Went into a slump for a while. Getting frustrated at everything.

Finally got motivated over this past weekend and worked on the car for 4 straight days.

Got a lot done.

I swapped out the GM 3 bar map sensor for the stock one. Either I set the values incorrectly for the PFC or it's faulty but the car just would not idle with it connected. Now it idles much better, still really rough but not crazy bad like it was.

I'm gonna call rotorsports racing tomorrow to see if they're up for tuning it. I'd like to drop it off on Wednesday and see where that goes.

The wife and I go on vacation I think on Friday, I'm not sure how she has stuff planned but it'll be a nice reprieve from the car work.

Not looking too bad.





I'm really enjoying the emblems



The sub won't stay there but it works for now. Pretty snug under the strut bar. It actually pounds like a ****. I remember the stupid 12s I had back in high school didn't hit this hard. Amazing how far something like audio has come, lol.



The interior is about 95% complete, just some things to be back in. I wanted to leave the PS seat out for the tuning just to be a little more convenient.



I still need to RMA my PLX AFR box. That thing just does not work, simple as that and PLX is giving me the run around.

I still have a nasty vacuum leak somewhere. My PLX vacuum gauge says I'm getting ~10 mmHg of vacuum. I don't know how accurate that thing is since the AFR box is garbage. But, the PFC says, at idle, .25. I don't know how to read that trash. I'll leave that to the tuner.

I just hope the engine didn't go bad sitting on my engine stand in my garage. That would just really suck.

The car is also running pig rich. Smokes like a Chinese hooker. I'm hoping because I put a lot of premix in the fuel before initial startup because I didn't know how to prime the OMP lines so it seemed like a reasonable alternative. By a lot of premix I mean, I had 1/2 tank and I put a quart in, lol.



Lets hope rotorsports can getting this girl running pretty.

 

Perseverance indeed

 

I've come to the conclusion that the RW throttle body is 90% of my current issues......

Swapping it out for the stock one.

 

Nice work, cars looking great.

Quite a quick turnaround considering all the work that's gone into it.

 

^ it's funny you should say that. Being in the military isn't really the ideal lifestyle when trying to build a car.

With that said, I've always felt that the work I've performed has been substandard. Even now, due to the fact that most guys take years to get their car where they want. I feel like I rushed because it seems the standard for a car build is years.

Granted, after the tune, the car is going to nickel and dime me to death because there are some interior issues that I do need to fix.

 

The couple year standard is because people don't have the money to finish and/or have no idea what they are doing. It does not take a few years to install a bunch of bolt on kits.


I am so happy to see this car moving. It really is amazing to see the transformation and the grafting of the VR chassis onto what you had. Real awesome work.

 

yeah tt7hvn, you've done an awesome amount of work here. very impressive.

and about finishing your project in 6 months, i agree with renesisfd. people take years to finish these projects because they get in over their heads and they literally have to learn 100% of certain portions of the project (body work, EMS stuff, suspension stuff, drivetrain, etc.) before they can move on to the next portion, or they don't have the money to purchase everything necessary to complete it.

and speaking of big projects, i'm considering renting a bigger storage/work space this winter so i can gut my FD and paint the chassis a different color (inside and out), clean up the subframes, replaced a couple hard lines, and put it all back together. my main hangup is the brake lines/ABS stuff and keeping everything organized so i don't end up with a bunch of extra bolts. this may sound a little "OCD" but i think it would be fun, and i've always wanted a chaste white or cym FD. did you have any glaring difficulties reassembling your engine bay stuff and undercar hard lines (brake/fuel) ?

 

Jacob -

you know, when I first moved into this house, I was ecstatic to have a garage because I was all like, yay I can work on my FD. however, given the amount of work that has gone into this project and the necessity of space, I had to take one of the spare bedrooms (essentially our office) to store all of the interior pieces while I worked on the car. With that being said, and being a little OCD myself make sure you get a space that is large enough for your project.

I didn't have to worry about not putting the right bolt in the right place because I measured them all and ordered new ones. Ziploc bags and a sharpie was my largest ally.

The car really only takes a couple difference sized bolts with some "specialty" sized ones, ie alternator, water pump.

I am with you on the whole ABS lines. They are a horrible eyesore to me. On top of that, I had to make my own brake lines for both of the front wheels, the short ones.

The fuel lines that run under the car were never taken out as it wasn't necessary so I can't comment on how difficult it would be to remove/replace. I can speculate that it wouldn't be that difficult as long as you label everything properly and take a TON of pictures while you're taking it apart. I found myself doing that often and using google images. Google images is how I figured out where each ABS lines goes as the FSM isn't exactly a clear picture.

Off the top of my head, I can't really think of anything that was unduly difficult in the engine bay. Sure, some things are a PITA but you figure it out as you go.

I'll definitely be looking forward to see you painting your car in your build thread.

