Nissan S15 - Touge Emperor

[BakemonoRicer]

Nissan S15 - #RONIN

Hey everyone,

Four years ago, I came across a completely stock standard pewter S15. It was owned by a 50 year lady since brand new, and it had full service history from Nissan . After looking over it it didn't take long to realise it was a gem - there was absolutely no sign of repair and it was good mechanically. The next week I'd negotiated a price & bought the car....

Not long after, a full turboback exhaust and a set of HKS Hipermax III Coilovers & Ikeya Formula Camber/Toe/Castor Arms were thrown in. I did plenty of driving through twisty mountain roads with this setup & had a lot of fun learning the car. The standard clutch didn't last long, and this was replaced with a solid centre ORC 559 Twin Plate.

As of now, I can confidently say I've spent thousands of hours planning the build - there are so different ways it can be done & I wanted mine to be pretty damn cool. Over the years I kept ordering parts from Japan & I'm at a stage now where the car has been taken off the road to get finished....

Here's a pic from when it was stock as a rock back in 2012...

 

[BakemonoRicer]

19/12/2014

Brand new full set of forged monoblock TE37SL's arrived. These wheels are the real deal, will need to massage the guards to fit these puppies.

04/01/2015

In other news, I went and installed a brand new BNR34 Vspec II Nur pedal setup. Makes heel & toe downshifting super easy.

The brake and clutch pad should be heated up before even attempting to fit them - I used some hot water followed by a hair dryer. It'll still take a bit of time & patience to get them on.

For the accelerator, I removed the existing assembly and replaced it with a 200SX GT accelerator arm & the NUR pedal pad. When removing the existing arm, you'll need to push a plastic bush out near the cable linkage which is easy enough - just make sure you push on the end closest to the firewall.

The shift boot is by Superior Auto Creative.

Here is a pic of the new setup.

 

[BakemonoRicer]

18/03/2015

Been noticing a fair bit of movement from the rear end - it's an old car so obviously there's quite a bit of wear & tear with the bushes etc. Now beefing up the rear end which should take a lot of lash out the drivetrain, though I've avoided solid subframe bushes after looking into it...

Got all the parts sorted and enlisted a trusty mechanic to do the work....setup as follows:

-Yanack Racing Solid Diff Bushes

-Nismo Subframe Bushes

-Ikeya Formula Rear Knuckle Solid Bushes

-Nismo Rear Lower Control Arms

-350Z Rear Hub seals (interchangeable with the S15 item and a far superior design).

After the rear end gets done, the car will end up back in the garage while I save some coin for the front end.

 

[BakemonoRicer]

21/04/2015

Car back in action... turns out I had two broken subframe bushes.

All the gear for the rear end is now fitted and the car feels fantastic.

Slight increase in noise with the solid diff bushes - but no issue as I don't mind the sound.

Teed up Nelson to roll the rear guards as it was scrub city with the new rims. No issues with the fronts so they stayed factory spec. Really wouldn't mind seeing if I could make Z-Tune lip arches work with the rear guards...

Been getting out & about as much as possible to enjoy the car, as usually it doesn't take long for it to end up sitting in the garage for months haha.

 

[BakemonoRicer]

25/12/2015

Couple pics of the exterior with the TE37SL's and Sunline Racing Carbon Boot.... the thing is as bloody light as a feather weighing in at 3.5kg with full factory webbing.

Off work until the 4th, so I've taken the opportunity to get cracking on the GT car....

I started off completely flushing the cooling system with distilled water. All the coolant/discharge was very clean with no contamination...

When I started removing the radiator, it was missing the air guides so I suspect it's been replaced at some point in the past. It was actually in pretty good condition aside from being caked with leaves etc.

I got to have a closer look at the front-end and it's original including all the seams, pretty damn rare for an S15.

Next up for install is the HKS drive belts and for the cooling system upgrade... I've got a Sunline Racing Radiator Breather Tank, SARD radiator hoses, and I'm tossing up whether to throw on the ARC radiator (36mm thick) or the SARD radiator (49mm thick).

 

[Adam L]

Please tell me you've lowered the ride height!!

looks good bar the 5 finger arch gap:thumbs:

 

[Daveizz]

Immaculate car and some awesome toys you've bought there for the car!

