Nissan 240SX/Skyline IRS in a road-legal 81 FB completed, plus FC front subframe swap
11-11-23, 01:35 PM
#101
Senior Member
Thread Starter
12-06-23, 10:41 PM
#102
Senior Member
Thread Starter
I had a few choices for retro-fitting power steer to this project. I could have used a conventional belt-driven power steering pump from an FC or FD and mounted it on the side of the engine, but they tend to be a bit power hungry, and it would get in the way of the air conditioning I plan to fit. They're also speed sensitive and I don't have a speed sensor or any easy way to limit what they do. This was my least favourite option.
I could have hunted around and found a suitable rack with an electric motor built in, however the electric motor would have been more or less directly below the turbo, thanks to right-hand drive. Not ideal.
I went down the rabbit hole of investigating Toyota Prius 2003-ish electric power steering with the motor mounted in the steering column. For a while there I really thought that was the best plan and nearly bought a column to try to fit, until I realised that they have a universal at the lower half of the column which would need to fit to the top of the universal on the FC rack, then through another universal to the rack itself. Which would need some kind of centre bearing, and anyway the spline count is different, and it's illegal to modify steering components here by welding anything, so it all kind of died a death there.
So really the best option seemed to be using an electro-mechanical unit out of a SW20 MR-2. So continuing with my previous install efforts, I've had some success with it over the last couple of weeks. I fabricated a stainless reservoir and added a -10AN feed pipe to the pump, and a -6AN return from the rack. I've also connected the pump to the rack through a -6AN braided line.
I spent quite some time modifying a power steer cooler loop from a BA5 Prelude to mount under the radiator, however after spending way too long trying to tig weld a pair of -6AN fittings to it, had to bin the whole thing after they just wouldn't seal. Suspect it was made out of some kind of cheap pot metal and just kept weeping with 1000 psi going through it. I'll run it without a cooler and see how it goes, the reservoir is 1100cc instead of the factory 700cc so that'll help a bit.
The pulse width modulator is working well, however it really needs to be on about 70% as opposed to the 30% I'd initially planned. Two things here - this may be because I've only tested it with a battery on a jumper cable and it's not a great connection, and even 70% is about half the volume it makes at 100% so I'm calling it a win. It's working well enough to consider it ready for road trials.
What else - I've had the 225/45/15 Hankook Ventus 232's fitted and balanced, which has lowered the back of the car another 20mm or so. Still yet to get any suitable 205/50/15s for the front but I'm working on that before the holidays.
I've also pulled the engine down and checked it over, and bridge ported the secondary plates.
Gotta love those massive FD intake runners. The engine is in really good condition, the housings are great, the plates are in good shape and all the seals are well within tolerances. I replaced the side seal springs because they were cheap and if anything is going to lose tension over 20 years it's probably the smallest springs. I also took the opportunity to clean the engine and repaint it in a brighter fashion.
I also fixed the leaks in the sump and installed a threaded piece for the oil temp sensor in sump. I added studs to the sump instead of the 10mm factory bolts, and with some big washers I've managed to torque it up nice and tight, so let's hope leaks are a thing of the past (yeah right).
The primary reason I stopped driving it in January 2020 was because the FD alternator failed. At the time I suspected this was due to heat under the hood, but I think I may have wired it incorrectly. I seem to recall someone posting once about needing a diode or a resister or something in the ignition feed side, so that may have been the cause. In any case, I've picked up this alternator instead, it's from an Australian EF Ford Falcon. It's 110amp, has the same plug as FD and cost $50. I found an oversized pulley for it off a Mitsubishi Diamante alternator, and after a bit of light machining it all fits together well. I'll go over the wiring and make sure it's correct before powering it up.
I've cleaned up the FC turbo gearbox with a wire wheel and degreaser, just because I can't be bothered stripping it and having it vapour blasted and/or painted. It's really not that kind of car and I suspect I may need to swap the box out for something later on, so I want to keep it original for potential resale purposes.
