NukeKS14's Grip-Zenki build

General discussion forum about the 240sx, and a great place to introduce yourself to the board!
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NukeKS14
Posts: 310
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:50 pm
Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
AC Cobra Mk IV Rep.
2020 Civic Si

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Well I've finally decided to sit down and organize my progress, past, present, and future, into a legit build thread. Having the power-plant at least 99% finished I can actually group this like I want so here goes. I'll try to relegate this into posts that cover an individual subsystem from start to finish.

My end-goal for this car is something I'll be taking to the track. Not drag and not drift; I'm a grip driver. Good ol' SCCA/NASA roadcourse stuff. I was a member of NASA-SE for 3 years while I was stationed in Charleston, SC and I wanted to rebuild a 240 like one of the many I had growing up. There's tons of potential and aftermarket support for our cars. I could shovel money in to my 1LE Camaro and go faster but I don't feel as connected with that car. Could be the electronic steering. Could be the drive-by-wire throttle. Could be the 305's all around. The car just feels numb to me. And I don't want to do what needs to be done for weight reduction on that car. Give me cable driven throttle response and leaky hydraulic power steering any day, (and an 1100lb weight advantage out the door!) This car will grow with me and I'll build it with my own 2 hands.

Two summers ago I had been looking in earnest for a 240 project. I had all but given up trying to find a decently priced, rust free example when I came across this S14 in Oklahoma. It wasn't running right and needed a little love, but the frame was straight and rust free, and the price was right so I drove it home and got to work.

Here's what I started with:

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So I've got my work cut out for me. The body is good but not 100%. You can see where the clearcoat is chipping on the roof. There is a good sized dent in the driver's side A-pillar. It's got OLD blown JIC Magic 2's and every bushing is as tired and sloppy as you could imagine on a neglected 22 year-old car. The paint needs refinished on the rear bumper and ground effects are in dire need of refreshing. I intend to drive this car so I don't mind the appearance issues. I care about the integrity of the frame. 0 rust. That ugly radiator upper-mount was the result of a previous 2JZ swap. One of the previous owners attempted to notch it and also went to town on the passenger inner wheel well. Not the end of the world. It's a 5-speed and has an engine I'm very familiar with; a boosted KA24DE.

:mike


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NukeKS14
Posts: 310
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:50 pm
Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
AC Cobra Mk IV Rep.
2020 Civic Si

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I started working on what was a typical low-budget KA-T build. The previous owner had sourced an RS-Enthalpy tuned ECU (S13) installed it with an adapter harness and set of DW 550cc injectors he also found used. Turbo kit was an ebay EMUSA kit, not sure if he bought the kit on ebay or pieced the parts together. N-62 MAF set up in blow-by configuration. The engine and transmission came out of his 97 kouki, that he'd pulled in favor of the 2JZ drivetrain that he purchased this car for. Fuel was supplied by (what I would later discover to be) 2-Walboro 255's T-piped with no check valves. At least they were hardwired :facepalm:

I'll time compress and just show the engine build progress to completion.

>Mechanical<

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12 psi boost spike and the ringlands said goodbye. No damage otherwise. Combustion chambers looked good.

On to the build. I decided to 'overbuild' the engine for longevity. Went .020" over on 9.0:1 Wiseco pistons to ensure cylinder roundness and control tolerances. Manley H-beam Rods. Calico coated a set of ACL rod and Clevite-77 main bearings for me. I'd have preferred to run ACL bearings all around but I wasn't able to source ACL main bearings for the KA. Not sure if they make them anymore.
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BC stage 2 cams. Re-shimmed the cam buckets, recut valve seats, and installed new valve stem seals while the head was off. I'm at my limit for pictures so I can post those up if anyone is interested in a separate post.

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1.0mm Tomei MLS headgasket. With the 10 mils that were taken off from head/deck machining for flatness, final compression ratio is 9.59:1


ARP head and main studs installed. The girdle was align-honed as required and the entire rotating assembly balanced. Have pics but, again, 30 pic limit has me in this post. :mad:

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I went with OEM, Nissan timing components and left the upper timing chain guides off. No reason to skimp here. Not shown, I also rebuilt the OEM oil pump with new internals. The pump housing walls weren't unreasonably worn and it's been working well so far. Old hot rodder trick I used was to pack the housing with grease before reassembly and turned it by hand. When I went to start the engine for the first time, I disconnected the CAS plug on the distributor and cranked it over in short bursts. It built oil pressure on the second or third cycle.

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All buttoned up.

