Build thread

[speedjunkie]

The issue with the Autovox seems to be the SD card. I had just put it back in after having it out for a couple months, and I had changed the name on the video of the truck crossing in front of me, so I'm wondering if that's why it's losing its mind. I'm going to reformat it and see if that fixes it. It doesn't have the boot loop issues with the card out.

I disconnected TPMS from the CAN hub and moved the OBDII cable there and the OBDII adapter lit up, so I'm thinking the way they told me to wire the CAN connector might be causing this issue. But first I need to verify how I have it wired so I can address it with them. I believe they're wired the same way though so this is odd. I didn't get the OBDII adapter to connect to the head unit through bluetooth, but that could be due to not having it set up in NSP that way, because you have to assign each CAN (haltech vs vehicle) to either OBDII, TPMS, etc, and I didn't do that just swapping the cables last night.

Another thing I noticed was when I reconnected TPMS, the relays chirped again. I disconnected again, and then disconnected and reconnected the battery and there was no chirping. So apparently the issue is coming from the TPMS being connected. However, after disconnecting and reconnecting the TPMS cable a couple times, now the relays don't chirp at all, including when reconnecting the battery. So maybe that issue is fixed somehow? IDK

[speedjunkie]

Apparently, modifying the name of a file on the SD card for the Autovox will cause it to boot loop lol. I had added to the file name of the video where I almost T-boned the idiot on 105, and once I removed all the files, the dashcam is working fine now.

I was looking into the CAN wiring last night also and discovered that Haltech incorrectly wired the connector on the harness, it was backwards. Once I fixed that, OBDII started working again. The apps on the head unit still wouldn't connect, but my phone did, so apparently that problem is within the head unit apps. It also fixed the chirping issue, but only temporarily for some reason, which is REALLY driving me crazy. The chirping itself doesn't really bother me since it's only for a few seconds, other than the fact that it's happening at all. What really gets me is all these problems being 'fixed' and then coming back. I swapped sensor ground back into the CAN connector to see if that fixed anything, since that's how it was wired last time and Haltech told me to change it this time, but it didn't change anything.

I did discover that it's the TPMS module that's chirping, not the relays, so that makes it a bit easier to narrow down, I think? lol

I have another recurring problem too. The ground issue is back, with sensor ground and battery ground being connected all the time. And disconnecting the ECU connectors is the only thing that solves it, so far. Getting really tired of these issues.

[speedjunkie]

I talked to Haltech and they told me they'd swap out the TPMS for me, but I'm still thinking it's just power backfeeding or something to cause the chirping.

And I guess the ground issue isn't actually back, because apparently the ECU connects them even with the power off. At least that's what research tells me.

I had some issues last week with the driver's side parking light so I messed with it tonight and it fell apart when I removed it. When I bought these turn signals in 09, they were the only OEM ones I could find and the driver's side wiring had been very poorly wired. I bought some replacement signals from Eric Yandura tonight and installed them, and tightened my headlights as well since they were jiggling on bumps.

Devon Neice had suggested putting my CAS issues into ChatGPT so I did that Wednesday night for about an hour, and it suggested the most likely issue was the coils are old enough and breaking down and allowing EMI into the sensor ground wiring. Considering they're about 12 years old, I figured it was worth a shot and bought some from SBG that night and they still haven't shipped them. It also suggesting removing the coils from the sensor ground wiring and instead running that pin to the engine block, which I will not be doing lol. The smart coils are very finicky on their grounding, so that juice is not worth the squeeze. It also suggested end play might be the issue, and the engine is 12 years old as well so that could also be it. Or I was wondering if the bearings are worn to the point that the trigger wheel is moving back and forth across the crank sensor. We'll see if the new coils fix it.

[speedjunkie]

I bought some coils from SBG last week and they're still not here, and I hadn't received any emails about shipping. I contacted them yesterday and they said they were out of stock but expecting a resupply and that I'd have them within the next couple weeks. So glad I asked, and I'm glad I didn't pay for express shipping. Lack of communication is something that really grinds my gears.

I started digging into the chirping issue more and found that 5 wires were providing the ECU power. A7, A8, A24, A31, and A32. A24, A7, and A8 are the wires going to the primary and extra fuel pump relays, and A31 and A32 go to the radiator fan relays. The fuel pump relays are diode relays meant to block the current flow from 86 to 85, but unfortunately I had it wired backwards where power on the control side was coming into 85 and easily passing to 86 and on to the ECU, and then the ECU was passing that voltage through A26 to the injector relay 87, causing the chirping issue. I rewired the relays, but it didn't fix the problem. I measured resistance on the relay between 85 and 86 and got the same resistance both ways, and on a diode relay it's supposed to only see resistance one way and get open flow the other way. All three of them were the same. I swapped in the three relays from the wiper motor project and had the same issue, so I contacted Digikey and explained my issue and they said I may have damaged the relays by having them wired backwards. I don't see how that's possible though because the power would just transfer across the diode with no resistance, I would think. Either way, I guess I'll order a few more and see if that fixes it. I also checked my old fuel pump relay and it was the same, although I'm not sure if that's a diode relay or resistor relay. Either way, that one also had the same resistance both ways.

