My S13 Build Progress - 56K Warning

[statik]

That part of the harness looks fine, believe it or not all of those splices come from the factory, most are sensor grounds, you can usually tell if its a factory splice by those small metal crimps they use, and usually the blue electrical tape, at least for an older nissan harness. It looks like you are trying to do everything yourself, which is great, but the harness can be daunting for a first timer, if you have any questions feel free to PM me.

[jrmiller84]

Originally Posted by statik

That part of the harness looks fine, believe it or not all of those splices come from the factory, most are sensor grounds, you can usually tell if its a factory splice by those small metal crimps they use, and usually the blue electrical tape, at least for an older nissan harness. It looks like you are trying to do everything yourself, which is great, but the harness can be daunting for a first timer, if you have any questions feel free to PM me.

Really? I did notice that those crimps weren't your typical impatient high school kid crimps. They are really small, I almost don't see how anyone would apply them without some kind of machine. There was blue tape on quite a bit of it.

It would make sense that they are grounds sense most of them all run to a thick black wire and most of them were covered up with blue electrical tape unlike the obvious n00b crappy crimp connections closer to the harness connector itself.

Hmmm...

I haven't heard anything from Enjuku yet, so perhaps what I will do is wait and see what happens with them and if they're not sure what's up with it I'll just solder those connections to make them solid and cover them up myself to make it nice and professional.

I'm really surprised that this could actually be how it came from the factory.

Thanks for the input statik!

[statik]

Originally Posted by jrmiller84

Really? I did notice that those crimps weren't your typical impatient high school kid crimps. They are really small, I almost don't see how anyone would apply them without some kind of machine. There was blue tape on quite a bit of it.

It would make sense that they are grounds sense most of them all run to a thick black wire and most of them were covered up with blue electrical tape unlike the obvious n00b crappy crimp connections closer to the harness connector itself.

Hmmm...

I haven't heard anything from Enjuku yet, so perhaps what I will do is wait and see what happens with them and if they're not sure what's up with it I'll just solder those connections to make them solid and cover them up myself to make it nice and professional.

I'm really surprised that this could actually be how it came from the factory.

Actually those crimps are considered to be just as good, if not better than solder, there are quite a few debates on crimp vs solder which we won't get into this thread, but as you can tell from the factory nissan chose a GOOD crimp connection, not the average crap from radio shack, over soldering. Honestly I wouldnt bother soldering those, those crimps are not going anywhere, just tape them back up. The rest of the harness is up to you but the cost of a good crimper is far more than a decent iron, and i've never heard from anyone with a failed solder joint (done properly) on a harness yet.

[240trainee]

It may be a good connection, but some of the shit Nissan did is weird as hell.

Like, I took apart the body harness through the fender (was going to do an oem re-wire). All these taped connections IN the harness, wires doubling back and shit, kinda weird.

[jrmiller84]

^^^ That's what was throwing me off, the tape and the doubling back of wires. I didn't think they would do it that way but it looks like I may be wrong

Originally Posted by statik

Actually those crimps are considered to be just as good, if not better than solder, there are quite a few debates on crimp vs solder which we won't get into this thread, but as you can tell from the factory nissan chose a GOOD crimp connection, not the average crap from radio shack, over soldering. Honestly I wouldnt bother soldering those, those crimps are not going anywhere, just tape them back up. The rest of the harness is up to you but the cost of a good crimper is far more than a decent iron, and i've never heard from anyone with a failed solder joint (done properly) on a harness yet.

Agreed, the crimps didn't look like they were going anywhere. I'm mostly worried about covering them up properly. The electrical tape was starting to get sticky and moving around quite a bit so I definitely want to make sure it was done correctly.

Liquid electrical tape should do the job, that stuff is awesome when let dry long enough. I don't want to have to cut the wire so that I can put rubber heat shrink wrap on it but I may so that there's absolutely no chance of it coming off.

[statik]

Originally Posted by jrmiller84

I don't want to have to cut the wire so that I can put rubber heat shrink wrap on it but I may so that there's absolutely no chance of it coming off.

Yeah even fresh electrical tape is better than the leaving the old stuff, but keep in mind once the harnes is done and you wrap/loom that section and the ecu is in, the harness will rarely if ever move.

[prang11]

This thread is great, you are motivating me to actually get to work on my shitter. Keep up the great work.

[swift_style]

nice work man. I love how you're a student, plus working, and you manage somehow to do a swap. Props to you for motivating me to finish up my swap!!

[jrmiller84]

Work Day 13 [Back to index]

It's been a few days since I last updated so I wanted to give at least a verbal explanation of the work I've done thus far. Everything I've done lately hasn't been very visual so pictures are few and far between. Later tonight when I get home from work I plan on posting some pictures to accompany my posting, so check back later!

