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the three link sensors all went out - I figured it was something simple (the Link was still pushing out 5volts and I messed with the wiring (put nylon sleeve around it to clean it up)...turns out the 5volt power source pin (On the sensor side connector)wasnt seated right ... fixed and fixed...
Got the exhaust off and hole drilled for another O2 sensor. A quick 7/8" hole, tack-weld and check prior to welding it in. It is 9" to 10" from the exhaust turbine wheel - so we'll see.
got going on the dump tube - gonna go hood exit similar to the exhaust. Got the passenger side about 95% there - just gotta final-weld the v-band flange to the tube. Will do the drivers side tomorrow. Just taking the 2" exhaust runner leftovers and capping them with a soft 45* bend. I also chopped the top of the pipe with a 5* to 10* angle to further pronouce the angle.
Also ordered new hood struts ... should be here Friday
Lastly - made a contact with a Link customer service rep and he took me up on an offer to review my tune over remote (as he's in NZ) to check all my tables and then check over things while the car is running.
finished the hood exit dumps ... you ever hear the saying 'pleased but not satisfied' ... pretty much how I feel right now. The turbo manifold is a few degrees rotated off center and it's very apparent with the waste gates as they extend out so much ... chalk it up to my lack of precision and that I did this header setup by hand and very little computer aid.
with this minor discrepancy the driver side (and a exhaust runner is sort in the way) isnt symmetrical with the passenger side and rather than fight it I said 'f-it' and punched the hole lower. I think it came out alright but if I dont like it this way I will do them symmetrical when I replace this hood. None the less, it's done - cross it off the list.
well ... I feel like a total schmuck ... I had a issues getting the car started Sunday night and subsequently had to push the car into the garage - sorta disheartening.
new plugs came in on Monday and got pecking away at them when I got home ... with the plenum off I was able to access the coils/plugs. One feature the link has is the ability to test fire coils/plugs and injectors ... ran through them one by one. Plugs 2, 5, and 6 were fouled pretty bad while 1, 3, and 4 were still firing. When I got to cylinder #1 it wasnt kicking at all...and surer than shoot, I didnt have the sub-harness connected for cylinders 1, 3, and passenger side VTC solenoid - I was dumbfounded when I came across the disconnected harness. Got the harness reconnected and plugs tested and good to go. Plugs gapped to .04", torqued-in, and coils reinstalled.
Next task is extending the OEM coolant hardpipe from behind the engine, up and over the passenger side exhaust runners and down to the radiator.
Somethings are easy to over look when many projects are on the mind. One reason i break projects into small sections so i don't miss things. Even still i had 2 hose clamps that i didn't finish tightening after installing the engine. Fix 1 small leak the first week and the 2nd leak didn't show up for over 1 month. Especially if you have anyone chatting with you while working like i normally do, so much easier to get distracted. Glad you found the issue. Why not try starting the engine before you start messing with the cooling to keep possible problems isolated?
Somethings are easy to over look when many projects are on the mind. One reason i break projects into small sections so i don't miss things
That's smart - I try to make checklists and be diligent about organizing hardware so that I know that I put all the hardware back in. I'll start thinking of things that way - I can see how it works and works well.
Originally Posted by rustyschopshop
Why not try starting the engine before you start messing with the cooling to keep possible problems isolated?
Yea - I'll do that … I need to keep the engine unbuttoned to fab/measure the coolant pipe. I will probably have to install the coolant pipe prior to buttoning things up as the coolant pipe is well-under the fuel lines...but I can start-up prior to refilling coolant.
until I do something or not do something stupid! I have about 200 to 250miles on the car since the rebuild … nothing major and I think I've hit 3psi of boost...lol!
Hey man, that's Awesome news!
FWIW, whenever I do something big like a head gasket I ziplock the fasteners, when possible drop the correct socket in too, label with a Sharpie, lay things out in order AND take pics with my phone as things come off. Not completely foolproof but it generally keeps me straight.
Your mojo never left you and you've recovered from your setback! !!
Hey man, that's Awesome news!
FWIW, whenever I do something big like a head gasket I ziplock the fasteners, when possible drop the correct socket in too, label with a Sharpie, lay things out in order AND take pics with my phone as things come off. Not completely foolproof but it generally keeps me straight.
Your mojo never left you and you've recovered from your setback! !!
All words of wisdom!
we got hit with about 6" of snow on Tuesday and another few inches today ... so I wont be taking the car out any time soon...
got a fresh tank of argon and about $60 in aluminum including a 3ft stick of 1.25 ID tube. I was going to use the 1" ID but it just seemed too small. Got angles cut and fitted, the OEM coolant pipe off the engine and prepped and spent wednesday night and tonight(thursday night) piecing it all together. The welding came out alright, might have come out better if I would have cleaned it more. It's gonna be wrapped so I didnt want to get too tangled-up with it. I'm not entirely happy with how the shorter section of steel braided line is going to run from the radiator to the hard pipe as it'll only have an inch or two of separation between the exhaust runner and the pipe. If it ***** out, I'll revamp it.
finished the welding and I can rebuild the steel braided hose and reinstall. I like using coolant rated gasket maker on the connections so it'll need day to cure before I refill.
Got everything buttoned and did about a 10minute 'just look at stuff in the engine bay' followed by a prime the fuel pump and sniff for fuel (as I did take the intake manifold completely off) to ensure things were buttoned up and no leaks ... Did Rusty's start-up recommendation and took a little more cranking than I anticipated (about 5 to 7 seconds worth) but it finally caught and I ran it for about 15 seconds ... nothing crazy.
