Tinkering Since 1999
Almost ready to get the car back on its wheels, and lo and behold Murphy reared his ugly head.
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30449-1/IMG_1184_s.jpg[/IMG]
2mm of clearance to the water pump for the fans, and 3mm from the fans to the radiator core…
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30455-1/IMG_1186_s.jpg[/IMG]
Time to get new thermofans.
Not too much to update, the engine bay is now looking more complete:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30326-2/IMG_1173_s.jpg[/IMG]
And i just have to put the rad back in to basically finish that part up.
Wiring on the other hand looks like this:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30320-2/IMG_1171_s.jpg[/IMG]
Out of the 40 odd wires here:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30323-2/IMG_1172_s.jpg[/IMG]
Im using a huge total of 5, possibly 6 soon. Lots to tidy up and heatshrink out of the way before i remount everything.
Mini update.
Heatshrunk and tidied up the wiring:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30354-1/IMG_1177_s.jpg[/IMG]
And then promptly realised that i had miswired the engine, because it wasnt reopening the ISCV after shutdown. So that needed a little bit of rewiring, and so now i have a new MREL relay, which is separate from the factory COR which is now essentially a glorified fuel pump relay.
Hooked up my little circuit which triggers the COR from the FPC pin of the 2JZ ECU and that works a treat too, so all is well and good. Just have to tidy up the 8 wires i use and put the interior back in.
Also finished off the intake on the car:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30357-1/IMG_1178_s.jpg[/IMG]
The intake pipe is 3″ PVC pipe, which hopefully will hold together in the heat. On the Cressida i used an Alu pipe which had a really nasty resonance around 2500rpm, so i was keen to avoid that on this one.
At the end of the intake you can see the stock airbox:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30360-1/IMG_1179_s.jpg[/IMG]
Which isnt quite so stock anymore. Hides a little pod filter in it, and with a bit of black plastic shrouding will be completely invisible.
Just waiting now on some new radiator hoses, and added silicone vac lines so i can hook up the breathers and she will be good to go. Next big thing will be the new dash going in.
Little mini update. First of all i found the photos of that car above:
[QUOTE=takai;279821]Found the original pics, and then mirrored them here:
[url]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/v/cars/random/ae86/martinharjani/[/url]
Pity the pics are still pretty weeny in size, but hey beggars cant be choosers:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30244-1/gallery2Farticles2FToyota20Corolla20AE8620Martin20Harjani2F002.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30256-1/gallery2Farticles2FToyota20Corolla20AE8620Martin20Harjani2F008.jpg[/IMG]
Unsure as to the charcoal bumpers and whether i like them or not, but the rest of it i do. Will end up doing mine white with a black bonnet and then possibly some red in vinyl. Possibly a cross between Martins and Yates’ TRD colourscheme.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=takai;279823]Found a couple of higher res ones too:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30284-1/001fk2.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30287-1/002to9.jpg[/IMG]
Wish people would fix the white balance on their cameras though :([/QUOTE]
So thats probably the colour scheme ill be going with.
As for progress on the car, i stripped out the engine bay on the weekend, and it now looks like this:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30311-1/IMG_1168_s.jpg[/IMG]
Painted the guard inners, rad panel front and lower cowl a nice matt black, and then started bogging up the spare bolt holes in the engine bay:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30329-1/IMG_1174_s.jpg[/IMG]
Gotta give it a sand and then hit it with more 2pak white.
While ive been sick i also fabbed up a little box for the fuel gauge:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30317-1/IMG_1170_s.jpg[/IMG]
Thatll sit in the rear window with a switch so i can check fuel levels.
Also picked up a TRD N2 rear wing copy:
[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30332-1/IMG_1175_s.jpg[/img]
[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30335-1/IMG_1176_s.jpg[/img]
Will be attaching that and bogging it in after i clean up the rear. Will have to figure out a new boot release though as that will cover the key.
Expect to have painted the engine bay by the weekend, and then be onto bodywork.
Just a little update. I havnt been able to get much done with the car as ive been knocked about with appendicitis.
However, tonight i felt up to tapping a few holes and mocking up the GTR manifold:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30210-1/IMG_1163_s.jpg[/IMG]
Pretty simple. The two centre ports match up perfectly, while from my measurements i think i can swap the runners of the outer two (i.e. 1-6 and 2-5) and have it line up.
This one is Gavs, but mine will be almost identical.
Well i didnt make a jig. However, i drove past a welding store up the road today which was having a closing down sale. Pity, as it was a good store. Bonus though that he had a random 1/2kg Alu spool and a little mini-argon bottle around, that i scored cheap… cheap enough to be worthwhile for tacking stuff together.
So i found out my MIG can indeed tack Aluminum with the right bits, although it struggles a bit with getting heat into a join enough to lay a bead.
