p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

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p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

So some of this early **** is funny... because I was very new to cars. I also did not have much foresight or money. The 240sx aftermarket was no where near what it is today. Most importantly I didn't realize how important boost is...

Rewinding to 2003....

Also know as the dark ages...the pre-turbo times...

Autotrader special. $3200!
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First things that had to go... heinous hubcaps and fender gap... Eibach springs and gr2 shocks/struts...
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A year later I ditched that suspension for Koni yellows and RSR race springs which actually did something to improve handling.

Found an LE part out and bought some seats. Still have these today, but now the drivers seat has a giant foam crater in it. Still better than tweed.
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Before any power mods at all.
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First mods: gutting the bottom of the stock air box, getting rid of AIV and EGR junk, fixing the terrible wiring job that was done... rear speakers in PARALLEL with subwoofers and no amplifier! Also wirenuts with strands of copper sticking out of each connection. Every time I hit a big bump the head unit would loose power for 2-3 seconds.
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Learning to wrench... put in a fancy orange Centerforce clutch. Yes it had weights on it to give it more holding force at high RPM. Verdict: holds better than a stock clutch riding on its rivets.
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Random free gigantic filter, 2.5" 90° elbow, altima e-fans, and ASP underdrive pulley.
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15hp bump... sweet!
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3" Dynomax Exhaust... loud.
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Sweet stock header to 3" transition
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At this point I started looking into boost and getting the car ready for it.

New clutch (again), lightweight flywheel/drive shaft, and 2-way diff. One wheel peels were the worst.
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Learning how to weld with a used MIG and flux wire... Burn throughs are great because they just explode and leave boogers everywhere stuck inside your piping.
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Practice...practice...
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Important: keep a fire extinguisher nearby.
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Finally pieced together everything I needed for boost. s14 T28, z32/550cc Enthalpy tune. SSAC manifold and j-pipe and intercooler.
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When I get a house it will have a lift because of times like this:
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Custom fit.
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I had to extend the downpipe (twice) due to it being against the floor boards (twice) when I tried to install it.
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All done.
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Obligatory new setup dyno run. Blue line is 7psi the other two are 10psi.
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205 wide stockers and boost just doesn't cut it even with a 2way. Picked up some JDM wheels on Zilvia. Put 245's out back. Much better situation.
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Did some track days with the car. Here are some shots from Limerock.
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Next time... engine build and t3 turbo. :animals-chickencatch:
Last edited by p00t on Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by Gotenks64 »

Man thats a clean s13, I wish I could have learned on a 240. I started out on a CB7...1992 Honda Accord lol.
Built Head w/ BC stage two 264/264 Cams
Cosmetic Head Gasket
.020 Over Bore with Wiseco 9:1
Eagle Rods
Fully balanced rotating assembly
Stock flywheel
Spec Stage 3+ Clutch
ARP'ed Everything
Clevite Bearings
SARD 850cc Injectors
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

Hopefully it was somewhat rust free. Rust makes everything miserable.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

So she started burning some oil, my SSAC mani was cracked, and I wanted to try going for more power. So I did a rebuild of the motor: arias pistons, eagle rods, crank balancing.

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Everything torn apart...
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Checking the cam timing...
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JGS engine mounts... the rubber ones were not very good. After a few track sessions both sides eventually ripped apart. The poly ones are way better durability-wise but make your rear view mirror dance.
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I went with a 54 trim t3 turbo, Not the most ideal compressor for our motors. In hindsight a 50 trim or 60 trim would be better.
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Previously I had a z32 filter just drawing air from the engine bay. So I made a cold air setup where the MAF and filter sit in the drivers side wheel well. The fog-light hole that's in the 91-94 s13 bumpers sends fresh air in. I made a deflector to keep water and crap from directly hitting the filter.
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The filter bolts to the old resonator mounting holes.
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Next phase... My old 3" mild steel exhaust was pretty badly disintegrated. Also I wanted to be a little bit stealth. I bought a stock exhaust and made an exhaust dump connect after the downpipe. It worked really well... sounded awesome and was quiet on the highway. I had a throttle body hooked to a 4psi wastegate. I don't know how long a throttle body will last on the exhaust but I ran it for about a year and a half and it never seized up. Almost as quiet as stock off boost. You could feel the turbo work a little better after the throttle plate opened and relieved the backpressure. It wasn't bad but it was noticable.

