LOL, Best of luck good sir!

 

Thanks buddy! It worked out - I gave it the full 24hrs and refilled ... left it be for another 24hrs and no leaks.

spent a small portion of today working on the car ... I've been getting a abnormal Link G4+ code that the electronic throttle was getting less 7volts for more than 2seconds. Took a few internet searches and some reading on Links website but I chased it down and came up with nothing. I check continuity and function of the accelerator pedal position sensor and also the throttle body. Also double checked my voltage output from pin3 of the ECU connectors and indeed it was 12.7volts (which was correct). If I remember right I didnt see the error come back.

Next issue was my widebands ... my passenger side (doesnt really matter which as I run the single exhaust) wasnt registering a value and was stuck on 14.8 (by default) check wires and swapped sensors and gauges and nothing - problem persisted. This was causing a fuel issues between banks and generated a rough idle.

Solution - one / some of the pins of the gage werent making contact with the wire harness. I ever-so carefully bent them down slightly and it solved the problem. The car started and idled pretty well.

Went in to grab dinner and when I returned the car would crank, start and run but only with a little pedal help but would not stay running. I started freaking-out just a tad and that feeling of 'ohshit' sank in ... like something bad was happening ... I dont think I unplugged anything. A few resets and I'll reload my map tomorrow.

Last thing before I started drinking was to drop the flush oil ... dropped it and nothing out of the ordinary ... deep breaths, tomorrow is a new day...

the next day...
Also drained out the OEM oil filter (didn't cut into it - so really only got clean-side oil out) and nothing that would be alarming came out (metal shavings wise) then drained out my secondary (pre-turbo) oil filter and gold flakes were present - I'm not overly alarmed as these were likely present from my previous bearing failure - I did clean out the filter but I think this contamination was from before.

One outstanding task was to move the oil filter anywhere out of the way. I already have a filter relocation kit but bending/snaking it around the motor mounts was pretty much impossible with it connected. With the oil drained I was able to disassemble the filter side and route the hoses to the passenger side of the transmission.

Made a little bracket to mount the filter body to the chassis - used two 6mm bolt holes off the transmission. Surer than **** the steel braided hose touched the positive terminal of the starter and sparked up! Didn't thing much of it (as it's happened before) and proceeded.

Filled oil, checked everything and fired the car up … started well and ran with no assistance from the pedal. Oil pressure climbed and climbed and all the sudden dropped and dropped and I shut the car down around 20psi of pressure...the steel braided hose was compromised and oil was pissing out of the hole. I probably lost 3 quarts of oil all over the floor!

Removed, rebuilt, reinstalled the hose … Ended up buying new oil, filled 3quarts, but didn't start the car - I don’t want to overfill.

Another day / another dollar (spent)...

 

 

file it under the 'if it can go wrong it will go wrong' ... the coolant return hose line runs pretty close to the cylinder #1 exhaust runner ... the runners get very hot and very quick. I had a good 3/4" of clearance between the runner and the steel braided line but not enough for comfort. So I picked up about 4ft of 1" diameter fire sleeve to encase the hose.

The choice was to remove the hose from the block side or remove it from the turbo. I decided to take it off the turbo side. It was a pain in the *** to remove the hose but accomplishable. I ordered the hose earlier in the week and it arrived today and I was able to get everything buttoned back up.

Put the overflow tank back on the system and filled it in-prep for a re-bleed, filled up the system / tank as best I could and it's ready to start-up.

 

So when do we get a startup vid?

 

For what it's worth - this was a few weeks ago ... nothing special and I was having an issue with the a wideband sensor so it wasnt great.


I'm hoping to get it out on the road tomorrow for some test miles and I'll try to get some recordings.

 

a little bit of a hiccup and I've noticed this the last few startup - but the cylinder #1 (passenger side front) exhaust header isnt heating up like the others ... after about 20 to 30 seconds of run time the runners will get a little past 'too hot to touch' for more than a fraction of a second. Runner #1 is room temp plus a little heat it picks up on the bottom side.

I'm fearful that something is stuck up in the header ... like I forgot to take out a welding purge plug ... highly highly unlikely but you never know with me! I typically use aluminum foil ball'd up and I think it'd have pushed through and I'd see foil flakes all over the f'n place

My next train of thought is that a the injector isnt firing ... the link G4 has a procedure that will dry-fire the injectors (and coils/sparks) and I could hear the injectors cycling and I had the injectors cleaned and flow tested a few months ago and everything was good.

I hoping the culprit is a bad coil, bad spark plug, a bad connection between the two or a continuity in the harness.

If none of these prove fruitful I will swap out the plug/coil/injector between cylinders #1 and #3 and see if the problem follows.


Another issue I'm having is my coolant temp sensor isnt registering. The moment I turn my car on the sensor goes straight to the middle of the gauge and the Link reads 205 degrees and doesnt do anything above this.

