Project Chump Truck/Autocross Truck D21

[HRH]

Well I have good news and bad news!  The good news is the camber adjustment worked like a charm.  The bad news is the freeze plug I installed a week ago is leaking.  Siiiiiigggghhhhhh.  I've had more issues with water leakage in this truck than any Nissan I've ever had.  This time I'm going to sand the freeze plug hole before I seat it.  And I'm going to seal it with silicone.  Normally I use hi-tack aviation sealer.  Haven't had any leakers in the KAZ24, but that block was prepped pretty nicely too.  Not the junkyard block I have in the white truck.

 

So tomorrow I will take a trip up to haz mat and unload all my antifreeze buckets and oil buckets.  Getting rather a large collection.  Wish I had a waste oil heater, but those things are quite expensive.

 

I did test the truck quite a bit harder than this little video.  Got back, no tabs out, no change.  No noises.  Just better cornering.  Hit control+F5 after a bit, the video is still uploading.

 

 

 

I finally bought a new stereo for the garage.  Not the greatest, but 5 disc capable and loud enough to rattle the walls.  Still not half as good as my 20 year old AIWA.  But good enough for the garage.  The stereo I picked up just the other week stopped recognizing CDs, so that was a little annoying.  Radio on it still works well though.

 

 

I actually had to straighten these and re-bend a smaller section as they hit the upper ball joint if they're too long.  They're just little pieces of sheet metal I cut off my big piece.  The nice part is they seat against the original hole edge, so they not only limit, but locate the ball joint in the new holes by the same amount each side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can't quite tell just by the static picture.  I put a level against the rear and measured the difference from the front.  There's definitely a difference now, and considering the rear is neutral camber being a solid axle, I'd say I may have as much as half a degree negative in the front.  After I get the water leak fixed I'll take it up to get it aligned and see where it comes out.

[]2eDeYe]

Just for reference the stock 620 camber is listed as -1 degree in my shop manual :)

 

When you gonna take this thing off some sweet jumps? :D

[HRH]

You know, I thought so!  The 620 I had handled better than previous hardbodies and stuck to corners better too.  I'm betting this will make a big difference in autocross.  No jumping for this baby yet.  Bumpstops prohibit that.  Rather abrupt landing.  I'm happy with it being a pavement racer at the moment.  

[HRH]

Okay, so I re-installed the freeze plug today.  Knock on wood, this one went in easier and so far no leaks.  Still annoyed I'm having issues with this as I've installed many a freeze plug without issue.  Anyway, got that all done (getting quicker) and it occurred to me the 510 had an exhaust which I likely won't be using with the new motor.  And the D21 is still quiet as a mouse, with a stock exhaust.  Soooooo, we took care of that.  And since I'm doing more weight reduction and it was collapsed, the cat went too.  Normally I'd put it in, but considering all the modifications I'm doing, the truck will end up in EP category, and that permits anything to the exhaust or suspension and removal of bumpers, etc.  Plus, if I end up with a turbo, I'm not going to want the cat in there, and it is now officially emissions exempt in WA.  Behold, the old nasty exhaust!  

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, that looks shitty.  The strap used to go all the way around.  I was going to fix it, but I didn't have leftover strap, etc.  So I just tacked it to the pipe.  Except I couldn't get all the rust off it, so it didn't weld very nicely.

 

 

I'm getting better at welding with my welder.  This isn't the most beautiful example, but the far right joint was pretty decent.  The left side was done under the truck and I'm not the best at welding upside-down, especially since I couldn't see the top.  Good enough, though, it isn't leaking.

 

 

 

I may have to cut that turn out and raise it just a little.  The e-brake cable for the wheel is a little in the way.  I was going to cut that off, but realized I'd need to yank the drum off to retrieve the end lest it get caught inside.  May still do that, just don't want to yet.

 

The next order of business tomorrow is to stop the shifter from leaking trans oil all over the place.  I have a feeling it's from the rubber as these models do have oil sharing with the rest of it.  And the rubber is cracked.  Of course, it's in Sacramento and I can't have it before the weekend, so think I'm going to brake cleaner the shit out of it to dry out the rubber, then fill up the cracks with silicone and see if that solves the issue.

 

 

And now I'm listening to this!!:

 

[HRH]

 

Less stuff in the engine bay=weight savings!  Missing air canister and associated valving for catalytic converter in case you couldn't tell.

 

 

The emissions stuff and the middle seat belts added up to about 6 pounds.  Couple that with the 6-7 pounds of less exhaust and that's another 13 pounds off!

 

Also hole sawed the intake side of the air box, hoping to hook up ram air off the original spout, just need to make an adapter then go through the front.

[Eagle_Adam]

woot!!! i wish i could drop 13 lbs just like that 

[bananahamuck]

Welds look good for old rusty pipe,,, any clown can weld clean new pipe.. :thumbup:

[HRH]

Haha, thanks!  Oh, and keep in mind, young viewers, I don't recommend yarding off all your smog equipment.  It's not going to do much for performance.  However, if you're trying to extract every bit of weight possible, it's quite handy.  (We'll just ignore the fact that I left the stereo in because I do need to drive it to work from time to time.)

