Nothing pretty build thread

[jrally]

It's the exact same seat I installed into my car, Corbeau Forza, or whatever.  My sunroof car sucks for head room.  I had to rebuild the seat mounts 2 or 3 times to get it to a decent height, eventually lowering the seat below the bolt mounts in the back and on the cross piece in the front.  I fit (5'10") fine, until I try to put a helmet on for a rally cross, then I have to cock my head over just to sit in the car.  If/when I build an actual rally car, it will certainly be a non-sunroof.

-Jon

[corax]

yeah, I'm going to skip putting that much work into it, the sliders are already pretty low profile and the seat doesn't sit very high above the mounting surface.  The main reason I tried to use it at this point is because it was free.  I'll probably try it again after the sunroof is done.  For now, it can sit in my trailer.

[corax]

I like idiot lights.   I'd rather not have to keep looking down at the gauges just in case something is going bad when a light can come on instead to warn me.  So I pulled my cluster at lunch today to install some LED warning lights for coolant temp & oil pressure.  The oil pressure switch for the engine is faily universal and can be snagged from any car in the junkyard that doesn't have an oil pressure gauge, just look for a small single wire sensor near the oil filter.  I haven't decided on a coolant temp switch yet - one from a GM would work (and uses a fairly universal NPT pipe thread), but those come on at 228 which is a bit high.  The Supra 7MGTE aux fan switch is what I have on my 4runner's warning light and that comes on at 220 (about 7/8 of the way to pegged on teh gauge), but i haven't had much luck finding one yet.  Either way, the temp switch will probalby get mounted to the intake below the factory temp gauge sensor, there's already a plug there which would make it easy if it's tapped for pipe thread.  Both sensor types (oil & coolant temp) work by giving a ground, so the LEDs can get power locally and I just need to run 1 wire for each circuit into the engine bay. 

I skipped a couple steps, but it's fairly straight forward getting the cluster out.  The cluster's clear plastic part is held on by little catches around the perimeter and 2 screws on the bottom - start at one corner & just work your way around a little bit at a time until it's off.   Be careful not to touch the oil pressure needle or you'll mess up the gauge . . . actually, try not to touch any of the needles if possible.  Once the clear plastic is off the front, remove all the screws from the back so the gauges come out of the cluster body - don't remove the 4 directly behind the clock at the bottom, it doesn't come out with the gauges.  It helps if you draw the rough shape of the cluster on a piece of paper and lay the screws out on the paper approximately where they came out of: there are 2 different diameter screws and the thinner screws come in 2 lengths & 2 different colors

this is what you'll see once it's all apart


this is with the holes drilled & LEDs installed - connect the B+ red wires together, those go to switched ignition power.   I was careful where the holes were drilled so there wouldn't be any interference from the cluster housing once it was reassembled.


route them around and out of the way, make sure the wires won't get pinched between the back of the gauge and the cluster housing (like the red & black wires are doing on the temp gauge in this pic).  make sure they won't block any of the back-light bulbs or get near moving bits (speedo)


Snip a small bit of plastic off this tube so the wires don't push the gauge face out when it's assembled.   Before you reassemble everything, make sure there are no plastic bits floating around from drilling your holes.  Also make sure the gauge face is clean of any fingerprints or grease smudges.


wires fished out the back and cluster reassembled.  Most of the screws make an electrical connection to one gauge or another, so make sure they're snug but no overly tight.  I waited to get the cluster back together before tightening the screws so I wouldn't be pressing on the gauge needles.  The B+ wire (white in my case) is going to get a small eyelet and attached to the switched ignition screw to the right of where they come out (see the screw that says IG+ next to it)


finished product.   Now I have a yellow light to warn me if the temps creep up & the red is for oil pressure, both near their respective gauge, all I have to do yet is install the sending units and run the wire (there will of course be a 2 pin connector at the cluster to ease removal in the future).  Oh yeah, now is a good time if you want to try to polish the cluster plastic to make it pretty.

[corax]

oh yeah, this is the LED I used from Radioshack -> LINK


it has a built in resistor so it works straight off 12 volts and is low profile

EDIT: if you use this LED make sure to paint the back side with some black touch-up paint, otherwise the cluster back light shines through and it looks like they're on dimly whenever the headlights are on.  Be careful not to get any paint on the backside of the gauge cluster or it will block light from coming through where it should.

