Feb 26th, 2014
Car was supposed to head to the paint shop Saturday for paint, instead I ended up having many setbacks and a crushing blow to my spirit.
Thursday night I went to meet Fielding and the guy that would be painting my car, I took the bumper and wing since they still needed to be sanded and figured I'd do it while Fielding was sanding his. Upon arrival I discovered I had somehow broke the upper passenger side mounting point. After talking to the paint guy he was pretty sure he could fix it, so I began wet sanding out all the runs in the front bumper. Since I found out the shop was so close to my house I decided to just drive it over for paint on Saturday.
Friday I registered the car, paid for 6 months of insurance and picked up headlight bulbs, bolts for the bash bar, sand paper, primer (for the wing and bumper), blinker and brake bulbs. I spent several hours sanding the bumper and wing as well as prepping it for primer, the wing turned out pretty good but the bumper ended up reacting really weird to the primer so I decided "f*ck it" and I would just pay the paint guy more to fix it.
I then decided to work on the last few things it needed to pass inspection and be driven, front wheel fitment issue and lights and this is when things went South. I started adjusting the Caster in very small increments trying to find the sweet spot between the rear of the fender and where the bumper mounts to the front of the fender. This proved to be futile, now it is rubbing on both and completely un-driveable until I get some different wheels which I do not have the money for at this time. I decided I would just slap the stockers on until I got it painted then figure it out from there so I moved on to lights.
After arguing with the Autozone clerks for 20 mins they convinced me my car was 9006 bulbs even though I was pretty sure it was H4, low and behold I was f-bombing right so I had no bulbs to pass inspection in the front. I moved to the rear and put all the new bulbs in for the brakes, running lights and blinkers. Flipped the lights on and NOTHING F*CKING WORKS, the dash just makes a buzzing noise when the blinkers are activated and none of the other lights work at all. At this point I was done, I pulled the car in and went home and fumed for 3 days over the **** sandwich that was handed to me when I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Anyways, mostly I just wanted to vent but there is a bit of progress in there. It doesn't look like I'll be making R1 unless I magically stumble upon some 15x9 or 15x8 white wheels with a good offset for the front. Anyway's, thanks for listening to my bitching and moaning. Here's a pic since you guys listened.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/I5e0Fngl.jpg)
May 18th, 2014
Well after a 3 month work traveling hiatus I went out and worked on the 86 today...
I tore apart the wiring harness and got all the lights working and the tach issue fixed when I pressed on the brakes! I'm still getting a check engine light but I think it's because of the IACV blockoff plate I installed, I will have to check codes this coming weekend or tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I can pass inspect and drive it which is pretty exciting. Now can anyone tell me if the wing lights blink like the blinkers or are they just running lights? It's been so long since I drove it I don't remember and I'm hoping the blink so I can use them to pass inspection.
I have however found a new little issue that is a bit mind boggling. When I press the brakes without the running lights on all the brakes lights light up except for the inside light on the driver's side. Now, if I have the running lights/headlights on the light works just fine. Any ideas?
May 24th, 2014
As of last night I ordered a new set of wheels that should help my front end issue, they should be here next week or the week after. Finished wiring up the dash harness today after double checking my CEL codes, just wanted to make sure nothing was related to that section before I taped it all up. I'm getting two CEL codes, 6 and 7. I will have to do some research and see what these mean, but from what I can tell they are TPS and Dizzy related.
McKenney, the brakes lights are now mysteriously working. I will however still call you when I'm down at the shop next time and double check on everything. I also tried to straight my studs up on the hubs but they are still crooked as ****, I'm just going to have to get an electric impact and see if I can't finish them off for good.
That's all I got for this week. I am supposed to go pick up a door handle from Rue today or tomorrow, I really can't wait to drive this thing.
EDIT: Wheel company that had wheels in stock wanted me to text a picture of my drivers license and CC to them. Sketch f-bombing city, now I have to find wheels elsewhere, in stock, that don't take 2 months to get here. Anyone have some good ones in Texas that might have some Varrstoen V1's in stock?
