My Massive I30 Revival and Build Thread
05-10-2013, 07:27 AM
#201
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: state of confusion
Posts: 1,341
I pulled up the Maxima front suspension page, and if the drawing is accurate enough your front control arm pivot axes don't quite coincide. Being parallel but offset isn't good enough, except that the OE design takes advantage of rubber bushing compliances to get away with it.
If the axis of the screw thread that passes through the inner sleeve of the front bushing does not coincide with the axis of the rear bushing, you will have a small amount of multi-axis rotation going on as the suspension bumps and rebounds, which requires either bushing compliance or spherical replacements at both positions to freely accommodate.
If you're up for some short-term DIY tinkering that will most likely shorten the bushing life, there are a few cheapie things that you can try.
Delrin is not a particularly flexible or compliant material, and I suspect that the nut and washer with a sleeve that's the same length as the Delrin are constraining them still further. If the Delrin is trapped strongly enough, you're probably getting some relative rotation between the Delrin and the ID of the control arm hole, rather than having all of it occur between the Delrin and the inner sleeve.
What would happen if you removed the nuts, added a thin spacer the same OD and ID as the inner sleeve, and retorqued the nuts? If you saved the old sleeves, you already have your raw stock. By "thin", I'm thinking on the order of 1/32", or just enough to see a gap between the large washer and the flange of the Delrin bushing half. I recommend re-assembly using some sort of grease to delay the onset of corrosion of the metal bits.
If that quiets things any at all or if you don't want to keep pulling things apart, you could then try drilling a few holes about 1/3 of the way (axially) in the Delrin to give it a little more compliance. Think DIY voided bushings, and the effectiveness of such holes depends on their size and where you drill them. Possibly this is where the allowance to pin bushings came from. Ideally also, you'd drill both bushing halves.
Norm
If the axis of the screw thread that passes through the inner sleeve of the front bushing does not coincide with the axis of the rear bushing, you will have a small amount of multi-axis rotation going on as the suspension bumps and rebounds, which requires either bushing compliance or spherical replacements at both positions to freely accommodate.
If you're up for some short-term DIY tinkering that will most likely shorten the bushing life, there are a few cheapie things that you can try.
Delrin is not a particularly flexible or compliant material, and I suspect that the nut and washer with a sleeve that's the same length as the Delrin are constraining them still further. If the Delrin is trapped strongly enough, you're probably getting some relative rotation between the Delrin and the ID of the control arm hole, rather than having all of it occur between the Delrin and the inner sleeve.
What would happen if you removed the nuts, added a thin spacer the same OD and ID as the inner sleeve, and retorqued the nuts? If you saved the old sleeves, you already have your raw stock. By "thin", I'm thinking on the order of 1/32", or just enough to see a gap between the large washer and the flange of the Delrin bushing half. I recommend re-assembly using some sort of grease to delay the onset of corrosion of the metal bits.
If that quiets things any at all or if you don't want to keep pulling things apart, you could then try drilling a few holes about 1/3 of the way (axially) in the Delrin to give it a little more compliance. Think DIY voided bushings, and the effectiveness of such holes depends on their size and where you drill them. Possibly this is where the allowance to pin bushings came from. Ideally also, you'd drill both bushing halves.
Norm
Last edited by Norm Peterson; 05-10-2013 at 07:37 AM.
05-11-2013, 07:21 AM
#202
Congrats on redrilling the camber plates and using them for the caster instead. I saw the pictures in the new season thread and did a doubletake thinking WTH until I read the build detail. And you did it affordably vs me asking GroundControl for a one-off build.
You're doing great adding so much caster as it will help your dynamic camber curves when cornering. Too much static negative camber hurts braking ability as you minimize the front contact patch. I used to use PerformanceTrends apps to model those back in the day.
You're doing great adding so much caster as it will help your dynamic camber curves when cornering. Too much static negative camber hurts braking ability as you minimize the front contact patch. I used to use PerformanceTrends apps to model those back in the day.
06-19-2013, 08:47 AM
#203
I just posted up a review and pics/videos from a recent ProSolo race, check out my results thread! But first, a couple pics!
NWP powah!
NWP powah!
07-25-2013, 11:58 AM
#204
Finally, some more work!
