LittleRedSpirit

Some bitch backed into the corner of my car and just drove away. Now I have a ruined front left gaurd. I walked out to it today at the shop and the gaurd was popped way out. There is a mark on the corner of the bumper like something hit it, the lip is fine, the bar is ruined and the gaurd is ruined. the lights are OK. So glad I hadn't just fitted the chrome bumper to it! Might just have to do the DX front conversion.

1 way wont lock on decel, it free rolls like 2 stroke moto. For beginners, who can't rev match or are too lazy (daily). 1.5 way has some locking character on decel, but its not severe, gives some engine braking. 2 way is where its at. You can crash the car if you don't rev match cause it will compression lock hard on decel. Its only caught me out once or twice ever, once was I misread the surface as it was near roadworks and the dust meant less grip when I got off throttle after down shifting, so it initiated a slide for me, which I gladly corrected, the other time it just stepped out but I was able to control it. You just have to learn to heel toe to control it so when you get off the clutch your revs are approximately correct for your speed/gear. Its not as hard as it sounds, and its usually just done by flicking the gas with your heel while braking and clutching, then timing the release of the brake and clutch as you get on the gas. You can corner a lot faster with this technique anyhow so its worth learning. Once you master the 2 way, you can do fun things like chuck it ass backwards into dirt road corners and just feed it the power to steer it out. :laff:

Ok, I need to call another dealer. I've had some luck with motorama 4x4 parts, they seem to get more exotic bits. Ill try them.

Coolected and fitted the coolant pipe today, its got a tank collar and bleed tap at the highest point, and it bolts to an engine mount and a stray thread on the rear of the head. The bracketing is 2mm steel plate and the pipe is copper tube 32mm flared to 35mm at the ends. I can also take the tank collar out and fit a sender in the bung as its the correct size and thread for that if I want to do it that way. I also test fitted the s13 radiator, and its about 58mm too high. I might try and have one made, or I might look for one like a scion radiator that has an outlet at each side and end tanks instead of top and bottom tanks. A side flow style one.

Wowo I would never have though a thermostat would have that great an effect on how it runs. I still suspect the thing might present with another issue at some point, so let us know how you go over time aswell. Must have been causing the fuel to vaporise in the lines or something to run like that. Anyhow, glad all is well, and that it didnt cost the earth to fix. :dance:

I did that and they said they didnt have it and would never stock it again.

Here are some pics of the oil pickup extension.

Id be really surprised if you could get the metal bush for inside the housing. If you do manage to find one report back as a lot of peeps will want them.

fingers crossed, I still kinda think there is something else going on, but time will tell.

Yep a full reco would consist of: New rack and pinion - only available from quaife - $320 or so delivered (palmside NZ is a good supplier). New pinion Bearings and seal - from any bearing shop, use jap made ones - $60 A new slide bush in the lhs of the housing - you might get lucky and find one of these thats in good nick, or might have to have a shop make the bush from scratch as they are unavailable when I have tried to buy them. Repack it all with grease and use nice new rack boots to keep itclean in there and prevent premature wear. Then there is the labour component. Most mechanics would charge around $150-$200 to rebuild a rack from scratch. Ke70 rack and ae86 rack are almost identical, except the ae86 one has an extra tooth machined into it for a tiny bit more lock. You can machine more teeth into the rack before you fit it if that's what you want.

Terry and James dropped by last night with Terrys s13 radiator for me to fit into the cut. I think its going to be awesome,I just hope it isnt a bit too tall.

Any radiator shop will pressure test your cooling system for free, just drive down there and ask them to, as you have a temperature issue that might mean you need some work. Its jst what they do. Or any mechanic can do it. Make sure you do it while its running rough. A blown head gasket can happen in multiple ways. You can leak water into combustion, you can leak oil into water or water into oil. If you leak water into the combustion chamber then you will notice it go missing. You might also get bubbles in the coolant or a foam. If you get water in your oil you will have a leak from a water gallery to an oil gallery. If you have excess oil consumption you either have worn rings or stem seals or are losing oil into the combustion chamber which is not likely through a bhg as the water is between the cylinder and the oil in an a series from memory in most places. .5 litres over 3000klm isnt terminal oil use, itd be nice if it were lower but it all depends who serviced it and how often. All this thermostat stuff sounds unlikely, and anyhow the car will be able to compensate for hot water or air temperatures thanks to its fuel trim tables inherent in the ecu. the only thing that can foul that up is faulty temp sensors. Its possible that you have both a faulty gauge and ecu water temp sensor. Might be worth fitting an after-market temp gauge so you can see how hot the thermostat is running the motor and what sort of temperature its really at. So the plan of action is, make it run rough and at that time rev it up and look for bubbles in the coolant. I think it will run on 2 cylinders, just, so do the unplug thing and see if its a problem with one cylinder or all 4. Then go get a pressure test at the local radiator shop.

Summernats burnout car, or sleeper?

