending same amounts of massive money. I was going to go to an FD RX7 platform but then when I realized how much **** I spent already, I was like I'll just keep going and get it done all out.

Well the brakes are getting better, they do brake like a mofo, I'm getting more used to them as well. Just the pads aren't as agressive, but it seems even these when they warm up I can stop alright... It's just the car doesn't seem stable yet when braking, maybe too much camber?... however, I think alot of the lil issues may actually have to do with my ass having to up the compression and rebound a bit. Car oscilates and jacks down lol, thus being less stable than necessary. I'm gona do it tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'll let sasha drive my car and see whats up. He actually suggested to me to put the hicas swaybar back in, as i dont have alot of power, but i told him the car DEFINETELY doesnt understeer... AT ALL, not even ONCE did i understeer it, even at the backlot of our company I gunned it down the parking lot hit 140, braked suddenly locked up a bit and turned into a corner no understeer, i thought i was gona understeer and hit the curb LOL moron yeah, but instead it went in just right at the last second, not a hint of understeer.

He actually asked me if i am bottoming out on the rear, which is possible, and thus oversteering or funny things happening. Just because of dampening not being yet set.

He also told me i might want some helper springs up front otherwise on track I'll understeer.

I also asked him if i shouold run less camber but more caster up front but he said its a choice kind of but more of an autox guys' thing, not as much of an issue on track.

And I told him I shortened the traction arms, he asked why and i told him as its the cool thing to do down in the states and here on NRR lol, and i was like it adds with the bite and causes more camber gain and does something with the toe. He told me its suppose to gain toe in so he was surprised i was oversteering in the back (when i told him how i decreased camber and increased toe in some more) which led him to the above where he said probably dampening not set/bottoming rear thus funny things happening..

And he told me to lower the car as I told him its all the way up the collar as the rear being too high can cause sudden oversteer and unimpressive conditions lol.

He told me he also ran spherical bearings in his uprights as well. Something I didn't know, he didnt really list that for sale when he was parting out sandra.

Overall really cool guy, can't wait to meet him in real life on monday.

So what I wana do right now, is the following:

-Change tranny oil. When we took the drain plug out before, the lil magnetic had shavings on it, as the tranny was sitting around for quite some time... so just filled the oil and let her run last few days, so maybe some of that juicy stuff melted away and now is mixing with the oil. Soo fresh tranny oil would be a good idea.
-Megan racing v2 short shifter is a piece of **** because its lose as hell! I swear, I can move the bloody thing around SO MUCH now, you wouldn't believe... WHAT GIVES?! Just three days of driving!!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT! I'm having trouble channeling gears, fourth is hard to place in because of this crap. I think what happened was the race tranny mount shaked the HELL out of the shifter from 5krpm+ and that losened the hell out of it or broke smoething... What do you think?
-Have him check the rear click clunk in the arms/spherical bearings and whats up
-I want a new O2 sensor...
-Shim the dampers and maybe cut the bumpstops some but honestly they're really soft bump stops anyways meh...
-Add some compression and rebound front and rear and play some more
-Get the booboo swaybar endlink mount fixed (that in itself might be what inducing oversteer a bit as its probably rendering swaybar not 100% effective
-Make sure the brakes are all 100% no pulsating, vibrating or anything else
-Lower car and get alignment some more

Also yes the jammar was from azc but its not specifically their product.. i dun know man. It's not bad... i just think it takes too much effort to get started on the right track. Like rotors having run out and whatever else, that's just lame! They do brake like hell and these are 'agressive street' pads he gave me... so I can only imagine with some proper track pads what it'll do. When I had my 300zx setup though it was all plug and play, no frickin issues but alas. Alot of custom stuff is trial and error, it's just not cool that he half assed a few bits and I still can't find the s13 instructions on his site that he spoke of on the phone (yeah I didn't ask for the direct link but he said its on there and i went through it all lol)

The thing about the jammar is that now it doesnt work and just sits there pretty, it works for a few seconds but uuh thats not exactly safe. Anyways, I leave it in 1st gear.. but honestly im not too sure thats a good idea while breaking in the clutch no?... right now i parked on a flat level parking lot and left it out of gear and so that the clutch can cool down accordingly...

Other than that, I love the car :) It's really fun. I just can't wait to fix these quirks and take her to the track.. oh man.. fun fun fun :D

And took one pic but battery died (and for some reason when battery is low, camera doesn't really capture good pictures heh)

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/7285/pb021007eup5.jpg

[Def]

My gland nuts wouldn't stay torqued on my 8611 housings without a little bit of loctite. It gives a constant clunking sound as the damper moves around in the housing.

[2Fass240us]

Sorry if I missed it above, but did you bed the pads properly? If you didn't, that would contribute heavily toward lack of bite.

[a_ahmed]

Yeah I didn't really bed them in as things would suggest. Instead did a few harder stops and just let it cool and then some more action... not so good i suppose, thats probably they are just getting better now.

At low speeds they squeel which probably means i overheated them uuh not good meh... I'm a dumbass

Well I'm kind of bored and feel like taking 30minute break at work right now... no knob... so i was looking for pliers (yeah try finding that in an office)... so i got scissors LOL... I'm gona change the rebound a bit and see how that changes the car less oscillation hopefully haha...

[a_ahmed]

Okay so the scissors idea didn't work LMAO, I guess I'll have to wait till I come home to get some pliers to move the knob... is it suppose to be that hard to move damn... its like just right there.. yet impossible to move by fingers and well yeah...

[Def]

Scissors????

The adjusters aren't really that difficult to move, but you're definitely not going to do it by hand or with something ghey like scissors.

I'd suggest staying away from pliers - it'll tear up the adjuster pretty quickly.

Just cut a slot in a piece of aluminum rod or something - that's what I did for M3s that put the strut so close to the strut tower opening that you can't use a Koni adjuster on it.

[a_ahmed]

hahahaha I knew scissors would make someone laugh :P Well I was trying to be creative but yes it's lame and didn't work not enough torque meh.

Well I guess pliers may be a bad idea too but I figured id be able to hold it and rotate, but that may not work as well.

The knobs my dad's koni yellows have don't fit that's for sure... they have a small lil hole, not big enough for the 8611 adjusters...

Retarded, I wanted to test it out on my lunch break.. nothing to find handy... I want some of that oscillation sorted out, really lame...

[Def]

I have the same adjusters on my M3's yellows and my 8611s last time I looked at them.

[a_ahmed]

Well I borrowed my dad's koni yellow knob and tried it. Well... it was a bit small as I said... i did try to jam it on but little by little the plastic started deteriorating... until it became all bent and it wouldnt turn worth poo...

I did manage to turn the fronts 1 turn each and the driver rear i guess a half before it started giving me problems... i struggled honestly and the passenger rear was a pure fail... i couldnt move it at all...

The car felt better but still oscilates on the rear and i can feel its the passenger rear mostly too.. bah... tomorrow morning ill use my thick pliers gently to rotate...

I need to buy some tools like you did def so i can fab lil aluminum stuff... actually i have a mount drill which can be a getto lil rig for cutting stuff and act as a poor man's pseudo lathe lol.... Well gotta do with what I got...

I need to add compression too as the car is too sensitive with such low compression... at least the bounciness was reduced by alot which is nice...

[Def]

You don't need bling tools to make an adjuster. Just get some aluminum rod and take a hacksaw to the end. Drill a small hole at the top and put a piece of threaded rod or a bolt in it so you can get some leverage. Done.

[turtl631]

Whether or not the car is in gear, the clutch will be engaged when you stop, so I wouldn't worry about leaving it in first. I haven't had an ebrake in years, and it wasn't even a problem when I lived in Atlanta. YOu can always wedge the tire if you're parked on a steep enough incline that it might roll in first.

[Def]

Whether or not the car is in gear, the clutch will be engaged when you stop, so I wouldn't worry about leaving it in first. I haven't had an ebrake in years, and it wasn't even a problem when I lived in Atlanta. YOu can always wedge the tire if you're parked on a steep enough incline that it might roll in first.

Damn son...


If you leave the car in neutral the engine isn't connected to the drivewheels, clutch out or not. So you get no drag from the engine to keep the car in place when you park and keep it in neutral.

You're like ahmed trying to adjust his Konis with scissors up in here... :D

[turtl631]

Haha, what? Of course I knew that. I thought that Ahmed was worried that leaving it in 1st while parked was gonna damage his flywheel from heat, a la using ebrakes on hot rotors. The point was that unless your foot's depressing the clutch pedal, the flywheel and clutch disc are clamped together. The gear you're in is irrelevant.

