bmaddock's S13 KA-T Vert Build *now with more 1JZ*

[bmaddock]

Hello Zilvia, I feel like a lot of the forums I post on already are losing traffic so I'm hoping to get some more conversation and interest on here.

This is how I bought the car.


08/06/2012
Opted to get this car completely maintenance-free and fixed oil leak, removed faded pin stripe, got rid of timing chain rattle and replaced 20 year old busted-ass bushings. I also did Q45 brake upgrade as well as stopped some leaks. Don't mind the fart can, ended up ditching that. Oh yeah and did a manual swap.






CCVT Fall Car Show with Sleepy Steve


03/11/2013
Bought some parts I didn't need. More pictures and info to come once I sort though it all but for $350 I bought two S14 seats, t3/t4 ebay turbo kit (log manifold, wastegate, blow off valve, SS lines, downpipe, midpipe, intercooler with no piping), two boost gauges, WG screamer pipe, test pipe, straight pipe to resonator, Z32 mass air flow sensor, fuel pressure regulator and looks like a few more random things. I'll look more in detail tomorrow.




Overall I know it's a bunch of eBay parts and not trying to fool anyone haha. There's also an intercooler, shifter, some small piping and assorted hose clamps as well not pictured.

03/17/2013
Before I left to go back to school, my polyurethane filled mounts had cured so I installed them for the drive back to Blacksburg. For reference, here is what they looked like and I used 3M Windo-weld to fill them. It is the most miserable goo you will ever work with but came out alright.

I also thought the Exedy OEM replacement clutch was dead already at only 10,000 miles or so on it but I was wrong. Adjusted clutch pedal and moved the engagement point lower so it bites well now.
Hanging out with friends (FYI all three are on stock suspensions in this photo)


07/10/2013
BC Racing coilovers and PBM suspension arms


Autocross!



10/28/2013
Got some work done on the car over the past few weeks.
- Got Roll Cage Components in Powhatan, VA to bend my roll bar (1.75"x.095" DOM). Couldn't find a bender locally but got this guy to bend a main hoop and cut/cope two parallels to the rear strut towers and a harness bar ($135)

-Alec welded up my diff and welded in my rollbar

Drift spares (S14 base 4 lug wheels) shown on rear wheels

Also did my first drift event, DRIFTVALLEY VIII. I was definitely a noob and with only two days driving on a welded diff prior to the event, it didn't turn out as I expected haha. It was a lot of fun though and can't wait to get more involved.


11/12/2013
I decided to pick up where I left off in March and finish my turbo project. Here's where I stood in November


1/6/2014
Parts started rolling in.

HKS blow off valve and Greddy intercooler kit

Enthalpy Tune and used FiveO 550cc injectors


2/12/2014
I now have almost everything to complete the turbo build except for a small bit of intercooler piping. Pretty excited to install this all and see how it goes. I broke my wrist a few months ago and get the cast off February 28th ,KA-T install starts the same day.

5/14/2014
By some miracle it's almost done. All that's left is new BMC fitting to clear DP, crankcase vent, and vacuum lines on wastegate, blow off valve and turbo. She started right up though! Thanks Kyle and Andrew


5/20/2014
Had some issues with a poorly running engine. After diagnosing for nearly a week straight, replacing far too many parts, then narrowing it down to a control issue, it turned out to be the ECU. Took a while between shipping to FL and receiving my repaired ECU, but it started right up and idled perfectly. -20 vacuum, solid idle.

I feel like you don't hear of this issue very often but be weary of used ECUs and potentially broken connections. Martin (RS Enthalpy) sent me this image, indicating two areas of concern when checking your ECU's condition. My bad connection is on the right.
High Res: http://i.imgur.com/dbDZzHm.jpg


7/2/14
Good update, KA-T runs great. So great that I could spin the clutch at WOT haha. It was a ton of fun but decided to park the car after developing a small lean issue. Pulling the intake manifold and cleaning up the vacuum lines before I replace the clutch.

I needed new tires to pass inspection so just said screw it and bought some cheap wheels. 17x8 +30 JNC 010 wheels wrapped in 225/45/17 Hankook V12s. I still need to add camber, roll and pull some fender so fitment is still in progress. I also really wanted silver face and not gold but that's all they offered in that size. Likely painting them.




