New to everything!

[hadricus]

Hi all,

Just bought a 2010 D22 2.5CR ST-R, and this looked like the place to go for people in love with their Nissan rides and the outdoors.

New to 4x4s, Nissans and utes. A lot of experience with auto electrics though. Some awesome resources on here and I hope to learn a lot. Once the car's in my driveway I'll start up a garage and post some pics.

One question: Would throwing in a new exhaust system do anything to void my warranty? I'm looking at boosting up the power with a DPChip and new exhaust.

Cheers, and here's to some fun times off road and on the forums.

- hadricus (Nathan)

 

[Old.Tony]

Welcome to the forum, Nathan!

My dealer told me that as long as a modification that I performed didn't cause the problem that I'm seeking repair under warranty, I could do it. So, in your case, if your wiper motor fails after you change exhaust, you should be covered - but if your engine plays up, they might start playing hardball.

I was told that chipping the engine will void the engine's warranty.

Oh, I spoke to the Steinbauer guys at the Caravan & Camping show. The very knowledgeable salesman showed me a D40 graph with before and after figures and the power on the graph didn't come on any earlier, yet he insisted that I'd start seeing greater power at 1400rpm - the documentation didn't support this. He also stated that they'd need my car for at least 8 hours, 2 days would be better. All this so they could plug something in that only sat in the injector wiring - which means it's not able to impact on things like turbo vanes or EGR valves, it only affects injector duration. That means your entire improvement is based on dumping more fuel in the motor and I can do that with my foot already and save my money.

The salesman did not impress me at all, but that's my mileage - yours may differ. I also spoke to the diesel gas guys - they were far more impressive in explanation and believability. You might consider that path too - they claim 25% reduction in fuel usage for 30% power gain. Even if I have those figures around the wrong way, it's still a great improvement.

 

[Jason]

Hi Nathan, welcome to the forum.

I'm sure your auto electrics skills will come in handy on the forum as well!

 

[KraftyPg]

Welcome Nathan

The salesman did not impress me at all, but that's my mileage - yours may differ. I also spoke to the diesel gas guys - they were far more impressive in explanation and believability. You might consider that path too - they claim 25% reduction in fuel usage for 30% power gain. Even if I have those figures around the wrong way, it's still a great improvement.

Not overly worried about the power gains but is that 25% claim a reduction on the current fuel usage or are they suggesting that by adding diesel gas the total fuel usage with the gas included will be 25% less.

I haven't looked deeply enough into diesel gas yet but like with some many things out there the old adage of getting nothing for nothing does spring to mind. If their claim is that I'll use 3/4 of a tank of fuel where I used to use a full tank then thats a big claim however if that 1/4 I save is actually a 1/4 of a tank of gas added into the system then have I really saved 25%.

I spoke to the diesel gas guys recently too but it was too brief for me to get anything meaningful from them however when I get a chance I'll probably do some more research into it because on face value a 25% fuel reduction without converting the Nav into a Tiida is a claim possibly worth looking into.

 

[Deejay]

Hi hadricus,

I have an 09 STR and installed the DP Chip. Although it won't do what they claim, it does give you more power. After driving with the chip in almost since new, I can't drive without it now.

At first I was pissed off because it didn't live up to their quoted performance, but it is noticeably better. I think by adding the exhaust as well it will really get up and boogie, but that's a mod I can't remove in case of engine warranty claim so I'll just live with the chip until I'm about done with the warranty. I can always remove the chip in about 3 or 4 minutes and it was never there!

Enjoy your nav, I'm finally stoked with mine now I have finished off most of my mods. Check my garage to see how she looks now.

DJ

 

[KraftyPg]

At first I was pissed off because it didn't live up to their quoted performance, but it is noticeably better. I think by adding the exhaust as well it will really get up and boogie, but that's a mod I can't remove in case of engine warranty claim so I'll just live with the chip until I'm about done with the warranty. I can always remove the chip in about 3 or 4 minutes and it was never there!

Not entering into the mods good and bad debate but the chip out in 3 or 4 minutes like it was never there in case of a warranty claim is flawed. The system would know there has been a chip installed and could easily tell the Nissan guys all the information they need even if it was removed and in some cases removal of the chip would arouse more suspicion than leaving it there in the first place. Even an ECU reset wont completely hide the fact that a chip was installed because there is so much data it records someone with the right tool can trace data so far back they will see trends in the reporting that are more consistent with a chip being in than the vehicle being standard.

Any mod has to be proven to be the fault which caused whatever the warranty claim is and Nissan can't just claim it's a chip or an exhaust that caused the problem without conclusive proof, however that doesn't mean they can't and wont make it hard for the buyer if claims are made. It is a buyer beware market but the buyer does still have rights to make modifications to their vehicles and expect the warranty to be upheld and trying to hide certain changes in the hope that Nissan wont know they were there is more risk than just doing it in the first place.

 

[hadricus]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

Seems there's a bit of heated debate on the value of power chips, I might hold out on that for now. The 2.5CR's no slouch anyways.

First thing I want to work on is the cabin comforts, like navigation, gauges and audio. I'm looking to rip apart my little Asus EEEPC netbook and mounting it somewhere behind the dash, running it to a pullout TFT screen, and running OZIExplorer and other tools on there. Will definately post pics of the install.

Next up will be getting a bullbar, snorkel and canopy. From there, I'll have run it in enough to feel comfortable messing with the exhaust system and maybe installing a chip.

 

[KraftyPg]

The EEEpc screen will be too big for a pull out anywhere in the dash wont it or are you looking at running it to a different screen?

Either way I like the idea and it might just be the only decent reason for wasting dollars on such a pointless toy. I was always going to do something similar with an EEEpc but never really thought of hiding it away, having it on my lap or the passenger seat was what turned me off the original idea.

Chances are the EEEpc is more powerful and a hell of a lot cheaper than some of those in dash nav units that run into the thousands of dollars too. Not sure what Oziexplorer is worth either it's another area I didn't get far enough into when I was looking at things.

Hope there is enough room in the dash.

 

[hadricus]

I'll be taking just the mainboard/power assembly out of the EEEPC and mounting it in a custom project box for easy mounting somewhere behind the dash. I'll then route the video signal through a VGA>AV box and pipe it to a DVD screen. A small bluetooth keyboard/mouse will be my initial input method until I can find something better.

I already have an Oziexplorer license and a crapload of maps, so that's no problem, and the EEEPC will also hold my entire MP3 collection - with the DVD deck I'm set for audio. I purchased the EEEPC for $450, DVD screen will be around $700 (Pioneer cheapie), so all up (with GPS dongle, keyboard, mouse, extras) it'll be around $1300. That's cheaper than anything else on the market and will be a shitload of fun to rig up.

I'll definitely be documenting the project and posting it up here.

 

[KraftyPg]

Wish I had the time an inclination to do something similar, all my EEEpc gets used for these days is a paperweight.

I know there is rules in place in Victoria about using hand held phones and nav devices while driving but if you're playing solitaire while driving down the road your EEEpc is technically neither a phone or Nav device so I wonder if you could use that as a defense in court.

 

[Old.Tony]

Most in-car navigation tools utilise touch-screens that you don't have with the Eee-PC. However, you can easily get around this. Before you detach the keyboard, add an icon to your desktop and place a shortcut in the startup folder for "OSK" (just that, no quotes).

To see what it looks like RIGHT NOW, click Start -> Run -> type OSK and press ENTER.

You will have an On Screen Keyboard that you can use with your mouse.

Enjoy!