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See it work:
https://www.dagengine.com/FORUMS/240/exhaust.MOV

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For that stock look...
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The waste gate signal was fed from the intake piping.
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With this setup I ran 14 psi at first, then 18psi... Maxing out the 550cc injectors I had.
The dyno is at 8 and 14 psi... at 8 psi I am about 20 HP lower than the t28 at 7psi...
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I was getting tired of how the 2way behaved in the rain and with wider tires in the rear the understeer at speeds under 60 on the track was much stronger than I wanted.

Q45 diff and s15 helical, definitely felt slower in 4th and 5th, but got most of 2nd back when going from a dig.
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The Q45 pinion has a much larger bearing than the s13. Both are still R200 cases though. Snap over steer and general crazyness when the ground was wet is gone...
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Q45 viscous vs s15 helical vs s13 open diff. The helical is easy to spot.
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Around the same time some new cheap wheels. Finally in 17" territory and equal tire front and back.
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Heres a better look at the t3 out of the engine bay. Hiding in there is a 38mm tial also.
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Next time.... twin TD04L setup... :character-bowser:
Last edited by p00t on Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by S14wayz »

nice work man! What material is your inter-cooler piping looks like you miged it? I gotta do the same but haven't sleeved my welder so idk how well itll hold up to aluminum wire. I had identical looking wheels as those ones too but mine were xxr cheap wheels ftw
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

S14wayz wrote:nice work man! What material is your inter-cooler piping looks like you miged it? I gotta do the same but haven't sleeved my welder so idk how well itll hold up to aluminum wire. I had identical looking wheels as those ones too but mine were xxr cheap wheels ftw
These are the XXR ones too 562's in gunmetal. The clear coating is starting to get a little hazy in spots. But I still don't regret the buy.

The piping is just plain mild steel piping with aluminized coating. My first setup I used flux cored wire to weld them. If you make the pipes short flux will be OK. You need to be able to get to where you welded with a long screw driver and brush to break the boogers off. Or just tack them (3 for each joint) and take them to Meineke they will weld them for 20 bucks.

Ever since then I use MIG /w gas and .025" wire. Afterwards I hit it with 60grit then apply aerosol bedliner paint. It bonds pretty well and has a nice texture to it.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by S14wayz »

yeah I use gas, flux is way too messy. Bed liners a good idea..I like the texture for sure it covers up all the imperfections and is rugged as hell
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

When I started work on the twin setup I chose to keep replacement working parts as cheap as possible. I chose to go with used Subaru TD04 turbos. You could snag them for $75-125 depending on the mileage. This was ~2009 so I am not sure if they are still that cheap.

The manifold pipes are sched 40. I wound up porting the turbine inlet and compressor outlet, as well as drilling a new hole to align the center housing properly.

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The compressor side has to keep the same alignment versus the turbine side so that the stock waste gates can be used. So how the compressors look in these pictures is not true to their final angle in the vehicle.

Since I planned to wrap the manifold and downpipes I got them ceramic coated by a local shop that does powder and ceramic coating. I'm hoping this prevents any accelerated rusting of the parts. The manifold piping is mild steel sched 40 "steam pipe". The downpipes are 2.5".
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O2 position is easy to access in the car:
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Separator plates to keep the wastegate from blasting into the turbine discharge. Does it work? Maybe?
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For cooling I chose a giant ebay intercooler and a Koyo 52mm deep radiator. I put the intercooler where the stock radiator goes and then the radiator gets placed behind it. Custom mounting had to be made but with the mechanical fan removed you have so much room to do whatever you want here.

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It's hard to see but I also made side shrouds out of aluminum flashing to keep air from passing by the radiator and intercooler.
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Here are the turbos in their places as well as NASA shuttle heat shielding:
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Here is the completed setup in the car. Exhaust was wrapped and all the tubing is mild steel exhaust tubing. I had to sync the wastegates to open at the same time. I found that one turbo will back feed into the other at partial throttle. It makes a very odd surge sound when it does this. Thankfully these turbos have an adjustable rod on the wastegate which did the trick.
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I kept the stock wastegates and used a Greddy boost controller to control the higher pressures. It has come in handy pretty much all the time but especially when it rains. Lowering or turning the controller off greatly reduces spinny spins in the rain.

