Rebuilding a dream. Project 480sx

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Anymore updates?


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Jmoore124
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Went snowboarding for a week.
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Parked it beforehand. haven't really gotten back into it yet. Biggest thing I want to do now is a smoke test and then break the motor in so I can see what its going to do under boost. Its not tagged or anything, so it may be a little while. I can not exactly afford to insure and tag another car right now.

Been building a spray booth in between some welding jobs I picked up since I have been back.
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Man...I haven't been on the slopes in like a decade.

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Jmoore124
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It had been four years for me. I am hooked again.. Actually went and volunteered for the wounded warriors adaptive skiing program. It was a blast. Used to go snowboarding with Nate all the time, missed him something terrible on the trip.

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I randomly think about him sometimes. It's kinda weird, we were only "internet friends" ya know. Conversations on AIM etc. We shared some common bad habits. After he opted out, I had a strange hole that I couldn't fill. Nate was one of those dudes I could talk about all kinds of crazy stuff with without there ever being any sort of judgement.

I miss those 3am conversations.

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Jmoore124
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Haha, I know what you mean. He was exactly the same in real life. Have a lot of good memories of Nate, he was a great dude. As I get a little older, I really wish things were different. Beyond the brotherly angst, there was a very deep connection there that I will probably never share with anyone else.

Hopefully I will get my obligations out of the way in the next couple weeks and be able to show the car some more love.

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Jmoore124
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Couple updates. Built a new powder coating oven, as my business has picked up and I don't like using the large oven (cost reasons) for smaller parts. I made a new downpipe with a wastegate recirc. Didn't like the old setup and it was not plumbed into the WG. I am going to be powder coating my wheels when I get the powder I ordered next week. White on the center piece and black on the outer rim I think. I am also going to be doing some airbrushing on a valve cover I made. Will upload pics as I go.
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Also what has been keeping me busy the last few days. I hate fords.

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Wow, that's a lot of pie cuts on the dp! My last intake pipe looked like that, except I had a pie cut about every 1". I used a straight pipe to make a 90*. I did it on purpose because I thought it would look cool. That was my first experience with welding burn. My left arm, neck and shoulder area were a decent shade of red. I was wearing a wife beater because it was so f'n hot outside. Live and learn...

I'd love to have that motor in my S14! Course it would twist the axels right off...

I have a set of R32 wheels that need to be stripped and coated. I was going to spray them, but I've been toying with powder coating them instead. How difficult is the process, assuming I'm using my house oven?

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Jmoore124
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I didn't mind most of the pie cuts, but when I got up near the turbo (should have done it opposite) man what a pain in the a**.. Getting the flange and the vband to line up was pretty difficult.

Might twist my axles off too... lol

Powder coating is pretty straight up, the most difficult thing about it is getting an even coat with whatever gun you are using. The harbor freight gun def works, but the gun I just upgraded to is worlds apart. There are a lot of cool powders out there from candys to metalics etc. You can use your home oven. I have heard a couple times that you never want to eat out of the oven you coat with, but Honestly cant see why, from what I can tell there are no fumes. But not a risk I have wanted to take at the same time. If your home oven can fit a wheel in it, its bigger than mine is for sure!

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I has a big oven!

And I'll be using the HF gun if I do end up going that route.

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Jmoore124
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yup,
I forgot to mention, prep is equally if not more important than the coating itself. If you are coating with a lighter color, even different colorations in the metal can show through. Regardless if its clean or not. Blasting is the way to go because it ensures an even finish and porosity.

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Hobby shop on base here has a blaster.

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Jmoore124
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Took it out and made a few pulls this evening. Not really sure if I have it completely broken in, but it should be. Overwhelmed the wastegate spring (11psi) I can see, I am going to need to run higher boost on this build. My turbo guy said this turbo is most efficient at 17-25psi. Once I get a little more confident with the car I will push it a bit harder. Pulls were smooth though.