I've purchased a used Subaru GF8 WRX master cylinder to replace the rat-eaten one, so the brake lines can all go back together soon, I'll change the right front one so it's a bit neater and routes away from the turbo better.
I've fixed the turbo drain so it's not all twisted up and routes better behind the lower radiator hose, which allows me to plumb the wastegate back into the exhaust clockwise around the turbo between the exhaust manifold and the right front inner guard. This also allows me to start fabricating the new 3.5" downpipe.
Next up, maybe I'll get some decent progress with air conditioning and getting the radiator(s) all back in place, I think I need to de-ugly the front part of the engine bay so that'll take a bit of work. One more post before Christmas at this rate.
I could have hunted around and found a suitable rack with an electric motor built in, however the electric motor would have been more or less directly below the turbo, thanks to right-hand drive. Not ideal.
I went down the rabbit hole of investigating Toyota Prius 2003-ish electric power steering with the motor mounted in the steering column. For a while there I really thought that was the best plan and nearly bought a column to try to fit, until I realised that they have a universal at the lower half of the column which would need to fit to the top of the universal on the FC rack, then through another universal to the rack itself. Which would need some kind of centre bearing, and anyway the spline count is different, and it's illegal to modify steering components here by welding anything, so it all kind of died a death there.
So really the best option seemed to be using an electro-mechanical unit out of a SW20 MR-2. So continuing with my previous install efforts, I've had some success with it over the last couple of weeks. I fabricated a stainless reservoir and added a -10AN feed pipe to the pump, and a -6AN return from the rack. I've also connected the pump to the rack through a -6AN braided line.
I spent quite some time modifying a power steer cooler loop from a BA5 Prelude to mount under the radiator, however after spending way too long trying to tig weld a pair of -6AN fittings to it, had to bin the whole thing after they just wouldn't seal. Suspect it was made out of some kind of cheap pot metal and just kept weeping with 1000 psi going through it. I'll run it without a cooler and see how it goes, the reservoir is 1100cc instead of the factory 700cc so that'll help a bit.
The pulse width modulator is working well, however it really needs to be on about 70% as opposed to the 30% I'd initially planned. Two things here - this may be because I've only tested it with a battery on a jumper cable and it's not a great connection, and even 70% is about half the volume it makes at 100% so I'm calling it a win. It's working well enough to consider it ready for road trials.
What else - I've had the 225/45/15 Hankook Ventus 232's fitted and balanced, which has lowered the back of the car another 20mm or so. Still yet to get any suitable 205/50/15s for the front but I'm working on that before the holidays.
I've also pulled the engine down and checked it over, and bridge ported the secondary plates.
Gotta love those massive FD intake runners. The engine is in really good condition, the housings are great, the plates are in good shape and all the seals are well within tolerances. I replaced the side seal springs because they were cheap and if anything is going to lose tension over 20 years it's probably the smallest springs. I also took the opportunity to clean the engine and repaint it in a brighter fashion.
I also fixed the leaks in the sump and installed a threaded piece for the oil temp sensor in sump. I added studs to the sump instead of the 10mm factory bolts, and with some big washers I've managed to torque it up nice and tight, so let's hope leaks are a thing of the past (yeah right).
The primary reason I stopped driving it in January 2020 was because the FD alternator failed. At the time I suspected this was due to heat under the hood, but I think I may have wired it incorrectly. I seem to recall someone posting once about needing a diode or a resister or something in the ignition feed side, so that may have been the cause. In any case, I've picked up this alternator instead, it's from an Australian EF Ford Falcon. It's 110amp, has the same plug as FD and cost $50. I found an oversized pulley for it off a Mitsubishi Diamante alternator, and after a bit of light machining it all fits together well. I'll go over the wiring and make sure it's correct before powering it up.
I've cleaned up the FC turbo gearbox with a wire wheel and degreaser, just because I can't be bothered stripping it and having it vapour blasted and/or painted. It's really not that kind of car and I suspect I may need to swap the box out for something later on, so I want to keep it original for potential resale purposes.
I've purchased a used Subaru GF8 WRX master cylinder to replace the rat-eaten one, so the brake lines can all go back together soon, I'll change the right front one so it's a bit neater and routes away from the turbo better.
