91 GSX

[TCB91GSX]

TCB91GSX submitted a new DSM Profile :

TCB 91 GSX


Read more about this vehicle here...

 

[TCB91GSX]

Picked up the car early January and have been going through minor tune ups/maintenance. I have been busy ...

Had to get "familiar" with Tunerpro logging capabilities to atleast keep an eye on what is going on with the car, but now have finally decided to make the jump to ECM Link.


New:
Heat shield
Air filter
Spark Plugs/wires - NGK wires/BPR7ES plus Gapped @ 0.028
Wheels/Tires - Focal X 17" x 7.5" on Falken Azenis 225/45/17
Headlights/bulbs - Swapped to H4 bulbs with Autopal glass headlights
Galant 90A alternator
Hallman MBC - Replaced vacuum lines
Innovate digital boost gauge
Dipstick/PCV - Dipstick blew out, of course... classic
Misc nuts and bolts - matching things up to bring some neatness to the engine bay


Replaced vacuum lines to/from catch can
Replaced charcoal canister vacuum line
Swapped all interior lights to LED's
Rewired aftermarket AC fan to kick on with thermo switch from passenger fan - Wiring was awful/melting etc.
Plasti dipped - door trim - the part that turns to chrome once all the black chips off... turned out reasonable for now. Plasti dipped wiper arms.

 

[TCB91GSX]

Completed
Compression Test
Boost leak test
Checked ignition timing and base timing

Getting ready to install ECM Link and start tuning.

Car was recently hitting fuel cut at 16 PSI and I had no idea how to tune within TunerPro so I picked up ECM Link V3 from Ricky @RixRacing in hopes of being able to get some support from yall on here and get the car where it needs to be, my target currently is 18 PSI , did do a little bit of math and thought the car could sustain 20 PSI which would essentially max out my injectors @ 80% IDC ...

 

[TCB91GSX]

Some suspension update...

Installed Megan Racing EZ Street II coilovers, these were pretty nice for a budget, they are starting to soften up after a bit of driving, almost thinking they get a bad rap due to people adjusting them incorrectly..
Anyway, this is where I found out that the lower strut bolt on the rear passenger side that connects the strut to the trailing arm was drilled out and had a sert in it.. The outer shell was cracking and although it likely wouldn't fail catastrophically, it wasn't something I was going to be able to mentally handle in my head... After installing the coilovers and lowering the car, I was on the hunt for some trailing arms... Wait, I forget that insane amount of camber on the rear wheels from dropping the car, might as well get some adjustable rear upper control arms while I am it.

I asked around to a few known members and found the side I needed on eBay, however I ended up scoring both sides from Performance Partout that were clean and had poly bushings in them. Awesome. They barely arrived, took a good beating while shipping I was surprised both stayed in the box.
Ordered the RUCA's from Volk Metal Craft, pretty neat hardware by them.

I ending up getting one side done, still have to go back for the other, but the RUCA made a HUGE difference. Busting out the old trailing arm was ok, time consuming. Little bit of fighting with things binding up etc etc. It was a bit lackluster putting the new bolt in, like here we go this what we came here for ... Was running late on time so just threw the RUCA on the driver's side and I will come back for the trailing arm...

Pic below at nighttime shows the previous camber, I will take another one showing where it is at now.

Once the other side is complete, I will take it in for an alignment...

 

[TCB91GSX]

I’ve been pretty picky about where I want the car to run cooling wise. It was getting to 210 and cycling the fans down to 203-206.
I put in a 180 thermostat, no difference.
So I looked further, I decided it was time to replace my radiator with a Mishimoto unit, as I was already intending to pull out my A/C system. I drained the refrigerant about a month ago at a local shop so they could recycle it (it’s nice not being 17 anymore and draining it into the atmosphere, don’t judge, we’ve all done it)
Pull my condenser, lines, cleaned up some wiring.
Radiator kept melting my plastic wire conduit so I opted for some DEI heat sheath. I’m pleased with how it looks. I rewired this whole area and cleaned it up, first pic is how I got car.
I also fabbed a diverter to mount under the front radiator mount, this helps drive air into the radiator from under the car. The diverter is 22 ga metal, 7 in long, with a few bends in it, I fortunately have easy access to a metal brake at work so this was easy to do.