Ordered RB25 13lb flywheel and clutch kit to hopefully start transferring KA-T to the wheels. This will be done likely the weekend after the 4th. 240 has basically become project car status and I've been dailying my newly acquired '89 CBR600F.


Fall 2014
DriftValley


01.Jan.2015
Sorry for the potato photo, but KA-T has been sold and I'm heading down another route. I'll be documenting this next swap in a similar fashion as I did my KA-T tutorial thread....more details to come including change in title of the thread haha.



31.Jan.2015
Well for what it's worth a friend of mine from high school is trying to get 'big' on youtube so he's going to be filming excerpts of the swap. Check it out!
http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=594842




05.Jun.2015


2016:

April:Two weeks ago I did my first drift event with the 1J, but before that I had some last minute issues with alternator and had to replace it. Supposedly SC300 ones will work but I had a tough time finding ones locally so ended up going to ebay off of a recommendation. Eagle Auto Electric hooked me up with two-day shipping and an awesome 130A alternator. I ran upgraded wiring and fuse to support this and got the car running the Friday before the event haha.


I have really awesome friends with cooler cars than mine that came and drove with me too. Thank you Josh for towing my jalopy! It was my first time being towed to an event


Grid life. Thanks Fresh Roots guys for putting on a fun event






Car ran great all day. It was 40 degrees out so temps were never an issue. 1J is very predictable and felt great being back out there after such a long gap in no seat time. Still working through some driver improvement but hoping to have some better results this spring

May 2016


Aug.20.2016
I've stock piled quite a few parts over this year and looking to do the last major installs for this car. I'm pretty excited as this car has never been much of a looker and been neglected in that respect.

Below are my wheels, 5lug swap, Maverick motorsports dual caliper, PBM HMIC, and Z32 brakes. Unfortunately 4 of my Z32 calipers need rebuilds so they wont be going on now but the legwork to install them will be done (maverick+5lug)


As mentioned, I'm only installing the rear Z32 calipers now to have functioning brakes. Hydro and fronts are to be installed at a later time once rebuilt. For maverick you have to cut the stock caliper brackets off.


I decided to make things more complicated and started redoing my carpet. I've always hated the gray but couldn't justify the cost of new carpet in a mostly track/weekend car. I used the Duplicolor carpet paint and it turned out great! Slightly stiffer feeling but not clumpy or flaky like I thought it would turn out.


Here's my HMIC install in progress. Minimal cutting but it definitely required you to be willing to cut away at everything. Unfortunately with my radiator tilted forward, it made the install a little tight and I'll not have to get creative to reinstall my bumper support bracket.


I also began fitting the wheels with a fender roller and torch. Turned out great but tight. These are 18x10.5 +12 wheels but with the maverick bracket have an effective offset of +4. This made fitting my 245/40/18 tires tough so I'm going down to a 235/40 and selling my 245s to a friend. Really trying to avoid overfenders to keep the cost slightly down.


Definitely have some work to do still but things are going well. I'll get some better pictures of everything together once it's back on the ground and driving again.

October 2016
I haven't updated in a while, just been doing other things. Been driving the car recently to get ready for 100 DoD at Summit Point. Cooling issues have been resolved with the HMIC install and the car is running great. Still shoots massive flames even without the VTA BOV hahah. The shifter bushings have made an amazing difference in trans feel, I now have a nice and crisp shifting R154.

Here's some pics of the kit and last weekend fun. Drifty pics after Dec 4th. Paint got pushed to early 2017 due to shop availability.


Got my headlight motors to work with the HMIC. Relocated the motor and bent/welded these extension rods.




Jan 6, 2017:
I drove 100 DoD and had a blast, ripped off parts of my body kit throughout the day but it was a great event. I've really only drifted an oval track and a gokart track at this point so full fledged track experience was really new to me and I'm hooked.

Big Bend on Bridge Course was too fun. I was sloppy learning it but will have revenge next event.


Winter builds have started, rebuilding a set of Z32 calipers to upgrade my brakes. I had Q45s that worked but decided to try these out.


