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Battery terminal fitted, so nice to have the battery hooked back up so I don't have to use the key to unlock the car. Ignore the tatty X02 label, that's being replaced .
And with the cover on:
CHRA's back from VSR balancing:
Got a few spares
Just waiting on a few extra bits from the platers and then the twins can be assembled.
Bought 3 new downpipes and finally got one I'm happy with... Also got a new backbox to fit in more with how the car looks now that it is less standard.. More on that when the parts land from Japan .
Really looking forward to seeing your turbo build and the results. A few years back I spent ages measuring and machining the stock housings to fit some Garret CHRA from an RB26 into, with upgraded wheels. I then got on the interwebs and figured out that someone was already doing this, and I'd basically created a set of BNRs. The Garret GHRAs are a bit longer than the Hitachi ones though, so there is some bending / modification required elsewhere. Sticking with the Hitachi cores seems like a much more elegant way to do things! The reason I did this at the time is that (apart from being a machining nerd at the time and enjoying the challenge) I couldn't find a cost effective rebuild kit for the HT12s that included the carbon face seal. Are those centers still running the carbon face seal? Or is there some sort of conversion to a more conventional seal setup?
Really looking forward to seeing your turbo build and the results. A few years back I spent ages measuring and machining the stock housings to fit some Garret CHRA from an RB26 into, with upgraded wheels. I then got on the interwebs and figured out that someone was already doing this, and I'd basically created a set of BNRs. The Garret GHRAs are a bit longer than the Hitachi ones though, so there is some bending / modification required elsewhere. Sticking with the Hitachi cores seems like a much more elegant way to do things! The reason I did this at the time is that (apart from being a machining nerd at the time and enjoying the challenge) I couldn't find a cost effective rebuild kit for the HT12s that included the carbon face seal. Are those centers still running the carbon face seal? Or is there some sort of conversion to a more conventional seal setup?
Ah that's a lot more involved haha. Yeah these are still H12's using carbon face seals, personally I prefer a carbon seal to a dynamic seal as they don't tend to leak. These have new carbon seals as part of the rebuild .
Sticking to the theme, I've changed my mind again . This time with regards to boost control, now going for an HKS EVC 7 to manage the boost.
I've drilled an tapped the primary compressor housing to take a new fitting as I'll only need the single vacuum hose and drilling out the restrictor pills on N3G1's isn't the ideal solution as it'll leave bare steel inside the nipples.
Have you got any links to good HT12 rebuild kits that include the face seal?
What's the go with these boost controllers and the stock twin sequential system? Do they control pre and post transition boost?
I've got a really old EVC in a box somewhere that I just keep around for the nostalgia. The old control boxes for them were so cool with the multicolour dials and stuff.
Have you got any links to good HT12 rebuild kits that include the face seal?
What's the go with these boost controllers and the stock twin sequential system? Do they control pre and post transition boost?
I've got a really old EVC in a box somewhere that I just keep around for the nostalgia. The old control boxes for them were so cool with the multicolour dials and stuff.
I don't have any links, I had the parts made especially for these units to my specs. Decent rebuild shops should be able to do this for you, Hitachi turbos are always a nightmare for sourcing parts .
Exhaust pipes just arrived from FEED.
FEED Sonic Ti backbox:
Feed Sonic downpipe:
Midpipe wise I'm still planning to run my 80mm Apexi N1 high flow cat.
Really looking forward to seeing your turbo build and the results. A few years back I spent ages measuring and machining the stock housings to fit some Garret CHRA from an RB26 into, with upgraded wheels. I then got on the interwebs and figured out that someone was already doing this, and I'd basically created a set of BNRs. The Garret GHRAs are a bit longer than the Hitachi ones though, so there is some bending / modification required elsewhere. Sticking with the Hitachi cores seems like a much more elegant way to do things! The reason I did this at the time is that (apart from being a machining nerd at the time and enjoying the challenge) I couldn't find a cost effective rebuild kit for the HT12s that included the carbon face seal. Are those centers still running the carbon face seal? Or is there some sort of conversion to a more conventional seal setup?
Just realised I forgot to answer your second question! For boost control I'll connect both actuators to the EVC in parallel. Yes on paper this wont control the pre-control gate as well as could be achieved by other means as the precontrol and wastegate will move together, rather than being staged to favour the pre control pre transition, but it'll be more stable being controlled by a single controller. I had my first FD connected up like this using an EVC5 and the transition was smooth so fingers crossed it'll work well.