[jesusno2]

My Alighnment spec book from Leschwab says the 620 was + 1/2 degree camber  :confused: either way it still sucks. Looks like ya might be able to gain a touch more - camber by using a socket head bolt and slotting the holes a touch more. 

[HRH]

I have more pictures to upload, but she's coming together!  Good thing, only been working on her three solid days of vacation! :D

 

 

[HRH]

 

 

 

 

Damn pan kept blowing out!!  Getting good at filling large gaps, unfortunately it doesn't look as pretty.

 

 

Regy is going to freak when he see this :D  My bodyman is a bit of a perfectionist.  But this is the chump truck.  It doesn't need perfect.

[]2eDeYe]

That's what grinders were invented for :D

[HRH]

 

So here's the old, surprisingly heavy exhaust I used from the 510.  It weighs about 20-30 pounds.

 

 

And here's what we have now!  The old one at 2 1/4 pipe is too big for the stock Z24 flow.  2" is perfect.  It's also a lot quieter.

 

 

Went up and head it aligned.  Front wheels are at -.4 degrees camber with me in the car.  Booyah!  Toe is now just barely toed in.  It was hideously toed out before.  Thought it felt a little darty.  Loads of difference, even from that minimal amount of negative camber.  I shouldn't have a problem turning quicker laps times next autocross.

 

Even better, I went to the scales today.  The truck weighs 2620 with a little less than half a tank of fuel.  Figure I can remove the door glass before autocross to save another 20. :)

[HRH]

Heyyyyyy Miiiiiikkkkkkkeeeeee!!  I have something for the white truck!  You need to get one for yours! :D

 

 

 

 

And I'm setting up to get the red truck done with the new transmission tomorrow.  Not looking forward to that, 4wd is fun, but much more of a pain to remove stuff.

 

[HRH]

Okay, everyone should know this already, but I thought I'd re-emphasize it.  A good creeper is worth it's weight in gold!  (Insert shameless plug for NAPA here) ;)

 

So dad gave me an old creeper of his after I ran over my other creeper.  It was on it's last legs anyway.  The creeper I got from dad however, was nice to have at the time, but I soon realized was a Nazi plot to annoy mechanics everywhere.  It has solid steel cup wheels which catch on every available pebble.  It has a weak wood decking which pinches your shirt as you try to get up.  It's only suitable for very smooth concrete, and even then, it's annoying.  Last night, I'd had the last straw.

 

Being NAPA was closed, I reluctantly went by Wal-mart, they had a folding version that looked like shit and was expensive.  So then I hit up O'Reilly's.  They had an expensive AC Delco version that didn't look any different than our NAPA cheap version.  So I got pissed off and said screw it, I'll wait until morning to get a new creeper.

 

So I just went and picked up this fully molded plastic creeper.  IT'S EPIC!!!  Not because it's NAPA, but because it comes not fully assembled, which means you don't have to take it back apart to loctite the mounting hardware for the wheels, because let's face it, any creeper needs loctite or the wheels come loose.  I just rolled it around on my irregular pavement surface where I'm working on the D21 transmission (red truck).  Sooooooooo nice!  It even has little socket trays on the side.  Your shoulders fit in the grooves just perfectly.  It has 6 wheels instead of 4 and moves around effortlessly.  I'm very happy now. :)

 

 

This is the evil Nazi creeper.

 

 

The part number is on the box for those of you who need one.

 

 

Epicly awesome NAPA creeper!

 

That is all, carry on!

[jesusno2]

Man I hate those creepers! I always run over my fingers!

[EricJB]

 

Back in my long hair days, I was putting a clutch in a big flatbed truck, and got my hair caught in the casters of one of these. Going the other direction just made it worse. I ended up sliding out with a fuckin creeper stuck to my head. I've never used one since. 

[HRH]

Okay, so I've had an issue since yarding off all the smog equipment on the Z24 to save weight.  Under decel, I get backfiring out the exhaust.  Fairly pronounced, annoying enough.  So I've been scouring an FSM to figure out what I need to do to fix it.  I'm not sure yet if it's lean backfire or rich backfire.  Oddly, the factory manual lists both conditions and solutions.  I changed the 02 sensor for amusement as I dinked the wire a little when replacing the freeze plug with the manifold moved over.

 

Anyway, I may try re-installing the cat tomorrow, though that shouldn't really make any difference.  The other thing I'm going to do is hook up the haltech meter I have to the 02 sensor and see if I'm getting any weirdness out of the other sensors.

 

Now interestingly enough, I found out something about the Z24i system I didn't know.  It's not always 2 plugs sparking.  Isn't that funny?  FSM states during heavy load the 2 plug system switches to a 1 plug system to reduce engine noise.  Freakin' silly!  Depending on water temperature, it's above 2400 rpm and heavy load it switches to 1 plug, but light load, like cruising on the freeway with low throttle input, it's 2 plug.

