Plain Jane OEM nothing to see here rebuild

[Pete_89T2]

Yup, these check valves don't really restrict airflow all that much in the "open" direction, and they completely block airflow in the "closed" direction. That's not what you want for plumbing the MAP pressure sensor or a boost gauge - what you want is a restriction in the airflow, which has the effect of dampening the transient pressure spikes your MAP sensor or boost gauge would see.

The restrictor pill is a little plastic thingy with a tiny hole thru it that fits inside the vacuum hose. Most of us loose these when replacing old worn out vacuum hoses. You can fabricate one pretty easily as follows:

1. Get a straight-thru style vacuum hose coupler.
2. Fill the inside of the coupler with some epoxy putty or JB weld.
3. Before epoxy fully hardens, run a pin through it to create your restrictive path for airflow.

[LunchboxCritter]

Advance auto parts has those restrictor pills, they are like a buck.

[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

Yup, these check valves don't really restrict airflow all that much in the "open" direction, and they completely block airflow in the "closed" direction. That's not what you want for plumbing the MAP pressure sensor or a boost gauge - what you want is a restriction in the airflow, which has the effect of dampening the transient pressure spikes your MAP sensor or boost gauge would see.

The restrictor pill is a little plastic thingy with a tiny hole thru it that fits inside the vacuum hose. Most of us loose these when replacing old worn out vacuum hoses. You can fabricate one pretty easily as follows:

1. Get a straight-thru style vacuum hose coupler.
2. Fill the inside of the coupler with some epoxy putty or JB weld.
3. Before epoxy fully hardens, run a pin through it to create your restrictive path for airflow.

I don't own any epoxy or JB Weld. I cut open the vacuum hose from the N/A sensor hoping I'd find one. But no luck.

Originally Posted by LunchboxCritter

Advance auto parts has those restrictor pills, they are like a buck.

Thanks you!! I need to go there tomorrow anyway and was gonna ask. Sounds like I can get the actual part for cheaper than rigging something up.

[JustJeff]

I did some reading tonight and just about have my ECU and electronics worked out. What I couldn't remember from years ago when I read it last was this.

1. N/A harness VDI needs to change to knock sensor. Y/B wire on VDI is wired to the knock sensor. I don't have a knock box so I'm not concerned about it. For now I'll do nothing and see if I throw a CEL. If I have to I can solder a patch cable from the knock sensor to a spade that I'd plug into the VDI harness. The side that corresponds to Y/B.
   
2. 6 Port Injection on the N/A harness needs to change to duty solenoid. My N/A harness is in gorgeous shape so I didn't want to cut it up. I took my old N/A to turbo harness and cut the duty solenoid plug/harness off of it. I soldered wires with spades to that harness. I bolted the duty solenoid to the TMIC support on the driver side. Plug in the harness and put the spade terminals into the N/A 6PI harness.

For now I have the solenoids from the N/A engine plugged into the appropriate harnesses. I took the time to measure resistances on the solenoids.

Duty solenoid = 31-35ohms
all the others = 36-37ohms

I've been waiting for my oil filter adapter to show up from Prosport. I ordered it almost a week ago and it hasn't left Florida yet. USPS accepted it in on the 21st in Tampa and in 5 days time it moved from Tampa to Opa Locka. Priority shipping FTW

I guess I'll leave the sensor wires unplugged and worry about the adapter and those gauges during my first oil change.

Who knows I may try to turn it over tomorrow night after work.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by LunchboxCritter

Advance auto parts has those restrictor pills, they are like a buck.

That's good to know - when I was in need of one of these and asked for "restrictor pills" and described them, the local Advance/Auto Zone counter guys were clueless and looked at me like I had 10 heads!

[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

That's good to know - when I was in need of one of these and asked for "restrictor pills" and described them, the local Advance/Auto Zone counter guys were clueless and looked at me like I had 10 heads!

LOL, I know that feeling. Fortunately, one of the Nissan drift guys from my friends shop works at the Advanced Auto just down the road from me. I'm betting if I describe what I want he'll be able to work it out. The guy actually has a really nice S2000 that he modded into a permanent hardtop with a kevlar roof.

[JustJeff]

I have semi-success. The engine turned over with very little effort!!

The engine doesn't stall out and holds idle perfectly. I can take my foot off the gas and idle is even and low. I stopped and started it several times and it never missed a start. I only let it run for short intervals before I shut it down to check coolant levels, oil, signs of leaks, etc. After a few starts I did raise the RPMs up to 2k and held it there for a little bit.

HOWEVER....
there is substantial smoke coming from behind the turbo. It's coming from between the turbo and LIM. It doesn't smell like coolant or oil and I'm not leaking any fluids. But it also doesn't start smoking right away. I'm hoping it's just something burning off. I do have a turbo blanket on there. Do those burn off when they are first used?

The exhaust does sound like it has a leak..obviously I'm hoping it's not one of the gaskets between either the manifold or turbo. I did have trouble tightening the top downpipe bolt that sits closest to the engine. I did buy the turbo used as a replacement...hopefully I didn't get a junk turbo.

