Presents for G-Fab!

For those of you that didn't know, I have decided to invest in a present for G-Fab!

I wanted to buy us a new Keurig machine.

Here it is!

See how well it works?

Event 1

Last week was spent with the gas tank empty as Jenna took some Scotch Brite pads to the tank interior. Cleaned up all the gunk on the bottom and shop vac'ed it out, hoping to get rid of fuel issues once and for all.

This weekend we finally got out to the runway up in Devens, MA for a weekend of autocrossing. Saturday started out great, with the car running strong all the way up to the event (2 hour drive). Got into paddock with a spot reserved for red cars with Hankooks on flat black wheels (the other car is a STR MX-5).


Over by itself was a lonely Panda, waiting to stretch its legs and get back into shape:


After a few runs the ST car developed a leak around the oil drain fitting (car used to be turbo and was reverted back). Easily plugged up, but that didn't stop crank case pressure from blowing a half quart all over the driver's side of the engine bay. I'll have to plug and weld it for now, and I've got a fresh pan for the new motor.


During the final runs of the day, the ST car developed a stutter, which we traced to be a dirty fuel filter and sock. The fuel sloshing around looked to have loosened up more rust/ varnish from the sides of the tank that we couldn't see. Figuring it was no big deal, we carb cleaned the sock a few times and kept going.

That night we sidetracked a bit as we put some work into the MX-5:



Swedish instructions absolutely suck. Despite having the wrong tool sizes called out (among other things), we got everything together. We also had tons of help:


Sunday came along and I decided to run the ST car instead of Panda, while Dave would take sole control of Street Mod duties to keep wear and tear down (still on a stock KA tranny while the new tranny gets fabb'ed up). Morning runs started off well enough, with me being about 2 seconds off pace and feeling I had driven poorly enough to reflect that (my driving style is geared more towards having power). Unfortunately, the car started bogging before we could really figure the course out, and we were back at square one.

We ended up buying a new fuel pump and filter at a nearby Autozone, and cleaned out the fuel sock with carb cleaner, but the car would just not hold fuel pressure. For some reason, it would start fine, and slowly get worse until it would nearly stall out. Shutting the car off and turning it back on seemed to reset it, and it would run for another short burst before doing the same thing. I have a sneaking suspicion that there's a clog in the fuel line itself, or the breathers aren't letting the tank suck air in fast enough to keep up with fuel being injected (causing the pump to have to fight in-tank vacuum). Regardless, I'm going to replace the fuel tank and soft lines, and clean out the hard lines as best as I can. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm more than welcome to them!

Luckily, I get to do the work in style, as we've found a new location for car storage while we look for a new house:

Fingertight =/= Fun

The debut of my ST car was fun. Until it wasn't. It lasted about 7 runs, and then we had fuel issues again, which meant cleaning out the sock and installing a new fuel filter. That helped a bit, until there were BAD NOISES coming from somewhere around the engine and tranny. We figured it was knock, then gears, then who the butt knew?

Dropped the tranny and as it turns out, the flywheel bolts were only finger-tight, and did not have any Loctite on them. Note to self: Check previous owner's handiwork. At least it wasn't an expensive fix....or so we thought.

As it turns out, all the debris that lodged itself between the flywheel and crank fused itself to the crank and ripped the piss out of the flywheel. Not knowing what would happen, PJ installed a spare flywheel and took to fixing the crank. An angle grinder, metal file, dental pick, and indicator later, the car is within spec and running again.

All this (plus Panda) has made me realize the fragility of the KA. So we picked up a built motor, in pieces, from a ONE member. It's a 0.020" overbore stock rebuild, with brand new OEM or OEM equivalent replacements. It will be my first engine assembly...I've only taken them apart...and those had blown up blocks.

The goal is to have it assembled and installed before the Jersey Pro. T-minus 7 weeks. Panda needs a new butt as well, and a new transmission, so we'll see which car takes precedence.

After the nightmare that was ordering wheels and tires, the new wheels and tires came in. Drag DR-42's in a +42mm offset. Not ideal, but we were desperate, and EVERY set of wheels we wanted/liked were backordered, sold our, discontinued, or abducted by aliens. These are actually far less ugly than the eBay picture, so I'm happy with that. We'll be running the Hankook RS-3's, in the hopes that the heavy car will perform better on them over Toyos, and that they'll be able to handle the heat of 3+ drivers per event.

The challenge now is to get the wheels (1 hour from us) and the tires (1 hour from there) to CT Tire (one hour from there) and have them mounted, and then installed on the car (35 minutes from there), before Saturday.

In other news: Bad gas is bad.