With the condenser removed/diverter, the car runs 196-203, will jump a touch after a pull but cools down pretty quickly.
Back to tuning..

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[TCB91GSX]

I've been slowly restoring this car and trying to max my 16g set up and I am pretty close. Finally got some tuning done with a member on here. Running 19-20 PSI, car is fun to drive for now and I am enjoying it.

My updates are sporadic, but I have gone through most of the car at this point.

Now I am starting to work on the appearance.

I was reluctant to take my car to just anyone, this shop was a one man show, guy has been in the business for longer than I've been alive and I liked how he approached the situation. After out first conversation, he pointed out additional damage and door dings, most were really minor.
Two major dents that really bothered me were under the vent in driver side rear quarter and a dent in the rear quarter on the passenger side. I worked a deal with a local PDR guy where I pulled the rear bumper, interior/door panels then he would go in a pop them as needed. Halfway through the process he noticed I had a couple on the roof and said he would do that and buff it for an extra $100, so I conceded.

Pulling the bumper cover wasn't as bad as it could have been for a 30 year old car. I broke 4 bolts and my license plate bracket warped badly when trying to take the last bolt off. Shout out to Boosted Fabrication for making this part, I ordered it and received it in the same week. Timeline worked out perfect as my car was in the body shop all week.

Got the car back, super happy with the results, I'd call it a 5 footer. If you are looking you can see some minor deflection in the metal where the dents were, but overall it looks awesome and he did a good job.
The bumper had an insane amount of dirt in it, I taped off the holes in the body and took it to the power washer real quick to clean it up.

Now on to re-assembling...
Spent an hour with some PB blaster, torch, and some vice grips. I was able to work out two of the broken bolts. The other two I had to drill and pound out. Luckily I salvaged the threads.
NAPA sells a variety of plastic fastners and bolts that are of OEM appearance, thread pitch etc. The bumper bolts are used are M6-1.0 x 25mm NAPA part# 665-1149. The plastic ones I used to replace the broken ones from the panels in the rear seat area were NAPA part# 665-3135.
Spent alot of time vacuuming out the crevices of the trunk and then cleaning up the interior section where the rear tail section goes. Even though its nominal, I know its clean .

Tailights looked a little dull so I hit them with some rubbing compound and plastic polish. I have a Talon tail section so you can see where the emblem used to be, debating doing a full restore with 500,1500, & 3000 grit sand paper to possibly pull out the haze, maybe another day.

Got the bumper back on, put all the interior pieces of the trunk, rear seat, vent on the drivers side. As I am walking out of my garage I looked over and see the bracket that goes on top of the bumper....fml.
Again, probably could of easily gone without, but I just don't live like that. Pulled the rear tail section again, interior trunk pieces (went ALOT faster this time), and put the bracket on.


Lastly,
I use an RPM actuator that activates the FPR solenoid with a VW vacuum actuator and rod welded to it to run my Cyclone intake manifold. The wiring was long and bunched up next to it when I got the car. I cut and resoldered the wires to give it a cleaner appearance.

Additional parts added (Engine dress up stuff):
Forge Motorsports recirc valve
JMF spark plug cover
JMF oil cap
OEM brake fluid reservoir cap
OEM PS cap
Zaklee clear timing cover

 

[yayabago]

that thing is sweet... how do you have the cyclone running, just curious...

 

[TCB91GSX]

RPM activated switch hooked up to a RPM signal, activates at 4100 RPMs which signals the fuel pressure solenoid which triggers the vacuum actuator and opens it the butterfly valve. I actually still need to test the thing, it was set up prior to me getting the car and I haven't messed with it much. This is how I understand it.

 

[TCB91GSX]

Bought some expensive yet very finely made pieces of plastic from DSM3DCreations. Here is there 1g rear wiper delete kit.