I tried adjusting my Konis with a bolt cutter, but I chopped off the adjusters so now I have to buy new ones :(

[a_ahmed]

^DAMN aaw :(

lol scissors :P That is a memorable past time moment already and you know it :P

I'm just lazy but I'll ask Dave from azc about the jammar. I just got into work.

[a_ahmed]

Oh yes just remembered, last evening was my first experience of rear wheel lift up an elavated inclined driveway hahaha...

[Def]

Which is why I'm going with some tender springs in the rear...

[a_ahmed]

Okay so I adjusted rebound with pliers hehe.. feels nice... still needs comperssion though... these dampers are bloody amazing how they handle these springs. Yesterday's adjustment made a difference but lol it was half turn front and rear driver side, and passenger couldnt adjust as said (stupid knob). Now 1 full turn front and rear... excellent now. The pliers are big and i can grab it properly without causing any damage, easy to turn. Works flawlessly... but should make a little aluminum knob as suggested for ease for sure :)

These dampers are just amazing... it feels just right every change u make can be felt too unlike all the other crap i've tried or driven before...

[a_ahmed]

Okay so the adjustment I made to rebound was excellent... but omg....

Saw I met Sasha.... he's really cool, serious guy, knows what he's talking about too.

Wow.... okay I don't need to upgrade my car for another say year to three years LOL enginewise either. And lets just say **** ferraris and lambos and all that **** out there.

So he drove the car and he's good, and he's very very very good... ****........... very good. He scared me but not like im like a woman scared me, but impressed me.... REALLY impressed me. Car grips like a mofo.... car turns like a mofo, turns in great, brakes great, just..... frickin wow. Race car driver = 1. Me = -20 LMAO.

He said the car is pretty neutral, tad of oversteer, good setup, he liked it, liked the brakes too (they're broken in now, I like them too LOL they just needed to be broken in really). Uuuh.... holy SHIIITT..... THIS GUY CAN DRIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the car is definetely A+ thumbs up approved as worthy....

Told to lower the car to increase grip and lower center of gravity, car will be more twitchy but more grippy. Told me also to get tender springs front and rear. Lifting rear, and yeah. Uuuh.... yeah.

I wish I had a camera to record this great event in my and my car's life lol. This guy can really drive....!

Anyways yes he also said clutch is absolute ****. Get an exedy stage 3 or something worthy along those lines. Get a B&M shifter and dont cheap out megan racing is the reason and yup I learned the hard way. And thats it basically alongside coe to a test out day and he'll help e tune the car some more.

Also he told me that the compression feels even a lil stiff still some (untouched all the way on soft) so yeah.

..... woohoo :D My car's been driven by a race car driver and yay :D

[a_ahmed]

So yesterday driving slow in the parking lot, I hit a curb HOW GAY IS THAT?! AAARGGGH.... scraped my new rim :'(~~~~~~~ and alignment is off......... cause the steering wheel is not straight........ rear toe?...

Stupid waste of time, yesterday a friend invited me for some 'business meeting' it turned out a pyramid scheme, total waste of 3 hours of my life, and... on the way there in a parking lot with no lights i ended up hitting slightly albeit hitting... a curb in the parking lot....i could feel it, big or not, the alignment is whack i guess and steering wheel is no longer straight :( And my pretty rim :(................

The rear also seems to need a bit more rebound methinks as it still is a bit of froggy a lil bit...

This is gay, i ****en hate that parking lot with a passion now, cheap asses and no lights... I'm sad I swear.

[2Fass240us]

What were you doing in an unlit parking lot that would have caused you to hit a curb?

[a_ahmed]

Getting out of it duh... those superintendents need to invest in some frickin lights... so gay...

[turtl631]

If fastback headlights are as bad as Zenki S14 headlights, I could sorta see this happening.

Well, no.

But 240s do have pretty bad headlights.

[McCoy]

But 240s do have pretty bad headlights.
I guess you've never driven a B13 Sentra or NX then :(

[turtl631]

NXs also have the distinction of having the ugliest lights.

I don't even notice the suckage of my lights since I'm almost always in the city and it's bright enough that I could roll around with them off and not notice. But once I get a little bit out of the city, it's squint city at night if there's enough traffic that I can't use my brights.

[McCoy]

NXs also have the distinction of having the ugliest lights.
It's a love/hate relationship with the NX's I guess. I still miss my hardtop NX, if it wasn't for all the rust, I'd still have it today with probably a VE motor in it.
http://www.prmsg.org/albums/album08/aaw.jpg

I don't even notice the suckage of my lights since I'm almost always in the city and it's bright enough that I could roll around with them off and not notice. But once I get a little bit out of the city, it's squint city at night if there's enough traffic that I can't use my brights.
Yeah, but when you drive up in the wee hours of the morning for track days... or back late at night on the highway, you get to learn just how bad they really suck. So far, the 240 isn't that bad... nothing like the subby though.

[Ruff Ryder 6]

I've never been ecstatic about the headlights on my 300ZX. the brights work great. but as for the normal lights, they are ¿meh?

[a_ahmed]

i wonder if s15 with projectors/hid are any good but they better be for the price they cost lol..

[veilside180sx]

I guess you've never driven a B13 Sentra or NX then :(

My B14 headlights actually aren't that bad.

[a_ahmed]

So I'm having fuel starvation, it freaked me out lmao.

I had half a tank full... and taking one sweeping highway entry just to test out some lil change i made, the car burped and wanted to turn off, fuel gauge was down.... lmao... I had this problem before even but not as much as this. It wouldn't cut out fuel, the gauge would just go down...

Something loose in fuel tank? Something that needs replacing?

[turtl631]

It's a love/hate relationship with the NX's I guess. I still miss my hardtop NX, if it wasn't for all the rust, I'd still have it today with probably a VE motor in it.
http://www.prmsg.org/albums/album08/aaw.jpg


I haven't driven one, but they seem like pretty cool rides in a way. With a decent VE setup you could have a fun NA FWD car and give some swapped civics a run for their money, all while having spent less total than those guys probably do on just a K20. But in the end, a civic at least looks sorta cool, and an NX looks retarded.

[a_ahmed]

Anybody suggestions on the relevant topic of my car :P The fuel starvation or whatever it was that happened while cornering... fuel gauge going down.

[a_ahmed]

Oh and Sasha Anis is trying to register, since I informed him of the forum. He'll be the second Canadian on here heh.

He's having some problems registering :-/ Says he can't register. What's up?

He said it says "i didnt meet registration requirement" lol... he's like someone doesn't like me or i was rejected hahaha.....

[McCoy]

Anybody suggestions on the relevant topic of my car :P The fuel starvation or whatever it was that happened while cornering... fuel gauge going down.
How much fuel do you need to add after you start getting fuel starvation? Is this your original fuel pump or an aftermarket one? Have you pulled your current fuel pump to see what is up... it takes but a few minutes to get in there to look at it.

Oh and Sasha Anis is trying to register,

He's having some problems registering :-/ Says he can't register. What's up?

He said it says "i didnt meet registration requirement" lol... he's like someone doesn't like me or i was rejected hahaha.....
PM richard with his email address and username so it can be activated. Due to spam-bots, registration has been locked down for a while.

[a_ahmed]

done and done Richard make it so :D

[a_ahmed]

HAHAHAHA talking about spam bots, i just saw 'best viagra prices' registering lmao

[2Fass240us]

HAHAHAHA talking about spam bots, i just saw 'best viagra prices' registering lmaoThat's exactly what we need here...more know-it-alls with hard-ons. :D

[a_ahmed]

sooo anyone... answer help mama mia que miseria? Auto no gaso miseria? lol

[Def]

I've never had fuel starvation on the track. Something is wrong with your car to do it on the street.

Pull the pump cover and check it out. I bet your baffle is lose in the tank or worse...

[Epstein]

yeah, baffle is loose or the pickup fell off.

I've also seen the relays go bad such that the g forces actually open the contacts during a turn.

[a_ahmed]

So what should I be exactly looking for that should be wrong or set right? I've never actually opened the fuel tank hole.

[Def]

If the baffle around the fuel pump is loose, that is your problem.

[a_ahmed]

pix? .

[turtl631]

Pretty self explanatory, check FSM or just open it up. Seriously, 5 minutes.

[Bumnah]

It's time a for a fuel cell and and a full AN lines replacement!:cool:

Oh wait that's overkill. That's my forte :D

[a_ahmed]

I haven't had the time to look into the fuel tank prob but I have this to say just copy pasted from FA as I posted it there first:

So I had her up on the hoist the other day, was in a rush though, just wanted to inspect everything... honestly couldn't see anything bent or cracked.. no signs of anything... all looks pretty much good... but still alignment is off (obvious not just from steering wheel no longer straight, but the rear passenger wheel being inwards..)

