Murz' 1986 Arctic Silver GXL aka Silver

[murz]

So much to consider and plan out when it comes to this build! Either way it's another learning process, and I'm not in a hurry to get this complete.

 I originally wanted to go the Megasquirt option, and did a lot of researching into it, I really like what it can do. My car is set up for low impedance (LI) injectors, and I have a pair of LI 550cc... and a pair of 750cc, but I'm not sure if it's LE or not. I believe Megasquirt doesn't like LI injectors, there's a way to modify the resistor pack to be able to use high impedance injectors... Then there's Rtek as well... which also has a built in FCD, and is just an add-on chip to the stock ECU. Megasquirt is definitely superior it seems, but requires more work and money. I'd rather not have to pay a professional tuner, rather do it myself or with one of your guy's help, I'm sure it can be done. So there's that...

I originally wanted something around 250whp, but now I guess 300whp seems like a better number to chase, I'm unsure if the stock turbo can handle that. The stock S4 turbo is apparently rebuilt, I can't feel any play. I'll have to check out the waste gate and see if it's ported or not. Should I send out the turbo to BNR and give it the stage 1, 2 or 3...

Current set up would be primary 550cc and secondary 750cc, but is that enough?

Currently I don't have a turbo BAC (or any emissions on the turbo engine to be exact) I'm sure the Megasquirt could run fine without one, but the Rtek?

Anyways, just considering things now, please feel free to add input! Like I said, I'm in no hurry to complete this, but getting things done one at a time, like sending the turbo out, either chipping the ecu or wiring up megasquirt as soon as I can is preferred. Just things I'm currently considering.

[murz]

Happy New Year! So, a little update, nothing crazy just documenting stuff. Anyways, got a decent job finally, on top of school, so there's that... and there goes all that free time I had! More money = more parts though!

So, Megasquirt it is, I've made my mind up finally. Watched a video of Aaron Cake doing an install into a Cosmo, the whole thing isn't that complicated or difficult really. I want to not have to run an Air Flow Meter, that's definitely one of the advantages of the Megasquirt that I want. There are tons more benefits though...

Anyways, took the car out today for a little spin. Everything was working fine, until I turned the lights on in the driveway the car immediately died.

Here she is.
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Anyways, the engine seems to have good compression, but who knows about the water seals. I don't suspect them to be bad, but who knows. It would really suck to finish the swap only to find out it needs new seals. So, I'm thinking maybe it's a good idea to tear her down and inspect? What would you guys do in this case.

Also, here's a picture of the wastegate, I really can't tell if it's ported or not. The exhaust fins don't look so good either, not sure how much that would affect performance.

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Check out these awesome parts! 550 Primaries and 750 Secondaries.
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[toplessFC3Sman]

That turbo looks like an apex seal has gone through it at some point in the past.  It'll still work, but it will lose some response, efficiency, and probably won't last as long since it won't be as finely balanced.

Its possible to block off, partially fill, & pressurize the coolant passages of the block with an air pump or something.  Then, see if the radiator cap holds the 13 - 16 psi, and whether that pressure bleeds down when you turn off the air pump.  If it holds, you're good; if it bleeds off very quickly, there may be a problem or there may not be... (a lot of flow back thru the pump, or a block-off that's not sealing properly, or the fact that nothing is warm (including the seals) and that air can escape more easily than water/coolant).  It can be a bit of work for a potentially inconclusive test.

You can use a resistor pack with low-impedance injectors to make them act like high-impedance.  This will have an impact on the opening times & amount of flow you can get out of them, but with MS3 instead of MS2, you can time their injections, essentially getting back some of the lost fueling precision.  I'm biased towards MS in general, but it really is a trade-off of capability vs ease-of-use.  There's also a thread in the 2nd gen forum on RX7club about chipping the stock ECU to retain & tweak the OEM calibrations, which would be similar to an Rtek in capability.

Have you checked all the fuses for why the car died?  The headlight thing is odd; maybe check the grounds and clean up the battery posts & terminals?

[murz]

So, currently I'm having some sort of weird Idle/charging issue. I took her to work a month ago, and everything seemed fine until the drive home. The car stalled on my way home, as I slid into Neutral and came to a complete stop, the car stalled. Went to try and start her back up, and of course she wouldn't start, it was as if the battery didn't have enough cranking power. Had a friend jump start me (as I was in the middle of the road, haha) She started right up! This also happened as I came to a stop in my drive way. Wouldn't start, jump start fixed her. A week later, the battery was completely dead. The whole time the internal stock voltometer has read just a tad over 12V, sometimes dipping below 12V. I have another alternator I will test out, and perhaps another battery.