I dug into the coolant fan wiring last night and I believe the front harness I swapped in three years ago is bad. The wires that run from the ECU to trigger the relays are seeing voltage for some reason. I went through the harness before installing it and checked all the wiring with a multimeter, maybe I missed something. Between this and the fuel pump wiring, something is jacked.

[speedjunkie]

Friday night I completely removed the coolant fan module harness. I had pulled the module out years ago but only just now did the harness. It kinda sucks because the connector for X-14 is now up behind the AC box and a pain to connect the harness, but hopefully I won't need to remove it too often anyway. Another downside is that branch of the harness is fairly short as a result of having the module harness in there and now it isn't, so the whole ECU harness is now pulled back towards the firewall quite a bit more. I also only put the first fuel pump relay back in since I'm currently only using one pump. Due to these changes (I assume), the TMS4 module doesn't chirp anymore when I connect the battery, but it will give a chirp about every 3 seconds after I shut off the car.

I bought new relays from Digikey (the same model) and they all also have the same readings whichever way you check between 85 and 86, but I did notice that some of the relays don't read the same as the others. I checked them all tonight, and five of the new ones are all at 97 ohms with the sixth at 99 ohms. I checked all of the old ones aside from the one installed in the car, and a couple of them are around 95, one is in the 70s (I assume this is the one in the car), one in the 50s, one in the 20s, and one with no resistance at all. I'm told that the diode in the relay is only supposed to protect the circuit from flyback voltage, although I'm not sure yet what that is. Someone on 7club told me that it's normal to see 12V through the relay and at the ECU. I'm going to look into that more. But he seems to know a lot more than I do about this lol.

Saturday morning I did get a CEL for trigger reference error and all I did was start the car and I saw that while it was idling. I must've made it angry lol.

I still have not received the new coil packs, nor have I gotten an email about them shipping.

[speedjunkie]

I've gotten a little more direction on the power issue from 7club members. Apparently having 12V coming out of the relay is normal, and after a further explanation of how the ECU works, I guess power coming out of the two wires is normal too, as it dissipates any power from the relay. Also, Brad and another guy on 7club suggested wiring the power wire for the fuel pump relay coils (pin 86 now) to a 12V switched source rather than the battery, that way the ECU will only see the 12V from the pump relays as I'm starting the car rather than the whole time the battery is connected. Now I just need to figure out the issue with the radiator fan wiring. I'm going to check voltage on B11 again with both ECU connectors disconnected, with A connected, and after rewiring the relays. It was also suggested to use the oscilloscope in the ECU to check the crank angle sensor.

[Operator]

Yeah. Random insurance verification by Illinois Secretary of State. I didn't realize how long ago they asked for it (my Dad gets the mail at his house) and I took care of it too late. They suspended my registration without telling me and impounded the car (illegally it turns out) when they stopped me. Now they're covering it up by destroying all documentation that anything happened.

Hope you’re keeping up with the registration

[speedjunkie]

Oh I swapped to Colorado registration 10 years ago when I retired from the AF, and for all its faults, that's one annoying thing this state doesn't do lol.

I rewired the fuel pump relays to the ignition switch and it's working. I still have a chirp from the TMS4 but it's every few seconds and only after I shut down the car. It no longer chirps when connecting the battery.

I started digging into the front harness to check the radiator fan wiring. I was hesitant for a couple days, mainly because I was afraid I wouldn't find an issue and the car is currently working, so I want to drive it and don't want it down for an extended period. After inspecting for the last three days, I didn't find any issues. I was checking continuity between the 60 amp fuse and the ground trigger wire for the coil as I would move the harness, hoping for a change in resistance, and there never was. I had removed one of the relays a couple days ago, and after unwrapping the rest of the harness I noticed the resistance had changed from 35 to 73 ohms. I googled it, and it said it's normal resistance over the relay coil. Uh oh. I then realized I hadn't checked resistance with BOTH relays removed. Yep, no continuity. So basically the 12V is getting passed across the relay coils, just like the issue I had with the fuel pump relays. Then I compared the 93 and 94 wiring diagrams, and it's EXACTLY like the fuel pump issue lol. The 93 has the relay coil wired to the battery, whereas the 94 harness has it wired to the ignition switch. So I'm going to swap my old harness back into the car this next winter, along with getting the ECU repaired. That should resolve any remaining wiring issues.

