Project AWD 2G Spyder

[red_gsx]

It's been a while since I posted up on this topic or even logged on to the forums. The reasoning is that work has been insane and my internet just got fixed up this week after being worthless. I've added a couple more pics to the album, link below, of the work me and a buddy of mine did last Sunday. I've decided to take a different approach to the project due to the weather starting to get colder in the temps and the rain being more frequent. My goal is to now finish pulling the bottom end and trans out of the GSX and bring the bottom end inside. Instead of taking chances with the motor on the Spyder I want to take apart and do a basic, no stroking or bigger pistons, etc, rebuild on the GSX block. This way when spring comes around and laying on the ground becomes bearable again I will be able to drop in a block that I know is in good shape. Thanks to all who have expressed interest once again.
So now for an update of what I did last Sunday for anyone interested. As you can see a couple major parts have been pulled out. Head, intake and exhaust manifold, starter and some other accessories. The passenger axle is stuck inside the hub and is being a pain while the driver's is out of the hub and half-shaft is out of the trans. I noticed a nice sized crack in my SBR exhaust manifold but I guess it is to be expected for the amount of time it sat and the rust all over it. Three cheers for cast iron and having welder friends though. My rotors are look like they were just pulled from the Titanic. The powder coated calipers held up great though. Head was nice and clean, pistons had a layer of carbon built up but chambers were free of rust. Transmission was showing rust on some of the bolts but not the body itself. Down pipe bolts were tight but did not snap and the down pipe also had a good amount of rust. Some of the studs came out of the head when I removed the exhaust manifold and I did not even try to separate the turbo and o2 housing from it.
All in all it is to be expected for all I found other than the exhaust manifold crack. I will keep doing updates on this board from time to time as progress is made. Just wanted to let everyone know that the project is not dead by any means. Delayed? Yes. Different direction? Also yes but not dead.

Spyder GSX pictures by artem_tb - Photobucket

 

[red_gsx]

Well its been a while since I've posted and I'm sure who ever was following this thread figured I just called it quits. Yes and no on that. I did not give up on the swap but it ended up going to a buddy of mine who runs a shop in Gaithersburg to get done. I am happy to say that as of 6.30.10 the car runs and sounds GREAT! The downside is that it has no management systems or interior and could of course, like most 2G's use a little TLC. My guy did all the technical work but he does not dable with the aftermarket aspects. This would be outstanding except for all the aftermarket goodies that throw the Air/Fuel ratio and keep boost all over the place. Plus it has no radio or speakers. The better news is that all these things are in my GSX and both the cars are hanging out in my driveway.
What I'm trying to get to is that if anyone is bored this weekend or just wants to stop on by and take a look see at me attempting to install a

1)Head unit
2)New speakers
3) Possibly interior trim
4) Re-doing the top
5) SAFC II
6) Greddy Profec B
7) Turbo Timer
8) and whatever else I have time for if I get to #7

is more than invited to swing down my way. I'm located in Rockville by the Twinbrook Metro station. Shoot me a PM or post up if you're in the mood or the area. Oh yeah and below is a pic of the new drop top.

 

[EclipseTical]

Completely forgot about this build; the wife and new house have kept me insanely busy.

Looking good. Save yourself a lot of headache and get wiring harnesses for the head unit (best buy, just about anywhere) and the turbo timer . SAFC install is documented well enough on here so you should be good to go with that as well.

I'd love to come check this beast out sometime if i ever get a free day

good luck!

 

[805DSM]

How's the progress ?

