Bananaman's Ke20 Rebuild

[Bananaman 170]

Link to discussion thread

 

Thought I might share this with the oldschool community. I did attempt to attend an old school track day in Taupo right back at the start when I brought this car but had a shattered wind screen in Waiouru which prevented me from attending. 

So quick run down.

Car is a 73 Ke20 2 door sedan which was aussie built. Check out the youtube clip of the cars first build below. SR20DET, roll cage, paint was all completed in Australia. Since I brought it I have overhauled most of the car, had some fun but now it is time for my version two with reliability in mind.

Will start this with progress pics to date and take it from there.

Original Build video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h35kYINEhaw

From the drive home. This is how I brought it.

First show.

 

Now the strip and rebuild

Stripped every bit of wiring from the car, all panels from doors forward removed. I have taken the entire fuel system out and will focus on the wiring aspect first then for a mix of all things to finish it the way I wanted.

 

 

[Bananaman 170]

And so the journey begins, I have gathered most of the supplies I need to get on and do the wiring job, bearing in mind I have no automotive electrical back round or experience this should be entertaining. My experience only extends as far as fitting audio systems.

So step 1, complete the High Performance Academy club level wiring course online. (I recommend this to anyone wanting to know more about the fundamentals of EFI wiring. Still a few blanks as they don't delve deep enough into other wiring systems that are basic functions in most cars. Luckily I have VERY basic needs. Not too many electronics in the old boy.

Materials.

Will be dealing with all the lights on the car and upgrading them to LED to help with power distribution as the car has ALWAYS suffered from electrical gremlins. So I began right at the back rebuilding the rear light holder with new wiring and lights. Still waiting on a shipment of DR25 before I can terminate the lights at present but that shouldn't be too long.

Factory vs rebuild

 

[Bananaman 170]

So not much to see here but I did manage to get all the supplies I need to complete my test wiring of the tail lights. So here is one of the finished light holders.

Learned all the pitfalls of using this wire / plug / sheathing which is good because I don't want to make any mistakes on the balance of the car wiring.

[Bananaman 170]

So made a wee bit more progress. Unfortunately I don't get the time I would like on this build but still.

So number plate lights out for a refresh and LED treatment. Look amazing attached to the bumper, once removed and stripped down it is a different story.

Actually writing under there.

Next up was the boot loom. Dealing with lighting only on this loom. Tail lights, numberplate lights, hi stop, and untilize the factory earth which wasn't being used when I stripped the car :/

All ready to be terminated.

[Bananaman 170]

So not the most lush update but the rear wiring loom is in and the light quality is some much better.

Wiring images up first. Jiffy plugs, these things are awesome.

All terminated

Installed.

Light quality so good.

Fuel catch tray, work in progress.

 

 

[Bananaman 170]

Got my label printer all sorted and some clear to go over the top. Wiring dreams coming true. That semi pro look hopefully, will be working on the front sections of wiring next.

[Bananaman 170]

So update time again so this doesnt go stale. 

Wiring mockup done. 

Took exception to the placement of the IAT sensor so have fixed that. Location couldnt be any better than this.

Power distribution has also arrived so now the biggest hurdle is having time to put into this.

Bulkhead connector should arrive tomorrow so I can start to get the engine harness finished. Really looking forward to see it done.

 

[Bananaman 170]

And today the bulkhead connector has arrived. So stoked to have this piece of gear.

[Bananaman 170]

More wire stuff. So to make an omelette first you must break some eggs. So trials first, glad I did.

I have just about completed the first section of the engine wiring. Feeling pumped.

Also picked up some weld on AN fittings and top radiator return block from Taarks for the cooling system. More on this later.

[Bananaman 170]

Mixed bag for this update, some good along with some bad.

Looks like the original signal switch was replaced with a repo one that has had full light current passed thru it at some point in its life. No wonder this car has suffered constantly with power issues.

Have finished up most of the engine harness including the coil loom. Just waiting on a few last minute supplies for the engine harness to be terminated at the firewall, install the modified radiator and make hoses then out with the engine and gearbox

 

[Bananaman 170]

Intentionally overlooking the update surrounding the -an conversion for the cooling system as I have struck a problem. I am currently looking at options to get the top hose to fit in the limited space I have available. Will update this aspect of the build once it is finalized and I actually have a solution.

Focus recently has been to get the intake manifold sorted, it was a custom fabricated item that was on the car when I first purchased the car. Looks good but in practice it has some issues.

Firstly, there is not a single boss welded on this manifold. Instead they opted to tap the 3mm alloy to attached the IAT, vacuum lines and throttle body. Will discuss one at a time.