Regardless of that, i made this:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30221-1/IMG_1164_s.jpg[/IMG]
Runners 1 and 6 are swapped, and 2 and 5. Its overall around 90mm long including the flanges. Angles up slightly due to the natural angle of the runners:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30227-1/IMG_1166_s.jpg[/IMG]
Nothing really significant though. Will have to try and testfit it on Gav’s 2JZ and maybe see if we can get it to hold together long enough to get into the bay, although the tacks seem reasonably strong.
Still no progress on the car, cant curl up under the dash to finish the wiring yet 🙁
I havnt had the time to work on this that i wish i had. But today i got a couple of little bits done.
Firstly, i have been waiting for an MX83 speedo sender for almost two months now, so i can plug that hole in the side of the gearbox. When the seller finally sent it and it arrived it wasnt an MX83 one at all. So today i did a wreckers trawl and eventually found one and bought it (paid a bit too much, but im sick of waiting for one). This is what the MX83 sender looks like:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30178-1/IMG_1158_s.jpg[/IMG]
And then this is what it looks like fitted:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30184-1/IMG_1160_s.jpg[/IMG]
A nice 32pulse/rev unit which fits into the factory spot
As well as that i had a quick few minutes to finish off all the oil cooler hoses:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30187-1/IMG_1161_s.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30190-1/IMG_1162_s.jpg[/IMG]
And they just need to be taken out and have hose clamps attached and a small flush out. Im putting hose clamps on them because im a paranoid bugger even though the pushloc hose doesnt need it at all.
Oh and as well my Napolex mirror arrived, and is positively huge compared to the stock one:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30181-1/IMG_1159_s.jpg[/IMG]
Ive also finished welding up the exhaust, but thats a bit boring really, just looks like it did before but with welds.
I have a pair of new banjo fittings for my fuel line too, and just need to do a quick bolt check on the bottom of the car before i can get down to getting it started.
Probably not any time this week though unfortunately, pretty flat chat with work.
Tonight i got a whole bunch of stuff done on the car, predominatly focusing around the front suspension and brakes.
Firstly i replaced the bearings in the hubs:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30130-1/IMG_1142_s.jpg[/IMG]
and then popped new studs in and added the disc locating collars:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30136-1/IMG_1144_s.jpg[/IMG]
After that i machined up some little spacers for the spherical upper hat to sit on, so i could use my spare Cusco cambertops as i had some better nuts for them (still need to get aroudn to machining up some tube nuts for the T3 items)
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30142-1/IMG_1146_s.jpg[/IMG]
And voila, assembled:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30145-1/IMG_1147_s.jpg[/IMG]
I then popped it into the car, and added the brakes to it (as its a pain lifting the lot as a whole), and the 20mm bolt on spacer:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30154-1/IMG_1150_s.jpg[/IMG]
All in all it fits quite nicely, no fouling anywhere, and its all quite solid and sound.
Popping a wheel on it revealed just how close the entire setup comes to the wheel:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30169-1/IMG_1155_s.jpg[/IMG]
I think im going to have to get some 25mm spacers for the front and then use those 20mm ones at the rear. The bearings wont be any issue as the rims are +24 offset, but as it is there some of the bolts holding the 3piece wheels together just clip on the caliper itself. Only some of the bolts though, due to the manufacturing differences in the length of the bolts.
All in all i dont think you could run this setup without spacers, finding wheels which would fit in a 0ish offset would be a complete nightmare.
Also today i managed to run around half the city picking up gear and getting stuff done. Amongst that i managed to get the caliper mount helicoiled, which solves that issue, and i also had my radiator delivered:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30163-1/IMG_1153_s.jpg[/IMG]
A nice 2″ alloy radiator, which is absolutely huge compared to the weeny little thing that i had in there before.
Thats about it for now, I currently have to wait for the brake shop to get in a pair of caliper rebuild kits, so i can do that, and then i can assemble those brakes for real, loctite and all.
From there im going to chuck some wheels on it and roll it outside to give it a good wash and then start sanding it back so i can paint it soon.
The engine is ready to go back in soon too, but i think ill probably paint it first and then put the engine in again. Thats about it for now though.
So I sorted through that big box of bits, and came up with a smaller box of bits:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30109-1/IMG_1133_s.jpg[/IMG]
Thats all the fittings and bits for both the Supra and the Sprinter, as well as a few other little bits.
I havnt had a chance to do the oil cooler bits just yet, as ive been doing other things, mainly on the Exhaust side of things. Finished tacking up the exhaust today:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30127-1/IMG_1139_s.jpg[/IMG]
Few little bits im not entirely happy with, but i can fix those easily when i weld it up fully. But overall it has gone together pretty well in the end.
