Build thread

[speedjunkie]

20210521_181739 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20210521_182300 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I got the seats back from Nick after work today and got them installed. I sat in the seat without foam and realized that my butt sits a little further forward so the part that's dropped is too far back. Ugh. When I was planning out which part of it to drop, I forgot that the stock seat bottom is much longer than these and to account for that. However, the part that's dropped might be OK since that's where the end of my spine is and it felt like it was bouncing off the seat before. I put in just the green piece of foam I picked up at JoAnn's and it feels pretty good and I'm just about the right height, if not a little low. Somehow this is working haha. Then I put the seat cover back on over the green foam and I sat as high as stock or higher. The problem is the green piece of foam covers the whole bottom of the seat, and the majority of it is still at the previous height. If I cut this foam to fit just the dropped part I could put the seat cover back on, but I think what I'll probably do is add foam to contour the shape I want. Or I'll cut this piece to fit the dropped part and still add foam to the rest. I'm still thinking about putting memory foam in this somewhere, probably a layer under the butt if I can and a layer on the lean. I was going to add it everywhere but I'm not sure I'd get the benefit of it on the sides. JoAnn's had some foam that they claimed was memory foam but I don't think it was.

I ordered a new welt for the driver's door since mine has a tear in it, and I've been talking to a lady about rewrapping the shift knob (I picked up a stock one for $20) and ebrake handle in leather. I haven't talked to Fahad about the mirror bases for a while, so I'm not sure if he's still going ahead with that project. I'd like to get them though.

[speedjunkie]

I think I found a good combination of foam. I had ordered 1" thick foam from Amazon and when it came in I noticed it definitely wasn't memory foam. Well, that would be because it wasn't even sold as memory foam, which is what I noticed when I went back to leave a review lol. I went to Kohl's and had a 25% off coupon from an Amazon return and they just happened to have a twin size 1.5" gel memory foam mattress topper that I got for about $30. I was counting on it compressing enough to not affect my seating position and raise me back up, but still provide enough cushioning, and so far it feels like it does just that. My seating position hasn't changed, and it feels comfortable so far but I'll see once I do a long drive. I then cut out the side pieces using the high density foam I got from JoAnn's.
2021-06-04_10-28-42 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20210604_193037 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20210604_213549 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20210604_214447 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

Obviously I still need to do the foam for the headrest but I'm trying to figure out how thick I should go on that. I'm thinking about having an upholsterer do this all in once piece that will snap onto the seat in the original places, and maybe do some kind of seal over the edge of the seat, especially where the shoulder bolster is, just in case it touches the door panel at some point.

[speedjunkie]

Finished the foam for the headrest and under the legs. I still need to do a long test drive to make sure this will work, but I really can't see why it wouldn't since just the 2" of high density under the butt felt way better than anything else so far, and now I have memory foam on top of that. I think this is a winner. If it tests well, I'm going to cut the foam for the other seat and get them both upholstered. I'm not sure if I want to do a cover that snaps on like the one that comes with the seat, or have the foam velcro onto the seat. I'm afraid if I don't have the fabric wrap over the edge of the seat that the foam will pull down when I get in the car. I'm afraid the velcro might not hold it in place well enough, especially since the edge of the foam would be exposed and easy to separate from the seat. As much as I think it would look cleaner, I'm just not sure it would work for me.

I also just bought some edging for the shoulder bolsters to soften up the edge in case it touches the door panel when I'm cornering right.
https://www.mcmaster.com/12335A53/

2021-06-06_09-08-11 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

I forgot to mention I changed out the spring in the wastegate actuator to a 7psi spring and put the 4 port solenoid and stainless braided lines back in. I took the car out tonight and it's definitely running on spring pressure. Sometimes it'll creep to 10psi, but no higher. I tried to do some logging tonight too but I'm not sure it worked. At least the way it's set up now it'll be easier to handle on track, and it's still kinda fun, but not as much fun as 20psi lol.

I've been contacting upholsterers for the seats but so far I haven't had much luck. Seems like most people are backed up for weeks and I'm trying to get this done before 7s day. On the drive tonight I felt like I was sitting higher in the seat again, so I'm not sure what's up with that but I'm tired of trying to figure this out lol.

[speedjunkie]

I did a long drive yesterday. Originally it was going to be all fun roads through the mountains, but instead I went straight to Joe's house in Northglenn and we got to tuning. We ended up driving all the way out to 470, then back to 85 and up to just south of Greeley. Then back to his place and after I left I drove across to Golden to see lookout mountain, then 70 east to 470 south to 285 south to get on 126 and 67 to Woodland Park, went west to Lake George and dropped off my shift knob and ebrake handle to get rewrapped in leather, then back to town and home. I left home around 6-630am and got home about 8pm. I don't even know how many miles I drove but I think I only fueled up about 2.5 times lol.