I have checked continuity to the sensor and when I put a multimeter the resistance climbs as the car cools down. I dropped a different sensor into the coolant pipe and it's acting the same way. My next step will be to check the ECT table in the Link ... maybe it got zero'd out or something. I dont know that any other input have influence on the ECT reading.

I dont have my OEM oil pressure sensor nor my EVAP sensor hooked up - would these influence the ECT sensor?

brb..

Update:
I am sooooo satisfied with Link (as in Link G4+) customer / technical support. The chat feature is soooo freak'n cool. I was able to do some research about our temp sensor and messaged Link's tech support and their tech Simon (who has helped me before) talked me through checking my ECU settings and surer than shitz my ECT temp sensor was essentially turned 'off' ... got it fired back up and I'll update the tune. standby...

Update2: Coil tests fine and spark plug is questionable. Put everything back together and the problem remains...

Next: put a little pressure in the line and test the injector.

 

Update: There is no update ... other than a few thoughts I wish I would have thought of a few days ago.

I got the plenum off and everything uncovered and injector #1 has continuity. I tried running the injector test but I dont think I can run the tests without the engine buttoned up. I swapped cylinder #1 and #3 but calling it a night as it's getting late. We'll fire it up tomorrow!

Second thought - what if I have a setting in the Link that has injector #1 turned off?? I dont know for certain and I dont know my way around the PCLink Software as well as I should but it's something to poke for. Further ... Im using a 'copy - paste' map and I should upload my previous tune and see how it does.

Also - my 10" SPAL fan came in and I can get the fan put on the radiator. My previous 16" pushed 2100 cfm while this 10" pushes 900cfm. I think I read that the OEM push 800cfm.

Update: I posted my question on Links forum and found/confirmed some clarity. The link does not have the ability to shut down a single injector. The respected tech (who works for Link) said check compression.

Got everything buttoned up tonight ... and ....

and a caveat!! I thought I had to have everything buttoned up to run the coil/spark test and the injector test through the link ... nope, you just gotta make sure your injector sub-harness is connected!!!! opppppsssss!!!!!

everything buttoned back up and started the car, ran it for 20seconds and all the exhaust runners are getting hot like you'd expect. I paid special attention to cylinders #1 and #3 and they are heating up. I can only speculate that I didnt have a coil/spark/injector plugged tightly or a weak contact.

Other than some small biz stuff I gotta take care of I am gonna put the car back on the ground, run a compression test on all the cylinders and see about a few test miles.

Another quick task will be to:

A. weld some tabs on the intercooler for the engine under-shield or
B. I have a massive piece of 1/8" aluminum and make something a little more custom.

Rather encouraging - there is a 1/2mile event this upcoming weekend and damn I'll be satisfied if I can run the car!

 

good lord this week went by fast!

had a few productive days in the garage and I think I'm geared up to run the car tomorrow. At the end of the weekend I'll be satisfied with running the car, not even at full throttle/full potential, and not have anything blow-up on me.

I dont think I can make but 6psi of boost with the new waste-gates without boost control.

I bought both Saturday and Sunday but will likely only run Saturday and really just want to get the car out and a few passes.

First time since October of 2018 that the hood has been on the car and tomorrow morning first time the car will be back on the ground - sorta a sentimental moment!

 

How'd it go?

Pics as she sits?

Let's see this beauty!

 

failed … had issues loading the car onto the trailer. Trailer shifted vertically as I was on the ramps, I stopped and as I was backing and the IC caught the edge of the trailer dovetail lip and clipped it off. It was sorta funny - I definitely was laughing at myself!

If it's a silver lining - only a small amount of scratches on the bottom plate of the IC and no other damage to the IC, the radiator is fine, the exhaust is fine, and I chopped-off a coupler to get the IC off. I put the car back in the garage and our group went to the event car-less. We still had a good time. This event, although put on by the same individual, isn't as nice as the airstrip attack - airstrip attack is pretty sweet.

Moving forward - I'll have to drain & remove the radiator, remove the mounting bar and re-weld the two IC mounting legs and then reassemble.
I've got a few other priorities coming online that I gotta tend to over the next few weeks but nothing I can't knock out.

to be fair - even if the car made it to the event I wasn't about to push it hard … it'd be more of getting the car out and getting some miles on the new setup. I'm still on the previous 14psi twin turbo tune and I don't know that these waste gates would hold anything past 6psi without boost control and my water-methanol isn't dialed in.


times like this - two things come to mind.
success is a process and always fail forward

 

not much of anything in particular...just been busy... sold two pickups and getting a little honda civic road worthy to daily drive for a bit until I get another pickup.

Did get the IC mount/bracket off the car and taking the radiator off was easier than expected. The bracket did sustain a small amount of damage in that the welded-face of the bracket bow'd out. I put it in the vice along with a flat piece of stainless plate and pushed it back in and then tapped it with a hammer. Gound-off the fractured welds and re-laid-out the brackets.