I believe this issue relates to the incident when the car died due to the headlights turning on. Once it dies, it won't turn back on. All fuses are fine (Engine and kick-panel, are there others that I'm unaware of?) I'll start troubleshooting this when I get the second.

Anyways... So I plan on getting the turbo rebuilt, probably by BNR. Stage 2 or 3?

I need to test the block for good compression and sealing. I'm just thinking about tearing her apart and replacing things anyways, just to start out fresh.

I do plan on getting MS3, this is my next big purchase I will be making. So stay tuned!

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Here she is looking pretty! Besides all the issues, she runs (When she runs) really well! I'm very impressed with the lightweight flywheel, and glad I upgraded the 5th and 6th port actuators rather than remove them. It's got great low end torque and quite impressive top end with the street port.

[murz]

So, I ended up having some spare time after class tonight, and of course did some tinkering around. Threw on the spare alternator I had from a Turbo II S4. And Wallah! No major idle issues yet... No stalling... In fact, the voltmeter was reading 13.5-14 Volts!!!!! With all the accessories on she was probably around 13.5V just from eye-balling it. I will do some more testing sometime this weekend perhaps. I will be converting her over to true manual steering as well if she is drivable(as in can make a 30-40 minute drive without stalling). Oh, she idles kind of high right now, I can lower it (1k is about as low as she wants to go), but i have it a little high just in case she starts to lose power then I have some time to save her. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

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[~Groll69~]

that is great to hear.

[toplessFC3Sman]

Was your car originally canadian market? It looks that way, with the oil pressure gauge in kg/cm2 vs PSI

[murz]

Yes, she's canadian eh? Also, while the charging issue is fixed. The stalling issue remains, even though it's hard to reproduce. I got it to try and stall when i turned the fan on once. I was testing it for about 30 minutes, putting loads on and off.

Canadian model might have something i'm missing or overlooking?

[fidelity101]

All canadian cars have DRL (day time running lights) although I am not sure how old that requirement is.

[murz]

Mine definitely has that disabled if it ever had it. I wouldn't mind that though.

[murz]

Replaced the wiring harness, the tps wiring was bad and who knows what else. I was able to compensate for it by messing with the throttle cable. This allowed me to drive. It was running stupid rich, and i spent a lot of time trying to find the culprit. It floods every single time, i installed a fuel cut switch to help, but it's more of a bandaid fix. The flooding is so bad, there is gas mixed with the crank case oil. Oil change is on the list!

Anyways, after much brainstorming i realized i need to change out the tps wiring, as no signal to the tps will cause it to run that rich i've read. My guess is the stalling issue may be related, as i put load on the car, the idle drops, but it only gets richer, causing it to slowly die. Just my theory.

We'll see if it fixes the issue. I can't wait to drive this car properly! Also now i've got a low mileage s-5 Turbo and manifold that look unused even. Figuring out what type of intercooler i want to go with now...

[murz]

Anyone have any good recommendations for an intercooler? There are so many things that go into this build.

Also, think I may have solved a few of the issues with the current NA set up. Still double checking some things. want to know for sure.

I took her out for a spin, and man she's a fun!!! car!!! She may not be the fastest thing on the block (Now that a V8 FD is on my block) but she's so fun! The Throw out bearing is making noises, that's probably because i realized I had an S5 transmission after the fact... and had an S4 TO bearing.

The lightweight flywheel really makes the car a blast to drive. I'm glad I have a lightweight flywheel on the turbo engine already installed.

The exhaust combination is also very nice, WOT is so loud! Much louder than Racing Beat, much more aggressive as well. Addicting! It's much louder at idle though. I'll get a picture of her soon.

[ITSWILL]

I have always used Greddy FMICs and have had no issues.  I have heard that most of the ebay ones are fine too for a lot less money.  CX racing might be a company to research.

[murz]

Greddy seems too expensive, but if I could find one for cheap... either way I think I'll need to drill holes in the body, I don't think I can dodge that.

CX Racing sells You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login Which looks good and sells for a decent price. But I have looked up a lot of reviews on Rx7club, and the kit itself takes a bit of fabrication it seems, more so than advertised. This was my number one pick before I looked into them a while back though, I may end up getting it though.

[ITSWILL]

That kit actually looks pretty well sorted, you will have to cut holes in the body, at least I did.  I would go for that kit if you like the price.  I did my own piping on my 20b and it was no big deal.  The Greddy piping kit I had on my 86 hit the hood and didn't really fit perfect anyway.