Finally on track

Back at the end of August, SilviaWA had a 'Driver Training' afternoon at the AHG Driver Training Centre out near Perth International Airport. Although they have a short circuit, this event takes place on one of their large skid pans with the addition of a set of cones laid out in a pre-defined course. There were about 15 people taking part in the afternoon and I took along a video camera to capture some of the event. The tricky part of this type of driving is remembering the course you need to take, and thinking ahead a couple of corners so that you set the car up on the right part of the track to make the best time. Check out the video below:



Photos from the event:
- Heading up the straight
- Through the slalom
- Exiting the slalom
- Exiting end corner and off to the centre
- Resting with its peers
- A very tight turn mid course
- Brake lock up into the corner (happened a lot)
- Same corner, no lockup (yay)
- Through the corner
- Mid corner
- Full throttle up the straight
- Hauling up hard into the garage

This being the first time the car has been really pushed hard, it showed up a few problems in both engine tune and suspension. With regard to the engine tune, whenever I took it close to or up to redline (which was very often), then next gear change or off throttle would cause a dropped cylinder and time is lost from having to wait for it to clear up again. This also caused problems on the end corners as the engine wanted to stall leading to compression lock-ups and the back end coming around a little more than expected. This will be looked at soon though by doing some additional tuning off the dyno and on the road.

For the suspension, I was still really running the settings I put in to get the car on the road, so it was expected that it would need some tweaking. The rear especially was wanting to come around too quickly considering the amount of rubber. I put this down to the +0 camber that was setup originally leading to the rear tyres rolling a bit too much up onto the side walls. Since the event, I've taken it to John Fowler and his colleague Bob at Wheels World in Osborne Park for a proper dial in. With the instructions of intent being most daily driving with occasional track sessions, the results were pretty good. With daily driving feeling a lot more confident and refined, and when pushed where I could, the rear staying in check really nicely.

The brakes on the car performed really really well, with the only problems being me being a little overzealous when heading into some of the corners causing slight lockups. Braking into the garage though, I could really step on them hard and the car pulled up perfectly. The Nismo pads that are running really work best once warmed up.

Next track outing will be an unofficial one at Powercruise coming up in October. Really looking forward to that followed by a full track attack and possibly some drag strip time if I can get the tune sorted.

Cheers
Brendan

Perth Autosalon 2008 a success

Well it's been a couple of weeks since the Perth Autosalon 2008 event and I've finally found a space to get this update done. Oh, and I do apologise to those following this blog for the tardiness of the updates recently.

Anyways, the event. I must say first off that being able to drive the car to, into and out of the venue this year was a great feeling. Last year we didn't manage to get the car completed before the event (even with the massive two week push before hand). And even though I won the 'Best Overall Engineering' award, it didn't seem right.

Again Jeff Ash, Director of C-Red, asked to have Sillbeer back on the C-Red stand this year (thanks mate), and with the other cars that C-Red had I was in hallowed company. This included another C-Red customer's car '200SXY' (Nissan S15 Silvia/200SX) which took out 'Best Engineered Brakes' and 'Best Vinyl Graphics' this year. C-Red's vehicles included their 'EFO' Mitsubishi Evo VII GTA, a recently started Lexus GS300 with complete Junction Produce makeover and the new legendary 'General Lee Sideways' Nissan Laurel which has copped a 5.7L Holden LS1 twin-turbo conversion. The Laurel took out a number of awards including 'Top-Judged Innovation', 'V8 Highest Power Output' and 'Power Champion (Highest Power Output)' with a top of 502kw ATW!

Here's a few photos of SILLBEER from the event:
- C-Red Stand with the Laurel in the foreground
- Front quarter view
- Rear quarter view
- Car spent most of its time with the boot, doors and bonnet open
- Interior view
- Engine compartment 1
- Engine compartment 2

I had spent the Thursday and Friday before the event cleaning and polishing the car inside, outside and underneath only to have to drive from the workshop to the venue in torrential rain! But as the polish had only just been done and it was rain water a quick chamois off and buff and all was good again.

Now as part of the event, and the fact that the car was a driver, I did take part in both the Dyno and dB Drag Racing components. I have no pics of the db Drag Racing, which is logical considering it's not really exciting and managed to crank the stereo up to a respectable 126.7db taking out 1st place in the 'Street Stock A' class. Not bad for a single 10" Sub-doofer in the boot.



As for the Dyno, well according to most who had run their cars on dyno's the week leading up to the event, it was reading low. But then again, dyno's are there as a tuning tool as opposed to a full on correct measuring system. The dyno used was a Mainline one and is trucked around to all the Autosalon events around Australia. As this was the case, I was estimating around the mid 200hp's for my run. After loading it on and having an initial go, this is the video of the second run.



