seth's zenki build

This is for all those PICTURE THREADS ONLY. Motor installs, product writeups, showing off your car, put the thread in here.
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

Image

I plan to redo the interior, suspension, paint, and turbo the motor (w/ forged pistons, rods, and some top end work).

Here is the current interior.

Image

There are a few issues lol. Tons of mouse **** all throughout the car and then there's this...

Image


It's got white and black spray paint poorly applied to some of the interior pieces. I'm gonna do all the whole interior in black with grey or maybe silver accents. I'm currently testing out colors and textures on the plastic trim pieces.

Here's what a lot of the interior is looking like:

Image

After primer, black base coat, metallic silver, and clear. I'm trying to learn how to paint half way decent before I do the entire interior. I'm thinking of doing the radio/ hvac controls and the shifter trim in this color. And maybe other little pieces, like the plastic around the vents in the doors. I'm worried that it's going to look ricey though.

Image

Image

Bought a blown s13 ka24de for its manual tranny for $200. Not sure if I got a good deal or not. It did come with a brand new starter, a complete a/c system, and all accessories, so I'll have some spare parts. I still need an s14 speed sensor and a driveshaft though.

Image

Image

Image
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

I let my pile of parts grow before I began putting it all back together. It's all in the picture minus the J30 VLSD and HY35.

Image

Parts shown:

Precision PW-39 wastegate
HKS SSQV4 BOV
MSPNP ECU
Ricer exhaust
CXRacing intercooler kit
Clevite main and rod bearings
Eagle rods with ARP2000 bolts
OEM clutch pedal assembly
Injector Dynamics 1000cc injectors
AEM fuel rail
AEM 320 LPH fuel pump
Autometer mechanical boost/ vacuum gauge
Innovate MXT-L wideband
Evergreen complete gasket set
Cometic head gasket
ARP head studs
Clutch master cylinder
Clutch slave cylinder
Water pump
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

The machine shop told me I would be alright with a .020 over bore so I ordered the 9:1 wisecos, got the block back from the shop and 3/4 pistons and rods installed. The fourth piston had a mismanufactured ring which snapped in half. Wiseco sent me out a new set of rings and I'll get them in in the next couple of days. I went with a 0.017 gap on the top ring and 0.019 on the second ring. Does that sounds right? And I have the crank girdle in with the factory bolts, but I decided to go with ARP's and have switched them out.

Image

Got the last piston in.

Image

And the lower timing chain.

Image

And the head on.

Image

I accidentally stripped out the threads for the upper timing chain pulley. The factory bolt only goes 1/3 of an inch or so into the threads but the hole itself is about an inch or so deep. I've looked everywhere for an m12 x 1.25 x 110 bolt to replace the factory 100mm bolt but 100mm is the longest I can find anywhere. I didn't want to fix the threads with a helicoil bc the problem is not enough thread engagement and without a longer bolt that same problem still exists. So I kept looking and eventually found a 120mm replacement bolt at a local shop that is known to be the best place for metric fasteners, and cut it down just enough to fit. I also soda blasted the front cover while I had it off.

Image
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

I also welded a bung in the oil pan for a return from the turbo:

Image

Installed the Competition Clutch White Bunny clutch and flywheel kit:

Image

Installed the transmission:

Image

Dropped the motor in:

Image

Fabricated a new downpipe:

Image

And installed the J30 differential and one-piece driveshaft, and gathered some more finishing pieces.

I'm working on getting the coolant and vacuum lines finished now.
tchida14
240sx Wannabe
Posts: 100
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2013 7:16 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by tchida14 »

YES. megasquirt is awesome!! :banana-dance: I also like the color for the trim pieces, looks very professional. keep up the good work!
User avatar
S14wayz
Knows Some Stuff About 240's!
Posts: 419
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:11 am
Location: BC, Canada

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by S14wayz »

Looking good! Yeah good choice with mspnp2 :)
Image
My S14 Build Thread
viewtopic.php?f=40&t=59534
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

I got the fuel pump installed last night. I went with an AEM 320 LPH in take fuel pump.