We worked on idle and cruising AFRs, and ended up messing up idle a bit when I let off the throttle lol. It died many times, but for now it's set to land around 1500 and hold until it drops down to idle for good around 1000. Seems pretty happy there. Boost control was a bit weird because somehow all the boost settings were lost and we had to reset them by guessing. It took a while and we didn't get every single setting reset, but that's fine because I only use about 2 or 3 of them anyway, so we landed on 10psi, 14ish psi, 18psi, and a final setting of 20psi. Unfortunately all those were lost again after I left his house and in addition to that I was hitting boost cut at odd times. We were going to work on water injection too but didn't have the parts for testing it.

Regarding the seats, I did learn that I'll need to cut the butt down more, but I'm taking them to Xavier this time, mainly so I can afford to keep messing with this project lol. The seats felt fine, but I was sitting too high again. This shit is getting old. I also found the upholsterer I'm going to use. A.I.R. Upholstery in Black Forest. The guy is awesome, and was totally on board with what I want to do.

Joe told me he was using thermocouple temp sensors for intake air temp because they're crazy fast reacting, and I'd been reading about doing this on 7club. I'm going to do this eventually, and also probably use it for the intake pipe for the turbo too. Just have to figure out which amp he got to work with it.
http://thesensorconnection.com/thermoco ... 3KCDhNV6e8

Today I bought the mirror bases from ZK Motoring so my Ganador mirrors will finally be fully usable on my LHD car. it was almost $400, which in addition to the original $500 cost for the mirrors is a bit ridiculous, but I'm excited that they'll finally be useable. He ended up not doing a group buy so they're made to order and will take about a week and a half to make them and ship.
received_4134347776604494 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
received_411777336525079 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
received_335816187900339 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

After tinkering with the cal on the ECU for the past few days, we're the closest we've been yet. Joe adjusted the cals a few times but it never got rid of the dying issue when returning to idle from throttle, so I modified the older map from Chris with the wastegate control settings from Joe, and I played with the fuel maps in the dead spot area and it's pretty much gone now and idle/return to idle is good. Boost still trails off but Joe said that can be fixed.

Hopefully I'll be taking the seats to Xavier this weekend so we can modify them one last time and I can get them upholstered before 7s day. I'm not holding my breath for that though, since Kevin said he's booked for a couple months still. I think he might try to squeeze in my job though. And hopefully the ebrake handle and shift knob are wrapped by then too.

I got the new reverse camera last night. I'm not sure it's what I was thinking it was though. It mounts behind the license plate and pops out over the top like my current one, but it has LEDs on it and I was thinking it was the IR stuff. I'm gonna try to test it first before I install it fully.

[speedjunkie]

Did a couple little things tonight. I installed my cupholder lol, FINALLY! I've been waiting years for this! lol My water bottle sits a little high, but it's between the legs so it's not bad. Cups will be perfect. And this thing is so sturdy and it holds anything tight. I got it for about $12 on Amazon. It has an attachment to affix it to a bar like on a wheelchair, stroller, etc, I just removed that part and put a bolt through the hole.
20210618_173945 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

During tuning the other day we discovered I had the lines between the wastegate actuator and solenoid routed opposite of what they're supposed to be, and having them routed correctly stretched one of the lines a little far, so I made another one, and while I had the solenoid out I figured I should heat wrap it since it sits fairly close to the turbo, and I was wondering if that's why the previous one failed.
20210618_213023 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I also lined out on the seats where I can drop the butt pan and how much. I might start cutting up the seats tomorrow and cut some pieces out of the 2'x4' sheet of 1/8" 6061 aluminum I picked up at Glaser today ($84!). I probably got more than I needed, looking at it again now lol.

[speedjunkie]

I cut the butt of the seat out today and fiberglassed a new one that I'll pop in from the top and attach with nuts and bolts. This one will be SUPER low, it practically touches the floor like the stock seat. It should be completely set up by tomorrow so I'll pop it out, trim it, drill the holes, and cut the new foam inserts. It took me a while to make the first cut because I spent a good deal of money to get the bottoms dropped and now that's all for nothing. I wish I'd just done this from the beginning. I was a little concerned about structural integrity at first, but I put the seat back in with the hole cut and it didn't flex any more than it did before. And I have a feeling this should be as strong or maybe stronger than my oil cooler ducts and those things could take a direct hit from a nuke lol.