My friend said maybe something with the wheel hubs.. but I'm not too sure how that would be the case, it would be ultra loud no... hard to tell of any vibration with solid mounts and such hahaha...... but either way would have to take it apart and inspect everything sigh...

Tried to measure the various points and arms quickly with a tape measure but couldn't really make anything out of the ordinary really weird... will take it up on the hoist again on Monday for a more thorough inspection... align it and check everything over once again... hopefully somehow nothing is broken or bent.. that's all I'm wishing for.. but alignment is definitely off... It would be encouraging if that's all it is... but it makes me wonder, with everything solid, something has to give, bend or break... God willing nothing but... can't know for sure... and it can't just go out of alignment just like that and nothing bends or breaks? Right? With everything being solid I mean... I don't know.. but sure would make me ultra happy if nothing is bent or broken http://forums.freshalloy.com/images/smilies/smile.gif Pretty stupid that it happened at 5km in a parking lot... after all that work putting it together lol...

Can't wait to take the car to the track though... if only Canada had no winter season :-/

Also the MR short shifter got even more garbage, now its hard to put into not only 4th gear but other gears on occasion and it became hell to put into first gear from a stop.. It has so much slop it's hilarious! Really have to jam it in... Shouldn't the mighty MR respond with quality assurance and improve their product... and give me an improved replacement? I should complain to them haha.. otherwise for an extra hundred bux I could have had a real B&M.... sigh. I hate made in china products... no offense to my fellow Chinese people, I love you.

Also the clutch... well as sasha said its not adjusted.. but how do we adjust clutches on a KA honestly?... newb question, but I'm not too sure http://forums.freshalloy.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

The clicking noise is definitely the spherical bearings... when i grabbed on the arms and moved them a bit around the spherical bearing moves... and the click happens when they touch the subframe i think... that got me thinking... isnt that bad lol... hmm... first time installing spherical bearing arms... Some input on that?

I think there was something else I wanted to discuss but can't recall now..

[a_ahmed]

I added 1.0 rebound all around again. So I guess front is now 2.0 and rear is 2.5 or 2.25 (will have to double check). Car feels alot more solid, i doubt faster, all these things will come to light on track... but alot more stable... still a tiiiny bit of oscilation.... but almost inexistant...

Not track related, but in the parking lot I managed to understeer one corner... or maybe just the weather sucks... and from a stop light turning left not very high speed i power oversteered.. so im guessing too much rebound may lower traction or grip.. but car feels far more stable.. even at high speed over bumps don't feel them at all... its very solid and composed now.

All useless until on track... but still felt nice.. now the car finally feels too high somehow, should lower it some... compression still untouched... like I said Sasha told me compression felt to him even a tad bit much... dunno... im talking nonsense again until im on track... but hey car 'feels' better lol...

[veilside180sx]

You need to check and make sure the gland nuts aren't loose on the housings

[Epstein]

That's a ton of rebound, isn't it? I'm at about 1.0 turns of rebound and things are pretty firm. 3f 2r compression, and I'm probably going to lower the rear a click. Front washes out slightly on turn-in, but things are well controlled in general. What are compression settings again?

[Def]

Spherical bearings are clicking? The RSSBs or the rod ends on your multi-link arms?

I agree with Richard, I think the gland nuts on your housings might have come loose. It's hard to get them really torqued because it's such a ginormous nut, so you need loctite to keep things tight.

[veilside180sx]

I torqued the gland nuts onhis with my tool, and 2 drops of loctite. Its just one of those things though, that should be xhecked, especially when he thought there was movement in the housing.

[a_ahmed]

Well I'll double check that later, I'm just at work now... will do...

I'll be putting car up on hoist tomorrow and check over everything all together...

The arms i move them and well the spherical rod end it moves, so when it moves, it clicks on the subframe, how do i explain it... picture the rod end, and the edges of the rod end when turning they touch the subframe so it clicks.. does that make sense... i dunno how to explain it...

[Def]

Are you talking about the misalignment bushings that you put in the rod ends?

I'm still not 100% clear on whether you're talking about the rod ends of your arms, or the RSSBs.

[a_ahmed]

the arms not the rssbs

[veilside180sx]

Pictures are worth 10 million words.

[a_ahmed]

Car is in for winter storage. I already miss her. Will have to wait until spring.

Reminder for myself in spring of things to do to car before putting back on road and taking to track:

I hate winter, I'm sick of it. And here I was thinking last whole week spring is finally here.. but last night out of office window I see the crappy snow coming down and on da way home too urgh.... and this morning I had to clean ice and crap... sucked.

I hate winter. I checked weather network for toronto forecast and it seems like the whole week will have some sort of snow until march... lame...

List of to do things reminder to myself before taking her out to the track...:

-Figure out what in the rear was bent/if it was and where and fix it/replace
-Tender springs and spring spacers x4, and maybe if I can afford it softer spring rates as it was a mistake to go with what I went with (for the tires and lack of aero that I have so far)
-Lower car just enough
-Realign
-Shifter cover as it's too lame and noisy with the broken half open one I have.. if anyone has one hook me up
-When I get money B&M shifter instead of megan racing v2 garbage
-When I get money exedy stage 2 clutch kit instead of the xtd stg3 garbage (although I like how light it all is)
-Check for exhaust/manifold/whatever leaks
-Figure out brake fluid leak where it's coming from (I just found this out the day I was puting her away bmc fluid tank being halved).
-Tighten steering wheel and check if the short hub isn't bent as it's clunking (again cheap made in china NRG ****).
-Shim the front shocks for the movement I found as per Richard's suggestion
-Cut the bump stops some in the front even though they are soft but I'll do it anyway
-Change o2 sensor (and any other sensor/temp gauge thingamajig i can think of to get mpg/power robbing fixed)
-Possibly remove all emission crap
-Maybe get a test pipe to be used while on track
-Remove heater core/other junk & strip interior/etc... some more?
-Figure out the fuel starvation problem while cornering (something is loose in the gas tank i figure).. might get a walbro while I'm at it, I'll need it down the road anyways
-Get a new z32 fuel filter and a K&N or AEM power cone air filter (as mine is dirty).
-Get new spark plugs
-Get timing tuned right..

I think that's it, but I'll edit if I remember anything else.

Oh well, car is sleeping http://forums.freshalloy.com/images/smilies/smile.gif My daily volvo 850 is back on the road http://forums.freshalloy.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[a_ahmed]

I miss her :(

My priority now is life, bank, debt, family, wife's school, etc... other than the car... but at least its one step closer to what i want out of this car... http://www.timeattackforums.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif...

I just hate the fact I curbed in that parking lot :@ gayness... sets me back lol.

Volvo is quite fun to drive with the winter tires haha...

[SoSideways]

So Sasha told you to lower your car more due to CG issues...

So all that talk about suspension geometry and roll center and all that, just got thrown out the window in no time? heh :)

Just find that a little funny.

Wiissass was right all along. We shouldn't worry so much about roll center and all that, and that CG plays a more important roll than roll center anyway.

[a_ahmed]

well he didnt say it doesnt matter, but he said lower CG would result in beter grip and lower due to geometry being messed would result in a more twitchy car, that is all... so it still obviously matters in many different ways.

[drunkmunky]

Lookin' good A_ahmed. You need some TLC with the body bro. I need to re-read this thread all over again because I just skimmed it but the suspension build is looking great.

[a_ahmed]

How I miss my car... stupid winter.

[a_ahmed]

My car's twin :D

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/6269/i3096cm4.jpg

It's still snowing... damn... I hate winter :'(

[a_ahmed]

This **** inspires me racepar, you gotta post ur own thread

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3313/kenny4.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4919/kenny6.jpg

[a_ahmed]

Just got the wallbro GSS341 (400-766) 255lph-HP locally to replace my failing 20 year old stock one heh... will pick up the gtc-200 soon too :D

Will get a used injen cold air intake extension too and I am also waiting on the same guy who got me the pump to get me the apexi power intake filter as mine is worn to ****...

The rest of the maintenance stuff ill get from crappy tire (canadian tire) although I dunnoo what crap they have. I'll have to go to the store... I hope they have descent quality stuff (o2 sensor, ngk spark plugs, etc...)

Also I am considering getting softer springs as car is definetely oversprung... I'm waiting on richard's response in PM :) Respond Richard respond :D

Ridiculously I went with 600 F 450 R with my koni 8611 setup... I want to lower the car as low as Racepar1's heh. and i need tender springs...

[McCoy]

Also I am considering getting softer springs as car is definetely oversprung...
I'm quite sure your car is not oversprung... just not to your likings is probably a better response. I'm running 550F/400R and have considered going stiffer, and may still.