I'm prepping to drop a 3.5 in the car, and while everything is out I figured it would be a good time to get the Quaife back in the car. You may remember that last year I bought the Quaife already installed in a trans, but reverse gear somehow died in 2-3 months, and the Quaife has been sitting in my shed going unused. I begged David (dgeesaman) to do another trans rebuild for me and thankfully he agreed. I picked up a junkyard trans with the hopes it would be in good enough condition to use, and thankfully it appears to be in good shape. I also bought new OEM input shaft and differential bearings to freshen things up. After opening up the trans, David commented that it looked to be much newer than 180k miles would suggest, so there's a chance this was a reman/rebuilt unit. Either way, David did his thing and after a few hours it was shimmed properly and put back together with no major hiccups. David has a nice camera, so while he was busy, I took some pics!
Sorry, I got a little carried away with the editing
I'm prepping to drop a 3.5 in the car, and while everything is out I figured it would be a good time to get the Quaife back in the car. You may remember that last year I bought the Quaife already installed in a trans, but reverse gear somehow died in 2-3 months, and the Quaife has been sitting in my shed going unused. I begged David (dgeesaman) to do another trans rebuild for me and thankfully he agreed. I picked up a junkyard trans with the hopes it would be in good enough condition to use, and thankfully it appears to be in good shape. I also bought new OEM input shaft and differential bearings to freshen things up. After opening up the trans, David commented that it looked to be much newer than 180k miles would suggest, so there's a chance this was a reman/rebuilt unit. Either way, David did his thing and after a few hours it was shimmed properly and put back together with no major hiccups. David has a nice camera, so while he was busy, I took some pics!
Sorry, I got a little carried away with the editing
07-31-2013, 06:46 AM
#206
Well since I almost never get action shots of my car, I figured I should post them up in here when I do!
Videos and more pics in my racing results thread!
Videos and more pics in my racing results thread!
07-31-2013, 02:54 PM
#208
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: state of confusion
Posts: 1,341
It isn't possible to eliminate all roll, and even if you could you really wouldn't want to. You'd end up with ride quality somewhere between poor and abysmal (read: poor mechanical grip), little or no ability to tune the handling balance, or both. And you'd still get some apparent roll due to differential tire deflection (around 1°/lateral g) that still works against your static camber settings.
Norm
Norm
07-31-2013, 03:37 PM
#209
The 5mt is staying for the foreseeable future, but the OEM VLSD unit will soon be replaced with my old Quiafe....and attached to a larger engine
Tell me, does that 6 speed of yours have a Quiafe? 
Norm already took care of the body roll topic, so thank you Norm
But Hoosiers will do that. 
I have 9k front 8k rear springs on the car (most COs come with 8k/6k) and valving to match. I could have bumped each of them up another 2k like the guys at 2JR recommended, but this is still my DD, so I need to retain some semblance of streetability.
07-31-2013, 06:33 PM
#210
08-01-2013, 06:18 AM
#211
Lol, thanks!
The 5mt is staying for the foreseeable future, but the OEM VLSD unit will soon be replaced with my old Quiafe....and attached to a larger engine Tell me, does that 6 speed of yours have a Quiafe?
Norm already took care of the body roll topic, so thank you Norm But Hoosiers will do that. I have 9k front 8k rear springs on the car (most COs come with 8k/6k) and valving to match. I could have bumped each of them up another 2k like the guys at 2JR recommended, but this is still my DD, so I need to retain some semblance of streetability.
The 5mt is staying for the foreseeable future, but the OEM VLSD unit will soon be replaced with my old Quiafe....and attached to a larger engine
Tell me, does that 6 speed of yours have a Quiafe? Norm already took care of the body roll topic, so thank you Norm
But Hoosiers will do that. I have 9k front 8k rear springs on the car (most COs come with 8k/6k) and valving to match. I could have bumped each of them up another 2k like the guys at 2JR recommended, but this is still my DD, so I need to retain some semblance of streetability.I've never driven a Quaife unit, I think my friend w/ a Z is going to get one soon so I can get an idea then. But if it's anything like the stock VLSD then it's nothing compared to an HLSD unit. That sound of squeeking/sticking driving slow in a parking lot while on drag radials brings a grin to my face, something that I only hear on welded diffs.
Not to mention the gearing is 10813507x better than 5mts.
