Nismo Fuel Filler Cap Cover for Sale - SOLD!

I thought all Nissans within the last 10-20 years should have more or less the same fuel filler cap so this should fit my N16 but boy was I wrong. It's a tad too large.

Which Nissan the fuel filler cap cover fits is in the second picture. If you have difficulty reading, this includes the S15, R32 to R35, Z33 and Z34. Even a lowly K11 March. Just not the N16/G10. Don't ask me why.. :(

The cover adheres to your stock fuel cap via a double sided tape. I got this brand new for 5,500 yen (bout MYR 166.353) per today's exchange rate. Shipping added another 1,200 yen.

I am open to the first offer in the 3 figure ringgit range. This means I am selling a brand new genuine Nismo Fuel Filler Cap Cover for half the price I bought it for. Please do add shipping to where ever destination you are from.

Stop Press! Bro Jun Wen is the lucky new owner of the Nismo Fuel Filler Cap Cover.

Third Quarter Progress Review

Remember I had a list of mod jobs at the turn of the year? Well it is now September and below's the current progress:

• Settle the BC Racing ER coilover damper problem - Still in limbo. 
• More DIY weight reduction jobs - I seem to be adding weight to Sharkie lately :( 
• Tidying up the engine bay including possibly some AN plumbing changes for better packaging - Still procrastinating.
• Proper aero work - Partly done. APR GTC-200 rear wing installed. Front splitter next. 
• New headlights and rear lights - Can't bring myself to spend a couple grand. Only managed a restoration job for the front headlights. 
• New seat rails - Done. Bride RO seat rails installed.
• Revisit the oil catch can setup - Still procrastinating 
• More carbon and unobtanium parts - Work in progress. Got some parts due to be installed. Stay tuned. 
• Add more chassis stiffness and rigidity - Zero progress.
• Add rear arb - Decided on make. Currently in design and manufacturing. Stay tuned.
• Wider rims and wider tyres - Maybe next year? 
• Corner weight the car - Ditto
• Knock detection - Ditto
• Seat harness - Bought. Stay tuned. 
• Cylinder head job including new cams - Maybe next year or 2016 :) 
• Relook into the induction setup. Perhaps a proper airbox? - Ditto 
• Improve engine bay heat management - Got some ideas and bought some stuff. Other than this, still procrastinating.
• Paint job (again) - Done. 
• Install Wilwood brake rotors - Done. 
• Install WPC oil pump - Still sitting nicely in my cabinet while I procrastinate.

I also added a gearbox upgrade project which is also in limbo due to shipping cost concerns. 

Hope to make up some more progress and lost time as we move towards the end of the year. Please add more positive comments/ideas in this blog or likes in my FB page to get me moving faster.

Bride RO Super Seat Rails - Part 2 Installed

Found some free time to install the Bride RO seat rails during the Raya hols. Installation was DIY with help from Tao. Before installing I took the opportunity to weigh the stock mild steel and titanium seat rail fasteners. Stock.

Titanium.

This means a weight saving of 12 grams per set of fastener (bolt + washer). There are 8 sets of fasteners (4 per seat rail) hence the savings are approximately 96 grams.

Uninstalling the Recaros and H Performance seat rails lead to some not so nice surprises. First surprise is the use of these large mild steel washers to level the seats. Four are used per side of a seat/seat rail. If you're wondering what the wire is for, it's for the "fasten your seat belt" warning light which I no longer use :)

If you are still using the stock dash, make sure the wire is connected to this wire which in turn is connected to the seat rail. If you don't the seat belt warning light will be permanently lit.

Decided to weigh the washers for kicks. Total weight savings together with the seat rail bolts are bout 0.23kg.

The washers are required due to the poor manufacturing tolerance of the H Performance seat rails. These actually incorporate genuine Recaro sliders but IMHO that is the only positive aspect of the seat rail. Picture below of the H Performance seat rail after removing the Recaro.

There is no bridge plate in between the sliders for greater structural strength like the Bride RO. Which is not surprising or should I say shocking as what I found out next when disassembling my Recaro from it's seat rail. Each Recaro SR4 utilizes six M6  x 25mm bolts to secure it to it's seat rail (Front uses 4 and rear 2). Only four bolts were used for my case. This was consistent for both seats. Different fastener heads and length were also used instead of one standard type. Some M8 sized spring washers were even used for an M6 bolt I kid you Not! What you can't see can't kill you right? How much does 12 sets of properly sized and load rating mild steel fasteners (bolt and appropriately sized washer) cost? Can't be more than a couple ringgit. Picture below of the crap fasteners used by H Performance.