I'm also concerned about the cooling system. I don't have any leaks. I'm not loosing any coolant. And that is part of my concern. I'd think air should be working it's way out of the engine. I did a pretty good job of filling it...but there has got to be air that needs to come out....and the level never dropped. The return hose from engine to radiator got amazingly hot. The OEM temp gauge never got above halfway, but the hose, top of the radiator and even the water pump pulley got very hot. The top of the radiator got too hot to touch and I shut the engine down. Another concern is that my electric fan never kicked on. Those two things combined and I decided to let the engine cool down before something very bad happened. I checked the inlet hose at the bottom of the radiator and it was hardly warm at all. My concern is whether the coolant is traveling through the engine at all.

Another concern is that I never saw any oil traveling through the OMP/MOP lines. I have clear hoses and I didn't think to check them until I had turned the engine off for the night. There was no sign of oil in them.

Oh and all of my aftermarket gauges were not reading correctly. The boost gauge is pegged at max and never moves. It's been pointing the same since I took it out of storage.

The water temp gauge never seemed to move, nor did the oil temp. The oil pressure is a warning gauge and I haven't set it correctly yet. So all it does is beep at me.

All the gauges are electronic ones and I'll check grounds and such tomorrow after work. They all illuminate correctly, so that's one good sign anyway....

Can't call it a success yet, but I've got some encouraging signs anyway.

[RETed]

Originally Posted by JustJeff

HOWEVER....
there is substantial smoke coming from behind the turbo. It's coming from between the turbo and LIM. It doesn't smell like coolant or oil and I'm not leaking any fluids. But it also doesn't start smoking right away. I'm hoping it's just something burning off. I do have a turbo blanket on there. Do those burn off when they are first used?

Not a surprise...
As a rule, allow turbos and any kind of wrap to smoke for at least 30 minutes.
Some will smoke significantly.
Once the items all get to regular operating temperature, give it at least an hour before the smoking will stop.
As long as it doesn't smell like burning gasoline / oil / coolant, don't worry about it too much.


-Ted

[JustJeff]

Thanks again Ted. I'm using your guide for engine break-in guide

http://fc3spro.com/TECH/FAQ/breakin.html

Combined with with Lynn Hannover's first start up guide
http://www.knology.net/~rv7rotary/St...rst%20Time.htm

I did not take manifolds off and check apex seals. I did pour oil in the oil filter holes. I did the outer hole and turned the engine by hand backwards. I did that a couple times. I poured oil in the center hole. I did not take off the oil pressure sensor. I have normal oil pressure, but is it possible I have air trapped and that's what's keeping my oil pressure up? I didn't get any sign of oil having travelled through my OMP/MOP hoses. Also my oil filter was very hot. Hotter than normal.

I'll do some reading over lunch on burping air out of coolant and oil systems.

[RETed]

Wow, that's some procedure just to make sure the oil system is working properly!

Typically, I prevent the engine from firing by disabling the fuel system somehow.
Usually easiest is to just unplug the fuel pump connector on the driver's side rear shock tower.
You can also just disable the stock ECU by pulling the EGI fuse under the hood.
Crank the engine over a few time, and this should be more than enough to prime the oil system.
If the engine was recently rebuilt, I'm sure liberal use of oil on all bearing and internal engine surfaces (or use of an assembly lube) was done to prevent damage from initial start-up.

How are you monitoring oil pressure?
Are you just looking at the stock oil pressure gauge?
If this is the case, the stock oil pressure sensor could be bad or failing.
Increased resistance in the circuit will cause the gauge to read high.
I would recommend installing a good quality aftermarket oil pressure gauge; if you can get one with the more expensive pressure *transducer*, those are more accurate.

As for oil temperature...
Do you have an aftermarket oil temperature gauge installed?
IR temperature gun on the oil filter?


-Ted

[JustJeff]

Yes the procedure for priming the oil system was a PITA and I ended up with lots and lots of oil on the garage floor.

I've pulled the EGI fuse in the past for flooding, but didn't do it for start up. I was actually expecting the engine to turn a few times without firing up.

Right now I'm monitoriing oil pressure with the OEM gauge. It read like normal the whole time. If I held the RPMS up the pressure raised if i let it down it dropped. I forget what the second to the highest mark on the gauge reads (80 or 90) but it hovered around there and then when the RPMs dropped down to near 0 pressure would drop to around 30ish.

I do have aftermarket gauges, all electronic. I've got Prosport Water and Oil Temp, and their Premium for Oil Pressure...the one with the warning. I also have a Greddy v2 boost gauge. I have not setup the pressure gauge yet so it simply beeps at me. I was trying to set it while monitoring everything else, but had too much going on. All the other aftermarket gauges did not seem to be working. I've got the Prosports all wired into common wires for everything but their sensors. Common ground for all 3, common lighting, ACC, etc.

