Option — Shōwa Car Tuning & Buyers Guide (2000 Edition)
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About this issue
180 available scans from Option — Shōwa Car Tuning & Buyers Guide (2000 Edition), in right-to-left reading order. Japanese OCR and English translation drafts are available throughout. Drafts have not received exhaustive image proofreading; unreadable source remains recorded in the archival data.
Page 46 — English draft translation
As coolant temperature rises, the engine stops revving freely. S13 models tend to run hot, especially SR-powered cars, whose radiators were barely increased in size despite their added power. Besides overheating, a hot engine can cause the ECU to retard ignition timing, which also hurts revving. Fit a larger radiator if you drive hard; units from a GT-R or RB20-powered car can help. An oil cooler is also effective and can lower coolant temperature to some extent.
Pillow-ball tension rods are effective, but… Stock tension-rod rubber bushings can split after hard driving. Even before they break, excessive flex can let the front tires move under braking and make the car unstable. Pillow-ball tension rods sharpen the feel by replacing the rubber bushings with spherical joints. However, spherical joints throughout the suspension can increase stress on the body; if that worries you…
On red-head SR engines, protect the oil pan. Lowered cars often hit the oil pan. Early SR engines with red valve covers lack the sideways-facing oil-pickup inlet found on later parts. If the pan is struck, the pickup can be crushed and stop drawing oil, causing engine failure. Replace it beforehand with the S14-style strainer and side-facing pickup.
Captions and page details
Weak points
Troubleshooting tips
Cooling
Trouble
…cause…
SSA
Cracks often form near the front brake hoses and rear lower-arm mounts. S13 bodies are aging, and years of stress make small cracks more likely. They can be hard to spot, especially around the brake-hose holes inside the front wheel wells and the rear lower-arm attachment points. Inspect these areas carefully and regularly.
At the front, check the area being pointed to. A crack can start at the opening and spread inward.
Check the opening where the front hose passes and the rear lower-arm mount. Cracks are hard to prevent entirely, but early detection and a welded reinforcement plate can stop them spreading. At minimum…
…jack the car up regularly, clean away dirt, and inspect it closely…
At the rear, inspect the body side of the lower-arm mount. Cracks are small, so look carefully or you may miss them.
…that may be a good idea.
Pillow-ball tension rods are an easy and effective way to sharpen the suspension without greatly worsening ride comfort, but they put more load on the body.
Watch for bent tension-rod mounts. When drifting a lowered car, it is easy to hit the tension-rod mount. If it bends, suspension movement may bind. Use an adjustable wrench or similar tool to straighten it so it no longer interferes. The body section that clamps the tension-rod bushing can bend easily.
Lowered cars usually have scrape marks on the oil pan. Be especially careful after a hard impact.
Reinforce the rear suspension-member mounts. The rear member attaches to the body with four rubber bushings. Since these points carry heavy loads, the bushings can flex more as mileage accumulates, and the problem can become severe…
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736-4 Nakaosaka, Sakado, Saitama 350-0206 · 0492-83-8563
With thanks to Kashū Automobile, Garage Slash Racing Power Builder, GT, and Kei Office. The scan includes the businesses’ addresses and phone numbers; OCR is unreliable for the details.