Picture below of the Bride RO seat rail mated to the SR4 with proper fasteners. And yes, that's my sofa the seat and seat rail is sitting on top of. I did the assembly in my living room mah.

Picture of the anchor bolt used to fasten the seat belt buckle to seat rail

Seat belt buckle installed onto the seat rail.

Picture below shows the Bride RO vs H Performance seat rail.

The Bride ROs weigh 5 kg each while the H Performance seat rail is 4kg which unfortunately means 0.75 kg of flab is added to Sharkie. If you value your own personal safety this is a compromise I am more than happy to accept. Picture of the new seat rail and seat mounted back on Sharkie. 

Seat height with the Bride RO is approximately 20mm lower than the H Performance seat rail which is perfect for me as I'm not your average height Malaysian. Rail sliding action is very positive. Seat belt buckle no longer does the disappearing act. 

Overall I am very satisfied and impressed with the quality of the Bride ROs. My only regret is I should have gone with these seat rails when I got the Recaros two years back.

Bride RO Super Seat Rails - Part 1

The quality of the local made H Performance seat rails for the Recaro SR4s leaves a lot to be desired. Apart from the crappy weld quality and stiff sliding action of the slider rail, the seat belt buckles would occasionally "disappear" rotating backward and downward away from sight. This would often invite the occasional heavy metal music especially if the front passenger is my dear wifey.

Original Recaro Germany seat rails cost a bomb (2K upwards for a pair of seat rails) so I researched for lower cost but similar quality alternatives. Short of repeating myself to death, one knows that aftermarket seat rails for the Slowtra are not exactly in abundance and that such research typically ends up in a dead end. However for once the Gods of Car Mods were smiling on me and the research led me to conclude that a N16/B15/G10 uses the same seat rails as a JDM B15 Sunny and when it comes to Jap cars, Bride is the most popular and well known brand for seats and seat rails. And Bride does have a seat rail application for the B15. Part number of the Bride seat rail for JDM B15 Sunny.

As can be seen above, Bride has multiple seat rail models but these are meant for their varied range of seats or side (vs bottom mount) for full bucket single piece competition seats. Only the RO and MO models fit my Recaro SR4. I decided to bite the bullet and order the RO as this can later be upgraded to MO type by buying and installing the optional MO adapter plates on the RO seat rail. I was initially going to order from RHD Japan but pondered and procrastinated on this for ages. More than a year in fact as I was very concerned about the taxation costs. In the end Bro Eu Jin came to my rescue and sourced the RO seat rails for me. Bro Eu Jin is the boss of JDM Auto Link and he can get any JDM part you want so look the man up!

Price of a pair of seat rails came up to more than 1.5K MYR direct to your doorstep. Price will differ according to the exchange rate of the Japanese Yen vs Malaysian Ringgit so best to check with Eu Jin. Lead time between placement of order and deposit and arrival at one's doorstep is between 1 to 3 months depending on the shipment schedule between Japan to Bolehland. If you want fast you can always order from RHD Japan and airfreight to your house but good luck in between. Picture of the shipping packaging.

Part number and application. Looks like the Y11 Wingroad also use the same seat rail.

The seat rail. Also included is a detailed and idiot proof installation "manual" complete with drawings. No knowledge of Japanese is required to know what goes or fits where. Also included is a Bride seat rail specific anchor bolt for the seat belt buckle. Only one anchor bolt is supplied per seat rail so don't lose it.

One of several identification labels.

Be careful of fakes when it comes to Bride seats or seat rails. I have seen many. A seat and it's seat rail is a major critical safety component of any car so you decide if you wanna mess around with that. Original Bride seat rails uses slider rails sourced from Faurecia in France. Faurecia oems for PSA (Peugeot and Citroen), Nissan, GM and Volkswagen so they definitely know what they are doing. The upper rail metal thickness is 2mm while the lower rail is 2.3mm. Beefy!

I also decided to replace all the seat rail fasteners with titanium equivalents. You will need six M6 X 25mm bolts to secure each SR type seat to its seat rail meaning 12 total unless you only have one seat. Likewise four M10 X 30mm bolt secures each seat + seat rail to the car (8 total). Don't forget the washers.

Took me forever to find a M10 X 25mm diameter washer for the bolt securing seat rail to car. Standard diameter for a M10 titanium washer is 20mm. 20mm diameter might have insufficient surface clamp area as the bolt hole on the seat rail is way larger than 10mm to allow for some adjustment. In the end the closest I could find is a 30mm diameter washer from Allied Titanium in the US.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where I install the seat rails.

