Roman

Soooo top of the page! So back to pictureless ranting about tech related gibberish. There's been a lot of speculation about what the factory Toyota ECUs can or cannot do, in terms of being self learning etc. Since I've had the OBD diagnostic program hooked up, and then using the program called 'Torque' on Android, I've had access to an unparalled WEALTH of nerdy information about the engine. You can set up virtual gauges, or datalog ANY engine parameters you can think of. So something I've just found it useful for just today, is testing an injector size swap. The standard injector size for the Redtop 3SGE engine is 315cc. The standard injector size for the Altezza 3SGE is 340cc. One of my redtop injectors busted itself, and they are difficult to find. So I thought I would swap in a set of Altezza injectors and see what happens. Being a larger injector, you would obviously expect it to cause the engine to run rich. I set up two gauges on my tablet, one which monitors the short term fuel trim (this is like real time adjustments via the oxy sensor) and the long term fuel trim (This is where if something is lean or rich often enough at a particular load/rpm, it will adjust the actual value on the map) I fitted the new injectors, and took the car for a drive. After a while it showed that the engine sensed it was running too rich, so was incrementally reducing the amount of fuel going in. -1%.... -2.4% .....-5% etc and then eventually settled on -7.8% and didnt budge from there. Which is interesting, because.... 340cc * 7.8% = 26.5cc 340cc - 26.5cc = 313.5cc The ECU successfully guessed the size of the new injectors, to within 1.5cc and compensated perfectly for it, within an hour of driving the car. Mind blown!

GREAT SUCCESS

Sure thing Fels. It's a bit fumy in the cabin at the moment and the brakes are super squeaky. But still fun to drive.

Surprisingly economical! On a trip to Thames im averaging 9.0 litres and 0.5 police stops per 100km. I went through my wof and reg yesterday (and have the stickers, receipts, wof sheets etc in the car) However it hasnt gone through on the system that the cops look at yet apparently. So the guy was like "Wait a minute, this says it was last wof/reg in 2007, and the car is white. Can you open the bonnet please" He had bit of a look around under the bonnet etc, and goes "Are you sure this car used to be white, I dont see any white bits" And I was all like "I know, right?!" *smugface* He was also asking me questions about why the zeros on the numberplate didnt have a strikethrough thing, but the ones on the reg sticker did. Honestly how do you answer such a dumb question? It's a different font because it's one of the older plates, I'm sorry if that breaks your brain officer. lol.

Sweet jibbily Jesus I have a Road legal Carina!! Despite the fact that it's been horribly unreliable even on short trips such as: -Drive to certifier -Drive to wof place -Drive to get some petrol I thought a fitting celebration would be to drive the damn thing effing far away from home and make some super loud doort noises to annoy some cows. Went for a mish to Kaiaua: It's a bit fumey in the cabin, and there are few things to still work on. But after 8 years or so it's a damn good feeling to get to this point!

Yeah that's what I tried for starters - Took it to Penrose Automotive who to their credit were VERY thorough and came up with some issues that needed tending to which I resolved. But they werent willing to budge on the exhaust noise issue, said I needed paperwork from cert man or VTNZ before they would allow it. Which sucks as it's not all that loud. No hard feelings towards Penrose Automotive though, I would take my daily driven car there for a wof for sure. It just ended up easier going elsewhere for this. At least until I get a quieter exhaust. But, that's how I ended up at the VTNZ.

Sooooo trying to get a WOF has been a giant fuck around mainly due to exhaust noise. I ended up taking it to VTNZ as the guys there said that although it was loud, he wouldnt fail me on that as he thought it was acceptable. It was quiet there so ended up with three of the VTNZ guys, with varying competency, going over it with a fine toothed comb. They found the following issues: 1. Failed on wheel spacers on the front (Which is interesting, seeing how said spacers do not exist) 2. Failing to comply with 100mm ground clearance (Which is funny, because that's why I've got a fucking cert plate morans) 3. Rear brake imbalance (Fair enough) 4. Mismatched wheel nuts on the right rear side... Two open faced, two closed. Oh the humanity! Luckily there was some boss level VTNZ guy who talked some sense into them about the ride height, they had another look and didnt see spacers, then I rushed off home to replace the brake pads and change the wheel nuts. Rush back to VTNZ at 4.59pm pretty much just as they are pulling the roller door down for a recheck, super stoked that I'm about to get a wof. Then this happened: Haha damnit! Fixed it now, hopefully tomorrow it'll pass, unless the guy finds a dead beetle in my washer bottle tank or something equally dangerous. Fred: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/21625-romans-cod-piece/page-6

Ahhh well, at least it's an easy fix! Good to hear

62psi would give the best spray pattern if that's what the injectors are designed for. But 50 would be fine if that's what you tune your car for. Also if you want to clean the filter for the VVTI. You need to take off the front main cam cap, the one that has both sides in one piece and has about six bolts holding it down. Then the filter is located either in that piece, or the head directly below it (cant remember which) Toyodiy seems to suggest it's in the cam cap thing. So it's a cambelt off job, bit of a bugger really!