I'm just poking fun, I'm not sure if you've seen my few pics of me on the road course but it appears we're about the same in roll amount (Except I don't have a front sway bar
) you put a lot of work into that car and it shows very well. A track-able daily, the true ideal of a Maxima. What I wanted out of the red car before it's demise.... Now I was just a daily-able track car I'm sure you see scivics, evos and other lightweights and how they take the corners, they have that good good roll that aids in cornering, but even then as... ehhh..... yup... ran out of fcks to give... that subject can take forever.
Lookin like me on blown struts and dropzones (which is a Gymkhana contest winning suspension setup ithankyou)
Last edited by aackshun; 08-01-2013 at 06:27 AM.
08-30-2013, 07:41 AM
#215
08-30-2013, 10:28 AM
#216
hell yeah dude! Ive been keeping my eyes peeled for a decent 3.5 to swap in this car but then again I thought about getting a blower instead. Who knows what im gonna do?! Lol
09-01-2013, 10:28 AM
#217
New sub box
After two soaking wet auto-x events where my sub box got wet, it started to come apart and I decided it was time to get a new box. The 12" JL W6 calls for a 1.25 cubic foot box, but the closest I could find on Sonic Electronix was a 1.15 box for $40 so I grabbed it. Apparently the box I have been using for the last two years was even smaller, and I could hear the difference the first time I turned the system back on. I know, a new sub box isn't super exciting, but I have to do something to keep me busy while I wait for the 3.5!
Surprisingly the inside of the box was still tight, but oh well...
New box on the left:
Oh yes, it's bigger
I had read when buying the box that the terminals sometimes needed tightening before installation, so I went to snug them up and then this happened:
Damn cheap plastic stuff. So I took the old metal ones off and put them in the new box
Hooray, more bass!
Surprisingly the inside of the box was still tight, but oh well...
New box on the left:
Oh yes, it's bigger
I had read when buying the box that the terminals sometimes needed tightening before installation, so I went to snug them up and then this happened:
Damn cheap plastic stuff. So I took the old metal ones off and put them in the new box
Hooray, more bass!
09-04-2013, 05:31 PM
#218
An awesome photographer and fellow driver has gotten some great shots of my car over the last few events and was nice enough to give me all of them to sift through. Check it:
11-20-2013, 06:50 AM
#220
Time for some maintenance work!
Well after some 15 months my new front brakes were toast (Wilwood 12.9" 2-piece rotors with Carbotech AX-6 pads). I had to switch cars and drive the E28 for the final Solo race of the year due to the parts not arriving in time, but that ended up being quite a bit of fun. More on that later though.
So it seems there was a massive amount of brake dust build up (corrosion?) that seemed to keep the pads from sliding freely, which resulted in uneven pad wear and likely accelerated the wear as well. I couldn't stand the amount and type of dust the AX-6 pads produced. In all my years of detailing cars, I have never dealt with dust that was this bad. Not just in the amount of it (because there was), but more in its composition. After a while, I noticed small amounts of rust building up on the surface of my wheels from the brake dust, and the dust/rust is nearly impossible to remove. The finish of my wheels is pretty much ruined, so I will never be running a Carbotech pad again on the street. I still have the XP-8s for track days, but I'll be sure to clean my wheels off as soon as I get home.
To simplify my wheel cleaning problems and to try something new, I'm trying out the Wilwood Polymatrix E pads which will hopefully give me the initial cold bite I need for auto-x while not ruining my wheels in the process. Since the slots in my slotted rotors had disappeared within some 7 months of use, it was also time for new rotors.
Yeah, that's not exactly ever wear:
I'm assuming this might have had something to do with the pads not sliding freely
http://s72.photobucket.com/user/95ma...g.html?filters[user]=18209790&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=4
Old- 25.77 mm thick
New- 28.05 mm thick
Gotta clean up that hub!
All clean (anti seize not shown)
These guys needed cleaning...
All done!
I'm pretty sure that I need to disassemble these every couple months and re-grease them to make sure they're sliding freely, because I really don't want to be replacing front brakes every year.
After breaking them in, I experienced some pretty heavy "whirring" when coming to a stop that I attribute to the slots in the rotors still having edges to them, but this seems to be going away the more I drive it. I'm pretty sure the same thing happened last year when we installed these. I haven't had a chance to really test the pads yet, but when I do I'll post up my thoughts.
