2009 - A year in review.

[WhatsADSM]

Preface: This is a long post, if you don't want to read it then don't complain simply move on.

These are always kind of fun, figured I would start by posting up my 2009 experiences with my RB'd S-chassis. Other people should join in, it's always interesting to see what new things people learn and where they are taking their project(s) next.

So I think 2009 for me could be summarized by 2 concepts. Chassis work, and road racing.

I started out the year bringing my car to a buddies place to get a 6 point cage put in. I wish I had some good pics of it however I can't find them. Overall I was VERY pleased with the work and the cage is really tucked up against the car and you can hardly even see the cage from outside the car. My wife even asked me one day when I was getting my "cage thingy put in [my] race car?". She never even noticed it and she had been parking right next to it in the garage for over a month. So good fitment, definitely feel a lot safer with it in (also have 4/5 point belts in), and it noticeably stiffened up the chassis.

After the cage I continued my chassis work by spending WAY too much on paint. I had gotten a bonus from 2008 and figured I would put it towards a paint job... and just as many paint jobs go it started out small and ended up costing more than a clean kouki S14 roller chassis would go for. The car got the glass removed, all the panels removed, and brought down to metal. It then got some crazy weird RX7 copper mica paint put on. I actually wouldn't have picked it myself but the previous owner did a crappy job of putting it on and the engine bay already had that color so I figured I would try to keep the job a little simpler by picking the same color. In any case primer, base, and like 6 layers of clear later the car actually does look really good. Problem is, I have never really had a car with really nice paint before so now I am a little scared to drive the thing and park it, always afraid of getting it dinged up. Moral of the story, just as my paint guy said: "Always remember your paint will never look as good as the day it is finished."

Here is a pic from when the car was finished including a set of new slicks/knockoff prostars I bought for it for when I go to the drag strip:

From there I did some fuel related work. Last year I noticed I was simply tapped for fuel running when running E85. Anything over about 20psi and I just didn't have anything left. I knew I was out of injector,but what was even more interesting was that I did some debugging and found out one of my walbro 255s had literally completely given up the ghost. Good thing I have a fuel pressure gauge and could quickly figure it out, but still dual pumps kind of suck for that reason because they mask the problem of one getting weak or going out. Walbros are also not well known for reliability. So while I would love to really revamp the fuel delivery I simply replaced them with 2 new pumps while I was in there and will try to keep the fuel level above a half tank as much as possible. Also replaced my 750s with some delphi 1000s. The 1000s are fair. They definitely have significant dead time and I have it tuned reasonably well but I still feel like a faster injector or a low-z driver would really benefit me at some point. The new pumps and 1000s have given me the fuel headway I need. I am really only looking to probably run a little over 600whp max (on E85) so the fuel system should be up to the task.

After fixing the fueling, I made my one and only trip to the drag strip for our local tracks "Real Street Drags"night. Essentially it is a clocks off, race people for fun or for money just like you can do on the streets. It took some getting used to to launch the car on slicks, but I eventually got the tune dialed in and the balls to just stay in it and ran my best run as the last run of the night against a kind of sleeper auto LSx vet. We both really underestimated what each other had done. I think he ran like a mid 11 in what looked like your grampa's auto vet. I ended up clicking off my best time of a 10.75 @ 132.6. A buddy of mine took a vid, corvette tried to tree me and ended up going red and I still ran him down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4Ep9kJtWOo

So after that I geared up for my first road racing experience. I'll be honest prior to this I always talked about trying it but never actually did it. This year I had a buddy talk me into the WMHM (wmhm.org) event and I will say it was the best money I have ever spent on a car event. It was like $250 or so for 2 DAYS of racing. I think it was a total of like 8 or 10 20 minute sessions. To prep for it I primarily just did reliability and brake mods. I ended up just buying the wilwood big brake kit, with BP-2 street/strip pads, SS front lines, hawk HP+ rear pads (already have Z32 rears) and high temp wilwood fluid. I also knocked down my tune a bit to make it more reliable and more manageable... there is just no need for a 600+ hp car on a small road coarse with a beginner driver.

