Olivia - 69 2 door 510 sedan - fully built CA18DET

[fo0manchu]

I have a bunch of craftsman tools. Its great, I've broken a handfull of craftsman tools including sockets, ratchets, wrenches. Of course thats when I was beating on them with a sledge or trying to bend a wrench to fit in tight spots. hahaha. Just bring it to them and they exchange it for free, no questions. Buy a snap-on and break it, good luck finding the rep.

[aintnobiscuit]

^^^ and thats why i don't want to buy snap-on.

 

Ahhh man, so many pictures for when i upload this latest update.... it's good stuff. I got a late start and my mom came by for a while but i did good so far :)

[aintnobiscuit]

Snagged intercooler on my shirt, and it fell on the floor. It got an awesomely huge dent in it but no holes... so i guess i'm lucky.

 

Installed the flywheel

 

Installed clutch and pressure plate

 

Installed oil filter

 

Dropped in the engine to line everything up

 

Nice and tight

 

Starter, knock sensor and oil pressure switch

 

Alternator, pulley and tensioner

 

Installed turbo, downpipe and manifold.

 

Then the wastegate

 

Then the intake manifold gasket

 

I had to remove the starter so I could install this bullshit heater hose.

 

And this crappy oil line that goes somewhere... i'm not sure what it's purpose is actually, i'm going to look it up.

 

Then i had to remove the alternator and pulley to get to some of the intake manifold bolts.

 

Installed the IAC with new gasket

 

And then i set the car on the ground for the first time since I started working on it... damn.... i'm in love all over again... i took the coil overs down 1/2 way to be conservative... still awfully low... could barely get the jack in and out.

 

Installed coil packs and spark plugs.

 

Fuck... i'm dead tired and since i have no car, gotta get up at 6 to leave for work early.... this is stupid. Goodnight, and i hope you enjoy

[screamer510]

Just read through your while engine build. Nice attention to detail and good parts purchases.

 

All that though and you couldn't spring $8 for a can of engine block paint?

[aintnobiscuit]

You know, I don't have a good excuse for that except laziness. By the time I was going to paint it, it already had a lot of rust on it and I only have black engine paint. I really don't want to pair it black because I want to be able to see if anything is leaking. It's been a mad dash to try and get this in so I can drive again. I guess it looks Ratsun and its been growing on me. But yeah, wish I would have picked some up and painted it the day I brought it home.

 

Do you think a wire wheel on a drill will take that rust off and leave a surface good enough to paint?

[Eagle_Adam]

kicking ass and taking names! damn man, you move quick. Or im slow and OCD........ :rofl:

 

 

there is charm your engine has man, something about knowing its been rebuilt, and done right...... and yet looks like a cleaned up JY pull...... its like patina for an engine ;) :D

[aintnobiscuit]

lol, yeah i like it too... i was going to leave it but idk... not sure if structurally it will make a difference. I suppose at the point where I need to worry about that, the motor probably won't even run anymore right?

[SR20DETdatsun510]

Damn dude, I feel like a total looser! I've been working on my shit since April and it still isn't done yet!

[aintnobiscuit]

Well, mine is nowhere near done. This whole month or so has been just the engine and getting it running right...

 

Wiring issues:

• Right turn signal doesn't come on
  
• Brake lights work when parking lights are off, otherwise they just stay the same brightness (too much voltage to parking lights?)
  
• Wire heater
  
• Wire windshield wipers
  

 

General car issues:

• Need carpet
  
• Need dash pad
  
• Need inside of glove box
  
• Need to clean out the trunk
  
• Need to secure the gas tank
  
• Need to get seat belts
  
• Need to get the front end pulled out so I can install the driver's side fender
  
• Need to smooth, primer, paint, line up, drill holes and install the fenders
  
• Install rear windshield ($150)
  
• Install rear quarter windows
  

 

Thats just off the top of my head

[Skib]

 

Do you think a wire wheel on a drill will take that rust off and leave a surface good enough to paint?

 

yes.

 

engine block isnt to picky with paint. lol just give a quick clean and squirt.

[aintnobiscuit]

thanks skib

[screamer510]

Just make sure its fuel and oil resistant paint.

 

I like the "patina" mindset...like a rat with a super engine and modern suspension...oh wait that's what most 510s are!

[aintnobiscuit]

ha ha ha ha ha! true.

 

So i took some pictures but it's nothing special. Everything is all hooked up except my wideband keeps turning off while i'm cranking. I cranked the motor with the coil pack disconnected for about 20 seconds to get some oil flowing before i tried to start it. It's too late for me to really mess around as it's 11, wednesday and i live in a community where working on your car is frowned upon.

 

So there you have it. Tomorrow night I'll be tracking down what the issue is and hopefully have a video of the startup.

 

I setup a VE tune for the car but it's really rudimentary and i think my injector dead times are off, which could be messing things up anyway. My injection time is showing 8ms for idle, but it should be somewhere around 1.2ms. In fact, it's entirely possible the wideband is showing 7.4 (richest value, also what it shows during warmup) because the value is so high. From what I researched today (after i learned I had RX7 460cc injectors, not DSM 440cc injectors) the dead time should be around 1.2-1.6ms) so i have to go mess with some values....