[speedjunkie]

I swapped the coils a couple weeks ago when they finally came in and took some logs that night but didn't get a chance to look until we got back from our two week vacation Sunday night. It looks like the problem is still there just going based on trigger tooth count. So I guess it could still be the flex fuel sensor being wired to sensor ground, maybe a bad CAS even though it's new, a corrupted tune, or maybe my engine is old and worn enough that the end play is causing the trigger wheel to move far enough from the sensor while the engine is turning.

Morris came over a few weeks ago and I showed him the metal fender flares from Ulterior Motive and he bent one of them around the fender and it looks like they will actually work, so this weekend I'm going to talk to a guy in Castle Rock who does metal body work and see about getting them done this next winter, and then getting the car painted. And along with that I'll need to figure out the side mirror situation, do any final modifications to the new body kit and mount those pieces, see about modifying the stock hood I have to fit the FEED style vents like the current hood, and sort out the splitter situation. I saw another type of splitter mount that's even easier to install and remove but they don't have one specifically for the FD, so I'd need to see about modifying what I currently have. And I might also look into building a custom diffuser, but that's a lot for one winter lol, especially considering I'd also need to figure out the sizes of lips and barrels I'll need for the 3pc wheels and finally build those now that the fenders will be done. And with getting the car painted, I'd remove the engine and get the bay all cleaned out and do any final modifications on that, and I'd do an end play check on the engine, swap the oil pan if I find one that fits better, etc while it's out. I'd also take that time to replace the front harness and maybe even cover the dash in Alcantara finally lol, or maybe leather. It has some nicks that I'd like to hide, but mostly it's pretty good.

I'm also thinking about trying to find a car that has a tilt and telescoping steering column and combine that with the FD column, and maybe switch to a stock steering wheel that's small enough. Our 2013 Civic has the same size steering wheel I'm currently using, at 14", and I think I could make it look pretty good. I'm also considering modifying the stock seats to have more bolster, and maybe a vented center on the lean so my back doesn't get sweaty during the summer.

[speedjunkie]

I found someone on youtube that built their own digital dash using pretty much the same things I used, except he built his own Arduino board instead of using the one from OneGauge or someone else. He did use the same board though. I found him on IG and messaged him and he suggested getting on his Discord, so I did that too. He explained how to build the hex file so I might be able to get into it and make needed changes without bothering OG. He also mentioned that he disables power transfer in the USB cable between the Pi and Arduino and I mentioned it to OG. They said you can either use the Pi to power their board or use the black and red provided wires, and I was using both lol. I guess I need to start reading directions haha. I disconnected the red wire from power and so far my dash has not had the disconnect/reconnect issue while driving, which got really bad after I put the newest hex file onto the hub. It still disconnects and reconnects once after you first start the car, but the larger issue seems to be fixed so far.

I put some yarn on the hood to do a tuft test a few days ago. I also had the display pulled out because I've been having issues with the ebrake light coming on with the cruise control light when it's engaged, so I was testing resistance of the CC circuit while driving. I had the car out and I couldn't rev higher than 2900rpm, it would start breaking up. It did it in every gear, so I figured it was probably one of the failsafes set up in the map. I checked for check engine lights, which I remembered seeing as I shut the car down the last time I drove it, and it had a CEL for the oil pressure sensor. I checked and it was still connected. I disabled the failsafe for the oil pressure sensor the next day and started the car and revved past 2900 with no issues. I reenabled it and checked again and it still had no issues, but I had read that sometimes you have to shut the car down and restart for it to really clear the issue, so I'm guessing that's what happened. I'm still going to test drive it again tonight to verify though.

The tuft test was...inconclusive at best, and a waste of time at worst. At least for me. Others had tested the FEED hood and found that the front vent pushed air out, and the rear vent pulled air in, so I was expecting to see the same. I attached the yarn to the inside of the hood but left it out through the vent. Most of them didn't even move, only two of them did anything and they barely moved. That being said, I wasn't able to get above 75mph due to the 2900rpm limitation, so I'm hoping either that or my choice of road was what affected it. Or maybe it's because I don't have an undertray on the car or some other factor.

[speedjunkie]

I disabled the flex fuel sensor in the tune and disconnected it and idled the car last night, the trigger tooth count looks just like it does with the sensor connected, so I'm pretty sure it didn't fix my issue but I haven't driven the car and logged it to be sure.

[speedjunkie]

I've gotten a bit out of pocket with planned projects lately lol.