In the end I didn't even race in every event because I was tired and wanted to give the car a rest. I will say though I learned a lot about driving and a lot about the downfalls in my car and it's setup. First I will start with the driver. I actually improved a lot and was bumped up a class, but I still need to clean up my lines a bit and also need to improve my braking (I am real conservative) as well as learn to heel-toe! The car also had it's share of issues. 1) It needed an oil cooler. THAT IS A MUST for anyone planning to track their car. 2) The VLSDs are okay when they are new and work okay, but my R33 GTST diff was just tired, and I was a one wheel wonder out there and it SUCKED. 3) My turbo (GT4067) is WAY too big. Too much lag and have to beat the PISS out of the car to get it to do what you want. I would have been much better off with something smaller. In any case here is a vid, I apologize for the poor old digital camera quality but it is worth the view just for the end when I have my first experience spinning off track!http://s52.photobucket.com/alb...e.flv

So after my track day I spent some time/money fixing what I found. First up was the oil cooler! I ended up making a custom kit based with the greddy sandwich adapter (w/thermostat), custom -10 lines, and a nice large oil cooler from summit. I also put on a small cooler for my power steering as well.Next I had to address my differential. This one was a process! So the good thing about the differential I had in my car is that it included the stronger 5x1 skyline axles which as I had previously proven were strong enough to hold up to abuse at the drag strip with lots of power and slicks. So I needed to keep a setup with strong axles, but I also need a differential with a working LSD. In the end I narrowed it down to a few options:1) Keep my existing housing and axles and swap in a nice carbon diff. Like the carbonetic 1.5 way. Problem is this was a lot of money and I couldn't find ANYONE who stocked it for the japan only R33 GTST setup.2) Go with an S15 differential and output shafts. Then I would need to switch back to 3x2style axles and because the stock 3x2 240 axles are known to be weak I would have to buy upgraded axles3) Go with a Q45 setup and deal with another VLSD and much lower gear ratio, but end up with very strong factory Z32 TT axles.

In the end I chose route 2. I did it in part because the S15 HLSD is such a good differential on a road course, and low maintenance. I mated the S15 differential with new level 2.9 axles from DSS, which they claim I think should be good to like 600whp. The Q45 in the end still would have been a VLSD and it would have given me a lower FD than I truly wanted... and the carbonetic route was just as pricey as the S15+axles route and I couldn't get any guarantee that the part I was going to buy would actually fit.

Here is a pic of me swapping the internals and ring gear over from the existing VLSD to the new S15 diff and new output shafts. Also a pic of the DSS level 2.9 axles.

I then took the car for a really late season HPDE at road america here in WI. I will say Road America is an AMAZING track, it really sucked that the day was so bad and it was cold and even raining so I hardly got to even push the car. But at the same time I was happy my car was in one piece, that day there were TONS of mishaps. S2000 hit the wall at T8, C4 Corvette started on fire in the paddock, 08 Mustang GT (with my first instructor ironically enough) went into the wall IIRC at T9, and then a Porsche 911T went into the wall at the kink! After the Porsche went they just decided to cancel everything for the day, which was probably a good idea. So I didn't get to experience too much of the track but I did get my cool signature picture out of it. Great shot of my car going into (IIRC) T5 at road america:

So what are my plans for '10?

Well first I want to finish the sound deadening on my car and clean it up my putting some automotive carpetting back there. It should really help the car be quieter and feel more finished as a daily driver / weekend warrior.

Beyond that I probably shouldn't even be writing this but I have kicked around the idea of just selling it and saving a bit and getting back into a car note for something a little slower, maybe a little more simple/reliable, and livable. Something like a C6Z or maybe a newer Z51 with some light mods. The C6 grand sport also looks really nice, but I would have to wait a year or 2 to pick up a used one.

However if I do keep the car (which I more than likely will since it will be the cheapest way to go fast) i'll get it a new set of tires for the road coarse. The current Nitto 555s and 555rs just aren't cutting it in the twisties. I think I have my mind set on the new Dunlop StarSpec Z1s. I am also pretty sure I will be swapping my turbo to something a little smaller, the new ball bearing PTE 6262 is really catching my eye. I'd bet I could get the thing to spool right around 4000 (1000+ rpm sooner than now), without giving up hardly any power. And if I do want to keep the same peak power I can always add another pound of boost or 2 anyways. I am hardly pushing it now with only 24-25 psi on E85, and that's on high boost. I usually cruise the streets on 20-21 psi and the road coarse on 17psi + less timing.

So that's the end of my essay. Anyone else care to join in? Give us a recap of what you accomplished in '09, maybe some lessons learned, or where you plan to go in 2010.

[l0nestar]

Nice! C5z or C6GS are win. Even a CTS-V.

[240z4u]

Nice well thought out post man. Very nice car, the paint was worth it. Don't see alot of S14/13s around that are as clean as yours.

My recap;

Refinishing wheels is sheer hell if you want to do it right, I needed to get into a 17" tire because as I get older I have less tolerance for crappy ride quality. I also dumped off my megan coils in favor of Tein flex's. This is one of the best moves I could have ever made. The car still handles well but doesn't beat me to death on the way to work.