 

either that or i can just load my old basic shit tune to try and start it... i'll probably do the latter first to make sure the engine is running and then mess with VE.

 

So... with that, i need to go spend time with my girlfriend... i've been spending way too much time on the car and i don't want to piss my GF off too much.

 

I tend to talk things out, i think because when I write something or say it, it helps me connect data points in my brain or something... I think it's related to being a software engineer. Anyway, you just had a little peek inside my head...

 

NOW CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR ON YOUR WAY OUT!

[aintnobiscuit]

Ahhh..... i took a look at my old tune (basemap with some minor changes to get it idling with the 460cc injectors) and the injection time is 1.9ms.

 

I came up with a new theory. There is an injector flow rate table that has 4 columns in the haltech video. Mine has 1. I think i need to have 4 columns (who uses different sized injectors on an engine?).

 

If you recall, my injection time is showing 8ms at idle and the car did not start.

 

injection time * 4 injectors = total injection time

1.9ms * 4 = 7.6ms

 

So i think because the ve tune has basic values just to try and get it started and there is only one column, it thinks it has a single injector (probably driving the #1 injector at 8ms). The tune must be slightly off too, to account for the .4 discrepancy.

 

Sounds like i have a plan for when i get home :D!!!!!!!!

 

Add 3 more columns, lower the VE and see what happens!!! That would explain the AFRs being insanely rich as well.

[erichwaslike]

dont forget to replace the passenger side 90* boost coupler that rubber the core support. and trim a lil more around em

[aintnobiscuit]

erich, good call. I put something over that rough edge for now, but i do plan on replacing it. I need to get some intercooler pipes made that fit properly. Having the blow off valve next to the turbo isn't great as well, it needs to be on the other side or on the intake manifold.

 

I have a big ass list of things to do on my laptop before I actually drive it around. I'm still hoping for a burnout or a couple donuts tonight... we'll see :)

[erichwaslike]

lemme know when you wanna do some intercooler piping

[aintnobiscuit]

My fridge broke so i have to buy a new one. It's gonna be a while, LOL.... so much expensive shit is happening to me right now :(

[aintnobiscuit]

150pis across all cylinders +/- .5psi

spark is good

fuel injectors have power

 

and.....

 

my wideband has 2 outputs, one to the gauge in my car and the other goes to my ecu. The one that goes to my ecu is flatlined at 0v all the time, so I can't start it. Trying to diagnose/fix the problem right now so I can follow through with my promise to post a vid of panda hat + smoking cigar.... damn you wideband! I'll post some pictures and stuff soon. Gonna try to knock this out and get it fired up first though.

[aintnobiscuit]

OK, fixed the wideband wire. Now i know for sure it's not injecting fuel, because wideband and gauges are both reading lean no matter how high i bump the fuel up in the map. Time to check some fuel related shiznitzel

[aintnobiscuit]

So i went driving to do a basic tune. Everything is going well. I get the idle down, it's purring... it sounds beastly. I start doing the light load area and it's working pretty smoothly. I'm doing the boost area (using target AFR of 11) and I'm driving when suddenly the car starts missing. I'm like WTF is going on!?

 

It eventually dies with AFRs in the 18-20 range (which is fucking ridiculously lean). I'm perplexed since everything has been running so smoothly.

 

Eventually i go look at the fuel pressure... it won't go above 20 psi... i'm thinking and looking and testing... Eventually the only thing left is the fuel filter before the fuel pump. I pull it out, blow through it and shitty foam comes out from the fuel cell. The filter was clogged. As soon as I plugged it back in, I'm up at 60psi (because I adjusted the fuel pressure regulator when i was testing).

 

Well, it starts and dies again.

 

I look in the engine and there is oil coming from the head gasket. I'm going to do a compression check right now.

 

Thanks fuel cell. You suck big fat donkey dick.... LULZ on me.

 

Here's a pic while I waited for the tow truck (i live on top of a hill so I couldn't just push it up to my house). I decided to smoke my victory cigar. It was hard earned and I enjoyed it to the nub.

[hobojobo]

that sucks man, hope for the best and expect the worst

[aintnobiscuit]

Well, i had an idea going in that this could happen. It's a common thing with MLS head gaskets and ARP head studs on the CA18. I guess there is a specific roughness you need to have on the head/block surface or else it doesn't seat properly. That coupled with the socket dragging against the head when you're trying to torque the head studs down can give you a false reading on the torque wrench. I have an OEM nissan gasket, which is supposed to be perfectly fine over 300 hp.

 

Theres a guy on zilvia.net who i trust and he's running multiple cars with either felpro or stock head gasket in the 400hp range. I don't ever plan on going above that anyway so i think this will be fine. I had a feeling i should probably just go with the OEM one. But then i figured, hell, why not. It's only a few hours to change a head gasket... so hopefully i'll be done tonight and she'll be purring again. I'm sorry i forgot to take a video guys!

 

First thing I will do when I start her up again is take a video so you can see/hear it running.

[aintnobiscuit]

Well guys, i wasn't joking. I plan on starting it back up tonight if possible :)

 

Heres some pics from the last hour...

 

These are all the tools to take the head gasket out of the car and change it

 

See, intake manifold, turbo, etc have all been removed. Just need to pull the head off, wipe everything down and put the new one on. Booya!

[Laecaon]

You work quick!