Kevin Cypher helped me out, he cut a bunch of strips that I used criss cross every couple layers. I did the first two layers with pieces that covered the entire hole, then I did a couple criss cross pieces, then strips across and a few pieces in the corners to strengthen them, then another whole piece, followed by another criss cross, one front to back, a couple more corners and a couple pieces across, and one more whole piece. I used two entire pieces of fiberglass cloth. Should be enough, hopefully lol. I just hope it didn't add too much height back into it haha.
20210620_164649 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20210620_165902 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20210620_171602 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20210620_184339 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20210620_194552 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

Well, I learned a valuable lesson about resin and hardener, they have a shelf life. I checked yesterday morning before work and it wasn't cured yet, which is already a red flag. I checked again when I got home and it still wasn't cured, so I pulled it and threw it away and laid it again with new resin and hardener, and I didn't add paint this time because I think the paint is expired too and I didn't want to take any chances. I trimmed the edges and sanded the bottom to ensure it doesn't get caught on the carpet. It's ready for drilling the holes and installing the bolts, which I'll do tomorrow night, then I'll cut the new foam and test it and start working on the passenger seat. I really don't see the upholstery being done by 7s day so I'll probably just skip it until after.
20210622_191601 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20210622_192422 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

I picked up some hardware today and got this thing installed into the seat. I sanded it a little where the teeth pop out to allow the seat to slide. It wasn't necessary but it's better to have more room just in case. I cut some foam for the new bottom (2" thick in the drop and a 1" layer over the top of that, and then the 1.5" of memory foam topping that) and MAN is this seat comfortable now. It's like a lazyboy haha. And my eyes are just above the steering wheel like I wanted, although I'm betting I'll sink in the seat a little as I drive. I'll find out about that soon enough. I sat in just the bottom without foam and I couldn't see over the steering wheel. Crazy. It's more comfortable than any of the DD's that we have.
2021-06-23_10-20-58 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I bought a dash cam/mirror on Amazon Tuesday and received it tonight. It's nice, but as of yet it won't work with my mirror attachment. It comes with four adapters but none of them work. I'm not sure if I'm just going to send it back or find a way to make it work. I got it about $50 cheaper than normal so I'd like to make it work.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0895 ... UTF8&psc=1

[speedjunkie]

Got quite a bit done today. Did oil changes on the Pathfinder and Melba, pulled the passenger seat and cut the bottom out and fiberglassed in the lower bottom, and fiberglassed the front bumper and passenger sideskirt where they've broken over the years. I've had new body pieces to put on for a few years now, but I'm waiting to get the splitter before I do the new bumper so it's protected. The front bumper has been cracked for almost 9 years now but I was waiting to put the new stuff on, then I realized I should just fix the broken stuff because I still don't know how long it will be before I put on the splitter. I think I'll do a lot of reinforcement in the new front bumper and sideskirts before I put them on though, and I'm going to add bracing and expanding foam to at least the sideskirts so they're rigid. Although that will make jacking the car up that much more difficult.

I asked a question on Amazon about the mirror and the company said they had more adapters and to email them a picture of my mirror base and I got an email from the company saying they'd ship me the proper bracket. The only problem is it's coming from China and she said it takes 4-5 weeks for shipping, which really isn't so much a problem and possibly not even an inconvenience considering it'll probably be a while before I get around to installing it anyway.

[speedjunkie]

Well, I have a feeling this project is going to take a backseat to life for quite a while.

My dad died yesterday at 340pm CST and I'm completely crushed. He was one of my best friends and I would take him for a ride when I took the car home or when he was out here visiting, and I feel like working on it will only remind me of him and break me every time. I got back to Colorado on Monday and I haven't even stepped into the garage yet.

He went into the hospital on Monday, July 5th, with Covid and Pneumonia. He was just diagnosed with prostate cancer a few weeks ago, and he's had heart problems a lot in the past, so it didn't look good to begin with. He was pretty sure he had Covid last year and said it was the worst thing he'd ever been through. He waiting too long this time though, I think, because he felt bad for several days before he went to the hospital, which was pretty much his MO. He got better the first few days, then around late last week or last weekend he started having trouble at night. Monday morning he called me and didn't sound good so I decided to go to the hospital to check on him and make sure the nurses were giving him what he was asking for. They let me and my stepmom in to see him only because I was leaving for CO that same day. I should have taken that as a sign that I should stay there instead of flying back. He had a really bad night Monday night and they put him on a ventilator Tuesday and gave him a 20% chance. Wednesday morning my brother called and said his oxygen levels were good but his body wasn't using it, and his kidneys were starting to shut down. A couple hours later he called and said his kidneys were pretty much done and his heart was at 40%. The doctors said it was a covid storm, which I had never heard of but it attacks all your organs. He called all of us and got a consensus on what we should do. He's always been hard working and independent, and he was still driving his truck to Florida at least once a week, so we knew he wouldn't be OK with living as basically a vegetable, so we all decided that it was time to take him off the ventilator. My brother called all of us so we could talk to him one last time, then they took him off and he passed a short bit later. He never wanted to be on the ventilator in the first place, but he made my stepmom promise that she wouldn't leave him on there longer than what the doctors suggested.