 

Just got off the phone with rotorsports racing. They've got a bunch of cars there right now so I plan on dropping it off Columbus day weekend to have it tuned.

Gives me some time to get a couple more things done with the car.

Been a long time coming and I definitely can't wait for this car to run like she's supposed to.

 

Spent the day reading this during lulls at work, I think its awesome. Great job. You have some ridiculous patience and perseverance so mad respect. The shell idea would have been easy but this I'm sure it makes you take a lot of pride in this 7.

 

OP, What size sub is that? I have been looking into putting a sub in my car but all I have laying around is a Alpine Type R 12". I am not sure it will fit in that location.

 

+1, I might do the same...Need a little extra boom boom for the Zoom Zoom

 

You wont believe it guys, but it's a 6". It's the enclosure that makes it pound. More than enough for me in a small car.

 

6"?! I didnt even know those existed! Time for some research!

 

I have a friend who is big into subs and he has told me many times that yes the enclosure, the car's acoustics, and the box itself can make the biggest difference when it comes to subs.

 

I can tell you the most annoying thing about removing them was fishing them out from up in the diff/rear subframe area. Would be 100x easier if the diff was removed. I had never seen the factory fuel filter location prior to removing my hard lines -- I got a chuckle when I saw it. Talk about poor serviceability.

 

I should have listened to you buddy.

I got a call from rotorsports and they said it was causing a massive vacuum leak, rendering it to become a nice paperweight.

But they have got the car idling really well with the stock throttle body that I gave them because I suspected the RW TB was giving me trouble. I should be able to pick it up soon after they tune it and everything.

Things are looking good!

 

Rotorsports is awesome, glad we have them in the area

 

How was the RW TB causing issues? I'm thinking of getting one.

 

It was causing a vacuum leak

 

It is a piece of ****. Thats how.

No problem. Glad to see you are making more progress.

 

Got another call from Rotorsports today.

She's all done. I can pick her up this weekend. I can't tell you how stoked I am!

Brian could only get the stock solenoids to accept 12 psi which I am happy with. I'll eventually get the dual hallman boost control setup as set up by Damian and have it further tuned. But for now, I'm happy with this.

He also said the sequential system is working perfectly. A part of me was dreading this since I did a lot of cleanup on the stock wiring harness and removed all the solenoids not necessary. Along with going simplified sequential and operating off the diagrams provided by the forums made me a little weary. I also think Dale Clarks Viton check valves had a lot to do with how well the system performs.

So, now all I have to do is take her to the dealer to get some tie rod ends installed, alignment, few interior pieces, weather strip, cowl, under try and fender liners and we're good to go.

I've signed up for an auto x here on cherry point. They close down one of the taxiways on the field and run a pretty sweet set up here.

So, Nov 1st is my deadline! Getting ready

 

Quick update:

Got the car back from rotorsports and Bryan did a pretty decent job of tuning it, for a street tune at least. I'd like to eventually get the 2 HBC and get it officially tuned on a dyno but that'll come.

So, when I got the car back it was doing some weird ****. Like, the radio would turn off and turn right back on if I braked. ok, weird.

I fixed that by grounding the car a few more times from engine to chassis AND ran a 6 gauge from battery to chassis direct.

Holy wow! Grounding the car more efficiently surely cured a bunch of small electrical gremlins I was having. The radio doesn't turn off if I hit the brakes, the headlights don't dim when the brakes are applied, the dash lights barely do but I can live with the slight amount.

Also, I was having a random boost issues of the turbo control solenoid not always allowing the car to hit boost. New grounds, boost always when I hit the throttle, no issues. Even the sequential system is working perfectly.

Now I can officially say that make sure your car is grounded more than just factory as it will cure just the weird stuff that the car does.

There is really only one issue I have left. After getting the car aligned at the dealer, it still pulls to the right, before the whole frame swap happened, the car didn't do this but the control arm mounts on the frame were bent to have the wheels centered in the wheel well.

The dealer said they did the best that they could to get the alignment square. I also changed out my tie rod ends at the same time.

I have two possible reasons as to why this could be happening:

1) All my tires have dry rot on the sidewalls so load on the tires is inconsistent regardless of inflation rating.

2) When I connected the steering shaft to the steering rack the marks had previously rubbed off so I pretty much guessed where the splines were supposed to line up. So, one tie rod is probably at it's max while the other is at it's min.

My first course of action will be to replace the tires because that's just the easiest and it really needs new tires regardless of whether it was pulling or not.

I will post pics and get the gopro out to post some videos. Some ******* stole my camera out of my truck so that's why I haven't really been posting pictures lately but i'll be sure to put up some tomorrow.

 

Pretty proud of this:

Boot Screen:



4 Parameter View:



Interior finally finished:





I'll post up a drive video later, my wife is playing COD zombies and was irritated because of the lag I was causing trying to upload a video to youtube, lol

 

That.

Is awesome.