I have piles of parts that need to go onto this car, alternator, holset.. tons of stuff. I have learned that I am to the point where DD'ing this car just can't happen for awhile. I purchased a WRX as a daily to give my S14 the love and respect it needs. Reliability has gotten sketchy because I never had time to take things apart and redo them perfectly.

I am really excited about fixing all the little annoying issues in this car, and I am also excited about driving my hybrid swapped subaru wagon.

I am sure some of you have never seen my car.

Pooparu w/blown motor (STI hybrid motor build in progress, 300awhp here I come!)



Anyway, I am not totally sure what is going to be on the agenda for 2010 but tying up all the loose ends from 2005 on is priority one.

Evan
Modified by 240z4u at 11:08 AM 12/29/2009

[gawdzilla]

Awesome post, and good to see a car that is versatile on the turns and strip. Strangely, your thought process is pretty similar to mine this year and probably the year before. I'll try to relate...

This year I got some body work done and a basic paint job. GM fleet white. overall really happy with the job and i'm not overly concerned with the little imperfections/wear and tear. Also did more reliability mods for the road courses. Switched push e-fans to pullers by cutting the radiator support. Chased a bunch of exhaust leak nightmares but I think they're fixed now *crossing fingers*. Also selling my tomei 2-way and bought an s15 helical (install this week). Sold my bias ply setup to a friend and he did some amazing 60 foot times on his s14 until an axle snapped. I never got the balls to test my 60 foots on the drag strip.. mixed blessing I guess.

I went to the smaller turbo route last year. It was probably one of the best mods my car has seen so far. I highly recommend it. Pick an HP # you just want and get the smallest size turbo that can bareeeely squeeze it out. I went with the TS gt35r 1.06.

Yes, oil cooler is very necessary. Along with the ducting for it. I will have to say puller fans is pretty important too although i'm yet to test that on the track still.

I bought new HPDE tires last year too. ended up picking the kumho xs'es. (similar to nitto nt05? dunlop z1, rt615, etc.). the XSes have some very wide sizes for 17" wheels. IIRC, the z1's only go up to 255 in 17s. just another tire to consider.

If you're still interested in track events/setup, check out nissanroadracing dot com. great site with lots of grip oriented owners. ive started frequenting that site more and reading up there recently.

and finally, like you.. i've lightly considered selling my car. thinking c5z, but something tells me to stick it out with my current heap.

edit: couple things i forgot.. cage. I got r33 seats last year (which are a good seat before buckets). now i want to put in a basic 4 point rollbar to safely run harnesses. trying to stay away from anything in front of the seats as i'm probably not going to be doing any real racing or w2w... just local track events. maybe rollbar in 2010.

also on your heel toe. haha funny you mention it. the 240 for me was pretty hard to heel toe. this year i got some sparco pedal covers.. the one with the slightly fatter gas pedal. made a small difference, but the biggest difference for heel toe was braking. in my last few events, the instructor pushed me a lot on threshold braking and really stomping on the pedal. and guess what? that made heel toe super easy once your foot is mashing the brake so hard haha
Modified by gawdzilla at 8:22 AM 12/29/2009

[WhatsADSM]

Awesome replies... Evan: Funny because I had always wondered how the megan's for the 240 actually roder compared to the higher end coils... and now i know. I also know I mentioned it in the other forums, but those wheels look AMAZING after you completed them. Sounds like it was a pain but the results look like it was worth every second. Also you should throw up some pics of the new ride... I'm jealous. I got an 04 elantra DD, and really would like to dump it for something like a suby wagon.

Tons of good info in gawdzilla's post as well. I am TOTALLY with you on the turbo thing. I know many people including a ton of us RBers have this tendency to pick these huge turbos for their build. Stuff like large GT40s, PTE 6765s, BW S362 or bigger, etc. In general through years of learning I have pretty much come to the same conclusion as you. Run the smallest turbo that fits your REALISTIC goal + maybe 10% headway. In fact I am not even dead set on the 6262 myself, I may even go a bit smaller, just that the PTE 6057 doesn't get the good reviews the 6262 does and people tend to shy away. In any case for all those doing builds read close. Look at how many of us that have owned high powered RBs tend to end up down sizing. Pretty sure Andy with the Z32 ended up going to a BW 360, Gawdzilla went from a 4067 to a TS GT35r, and I am going from a 4067 to something around 35r sized (maybe a touch bigger). I forgot that one guys name (clean, white, dry sumped RB26, S13) he also is running something like a GT35. IMO it is silly for most people to setup for a 700-800whp car. Something that spools slow, has a tiny litte power band, no fun to drive, and even if you do make the power, it breaks stuff and is almost impossible to manage in the S-chassis. A 500whp S-chassis can still run 10s, all while being tons more reliable, "easier" to handle, lots more versatile, and lots more fun to drive.