Well after some 15 months my new front brakes were toast (Wilwood 12.9" 2-piece rotors with Carbotech AX-6 pads). I had to switch cars and drive the E28 for the final Solo race of the year due to the parts not arriving in time, but that ended up being quite a bit of fun. More on that later though.
So it seems there was a massive amount of brake dust build up (corrosion?) that seemed to keep the pads from sliding freely, which resulted in uneven pad wear and likely accelerated the wear as well. I couldn't stand the amount and type of dust the AX-6 pads produced. In all my years of detailing cars, I have never dealt with dust that was this bad. Not just in the amount of it (because there was), but more in its composition. After a while, I noticed small amounts of rust building up on the surface of my wheels from the brake dust, and the dust/rust is nearly impossible to remove. The finish of my wheels is pretty much ruined, so I will never be running a Carbotech pad again on the street. I still have the XP-8s for track days, but I'll be sure to clean my wheels off as soon as I get home.
To simplify my wheel cleaning problems and to try something new, I'm trying out the Wilwood Polymatrix E pads which will hopefully give me the initial cold bite I need for auto-x while not ruining my wheels in the process. Since the slots in my slotted rotors had disappeared within some 7 months of use, it was also time for new rotors.
Yeah, that's not exactly ever wear:
I'm assuming this might have had something to do with the pads not sliding freely
http://s72.photobucket.com/user/95ma...g.html?filters[user]=18209790&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=4
Old- 25.77 mm thick
New- 28.05 mm thick
Gotta clean up that hub!
All clean (anti seize not shown)
These guys needed cleaning...
All done!
I'm pretty sure that I need to disassemble these every couple months and re-grease them to make sure they're sliding freely, because I really don't want to be replacing front brakes every year.
After breaking them in, I experienced some pretty heavy "whirring" when coming to a stop that I attribute to the slots in the rotors still having edges to them, but this seems to be going away the more I drive it. I'm pretty sure the same thing happened last year when we installed these. I haven't had a chance to really test the pads yet, but when I do I'll post up my thoughts.
11-23-2013, 04:20 PM
#222
Hung out with Nick and his badass DirtyI30. Pics of his car
Ok rolling shot, a bit blurry
^__^
His car may be faster, but mine is more red
My favorite of his car. Simple, clean, and very functional. Love it
Leading the crew
Beautiful rolling shot
Ok rolling shot, a bit blurry
^__^
His car may be faster, but mine is more red
My favorite of his car. Simple, clean, and very functional. Love it
Leading the crew
Beautiful rolling shot
Last edited by D I R T Y I 3 0; 11-23-2013 at 04:25 PM.
02-10-2014, 06:08 AM
#224
3.5 swap problems- No fuel, no spark, need help!
I finally got around to installing oTranscendental's old 3.5 from his 97 Maxima into my car, and we're having some problems getting it running.
The details:
My car is a 1996 I30
The motor is from an 02/03 Maxima
The wiring harness came directly off of his 97 SE and was never unplugged from the 3.5
The clutch/flywheel are from a 3.0 5th gen (have ACT as backup)
ECUs available are stock I30, JWT 96 Maxima, and TS 96 Maxima
My car has a Clifford 3.5 RS alarm with remote start
He had the swap for about 4 years and it ran great the whole time putting down a 13.6 and over 240 whp. NWP VIAS block-off plate installed.
After getting everything in and a bunch of vacuum lines fixed, we tried to fire it up and got no fuel pressure and no spark. If it was just one or the other, we would think we just missed hooking something up, but with it being both, we're thinking it might have something to do with the alarm system. The alarm has one wire going into the harness at the ECU, but even after reconnecting it we had no luck. The alarm is acting normal and will lock and unlock the car, so I'm not so sure that's the problem.
There are a few sensors on the 3.5 that aren't plugged into anything, but I'm pretty sure they're all related to the VTC/VIAS stuff that's disabled. However there is one plug coming off the harness that looks like a spare coil pack plug that we're unsure of. Can anyone look at my pics and see if something isn't looking right?
Here's the spare plug that looks like it's for a coil pack
This guy isn't plugged into anything
I'm assuming this plug was for the VIAS?
I'm pretty sure this was for VTC...
I'm less sure about this one
At this point the only thing we can think of is a pinched wire somewhere. Can anyone think of some areas to check? Thank you!
Thread about the problem is here.
