Project PSU blue, running in the 90's!

[idahotuner]

Wait there is a little WC now!!!

[Didderson]

Been a loooooong time. Adding some pics to update for yall.
How it looks right now when it's clean lol.


This pic is from the last time I drove it before winter break. Once the roads were wet and salty I put the daily to work.


Aaaan this is where it's chillin for winter lol. I need to get some 5/8 hard line to bend for custom power steering, the rubber one is meh.

Also need to get the downpipe fixed and hung higher when it gets warmer out. Too much smog goes into the air vents because the downpipe is rubbed through (never got it fixed heh).

Updated the daily thread too, it's funnnn and utilitarian

[Razi]

Going into hibernation!
Haha, I'm glad it never snows here so I can drive my car more often!

[Didderson]

And you can daily your 240! It's nice having ground clearance now, but I miss the super handling and boost.
The fact that I don't worry about the truck getting dented or broken into is also very nice lol.

[Didderson]

Bershman, thanks so much for these very clean center vents! 240 interior status +1! My old ones were punched in or something by the last owner... The usual.


Started it up again today. I drove Caityb my girlfriend around a few weekends ago, but this time it's staying in drivable condition because of the nice weather! So I will be enjoying it daily now .
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwcYTZTE ... r_embedded[/youtube]

Runs great! I am looking into finishing the front wheels in the very near future, seeing as rota has 33 of them in stock! The power steering line just needed a tighter worm clamp to fix the small leak.

[Razi]

It has awaken!
Engine sounds smooth!

My KA has got the valve "taptaptap" noise going on right now.
Oddly, I look forward to pulling and measuring the shims and doing the math.

[Didderson]

Good luck with that man, I never heard of a KA doing that. It doesn't sound perfectly smooth in person because of the downpipe exhaust hole, but that'll get fixed soon enough also, which will mark the first time I take it to anyone to work on it. I hope I don't have to raise the ride height!

On a side note, why does it take a page forever to load on zilvia? Is it because I'm using the adblocker addon to mozzilla?

[StryfeS13]

^ My KA did that. I read that over time intake shims "tighten" and exhaust shims "loosen" so you must go in after XXXXXX miles and reshim them. After I rebuilt my KA I had to re-shim as well, and now my engine is quiet as ever.

It takes a page forever to load because it's just a slow website. Either way too much traffic, or a slow server I guess.

[Razi]

Haha yeah, most of my engine noise comes from a leak somewhere on my exhaust.

I can still hear the valve noises when I have my hood opened though, the sounds must end!

[hbpignosePA]

hey TOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM


email is sent about a possible motor for me; and i just found a buyer for the Z, and it looks like I might actually get my s13 done this summer


get excite

[bersh240]

less truck! more car!

[Didderson]

What up NICO Peoples? I did some work today, but first, I finally had a clean car to start with!



I pulled the headliner off and used self tapping screws to mount this map light mount I got in the junkyard probably 3-4 years ago! Haven't installed it in any car until today haha! Mocking it up for fitment purposes.


After this was done, I'm sure you're wondering how I was going to make a perfect cutout for it in the existing headliner. I mocked up the headliner to this bracket and cut a small hole so I could move my finger around and feel the mounting bracket. This bracket holds the front and rear dimensional tolerances for the positioning of the map lights. So, I got a small piece of sidewalk chalk and scrubbed it around until I had rubbed against the front and rear of the bracket, making points so I knew where to cut!


These chalk points only were useful for the front and rear. Centering the map lights was up to me. I made a few marks and used a straight note card to mark the center. I also marked the sides after measuring the width of the map lights with a digital caliper. I cut the opening to 68mm total (door to door or left to right) length.


Make a few adjustments for the front piece that bulges and it fits great! Make sure you don't cut the hole too large for this because the metal springs on the light fixture are supposed to hold it in place! Once you make it too big your headliner will be ruined if it doesn't stay put.


I made a video of the wiring it up section. I should note that the ground wire is the one screwed into the chassis, and the blue power wire coming from the map light plug is going to the dome light constant power wire.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKuMr4KRQ9s[/youtube]

I will have to edit this video with a finished product photo. Need my girlfriend to come help hold up the hatch while I put sealer around the rear hatch hinge holes, they leak ever so slightly.

[Razi]

Nice!

I've rarely seen maplights at the junkyard.

Weird how your car didn't have the frame for it though.
My coupe already has one on there like this:


I actually thought about modifying one to house some buttons or switches for some stuff, but decided not to.

[Dizel01]

Yooo. Map lights are sweeeeet. I didnt have the light frame when i did mine so I used double side tape.

[s13sickboi]

Clean car Didderson, what brand coils are those again?? do they ride ok?

I almost did the same map light install, but decided to get some off a Maxima. Almost jacked um out of my mom's lol, They're nice looking. But kudos to you! looking good! Im exite

[Didderson]

Yeah razi that's because you have a chuki car! Your roof is nice but... your center of gravity is now slightly higher w that insulation lol, well maybe not considering you put lots down low.
This frame I found.. there must be another metal piece that went around the headliner.. because the install went well, but the headliner starts to get floppy when you insert the lights, so before it stopped holding the lights in I glued them in from behind the headliner, then plugged it in and put the headliner up. I'll hopefully be dragging a new wire from the fuse panel to the PS A-pillar for dome light power today. The oem wire is grounded out along the way.

I'll try to get finished pix today, they look mint

Sickboi, the coils I have are powered by max! What else is orange all over lol?
I bought keegan's (mrgreeneyes) still new 6kg springs for these coils, as they ride stiff with the 10kg/8kg supplied front&rear spring rate setup. I have realized that it's hard to get grip when you're bouncing over bumps when daily driving, so I want these to be safer for the street and compress a bit more for better grip, and for better comfort for my girl lol.
I'll be installing those springs this week.