As for the heel-toe... thanks for the heads up! I think... take that back, I KNOW, I need more seat time. So hopefully this year I will get more confident and be able to really lay into the brakes, which I agree would make the heel-toe much easier. Last year without using it I had a few scary incidents when the track conditions weren't ideal. The rear of the car would just start moving around while I was attempting turn in... scary! I do read nissanroadracing but not as much as I should. Maybe that should be a 2010 resolution of mine

So to all those reading... keep em coming!

[240z4u]

Yeah dude, cheap coils are terrible. I went with the flex's specifically because they had the lowest spring rates from the factory that I could get my hooks on (thanks for the heads up on that gawdzilla).

I updated the above post with a picture of the new daily. Purchased with a bad motor and am "throwing together" a hybrid setup wrx heads/STI block with an STI turbo, injectors and crower stage 2 cams/springs. I call it "project - Keepin' it stock" because that was the intention. Should make 300 awhp or so.

Evan

EDIT; Thanks for the props on the wheels, I wish I had before photos. Some crazy japanese dude curbed the ever living hell out of them.
Modified by 240z4u at 12:10 PM 12/29/2009

[l0nestar]

I will agree with Evan. Megan (cheap) coils are FTL. I'm currently looking to sell mine that are on my Tez and move back to a strut-spring setup.

This thread is giving me motivation to turn wrenches.

Gawd / WhatsaDSM;Thank you for linking me to NRR. That was probably a bad thing..

[gawdzilla]

WhatsADSM: saw you complain about partial throttle/transition issues about your RB in the other thread. i have a ton of those problems and they are ANNOYING. what are you issues? that is probably my #1 priority to fix in 2010. getting onto a dyno dynamics probably to try and work all that crap out. what management are you running? not PFC right?

right now to name a few of my trouble areas: 1)tip in leaness on low rpm shifts (coming off stoplight). leads to bogging and sluggishness.

2) high rpm low throttle (waiting to track out or something) SUPER richness

3) throttle lift off high rpm knock/noise (think that might be resolved now by pulling timing out of decel dead zone areas)

4) hot start issues.. turn over and car doesn't want to catch

[Chaos the Xile]

Nice work, I wanted to do a thread like this buy other than collecting parts my 2009 was not as successful, I have higher hopes and aspirations for the 2010 season!

[WhatsADSM]

WhatsADSM: saw you complain about partial throttle/transition issues about your RB in the other thread. i have a ton of those problems and they are ANNOYING. what are you issues? that is probably my #1 priority to fix in 2010. getting onto a dyno dynamics probably to try and work all that crap out. what management are you running? not PFC right?

right now to name a few of my trouble areas: 1)tip in leaness on low rpm shifts (coming off stoplight). leads to bogging and sluggishness.

2) high rpm low throttle (waiting to track out or something) SUPER richness

3) throttle lift off high rpm knock/noise (think that might be resolved now by pulling timing out of decel dead zone areas)

4) hot start issues.. turn over and car doesn't want to catch

Im on an AEM EMS (S1, although I don't think the S2 is out yet).

On of my biggest issues is your #2. I definately notice that if I am partial throttle to have light acceleration or just to keep speed but I am at a high RPM I peg the wideband rich. I also run considerably too rich when I am modulating the throttle below my higher boost settings. So if I start to ease into the throttle while I track out and have like 2-10psi of boost the fuel map is just way to rich. The car feels like it bogging more than it should, but it opens right back up once I am on it full throttle. I just need a dyno to help me hold the RPMs in the lower boost cells so that I can get a solid tune in on them.

I also could use some general clean up of the fueling, as well as a little bit of time in the timing tables.

What are you tuning on?

[eh?]

Im on an AEM EMS (S1, although I don't think the S2 is out yet).

On of my biggest issues is your #2. I definately notice that if I am partial throttle to have light acceleration or just to keep speed but I am at a high RPM I peg the wideband rich. I also run considerably too rich when I am modulating the throttle below my higher boost settings. So if I start to ease into the throttle while I track out and have like 2-10psi of boost the fuel map is just way to rich. The car feels like it bogging more than it should, but it opens right back up once I am on it full throttle. I just need a dyno to help me hold the RPMs in the lower boost cells so that I can get a solid tune in on them.