The details:
My car is a 1996 I30
The motor is from an 02/03 Maxima
The wiring harness came directly off of his 97 SE and was never unplugged from the 3.5
The clutch/flywheel are from a 3.0 5th gen (have ACT as backup)
ECUs available are stock I30, JWT 96 Maxima, and TS 96 Maxima
My car has a Clifford 3.5 RS alarm with remote start
He had the swap for about 4 years and it ran great the whole time putting down a 13.6 and over 240 whp. NWP VIAS block-off plate installed.
After getting everything in and a bunch of vacuum lines fixed, we tried to fire it up and got no fuel pressure and no spark. If it was just one or the other, we would think we just missed hooking something up, but with it being both, we're thinking it might have something to do with the alarm system. The alarm has one wire going into the harness at the ECU, but even after reconnecting it we had no luck. The alarm is acting normal and will lock and unlock the car, so I'm not so sure that's the problem.
There are a few sensors on the 3.5 that aren't plugged into anything, but I'm pretty sure they're all related to the VTC/VIAS stuff that's disabled. However there is one plug coming off the harness that looks like a spare coil pack plug that we're unsure of. Can anyone look at my pics and see if something isn't looking right?
Here's the spare plug that looks like it's for a coil pack
This guy isn't plugged into anything
I'm assuming this plug was for the VIAS?
I'm pretty sure this was for VTC...
I'm less sure about this one
At this point the only thing we can think of is a pinched wire somewhere. Can anyone think of some areas to check? Thank you!
Thread about the problem is here.
Last edited by 95maxrider; 02-10-2014 at 06:28 AM.
07-24-2014, 07:39 AM
#226
I think I've narrowed it down to one of the non-motor wiring harnesses, but there are a number of them and testing them is tricky. It's been pretty rough. I do one thing that I think should fix the problem and something else pops up.
07-25-2014, 11:46 AM
#228
The most technical thing I'm capable of at this point is manually inspecting the wires for melted/burned sections, although that's only really easy for the harness in the front of the engine bay (engine room harness). That's going to get very tricky as soon as we start looking inside the car. I have two mechanic buddy's who are going to be helping me out, so hopefully they can use their tools to figure things out a little more quickly. I'm not exactly looking forward to it.
09-01-2014, 08:29 AM
#233
Well the 3.5 is up and running, but not exactly smoothly. After fixing some vacuum leaks, the idle was up around 1700 and I was leaking a good amount of trans fluid from the DS axle seal. I scanned for codes and got:
0325- Knock sensor
1401- EGR temp sensor
0120- Throttle/pedal position sensor
1400- EGRC solenoid valve
I started with the TPS, since I had to extend those wires when doing the swap. The wires didn't have much slack in them, so I redid them, but the idle was still around 1700, so I tried switching in the 2 plug TPS (instead of my one plug TPS) from the donor car (97 Maxima) but that didn't seem to help either.
Tony came over again yesterday and helped out with the DS axle seal, and I put in new Amsoil in the trans while we were at it. With the leak fixed, we moved back to the TPS. We tried back probing the plug as the Haynes manual recommends, but weren't getting any signal. Upon closer inspection, the throttle was being held open by this thing, and wasn't resting on the stop screw. With the part removed, the idle dropped to about 900!
You can see the rod we removed the spring from here:
While we were down there we serviced the Wilwoods with some grease as I would like these to last more than one year. (Scroll up to see what happened to them before.) I also replaced the radiator cap (Z32 16 pound) as my old one was starting to crack.
The next problem is the charging system. With the car running, battery voltage struggles to reach 14.0, and doesn't change when the motor is revved. After the car is turned off, you can watch the voltage drop from 12.2 down to 11.5 after a few hours. I can't tell if the alternator is bad or if I have a serious drain on the battery. I'm not sure if it's safe to drive the car about 5 miles to the parts store for them to test the electrical system.
Oh, and I'm pretty sure the rear main seal is leaking
Don't ask me why I didn't replace it when the motor was out. It's because I'm an idiot.
Finally, some decent pics. Thanks for the cover aackshun! Please excuse the temporary intake setup, PFTB coming soon!
0325- Knock sensor
1401- EGR temp sensor
0120- Throttle/pedal position sensor
1400- EGRC solenoid valve
I started with the TPS, since I had to extend those wires when doing the swap. The wires didn't have much slack in them, so I redid them, but the idle was still around 1700, so I tried switching in the 2 plug TPS (instead of my one plug TPS) from the donor car (97 Maxima) but that didn't seem to help either.
