NorcalDime's build (Penny) 72 510

[NorCalDime]

So i have had my car now for a while... Never started a build thread and i

kinda regret it. So much stuff has be done to it that i dont even know

were to start.

 

I was in the market for a 510, wanted one real bad. They have

been an object of my wanting since i was about 16. I had been

searching craigslist for a while to find one but nothing was too

promising.

 

Then i found the car.

 

 

 

 

 

It had been one of the 5 or 6 cars i had sent e-mails out about and

had gotten a response. So after talking to the owner for a long

time about everything that was done and the condition i

decided i wanted it.

 

I picked up my car In South San Fran on july 26th 2008. I wanted

the car from when i first saw it, but i had to convince my wife

to let me get it. Im glad she did. So she followed me home

and we made the trek back to Sacramento.

 

Up to this point i had never been in a 510, never closely

looked at one, never know a person with one. I just

knew that i had the car i wanted. I figured i would

learn as i went, and i have!

 

The car had some good things going for it.

Had some HID's in the Hella lenses, were blinding though

It had 280z front struts with GC coils, Tokico blues

in rear. Front and rear swaybars, Maxima rear discs

Interior is 93 acura legend, Subaru outback center console

Subaru diff LSD w/ 4.11 gears.

 

The motor was

Strong but had a few tuning issues

 

L20b block from a 77 datsun pickup.

Datsun 210 Head. Intake ports were ported. bigger valves and

heavy duty springs were added. head was shaved to boost

up compression.

 

custom cam was grinded.

 

Nissan comp Long-tube headers

 

dual mikunis 44 s With individual Throttle Intake tunnels.

 

280z 5 speed

starter came of a 280 z gear reduction

 

 

I loved the way the motor sounded. It was a screamer

when it was running right. The dash lights didnt work

and neither did the heater blower so one of the first

things i did was pull the dash apart and fix it

 

 

 

 

 

I installed some blue led's in the gauge cluster as well.

 

The car was fairly solid, minus the flinstones hole in the driver floorboard.

So i had to take care of that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunatly i cant find the pic i took after it was patched lol.

 

Some random photos

 

 

 

 

Then i went out and tryed to take some nice pics of my new baby

 

 

 

 

 

[NorCalDime]

Well I have HiD's, but i wasnt satisfied with all that light escaping

away on the hella h4 headlights i had. So i decided i wanted some

projectors. I searched around and found out i could use bmw ones

, but they were expensive. I went to the Junkyard looking for bmw

ellipsoid lights, but no luck. So i stumbled on an infinity j30.

 

 

I though ooo i can use that for my lights. so i ripped them out

and broke them in half. So i used the same ones from each

side. they have one projector that is small and one that is bigger.

i chose the smaller one. So i got to this point after hacking it in half.

 

 

 

 

Now i dont know what bulbs this thing originally took but i knew my h4s were not gonna fit.

 

 

So i hacked off the back of them right up to the edge but left a little lip.

. this was the perfect spot to mount the clip on my h4s onto the

projectors.

 

 

 

 

Now i needed something to mount the projectors in.

I had the high beam headlights in my car that i dont use. So i figured

i would hack them up. Measured the hole i needed and went to town.

 

 

 

Now the projector will sit inside the headlight housing.

 

 

I needed some tabs to hold the projector on so some small peices of

steel with a hole in them were jb welded on. projector was aluminum

and i dont have a TiG so jb weld was it.

 

 

Now the headlights needed some tabs.

 

 

I had to modify my headlight buckets so i could get ajustment.

 

 

Now the tabs dont interfere with anything.

 

 

I cleaned up the projectors and painted em so they are pretty.

 

 

 

 

used 2 bolts to connect the projectors to the headlights and they

connect good.

 

Then i mounted them in. I had to hammer time some of my inner fender to get them in.

 

 

 

 

And the final product.

 

 

 

This mod almost worked but i had to space the bulb back more to get the

right reflection in the projector. Im happy how they turned

out.

 

Here are some pics at night with the beam pattern. You can see

my LED consol lights too

 

 

 

 

I had been DD ing my car for 6 months or so. My wifes car was down

and i was doing the headgasket replacement from hell on it

(96 honda passport v6) So my dime was getting alot of use

The whole time i was trying to get my car to idle good,

and run right but it was picky. I had wanted to do a ka

swap and i had finally located one.

 

 

Whew thats alot in one day.. will update more later

[sssr20det510]

nice love the HID's

[WagDatto]

Chris, if you need pictures of the Hello Kitty work day, hit me up! I think they're in my build thread, too. Glad you finally made a build thread! It's fun looking back at what you've done to reference it... The thread I have on Zilvia is nuts! Over a year of documenting what I've gone through.... What a headache! Makes my wallet burn....

[NorCalDime]

My friend has a Sohc Ka that had some issues. It wouldn

[NorCalDime]

So I had it towed to my parents house since it was closer and located a DOHC.

 

Here it is all de-smogged and ready to go in.

 

 

 

Last pic of the poor ole SOHC

 

 

And here we go with the DOHC drop. I did this one by myself too. Load leveler and tie downs FTW!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the snazzy Downpipe I made.

