Orion's plans for the summer

[Orion ZyGarian]

Long story short I'm tired of my DD Miata and its little issues. I got into Supras when I got into cars, not Miatas.

Anyways, I'll be working over summer full time and should have around $3500, but I'd rather save as much as I can for college. However, its also important not to cheap out on stuff for it.

Things it NEEDS:

1) Power steering rack
2) Exhaust (open turbo as of now, all I have for it is a 3" DP)
3) Tires
4) New intake design (FFIM)

Basically I'm tired of the stupid crossover design of stock as well as the problems it brings (many places for leaks etc.). I'm planning on getting a Ron R. FFIM (he still makes them, right?), a FMIC (20x8x3" from Bell intercoolers, top-down flowing), and running blow through with my MAF-T (old school, not MAF-T Pro). I'm not concerned yet with making power until after I'm done with college (currently a freshman) so what I want is reliability.

Switching to a FFIM will fix a lot of issues I currently have. Other than that and the R154 thrust bearing, the car is just fine as far as I know.

Anyways I'm wondering what little things I might need in addition, such as a catch can or new bolts for the valve covers instead of the stupid phillips ones.

And because threads like these without pics sucks, here are some of my engine bay pics, before and after MAF-T:

From running open turbo:

I still need to rewire the e-fans I have to my under-dash switch and protect the MAF-T wires with some wire loom I have. Any other ideas as to what I NEED SM? Keep in mind I obviously dont give a shit what my engine bay looks like color wise as long as its clean, which its not.

Example: I dont NEED a 35R yet, I dont NEED fuel mods, etc. I do need a WBO2 to tune what I have.

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

Today I went to NAPA, picked up an oil filter, 6 quarts of 10w30, spark plugs, 2 feet of 15/32"s hose (PCV) and some stainless steel worm bolt clamps. Later tonight or tomorrow, I'm going to order a generic set of 2295 zinc-plated steel bolts/nuts/washers etc.

I also charged the battery and cranked the car over. Although I didnt have the hose clamps on, the new hose is far better than what I had on. Obviously the car is loud; it also doesnt like to idle nor rev further than 3.5-4k, and letting off it wants to stall. Obviously means its time to check for boost leaks etc.

 

[Nick M]

Yep. Time for some powerwash.

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

Yep. Time for some powerwash.

I'm so often tempted with how dirty I get from simply touching parts. Obviously I'm going to get grimy and nasty, but its pretty bad. That shot isnt recent enough.

I'm also curious as to finding if I can just run blow through and ignore the leaks for now. I've heard nothing but problems always from people trying to run the ol MAF-T in blow through, but if I could get it to be just before the 3000 pipe, that would be awesome.

Once I get the bolts, I'm changing the oil and filter and replacing the VCGs that are leaking terribly. I'm waiting for the bolts because I was reminded by the recent thread of snapping the Phillips valve cover bolts how many mistakes were made from the factory by Toyota.

I am really starting to think that the leak is now at the BOV. I just remembered the temporary nuts I used to hold it on are...insufficient lol.

 

[Nick M]

If you don't do this for a living, you can order really nice latex technician gloves from Snap-On online. My wife doesn't like the nasty hands either.

They even sent them to me in Iraq.

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

If you do, you can get Nitrile ones for free/little cost! I actually forgot about using them because at the time I hadnt planned on getting real dirty and into it. Same reason why I didnt when I started disassembling the rear interior panels covering the tail lights, looking for that pos module to resolder or rewire.

Not sure if you're refering to the disposable ones which I have or the reusable ones...I have both; the latter some generic Craftsman ones.

Currently off for the summer (from college) where once I get this working again: or sooner if I fix my burden baggage--I mean--Miata. Split the wheel in half when the caliper fell off at 80 mph. Not going into it because I hate the trouble it causes me and its off topic of what is important to me: my Supra

 

[SupraOfDoom]

Supra's + Miata's ftw. I was literally an hour away from getting one tonight, but I backed out at the last second because I decide this particular car was not worth it ( rust, among other issues ). I will get one eventually.

But yeah, you even have a maroon supra like me . Ron R does not make manifolds anymore... but there are others now.

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

Yeah I was checking what I missed while putting up with that car, and that was among the disappointment I found..I heard nothing but the best about Ron R's work.