Here it is next to the stock fuel pump.

Image

This is the flow sheet it came with:

Image

The pump was featured in a "fuel pump shootout"

http://www.importtuner.com/tech/1405_fu ... ewall.html

The included fuel sock wouldn't work in this application, and the stock fuel sock wouldn't fit on the AEM pump, so I used the AEM's fuel sock fitting with the stock fuel sock.

I had to cut the hard tube off the end of the stock sock, cut off the fitting from the AEM sock, and weld the two pieces together.

Image

Image

Done.

Image
User avatar
shift_down
SuperMod
Posts: 1833
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:00 am
Location: tulsa oklahoma

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by shift_down »

Everything looks great! I love how you wrote "ricer exhaust" I lold hardcore.
Come at me bro

Fast
Reliable
Cheap;
You can only pick two, so choose wisely!

My build thread: viewtopic.php?t=57539
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

Thanks shift_down. And I was just being honest about the exhaust lol.

I got some wiring done today.

Image

Does anyone know what this middle wire goes to? It is in the same bundle of wires as the wire that goes on the positive terminal of the battery, but about a foot before the battery that wire branches off. And does that red connector go to the positive terminal of the battery as well?

Image
User avatar
Gotenks64
Knows Some Stuff About 240's!
Posts: 259
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 7:02 am

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by Gotenks64 »

I thought one goes to the starter and other other to the main fuse panel.
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
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

The middle connector is possibly the starter lead? [Edited so no misinformation is spread]

The red connector fits the positive battery cable perfectly, I think I have that part right.

I finished the gauge wiring:

Image

It took all day, it was well over 100 feet of wiring.
Last edited by 614s14 on Sun Aug 24, 2014 7:58 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
BigLoukaT
Dont Question My Nissan Knowledge
Posts: 879
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:03 am
Location: MA

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by BigLoukaT »

614s14 wrote:I think you're thinking of a different wire that goes to the ground. There is a spot on the intake manifold that fits that ring terminal perfectly so I'm pretty sure that's where it goes. I could be wrong though (I hope not). The red connector fits the positive battery cable perfectly. I think I have all that right..
That is one cable I would recommend you be absolutely sure of.

The intake manifold ground (if similar to my sohc) is relatively straight through from negative battery terminal to body ground to intake manifold. It does not go through the lower engine/trans harness. It is hard to tell from your picture... it looks like its originating from the lower trans harness?

I agree that looks like the starter lead. To be sure:

Take a multimeter and check for continuity between the positive terminal connector and the ring terminal you show. If it is indeed the manifold ground, there will be no continuity.
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.
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

Thank for the help. I'll check that out before I do any more work on the car.
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

After looking at the wires and tracing them throughout the harness, I don't think that cable with the 90 degree ring terminal is the starter lead. The other end of that cable is attached to the alternator, and the ring terminal end shown in the picture is supposed to bolt to fuse box where the battery ground cable is bolted, I think. Does that sound right?

And for the auto to manual transmission wiring, do I need to do anything other than jumper the top transmission connector on the fusebox, and run the green and black wires from the third connector down to the reverse switch on the transmission? The threads I've read about doing the wiring say that I need to wire the neutral switch from the transmission to the ECU, but I can't think of why I would need to do that, and I don't want to mess with the ECU wiring if I don't have to.
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

Update: (my last post posted twice so I deleted one of the posts and now they're both gone)

I got the car running with the base tune that the ecu came with, then allowed VEAL to make changes as I went through the rpms. It was idling and running well (sort of), but after turning the car off and back on again, it wouldn't start. I had to hold the throttle all the way open just to get it to idle, and it ran really rich. I went through this the first time I started it with the MSPNP2, but I attributed the problems to something other than the tune, made some adjustments to the car, and reloaded the base tune (and changed my injector and wideband settings). The car started up fine with the base tune, so I imagine if I loaded the base tune again, it'd start up fine. It wasn't until i used VEAL to make adjustments that I had the starting/running issues.