Originally Posted by Narfle
One of my favorite cat backs. I like the intake and IC setup, too.
Same! I've been thinking about getting one for a while. I also really like the FEED 94 ti-r but it's just too loud for what I want with my car, despite looking awesome!
Originally Posted by DaleClark
I always recommend ceramic coating a downpipes, makes a MASSIVE reduction in under hood temps. That thing is almost too pretty to coat, though!
Dale
Haha yeah I'm actually waiting for a quote to do just that. If it's ridiculous I may end up just wrapping it which would save me some time. I could ceramic coat the manifold and turbos as they are apart also but haven't heard great things about the longevity of ceramic coat on those parts?
I had my downpipe (a Knight Sports dual tube downpipe) ceramic coated by Jet-Hot about 10 years ago. It looks as good as when it was done.
I had the 2000 degree coating done. That's a big thing - it has to be professionally applied and it has to be the higher heat rated coating.
Wrap is good for DIY but they just look crappy over time. Ceramic coat is damn near bullet proof when done right and the difference in heat is astonishing.
Also, on the boost controller thing - I have an AVC-R that is plumbed in to both precontrol and wastegate. My boost comes up to 14psi and stays there rock solid - zero transition dip and amazing response. Yeah, in theory, the precontrol should be a separate control but in practice it just doesn't make a difference.
I had my downpipe (a Knight Sports dual tube downpipe) ceramic coated by Jet-Hot about 10 years ago. It looks as good as when it was done.
I had the 2000 degree coating done. That's a big thing - it has to be professionally applied and it has to be the higher heat rated coating.
Wrap is good for DIY but they just look crappy over time. Ceramic coat is damn near bullet proof when done right and the difference in heat is astonishing.
Also, on the boost controller thing - I have an AVC-R that is plumbed in to both precontrol and wastegate. My boost comes up to 14psi and stays there rock solid - zero transition dip and amazing response. Yeah, in theory, the precontrol should be a separate control but in practice it just doesn't make a difference.
Dale
Nice, I had a KS twin tube on my UK car briefly, nice pipe! I sent my downpipe off to Zircotec earlier as they are the leading people that do top end ceramic coating in the UK. Went for the performance white option which is good to 1400c or 2550f in your money .
Yeah I've never had an issue with them connected in parallel so I'm sure the EVC will manage the boost just fine! I might port my precontrol so it flows a little better while it's all apart.
I’ve never been so excited to look through a thread. So much respect to your build’s mission statement of keeping true to its stock nature and focusing on the fine detail and engineering. I hope my second FD I buy, I can do something similar to this.
The paint job and color is amazing as well! This may be my favorite new color now, wow!
I’ve never been so excited to look through a thread. So much respect to your build’s mission statement of keeping true to its stock nature and focusing on the fine detail and engineering. I hope my second FD I buy, I can do something similar to this.
The paint job and color is amazing as well! This may be my favorite new color now, wow!
Glad you enjoyed it! That's quite a bit to read through now haha. Should be slowing down soon when it goes back together, I'm looking forward to just driving it a bit rather than all the wrenching
IBM was always one of my favourites, I find you always love colours you don't currently own though, FD's look so good in all the colours they came in... I need a yellow FD at some point...Or White... Maybe the next project as I'll have space for one more car when the garage is built in the spring .
Nagisa Auto braces fitted, went with these as I already had them and the FEED ones were delayed. Pretty much the same thing just a bit less shiny. Good opportunity to clean out all the leaves and rubbish that has found its way under the wings since the respray. I can't wait until this car can be kept indoors!
Swapped out my OEM Raybrigs for the harder to come by crystal type that imo look better and less dated. Ignore the panel gaps in these pics, the bumper and headlight covers are literally just placed on after removing the wings to fit the braces. I'll sort the front end alignment out at some point this week.
Went with yellow fog breaker bulbs so they should be nice and functional, although I cant remember the last time I drove the FD in fog .
Everyone I think "He can't possibly make it any better" you find a way, lol.
Who makes the crystal version fog lamps?