Panasonic Maintenance Free Car Batteries

When one thinks of Panasonic, electronic/electrical home appliances comes to mind and not car batteries. Well Pana makes not one but two different grades of maintenance free car batteries for N16s and most other popular cars sold in Bolehland. In fact, the Panasonic is the recommended oem replacement battery for MYDM Hondas.

I first used the Standard Grade Pana in 2012 while Slowtra was being transformed into Sharkie. It has a white casing and black top. Picture below on Sharkie sometime in 2013. Just look at the size of the battery in comparison with the K&N air filter.

IMHO the battery size is the worse design on a N16 apart from the wheelbarrow rear suspension. Like most Jap cars, Nissan decided to put such a heavy component on the front corner mostly for convenience as having the batt in the boot/trunk takes up free space. Unfortunately, while most C segment cars of the same period use a NS60 sized batt, Nissan decided on a bigger and heavier NS70. So much for mass centralization and better weight distribution for better handling. Family oriented sedan mah! Picture below of a smaller Pana batt in my wife's Civic. Older gen Civics have the batt next to the firewall which is even better.

Weight below of the Pana Std Spec maintenance free battery. You didn't see wrong. That's 17 kilos (not pounds) of flab in a place where you would least want it to be :(

I recently decided to replace the Std Spec Pana I was using with a High Spec model. The whole batt is black in colour to differentiate it from the standard spec. Panasonic uses Silver Alloy technology to strengthen the battery against high temperature which is a plus as Sharkie's engine bay is way hotter than any regular N16. The reserve capacity of the High Spec is also longer @ 75Ah vs 65 Ah for the Standard Spec. Having said this the Standard Spec Pana lasted me a good two years or so and had not yet failed when I replaced it. Picture below of the High Spec in its packaging.

I did weight the High Spec but was totally demotivated to take a pix at this point as it weighs 1kg more than the Standard Spec (~18kg). Super Sigh!!! :( Cost is also more than the Std Spec @ MYR 350 for the High Spec vs 260 for the Std Spec. Picture below of the High Spec installed.

My long term upgrade plan is to relocated the batt to the boot and/or try a dry cell Lithium Ion Phosphate battery. The only problems are finding a suitable CE to undertake this (relocation) work and the massive cost of a lithium ion batt. RM3 to 6K+ anyone?

Whiteline Rear Anti-Roll Bar Discontinued

Whiteline has discontinued it's rear anti-roll (sway) bar, part number: BNR28 for the N16/B15/G10. The reason behind the discontinuation is a lack of demand :(

For Slowtra owners looking to upgrade your rear arb, your choices are from what I know, limited to Ultra Racing, Eibach and Progress Auto. Apart from Ultra Racing, non are available locally and both the Progress and Eibach ARBs require drilling your rear beam trailing arm. All rear arbs/sway bars are interchangeable between a N16, B15 and G10.

Progress Auto hails from the USA and uses a 22mm bar (Part number: 62.1511) similar to the Whiteline arb. The Eibach rear arb is only 19mm (Part number: 6362.312) but also has a front 25mm arb specification for the USDM Sentra B15. Part number for the rear arb is 6362.310. You can also buy both the front and rear as a complete kit (Part number: 6362.3200). Ultra Racing are from our very own Bolehland and has 2 rear arb specs for the Slowtra N16 - One is 16mm (Part Number: UR-AR16-039) and a bigger 19mm (Part Number: UR-AR19-043). They also have a front 22mm arb application (Part Number UR-AR22-343).

I could be wrong but I believe Ultra Racing still uses rubber bushes for its Sentra arbs while Eibach and Progress Auto uses polyurethane bushes. Long term reliability of the UR arb is also possibly a suspect but the upside is the UR arb cost significantly less than what you would pay for a Whiteline (when available), Eibach or Progress Auto. Your call..

New Gearbox Upgrade Project Part 2 - Disassembled

Tiong has fully disassembled my RS5F70A gearbox to it's individual components. Before showing you the actual porn pictures, here's a diagram from a USDM B15 Sentra's Technical Service Manual illustrating the 70A gear components. Please don't ask me if this is an auto or manual gearbox.

The shift control components.

The gear ratios on every 70A gearbox are not all the same and differ according to the market and engine the gearbox is mated to. A USDM RS5F70A gearbox mated to a SR20DE engine on a Sentra B15 has the following gear ratios per the technical service manual.

