Guess who's back, back again
I finally got Silvia back for the mechanic and all seems good so far. She's driving well, boosting well, and looks great. Time to drive her and see how everything goes.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
in good hands
Last Wednesday, Adam and I got the new wheels on, and got the brake bled. We tooke it around the neighborhood, however the battery was drained. So I was going from neighbor to neighbor asking to borrow a set of jumper cables. We go the juice flowing and drove her around the block. She was still running super rich and upon reaching operating temp, the emgine would stall out when in neutral. Therefore we had to keep the revs up when at a stop. Fortunately, her maiden voyage was only in the neighborhood and we pulled her back in to the garage. Checking everything over, making sure there weren't any oil leaks, water leaks, vacuum leaks, smoke coming from the engine bay, or loose grounds. There wasn't anything that caught our eye.
It was time to take her in. We decided that the next morning we would take Silvia to Keith Baldwin of JDM Power Options. So it's Thursday morning and Adam swings by at 7:20 and we're heading off ~15 miles to Keith's shop. Our plan was to take back roads as much as possible and at one point, we needed to hop on 50. I didn't want to get too close behind Adam who was leading the way in his new STI as I would stall out in neutral when at a stop. Before turning onto 50, I would try to press the gas pedal, but no response unless it was all the way down to the floor which only gave me what felt like 15% full throttle. So I was at a catch 22, needed gas to not stall out, however pushing the gas pedal has no response. This of course was perfect timing because we were now driving on 50 with contruction, traffic, lots of stop and go, and the time was 7:45- AM rush.
We final get to the shop. While waiting for Keith, Adam and I pop the hood to reveal that the throttle pulley was bent and the cable was popping off. This explained why I had no throttle response when pushing down on the gas pedal. Adam did tell me that while we were driving, there wasn't any smoke coming from the exhaust that he noticied. This is a good thing I was driving it conservatively staying out of boost. Keith showed up and we explain to him how the car was running, and some of the items that needed to be address on the car- valve cover studs stripped, wheel hub studs missing and damaged thread and other stuff..
I told Keith to take his time with the car, keep it as long as he needed, and provided him with a new wiring harness of the previous owner. I told him that if it needed to be used, do whatever was needed. I got a call from him on Saturday telling me that the MAF being used was from a SOHC so the voltage and reading to the ECU was not correct for the motor and that the new harness couldn't be used because the ECU plug was different and wouldn't fit.
I call Martin was told he was even surprised that an S14 motor would be able to run with that MAF. I also called up Wiring Specialties to ask them about the wiring harness and learned that they don't make a harness for the S14 motor. This explained why the ECU plug didn't fit.
So now, I have sent the ECU to Martin for a ROM tube for my specific modifications on the car and Keith is working on all the things that can be done without the motor running.
Keith should have the ECU back this Friday and then we can determine what else is wrong with the car now that it will be reading the correct air/feul ratio.
It was time to take her in. We decided that the next morning we would take Silvia to Keith Baldwin of JDM Power Options. So it's Thursday morning and Adam swings by at 7:20 and we're heading off ~15 miles to Keith's shop. Our plan was to take back roads as much as possible and at one point, we needed to hop on 50. I didn't want to get too close behind Adam who was leading the way in his new STI as I would stall out in neutral when at a stop. Before turning onto 50, I would try to press the gas pedal, but no response unless it was all the way down to the floor which only gave me what felt like 15% full throttle. So I was at a catch 22, needed gas to not stall out, however pushing the gas pedal has no response. This of course was perfect timing because we were now driving on 50 with contruction, traffic, lots of stop and go, and the time was 7:45- AM rush.
We final get to the shop. While waiting for Keith, Adam and I pop the hood to reveal that the throttle pulley was bent and the cable was popping off. This explained why I had no throttle response when pushing down on the gas pedal. Adam did tell me that while we were driving, there wasn't any smoke coming from the exhaust that he noticied. This is a good thing I was driving it conservatively staying out of boost. Keith showed up and we explain to him how the car was running, and some of the items that needed to be address on the car- valve cover studs stripped, wheel hub studs missing and damaged thread and other stuff..
I told Keith to take his time with the car, keep it as long as he needed, and provided him with a new wiring harness of the previous owner. I told him that if it needed to be used, do whatever was needed. I got a call from him on Saturday telling me that the MAF being used was from a SOHC so the voltage and reading to the ECU was not correct for the motor and that the new harness couldn't be used because the ECU plug was different and wouldn't fit.