This is the worst pain I've ever felt. I was always so excited to see him, he was such a happy person and always had a smile on his face. He loved family, and I just wish I would have done more to spend more time with him and talk to him more. And even then it still wouldn't be enough. He was planning on coming out here next month to bring my FB and we were going to tour Colorado and take the Durango train like he'd been wanting to do for years. That is probably what hurts the most. I was so excited for next month. I was going to take him to a track day if I could and/or to the Golden Super Cruise.

He kept my grandma's 65 Mercury Comet and we always talked about building it together. I'm going to see if I can bring it out here and finally build it. I'm concerned about finding parts though, because it's in very rough shape.

I love you Dad, forever and ever. And I'm going to miss you more than words can describe.
SmartSelect_20210714-151615_Facebook by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
SmartSelect_20210714-151639_Facebook by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
SmartSelect_20210714-151317_Facebook by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

I ended up wanting to work on the car again sooner than I thought. I installed the new rear view mirror/dash cam and backup camera. I got the mirrors bases from Fahad and started test fitting them a couple nights ago. Eh, they're not great. I let him know last night and sent him pics and while he's helpful to a point, it seems like he won't be interested in sending out a different set or whatever, so I'll leave them on for now and most likely come up with a different solution ultimately. I haven't even painted them. I had to modify the driver's side a bit to get it to fit to the car better. Neither mirror housing fits either base very well, but it'll do for now. I wanted to finish them up for the drive this weekend. I should have just waited.

[speedjunkie]

The current seat covers that Kirkey makes has the same 3D mesh material I was planning to use so I just ordered some new seat covers yesterday and they're drop shipping from Kirkey and hopefully will be here in a couple weeks. I'll have the shoulder bolsters modified and I might remove some of the foam on them and use the memory foam instead, but we'll see.

Tonight I reinstalled the panels on the bottom of the car that I removed YEARS ago. I was looking into flat bottom solutions for the car, then I realized that Mazda attempted this already with those panels. There are three of them, one for each rear wheel well and one for under the tranny. I may have left them off before because my transmission tunnel was almost getting hot enough to burn my leg, but it could have been from laziness. I'm not really sure. But if the tranny tunnel starts getting hot again, I'll be removing that one.

[speedjunkie]

I got the seat covers a while back and installed them, but I haven't had them modified yet. The guy is supposed to call me when he has a little free time but I haven't heard anything. And since I might be losing my job soon I'm kinda holding off on projects that cost money anyway.

I did get the new horn button finished a few weeks ago. Well, I should say Collyn and I finished it. I designed it and he put it in CAD and made it. I really like it, although I'm thinking about getting it anodized black so it blends in and getting black screws also. It's not completely flush like I was wanting, but I can play with it a little more probably to get it flush. And I'm going to see if I can grind out inside the lines of the M logo with a dremel or something. I'd like to find a way to do it where it's nice and uniform and maybe a rough texture inside the lines, but I'm not sure how I'd do that.
20211019_155040 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20211010_215718 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I noticed recently that my oil level was a little low, and I really feared that my oil seals were bad. But I noticed a mess on the bottom of the oil pan, so I'm guessing it's just the seal on one of the drain plugs or something. I'll take a look at that on the next oil change. The oil pan has hit the ground a few times, but it's pretty sturdy and it didn't look damaged the last time I was under the car.

If I get to keep my job I'm going to possibly get a new radiator since this one is seeping again. It's been bounced off the ground a few times too so at the very least I'm going to raise the leading edge. It's barely seeping out, but it still makes me nervous.

I noticed a while back that my fuel pressure will be low, in the mid to high 20s at times. Eventually it climbs back up to normal over time, but it makes me nervous. I don't know if my pumps are failing or what. I'm thinking about redoing the entire fuel system again actually.

I might also pull the engine back out (or at least the turbo and manifold and mock up the extra engine on the workbench) and make hard lines for the coolant and oil lines for the turbo. I need to remove the mirrors and get the original Ganadors 3D scanned, along with several other things I'm planning on start making. But I'm not sure how much it'll cost to get everything scanned, so I don't want to do that until I know I have a steady paycheck. I'd also like to get the mounts for the splitter and get that made so I can finally do the bodywork and paint.