I realized that while I have the motor out it would be a great time to start routing the wiring/tubing for the boost controller. I mounted the solenoid on the driver side near where the new power steering reservoir will go. It may have to move slightly as it will probably start cramping the reservoir's style. I then hooked the wiring up to it and ran it through the hole in the engine bay to the right of clutch master cylinder, up through the hole in the fender, and into the cabin. Now here's the cool part.

I don't typically like the places we have to chose from to put our boost controllers. It's always either the steering column, center console near the radio, in the glove box, or a few other lame places. I wanted to do something a little different. With that in mind, I ripped out my headliner the other day. I intend to mount the boost controller within the hump in the headliner near the rear view mirror. It will be angled at about a 30 degree angle facing downward so I can see it. It should look awesome. I have already routed the cables to that area, just have to get a slightly longer vacuum tube to go from the FPR to the controller. Might get some nice red tubes to dress up the bay some while I'm at it I also created a fiberglass bezel(painted black) for it to mount into so it doesn't look like I just cut the headliner


Other than that, I recently removed the pressure plate, clutch disc, and flywheel to ready myself for the parts that SHOULD be in this week (I hope). I also went ahead and connected the new belts to the water pump and power steering pump. One thing that broke when I removed the KA was my clutch slave cylinder. When I took the old one off of the KA, the piston just fell out of the front... not good. I was looking at buying a NISMO slave cylinder, but that was before I realized they sell OEM ones at the parts store for under $30. I just couldn't justify the $200 price tag of the NISMO slave cylinder when I would be perfectly fine running an OEM one. Maybe I'll buy it sometime in the future when trees are genetically engineered to grow money

I've also been working on my wiring harness here and there. I've almost completed it. I will be ordering some more flex tubing for it to replace the old tubing as well as some tubing T-connectors online from CableOrganizer.com. The T-connectors and red wiring loom should make the wiring harness look extra professional. Check them out here, some cool shit indeed.

This weekend I bought a few things online for the car:
-Dual Fan Thermostat Kit
-MR Test Pipe
-Clutch Fork Pivot
-K&N Breather Valve

Small purchase but needed. This coming Friday I hope to purchase a Circuit Sports down pipe (the one with the turbo outlet and flat bottom for clearance) and the HKS Hi-Power exhaust. That should complete my setup! We'll see how long it takes to get them though...

Check back later for pictures!

[jrmiller84]

Work Day 13 - Continued [Back to index]

I said I would post pictures last night but I was pretty exhausted() and decided to get some sleep and didn't post the pictures, yeah I know, what a jerk.

I thought I had taken pictures of my boost controller bezel, but apparently I didn't. This is a good thing though as it needs to be sanded again with some fine grit sandpaper and repainted. You can see too many of the ruts made from the rougher sandpaper.

I did get some parts in yesterday though, low and behold:



Lightened flywheel, new clutch, and new pressure plate. Giggidy Giggidy! Those will be going on Wednesday. Then I will be able to bolt the tranny up to the motor finally and await my motor mounts. Here's the old clutch and flywheel on the SR. They look pretty nasty, glad I bought new (and lighter!) parts.



I also noticed they gave me hex bolts to tighten them down with, anyone used these before? I'm not sure if the old clutch bolts fit, if so I'm going to just use them instead. I'll have to check and see if they fit Wednesday. I have no idea how I'm going to tighten these to spec with my torque wrench.



Also, look at that nasty, rusted turbo outlet two pictures above

So to kill two birds with one stone, last night I purchased



I needed to buy a downpipe anyways and I wanted to replace that turbo outlet because

a. It looked like shit
b. The AIV tube is rusted onto the outlet

So this was the perfect product for the job. Not to mention it is slightly flat on the bottom to help with ground clearance, an extra plus when I get around to lowering the car.

Yesterday I had to go out and buy a set of bolt pullers to get my motor mounts off of the engine crossmember. I've been struggling with them for a while. My wrenches could never get a grip on them, not sure why. I know I was using the correct size, 14mm, but it would just spin around the nut if I put any pressure on it. It seemed like the metal the nut was made out of was either naturally super soft or maybe already rounded out some. I'll be pulling those shits out Wednesday as well.

Maybe I'll get more goodies in the mail today

[OBEEWON]

Much respect for doing it yourself. Nice downpipe too.

[S14DB]

Originally Posted by jrmiller84

Nothing so far, I will ask for one if I can't get some kind of resolution for the wiring from them.

They run for $400 and that's a hell of a price to pay for something that's not your fault. Not to mention I still have other parts to purchase to get this thing working and it would suck to have this be the final piece.

Heh, I had to wait almost 6 months for my harness work to be done and a new ECU. I notice they don't do harness work after that....

[jrmiller84]

Originally Posted by S14DB

Heh, I had to wait almost 6 months for my harness work to be done and a new ECU. I notice they don't do harness work after that....

