Build thread

[speedjunkie]

I was doing boost tuning today and on the last run I heard a huge boost leak, and when I let off the car was idling at 4-5k haha. Turns out one of the freeze plugs popped out. Was an interesting drive home haha.

[speedjunkie]

I bought some 21/32" freeze plugs and Xcessive got back to me and I bought a couple freeze plugs from them too, but I'm not sure either one has shipped, so it sucks that I probably won't be able to drive the car this weekend. Ugh. And I had to cancel my appt to get AC charged today also.

I realized I had another cruise control module in my bins and that one had a better cable so I swapped it out, but of course I had to clean off the corrosion first. It's the little things lol.
20230817_182628 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20230817_183545 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

I took the car to Travis at JC Repair today to get the AC charged. He got it charged, but the compressor isn't getting power for some reason, so basically I still don't have AC lol. And when I picked up the car, the check engine light was on and it was P1301 trigger reference error. I cleared it and started the car and it didn't come back, but I haven't driven on it yet.

[speedjunkie]

I did some testing tonight and it works, kinda.

Since my AC request switch input is around 3.1-3.2v, I changed on to 3.5v and off is still 5v. I had to up the idle increase from 70 to about 200RPM because the engine kept dying with only 70RPM increase. I eventually changed it to 100RPM.

And of course button mode is now push on, push off, and startup state is last state.

My problem now is when I push off the AC button to turn it off, AC stays on. When I press it again, the button lights back up but the compressor disengages, and the fans stay on. Then when I press it again, it turns AC off fully, compressor stays off and the fans turn off.

[speedjunkie]

I finally found all the info I needed and got the AC sorted out, partly with Joe's help, and some guys from the forum. I played with the settings and got them as good as I could.

Final AC 1.jpg (57.76 KiB) Viewed 669 times

Final AC 2.jpg (45.07 KiB) Viewed 669 times

Then I took the car out to finish up boost tuning, and ended up finding a couple failure points haha. On the second pull at 18psi, the pressure blew the IC down and out of the coupler. Then on the last pull, still around 18psi, the brake booster line blew apart at the coupler I'm using. It has always been so tight, I figured there was no way it could come apart, and now it's loose to where I can take it apart at will. So I'll put some oetiker clamps on that line and eventually change the IC couplers over to the Alphaloc couplers I picked up several years ago, once I get the IC and piping redone.

Also, my clutch might be slipping, but I'm not sure. The RPM is steady from 4k to 5k, but then shoots up from 5k to 6k, and then it builds steady after that. I didn't smell clutch disc burning though.

It feels really good to finally have water injection and AC working after all these years of trying. There are still a few things I need to do, but the car is pretty much finished.

[speedjunkie]

I drove it to work Tuesday and it died on me on the way home, in rush hour traffic, and was hard to start again, which ended up popping my circuit breaker and not letting me reset it for another minute. WTF I guess I was a little too cocky using AC haha.

So I tinkered with the hot start fueling, and messed with Prime Pulse a very small amount and I tried messing with post start correction to cure the hunting but it didn't change anything at all. So I'm going to take the car out for a bit tomorrow to see if I have finally nailed down hot starting in driving conditions, because I feel like it's on its best behavior sitting in the garage and only acts like an ass when I'm driving it lol.

Then Saturday and Sunday are car fundays. WOOHOO!

[speedjunkie]

So far the hot start issues seem to be resolved, and it hasn't been hunting when starting normally, only when starting and turning off over and over. When we were meeting up on Saturday to drive to Golden, the car was idling with AC on and it died suddenly, but Joe changed a couple things while we were at the cruise and it hasn't died since, but I did have a different issue yesterday only while and after using AC, where the idle was around 2k instead of dropping down, and it would climb between shifts. I made a change that hopefully will work. Other than that it drove great! And we had a great time on the drive yesterday.

[speedjunkie]

I was looking for a small project to do and started researching small cameras to mount where the sprayer used to be at the top of the hatch. I found one that's fairly small, although I wish it was a bit smaller. But it is adjustable and has a mount that kinda works. I need to 3D print a sleek mount for it though with a cover, because I realized this one can still let water in if it rains, and it'll go right inside the hatch itself. But at least the display is much better than shooting through the tinted glass. Another problem is that it doesn't truly indicate a vehicles distance, but I can verify with my side mirrors lol.
20230920_120938 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20230920_120930 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

It's about that time, to start disassembling the car. Octurbofest is this weekend so I'll wait to disassemble until after that. I did buy the parts needed for swapping the headlights over to LED projectors, and I've gotten most of the parts. I tested one of the lights last night and it looks good, should be very bright. I need an H4 connector to finish the wiring and the alignment washers for the projector are off center, so I have to modify those and tack a couple together, at least for the time being until I get some water jetted. I'm hoping to have at least a temporary setup on the car before this weekend.