Tony came over again yesterday and helped out with the DS axle seal, and I put in new Amsoil in the trans while we were at it. With the leak fixed, we moved back to the TPS. We tried back probing the plug as the Haynes manual recommends, but weren't getting any signal. Upon closer inspection, the throttle was being held open by this thing, and wasn't resting on the stop screw. With the part removed, the idle dropped to about 900!
You can see the rod we removed the spring from here:
While we were down there we serviced the Wilwoods with some grease as I would like these to last more than one year. (Scroll up to see what happened to them before.) I also replaced the radiator cap (Z32 16 pound) as my old one was starting to crack.
The next problem is the charging system. With the car running, battery voltage struggles to reach 14.0, and doesn't change when the motor is revved. After the car is turned off, you can watch the voltage drop from 12.2 down to 11.5 after a few hours. I can't tell if the alternator is bad or if I have a serious drain on the battery. I'm not sure if it's safe to drive the car about 5 miles to the parts store for them to test the electrical system.
Oh, and I'm pretty sure the rear main seal is leaking
Don't ask me why I didn't replace it when the motor was out. It's because I'm an idiot.Finally, some decent pics. Thanks for the cover aackshun! Please excuse the temporary intake setup, PFTB coming soon!
11-12-2014, 03:56 PM
#237
Update time!
After getting the 3.5 running I was really annoyed with a dip in the power between 3000-4000 rpm, and I couldn't figure out what was going wrong. Then I remembered that when we were prepping the motor for the install, I wanted to put a knock sensor on it, as Darius had grounded his out, and I wanted the safety of a KS. Little did I know then that there was a good reason for grounding out the KS: 4th gen knock sensors don't play well with 3.5 motors. I found this thread about the issue, and it sure sounded like it could be the solution to my problems. Hell, installing the KS was the only thing I altered on the motor prior to installing it, so it kind of made sense.
This Sunday I got down to business. I was under the impression that I was going to have to remove the upper and lower IMs to get to the KS, but upon closer reading of the thread, I noticed people were saying to put a resistor in the sub-harness of the KS. I went out to the car to take a look where that was, and was pleasantly surprised to find it sitting right there on the side of the motor. Finally, some good luck!
While I was tracing the sub-harness, I noticed some red Toyota coolant dried up on the neck for the upper radiator hose. Sure enough, my overflow tank was a little low too, and I had topped it off a few weeks prior, so I knew I had a small leak. Time for a new hose and proper fittings!
Curiously, there appeared to be two drops of oil underneath that hose as it reached the radiator. I wondered aloud how two drops of oil could find their way under that hose, but could only guess that there was oil in my coolant, and that it had seeped out of the hose onto the radiator. Not good, but not conclusive.
The car was also due for a new fuel filter, so another 300zx filter to the rescue!
I also wanted to put on my old Nismo AFPR from my old DEK, but apparently the fuel rails/mounts are different sizes between the DEK and the 3.5. This picture isn't great, but you get the idea. The 3.5 bolt holes are spaced much further apart.
So now I need to find a AFPR that works on a 3.5 swapped 4th gen. Can anyone recommend a decent AFPR that won't break the bank? I'm not finding much on Google, and the ones on Ebay don't look anything like my current one. I also noticed that the stock FPR on the 3.5 doesn't have a vacuum nipple on it, like my AFPR does, but I don't know what to make of that.
Oh, and while I'm at it, can anyone tell me what I'm supposed to do with this vacuum thing on the bottom of the IM elbow at the TB?
You might notice the PF TB adapter in that pic. Yes! Finally, I'm getting rid of the stock 4th gen TB that was on the motor before and putting on my old PF TB, but I first had to find an adapter that would let me do so. Big thanks to sicivic89 for making the adapter and the throttle cable bracket!! Everything went on smoothly, and I was eager to feel the beast breathe properly! More pics of that to come.
But first, it was time for an oil change. Nothing unusual happened until I went to transfer the oil from the black catch can to a clear water jug for transport. Keeping in mind that the catch can has been used for a lot of stuff, and never properly cleaned, I was still scared to see a bit of milky oil come out first as I poured it out:
Now I can't tell if that was already in the can before I drained my oil into it or not, but it has me worried. I put the rest of the oil into the clear jug, and after settling for two days I haven't seen any signs of milkiness, so I'm hoping I don't have a blown head gasket.