I want to lower the car as low as Racepar1's heh. and i need tender springs...
...and what does getting your car as low as racepar1's car have anything to do with tender springs?!? Which I really don't think you need, but that's just my opinion.

[a_ahmed]

well i have an hlsd and if i lower the car if i dont have helper or tender springs the springs float... :-/

Also at tighter sections the rear lifts, while in higher speed long sweeping corners the front lifts... thats what ive felt thus would be helpful do advise me however.

I've adjusted the springs in such a way that they don't float but then the car is mega high as in my pix lol...

[veilside180sx]

My advice...do a track day before changing anything. Your impressions are all coming from a few days from driving on the street.

[McCoy]

well i have an hlsd and if i lower the car if i dont have helper or tender springs the springs float... :-/

Also at tighter sections the rear lifts, while in higher speed long sweeping corners the front lifts... thats what ive felt thus would be helpful do advise me however.
We have nearly the same setup... including the S15 LSD diff too. I have 7 track days on this setup in 2008 and NEVER once lifted a rear inside or the front while on track. Heck the only changes I want to make to my suspension is to get the RSSB's in, get some extra camber up front, and lower it another 1/2... that's it.

As Richard just stated, get it on the track before you do anything else. doing a quick U-turn in a parking lot (to see if you lift a tire) does not count.


I've adjusted the springs in such a way that they don't float but then the car is mega high as in my pix lol...
I noticed that... lower it, your car looks like a 4x4, lol.

[a_ahmed]

I noticed that... lower it, your car looks like a 4x4, lol.
lol its on the to do list haha....

[a_ahmed]

Got the gtc-200. It's missing one bolt which i gotta source for the mounts and the other four which mount to the trunk gotta source those. The surface clearcoat or whatever it is that protects the surface is worn out a bit. A bit lame to ask but any suggestion as to what to do to fix that (it's just visual). Clear coat?

The wing is mega lightweight. I feel like I'm holding a feather.

[Bumnah]

GTC-200 is that park bench of a wing? Why'd you pick that up?

[a_ahmed]

Well its better than an ebay wing, it has a proper enough endplate unlike zig zag shaped ebay endplates lol.. and i just need to make taller stands although they are adjustable and function. Better than nothing. Just something to toy with, I couldn't pass up the deal. A GTC-200 costs 800$ meh... I want a GTC-300 obviously but that's 1500$+~ :( Remember I'm in Canada ey.. our dollar sucks now too.

[a_ahmed]

Well I was test fitting the gtc-200 on my hatch and it's pretty nice honestly, it's a really nice fit on an s13 hatch. It has a natural fit, doesn't look out of place. It follows the curvature of the car. It actually makes the car sexy when it's low. However of course I want to have it higher for clean air.

I was researching a bit and apr actually makes a 2.5" riser already, so I'm going to go for that.. doesn't look as sexy but hey clean air :)

http://www.aprperformance.com/images/zoom/AMFUGQ/IMG_0397_copy.jpg

Doesn't look as good as it did on my car lol.. I think it's the ridiculously ugly wheels.

It's a beautiful day today... but they are announcing some light snow still for the next two weeks (wth).. so no go still.

I am still trying to find cheapest place for apexi intake filter, and I'll have to test fit the CAI extension and figure out what adapter i need to fit on the pipe, as the filter itself on it's back has 8 holes, two sets of four hole combinations... as it's universal obviously. Any suggestions do let me know... time to take off the made in china one I got (integrated plastic with adapter and filter).

Oh yes and last but not least, how do I go about adjusting the angle, I don't just get a protractor and do it some ghetto way LOL.... I saw APR is selling an angle indicator, but why spend money if there is another thing to go with. Do let me know :)

[floodo1]

Oh yes and last but not least, how do I go about adjusting the angle, I don't just get a protractor and do it some ghetto way LOL.... I saw APR is selling an angle indicator, but why spend money if there is another thing to go with. Do let me know :)

you should be able to get an "angle finder" easily: http://www.goeach.com/images/AngleFinderFrontFullSize.jpg
set it on the wing and instant angle found.

if you dont want to buy anything you could use a bubble level, or you could hang a plumb bob above the wing and use a big square (right angle rule thing) to measure the wing in relation to the plumb bob.

seriously get the angle finder, they're super useful to have around for other things

[Bumnah]

Get a picture of it on your car, I'm interested to see how it looks with the color of your car.

[a_ahmed]

I will next chance I get. Black and silver go well together.. if i got an frp or carbon hood it would look kinda nice too... just works nicely together.

I just need this bumper :)

http://www.180sx.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/general-site/m5.jpg


Red also looks good...:

http://www.180sx.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/general-site/m4.jpg

Ignore the crappy wheels and wheel fitment. My point is, the koukis look best imo on silver and black.. on a red car they can be pulled off nicely too. I do like the zenki/chouki straight tail lights though.

http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/Mike%20Garrett/Shops/Koguchi%20Power/IMG_9427.jpg

Then there is something like this I could pull off:

http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/AntonioAlvendia/Feature%20Cars/Koguchi%20Power%20silver%20RPS13/IMG_4258%20copy.jpg
http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/AntonioAlvendia/Feature%20Cars/Koguchi%20Power%20silver%20RPS13/IMG_4244%20copy.jpghttp://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/AntonioAlvendia/Feature%20Cars/Koguchi%20Power%20silver%20RPS13/IMG_2412%20copy.jpg
http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/AntonioAlvendia/Feature%20Cars/Koguchi%20Power%20silver%20RPS13/IMG_4229%20copy.jpg
http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/AntonioAlvendia/Feature%20Cars/Koguchi%20Power%20silver%20RPS13/IMG_4276%20copy.jpg

I wouldn't quite follow every move on this but it's not a bad color.

Honestly I love black, nothing better than black... but this silver is pretty nice actually...

[racepar1]

Dammit! People need to stop posting pics of the koguchi power overfenders. Everytime I see another pic it makes me want them even more!

[a_ahmed]

I just bought new cap and rotor, z32 fuel filter, ngk iridium bkr5eix-11 spark plugs, and waiting on oem o2 sensor (should be in crappy (canadian) tire at 4 oclock), also unknown brand 4-2-1 header (has egr port and two o2 sensor holes?) from adam (first guy with ls1 240 in canada), mr gasket copper header gasket.

I think thats about it. Just waiting on air filter to arrive and im taking the car to the shop this week :)

Have to also get an angle finder from home depot lol.

I think thats about it. I was thinking about CAS and TPS too but will see. That should make it all nice and reliable hopefully.

[a_ahmed]

Got an angle finder or 'magnetic polycast protractor' heh... and got a bosch o2 sensor :)

Also i was blind, the headers say dc sports, so i didnt get an obx or whatever ebay one, yay, and for 150CAD. Good deal.

So Tuesday or Wednesday God willing I'm taking the car to the shop and beginning the work. Just waiting on apexi power intake filter now.

[a_ahmed]

So I got the car in the shop today, can't wait to hear what it sounds like with the dc sports 4-2-1 header :D

Oh my God... how I missed the car.. first entry ramp I could get it was on... lol.. i didn't even realize how fast i was going on it until i looked at the speedo and went woah... can't wait to take this thing out to track... one more month until track season... some solo sprint will do :D

Hilariously enough, getting out of the garage was an emberassing adventure, it took me a minute to get out... I had to do it on angle and having the HLSD really doesn't help, any higher plane and/or going on an angle just shreds tires... I need some tender springs.

[McCoy]

So did you figure out what is wrong with the front suspension... I remember you kissed a curb last year in a parking lot and stated there was some issues.

[a_ahmed]

It's the rear right not the front end. Still havent figured out but i will in this week. It's visually obvious. The rash on the wheel is mega tiny (yay) but the wheel looks negatively cambered extra and toed in extra.. whatever it is, it sucks and made me really sad for days. I was like yay for success, car was PERFECT :D.. all done... and then voila.

When it happened and I wasn't even monkeying around it was just dark in the parking lot... bad day that day.

The steering is not straight since, obviously whatever's changed it has to compensate to go straight.

Hopefully it's nothing major and it can be sorted out quickly. I want to take the car out on the road in a week or two...

I definitely won't be lowering the car more until I get some tender springs for the rear...

[a_ahmed]

Actually the issue I want to really sort out other than that is the front dampers being ab it loose in the housings. Richard told me to shim them... not sure what he meant to shim or how, I wouldn't mind if he jumped in.

[veilside180sx]

You just drop a thin washer in the bottom of the damper. I bet the gland nut is just loose though, as they were tight in there when I shipped them.

[a_ahmed]

Thanks richard will look into that.

