Monday, August 17, 2009

Progress on the car

There was not much progress during the last week.

I took out the washer reservoir.


I don't have a BFH (Big Fucking Hammer) with me, so I had to use my pliers and twist it by hand.


I finished cutting up the bumper to fit the interfooler in there.


I installed new brake rotors and brake pads at the front.
At which I also notice the piston boots are starting to crack, and one side has a slow leak, so I will need to rebuild the calipers.


Yesterday, I took out the throttle body and cleaned the idle valve.
Taking out the TB will spill coolant, so I also changed that.
The car idles a lot smoother now.


Today, I got most of the pipes in, but I still need to have one more pipe made.
I will still need to drive the car, so I used whatever I have, and somehow fit the filter on there.


Hopfully I can find a shop to make me the pipe within tomorrow or wednesday.

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Thursday, August 6, 2009

Hondata 4bar MAP sensor

I received a Hondata 4bar MAP sensor in the mail today.
It was the most complicated install I have ever done to date.

Hondata 4bar



Back side


Tools needed: Phillips screw driver. Antiseize is optional.

First I have to find the original MAP sensor hidden in a mess of nothing.
That took 20 seconds.

Original MAP sensor found


Then I have to unplug the wire and unscrew the screw.
That took 30 seconds.

Removed


The hole left behind


Then I have to put the new sensor in, screw it down, and plug it in.
That took 30 seconds.

Installed.



Total time spent: less than 300 seconds.
That includes finding all the tools needed, and turning on the laptop to upload the changes to K-pro.

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Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Intercooler Part 1 - FAIL!

I attempted to install the intercooler today.
It was total FAIL.

Before


Bumper, headlights, and rebar off.


Driver side bracket barely clearing the pipe. The steel bolt that goes into the aluminium intercooler was also half seized and striped most of the thread.


The black piece doesn't bolt up. I had to make a new bracket (the silver piece) to make it work.



Because of that bracket that doesn't line up to any hole, I had spend an extra 2 hours to think of how to make it work, go to Rona to get additional hardware, and then make the extra bracket.
After finally having the intercooler mounted, I started hacking the bumper.
But I ran out of time to make the bumper fit back on, so I had to take the intercooler off to put the half hacked up bumper back on.

Hopfully I will be able to finish hacking up the bumper and start on the rebar soon.


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Saturday, August 1, 2009

A/C ducting

I finally gave up to the heat 5 days ago.
Since the apartment doesn't use sliding windows, I can't install a window-mount A/C unit on my window.
I have no choice but to get the type that sits on the floor.
But for that type of A/C unit, I need to connect two air hose to the outside.
The mounts that came with the A/C are for sliding windows...
So I have to make my own mount.

The first night, I have limited time, so i just made it out of cardboard and duct tape.
A removable piece was used to cover the top hole so I can leave the window open during the day.

Cardboard and duct tape


There was one problem with cardboard and duct tape: takes too much time to set up properly.
I ended up with air leaks.
I just happen to have a scrap piece of fiber board at home.
So I decide to make a stronger mount that seals perfectly everytime.

I did not know fiber board dust on a vacume hose acts like metal dust on a magnet.



Drawn the holes I need to cut.



Hole cut.



Three of these L will hold up the cover board that I only put up when A/C is on.



The mount looks like this. One is for intake, the other is for exhaust. The black border is foam tape.



securely mounted to the window by three metal straps.



The window cover. More foam tape.



The top of it is held in place by mirror clips.



Due to time limitations, I didn't manage to put the lock on. I found some medium size L brackets, and twisted it into something that will prevent the window cover from falling down. Except it didn't hold the cover against the window and air leaked.



The next day, I found some steel strap and used it to hold the cover tight against the window. No more air leak. Also notice the hole that resulted from my "Cut first, measure later" habit. Also notice tha box I used so the heat from the exhaust won't melt my window blinds.



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