What am I doing wrong?
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

oops

Post by 614s14 »

please delete this post
Last edited by 614s14 on Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:47 am, edited 2 times in total.
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

Quick update: Got the car running again, and with the help of SupaKat's megasquirt thread (and his supakat.msq file) I was able to get it running pretty well. Also got my ricer exhaust installed, cleaned up the engine bay a little bit, relocated the battery to the trunk, and installed a vacuum block to clean up the lines a bit. I didn't take any pics except for the exhaust. My downpipe doesn't mate with the midpipe all that well so I've ordered new piping and I'm just going to make a whole new downpipe. Here's the 2 fast 2 furious exhaust:

Image
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Help! What is this sound?

Post by 614s14 »

It sounds like rod knock or something, but the bearings are all new, I really don't think that's what it is. I'm thinking it's the timing chain or the cam timing is off and the valves are hitting the pistons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQeGHjX ... e=youtu.be
Last edited by 614s14 on Tue Mar 17, 2015 5:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

Down pipe parts! Image
User avatar
SoundEfx
240sx Wannabe
Posts: 156
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2014 8:43 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by SoundEfx »

Keep up the good work man and keep us posted.
Image
Image << Yuh dun know!!
Cross......... Angry........ Miserable.........
SoundEfx up in here causing trouble......
"I'm a BAD man... BAD man doh dance..." ...... " That bam-bam is ..MINE..!! "
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

I made a v-band adapter so that I don't always have to unbolt all five(very hard to get to) bolts:

Image

Coming together:

Image

Complete:

Image

I know the welds look horrendous but they're structurally sound. I may have a stainless downpipe made by someone with skills at some point but this will do for now. It'll be wrapped anyway and you won't be able to see much of it.
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

I pulled the top timing cover and this is a picture of my cams at cylinder #1 TDC on the compression stroke:

Image

I believe I was a tooth off and fixed it. I made sure to turn the motor several times by hand to ensure that the valves weren't hitting the pistons. We'll see what difference it makes when I start it up again.

I also found that the top bolt of the right side lower chain guide was loose and I could wiggle the whole guide. That's probably where that noise was coming from. I tightened the bolt and I couldn't move the guide anymore but I'm thinking the bottom bolt has got to be loose as well.

*Edit: not sure why I originally said half tooth
Last edited by 614s14 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 3:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
slideland240
NooB
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2015 8:01 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by slideland240 »

i think you are jumping to conclusion on timing. the cam gears are suppose to have 6 solid links between the center links of each the cam gears. that picture looks correct currently. dont worry about actual location just work about link count on chain motors. location is more of a belt issue.
User avatar
supakat
SuperMod
Posts: 8018
Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 12:13 pm
Location: FL

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by supakat »

slideland240 wrote:i think you are jumping to conclusion on timing. the cam gears are suppose to have 6 solid links between the center links of each the cam gears. that picture looks correct currently. dont worry about actual location just work about link count on chain motors. location is more of a belt issue.
The link count only works when the intake cam is positioned correctly. Make sure the lobes are facing out. Look at the FSM to get actual specs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbaFoxm-5lE
12.96 @ 116.36 - 2.1 60ft - 11/2011
13.1 @ 114 - 2.3 60ft - 8/2012
KA24DE-T
Image
Build thread/Blog
YouTube Channel
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

slideland240 wrote:i think you are jumping to conclusion on timing. the cam gears are suppose to have 6 solid links between the center links of each the cam gears. that picture looks correct currently. dont worry about actual location just work about link count on chain motors. location is more of a belt issue.
Think of it this way:

If the crank stays in the same place and I rotate both cams 3 teeth, the marks on the cams will still be the same number of links away from each other, but that doesn't mean that the cams are in the correct place. You're right about the dots on the cam gears needing to be 6 links away from each other, but they also need to be in the correct placement relative to the crankshaft.
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

Downpipe and v-band adapter are complete. I put a new copper gasket between the turbo and the v-band adapter so hopefully I never have to mess with those bolts again. Worst case scenario I can now just pop the downpipe off the turbo and unbolt the turbo from the manifold to get to all those bolts.

