need to vent.

[lucky7]

my swap somehow didnt come with a harness.. i purchased it from some local guy.. so i went threw hell trying to find one. mckinney finally hooked me up! but through a mix up, i thought i had a S2 motor, but it ended up being a S1. so we had to switch.. then i figure out that my shell didnt have the Ka harness.. so i find on on zilviaa, and i get scammed. the guy only sent me the upper half of the harness, and i never heard from him again. so i buy ANOTHER Ka harness. after 3 months, i have all the correct **** i need... my car was wired once by a local guy. car wouldnt start, and the harness was hacked up real bad. pulled the harness and sent it to a guy in NJ. he doesnt think he can make it work since its been hacked so badly.. he finally gets it all re-done. it came back, and a diff local guy had to slightly modify it. it was missing a couple connectors. like for instance, the connector for the windshield wipers is gone. EFF IT! worry about that later. sooo, last week everything was comming together. the guy that is now working on starting it put everything in, wired up the MAF, etc. on friday, puts power to it, FRIED MY PFC!!!!

there has been one thing after another. from the wrong motormounts, (which mckinney also helped me out with.) to a brake fiasco. it just never seems to end. ive owned this car for over 2 years now. ive never driven it. at this point, i dont think i will ever drive it. im in over $20k, and i have nothing to show for it but pictures.. i feel like crying....all the time.

[Coolwhip]

just saw ur picture thread, car looks nice man... It'll be done in no time.

Good luck on the car man

[madcowvert]

i know how you feel i have an ae86 that i have hab for about 3 years and just last week i got it running it was almost better then sex ...

you car is looking so good don't worry you'll get it started in no time.

[Yellow4g63]

Since my S13 got hit and I pulled the motor and got my S14 I have yet to drive it. So I can kinda feel your pain, The PFC should be fixable so don't worry too much about it. You might want to fix it and sell it and pic up a Microtech standalone LT12X and just wire that up to the car.

[l0nestar]

Wow man, I feel your pain. Ironic your handle is 'lucky7', no? Sorry, bad joke.

Currently I am at the point where I have a lot of free time and no money to buy much of anything, let alone parts to get my swap completed. I know about getting shafted by scamsters and I detest it. The PFC should not be hard to deal with.

[lucky7]

im thinking that if something else goes wrong with this PFC, ill have that, a commander and a boost kit for sale.. microtech sounds like the best way to go. wish i'd known about it from the start. seems so much easier. and price isnt much different then all the crap i bought for the PFC.

[lucky7]

jesus. this seems to be the easiest way to go... alghough its not cheap, i would be driving my car long ago.

http://www.microtech-efi.com/product/25.html

[l0nestar]

Crikey! it is pretty pricey, but heck, there is a direct plug-in interface for it. That is awesome! What do you estimate as the price for everything needed? which stand-alone controller are you looking at as well?

[Blown240sx]

The PFC isnt your problem its your harness. My roommate and I just finished an RB Series 2 swap and it went fine. No fried ECU or bad wiring. You just need to be careful who you have do your stuff and ask for some type of guarentee on their work. They cant guarentee a part per say but their work they should. Also your comment on no lower KA harness, we used the Skyline lower harness and it worked great.

If you need wiring help contact me or sleepy240 and we can probably work out some wiring cost and sleepy does great work and Im sure he wont mind the buisness.

[Darius]

We should meet up and have a good cry together. Do you have anybody locally that you can compare harnesses with?

[lucky7]

the only other person i know with an RB around here is Britt. hes on here, and the same guy that did my harness last, also did his...

[Darius]

At this point, the only way to do it and make sure it is right is to go through the harness wire by wire and test for continuity at each sensor and its corresponding pin on the ECU. If something is amiss, you'll have to track down what is wired to what incorrectly and fix it. This will be extremely tedious, but easier with a buddy. Refer to ehacker's guide (w/ my revisions) on racebread and it will work fine.

You don't really need the lower harness off of the KA to do the wiring. It is slightly simpler, but not really after you have done it a couple times.

[StricNyne]

man keep yer head up !!!! **** always seems bad but dont give in !! trust me it WILL be worth it in the end

[USMCgetsome]

i agree with darius. thats the best way to figure wtf is going on. Someone need to help this cat out. This is bullshiz that he's got over 20 in this mofo and no one on here can help him out. Yo man start sending me emails! [email protected] let's get this done!