Winter Build includes:
-Body work
-PAINT
-Sheet metal wing
-Z32 brakes
-Hydraulic handbrake
-4.3 Ring & Pinion

[Apex Eight]

Nice build man, sometimes simple is better. I'm in the process of doing a bunch of maintenance work on my coupe to have a solid foundation to mod on, so I definitely feel what you've done here. And yeah, get those wheels silver ASAP! Lol

[I<3BEWBZ]

I wish I could find a vert that clean up here. Nice work so far!

[bmaddock]

Thanks guys! Lazy weekend here and didn't get much done mechanically. Been working on a Turbo KA walkthrough thread I want to post soon. Decided to reinstall rear seats though, I plan on getting a new carpet and reupholster the rear seats once I get most of the KA-T gremlins out of the way. Here's the seats and a look at the 4-point.

[tx240ss]

looking to put a roll bar in my vert too. yours looks great. Any problem with the seat hitting the horizontal brace? It would save me a ton of time if you could share the height and width of the roll bar. I plan on removing the rear seat and replacing with some leather over plywood ( or plexiglass) for a Cobra-like rear seat delete option.
Thanks and good luck

[Nismo_sam]

looks good ben, sub'd for updates!

[bmaddock]

Well, solid weekend at DriftValley. The car did not perform how I would have liked it to but a fun time nonetheless. Spending long nights prepping for an event the nights before meant adding a power steering cooler, changing out the steering rack, adding steering angle spacer, installing one-piece driveshaft, wiring dual electric fans (93 Altima), and relocating power steering reservoir. It was a lot to do but glad to have done it, adding tutorials for some of it to my "How to turbocharge a KA24DE.." thread eventually.



But anyways, DV brought a lot of troubles my way. Been having some intermittent breaking up issues while in boost. Smooth acceleration the problem seems to go away but near full throttle situations it feels like I'm almost hitting fuel cut. So at 12psi I feel like I've come to the conclusion its a weak spark from potentially a bad coil or distributor. I've checked for boost leaks and sealed my MAF that would cause a similar issue and still problems. Turned it down to 6psi and it ran....better. Still sounded like shit and missed at WOT but it would actually pull through the powerband just not well.

Aside from this obvious issues, I also forgot to reapply heat shielding to my brake master cylinder reservoir and burnt a hole in it driving to DV (doh!). I channeled my inner redneck and rigged the hell out of it to maintain fluid as it still held some.




Now for some pictures that make it look like I wasn't spinning out a bunch. I honestly think I was having the most trouble with the car breaking up in boost. I had pretty aggressive entries but every time I'd then lay into it I'd hear it start missing and then the weight would lurch towards the front of the car and the rear end would get too loose and spin me. Err at least that's my excuse hahah. Only ran a few times in the afternoon as the morning was consumed by fixing my BMC and what not. It sucks but inspiration to get this thing right for next season. I want to drive most DV events next year, maybe a few Drift Nirvana's and then focus on paint, bodywork, etc.





I have some video as well but need to get around to piecing it together.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Can i get a ride this weekend?!?

edit, that was supposed to be all caps.

[Apex Eight]

Edit: Found the answers to my questions in your other thread.

Looking forward to seeing your future work!

[KiLLeR2001]

You may or may not know this but the Cherry Red Pearl Convertibles were the rarest factory color offered. Only 482 units were converted (from coupes).

[bmaddock]

Thanks guys, just now seeing these posts. As I told you sleepy this past weekend still having spark blowout issues. Had some trouble this past weekend too with my choice in poor heat shielding. On the way to Blacksburg for Car Club at VT car show, heat wore my spark plug wires down so I had to get off the highway with a sputtering engine, replace the plugs and wrap them in DEI's heat shielding.

Then on the way home after ripping some backroads/Blue Ridge Parkway with hokie240 (RB25 two-tone hatch), the clutch line decided to rupture from heat damage I suppose? The clutch brake fluid started a very small fire that we were able to catch quickly but left me without a clutch on the side of I-64. Got towed home but left me in a bad mood about the car.