 

[red_gsx]

Well it seems that the weather is getting nice again so that translates to me as "get back outside and finish the project". Its been a while since I've checked the forums since I've been all kinds of slammed with work and haven't really done much since my last post. I've started moving some of my electronics in to the spyder and found out that my amp was missing and since I don't know anything about electronics that was kind of a snag. Anyways in case anyone has a lazy Sunday afternoon this weekend and wants to either stop by for some beers, food and conversation and/or wrench turning I'll be out in the driveway this weekend. I got a buddy of mine with a Celica alltrack stopping by (supposedly he has been known to bail) to help me out with the profec and safc install. The more the merrier is what I believe. I'm living in Rockville MD about 5 minutes from Twinbrook metro station if you need a rough idea. If you seriously want to swing by shoot me a PM and I'll get you the house number with my cell.
That's pretty much my update, car needs management and tuning plus some work on the interior and the convertible top but I'm hoping to get back on it so hopefully more frequent updates for all who are interested.

 

[red_gsx]

Well last Sunday was actually quite a productive day. My buddy did end up showing up and the SAFC got swapped out to the Spyder. Since the interior is gutted it is just laying around there but it technically is all hooked up and working. At this point there are two major hurdles, technically four but I'll stick to the ones that pertain to getting the project closer to what it is supposed to be.
1. The convertible top. Kudos to the fine individuals who installed a new top on because it looks quite nice when all is dry. The problem is that one of the supports that goes right in the middle happens to be not secured on the sides and just hangs there. Since it hangs there it does not push the top up and that leads to water getting in and making it either a two man operation for opening and closing the top, one to push the button and one to guide it in. The other issue is the use of zip ties, great for cleaning up the engine bay a tad bit ghetto in my book for securing the top. If anyone has a Spyder in the area and could possibly roll by so that I could compare a couple things it would be most appreciated. Help is always welcome but even a quick roll by during the week would be better than a diagram. If I have to bribe you with a six pack of beer then so be it but let me know if anyone could do me that solid anytime in the near future.
The second major item on my list is to get a base tune. I'm all in for a professional tune and I'd be all about learning how to make the adjustments myself. (will be reading some posts later to try and pick up a few things). So if you've done this before and feel like racking up the karma points once again it'd be most appreciated. Down the line I'd like to visit a shop and get it done right with a dyno but seeing as how the car is still on expired temp tags it has not been outside my neighborhood.
Well that pretty much sums up the progress made last weekend. Nothing is set for this weekend to be done to the car since I have to address some house issues first but I'll be around the whole weekend if anyone is out cruising and wants to swing by shoot the s. Once again I'm in Rockville about 5 minutes driving from the Twinbrook Metro station.

 

[95gstclipse]

yo im in rockville md too pm me so we could do meet i dont kno any dsm owners around here

 

[red_gsx]

Just looked at the time stamps on the previous posts and I realized that its been quite a bit since I've posted up. Well it gives me great pleasure to say that as of today my car has moved out of the driveway on four separate occasions with each one of them a great success! The interior is still a mess and the tags have been expired since 2010 but we are rolling. Hope to be more active on the forums as I start bringing this monster to full operation. Everyone meet Ralph, a long dormant dream that had been wasting away in my driveway until last Sunday.

 

[red_gsx]

Well like most DSM builds growing pains will occur and I had my first ones the other day. There were actually two issues that popped up. The first being that the power windows, door locks and top are very picky when they choose to respond. At start up I can't roll my windows down or open up the top but it seems that after driving as little as down the street of as long as 10 minutes they start responding. I've check the 30 and 40 amp fuses and even though they were fine I went ahead and replaced them. This has not solved the issue but there is alot of loose wiring laying around the engine bay that needs to be tightened up so hopefully that helps.
The second is that the car died on me about a block from my house the other day. This worked out great as getting another car over to jump start was a very short walk. Since the battery is a brand new red top and I've just replaced the terminal post connectors I'm going to rule out the battery, stop me if this is wrong. Additionally the game plan is to install a 4 gauge grounding kit that I learned about from the forums and am currently finishing up. Then to also go with the one two punch afterwards with swapping the alternator. Learned a long time ago to do my modifications in small steps to see the results instead of doing everything at once and hoping it all works.
The forecast for the weekend is looking good and hopefully some good progress is made in the two days.

