Build thread

[speedjunkie]

I recommend you treat this one as a big deal. From my understanding, the fans are activated via grounding the relay(s) vice sending a 12v trigger to them. Your AC switch is only grounding relay #1 (of your four relays). In other words, of your 4 relays, I believe 3 of them are for "low speed" operation. Those are relays #1, #2, and #4. Since you're only engaging relay #1, your gambling with overheating your car each time you drive (since your fans are not at full speed). If you are prioritizing which of your relays to fix first, you need to figure out why relay #3 (your "high speed" operation) isn't activating. Since you have a prototype ECU, your ECU could possibly be sending a 12v signal versus a ground signal to your low and high speed relays. If that's the case, your relays wouldn't activate at all (which sounds like what is happening right now). Check with your tuner to confirm that your ECU was in fact programmed to ground your relays. Probably would be a good idea to also confirm that your temp sensor (the one going to the ECU) is working as well. Good luck!

Normally I would treat it as a big deal, and I'm not saying I'm not worried about it at all, but I'm keeping an eye on the temps and they aren't getting out of control.

The fans worked when I first got the car from Chris. They are supposed to come on at 195F and 200F if I remember right. I know this because I had the car idling with the laptop hooked up and the software open. The fans said they were kicking on according to the software, but they did not. Then I jumped GND and TFA in the diagnostic box and the fans didn't kick on, which means it's the relays. I'm going to replace ALL the relays, RTV anywhere water or moisture can get in, use dielectric on the pins, and probably relocate the relays since right now they're next to the passenger side oil cooler. Eventually I plan to replace them with the Hella relays I used on the fuel pump rewire. If they don't work this time with the work I'm doing, then I'll look deeper into why. But they should since that's what troubleshooting has led me to and the problem where the relays and what Chris replaced the last time and it worked for him. I'm not at all surprised that they're bad again because the relays he used were used already also.

TL;DR: It's not the ECU, the ECU is trying to kick the fans on. The fans work with AC, at least well enough to keep it cool enough.

[speedjunkie]

I just verified that both fans come on with any AC input.

I'm squaring away the app little by little. A lot of the gauges show crazy numbers, so I have to change the calculations on those. And I'm learning how to change them so I can view them in MPH, PSI, Fahrenheit, rather than KPH, mBar, and Celcius.

[speedjunkie]

You gotta love when your car stalls trying to pull out of a parking lot and the moron behind you bumps you, then blames you.

This idiot was right on my tail, and once I saw the car wasn't starting easily I put the hazards on. Then the CB for the battery tripped. Then the idiot rolls forward into me. I never got out of the car so fast in my life. He gets out of his car and rushes up to meet me and I was yelling about him running into me. "No I didn't!" “Dude, your car is resting on my car!” He looks at it, “it's barely touching bro, it's barely touching!” I said “It's not running, what do you want me to do about it?” He said “then turn your flashers on”, to which I replied “THEY ARE ON” and then I remembered my CB tripped, killing the flashers too. Not like he could see them anyway since he was literally right on my bumper. He says “what do you want to do about it?” pretty aggressively, and I'm in uniform so it's not like I can do anything right now anyway, although I want to beat him to a bloody mess. I shake my head and get back in the car and throw the just-bought groceries on the floorboard so I can get to the CB and close it so I can start the car. He's yelling “You want a push? You want me to push you? Where do you want me to push you?” and I ignore him. As he's going around me I get the car started, and after he pulls out into the center lane to turn left, I gun the gas and let off the clutch, zooming up and almost rear-ending him. We both take off and go our separate ways. But if anyone wants to have some fun, his license plate number is 023 OPQ if I remember right, and it's an older white Jeep Grand Cherokee with some rust lol. He's a white guy with reddish hair and a goatee, about 5'11” and fairly stocky.

I checked the car when I got home and it's alright, but I realized too late that I should have taken pics and called the cops and got him for leaving the scene of an accident.

[speedjunkie]

I just checked on the fan situation and a relay was missing haha. I tried a spare relay I had and it worked. At least fan 1 turned on, which was strange because both fans actually came on, so I guess "fan 1" means the first stage or whatever. It never would get hot enough to turn "fan 2" on. I'm still going to get all new relays and seal them up better and try to relocate them to a better place.

I also looked at the AFR while it was running. At first it was idling around 1000-1100 and the AFRs were in the high 10s and low 11s. Then it idled around 900 and the AFR was high 11s and low 12s. I revved the car to about 3-4k RPMs and the AFRs got to the 15s. Chris is talking about remoting in while I have the laptop hooked up and the car running. I might see if I can start a hotspot with my phone and take the car out on the street one of these nights and let him do his thing, if that'll work.