(oh and a friend of mine bought the blue Cefiro from Japanese Classics)


Giving myself some time to work on other projects first and then coming back to this car next month. It's looking like I want to do things right. This car has so much doing it right (post-college work) and doing it wrong (during-college work). The corners I chose to cut are catching back up to me. Lessons learned. Without talking too much smack before I've done it, tentative plan is aero, fresh paint, cleaned up KA-T build and full standalone. No more driving a half-finished project.

Originally Posted by KiLLeR2001

You may or may not know this but the Cherry Red Pearl Convertibles were the rarest factory color offered. Only 482 units were converted (from coupes).

I learned that from a guy on reddit a year or so ago, could've been you? More inspiration for me to clean this car up and stop sucking.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Damn buddy, you didn't tell me all that.

[HORShi]

Come on man, don't give up!

Not trying to sound like a homo or anything,

But you and your car has been one of my inspirations for me since we kind of have a similar story.

I feel your pain, as you seen my transmission committed suicide, smdh. But As always, I have to realize, this comes with the territory and the things your currently going through made me realize that, that you must love, enjoy and commit yourself to the car. It would probably be easier just to go out and buy a newer 350z or something (which I could after all the money I spent so far for this damn car) but following your thread made me appreciate the potential of these cars. It also teaching me great patience haha. Cause sometimes I feel like pushing my car off the cliff. But I won't lol.

Stay up man, and keep on moving forward.

[bmaddock]

Yeah I was just bummed, I need more seat time not more wrench time haha. Going to press on. Started talking with a semi-local guy about Megasquirt and I'm excited. I get to do some tuning again and can't wait to push a stock block KA to it's limits as well as maybe build one? TBD. If I can figure this out now on a cheaper platform, I'll feel more comfortable doing MS on an RB25 or whatever else is to come in my future.

Fooling around with aero ideas on http://3dtuning.stuner.net/ . If you haven't known about this site, you should!

[Sleepy_Steve]

Yeah, sometimes you get bummed out, but don't let it get to you. You've got a cool project going and you're doing well with it.

Remember that time at 100DOD when a bunch of CCVT people came up to hang out and I blew out my clutch master or slave Sunday morning? That sucked but IIRC it was $28 shipped for new master and slave from Rock Auto.

[bmaddock]

Sorry for the potato photo, but KA-T has been sold and I'm heading down another route. I'll be documenting this next swap in a similar fashion as I did my KA-T tutorial thread....more details to come including change in title of the thread haha.

[bmaddock]

Well for what it's worth a friend of mine from high school is trying to get 'big' on youtube so he's going to be filming excerpts of the swap. Check it out!



Remainder of my KA parts have been sold and been acquiring a decent bit of JZ parts. Picking up the 1JZ VVTI hopefully tomorrow...I tried two weeks ago but it turned out to be seized so I had to wait for the next container.

[bmaddock]

Small update but picked up the 1J and R154. 1JZ VVTI is from a JZX110 Toyota Crown Athlete V and the extended shifter R154 is from a Soarer.


Likely won't be updating for a little while. Plenty of maintenance parts are still rolling and I'm in the process of prepping the bay now. I'm also on back-order for harness work so the earliest this thing will be finished is mid-March...which makes me nervous because I want to make a March 21st event. Time will tell, can't wait!

[Samibarry6]

Hey I'm not sure how to use this app to we'll but I was just looking for some info this is gonna be my first build.

[Samibarry6]

Like the wisefab front lock kit... is that specific to drifting?

[MEFISTO]

subscribed

[Samibarry6]

Idk what that means

[bmaddock]

Originally Posted by Samibarry6

Hey I'm not sure how to use this app to we'll but I was just looking for some info this is gonna be my first build.

Welcome to Zilvia, read the rules and stickied threads, then post an intro
http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=96924

This thread is for my build, not your google questions.

[Samibarry6]

Cool thanks

[ApexKillah]

Good looking ride man! I was never really a fan of the convertibles until I saw this one, though it could have been the relation to my newly acquired kat project. Looking forward to seeing that 1jz going in.

[bmaddock]

Originally Posted by ApexKillah

Good looking ride man! I was never really a fan of the convertibles until I saw this one, though it could have been the relation to my newly acquired kat project. Looking forward to seeing that 1jz going in.

Hey thanks man, I appreciate it.


