Track worthy S15

[Adam L]

Well, i've owned the car since Wednesday evening last week and already had it booked in for a track day at Mallory park on Saturday. I drove from South West London to Mallory on Saturday morning in the car, the weather was bloody terrible though, it rained all the way there and most of the day on track. I went out for about 4 laps in the early morning and there was two offs in that time so I parked the car up. Seeing as i'd only owned the car three days I didn't fancy someone else going into me, plus the back end kept losing traction on the straights.

It finally dried up at 4:30pm, so I took the car out again and it flew round the track and it performed far better than I expected. Power, handling and braking were imense. The brakes really did do their job well.

I've had K-sport brakes on my S14a for a short time with 330mm discs, but the S15 has them with 356mm discs and ds2500 pads and I was leaving the braking points in the distance with them, bloody good stoppers!!!

A basic spec I suppose is welcome...

Engine:
Standard
GT2871R
Apexi Powder FC D Jetro
Straight through turbo back system
mapped for 1.5bar
Excedy single plate clutch kit

suspension:
the hardest driftworks coilovers in the world
there's adjustable arms all over the car

brakes:
K-sport 8 pots
ds2500 pads
standard rears

There's a hell of alot more on the car but they're the easy parts I remember.

I had so many people ask me what the car was on the day, as no one had seen one before. Everyone loved it basically.

Anywho, here's a picture of it on track while it was pissing it down...

The car is stupidly clean... Well, when I picked it up anyway. So I was a little ashamed that i'd driven it over 100 miles to track it, then over 100 to my missus' place and finally another 75 miles home... I thought it deserved a good clean and took a few photos...

If i'm honest, after taking the car on track, I think it's a bloody weapon. There was no body roll, stiff as a board, brakes were rediculous and the power was bloody great (in the dry).

Very, very happy with what i've bought

 

[hendo]

Looks and reads like a top buy. Love the ride height to. Nice clean car.

 

[craig8585]

Looks good mate and you're right, they are brilliant brakes on track. Do you get the tyres rubbing in the front arches around the corners in the dry?

 

[Adam L]

Yeah, I did on one hard fast bend.

 

[andeep]

Does it have a bigger rad? If not, any issues with overheating on the track?

 

[Adam L]

It does, with twin fans. I had no overheating issues atall. Even my oil temps stayed at 105 degrees.

I would have assumed a standard setup would be fine if you've kept the cowling and viscous fan.

 

[andeep]

Good stuff mate.

The standard setup is crap and starts overheating after a few laps, I've got a 55mm rad with the viscous and it runs sweet.

 

[Adam L]

A mate of mine used his S14a on track with the standard setup and didn't complain about temps, running near the same spec as me. Weird.

I've got loads of parts that i'd bought for the S14a that may start making there way onto the car.

Namely this manifold, which I had made by Powertune earlier in the year...

To be mated with this HX35 turbo...

There's also a high compression fully forged bottom end sitting in our spare unit at work that's ready to be built, but it's been balanced up with the S14a ACT super light flywheel and paddle clutch, and I don't want to fit a 5 speed box. This is how it stands at the moment as I twiddle my thumbs...

There's brand new everything there, bar the crank and block.

 

[Adam L]

I've had to do a few jobs to the car since I bought it.

Last week I fitted new grooved rear discs, Ferodo ds2500 rear pads and braided rear lines to match the fronts. The brakes were good before, and I doubt I'll notice much of a difference with the rears being done considering what's fitted on the front.

I ordered new anti roll bar bushes and fitted them, that took less than 10 minutes. Nice and easy job.

The outer manifold bolts hodling the turbo on came lose the day I bought the car. I tightened them up, even though they were locking nuts they'd some how lost their locking capabilities. Now the car has one of those generic tubular manifolds on it and I bloody hate those things... They're ****!!

I'm not sure who it's from, I've probably got a receipt somewhere. Anyway, I removed the manifold and turbo on Thursday to replace the gasket (it's not the first time, I had to do the same on my S14a), suprise suprise the mating faces were like a banana. Going from how bad both faces were, head and turbo, i'm suprised both gaskets lasted as long as they did. I should of actually taken pictures to show people how cheap these manifolds really are on the flat block at work.

Obviously I couldn't re-fit the manifold how it was, i'd end up with another blown gasket, so I spent half an hour flattening the faces. I should have done it on the mill to make it 100% but I didn't have the time. I used the big belt sander we have with a coarse paper then moved onto a lighter one. The result was as good as I was going to get and along with new locking nuts it's done a good job.

 

[LuPix_S15]

This is one of the reasons why I won't touch an aftermarket exhaust manifold... they always seem to cause more problems than the amount you gain from them. Certainly not a worthwhile mod IMO for <400 bhp.

The only reason I'd change is if I wanted a top mount turbo

Nice update mate...

 

[Adam L]

You're right, they're not a worthy mod. You get what you pay for basically. When I compared the cheap Japspeed manifold to the Powertune one i've got above, I was shocked. The powertune one weighs about 5 times as much and with the equal length runners on a twin scroll flange it'll flow far better.

