About that time again....drift car build thread

[MastaYu]

^

[chixwithtrix]

...I think I'm bad luck....

lol, yeah, you and me both man. Though I seem to kill turbos.

Its been an Interesting weekend. I don't want to sell it, but if things keep going the way they are its like I just need to sell it and start over. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to just give it away. If someone doesn't want to give me what I want out of it its not going anywhere. I will continue to work on it and fix the current problems for now, but unless things get better and I can drive the car more than a few times a year it will stay for sale.

In the last few weeks this car have given me hell.

Went in for the tune at SSA and promptly was warned that the tune was not right from a lot of people. Put the car on another dyno here in Austin to narrow out what was causing the problems, talked to the tuner and SSA and everything has been taken care of and the car is going in for a retune. I do have to say that even though we were very worried about the tune and things were off with it, the guys at SSA stood by their tuner and are wanting to make things right. That I can appreciate.

I finished swapping the front 5 lug knuckles on the car on Thursday. Killed a new $40 s14 ball joint with the too small ball joint press kit so had to buy another one.

Took the car in for an alignment on Friday at NTB. Car was too low to get onto the lift, almost took out one of their on-lift jacks. They could not do my front camber since the car was too low and their jack could not get under it. Could not get the car off the lift after the alignment, tried to use the trailer ramps and it still got stuck, high centered and the rear wheels kicked the trailer ramps into my sideskirts, thus crushing the front of them.

Took the car to the gymkhana in Mineral Wells on Saturday. My first real run through the course my coolant system exploded. The metal collar that comes out of the Greddy intake manifold that the top rad hose hooks to popped out of the intake manifold. Covered the car in nastyness. Got the collar to go back in and could not get it to come out again so we filled it back up.

Went to start the car again to circulate the coolant, some wiring started to smoke. Immediately killed the power. Found the wire on the chassis harness that was hot and it was something to do with the AC system. Pulled the AC relay and the wire was cold. No more smoke, checked over the harness for other problems and all seemed fine.

After every run the idle air hose would fall out causing the car to die at idle, not good for the stop box obviously. Waited an hour for the car to cool down, removed the hose and plugged everything and bumped up the idle.

The car started to have problems running in the afternoon. Checked my fuel pressure and it was very low. After messing with the FPR it would not change. Thought the FPR was bad, but checked if there was fuel getting to the rail and there was none. Checked the connections to the fuel pump and they were fine. Opened up the gas tank to see if the walbro was messed up and saw that it was just out of gas. I had way less gas in there than I expected and simply ran out of gas. Kicked and then laughed at myself for getting all worked up over the fuel system and not realizing it was out of gas, filled it up and re-did the fuel pressure since we messed with it.

Went out for another run and it was ok, but every run of the day was screwed up by the small, slick steering wheel that I got along with the quick release. Going around the barrels was especially bad since I have a hicas rack (heavy steering pressure) and I was not able to swing the wheel or I would lose grip of it and fly out into left field.

Ian took the car out and after the second barrel the coolant exploded again. By that time the course needed to be picked up. I got probably only 4 or 5 total runs of that course the whole day. Packed up the car and went to dinner with the DFW guys. Really should have gotten that margarita...

Slept at a friend's house in Denton and headed out to Mineral Wells for Aaron's drift event on Sunday. Stopped by an auto parts store to JB weld in the metal coolant attachment in to the intake manifold. Got to the track, filled the system with water. Ian took the car out for one run and seemed fine, the second run he was driving as well to get a feel of the track so he could tell me what I should do when I drove. Midway through the course the engine lost a lot of power and eventually died. Electrical smoke was coming up from the ECU area, I screamed to cut power and grabbed the key off while Ian rushed to kill the main switch. Another 240 came up to tow the car off the track while I just stood there and watched it go away. Two runs on Sunday, neither of which I got to drive.

I walk back to the car, start searching for what caused the smoke. Found a white with black striped wire with silver bands melted near the ECU on the engine harness and continuing out past the firewall. The rest of it I could not track since the bay part of the harness was well wrapped. Pushed the car onto the trailer and headed home.

On the way home I was pretty furious with only getting a few runs the entire weekend. A bit south of Ft Worth we heard a huge bang. Looked back and the 240s hood had popped up and hit the car's windshield at 65mph. The carbon fiber hood that I easily spent over 25 hours on reviving was cracked in seven new places, it dented my immaculate roof and bent the hinges. It would have been better if it had been damaged while racing, but no, on the trailer on the highway. That just pushed me over the edge. I did a very girly thing and cried on the side of the highway.

