Boost cruisin'

[cisco]

Well just been out and about farting around for an hour or so enjoying the spooling noises.

I accidentally wound the boost controller knob when I was moving it, and now we're only running 15psi max. Will adjust it and aim for 18ish tomorrow.

Well its really really fun to drive the car once again.

Only thing to be careful of is that it now needs another wheel alignment. I was full boosting in 2nd gear and the whole car jumped about 2 metres to the left and started to turn in hard for the gutter. Oh no! Hahah. That certainly woke my senses up. So go easy until we have the wheels pointing straight. Again, will sort that out tomorrow after she is lowered back down a bit.

Tomorrow an exciting day with a few easy, cheap and minor things to get sorted out. I am so fortunate for this 7 or so weeks in between jobs. The car certainly would not be driving if it wasn't for all this time just to be able to go berzerk and get anything done.

Already noticed some boneheads driving closer up the rear when you're in a small car once again. Totally different experience to driving a big fairmont.

Yeah the micra actually goes around corners. And does it ever!!! Weight distribution juts that much better now its not funny.

Well we're back.. And looking forward to the big June hookup. Come on down and suck in this cold air, its ridiculous.

 

[CMF_White Knight]

Great to hear Cisco.All those dark clouds have been lifted and you are now in Micra heaven.
When they drive too close to your tail just give Bluey a squirt and watch em do a fast fade in your rear vision mirror.

 

[CMF_Brendon]

i comin up tommorow to see ya. have a chat

 

[cisco]

Kewl Brendo! Be good to see ya.

Haha the random number plate I got issued ends with "22L".
I wonder how many people will think I have dropped a 2.2L engine in it bahah.

 

[CMF_Sean]

I still think you should have gotten [MRK-11Y]

Wouldn't have costed anymore

By the way, I'm working tonight so its out of the question... Thursday night?

My email is stuffing up at the moment

Seano

 

[CMF_White Knight]

Well hurry up and get it fixed so you can e mail Reverb and buy all his goodies so you can get back again in the Canberra forced club.Should be able to get it all done before the meet.

 

[cisco]

Yeah ok mate Thursday night would be good then.

Allright well some good progress again today.

First of all, the car is now lowered again. And I fixed the wheel alignment issues myself. Yay! Nothing like a good quality home job. Did some adhoc measurements and the car drives beautifully. No more crazy all over the place when you put the power down, and car pulling directly straight ahead. That will save me $65 in having a suspension place do it. I know their will be a better precise accurate laser job, but I don't have the money to waste on that right now when the car feels great to drive. So I'll cancel the booking in the morning.

Car looks mad once again at this ride height. Looks really nice. Handles really nice.

Then I went down to Powatone exhaust and they have done $395 worth of work on the exhaust system. They diagnosed that all this time my main rear back box muffler is simply a cannon which means its basically an empty resonator. So I've had like 3 hollow resonators in there all along, and nothing with any kind of real stuffing in it to calm down the nasty resonances. Then they worked out that there's not much room up the back where the cannon one is, so they removed the front 2 resonators instead and replaced them both with a single 2 foot long truck muffler!!! Yes!

First a Nissan commercial van with GVM 1700Kg, and now I'm running a 2 foot truck muffler. You can't beat it.

They also discovered a cracked joint at the back of the cat convertor, fixed that, and realised the system needed an extra hanger to take the load to avoid future cracks. So they did that too.

They also put on a 2.5" hidden tip like I asked for which replaced the skimpy 2" choker previous one.

They also raised the whole rear muffler and pipe section by about 15mm which gives it yet again a bit more clearance away from the panhard and suspension. The car was very occasionally still clunking something over certain weird bumps, so I'm hoping this might make the difference.

So basically, they have done a lot of work. And best of all, the customer service was A1. Great, friendly blokes. They really actually listened to what I had to say and had some really good ideas and recommendations.