I call Martin was told he was even surprised that an S14 motor would be able to run with that MAF. I also called up Wiring Specialties to ask them about the wiring harness and learned that they don't make a harness for the S14 motor. This explained why the ECU plug didn't fit.
So now, I have sent the ECU to Martin for a ROM tube for my specific modifications on the car and Keith is working on all the things that can be done without the motor running.
Keith should have the ECU back this Friday and then we can determine what else is wrong with the car now that it will be reading the correct air/feul ratio.
Friday, January 21, 2011
she said yes!
Tonight Desiree and I hosted our 2nd annual After Holiday Ugly Holiday Sweater party. In attendance were are family and friends. We presented this years winner, Carly and Kyle, with the prize of a Simpson's Holiday beer glass set. Afterwards, I got down on one knee and asked Desiree if she would spend the rest of her life with me and marry me!
She said yes!!!
Thank you to her parents and my brother and sister-in-law for helping me out!
Additional pictures: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/579662121SKAxZa
Thursday, January 20, 2011
ready for the pros
I wish I was talking about myself and my current cycling status. However I'm talking about Silvia in that she is ready for professional help.
We concluded that the ECU wasn't getting the correct reading from the MAF was we discovered that the wiring used was not shielded. Therefore the computer was getting mixed signals or interference with the voltage wire. So we re-wired the MAF, I changed out all the ATC fuses in the engine bay and we go to fire her up. She was trying to turn over but wouldn't hold idle. On top of that, the tachometer and gauges weren't working. Then I remembered that I didn't tighten the bolt for the ECU to the harness. So I did that and problem solved. Gauges work, car turns over and idles, and things actually sound and feel better. She's still running rich, but idling much better.
So we drove it off the ramps out of the garage to pull out the tarp that has been under the car since day one. It feels good to finally get all 4 wheels touching the ground as is was on ramps a few hours after I got the car 3 weeks ago. We also put the hood and front bumper back on. It feels good to have a complete car.
Adam also brought over 7-8mm spacers for the front wheels to eliminate the tiring rubbing on the coilovers. It solved the problem, however created another one as the studs for the lugs weren't long enough for slip on spacers as we were only able to thread in about 25% of the lug. I think that 5mm spacers should be sufficient and we'll be close to 80% thread-in with the lug nuts.
Next up is to drop off the car with Adam's buddy and see if our issue is a simple iron out with a good tune, or if there is something else that we are missing.
stay tuned for the ongoing progress update.
We concluded that the ECU wasn't getting the correct reading from the MAF was we discovered that the wiring used was not shielded. Therefore the computer was getting mixed signals or interference with the voltage wire. So we re-wired the MAF, I changed out all the ATC fuses in the engine bay and we go to fire her up. She was trying to turn over but wouldn't hold idle. On top of that, the tachometer and gauges weren't working. Then I remembered that I didn't tighten the bolt for the ECU to the harness. So I did that and problem solved. Gauges work, car turns over and idles, and things actually sound and feel better. She's still running rich, but idling much better.
So we drove it off the ramps out of the garage to pull out the tarp that has been under the car since day one. It feels good to finally get all 4 wheels touching the ground as is was on ramps a few hours after I got the car 3 weeks ago. We also put the hood and front bumper back on. It feels good to have a complete car.
Adam also brought over 7-8mm spacers for the front wheels to eliminate the tiring rubbing on the coilovers. It solved the problem, however created another one as the studs for the lugs weren't long enough for slip on spacers as we were only able to thread in about 25% of the lug. I think that 5mm spacers should be sufficient and we'll be close to 80% thread-in with the lug nuts.
Next up is to drop off the car with Adam's buddy and see if our issue is a simple iron out with a good tune, or if there is something else that we are missing.
stay tuned for the ongoing progress update.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
making good progress
Today Adam and I got a good bit accomplished.
We initially fired her up and he already said that it was running better. We ran a timing gun and the light was no where near what it needed to be at 15deg for TDC. I know that I that I installed the CAS correctly. So we unbolted the valve cover and saw that the marks on the CAS were correct. So we rotated the crank pulley 1 full revolution back to TDC and the CAS was not alligned. Again we rotated the crank 1 full revolution and the CAS was in allignment again. So we concluded that there is a 1:2 ratio- so 1 full revolution of the crank = 1/2 revolution of the CAS. So we concluded that the CAS as 180deg off. We rotated the crank pulley again 1 full revolution and realligned the CAS. Bolted up the valve cover and tried to turn her over. No go!