Well while the header was about to be installed guess what snapped... so we'll have to drill it out and take it out but at an angle its really awkward... also the egr piping snapped but we decided to just ditch all emissions **** (thank God). Can't wait to hear the new header though :)

While attempting to check what's going on with the fuel tank and installing the new fuel pump, turns out a buncha **** is broken from within the fuel tank.. so it's either new/used stock fuel tank or fuel cell. It explains all the noise in the rear and fuel starvation while cornering. Considering how overpriced OEM fuel tanks are I'm leaning towards a fuel cell as eventually I want to install one...

15gallon should be enough don't you think? Or even 12 or 14 gallon or whatever... suggestions welcome as I've never bought an aftermarket fuel cell. Obviously ideally I'm guessing I want this to be as low as possible... should I want it close to the subframe/wheels (centered of course) or further away towards the back? Will have to fabricate mounting, etc... most likely cut out wheel wells as they are useless anyways. Suggestions all welcome.

How big is the stock fuel tank? 15gallon? I am guessing somewhere in 50liters range but I don't know...

Any links to 240sx hatch fuel cell installs, etc... very welcome.

Edit a post i googled says 15 7/8 gallon for stock fuel tank could be right or wrong I don't know.

[Bumnah]

OEM fuel tank.

You and I share a similar problem. OVER MODIFYING!

[a_ahmed]

This is the guy I met in aliston, ontario, first guy with a LS V8 in a 240 in canada. Check what he did:


http://www.turbo240sx.ca/projects/projects-240sx3.php


This is utilizing a circular fuel cell, no idea how big it is. The stock fuel tank apparently is 15 7/8 gallons. I was thinking maybe fitting a 14 gallon one or something.


The second thing I saw is this guy in the states, nice race car, this is sooort of what I had in mind initially if i were to do one:


http://www.superstreetonline.com/featuredvehicles/130_0704_spec_clutch_1995_nissan_240sx/photo_16.html


However now that I think about it, utilizing the wheelwell like that could be smart, eventually I want to have a rear diffuser and full underbody panel done for track racing so it would seem like a smarter idea.

[Ruff Ryder 6]

yeah i was going to link you to that first one if you hadn't already seen it.

[Matt93SE]

I'd recommend keeping a stock tank personally. At least in the S14, they do just fine for track duty- I haven't had any problems with fuel starvation in corners at least down to ~1/8 of a tank (where I fill up anyway since I burn about 1/6 of a tank per session on track and I'd run out during the next session if I didn't fill up).

Have you tried to source a used tank from a salvage yard or someone parting their car out? They're not too expensive around here.


edit.. forgot S13 tanks are in the back under the spare tire well... makes installing a fuel cell not much different than the stock tank. The stock S14 tank is in front of the subframe, so mounting a cell in an S14 drastically changes the weight distribution of the car.

so in your case it's a money factor.. personally I'd just put a junkyard fuel tank in the car and go...

[a_ahmed]

Okay well I've decided to get another used tank in good condition for now. When I do a fuel cell setup, I'll do it as Adam Hutchinson did with his s13 hatch as in the first link. For now hopefully this'll do, if I still get starvation problems I'll go ahead and do it this summer... but I don't want to now, waste of money. I'll save my hard earned $$$.

Instead I may have a little surprise in the works.... If I get it!!! :D Update soon.

Headers are on yay, still can't hear it until tank is back together however. I got a few pics I'm going to upload, nothing special meh. The car is soooo dirty... omg... I can't wait to detail it after it's all back together.

[a_ahmed]

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3382/p3281125.jpg
Some fuel pump adventures

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5301/p3281149.jpg

So frickin dirty, she's a dirty one hahaha. The emissions are all going to go bye bye.

I will be getting nistune and a wideband to play around with as well down the line. I want to remain NA until I go LS v8.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/1637/p3281159.jpg

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4402/p3281154q.jpg

What's better when the stands are inboard or outboard in the pic? Does it really make much difference. I'm curious. It's not yet mounted. I just put it up to take a pic

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5751/p3281128.jpg

And I just like this pic somehow hehe

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/1973/p3281133.jpg
You can see the very very very dirty interior, with the non working hydraulic line lock and very useful and working brake bias adjuster :)

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3389/p3281145.jpg
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/7879/p3281140.jpg

The brakes saying hi, as you can see, the rear one has that little rash, that's from the parking lot incident at 5km/hr.. Still haven't quite investigated. Still can't see where and what exactly is damaged as nothing seems bent...

What my car really needs ultimately is a complete chassis/body makeover... all in good time :)...

[Bumnah]

You know what would look great on that car? My carbon fiber hatch. You should totally buy it. :)

[a_ahmed]

LOL, sorry man :) I'm not doing any body work until way after im done with what i have planned :)

[a_ahmed]

So the OEM fuel tank is gona cost 255CAD.. what a waste of money... I hate oem parts. Overpriced junk... I'll try to actually sell it later down the line... to do a proper fuel cell the way I envision I'm looking at probably close to 1000$... so forget that for now blah...

[Matt93SE]

used parts?
http://car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?userSearch=int&userPID=1000&userLocation=Canada&userIMS=&userInterchange=BEA%3EAN&userSide=&userDate=1992&userDate2=1992&dbModel=54.6.1.1&userModel=Nissan%20240SX&dbPart=197.1&userPart=Fuel%20Tank&sessionID=200000000000000000002854062&userPreference=price&userUID=0&userBroker=&userPage=1&iKey=

[a_ahmed]

I got ripped off then, most of those are in BC... ah well. Cars suck.

Apexi power intake filter finally came.

[a_ahmed]

Alright, so, will put car on alignment machine tomorrow, still couldn't find anything bent or broken really weird... what the hell. Oh well thank God I guess nothing is broken, but how could the alignment change so drastically hmm.

Other thing, the header and fuel and everything else is done... now for the header I need to plug the EGR hole... I heard some kind of oil magnetic drain plugs fit, is this true, what should I look for. Need one asap cause I want to drive the car finally...

The original EGR stuff broke so its useless... I don't want to weld something on the actual header as I want to sell it later down the line.

[Matt93SE]

I just cut the old EGR tube about 1.5" down from the flange and crimped the end shut, rolled it over, and welded it back onto itself for a 100% seal. not the prettiest result, but it works for now.
Even if the tube is broken, do you still have the threaded ends and a short section of tube?

[a_ahmed]

Thanks for the advice, that's what I hoped to just do however the old egr plug is stuck in the old manifold and that's why it snapped... so that's not a viable solution for me :(

[Matt93SE]

lots of penetrating oil + fire maybe?

I couldn't get mine out while it was on the car, so I cut the EGR tube and removed the manifold. when I got it off the car, I stuck a 6pt socket over the end and zipped it right off with my impact wrench.

[a_ahmed]

Ya when we were taking out old manifold we cut that up couldn't get it out lame its too late now for all that. So I need a solution with the egr for sure.. without welding a penny on the manifold itself cause thats just retarded :( I dont want to ruin the manifold.

The alignment came out like this, front was absolutely dead on identical still (amazing) all in the green.. however the rear was all off. The rear somehow ended up being -3.0 camber and i forget what the toe settings were and the right was like fubared... so... trying to adjust it... we ran out of thread...to get camber where it is.. so it seems the LCAs.. again NOTHING visible to show damage... So I need some LCAs... used of course... that's the only thing... all the adjustable arms are mint condition and subframe looks and was measured mint.. could the whole subframe could have just shifted? Still doesnt make sense...

I need rear right LCA and egr plug of sorts asap...

[Matt93SE]

try car-part.com for a used control arm too.
Are the spindles/knuckles original? (I'm too lazy to go back and read 200+ posts to see what all you've done).

I've had a few friends here that had some whacked alignment issues and several of them wound up having a bent knuckle so everything got better after swapping it out.

That said, I have a full gamut of stock S14 rear suspension at the house. If you need me to ship you one, I can. It'll just cost a small fortune since its coming from Houston, TX.. You'd be better off and quicker to try the local junkyards and pay a small premium in price vs. having to UPS-Red it to Kanuckistan. shipping would cost more than the part is worth.

I'll poke around on my spare engine tonight if I get some time and see what I can come up with for thread size and depth for the EGR. (I wonder if an old oxygen sensor has the same thread size on it?)

[a_ahmed]

hey thanks buddy, well i already ordered a rear right LCA should be here monday. In a way I'm like thank God, cause if its just this and this alone im golden... as all the other crap cost an arm and a leg.

The uprights are z32 aluminum ones with spherical bearings pressed in lol.. i dont want that to be damaged or anything else. Literally everything in the rear is new and I mean literally everything other than axles, pumpkin and LCAs... everything else including brakes/etc... is new. so would suck to have any of it damaged...