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My 1 piece of 'flair'

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I cleaned up the stock intake manifold by removing the PCV branch and tapping/blocking the runners off. Not shown, I also punched out the PCV valve on the side of the timing cover. My PCV system works as follows: Hose from PCV on side of timing cover to catch can. Outlet of catch can connected to a 'T' off of the brake booster line, with an inline check valve. The valve cover breather tube goes to a separate catch can near the turbo intake which I'll probably connect at a later time. Outlet of that has an air filter currently and I filled that can with steel wool and scotch-brite in the nipple to restrict airflow. I am inducing an IM leak, at idle/vacuum but not a huge one. I've tuned the IACV for it and idle is solid at 850RPM. I can get it to idle lower but with the BC2 cams and injectors, it likes it there just fine. I get light vacuum in my crankcase at idle and cruise, and a vent path for blowby under boost. My oil looks good, and I'm not coating the inside of the intake manifold or pressurizing the branch and rubber lines the way the OEM system was set up. If anyone is curious about my PCV setup I can post more pictures of that upon request.

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White bunny stage 4 clutch. Comparison to the stock clutch disc. Up to over 380ft/lbs at the rear wheels and no hints of slippage yet.


>Electronics<

I converted to an MSPNP2 ecu fairly shortly after getting the car and haven't looked back. Install was pretty straightforward after I figured out my distributor was off a tooth.

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Using DIY autotune's replacement trigger wheel and Wiring Specialties' SR20 coil pack harness, I converted over to Maxima coil-on-plug ignition. I've never liked the internal coilpack on the S14 KA's. So far I'm up to nearly 20psi on stock spark plug gap (BKR7E-11's) with no blowout or stumbling at all. One of the primary reasons I went to a standalone ECU.


>Fuel<

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So here's what came out of my fuel tank. It was leaking fuel through the holes that were drilled for the extra wires. No check valves and a 'T' for the fuel supply. Scary.

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I've replaced it with a single Aeromotive 340lph Stealth pump in case I want to run E85. This will act as a lift pump for me down the road. I've got a killer swirl pot I'll post up once I finalize the fuel system. Many thanks for ca18det_boy for hooking me up there.

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Stock fuel rail and sidefeeds were replaced in favor of a Radium fuel rail with ID 1050x's. I can't say enough about these injectors. ID has compiled various spreadsheets on their injectors for many of the standalone ECUs so you can update your dead time and battery offset curves. Having that data made these a complete drop in upgrade with my megasquirt. I ended up having to adjust the base fuel demand about .3 because I was off when I tried to calculate the numbers for my DW550s and my VE table was tuned based on that error.

Running ISR silicone radiator hoses, Mishimoto radiator, and ISR dual fan setup. I've wired it in to the stock harness since I can control that with the ECU. I'll upgrade to SPAL fans in the future.
I've also got a a Greddy thermostatic oil filter relocation block. I'll post that up once I finalize and install the setup later this summer. I've replaced the OEM dummy check-oil-light-switch with a 150psi sensor and wired it in to a CANbus gauge along with a thermistor installed in the oil filter relocation housing. I'll go over that in detail in a later post.

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I spent quite a while unpinning the OEM injector clips and repinning the harness for the USCAR connectors but I like an OEM appearance with as few failure-points as possible.

>Turbo<

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I'm running the 11ga CXracing manifold. I've done a relief cut in it between the 2nd and 3rd primaries, and I haven't had any issues so far. I expect to have to reweld the collector down the road. I'll also weld on a MVR 44mm adapter in place of the old school Tial 38mm unit that's on there now. As it stands, I'm running an adapter and have the wg tube ported out as much as I can around the collector and WG ends. It'll hold boost just fine down to 12psi on this turbo. Any lower than that and I'll need to run 2 wastegates or optimize the angle. Not an issue for me running 18#.

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90mm Vband vs outgoing T3/T4. Bigger is better.

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Borg Warner S257SX-E turbo with a T-3, .82 A/R housing in 90mm V-band. Huge difference in flow over the T3/T4. Turbosmart 45mm wastegate open-dumped between the steering column and framerail.


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So here's where it sits today.

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Made 412wtq/383wtq on 93 octane. The blue line is adding 3 degrees of timing back in at 4700 RPM. Got it tuned to the point of diminishing gains and dialed it back for longevity and safety margin. Once swirl pot goes in and I can run a nice in-line fuel pump (Aeromotive or Bosch?) I'll look to make the switch to E-85 with an in-line GM sensor. For now, the chassis is in dire need of refreshing.

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PapaSmurf2k3
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So far so good! I don't know why, but I love looking at the front of a KA with the timing covers off, to see all the chains and gears.