I'm going to work on a couple other things tonight too. And my stereo is coming in tomorrow night I believe.

[RX-7 Chris]

That fan problem turned into nothing, lol.

You car is running crazy rich. Following you smells like raw gas.

[Shadowden]

You saw him on the road? That is excellent!

[speedjunkie]

That fan problem turned into nothing, lol.

You car is running crazy rich. Following you smells like raw gas.

Yeah I'm pretty happy about that lol. I'm going to see if I can find some new relays anyway. I'm gonna stop by Mazda today but I might end up just ordering them through Ray Crowe.

Yeah the tune is way off. I might see if he can remote in tonight and fix it.

You saw him on the road? That is excellent!

We drove to Golden together for the Super Cruise.

[speedjunkie]

I got the stereo/carpc today and installed it tonight. From what I've seen so far, this thing is awesome! I already have it linked it up with my wifi and my phone and called my home number through it. I programmed the stations although the AM station I listen to won't come in. I tried the GPS, and I downloaded the Syvecs app but it won't shrink to the screen. I also have a couple other issues.

Just out of curiosity I turned on my headlights after installing the stereo and I'm thinking the stereo is drawing too much power. The headlights take forever to pop up, and they are really dim, and they also pop up at different times, and the same thing happens when they go back down. Even with the stereo off it does this, which makes me think it's the wire hooked up to constant power. I'm going to try that tomorrow. Also, when I turn the lights on it turns the radio off briefly. I haven't tried starting the car yet. The only reason I'd think it's not the stereo is because when I was working on the fan relays last night, I was using a wire brush on one of the connectors and I had forgotten to disconnect the battery and it sparked, but I wouldn't think that would cause that much of an issue. I'll just unplug the stereo and see if it solves the problem. I also need to figure out how to physically mount it in the DIN pocket. It came with a bracket to screw onto each side, but there is nothing to attach them to inside. It didn't come with a cage, it's a bit smaller than the pocket, I need to find a trim piece. I have some research to do on this.

This afternoon I dropped off one of the brake duct plates with Precision Waterjet, and I asked the owner about a machine shop that would make the rear caliper bracket. He told me to go to Basic Machine. They were really nice people and the guy told me that he could make them but it would cost about $375 each, and that's not including engineering time, but he said he doesn't charge that normally anyway. So, I guess I'll just see if I can get a few more from RHDJapan as backup pieces and give up on trying to get them machined.

[Shadowden]

What do the brackets look like?

[speedjunkie]

I thought about it today and realized I hadn't removed the surround and thought of how to mount it with these brackets. I'm just hoping it'll be sturdy enough. I might have to put something under the bottom of it at the back.

Oh and I remembered today that I had disconnected the power cable from the starter, I reconnected it and the headlights and motors are normal again. DERP

[speedjunkie]

Alright, I guess I will have to figure out another way to mount it. There is only enough material on the passenger side of the stereo to mount with these brackets.

[speedjunkie]

I think I found the perfect install kit.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZX5DJG?psc=1

The cage fits right around the stereo, and the trim ring fits the OEM opening almost perfectly. It'll be just short of the height by 3.65mm and short of the width by 1.5mm...a gap of 1.825mm on top and bottom and .75mm on the sides is not too shabby.

The only modification might be to the pieces that bolt to the side of the stereo, but that's no big deal. I can handle that.


Onto other matters, I'm planning on changing my power and ground cables like you all have mentioned before. I'm still having the slow cranking issue, and before I even get to that, sometimes it will just click. It's intermittent, but I'd still like to get rid of it if possible. I'm changing the bolt in the bulkhead connector I made from a steel bolt to a brass bolt since that's what the aftermarket bulkhead connectors use, and I'll use brass nuts too. That coupled with the larger diameter cable I'm hopeful will solve the issue, but I'm not 100% convinced, mainly because I wasn't having these issues when I first installed that cable. This issue MAY have started when I swapped to my homemade bulkhead connector, but I really don't remember for sure. Anyway, now I'm trying to decide if I want to just go all out with 1/0 gauge, or go with 2 gauge. I'm thinking of just going with 1/0 but I'm afraid I won't be able to find the right size connectors for the ends and/or it will be too large to run where I want to run it. Here is the cable I'm looking at.

http://www.amazon.com/TEMCo-Welding-Bat ... ding+cable

I think I'll just get that cable and see what happens. I'm looking at this chart but I'm not sure where I stand on it lol.

http://www.americanpowerinc.com/images/ ... 0guide.pdf

Today I also got the 8AN aluminum lines and tube and sleeve fittings and other fittings to make and attach the catch can hard line, and I also got a couple more rear brake caliper brackets from RHDJapan, along with two for Zico. I heard somewhere that Mazda stopped making them, so I wanted to make sure I had an extra set and I wanted to make sure Zico got a set for his. I ordered the fan relays through Jesse, hopefully I'll get those before too long.

