Update 09-19-2004-Current
While Leaving the local 7-11 on the way to the Salvage yard to find some parts for a Project I am starting with another car. I managed to break two of the brackets that hold the exhaust system on leaving the whole exhaust dangling by the header and the Transmission crossmember. I knew instantly what had happened but what was VERY unusual was the vibration when I opened the throttle more than 20% I thought nothing but bad! I was only about a mile form the house and not as far away as I was going to be. I get home and get the car up in the air to see how bad things are. besides the exhaust hanging down I didn't see any major issues. I thought maybe I broke all the weld son the header flange so I though I would get things apart and inspect a little bit better. Once the exhaust was unbolted from the manifold it was pretty obvious the problem!
The Super-Duper welds Toupoc layed on the header flange held up but I did notice the thin flange has warped again and leaked some hot gasses out
So after about a dozen stop to local autoparts stores I still had nothing to re-weld and make do. Tomorrow I will see what I can come up with, given Today is Sunday their is not many places open when it Football season!
09-20-2004
To hell with all the local muffler shops except for House of Mufflers They made the flare piece for me for only $6.00.
During a little down time I decided to remove what was left over chrome off the header with the die grinder with a wire wheel attachment. then give the header a coat of some fresh "High Temp" paint. Doubt it will hold up but if it's enough to get me through the poor spell I am in. I will get strip down whats left of this paint if any and use the POR-15 High temp paint and then cover it up in header wrap.
09-21-2004
Well I didn't want to wait till the weekend and have no chance to driving the car down to the emissions place. So I decided to give welding a try. Good for me I didnt take pictures because the weld looks really shitty! but it's good enough to hold the new flange on. I did manage to add another coat of high temp paint to all of the header. before I called it a night
09-22-2004
Ordered a Carburetor synchronizer($30.00 off E-Bay) so I can dial in the Throttle bodies at idle. I am hoping this is one of the major reasons the car isn't passing emission. I did manage to get the rest of the exhaust bolted up and free of leaks and briefly see how far off the air flow is on the throttle bodies. I could only run the car for about 10 minutes since it was after 10:00PM but I managed to get them closer to harmony! the #3 throttle is sucking in more air even with the idle valve fully closed so I have to back the other 3 idle valves out and the resync all of them. shouldn't be to difficult and will get that done tomorrow evening!
09-24-2004
After a few hours of idling the car and holding the car to 2,500 RPM's to dial in the choke and puke smells, I think I have it! I looked at the Colorado standards and HC's and CO were all they really cared about! that means I can run the car as lean as it will go and not have to worry about high CO2 or N0X. Just to be safe I put in a couple gallons of 104 octane, a pint of 95% running alcohol and a fresh set of plugs. we will see what happens tomorrow
09-25-2004
IT PASSED!
It's about friggen' time! not only was the car barely running it was begging for mercy! once the employee tried to rev the motor it just choked up and almost stalled. luckily he let off and then gave it throttle abruptly. Now I don't have to worry about this bullshit of having a car emission tested that had no emission standards when the car was produced! Colorado law states that any vehicle over 25 years of age is eligible for "Collectors Vehicle" tags. you renew the tags every 5 years and if you don't let the tags expire you don't have to re-smog!
In a nut shell I have spent thousands of dollars to make this car compliant. I scrapped the whole Mikuni tune project because I knew their was no way in hell it would pass with the newer emission laws on older vehicles that went into effect 3 months before I purchased the car. The state basically cut the HC and CO's old limit in Half. The previous Colorado owner (for a few weeks anyways) barely got it to pass and he shelled out about $300.00 just to take it to the only Carburetor shop in town that new the setup and was also a emissions place, mind you that was on the old standards! I knew I was screwed! So Tonight, I celebrate! Happy to shell out $175.00 for 5 year plates! since my wife's 2000 Pathfinder cost that per year and my AE92 almost $100.00 per year!
09-27-2004
AHH The day of the 27th! I went a picked up plates at the DMV. then when I got home it just started to rain :). After Dinner I went and Did a little drift practice in the rain. I don't sit in parking lots and screw around, that only attracts attention especially with the Mango and the throaty intake. I do more of a hit and run drift, maybe a few J turns or intentionally drift when turning corners at intersections, but nothing crazy! I know my limits and I don't even come close to pushing them!
Well I decided Today I needed to Purchase a wideband for my fuel Tuning. I ordered the PLX Devices M-300 wideband. I will probably order a Knock sensor setup or build one just to help me. the Electronic Stethoscope I was using for my audible knock that I ordered from the Snap-on Rep lasted about 10 minutes of total use before it crapped out!
11-20-2004
Been busy deciding what to do next. I ordered Tokico HTS shocks for $460.00 off ebay and I have been working on shortening the AE86 struts. I will probably shorten the TE27 struts I have but for now I am having to much fun anticipating getting the shocks in!
The housings are shortened 40MM. The housings were TIG welded back together. besides a little bit of slag on the inside these are ready to have the Perch for the alloy sleeve welded on and then prepped for a coating of the POR-15 Black paint. I suppose I could get all cool and paint them purple or pink but Black is functional. I am not out to win a car show for Christ sake. I will leave the frill up to the ricers! when I get the TE27 housings ready for Shortening I will post up the DIY version since their are allot of people asking of a easy way to do them. I have figured out several different ways that seem to be excellent option to avoid spending $$$ getting these done!
The PLX Wideband is OK it actually pretty damn accurate against the Wide-band on my tuners Dyno-jet. Damn I can't get it to read correctly on the Autronic though. No big deal, I have 85% of my mapping done for my Engine and all is running well. when I get the $$ saved up I will be getting a custom aluminum airbox made for the ITB's. I have a spare Supercharger off my AE92 4AGZE and I am seriously considering throwing it on the TE27.
11-24-2004
I received the Tokico HTS dampers today. I decided to hold off on the AE86 brake conversion until I get a few more $$$ in the wallet. so in that decision I either wait to put the dampers in or take the task of short stroking the TE27 housings. I obviously took the latter! the conversion took about 3 hours total of being really cautious of my measurements which really paid off. their is only 1/64" difference in length between the two which IMO is pretty damn good for Doing this for the first time! the only bad thing is my Digi-cam has taken a dump! no pictures :( thats OK though I had problems laying a good bead on the adjustable sleeve perch so the outside looks like crap, but the other welds you can't see are good because I had to grind those down.
I didn't get the struts back on the car yet but I can do that after I get some rest tonight and then tackle whatever challenges the rear shocks will surprise me with! in the mean time I am off to bed!!
11-25-2004
WOW Those are some really stiff Dampers! I didn't readjust them from where they were set from the factory but I will have to! WAY to bouncy on the Colorado roads and the front inside tire lifts of while hard cornering. of course I probably will have to set them to full soft since this car is about 300LBS lighter than a normal lightened AE86. I will keep up to date on what I find out! first impressions are good though worth every $.01. the car is more predictable on corners and does not give abruptly.
11-27-2004
The Tokico HTS are set to full soft. They were on full hard and very bouncy. Once I did adjust them softer the bounce was not as bad but still there. I peeked under to see if the dust on the damper shaft had all the way bottomed out but I still had another 30MM or so. I ended up raising the front height about 15MM and almost all the bounce has gone away! So far the suspension makes the crappy 400 treadwear tires grip Many times better than they did!
Stay Tuned!
More to come!!