After driving the car, the drone it had between 3-4000rpm has now been completely removed. This is one great thing.

Only thing I have noticed is that the bad resonance at about 3050rpm is now actually worse. But that's the only thing, everything else is improved.

So as simple as me just popping back and telling them and see what they can come up with. I'm very impressed with their work. They also had a very tidy workshop and a nice waiting room with car magazines in it.

So, while I had about 2 hours to spare walking around Fyshwick, I found a car trim shop and bought some of that parcel tray carpet to trim the cargo tray with. Then I walked to Bunnings and got some more spray on adhesive for it.

So going out to carpet the cargo tray shortly. That should make a world of difference to the ugly rear interior, and perhaps slightly to the sound deadening qualities too. This carpet is really thick stuff, thicker than what I got for my custom MDF parcel tray all those years ago.

So defiantely getting there and car feeling great to drive on the road. Only thing is to sort out this final 3050rpm resonance and I will be very happy.

That means tomorrow I can wash the car, put some tyre black on, put some plastic protectant on, window cleaner.

and just DRIVE IT

Running about 17psi peak boost now, which is just lovely. I have decided I am going to leave it at that, rather than upping it to 18-20 or anything like that. The power is plenty ample enough and 17psi on this bullet proof engine will just hopefully add a bit further to the life of the engine.

 

[cisco]

Some crappy pics of the 2 foot long truck muffler from the ordinary mobile phone camera:

 

[cisco]

.

 

[cisco]

Oh my goodness.

Just completed the carpeting of the cargo tray. I don't think I imagined it would look so damn hot. Honestly, just that little bit of custom trim honestly makes the car feel like some modern, cozy little refined piece of gear.

Wow!!!

I don't have my camera right now (S-Shortcake has it in Fiji), so I will take a dodgy photo with the phone camera again.

 

[cisco]

Sorry, phone camera is absolutely pathetic.

It'll have to wait.

 

[CMF_evade]

haha thats mad..now you have even less ground clearance

i NEEED to get something similar done. im so over the droney exhaust.

looks good man, keen to see the cargo tray carpeted up

 

[cisco]

Yeah ground clearance has suffered big time from this sucker. Damn its hard hah.

 

[cisco]

Ok more progress today.

I worked out why the bad resonance at3050rpm was getting worse even after the work they did.

The new hanger mount that they welded up for me snapped. The mount they chose was too thin and snapped under the load of my exhaust and/or turbo engine movement. Not sure.

Loud metal noises this morning when starting the car, when letting the clutch out, was driving be nuts. After quickly jacking up the car on its side, I saw a broken hanger mount, weld had snapped.

So I went back down there and showed them. They were so polite and helpful once again. Put my car up on the hoist and fixed it straight away while I was waiting. This time they made up a much beefier mount and used the plasma cutter to make it the perfect shape. Its a real top looking mount now made from 5mm plate steel. Extremely tough and will never snap now. Looks unreal.

Driving the car home its like heaven. Both bad resonances totally gone now, like not a single trace of them. Stupid idiot at the other original exhaust shop telling me everything was fine and that my mufflers were perfect already. Actually I drove past there yesterday and the doors were shut very early, makes me wonder if they've closed down, they were on the way out when I was last there - wouldn't surprise me.

Anyway exhaust note very nice now, and very smooth. Go Powatone exhaust in Fyshwick. Full credit to them for top job and top customer service. Everytime I leave there I say "thanks guys, that's great" and the owner always says "No, thank you for the job" - top attitude towards customers.

 

[cisco]

Its just such a relief to have some bad resonances removed, that were part of the car since I've owned it. Amazing what a bit of time off and attention to detail can fix. Its so easy to get too busy and get caught up putting up with annoying things. Phew what a relief.