Also, crappy paint is PERFECT for a track car :)

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NukeKS14
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Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
AC Cobra Mk IV Rep.
2020 Civic Si

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Thanks. Yeah, first track day out at Daytona, someone in a ZL1 Camaro in front of me shat hardware out behind him on the track and caught my front bumper. I had a clearbra on it but it wasn't enough to stop a bolt at over 100mph. I'll stomach minor track dings a little more than I did my brand new camaro, and do the body once I retire it. Even small rocks do a number on the windshield. Most people don't think about that sort of thing.

I'm right with you on the open faced view. Wish we had a little more room for adjustable cam gears. That's the only thing I might consider doing down the road but this engine is basically complete as far as I'm concerned.

Just got a box full of Energy Suspension bushings in the mail. Slowly gathering the rest of the parts and I have a guy powdercoating Z32 calipers (front and rear). Hopefully next chapter will get posted soon on a complete chassis refresh. Looking at HKS Hipermax coil overs and KW as well. Finally going to put that press to good use. In the meantime, I'll probably dig up some more of the machining pics and maybe delve into the electronics.

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NukeKS14
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Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
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2020 Civic Si

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Teaser pics for the upcoming chassis refresh. N/A Z32 diff and full set of Energy Suspension bushings. Not pictured are powdercoated Z32 calipers all around, J30 axles, and new wheel bearings/ball joints. Still collecting parts and I have a lot of cleaning to do.

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Tested out some Chemical Brothers polishes on the S14 to hone my technique for the Camaro. Polished crappy paint is still crappy paint but... ooh shiny. :gapteeth: :chuckle:

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PapaSmurf2k3
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haha it really doesn't look too bad.

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NukeKS14
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Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
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2020 Civic Si

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PapaSmurf2k3 wrote:
Sat May 02, 2020 8:59 am
haha it really doesn't look too bad.
Thanks for the kind words but it is what it is. I have (unreasonably?) high standards.

Uncle's Backdraft Cobra replica and his buddy's 33'-Ford Factory 5 kit-car kind of set the bar for me. That 'Ford' has a BluePrint SBC in it. :dblthumb: The S14 will be up to this standard eventually, when it won't be seeing a track anymore.

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PapaSmurf2k3
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DAYUM

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NukeKS14
Posts: 310
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:50 pm
Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
AC Cobra Mk IV Rep.
2020 Civic Si

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Got some work done setting her up for this summer. Huge thanks to ca18det_boy for the Koul Tools. If you guys haven't heard of these things, they are badass for making -AN lines. They're little flared and threaded fittings for putting your -AN tips in that allow you to properly install them on less than perfect hose ends. I did my -12 AN fittings for my camaro without them a couple of years ago and this was so much easier. (yeah that's my Nissan pickle-jar-o spare nuts and bolts in the background. Every good garage should have one. :crazy: )
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You can find them on Amazon. Great investment if you end up making your own -AN lines.

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Setrab 20 row series 9. This thing fits PERFECTLY behind those two uprights behind the bumper. I fabbed a couple of L-brackets out of stainless to mount the upper cooler to those same uprights and painted them. Now it's in there safe and sound.

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-10 AN lines. Earl's oil filter adapter to the Greddy remote-mount thermostatic oil filter block. I believe this is the same one mtrench is running. Great unit. I took advantage of the 1/8 BSPT port to install a thermistor and now I have oil temperatures at the thermostat. I replaced the pressure switch at the oil filter a while back with a 0-5V pressure sensor and these run to my CANbus gauge under the radio. I can cycle through a few different custom screens but the one I primarily run shows me coolant temperature, manifold pressure, oil pressure, and oil temperature, along with 3 bar graphs in between to show IAT, TPS, and AFR. I've got a nifty alarm programmed in for when the oil pressure drops below 10psi. I've noticed, since adding the cooler, my oil pressure at idle has actually gone up from 10-12 psi to 14-15psi at 180F oil temps. I believe I may have been overheating my oil before. Now, it'll climb close to 190F on the highway and when flogging it, and then drop down to near 175-180F in town. I'll be adding a 5.2" SPAL fan behind the oil cooler in the near future, wired up in parallel with my second radiator fan to come on at 195F coolant temp.

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Nothing a .99 cent pool noodle can't fix when it comes to boxing in the radiator. I cut a slot in it to prevent any chaffing of the lines against the edge of the radiator.