Kit comes with an upper and lower piece. Pull the wiper motor, disconnect the plug and then pop in the smaller plug. Throw your interior panel back on then pop the top in. Both pieces fit very tight, really did a good job with these.

 

[TCB91GSX]

Few updates to the car while preparing for it to potentially go down for an extended period of time over the winter due to timing belt/turbo upgrade. Thinking of going to a 68 HTA, but more on that after the 1st of the year.

Picked up the EBC brake kit, it comes with slotted and dimpled rotors for the front and slotted for the back. Pulled them off and painted them red with the Duplicolor kit, we will see how well it holds up...not sure if I would do it again. Both kits were $200/ea so slightly discounted buying them together, they drop shipped via Summit from EBC in NV super quick. Here are the part numbers for anyone interested.

Front (for 1G guys with 2 piston fronts) - S10KF1589
Rear (AWD stock calipers) - S2KR1982

Rear passenger caliper was starting to stick so it was perfect timing to pull them, re-grease the guides and paint. Overall they look great right now!


Managed to piece together a 4 bolt rear end, axle cups came from a member on here and I found a diff/spindles from a guy locally. I will be looking to install that soon.

I've always hated my pillar gauges, the wiring is a pain in the ass. My pillar trim is broke in half. I was going to make them more serviceable by putting in bullet connectors so if I need to remove or change anything it would be easier. Then I finally decided I wanted to add a oil pressure gauge. Since I am going to be in there changing things, I was looking for other mounting solutions, I ended up purchasing the Ortiz pod that goes in the vent above the climate control. Haven't received it yet, but I hope it is a solid piece. Then I started thinking about how much I hate my add a circuit and came across Vegas' thread where he added a fuse box in the center console so I decided I would do that.

*********
For anyone reading, I want to maintain using my current oil pressure set up (yes I know its worthless) and I am not sold on putting that sensor on the T then adding my Innovate sensor to that via a remote line so here is what I intend to do.

Use a 3/8 BSP to -4AN and then a -4AN to -3AN fitting off of the front of my OFH then run my remote line to sensor. I have read every thread possible on a oil pressure sensor install and this seemed like the best route for me to retain the stock sensor without some bulky bullshit on my OFH. I was going to pull the plug that is flush and directly next to the idiot light sensor. If I need it later on, I will cross that bridge.
Also, is there any reason I should remove my OFH to do this ? I was just going to be careful and use my mini torch to get the 8MM plug out.

Any feedback is appreciated, thank you!!

*********

Picked up some 8 ga wire, connectors, Blue Sea fuse box, high current relay, other odds and ends and wired it up. Pulled my center console so I could drill it out. The car needed a deep clean as well since in between the seats was disgusting. So pulled all of of that and wired it up! Ended up triggering the relay via the cig lighter since everything is right there I was able to make a pretty clean install.

The box is rated for 100A of current, 6 circuits with a max of 30A per circuit. I grounded it just in case I need to ever ground something to it. The whole thing is overkill, but I was also bored so here we are... Enjoy some pics....

 

[Vegas Smith]

That center fuse setup looks much better than mine! Do yourself a favor and buy a crimping tool:
Amazon product ASIN B0936MZJM5

 

[TCB91GSX]

That center fuse setup looks much better than mine! Do yourself a favor and buy a crimping tool:
Amazon product ASIN B0936MZJM5

Man, I feel that. The ones I was looking at were "too expensive" for something that sees little use, but that one is reasonable!

I did end up using solder pellets in the lugs and they worked awesome. I can't imagine trying to load one of those up while using the string style solder flux.

 

[NOSLO2PT0]

Try not to have so much exposed wire outside of the lug. I know you have it covered with heat shrink, but it’s good practice to have the insulation as close to the connector as possible. Less exposed wire. In the car audio world, crimping is preferred over solder.

 

[TCB91GSX]

Picked up an oil pressure gauge and went down the rabbit hole of gauge mounting solutions. My oil pressure sensor T leaks like a sieve… I couldn’t get my 3/8 - 8mm plugs off on the housing, torch, breaker bar.. nothing.. permatex requires an activator for there thread sealant on certain metals, I missed that part, so I got some activator and redid them. Waiting on one more fitting then I will be able to test to see if everything sealed up … more on that later.