I took the car to the dyno again. I couldn't go above 15psi due to the limit of my 550cc injectors.
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Of course I immediately wound up getting 850cc injectors and turning up the boost to 25psi. Which is about as high as I would take this turbo.

The car felt pretty damn fast. It was obvious it was faster than ever before. I took it to a dyno day about a month later.

I didn't realize at the time because of everything going on that day but the dyno operator put in the stock gear ratios for my car. The dyno uses that to figure out what your engine RPM is so it can convert the horsepower to torque for the graph. I was definitely not spinning the engine up to 8k!
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So I had to convert the HP graph with the correct gear ratios... I wish they just used an inductive clamp in the first place.
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That lasted for about 2 months before I popped the head gasket. I was greeted with the classic overheating out of ***** nowhere scenerio that these cars are famous for. Because of earlier experience with this I check my coolant gauge constantly when I drive. It's a terrible habbit that is now hard to shake.

That was the last Felpro the car would see. It was replaced by a Cometic.

I wound up storing the car for a while due to moving to Michigan and going back to school to finish my Engineering BS.

During the downtime I had the opportunity to have some aluminum welding done and I had access to an older Fanuc programmable vertical mill. So I went to work on a custom intake plenum. It shortens the runners a bit and bolts right to the upper intake runners.
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I went with the stock throttle body, which denies me big baller status. I was concerned about the Q45 throttle body being too big at low speed and RPM. But maybe it doesn't matter? I had never ridden in a 240 with one so I wasn't sure.
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I drove the car with this intake last year and it feels like there is better top end. But I need to dyno it to see. The goal of the plenum is to get to the same HP goal of ~400hp with less boost pressure.

The car also got some z32 brakes when I pulled it out of storage in 2012. There are no pictures of the intake or brakes on the car but that will be remedied in the near future.
Last edited by p00t on Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by Razo240sx »

Thats some cool fab work! Car looks clean. Id like to hear that exhaust
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

There's a little bit of drone on the highway, but anytime you are on throttle it is nice. Best was before I had the exhaust done. With open downpipes all you hear is turbo whistle.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

So currently I want to do a few track days with the car this Summer and possibly work on the timing. Since I have been relying on Enthalpy maps the car has always driven well. But I had to adjust the tune with the larger 800cc+ sidefeeds, there is just no way to get the car running well on a mail order tune. I think anything bigger than the 740cc Nismo's and you have to be somewhat self sufficient.

Adjusting includes: K value changes, TTP MIN/MAX changes, rescaling fuel and timing TP. Basically Blazt + Moates Burn2 + TunerPro and a regular daughterboard.

The TO-DO list:

-> Z32 rear hubs/knuckles: Since I switched to z32 brakes I have no e-brake, and that is getting annoying. Thankfully Michigan is mostly flat but it is kind of a basic thing a car should be able to do. This causes wheel changes and front 5 lug conversion to be done. Right now I am going to try the ebay ones... also thinking Mustang Cobra wheels... trying to stay within budget on this.
-> Coilovers: I ordered Fortune 500 coilovers with rear z32 attachment. My Koni and RSR spring combo has just about gave its last breath. I think Michigan roads after last Winter gave it hell and then some. I went to adjust the front struts because the car was bouncy... and fluid started pissing out of the adjuster screw... Yep probably needs to be replaced and maybe rebuilt.
-> Oil pan: Somehow after ten years my marvelous welding failed and the oil pan started leaking around the turbo oil drain. So I will put a new bung on a spare pan and install. There's also oil coating the block around the PCV baffle thing... going to look into that.
-> New Alternator: Current one stopped charging when hot and at idle. 22 years of service isn't too bad!
-> New Ignition: Looking into the LSX coils for a COP conversion. I worked on a board over the winter that works on the bench... real world test this Spring. It will convert any single coil Nissan to COP and allow tuning for even basic daughterboard users.

I will try to update this soon.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by BigLoukaT »

Your build has always been cool. Pics of track days this summer!
By chance... Do you need a consult cable? I have a blazt for sale
1990 S13
Boosted single slammer
MS DIYPNP
npx from 240sxforums wrote:i figure from my very limited knowledge about the 240 and under the hood about cars in general i would follow the sr20det trend.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

BigLoukaT wrote:Your build has always been cool. Pics of track days this summer!
By chance... Do you need a consult cable? I have a blazt for sale
I actually have two.... an obd1 and obd2 blazt cable!
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

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Small Update:

"New" alternator installed...