I bought these projectors and some Sonar headlight housings that I'll have to bake and open.
https://www.amazon.com/Projector-Headli ... 9tdGY&th=1

[speedjunkie]

I just finished this swap a couple nights ago. I bought the projectors from Amazon for about $83 on sale.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WY6QT7F?ps ... ct_details

I bought the Sonar housings also but the name on Amazon was VIPMOTOZ.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0736FRKPD?ps ... ct_details

They didn't come with shrouds, so I got these.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KHH8PWA?ps ... ct_details

With just the wiring that comes with the lights, it would only turn on the lights or activate the high beam cutoff, not both, not without wiring in a rectifier diode. So I bought this harness. Jonathan used it on his swap but he used different projectors that it connected to directly.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N29QI4U?ps ... ct_details

I goofed when I was building the wiring, soldering all the connections instead of using connectors.  Then I realized the bigger box that came with the projectors wouldn't fit through the hole in the housing, so I put a Deutsch connector there.  I thought it was all good at that point, then realized the smaller box that came on the other harness wouldn't fit through the washer holes lol.  So I found some small Molex connectors I had on hand, luckily.  The lights don't look so bright when the street is lit up, but on a dark street they're pretty good. For just over $200 all in, it's a really good swap.

Xavier tacked together the washers because they're not aligned properly, so I ground down the key on the main washer and used an extra washer for the key. I painted them after to make sure they don't rust.
20231104_194916 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

The box in this pic is the one that came with the lights. I secured them with screws.
20231104_225844 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I routed the excess wiring below the bucket and secured it. I ran the lights up and down several times to ensure no binding or crushing.
20231104_225841 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

This is low beam. It took me a bit to remember how to aim the lights, even after reading the directions the same day haha. I think the right light might need to move more to the right, but I did them according to the instructions.
20231105_185530 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

High beams.
20231105_185535 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

I bought a Joying 8" stereo on Black Friday deals for about $400 and installed it over the last couple days. One of my buddies in Texas has this in his FD and it doesn't need a trim ring because it fills out the entire opening. Along with that reason, I wanted this because I can show ODBII gauges and TPMS. I downloaded Car Launcher Pro to use because I hate the look of the provided software. I'm going to have OBDII and TPMS start immediately. I bought another Pioneer install kit to use, but I had to drill an extra hole in each side piece for an extra screw into the stereo. I'm going to put the Pioneer stereo into the Pathfinder, and I was going to pull the microphone and GPS antenna from the car but I secured them too well behind the dash, so I guess I'll pull them again next time I pull the dash haha. I still have some setting up to do on the Car Launcher app, but at least it's all installed.

Comparing the two, and the harness I built.
20231207_224806 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

The extra hole I had to drill.
20231207_225814 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20231208_212757 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

What it looks like installed. It doesn't go all the way back into the hole, but it's pretty close. But it's good that it doesn't go all the way in because the screen pulls off so you can get the main box out.
20231207_205501 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

The only problem is the gap between the screen and the stereo surround at the corners, since the surround curves. Thinking about putting some sealer or something in the corners to close it up.
20231207_205508 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I have a couple other small tasks to complete today. I bought some pieces from JP3Motorsports to put on the sun visors that allow them to clip into the holders. Previously I had put some steel spacers on them and they've worked pretty well but they're very tight. These were 3D printed I believe.
https://jp3motorsports.com/collections/ ... ent-barrel

I also bought some of their exhaust ground straps but I'll install those when I'm under the car swapping the clutch, which is on backorder.
https://jp3motorsports.com/collections/ ... ound-cable

And I also got some block off plates for the engine as a short block. I got it all on Black Friday deals. They have a lot of good stuff, but much of it I've already done myself so there's no reason to buy it.

[speedjunkie]

I've been using a cheap OBD adapter and the Torque app to see extra gauges and clear fault codes, but the coolant temp sensor is pretty slow to read (all others seem to be quick), and I saw a post on 7club saying that OBDLINK is a bit faster. So I bought an OBDLINK adapter and tried using their app, but the adapter won't pair to the head unit. I tried unpairing all other Bluetooth connections (the only one was the cheap OBD adapter) but OBDLINK still won't pair. I think there is a pop up box that won't come up on the HU but came up on my phone. I'm going to try installing it on my head unit that's in my daily, but that one is about 10 years old so I'm not even sure it will be able to download the app lol. After that, I guess OBDLINK will get returned. I did play around with the Torque app and found settings to maximize the speed of communications, hopefully that speeds up coolant temp readings. I also messed with the themes and got the gauges looking just like my gauges in the cluster. I still haven't found a solution for viewing oil pressure, which is really the only thing left that I'd like to monitor. I wonder if I could load a different vehicle that came with a stock oil pressure gauge.
20231220_232033 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