Oh yeah, and unfortunately my sensors for oil temp and pressure don't really have enough clearance between the oil filter sandwich adapter and the axle, so I might have to relocate the sensors somehow. But that's a job for another day.
I had four codes before we started working: two for EGR, one for IACV, and one for the KS. I hoped the KS code would be taken care of with the resistor, but I didn't know what to make of the EGR and IACV codes. We started the car up and the idle was around 1700 rpm, so I knew something was wrong. I then realized I should hook up the IACV plug to the PF IACV, but the wire was nowhere to be found. In the process of looking however, I came across the plug for the EGR. That would explain why I was getting codes for that!
I was looking in the area of the TB for the plug, without thinking that the IACV had been relocated to the PS of the IM where the 4th gen IACV was. For some reason, the plug wasn't plugged in to the IACV, which would of course explain my code. Unfortunately, the wires weren't long enough to reach the TB, so my first thought was to extend the wires. Thankfully, I had a better idea, which was to just plug it into the 4th gen IACV. Success!! The car eventually settled into a ~1000 rpm idle. Good enough. Finally, time for a test drive to see if this KS resistor worked!
It did! I now have full timing all the time, and the car feels great! I wanted to check the AFR with the new big TB, so I started doing some pulls in second gear. I was on a road with some speed bumps, and after going over what I thought was the last one, I nailed it. Unfortunately, it was not the last one, and I didn't see the last one until I was right on it, so I probably went over it at like 40 mph. I didn't hear anything scrape, so I figured I was in the clear. Oh, for the record, I saw my AFR get to 13.4, so I know I need the AFPR ASAP.
I eventually get home and park. A few minutes later I go back outside to check something only to find a pool of gas under the car.
WTF?!?!? A quick glance under the car reveals no scratches or impact marks, and the gas appears to be coming from the top of the gas tank. I popped up the back seat the check the fuel pump access, but it was dry.
So now the car is on the way to my shop to get checked out. The temperature is about to drop from the 60s into the low 40s tomorrow, and there's no way I can deal with a completely full gas tank in that weather in my driveway. So yeah. One or two problems solved (hesitation, IACV and EGR codes, PF TB) and another one pops up to take their place. Such is my luck.
So to recap, I need a recommendation for an AFPR and I need to know what to do with the vacuum port on the bottom of the IM elbow at the TB. Thanks for reading!
After getting the 3.5 running I was really annoyed with a dip in the power between 3000-4000 rpm, and I couldn't figure out what was going wrong. Then I remembered that when we were prepping the motor for the install, I wanted to put a knock sensor on it, as Darius had grounded his out, and I wanted the safety of a KS. Little did I know then that there was a good reason for grounding out the KS: 4th gen knock sensors don't play well with 3.5 motors. I found this thread about the issue, and it sure sounded like it could be the solution to my problems. Hell, installing the KS was the only thing I altered on the motor prior to installing it, so it kind of made sense.
This Sunday I got down to business. I was under the impression that I was going to have to remove the upper and lower IMs to get to the KS, but upon closer reading of the thread, I noticed people were saying to put a resistor in the sub-harness of the KS. I went out to the car to take a look where that was, and was pleasantly surprised to find it sitting right there on the side of the motor. Finally, some good luck!
While I was tracing the sub-harness, I noticed some red Toyota coolant dried up on the neck for the upper radiator hose. Sure enough, my overflow tank was a little low too, and I had topped it off a few weeks prior, so I knew I had a small leak. Time for a new hose and proper fittings!
Curiously, there appeared to be two drops of oil underneath that hose as it reached the radiator. I wondered aloud how two drops of oil could find their way under that hose, but could only guess that there was oil in my coolant, and that it had seeped out of the hose onto the radiator. Not good, but not conclusive.
The car was also due for a new fuel filter, so another 300zx filter to the rescue!
I also wanted to put on my old Nismo AFPR from my old DEK, but apparently the fuel rails/mounts are different sizes between the DEK and the 3.5. This picture isn't great, but you get the idea. The 3.5 bolt holes are spaced much further apart.