Still in limbo with getting this project going. Finally got the car in the garage and started stripping the engine bay. Paint and fuel line work to follow..

Also parts collection is getting out of hand but almost everything is here.

[bmaddock]

Well bought a new mountain bike and haven't really been in the garage since then. Been doing some maintenance here and there including resealing sump/pan, rear main seal, timing components, VVTI cam gear seal, cam seals, valve cover gaskets, injector o-rings, new cam angle sensor, water pump, driftmotion pulleys, removed stock FPR, removed AC compressor, cleaned R154, installed release bearing assembly on spec pressure plate, new slave cylinder and extended my fuel lines with stainless hardline.

I also gave up on finding VVTI Soarer body pinouts and Panic Wire got back to me so I'm just paying him to do my harness. Hopefully that saves some time and headache.



I've also been doing silly things like new coolant overflow, Bride seat and redoing my gauge layout. Progress is overall slow with this warmer weather pulling me outside more than chained to the garage. My current planned finish date is May 2nd and cruise down to Hyperfest. I really want to drift Patriot course but probably won't this time. Driftaholics opened up a few other Patriot course opportunities later this year to aim for.


Edit: for anyone interested here's my new bike! Airborne Goblin Evo. Good components, nice color, and rides well. I'm glad I've stepped up to a 29er, never going back

[bmaddock]

So a lot of my friends on local forums are giving me shit for taking my time with this build. I'm gonna post up what I did there for those of you that are actually reading this thread. It might also offer some comfort to those who have struggled on sometimes the most simple tasks yet exceeded on other more challenging ones.

Besides being slow and riding bikes all the time....the truth behind my slowness comes from me being an idiot. I don't know if Toyota forgot to apply anti-seize when installing the components or the front of the engine sat in water for a while but the harmonic balancer and crank pulley were so stupid seized on the crank snout.


After having a hell of a time getting the harmonic balancer out, the crank pulley broke my spirit. After snapping two grade 5 bolts using a puller tool, I finally ordered some grade 8 bolts to do the job. Problem was I couldn't get the second grade 5 bolt out because not only was it completely stuck in there but it broke off flush to the pulley. I tried quite a few techniques and was very reluctant but I've finally given up and having a machine shop friend come by this afternoon to remove it for me. For those of you that know me, I'm very DIY oriented (re: stubborn) and don't like giving up. But at this point this tiny obstacle has halted the whole project. I have literally everything ready to go after this pulley comes off. The only thing I'll need to do is measure driveshaft length and electric fan clearance to order parts sized to fit.


So moral of the story, don't be afraid to ask for help. Sometimes the most simple stuff throws you for a loop and makes you question everything you know.

[ApexKillah]

Can't blame you on that new bike man. My surly has been out of commission ever since the fam and I moved to nc. Also, I share the pain of broken bolts since I just got my rebuilt turbo back from the machine shop I had to have remove a few. You know of any good events near the va/nc border or area though? Can't drive too far because of work, but I'm down if it's on a weekend.

[bmaddock]

Got the bolt out and grade 8 puller bolts did the trick to remove the corroded pulley. My friend brought over much finer and more precise drills, we got the hole straightened out and then drove in the screw extractor to free it up. He somehow managed to save the threads so no helicoil was necessary....which I wasn't sure would fit given how tight the tolerances are at the hole. Next update should be a ThatDudeInBlue video of some of the maintenance and then installing the engine. Just waiting on my harness from Panic Wire before dropping it in.

Edit: Oh and here's a picture of my dog enjoying the Bride rep seat I picked up from a friend. All text build posts are boring.

Originally Posted by ApexKillah

Can't blame you on that new bike man. My surly has been out of commission ever since the fam and I moved to nc. Also, I share the pain of broken bolts since I just got my rebuilt turbo back from the machine shop I had to have remove a few. You know of any good events near the va/nc border or area though? Can't drive too far because of work, but I'm down if it's on a weekend.

Cool dude, I'm heading down to Asheville in a few weeks and really want to bring my bike. As far as events in NC, I'm not too familiar but I know some of the sanctioning bodies are Streetwise Drift, Freestyle Drift, and Driftaholics to give you a start. I have some friends all across NC, feel free to PM me if you want more info.