About the egr block off.. well tried a few different things nothing worked... im on the look out now... I am trying to avoid welding onto the header to block off the egr hole... Intake manifold i dont care, ill weld a penny on it lol... but i dont want to ruin the header cause i want to resell later.

[Matt93SE]

pick up a used EGR tube from someone and mash the ends shut like I did. ??????

I hoep they didn't bend the Z knuckles when they were pressing in the spherical bearings. one.. aluminum doesn't bend too well. two, that's a beyotch of a part to replace the bushings in.

[veilside180sx]

Take a good picture of the LCA. I bet there is a small part where the paint has flaked off, which is usually a good indicator that the metal has stretched in that area.

Given the rust on your car, it would be easily overlooked.

[a_ahmed]

yup that'ss exactly what i'm hoping its not.. sucks ass...

I was just googling and what gave me hope was that I found some threads on nicoclub of ppl with bent rear LCAs... There were no cracks no paint chips its crazy... to put it simply, hard to tell it was ever bent and after replacing the car was driving mint... so God willing it's just that, just the rear right LCA.

I was suggested just in plain discussion by Sasha from SG motorsports it would be uprights and I hope he's wrong... I am not sure how I could press out the spherical bearings into a new z32 rear upright and of course I'd have to source z32 uprights as well... blah. However thinking about it, if it were damaged, it being aluminum I was kind of expecting either plain obvious about to shatter look or already shattered from being brittle aluminum... hard to explain but unlike steel or other harder metals...

Edit: Yeah Richard, I'm in a different city right now... can't take pix.. I probably will on saturday. I came home (car is elsewhere in a garage).. you are right though. The rear LCAs on my car are ugly as hell, the worst suspension part LOL. Easily overlooked.. hopefully again the only bad part :)

Going back through the old pix lol...:

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/9089/pa310959iv0.jpg

[veilside180sx]

I've bent a few myself, they aren't the strongest things. On one hand though...it keeps it from bending the subframe or any other permanent fixtures when the forces exceed it's capability to withstand.

My money is definately on a bent LCA though.

[Bumnah]

I was going to say, I've got some battle version rear lca's for the s13 I'm thinking about selling... But never mind.

[a_ahmed]

^hahaha ur a funny guy i love you man :P

Well I'm anxious to find out on monday... that's judgment day for the car...

[Bumnah]

I said never mind since you already replaced your lower control arms. If you're interested in buying, I'm certainly interested in selling.

[a_ahmed]

Well in the future when I'm more stacked with money I was hoping to get GP Sports knuckles as mmdb did and SPL LCAs, but not anytime soon.. not anytime soon..

[a_ahmed]

So I talked to my friend who's working on the car right now, he put the new LCA on, sorry I didn't get the time to take pix, I was really busy with cleaning the house this weekend... basically alignment went fine now.. however the traction arm according to him it was adjusted equally but... everything is solid... but the ears on the subframe one was what looked slightly bent in a way, i didn't quite understand what he said, but it seemed it had 'more space' vs the other one one part (cant understand until i see it).

The weird thing we noted was that the left side camber changed too, it was like -3 something and the right was -4.1 lmao (the hit side)... how would the left change too? We're hoping the subframe didnt move or something could that happen? However everything is solid unmovable.. the chassis is in a not so perfect shape obviously being 20 years old and needing attention.. so something could flex no doubt? Give some input on all this please :(.. otherwise i just have to test the car now... all alignment came to 0.0x spec of the specs i gave lol...

Of all things though now... its snowing today and tomorrow (gona melt but wth?!?! I hate canada and its weather).

[Matt93SE]

It's possible the mounting tabs are bent for the torque arm. long as the metal isn't buckled, then you should be okay. take a close look for any signs of fatigue or cracking though.

and -3 camber in the rear? yeesh. I barely run that much in the front and only about -1.5 in the back. that's a ton of camber!

[Bumnah]

What are those yoshio factory things near the nismo power brace upfront?

[a_ahmed]

They are yashio factory core support brace and this is what they do (slightly clearer picture):

http://www.yashiofactory.co.jp/i_love/kiwami/k_img_001.jpg

[Bumnah]

Is there really that much flex where 3 body bolts, 2 sway bar d bracket bolts, a bar connecting the two bracket together aren't enough to keep the power brace securely in place?

[a_ahmed]

honestly i felt an improvement... our chassis are marshmellows...

[a_ahmed]

lol so i have the best of luck... I guess everything happens for a reason.

First I came from work all excited and we spent all last night looking for plugs to close the EGR and we did finally with some custom conjecture and anger. The car is surprisingly not loud and I'll definetely try a testpipe on it... impressive and the rage sound went away which I think it was the old intake and filter or something (the injen extension and apexi intake filter was of course installed).

The car with all said and done definetely has more butt dyno power throughout the whole rev range.

Suspension was all fixed and it was just that LCA thank God.

Going for a test drive guess what happens, on an exit ramp going descently fast something jumps out and I smack the brakes and slid into the ditch....... it being cold outside didn't help the tires any better... paranoia and depression and worry kick in... I was suppose to just go for a test spin and back to the shop to finish it off... luckily my friend has a tow truck...

What ensues is me and fellow humans trying to push it out but to no avail with mud being wet... i waste a good amount of rear tires :(... I notice i hit a sign slightly and screwed up my rear arch... lots of thoughts going through my mind...

Then tow truck comes and tries to pull out by front left hook and it rips out (****)... then the right side hook finally with me giving gas gently in first it pushes out and its on road...

Back in the garage.. I am really depressed.. but we asses the damage and nothing is damaged other than the rear arch being pushed in... underneath all is well with the new parts.. however front frame whatever it is with the hook is ripped out so we bang it back.... and the driver side frame is twisted bent crushed...

So really really depressing, I went to sleep I woke up thought about it... I'm going to look for a new rolling chassis. Everyone was telling me this to begin with... I guess everything happens for a reason... who knows something could happened on the track and worse things could have ensued... better to have a solid chassis. I planned to rebuild it all acid bath and all these fantasies of spending money but you know what no point on such a chassis... its done for, for sure...

It drives fine, however I am all paranoid now... but it pulls slightly to the left, very very minor but it does... so... I am on the lookout for a rolling chassis.

I was all excited to pick it up and get all ready for a track day and voila... I'll still go but definetely with caution... with an all out build like this I need a good chassis... it all happens for a reason... the guy who painted the car ripped me off anyways using kilos upon kilos of bondo...

That is all for now, I'll take some pictures, at least nothing of the parts was damaged :-/

Sucks doesn't it, but in the end thank God could have been worse. Ah well, at least now it sounds good and still handles but albeit on a crappy chassis lol...

Pathetic I know... oh well.

/dead

[Bumnah]

that is ****ty luck.

sorry to hear man.

[a_ahmed]

Well, I believe in God and that everything happens for a reason no doubt.. it's for the best :) Good news is, nothing was actually damaged other than the rear part of the fender a tiny bit in the back which was not structural so much so and yes of course the frame. However still there and solid albeit moved but boohoo. Even now looking at the rear where it was damaged, it was already in poo rusty soft condition when I rolled it and found bondo. In other words, it absorbed the impact just perfectly (LOL). Sucks but who cares, from driving it around it still drives great. :D

It does pull slightly tiny tiny bit to the left and when I brake, however I'll find out on the alignment what's changed and surely it is cause of the hit frame, but alas. Poo happens.

This is not the end instead a new beginning and goal. Car is afterall still driving fine. My new goal is finding a fresh chassis something I needed anyways, so thank God it's happened this way and not another way.

The spring/summer has just started so I got all year of fun to come :) I am always an optimist not pessimist. All experiences in life make you better.

In the end whatever jumped in the night on the ramp in front of me, animal or alien, I'm glad it didn't get hit, a car is an inanimate object and cars can always be rebuilt.

So bottom line, I'm on the hunt for a new chassis :) Shouldn't take more than a week or two to swap everything over. The reason the car took long to build last time was waiting time on parts, now everything is here. Just drop and swap.


Addition:

I've driven it whole day today all day long and ran out of places to cruise around with. All I got to say it's a mega fun go kart on the road, GOD I MISSED IT :D

I also got tons of heads turning today lmao, the car is like poo that attracts flies and creatures from every walk of life. Every single person whether they had a sports car or poo minivan when they heard my car move struggled to overtake me or do some stupid thing and then stare LOL every guy tried to race me, it was just hysterical... and wherever I parked the car I had guys stare and/or pull over and check it out, I just started waving at everybody, God I had fun, it was a big comedy show, I don't think I laughed as much as I did while driving a car ever.

The sad part of the whole day going places was seeing an s14 today. I was just cruising along and I was like "hey cool a 240" and my wife was like where let me see and the guy like a dick struggled to overtake me from a cross section turn and catch up to me then give me some dick serious loser look as if he was trying to prove himself and that his is better, I just waved and I was like wow what a dick LOL. I just slowly sailed along while he was ripping it (sounded so damn raspy) and then turned violently into a corner... bahaha.. ah well.

My car is a trouble magnet...and no i did not street race anybody cause that's just retarded lol.

Well May is around the corner and track days start soon, I am looking forward to that :)

[a_ahmed]

Well slight update,

Review of dc sports 4-2-1.

One word. Excellent. I can definitely feel the power throughout the whole power band. The injen cold air extension with the filter probably combined net a good combination and likewise all new wires, cap n rotor, o2 sensor, etc... however it is plain awesome. I would really like to get nistune and learn and play with that.

The sound is very deep and pronounced yet very very quiet below 3-4k rpm, above that it has a very deep nice sound. Believe it or not the car somehow is quieter than before, I guess there might have been a leak and that raging sound is gone. My wife hated the car now she loves it :)

I'll be a little adventurous and get a 2.5" testpipe and see how that goes.

The tires really don't like the low temperature as it's 10ish average... so I'm hoping for some better weather...

The megan racing v2 shifter is absolute trash by now. That is all I got to say. It has more than 1" of play. I mean I can shift really fast but I have to guess where the gears are at times, not very confidence inspiring. I thought I was saving a hundred bux over the B&M however now I'll be spending another 200. So I am going to be getting a v2 b&m shifter... stupid piece of crap chinese products.

Still on the lookout for a chassis, lots of them on sale, however all junk or overpriced (and still junk)... that's my goal for the summer other than driving this one :) Still half a month until track days and the temperature to go up to 15-20 average... hopefully...

[Def]

Why not pick up a car in the states that has an SR but crap suspension and just swap your stuff over? They're pretty common, and it's easy to find rust free cars if you're willing to do a road trip. Plus you can sell off the crap you pull off a modified car to help offset the cost.

Sucks about the car, but like you said, this is probably a blessing in disguise. Your car had lots of rust(as do most cars that far north), so you were going to have to deal with it eventually and it gets harder and harder the further along a build you go to get the motivation up to completely strip it and do a full restoration.

[a_ahmed]

You know today I did an alignment so the car tracks straight again... i also sat in the car while doing the alignment...

Anyways, all said and done, the car is okay, however after putting everything back on the car doesn't grip in rear as it used to. This is going to sound funny, but when after it was hit it wasnt 'stable' but it was gripping really really well in deep right hand turns, ramps, etc... like you wouldnt believe... no idea what the alignment became but... basically what he told me was that camber was a weird whooping -3 something in the driver side and -4.x in the right (the hit side lol) and it was really toed in... Now someone explain me this... with that in mind... it was gripping like a mofo.

After realigning making both sides the same, the rear doesn't grip and feels like its falling over itself or something.. dont know how to explain it... i also easily spin the tires with throttle (wth? stock ka with boltons).

This is all a learning process for me as im not a mechinical engineer or race car driver, but just a hobby i want to get good at... with that in mind... i know the little differences i can feel when i make to the car... and well it went in the opposite direction lol after the supposed ideal alignment settings being put back.

I know the tires are not getting enough heat either as its still cold.. however the day i put the car back it was about the same weather soo...

right now the rear is both sides 3/8" shortened traction arms, -2.0 camber and now off the top of my head i forget how much toe in but a good bunch.

Another thing I did finally was to add some compression, I added compression to the front 3 clicks and went for a spin, I noticed it actually improved the ride. I then got back and decided to do the rear (all this less than one hour before work). In the back I found that one of the dampers already had 3 clicks the other was at full soft.. wth.. that'll explain some of the weirdness... so I made it to be 3 clicks on both and made the front 4. Went for a spin and I felt the car 'jacking down' (i think thats the correct term) where after bumps it would compress and then stay like that and jump back...

I then reduced the rebound and only had one full turn in back... car felt looser but i was kinda getting the feel of it thinking its a better solution... i then reduced the front as well to 1 turn rebound and front i think now feels great... but car still jacks down and gets unsettled too.. i feel the rear is harsh or bouncy and jacking down.. lol weird.. something is not right in the rear.. im a newb at this so its a learning experience.. im thinking ill reduce rebound half a turn and see how that feels.

When I get the time I guess.. the right thing should be for me to go 0 rebound again and then keep adding compression until it feels 'right'... without crashing or bouncing at least thats what i read in that adjustment guide.. then and only then add rebound...

Suggestions welcome.. if the spring is stiffer should there be more or less of compression and/or rebound... vs the amount to a softer spring?

The front I am guessing maybe adding a little toe out would help otherwise it feels okay to me... the rear though is weird still.. maybe i shouldnt have shortened the traction arms.. i just did it as per suggestion of racepar1's and aceinhole's success with it... none the less rear is still.. weird.. it doesnt grip which is just retarded. Also the rear tires are pretty well used up and thats only what a month and a half of use, the fronts are still brand spanking new looking as if nothing happened to them (amazing). I guess that could be explained with 0 toe in the front... proof of it not using tires up?

[turtl631]

I can't read through all your long posts, but you've crashed your car in some way right after working on it twice now. Maybe you need to work on calming down and thinking about what you're doing before you hop in and damage anything else. You're going 1 step forward and 2 back here, upgrading things and then breaking other things.

[a_ahmed]

Well im not upgrading anything now. The car aligned perfect and tracks straight perfectly now. Just trying to get down and dirty and get it better off from where it is.

Getting another chassis is the only upgrade that's going to happen any time soon and maybe nistune.

[Bumnah]

You write wayyy too much.

Make sure the settings are similar left to right.

Track the car as is. Make changes based off of track performance. Tuning based off "feel" on the street is silly.

I'm planning on leaving the suspension settings stock for the most part when I put my suspension together. I'll add some negative camber just because the tires like the negative camber.

Feels like you're making it more complicated than it needs to be.

[a_ahmed]

well its pretty silly maybe but i can spin the rear tires with a stock ka and they are 255s... go figure. I wrote in detail what i've experienced with the changes to the car...

[Bumnah]

As you stated the tires are in less than ideal operating temperatures. Tire spin could be a byproduct of the temperature. Unless it's a constant problem, it's kind of hard to diagnose, let alone to diagnose based off of descriptions on the web.

I only stated the writing point because personally I skip over long posts if the first few sentences don't hold my interest. You seem to type as you think. That makes it hard to follow your posts sometimes. You jump from point to point. A long drawn out post may net you less replies than a "clear and to the point" post.

[a_ahmed]

Honestly it's unacceptable... I am pretty sure it all has to do with the traction arms' adjustment... I mean I don't know but... it makes me think. I had them 3/8" shorter than the stock ones.

Remember how I complained about the car being slippery at -2.0 camber and then going -1.5 but it still sucked...

Reason I wrote so much was because of the weird effect of how the car felt AFTER I hit it bending the LCA (it was gripping better in long and deep right turns -- im talking i hit 120km/hr on a ramp with plenty grip to go.. now that is not frickin possible even at 80km/hr wtf).

I mean now its slide city how else can i explain it... pathetic, i feel the car has potential by how it feels... but something is wrong with the rear setup... This was way before I hit anything anyways, remember how I complained about it?

Once it starts compressing in a turn it starts feeling like it's going to come around! And believe it or not... the other day showing the car, while trying to launch the car it felt as if i had 500whp or something cause the car's rear end moved.. and I had to quickly counter steer rear end wanted to come around... in a straight line... wtf? there's static toe in... yet... what gives?

Yeah it's true the weather sucks so the tires don't get that hot, but to be affected to this extent it doesn't make sense. The grip is not there at all.

[Def]

You've crashed the car twice. I'd say there is a good chance you bent or tweaked the chassis if it drives very weird after an alignment.

I wouldn't waste much effort on it. I'd just find a new chassis and drive calmly on the street until you can go to the track some.

[a_ahmed]

Well the only weirdness is lack of rear traction, and this was before i hit the curb which bent the LCA.

The weird thing I was describing is that when it was hit it really gripped and it had like -3.0 camber in the driver side rear and like a whooping -4.x on the passenger rear (really toed in too). After LCA was put back on the alignment came out perfect, visibly and on the alignment machine (laser). The car tracked straight.

Then I went for a test expecting same grip and combined with lower temp, it skid. I went back to the garage and nothing was bent on the suspension except the driver frame was indented a bit, but most of these cars have them pooped up from improper hoist lifting over the years.