I've fixed the turbo drain so it's not all twisted up and routes better behind the lower radiator hose, which allows me to plumb the wastegate back into the exhaust clockwise around the turbo between the exhaust manifold and the right front inner guard. This also allows me to start fabricating the new 3.5" downpipe.
Next up, maybe I'll get some decent progress with air conditioning and getting the radiator(s) all back in place, I think I need to de-ugly the front part of the engine bay so that'll take a bit of work. One more post before Christmas at this rate.
Last edited by Jon_Valjean; 12-07-23 at 12:03 AM.
The following 2 users liked this post by Jon_Valjean:
Conekiller13 (12-07-23),
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12-22-23, 08:17 PM
#103
Senior Member
Thread Starter
I forgot to post last time that I've fixed a bit of rust in the rear hatch, so I'll get that out of the way first:
I've also made a bit more progress with the wastegage piping, it should neatly wrap around the turbo and go straight into the dump pipe. As mentioned a few years ago, this is a legal requirement here.
In addition, I connected the 3/8" vent pipe from the new tank through a combination of hard and flexible lines inside the trunk and under the battery, then under the car to the engine bay where I connected it to an OEM charcoal cannister from a 2013+ VW Golf. I'll T this off to the crankcase too in a futile effort to reduce vapours. The pipes all seem to fit well under the internal plastic panels so everything will be out of sight when the interior is all reassembled.
The rat-eaten Subaru WRX master cylinder has now been replaced and a new hard line to the right front wheel created, it routes better to avoid the heat from the turbo.
So... why bother with air conditioning? Well, I live in a part of the world that regularly gets to 30+ degC (86f+) in the summer, so obviously comfort is an issue. It's hard to enjoy a car when you have to be peeled out of it at your destination. This will be compounded by the darker colour scheme I'll be painting it.
But there's a secondary concern, and that is no matter what I seem to do with any rotary vehicle I have ever owned, the second I crank the driver's window down, I seem to be inundated with the smell of exhaust fumes and unburnt fuel. I've spent hours of my life using smoke machines to try to figure out where it all comes from, to no avail. Even with a fully sealed exhaust system and correct breathers etc for some reason it still stinks. So the answer clearly is to simply never lower the windows when the engine is running. Suits me, the windows are tinted and the car looks better when they're up.
To facilitate this, I've extracted the air conditioning pump and lines from this salvage 2012 Mitsubishi Colt running the R134 system. This car is used on my property as a "driveway car", as it's very hilly and nobody wants to walk 200m up and down a driveway to get the mail and put out the trash. No point in maintaining air conditioning in a vehicle that is used for a couple of minutes every few days. It's now done over 800km on my driveway, and last time the oil level was checked it was nearly overflowing. Almost two litres of water was removed from the crankcase, which was a fine reminder that engines are not designed to be run below operating temperature for years at a time.
Instead of spending hours removing the evaporator from that vehicle, I bought one from a 2012 Ford Focus online for $20:
I'm going to use the condensor from a BA5 Prelude I have lying about (even though it was R12 originally it should be fine on R134) plus an accumulator and switch from aliexpress whever it turns up.
The air con pump will be driven from the crank pulley, but due to interference from the CAS it can't be driven along with the water pump and the alternator, so it needs it's own pulley. The Mitsubishi pump uses a 5-rib pulley, and although I have a 5-rib crank pulley on a parts car here (BA5 Prelude again) the diameter is about 165mm and fouls the water pump pulley, so that's no good. It needs to be about the same as the FD aftermarket pulley (125mm) so I'm still investigating whether or not I get an OEM FD air con crank pulley or get someone to make one. Confusingly, OEM FD uses a 5-rib belt to drive the alternator, water pump and air pump, but a 6-rib belt to drive the air con and power steer. Fascinating stuff. Anyway, I'll come up with a solution somehow.
In New Zealand, almost everything shuts down between Christmas Eve and about a week after New Year, at that time I'll take all my air con parts into a local specialist and see what they recommend in terms of hooking it all together. I've never done this kind of work with air conditioning before so I'll get some good advice before going much further.