I also stuffed a heap of rags for sound deadening inside the rear hatch. You know that panel held on with all those plastic clips inside the hatch? I put them in there packed in nice and tightly. I also lined the panel itself with heaps more of this cool clark rubber stick on foam padding stuff. Then I lubed up the hatch's rubber stoppers with So Easy protectant, then I put a new piece of electrical tape around the lock latch as the old tape had worn a bit thin. After all that, MAN my rear end aint making any noises whatsoever. It seems after all this time of the car sitting there, it had just started making new noises once again, well it aint any more.

I hate to say this and don't want to jinx anything, but its becoming a real pleasure to drive. Not a lot of annoying noises any more, and so smooth with the power delivery.

 

[cisco]

Jacked up to discover the broken exhaust mount.

How good are whiteline swaybars. Jack in one position at the rear, jacks up all 3 wheels of the car, and only the front left tyre is still making contact with the ground.

 

[cisco]

Well here are some slightly improved pictures of my completed Nissan Commercial Van (GVM1700Kg hah!) carpeted cargo tray.

 

[cisco]

.

 

[CMF_Alex_B]

haha, yes i miss that feature, first time i was huh??? whats going on, as when i jacked up the front left of the car the rear left tire came up before the front,

Alex

 

[cisco]

Seano coming around at 7pm and we're off for a squirt.

I just washed the car and blacked the tyres.

Now a quick vacum and interior clean up and we'll be set.

 

[CMF_White Knight]

I can see a big sub woofer in da back Cisco.
Get that music bouncing man.
A nice little bar firidge also pre the meet, a micra wave ( get it?) as well, and you can be the official caterer for the meet.
Cisco's catering van for all Micra meets.

 

[CMF_Sean]

Heh,

You didn't have to clean it all up for me mate!

Ahh its been a while since I've been in this thing!

See you at 7

Seano

 

[cisco]

Yeah full blown catering van huh.

Was great to catch up with the pink shirt man. (No pink shirt tonight though). Hey I actually have an nice pink shirt, and when I wore it, my mates bagged me out too. Hahah justly deserved I'm sure.

Seano and I just drove around for a fair while being general turbo jabbers. Not a lot happening, but just tried to keep things on the quiet and avoid attracting any attention etc. Now that the car looks low, I think it looks a lot more modified/suspicious just from that.

I think seano got some footage of some boosting action, but we were not sure if the camera was having problems with the tape or not. May not have recorded, but we'll see.

Lined up in the middle of a P plate late model WRX and a hotted up NA Honda integra or something in the other lane. The Honda was racing, he had cannon muffler and stuff, but the WRX just stayed back. Absolutely left the Honda jabber way back probably thinking about what his next engine modification should be. He had a good go, but not even in the running. Heh.

Unfortunately didn't come across many big V8s or anything.

 

[cisco]

.

 

[CMF_White Knight]

That is priceless Cisco. The one and only Micra Van .
What a conversation piece. "What you drive mate? Oh,a Micra Van. A what?? Would not fit much in the back.( snigger, snigger) Correct but the back of the van is the only part of it you will ever see. Want to line up that V8 Holden ute you are driving and see who has the fastest parcel delivery service?"

 

[CMF_evade]

what the hell..why did they give you that for haha

 

[CMF_Sean]

How many times do I have to tell you... Its SALMON!!

Just seeing if the vids worked or not, have some pictures to send to you cisco but they're not the best quality (damn crappy camera!)

Sean

 

[CMF_White Knight]

Salmon pink. Still bloody pink.

 

[CMF_micra-man]

You know, if the average guy could dress himself a little better, there wouldn't be all these sisters, girlfriends and wives buying these stupid looking pink shirts.

We bloke all know Lavender, Lilac & Mauve are so much more masculine ;-)

 

[cisco]

Hehe.

Good to see old mate micra-deserter Brendo today too. He came over at lunch time and took me for a spin in his super-mega-scary machine. Certainly scared the pants off me while I was the front passenger. Oh my goodness. That thing leaps off the line like there is no tomorrow, then again in 2nd gear, complete traction, just keeps pushing the car straight ahead like there's no tomorrow. And it doesn't slow down, he's got it modified now putting out about 160kw at all 4 wheels which is like a ****load of power. Its bloody fast. Even in 2nd and 3rd gears its still very very fast. Not a weapon to be messed with.