Also made steps on a small switch plate ... nothing too complicated but something to mount ahead of the stick-shift.




I picked up this front-tower brace from DPhoenix ... I love GT Spec stuff and this was one piece I didnt have and DPhx gave me a great deal on it (hat-tip). I dont necessarily like the white-out but I can deal and it wouldnt be the first time I stripped paint!

(everyone prepare to laugh) its about 2lbs lighter than stock. which its becoming incredible hard to take weight on the front end of the car and now even worse with a front-mounted turbo!

I'm interested to see if I dropped weight since parting-out the greddy kit.

 

Much better!

 

finally had a chance to read through this thread. Very impressive! I admire your skills, perseverance and effort into your Z. Ive been off the forums for years and thought nobody cared about the Z anymore, everyone was buying GTRs lol, but damn, ive missed alot! Keep up the good work, cant wait to see how its turns out. I really hope it runs like a champ for you, you deserve it.

 

Esco! Whats good? how is your car doing? The GTR is the modern day 350z! Update your thread and throw some pictures up!

Crazy *** weekend ... spent a large portion of the weekend either cleaning or making a mess. I'm getting into the honda game ... the D16 civic ex (as in a daily driver) and fixing a few things on a little civic I inherited. The task this weekend was to replace the power steering rack. Massive pain in the dock but I got it done. God bless the flared wrench - couldnt have done it with out you!

On the Z ... got the Gspec front tower brace prep'd and installed. I forgot that I had 1/2 a can of silver spray paint from the wheels a few summers back ... So I painted the brackets in silver. Didnt clear coat them or anything and if I have it all over again I'll do them in white. DPhoenix had the right idea!

Ive been in need of a coolant overflow tank and I've liked the idea of a plastic / lab-grade / nalgene bottle over a aluminum or stainless tank ... I ordered a few of these 1 liter square bottles ... punched a hole, rtv'd, and installed a -4 fitting. We'll see how it turns out.

Plans all this week but it'd be nice to get the IC reinstalled and get the car out for a few test-drives this week.

I had some issues (and I think I still do) with the Link as far as the tune goes and will really need to comb through and ensure everything is working like it should. For some reason my ECT sensor was turned off, turned it on and still a crazy input and then realized it's pull-up resistor was set to 0. Not sure how this happened but I am expecting some time to comb-through the tune.

 

had some garage time tonight ... did a final bleed on the coolant system, capped it, and started the car. On cold start it did this (and freaked me the F out):
Exhaust appears blue'ish in the video but was more brown'ish

let the car run for a few minutes and this (got into the 3k to 4k RPM range):


pecked away at the switch plate ... to this effect:

 

How's the build coming along?

 

I'm sorta at a stop as I got a few issues...

I am not 100% sure my coolant system is fully sealed - it seems like I am consistently refilling my radiator/fill ports - I'm not pissing out white smoke like headgaskets? maybe a pressure test is in order?? Maybe I'm just bleeding out the air?? I havent compression tested or leak-down tested but it may be on the horizon.

Starting issues - I need to put new OEM sensors in the car to fully rule out sensor issues. I have test-leads on the signal wire of each sensor and they register 12.xyz volts on key on and drop between 1volt and 5 volts (and sometimes higher between 5volt and 8volt - which is bad) but I cant get the car to start. I did re-load a earlier earlier tune and I may upload another map I have. I dont think my harness is bad but you never know? I may try to pick-up an OEM/unmolested harness to rule-out any issues.

When the car was up and going (as I did get the car on the road) and during rev'ing around 3500rpm the RPMs jump around crazy-like...once again - sensor issue? wiring issue?

I got a video and if I could do some editing I'd upload it ... I own a mac, I own a go pro, for some reason I can't edit videos!

I think thats it ...

I did pick up a used 3.5 liter twin turbo kit ... came with an F150 ... probably put water meth on it...

 

Nice truck!

I'm sure you'll get all the issues sorted out. Your kit looks amazing.

 

thanks Mike!!! I was rocking my '04 lariat forever and a half - got up to 225k miles on it and told myself if you can take care of a 2004 with the 5.4liter triton and not have the cam phasers or oil pump explode on you, when the time is right look into something nice. I've always loved the king ranch package and the 3.5 liter ecoboost is a excellent balance of daily drivability, economy, and enough towing capacity for what I need. It's actually pretty fast for a 4600lb pickup.

Ill look to add a better IC, I'll add water methanol injection, and at some point a bigger (setrab) oil cooler.

My bigger focus is the other 3.5 liter - I uploaded another copied tinker-around tune tonight and surer than **** the car fired up within a second or two.

The car wouldnt stay running without a little throttle until it was running for about 30seconds. I didnt run it but for a few minutes before the garage was full of smoke.

I'll look to get a video of the erratic RPMs

Said Video: