[projexxx]

hi. im jason. i guess im fairly new here. ive been to a few meets in exton and another at franklin mills but never bothered to sign up.

ive got a 1990 240 coupe. its KA-T. its a pretty involved project at this point. the idea was to go super simple. use the KA because i can go to pepboys to replace parts. also to keep all the parts as USDM as possible so anything i break with the drifty i can replace within a week. the idea was also to keep the build as cheap as possible too.

bone stock with es100s (they SUCK) on the front
ttp://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/projexxx/27.jpg
tein HE with ssr hiro on the front and ssr MK1 on the rear
ttp://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/projexxx/DSCI0001.jpg

well, after getting shafted on a few used parts, i manned up and bought a brand new phoenix turbo 50trim t3/t04e and rebuilt a ka24de motor top to bottom. i fortified the bottom end with arias 8.8:1 forged pistons, ARP hardware all around, and clevite bearings, so that completely blew the budget idea. i reused the stock rods as theyre known to be good for upwards of 500whp, and the 50trim is only good for 400. i plan to tune to between 350 and 400. the turbo has an insanely small (.48 a/r) turbine housing and with the block being bored .020" over, the 2400 CC`s will spool it up VERY quickly. it is controlled by a tial 38mm waste gate, and i also have a very nice MBC for when it comes time to go over 10psi. all machining of the block and head as well as the head dis and reassembly was performed by jess miller machine in west chester. all of the facotry emissions systems have been removed, along with all the factory sensors. i will be reinstalling the factory h2o temp sensor so the gauge works. oh yea, ive got a 75mm or maybe its 90mm pivot tach for the steering column (EFF that autometer 5" + helicopter seachlight jazz)

motor fully assembled and turbo hung. yes its purple and polish
ttp://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/projexxx/DSCI0012.jpg

the motor was assembled by myself with the guiding hand (well...mouth really) of Bert at Union 7 motorsports. it went together with its fair share of drama(lets just leave it at "camshafts are VERY brittle"), but im pretty sure my next motor wont be quite as bad. before installation, i spent at least 4 hours degreasing and cleaning the piss out of the engine bay. then i spent about 4 more hours prepping and stitch welding the strut towers and frame rails. probably about 4 more hours prepping and painting it. no i didnt paint it black. yes i painted it pink. brightly colored engine bay makes it easy to see everything, battleship grey is too boring, white gets too dirty, pink was just the right fit.

sh1tty cellfone pix
ttp://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/projexxx/teaser3.jpg

no pix of motor in chasis...yet...idk why....

anyway so the car was $350. it ran. like ****. from april 2005 to the day i pulled it...july or august last year. the head leaked oil into the combustion chamber. there were electrical gremlins all over the car with the tail lights, dash board, radio, passenger window switch. there was one wire tapped into the wiring harness, ran across the rad support, and into the fuse box. to this day i dont know why it was there. the dash lights would come on and cut out 15 minutes later. the HUD would do the same, but with a mind of its own. the oil caused vapor lock. and coked the hell out of the spark plugs too. and there was a weird cut out/complete power loss from about 4000rpm till it got down to 3000 and itd pick back up again till 4000...and so on. it was annoying. but it still ran allll the time.

but to forego any future problems of ****ty wiring from a $350 car cooking my now very expensive race motor, i picked up an EZ-2-wire kit. its the same **** as painless, only WAY WAY cheaper. very nice high quality kit, 14-16gauge wire thruout. its got circuts for just about everything. problem is, its a big big pain in the ass. you still need the factory wiring diagram for all of your switches, fuel pump, headlights, tail lights, corner lights, dome lights. anything you want to use, you need to know how its got to be wired up. ive been working on the wiring since november or december. i didnt work on it every night, but when i did, id put 2-3-4 hours in at a time. for the past week and a half ive been working on it every day for 4-6 full hours and im finally making sizeable progress. ive got the front and rear lights, brake pedal, and ignition switch done. ive got switch panels made up. ive got about a dozen aftermarket switches for headlights, turn signals, hvac, wipers and a couple other circuts set up. i may or may not make the headlight motors function. IIRC the motors are a worm gear and when powered via hotwire they will just go up and down constantly, to be stopped with the same on/off switch at my discretion. also, i decided to ditch the headlight/turnsignal/wiper stalks as when youre working the wheel, you have a tendency to throw those on mid drift...and it annoys and distracts me when i do it, and makes anyone that does it look like theyre flailing about the cabin like they dont know what theyre doing. the car is going to be used 75% race and 25% street, so the streetability doesnt need to be there, just enough to pass state safety (and emissions?!?!) inspection.

the brains behind the opperation:
ttp://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/projexxx/DSCI0009-1.jpg

the engine is being supervised by a SDS EM-4f (i think thats the right code?) standalone. it uses a hall effect sensor on the crank pulley. i installed 3 small rare earth magnets in the back of the crank pulley as directed by the SDS instructions. they trigger the hall effect sensor so the ECU knows when the engine is at TDC and BDC. IIRC, this is a batch fire injection (as opposed to sequential), with a wasted spark, twin coil pack, DLI. nothing too complex, and its pretty difficult to screw it up. the instructions on how to set up the base fuel map is a cake walk, but i definatly need to re-read a few times before the first start. after all, i dont wanna grenade the motor while im breaking it in. yes, i will be doing a hard break in.

a few tins i hammered out myself:
ttp://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/projexxx/DSCI0010-1.jpg
ttp://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/projexxx/DSCI0008-1.jpg
ttp://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/projexxx/DSCI0011.jpg

these pics are prior to final instalation, so when i DID instal them, there was a little bending and cutting and whatnot to get them to fit just how i wanted them to. today i made another tin to mount the coilpack on. they were cut with tinsnips out of 26g steel, and bent with a body hammer, a dolly, and the edge of my workbench. in retrospect, an anvil would have made it pretty easy.

ive also been using the sh1t out of a dewalt cordless drill. it was free, it stinks like ozone everytime i pull the trigger, and the bateries dont hold a charge to save their lives. but theres 2, and theyve managed to get the job done so far. ive also got one of those elcheapo pen-style soldering irons. i prefer that to the super nice ones. the super nice ones are expensive, heat up fast and theyre pretty heavy too. the pen takes about 10-15 mins to get good and hot and works just as well. saves on hand fatigue too. i know theres a ton of details i missed but what are ya gonna do.

there will be updates over the next few weeks, as the build progresses, paint goes on, etc etc etc.

thats enough for now though. pzzout