I don't remember if I posted this already, but the water jet guy is going to make six duct plates for me, so three others can get in on this for this go.

Chris checked with Syvecs for me about the OMP and they said they shipped it a couple weeks ago but it was returned because the courier needed more signatures or something, so he's shipping it off soon. I also asked about the replacement ECU but haven't heard anything yet. Chris is working on a high altitude map for me where he's going to change some barometric pressure settings and he said that should fix the problems I'm having and I won't need to do anything to take it back to lower altitude either. I'm hoping he's right. He had mentioned before about doing a compression test just to rule it out, and I might do one soon just to see what I have, but I don't believe that's the problem and I'm hopeful the new tune should fix it.

[speedjunkie]

I removed the wideband sensor last night and put a plug in it today, THAT was kind of a PITA because I didn't drop the exhaust at all and it was cramped. Oh well. The exhaust shop that gave me the plug for free.99 is on Galley just east of Academy, near the Boston Market and behind Play It Again Sports. Good people, but I don't remember the name of the shop lol.

Chris sent me two new maps today and I tried them out. It was still kinda hard to start when cold, but fairly easy when hot. It idled kinda high for a bit on the main map he wanted me to try but eventually dropped down, and the AFRs were still kinda high. They didn't go quite as lean though when revved higher. He said the TPS was acting funny between 1500-2000RPMs so I sent him some logs revving between there and different things. I'm hoping he just remotes in sometime lol.

I played around with the stereo a bit more tonight and took some pics. I'm digging how the buttons on the left side light up blue and match the gauges. And the GPS has a crazy amount of options too. I did try to play music through bluetooth from my phone to the stereo and that didn't work. Bummer, but oh well. It has an auxiliary port so I can use that if I really have to. But once I have a working iPod again it really won't matter.

[speedjunkie]

I got under the car with the new filters to get a look at what I'd need to do to install them and found a problem...


That's the wiring for one of the fuel pressure sensors in the back, I guess it was vibrating on the diffuser. I texted the pic to Chris but haven't heard from him yet. The good thing is it's a separate small harness he made, so if he had to, he could remake it with ease and it shouldn't cost too much to do. I'm going to rotate the sensor up to get it clear. And the filters shouldn't be too bad to install, I'll just need to make a mounting bracket I think. I'll probably do that tomorrow night.

I made the new fuel lines and installed them most of the way, but I want to get a different fitting for the rear of the secondary rail. I want to find the one it originally used, but I can't find it, so I guess I'll get a new one. Really irks me. I also swapped the clutch line with the new one from SBG since I had things out of the way already. I might start driving it again this weekend, we'll see. Since the interior is still kinda ripped apart, I probably won't drive it much. And since it's still apart, I'd really like to install the cruise control board and see if it works, but it doesn't exactly exist yet lol. I still need to get with Bobby and get it made.

Chris said they have an ECU ready for me to swap, but I have to send back the current one first so I'm going to wait until winter when I do the brake job to swap that since it'll be down anyway.

[speedjunkie]

Today I got the aluminum hardline from Jegs, the fittings from Raven Works, and the 0 gauge cable from Crimp Supply. I think it's 0 gauge anyway, it might be 1, not sure. Turns out Adam told me the wrong thread pitch for the 8AN fitting going into the catch can and I got a 1/4NPT rather than the 1/8NPT that it is, so I'll be searching for that tomorrow, along with some thick aluminum sheet to mount the fuel filters in the back. Which brings me to another thought...I might leave the check valves out since each line is going to it's own rail instead of Y-ing together. Not sure yet.

I started removing the hardline for the catch can so I could figure out how to rig a fitting onto it, but decided there is too much work involved with very little payoff right now, and I can do that next time the engine or other things are out and it's all easier to get to, and right now I'm just gonna use a really short section of heavy duty rubber hose to mate the lines together, just to seal the gap like I have on my IC piping with the couplers. The main reason I'm doing AN fittings is so it will support itself and I don't have to get mounting brackets welded on, and I think the short rubber hose will handle that alright as long as it's thick and sturdy enough.

I picked up the relays from Jesse today and got the fitting for the secondary rail from Whisler Bearing that I needed. I basically got absolutely nothing accomplished today haha, other than watching the Dodgers/Mets game. I missed the Cards/Cubs game, but I saw the highlights and was very happy with the outcome lol.

Tomorrow Bobby Crivin is coming over and we're going to do lunch and work out the cruise control board, and I'll also be doing a lot of errands tomorrow again.