I don't own an IR temp gun, but the oil filter got hot enough that I wish that I did.

It was getting late in the night so I didn't have time to really mess with much of anything. I checked for leaks and didn't find anything and at that point it was 10:30.

I was getting CEL blinking but didn't even have time to pull the code.

Tonight after work I'll try and get all these issues ironed out.

[JustJeff]

I believe I worked out my electric fan issue. Turns out I remembered the wires on the electric fan harness incorrectly. I'm using a Ford 2 speed fan. I assumed that solid black was ground....when in fact Ford chose the ONLY wire that is something other than black to be the ground. For the record, blue on the Ford efan is ground.

My new problem with the fan is this. I had my TMIC bracket lying on top of the A/C and P/S bracket while messing with my oil filter. It fell off and ended up hitting the positive terminal of my battery. Many sparks were had and it scared the shit out of me. I blew the inline fuse going to the efan. Now everytime I plug a new fuse in and plug the efan harness in that fuse blows. I tried disconnecting the battery negative and it kept blowing fuses. I disconnected neg and pos and it still blew fuses. At that point I ran out of fuses.

I've checked all the other fuses on the car and none are blown. My thinking is that I've got the the efan hooked up to high speed not low. IIRC on high speed that fan pulls like 40amps and my little mini inline holder only goes up to 30amp fuses.

When I originally wired in the efan I thought I was wiring in low speed and ground. I had the ground wire wrong. When I changed the ground to the correct wire I kept the power wire the same...which I'm betting is high.

After breakfast I'll be going to get a regular sized inline fuse holder so that I can go up to 40amps. BUT I'll also be moving it to the low speed. I simply hate having the efan as the only mini fuse in the car.

Here is how I wired in my efan..it's taken from a guide on 7club


I followed a modification of the diagram for manual switch to turn the fan on regardless of the temp switch. I'm wondering if the mod I followed is correct. It has a toggle switch wired inline between the thermoswitch and 86 on the relay. After following the mod it dawned on me that having the manual switch there may not actually turn the fan on. It would only allow the thermoswitch to do it's job IF temps rise to the point that it would normally turn on. IF that makes any sense?

[JustJeff]

To better clarify the manual switch. I used someone's S4 diagram as a reference


After I wired it in I started thinking. Simply putting a toggle switch between the thermoswitch and the 86 on the relay will not create continuity and thus turn the fan on. Won't it simply either allow continuity to go through if it is on and block the continuity if it is off?

[RETed]

Yeah, the toggles switch just kills the circuit even if the thermoswitch is triggered on.
Your circuit is wired in series.

I think what you're looking for is for the switch to be wired in parallel to the thermoswitch.
This allows you to turn on the fan regardless if the thermoswitch is triggered not; in another sense, it's a failsafe switch just in case the thermoswitch fails and never triggers!

Side note, I have never come across a thermoswitch (especially a cheap one) that is reliable enough to depend on for my main coolant fan trigger...
Those thermoswitches which rely on a "probe" pushed into the radiator fins are notorious for failing.
Having a back-up switch to manually turn the fan on is always a good idea!


-Ted

[JustJeff]

Updates: I was going to take the car down the road and see how it drives, test the ACT clutch I put in, etc. Pulled the car out of the garage and quickly realized that I had not bled the front brakes from when I put on the Tein springs and Tokicos. Turns out that was providence. I hadn't put the hood on yet and as I'm pulling the car back into the garage I see a shower of oil. I developed a pin hole in my oil cooler line. I've got a spare set from the N/A engine. But I'm thinking about the stainless steel ones, either that or taking my bad hose to a brake shop or truck shop and asking them to make a stainless hose.

I've tracked down one problem with my aftermarket gauges. I had not tightened down my common ground bolt. I had left it hand tightened. Oil temp gauge is working as it should. Water temp I believe is dead. The warning oil pressure gauge is still not reading anything. All it ever does is warn me and show zero. I went to Prosport's website and it says:

Q: Can I wire multiple gauges to the same power and ground source?
A: Yes-each gauge draws about 1 ma.

Q: Can I mix Premium Series gauges with Performance Series Gauges?
A: Yes. Keep in mind they need to be wired separately as the wiring is different. The two light up the same colors, but have different bezel profiles and slightly different bezel color.

I've got them going to common ground, ACC power, common lighting. The Premium gauge I then run to constant power. Of course each gauge is wired to it's own sensor/sender.

I switched sensor wires for the oil and water temps and it seems that the water temp is dead. Oil temp will read both water and oil temps correctly. Water temp will read nothing. Even when no power is to it it sits at around 190. It does an opening ceremony, but never drops below the 190 mark.

I've got an oil leak. I believe it is from the 4 port adapter for the aftermarket gauges. With my troubles getting the Prosport pressure gauge to read anything and the leak...and the water temp being dead. I'm very tempted to simply loose the adapter, use my oil temp as my water temp. Worry about my pressure warning gauge a little later...possibly doing the adapter for the oil cooler hose return line.