 

[BakemonoRicer]

Daveizz, cheers mate!! Adam, the mountain roads in Australia are pretty damn bumpy - the mid-muffler in the HKS silent hangs bloody low, so it wasn't uncommon for me to be shooting sparks from underneath on a spirited drive. Got sick of dump pipe bolts coming loose hence the ride height haha.

25/12/2015

I took off the Tomei Oil Pan and reinstalled it to get a better seal. It helped having the Nismo mounts as there's decent clearance between the crossmember & flange now.

New valve cover gasket needed...

The control arms were looking fairly tired, removed the split pin then a couple whacks to the knuckle with the lump hammer was enough to dislodge the ball joints. I've thrown on the new set of Nismo LCA's...will tighten them once I get everything else installed & I have full fluids in the car. Will prop the car up on some pavers when I do this.

Nismo Power Brace, nice bit of gear for the Silvia's.

Belts were in pretty bad condition with all of them showing cracks as per pic below. Had a mishap... I'd wound most of the crank bolt out to get ready to pull off the harmonic balancer, went away to get the tool to remove it, got started & midway thought hmm this is a bit tight...nek minnit broken harmonic balancer, Turns out the old man thought it'd be a good idea to wind half the crank bolt back into the engine. I rung around & couldn't source a replacement harmonic balancer anywhere in Australia (despite a few places advertising them as 'in stock') so I won't be able to get my hands on one till the new year. Will probably steer clear of an OEM item & go for a Ross Tuffbond Metal Jacket.

I've fitted up the ARC M073 crossflow intercooler, will obviously tinker with it a bit more to get it positioned really nice. The thing is a work of art & for a long time I was reluctant to even take it out of its packaging. It's discontinued now and I'm pretty sure I'm the only S15 guy in Australia who has one. Will get started on the pipework tomorrow.

Unlike a GTR there's a bit of body processing required to fit it up...so if you're afraid of using a grinder / holesaw - better off using a turnflow style kit or sticking with the side mount.

 

[BakemonoRicer]

08/02/2016

Finally had some free time this weekend, & I decided the first thing I’d is work on the car and install the Nismo 740cc injectors. Spent 22 hours hours on the S15 over the weekend....was absolutely buggered by the end of it!

I started off at the inlet plenum disconnecting all the hoses, earths, connectors & throttle cable. After this was done, I unbolted the throttle body & inlet plenum in the workshop manual recommended sequence. Hoses were labelled & nuts/bolts were placed in labelled ziplock bags. I find this always makes it easier when putting things back together.

Here is a picture of the stock injectors prior to removal. I used fine grade oil around the perimeter of each to loosen them up, and then levered them out of the fuel rail (from the two small slots in the injector).
I cleaned the fuel tube very meticulously and laid out the injector caps/screws as per original. Even though I won’t be seeing the injectors, the red is a much nicer colour lol. I slipped the o-rings on & lightly lubricated them with engine oil, put them in the fuel tube, then torqued them down with the injector caps. I figured I’d replace the AAC gasket seeing as the plenum is off as well…

 

[BakemonoRicer]

08/02/2016

The next step of the process was to remove the alternator. You’ll notice I’ve taken it out with the bracket that’s fixed to the engine block...because it's easier. The reason I’ve removed the alternator is so I could access the sandwich block – it’s torqued tight so I don’t recommend using a handheld allen key - I used a ratchet with a socketed allen key which worked nicely. It'll get replaced with a Tomei N2 Oil Block....

Kept at it & way past midnight I'd removed the front dump, exhaust manifold & stock turbo. Two of the nuts (No. 7 & 8 ) were damn near seized on the manifold….took a good half hour to crack them off.

 

[BakemonoRicer]

08/02/2016

While I don't have plans to forge the motor yet....I'm at the point where I realise I'll be going fairly nuts with the build, so I figure I'll 'do it once & do it right'.

I got to work on Sunday fitting up the massive Trust 16 row oil cooler & filter relocation kit.....I spent a lot of time tinkering around to get it mounted perfectly.

I really like how it sits behind the intercooler, I think its much safer than being in front of the drivers wheel and also much easier to route the lines & filter relocation.

Here is a picture of the kit laid out on the ground, its bloody good quality gear...

