Author: sr20tuning

Sigh. Still don’t have the car back, it is finished and sitting at Ricol though. Sitting there apparently with a broken clutch. A broken clutch that was 100% when the car went in and was commented to be in good condition when out of the car. More details after everything is finalised.

The car did however make 167rwkw on the Ricol dyno, which from my investigations seems to read about 10% lower than Unigroup. I’m not saying either is more correct than the other, just stating a trend. I will find out a Unigroup figure asap after I get the car back.

What a turn of events. It turns out that the Apexi turbo was stuffed all along. It failed to make boost single time on the 180, and needless to say I am very annoyed and seeking a refund. Other than that the car is just waiting on the bov to arrive so it can be installed. Then the car will be finished. I plan to pick it up on Thursday this week if the bov ever arrives.

I have my eye on a hks gt2510 that is for sale on one of the forums, which I will probably pick up asap when my money is refunded. This turbo is rated 40ps less at the wheels than the Apexi turbo, but the response is said to be very close to a stock turbo. Some even claim better but I’ll believe that after I drive it. Most people with less developed packages seem to make 190-200rwkw in Australia. With my cams, manifold and fresh engine, I don’t see why 210-220rwkw is not out of the question. It should make for a very streetable fast package that is excellent for drift also.

The site has just passed 50,000 hits too, which is a tremendous achievement. I see this site as one of the benchmarks in SR20DET info, and I’m glad to see it recognised by so many. A vital part is missing however, and that is the conclusion to the daughterboard info. This was the original reason I started the site, and I look forward to rounding off the resource with a lot more content when my car is tuned at Unigroup.

I also must thank Silvia NSW for hosting the site free of charge. Although I have made club donations, this site was hosted without any mention of payment from the beginning. I have added a banner made up for me at the base of each page to recognise this outstanding generosity.

Good news! Just spoke to Ricol on the phone and the car should be ready to pickup as early as tomorrow. They will also be running the car is on the dyno for me so I don’t have to worry about doing it perfectly on the street. Because the car will be run in then it’s only a matter of money before I can tune it and unleash the full potential of the motor. I am happy after this episode to detune it a little in an effort to save the pistons from detonation and keep everything together. I will be happy with as ‘little’ as 220 rwkw but would be hoping for around 230 rwkw. Still a nice little drop on the 240+ rwkw I was previously expecting.

As a side note the CES dump pipe has been sold but the two t25gs remain. I am confident they will be sold soon though from the interest they are receiving on Performance Forums.

So the only drama that remains is the price. I have a fair idea of what to expect which if accurate I will be able to afford (just) to pay for the bill and the registration of the car ready to drive as normal. Pickup day for me would be Thursday, expect another update soon.

Therefore my CES twin dump is for sale for $250 ono. Details on the Dump pipe page. Available for immediate pickup from Ricol Automotive after dealing first with me.

Enquiries to l6a6w6s6@silviansw.com

Fingers crossed there are no more dramas in getting the car back.

I have two t25g turbos for sale that would help my situation to pass on. The t25g is the factory turbo for the S13 SR20DET, good for 180rwkw (as I’ve proven if the right mods are applied). This will be a downgrade for S14 and S15s so suitable only for S13s. A small upgrade for CA18DETs which have T25s.

The first is from my 180, which has now been replaced by the Apexi unit. Its gone the distance for a while at 14psi, but last I checked (manifold fitting) it was still in great condition. $200 ono for this.

The second is owed to me by a friend and is believed to have travelled ~100,000 kms, but never boosted above 7psi. It is in excellent condition with no shaft play at all and according $300ono is the asking price.

If anyone wanted to buy both I would do it for $400 firm.

Enquiries to l6a6w6s6@silviansw.com

Today I visited Ricol to see the car and also deliver my Apexi turbo. It is a humbling experience to see your pride and joy in such a sad and sorry state, but it must not be forgotten that soon everything will be back stronger than ever. Ricol are only waiting on an oil pump direct from Japan now, which should arrive next week, meaning reassembly of the fresh engine can take place. After that I have requested Ricol to make me an aluminium induction pipe for the larger air flow meter and also to mount a bov in plumb back configuration which I am still to supply. So possibly two weeks at the shortest but most probably at least three.

I have started yet another new page to cover the engine rebuild, so that others facing the same thing can know what to expect with labor and parts costs. Pics of the broken parts are also there. You can see the Engine Rebuild page here.

I have also updated the Specifications page with the specs of the car as they will be in the near future, after the rebuild is complete and all my parts are on.