[Frontball]

For a Nothing pretty build thread, that looks pretty damn nice. 

[Sigma Projects]

Nice! Really dig this mod. I too like the idiot lights since if it is a daily driver sometimes you may not pay attention to the gauge and better to have what you have then to think "oh why didn't i check the gauge this time" plus some of the gauges in our 20+ year old cars are a bit tired.

[corax]

I'm not much of an audiophile so this might be old news, but I thought some of the peeps who are trying to lose weight & still listen to tunes might like this.  The radio that was in the car when I bought it was sorta broken . . . sorta in the way that the CD player didn't work and I used to have to hit the volume knob just right in order to get it to adjust (now it doesn't at all).  So I started researching cheap radios and found a new type that I hadn't heard of before called a "mechless" radio.  This means, nothing mechanical, it's all chips.  So no CD player, which is fine because I can't remember the last time I played a CD - all my music is on thumb drives.  There aren't too many of these radios out yet, but this one seemed the simplest and had the fewest bad reviews, is a name I've heard of before, and only cost $55: Pyle PLMR87WB AM/FM-MPX IN-Dash Marine MP3 Player/Weatherband/USB & SD Card Function.  There's nothing really "marine" about it that I can see, the front isn't even splash resistant, but it's only half as deep as your average single DIN radio (~4.5" front-to-back) and weighs less than the box it came in.  Really, this thing weighs nothing.  The main advantages to me are that it has weatherband (if you like that sort of thing) and uses an SD card or USB for your music files, which means hundreds or thousands of songs on a tiny memory card.




There's not much inside of it.  Unfortunately, the trim ring on the faceplate is molded on (not easily removable like instructions say), so while I was cutting it off with my box cutter, the blade must have slipped and ended up slicing the ribbon cable.  A new one is on the way & I'll update how it works when I get it installed

For a Nothing pretty build thread, that looks pretty damn nice. 

Thanks, just trying to keep it "function before form" - and the uglier it is on the outside, the less likely anyone will be to give it a second look on the street

. . . if it is a daily driver sometimes you may not pay attention to the gauge and better to have what you have then to think "oh why didn't i check the gauge this time"

Especially when you're not just daily driving - at the rallycross I was worried about the oil pan & I found out that there's not much time to look at the gauges when you're in the middle of it. 

[corax]

latest project: high & low speed dual electric fans

I got the idea to use a BMW dual temp switch from this thread: http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=200028 and chose the 195*/210* switch - I'll decide over the next few days if this was the right switch to use.

BMW 80 / 88* C (180/195*F) dual temp switch Part # 61318361787
BMW 91 / 99* C (195/210*F) dual temp switch Part # 61311378073

With that switch, I built a triple relay system to control the fans. When the low temp switch is closed the fans run in series, keeping them at a lower speed.  When the high temp switch trips both fans run in parallel with their own power & ground.  I'm hoping for increased efficiency with both fans running during low speed operation since air will be getting pulled through the entire length of the radiator (less cycling to high speed) + it won't have the "short circuit loop" if only 1 fan was running where air gets drawn in from the back-side of the non-active fan, across (not through) the radiator and back through the single active fan - if that makes sense.  For now I'm using a 50A Maxi blade fuse. Low speed operation draws about 5.5A with an initial spike of right around 30A (the spike only lasts a split second).  On high speed the fans draw 17 & 11 amps respectively with a nice heavy initial spike of nearly 90A.

For the diode in the diagram above I used a 50V 3A epoxy rectifier diode from Radioshack (p/n 276-1143)

I was lucky enough to find a thermostat housing with a sensor bung cast into it.  To mount the BMW switch I tapped out the existing hole to 3/8"x18 NPT (originally 16mm x 1.5 IIRC).  I tapped a brass adapter to 14mm x 1.5 to accept the sensor & threw it all together.  The only thing I don't like about this setup is that there might be an air bubble below the sensor tip since it doesn't extend into the coolant.  Oh yeah, I didn't want to spend $20 for the all the pieces to put the BMW connector together so I took male blade connectors and pushed the part the the wire would normally go in onto the sensor posts and then lightly soldered.