If your fuel pressure is low, could it be an issue with the fuel pressure regulator rather than the fuel pump? Also, are you using standard Altezza injectors? As they are 340cc injectors when run at the factory 60psi, but according to the maths are only about 275cc if run at 40psi.

You dont need airbags in front of you, if you hit a tree backwards at 150kph

Modern enhancements like these save lives. Even if it's only something like 0.000005% difference, that could be 1000 people who are pretty happy not to be dead! Another thing, is that some people go on about how a car without ABS can stop quicker with a good driver. Perhaps in ideal circumstances, but lets say you're turning into a corner while on the brakes and then there's a rough or slippery patch or whatever, and one wheel loses grip and locks up. You need to take your foot off the pedal and therefore all FOUR wheels brakes off to correct the problem. Unless you've got four feet running four brake pedals, then it's physically impossible to acheive what ABS can do, which is regulate the braking on just one corner if needed. There's no doubt in my mind that a sporty car with modern ABS vs non, over 100 different circumstances (Except for gravel I guess) the ABS comes out on top. In saying this, I definitely agree that lots of power, lots of mechanical grip, and lots of fasts do not necessarily mean a car is going to be fun to drive. A bog standard KP60 starlet is probably still the most grin inducing car I've yet to drive.

Yeah I asked my old man about it, he says he's got a few tricks for cleaning out tanks really well as he had to do the same on his truck. So hopefully a hearty clean and she'll be good to go! But will need to assess once I've dropped the tank out I guess. Oh yeah one other thing, this might be why one of my injectors packed up... Does anyone know anywhere in the Penrose area to get them tested and cleaned? Cheers

Fuel that came out of the rail, looks like fuel. Fuel that came out of the 'before' side of the filter, looked like Ranui creek water lol. At least the fuel pump seems okay though! Looks as though the wizard magic detergents in 98 octane done their job a little too well when I filled up the tank haha. I was Soooo close to getting a WOF and now this haha... Will need to drop the tank over the weekend, before I can take it for a wof again.

Hey so I just checked my spark plugs as it's been back to running rough as guts, and two out of four had cracked porcelain. They were $$$ platinum plugs too without toooo many kms on them, bugger! I've swapped them in and out a fair bit though in fairness so I might have overtightened them or knocked them or something I guess. I have swapped back to some cheapo plugs until I can figure out why it's running like crap, but then still running like crap after the spark plug swap. I've recently swapped out an injector that appeared to stop working, and now after a drive the OBD is showing that the ECU is adding 20% fuel across the board (maximum it can adjust) and it's still running lean as hell according to the plugs condition. So I'm suspecting that I've probably got a blocked fuel filter, or a failing fuel pump. Possibly on account of that it's just a random TA63 fuel tank I bought without cleaning out or whatever, probably has a whole heap of crap in it. Does anyone have any experience with cleaning out fuel tanks? I'll do some troubleshooting to see if it's a blocked fuel filter etc, but it likely comes back to an issue with crap in the fuel tank, or the fuel pump being zillions of old and giving up. pooz

Then get back to working on the car.

Good stuff man! Looking forward to a trackday with this and a few other sweet cars in attendance some time

Looks as though one of my injectors has packed up, dont suppose anyone has any of the pink FWD beams injectors spare? In other news it was actually a bit of a mish to get the speedo reading correctly. My Dad had been on the case for building some electronic wizardry to correct the signal - which tested fine using a Toyota speedo drive and dash cluster. But when in the car, the actual speedo signal recieves a lot of interference from other electrical stuff, so it had to be remade a bit to filter out this. So now the car has a little matchbox sized box under the dash, I can press one button or the other to speed up or slow down the speedo. Then you press both buttons together to save the changes. So it took a few doorts up and down the motorway later, and now has an accurate speedo! So in conjunction with fixing up a few other final bits, organised for Cletus to come back and... Booya! Pretty stoked to finally reach that milestone The motor is running great, the brakes are great, the suspension is great. Took it for a WOF straight after that, have a few minor issues to sort out. Nothing that'll cost me a significant amount of time or money though. Stoked! Hopefully depending on how lazy I am, should have the wof sorted within the week. By which I mean month. By which I mean year. Coupelife Bring on the next OS trackday!

The Base of The windscreen is a huge catchment area for high pressure air. Which is why the air intake for the fan for the inside of the car comes from there. Using the drip tray thing as an air feed would work better than a scoop, with the added benefit of being millions less ugly. Just make sure the intake is above the high tide mark for rain haha.