 

[red_gsx]

Well as of 5:30pm today the power windows are moving up and down like they should and according to ECM link the voltage is sitting pretty at 14.1v. It seems the culprit in the end that was keeping the windows from operating was actually the 100 amp alternator fuse. Never bothered checking it before as I had focused on all the other fuses. The other day I ended up checking under the hood and noticed that the fuse was hanging on by snot.
So at this point everything is progressing quite well and the game plan now is to fix the broken door handle on the passenger side, install the wideband in the rear and do a boost leak test. I'll try and stay on top of updating the thread in case anyone is still interested in the happenings.

 

[red_gsx]

Before the update I'll pop the question "Does this build entertain anyone anymore or am I just inadvertently bumping up my thread?" The views are going up but contrary to before when I was posting no one is posting anything back so if I'm just curious is this is helping/ keeping anyone interested?
Now that we got that out the way on to the update. Last weekend the LC-1 wideband went in and I finally got the driver's side door panel swapped out to the black one that I wanted to, the passenger side is obviously next. Additionally the new head unit is now in so now there's tunes in the car.
Now here come the growing pains, the idle is horrible and the car keeps dying on me. The idle happened right after the wideband went in, It was wired up without the gauge, has three wires that were never connected with one of them being the one to calibrate the sensor. At this point I went ahead and ordered up a Innovative AFR gauge and that is scheduled to come on in later this week. As for the dying I've tightened up the alternator belt and notice that one of my need ground wires had a bad connection where my solder work was shabby and since I never crimped down the connections it had become loose and could slide completely out. Additionally some of the other contact points on the grounding kit could be wiggled around so I plan on tightening them down as well as re-soldering the loose connection.
We all know that problems come in groups and that is why I am also replacing the faulty radiator lines. After driving the car back after installing the radio I noticed smoke coming from underneath the engine when I pulled in to the driveway. Having an earlier conversation with a buddy about the troubles of faulty wiring and the engine fires it bring I had assumed that there was a blaze developing in the engine area. Upon popping the hood open and noticing coolant streaming out one of the house I was actually in a much better mood. Ordered up new silicon hoses from one of the site sponsors and that should be coming in later this week as well.
So this weekend, hopefully will have awesome outdoor weather, the game plan is to re-wire the LC-1 with the gauge and calibration switch/light. Then to swap out the radiator lines, drain the coolant and switch to water with water wetter additive. Afterwards if all goes great drive the car on over to a buddy of mine who's a welder and have him weld on the IAT bung so I can switch on over to speed density setup to ECM Link. If anyone is interested in stopping on by and turning a wrench, drinking some adult beverages and shooting the breeze about all things DSM you're obviously invited to stop on by. I'm located in the Rockville MD area about 15 minutes from the 495 and 270 junction.

 

[Arthris]

I think most ppl post up more on Maryland FB group pages more these days. Seems to be alot easier too

 

[2gEclips3]

post pictures along with your updates

 

[Doubleot]

Picture's keep people interested. Otherwise it looks more like a novel, I like to visualize modifications.

 

[red_gsx]

Fair enough on the photos, we all like picture books better so don't know why I didn't pick up on that sooner. I've attached a picture of the current setup, the vacuum line is running off the fpr and is split to the line going back to the profec boost controller as well as the intake manifold. With this current setup the factory fuel pressure solenoid is removed and the air fuel gauge starts off reading 7.5 to 1. From everything I've read up on I need to bring up the pressure to 43psi and this is done by waiting till the car warms up to operating temperature, the vacuum line is removed from the fpr and then the screw is adjusted. The downside is that after starting up the car the gauge starts off reading 7.5 only to then quickly change to 22 rather quickly so I end up shutting the car down prior to getting to operating temperature. Full disclosure, I've never calibrated the wideband o2, it is located in the rear stock bung and there is still an electrical gremlin that keeps killing the battery after a day. If anyone got some input it would be most appreciated since my next step is to go ahead and order a new aeromotive a1000 fpr and rewire the walbro 255 fuel pump in hopes that the fpr is the issue since it has been sitting around for about two years in my garage.