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Just for side-by-side comparison. I replaced the ISR fans on my shroud with legit SPAL units moving 1450 cfm apiece. she's cool as a cucumber now. 99 degrees outside and my coolant temps don't climb above 195F under hard driving, 185ish in town.

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GK tech cooling panel. not a lot to say here. I'm happy with their products. This is the second part I've purchased from them and everything has been top notch so far.

So with that... I'm pretty much done in the engine department. I'll do some SMALL stuff with my fuel system down the road. I have a swirl pot to install, I'll relocate the fuel filter to the trunk when I do that and install a Bosch inline fuel pump from the swirl pot, and move my FPR to the fuel rail and install a fuel pulse damper at the same time.

Next up chassis stuff. I'm waiting on my Z32 brake calipers to come back from powder coat. I'll do those at the same time as I install the Energy suspension master bushing kit and pretty much every suspension joint on the car. Oh and that VLSD and J30 axle upgrade. I'm at about 75% on those parts so hopefully I'll be back with some sweet chassis pictures later this fall.

In the meantime, any input on swaybars? I'm looking at Whiteline and >These Progress units<. They come with solid endlinks with heim joints... which actually makes them a pretty good value. Any input from you guys?

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Great work keep it up! Awesome car.

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NukeKS14
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Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
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2020 Civic Si

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Small progress for the weekend. Picked up a Sikky phenolic spacer for the intake manifold and a Radium fuel pulse damper for the fuel rail. I've been struggling to solve an extremely lean spike around 4k RPM in my VE table for some time now. Installed the damper and it's gone. Idle AFRs are more stable as well. Seems I was having a resonant area there with the upgraded fuel system. I'll get pics up of the parts and of my before/after tables with a more detailed writeup for my MS brethren. Also doing some work with the much overlooked MAT density curve. Getting way more consistent AFRs now. Hope everyone has a safe Fourth! Pictures to come.

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Lobo240sx
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Nice KA Build.

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NukeKS14
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Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
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2020 Civic Si

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Lobo240sx wrote:
Thu Jul 09, 2020 12:37 pm
Nice KA Build.
Thanks!

Little later than I intended to get to this. I was having a difficult-to-recreate noise from the transmission so I pulled it yesterday and found some stuff I didn't like. Here's a youtube vid of some dude in a miata with the same problem I've NEVER had a pilot bushing go out before. The noise didn't happen all of the time, just occasionally. Here's the thing, that pilot bushing was installed BRAND NEW with my competition clutch kit. I also found a lot of play in their throwout bearing as well. I'll try to add a caution to my original post about it but I would NOT use the throwout bearing or pilot bushing that Competition Clutches include with their kit. I've replaced the throwout bearing with a timken unit, and the pilot bushing with a brass one from Advance. Here are some pics of what I got out;

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^New on left, old on right. Kind of hard to see but it IS out of round a tiny bit.

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I tried to capture it but, look at those grooves on the inside of the old pilot bushing. That ISNT from removal. The pilot bushing that came out only had MAYBE 10-12k miles on it. I've only put 8k miles on the car since I rebuilt the motor. Clutch was installed a couple thousand miles before that.

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I found what looked like some of the pilot bushing material on the input shaft to the transmission. Could barely see it but I could feel the roughness with my finger. I cleaned it off with some 600 grit emery cloth, blasted everything with some brake parts cleaner, then lubed up the input shaft, collar the throwout bushing housing/sleeve rides on, and the clutch fork pivot-ball with some good axle grease. I also replaced the output shaft seal while I was in there. No clue what caused this. I checked the input shaft side-to-side and deflection on the transmission and it's tight. Maybe just got a s*** pilot bushing with my clutch kit?

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Took advantage of the opportunity to replace my Megan motor and transmission mounts with P2M style. You can see the transmission mount in the pic of the transmission earlier. I dropped the engine about an inch or so. It's not too low. The bottom of the oil pan sits about flush with the crossmember now. more clearance between the strut tower brace and coil packs. I get a bit more NVH now in the cabin. I don't feel it's excessive and it's not my daily. Took it for a test drive and the random noise is gone. Problem solved.




--------------------------------- :weak: Nerd alert! Megasquirt rant ahead. :weak: ---------------------------------

On to Megasquirt. In revision 3.3.0, they changed the air-density compensation scheme from using a combination of MAT/CLT and MAP density, to a consolidated table where MAT density does all of the lifting now. Good idea and makes it a lot easier to tune a single table. Problem is, they leaned on Boyle's law a little too hard for their graph. air density isn't entirely linear with temperature, as they tried to make it.
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Pv=constant graph for illustration of what I'm talking about. Link to good explanation if you want to know more.