So now I need to find a AFPR that works on a 3.5 swapped 4th gen. Can anyone recommend a decent AFPR that won't break the bank? I'm not finding much on Google, and the ones on Ebay don't look anything like my current one. I also noticed that the stock FPR on the 3.5 doesn't have a vacuum nipple on it, like my AFPR does, but I don't know what to make of that.
Oh, and while I'm at it, can anyone tell me what I'm supposed to do with this vacuum thing on the bottom of the IM elbow at the TB?
You might notice the PF TB adapter in that pic. Yes! Finally, I'm getting rid of the stock 4th gen TB that was on the motor before and putting on my old PF TB, but I first had to find an adapter that would let me do so. Big thanks to sicivic89 for making the adapter and the throttle cable bracket!! Everything went on smoothly, and I was eager to feel the beast breathe properly! More pics of that to come.
But first, it was time for an oil change. Nothing unusual happened until I went to transfer the oil from the black catch can to a clear water jug for transport. Keeping in mind that the catch can has been used for a lot of stuff, and never properly cleaned, I was still scared to see a bit of milky oil come out first as I poured it out:
Now I can't tell if that was already in the can before I drained my oil into it or not, but it has me worried. I put the rest of the oil into the clear jug, and after settling for two days I haven't seen any signs of milkiness, so I'm hoping I don't have a blown head gasket.
Oh yeah, and unfortunately my sensors for oil temp and pressure don't really have enough clearance between the oil filter sandwich adapter and the axle, so I might have to relocate the sensors somehow. But that's a job for another day.
I had four codes before we started working: two for EGR, one for IACV, and one for the KS. I hoped the KS code would be taken care of with the resistor, but I didn't know what to make of the EGR and IACV codes. We started the car up and the idle was around 1700 rpm, so I knew something was wrong. I then realized I should hook up the IACV plug to the PF IACV, but the wire was nowhere to be found. In the process of looking however, I came across the plug for the EGR. That would explain why I was getting codes for that!
I was looking in the area of the TB for the plug, without thinking that the IACV had been relocated to the PS of the IM where the 4th gen IACV was. For some reason, the plug wasn't plugged in to the IACV, which would of course explain my code. Unfortunately, the wires weren't long enough to reach the TB, so my first thought was to extend the wires. Thankfully, I had a better idea, which was to just plug it into the 4th gen IACV. Success!! The car eventually settled into a ~1000 rpm idle. Good enough. Finally, time for a test drive to see if this KS resistor worked!
It did! I now have full timing all the time, and the car feels great! I wanted to check the AFR with the new big TB, so I started doing some pulls in second gear. I was on a road with some speed bumps, and after going over what I thought was the last one, I nailed it. Unfortunately, it was not the last one, and I didn't see the last one until I was right on it, so I probably went over it at like 40 mph. I didn't hear anything scrape, so I figured I was in the clear. Oh, for the record, I saw my AFR get to 13.4, so I know I need the AFPR ASAP.
I eventually get home and park. A few minutes later I go back outside to check something only to find a pool of gas under the car.
WTF?!?!? A quick glance under the car reveals no scratches or impact marks, and the gas appears to be coming from the top of the gas tank. I popped up the back seat the check the fuel pump access, but it was dry.
So now the car is on the way to my shop to get checked out. The temperature is about to drop from the 60s into the low 40s tomorrow, and there's no way I can deal with a completely full gas tank in that weather in my driveway. So yeah. One or two problems solved (hesitation, IACV and EGR codes, PF TB) and another one pops up to take their place. Such is my luck.
So to recap, I need a recommendation for an AFPR and I need to know what to do with the vacuum port on the bottom of the IM elbow at the TB. Thanks for reading!
11-14-2014, 10:23 AM
#238
wish I could help with a suggestion, sorry for the recent troubles, but props for the dedication you have had for this car. keep us posted on what happens, and hopefully someone else can help suggest a resolution for the AFPR
11-14-2014, 11:42 AM
#239
Just cut slots into the AFPR bolt holes with a dremel.
Link to full size: https://i.imgur.com/WQxc4nu.jpg
Link to full size: https://i.imgur.com/WQxc4nu.jpg
11-18-2014, 12:04 PM
#240
Just cut slots into the AFPR bolt holes with a dremel.
Link to full size: https://i.imgur.com/WQxc4nu.jpg
Link to full size: https://i.imgur.com/WQxc4nu.jpg