First RB

[JCup]

Hi everyone, just picked up my first skyline after a hiatus from jap cars. I used to be on here quite a bit back around 2010~2015 when I had my s14 (pic for reference). 

 

1997 R33 S2 GTST 

Pretty much all stock, 190,000kms no rebuild history so I guess I will try and keep it pretty tame, unlike the last car. 

Greddy Profec B ebc. 

Power Spirit front mount cooler. 

Lots of things that don't work. 

Never had an RB before, so it's all a bit different but kinda the same. Will need some help troubleshooting alot of the weird stuff going on with this car. 

I'm in Brisbane and don't really have any car friends left, so if anyone else is in the area would be cool to go driving some time. 

[Steve85]

Welcome back! I'm sure you'll find the help you need here... we are all pretty opinionated.

23 hours ago, JCup said:

so I guess I will try and keep it pretty tame,

I'll remind you of this statement in years to come... most of us have said this at some point.

"Yeah, keeping it stock except for rims, oh is that an RB30 and a giant turbo and a sequential?" ?

May I also say that S14 is gorgeous. You really made an amazing looking car.  

[JCup]

I think the EBC has been installed incorrectly, it has always had some sort of boost cut at i guess around 4500rpm (no tacho), the EBC reads peak boost 11.4psi no matter if low boost, high boost or off. 

I thought it would be something that could be fixed with a decent service, but so far no good. Does this symptom sound correct for a stock ECU cutting power? 50% throttle allows revs to redline with EBC showing peak boost approx 4-6psi, 100% throttle sort of lurches (as in full power then suddenly no power for 1-2sec then back on again with lower power). I would like to try and get boost back down to like 7psi just to see if I can keep the power on for the whole rev range, but the boost controller doesnt seem to allow that. 

 

I have read some things about R&R, but still not entirely sure what the feeling or result of R&R is. 

 

Any ideas from the experts? 

[GTSBoy]

R33 shouldn't boost cut at 11-12 psi. There's actually not really any such thing as a boost cut on R33s. There are some ECU protection from going too high on the AFM signal, which is kinda the same thing. But you really shouldn't be able to overrun the AFM limits at only 11 - 12 psi.

What should happen is that when running that much load (caused by getting up to 11 ish psi) the ECU will be accessing cells in the fuel and ignition maps that just have stupidly large amounts of fuel and very low ignition timing. This is known as Rich and Retard (R&R). It's how the Nissan engineers limited how much damage you could do to the engine. As you wind the boost up, it actually just gets slower.

On my R34 ECU (which is quite different in many ways, but the Nissan boys still used the R&R strategy) it was very clear what was happening at 11 psi (because I could see it on the laptop, which you cant do as easily on the R33), and if I went higher than that it would do a very savage "boost" cut. That cut was from exceeding the load limit, not a boost value per se. I would expect the R33 should feel similar.

10 psi is realistically the max that you can hope to run on an R33 without starting to waste time and fuel for no return.

[JCup]

I guess boost cut just seems like the best way to describe it, but you're right it's not cutting boost. I'm pretty sure It maintains the 11psi tapering off a bit, but there is a significant loss of power, probably due to the timing. 

It sounds like you experienced the same thing, so possibly at the moment the stock fuel map is hitting some red cells and R&R is trying to get it back into a green zone. Times like these I wish I had a haltech again. 

What is the cheapest way out of this/what should I be testing here? I will look at the install of the EBC to see if I am able to get some sort of control out of it to get it back to around 9psi, but even "off" should just be running wastegate pressure which I would assume to be around 6.5psi? 

I don't really want to go down the track of new ECU yet, I think that is unreasonable for my intentions with the car right now. 

[GTSBoy]

1 hour ago, JCup said:

What is the cheapest way out of this/what should I be testing here? I will look at the install of the EBC to see if I am able to get some sort of control out of it to get it back to around 9psi, but even "off" should just be running wastegate pressure which I would assume to be around 6.5psi?

Obviously. But if the EBC lines are screwed up in some way you could have just about any result. Setting these things up, physically and electrically and programming them, is child's play. It's all self obvious. It's a PWM bleed valve.

[JCup]

Haven't done much to the car lately, had a bucks party for a mate, had to put one of the family dogs down, I got a work promotion and now my dog might be dying of cancer, mixed emotions and not much time for car things. 

Took another photo of it, probably should have taken it somewhere nicer but the front yard will do. The wheels on it are 17" Stich Precious, I kinda wish they were 18" because I think they would look a bit less grandad spec. I've got some 18" blitz 03s that might go on it yet too. 

Did 1 thing to it this afternoon, which I am semi pleased with. The previous owner said someone tried to break into it and rooted the ignition, so he swapped the steering columns. Not sure if related or not, but when I bought the car it didn't have a switch for the fog lights, which always bugged me. So I managed to find a S2 stalk with the switch and now have 1 working fog light. Unfortunately still no working indicator on the side with the working fog light. 