The shortcoming in their application here, is that this all assumes a FIXED volume of air, and all of the other factors that affect air density are being taken out of the equation as well. So you wind up with the plot they have here;
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What does this do? It's just like any other fuel modifier table in Megasquirt. Under the conditions you specify, it's going to give/take fuel away, in this case, based on air density which it is deriving based on your IAT sensor readings. IAT placement really affects this as well. I've got my IAT installed about 6" after the outlet of my intercooler in the cold-pipe to avoid heatsoak in the engine bay.

So we finally get to the issue I was having along with other MS users running the 3.3.x firmware or above. The issue I've been chasing my tail on, was consistancy in my AFRs. I'd get my VE table dialed in, then go out a different day when it was hotter/colder and I was running too rich when it was cold, and too lean when it was hot. Digging through the manual, MS forums, and the Miata MS forums, I figured what was going on.

So what SHOULD the values look like? Well there isn't a blanket answer. Just like there isn't a blanket VE table or spark table that is going to work for every car. They've done a good job here simplifying it for the end user but elevation and IAT sensor placement are going to play a part. What I would absolutely do is, when tuning your VE table in, set the values to 100% for a 10-15 degree range of temperature starting where your IATs read when you fire your engine up before you go tune. that way, this table won't be modifying your fuel and you can do a pure tune for VE for those conditions. Go get your VE table all tuned in. THEN, as you drive the car in different weather conditions. pay attention to what your EGOC % is. If it's having to add a ton of fuel when your IATS are well below the temperature you tuned at, you need to increase your MAT correction at that temperature range. Pay attention to what it's doing across your table, not just one area of cells.

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I ended up with something like this. Apologies, I don't have my actual graph to post right now but the hotter temperatures aren't far off from this, save mine is nearly flat from 85-95F at 100% since this is where I tuned in my VE table.

So far so good, I drove a little last night and a storm was moving in. My IATs ranged from about 97F when I started to around 81F when I got to some cool spots outside of town. My EGO correction never got above 105% or below 98% peaks, riding mostly between 100-102.%. I'll call that a win.

I know that graph goes way beyond what a majority of us will ever see. I'll pull my actual graph this weekend if anyone actually wants to see it. A completely separate discussion, but, Mine doesn't go but to, I think, 140F. At 120F IATs I start pulling pretty heavy timing. I'm on pump gas (93 octane) and I REALLY don't think it's that safe to tolerate IATs that high. Lots of factors at play like, again, IAT sensor location/heatsoak, compressor efficiency, etc... I feel like, with my IAT sensor I'm getting a pretty accurate picture of what is going into the engine. At lower velocities, I'm sure I'm getting a little saturation from intake manifold heat, but I've got a Sikky phenolic spacer I'm planning to install to cut down on that. At WOT and higher loads this is not much of a factor, if any.

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NukeKS14
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Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
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2020 Civic Si

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Well I got tired of riding a 400hp see-saw and decided to do something about the suspension, finally.

Here's what I found waiting for me. Blown balljoints, endlinks, struts, bushings, everything was bad minus the Heim joints on the front tension rods.

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Some chaffing on the swaybar too. I'll upgrade F/R swaybars and endlinks down the road but it wasn't in the budget right now.

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So lower control arms off. Good coating of oil and dirt. That parts washer is really beginning to pay for itself.

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I noticed the spring was freehanging on my struts. Not sure how I missed this before. That's how much I had to raise the lower spring perch just to get it finger-tight. I put a small amount, ~5mm, of preload to keep the spring in place and measured how much I'd moved the perch, then adjusted the lower collar up by the same amount to negate the change in ride height. Mic'd both sides with my caliper to make sure it's not riding unevenly. I'll find some scales down the road and corner-balance it. Probably close to when I upgrade the swaybars and coilovers.

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So fresh and so clean. New Energy Suspension bushings on the lower control arm. Added Moog sealed ball joint after this.

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Made a jig to measure the tie-rods so I could get the new ones at least in the same ballpark. Should get me to the alignment shop next week.

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Old vs new. slight difference.

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Final product. Waiting on OEM hubs from Z1 to arrive and I'll be able to get it back on the ground and tighten everything up in there when it's compressed.

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NukeKS14
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Car: 1995 240SX SE - KA24DE-T
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2020 Civic Si

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There are many many threads out there among the ether but I'll try to help clear up some things that I think tend to confuse people about the R200/R200v differential, S-chassis, and all of the ABS/non ABS driveshaft nonsense between donor cars and lastly, debunk the 'all VLSD diffs have finned covers' misnomer.