I have two other things I want to do before I tag it. I have a new iacv coming in on Monday. I am going to delete the idle bypass valve jobber and also weld all the barbed fittings shut on the intake plenum and add a AN bung for my vac manifold. Also ordered a flex pipe so I can weld it in my exhaust. As it sits its solid all the way back and its slightly touching the undercarriage making for some vibes. Also buying a knock light.

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Jmoore124
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After having blown off a test port plug from the intake mani I am starting to do my custom intake manifold. Got my extra upper runners cut down this evening and made the base plate. Got all the fittings I will need to make the stock fuel rail a dual feed using an external reg. And finally found a brand new bosch IACV to mount on the plenum. Actually really looking forward to building this. I have a friend interested in one as well. I will make a build thread for the mani in the next few days.

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Sounds kickass!

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Jmoore124
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Should be pretty cool. I am doing as much reading on runner/plenum flow theory as possible and trying to figure out the best way to machine some velocity stacks. (having a hard time location appropriate aluminum stock without spending a fortune) Most companies want like 50 dollars a piece for the stacks. The horsepower increase will be nice, but not really what I am going for. Trying to solidify the vacuum and intake system. The stock manifold is messy and difficult to work on. I am simplifying the vacuum system and cutting out unnecessary leak points. A couple really good threads on KA-t about the topic.

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Jmoore124
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Day one of many on this project me thinks. Honestly I got so pissed off port matching this evening I wont be working on it until maybe sunday if I have the time.. lol Going to be a lot of customness on this intake manifold though. Left the runners a little longer to keep some of the bend and to hopefully retain some torque. Volume of the plenum is slightly larger than two times the displacement of the Ka.

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Jmoore124
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And the fuel rail, I bought some stainless AN fittings from Mcmaster. A T and two straight fittings. Put them in the lathe so that they would slip into the ends of the rail and in the center. So it will have two feeds on either side and a return from the middle with a remote FPR. That should eliminate any starving issues that I would have had.
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Thats a cool fuel rail idea. I was going to fab my own so I could use top feeds.

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Jmoore124
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Thanks,
top feed rails are really simple to build really. Much more simple than side feeds.

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Jmoore124
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Pulled the trans(ka) from the integra for a customer this week.
Almost got the mani to the point where I will install it and finished the fuel rail.

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Looking good dude. Aren't you going to miss busting your knuckles when you adjust the idle?

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Jmoore124
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lol and NOT being able to get to any of the heater hoses, and having that ridiculous secondary air valve, and the metal tubing attached to the plenum. Like I said, this was more about making that side of the motor easier to work on than really striving for performance. But once I got into it, I tried to make sure I did everything I could to not limit airflow etc. Its a brand new IACV, the car needs it but I am reserved to not put it on till I get that manifold on.

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Jmoore124
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Been too busy doing work for other people to work on my own car. Saab is even down with a bad fuel pump. On the other hand, did a pretty good job on some 22's for a local guy and when I get the tranny done on the teg I will be done for a little bit. So its either get smashing on the 240 or take another vacation.. lol not sure which yet.

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Razi
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Fit those on the S14.
:chuckle:

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Jmoore124
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Image :naughty:

These things were so beat up its ridiculous. That is not a silver line around the outside of the before picture that is all curb rash. There are two huge beads ran by a mig on the outside to hold together a crack, they are bent on the lip in two places.. There was over 100grams of wheel weights on each wheel... :lolling:

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Dang....

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Jmoore124
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I tried to talk I him out of using the rims honestly. He was not having it. So I did the best job I could to smoothen out the rash and whatnot. I think the biggest problem he will have is getting them to balance. They were pretty nice rims before soccer mom got a hold of them., although not my style.

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I'm not a big fan of anything bigger than 17". Too heavy for the most part and they just don't appeal to me. I'm not into slamming my cars to the pavement either though. I'm perfectly fine having some gap between the fender and tire.

I think my 540i has the perfect stance.

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Jmoore124
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Agree, I think it has a good stance as well. I had a 750IL and loved it.


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