Lastly I have put some more effort into the Contact page, to draw attention to some of the great clubs I’m in including SilviaNSW, the club which hosts this site.

More news on the engine rebuild: It seems the engine had a build up of thickened oil from previously bad maintenance in Japan. The old owner had a bearing replaced under warranty when he first received the car, which I’m sure was a cheap rush job to save the warranty company money. Misfortune has seen it now that the bearings have gone now when I have first received the car. In my attempts to make the 2 min drive home from where the engine starting making a lot of noise, I seemed to have caused a bit more damage. Ricol say that the smashed bearing was pulverised into small pieces and was pumped through the oil system, slightly scoring my fresh HKS cams in the process. They will be linished to repair them luckily. Something has happened with the piston rings too, as a later compression test to my ‘first started making noise stage’ test (which made an excellent 160psi on all four cylinders), has seen much lower and varying numbers at Ricol. Fresh rings are needed as well as a hone of the bores, but this means that compression will be like a new engine. It also means that a running in period will need to take place to properly bed in the rings.

The crank has been badly damaged and as such will be replaced with a much newer S15 SR20DET item thanks to Greg. He has also supplied me with a new 1.2mm Nismo metal head gasket to be used in the build. This should give fairly close to factory static compression ratio, possibly a tad higher depending on skim.

I have also decided to fit the Apexi turbo while the engine is out. This is mainly due to the worry that there might be bad particles of dirty oil in the old turbo that will be pumped through the fresh engine once it’s running again. Therefore I will fit the later model coolant pipe needed to bolt up the turbo lines, as well as have a factory Nissan BOV fitted to my existing piping and plumbed back to a new larger induction pipe off the turbo inlet to suit the 80mm Z32 afm.

This and the 550cc injectors will not be fitted yet, so I will need to take it easy on low boost until I can afford to have the car tuned for the bg power output. This will suit the required running in period well, so I will not really be at a disadvantage.

Thanks to Greg for supplying the mentioned parts, and to John for sourcing the new bearings at mates’ rates. As for Ricol so far no complaints, they have been very good. Hopefully I’ll have pics of the disassembled motor after I visit Ricol to drop off the parts.

The car went into Ricol on Friday afternoon, to have the engine pulled out and inspected. I have had a few people assisting me who I would like to thank, first being my friend John for sourcing some new replacement bearings for me at mates’ rates. Secondly Greg ‘omg/imoa’, for his continual advice in how to have the engine rebuilt to get it performing to satisfy my interests. More news as it comes to hand.

Well what a crazy few days. Firstly, the two drift events on this weekend at Oran Park were absolutely awesome, big cheers to the guys driving and giving a great show to the crowd. Drift is definitely going to be big in Australia now I think.

Unfortunately though, I was not driving in either, as my engine carked it on Thursday/Friday morning. A cruel turn of events considering the car in my eyes was almost finished, with the final steps for the big turbo on the way, but what can you do? The engine has a nasty death rattle suggesting bottom end bearing damage, to which I hope is the extent of the problems. I have no idea on how this happened, as the previous owner claims to have performed frequent oil changes, and myself not undertaking any silly driving that could starve the oil pickup.

The car will hopefully go to IDA sponsors Ricol Automotive early this week, for the bottom end to be rebuilt. I can’t afford to install forged pistons or anything like that, but luckily a compression test a few days ago yielded 160 psi in all four cylinders, which is an excellent result. I will however very soon spend some cash on an aftermarket sump to prevent oil starvation on the track and give the engine some more oil capacity. This should go a long way to preventing such a problem ever happening again.

More news soon I hope.

The IDA event set to take place at the Creek on the 15th has been cancelled. instead in its place IDA will be having a night at Oran Park on their drift circuit on Friday the 20th. With a dry track and only 20 places available it promises to deliver a good time. Myself and a few local friends have already secured our spots, so only disaster will stop us competing. Two days later Oran Park is holding ‘Driftland’, NSW biggest drift comp. The best 5 drivers out of the twenty on the 20th will have a chance to enter this competition. On the last days form I would not expect to get picked but if it were going by the first skid pans efforts I would be more confident. Fingers crossed then that I drive as well as I can and get to drive in both events. I will be at the 22nd event spectating if not driving at least.

I have become aware thanks to DumHed that I need an S14/S15 coolant elbow before I install the Apexi turbo onto the car. It turns out the coolant feed for the turbo changed on the transition from S13 to S14 SR20DET, and I will need to make this change if I intend to utilise my braided lines in full for the installation. More news as it happens.