>>>Here is a TON of quality, straight-to-the-point R200 info.<<<
That was one of my main sources for info.

While the R200v diff comes in many cars, in many different flavors, Nissan's application of ABS sensor placement leaves something to be desired. On the J30 and S-chassis, they used a single ABS sensor in the snout. That's why you see ABS/non-ABS options on driveshafts. It adds about an inch to the length of the differential snout. See picture below.

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The N/A Z32, however, uses two ABS sensors in the rear of the diff. So the physical dimensions of the pumpkin are identical to Non-ABS variations of the S13/14. (TT uses R230V, different animal altogether.) See below

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An indication something more is going on here.

So here's what I pulled from a friend's 1994 N/A Z32 parts car out in a field in BFE. This one is mine and I got it for dirt cheap. (Bad joke, I know.) If I were going to pay more than $50 for one I would have probably held out for an earlier pre-94 J30 for that coveted 3.92 ratio but whatever.
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No fins!? what!? Yeah there IS a sticker that says Viscous LSD if you know where to look and clean through all of the mess but... there are no fins! Turns out, from (possibly LATE LATE 1993) 1994 and up N/A Z32's lost the cooling fins on their diff cover. Go figure. So just because the cover is smooth, doesn't make it an open diff. And this thing is IDENTICLE to the S14 pumpkin with the exception of the output shafts. You can clearly see the ABS rings on there.
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This was after the parts washer. She cleans up real nice huh?


So, as you can see, that's what makes this an IDEAL swap for 90% of S-chassis cars over the J30 or Q45. You get the VLSD in exactly the same dimensions as those w/o ABS, as well as same ratio (4.08) For the S13 you just need to swap the cover to mount to your subframe, for the S14 it's a bolt-in affair.

Either way you need to either 1) upgrade axles to 1993 or earlier J30 axles with the 5-bolt pattern, or swap the stubs for 3x2 VLSD stubs for J30/S chassis. I opted to just upgrade my axles to J30 because a)Rzeppa CV joints are stronger than the S chassis' and b) This route was the cheaper option of the two.


******MAKE SURE TO GRAB ALL OF THE STUB TO AXLE BOLTS FROM THE DONOR CAR IF YOU'RE GOING TO J30 AXLES! THE 3x2 AND 5x1 BOLTS ARE NOT THE SAME SIZE AT ALL******

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^S14 vs J30 axle comparison. Same shaft diameter but notice the difference in CV joint. It's not the shaft but the CV housing that tends to fail first. Yay! Now the weak-point of my drivetrain is the transmission... :mike (/sarcasm)

The axles aren't the same length so pay attention that you're installing the shorter of the two on the driver's (left) side of the car.


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Put some nice gear oil in there and go enjoy your newly found grip! I used AMSOIL 80W90 Severe Gear. I could have gone with straight 90 weight instead, I guess. I hear some people like Redline too but I used my discount and got the AMSOIL cheaper/faster. *****Note that GL-5 is ok in the diff but NOT the transmission because there are no brass synchros for the GL-5 to eat inside the diff.***


Alignment tomorrow morning and I'll get some more pics when I get around to doing brakes/coilovers/swaybars.

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NukeKS14
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My CX racing manifold cracked but not where I expected at the collector; it cracked on a weld on one of the primaries. It doesn't look that bad but, believe me, that's all it takes to make a car sound like the rattiest off-road open-header 4x4. After some urging from my wife I decided to go another route instead of just re-welding the manifold.
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Teaser pics... I'll post more when the rest of the parts get here for install.

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Dbarry
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Good progress. Sounds like a new manifold would be better than just welding that one.

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NukeKS14
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Thanks! Yeah this CX racing mani replaced my cracked and leaky EMUSA log that came on the car. I expected to have to weld this thing down the road but I have less than 10k on it. I have a chance to get a nice twin scroll unit and do what I should have done in the first place, so why look a gift horse in the mouth?

Dbarry
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Way to go, man. Enjoy

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NukeKS14
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Fedex came today. Looks like I'll be upgrading to a z32 mbc sooner than I planned. The wastegate hits the rear brake line fitting on the S14 non-abs mbc. Awesome guy who I bought some z32 calipers from had some spares so I should be on my way tomorrow night. Enjoy the pics in the meantime.

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NukeKS14
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Well... passing a semi the other weekend in 5th (why shift when you have boatloads of torque?) my transmission said nope. I haven't pulled it apart but I'm about 99% sure I overloaded the counter-shaft and ate a gear (5th, to be exact) Here's my latest progress up to that point.