In summary-tune was not correct, but SSA is making it right-killed a new $40 ball joint installing the 5 lug fronts-Could not get the car fully aligned at NTB and crushed my sideskirts as well-Coolant system exploded after a pipe/collar came out of the Greddy intake manifold on my first run at the gymkhana-Chassis harness wire smoke/short-Idle air falling out and killing the engine-Thought my FPR and fuel pump were bad, but ran out of gas instead-Steering wheel screwed up parts of my runs because to small and slick-Coolant system exploded again at the end of the day, I got 4-5 runs all of Saturday-On Sunday at the drift event the car died on Ian's second run and ECU area started smoking, I didn't get to drive. -On our way home the CF hood popped up going 65mph and pretty much destroyed it and dented my roof.

Needless to say I'm pissed. I've had this car for almost two years and I've driven it about 40 times total. I've obviously been patient with it trying to work through the growing pains of a swap and a race car, but my nerves, pocket book, and sanity are wearing thin.

[1_bad_4_door]

man that is nice.thats what i want to do

[addisonblck]

hang in there champ you have one of the best build threads on here . plus your a chick lol ( just a side note) bu still too much work in it now to give it over. on another note i think i prolly would have cried after your saturday lol

[MastaYu]

i would be so blown

[Kalypso]

frustrating... guess its time to take it out and give the whole motor a solid go-over...

even if you sell it, that's exactly what the next owner will do.

[chixwithtrix]

CALLING ALL WIRING GURUS!!

Went to the shop last couple of nights to take a look at the car. Pulled the engine harness apart and traced the wires that were melted from the ECU.

A white wire with a black stripe and silver bands was melted near the ECU. That wire continued onto a wire junction where it came out a couple wires. Those wires went into a relay that was hanging under the dash; it had the white wires going in and coming out melted. Followed the wires and one went into another wire junction and the other one was soldered onto a red wire with silver bands (the melting ended at the larger red wire). Traced the first wire to the MAF wiring. It was not melted the whole way though. The second white wire that became that red wire traced to the large gray connector partly connecting the chassis harness to the engine harness. Traced the wire out of that connector and it went into the passenger side fuse box into the “ENG CONT” fuse. The wire the lit off on Saturday was small, blue with a red stripe in the chassis harness heading to the driver’s side area of the chassis harness, through the wheel well and into the cabin.

From my limited knowledge of wiring and electricity flows, there is a short somewhere. Or is it something more complicated? Why are the MAF wiring and ENG CONT wiring all branching out from one relay under the dash? Does the small blue/red wire have anything to do with the others shorting on Sunday? This could be tied into why my MAF died at the June GGP event.

Here are the photos explaining the above text. Any help would be appreciated as far as identifying these things or what we should look for or why they are associated...?

The white wires that smoked near the ECU under the dash. You can see the wire junction near my index finger. What relay would this be under the passenger side dash area with these wires?

One of the melty white wires turning into the red wire and heading for the ENG CONT fuse. Red wire was heavier gauge and did not get hot enough to melt

MAF wiring melted and some wonkey solder joints we didn't do going into the shielding

The original wire that melted on Saturday, blue with red stripe in the chassis harness. Interestingly enough we think we found where it grounded out in the driver's side wheel well.

Ian soldering some bad repairs done by some previous owner. Found them tracing some of my problem wires.

I really hate wiring, the car how we left it tonight. Back to work tomorrow.

Modified by chixwithtrix at 10:49 PM 7/21/2009
Modified by chixwithtrix at 10:49 PM 7/21/2009

[matzinm2]

Dam, I wish I knew more about my wiring... I'm having to redo all of it due to old botched rotten harnesses. Wish I could help ya, but on a side note, your car shall be a god again once you're done figuring out that unloved, terribly fixed wiring issue. The RB=Win! Keep on.

Even more side-notey, that greddy manifold could make planets explode

Keep it goin!

[chixwithtrix]

so trying to step away from the doom and gloom for a while, I want to sell the car less and less the more I think about it. Too much into it and too much to love I guess. I really want things to start going well though, don't want to have to actually go through with selling it if it doesn't. Still need suggestions on the wiring info I posted

I did pick up a sexy 6Boost tubular manifold this weekend at the gymkhana for cheap.

Ian going around the barrel at the Saturday gymkhana

And finally some on car video; my bf's 1st run through the course. Sync sound is messed uphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3PfT5XD_Mw


Modified by chixwithtrix at 2:41 PM 7/22/2009

[chixwithtrix]

Cleaned up the bay last night

[chixwithtrix]

Went to the shop today. Finished the wiring fixing, turned the key, no smoke, no hot wires. ECU commander turned on too, yes!

