new radiator

Dont know if i mentioned this in the last post. but the car has been plagued with overheating problems. the old radiator was leaky and had a few issues. so i purchased a new one for a Nissan B14 and installed it in the car (i swear this car is half B14 now).

i had to modify the lower mount to get it to work along with cutting a few hoses but it fit now, haven't had the chance to test it really just left it idling in the drive way. while the temp stayed down i wasn't too impressed with a few aspects of it. such as excessive bubbles in the overflow bottle.

however at least the system pressures up nicely now. so less air trapped in the cooling loop. will have to test it and see how it goes. if anything. time for a trip to the mechanic

see ya

Muffler fixed

 
hey guys whats good.

so i finally got around to fixing the exhaust on the vehicle. i got a muffler shop on
Tumpuna road. arima, to remove the old one and install a new one.

apparently the old one installed by the previous owner was too big and was for a diesel engine, did not know there was a difference with those. oh well the technician installed the new one and the car sounds sweet now.

so now i dont wake the whole street up when i get home at 2 am. lol

see ya.

its working

i know its been a while....okay a long while. since i have given an update. but here is one any way. so as you can see shes up and running. made it from arima to trincity. only problem is that she has a power steering leak and keeps over heating due to problems with the radiator.

sigh any one know where i can get a used radiator for sale....meh

well shes been driven for a week now and has shut down three times due to overheating, will have to look into that. plan to do some work on the radiator over the week comming. will elt you all know how that goes.

see ya

Working on the dashboard

Hi guys,

So im working on the dashboard of the car. Got some cardboard and im cutting it to fit all the missing spaces in the dashboard. This is so I can get a basic template of what I need to fill those places. I can then transfere it to fiber glass or use the cardboard covered in leatherette.

See ya

Sound system continued

Hey guys, happy new years. So im posting this from my phone as my computer has finally kicked the bucket. So a moment of silence for my computer. ....and were done.

So I finally decided to get back to work on the cars sound system, I got around to installing the speakers in the door. For those of you who dont remember I did the D.I.Y speaker mold in an earlier post click here to see it. I took out the door covering/panels/whatever you call them and gave them a good cleaning using a foam cleaner I picked up at the grocery store, the brand does not matter.  Then I polished the material to give it back a nice shine. This step is not important as it really doesn't affect the job.

I then proceeded to use four 3 inch dry wall screws to secure each speaker to the door.  Make sure to measure speaker placement before to create an even look.

Once completed I ran the speaker cable along with the rest of the cables running trough the door such as the power windows,  locks and mirrors. Note, this may lead to interface when those devices are in use but im yet to find out.

Next step will be to run the power cable for the amp and hook it all up. Till then see ya

Car seat quick fix

this will be a short post, but since we are on the topic of upholstery. i just want to share with you guys a quick and easy tip to repair old worn out car seats. So maybe your car seats are torn or stained and it is making your interior look awful, a simple way to fix this is to use a car seat cover.

now before you go out and buy seat covers make sure and check what type of seats you have. all car seats were not created equal. for the seats in the back they usually come in 50/50, 60/40 and may other measurements which represent how the back seat folds. if you want to preserve this ability find the right seat cover. also the position of the seat belts on the front seat also the addition of air bags and arm rest can decide which cover can fit on your front seats. when purchasing please take all these into account.there are universal ones which uses zippers in various positions to control the width of the seat cover to allow it to fit on any configuration.

to install seat covers you will have to remove the seats, consult your owners manual to find out how.then i slipped the covers over the seat and used the provided bands to adjust the fit. i think they gave me a professional look without having to reupholster the cars seats. what do you think?

                         

Engine swap

looking back now i don't think i ever mentioned much about the engine swap so i am going to give you guys a quick look about it.

the above is the original  G4EK also know as the Hyundai Alpha engine its specs are as followed curtsey Wikipedia.

The G4EK is a 1.5 L engine, with a bore and stroke of 75.5 mm and 83.5 mm, respectively. The SOHC 12 valves 1.5 S generated a respectable but not notable 92 HP (69 kW) at 5500 rpm and 97 lb·ft (132 N·m) at 4000 rpm, 

the above is the engine that replace the original one. this is the Nissan GA15DE locally know as the "B14 engine" its specs are as followed.

The GA15DE is an 1.5 litre (1,497 cc) engine with DOHC and throttle-body electronic fuel injection. Bore and stroke are 73.6 mm (2.90 in) and 88 mm (3.5 in). It produces 104 hp (78 kW) at 6,000 rpm and 135 N·m (100 ft·lbf) at 4,000 rpm.

This engine swap nearly made me give up on the project.sadly as much as i prefer to do things my self, the car engine was an area that i preferred not to touch. to get the job done, a certain Arima based mechanic was chosen (name with held for reasons). The original plan was to repair the original engine since i had a second engine of similar built, and the transmission in the car was still good. however the mechanic advised me to change to the B14 engine, which really and truly made since due to its popularity and good supply of parts. so i decided to change the engine instead.

it cost me about $11,000 to change which included labour, B14 engine, brake repairs, transmission and the cleaning of the gas tank. this did not bother me as i had the cash plus, i planned to sell the old engine and transmission to pay for the car. however after the job was completed and i returned for the car. the mechanic claimed he threw away the old engine. now i don't know about you but one the engine was relatively good and just needed parts from the other one to work properly. plus the transmission was good. so why would you throw them away. plus a number of small items in the car was missing.(strike one!)

however since i did not record the old engine numbers and had no way of proving otherwise, i could not raise much of an argument. so i decide to let it go. after driving home, i realized that the car had a strong smell of gas in it. after deciding to investigate. i decide to look under the hood. only to find a hole in the fuel return line, causing gas to be sprayed over the hot engine. (Strike two!) i repaired this myself.

a simple explanation for the fuel return line as explained by an on-line forum member: Fuel injection systems rely upon a high pressure pump to provide well timed high pressure fuel pulses to activate the injector and spray fuel into the cylinder. If any air bubbles find their way to the high pressure side of the fuel injection system it unlike fuel can compress and throw the fuelinjection timing off. So a small amount of fuel is allowed to flow past the injectors and IP and return to the fuel tank carrying any air bubbles that may find their way there back to the tank. This is referred to as a full return (to tank circuit).

last but not least the brakes were still giving trouble, the car was filled with dirty engine oil, the engine was not tuned and the transmission was leaking fluid. (strike! three your out)

at this point i was tired fed-up and actually placed the car up for sale, until someone gave me some advice on how to complete my project. and this is why i wont recommend the same mechanic to anyone