Switched ignition voltage for the relay coils comes from the + post on the ignition coil - it's powered directly from IG2 relay, so nothing is getting taxed.  In the future I may move the relay power wire to the Fuel Cut Relay (fuel pump power) so the fans only run when the engine is running - that way the fans won't drain the battery if I stop the engine but leave the ignition on.  I couldn't find any other circuits in the car that only get power with the engine running.  I haven't run the wire into the cabin for the high speed over-ride switch yet.

This is how I mounted the fans onto the radiator, the holes on the radiator sides were already there.   I drilled the shroud for the studs by setting the fans on the radiator, putting the drill bit through both holes on the piece (works as a guide) and then just punching a hole through the plastic.  It's double nutted so the side rail doesn't get deformed or tweaked when the fan is tightened down.


the bottom had to be trimmed a little bit to get the fan up against the radiator.  Any significant gap between the fans & the radiator will reduce how much air actually gets drawn through the radiator + it's a little tight by the power steering pump, so extra clearance is welcome.


IIRC the dual fan units come from 95-2000 Ford Contours and Mercury Mystiques with the V6.  If you plan to get one at a junkyard, they are a pain to pull out, but are a near perfect fit for the radiator.  All mounted up & wired. 






There's just enough room between the p/s pump and the fan to slide the belt past, so it's close but I'm not afraid of it ever hitting

[corax]

finally fixed the center pedestal on the 1st gen MR2 wing so it reaches down to the trunk lid.  The center post isn't actually screwed down, just resting against the lid, which should be fine - it's not going anywhere

the main component, about 1.5 rolls of this.  Pro tip: warm it up in a glass of hot water before trying to knead it together (works to make regular JBWeld mix easier also)


minor frame to keep the JBWeld in place, every nook & cranny was filled with the JB.  the tape is to keep the JB from permanently attaching itself to the paint (a little bit of wax on the tape helps it to release later)


I kept adding small pieces until it was the general shape I wanted


Some of the extra material knocked down with a rasp, sanded, painted, & good enough for me.  I added a bit of black FIPG (RTV) around the bolt holes because water was leaking into the trunk lid frame and into the trunk itself.

[jrally]

Looks good, very race ready now...
-Jon

[Sigma Projects]

Nice, I've actually wondered about something like that Pyle unit, now I have a keyword to search for. Sweet work.

[corax]

Looks good, very race ready now...
-Jon

Thanks, but I've hardly even gotten started on the mental list I made at the rallycross.  I really need some oil pan protection - something light that ties together the front cross-member, subframe, & side rails is what I have in mind.   A 2.25" exhaust is also on the list, maybe with a Spintech muffler (had one on a previous project and thought it worked well & sounded nice) . . . payments on the Lexus are almost at an end, so that'll free up some cash

Nice, I've actually wondered about something like that Pyle unit, now I have a keyword to search for. Sweet work.

I think it makes perfect sense if your tunes are mostly in digital format & hope more companies start making head units like this.  The one I got has a few programming glitches that are just minor annoyances - like how it reverts to the first song on the USB if the radio is turned off but not if the car is turned off.  Sound-wise though, it's fine for my needs

[Sigma Projects]

nice. Yea I keep debating which road i should take for the stereo in my project. Was thinking to keep it simple or go with some crazy like navigation. But I do like simple and I too don't listen to CDs much anymore. I originally was thinking of using an MP3 player routed to powered speakers, but this makes it much easier.

[corax]

I've never really considered any car "mine" until I cut some holes in the hood
Using the info I gathered here, I tried to keep the holes as far forward on the hood as possible.  The very forward edge of the holes are about even with the back of the electric fan shrouds so they are well within the area of low pressure.  I'm not too worried about a bit of water getting on the distributor, if it becomes a problem I can simply make a splash shield out of some thin lexan.


Now I'm just waiting for the paint on the exposed metal edges to dry before I can pop in the vents.
bonus points if anyone can guess which model gave up their hood vents for this

*edit* here they are installed
I'm thinking they'll probably get pulled and given a bit of flat black so they don't stand out so much

[sirdan]

FWIW, the cars came stock with this awesome rubber cover for the distributor. you can probably find one at a yard. It works really well for keeping water off the distributor.

No idea what the vents are from but Ill take a total shot in the dark and say a mr2