Monday, August 30, 2010

Fillin' in the Well

It seems that the wheelwell lining on the front driver's side was missing. Not only did this expose my horn to the elements, it also looked kinda bad, considering that you're not supposed to see through down there. TJ came through again, and half of the fasteners were still there, so this was a pretty easy job. Pull tire, 5ish screws, replace tire.
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Hooray for the easy ones! This clears a big freakin' thing out of my garage, too. I need to get that antenna piece quick so I can get the other trunk liner out of the garage!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Front 'n' Back

Sunday, August 29, 2010:

Somehow, I managed to score another Perrin catch can in blue, brand new on eBay for super cheap. Sometimes, you don't ask.

Some outrageous number of clamps later, you get this:
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You can kinda tell which one's the new one, huh? That's a little over three weeks on the first one. I figure I'll see how the new hoses look (just to see what they're spitting out) and eventually replace the browned ones with some opaque lines, leaving the clean ones to be sure that everything's good there.

Out back, another of TJ's contributions arrives: the trunk inner roof. With the rear wiper attached and functional, that area can be sealed up. The panel is held in by ten plastic clips, two of which secure the front inside walls, as well. Plenty of backlight, but alas...
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Lookin' good! After the antenna install, I can seal up the driver's side, and the trunk will be done. NICE.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Trunklid and Rear Wiper

Saturday, August 21, 2010:

I got off the phone with Josh with both of us somewhat frustrated with the parts diagrams that he has to use to look up pieces of my car. The rubber gasket that goes on top of the SVX's back window in the rear wiper assembly is probably the upper CUSHION, but I figured I had just as good odds with one that I fabbed up from Lowes's bath section. It took a little bit of trimming, but it fit nicely. This install wasn't bad, but it did require some accounting for alignment and location of the fluid hose.
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EDIT: Evidently, it leaks just a lil' bit. I'll have to get the correct seal.

TJ dropped off a trunklid interior for me from Dave today (thanks, gents). I did a quick sound deadener job and smacked it on. Looks great!
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Of Hydras and Harnesses

Thursday, August 12, 2010:

With the first available autocross looming, I figured it would be good to permanently mount the Hydra and install the harness.

If I didn't post it before, or if you just don't recall, the Hydra was dangling from under the dash when I got it. In order to drive the car, I grabbed a couple of wire ties and kept it over the pedals as a temporary fix. Today, I did something a little bit better.

The first thing I had to contend with was that when I disconnected the harness, one of the wires came undone from the Hydra side! I checked my wiring diagram, and it turned out that it was the line that fires Injector #6. Yep, I need that one. I did a neat solder and shrink job on it, and all was well again.
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The popular mount method for the Hydra is Velcro. I made a template of the bracket where the ECU used to be (Coke can shown for size scale), cleaned both surfaces with alcohol, and presto - permaHydra.
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If you do this, make sure that the MAP hose has clear passage past the steering column. If it gets crimped, you wind up with really bad fuelling. Don't ask how I know.

I used the same mount points for the harness as in the Pearly - the rear seatbelt shoulder point for the rear strap, and the lap belt point and a seat bolt for the rest.
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History Calling

Sunday, August 8, 2010:

Before finishing reinstalling the trunk interior, I did an audit of what might need tending to, including any free connectors. This little guy in the back of the passenger side of the trunk, to my knowledge, is the plug you'll use when you go back in time and get your bag cell phone.
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Friday, August 6, 2010

Catchy

I haven't done much that's noteworthy for a few days. I've done some datalogging, but it's not worth much without a wideband hooked up to the Hydra. I'm still sorting out the overly rich warmup ramping, and it seems that the car sometimes has trouble staying at or above stoich when under low load, like maintaining any given speed. I wind up revving for a bit and then coasting, repeat, repeat, which has got to be killing my fuel economy - now up to a lofty 13.4 from 12.6.

Today was good; I had an easy job. I had my boss fab up a little block of aluminum to use as a spacer to mount the catch can I bought from Jim the Mouse. I found a spot where the air filter box used to be that had a threaded hole, and the rest is history. Check out the foamy rings that are what captures the airborne junk.
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Aaaand... after.
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The hose that the can intercepts was replaced for about a week, just to see how bad it was. It was pretty nasty.
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More to come!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

The Horn

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Of the two horns in the car, one wasn't working, and the other alone was kind of meager. Just like in the Pearly, I replaced them with a Stebel Nautilus Compact. You can find these at varying prices depending on whether you pick them up as Stebels or Wolos or (I can't remember the third name). This one happened to be a Wolo.

Seen below: The old horns, the old location, the harness, and the new horn inside the fender in front of the tire.
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It's plenty loud! A definite upgrade, and if I'm lucky, it'll still work when I take it in for inspection tomorrow.