Image

Image

Starting to look like a working vehicle

Image
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

So I got the car up and running, it starts, idles, drives around fine, and below 10 psi it runs great. Right around 10 psi it starts to break up real bad. Could this be spark blow out? Attached are some megasquirt datalogs. How does this look?
Attachments
2015-04-19_15.12.35.msl
long datalog
(18.71 MiB) Downloaded 173 times
number1.msl
shorter datalog
(8.21 MiB) Downloaded 170 times
User avatar
supakat
SuperMod
Posts: 8018
Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 12:13 pm
Location: FL

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by supakat »

In your log, MAP at 181.2 kPa (11.5 psi) shows 10.2 AFR with 17.5* of timing. Afr's are a little rich and you could close gap down a bit. Do you have boost cut turned on? Please do if you have not done so. My tune goes up to 30psi but I have boost cut set for 32psi. Another section of the log, you hit 184.1 kPa @ 16.8* which is good but AFR's are 9.8. Gap plugs smaller, clean up AFR's to 11.0 in boost and you should be able to make a full clean rpm sweep.
12.96 @ 116.36 - 2.1 60ft - 11/2011
13.1 @ 114 - 2.3 60ft - 8/2012
KA24DE-T
Image
Build thread/Blog
YouTube Channel
614s14
Driving Mom's Station Wagon
Posts: 41
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 6:32 pm

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by 614s14 »

Thanks a lot. I'm not sure if I lowered the boost cut from what your tune is set to or not, I'll definitely look at that. Right now I'm just running a 15 lb wastegate spring, no boost controller. I've got the injector size setting at 800 cc/min, and I'm doing some research to figure out if it would be better to increase the injector size setting to lean out the top of the map (and fine tune from there) and then increasing the ve numbers at the lower end of the table, or to just leave the injector size at 800 and pull fuel from the top end. I read somewhere that ideally you would go as low as possible with the injector size setting to take advantage of the full resolution of the ve table. As in you could tune all the ve values from 0-250 (or whatever the max ve value is), rather than only having the range of 0-200 or 0-175 or whatever you're highest ve cell is at. Thoughts?

Base pulse width is lower the higher you go with injector size right, or do I have all of that backwards?
User avatar
supakat
SuperMod
Posts: 8018
Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 12:13 pm
Location: FL

Re: seth's zenki build

Post by supakat »

What are your plugs gapped at now? Try going to .025 on BKR7E. You haven't even opened the wastegate fully yet! :auto-dirtbike:

Regarding the VE table, I have my idle around 37-42. I have enough control over my injectors; full boost at 30psi is around 90. If I plug in 100, she starts to spit fuel out the back uncontrollably. Now, I have not read the megamanual fully, I just dove into the ecu and went ham. There are key fundamentals that the manual layout. Thus is the main reason why I cannot say I know my stuff 100%. I read excerpts on things I want to learn, but I never sat down on the toilet and read from page 1.

FYI: I have my req fuel wrong. If I put 1600cc, I would need big ve values to idle and probably in boost come close to maxxing out the table. I had ve values I set it up like that and did not like it. I always take away 30% of fuel in my calculations cause I am running e85. So my injectors in req fuel should be 1100. I had them there for awhile but when I did my q45 tb, it ran lean as hell. I did not feel like redoing the whole map since it was running good so I just rescaled my injectors to a lower cc I think 700cc so it will increase the pw. I could have just added a percentage to my whole ve map but I did not. Not sure why.

Correct, base pw rises as injector cc goes down and vice versa.
12.96 @ 116.36 - 2.1 60ft - 11/2011
13.1 @ 114 - 2.3 60ft - 8/2012
KA24DE-T
Image
Build thread/Blog
YouTube Channel
Post Reply