[Didderson]

Finally put together a video of the Amish who put ground effects on their buggies!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJupuXID2kU[/youtube]
Some of my camera work isn't great, I apologize!

[Razi]

Yeah razi that's because you have a chuki car! Your roof is nice but... your center of gravity is now slightly higher w that insulation lol, well maybe not considering you put lots down low.

Haha that's just a picture I found on the internet.

Good call on softer springs, my 7k/6k setup feels nice for a DD so 8/6 should feel about the same!

Lmao I didn't know the Amish were into fast and the furious.

[hbpignosePA]

i think you can get map lights out of a z31 as they are the same size and design; only problem is most of them have rad tastic 80s blue and red interiors.


someone correct me if im wrong?

[Didderson]

You are right josh, but I got mine from a z31 and it's a black light housing! :O haha.

It looks good though. Nissan did the whole black and blue thing with the gage cluster, so it looks just dandy.
I spent like 5 hours measuring resistances, continuity and voltages... and my dome wiring finally works! The problem with many of my fuse panel instruments is someone blew out the power circuit to quite a few fuse blocks.. So I will have to find a more permanent solution for this later on. The hazard lights also don't work. I'll pick up a good timing control unit soon to be sure I have a nice one before I go too deep trying to solve these mysteries of very very weak but still 12V power supplies.


I'll wire up some foot well lighting while I'm well versed on the subject this week, but I think tomorrow's reserved for 6k spring install.


MAN IS IT NICE TO HAVE LIGHT INSIDE THE CAR!!! You guys take it for granted!

Razi, I think I've seen that car before. I can't recall where, but it could be broadfield's... It looks like a coupe.

[Razi]

Interior lights ftw!
I'm so glad I don't have any electrical problems.
I hooked up that footwell light to my ignition keyring light so it lights up when the door opens.

The roof picture is from a build on Nico somewhere, I think he was doing a VQ swap for it but later sold it, don't remember.

[Didderson]

Oh yea. Hey by the way is it possible to get the ignition keyway to sit still? It always bumps my keyring (non lit up lol) around and creates a gap because it's loose when you turn the steering wheel. I assume this is normal and can't be fixed because of the steering lock mechanism or something.
How do you get yours to stay still?

[Razi]

You mean the whole ignition lock unit that attaches to the steering column?

Mine still moves.
I have to wiggle the steering wheel sometimes if the key won't turn.
I don't have a gap though.

I think it's because our cars are getting old haha.

[Didderson]

Well yeah they are lol, and I have to move my wheel if it won't turn also (steering lock). But I mean the ignition that holds the key will move and throw that plastic cover for it and the button around and create a gap between it and the steering column plastic. Not sure if this is fixable. Every s13 I know of had the same characteristics in the steering column.

[Razi]

yeah, my stock keyring used to get a gap too, but only slightly.

I might take a closer look at how everything is bolt on there and see if there's a simple fix to keep it from moving.

[Dizel01]

That ignition assembly is held together by metal rivets of some sort. No bolts. If someone knows how to tighten those things down somehow, Tell us! Im lucky cause my coupe's is pretty sturdy....for now.

[Didderson]

Put in the 6kg/mm springs Keegan sold me today! Looking forward to the test drive! I have to finish the front corner just measuring it back to the original height of the old setup. I made a video of tips tricks and progress, or how to keep the same ride height with a different spring height install.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S34KmnCGRIA[/youtube]

The 10kg/mm springs have more winds per inch than the 8's. The 8's are installed in this pic, this is the front.


I chose these springs because the coilover system seems to be underdamped with the 10kg & 8kg spring rates. Two ways to bring a spring rate back to critically damped are add more mass in the damped body (the car) or lower the spring rates . I don't want to add mass to the 240 LOL, I already did a lot of weight savings :P. I would notice the car acted more planted with a full tank of gas and lots of cargo in it, thus I knew stepping to lower spring rates would help grip and also comfort.

[Razi]

Good vid!

That coat is pretty awesome huh?
My FortuneAuto ones came with em too, glad to see it's still holding up after 2 years.

I have a question about coilovers...
I have very slight amount of preload in the front right now, I did it so my previous fat 350z tires stopped hitting my wheel well.

Would removing that tiny bit of preload make a big effect on the ride height and alignment?
I have skinnier tires now and the thunking noise from the front as I turn is annoying me.

[Didderson]

Ok, if you remove preload, your car will sit lower if your car weighed almost nothing. If you're removing 1mm of preload though, that's probably not enough to affect ride height because when the car sits on the springs it will compress them past your 1mm preload point anyway. What I mean is either way, when the car's on the ground it will compress to the same preload (maybe 3mm) whether you dial it in or not. Not dialing any preload in allows for full rebound if your car goes over large bumps or gets airborne it would help lol. These are so minimal though.

Force = k* d Meaning: Force in Kg = 8kg/mm spring rate * 1mm distance compressed

So by this equation, it requires 8kg to compress this front wheel of the car 1mm. I'm pretty sure there's more than 8kg on each corner hehh. Also see how this is so minimal during rebound because 1mm wouldn't do much at all.

Lower itttt!
Maybe your clunk is coming from a loose pillowball, but it's probably the way the spring sits in the perch. Not sure if removing preload will help. I tend to preload mine about 1mm to make sure they're snug and don't bang around if I drop a wheel in a pothole (or drop a wheel climbing up a curb which happens pretty much every day lol)
Awesome question btw, made me think.

I'm getting better at my videos lol.

[Razi]

Fo sho!
Thanks for the knowledge!

It's definitely the springs, they are aren't sitting flush in the perch right now.