Despite it not being the highest point on the coolant system, I added a 5/8" fitting on the new coolant line ... it's the same 1.25" ID pipe and I think something that big will do a better job catching air bubbles. I may give the sealant another 24hrs to cure (applied it on Saturday afternoon) before I refill...
other news ... started a coolant overflow bracket...have been struggling with this but I think I have a solid idea by making a collar that I can mount to the chassis (to this effect):
emailed the Pikes Peak Airstrip Attack Promoter and he confirmed my voucher from last year and applied my credit to the 2020 running...stoked
Im lined up to have the guy from Link review my tune tomorrow or tuesday - looking forward to it.
On the horizon ...
want to make progress on the flatfloor/underbody tray & fit a front bumper on the car ... Fitting a front bumper may force me to recreate the front IC/radiator hanger ... I may have to draw it back in an inch or two (which I do have space) - TBD
Keeping an eye out for a new/used PPW white hood
putting cash together for that dry CF hatch - I think I have $700 in my magic envelope - mostly from selling parts off the black donor/roller Z33 and welding sidework ... it may occur closer to April/May especially if I need cash to tune.
Nice! The hood should be easy to source, I haven't seen much on CF hatches lately. I'll def keep my eyes out for you!
Likewise … just keeping an eye open on craigslist and facebook marketplace … Ideally, I'd like to find a PPW but if I find one that's a different color I can have it painted … Theyre available on ebay all day long but relatively expensive … in the mean-time I'm gonna run my current hood as-is and try not to care.
I could purchase a wet carbon now … but I think I'm gonna hold out and buy a dry - it'll take longer to save up but I have a few side streams of income and I can be patient - one step at a time / baby-steps
Likewise … just keeping an eye open on craigslist and facebook marketplace … Ideally, I'd like to find a PPW but if I find one that's a different color I can have it painted … Theyre available on ebay all day long but relatively expensive … in the mean-time I'm gonna run my current hood as-is and try not to care.
I could purchase a wet carbon now … but I think I'm gonna hold out and buy a dry - it'll take longer to save up but I have a few side streams of income and I can be patient - one step at a time / baby-steps
Hey man, come to think of it hit up abarclay on here. He's always changing his look and may have something nice laying around. If you need his phone # pm me.
Hey man, come to think of it hit up abarclay on here. He's always changing his look and may have something nice laying around. If you need his phone # pm me.
I shot Abarclay a quick message this morning ... nothing yet but I got nothing but time. If he doesnt have anything maybe he knows of someone.
No tune review today - which I'm sorta ok with ... I still havent refilled my coolant. It's been crazy cold and I'd like to give the sealant/RTV as much time to cure as possible. The **** thing is, it's pretty cold in the garage. I made a little tent over the hood of the car and I've got a 240v space heater and a 120v space heater going (while I'm home/in the garage) and then a 100watt light bulb going while I'm away in attempt to keep the engine bay as warm as possible (to help cure the RTV). I'm busy tomorrow with small business stuff and I got a hockey game, so the sealants will have another 48hrs to cure. I feel pretty confident that it'll be good by wednesday evening.
Another storm rolled in this afternoon and I didnt get home until 7:30pm. But I didnt let that stop me from making progress. I finalized a bracket for the coolant tank ... a little cutting and a weld and I'm setup. I cut the 1/4" hose but it's still a little too long - probably can take another 2inches off of it.
Abarclay doesnt have anything nor leads on anything dry...I've been selling stuff off the parts car and between the sidework and selling stuff I think I have enough to pull the trigger on a carbon hatch ... secretly excited ... hoping concept z has some presidents day sales.
Aside from bulstering-up the injector/coil ground connections I didnt do much outside of filling/bleeding the coolant system ... started up the car 4 or 5 times, running it for a few minutes in the garage to cycle the coolant and I think it's bled-off ... helps quite a bit that I have my one-off fill points and a small hole in the thermostat plate.
I can't get the car out because there is too much snow the first mile before I can hit pavement. I dont even think I can get it out of the garage.
I've got a few smaller tasks to wrap up while the weather sucks and anticipate a tune in the next month to 6 weeks - we'll see how thing progress
Youre right .. BMcCann ... I do know of him - he's gonna grab me a price from Seibon on Tuesday.
shoveled and cleared the driveway and got the car out. Sorta had to because I'm a few hundred miles past an oil change on the pickup. Im having issues with post-start enrichment ... I may tinker with it but I may wait for guidance from the gent who is gonna look over my tune (which could be tomorrow). I have to give the car a little pedal to keep it from stalling out the first 20 to 30seconds and then it catches and does fine.
It's silly that I'm this excited and this nervous about getting the car up / going /idle'ing ... I think I'm just super gun-shy at this point. The car idled well. I bumped the target up to 1200rpm and also leaned-out my AFR in the low-low load / low RPM cells (-14ps to -10psi and from 0rpm to 2500rpm) by 5% (targeting 1.05 lambda). I think I was spitting out less exhaust on light throttle blips and during idle.
The car got up to 208 degrees and I had to manually turn the fan on. I mixed up fan #1 and fan #2 in the link (as I only run a single 10" fan) meaning the Link has fan #1 to click on at 190degrees and it's not wired to anything. While fan #2 comes on at 210 degrees. So I put them both to 190. Fan came on and brought temps down like you'd expect.
I forgot to plug my ECT sensor in...so that caused a hiccup and I think I'm missing a ground or something on the fuel tank line or somewhere on the harness that runs down the drivers side. My fuel temp sensor is pulling a error code, no fuel level on the dash, my fuel tank door button, and trunk popper button are inactive. I'll poke around the FSM.
a little documentation video I'm gonna compare my previous video to this one to see if I can tell a difference.