- Getting strapped down
- Final dyno results

The end results of 200.3kw (268.6hp) at the wheels was a pleasant surprise. Previously the car has made 251kw (337.4hp) at the hubs on a Dynapack Hub Dyno so it's anyones guess what it really makes. Whatever it is, for a daily driver and occasional track hack it's plenty.



At the end of the show, I did manage to pick up an award for 'Best Wheel Innovation'. Probably not as highly regarded as 'Best Overall Engineering' from the year before, but fitting 18x9.5+10 on the front and 18x10.5+12 on the rear of an S13 Silvia is no mean feat - and an award is an award after all.

All in all I had a cracker of a time and thank my wife and kiddies for letting me do it. Jeff, Marc, Josh, Boney and Armond from C-Red for their help in preparation and on the day and Sequoia (owner of 200SXY) for her support over the weekend too.

Cheers
Brendan

Boost Gauge finally installed

With the impending Perth Autosalon around the corner at the time, I thought it was a prime opportunity to finally get off my bum (again) and install the Defi-Link Turbo Boost Gauge.

I've had the link cable for some time that would connect from the Defi-Link Controller to the gauge, but to install it you need to remove the main gauge cluster...thus the procrastinating. Anyway, I unscrewed the various bits of trim from under the dash, steering column and cluster, and removed the main gauge cluster from it's position. Using a small cable snake I taped the Defi-Link extension to the end of it and poked it through to the glove box where the Controller is stashed. Then I removed the trim from the A-pillar and poked the other end of the extension cable up the corner of the windscreen/dashboard as I knew I would mount it somewhere there, just wasn't sure where.

Now while the gauge cluster was out, it was a good opportunity to fix the fuel gauge which has been on the piss ever since I frigged with it a few months ago. Basically I fiddled with it and it ended up going way off the dial on a full tank meaning empty was somewhere around 1/3 tank. Before I started in the morning, I stopped by the petrol station and filled right up. Then I plugged the cluster back in and turned the ignition. The needle is really just a slip fit over the spindle so with a bit a tweaking and waiting for it to normalise I had it spot on.

Back to the boost gauge. I wanted the location of it to be reasonably out of the way while being easy to read. I hand held it in a few locations such as the A-pillar and the top of the dash and none of the spots seems right. I got some feedback from Marc at C-Red and the suggestion was made to stick it to the windscreen in an upside-down position so to speak. As I was going to be sticking it to the screen using the supplied double-sided tape I thought it would be best to cut some black vinyl so the gauge cup foot wouldn't be visible from the outside. And it worked. After lining up the vinyl, marking positions to stick to I fitted the gauge holder/cup, the Single Visor (gauge hood), fed extension through to the gauge and finally pushed it all into place. I think this setup is just ideal.

From the outside, you would hardly know there's an additional gauge there. The fitting of it upside down there does not interrupt airflow coming from the side firing window demister vents, and when you look at it from the driving position you're looking straight down the barrel of the gauge...WINNER!

- View from the driver's side
- View from the passenger's side

As you can see it's really tucked away nicely which is perfect.

Cheers
Brendan

Simpson Super Bandit upgrade

So I've had this helmet for a while now, but when I bought it it only had the clear visor/lens on it. Now most will probably recognise this helmet as the one the 'The Stig' wears on Top Gear...it being a Simpson Super Bandit. Unfortunately the clear lens just didn't cut it and wearing sunglasses under it has at times been uncomfortable so I finally got off my arse and ordered the tinted lens.

Go Gear in Mt Hawthorn were good enough to order it in nice and promptly so I now have a full 'Stig' version of the helmet. Looks freakin awesome if you ask me.

- Simpson Super Bandit - Front View
- Simpson Super Bandit - Side View

Cheers
Brendan

Widebody Fuel Flap

One of the many things I love about the car, is its 'factory look'. An obvious way I did this was by using the Nissan Aero kit, which is now becoming quite a sort after item. But a couple of other ways was the filling of the front guards original vent holes (a necessity with the A-pillar braces behind) and the way the Tom modified and fitted the fuel filler cap to make it look factory. You see when you normally do widebody guards, you would use the supplied fuel filler cap which bolts up in the original located and looks like an after thought because it has chamfer on one side to clear the body. Here's an example:



I don't want to say that this car is by any means less worthy, it's a very nice ride. But in my case, the extra effort that Tom made in building up the flap with a small amount body filler and shaping it to suit the new rump really has made a huge, if mostly unnoticed difference...what you want really.

Here's some close up pics on how it looks/works:
- With the fuel flap open
- Closeup of the hinge, silicon hose used for spacers/bolt covers
- Screws used to set the stop point
- Closeup of the stopper screws
- Just a fancy shot of the Spec-B badge while I was at it

The spring on the inside of the flap needed a bit of adjustment so that when the fuel filler flap catch inside was pushed, it popped open. The final product though is just perfect. Thanks Tom.

Cheers
Brendan

Underbelly...by Nissan

A number of weeks ago now, I did a photoshoot with Rick McDowell, a well known WA based photo journalist. The results of which were brilliant, but with a fair amount of work gone into the undercarriage, and an award to prove it, we needed to get some photos done of the underbelly along with additional engine and interior shots. This being something best done on a hoist of course, so last Saturday we were lucky enough to get some time on the hoist in the C-Red workshop (thanks to Marc, C-Red's Workshop Manager). I went in and first detailed the engine bay, which wasn't too bad really. But as I drive this on a daily basis, and that the road near work as had some work done on it recently (plus rain), I had quite a lot of dirt and mud built up under the guards. With the help of the trusty truck wash and a bit of elbow grease (and mess on the floor) the front and rear suspension on the passenger side came up a treat.



While Rick was snapping away, I thought I'd take the chance to update the undercarriage shots...being there's no longer the Ikeya Formula lower control arms in place, and the exhaust has been completed and changed since the last set I did 6mths ago or so. A couple of things to note though, first being the URAS Floor Reinforcement Kit which extends the chassis rail on the passenger side from the usual S13 cutoff point to the rear. Also, if you look on the drivers side, there's dirt there just to prove that it does indeed get driven. On a whole, I was surprised at how clean the undercarriage is considering the rain we've had lately. Having the fresh'ish paint surfaces certainly helped in cleaning it all up easily though.

Anyway, photos for all to enjoy:
- Rick taking his photos
- Under the engine bay
- Front Suspension
- Front Brakes and Coilovers
- Front Pipe and Gearbox
- Rear Subframe assembly
- Rear Suspension
- Air time

The photos that Rick have done so far were really ace, so looking forward to getting a gander at these new ones.

Cheers
Brendan

Exhaust sings new tune

A few weeks back, I had the chance to fit up a new exhaust while doing some other work on Sillbeer and with C-Red being an agent for Tanabe, it seemed a no brainer to go for the Tanabe 'Medalion g-FORDAN blue' cat-back exhaust. Now you might be wondering why I would change, fair enough question. The answer has two parts...the first is that the exhaust that was fitted (XSPower Dual N1) was rather loud at certain cruising rev ranges which made it a little annoying. The second part being that it hung down rather low and was a constant worry on whether or not I would hit it on some driveways. This was more due to the design of dual pipes coming through under the rear subframe. So when the chance came, I took it.



Now I wish I had the obligatory 'box opening' pics for this event, as the experience was incredible. This exhaust is a perfect example of pure Japanese aftermarket quality parts. The packaging was tight, there were all sorts of protection and the product was just beautiful. Fitting the exhaust was a dream, after we put back all the standard rubber mounts we removed to get the china made XSPower exhaust to fit. Within 10mins, it was fitted up and ready to go...it took longer to open the box. As you can see from the pics, this exhaust has a 'titanium look' blue tip. It's a little wanky, but I like it. The welds are a thing of beauty too and all the supplied nuts, bolts and gaskets were all top quality pieces.



So, it was down with the hoist and a turn of the key. Now coming from the Dual N1 to this exhaust was quite a change sound wise. The Dual N1 was reasonably loud, especially at WOT, but this Tanabe exhaust is very quiet at idle and normal off boost driving. Being a JASMA exhaust, this was to be expected, but the surpise came when I gave the car a quick squirt through the tunnel. OMG, it's like a banshee being let free. Just beautiful. I had the same experience with another JASMA certified exhaust on my 32 V-spec - being a Nismo Weldina item, quiet on running around, then opened it's lungs right up at WOT.

The experience in the cabin now is much more to my liking (I am getting on in years). It's now a huge difference, with no droning at cruising speeds, it means I can hear more of the sound system.

Here's a few more pics of this lovely Tanabe 'Medalion g-FORDAN blue' cat-back exhaust:

- Full Rear View
- Full cat back exhaust 1
- Full cat back exhaust 2
- Centre Muffler 1
- Centre Muffler 2
- Rear 'Titanium look' Exhaust tip 1
- Rear 'Titanium look' Exhaust tip 2
- Exhaust tip side profile
- JASMA Plaque on Rear can
- Metalcat Catalytic Converter
- Cat converter and HKS front pipe

Thanks to Josh at C-Red for assisting in fitting the exhaust too. If anyone is looking to purchase one of these exhausts, I have no problem recommending them.

Cheers
Brendan