WIP - 1:8 Nissan Silvia S15

[dantheman12]

Some progress photos of my new project, a 1:8 scale s15, one of my favourite cars.

The goal is to make it as realistic as possible, but I havent decided if I will motorise it or not. At the moment I think it will either have a manual 6spd stick shift gearbox, or else no gearbox and buggy motors.

 

So far I have built a front steering and mcpherson suspension set up, much like the real car. Currently the steering is not perfect, as the wheels have slight toe in due to the length of the steering arms. I need to order 2 of piece 80477 and hopefully that will help the issue without having to rebuild the steering system.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/200629697@N03" title=""><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53704948148_98829451dc.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt=""/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

not sure if those photos are gonna work its my first time using flickr

silvia 1 by dan.vperger, on Flickr 

Silvia 2 by dan.vperger, on Flickr

silvia 3 by dan.vperger, on Flickr

silvia 4 by dan.vperger, on Flickr

silvia underbody by dan.vperger, on Flickr

Edited September 16, 2024 by dantheman12
changed title to WIP

[rm8]

Hope, you saw this one already

 

[dantheman12]

I havent no, that is a beautiful model, do you have a video or post of it? The only one I saw in my short search was an orange one by antoine11 on rebrickable

[2GodBDGlory]

Looking good so far! It's always nice to see people build complex, realistic, suspensions

[Jurss]

I really like technical replications like this. 

[Paul B Technic]

Nice work so far.

[brickless_kiwi]

22 hours ago, rm8 said:

Hope, you saw this one already

 

Moc-61988 NGK Silvia S15 by Iron_Foxie

Moc-61988 nkg Silvia by iron_foxie.

[dantheman12]

Progress so far:\

havent had much time to work on the model due to exams, but some 'progress' has been made.

- Started redesigning the front mcpherson suspension, wanted it lower so it would fit under the hood, have been experimenting with bionicle ball joints, but took a break because reinforcing it at such a strange angle was proving very difficult.

- Started building some engine parts for looks

- extended the chassis to get an idea of the scale, and started planning out the back suspension, am pretty happy with the top triangular part, but still need to get the axle and suspension working properly and reliably.

I really want to put a torsen differential in the back, the real car has a helical limited slip differential, but as I have found this is not possible with current lego parts, especially not at this scale. I will probably use a design similar to ones out there on youtube and rebrickable, with the worm gears and 8 tooth gears, but fitting this in will be another challenge.

Any suggestions for the limited slip diff and the front suspension on an angle like the real car and with a lot of caster would be appreciated :)

 

silvia s15 progress 3 by dan.vperger, on Flickr

silvia s15 progress 2 by dan.vperger, on Flickr

silvia s15 progress 1 by dan.vperger, on Flickr

silvia progress 4 by dan.vperger, on Flickr

 

 

[dantheman12]

Finally made some progress worthy of an update. Version 2 (arguably 3) of the front suspension is nearly complete, I want the wheels to sit in more, but I have quite a limited supply of wheels for this sort of model. I plan to purchase a couple different wheels and see what will fit better.

(feat my little 1:64 Silvia model which has actually been quite handy for scaling)

The best part is that the new one (black) extends the shock into itself, rather than out the top like the old design. I’m really happy with most the new design, and the hard parts like making it very sturdy and making the geometry of the McPherson strut correct are out of the way, making the wheel fit well shouldn’t be too hard, I just need to try some different wheels when I get my hands on them. Does anyone know of any 1:8 scale wheels that aren’t as wide as the 68.8 x 36 zr ?

Also started work shaping the bodywork at the front, made a bit of a layout on a baseplate:

Next will probably be the steering rework, the front bumper and the engine bay, which I hope won’t take too long. After that I can tackle the gearbox, which I’m both excited for and dreading. We will see :)

 

[Stereo]

3 hours ago, dantheman12 said:

Does anyone know of any 1:8 scale wheels that aren’t as wide as the 68.8 x 36 zr ?

Nothing modern, but this tire is narrower at about the same diameter. https://rebrickable.com/parts/32078/tyre-70-x-28-futuristic/

[2GodBDGlory]

Ooh, I like the look of the suspension a lot! The use of the ball joint at the top of the strut is really cool

Also, it looks like you traced out the silhouette of the car on those baseplates? That's a neat technique!

[dantheman12]

On 9/9/2024 at 1:32 AM, 2GodBDGlory said:

Ooh, I like the look of the suspension a lot! The use of the ball joint at the top of the strut is really cool

Also, it looks like you traced out the silhouette of the car on those baseplates? That's a neat technique!

