Tuesday, December 7, 2010

AW11 MR2 Build - "Akemi" Part 13


7/30
I now have my wheel, hub, and spacer....but the guy forgot to send the part of the hub that lets the horn work!!! so that will be here later. I'm assuming I'll just get it all on after I get back from FL week after next.

8/9
Big thanks to Mike. Might need you to do two more for me coming up here if that's cool.

So now my current tire setup is:
Front - Yokohama ES100 - 195/50/15
Rear - Kumho Ecsta ASX - 205/50/15

8/13
stupid rattling heat shield removed, ebrake tightened up a bit, and replaced the valvecover seal washers i screwed up by overtorquing them last time

8/15
momo steering wheel installed. just gotta figure out the horn. i think i need to put a ground wire on the other tab of the horn button for it to work. shouldnt be too hard.

8/23
using uber amounts of solder and help from my dad, my horn works now

9/1
moar paint now a question....i painted my parts car trunk and put it on my car. my factory trunklid has "supercharged" and "toyota mr2" on it. i can get those to put on my new black lid, OR i can leave it blank and debadged. what should I do?

9/6
flushed the coolant today with Brandon's help. pretty much followed these directions
http://padandwheels.com/mr2/waterpump/coolant.html

did not use Toyota coolant because the day I spend $25/gallon on PREMIXED coolant is the day i die

9/9
the paint on my hood/front bumper has started to fade a little bit so I figured I'd put some matte clear coat on it. yea BAD idea. it now looks like my car is covered in dust. its awful. worst. shit. ever. I finally said fuck it and I'm gonna take all day tomorrow and sand off the matte clear, respray the satin black, and just do the rest of the car.

9/10
sooooo yea check this out

in front of RR wheel. was hiding under the side skirt this whole time Sad
patch panel costs $90
http://www.twosrus.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=382

behind LR wheel. have patch panel for this one
in front of LR wheel. sanded, treated, underbody-coated
RR wheel arch treated, will be bondo'd and painted over

9/11
it's pretty much done other than the mudflaps. only other thing is that when i was removing the tape around the tail lights it took a little spot of paint off the trunk lid. i miss the orange already

9/13


9/24
just weighed one of my silver wheels. OK so it was my understanding that if you can get 1lb for every inch diameter you are doing ok (ie: 15" wheel 15lb).
my silver PCW 15x7 +38 wheels weigh in at....20lbs. wow. heavy as SHIT. so much for using those for the track..... >.<>SC belt started slipping again today. went full throttle and after 6500rpm the boost was dropping. turned down the music and listened and tried again....all i could here was BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA SQUEEEEEEEEEKK

luckally its easy to fix, but i need light and about 2 feet of extensions lol. cant go to autocross without max boost now can we

11/7
After my findings at both VIR and Summit, I have decided the design of the airflow thru the radiator is not sufficient. I am thinking about taking my old crappy hood and doing this:
There is literally nowhere for air to go behind the rad stock, but this will help a TON with airflow at high speed. only problem is losing frunk storage space.

11/21
did the compression test.
Cylinder 1 - 140psi
Cylinder 2 - 135psi
Cylinder 3 - 140psi
Cylinder 4 - 145psi

BGB says optimal for a GZE is 156, minimum is 121, so I think my numbers are pretty good.

in other news, i was driving around all day yesterday with no problems, but after one 30 min drive on the interstate (around 70mph) it overheated once I got off the interstate. I have no idea if my fans work or not, but if my fans aren't working could it be that once I slowed down the coolant boiled in the system and that's where the steam came from?

11/26
Changed oil/filter and spark plugs today. Valvoline conventional 5w30, K&N filter, and NGK copper plugs
Odometer reads 231,088
conversion -64,214
actual mileage =166,874

next oil change = 169,000 or 170,000
odometer = 234,874

11/29
just ordered new o-rings for all the bleeder valves (t-stat, heater, radiator) because it looks kinda like there may be a leak around my t-stat. the gasket on the t-stat housing got replaced when i replaced the thermostat itself.
interesting....just went to bleed the coolant post-drive and noticed that the firewall behind the radiator had coolant sprayed on it.....and steam was very slowly seeping from the rad bleeder valve.....interesting....maybe the seal in the bleeder valve is bad. I ordered new o-rings for all 3 bleeder valves from Kbox.

12/1
just a quick update - i drove my car kinda hard on the way home from class tonight and did a quick under-car check to check for coolant. Bleeder valve is dry, BUT it looks like there is a VERY slow leak in the general area of the thermostat. I can't see where because the IC is in the way, but its not the t-stat bleeder or anywhere on top of the t-stat. It could be the bottom of a hose, or the bottom half of the t-stat gasket or something.....kinda hard to tell. I'll have to look with the IC off sometime after a hard drive.

12/4
FOUND IT (i think)
the hose that connects to the front side of the t-stat housing....the bottom of it feels wet. I think that's where it's leaking onto the top of the trans. now about finding a new hose...........

12/6
new air filter for my HKS intake came in, as well as o-rings for all 3 bleeder valves on my car: radiator, heater, and thermostat

12/7
replaced all the o-rings on the bleeder valves. the ones on the radiator were FUBAR as were the ones on the t-stat. Heater wasn't bad, but still replaced them. Also put in a new red HKS filter element.

AW11 MR2 Build - "Akemi" Part 12

4/24
Dyke couldnt do it this morning so I ended up going to my mechanic in Mechanicsville (go figure) and got my car done to TRD Stage 1.....wow. going from a bad alignment (i never realigned the car after i switched springs from ST to TRD) to the TRD alignment......the change is unbelievable.
also on another note I highly recommend Jim & Glenn's Auto in Mechanicsville. Great people and great work
got the passenger side fender painted and installed today. I also painted the driver's side fender, but haven't replaced it yet. List remaining:
1. install driver's side fender
2. remove, sand, paint, reinstall front lip
3. ", ", ", " front valence pieces
4. paint front bumper..... this one i may just do on the car
5. contemplate painting the rest of the car


5/1
pics of black front end




now some people want me to paint the whole thing black, some people want me to leave it the way it is.....what do you think???


5/28
Seafoamed my car again today. There was next to NO smoke at all, just a tiny little bit. Goes to show how clean the inside of my motor is (seeeeee changing your oil ever 2500-3000 miles is a good thing.) Then I changed the oil. Put in Valvoline instead of Mobil1 because they were having a special deal on it at Advance (something like buy 5 qts and a K&N filter for like $27). While the car was up in the air I took a look at the rust hole in my bottom left corner and took off my mud flap to get a better look. NEVER "take a better look" cuz you will just be dissapointed. I need some real body work done.....

6/8
hooray! my massively expensive scoop doesnt fit right! gonna have to sand the ass off it just to let the engine lid close......sooooo pissed off

6/28
just bought this off a guy on the forums. Its for automatic transmissions only, but i will use it to replace the dummy button on my dash and will eventually wire it up to something or other.
7/5
Pics of scoop




7/12
ok so Billy did some work on my rear right fender dent today. it has gone from "seriously bad" to "meh ok"found a guy on the forums getting rid of his Momo steering setup, and bought his hub for $50 (they go for $75 or more new) and I'm buying a steering wheel (Momo Monte Carlo 320mm) from a guy on VADriven for $135 ($165 new). I'll probably need a $20 spacer for it to fit right but i'm pretty excited for a QUALITY steering wheel setup.

7/15
Still waiting on the hub...and will probably need a spacer but still anyway YAY