It's a good idea to fit up all the brackets to the core first before placing it in position and the horn cable needs to be nipped up with a ziptie.

For the relocation filter block, I lubricated all the o-rings with engine oil & then torqued them lightly (~15NM). I'm mindful its an alloy block so I'd rather not over-torque them...

I cleaned up some surface rust from the old washer bottle bracket & then hit the area with some VHT chassis black paint. I trimmed a small piece of the washer bottle & relocated it, then mounted the filter relocation block....looks very neat !! After that I'd unfortunately ran out of time...so I'll keep everyone posted as progress continues....

 

[BakemonoRicer]

15/03/2016

3 weeks ago:


I decided it'd be a good idea before installing the new harmonic balancer to replace the front crank seal. I needed something that I could use as a 'press' for the new seal, and after looking around the garage decided this piece from an old whipper snipper would do the job best.

Lubricated the seal with a bit of engine oil, then pressed it in flush by winding in the crank bolt...

I applied some loctite antisieze to the crank snout after cleaning it up, then installed the ROSS TUFFBOND harmonic balancer

Replaced these little clips with brand new OEM items, as the old ones were broken meaning the plastic stip wasn't secure...

Next up was getting rid of the stock fuel pump. The car has been turned off for ages now, so I just opened the tank lid and then siphoned most of the fuel out of the tank. Obviously, it was a **** of a job due to the fumes from the fuel. I fitted up the hoses, replaced the valve assembly with the R33 GTR item, then installed the new Nismo pump.

The car was looking pretty angry with the new oil cooler mounted up, so I got to work removing the stock oil block & replacing it with a Tomei N2 Oil Block (thanks SamB87 for the advice). I'm running the oil temperature sensor in the N2 Oil Block, and the oil pressure sensor in the GREX Filter Relocation Block. I used sealer for these sensors, but I decided I'm going to refit them using PTFE tape (only way I can have 100% peace of mind, lol). The braided lines look pretty flash, but I need to adjust the angle of the fittings onto the N2 Oil Block so that they clear the alternator...

Next chance to work on the car will be this long weekend, so hopefully I get some solid work done...... will keep you all posted

 

[BakemonoRicer]

And now this brings my thread on S15OC up to date.... here is the latest update

Got to have another crack working on the car over the long weekend…

I took off the oil block & reinstalled the sensors with teflon tape (I figured I’d have more peace of mind with this than the Loctite Greymaxx). With the N2 Oil Block reinstalled, clearance between the 45 degree swivel fittings and the alternator is bloody tight. I had a few attempts adjusting the projection of the fitting & test fitting the alternator each time, and in the end I had as much clearance as I could get (~1.5mm lol, it’ll be enough). The ‘inlet plenum to alternator brace’ came in contact with the lines – so I simply notched the brace to give me clearance. I protected the lines in the corrugated conduit where necessary, though realistically I’ll buy some more to cover the whole line. I’ve modified the horn brackets for clearance purposes as well.

Reinstalled the stock plenum & SR20DE big throttle with fresh gaskets & torqued everything to suit.

Next up was the fresh set of HKS Drive Belts. Due to the lack of clearance between the fitting & alternator, pushing the alternator across far enough to ease on the belt isn’t possible. The black fan pulley pictured below is obviously removable, so I pulled it off then wrapped the belt around this & the alternator / crank pulley. Eased the fan pulley back on & the belt was in position. Reinstalled the fan then adjusted all the tensions, and also rotated the crank pulley to T.D.C as well in preparation for the cams/valve springs/rocker arm stopper install.

 

[BakemonoRicer]

I made a simple bracket for the Sunline Racing Radiator Breather Tank, mocking it in position so I could figure out how where to fit the 34mm adaptor. After some measuring and thinking, I marked the lower radiator hose and went about making a couple proper cuts for it. The same logic followed when it came to installing the Water Temp Sensor adaptor in the upper radiator hose, there’s not much room at all for it so the position needs to be bang on…I’ll remember to get a picture next time.

The SARD Racing Radiator had me excited, the thing is a real nice bit of gear. I applied thin strips of foam around the radiator to help with sealing, installed the fan shroud (can’t be fitted in without this!), and eased it into position. The last picture is how the car sits until next time I work on it….