Thanks, the suspension is still being updated, as I just got some new wheels - the ones from the land rover defender which means I can fit a lot more inside the wheel which leads to a few benefits. But I think I need to accept some solutions that aren't 'perfect' in my mind, as if I keep trying to make it perfect I will be taking it apart and rebuilding it forever  

The tracing has been quite helpful, I mainly used dimensions I found to get an idea of the full size of the model, and then thought I could plot the front bumper which I actually modelled off a little 1:64 model I have of an S15.

I recently found the full original manual of the car which has proved to be incredibly useful, especially for the engine bay which I've been working on, as it has a plethora of dimensions - will upload pictures of the sr20 soon :)

 

 

On 9/8/2024 at 4:57 AM, Stereo said:

Nothing modern, but this tire is narrower at about the same diameter. https://rebrickable.com/parts/32078/tyre-70-x-28-futuristic/

I've seen those, I really like the tires for them but they're really expensive, I got some of the x1825 tires with the 49294 wheels, but I haven't decided wether to keep using the 68.8 zr or these new ones which are significantly larger, I think the bigger ones are more realistic in size but don't look as good on this car as the thinner walled tires.

[2GodBDGlory]

10 hours ago, dantheman12 said:

The tracing has been quite helpful, I mainly used dimensions I found to get an idea of the full size of the model, and then thought I could plot the front bumper which I actually modelled off a little 1:64 model I have of an S15.

Yeah, I've built off 1:64 models before, and it does work surprisingly well!

10 hours ago, dantheman12 said:

I got some of the x1825 tires with the 49294 wheels, 

I think that's the ideal combination, in my opinion. Less sidewall might be preferable, but these have reasonable width and nice offset

[dantheman12]

Some more progress:

Did some work on the engine bay with the sr20, quite happy with it so far, still can add a few little details and need to make the intercooler for the front, but that will require redoing some of the front part of the frame.

IMG_1430[1] by dan.vperger, on Flickr

After 2 more designs of the hubs i'm finally happy.

This monstrosity using a 3L bar to hold the bottom of the hub in place so that the geometry of the strut was perfect, but meant there was heaps of camber, and wasnt as sturdy as I wanted:

IMG_1427[1] by dan.vperger, on Flickr

The finalised design:

IMG_1433[1] by dan.vperger, on Flickr

does not have perfect geometry but pretty close, so far it's working fine.

Put some steering in, but I'm going to need to tweak it a bit, and also need to do some more rebuilding of the frame to accomodate the larger wheels. 

IMG_1435[1] by dan.vperger, on Flickr

 

Haven't decided if I should tackle the front bodywork or work on the rest of the mechanical parts of the car like the gearbox and the back suspension. The bodywork is not my strong point, as I never get to that stage on my projects  

 

edit: attached wrong picture

also does anyone know if I can change the title of this post? Should probably make it WIP not MOC

Edited September 15, 2024 by dantheman12

[2GodBDGlory]

1 hour ago, dantheman12 said:

Some more progress:

Did some work on the engine bay with the sr20, quite happy with it so far, still can add a few little details and need to make the intercooler for the front, but that will require redoing some of the front part of the frame.

IMG_1430[1] by dan.vperger, on Flickr

After 2 more designs of the hubs i'm finally happy.

This monstrosity using a 3L bar to hold the bottom of the hub in place so that the geometry of the strut was perfect, but meant there was heaps of camber, and wasnt as sturdy as I wanted:

IMG_1427[1] by dan.vperger, on Flickr

The finalised design:

IMG_1433[1] by dan.vperger, on Flickr

does not have perfect geometry but pretty close, so far it's working fine.

Put some steering in, but I'm going to need to tweak it a bit, and also need to do some more rebuilding of the frame to accomodate the larger wheels. 

IMG_1435[1] by dan.vperger, on Flickr

 

Haven't decided if I should tackle the front bodywork or work on the rest of the mechanical parts of the car like the gearbox and the back suspension. The bodywork is not my strong point, as I never get to that stage on my projects  

 

edit: attached wrong picture

also does anyone know if I can change the title of this post? Should probably make it WIP not MOC

The detailed engine bay looks nice!

You should be able to change the title of the topic by editing the first post in it

[tomek9210]

You may need to add another spring to that strut as the final weight of the model would be greater than it is now.

[StudWorks]

Ooh, that's a stunning engine bay!

[dantheman12]

14 hours ago, tomek9210 said:

You may need to add another spring to that strut as the final weight of the model would be greater than it is now.