The GTiR handles like a true weapon also. Brendon again scared me around a roundabout and the car was really moving.

Then we went for a squirt in blue monster where things are completely different. A totally different world. 1st gear is next to useless, the fun starts to happen in 2nd gear, and its just a smaller/tinier more direct kind of feel.

Then we went for a spin in both cars from up North down to the Airport. The whole way basically all 80km/h zone dual lane. Had a blast. Boring first 10 minutes or so of driving.
But then once some traffic had cleared later on, we were boosting next to each other side by side. Was awesome! Hah.

The first time we were both in 3rd gear and we gave the hand signal and planted it. Blue monster only ever so slightly had the edge and all the way until we backed off at about 120-130kmh. But we were dead equal. I wasn't pulling away, more so only like 3 feet ahead simply because I think my car spooled a bit quicker right at the start when we planted it. Once both cars making full boost, basically dead equal, and both cars were absolutely hammering!!! The sound and atmosphere was just awesome. Mega spooling noises everywhere.

Then again not long later we had another awesome side by side boost race. Starting at around 50kmh in 2nd gear. Gave the hand signal and both planted. Absolutely dead equal, the nose of each car spot on side by side and all the way to almost the redline and then into 3rd, and then boosting up to perhaps 120-130kmh once again. Both cars absolutely not letting the opponent car get even an inch ahead. They were really spot on dead equal. It was just a brilliant run and we had a ball. I had so much fun!!!

Around one of these roundabouts, Brendon the jet pilot was up bluey's clacker, and then he let the 4wd stuff really do its stuff and changed lanes and shot past like an FA/18. Just crazy that thing of his. Traction is not an issue, its unstoppable. I was impressed.

Also up North after just departing (tell me if you saw tihs Brendo), but that 90deg corner in the 80 zone, I came into it at a moderate pace, and planted 2nd gear on exit and took a very wide route.. The power came on, the VLSD locked and the car walked all over the road power understeering left and then right, kind of in an arc, but it shot off like an absolute rocket. Felt like a very very fast exiting of the corner. So much smooth power on tap, was just excellent. Brendon did you see this one that I am talking about?

Hahaha so much fun. Ahhhhh boost.

So the verdict, well I reckon from 2nd gear onwards, both cars are basically dead equal. Before 2nd gear, I wouldnt' waste my time trying to stay with Brendon on a launch off the line - that thing has crazy traction. Completely different style of cars kind of really. The GTi-R heavier, but has the larger 2 litre engine which delivers a ****load more torque (and a bit more power) to make up for the weight, the result, even though bluey only making say 143-150 at the wheels, and Brendon about 160, the big torque different and big weight difference between the cars makes them virtually dead equal in straight line grunt.

Well Brendo, you leave me with no choice but to wind that boost controller up a little bit more and try to get it spiking at 19-20 again now. That will only help me in 3rd gear, because it will just make 2nd gear spin the wheels even more. My power is basically on the limit that the whole skinny chassis can handle without going to semi-slicks etc and then snapping a gearbox. Where as you could do your next set of mods and run even more boost and have the chassis and traction to support it.

I think I am really really happy with the level of power I'm running now and I have zero plans to go chasing any more. It has like the perfect amount of power. Enough to make 2nd gear very fast, enough to not make 3rd gear spin with these tyres, but it would with skinnier tyres. Any more and I could only really get the benefit from say 4th gear, and who drives around boosting in 4th gear doing 170kmh all the time - not me. Happy to sign the engine off as complete and has met the goals I was always aiming for.

What a wild ride today!!!