• 1st - 3.3333
• 2nd - 1.955
• 3rd - 1.286
• 4th - 0.926
• 5th - 0.7333
• Final drive - 4.176

A USDM 70A gearbox mated to a QG18DE has nearly the same gear ratios except 5th gear which is shorter (lower speed) @ 0.756. Apparently from what I read in the SR20-Forum, the pinion shaft from a QG18DE 70A will not mate correctly with the final drive from a SR20DE 70A gearbox. The gearbox I bought probably came from a JDM Nissan Primera P11 which has the following gear ratios when fitted with the QG18DE:

• 1st - 3.333
• 2nd - 1.955
• 3rd - 1.286
• 4th - 0.926
• 5th - 0.7333
• Final drive - 3.888

Disassembling the gearbox and counting the number of teeth of the final drive crown wheel/ ring gear showed that the crown wheel/ring gear had 70 teeth. All pictures courtesy of Bro Jacko. 

Pinion came up to 18 teeth.

70 divided by 18 gives you 3.888 final drive ratio. Didn't have a chance to count and confirm on the first to fifth gear ratios but I am hoping the above is correct. Will confirm when I have the chance to physically see the gearbox. Imagine getting to this point without even seeing the real thing :( 

Picture below of the input shaft, mainshaft and shifter rods with all the individual gears before further dis-assembly.

Another piccie of the mainshaft. Final drive ring gear is at the bottom right hand corner. 

Gears, synchros, etc are in excellent, like new condition. 5th gear and reverse actually shares a synchro. This is the first I've seen of a helical cut reverse gear with synchro. Most reverse I know are straight cut hence the gear whine when you reverse your car. Each and every individual part sealed and carefully labelled.

Nicely packed up. All packing and heavy lifting BST expended by Jack. Thanks Bro!

The biggest roadblock at this point is the shipping cost. As the package weights bout 40kg, the shipping cost one way to the US is via air freight is anything between 1K+ to 2K+ Gulp! Does anyone know or have contacts for a more economical shipping solution?

Dietary Supplements - Organization

Over the years I've accumulated quite a bit of spare lightweight fasteners as a result of a habit of always buying extras just in case. Till recently these (the spares) were all still in original packaging in a plastic bag. Which is a pain every time I want to find a particular bolt, etc. as I had to empty out the entire plastic bag unless I got lucky and find what I want on top of the pile.

As the plastic bag was getting more and more full over time I decided to get organized. Found this general purpose organization plastic box with convertible compartments over @ Ace Hardware and bought one. Cost was MYR 44.90. Below's the end result.

If you're wondering what's that funky yellow coloured thingy in the picture above, it's a very handy tool from Pro-Bolt to measure size of fastener including thread pitch. Tool comes foc with purchases over 20 or 30 GBP once upon a time. I'm not sure if the offer is still valid currently.

Pro-Bolt also sell similar organization boxes but cost will be higher when you add shipping. I might be tempted to go the Pro-Bolt route one day..

Nissan Bluebird Sylphy A-Pillar Garnish/Cover Confusion

6 different part numbers just for an A-pillar garnish (one side only)? What were Nissan thinking about? Picture below of the different part numbers.

In case you're wondering which part I am talking about it's the below in red rectangle top right hand corner.

Some keyboard surfing/research led me to the following. I am not sure how accurate as the information is from purely Googling.

Some of you might remember from my ICE days I had my stock pillar cover cut-up and rewrapped to accomodate the tweeter for my Focal K2P speakers. I am planning to totally de-ICE Sharkie hence looking for replacement a-pillar covers and some JDM ones would be nice. Problem is which part number is the closest to our MYDM Slowtra? Does anybody know? Am not partial to QG or TG10 covers with or without the tweeter cover so long as trim colour and shade is closest to Sharkie's stock pillar covers. Does anyone out there also know what is the trim colour for a MYDM N16 pillar cover/garnish?

J's Racing GT Wing Cover

J's Racing normally makes speed parts only for Hondas but in this case their GT Wing Cover would make a useful addition to protect the GTC-200 from the weather elements (UV from the sun, dust and of course rain). The cover is made from polyester with 3 layers of coating on the surface for waterproofing. A fleece like material is attached on the inner side of the cover to balance the durability and air permeability. The cover fits most wings up to 1600mm wide so is perfect for the GTC-200.

I  bought my cover from RHD Japan. Cost including shipping came up to 10,143 Japanese Yen. Picture below of the cover in its packaging. Part number is DGW-C2.

The inner side. The black plastic thingy helps secure the cover.

The J's Racing GT Wing Cover where it belongs covering the APR GTC-200 to protect it from the weather elements.