 

 

Pic of ecu, relay, and fuse location under dash

 

 

 

And here Is one with the motor all buttoned up.

 

 

The motor ran like a champ. Started first crank and idled great.

 

 

Then I got some new wheels.. Sportmax 002 0 offset with Dunlop direzza dz101 205/50/15 and 205/55/15.

 

It took a lot of hammer time on my inner fenders in rear but I got them on there.

 

 

 

 

 

Told my buddy sean (Wagdatto) that I got em and he swung by to check em out and brought a pal.

 

 

I painted a rising sun on the inside of my hood as well. Better than the peeling nastyness that was there before.

 

I must have rolled weird or something because one of my axels popped off my diff. There is a c clip in there that holds them in. So we dropped the diff.

 

 

Opened it up and found out we didn’t need to do that, and that it could have just been popped back in…. so at least my diff got fresh fluid.

[NorCalDime]

I went out and took some pics with the new wheels… They sure grip a lot better than the old stuff, even with the mad camber.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I ended up somehow getting a leaky exhaust valve in the number 4 cylinder. So I decided to get a different head instead of a 300+ valve job.

 

Some pics from that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It went together fairly easy.. First time head on the torque wrench we used was lame and clicked early so the head got like 20ft pounds, so after that leaked we popped it back off and redid it the right way. I felt like an idiot.

Cams were off a tooth so it had a lopey idle, but got that in there right and she was back to normal.

 

Here are some pics as the car stands now.

 

Put carpet in trunk

 

Sweet autozone intake funnel things

 

 

 

 

Tucked harness and wires in bay

 

 

 

 

 

1993 legend interior

 

 

 

Now plans are to go turbo. Got stuff together.

 

Evo 8 intercooler.

Intercooler piping

Turboxs bov

Sr 370cc injectors

SAFC 2

HKS turbo timer

Toyota CT26 Turbo

Autometer boost gauge

 

 

I just need to figure out oil lines and make/ buy a manifold and dp and I am ready to go.

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2009 by NorCalDime

[WagDatto]

Sheesh! No pictures of the muffler carnage? I swear if you go back to ebay crap, I'M removing the next one with a hammer...

[71ka510]

hey now sean, some "bay" stuff works fine... my wrx exhaust held up, even with offroad use....... but then again, i dont know how cheap chris went on that muffler...... *HUGS* lol:fu:

[Icehouse]

Awesome project thread!! I can't wait to see how the turbo setup goes. The rims really set the car off too. Great choice and offset :D

[WagDatto]

So today, Chris and I (and Kait!) got to work on a new exhaust for the Penny. Chris has gone through two Ebay mufflers (both blew up one way or the other), so it was time to do things right and custom make something fun. Chris thought a dual tip, like the Trust DD exhausts for 240sx's would look snazzy, but wanted straight pipes.

 

We did some modification to the exhaust, and welded a resonator in the middle of the piping to help keep things quiet since he won't be running with a muffler. Then we went to Tognotti's to see about buying a Y-Pipe/collector. They had nothing.... So we bought some straight pipe and decided to make one ourselves! I'll let the pictures (and video!) do the talking.

 

Fitting the resonator/midpipe

 

Here's Chris going to town mocking up the rear-half of the pipezor

 

Me holding the ass-end of the exhaust (with the poor old muffler flange!)

 

Chris grinding down part of the Y-Pipe

 

Welding the "Y" on the Y-Pipe

 

So far so good... Just needs some straight twin pipes!

 

Me checking how much needs to be ground down to make them hella flush

 

Kait showing off the sweet, stagger-pipes!

 

Epic home-made awesome

 

May look gross, but we cleaned it up a hair before we put it on! Plus this was only $20 with plenty of pipe left over, and we learned a lot!

 

Fitting/final welding to the car!

 

VIDEO!!!

[bonvo]

that looks trick how much cleaner did you get the y pipe

[slodat]

Don't work under a car unless it is supported securely by jack stands. Jacks are not safe on their own.

[NorCalDime]

Don't work under a car unless it is supported securely by jack stands. Jacks are not safe on their own.

 

 

 

Yeah maybe so, but i trust this jack. Ive had jackstands fail on me before, but this jack is a champ. A while ago i had a car up on 4 jackstands and the seam split on one while i was dropping the tranny and almost got my legs.

 

i was thinking someone would comment on me not wearing a welding mask, not the jack lol. but i knew it would be something

[yello620]

Yeah maybe so, but i trust this jack. Ive had jackstands fail on me before, but this jack is a champ.

 

You gotta be fucking CRAZY.

[WagDatto]

Most of the work was not done under the car. Only reassembly, and there was never a time where anybody was likely to get their head smushed. Just mockup and reassembly.

 

If we were dropping a tranny or doing the welding on the car, or installing a driveshaft, there would have been jack stands. Two bolts and an exhaust clamp... I'm more confident.

[WagDatto]

that looks trick how much cleaner did you get the y pipe

 

Not much. We could have ground down the welds and all that, but I was tired. Once I scrubbed it a little to get some of the weld splatter off, it looked a lot better. Chris is going to try to "burn" the tips with a torch, and put some high temp clear on it. If that's not enough, we can either paint it, or buy some polished tips to weld on.