Stared buttoning up the harnesses, had a bit of a problem figuring where to place it for the unknown new radiator/intercooler setup...so we decided on the new setup, v-mount. Was having cooling problems with the bumper on at the gymkhana so I ran without. The 4" intercooler was blocking all air.

Sorry for the cell phone pics, forgot my camera

Badass.

Cut out the core support, traded for a smaller intercooler. Mocking up

New bracing

6Boost manifold replacing crap cast mani. Topmount so I have to remake all my AN lines, relocate the EGT probe, etc

Basic mockup. This engine bay just got a lot more serious.

Still have a lot more fab work left to do, but I shouldn't have cooling issues anymore!
Modified by chixwithtrix at 10:42 PM 7/26/2009

[Kalypso]

you should put a pull fan behind the rad as precaution.

it may be useful and you'd be the first.

[chixwithtrix]

Even with a v-mount I thought that radiator fans were still mandatory? Whether they are or not I'm definitely going to have fans below the rad, must have for drifting or idling in this hot Texas weather.

Fortunately there is a lot of room below the rad for some beefy e-fans. Thinking I'll try to find some of those famed Taurus fans. Like I mentioned, thats just a mockup for now. Still needs a lot of fabbing and adjusting to get to my liking.

[chixwithtrix]

Better photo after this evening's work session

[White Comet]

looking very nice, the engine bay got serious looking indeed. maybe its just me though but the front support bars look kinda thin. i'm wondering how well they'd hold up to an accident

[MastaYu]

looks really good

[chixwithtrix]

looking very nice, the engine bay got serious looking indeed. maybe its just me though but the front support bars look kinda thin. i'm wondering how well they'd hold up to an accident

They are thin, they were mainly there for the bumper support originally. They will be modified, we've only been working on it for a few hours total so its far from finished

[chixwithtrix]

Talked to Marty (sp?) at Auto Comp in DFW today and I'll be having the intercooler piping, rad piping, full exhaust and wg dump tube, etc fabricated up there once this all is ready.

Ian working out how the hood needed to be cut

Measured out

Cut; view from the back

Front; still needs the front cut out and sides will come later

Bad photo, but the front is cut out more here

Starting to form the new gauge cluster template

Picked up a big sheet of ABS plastic for various things, about to be a gauge clster

Me cleaning up the gauge holes

How it will basically look with the current gauges installed. Still needs some trimming and fitment once in the car, plus that big void space in the center will be filled with a tach

Thats all for tonight

[SolaraOnBronze]

Nice progress, keeps looking better and better! Glad to see you are keeping the car. Did you have the hood pins latched when the ghood flew up? That always scares me, flying hoods are no fun. Keep up the good work.

[chixwithtrix]

My assumption is that they were not latched since there was no damage to the pin studs. I was so pissed after the ECU wiring lighting off that I didn't check the pins. We were on the road for two hours before it popped up, but we had just stopped to eat somewhere so maybe someone screwed around with it in the parking lot. Who knows

[sloweighty]

like how you guys are going to have that tach set up.....what brand of gauges are you guy using

[chixwithtrix]

Random assortment; HKS boost gauge, Greddy oil pressure, and Stri EGT and water temp gauges. Will most likely be getting an Autometer tach

[JustDriftMore]

nice work =]

[White Comet]

looking good so far, my brother did the same thing for a cluster. where'd you get the abs plastic though? i used to get it at circuit city but they're out of business

[chixwithtrix]

Regal Plastics warehouse here in Austin. They have all kinds of stuff. Just search on Google to see if there are plastic places in your area.

[White Comet]

awesome thanks for the idea. my brother did his with plexiglass and painted it black came out really nice

[mrgreeneyes]

that blue relay is the clutch interlock relay. its stupid. you can bypass it.

[chixwithtrix]

Thought I'd give an update on the build since I hadn't posted in a while; its mostly at a standstill for now. Since I posted we worked on a kick a** new switch panel for the dash and new dual water mister setup for the intercooler/radiator. No pics unfortunately.

I'm back in school now for my Senior year at UT, having a bit of money trouble with people moving out of the shop we work on and store our cars at, its also usually over 100 degrees here everyday and that is not inviting when its even hotter inside the shop, and trying to find a new day job that pays more than minimum wage. Car needs about $700+ more before it will be ready to drive again. Should get back to work on 'er in earliest: a few months, latest: 6-9 months+. Kinda depends on how things go when I graduate.

Have no fear, the car will run again!

[noobdrftr]

i know how you feel about having a low paying job with a project that takes most of the money

[zerodameaon]

Had a simular problem with my car. +12v fried and took out my dash connector.