I also could use some general clean up of the fueling, as well as a little bit of time in the timing tables.

What are you tuning on?

You may need to look into your throttle injection correction table. That is a your +/- fuel vs TPS position.If your running map you don't need to use a dyno for the lower cells. It's easy to see the corresponding psi and rpm to change the right cell. Just log, drive, change settings drive again. You can also enable wideband o2 feed back in the lower boost ranges and use the logged o2% correction factor as a guide line. No need to break out the calculator.

[gawdzilla]

i'm running the PFC d-jetro. ive noticed its 20x20 maps have some overlap which makes finding the best tune for the cells hard.

[flatrate]

OP your car is HAWT

[synergy]

2009: A year to remember.

My 2009 started off pretty boring but also very stable. I graduated high school And was looking for a eye catching car. I started my search with a toyota mr2 turbo. That car turned out to not be for me. I Cannot stand working in the trunk of a car and they are pretty useless on anything but a road course. I then stumbled onto a 1998 240 with an sr20 swap. I was ready to fly 1500 miles to get the car. I went to get a loan at my local credit union. DENIED! Yeah i was very unhappy. I had finally given up on my hopes when i saw this ad in a PA craigslist....

1996 240sx with an rb25det swap.

I saw the asking price of 9,000 and said forget about it. But for some strange reason i call the guy up. He tells me the list of all the issues and we talk for a few weeks. He agrees to take payments from me with a 3,000 down deposit. I go down to PA with my friend and after driving 8 hours we get there.

I find that the 240 has damage on both sides has been sitting under a porch for a year and that it needs a new battery and has a fuel leak. Heres where the story gets fishy. The car was owned by a man who put the car in his girlfriends name. He had legal issues and she didnt so they put it in her name. She was a very nice girl and he sounded like shady fellow. So after talking to her about how a Barely running 240 with an rb swap was not worth 9,000 She agreed and said she would talk to him for me. That night i slept in my 2002 nissan sentra with my friend. We had decided that the car just wasnt worth it. We came back to NH the day i got back to NH the transmission in my sentra blew. Great, 1,000$ later it was fixed. I was now down to 2,000 and had realized i wasn't going to be getting a new car.

The next day i woke up to a text from the girl. She said that he was an ***hole and that if i wanted the car i could get it for 2,000 and that she didnt care what he said. So the next weekend i went back down to PA. On the way i got lost in albany and after 4 hours of extra driving i just gave up. I slept on the side of a highway in the middle of New york.

Finally after months of searching the day had come to get my car. The drive back started very badly. The tach read 2100rpms at idle and the brakes felt like they were going to rip out of the calipers (which they eventually did) And the car smelled like a hurricane katrina flood home with the worst mildew smell i have ever smelled in a car. But even with all these flaws i was a happy man. I had my baby skyline and i could just head for home. Well it would have ended there but while following my friend home we somehow ended up in the middle of brooklyn. No big deal normal i could just drive out. The only problem was one of the tail lights was broken i had a 3.5" exhaust and a modded 240 too low for 5.0 and all that. The worst part was i didnt have the title and the car was not registered or inspected.

As im passing through a toll booth my worst fear is realized. A NYC police officer steps out in front of me. I was litterally shaking in my boots. He pulls me aside and says "Nice car what is it?" Thats the nicest thing i have ever heard a cop say in my life. Well after soiling myself he lets me on my way. And i continue back to NH. I ended up getting lost again and it ended up taking my 4 hours too long.

Well i finally got the car and it has been on jack stands ever since. Its had alot of random issues and i have now blew all my measly 2k on it. I have even had to take next semester off from my automotive school to save money to fix it. This car is my life and i want to finish it right.

Goals for 2010.

Tuning:

Nistune at very least and if i have the money the haltec ps2000.Aem wideband sensor.Dyno time!!!!

Engine wise.Both manifolds need to go.Isis intake mani and a Stec exhaust mani.

Turbo.Gt30 or equivlent.

Im also hoping for some new tires mine sat and have dry rot.

2009 got my dream car, 2010 needs to fix it.

Happy holidays.

[Darius]

^^Goals for 2010...BUY A GARMIN!^^

[WhatsADSM]

synergy... Holy s*** that is quite the story. But truthfully really worth it in the end for a 2k rb powered S14. Hell even the fact that it had a motor that ran at all makes it a steal.

^^Goals for 2010...BUY A GARMIN!^^

x2!!!!

[240z4u]

Synergy wins the essay contest for the year. Darius is going to give you a garmin for your hard work! lol