While I was in there, I noticed the clock spring plastic is farked, should I replace it? Also what is the remaining brown plug for? 

[JCup]

I have been looking around at aftermarket ECU to see if I can fix this power cut problem. If I can get a secondhand PFC for $400, is it as simple as plugging it in and off you go? 

Does it require any additional sensors etc, should it come with any sensors? 

IF this motor dies and I end up going 25/30 or 25neo is it still usable? 

 

On an unrelated note, do anyone else's headlights turn off when the car is not moving? If i pull up at a set of lights, the headlights turn off, release the brake pedal and headlights come on again. It seems to be directly linked to the brake pedal... nissan thing or home mechanic thing? 

[GTSBoy]

9 minutes ago, JCup said:

I have been looking around at aftermarket ECU to see if I can fix this power cut problem. If I can get a secondhand PFC for $400, is it as simple as plugging it in and off you go? 

That's a hard no. Unless the PFC is tuned for exactly the same setup you have (and, how many other people would you expect to put a PFC on a stock motor???), it will not run it properly. Will need a tune.

Does not need additional sensors - it is, by definition, a plug in replacement ECU. But not a "plug in a secondhand tuned for something else" replacement.

It will not be useful for a Neo.

11 minutes ago, JCup said:

On an unrelated note, do anyone else's headlights turn off when the car is not moving? If i pull up at a set of lights, the headlights turn off, release the brake pedal and headlights come on again. It seems to be directly linked to the brake pedal... nissan thing or home mechanic thing?

No, this is clearly an electrical problem. You will have one of the thousand possible things that can go wrong naturally (from shit breaking, wearing out, vibrating loose, etc) or from uncle f**kthumbs who played with the wiring before. Break out the wiring diagrams and your multimeter and go fault find it and fix it. And no, none of us will be able to guess how and why it is doing it.

[JCup]

36 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

That's a hard no. Unless the PFC is tuned for exactly the same setup you have (and, how many other people would you expect to put a PFC on a stock motor???), it will not run it properly. Will need a tune.

Does not need additional sensors - it is, by definition, a plug in replacement ECU. But not a "plug in a secondhand tuned for something else" replacement.

It will not be useful for a Neo.

No, this is clearly an electrical problem. You will have one of the thousand possible things that can go wrong naturally (from shit breaking, wearing out, vibrating loose, etc) or from uncle f**kthumbs who played with the wiring before. Break out the wiring diagrams and your multimeter and go fault find it and fix it. And no, none of us will be able to guess how and why it is doing it.

Haha thanks, that is what I was after. Take it to a tuner, plug it in and tune it. As opposed to plug it in, connect this, rewire that, solder this, buy this and that, this wont work buy a haltech instead etc. 

 

Re headlights, yeah just checking. No i didnt expect that someone could tell me what the actual problem is, just wanted to know if it's a problem. Spent hours on Saturday sorting out other electrical issues, add it to the list. 

[dyl33]

@JCup The headlight thing probly isn't a fault, there'll be a switch middle console or on the dash somewhere. Mines near the handbrake, turns headlights off when stopped at traffic lights etc. Some courteous thing they do in japan.

[JCup]

27 minutes ago, dyl33 said:

@JCup The headlight thing probly isn't a fault, there'll be a switch middle console or on the dash somewhere. Mines near the handbrake, turns headlights off when stopped at traffic lights etc. Some courteous thing they do in japan.

Omg this! When i discovered it I didnt really question it because I was like Japanese people are really considerate, despite being an odd thing to turn off, this is probably just a normal thing they do so that they don't annoy other drivers/passengers of the car. There is a mystery rocker switch next to the handbrake, so maybe that's what that is. 

[GTSBoy]

If so, then f**k!

[JCup]

For those that care, I have confirmed that I do have courteous headlights. The rocker switch next to the handbrake turns this feature on and off @GTSBoy. Thanks @dyl33 for pointing this out to me. I now have most electrical issues sorted except one front bar indicator which must have a broken cable somewhere. 

[JCup]

Car still doesn't run great, can someone confirm if this method of installing the boost controller is acceptable? I just want to run wastegate pressure which should be 7ish psi, but it consistently runs 10.4psi. 

The hose from the actuator is connected to the factory vapour canister or whatever it's called, with a tee to boost control valve and another tee to the intake manifold behind the throttle body. The other hose from the boost control valve is connected to my bov vent pipe where it connects to the factory intake pipe. 

Is this a complicated way of achieving the same thing? The installation diagram just has a hose to the actuator and a hose to the charge pipe...

[Ben C34]

What gauge are you using?

 

[JCup]

4 minutes ago, Ben C34 said:

What gauge are you using?

 

Just the one on the controller. The factory gauge seems to read 3.5 mmhg, which would be what I'm aiming for, but because it cuts out when the gauge reads over 10psi, it's probably running 10psi?