If you werent so far away I'd sell you my Miata...

Is your Supra Red Mica Metallic too? Friend of mine had an 87 "maroon," but it was surprisingly different side by side. Also, I rather like the nose/bumper/headlight covers two tone like that. I think I told you a LONG time ago, I cant remember.

As it turns out, I'm almost certain I'm going MAFTPro instead. I've realized that since it is far cheaper and being able to tune a car is important, its probably the better route. I'd still change them out again anyways after taking my Internal Combustion engine class and finding out whatever I can about A2A heat exhangers, custom intake manifold design (SolidWorks no doubt) etc.

I really really want to run my current MAF-T in blow through, but I really dont think its worth the trouble. Tomorrow I should be getting a boost leak tester with a friend and we're going to find whats leaking; I'm curious as to if it really is my GReddy Type S after all...

 

[SupraOfDoom]

btw, I ran open turbo for a few weeks and it started to melt my wiring harness.. so watch out . Sure did sound awesome.

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

I believe it. One of the things I'll be doing is running wire loom around my MAFT wires...and I REALLY want to extend the harness so I can leave it inside the car. I dont like it in the engine bay at all

 

[Facime]

yeah unfortunately RonR doesnt make FFIM's anymore, but Sethron does. SoD, does anyone else on here make them for sale?

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

There was quite a nice design up months ago, but the source had unreliable timing.

TODAY: I didnt do much, nor have I lately, which I really should change. Been spending time with something almost no other nerd has; a gf.

I took the valve covers off and took out the grommets and gaskets. I dont like the car sitting there with them off for things to fall into...and I forgot to cover them..but I dont think it'll be a problem.

The cams look...dare I say new? I was told the bottom end was rebuilt when I purchased it (3 years ago) but perhaps the cams were replaced as well. The Mobil 1 that has been there for 2 of those years is obviously old and needs changed. I've held off on changing it till I got the new set of 2295 bolts/nuts/washers from McMaster-Carr's as I am replacing the stupid Phillip's heads with ol fashion cap screws (hex bolts). I'm going to remember to run a tap through the holes to clean them out, then squeeze some threadlocker onto each.

Right now the valve covers are soaking in a big ol sink tub in simple green/dish soap/water. Not perfect, but it'll do. They're only going to get dirty in there again anyways; the main goal was to get the old crap out of the gasket valleys, where the gasket sits in.

I need to clean off the residual nasty on the head and also going to add Permatex for extra gasketing help. I love that stuff.

 

[shaeff]

I'd be more afraid of super-heating the vapor line from the fuel tank to the charcoal canister... Yikes!

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

I'd be more afraid of super-heating the vapor line from the fuel tank to the charcoal canister... Yikes!

What vapor line to what charcoal canister?

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

Update is rather late. I did the valve cover gaskets a bit less than week ago. Using the 22XX bolt/nut/washer set, I replaced all of the philips screws with "cap screws" aka hex bolts. I tapped out all of the holes first, then replaced the old bolts with new zinc coated ones as well as lock washers and thread locked them. Basically, overkill.

My only concerns are that the bolt heads arent as big/wide as the screws and that I'm pretty sure my mom threw away the box that had the grommets, so I used ultra black (shouldve used grey really for aluminum) instead around the bolts and potential leak areas on the covers. Also soaked the valve covers beforehand in water/simple green stuff and just cleaned them that way. There was a bit of nasty gunk in the PCV areas that I was happy to see come out.

The throttle linkage has always been a bit loose, I'm assuming because it no longer has cruise control or an auto. I may need to fumble with the threaded arm for idle.

Also, the bolts holding the BOV on were...subpar. I'm pretty sure the crappy temporary method that was holding it on was probably the intake leak that I had.

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

I'm in the process of installing the gauge faces now.

With the setup I have, I decided I was best off having a lot of the wires and connectors outside the gauge cluster instead of inside. I'm not a fan of bending the contacts more than necessary, and I just feel better with the slack hanging out and hiding that outside of the cluster.
This is NOT what I'm referring to:

Unfortunately, these had some minor clearance issues. Drilling/modifying the plastic cluster was out of the question, so I bent them slightly inward. I'm fairly certain this wont be an issue, and is probably how everyone else is running with these. I have to say outside of the wire contact inconveniently placed at the top, these are very nice, impressive gauges. I cant wait to see what they look like lit up!