We cleaned out as much as we could last night with a sponge, a siphon, and Shop Towels. Tonight (assuming it doesn't downpour), we will be taking a ScotchBrite pad and Shop Vac to the tank, since it's been drying out since yesterday. Though not totally spotless, it should be ok for the weekend. I'll probably have to source out another tank, since this one is fairly shot and the baffle has rusted off.

And a final thought to end this entry: gasoline will MELT your plastic gloves to your hand. Do not recommend.

Passing Gas

Took the car out a few more times and it seems the hesitation/ misfiring has gotten worse. After some trouble shooting, PJ figured out that it wasn't getting enough fuel. Opened a can of worms in the fuel tank.

First thing to stand out was the decayed fuel line:
Followed by a fine example of varnished fuel:

And the realization that the only reason it still ran was because it's a Walboro pump:
Cleaned it out the pump and sock as much as we could with carb cleaner, reinstalled it with a new fuel line, and fired it up. Night and day difference! A quick spin around the block yielded zero hesitation, and a decent amount of pull. We will pull everything back out and pump the gas out to get a better look in the tank itself. I will probably clean what I can with a scrubby and some rubber gloves before dumping some fuel cleaner in there. Definitely open to suggestions on this one, though.

Also, new pump, sock, and o-ring are on the way. The Walboro would be nice (and now that it's clean it's so very loud, just like the one on the S14) but I don't think it's legal for ST, so it is being "downgraded" to OEM. If anyone needs a cheap (but apparently working!) high capacity pump, let me know :P

As of today, the new blower motor (the old one was filled with dead spiders...ew) and windshield wiper motors have been ordered. The battery, radio harness (yay!) and suspension bits came in yesterday, and the Bride Zieg III seats are on the truck for delivery today! We shall see how I fit in them...

STarting to STand on its Own

The weekend was good to people whose cars are not yet ready for the season (aka slackers, aka G-Fab's 240sx Division). Good thing we love our cars.

Earlier this month, we swapped out the clutch in the car. It was a Centerforce something or other, and it disintegrated upon removal. The ST car now has an Exedy OEM clutch, that has proven better that its tired predecessor.

The weekend was upon us, and we had 2 weeks till the car makes its debut. While PJ was busy doing big things with the brake shields (taken off our junkyard find), I decided it was important to have tail lights that didn't double as water bottles. I was lucky enough to get a junkyard car that, with the exception of the mold and grass growing in it, was still kind of full of stuff I'd need for ST.

Notice my red socket set (a Christmas gift from the Pandas), to match my red car. I'm such a girl sometimes....At least it works well, and has nearly everything I need to dis-and-reassemble my car, with the exception of a 19mm wrench. Of course, an 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, and 19 mm would be all I needed anyway. All this other stuff is just extra fluff. Who needs a 7/16" wrench? Not I, said the Pie.

Note to self for the next time I have to do this. Observe the black goop. That ish does NOT come off. And it's toxic. Live dangerously, I say.

Meanwhile, PJ installed the entended wheel studs and swapped the the dust shields, since the ones that came on the car were cut for z32 brakes. The junker had been r(e/u)sting on them, but we were able to fix them for now. New ones will probably be ordered before Nats, because I think these will disintegrate. Even my new(old) lugs are red! But if only Nissan had gotten it right the first time. 4-lug is SO passe. And there are no good wheels with good offsets that look good. Sigh. With a small spacer, the Blitz wheels we picked up off NICO will be ok for daily driving and local events. I've never owned a car with 17's before!

Todd Kean (my co-driver for the season) came to help out, so while PJ was doing studs (that sounds bad, doesn't it?), we set to installing the strut tower bars. They look nice, but man. What a PITA to install with the interior still in there.

Many nuts were lost in this process. I actually need to keep the 13mm wrench in my toolset now, since we couldn't find any spare 12mm nuts...it will be interesting to hear them rattling around when we take her out for an inaugural lap.

I have to say, I love having a fastback. I could totally sleep in there if I needed to.

Once we were done with that, it was pretty interesting to see thec ar all set up and stuff. It's still filthy and needs things, but it's getting there, and I'm getting really excited for the season.

One thing I am a bit concerned about is the front bar. It barely clears the engine, which seems to sit a bit high. There are washers as spacers in there for now, but we're going to have to either hack up the mount and reweld it so the bar is higher, make the engine sit lower, or buy actual spacers. I think PJ will vote for option 1, but a combination of options 1 and 2 will most likely be our best bet.

The next thing we will have to do (besides installing the new power steering pump, which should arrive tomorrow) , is get some seats and brackets that will fit both 6'+ Todd, and just under 5' me.