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^ Looks like gear teeth to me... also it sounds like someone is attacking my transmission with a metal bat from the inside whenever the clutch is engaged. Had to get it towed home. Love AAA, worth every penny.


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2 days before I killed the trans, I got the ecu retuned for the new manifold. I picked up 16 ft/lbs of torque and power comes on about 300 RPM sooner. It runs smooth up to 7500 RPM but power was falling off. I'm thinking I need to get some Tomei cam gears in there and degree those BC2 cams. The orange plot is my best dyno on the old CX manifold before it cracked. Complete list of changes between the two are the exhaust manifold and I swapped from a .82 A/R open housing to a .78 A/R divided to take advantage of the twin scroll manifold.

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So on to the transmission. I've got a VG to KA adapter kit ordered from Mazworx. New transmission is here from a '94 N/A and I shipped out the bellhousing today for them to machine. Here's to another winter of the car being down. Maybe next year with the new trans, engine, diff, axles, it'll actually stay on the road for more than a couple of weeks at a time.

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m tr4nch
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didn't realize you had a build thread, awesome stuff man! i can definitely appreciate all the rebuilding going on lol
sucks about the trans!

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NukeKS14
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m tr4nch wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 9:19 am
didn't realize you had a build thread, awesome stuff man! i can definitely appreciate all the rebuilding going on lol
sucks about the trans!
Not as nice as yours but gotta keep track of it all somehow. Thanks for popping in. I knew I was going to have issues with my power goals. My fault I keep pushing parts to failure to expose weaknesses. It'll be bulletproof on the track when I get there. And I like doing theory to practice. If I can gather it all for 'i experienced' instead of 'i heard' testimonial I hope it helps the community. Been a KA enthusiast going on 20 years. Once I mature this thing I'm looking to step into an all aluminum LS S14 build on another car. I got my wife, er the boss', blessing to take on another project. :woot:

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NukeKS14
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Well... I knew my transmission would be the weak point so I'd been doing some research on what I wanted to do, long term. I ended up going with a VG trans swap and the Mazworx kit. They are amazing to work with, I can't express how pleased I've been in every regard with my order from start to finish. Excellent customer service. Great turnaround time. The quality and craftsmanship of their parts is amazing. Really happy I went this route. I got the car back on the road last night and I never realized how many of my odd noises were transmission related. This thing shifts so smooth compared to the abused KA trans that came out. On to the pictures. This has been one of, if not my most, favorite mods to the car to date.

I found a transmission online from a salvage yard. Two important things I learned in the process; 1) VG transmissions are cheaper than KA transmissions. Seriously. 2) most of the salvage yards want more money for a TT transmission than a NA trans for the z32. they're identical in gearing, strength of the parts, etc... The only difference that I'm aware of is the speed sensor. So, my advice is search for a NA trans. you're likely to get it for less. (I should elaborate; the NA and TT use different flywheels/clutches and starters, but the transmission is the same. TT flywheel/clutch is larger diameter and the starter is different to account for difference in engagement height. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here so I can edit this. not trying to put out bad info.)

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WHATEVER you end up with, chances are the striking rod will be damaged/broken off like mine was. Z1, among other places, sells the OEM striking rod and pin. 6-bolts on the black cover gains you access to it. I used a 5mm punch and slipped a blue shop towel underneath before I punched the pin out so it didn't fall down in there. Once the old striking rod is pulled out, new one goes in and new pin to secure it to the arm/shift assy.

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So the Z32 trans looks MASSIVE compared to the KA trans. The gears are much much beefier. It's a little heavier but I have no fears of killing this thing in the near future. I got this fine example with a claimed 120k miles for $600 shipped. I could have saved quite a bit if it were more local (shipping was close to $200) so if you aren't pressed for time like I was, do some shopping around. Seriously. these things go for cheaper than the KA trans. I have no clue why. drift tax?

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Nice feature about the VG trans, the slot where the VG starter mounts makes for an AWESOME transmission window. Stabbing this thing was so much easier than the KA trans simply because you can see what's going on in there and get it aligned. The Mazworx kit re-uses the KA starter (they machine the bellhousing to allow clearance) so you get a plate to cover it instead of the VG starter. really cool and more clearance.