Yes I agree, I might be able to squeeze 2 of the strong springs in with something limiting how far down the lower arm can go so it doesnt just pop off when the model is lifted up. But I will go back and test that once more of the model is done and the model is closer to It's final weight.

@StudWorks Thank you :)

@2GodBDGlory Thank you that worked

[damian_kane_iv]

Pipasseyoyo had a rea bice mcpherson design here: 

Maybe it could be modified for your project by swapping in one of the new BMW/Ferrari springs

[dantheman12]

Yeah I've seen that used a few times, nicjasno used a similar idea in his ford sierra, but I found those ones and also the new springs made the top sit higher than I wanted, otherwise would need to be on a great angle inwards which I didn't like the look of. But that being said, using the actual shock absorbers from lego is always going to be a more reliable and simpler way of doing it, if my ones don't work with the fully built model a solution like that would probably be the best choice.

 

[damian_kane_iv]

Idk if you've considered this either, but the new wheel hubs that the 1:5 motorcycles use might also work nicely. 

You could embed a 9.5L or a 6.5L stock into the top and build the necessary steering links around the sides

[2GodBDGlory]

1 hour ago, damian_kane_iv said:

Idk if you've considered this either, but the new wheel hubs that the 1:5 motorcycles use might also work nicely. 

You could embed a 9.5L or a 6.5L stock into the top and build the necessary steering links around the sides

I've looked into that, but there's surprisingly few wheels that actually clear the shock absorber in that setup, and it doesn't give any kingpin inclination. It is an interesting idea, though!

[dantheman12]

some small progress, couldn't put myself through anymore studying so I rebuilt the front end to put the intercooler in and fitted the piping for it in:

s15 lego progress 18.09 by dan.vperger, on Flickr

 

@damian_kane_iv I saw those parts, but again I think it would be too high. might be possible to with the 6.5L shocks but since they don't have a pin hole at the top like the old 95292c01 does, theres definitely a way to connect something to the top to put a ball joint on top but I couldnt think of a way to do it nicely. Another thing is the price of all these parts, both expensive as they're either brand new or really old and hard to find.

[dantheman12]

Progress as of 27/09  -  have been spending too much time on this and not enough time studying  

 

Extended the frame with the help of studio, and started working on the shifter. Still needs some work, as 1, 2, 5 and 6 are very unreliable, but this should all be able to be fixed by changing some of the parts used to mesh the shifting axles with the gearstick. Also need to put the seats in to make sure it doesn't get in the way. It is likely the back seats will be half gearbox half seat, not sure if I can do anything about this, but I will figure that out when I build to gearbox. I would put the gearbox between the back wheels but I need a lot of space for a realistic suspension set up, with 3 links on the top and side and a lower control arm.

  

A few shots of the gearbox: 3rd and 4th work well, shifting to the sides in neutral works pretty well, altough even the soft springs provide a little too much resistance than is realistic or practical. But that being said I really want to incorporate some sort of spring to to the sides of the shifter as this design has been used many a times, so I want to add something to it so it doesn't feel like I'm copying anyone  .

Credit to @Gray Gear for inspiration, I've built something sort of similar to his 'safeshift' system, altough arguably this sort of gearbox needs something to ensure only 1 gear can be engaged at a time, especially if it's motorised. My design still needs improvement but experimenting with some different parts should be all I need to do. Another problem is the amount of wiggle room 3 liftarms next to each other with their pin holes facing up have. I'll try use plates to eliminate this issue, or when I get my hands on some 1x7 modified beams (the alternating pin hole ones) I'll see if they also have the same issue. If someone wants to test that for me that would be very useful to know :)

    

This is the best design for the torsen diff i've got so far, (credit to MaxBrix on youtube for the inspiration https://youtu.be/6oNm01wcvrs?si=xHXlO5dR9aBuZr5i ), If I could make a helical LSD like in the real car it would be incredibly cool, but its not at all possible with the parts we have available, definitely not at 1:8 scale, and I would be very impressed if someone built one at all out of lego  .

This design below is far from perfect, it will be a pain to drive it but it's the best I've seen or come up with. the most problematic part is that the axles fall out unless you use the 5.5L axle, but these are way too long to put the cv joints in. But I will tackle that another day.

 

    

[2GodBDGlory]

I like the gearbox complexity! Looks like you're putting some real effort into it. I also like the torsen diff! It's something that seems to be thrown around as a concept a lot, but rarely ever put into a model. That design is about as practical as it gets, though! I haven't seen the one with a turntable on each side, and it could be made skinnier by replacing one of them with a connector, but maybe the extra strength is worth it