Vince
Haha, there is always something to improve! The crystal fogs are also made by Raybrig and are the same housings, just different lenses really. I made new short looms for them using dr25 and scl with new econoseal plugs to ensure I don't get any wicking into my harness as they are in one of the areas that gets wet. I noticed my original raybrigs had a little corrosion inside the housings that had wicked its way inside due to an OEM plug seal failing. So doing this should stop these going the same way .
Last few pics of the twins before fitting. Glad I've got spares as they make a pretty awesome ornament. If I was single I'd have stuff like this all over the house .
Got a few hours of wrenching in yesterday, twins, downpipe and y pipe in. It's pretty close now, nearly ready to fire her up!
Picked up a super now master cylinder brace, the hardware will need plating before fitting now that I've committed to the gold passivate route .
Damn i have missed out on this thread the last year. So much gold! (lol)
Got some questions for you tho, as this is more or less the same things i got on my very long list of **** to do with mine.
- How do you like the PWR intercooler? Obv not tested yet, but how would you rate it? Does Marcus deliver quality on this as it seems? (the AutoEXE+PWR combo with matching carbon is just so much sex)
- Do you plate yourself or outsource?
- Why did you go down the DIY route on turbos instead of just getting a set of the new BNRs?
- When will you make a "How to rewire and improve your entire FD wire harness" guide? xD
Damn i have missed out on this thread the last year. So much gold! (lol)
Got some questions for you tho, as this is more or less the same things i got on my very long list of **** to do with mine.
- How do you like the PWR intercooler? Obv not tested yet, but how would you rate it? Does Marcus deliver quality on this as it seems? (the AutoEXE+PWR combo with matching carbon is just so much sex)
- Do you plate yourself or outsource?
- Why did you go down the DIY route on turbos instead of just getting a set of the new BNRs?
- When will you make a "How to rewire and improve your entire FD wire harness" guide? xD
Sure, the PWR cooler and duct are really good quality, I was pretty impressed and that takes quite a bit as I'm real picky when it comes to the fit and finish of car parts . The only thing I've noticed that isn't quite up to standard so far is the angle of the silicone coupler to the intake elbow, it's slightly off but hardly an issue.
Plating I do some myself and some I get my local platers to do, depends how much time I have and the type of parts that need plating.
Turbos...There isn't anything available with similar specs and I wanted to keep the later turbos with the abradable turbo seals to improve the efficiency as it's quite a cool feature the late FD's got. The billet wheel blade height is 6mm taller than the oem cast wheel and the nose diameter is visibly way smaller due to the MFS billet wheels being stronger allowing for more material to be removed. I wont bore you with all the specs but it's basically a vastly improved design, they should work really well . I'm not after setting any power output records so the taller N3G1 turbine wheels are perfect for what I wanted. I also had quite a few sets of N3G1's laying around so they might as well be upgraded and put to use, I've got four sets of these new turbos and will likely sell two at some point as I cant see me needing three spare sets. I'm pretty excited to see what these do on the dyno and how they'll actually feel on the road, the response should be pretty epic .
Regarding the wiring... That'd be a real long guide haha. There is just so much that can be improved on an FD! I am looking forward to ripping my front loom out this winter and going through that .
Usually not long enough, I always run over with my winter maintenance . All the major work is done on the FD now though so it should I shouldn't run over in future winters. I might even buy a used harness to measure and make a new one so it's just a day to swap the loom rather than having the car in bits for a while.
I usually take the car off the road in November as in the UK they grit the roads with salt which causes all kinds of corrosion and damage to cars. That's why when cars are 10 years old here they begin to glow orange on the underside .
So I've had a rethink regarding the cruise control.
RHD cruise, look at that ugly ******* throttle cable snaking it way across the bay....
After coming up with various ways to make this look better... This just wont work for me, it's too ugly, even if everything is plated and shiny.
So the solution is we're going to retrofit LHD cruise into my RHD car. For this I need to swap my throttle linkage to 180 the cruise cam and add the additional cable retaining bracket on the TB (Need to source one of these as they are NLA...Or make one if I cant find one). LHD cruise will not fit on most RHD cars but with mine being an S8, my ABS is more compact than the early cars and the actuator will 'just' fit and this means I get a nice short and mostly hidden throttle cable for cruise.
Much better! .
A LHD actuator is currently working its way from TX to the UK to be disassembled and made shiny .
07-09-21, 01:11 PM
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