So, how I initially had it was correct. So set the motor to TDC and pulled to valve cover off again. Rotated the crank pulley 1 revolution and reallign the CAS. Bolted up the valve cover. Fired her up again. She started up and was holding idle. We put the timing gun to the motor and it was almost on. A little adjusting of the CAS and she was hitting 15deg with the timing light. Yay. Much better. She was still running rich with black smoke and a little rough however still able to hold idle at 750rpms.
We then noticed a little smoke coming from the engine bay on the exhaust side. Again, it was the same water line that I had to tighten a last week that is very difficult to get to because it is located between the 2 turbo housings. The leak wasn't a drip, but was enough to very slowly drip and burn off. The motor was hot so we weren't able to address that.
Next we move onto switching out the new wheels that I bought for the car. We took off the driver's front wheel and bolted on the new one that was already mounted with tires. Before I torqued the lug nuts, I attempted to turn the wheel, however it was rubbing on the coilovers. The width and offset was the same as the old wheels: 8.5inches wide and 35mm offset. However, the new wheel had a 235 width tire whereas the old, 225. This was the cause for the rubbing. Luckily, Adam has 7-8mm spacers at home. We will revisit tomorrow and mount the front wheels/tires with the new spacers.
Also on the docet for tmw is to address the leak and we are now to the point to employ professional help. Adam has a local buddy who has dealth with SR, RB and a plethora of high performance motors/cars helps us out before I hook up with Martin for tuning.
We initially fired her up and he already said that it was running better. We ran a timing gun and the light was no where near what it needed to be at 15deg for TDC. I know that I that I installed the CAS correctly. So we unbolted the valve cover and saw that the marks on the CAS were correct. So we rotated the crank pulley 1 full revolution back to TDC and the CAS was not alligned. Again we rotated the crank 1 full revolution and the CAS was in allignment again. So we concluded that there is a 1:2 ratio- so 1 full revolution of the crank = 1/2 revolution of the CAS. So we concluded that the CAS as 180deg off. We rotated the crank pulley again 1 full revolution and realligned the CAS. Bolted up the valve cover and tried to turn her over. No go!
So, how I initially had it was correct. So set the motor to TDC and pulled to valve cover off again. Rotated the crank pulley 1 revolution and reallign the CAS. Bolted up the valve cover. Fired her up again. She started up and was holding idle. We put the timing gun to the motor and it was almost on. A little adjusting of the CAS and she was hitting 15deg with the timing light. Yay. Much better. She was still running rich with black smoke and a little rough however still able to hold idle at 750rpms.
We then noticed a little smoke coming from the engine bay on the exhaust side. Again, it was the same water line that I had to tighten a last week that is very difficult to get to because it is located between the 2 turbo housings. The leak wasn't a drip, but was enough to very slowly drip and burn off. The motor was hot so we weren't able to address that.
Next we move onto switching out the new wheels that I bought for the car. We took off the driver's front wheel and bolted on the new one that was already mounted with tires. Before I torqued the lug nuts, I attempted to turn the wheel, however it was rubbing on the coilovers. The width and offset was the same as the old wheels: 8.5inches wide and 35mm offset. However, the new wheel had a 235 width tire whereas the old, 225. This was the cause for the rubbing. Luckily, Adam has 7-8mm spacers at home. We will revisit tomorrow and mount the front wheels/tires with the new spacers.
Also on the docet for tmw is to address the leak and we are now to the point to employ professional help. Adam has a local buddy who has dealth with SR, RB and a plethora of high performance motors/cars helps us out before I hook up with Martin for tuning.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
things are looking up
Did a compression check tonight and each of the 4 cylinders were between 140-143psi. This is with a cold engine. So the compression would be a little higher if it were at operating temp. This is good news as it is unlikely that there is any motor damage. I replaced the old spark plugs with NGK BKR6E pre-gapped at .034"
Tomorrow Adam and I will fire her up and see how she's running. Also we need to figure out what is going on with cylinder 3. The coilpacks are fine, but the wiring to cylinder 3 might not be getting any power. So we'll hook up the ohm meter and see what the voltage is to that coilpack and compare to the other cylinder coilpacks.
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