May 31st, 2014
Ok, everything is now done except for the front blinkers, I tried to do some splicing but I couldn't seem to get it to work right so I'm just going to take it to a shop and try to get this bash bar modified so the bumper lights will fit.
I tried adjusting the cams a bit to see if I could get it to run a little better, I went both +4 degrees and -4 degrees and it didn't seem to run very well either way so I put it back to 0 degrees. The reason I tried to adjust it was when I was setting it to TDC the exchaust cam had to be physically held in place since one of the lobes was trying to open a valve. I also installed new wiper blades, the remaining door handle, side mirrors and ECU kick panel plastics as well as the rear plastics.
I got the center garnish installed and it looks really good, I just need to get some new tails to match. You can also get a good look at the shaved rear plate lights, I have some ideas on an LED light system for the plate lights. I just haven't really looked into it yet but I don't think it will be an issue.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/F2sspT3l.jpg)
I finally found some H4 bulbs that weren't 80 dollars for a set, this gave me a chance to install the Raybrig housings, they look freaking awesome.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/jjo8HhWl.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/wmhBQrXl.jpg)
I installed the passenger side eyelid and then got over to the driver's side and noticed they gave me two right's instead of one for each side! This really sucks since I got them from a vendor in Australia. I'm currently looking for another in mint condition, so if anyone has some leads please send them my way. I would really like to trade one of my passenger side lids for a mint driver's side but I will buy if I have to.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/dzROIuLl.jpg)
I lowered the front coils 1in and the rears 1/2in. The front look about perfect but the rears are a different matter. Going by BC Racing's spring pre-load procedure the rears are now maxed out on how low they can go, you simply cannot screw them down any further and it looks funny to me.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/OdUi0val.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/EXLTdNEl.jpg)
I'm really going to miss this front fitment, too bad I can't turn the wheels, lol.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/FjJrpqil.jpg)
Here's a few pics of it looking extremely menacing in the garage with the bumper just hanging on.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/GJrOKdWl.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/ok1XTIVl.jpg)
June 4th, 2014
As of yesterday the car is now registered, inspected and insured. I spent most of the day trying to get the bumper/flares to work properly after getting my new wheels in. Thought I had everything sorted and low and behold the bumper lights are not plug and play lol. Gave McKenney a call and told me I had the answer right under my nose. The Project Car issue I bought and never looked at showed me how to hook up the bumper lights to get them to work. On the way to get it inspected I broke the bumper and a flare but was able to finagle it to make the Tuesday night meet @ LA Burger. I had a great time and finally got to meet some members from the forums as well as a few other car enthusiasts. Here's how she sit's now.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/4ie1Ss5l.jpg)
Now on to some new problems. Car has almost no power currently, 86boy was kind enough to bust out his timing light last night at the meet and we discovered timing was WAAYYYY off. I woke up early today to go ahead and try to get a jump on the timing issue. After checking crank timing, distributor timing and cam timing everything shows correct. I've been racking my brain all day trying to figure out why it would show out of time. I ended up looking into the cam gears since they were prototypes and it does looks like the TDC mark is indeed off by a tooth, atleast I think. In the picture below it looks like the TDC mark on the NST cams are set to the lower dot instead of the upper dot which is incorrect (I believe that's correct). I've advanced the timing a tooth on the gears and it runs better but it still bogs like crazy. Hopefully 86boy will be able to help me get it straightened out tonight.
![Image](http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/gallery/Timing%20mark.jpg)
June 11th, 2014
The day after I got it all legal I decided I wanted to take it down to the store, I made it about a block and the front tire caught the bumper and ripped the hole thing off effectively breaking it
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
So starting today I got a running shot at trying to repair it myself, I have no idea how well this is going to turn out but I'll keep everyone posted on the process as I work on it. Today I got the repair kit on the bumper and starting trying to sand it down, from what I can tell I'm going to have to use some Bondo to even things out since one side of the crack is higher than the other.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/Gz1e3iXl.jpg)
I also picked up some black chrome acorn nuts for the valve covers today since I was missing one. I didn't get any pictures but I'll try to remember next time I'm at the garage. I finally pulled out the headlight covers and tried to clean them up. They were in pretty rough shape so I sanded them down and primered them, except I bought the wrong color primer and will have to re-spray them later on. They turned out pretty good though.