While the alternator was out I had a look at that PCV box thing....
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It was clearly leaking from the seam in the part... so I took it apart. I am not sure if any of you have ever taken this thing apart but the middle fastener is a screw... and it is coated in plastic! So you first have to chisel the plastic out before you can turn that screw. After I got it apart it was apparent that the 20+ year old plastic epoxy that they seal it with was cracking.
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I don't think you can use RTV on this, because the part doesn't actually have a flange, and the two halves don't actually touch. Weird. I cleaned it all up, more plastic chiseling of course, and JB welded the halves together.

I'm also getting ready to try out my coil on plug conversion. If it works I'll probably make a post about it and see if anyone is interested in being a guinea pig. I have some LSX coils that should make it a big difference. Stock gap at full boost should see some gains there!

Wires everywhere... of course.
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Logic debugging...
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That's all for now.
Last edited by p00t on Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

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Late in April I finally got the Fortune 500's. Pretty excited. It took a bit of work to get the fronts on the car.

The old strut bolts were seized and I had to replace a ball joint in the front as well. Two bolts came out with heat, the other two I had to drill out.
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I have not done the rear yet. I will just get the car on the road and drive it a bit before I dive into that. I have some bushings I want to change and I need to install the z32 knuckles and ebrake.

A fun issue I had when I did my oil pan... I heard something sliding around in the old one... like a coin.
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Turns out to be a tensioner freeze plug. Thankfully it was the top one. I put it back in and tack welded the plug in place... I remember seeing Greasers modified tensioner post and seeing the welded plugs. Obviously its a smart move if you are rebuilding a motor. I am not sure how long I have driven it like that but I know the drive train sounded a little noisier than usual last year... damn. I can't believe no valves were bent from the tensioner having no pressure in it.
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Also I am getting ready to fire up my coil on plug converter on the car. Once its running OK I'll install one into the g20 as well. Two cars running this thing should prove if it is reliable or not.

Here's a short video showing a demo. Sorry for the terrible narrating, I will have to work on that!
https://www.dagengine.com/FORUMS/240/copintro.mp4
Last edited by p00t on Sun Jun 27, 2021 9:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by superDorifto »

Wow, had no idea you were running twins, looks like a mean torque curve
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It's been a little while. I have been busy with my wedding in the beginning of August, and getting ready to buy our first house. I have some downtime this week so I have been working on the rear suspension of the car.

Some things being done right now:
=Check over arms and bushings
---rear ball joint boots are tearing, need to be replaced
=Prep z32 knuckles
---new toe bushings (NISMO)
---spherical bearings for the coilover connection (SPL)
---new ebrake lines (2+2 z32)
---new drum shoes and hardware (Centric)
---remove old axel dust seal
---new ball joint seats (knuckles did not include them)
=Start converting to 5-lug
---new Cobra wheels and tires (rear first, phase 1)
---new hub rings (Im not sure if the OD is a close enough match to be effective 69.85mm vs 70.3-70.5 on the wheel)
=Need to fab ebrake line adapter bracket
=Install rear coilovers
=New metal subframe collars (old polys are coming out)

If you feel the need to change the toe bushings out note that you MUST grind a generous chamfer or radius in the entry edge on the hole. Otherwise the bushing will tear when you press it in. The bushing does not have a collar on the outside so it different than most other bushings you encounter. It will need a little grease too to help it along.
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Here is the reason I was changing out the shoes. They were pretty rusty.
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The backing plate is a little rusty as well but it should be a long time before it needs to be replaced.

Here is the knuckle with all the bits replaced:
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Here is the adapter bracket I made to hold the lines in the correct place. It's about 3"/82mm rearward of the stock attachment points.
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For anyone else making their own adapter a flat plate would work too, then all you will need to do is drill 6 holes in it. Aluminum would probably be best since the connection to the car is only an M6 bolt. Too much weight might break the bolts over time from vibration.

I just got new ball joint seals for the lower arm. The PN is 9.13101 from ES. I will show how they fit next time they look like they will work well. You only need to trim the old boot down and they install very easy.

