-The Downfall
So, I thought about not updating this since I was about to get rid of the car, but friends and family have convinced me to give it another shot and see what happens. The car will go through some changes but I look forward to having a more complete and finished car once this is set and done.
Progress might be a little slow as I graduated and I am still trying to find a full time job. I will try to be smart with the new set up and make it somewhat simpler than what I had before.
So, this leads me to where the problems started. Since about February I had problems with the car randomly running rich. I replaced all the gaskets twice, got a new knock sensor, check for boost leaks countless times, went over the harness, checked the flow on the injectors, checked the harness, tried different mafs, had the ECU looked over for any issues and nothing seemed to be off. So I eventually got it to run okay( no clue why, it just did). Also picked up one of the parts I've a wanted for about 4 years: A D-Max hood!!
Decided to go to the last Imports@cpp club meet as I was about to graduate. It would be one of the last times I would get to see many of the people there and I decided to take the car. Washed it and off I went. I parked off the main lot as there were a lot of people there, hanged out with friends, and eventually one wanted to move the car into the main lot. I said okay. Then he stalled it. I looked over and once we restarted the car, it was running rich once again (10 afr). Normally, the car would turn on and run fine until it built boost so I tried to drive it at really low rpms, but this time it didn't help. I decided to have it towed.
Got it home and had my mom and siblings along with my niece visit from Portland for my graduation.
So afterwards, I got working on the car. Did a couple boost leak test and bought a consult port cable to see what was going on with the car.
Got tired of dealing with the car and took it over to Efrain at Suspicious Garage to look at it and see what was wrong with it. Drove it across the street to wait for the trow truck. This was the last time I drove it with an SR.
Car wouldn't start once we got to Suspicious Garage. We used carb cleaner and got it to turn over. At this time Efrain was looking over stuff and decided to do a leak down test to eliminate that as a cause.
The Verdict? 30% leakage on cylinders 2 & 3 though the crankcase. We spoke quite a bit about the causes and it seems like it was simply incorrectly assembled. So lesson learned: Don't trust anyone else's work. Was so mad but what can one do.
At this point I didn't know what to do with the car but I knew the SR had to come out. Got it ready to be taken out and removed it.
After this I sold a majority of the sr20 parts to a friend who was in the middle of a rebuild. This bring us to about late august.
I messed with the idea of doing a 1JZ swap on the car. The more I looked at it, the more I realized that if I did, it would be too expensive for a recent graduate with no job. At the time my friend had a single cam at his shop that was removed for a 2jz swap and said I could have it. It didn't hold idle but everything seemed fine. I took it and spend so much to clean it up and new gaskets, now regret but my plan was to make the car stock again and sell it. Cleaned everything, installed it and now it had a high idle.
At this time I went to visit my family to get away from the car and take a break from all the job applications.
I was not feeling my best. Hadn't found a job, had to start paying back student loans, the car was not running right and I simply didn't want it. and posted a part out thread before I left.
It's a must to stop by Voodoo Donut when in Portland!
Got back and was still not feeling it. While in Portland my mom and siblings convinced me to keep it. so I sold what I would not need or want to keep going on and left it sitting. Sol the OEM kouki front, side and rear valances along with the s max hood and seats.
Wanted to drive it one last time but as i left the house the outer tie rod snapped. so I simply took pictures there and pushed the car back.
and how it currently sits.
So future plans? I ordered the new aero for the car on Thursday so I should have it in a few weeks. I'm looking into buying a bucket seat and currently seeing what my options are as far as a different engine. Either a stock complete sr swap, or a rebuilt one with the parts I still have. The single cam is currently pending so I have a few days to decide what to do.