Before and after
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/haTHpkvl.jpg)
Both finished.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/qA8hxFul.jpg)
I caved and picked up some NST pulleys which came in the other day but I do not have air tools to install them, I tried to do it by hand but the Alternator pulley just spins when I try to hold it still. I also got it aligned and I've been toying with the intake cam gear to try and get the power just right, I've gotten it a bit better but not perfect. Also today my LED lights should be in for the instrument cluster, kind of excited to see those in action.
Well that's all I got for now.
June 18th, 2013
I'm having a strange ticking noise coming from the car all of a sudden but it only does it around 4k rpm and if I'm maintaining speed. If I accelerate or let of the gas it stops. I couldn't really tell where it was coming from while driving but I thought it sounded like it was coming from the rear diff. I changed out the fluid on Monday and the noise still persisted and from the picture you can tell it might be time to rebuild the rear end, lol.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/omysYitl.jpg)
The rear end doesn't make as much noise now and I was able to track down the noise. It's coming from the upper part of the head and I'm thinking it might be valve lash, at least I hope. I spent several hours checking all the clearances when I installed the cams to make sure they were in spec so I'm kind of skeptical that's the issue. Unless this is normal after and engine has been broke in. Also, as I drive my car at 80mph the oil pressure starts to fall off to where it's almost at the low end of the gauge, I'm really hoping this is a faulty reading but it scares me none the less. If anyone has any ideas or input feel free to give me some direction.
Come Friday I will check all the clearances on the cams again and make sure they are within spec, I really hope the brand new oil pump didn't go kablooey.
June 21st, 2014
Checked all the valve clearances today, found 2 out of spec. Replaced them but I'm still getting the "chatter" around 2500-4000 rpm. Car pulls really good. I'm at a complete loss for what it is, the only other thing I can think of is maybe the distributor gear is lose or something.
I did find a thread on the old club4ag that had a guy having the similar issues as me and it turned out his cam bearing caps were loose. I double checked all mine and torqued them down to 14 ft-lbs. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Junes 25th, 2014
I Borrowed a Stethoscope from work today to see if I could track down the head rattle. I checked all over the block I could hear it but nothing jumping out and saying RIGHT HERE, I then put it on the distributor base and it was loud as hell. I'm pretty convinced that the distributor is loose or something and it's causing the noise when I let off the throttle(backlash). I took a few videos to see if anyone had any other input. If anyone has a spare distributor we can swap over to test in the DFW area that would be greatly appreciated.
http://youtu.be/Tr7lNtZbm44http://youtu.be/nw2zE4vGolkI also got in my 25mm spacers for the rear from HondaRue, I know it's a crappy pic but it will have to make due for now.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/bP6c8QSl.jpg)
I also ordered Megasquirt PNP and a Innovative LC-2 wideband which should be here next week, I'm pretty excited to mess with those. Until next time!
July 6th, 2014
Thanks man. I'm still looking for a stock distributor to test with, would only need it for like 15 minutes or so.
Surfing Club4ag I found a killer deal on a Megasquirt and snagged it with a Innovative LM-2 wideband. I got it in on Thursday last week now I'm scowering the web trying to figure out how to hook all this stuff up. I'm a complete noob to stand alone engine management systems.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/TtoorEil.jpg)
I did not get a gauge for the Wideband and was hoping I could just see the readings inside the tuning program once I get it going because I planned on doing something like this.
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/ ... 878/page1/
July 27th, 2014
Was having issues with timing mark jumping around so I installed my NST water pump and crank pulley(alternator will have to come later when I know someone that will let me use their air tools)... Afterwards the timing mark wasn't jumping as bad but it was still jumping. I ended up buying a new distributor and installing it yesterday, the timing mark no longer jumps. Yay!