In the meantime I've wired in the EL Falcon alternator using the following schematic. I found it on the internet so it must be true:
The oil temperature gauge is now wired up, and I've repurposed the lift fuel pump relay and switches for the eventual air conditioning install.
I've started stockpiling some 3.5" stainless exhaust bends and tube to get the new system ready, and the components for my 5" supertrapp have arrived. Yep, it's going old school, it's going to be large, loud and obnoxious and I don't even care.
Merry Christmas, thanks for reading and be safe. I'll be back in 2024 when this thing is going to get driven again.
I've also made a bit more progress with the wastegage piping, it should neatly wrap around the turbo and go straight into the dump pipe. As mentioned a few years ago, this is a legal requirement here.
In addition, I connected the 3/8" vent pipe from the new tank through a combination of hard and flexible lines inside the trunk and under the battery, then under the car to the engine bay where I connected it to an OEM charcoal cannister from a 2013+ VW Golf. I'll T this off to the crankcase too in a futile effort to reduce vapours. The pipes all seem to fit well under the internal plastic panels so everything will be out of sight when the interior is all reassembled.
The rat-eaten Subaru WRX master cylinder has now been replaced and a new hard line to the right front wheel created, it routes better to avoid the heat from the turbo.
So... why bother with air conditioning? Well, I live in a part of the world that regularly gets to 30+ degC (86f+) in the summer, so obviously comfort is an issue. It's hard to enjoy a car when you have to be peeled out of it at your destination. This will be compounded by the darker colour scheme I'll be painting it.
But there's a secondary concern, and that is no matter what I seem to do with any rotary vehicle I have ever owned, the second I crank the driver's window down, I seem to be inundated with the smell of exhaust fumes and unburnt fuel. I've spent hours of my life using smoke machines to try to figure out where it all comes from, to no avail. Even with a fully sealed exhaust system and correct breathers etc for some reason it still stinks. So the answer clearly is to simply never lower the windows when the engine is running. Suits me, the windows are tinted and the car looks better when they're up.
To facilitate this, I've extracted the air conditioning pump and lines from this salvage 2012 Mitsubishi Colt running the R134 system. This car is used on my property as a "driveway car", as it's very hilly and nobody wants to walk 200m up and down a driveway to get the mail and put out the trash. No point in maintaining air conditioning in a vehicle that is used for a couple of minutes every few days. It's now done over 800km on my driveway, and last time the oil level was checked it was nearly overflowing. Almost two litres of water was removed from the crankcase, which was a fine reminder that engines are not designed to be run below operating temperature for years at a time.
Instead of spending hours removing the evaporator from that vehicle, I bought one from a 2012 Ford Focus online for $20:
I'm going to use the condensor from a BA5 Prelude I have lying about (even though it was R12 originally it should be fine on R134) plus an accumulator and switch from aliexpress whever it turns up.
The air con pump will be driven from the crank pulley, but due to interference from the CAS it can't be driven along with the water pump and the alternator, so it needs it's own pulley. The Mitsubishi pump uses a 5-rib pulley, and although I have a 5-rib crank pulley on a parts car here (BA5 Prelude again) the diameter is about 165mm and fouls the water pump pulley, so that's no good. It needs to be about the same as the FD aftermarket pulley (125mm) so I'm still investigating whether or not I get an OEM FD air con crank pulley or get someone to make one. Confusingly, OEM FD uses a 5-rib belt to drive the alternator, water pump and air pump, but a 6-rib belt to drive the air con and power steer. Fascinating stuff. Anyway, I'll come up with a solution somehow.
In New Zealand, almost everything shuts down between Christmas Eve and about a week after New Year, at that time I'll take all my air con parts into a local specialist and see what they recommend in terms of hooking it all together. I've never done this kind of work with air conditioning before so I'll get some good advice before going much further.
In the meantime I've wired in the EL Falcon alternator using the following schematic. I found it on the internet so it must be true:
The oil temperature gauge is now wired up, and I've repurposed the lift fuel pump relay and switches for the eventual air conditioning install.
