kws

I guess you could use something like this to drive the tacho if its analogue, https://spiyda.com/smiths-rvi-rvc-conversion-external-1.html You should be able to feed the tach signal from the ECU into the box, but as Goat says, there will be a few different makers of things like these now.

Im running this version of it for the Smiths tacho in the Marina, which takes the signal from the negative of the coil, does some electronic wizardry and then the needle moves, https://tasteslikepetrol.net/2021/06/project-marina-tacho-conversion/

Going from my drive this morning, even at almost-stalling rpm the alt is still pushing a min of 13.5v. Normally it didn't drop below 13.8v when driving. 

3 hours ago, ajg193 said:

Heck that's expensive. At what point does it make someone an inconsiderate prick when their worn out old car is blocking a charger for a long time due to reduced charge acceptance?

If youre at 80% and still trying to squeeze more in, youre a hog. It really pissed me off when I needed a quick charge and some shitty old leaf was blocking the charger trying to get another 2km range. 

Need special chargers for slow cars. 

2 hours ago, AllTorque said:

Re dash lights, check your alternator and battery. Often when there are codes everywhere it causes by low voltage. A lot of modern cars will turn off the alternator when idling until there is enough electrical load.

Oh yeah, i didnt mention it but i tested the battery and alt and both had good voltages. It is a Japanese battery, so no idea how old it is, but it has no issue starting the car. I do wonder since I was creeping along in traffic if the revs, and voltage, dipped a bit low and caused the CANBUS to throw a wobbly.

The Alt has a normal solid pulley, so fancy clutched pulley here, so no idea if the ECU can control it.

It's been an interesting few weeks. I had a scare in the Alto, and more parts arrived.

The weirdness started when I was taking the Alto to work the other week. I jumped in, started it up, and all was normal. I'm cruising along, jamming to some tunes, and hit the usual start stop traffic. I'm just crawling along... And BAM, ALL the dash warning lights suddenly light up and start flashing. They flash a few times and then the majority turn off, leaving only the Check Engine and Stability Control warning lights lit.

I'm worried, will the car suddenly die stuck in traffic? Is the car about to asplode? I've never seen all the dash lights flash like that. I quickly jump off the highway at the next exit and crawl the car home.

It was running fine, no misfire, no smoke, no leaks, nothing. Just the lights.

I made it home fine, swapped cars and left it to think about what it had done.

After work, I plugged in the tablet and fired up SZ Viewer to scan the codes. Ah yes, I think I have a couple of codes. None were current, but nearly all modules at at least one code.

Reading into the codes, they all centered around one thing, the loss of CAN communication with the ABS unit.

I checked all the modules and they were all the related codes, so I saved screenshots of the codes for later and cleared all the codes in the modules. Nothing came back.

I've driven a few hundred KM since, and haven't had any issues, so hopefully it was a once-off and not an intermittent CANBUS issue.

I did have a quick look at the ABS module and it looked normal, so I gave the plug a wiggle and left it

While in the engine bay, I forgot that I hadn't shown my awesome duct tape duct.

For whatever reason, either the intake rubber intake or the fibreglass duct are too short and they don't really meet up, leaving a large gap between and around the two. I made the duct tape duct before trackday to try and encourage more air into the airbox rather than slip out around the smaller rubber intake. Its fully enclosed and seals the two parts together.

It withstood the trackday heat and is still there. I might look for a proper solution one day, or maybe not.

The other day I finally had some bits arrive that I have been trying to get for months. Before Christmas, when I first got the car, I tried to order these bits through the local dealer. They asked Suzuki NZ, who asked Japan, and were advised they could be ordered, so we placed the order.

Japan then proceeded to ignore the order and not process it. After a couple of months of chasing it, I cancelled the order.

I enquired with Amayama, who I have been getting the majority of my genuine Suzuki parts through, and sure enough, they could supply and at a lower cost.

Finally, those parts arrived. What are they? Well, the main one was the massive polystyrene insert that sits in the boot and gives me a proper boot floor. Without it, the floor of the boot is much deeper but tapers and makes it kinda useless for carrying anything in.

The insert just slips into place

All the shaped spaces in it are meant for things like the jack, tyre iron and flat tyre goo kit. I have none of these, so all it is used for is my tow hook

I would like to find a water bottle for the intercooler spray that fits into one of the spaces too...