Here's the slack I was talking about:

Theres a slot in the cluster made for four wires (three for TEMS, forth is maybe ground, not the 8+ clusterfuck I now have coming out of the...cluster. As such, I've decided to extend the wires; however, I only have 16 gauge wire. I verified with an electrical engineer that this would be okay and continued.

The red one I'm not proud of. Low blood sugar = shaky hands and sorta crappy job soldering. I am happy how the green wire, extended with the yellow 16 AWG, came out. Two more wires to go, then I can finish reassembling the cluster and install it!

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

Well the cluster is back together now and ready to go in the car. Two of the wires I soldered I ended up just crimping as it was much faster and I wasted a few hours trying unsuccessfully to solder them together. I have no problem with soldering similar sized wiring; but 16 - 20 AWG is just ridiculous.

Unfortunately, all of the extra wires I now have coming out are in the way of the A/C vents. I'm not going to put those back on because I'm tired of trying to get this all to work the hard way.

I think I'll probably end up just putting the switch I have for the e-fans back together and continue using that instead of switching to the TEMS switch or something. I also need to get a power source and ground the new gauge faces; so thats my next task. That and put my rear interior back together, as I took apart the tail light failure module to make sure it was okay.

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

I spent just over two hours tonight attempting to disconnect my intercooler and clean it out; who knows what sort of filth is choking it!

Unfortunately they were in vain, as most of my time was spent getting out bolts that were stupid hard to manage. I think age is what made them the most difficult.

I have the outlet clamp and outlet itself loose, but it looks like the previous owner took some sort of flexible glue filth stuff to cover up any potential boost leaks on the inlet, so disconnecting it wont be as easy as I was hoping. Much to my dismay, I could not even take out the intercooler without messing with the bumper; I cannot see what the intercooler is stuck on, so I'm trying to disconnect the overflow reservoir thats in the way, but it has two bolts that are impossible to get at--one I was able to get at took probably 45 mins of patience to unbolt, the other I could not get. So I decide to start taking off the bumper to make it easier on me, and sure enough, even more bolts that are difficult to get at! Rather than point them towards the middle of the car so you can just reach down and unbolt them, Toyota decided to have them face the headlights, giving about .5" of room to unbolt. Again, I was able to get one but not the other. Putting the lights up did not help either, as they were still in the way.

My next attempt will skip all of the stupid bolts that were made (at least everything behind the radiator support is VERY easy to manage) and just pull out the intercooler, hopefully without damaging the oil cooler that is next to it.

Here's how close they are. On the left, you can also see the problematic intercooler pipe:

 

[Rennat]

i left my IC on, and just started up my pressure washer... cleaned it right out! and i also use some degreaser in it to get it really clean, but make sure you put your hand over the outlet so it backs up and gets all of the oil. Then when your done, either get a leaf blower or an air compressore to blow the rest of the water out... and make sure you give it time to dry!

 

[Orion ZyGarian]

i left my IC on, and just started up my pressure washer... cleaned it right out! and i also use some degreaser in it to get it really clean, but make sure you put your hand over the outlet so it backs up and gets all of the oil. Then when your done, either get a leaf blower or an air compressore to blow the rest of the water out... and make sure you give it time to dry!

Damn, I hadnt thought of that..that method would actually solve both my boost leak issue and cleaning it out. Thanks though!

EDIT: 7-30/08
Well, my intercooler is fucked. I figured I was close enough to having it out to not have to take the bumper off, and sure enough. All I needed was to rest and get more patience before trying again. Needed to unbolt the overflow out of the way--wtf with where that was bolted in...no way I'm going to bolt that back in the same spot.

Anyways I borrowed a pressure washer. Once I took off the intercooler, I started washing it out, taking care to avoid hitting the fins. Like that mattered, to my dismay, when I saw water coming out the opposite end of the intercooler. So while I had it, I pressure washed the sawblades to try to get them cleaner so I can paint them black later.

LATER THAT NIGHT:

I took a picture just now of where I think it is, hoping to find it. I think its in deep, under the fins, so you cant see it.

Another stock intercooler is on its way, much to my dismay. I hoped if I ever was to take it out that it would be replaced by something better. As I've decided from the thread earlier in the summer, I'm going to go MAFTPro instead of FFIM.