I've started stockpiling some 3.5" stainless exhaust bends and tube to get the new system ready, and the components for my 5" supertrapp have arrived. Yep, it's going old school, it's going to be large, loud and obnoxious and I don't even care.
Merry Christmas, thanks for reading and be safe. I'll be back in 2024 when this thing is going to get driven again.
The following 4 users liked this post by Jon_Valjean:
12-24-23, 07:13 AM
#104
Rotary Enthusiast
Driveway car, love it. I think your next thread should be the electric conversion on that.
The following users liked this post:
Jon_Valjean (12-25-23)
01-31-24, 12:13 AM
#105
Senior Member
Thread Starter
I was hoping to start this post with a few shots of a nearly completed aircon install, but as always, it's not that simple.
In order to stack aircon components together, they really need to have threaded connectors. Most modern cars, including the Colt (pump) and the Ford Focus (evaporator) I've raided parts from use what is referred to as a "pad" connector. They're made to quickly assemble parts on the production line but can't be easily reused to retrofit aircon at a later date because they're crimped together.
So I'm fairly sure I'll be able to use the Colt pump and Focus evaporator after I source some pad connectors that have threaded ends. I've found these on everyone's favourite Chinese site and ordered them, so when they turn up I'll have to make sure if it's all compatable before going any further. If not, I'll need to find a budget of about USD$1,200 to import a complete aftermarket kit from Australia. Either way, aircon is on the back-burner for the forseeable.
So instead I've been chipping away at the new 3.5" stainless exhaust. I needed to replace the old mild steel 3" system for several reasons - firstly, it's covered in surface rust and I can't be bothered cleaning it. Two, it's too restrictive and I'm fairly sure it's the cause of my crazy temperatures in the engine bay. And thirdly, because I've redesigned the fuel tank the exhaust now exits on the right.
Just a bit more polishing and it'll be ready to go. I've also reassembled most of the engine bay, and replaced the complicated aluminium brackets holding the radiator and intercooler with straps instead, greatly simplifying the front layout. The rad and intercooler are also angled upwards slightly which improves clearance in a number of areas.
I made a better looking alternator adjustment bracket:
Had a go at test fitting the Kamei front lip:
And tried out a test can to see if the colour I've chosen looks any good:
Next up - probably back to test fitting the fender flares to get a better fit than before, which will require sourcing a pair of 205/50/15 front tyres. I've started a bit of filler work on the rear panel mainly because it was really rough and annoying me, so I'll probably continue chipping away at the bodywork when I get time heading towards painting it. But I would like to start it up and hear it run before that happens.
In order to stack aircon components together, they really need to have threaded connectors. Most modern cars, including the Colt (pump) and the Ford Focus (evaporator) I've raided parts from use what is referred to as a "pad" connector. They're made to quickly assemble parts on the production line but can't be easily reused to retrofit aircon at a later date because they're crimped together.
So I'm fairly sure I'll be able to use the Colt pump and Focus evaporator after I source some pad connectors that have threaded ends. I've found these on everyone's favourite Chinese site and ordered them, so when they turn up I'll have to make sure if it's all compatable before going any further. If not, I'll need to find a budget of about USD$1,200 to import a complete aftermarket kit from Australia. Either way, aircon is on the back-burner for the forseeable.
So instead I've been chipping away at the new 3.5" stainless exhaust. I needed to replace the old mild steel 3" system for several reasons - firstly, it's covered in surface rust and I can't be bothered cleaning it. Two, it's too restrictive and I'm fairly sure it's the cause of my crazy temperatures in the engine bay. And thirdly, because I've redesigned the fuel tank the exhaust now exits on the right.
Just a bit more polishing and it'll be ready to go. I've also reassembled most of the engine bay, and replaced the complicated aluminium brackets holding the radiator and intercooler with straps instead, greatly simplifying the front layout. The rad and intercooler are also angled upwards slightly which improves clearance in a number of areas.