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The ONE thing I really didn't want to do but bit the bullet on. The shifter sits quite a bit back from the stock location. I used a 2" hole saw to trim the hole as instructions advised. This chassis has been hacked to hell already by a previous owner who did a 2JZ swap so I'm trying not to cry too much. There is an option to use a shortened version from Mazworks, you'd have to cut and re-weld part of the striking rod from earlier. I don't have a welder/skills for that so I took my lumps. Just a heads up to anyone else interested in this, though.

not pictured; driveshaft. Excellent quality. I went w/ 2.5" steel for my power goals and I thought it may help spool a little down low. It's about 3lb difference between the 2.5" steel and the aluminum driveshaft according to Mazworx.

All in all a good productive weekend. NOW I can get back to the brakes/suspension that I was trying to do all summer.

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NukeKS14
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When swapping over to the Z32 trans, the wiring will need to be adapted over for the speedo and back-up sensor. The plug itself fits for the back-up lights, but the switch is all the way back by the shifter so you'll have to lengthen the wires 6" or so.

As for as the speed sensor, I got a new male pigtail here;
https://www.wiringspecialties.com/z32-3 ... connector/

And instead of doing the Dakota digital box,I just recalibrated my S14 speedo/odometer the cheap (right?) way;

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So for 4.08 rear diff and 18" wheels, you want the points 7 and 5 connected and you'll have to remove the solder from points 4 and 3. I used solder wick and some flux, worked like a charm. I also went through like half a box of q-tips and a bunch of 91% isopropyl cleaning the old rosin off of the board. Man was it caked on. buckle up, that s***'s a mess.

for the odometer, you need a 6.8k ohm resistor on J2. I had a through-hole resistor but ideally you'll want to use a 682 SMD resistor. it'll fit much nicer.

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Here's another angle before I reflowed 7 and 5. each of those points represents a % reduction in speed. For those using a 3.92 J30 diff with 18" wheels, you just want point 7 connected. I took it out and verified it against GPS and it was right on.

Big props to ca18det_boy for writing this all down a few years back.
s13-and-s14-speedometer-correction-opti ... 18567.html

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NukeKS14
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I can't edit my posts anymore but, I should mention that the crossmember Mazworx makes does not allow for the P2M poly style transmission bushing to be used. I grabbed a Megan SR/KA reinforced transmission mount for cheap because it's better than the blown out 26 year old piece that came with the transmission.

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^ THIS one fits

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^THIS one does NOT.

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float_6969
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IDK why, but I never subbed to this, I'm in now!

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NukeKS14
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float_6969 wrote:
Tue Nov 24, 2020 7:29 am
IDK why, but I never subbed to this, I'm in now!
Hey! Happy belated b-day man! Thanks for the interest.

Yeah I am in saving mode and also a 'get off of my a** in this cold and finish powdercoating the rear calipers' mode. My next update SHOULD be the brakes, with powdercoated full Z32 caliper setup with Z33 brembo rotors up front. I have all of the parts/powder just need to get off my butt. After that... either finish installing the swirlpot that I got from Aaron and go for E85|500whp OR finish the suspension (New HKS Hipermax coilovers and some decent A/S bars) Struggle life. Once this Covid gets under control a bit better and I feel like venturing out of the house, we need to meet up so you can drive this thing. I want a ride in your CA powered S14 too.

Finishing gathering parts for my euro S14 Zenki headlamp leveling motor harness. I'm going to make my own and try to do a good writeup for it. I've gone a little out on the fringes because people want so much money for these parts so I'm using an S15 leveling switch but it'll fit just perfectly in the S14 dash with no modification to the dash. I'll have to get in and solder some wires to the switch though.
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No broken clips. Honest to god glass zenki headlamps. These things are so cherry I almost don't want to install them.


Aaaaand I'll do an update for my i30 auto-dimming rearview mirror install. I just mocked it up to send some pics to friends to show it actually fits.

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^There it is side-by-side with the S14 rearview mirror. Hopefully I can alleviate some of the annoying vibrations too.

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float_6969
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Hell yes!!! I have the same headlights, but haven't installed them either. I have sooo much crap to install and never enough time, lol! For sure need to meet up once Covid chills out.

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NukeKS14
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So I made some progress on my new Z32 calipers tonight, got them reassembled and painted the letters in (we'll see how long it lasts). Here's where I'm at for the time being. Car's up on jackstands for the winter while I redo the engine and sub-harness, rewire the fuel pump once and for all, finish the brakes, and toss that ISR FPR in favor of a Radium piece that mounts directly on the rail. Found out the other day that I'm actually getting a small boost leak through the FPR on the adjustment screw. go figure. I'll pull the intake manifold and tap/seal off all of the unused nipples while I'm at it.

Enjoy and happy holidays if I don't make it back for an update in the next few weeks!

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Little before pic, for when I come back with updates.
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