Wynona the wagon's resurrection!

[HRH]

Damn! Bargain shopper! I'd pick one up for that price too! I was going to get a big-dog electric, but it can't take saw blade attachments and I need those for doing the thick clusters of napweed in the alley.

[HRH]

So I've decided on personal plates for the RB swap. How about MUNIPIT? I swear, just another $100 is the mantra of this project. I really hope it's worth it in the end, because right now I wish I'd just yanked the L apart and built a different head for it. Stay the course, stay the course, that's what my mind keeps telling me. And really, I'm pretty close to done (only said that a hundred times), but damn this RB is making me work for it.

[Taterhead]

Well, I just walked outside and confirmed that a VG pump from an Xterra will not mount up. Just trying to think outside the box.

[HRH]

Lol, thanks! I didn't know you had an RB! I definitely could make a bracket, but I thought about it and said it's going to take me more than $100 worth of effort and time to make it, and this should bolt right up. Annoying it won't come until next Wednesday, but that should be the last piece of the puzzle to get my PS system working. Really, for $60 for the pump, $100 for the bracket, and $70 for the line I cut down, that's not really that bad for a whole power steering system. But if I would have just gone LS, I could have gone to Pull and Save and had a whole system for like 50 bucks, lol. But then it wouldn't be Nissan. Sigh. I really need to get over purism.

[HRH]

Alright, lots to do tomorrow, but my plan is to get an early start and get the damn wagon off the jackstands this weekend! Wish me luck!

[HRH]

So here's something interesting: I went to Pull and Save this morning to get some gauge cluster to try and modify a factory tach from something else into the wagon. Got two clusters, one from a '97 Maxima, and one from a '00 Honda Prelude. Took off the front cover of the Prelude cluster, and guess what I saw?

Ford Mo Co! Complete with Ford part numbers! Had no idea Ford was supplying Honda with gauge clusters, lol.

[BLUE]

Ford Mo Co supplied my Acura gauge cluster ???
Pssssshhhhhh.......no faith ??!?!!? .....






****10-minutes later****

[HRH]

I spent SOOO long making the power steering work today. As it turns out, I used an alternator bracket from the Nissan Quest/Mercury Villager I got the alternator off of, think it was a 93-95 version. Anyway, long bracket. Cut the angles, beat it straight, welded it back together. Cut the RB20 pump adjustment bracket mount in half, then welded on a 2.25" square piece onto it, then a hole and welded a nut to the back. I have too small a belt because it's a very odd 3 rib size. I'd like to find the correct 4 rib pulley, probably more options. The belt I want fits like 82-83 Hondas, lol. Anyway, I'll find it. Running a too small belt now, it's a little stressed on the supply hose, but it works and was enough to let me know if I have any leaks.

I'm uploading a video now, oh it's epic. I'm so very tickled pink tonight. Things are looking much better. After much hardship, the Datsun Gods have decided I deserve a win today.

[DRIVEN]

Niiiiice!

[HRH]

Well holy crap I'm tired. Worked all day on the car, got about everything done that's left besides AC and the brake booster. Got the reverse lights working, had to swap a switch on the RB20 tranny. Wrapped the exhaust with titanium heat wrap, good for some odd thousands, should protect the steering shaft and ps lines. Steering shaft literally has 1/8" of clearance at the exhaust. Just enough to get some wrap in. Also, fuck those stupid stainless steel zip ties. I wasted 3, got the other 5 to hold, but eventually went back with regular ss hose clamps.

Got the front valence cut, made a little screen for the hole, with a scoop to direct air right at the intercooler. Made the plate on the bottom to keep the air from escaping out the bottom. Adjusted the throttle bracket, got all the wires tied up in the engine bay, shouldn't have anything hitting pulleys or dangling down. Don't have the AC done yet, but it doesn't look as bad as I thought. Other than the lines need to go right where the intercooler piping and air tube is.

Got the tach figured out. Got a tach from a 97 Maxima (coil on plug) and it's just old school enough to have 3 studs for power ground, and signal. Tested it, works great. It's a little too large for the 910 gauge cluster, so I cut it down. And then because it was 10 o'clock and I was tired, I screwed it up. The needle kept hitting the gauge face cover. So I kept jamming it on harder and trying different needles until I managed to yank the shaft out of the tach getting the needle off. And now the tach doesn't turn as smoothly. It was then I realized the 910 plastic plate is much thinner than the 97 Maxima mounting plastic. And if I had just put some spacers behind it, it would have been fine. Sigh. So I'll go back to pull and save today and get another Maxima gauge cluster, but at least it's all set up and will work and I don't have to go without a tach. I'm not 100% happy with the fitment, but I figure low rpm and high rpm hash marks are a lot more important than 4000, right? The green tape is where to line the needle up. The left side has a stop, but it's not the start of the needle.

I'll upload some pics in a second.

[DRIVEN]

Really, really close to being a driver then?

[HRH]

Yes! As soon as I get the tach done, I can reinstall the dash pieces. Probably have about 1-2 hours worth of putting stuff back together in the cabin, including getting the carpet sitting nicely over the spot I put the ECU. Then it will be off the jackstands. Pretty much done underneath the car I think.

Oh crap, forgot, I still need to find and hook up heater hoses. I've had it looped during testing. There's also a ton of rust water still in the block. Looks green, but when I pulled the top tube to install the fan switch, it was filled with rust grossness. Fortunately the tube is aluminum. I suspect I'll need 2 or 3 more radiator flushes in the next month to get all that crap out even though I cleaned it thoroughly to begin with. If I had this to do over again (besides doing an LS swap) I would have completely torn down the engine to bare block and hot-tanked it. That would have been a better idea for cleanliness.

