Duncan's V37.......race car?

[The Bogan]

1 hour ago, Duncan said:

So, the other thing I've sorted is a baseline dyno run up at Unigroup's new location.

The auto trans was a little unco-operative by both shifting down when the throttle was floored on the dyno (so Mark had to ramp it up more slowly than in a manual) and also by shifting up at 6,000 even in sports mode instead of the indicated redline of 7,000

Still, on a hot day it made 240rwkw at 16psi which seems about right for 300kw (400hp) through an auto at the wheels. 

The shape of the curve is not quite right because it was not full throttle to about 4,500 to stop it kicking down, but until I can get a tune on the auto trans control this was the best we could do.....full boost will be well below 5,000 once that is sorted, I'll get some data logs when I can to confirm

For comparison, the R32 made 255 at 12psi (at 4,500) on the same dyno with tune, n1 turbos, cam gears, big exhaust but otherwise all standard so the v37 is likely a little better out of the box.

One thing that is very clear is that the standard water to air intercoolers are not up to sustained use at full throttle in warm ambient temps. After about 5 runs (so only a few minutes full throttle), it was pulling boost and timing and dropping 10-15% power. Unfortunately I didn't get that printout and the Unigroup guys are away at the moment, will try and get hold of it on their return.

So, looks like a healthy engine to start modifying and the only real area of concern is the w2a heat exchangers which the aftermarket has plenty of solutions for

 

 

Can you log IAT?

Whilst WTA coolers have their place, doing any sort of sustained run is not one of them

There are fixes that slow down the heat soak, like ice boxes, which don't last that long, and interchillers, which are fairly expensive, up grades to the WTA cooling radiator, which may require a bigger pump, and upgrades to the reservoir size,  and upgrades to the cooling fans, but, it all still heat soaks, and takes ages to come down in hot weather 

For a turbo, that isn't locked into WTA like my PD blower is, can you not possibly swap to a nice air to air intercooler????, it would be better for sustained runs then, and have alot less things that could go wrong in my opinion 

[Duncan]

Can I log IAT eh? Well, can now

So next thing was looking at data logging. Not straight forward because none of the motorsport displays have cracked the nissan/inifinti CAN and ECU based displays don't do g logging, lap timing, predictive laps etc. 

So, I bought an Ecutek dongle from Tunehouse (Oz distributor). Even without a tune onboard that allows display and logging of about 50 parameters via Android (and presumably iOS) app. Approx 600 for the bluetooth + Usb version

That gives me (pretty ugly but) functional dash display on Android

And logging of these parameters

I'll play around a bit over the break, but at least now I can make sure I have oil pressure when I get to some track testing.

 

[Duncan]

From there it is trickier. Ecutek seems to be one of those closed ecosystems where everyone password protects their tunes which means I either choose a tuner and can't change from them and can't make any changes myself for any reason, or I have to buy the tuning software (about $4k) and then get someone to tune from scratch (which is not simple with all the multi dimensional tables these days).

Once you buy about 300 "flash points" per ECU you can get it tuned and add their "RaceROM" function which hacks extra functionality like launch control onto the ECU, and also makes extra data available for logging over CAN

Not sure what I'll do there yet; I'm tempted to use one of the overseas shops that does billions of remote tunes of the platform instead of starting from scratch locally, a lot can be done online these days.

[MBS206]

I'd need to check my notes at work Duncan, but I'm pretty sure most of that is purely OBD2 on the display.

How quickly is it all able to update?

Do you have any internet capability in your workshop with a laptop?

[Duncan]

Right, its been a while for updating this car, but I made some small but important progress today.

In the end I bought an Ecutek dongle from the Australian distributor Tunehouse (for local hardware support) but have gone with a remote tune from Racebox in the US (because they have done millions of these, and I could not find any tuner where I could access the tune anyway as they are all password locked).

The App is reasonably easy to work with, but the PC software reminds me of Haltech's ECU Manager that you need to use with the Plat Pro ECUs, it is a nightmare.  Anyway, I sent the details over, got back a tune file and a request for data logs.

I finally got a chance to access a private test track today as they want redline logs in 3rd and 4th, and have sent them back for the first round of reviews. The main difference in the tune is going from 1.0 (stock) to 1.3 bar (19psi), although I'm sure is a lot of other stuff in the background.

Keeping in mind this is a dead stock car with 125,000klm, this is what the App's performance test claimed:

Before

After

Interesting to note that both 400m tests had the same terminal speed (158klm/h) but different ETs. And no, the speed limiter seems to be higher than that at 186kl/h.