I tried installing the T'eyes TPMS but haven't been successful yet. USB1 has the music thumb drive and my 90k songs lol, and USB2 I used for the TPMS because the HU didn't even recognize it when I plugged it into USB3 (the cable). When I plugged it into USB 2, it asked which app I wanted to use. I was hoping the app would be loaded onto the receiver but I guess not. The kit I bought several years ago and couldn't use came with a thumb drive with software, so I might try to use that. But I downloaded three different apps trying to get it to work. Any of them would probably work if I could pair the sensors to the app and receiver, but I don't have codes on the sensors. I have to see if I can get them read somehow. I'm not holding my breath on that. Nothing came in the kit other than the sensors, receiver, and a sticker for each wheel. They didn't even come with batteries. No directions at all.

My backup camera gets no signal for some reason. I thought maybe it was disconnected, but it wasn't. I've tried different settings for it too, because you can choose different cameras. Nothing has worked so far. I might have to buy yet another backup camera lol.

For the past week or so I've been modifying the car launcher app to my liking, which has been a huge learning curve and there is still so much I have to learn. I still haven't figured out how to get the audio controls working on the home screen. Volume control is all that works for some reason, and I added those and the time playing of the song (0:00/0:00), which doesn't do anything. Next song/ previous song/ play/ pause don't do anything. Not a huge issue since I don't really listen to music, but still.
20231220_232554 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

[speedjunkie]

I finally figured out the audio controls. I added a widget from Poweramp and deleted the controls that came on it. I still need to figure out how to get the album art to display behind the left side of the screen.
20231226_145429 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

And with the help of someone on 7club, I was able to add a custom PID so I could add an oil pressure gauge on the Torque Pro app. I have the things I mainly want to see on page 1, and anything else on page 2. I might have the EGT gauges swapped, I seem to remember the rear sensor reading higher. I'd like to eventually add the second air temp sensor, but it's not imperative.
20231226_145915 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr
20231226_145922 by Eric Jausel, on Flickr

Now I just need to figure out TPMS. I installed the software from the Phoenix Auto kit I got a few years ago, and it picked up those sensors, so I might just use those sensors for now until I can get the T'eyes sensors worked out. I might try downloading the actual T'eyes app (I think I found the right one, not sure), and see if the sensors automatically pair.

I have the rear camera that came with the Auto Vox mirror, I'm going to try that for the backup camera and see what happens.

[speedjunkie]

I swapped the clutch this weekend, went back to an ACT Xtreme pressure plate with a six puck sprung disc. I ruined the pilot bearing seal because I tried installing it backwards, and it's a piece I thought was at any parts store and it's at NO store lol. So I reused the old one. Luckily it was still somewhat usable. I resurfaced the flywheel with the pneumatic tool and a sanding disc and a buffing disc. Turned out OK I guess. And I'm not sure about a piece that's pressed into the pressure plate. I think it's for balancing and needs to stay, but I'm not sure. Everything is buttoned up and it's ready to put back onto the ground, but I haven't yet only because of that.

Now for the crappy part. I think the compression is dropping to where I'll need to rebuild the engine soon. Hot starts have been getting more difficult, and I would adjust cranking fuel for hot starts and it would work again, then eventually be hard to start again. I did that about two or three times. But now it's been getting harder to cold start also. That could be just because I never messed with cold start cranking fuel, but it still doesn't relieve me on hot starting. I did a compression test and the numbers didn't come out great, in the 80s and 90s when it's cold. If it was hot that would be fine, but considering the numbers drop for some reason when it's hot, those numbers would be lower. However, I had basically the same results back in 2019. However however, I've never had accurate results when testing my own car, and I noticed when reading the directions this time that I was supposed to turn the tester on a few minutes early to let the pressure sensor calibrate. So I did that this time, but it's hard telling if it made a difference. I'm thinking about using the other tester I have and doing a hot test, just to see. I really don't want to rebuild just yet. I do have another block ready to build, but I want to send it off for the RF85 treatment first.

[speedjunkie]

I asked several people between the local rotary group, the worldwide RX-7 group on facebook, and also reached out to ACT to verify that the extra piece pressed in is for balancing, and everyone confirmed. I forgot to install the shifter and finish the interior part the other night so I did that tonight, and I swapped in my switch bracket from Drakes since I had the shifter panel off again. It's much sturdier than the stock piece that had mounting points breaking off.

I also had an idea to get my reverse camera working using the original rear camera from the Autovox dash cam, but that didn't work so I bought a reverse camera from Joying. I was thinking about getting some front and side cameras too (I forget if Joying has them or T'eyes does) so I could have 360 degree camera view for reverse.