But yes, after that I plan to start driving it to work this next week, with or without heater. Then I'll re-check the driveline. Dropped the new one while playing with u joints, and had issues with the rear u joint being too tight. Ended up using a thinner c-clip on one side only. Should be okay, but I'll check for vibrations. I'd prefer to have it perfect but it was being a super turd at the time.

And finally, I REALLY REALLY need to clean the garage. Everything is a mess.

[DRIVEN]

Might not be a bad idea to leave the heater bypassed while you shake it down and do the flushes. Heater cores frequently have thinner tubes and are great at collecting sediment. Not like you'll need it in the next 5-6 months anyway.

[HRH]

That's not a bad idea. I think you're right. I'll need to block off the heater tubes so they don't get crap in them, but no worries.

[HRH]

Back to pull and save today to get another gauge cluster. And while I was there, there was a red '93 Pathfinder with a PERFECT left front fender. Since the Datsun Gods had tempted me, I looked to the sky and said, "Challenge accepted!" I now have a nice fender I don't have to paint to replace the shitty one on Gracie II.

About to go out and install the tachometer in the wagon and see if it works. Should, only 200k on the clock on this one. Just barely broken in!

[HRH]

Ah yes, so I see the Datsun Gods were having a laugh. Having tempted me with the easy fender pull, and allowing me to get the new tachometer from PNS in and correct where it doesn't foul the gauge cluster, I now see where this was going.

First problem, started up the car to verify the tach works. It did, but started going up and down in idle something fierce. Couldn't figure it out until I realized I had the long vacuum tubes from the charcoal canister disconnected from when I was routing the fuel pump wire around the strut tower last night. So I fixed that and it smoothed out, ran a bit high. No worries, I thought. It'll idle down after it gets warm.

It didn't idle down. In fact, I got a whistle noise through the intake somewhere. At full hot, she's idling at 1050 rpm. Sprayed brake cleaner all around the plenum and intake, no change. My thoughts are this:

1. Air leak. Makes sense. No change with alternate fuel means I didn't spray the right spot (doubtful), or more likely, IAC is stuck or clogged.
2. Intake or plenum leak. (Don't think so, fresh gaskets and no change with alternate fuel.
3. Weird reversion thing in the charcoal canister from having it disconnected? Doubtful.
4. When I had the vacuum lines off, it did almost die, then catch back up. Perhaps the IAC got mad from having to work so hard from sitting?
5. TPS adjustment. Don't think so considering it was working just fine before this issue but I suppose I should check it and make sure it doesn't think it's in mid-range. People say it's supposed to be at .45 volts. I'm not sure, haven't checked the manual. And now that I'm thinking about it, I do seem to remember the TPS being disconnected while running resets the TPS, which may also affect the idle. At least, that's on the hardbody and it's similar systems even though it's an RB and not a KA.

It responds just fine when given throttle, if I haven't mentioned.

Anyone else have any thoughts I've missed? I see some hits on the internets about the IAC valve and cleaning on RBs.

I went out an whacked on the IAC while it was running. Got one change in rpm, then nothing after that. Think I'm going to start by yanking that off and cleaning it out. The other possibility is it just needs adjustment. Though I don't remember ever hearing the noise before while running it. Leads me to think something malfunctioned. Emptied half a can of brake cleaner at it just now too, no change at all. Pretty sure its an internal issue.

I did disconnect the TPS while running, one connector does nothing, the other main one makes it idle much higher. Went back down when I reconnected it. I suppose if I don't find anything in the IAC when I take it off, the next thing is going through the manual and following the troubleshooting diagrams. And checking voltage on things.

[HRH]

Well here's something. I'm going to check that. Certainly possible the TPS needs adjustment since the unit is likely original and only been sitting for 20 years. The good news is unlike the guy in the video, I made a testing adapter harness for the hardbody, and I'm almost certain it fits that 3 prong oval, so I should have an easy time of it. I'll check that tomorrow and see if that doesn't fix it up, and might even clean out the IAC as well. Figure I'll start there anyway.

[Laecaon]

Yea, Ive heard about some weirdness with these TPS units. I have to deal with it on the CA. Especially since I changed it over to a KA throttle body.

[HRH]

The TPS was set at .42 before I adjusted it. Check out that slick testing adapter I made for the hardbody! Woot woot! Really happy I put that together a while back. I should make a whole set for all the Nissan connectors. Anyway, going to check the FSM now and see if I can find the rest of the idle set procedures and go from there. Not going to fiddle with it tonight, just not feeling it.

[HRH]

Oh for fuck's sake, I just erased what I typed. Anyway, the FSM says .48 is not how you test it. It works just like the old throttle switches. At idle, you should have 0 ohms, so nothing contacting. As soon as you tip in, it contacts. It does mention working voltage of approx. .5-4v, so .48 is probably pretty close. But that's not how you're supposed to set it.

I would like to eventually get a GTS-T specific FSM so I didn't have to decipher between RB26 and RB20. There are some differences though the theory is the same. As far as the high idle though, I suspect to find an issue in the AAC system. One of the big points in the troubleshooting tree. Apparently the factory idle should be 700 rpm. I think since I heard that whistle, that pretty much tells me one of the air bleed devices is stuck or not correct in some fashion.