I bought a 3 pillar Ortiz Custome pod, waited 3 weeks for it and dealt with shitty customer service from Andy’s Autosport all to find out it will not work with my Innovate gauges.

Never been a huge fan of the A pillar mount. Previous owner essentially cracked it in half and “cut” a hole in it and then I think he used a 2G style dual pod to mount everything and had an add-a-fuse in the kick panel fuse box. All things I’m not particularly fond of. So I wired in the accessory fuse box to prepare for adding the gauges. I ended up moving the oil pressure/afr to the center vent and then kept the boost on the a pillar w/a single pod mount (thanks for the idea @Vegas Smith ) Unfortunately, the only one I could find was carbon fiber so I just went for it. After putting it in, it was apparent a few more carbon pieces would be needed to make it flow better, so here we are cutting carbon fiber into rectangles and circles… Also, added some LED’s to the HVAC controls, they are the Neo5 on superbrightleds.com if anyone is interested. I deleted my AC, rear wiper, and rear defrost switches because I do not have any of those functioning anymore.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

How do you have your ignition coils mounted? I really like that location

 

[TCB91GSX]

How do you have your ignition coils mounted? I really like that location

Let me see if I can get a better pic.
But they are through the bolt that the strut bar goes through. It works, it’s the only bolt fastening them down. It was done when I got the car so I’m not exactly sure if the coil pack bracket was manipulated.

 

[TCB91GSX]

My strut bar is off cause I just replaced the booster/master cylinder.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

Man, you got the transistor in the same spot. This really makes me want to continue pursuing a relocation. Great idea!

 

[TCB91GSX]

Odds and ends update..

Master cyl/Booster
Noticed after I redid all of my brakes that my brake light came on, figured the first time was just after the bleed and the fluid was low. After the second time I started to dig into it more, I noticed I had a very slow leak from the master, I think I blew out the diaphragm in mine from bleeding the brakes. Luckily, there was a car in the junkyard that had a pretty decent looking master in it so I took the gamble and pulled it along with the brake booster just in case mine had fluid in it, it looked cleaner anyways so I figured why not.

Pretty straightforward process swapping the master and booster, however I was able to take the opportunity and pull my AC compressor off the back of my motor, it came out SUPER easy. I pulled the AC relay box as well, finally feeling like my engine bay isn't so cluttered.

I had a slight issue trying to bleed my master, didn't bench bleed it cause I figured it wasn't going to be big deal. Picked up a vacuum bleed from Advance Autoparts that didn't work then I got one from Napa that worked a bit better. I really dig the Carlyle tool line.

Hood
I had the typical clear coat faded hood, back in the summer I drove 6 hours round trip to NE to pick up a hood from a Laser from a recycler. Ended up being in pretty good condition. Fast forward to Sept. I finally got around to dropping it off. The painter I used did the body work on it first and then painted it. This process was an absolute nightmere, excuse after excuse. It ended up getting drawn out for a few months... I picked up the hood and took it back to him the next day because of so much dirt and bullshit in the clear coat. When I got it back the second time it still sucked but I am not going to wait another month and cause myself more mental distress. I finally accepted it... saying it is what it is... Looks great in pictures though.

Fuel Upgrades
I picked up a Fuel Lab AFPR/filter feed kit from a member on here a couple months back, I decided it was time to dive into that. This car still has hardlines from the firewall back so I had some work around to get the filter the way that I wanted it. I ended up getting a nylon spacer from ACE hardware to put in between the filter bracket and the firewall then I just used a nut and bolt on the other side of the bracket. I tend to grab misc. nuts/bolts off mitsu cars, in this instance I used a headlight cover bolt that I cut the end off of so it can sit flush on the bracket, otherwise the threads would of cut though the firewall insulation.. minor details people. I also pulled off the engine hoist bracket on the throttle body and CAS, I used a aluminum spacer to fill in the space on the CAS stud as I didn't want to mess with pulling the stud. But alas, I was not able to finish the filter install due to the fitting that I got from the hardline to 6AN coupler, the threads on it are machined wrong. When the AN fitting is compressed on it, it does not sit flush in the fitting. Therefore, it ruined my fitting and I need a new adapter. Hopefully that is in my mailbox tonight.