Having the block in place means I could reinstall the coreflute "floor" and carpet. These are retained with two special clips with little pull tabs on them, so you can access the tools under the floor

It's a kinda dumb thing to be excited about, but I can finally use my boot.

The other thing to arrive was the LH and RH front A-pillar trims. The LH side had a big crack in it, and the RH side had a bunch of holes from when the Japanese owner had a gauge pod fitted there.

To remove these trims, all you do is pull down the door seal

And pull the trim free, starting at the top.

It's hooked into the dash at the bottom, but easy to pull free. Refitting is the reverse, hook it in at the bottom and then push the clips into place. Refit the seal, and you're done.

I've got a couple of other small things on the way and then that should be most things sorted. It's crazy how well priced genuine parts are for these wee things. I'm paying the sort of prices I would normally pay for secondhand junk on Facebook, for brand new parts from Japan.

Future thoughts are an oil cooler for the engine, an SWK intercooler and water sprayer, and maybe some half-down lowering springs. All in good time, and depending on cost.

7 minutes ago, Nominal said:

Looks like you might need to buy it back and fix it up again.

Not one of my old ones, thankfully. I know where both of my old Zircon ones are. This was just one from my collection of NZ Sd1 photos.

The wheels will be some Minilite clones of some sort.

4 hours ago, yoeddynz said:

@kws... 

I feel like I know that front car, maybe this one

I had no issues with my 14point7 spartan. Easy to use, compact and reliable. A+ still have it to use again later.

Also bought a Glowshift gauge unit to use as a portable wideband setup. Also works well, but was pretty spenny new.

29 minutes ago, ul9601 said:

what's so great about recaro? a genuine question.

Comfy and body hugging. Holds you in better for mad touge racing 

Probably depends on what car you're painting too.

I quite like the Mitsubishi A39 Graphite Grey used on the Evo 8/9/10

As you say, Nissan BL0 is a nice colour too

6 minutes ago, tortron said:

Nardo grey is a popular choice

I got some copy of it called heavy metal grey I think from a local place to paint the explorer in. Was auto thane, fairly cheap. 4 years it's still on

ah yes, wet primer grey. 

Almost everything was being painted in that boring colour a few years ago

45 minutes ago, Bling said:

If a HKS coilover'd Note is a shitbox, boy have I got the wrong idea. Might have to keep the wheels unless you want to pay Clints beer tab for a while. They look good to me, maybe a new colour would change your mind? Are you sure it's not a midlife crisis car? 

Yeah that Note is nicer than my daily  

On 09/03/2024 at 21:23, Doug Hill said:

All the premium EV stuff had resale like an S class merc, it's absolutely wild how anyone can comfortably piss away 100k in a couple years just to own a car. 

Tbh most high end merc/s class owners leased anyway, so gave the car back each year

14 minutes ago, RemyNZ said:

Iv been over everything visible and nothing related to a voltage regulator close thing in the manual was that stabilzer behind the in the back of the speedo cluster, this thing pictured

This is to stabilize the voltage for the fuel and temp gauges 

Afaik marinas have it as per of the alternator 

My wife looked at me weird when I stopped to snap this. 

Just now, KKtrips said:

I banned them, because they are a fake account, ie: not a real person, but left the discussion up because it is a good discussion.

I'm curious, what tipped you off they aren't real? 

3 hours ago, ul9601 said:

regardless it's a daily or a "collectible", 6 monthly wof is no big deal if you got your car in tip top shape, as it should be. if you can't manage your dozen-car fleet to be roadworthy and wof'd, i think you got your hands too full.

Having spare time and $80 each check must be nice. For me at least, It's a real ballache if you have more than one or two cars that are 6 monthly wofs, plus at least one that has yearly. All that time and money adds up, even if they do fly through each time. Heaven forbid it fails on anything, no matter how small, because that's more time wasted waiting for a recheck.

I thought it wouldn't need a cert since technically it's "factory fitment", Nismo being a division of Nissan after all? 

On 20/02/2024 at 07:41, locost_bryan said:

Just set the grill back a few inches and call it a mk1 Landy.

Although, since it's a cheap copy, call it a Mitsi or Suzuki or Mahindra?

Stick the three diamond badge on it, scrap the batteries, fit a 2 stroke powerplant and forever bask in the glory of it being followed by a haze of blue smoke. 

52 minutes ago, 87creepin said:

Ralliart Colt is the logical next best choice. 

Have you seen the prices of them recently, particularly the manuals? Oof

I'd rock the pants off a Dingo. Cool wee cars