Re-aligned it yesterday with me in it, it tracks straight perfect, braking also it doesn't pull one side or another. However, the rear traction issue is back.

I took the chance yesterday to play with compression and rebound and improved the traction and feel of the car, however, the point is, without me touching that before, after hitting the curb and alignment going weird it was really gripping, which lends me to believe something has to be done with alignment in the rear to gain more traction..

The weird feel from before and now ('back to the ideal' alignment) is that moment you start going into a harder turn the rear wants to come out I feel it.. as if its falling over or wants to steer that way... now that being said, I shortened the traction arm 3/8" and I am not sure if I should have toyed with that to begin with.

I will go back and try to see if I make it 8" all together eye to eye how it'll behave. If the modification of the traction arm affects the camber curve and toe curve.. then maybe the way it's set on my car is wrong and makes the car slide out so easily...

That's why I am saying it is weird that after hitting the curb and bending LCA in the parking lot it changed alignment and it gripped better (but didnt go straight obviously) that's the weird part.. and before and after being set to the 'ideal' alignment both sides dead on and I mean dead on 0.0x with adjustments all in green obviously... that is what doesn't make sense.

[a_ahmed]

Basically to sum up, it's an issue I had before ever hitting the parking lot curb (bending LCA) or skidding now (and not damaging anything on suspension at all -- but bending in slightly the frame from scraping) car tracks straight and alignment came out perfect.

Remember when I complained about rear and said how I lowered camber and it felt slightly better but still sucked.. and you and others said that doesn't quite make sense, and it doesn't make too much sense to me either... only thing making me want to go in that direction was all the talk of too much rear camber making you lose traction but that's for straightline acceleration (right?)... me not making sense again, the least I can do is describe how it sucks... and this was before and after.

[Trev_N]

Are you taking into consideration your driving a RWD car.......

[a_ahmed]

rotflmao funny guy

[McCoy]

me not making sense again, the least I can do is describe how it sucks... and this was before and after.
No your not... let's look back several pages here.



Saw I met Sasha.... he's really cool, serious guy, knows what he's talking about too.

Wow.... okay I don't need to upgrade my car for another say year to three years LOL enginewise either. And lets just say **** ferraris and lambos and all that **** out there.

So he drove the car and he's good, and he's very very very good... ****........... very good. He scared me but not like im like a woman scared me, but impressed me.... REALLY impressed me. Car grips like a mofo.... car turns like a mofo, turns in great, brakes great, just..... frickin wow. Race car driver = 1. Me = -20 LMAO.

He said the car is pretty neutral, tad of oversteer, good setup, he liked it, liked the brakes too (they're broken in now, I like them too LOL they just needed to be broken in really). Uuuh.... holy SHIIITT..... THIS GUY CAN DRIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the car is definetely A+ thumbs up approved as worthy....

Told to lower the car to increase grip and lower center of gravity, car will be more twitchy but more grippy. Told me also to get tender springs front and rear. Lifting rear, and yeah. Uuuh.... yeah.

I wish I had a camera to record this great event in my and my car's life lol. This guy can really drive....!

[a_ahmed]

Got me there, no comment. I can't really argue with that. From seeing him drive it, it opened my eyes to the car. I began driving it more at the limit from seeing him drive it (no i did not hit anything because of that lol)... but the rear never quite ever feels planted it always feels like it wants to fall over. I am happy with what I've got with the car, it's all I've ever wanted in a car: tires, suspension and brakes no crazy engine power just response. I just want it tuned accordingly...

I tried explaining in detail the feel of the rear, believe me or don't, but something is amiss or at least can be improved. Sure my driving is not guru-like Sasha or many of you, but I can still feel and explain what is happening.

I managed to improve the feel by briefly in the last few days fiddling with compression and rebound: the car feels better... decreasing rear rebound made a difference in traction, but the falling over part in the rear makes the car always want to come out at high speed and that's not confidence inspiring...

I want to come about resolving this. The issue was not there while I was driving the car around with the LCA being bent... THATS the weird part to me. Even the day that I brought the car to the shop... that's the day I was hitting 120 on a sweeper with the ass TOTALLY PLANTED... it had a different feel to it... AND I LOVED that feel. Same spot, curve, sweeper, line, the car felt completely different resulting in me skidding. It's gay and I can't explain that.

Whatever the case, I'll check the traction arms... and rear alignment... and go to track obviously very soon... but I want more rear grip... it doesn't make sense.... If it's all in my own mind well ****, but what the hell!?

EDIT:

Bottom line is.. I'll have to drive it to track and get some other opinions as to how to improve the rear, I guess can't really express it on a forum vs real world..

[Matt93SE]

Put the traction arms back to stock length and see what happens. Everything on my car in regards to that stuff is stock and the car drives great. running about -1.5 camber in the back and -2.5 or 3 in front. leave everything else set to stock specs unless you have a race shop with the experience and tools to set bumpsteer and anti-squat do it for you. Otherwise you're tweaking with crap engineered by people way above our pay grade.




And there's no possible way to compare performance on the street with performance on a track- even if you're playing around on sweepers. You just can't do it.
You can't get enough heat in the tires on the street (before going to jail anyway) to begin to see how the car actually handles at track speeds and up to temperature.

With alignment set to make the car corner, you're not going to have a lot of straight-line traction.. especially when it's near freezing outside. just ain't gonna happen.

[a_ahmed]

Yeah I'll agree with your comments. I'll just wait two-three more weeks until track days and then after going through some driving go to a race alignment shop and explain to them the car's behaviour and go from there. I appreciate the honest advice :) You guys are right in this respect. Thanks.

[Matt93SE]

If/when you go to the track with that alignment, be sure to take some tape measures and toe plates (or 2x4s). be ready to adjust the traction arms at the track if your handling is as bad as you describe.

[Def]

Most people who haven't developed RWD car control skills by driving in "anger" don't like the feel of a car that will readily rotate. Not saying you can't drive, but if you haven't properly trained yourself to do things like always stay on the throttle in a corner, never lift, be smooth with inputs etc., then doing the wrong things in a car that doesn't have much understeer will give you some very "messy pants" moments.

Keep in mind you've basically set your car up like a track car, and it's not going to handle things like bombing into a corner and lifting/coasting well due to the setup.

[a_ahmed]

I agree with you Def, I'm anxiously awaiting for May for some track days :) Already asked a buddy of mine to see what he's got in mind that may be lined up... :)

On a different note, I'm going to make a video of the crappy megan racing shifter, I borrowed my father's digital photo camera (it has some basic video support). Then maybe I can get some input on this as well and see if I can fix it (if possible) instead of dishing out 200 bux on the spot for a v2 b&m.

[Matt93SE]

Just an FYI.. I make it a point to stay away from ANYTHING made by Megan Racing. They take a quality product from someone else and redesign it, turning it into sheit in the process, then sell it on fleabay for 1/2 price of the real thing.

The cheap price looks good and fools lots of people into thinking it's a good product "for the money" Unfortunately, my reading online about them have shown just the opposite is true after people install and use the products for a few months..

[a_ahmed]

It worked great, but only for 3 days. After then it was loose-city, and now it's absolutely useless, I am guessing gears... especially 4th... it's always been a hit or miss after the 3rd day. Now even getting into reverse and first is a problem.... sometimes second.. sometimes third.. basically rubbish.

And when it 'worked' those 3 days, it rattled so much past 5k rpm... as if an elephant was being raped by a tiger... if I even fix it, I don't want the return of that noise. I have enough noises to anoy me in the car as is lmao.

Also since being 'new', the lever was 'rotating' in a circular axis which I don't think is suppose to happen, since the install, now it's even more. I can't wait to make the video and you'll see what I mean...

[a_ahmed]

Well on a different note, the brakes work GREAT :) Could maybe use a more aggressive pad, but they stop and don't fade :D Only stupid and annoying thing is they pulsate, if anyone remembers, there were issues with installing them. Rotor runout and what seems slightly bent rotors (wtf all brand new).

Dave from Arizona z car has the worst customer support ever FYI. The kit is nice and I like it, but it needed a few modifications here n there... plus that. but damn... the guy never responds to any emails.

Anyways, screw him, for replacement pads and rotors I'll get the P/N from the actual rotors and calipers and there are suppose to be inscriptions on the backside of the pad itself to identify the compound. I spoke with wilwood directly and they are more than happy to help.

It seems there are three track days coming up in the short term. I am trying to catch one THIS Sunday :D~~~~ I'm just waiting to see if there are any spots left... the next two are in May... Today was 19celsius... what a great feeling... Sunday the track day will be clear sunny day with 8celsius weather. I really want to go to track, my hands and feet are itching to race the car :)

Sorry I didn't get the time to make a video of the stupid megan racing v2 shifter.