I need to start thinking about converting the front to 5 lug. I am not sure about those ebay ones... I will do some research and see if I can come to any kind of conclusion. Any comments about the 5 lug conversions out there?
Last edited by p00t on Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

superDorifto wrote:Wow, had no idea you were running twins, looks like a mean torque curve
Feels pretty quick but I know the timing needs tuning. It's a very conservative tune. Up top at about 20psi (350hp+) I'm at about ~5°BTDC on 93 pumpgas.

I either need to sort my COP project out or I will need to buy a realtime board.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

For those of you who are looking to use the z32 knuckle with s13 axles there is an issue with interference between the z32 rubber dust seal and the s13 axle dust shield.

Originally I thought you could run either because the interface looked the same on the knuckle. In my infinite wisdom (without checking the diameters of things) I decided that I would leave the axle dust shields in place and remove the rubber ones:
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Well when it came time to bolt everything together I noticed that the hub was difficult to turn as I tightened the axle nut.

Turns out the axle shield is too big for the bore where the rubber seal sat so It got crushed.
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They are easy to remove with just a pry bar.
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I would recommend that you keep the rubber seal if you do this. I bet the seal ID matches with the axle seal surface OD after you pry the shield off. But I am not certain. Maybe someone knows?
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Now I don't have any sort of dust/water prevention from collecting where the bearing sits. If the bearings go bad because of it I will replace them and re-install the seals. Lesson learned there.

So here is the ball joint boot install for the ES 9.13101:

Torn boot, this tore when I was disassembled everything so the joint itself is still in perfect shape. If you have no grease left or the shaft of the ball joint moves with the lightest touch you need to replace it.
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Trim the rubber down to just before where it ends. This gives a nice radius for the new boot to slide over. I cleaned the boot and the landing area (metal) by lightly sanding away loose rust and dirt. Then I wiped it with a rag. Put new grease in, basically to fill in the hole.
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Here is the fit of the boot:
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Last edited by p00t on Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

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I ran into an issue running the rear coilovers and the z32 knuckles. Seems that the Z32 suspension setup is very short so I couldn't get the car to the height I needed for these Michigan roads.

To fix that I had some +35mm aluminum spacers machined up. Basically they are an adapter that you mount to the top of your rear shock hat to get additional ride height. It works the same way as a wheel spacer.

I had an extra set machined for me if anyone needs one.

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Adjuster access:
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With all of that out of the way I got to buying wheels/tires and the 5-lug conversion for the front.

I went with 17x9 Saleen Cobra Replicas in charcoal. They are pretty cheap and also come in a 10" wide version if I want more rubber. I got them on sale for $130 each free shipping. Apparently they are only $84 each on clearance at americanmuscle.com right now.... damn.

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For tires I went with Hankook Ventues RS3 sized at 245/40/17 in the front and 255/40/17 in the rear.

I massaged the fenders a tiny bit and presto:

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I think the wheels look just OK. I'm more partial to wheels with some sort of shiny lip. But the car isn't low/show enough to be an attention getter anyway so I have accepted that.

As far as the ride and handling go I can't say enough good things about these coilovers. The adjustment on them is very linear feeling. If I go 5 clicks firmer and its just too much a click or two backwards makes it softer the amount I was expecting. The bump steer is a lot more pronounced now at just under an inch height from where I was. I may have to get SPL tie rods to fix it... it's pretty annoying.

Also I am really tempted to put powersteering back in this car. Either I need to rig an electric unit in the car or change the turbo setup so I can fit the stock pump in. I was eyeing the new Tomei t2 turbo stuff this cyber Monday... I spent days trying to justify it :crying-blue: lol

If anyone has messed with electric powersteering I would like to know the route you went.

I would love to say that I have all next year planned out to beat the hell out of the car on the track but I am getting a house this spring and having a kid in the summer! ... so wishful thinking... :violin: :chores-mowlawn:
Last edited by p00t on Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by wesamiss »

Pretty good build. Got any videos of your car running and driving? What made you want to use z32 rear uprights instead of keeping the s13 ones?
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p00t
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

The z32 uprights are lighter and allow you to press in a spherical bearing for the coilover connection. They came with all the ebrake crap and if you didn't buy a set from Chicago like I did you could run the drums as-is. Not a must have though. I wish we had an aluminum upright option for the front too.