Just went and trial fitted the coolant tube, I have it back at the shop now being flared, mounting tabs fitted and a bleed tap fitted to the highest point. This makes it possible to run the water inlet to the motor on the inlet side of the engine. It gives more room for exhaust, saves clutter, and just generally makes everything easier. I also have fitted the oil pick-up extension and bolted it up tight. Oh my god, its looking like its perfect! If anything its maybe a tiny bit close to the floor of the sump. Its about 1.5mm off it not the 2mm I designed it to be, and there is so little room there that I cannot bend it up as its maybe 1mm from the alloy windage tray above it. I think I might just have to give the sump a little tap with the hammer when I put it all together. I'm seriously happy with this bit of fab, as I shaped it and scribed it all together to adjust the shape and that worked out really good. SO now I need to find Mungi mods so I can borrow his s13 radiator to test fit, and then I guess its time Medicine man and I had a wee looky loo at the wires.

I've daily driven a 20v 4age ae71 with 3.9, 4.1, 4.3 and 4.5:1 and I think 4.5 or 4.7 is the way to go. It sits on 3600 at 100klm/hr in 5th with 195/50 r15 tyres. For a 20v that's about idle. Its fairly efficient at thos rpms anyhow. You see no real loss of economy. Plus the lower final drive makes all your taller gears useful once you really start driving the thing. What's good about it isn't that it gets off the line quick. It does, but if you hammer first then you're straight into second within 2 seconds. First gear just flies by. Its not that fun and its not an option for a down shift on a tight corner as its just too short. You will beat bigger more powerful cars to 60klm/hr 100% of the time with it, but its too short for any real driving. Theres also an art to getting it into second at high rpm with a t50 quickly. Where the lower final drive really excels is in 2nd, 3rd 4th and 5th gears. It pulls a lot better through these gears. I found the car was a slug with 3.9, the speed you needed to have power down even coming out of a corner in second was always just a few hundred rpm above where the power really comes on in the 20v, so you were always unable to power out nicely. You always had to wait to build some more rpm to really get it moving, and then it didn't accelerate as quickly. If you want economy, are happy having a slightly blunt object as a daily drive, then use the 3.9. Just use the stock Borg warner up first as its about as safe a diff as you can have to get used to the car. If you enjoy spirited driving, then go the shorter gearing. If you plan to drift it on the weekends or do track work you will be lost without short gearing, especially since you have more rpm available than the smallport that was compared above. and for the witzl, I have had ae86 swaybar in a ke70 before, it was fine, but the adjustable didnt fit due to a clash with the brakes and a poor s link design. Thats a known issue with whiteline, but I can see that if there are any problems they will only be with brake clearance.

Yes with regard to the thermostat sometimes they stay shut, sometimes open, sometimes halfway. Its not going to cause a miss as it has little to do with the combustion event inside the motor that is going wrong. Try and pressure test your cooling system asap, as you might have a slight BHG that is only a rpoblem when things get really hot. Do you run nice coolant or water in the system? Do you eve get bubbles in the coolant or a white residue under the oil cap?

slave is different, all other bits are identical. The diff will fit, but 3.89 is a stupid ratio for a 20v into ke70. If you want close gear ratios but don't want to spent $3000 on a trd or Quaife gearset, then your best to use 4.556 or 4.7:1 final drive. This will bring all the gears closer in the box and keep you in the power by pulling higher revs. You cannot have it both ways, you either want a tall 5th or you want a fun car.

Its more likely a fuel or spark issue. Try inspecting all your injector wires, coil wires, anything to do with ignition and spark. Maybe your coil is dodgy and has lost some of its fluid and now its not working right, I'm not sure really. With intermittent faults you have to be very patient and observant to find them. Try replicating the conditions and then when it happens, tool around with the wiring and see if you can make it improve. If you shake your coil and it rattles then it may be in need of replacement. I don't have a lot of solid ideas on this one, but start there. It could well be the air or water temp sensors going bad, I have seen that type of air temp sensor go bad and it can cause what you describe. More likely the water temp one though. If the air temp sensor is broken it will either read hot or cold all the time. The faulty one I saw read -30 degrees C all the time and made for hard starting. You should get the sensors from the wreckers, and just swap them and see.

Thanks alot. I get inspired by other peoples effort also. I am really pleased with where the trumpets are, they have enough space around them to make a box if Id prefer. I will most likely do that eventually.

Finished modding the tensioner today, so now I have the appropriate tension. I had to dremel a clearance for a small bolt on the back of the tensioner itself a bit extra to allow it to move farther up the front of the motor. Still want to make a better bracket to hold the tensioner bolt end more securely, but it works fine for now. I also got a call that my pipe has been welded up for the oil pan, and also they have made the cooling pipe I need to transfer the water from the exhaust to inlet side. So far so good.

You can also use t18 or rt132 or ra40 steering arms. Most people convert them to coilovers or buy custom springs.

I know you can! I'm trying to work things out myself but I would love your help and advice. :laff:

The inlet is 345mm from the valve opening to the tip of the trumpet. Thats what I designed it to be. Hopefully it performs like I have modelled. Still need to shave the tensioner a bit more so it tightens fully, need about 3mm more movement, but that's easy to do. Need to get to wiring it, medicine man, feel like a challenge? :laff:

Hahaha, I have a perfect one stored up already. So yeah time to get cutting.