 

I was debating if there was a way to change it for 2 plug all the time, which would help full throttle applications.  Think I'll try to figure out the backfiring first though.

[HRH]

Alright, headed off to Pull and Save.  Going to try yanking an ECU out of a Stanza or Pulsar with the Z or CA motor and see if that does anything for performance also.  Have to get some better shackle plates for the truck is the main reason for the trip.  I have my Energy Suspension bushings now for the back, but my old original shackles are all rusted and chewed up.

 

As for the 2 plug operation, I figured out an easy way to do it.  Since the Z24i, like the KA, is a CAS, you'd need to get an earlier distributor.  The Z24i has a rotor slit plate in it, but the early Z24 versions were just a 4 rotor magnetic pickup like the regular matchbox.  So all you need is one of those, and a matchbox distributor unit, and wire it into the Z24 carbed distributor housing.  Then supply two regular style coils and you'd have the matchbox controlling the 8 plugs at all times.

 

The other option if I can't fiddle enough with the system is a 38/38 Weber.  It's only $219 off line, and that is quite simple.  Leftover issues there are adapter for the manifold (not a problem), fuel pump operation (have to do mechanical pump, and question is whether it would suck through the in-tank pump or not.), and removal of other wiring.

 

I'm fairly confident I can make the TBI system work to my demands, just going to take a bit of fiddling.

[HRH]

Okay, so I had my buddy (who is 3 certs away from master tech) take a look at it, and he thinks it's running fine.  We drove around and screwed with it and came to the conclusion that due to the freed up exhaust and everything else, the tumble from the exhaust was just lighting up a little, whereas the stock muffler and catalytic converter would have held in some back pressure to the point where the leftover gases wouldn't ignite.

 

Anyway, I hooked up the haltech afr meter I have and went for a drive.  Oddly enough, I hadn't noticed this before, but 1st gear and 2nd gear can be wrapped up as high as you want, and you can let it decel all the way to idle and there isn't the punctuating backfire.  3rd and 4th however, both have issues.

 

Now, from the FSM, it states that the ECU leans the fuel out on decel in varying formulas depending on the closing speed of the throttle valve/switch.  SO, what I've taken from that is I'm betting there is a 3rd and 4th gear switch being it's a factory 4 speed truck, and likely when those switches are engaged, they figure highway, and for max emissions, do a leaner fuel cut than 1st and 2nd, where you're likely going to need to get on it again.  In which case, and extra lean condition and being at a lower rpm with dual plugs running, likely wouldn't be a good option for lean decel, then quick accel again.

 

So, to test my theory, I'm going to find the 3rd and 4th gear switches on the transmission, and disconnect them, then go try again.  I'm thinking this may solve the problem.  We shall see.

 

Also took some video of the haltech, I'll upload that to youtube in a bit.

 

Oh yeah, and here's what I've been doing with the red truck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and for the record, I tested the ecu from an '87 Stanza with a CA20.  I forgot the CA20 was not a TBI system, but a regular mutli port.  Interestingly enough, the truck did fire up, but idled super low and ran pig rich, and wouldn't accelerate before bogging out.  I'm sure it was to do with the injection pulse rate.  So anyway, yeah, that doesn't work. :)

 

Tested the ECU prior to the Haltech playing, it's "55" everything good.

[HRH]

 

HA HA!!!!  I was right!!!  There are only two switches on the transmission, and I unplugged both and went for a drive.  It screwed with me at first because unlike the video above, I wasn't two bars into the rich band while on WOT.  However, I realized with the night, the truck was running cooler and the air temperature was a lot colder from when I took the video.

 

So, even though my gut said things were fine, I thought, okay, maybe unplugging those switches is bad.  So I plugged the third gear switch back in and did a full speed run, and the AFR stayed the same, almost exactly stoich due to the colder, denser air, BUT, on decel, it cackled and backfired madly.  To further test the theory, we tried fourth.  Fourth was quiet!!

 

That figured out, I pulled back over a ditch and unplugged the third gear switch again, and then drove home without annoying backfires.  It seems that is the function of those switches on Z24i hardbodies, and possibly on KAs as well.  KA management and the fact that it's multiport probably have a little less problem with the fuel cut on decel.  Of course, I do have a full length exhaust on her with a cat and all functional emissions equipment, unlike the white truck.

 

Anyway, there you go, you learned something today! ;)

[flatcat19]

Found it. 

 

Now time to read. 

[flatcat19]

Fuel cut is such a stupid idea. Design flaw. 

 

Need ignition cut. Spit fire. 

[HRH]

I should install a flame thrower kit for when I'm next to bass-mobiles in traffic. :D

[flatcat19]

I should install a flame thrower kit for when I'm next to bass-mobiles in traffic. :D

 

http://www.nengun.com/bee-r/rev-limiter