[lucky7]

only thing is, i think im a minority here. i havnt touched a thing on this car yet... initially, the shop was going to do the basic swap, and life was going to be good. ill do the brakes, suspension, all the bolt-ons no problem. but i am deathly afraid of doing anything reguarding electrical. so basically, i went way overboard getting parts. and i just kept telling myself. 'hell, they have the car anways, might as well drop off a clutch and flywheel'. 'might as well get a greddy IM', etc, etc, etc. despite not getting my hands dirty yet, ive done my part in getting these guys all the crap they need to do what they need to do. tracking down harnesses, and little stupid things. having things overnited and 2 day shipped from cali here to michigan. ive spent more time on forums and on the phone than i would like to.. afterall, i am paying to have this done correctly..

what im saying is this. i dont feel comfortable, or capable trying much of this stuff myself. especially when it comes to playing with the harness. apparently, if its true and this re-done harness is messed up, that scares me even more from trying it. as far as im concerned, its really in their hands to make it right at this point. i was told today that they are overniting it to apexi tomorrow (wed). when apexi recieves it, they will be able to determine exactly what the problem is. so until then, i really have no clue what to do or think.

oh, and for the record. i just realized the shop where my car is at, is recently a new sponsor here. tuning factory inc here in MI. i really think my car is just cursed or something. i see cars go in and out of that place often. all the while, mine sits with something else wrong with it. it all started when i tried to title/register it. the vin was wrong on the title, and the car came up stolen. ever since then, this has been a nightmere.

anyhow, sorry so longwinded. im just really frustrated. looking back, i should have bought that 95 M3 instead... praying to god this will all be worth it in the end though.

[Darius]

Whatever you do, don't pull the head or you will become suicidal.

I hear ya on the electrical gremlins and not trusting yourself to find them and fix them. It took me sooooo long to find out why my RB25 wasn't starting, and I basically had to go through the entire harness and measure voltages with the ignition ON and OFF, ON and OFF. Finally figured it out but it still didn't make any sense. I suppose this whole project has been a learning experience and that in itself makes it worth it. Keep after it bud.

[Sil240]

Bro I know EXACTLY what your talking about.I'm just hoping I don't run into title problems when my car is done too..I bought my car for $500 and I have the title but its a NY title and hasn't been registered by me yet.

I havent driven my car in about 3 years, well except for 1 week where I swapped a SOHC in and did some no hood parking lot drifting. :-)

But other than that my swaps been a fight the whole way through. I've spent almost as much as you but... I have gotten ALOT of stuff for Free.

I'm the same with the wiring harness as well.I had someone who WAS "reputable" do mine.Screw me hard for about a year and a half.Then I put in MANY MANY hours of probing, sensor checking, giving up, jumping back on and then finally paying ANOTHER person to rewire it.

If you want I'll give you this guy's #, maybe you can send it to him. Wasn't alot of $$ either.He wires cars up and down the east coast works with Premiere Autotechnik in FL (red S14 with chrome 1000HP RB26)

Good luck bro

P.s. I changed my draws when I heard my motor start up. :-)

Oh make sure the CAS isn't on 180 deg wrong.

[lucky7]

the CAS shouldnt have even been touched. no reason to do so afaik. its just extremely frustrating at this point. i paid to have everything done correctly, and that seems to be a challenge in its own. i could be driving a supercharged 95 M3 sitting on BBS LM's right now.. haha.

[Sil240]

well... I could be driving on the wrong side of the car in a R32 with PFC, Nismo suspension, fujistubo exhaust making 375HP. (damn that mike!!!)Or put a huge down payment on a new car.Like a STI or and EVO.

So just don't look back, because you can't go there. Your stuck here and now.And if you were to sell your car, you would loose so much $$ just like me.So just enjoy it and get your money's worth of fun!!!

[lucky7]

the only real issue is that my money's worth, has been less than acceptable thus far. 2+ years of ownership, and $25k, and like i said. ive got nothign to show but pictures. hahaha. i just pray this will all work out intime for spring. and i can put all the BS behind me. wanna start saving some money, sell my talon and corolla and find a nice 99 legacy GT wagon to start getting ready for the winter months. that would make my life perfect. my S14 running, and a winter warrior of a subaru legacy.

[Sil240]

WOW 25K You def beat me.

Yeah bro keep only project at a time.And make sure you have a RELIABLE beater or DD.

Those Legacy GT's are nice, my old boss has one. Greddy exhaust, Cobb up pipes and headers and i guess the chip or ecu flash.It's pretty nice

[lucky7]

lol, my daily is a 99 corolla. i dont ever worry about that thing pooping out on me. but i do hope to sell it and get a wagon. the winter months are miserable when i dont have anything fun to drive. i need some balance in my life. oh, and my new rule. NO more engine swaps for a long long time.

[Sil240]

oh, and my new rule. NO more engine swaps for a long long time.

Preach on Brotha!!!!

[FAST-DATSUN]

it would have been cheaper to change coils........

[lucky7]

change coils for what?

[rbsileighty]

lol, my daily is a 99 corolla. i dont ever worry about that thing pooping out on me. but i do hope to sell it and get a wagon. the winter months are miserable when i dont have anything fun to drive. i need some balance in my life. oh, and my new rule. NO more engine swaps for a long long time.

Bud... the rule is this... don't buy anything more than what you need until it runs with the swap. Way to many people make this mistake... no one seems to keep in mind that these are used motors.

The less things you add to the equation the less things you have to track down that went wrong if something isn't working... and the more money you have left to fix them.

My recommendation is/would have been to start the car on a factory ECU. Cheaper to replace and easier to diagnose if it was the ECU that made the car not work vs some aftermarket unit that needs some tuning even with a base tune (I have a PFC on my RB20 and this is the way I went).

To bad my garage is under renovation... otherwise I'd offer a wrench as I'm in Oakland myself.