1/ IAT. As noted in the previous posts it was right at the back of the intake manifold on the underside, not an ideal spot so I have had a boss welded on my intercooler pipe right before the throttle body. Win. However this now leaves a hole in the intake manifold. Plan is to weld a boss on from EFI Solutions in Australia which will give me a series of vacuum lines so I can get that side of things sorted. Aiming to convert all vacuum lines to push-lok fittings to keep things easily maintained.



2/ Existing vacuum lines, now that I have a new location tucked under the intake manifold for these to come out from I need to weld over the back of the intake manifold. It was a mess! Once parts arrive to weld on I will update with finished pics. For now this is what it looks like.



3/ Throttle body. Now this has a number of more serious issues which have arisen over the few years I have had this car. Now that I have stripped it all down it is apparent where they come from. Firstly the mounting of the throttle body to the intake manifold. Again no Boss used, BUT the surface of the manifold is not even flat. It would seem they made the end plate for the intake to suit the throttle body then welded it on with no consideration of the weld lifting the throttle body itself. This has created a leak at the two lower bolt heads as seen in these pics.



Not the end of the world. But I am having a new adaptor plate machined so that it can be welded on the intake and will also incorporate a o-ring seal between the adaptor and throttle body. Pics when it is made and on to follow.

The more serious issues, the throttle butterfly could move almost 10° without the throttle being pressed. This resulted in the car revving upto 3500RPM when stopping at lights or even on deceleration it continued to rev. Not ideal.

Turns out it was the cap screw on the right of this picture. The head has bottomed out on the throttle linkage and hasn't even threaded far enough to hold the shaft the butterfly attaches to. 



Fixed, proper fitting grub screw that is fully secure. Maximum satisfaction.



Next was the TPS, it was also held on with cap screws that had a head too small to locate it where it was supposed to be. When the car was dyno'd the first time my tuner @ross discovered the problem where the TPS was bottoming out on the underside on the throttle body housing resulting in the tps staying a WOT. (clearly this leads to some excitement when you climb up the car then jump off the pedal only to find it isn't slowing at all) Correct hardware securely fixed and the problem is solved.





Proper hardware for those two fixes owes me a grand total of around 0.35cents. Hard to believe you wouldnt fix those at the beginning.

So once the boss parts arrive I will have them welded on and update intake progress. For now I have an engine crane on loan to remove the engine and gearbox ready for the engine bay overhaul.

[Bananaman 170]

So bit of a better update for those following.

Firstly, the exhaust manifold. Let me start by saying unlike just about every other build I have seen recently people seem to be chasing big HP numbers. That was never the intention of this build, I am trying to attempt to build a responsive fun daily car that I can throw around a track at a club day with mates. Not looking to win any races or smoke too many tires although it does a reasonable job of that at the moment.

So the exhaust manifold. I picked up the Sinco manifold a few months ago since it was something on the list but lack of research has meant I have had to replace it with another. The one I brought was a T3 flange with a 45mm external wastegate. I really wanted to put a gen2 garrett turbo on however the smallest Gen2 T3 flange was a 3071 which I deemed to big for my application. Instead I wanted to put a more modest 2867 which meets my power goals with enough up its sleeve to keep me in the efficiency range of the turbo. This is where the manifold now longer suits. The 28 frame garrett only has a T2x flange or a 2.5" Vband to attach to the manifold. To add to the this if you opt for the T2 flange you have to run the internal wastegate. 

Since Sinco dont do a 2.5" Vband on there manifolds it meant to stick with Sinco I have had to stay with the T2 flange and internal wastegate. For ease of installation I have gone down this road. 

So, now that I had made up my mind I brought the turbo and figured a turbosmart actuator will give me reasonable boost control for my mild street build.

Next on the list was to sort the intake manifold pictured above. 
The first step was put the IAT sensor into the intercooler pipe rather than at the back of the intake manifold. This was the original location, simply tapped the sensor into the 3mm aluminium.

Punched holes were drilled out for the new vacuum boss.


Then since I moved the vacuum lines to under the intake I had to do something about the horrid assortment of once again tapped holes in the end of the intake. (SAD FACE)
After.


And lastly the borage or issues that surrounded the throttle body. Mainly the fact that it didn't sit flush to the surface as mentioned in the post above with the other little issues. I had my good mate Shannon at PRO CNC Ltd knock me out a new flange complete with o'ring seal machined in.



And another addition to my wiring tools I was stoked to get a nice new stop for my wire strippers. By eye is one thing, repeatable it awesome.