Ring around the rosie and other maintenance

On Saturday, I replaced the headlight rings (god, zstore ships sooooo damn fast, got in like a day and a half of ordering) because BOTH rings failed on me and were bouncing around all crazy while i was driving at night. It was so bad I had to not drive the car for a couple days. I also replaced the window channel felt strips, which were totaled out when i got the car (the driver's window would be quieter while halfway open than closed.

In terms of non maintenance stuff, I test fitted one front flare.

Fat lip and the bling

On saturday of last week, i put my front lip on (with the helping hands of chris i. and corey). It fits well, but i need to put some bracing in. I also replaced some of the fuel hose going betweeen the pressure reg and the fuel rail.

On friday, I got brand new c pillar emblems from Aileen :].

Tension back home

Today I put my zccjdm tension rods in. They're nice and sturdy and have plenty of adjustability. I did a quick throwtogether alignment just to have the wheel centered. I will get it actually aligned when I put together the rest of the sus.

Out of Control Speed

Today i replaced the speed sensor cable that broke on me a couple weeks ago. My solid diff mount, transmission crossmember bushings, and zcc tension rods came in. Just waiting for a couple more things to work on the sus.

Between now and the prevous post, i got a pressure reg and dialed in the fuel pressure.

One up steering

Got a new(er) steering wheel, its a Momo mod7 with copper spokes.

Don't touch the mustache

Today I had the day off so I decided to work on the mustache bar bushings, since its supposed to be a relatively tame install. It wasn't too difficult, just had to undo the bolts to the diff, frame, and a couple other things and it popped off. The old bushings had to be burned out, which was kind of a pain in the summer heat.

Predictably, it's reduced some driveline slop

The yard

Today i scored a pair of s12+8 calipers and a rear review mirror that doesnt have a broken flange

Return of the Gremlins

Yesterday my car wouldnt start. When i got home from school, it started right up. Today before i headed to the yard it refused to start again. After some fiddling around in the wiring, I found that one of my relays had gone bad.

I went to the yard and picked up a relay and pulled apart aac valves from a couple different cars. After i got home, more tests pointed toward the source power to the fuel pump relay was low and caused it to flicker when it was key on. I changed to a different source wire and it fired right up.

On my way to Justins house, my car gave up. After Jumping it, I drove it into his driveway where he had a look at it for me. Turns out that the alternator decided to let go. Luckily, he had a dual cam ka alternator laying around. The alternator fit with the dual cam ka hardware, some washers, and a modification to the rb upper alternator bracket. Several hours later (after some pizza and a few trips to different stores), it was all back together and running again.

Justin also had an extra aac spring from an sr. I threw it in and now my idle is low. At this point it should only be some timing adjustment and a bit of the idle screw in the back of the manifold.

Photos

Here's the most recent photo update. Not much news to add, really. I'm pretty confindent that the problem in the idle lies with the aac valve. Tomorrow i'm going to the yard to see if i can find something.

Some things never change

My dad put the remainder of the dash back in while i was away at work. When i got home, i put all the intake parts back together and set the tps. Although it feels smoother from the tps adjustment, it still has the same cold/medum cold idle hunting.

Fiddler on the roof

Fiddled with the car a bit today. I took off the throttle body, which was full of junk and gave it a good dose of carb-r-clean and tooth brush. I inspected the air regulator (under the throttle body) and found that the hose was pretty brittle. Parts of it crumbled off as I pulled the hose from the fitting.

We'll see how things go when its all back together.

In addition

Recently i picked up coilover springs (stance 9k/7k) and sleeves, just gathering components to do the suspension when there is time. The dash is still somewhat apart, the ducting isn't in place but at least the heater is working ok.

With the shift extender, the bubble knob sites pretty high, but ive gotten used to it. The old quick release that i had run on the s13 was too long, so i opted to grab a short release. It's much shorter and doesn't weigh the wheel down when i remove it.

The car is boosting well now that I re-set the tps and cleaned out the aac valve. It still idles high, but it drives well. I get some idle hunt as well after cold start and a 2 min drive.

On a side note, i got a few goodies from Erin as we began on her car.

Alive and well

I spent time last night putting in a new return line. Not fun with the motor, tranny, and all sorts of other junk in the way. Somehow I managed.

In addition, a couple nights ago, i got an apexi filter from Andrew. I was told that, without a filter and ripples in the turbo inlet duct, the turbo causes too much turbulence for the maf to handle.

Today Justin and I put together the exhuast, It is a downpipe back mandrel bent 3" system. I will eventually add tips to it but at least its all put together and on the car. It sounds great.

The timing is still off a bit but when that is all situated im sure the car will wake up a ton.


Justin with the ugmos on


Me in my lounging/hangin out/welding position
Justin's welder with argon shielding makes for much nicer, cleaner welds


Justin in welding position wearing the same nasty ass sweater

Almost there

HIDs are in, engine has some timing issues. We've been fiddling with it over a couple days with only small improvements.

On the block

Yesterday, Justin and Russell came over and we got eh car started again and were able to drive it around the block. It's still not quite driveable yet, as there are stuttering issues and other little stuff left to finish, but I was able to get it around the block twice with no hood, no grille, and no exhaust.

Alllllmoooost. . . aaaaaallllllmooossttt

The wiring is finished for the most part. I put in the hids and began grinding the welds back on the intercooler piping. We pushed the car out and started it again, this time on its own tank and main wiring harness in place. The motor idles nicely even with a bunch of vacuum leaks and no maf plugged in.

Little trinkets in the mean time:
Snap-On Keyholder
Angled shift extender (thanks Russell!)

More fuel, more cool, more rats nest

Summary of the last couple days-

Justin continued on the wiring. It is super tucked and super sneaky. A lot of wiring is tucked out of view and run quite cleanly. Major hats off to Justin, seriously. He's really good with wiring and this kinda thing.

Meanwhile I worked on more fuel stuff. We picked up hardline and new fittings for the Walbro pump at Goody's Speed Shop. They have an enormous selection of fittings and other neat stuff. I bent and reflared hardlines since the oe space for the pump is not really enough to run non angled soft lines.

Since the radiator was too tall and we had trouble mating the radiator hose with the bottom radiator neck, the radiator went to Danny (of Five One Oh) to be shortened and have the neck reangled. Today i shortened the brackets and gave it a good wrinkle coat

Muuuch... Muuuuch... Cooollleerrrrr

So yesterday, Justin and I picked up t clamps and couplers from ATP and the day before that mandrel bends from Magnumforce. We planned and cut the bends for the intercooler with a chop saw and tacked them together. My front shocks came in, but im going to save those for later, so that I can take care of the sus all together. While Justin worked on the wiring some more, I finished the welds on the piping and mounts.

Russell came over a bit later and we started the motor up (just to see). Seems like its finally getting there!




Justin relaying the message


Startin the motor up on some Welch's (giv'er more juice!).


Stinky garage

Little things here and there

Day before yesterday, I made a top brace for the radiator and put all the intake parts back onto the motor. Yesterday, my dad took the SUs off the old motor and Justin and I worked on the car a bit more doing a few things here and there.