[NorCalDime]

So i have an issue.

 

A while ago when i had my sohc i noticed my volt gauge showed 11volts, i looked and noticed a fuse had popped. changed it and volts went back to normal.

 

fast forward.

 

my car died on me while i was stopping for a light. Cranked a while then it restarted. When this happened i noticed my gas gauge didnt work anymore. it popped the fuse for it. it is the first one on the left if your looking at it with the wires facing you. think it is the flasher?

 

So i tried a new fuse, gas gauge worked, tryed to crank, no go for a few seconds then fuse popped and car started.

 

Tried bridging the fuse with a wire while car was running, car shut off.

 

what all is this fuse tied into? i think i need to look for a short somewere, but were lol? anyone had this issue and can point me in the right direction?

 

i have my main power wire to my starter, then a wire from starter/power to hot on alt. then the alt is connected to the white/red wire i think it is i cant remeber since i used a diff color. (it is the one that goes to the fuse box)

 

I need to limp to work and back tommorow on just battery power. good thing it is only 3 miles away and then work on it when i get home. hopefully i can figure it out!

 

 

 

 

figured it out.

 

for some reason there was a wire behind my cluster than was arcing out on the 12v + side and fried the circut... i guess it had been messing with it for a while cuz my gas gauge was always screwy and the last few weeks only read like 2 clicks off empty. so i soldered a wire in place of the fried section and ta da it works. cleaned up all my wires too.

 

Redid all the add on gauge wiring and radio wiring, cleaned up my turbo timer wiring and safc wiring, looks good now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the issue

 

 

 

All cleaned up

 

 

 

 

[yello620]

So i have an issue.

 

Redid all the add on gauge wiring and radio wiring, cleaned up my turbo timer wiring and safc wiring, looks good now.

 

 

 

 

 

I would like to think that when you "re-did" your add on guage wiring that you did it without the use of those cheesy scotch-lock splices. Those are junk, barely suitable for a temporary fix as far as i'm concerned. Maybe thats just my opinion though.

 

But then again, the use of jack stands doesnt seem to make sense, so why would proper wiring.

 

Sorry man, I really like the look of that car too.

[bonvo]

I would like to think that when you "re-did" your add on guage wiring that you did it without the use of those cheesy scotch-lock splices. Those are junk, barely suitable for a temporary fix as far as i'm concerned.

 

car looks good but i agree solder and heat shrink ftw :P

[NorCalDime]

So i have an issue.

 

Redid all the add on gauge wiring and radio wiring' date=' cleaned up my turbo timer wiring and safc wiring, looks good now.

 

 

[img']http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r95/sargin311/electrical/CIMG0434.jpg[/img]

 

 

 

I would like to think that when you "re-did" your add on guage wiring that you did it without the use of those cheesy scotch-lock splices. Those are junk, barely suitable for a temporary fix as far as i'm concerned. Maybe thats just my opinion though.

 

But then again, the use of jack stands doesnt seem to make sense, so why would proper wiring.

 

Sorry man, I really like the look of that car too.

 

 

Do you have to be a dick about it?

 

Heaven forbid i didnt use jackstands in a picture i put on the internet! The amount of lifting and lowering, to me, didnt warrant the use of them for the little amount of time i was under the car. And i do use jackstands on other occasions.

 

Dont have a soldering iron since mine broke shortly after i fixed my cluster. I have had good success with those connectors, that is why i used them. maybe i will go back and solder those connections, but probably not.

 

And thanks for the compliment.

 

Now anyone have non-mean things to say? :lol:

Edited July 16, 2009 by NorCalDime

[fbiphil]

 

Now anyone have non-mean things to say? :lol:

 

 

You have pretty eyes.

[NorCalDime]

 

 

You have pretty eyes.

 

thanks phil :P

[WagDatto]

Chris, everybody's a punk on the internet. The jack stands, I can understand as far as safety is concerned. People like to point out the obvious and be hypocrites. Such is the intarweb. I've gotten a few nice little comments in person (you've been there) and online about "Omg how unsafe that front mount oil cooler is... Jeez, you're gonna burn your whole motor with something as small as a rock chip!!"

 

The fact of the matter is, yes. Not using jack stands while you're underneath a car is stupid. Phil had a friend die because his truck fell off the jack. Again, if anybody were UNDER THE CAR, a jack would not have been the only thing used. The exhaust was well within arm's reach from outside the car, and when we were fitting the pipe through the crossmember WE SUPPORTED IT WITH JACK STANDS. The car was up and down all afternoon while we did errands and other things, so in pictures you only see a guy with some pipe.

 

Neither Chris nor myself are retarded. As far as wiring connections.... Come on... Yes, the BEST way to do this is to solder and shrink wrap. But the gauges are not staying there for long. Chris has other gauges that he'll be making a pod for, and everything will move. As far as a temporary arrangement, some connectors like those will be fine.

 

Chris, your butt looked really good the other day.

[fbiphil]

 

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