I also did the first oil change on the new engine and moved up to a thicker oil hoping this would stop the "chatter" the engine was having. It did not.
Ended up tearing the head completely down(didn't remove the head) and inspecting everything including the timing belt tensioner. The cam caps had a little wear on them but I'm unsure what a lot of damage would look like. The cams had a little bit of what I would consider damage on them, but they were like that when they arrived.
Had an ASE certified mechanic look at the caps and he told me they would be considered "Junk" in reality but did not think they were causing the noise, also said it did not sound like like rod knock or wrist pin knock.
I noticed that one of the cam gears looked like they had not been making full contact to the cam and thought the bolts for the cams were too long, I got a shorter set and installed them, did not fix the noise.
Ended up pulling all plugs (one at a time) while it was running to see if this would affect the noise, it did not.
I re-torqued all cap bolts, tensioner bolt and various other bolts to make sure they were on good and tight and to spec, still no change.
After everything was assembled and the new distributor was timed correctly I took it for a spin and it pulls like crazy. The sound still only occurs during partial throttle and when just letting off the throttle. I'm almost convinced it's something external the engine but of course I could be wrong.
Picking up a new exhaust gasket today and a new tensioner to test with, if neither of these work I'm begging, hell pleading for someone to help me come track down the issue.
Oct 27th, 2014
een awhile since I updated and I have many updates, I will just put them in chronological order.
Turns out the rattle was being caused by the TVIS, I disconnected it and it is much much quieter but still persists when throttle is applied. I ordered a TVIS delete and plan on installing it as soon as the car returns from the shop.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/BIZUx2Sl.jpg)
I installed the Megasquirt to make sure it worked and drove it down the street, it felt very good. I took it off and stored it while I waiting on IAT sensor, Intake tube (for MAP delete), DB15 connector and a tuning cable.
Now for some bad news, about 2 months ago I was in the outside double turn lane when a guy in the inside lane tried to go straight and took me out, of course he has some of the worst insurance I've ever had the honor of dealing with and it took 2 months to get some money from them. The good news is I was able to use the money to get a new paint job. BEHOLD!!!!
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/zFDLOlNl.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/zWN30wPl.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/qOIiLcgl.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/YoRCTWJl.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/UEiPMdyl.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/dKAqGzVl.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/io4oRWvl.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/G8GUHvrl.jpg)
She's getting wetsanded and a buff then I can pick her up tomorrow, I will post more shots then. Since the tail lights look like complete **** and the rest of the outside is about to be flawless I went ahead and ordered a set of Sprinters, hope to have them in a few more weeks.
As soon as the car gets back I plan on installing the MS, gotta take it and get the wideband welded in then it'll be time to get a tune. Hope you guys enjoyed this update as much as I did.
Nov 2nd, 2014
Picked up the 86 from the Body shop on Friday night, took it to get some food and one of the top oil plugs near the spark plugs fell out going down the highway. Didn't notice something was wrong until I pushed in the clutch exiting the highway and it died, motor blown.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/IFp2tnTl.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/mhdikEpl.jpg)
The next morning I was hoping that everything would be okay since we had only lost 2 quarts of oil by replacing the plug, alas this did not help it. Zero oil pressure and zero water temp which boggles my mind.
Since it was daylight I wanted to get a better look at the paintjob and my god what a complete waste of money. He didn't fix some cracks in the body from where I was hit, you can see the primer underneath the paint all over the car, there is a spot where the fender meets the hood that has no paint on it at all and he painted my eyelids, tail lights and my exhaust. Needless to say this entire weekend was a huge kick in the nuts.
I've now made a decision to go high compression 7AGE. I've found a block for 150 I'll pick up this week and I just ordered a set of H Beam con rods, 7age timing belt kit and bearings. I think I'm going to go with Red Top High Comp pistons and I found a rebuilt ported and polished head on Craigslist. I'm really hoping to have the engine assembled in the next few weeks. I'll post updates as they come in.