I've been doing some more work on the car, I just can't leave it alone at the moment

Some Godspeed anti roll bars came up for grabs last weekend, so I bought them and received them on Wednesday, I waited till after work and fitted them. A quick and easy job and something i'll notice when I next go on track I hope.

Having a ramp makes life a hell of alot easier when doing jobs under the car, but because the car is so low it only just makes it over the floor mount that braces the two posts. Anyway, the car up in the air..

That's also piles of blown turbo's in the background, quite a small portion of the exchange units we receive. There's thousands of them being stored in that unit.


The new anti roll bars.

The old ones removed

The main thing I noticed between the two sets was the rear bar is the same thickness as the front, which will help and the front one kept its thickness right to the drop links rather than narrowing down like the stock ones.

Then I fitted the Godspeed ones.

I also noticed my decat pipe is blowing on the gaskets so they need replacing next week when i've got some spare time.

 

[LuPix_S15]

Awesome update mate!


And damn you I've been looking for used Godspeed/Whiteline ARB's for ages!!! Still waiting on DB Power to sort out a group buy scheme :wack:

I've also heard the stock ARB's are hollow whereas aftermarket ones like Godspeed would be completely solid and non-hollow :thumbs: Can't wait to get mine fitted... should have been one of my first mods but left it late in the day!!

 

[Adam L]

The advert for them was only 20 minutes old, I was lucky to be online at the time .

I also thought the Godspeed ones were solid, but they're not, they're hollow like the stock ones. It's just being thicker items that makes the difference.

 

[Adam L]

I also decided to fit my Rota Torque's to see what they looked like. They were a questionable size so I pretty much knew I might run into some issues... 17x9.5J et12 with 225/40 tyres. I far prefer 17's but with the outcome I think i'll have to sell them and get something with a slightly smaller et, i'm just limited to what I can use 17's wise with the 356mm discs on the front...

 

[craig8585]

That tyre stretch would do you no favours at all on track either.

They may look better if you had the arches rolled and flared quite a lot, but it would look odd if you ever went back onto 'normal' wheels!

 

[Adam L]

That was my other concern, the car has traction issues in the dry with 255's on the back. The arches have been rolled but they'd need a good flare to make the rota's work. Personally I think flaring looks crap if its too excessive.

 

[Adam L]

I've done, yet, more to car the again. I originally only had a drivers bucket seat when I bought it with the stock seat belt. I've bought a matching K sport bucket seat, driftworks subframe and two sabelt harnesses.

My missus actually encourages me when it comes to my cars, to a certain extent... More so this time as when I took her out on track a couple of months ago she complained about flying around in the standard seat and not feeling secure. I liked the K sport seat from the start as i'm only a short, trim build, so it suited me best and the missus is even smaller.

However, with the harnesses and high side mount seat it leads for a much less than elegant exit. As she found out, all tarted up, last Friday to join her mates:rotfl:

I should have taken pictures, but I didn't.

 

[LuPix_S15]

I should have taken pictures, but I didn't.

Gutted!! lmao


Yeah I sometime look like an idiot trying to get in and out of my Bride Digo R's with high bolsters :wack: But there are definitely advantages to being shorter (I'm only 5' 6")... fighter pilot/single seater racer etc etc haha

 

[Adam L]

Now, i'm going to use that excuse next time someone takes the piss out of my height

I've never actually added a spec of the car, which is quite long.

engine:

2871r APT spec with 3 inch inlet
nismo 750cc injectors
ngk iridium plugs
apex type 2 manifold
apex ss elbow
driftworks super low down pipe
apex de cat
hks super silent cat back
apex front mount
apex alloy radiator and twin fans
large k&n filter
walbro 255 fuel pump
catch tank
silicone coolant hoses
apexi power fc D Jetro
exedy hyper single clutch


interior

k sport drivers bucket seat
K sport passenger seat
Sabelt harnesses
driftworks sub frame
sparco deep dish suede steering wheel
drift works boss
hks auto adjust turbo timer
defi turbo gauge
defi oil pressure gauge
defi oil temp gauge
defi link meter
Apexi black avcr
dvd/cd/mp3 head unit

exterior

18x8j black tenzo r front wheels, 225/40/18 tyres
18x9.5j black tenzo r rear wheels, 255/35/18 tyres
clear side repeaters
50/50 red clear rear lights

chassis

driftworks coilovers
apex camber arms
front tension rods poly bushed
apex front and rear strut braces
Front and rear Godspeed anti roll bars
k sport 8 pot front calipers and 356 mm discs
ds2500 front pads
braided front brake lines
grooved rear discs
ds2500 rear pads
braided rear lines

It was mapped by APT at 337bhp at 1.4bar, so it'll probably make 380bhp on everyone elses rollers:rotfl:

I'm also taking it to Pod at the 24th to see what it'll do.

 

[LuPix_S15]

Nice mod list you got there mate


Take it you got the .64 A/R 2871R? I'm tempted by this bigtime!! Enough of the laggy higher powered units... I need quick spool and smooth delivery across the midrange for drifting and fast road