Photo history of my S13

[Vaughn]

Towed the car back from IA Motorsport, and was feeling very very low. Bad enough to seriously think about giving up. Since fitting the engine it has never been able to get past 2,000 with massive backfire and other problems.

Now as some of you know by now my brain is a bit strange! If I have a big problem with a computer, network or car, I will dream about it and in my dream I will fix the problem. So at 2am this morning I sat bolt upright in bed, just having fixed the car in my dream.

Downstairs, I went on to here and searched for "knock sensor" very quickly I found that if the knock sensor was not connected the ECU would go mad retard the ignition and throw as much petrol as posible in to the engine and misfire.(Just the problems that I am having)

So outside I go, torch in hand (remember its 2am) and what do I find?

Well this photo is what I took this morning.



Yep not only is it not connected but the inner and outer cores of the coaxel cable to the ECU are shorted together I can only imagine what this is doing to the ECU?

It might not be the problem, but its sure as hell ain't gonna help.

So tommrow I will have a look at the ECU error codes, reset it and fix the wire. Then lets see what happens.

I cant understand how IA Motorsport missed this dispite having the car 2 months AND taking the engine out and back in again I have spoken to I A Motorsport and they say that when they took the engine out they took photos and put the wireing back the same when installing the engine again

I A Motorsport said that he was running the engine with a nismo ECU and this does not need the knock sensor pluged in. So that is why its not connected. However, I am back on my ECU now, so I went and saw Dal and got the part of the loom that connects the knock sensor back up and......... IT WORKS. It runs

Where before it would not go pass 2,000 with out masive backfires and cutting out, it now revs perfectly.

So it must have been the disconected Knock Sensor all along. We must have forgot to connect it when we put the new engine in.

The tickover is very lumpy, I think this is due to an air leak. So tommrow I will go over all the pipes from the turbo to the plemium and find the leak, seeing as its been pulled about quite a bit not a supprise.

I am not on a high yet but I feel much happier than I did this time yesterday. I will not get my hopes up to much untils its done.

[Vaughn]

Got on well yesterday.

Fitted new gauges

Found boost leak

Ajusted timing

The engine now revs and idles no problem. However, if you let the revs die from 2,000 the revs go down and then it stalls. I think this might be the Throttle Postition Sensor. (TPS) The TPS needs to be set up with a Multi Meter, which I must admit I am not that good with so it should be fun. LOL

This morning I decided to follow the trouble shooting flow charts in the workshop manual.

1st of I checked the plugs and found this


Mmm not good, the gap is completly wrong (not going in to who fitted it, but read back a couple of posts)

Then I moved on to the TPS and could not get a reading out of it at all!!

I have some spares so I fitted and new one and YESSSSS its all good

I am so happy that after 2 1/2 years its running again I did a little video



The next job is to order a new silicone hose so I can install the HKS SSQV BOV.

Then I will check it over and take for an MOT.

Once its on the road I will run it in for a couple of weeks and then take it to Horsham Developments to get the ECU mapped.

[Vaughn]

Yesterday, I removed the AAC and the idle control valve. Setting the idle by drilling a hole in the butterfly and ajusting the setting screw. I also cut away the timming belt cover, to show the ajustable pulleys.

Today I finished the car off, so tommrow or Tuesday its off for an MOT. If it passes I will run the engine in and then get the ECU re mapped.

Gave it a wash and cleaned the inside, as it was in a right state. The paint work is a mess as someone sprayed silver near it and the over spray is terrible.

[Vaughn]

It passed its MOT so I will be driving it around now Wooooo hooo

[Smithylee]

well done mega impressed with how much work you have done with this

i also will be going satin black once the bodykit is fitted but instead of a stealthy look mines going to be a bit more noticable :P

Glad you got there in the end and now that its running and sorted...

cant wait to see the results after run in and re mapped

smithy

[mercedessx]

Looks very stealth

[jon_smith]

I've just noticed this thread and would like to say that from the contact i have had with the car, the engine rebuild quality was jubous to say the least.

I wouldn't usually post up on someone elses thread, and appologise if I offend anyone. The reason I have done so, is that I have seen many of the projects I A Motorsport has completed and currently have one of my own being built there. The work they have completed has been outstanding without exception and I don't feel this is a fair representation on the service they provide.

I have also made I A Motorsport aware of the comments that have been made because I feel that they should be allowed to justify any actions taken.

Jon

( for reference I have removed the link to to your thread as its irrelevant to this one )

[remo]

swweeeett ride man, (take the wing of the back dude :P) nice new black spray job... sleeper car ?
profit??

[anguscrx1]

i have just been told about this post and would like to post and clear a few things about the car, as i suspected this would happen.. and was actually warned not to do this car!

First off we were told the car was running without any issues and eveything was working fine ..

when the car arrived on a trailer ! we were confused and asked questions, but as a fresh rebuild you told us you wanted it run in on the dyno..

You can run an engine in on a dyno .. as there is load and you can also set the load!
if you couldnt load you wouldnt be able to map !

so after receiving the car we decide to drive her in and get it on the dyno. but it didnt drive or idle for that matter, so after 5 or 10 mins of checking to see if something had been unpluged or loose ..

we then decided to remove the ecu and install nistune as the chip in the ecu could have been from anything .

nistune was installed and setup by a very well known tuner steve ...

after messing about for 10 mins on the dyno .these are some of the faults we found. (off the top of my head)

found a water leak from the thermostat
oil pressure switch was missing
dash water temp not working
Dump valve open on idle leaking air
After market guages in car all reading wrong
masses of wires (just cut and not taped wires soldered together without taping and random wires soldered together in buches) we were told this was things for the after market guages and sensors )

some time trying to get it to idle it was clear something was wrong..

compressions!

seems no: 1 cylinder had less than 3 bar ! new build? or bad build?

well head off .. to check for problems ..?

none found no bore scores no valve problems ?

hmmm

the engine was then taken back to the builders

came back built and something about a valve gumming up ?? *a fresh revuild? maybe an excuse .we then installed

compression checks done all OK!

Steve was back down..

he started to tune (nistune)

no problems until a very odd rattle occured as revs were rising at 2k rpm.. at this point with everything that we had seen we decided to abort tuning and leave it there.

i would be glad to post some pictures of the quility done to this car!..

the only reason i post is to clear a few things up..

we took pictures along the way because we had a feeling something like this might happen with this vehicle.

and im very glad we decided to abort the tunning.

And there are many people that saw this car both on the dyno and off..

i dont wish to cause any problems or get into some kind of post war, just want to protect our name, if you have a genuine issue please call us...

[CBomb]

I can see this is an issue both sides are passionate about. I would suggest that now everyone involved has had their say that it is left at that.

I don't want this turning into a slanging match with people who've got nothing to do with it chucking their opinion in.

Let's get it back on topic and keep it sensble folks

any shenannigans and I'll start handing out bans or thread closures

[Vaughn]

Just a quick update.

I have now done 900 miles and the engine is getting better and better all the time. Its great to have it back on the road and I am enjoying it more than I can say. It brings a big smile to my face every day.

[CBomb]

I've closed this thread as a result of the very sad news from Vaughns girlfriend Alsion that he passed away as a result of a car accident yesterday afternoon.

The condolences thread is here

http://www.sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=433967

From all of us at the SXOC our sincerest condolencies, he was a cracking guy and a valued member of the SXOC