Summer catch up post

Even with all that's going on in the world it's been a busy summer for me and progress has been slow but I still managed to get some stuff done.

One of my projects was to make a 3 gauge center console using the JDM lower console. To accomplish this I bought a piece of 1/4" black plexiglass, put it on a cookie sheet with tin foil underneath at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. I then took the lower console piece and covered it in tin foil to prevent any melting, then took the plexi out of the oven and held it on the console piece to create the shape.  I then had to do some cutting and grinding to make it fit, but for V1 it's not too bad.

V2 is going to change the angle a bit and use some different positioning for the gauges. You can see that the main portion is a bit concave and so it's actually kinda hard to see the gauges if not looking directly at the plate. 

Next up was working on changing the board over to wideband and wiring in the gauge output wires.

Finally we made some progress on the exhaust.  My welder friend did his first pie cut piece and I think it turned out pretty well!  Next up is tacking up the rest of the exhaust and then it's on to the Dyno!!

How to AN

I recently struggled my way through some AN10 fittings for my catch can, and then when it came time to put on my AN16 fittings for the coolant lines I realized that the process wasn't the same.  With the larger hose and fittings it was basically impossible to push the hose with the nylon wrap into the fitting so here is what I ended up doing:

Step 1: cut the nylon wrap about 1" from the top of the hose (distance based on fitting requirement).  I used a box cutter and made about 10 light pulls on the nylon.  I did this 4 times around the hose.

Step 2: use a needle nose to roll the nylon off the hose down about 1".  That seemed like a good distance for the AN16, the AN10 ended up being about .75".  After you pull it back cut away as much loose nylon as you can.

Step 3: Tightly wrap some electrical tape around the exposed nylon and then spray with a tiny bit of your favorite lubricant and use your finger to wipe it all around the tape area.

Step 4: slide on the hose side of the fitting. 

Step 5: Enjoy cool AN fitting lines!

Liquids and solids.

Now that the weather had warmed up I've been trying to do one thing per day on the car.

Thursday I replaced the Innovative rear mount with a Hasport 92A racing mount. The idea is that I'll likely not be running a front mount and the very solid rear mount along with the softer (but still poly) side mounts will keep vibration to a minimum but keep the motor from torquing the driveshaft.  I hopped on a Midnight Oil and they said a rear 92A was all I needed, we'll see!

Friday was running gauge wiring through the firewall, pulling the ECU to solder in the components for the Hondata boost controller and pulling the CD player from the lower part of the console. I'd like to put the gauges here and I have an idea how to do it.

The shape I'll need to make is going to require a jig, or form of some sort which I'm going to work on tomorrow.  But the basic idea is to take a 8x9 piece of black plexiglass and then do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8mk08Zg5OY . That should allow me to mold the piece into the curve of the lower console as seen below:

Saturday I took the day off and did yard work but today I made some progress on the coolant lines. I had ordered some AN16 lines and connectors and went to work trying to make it work.  With the coolant nozzle options for the head I don't have a lot of choices so I had the AN16 bung welded onto the nozzle. I would have liked it closer, but it is what it is.

The thermostat to to the bottom of the radiator is an easy run and worked great, the upper hose is another story.  The AN16 adapters are BIG, and there isn't a lot of room even if I were to use a standard rubber hose, so this was the best option I could come up with without putting a kink in the lines.

 

I might order another 90* piece and give this layout a try:

 

Cardboard down pipe.

With the new radiator in place I was able to mock up my downpipe using 3" cardboard shipping tubing and some painters tape.  Took about an hour or so but should give my friend a good idea about how to make it.

Next step is to find out when he's free, tow the car over to his garage and start on the downpipe and exhaust.

New radiator, who dis?

After going back and forth for a bit deciding on whether to modify my existing Mishimoto or order something different I went through Go-Autoworks and got one of their dual core drag radiators. It fits more perfectly than I could imagine and it came with AN16 fittings so now I just have to wait for SpeedFactory to get done modifying my thermostat and upper coolant port to AN16 fittings and I should be gtg!

With this in place I have a ton of room for the down pipe so I can start doing a mock up and once that's done I can make brackets and bolt down all of the front end pieces. 

Baby got bungs.

So the AN10 bungs and header are done and I did some mock up last night using the downpipe I had handy. It's still tight and I will 100% need a custom radiator at some point. Right now the Mishimoto EG will have to do the gangster lean.
Things left to do:

• Mount breather chamber and run lines.
• remove Ebay BOV mount and weld on Tial mount to charge pipe
• Mount and wire Hondata boost controller.
• Tidy up wiring.
• Run vacuum lines.
• Cut and weld AN16 fittings to radiator. (AN16 modified thermostat housing and radiator neck on head coming from SpeedFactory)
• Mock up downpipe to correct dimensions.
• Weld new angles for wastegate pipe.
• Figure out routing and weld exhaust.
• Send out valve cover for wrinkle coating.
• Remove driveshaft??
• Get a tune.
• Get custom radiator made.

Not too much left. I'm debating removing the driveshaft after we get the exhaust routed so that it will be easier to tow, and I won't have to worry about driveline issues on the dyno.

So...uhhh...blogs are still a thing, right?

It's been a while.

I got into instagram for a minute, then realized like other social media it just doesn't really do it for me. The pace at which people like and dismiss builds that take years to make just isn't my style.

With that said I'd like to keep the blog up to speed as a more permanent place of record for my build and it's progress, or lack of it.

It's been slow but progress is progress I guess.

I got the ECU done, and the pulled the engine harness and got the Rywire harness installed along with some other rewiring and extension that needed to be done.

At that point I was basically ready to go.  I did a mock up of the motor in my garage, then bolted on an ACT stage 4 clutch and OEM balanced flywheel. 

The clutch was a little interesting because I was using an 88 manual trans on a 91 flywheel. So I ended up needing a clutch plate that matched an 88 21 spline, but had a 212mm diameter.  What do?  Well just my luck the ACT clutch for a 1986 Prelude Si is 21 splines and 212mm...what are the odds!!? So I have a frankenclutch but it all works.

I bolted everything in and got it on a trailer to King Motorsports for tuning.

 Then they let me know that the main crank seal and the cam seal were leaking. Sooo I went back and picked it back up. Boo. They also said my Ebay turbo already had some blowby just in the 5 minutes they ran it.

So the car is back in the garage and over the winter I decided to upgrade some parts.

I'm still using the Ebay intercooler and charge piping for now, but I've upgraded to a Comp 5858 .63 turbo, and Tial wastegate and BOV.  I've also got a vent kit from Speed factory and at some point a radiator needs to go in the car.  The Rywire tucked radiator won't fit, so not sure what to do.  But all that will come in a new post!