I recently realized that I could have the ECU control the oil cooler fans and a possible IC fan, and I could use stock wiring and unused stock relays. I'm going to use the ABS fuse to power the IC fan, and then ground the fan through the air pump relay and that relay is triggered by 2J in the stock ECU connector. And I'm going to use the fuel pump relay to power the oil cooler fans, and that's triggered by 1T. I was going to use the fuel pump speed relay along with the fuel pump relay, but it would only be powered if the fuel pump relay is powered. I could stage the fans with those two relays, but that would require using yet another output to trigger the 2nd relay and it's not required. It would be pretty trick though. I'll be swapping back to my old harness this winter anyway, so I can kind of getting ahead of it. The plus side of using the ECU to control the fans is I can change when they come on rather than having a set temp by the temp switch, although the current setup is pretty sturdy. Also, it will clean up the bay even a little more by ditching an extra relay and some wiring.

Due to this summer being so hot, and my AC now not working again because the refrigerant has leaked out, I decided to go ahead and swap to an RX-8 compressor. Technically I'll be using a Toyota MR2 Spyder compressor, it's the same model with a couple differences; it has a 6 rib pulley (which is one of the reasons I decided against it before since the RX-8 compressor has a 4 rib pulley and the FD uses a 6 rib belt), and there is a lock sensor on the MR2 compressor that the RX-8 version doesn't have, but it won't be used anyway so it really doesn't matter. Another reason I decided against this swap is because I hadn't found any fittings that would work with the compressor, and I wasn't a fan of JP3's lines. They make really quality and beautiful stuff, but I feel the lines lack that little bit extra to make it look OEM. When I first installed the current setup and made the lines look OEM, they actually asked me if I'd be interested in making lines for their kit, but I knew I couldn't make them to their standard, so I decided against it. I did tell them they could copy my design but they didn't do that for whatever reason. Anyway, since the 6 rib pulley requirement was met, I set out to find lines that would work, and they both came off an 03 Toyota Rav4. The larger suction line will need to be bent a little, but the discharge line might work just the way it is, on both ends, possibly even without needing to be bent at all, and that's honestly a little crazy. To find a line that works right out of the box for two different cars. The line might have to go under the steering rack to fit correctly, since both ends angle that way somewhat and the soft part of the line is a little long. We'll see how it plays out. I kinda want to remake the suction line anyway and possibly the hard line from the condenser to the evaporator, because I'm not completely pleased with the welded look on the lines and I didn't know Brad Hopkins could braze at that time or I would have asked him. Brazing looks so much better and more OEM. Plus my pressure sensor still leaks for some reason and I'd like to put in a more readily available sensor in case I ever need to change it. Here is how they lines fit on the compressor and condenser without modification.
20260724_171942 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20260725_173632 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

Another part of this project that turned me off before was that the compressor sat so far out from the engine due to the thickness of the adapter brackets. Brad and I both didn't like that or the JP3 lines, so we decided to collaborate and discuss ideas. I realized we can just machine down the stock bracket to account for the extra thickness of the adapter brackets, and maybe a little extra to bring the compressor that much closer to the engine. The threaded holes for the original compressor go almost all the way through the bracket, so there were enough threads to take off 15mm, which is what I decided. That leaves a little room for the stud that comes in right behind the compressor, and enough thread to use the original bolts that came with the kit from JDL Manufacturing, hopefully. I took the bracket up to Jason Kaiser today and he starting CNC machining it, and there was a slight problem getting it level because I didn't realize the back of the bracket isn't flat all the way across, and I later realized that the posts on one side aren't as tall as the other, so taking 15mm off leaves not as much material and threads on one side as it does on the other. But that can be solved with shorter bolts or just drilling and tapping the holes on that side all the way through. It still needs to be machined a bit more, but this is the idea.
Messenger_creation_D603935E-4CE4-4C74-A78F-152BB9548A17 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

The craziest project I've been thinking about lately is adapting a steering column and steering wheel from a newer Mazda that has tilt and telescoping and all the controls for the stereo, phone, and cruise control. There is a 2014 Mazda 6 at U Pull right now and I started removing the column this morning but I didn't have a 12mm deep socket with me and couldn't get the last two nuts off. Then I realized it's way too wide for the FD, it would never fit unless I had the dash piece opening widened. And that's doable, but I'm not sure it's worth it. The FD column covers don't extend into the dash opening like they do on the 6, which are about 2.5-3" wider than the opening on the FD. I could still probably modify the shaft to include tilt and telescoping, but it would still be a lot of work and I really want the steering wheel controls too. Another thing the 2014 Mazda 6 has on the steering shaft is electric power steering, which is something a lot of guys have been swapping to, but the assembly is huge and I'm not even sure it would fit under the dash of the FD. I'm looking for cars with smaller wheels and columns. The smallest steering wheels I've found so far are about 14-14.5", I wish I could find some 13". And I haven't seen one yet with a smaller column. The only downside I can think of swapping to a stock wheel is I won't be able to remove it anymore for help with ingress and egress.

So it's going to be a very busy winter between all this and the bodywork and paint, and possibly even building another engine, maybe swapping in an RX-8 4.44 diff. IDK lol.