Here's some old and crappy vids. One is from my last dyno day the other is just driving around so people can hear the car. Unfortunately the GoPro is in a plastic case so the sound sucks. I love all the to be continueds in the videos.... the intake manifold did happen though...

https://www.dagengine.com/FORUMS/240/KATTdyno401.mpg
https://www.dagengine.com/FORUMS/240/KATTweb1.mpg
Last edited by p00t on Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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adamky
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by adamky »

The rear shock spacer is a neat idea. When I first installed my GC coilovers, it was too low even on the highest possible setting. I had to go back and forth with GC a little before they finally sent me some taller springs. The spacers would have worked fine too.

Loving this thread.
Wiseco/Eagle, JWT S1 cams, BC valve springs, PT5857, ID1700 injectors, SR20DET ECU w/ Nismotronic, COP conversion with LS ignition coils, etc, etc...
--> YouTube channel --> my build thread
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Theo23
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by Theo23 »

Wow, great build man! I love the exhaust cut-out with the throttle body!! Genius!

Props on all the great work and doing it yourself.
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p00t
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

Long time no update.

It is tough finding time to work on the car but I believe I now have it ready for some track days this year. I have been skipping a few hours of sleep here and there and working on the car these last few months.

I got a chance to commute to work for a few days back in February when we had a "warm" week without salt on the roads. I was really unhappy with the steering feel of the car without PS. The forge recirculation valve is loud, so I got to hear a loud ninja-slice sound with every shift. That sound used to be cool. Now it just bugs me. In addition, the drivers seat looked like an atomic fart had gone off and blasted the bottom cushion apart.

The seats never held me in good. They are leather seats that I pulled from an LE at the junkyard a long time ago.

The only benefit that I have ever receieved from those seats is that they made the interior look better.

The list of negatives are as follows:
1. The leather is slippery with hardly any side support formed in the seat
2. Leather + no AC, think about it.
3. Sat me slightly higher than the base model seats

I chose one of the cheaper routes for seats: Corbeau Forza Sport. It was cheap and it has FAA crash worthiness which means something to me when using a harness. I was tempted to get a bride or a knock-off but thinking about an all plastic seat that had no crash testing done on the design made me cringe.

The only **** thing is it is a bottom mount, so you will be sitting at or slightly above stock. The low seat rails that Corbeau sells and this seat put you about where the LE seats sit. 1/2-3/4" lower would have been perfect for me.

The seat was my son's for a few days. I left it in the living room for him to use:
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He then got to try it out in the car:
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For the power steering I debated either:
Hacking in an electric PS pump from a Saturn Astra
OR
Reworking the intake piping to go around the pump.

I decided to pull the piping apart and at least see where I was at. Originally I left the PS out to make the intake piping easier. But I should have just manned up then and made it work with the PS.

I figured out a plan of attack with the routing and ordered some tubing and PS fittings. I had to make a new flare and join the line to the pump with AN fittings. The reservoir was added back into the car where the stock air box used to be.

The piping was all redone and had to go from the turbos, around the PS pump, and up between the radiator and PS pump to get to the intercooler. I also went with dual Bosch recirc valves because they are quiet.

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I drove it down the street and back and already blew a coupler off :/. I am blaming the bedliner paint that I used this time. DO NOT use Duplicolor bedliner. It is a soft polyurethane based paint. It has texture but underneath the clamps pressed it completely smooth! I think I used Rustoleum last time and it was perfect. So I am cranking down on all the T-Bolt clamps and seeing if it holds tomorrow (packing a 10mm wrench just in-case). Hopefully I do not have to strip and re-coat the pipes...

The steering is incredibly light with the PS back in. It makes the steering very quick and it is a part of what that makes a 240 the car it is. Unless your car is drag only, keep it!

I have been using my COP box on the 240 and G20, and it works well in both cars with the LS coils. If I can find a shop that is willing, I would like to tune my ignition timing with it on the dyno.