Summary of the key logged parameters for the 3rd and 4th gear runs were:

Those little turbos were certainly whizzing at 200,000rpm+.  Also I'm really not that excited about oil pressure 55psi at redline so I think I'll go thicker than 5w30 (nissan recommend 0w20....) and see if that improves it. Other than that (and the big boost spike....) everything looks good as a start to me.

[Duncan]

Put v2 of the tune on it today, and ran the performance test with Launch Control on and Traction Control off. Went 5.67 0-100 and 14.05 for 400m which is a fair bit better

I also put together a boost/turbo speed/AFR graph. Not sure what the blips in the curve are and the AFRs seem pretty lean on boost compared to what you would do with an RB, I'll talk to the tuner about it

This is the temps and oil pressure, at 35o ambient temp for the run.  Good to see charge air temp (post turbo) going down not up as speed increases.

[Duncan]

A little progress; I took the opportunity of an oil change to take a sample for oil analysis, will be interesting to see how it was treated for its first 125,000klm (I know how it has been treated since :rofl:) I went with 5w40 and will see what that does for oil pressure at higher revs.

Also fitted the Z1 front undertray....a little more sturdy than the plastic factory one (although I suspect it won't stop a tree stump )

Nicest thing about it really is the 2 bolt "service panel"....a gift to the oil changer compared to removing 14 bolts holding the factory tray.

[The Bogan]

I love the undertray, especially the flappy bit for easier access for serving

I'm thinking of fabing up one at work for the MX5 while I still have access to the metal shop at work with a guillotine and press brake

Whilst removing the plastic undertray on the MX5 isn't to hard, I love the idea of a 2 bolt flap as opposed to removing the whole thing 

[Duncan]

Yeah this isn't a super complex shape, but I was still happy to buy instead of fab version 1; very little in a modern can is a flat surface, and that is true here again - the undertray has about 50mm in height differences that I would have had to work out myself.

I will probably make something more substantial before it does any rally, I don't think 1mm steel is too much use as a bash plate.

There is also cooling to think about, Z1 have done a bit of development and have some air holes and louvers in the shape, will see how that works out too

[Duncan]

OK, solid mount Z1 diff brace is in, pretty straightforward, it picks up 3 diff hat bolts and ties them to 2 support bolts on the subframe.

Pretty sure someone else on here said they had reduced axle tramp with this but mine was already pretty good for smooth wheelspin, and still is....will see you this goes over time and whether I end up with a broken rear diff hat

[Duncan]

So the other thing I got sorted over the weekend was Z1 oil catch can install.

https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-products/z1-motorsports/z1-q50-q60-30t-baffled-oil-catch-can-kit-p-23546.html

It was a good kit, most importantly it came with preformed silicone hoses in the right shapes rather than trying to bend/join regular straight rubber hose. It did come with crappy spring clamps not proper hose clamps so I ditched them

On the down side, it is made for LHD cars and RHD cars have the main ECU harness running straight through that location, I ended up bending 2 mounting brackets so the loom is up against the brake master cylinder compartment wall to make room for it....otherwise everything fit without modification

Intercoolers off on both sides, but there was enough room to get everything done without disconnecting (and therefore having to re-bleed) the coolant lines.

Each is mounted with 4x 12mm headed bolts, plus in and out side hose clamps (7mm headed, nice) and 3 electrical connectors on the navigator's side which were a real pain to undo (probably for the first time in 13 years).  

Also one of the mounting bolts on the driver's side was cross threaded, thanks Infiniti/Nissan workshop mechanics.

On the navigator's side, the catch can plumbs into the factory hose that goes from the cam cover PCV back to the intake.  This is the 2 new hoses in place. All simples and direct fit

On driver's side, there is a bracket provided that mounts to the throttle body, they even provide slightly longer bolts to allow for the bracket thickness which is nice (although, they don't have captive washers like the factory bolts of course)

In that pic the main loom brackets are not in place, once I had "adjusted" them across it now sits up against the panel and just clears the OCC

The remaining problem with this is emptying it; currently you have to remove the 3x m4 bolts that hold it to the bracket and both banjos to remove it (probably dropping the banjo washers at the same time) pull it apart to empty then replace. I do have some fittings coming for a remote drain from underneath that will also add a little capacity...it is very small and will need to be emptied every oil change to be sure.

[Duncan]

Incidentally, I also put v3 of the tune on the car and did an oil change from 5w20 to 5w40 to see how it affected oil pressure in the mid to high end.

I'm still happier with the thicker oil and will stick with it, but clearly the system is happy with 55psi even if I'm not!

It's well within the service manual specs...but they are very open

[niZmO_Man]

Modern oils are amazing. Add tyres to that as well.

[MBS206]

My lord that is some low oil pressure as minimum in the manual!

I guess the big part will be seeing how it changes as the engine gets more spirited use.