 

[CMF_Brendon]

yeah was awesome today. well i am mega impressed from bluey. in the car it feels and sounds like a true racer. the engine sounds great you can really feel the boost hit hard and all through the rev range you feel the car pick up[ the higher it gets like at 4000rpm get a boost then higher up you feel the car getting to the good bits and theres another bit of a push at 6000rpm or so. the car sits dead flat with the coilovers. awesome stuff. workmanship on the car is fantastic everything is so neat and tidy.
yeah my car feels different to bluey. to me bluey felt faster maybe that coz i wasnt driving and passenger seat. but side by side each other on hte rolling tests were pretty dead even. i was stoked.
just wait aaron ill build me self a new exhaust, power fc, t28rs bb turbo and few other things and we shall meet again.
i dead serious saying you should take it to wakefield one day. ill come to. give it a bit of a belt there.
oh and my rear tyres are bald on the inside so i had no way near as much grip as it should.
all in all was a top day. good fun. i love the sound of turbo cars I LOVE IT.!!!! (but damn expensive!!)

 

[CMF_Brendon]

only mods i done are walbro 500 fuel pump up boost to 13psi and boost controller. that about it. new exhaust and power fc to come soon.

hehe i scared cisco.

 

[cisco]

And HUUUGE front mount intercooler

Did you see that first 90degree corner when I got right up it in front of you and the car walked all over the road??

 

[CMF_Brendon]

yeah haha i saw that. great stuff. was pretty cool

 

[cisco]

Hmm just went for another spin..

You guys (Sean + Brendo) know that really dodgy section of my intake pipe that I said I must replace, and its a complete hack job etc??

Well I was kinda wondering why the car was only peaking at 17psi, and then this evening, I gave it a few squirts, then all of a sudden, massive power loss and we're only running 10psi peak.

Just got home, exactly what I suspected, hose clamp has let go on the dodgy section where the two pieces meet and don't join up properly. Bloody dodgy intercooler piping that the old hacker exhaust shop did. I'm sure they have shut down gone broke now. Doors closed very early the other day.

Well I'm going to fix this all up 100% myself. Ordering a coupla black silicon bends off ebay and some place in the US, quite cheap compared to here, but then add postage, still works out a fair bit cheaper though I think. Will slam those on with a new piece of alloy pipe, and we should be cooking reliably once again. Its no big deal, because I can fix the current dodgy intake pipes up myself anyway..

 

[CMF_White Knight]

Can't wait to bring Whitey up to Canberra Cisco and know Whitey/Bluey will be like chalk and cheese as to how the power comes on.No waiting for that real surge its just a constant haul all the way where I am know Bluey will snap my head off when the boost comes on.I will put my neck brace on.
Since fitting the idler pulley have picked up another 1 psi boost so now getting 13. From what I read 14 psi max on an SC12 and after that you are in meltdown territory but feel this is if you are on this constantly for extended periods.Still intend to fit a smaller supercharger pulley.
Bloody hell Cisco you have a monster there.Keep the beast happy mate.You may have to chain it up when you put it to bed.

 

[cisco]

Cheers. Yeah I was saying to Seano actually, I can't wait to see that white monster. Its going to be another world compared to my car. Really really keen to check it out.

That instant grunt regardless of any RPM on tap just to go ballistic with. Really makes sense for a street car to have that kind of torque curve.

Yeah thanks. Yeah just fix this minor hack job up with the intake and the whole engine bay will be pretty sweet then. Such a minor thing, so looking forward to just fixing it up all nicely for not a lot of $. Will fix that up and then perhaps ramp the boost back to where it was say around 18-20psi spike while we're in healthy cold winter air. Then might always back it back to 16 or something for summer when the hot air is with us once again.

Ahh Brendo, without this boost leak say 19-20psi today and I woulda ever so slightly pulled away. Would have been funny just for laughs to say I beat the modified GTi-R. Ha Ha.