Also when i was out in ‘Lizbeff before a meeting this morning i ducked into UPullIt while i was killing some time and found this:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30121-1/IMG_1137_s.jpg[/IMG]
Factory MX73 lip which fits pretty well on the MA61, just had to trim off part of the inside to get the overlap right.
Lastly ive started fitting up the strut brace too:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30124-1/IMG_1138_s.jpg[/IMG]
Not too much to go now. Just have to assemble a small high pressure fuel hose, and fit the oil cooler stuff and then i should be ready for first start.
Well not much progress as ive been really busy with other things, such as being alive and married (outlaws over for a bit).
Last night i did get a chance to scurry into the garage and fab up the exhaust mani:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30061-1/15042010193.jpg[/IMG]
All just tacked together at the moment.
Also got a chance to mount up the oil cooler and relocation bit:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30064-1/15042010194.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30067-1/15042010195.jpg[/IMG]
Gotta do the wiring soon, but thats pretty easy, and build the rest of the exhaust as well. Oh and get more stuff in from the US for the oil cooler bits, and generally tidy some stuff up.
But still, progress.
I tidied up all the wiring diagrams and figured out the wiring for what i need to do.
Also got a chance to test assemble the dash:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30076-1/29042010204.jpg[/IMG]
Which i think looks pretty decent. Just have to pop the little plastic clips back in where the empty gauge slots were. Need to do the wiring behind it too, but thats not hard.
Also wired up this little sucker:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30073-1/29042010203.jpg[/IMG]
Which will let me trigger a 12v fuel pump relay from the PWM output of the ECU.
Thats about it for now, hoping to get out there this weekend to do more stuff.
Here we go here we go here we go go. Since its April the 2JZ conversion is full speed ahead.
Firstly though, i assembled all the adaptors onto the oil filter bracket:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30001-1/IMG_1115_s.jpg[/IMG]
And popped it on the engine:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30005-1/IMG_1116_s.jpg[/IMG]
Fits nicely there
Next up was all the boring bits of getting stuff ready to be removed, which only took a couple of hours:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30011-1/IMG_1118_s.jpg[/IMG]
Only problem is that with the nosecone still on the car i dont have the reach to be able to take the bonnet off on my own, so i had to wait for my wife to come home from a friends.
That means engine out tomorow, which should be quite easy.
Oh and this is where it will live for the next few weeks.
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30008-1/IMG_1117_s.jpg[/IMG]
Welcome to Phase 3….
Picking up from where we left off yesterday, my wife helped me take the bonnet off last night and so this morning i pulled the engine out. Under 30mins later it looked like this:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30020-1/IMG_1121_s.jpg[/IMG]
I was originally going to put a brass bushing into the gearbox to replace the shifter bushes, but after seeing this i decided not to:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30017-1/IMG_1120_s.jpg[/IMG]
Thats pretty much as it is brand new.
I tested the slop in the factory bush and the brass bush and in my case there was actually more slop in the brass bush. Saved a heap of work.
After that, the new bellhousing on:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30026-1/IMG_1123_s.jpg[/IMG]
5M left to sit in the naughty corner and cry:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30023-1/IMG_1122_s.jpg[/IMG]
And after a bit of trouble with forgetting to buy more M12 bolts to attach the gearbox, and a few issues lining up the splines with a sore back and then adjusting angles on my engine crane, it now looks like this:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30029-1/IMG_1124_s.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/30032-1/IMG_1125_s.jpg[/IMG]
All went in nicely after a bit of adjusting of the crane.
Not too many more pics as i only had 5hrs to work on it today as we have friends coming around for dinner and i should be cleaning the house a bit right now.
More to come soon…
So i finally got them out, and it was actually really clean behind there. But a crapload of thread sealant gunk holding it in place
Looks roughly like this:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/29991-1/IMG_1112_s.jpg[/IMG]
And those gallery plugs:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/29996-2/IMG_1113_s.jpg[/IMG]
There really isnt much meat behind the capscrew socket so what im going to do is get new bolts in those sizes and turn them down to size on the lathe before putting a fitting into it. Should be pretty good imho.
Also got a chance to start fitting up the gauges into the replacement cluster. Just have to enlarge the speedo hole to suit and she is all apples:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/29976-1/IMG_1107_s.jpg[/IMG]
Also almost finished off the engine ready to put into the car. Popped the blingy flywheel on, and a new spigot bearing:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/29979-1/IMG_1108_s.jpg[/IMG]
Full organic clutch plate:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/29982-1/IMG_1109_s.jpg[/IMG]
And then quite possibly the most terrible clutch cover ive ever seen, so horrible that i dont even have a photo of the blinding .
Finally im almost finished making the flange for the exhaust secondaries, and after the F1 Qualifying is over ill be back out in the garage finishing that off and then maybe tacking together some pipework for it 🙂