Fixed

Even a simple swap (like an early SR20DE) would still cost you $3-5k or so to do, if you can do all of the work yourself and keep the factory diff etc. If you need any assistance from a fabricator etc then that price starts going up pretty quickly. Things like getting a custom made drivshaft, engine mounts, gearbox mount, fluids etc, new radiator, radiator hoses, new exhaust, new clutch (would be silly not to) and so on. There's a good reason a lot of people buy lego-esque cars like Cefiros, as everything just bolts straight in. My car was relatively lego-ish, and it's still been a lot of work. Also unless you do a lot of work to the suspension/brakes/etc, something like a $2000 Integra or MR2 will still rip your car a new asshole in every which way. Doesnt mean your car will be any less fun though. The most fun car I've ever owned was a 1300cc Toyota Starlet that was a complete heap, yet was hilariously awesome to drive. Buy someone elses finished project, or just buy a car that's fast to begin with if that's what you're after. For a first project just try something simple like fitting a 1600cc Ford engine of some sort that bolts straight in, it will still be a lot of work to get going as there are always unforeseeable expenses and complications. Oooorrr, as alluded to in the other thread in a less than subtle way, spend the money on beer, partying and travelling and keep your car as is. You'll have a much better time overall.

Bring the 86 so I can steal it and take it for a hoon around scenic drive. In saying that, your MA61 really is remarkably tidy. (saw it at the leadfoot thingy)

Hi Scribblez, There's a bit of a false economy with Beams motors - Due to some complexity in the fuel system and Electronics which make them actually a lot more expensive to fit than it first seems when purchasing a motor. There are a few problems that need addressing when swapping beams motors into a different car: -Factory dual mass flywheel is a piece of crap, aftermarket lightweight flywheel + new clutch adds another grand or so to the purchase price. -The motor uses a returnless fuel line system, that runs at a higher pressure than most cars. The options for fixing it are to use a fuel rail from a FWD beams engine with an adjustable FPR fitted, tapping the standard fuel rail to accept an FPR, or fitting the Altezza fuel pump in the gas tank. Any which of those options would likely cost you $500+ -The gearbox shifter position is on par with a remote shift W57 gearbox, AKA really fucking far back. However you can unbolt the shifter, flip around the part on the end of the gearbox shaft and bolt it further forward which is handy. Any old W series driveshaft (or auto equivilent) shares the same spline though which is handy. -Electronic speedo drive in the gearbox - good luck getting your speedo working if it runs from a cable. (which it does) You can convert the gearbox to a cable drive using a W57 speedo drive, but then the ECU throws error codes if it doesnt get a speed signal. -Electronic throttle body These motors have a shit house electric throttle body, the cable only pulls the throttle about 1/4 open and the ECU does the rest. So you need a pedal position sensor mounted on your gas pedal, which is a bit of faffing around. -Finnicky airflow meter If the airflow meter is not contained in the right shape/size housing, the ECU shits its pants. This means fitting a pod filter or similar yeilds crappy results on standard ECU, (20hp atw less, in my case) and the factory airbox is a fucked up shape that you'll not likely be able to fit. -Big plenum The intake on these is a bit of a huge bitch, might be a tight squeeze into an escort. At this stage most people decide it would be a good idea to use quad throttle bodies instead, which means.... -Disregard ECU, aquire aftermarket one By this stage most people have probably spent $6-8k, and then need to buy a $2k ECU and about a grand for tuning. If you're running a standard motor with standard manifold or quads, standard exhaust etc you can expect between 110-135kw at the wheels depending on a few things. You'll also need to upgrade your brakes to get a cert, get a wheel alignment within 1/2 degree of factory camber, fit driveshaft loops (which is horrible) and jump through a few more expensive and time consuming hoops. Soo if you are happy with having your car off the road for 2 years or so, spending 10k and having 130ish kw at the wheels then yep sweet. Personally I think for a first project, and size/weight of the car it makes more sense to opt for a 4AGE. A T50 gearbox fits easier, the engine is a lot simpler electronically etc and can run on the standard ECU (or a cheap aftermarket one, no VVTI etc) and it's a much more sensible hassle free option for a first engine swap. A standard bluetop 4AGE swapped would cost less than half the time and money, and still be heaps of fun to drive. Otherwise something like an SR20DE is also a lot simpler to install and get running. If you want to get an idea of what's involved in a beams motor swap, there are quite a few in the project section - do a search for 'beams' and you'll find a fair few in various states of deconstruction haha. also for what it's worth, by the time I've (nearly) finished my beams project, I actually enjoy driving my other car with a standard motor just as much, because I'm now old and dont care so much for hooning around. Kind Regards, Roman 'Been there done that and hate myself for it' Dave.

Had a bit of a convoy with some of the usual suspects, fun start to the day. Favourite car was the crazy porsche ice rally 4wd thingo, sweet jesus I would drive the hell out of that thing. Oh, and this cool volvo thing that turned up that I didnt take any pics of.