I made a better looking alternator adjustment bracket:
Had a go at test fitting the Kamei front lip:
And tried out a test can to see if the colour I've chosen looks any good:
Next up - probably back to test fitting the fender flares to get a better fit than before, which will require sourcing a pair of 205/50/15 front tyres. I've started a bit of filler work on the rear panel mainly because it was really rough and annoying me, so I'll probably continue chipping away at the bodywork when I get time heading towards painting it. But I would like to start it up and hear it run before that happens.
02-04-24, 03:55 PM
#107
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Oh interesting, thanks - haven't seen it done that way before. I'll do a bit of a mock up and see how that goes, although I don't really want to cut the bumper. I got it second hand so there wasn't any kind of fitting guide with it, so I'll muddle through that when I'm focused more on the paintwork.
02-08-24, 06:45 PM
#108
Senior Member
Thread Starter
It's Friday here, so what better day for a potential fire.
I've spent all week chasing a fuel related gremlin that has prevented the 13B from even kicking. My first attempt to start it a few days ago ended on the assumption there was some kind of ignition problem, however the Microtech's diagnostic light (ha..) showed orange pulses from the crank angle sensor, and upon taking out a plug and earthing it while cranking I could see a massive spark.
Next up, I checked the fuel pressure, which was steady at 45psi. When I turned off the ECU and the pump stopped however, the pressure dropped to zero almost instantly, which is different to the setup I had before that retained pressure and slowly bled off after an hour or so. After a bit of research, it seems the in-tank Walbro pumps don't have check valves. My previous setup would have used the lift pump as a kind of check valve so it wouldn't return back to the tank like this setup does. Doesn't really matter anyway, the pressure gets to 45psi before I can move my hand from the ignition switch to the starter switch.
Didn't seem to be getting any fuel to the rotors, so I pulled out the 1000cc Bosch EV14 primary injectors and fed them 12v on the bench. Nada, totally dead. Managed to free them up with a screwdriver and get them clicking again, refitted them but still no fuel. I'm guessing the fuel pressure is forcing them closed again and whatever is blocking them up prevents them from opening. Checked with a local outfit who will ultrasonically clean them for $40 plus tax. New ones are $120. So I ordered new ones, which arrived today. Friday.
Running very rich now, I bought it up to operating temperature and it's blowing clouds of black smoke under acceleration so it needs to be tuned again. But hey, at least it works and I didn't screw up the assembly!
Shed has been rendered uninhabitable for the next few hours so it might be time for a beer instead.
I've spent all week chasing a fuel related gremlin that has prevented the 13B from even kicking. My first attempt to start it a few days ago ended on the assumption there was some kind of ignition problem, however the Microtech's diagnostic light (ha..) showed orange pulses from the crank angle sensor, and upon taking out a plug and earthing it while cranking I could see a massive spark.
Next up, I checked the fuel pressure, which was steady at 45psi. When I turned off the ECU and the pump stopped however, the pressure dropped to zero almost instantly, which is different to the setup I had before that retained pressure and slowly bled off after an hour or so. After a bit of research, it seems the in-tank Walbro pumps don't have check valves. My previous setup would have used the lift pump as a kind of check valve so it wouldn't return back to the tank like this setup does. Doesn't really matter anyway, the pressure gets to 45psi before I can move my hand from the ignition switch to the starter switch.
Didn't seem to be getting any fuel to the rotors, so I pulled out the 1000cc Bosch EV14 primary injectors and fed them 12v on the bench. Nada, totally dead. Managed to free them up with a screwdriver and get them clicking again, refitted them but still no fuel. I'm guessing the fuel pressure is forcing them closed again and whatever is blocking them up prevents them from opening. Checked with a local outfit who will ultrasonically clean them for $40 plus tax. New ones are $120. So I ordered new ones, which arrived today. Friday.
Running very rich now, I bought it up to operating temperature and it's blowing clouds of black smoke under acceleration so it needs to be tuned again. But hey, at least it works and I didn't screw up the assembly!
Shed has been rendered uninhabitable for the next few hours so it might be time for a beer instead.
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