But the reality is that my car doesn't have much scope for any further gains, its already modified to the hilt, where as you could simply bolt on one more serious upgrade and gain another huge wack of power and up the stakes once again hehe (and still get traction!). Ahh cars.

But I'll fix it up, and when the air gets a bit colder, let's have another run just to see how much difference it makes. I don't think much, but possibly just tiny edge of pulling away very slowly or not pulling away at all kind of different I think it would make, as our cars were so damn spot on equal today.

 

[CMF_Tony]

Sounds like you guys had some great runs today, Would love to have seen it on video.

Glad that your car is finally getting sorted out Cisco,You just may have that good year of motoring yet. Make sure you let us no how you go with that dyno run,or even better come up to a test n tune and give the old girl a run so we can see what she'll do.

 

[CMF_Brendon]

yeah u would of to. talking about it with some mates today and yeah agree you have a very very unique car and power almost maxing out with mods now (but not quite still few more horsies to go) i only gotta spend a few thousand or more and ill have an awesome beast runnning. 200kwatw would be my goal and that would be insane enough for me but your car is unbelieveable for the power you haveout of that engine and to have it look the way it is is unbelievable. i hope you keep that car for a very long time or sell it only if you get a whopping huge offer.
i cant get the sound of that engine out of my head. sounds like a true genuine race motor. i pretty sure you would be putting a lot of cars to shame and you would have to have one of the quickest 1.3L fwd car in australia for sure maybe even the world. i sure you could milk a lot more out of it just means you then gotta spend big big big dollars on it all. but i reckon keep it how it is. you have more than enough power and have a very unique car. im sure if you drive it round for a while you will establish a name for yourself soon. the 1.3L that beat the big 5.0L v8.
i am very inspired by your car. all i think you should do now is get those nice seats you were talking about.
i gotta go to bed now. damn i hate feeling tired but just cant sleep.
oh well gonna play some more day of defeat.

 

[cisco]

Heh cheers. If you get 200kw I would be too scared to come in your car any more mate. 160 at all fours was more than enough wouzers.

Yeah 200 would be a pretty nice round number to aim for, but that would be pretty crazy fast too. The 4wd and chassis will just laugh it off saying "give me more".

 

[CMF_Sean]

Brendo and Cisco go flying past while Seano just drives along merrily

*putt putt putt*

Damn I fVcking hate stock cars!

Sean

 

[cisco]

"..Brendo and Cisco go flying past while Seano just drives along merrily.." .. and before the next gearbox snap or whatever is next in the list of unfolding modification chapters, while Seano saves a lot of money as well.



Hey I took some new pics yesterday and put them here:
http://www.micra.com.au/blue-monster.php

Not taking any of the engine bay until I replace that filthy ugly intake pipe. Ikk!

 

[CMF_White Knight]

Nice pics Cisco and glad to see you are resealing some of the road as well.

 

[CMF_Sean]

Actually...

Hate to go off-topic but one thing this site is defintaely missing is a quoting system where with each post there is a button which when pressed opens up a reply box including the text originally in the post... similar to NS.com

Seano

 

[cisco]

Allright kewl. Yeah I think it needs that, also the ability to edit images, and also perhaps to support those common tag codes that everyone seems to use.

I might have a fiddle with the site tonight..

 

[CMF_Sean]

Awesome!

Sean

 

[CMF_Yom]

cisco as soon as you ditch those n2000's I'd put money on a 0 to 100 improvement of at least a second.

 

[cisco]

Yeah probably get a really big improvement from some really decent tyres. Mostly in 1st gear and mid way through 2nd gear yeah.. And although I'd love to in one way, I'm semi hesitant in another, because tyres that spin easier mean less strain on gearbox

It really goes pretty good in 2nd gear now, like a fair bit of decent traction, and when it does start spinning, you can quite easily back off the throttle just a smidgen and let it recover, then hit it again to the redline, and it still slingshots away very fast.

 

[CMF_Yom]

Yeh but you're risking your life with those Nexens.