 

[BakemonoRicer]

14/05/2016

Had plenty of parts arrive from the land of the rising sun... the OEM bits are mainly related to the valve spring/cam install which should be coming up in the near future.

There was a ticking noise every time I used the air in the car which was pretty annoying. Finally tracked it down - turns out the 'Fresh Air Mix Actuator' unit has shat itself. Took out the dash surround & replaced it with a new one. No info on the internet about this so hopefully this will help people trying to track the issue down!

Given I'll be relocating the battery to the boot for better weight distribution, I got a spot weld remover bit & drilled out all the spot welds from the battery tray. This took plenty of time as finding each spot weld was pretty damn time consuming, same with drilling them all out carefully.

Once I'd removed the battery tray, there was plenty of surface rust & oxidisation underneath. First step was to use a flapper disc to grind away the gunk, then I went through the motions with 180 grit, 400 grit, 800 grit, & 1200 grit to really smooth out the metal. After that I cleaned the bare metal with brake & parts cleaner, then layed down several mist coats of etch primer....looks pretty neat : )

 

[Cess]

Top job there

 

[SK-R]

Really good work mate, love the parts choice so far

 

[BakemonoRicer]

Cheers !!

Righto, got another small update for ya's...

29/05/2016

Had a bit of a tinker with the car on Sunday.

The first job was to modify the factory audio brackets to suit the Defi DIN. I chose the DIN as I do think its the neatest option & is a bit more stealth than dash mounted gauges.

As you can see in the pictures below, the factory audio bracket holes have projection to suit the factory CD player (which has deep recesses in it). To do it neatly, I just used a hammer & a copper punch to flatten the projections. I then used M5 truss head screws & lightly torqued them to suit. The CD player and audio is completely gone in the name of weight reduction ( & yezzz, cheaper than buying a proper sound system lol)

I re-fitted the Oil Pressure Sensor with teflon tape (applied in clockwise direction of course). I like attention to detail, but damn, it's pretty time consuming lol.

The water temperature sensor has a clear path from the upper radiator hose through to the passenger side wheel arch where it enters via the grommet I punched a hole through. I'll need to buy some smaller corrugated conduit to protect the cable with.

I made a trip to Larrikin products (automotive electrical shop) in Seven Hills to buy some gear for the battery relocation. It's a small shop with lots of gear & the owner is a top bloke, highly recommended!!!

Through the drivers side wheel arch I'm running 3 gauge (25mm2) battery cable protected in conduit, with the Defi Oil Temp Sensor & Oil Pressure wiring passing overhead. Basically, the spot where I punched a big hole in the grommet is the easiest path/angle to clear all the fuse box gear inside the cabin etc. I'll apply some black sealant around this when the time comes to make it water-tight, and I'll be concealing all the wiring underneath the carpet.

 

[BakemonoRicer]

Here is the finished product with the paintwork. A fair bit of time & prep work went into it for such a small area, but it's nice to look at a decent end result. For those with a keen eye you will also notice a HELLA isolator switch – yes I’m going through with relocating the battery into the boot. This is acting as a terminal block to keep everything tidy, clean & easy to route. Ring terminals are snug, crimped & protected with heatshrink. After this picture was taken I also protected the 2 grey cables with corrugated conduit.

I removed the catback & replaced all the old worn out bushes with replacement OEM items. Here is a picture below for just how much they sag over time, definately a good idea to do it!

The end tanks of the ARC have been designed with flow in mind & wrap around to run parallel with the chassis rails. Take a look at the offerings from Plazaman, Trust or even HKS to understand the difference. The first fitment issue I ran into was that the braided lines from the GREX block were smack bang in the middle of an end-tank.A lot of thinking & measuring was required as I knew it would come down to millimetre clearances.

The end result which works best is an –AN10 90 Deg Female to Hose End fitting off the GREX Block, and next to it is an –AN10 45 Deg Female to Male fitting coupled with an –AN10 Female to Hose End Straight fitting. This allows me to keep things neat and swivel the 90 Degree fitting just far enough to clear the FMIC end tank/pipework & keep clear of the 45 degree fitting.

Here is a few photos during the process of making the braided lines.

Thinking outside the box is always needed when it comes to getting the clearance needed....

The car's starting to look fairly savage : )

 

[EMAGDNIM]

I like where this build is going!