Here are the links to the parts I ordered.
Conrods
http://www.mrpltd.co.nz/product/280/7a- ... nrods.html
Timing Belt Kit
http://www.mrpltd.co.nz/product/394/7ag ... t-kit.html
Nov 8th, 2014
Tail lights came in from Ireland, pretty stoked to see them on the car but I think I'm going to wait until it's back on the road first.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/tQWxmSjl.jpg)
I called every single junkyard in the DFW area, no I'm not exaggerating, it was close to 100 junkyards before I found a 7AFE block. We left to pick it up Wed and they were not ready to pull it out for me so I returned on Sat to pick it up. Upon getting it home I started disassembling it and when I removed the bracket we noticed this, lol. Only 2 more hours of driving to take it back and grab another, go me!
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/3c23FGWl.jpg)
Since we had nothing else to do I decided to tear the engine apart on the Rolla and see if there was any water/oil in the cylinders or any other damage we could see. Upon tearing it apart I found why the car was leaking water everywhere. That's the back of the water pump assembly, I guess I need to locate a complete new one from someone. If you have one laying around please PM me so I can get it en-route asap.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/z4MtQ9pl.jpg)
It also looking like there was some oil/water leaking in a few spots of the head gasket, otherwise I couldn't discern anything wrong with the head, head gasket or the block/pistons. The rotating assembly also turned freely with no issues so I'm hoping a new head gasket and a water pump will clear things up and get me back on the road for now. It also looked like the cams were unaffected by any oil starvation so I wonder if it was an issue at all. Is there anything else I should look for before spending money and time on putting the 4AGE back together?
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/wNP97YXl.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/0cONGCel.jpg)
As we were working on the car today a huge gust of wind blew in, picked up the bumper and flung it across the parking lot. I almost yak'd when I saw the damage.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/jMc2hU0l.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/mNriUbul.jpg)
Also, here is a pic of the paint on the front passengers fender near where the hood meets the fender. I tried to get more pictures but my garage is not to well lit and you couldn't see the issues. Looks almost like it was taped too far in on the fender.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/A8isEm7l.jpg)
I'm also currently looking for the following if anyone has anyting laying around.
1x Intake manifold bolt
1x Fuel rail bolt
1x RWD water line as shown in picture above
1x BT ITB setup (Still on the fence about this but looking for now)
Nov 21st, 2014
Okay, so all the following parts have arrived as of today.
New OEM high comp pistons (Still unsure of my CR, Hoping for 10.1:1 but I'm unsure how to calculate this)
Used 7AFE block (Still needs to be disassembled and taken to machine shop)
MRP Ltd 7AFE (800hp rated) Conrods
MRP 7AGE timing belt kit with special crank sprocket
ARP rod bolts and bearings (They forgot thrust bearings so I will be waiting on those)
ARP head studs and main bolts
Seal kit
TRD head gasket
Tweak'd Performance engine harness clips (no more crappy plugs!)
Used water line kit (Thanks to whomever sent me this on the forums!)
New Aisin oil pump
New injector O Ring kit
New plugs
T3 TVIS delete
Here's a list of things I'm needing or unsure of what to use, mainly due to the massive amounts of misinformation out there about the 7AGE requirements.
Rebuilt big port head (Looking at rebuild kits show the price to be astronomical, daveskatesallday has one but I'm trying to get in touch with him to hammer down a price)
Flywheel ? (4AGE or 7AFE car?)
Clutch ? (4AGE or 7AFE, see above)
Motor mounts (Been using the same ones for the last 3 rebuilds, think it's time to step up to some non OEM replacements).
Oil Pan (Which pan oil pick up and windage tray, 7AFE or 4AGE?)
That's all I can think of for now aside from timing questions but I will inquire with MRP about that part once I get closer. The only other thing I'm worried about is if it's possible to stab the tranny while it is installed in the car? I've never done it this way and I'm wondering how big of a pain in the ass it actually is.
Here's a pic of the rods from MRP.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/iW2L12yl.jpg)