[Duncan]

So for both general interest of engine health, and to rule out any coolant/oil issues, I organised an oil analysis done on the 125,000klm oil

Results below, all good, just a bit of fuel dilution which I'm not too worried about

[Duncan]

OK, a few half jobs on the skyline this weekend because its booked for a test day at Wakefield Park on 27-Feb.

While the Ecutek dongle and app provide display and logging of a heap of engine parameters, they annoyingly don't have access to the auto trans temp.

So I grabbed an oil temp gauge from Raceworks which apparently has warning colour change and peak hold, about $95 

and their 8mm hose sender adapter

Now, I foolishly thought these 2 might work together, but no, the sender needs about 30mm clearance in the fitting and the adapter only had about 8mm. I've cobbled something together with an NPT T piece and blank for now but will try and work out something more permanent as I intend to use the same fitting for the data logger in the future.

Under the car, Nissan's engineers decided that only one opportunity for coolant and trans fluid to mix (the radiator) was not enough, and they also added an interwarmer near the sump on the passenger side like the engine oil has:

I've cut the hose between the auto trans outlet and the interwarmer inlet and inserted the sender there as that gives the best indication of temp inside the transmission.  

From there it is back to the pain of running that sender wire to the cabin, I've run it up near the passenger headlight, into the battery box, across the channel at the back and into the master cylinder area where I ran out of wire length (and patience). Remainder of the job is through the grommet near the accelerator pedal that I've used previously, then across under the dash to where I will temporarily mount it on the console for track days (and remove it other times). The gauge will also need IGN, BAT and earth (I'm not going to worry about illumination as I'll unhook it between track days)

 

[Duncan]

The other thing I started was a fire extinguisher bracket. 

As with a few other cars previously (350z, Leaf), I'm going to add a bracket between the navigator seat's front bolts, then mount the extinguisher on that.

Unfortunately Nissan (probably the same engineer who did the A/T fluid interwarmer) decided that the front seat brackets would be recessed and uneven so the bracket shape was a bit tricky; I ended up doing 1 part under each seat mount (the large hole is because there is a flange under the seat mount to allow for the carpet thickness)

 

and then a horizontal part between those 2

No final pic yet as the paint needs to dry, I'll post up once that's done

 

[Duncan]

And finally, I had the driver's side airbox off while adding a long drain hose under the oil can to down near the oil filter.

Doesn't look good, it has definitely had an turbo oil seal leak and looks like it has been for a long time.....guess I'll have to get a pair of highflows to put on the shelf

It's also worth mentioning it has a really strange clamp between the bottom of the airflow meter (which has a big barb/lip on it) and the intake pipe.

I've used the magic of MSPaint to show, basically you have to clip out those 2 steel springs which unlocks the hose from the AFM. I used 2 flat screwdrivers, the spring sort of clips into the unlocked position. Reassembly you just pop them both back flat once the hose is far enough up the AFM that the spring clamp is above the barb.

Weird to use but much more convenient once your'e used to it compared to trying to do up a hose clamp under the airbox like on 32 GTR

[Duncan]

Family events weekend but a snuck a couple of things in.

NSW state champs were down at Wakefield so I got Gordon Leven's to bring some A052s down in the right size for some spare rims I had that "fit" (actually ex-Leaf Nismo.Rays in 18x7.5). Tyres are 235/45/18 so they are narrower than stock (19x8.5s) but I need to keep road tyres on it for daily use for now.

In a first, those weird size tyres had been in the yoko warehouse for so long (4.5 years apparently) that they offered 4 for the price of 2....so 4 practice tyres for about $1100.

Bit of a bargain for sticker tyres, considering the real purpose of the practice day is mostly to see how the various temps go (and the weather is due to help, forecast 32o).

In terms of race wheels, it looks like I should be able to fit 9.5 fronts and 10.5 rears but 18 vs 19 height will be based on what tyres I can get in the right size - good tyres are very limited in available widths in diameters above 17" so some planning is needed. Once I'm sure this car will work I'll order a set of custom BC wheels like I did for the R32, you can get exactly the right width and offset to make the most of the available space in the wheel well (the 32 has 295s all round on 18x10s and they are awesome)

Incidentally A052 are asymmetrical but not directional which is good news for rally use if the front and rear wheel sizes are different because I can swap them side to side on the same axle. Directional tyres are a nightmare with staggered size wheels because each tyre is fixed on that corner unless you can get it rotated on the rim (not really practical mid rally in most cases)

[Duncan]

Next up, the extinguisher is mounted but really only temporary because I ran into clearance problems (the bracket fit fine....until I put an extinguisher on it). It picks up the seat bolt mounts but has long bolts running through 20mm spacers for now

Doing it properly requires a bit of quick welding but I ran out of time, this will do for the practice day