Started setting up the AFPR, the universal bracket that I received did not sit flush on the back of the AFPR so I had to modify that as well. Ended up just carving out the mounting holes a little bit with the dremel so the bracket would fit. I received the wrong fuel rail adapter fitting, actually think it just may be for a 2g. Set up all the fittings on the regulator and mounted it. Re-ran the return line and connected my vacuum line, just waiting on the adapter.

Speed Density
I've known that I wanted to go speed density pretty much since I learned about it shortly after getting the car. I have been slowly piecing the parts together to do so. My major hurdle was the bung on the TB elbow, I had a 1/8 NPT fitting already welded in there from the previous owner, I was pretty much just intending to buy the TB elbow that Archer fab has, although it looks like a nice piece, it is expensive. It occurred to to me that I could just weld the bung next to it and it would be fine. My friend and I were going to tackle this but he wasn't super confident welding aluminum, so I found a random guy on Craiglist. Man am I happy, called two people - one wanted to charge $100, the other $65. I went with the $65 guy. He promised a 24 hour turnaround and he was right on the dot. When I showed up to drop it off, I told him what I ideally wanted was to take the smaller bung out, he made it seem like no big deal and didn't change the price. Picked up the elbow, it was perfect. I ended up paying the guy $75 because I appreciate good service.
Next was setting up the MAP sensor, picked up a AEM 3.5 bar map sensor from a member on here. I used a KTuned adapter that has a 1/8 BSP male to female with 1/8 NPT ports on it. Played around with it a little bit, but finally found a good position for it. I had to chop my brake booster hose barb threads off a little bit to get it to fit and I am going to chop the hose end of it off to in order for it to fit a little nicer. Hopefully none of this shit leaks..
I have the adapter harness from ECMLink, I would consider wiring my specialty I guess ? So I am going to chop the harness and shorten the length of it so it fits in there nicely. I already have to cut the harness to wire in the AEM pigtail since the harness came with an Omni.

I am still doing research on Speed Density, I am going to hook up the sensors and then drive the car on the MAF just to verify everything is correct on the fuel upgrades then swap over to the speed density, ended up being a "while I am in there" situation". I am super stoked to finally get this all set up!!!


Lastly,
I picked up the FP68HTA turbo that was in the for sale section .... Not sure when I will get around to throwing that on, but it just arrived yesterday.

 

[TCB91GSX]

Hooked up my speed density today, ditched my maf. Trying to get rid of as much as possible in the bay, unfortunately need to keep my charcoal canister and fake EGR vacuum lines for emissions purposes…

Moved my PTU to the coil pack mounting bolt on the cyclone IM.


Just dialing in my speed density set up with the help of a member on here. Felt good to pull the MAF out? The set up was very tight.

 

[Mech Addict]

Just read through this whole thread. Fun project! You do nice work. No a/c is brave. Did you gut out the evaporator as well?
Also, did you put some custom lighting in the cigarette lighter surround, or is it just the photo?
Rock on!

 

[tlikethedrink]

Looks great. Keep up the good work

 

[TCB91GSX]

Just read through this whole thread. Fun project! You do nice work. No a/c is brave. Did you gut out the evaporator as well?
Also, did you put some custom lighting in the cigarette lighter surround, or is it just the photo?
Rock on!

Thank you!

I left the evaporator, maybe for another time when I get bored and want to pull out the dash.

The cigarette lighter is a #74 wedge red LED. You can get that and the cluster lights, climate control lights, and headlight switch lights from superbrightleds.com

 

[Mech Addict]

Do those bulbs work with the dimmer control, or on/off?

 

[TCB91GSX]

Do those bulbs work with the dimmer control, or on/off?

They work with the dimmer control. I have them set at the brightest setting, the red is easy on the eyes.