I hope to have more updates this year as I finally manage to go to a track event!
Last edited by p00t on Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Theo23
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by Theo23 »

Good update! I'm just as bad if not worse. This is good though, hopefully it will get me to update my build thread.
Looking forward to more posts!
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superDorifto
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by superDorifto »

I just read back through your thread. Didn't realize that you built your own encoder for the coil packs. That's cool ****.
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p00t
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by p00t »

SuperDorifto, it is cool ****. More-so than the converter electronics, just running the coils makes such a big difference. Never would have thought it mattered. More consistent AFRs and I can go leaner and richer without misfires. Without a cap and rotor it will do that for a longer time too.

As an update:

I tightened the hell out of most of the clamps I could get to and no more couplers are blowing off so far. I had an issue driving to work on Monday all of a sudden the AFRs went super lean and stayed that way. It was like someone flipped a switch. I took my filter off and looked at the MAF.... a flake of that crappy bedliner was stuck right to the MAF sensing wire! In the bottom of the filter there were a few more. They must have flaked off when I was putting it together. I am praying that is the last time this bedlinder gets to me.

I was on the fence but in the spirit of economics I will use these Centric Stop-Tech Sport pads on the track. If months pass without any updates from me....you will know they didn't work well.
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superDorifto
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Re: p00t's long winded journal from the beginning of time

Post by superDorifto »

I agree with you on the cop. My ka runs so much smoother than any other I've owned...part of it is the ati damper, but I got think the aem and cop are helping. All of my issues are self inflected at this point. Silly little problems that I caused when I inverted the damn battery
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p00t
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2019 update

Post by p00t »

I hope everyone still has their projects going! It's been pretty quiet around here :eusa-think:

Some changes since last time:
- New DD
- New 180 m/h speedo (not MPH lol)
- New turbo setup (yes again... SMH)
- Methanol Injection (current WIP)
- Actual evidence of track usage (wow!)

RIP g20 I really loved the car but in the end FWD is just unnatural and eats away at your soul.

2013 ATS 6 Speed RWD:
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Currently has a ZZP tune and downpipe. The car has been good for the most part. Biggest flaws for me are the terrible console controls (laggy capacitive touch buttons... yuck!) and the general feel of moving through the gears. The transmission feels like it was designed for a big truck, the dual mass flywheel weighs a ton (this does not rev like a 2L should), and the throttle mapping is just... odd. Steering and suspension I definitely love.

My wife is happy that I am no longer leaving rust spots in the driveway after it rains :handgestures-thumbup:

MPH to m/h conversion:
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Swap a Japan speedo for the US one and recalibrate your speedometer signal. Don't forget to sharpie out the K!

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Good for all those times you are cruising above 110....

New turbo setup:
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I picked one of these up. Supposed to be a 500-550hp turbo. Yes this is a sort of experiment. Yes there is some lag with this one.

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I tried my best to heat wrap everything and give clearance. If I did it again I would put the turbo a little closer to the motor to give more master cylinder clearance. It is much easier to access everything now which is one of my reasons for changing to a single turbo.

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I also added a honeycomb to the MAF to help stabilize the signal.

Methanol Injection:
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Self-explanatory I suppose. I went with AEM hardware.

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Pump location. I tapped into the W/S reservoir. I will be using standard washer solvent with 30% methanol. The pump is also the AEM part.

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I am wiring in a controller for the pump that triggers off of MAF signal and also changes boost settings on the Profec2 depending on gear. I am also putting in the more finished COP controller. The other one was a prototype and was just sliding around in the glove box.

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The cases on these controllers have little tabs so they can get screwed into the glovebox (aka actually installed).

Track Time:
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I went to one of the last 2019 track days at Waterford Hills. I had a blast and spent three sessions getting into the groove. I need a lot of work, the car does not need as much! The track is pretty easy on cars and you only have hard braking at the end of the long straight. I stayed in 3rd gear the whole time because I badly need to focus on braking and my line. I will be back and hopefully I get around to mid-Ohio and Gingerman next year as well.

My only issue was oil backing up in the turbo and distributing it through my intake. I am suspecting the the long right-hander leading to the straight is when it happens since I got a sputter a few times right after. It didn't help that I was overfilled on oil. So I will be looking at the drain and feed restrictor before I head out again.

Here is some in car video. Crappy cell phone fly-by. I don't think it's worth putting too much video up because I need a lot of work. Some better stuff coming next year!
Last edited by p00t on Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Current Experiment: Project Twin-Charge 2022
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