Yeah, thank god all of the wiring I was worried about was actually factory so I just put some liquid electrical tape on it to seal the wires and then taped it all back up.

I still have a little work to do on it, but I think it's only extending the MAF wires.

[mr_240sx]

wow that downpipe looks good.....

keep us updated.... your build looks good so far!

[s13gold]

how much are you paying for a space like that?

a lease? or a month by month ?

[jrmiller84]

Originally Posted by mr_240sx

wow that downpipe looks good.....

keep us updated.... your build looks good so far!

Will do! The updates should be getting better starting Friday as most of the parts SHOULD (hopefully) be here.

Originally Posted by s13gold

how much are you paying for a space like that?

a lease? or a month by month ?

Month by Month and it's about $105 per month.

Rates could be very different elsewhere since this is a college town. These places go like hot cakes in between semesters and I'm sure that affects the price quite a bit.

[ALEXTHESUS*PECT]

buildup so far looks great! hope everything goes well with the harness!

[scribbles]

Originally Posted by jrmiller84[/B

In other news, I also switched the speedo sensor in the SR Tranny today. The SR speedo was missing the connector on the wire and was badly damaged. Look at how bad it is cracked.

The plug on mine had been damaged, so I needed to replace it, be thankfull yours is in as few pieces as it looks. Mine leterally shattered inside the port in the transmission. Millions of shards of aluminum and a speed sensor that wouldn't come out. It only took me maybe 3 hours to remove and replace.

[jrmiller84]

Originally Posted by scribbles

The plug on mine had been damaged, so I needed to replace it, be thankfull yours is in as few pieces as it looks. Mine leterally shattered inside the port in the transmission. Millions of shards of aluminum and a speed sensor that wouldn't come out. It only took me maybe 3 hours to remove and replace.

Damn, that sounds like it sucked. Didn't even think about that.

I think it took me maybe... 5 minutes

[jrmiller84]

Update

I got quite a few of the parts yesterday, enough to get the motor installed this weekend. Anyone know if you can put the power steering lines on after the motor is in? I'm pretty sure you can. I didn't take any pictures of the parts at my place so here's what I got in yesterday off of the manufactures website:

Cusco Motor Mounts


Hybrid Development Intercooler


They are both excellent pieces of hardware. They're really gonna look nice on that new car Or at least the intercooler is The motor mounts are so much nicer than what was on there, which was to be expected but damn they're solid.

I also got in my boost and oil pressure gauges as well as the a-pillar pod for them. I went ahead and attached those to the a-pillar last night since I had the pillar at home.

This weekend I will be dropping the motor in. It will make it harder for me to get my new oil pan in when I get it(assuming I dont get it before the weekend) but getting that motor in will give me a lot to do until then. I can start having some real fun

Tried to take the pilot bushing out yesterday on my lunch break but the damn thing looks like its never been changed (and probably hasn't been). It wouldn't budge for anything and with that, I couldn't get my new clutch in. I will be getting a puller for it today or tomorrow on my lunch break.

Oh, before I forget. I noticed on the SR transmission there is a vacuum line that is directly on top of the transmission. It is near the shifter and will be unreachable once the motor is in. Anyone know what this is for? Should I plug it? Did some searching through Zilvia and the FSM and couldn't find anything on it at all.

Check back this weekend for some nice updates.

[statik]

Originally Posted by jrmiller84

Anyone know if you can put the power steering lines on after the motor is in?

This should be easier with the lower oil pan off, if I remember correctly its whats mostly in the way for the front ps lines.

Originally Posted by jrmiller84

Oh, before I forget. I noticed on the SR transmission there is a vacuum line that is directly on top of the transmission. It is near the shifter and will be unreachable once the motor is in. Anyone know what this is for? Should I plug it? Did some searching through Zilvia and the FSM and couldn't find anything on it at all.

its breather, similar to the breather on the differential, don't plug it, just leave it

[jrmiller84]

Originally Posted by statik

This should be easier with the lower oil pan off, if I remember correctly its whats mostly in the way for the front ps lines.

Well that works well since those are two parts I'm waiting on I'll just replace them at the same time.

Originally Posted by statik

its breather, similar to the breather on the differential, don't plug it, just leave it

I had a feeling it was since I had never read about it anywhere online after all my searching. It had a girly pinkish vacuum tube hooked up to it, I'll be glad to dispose of that :ghey:

Thanks Statik, always a big help!

[statik]

Originally Posted by jrmiller84

Well that works well since those are two parts I'm waiting on I'll just replace them at the same time.



I had a feeling it was since I had never read about it anywhere online after all my searching. It had a girly pinkish vacuum tube hooked up to it, I'll be glad to dispose of that :ghey:

Thanks Statik, always a big help!

I woudln't ditch the tube just in case it decides to spit something out (like if you overfill with fluid) though i've never seen it happen, but replacing the pink tube can't hurt haha (no one will see it but now we all know). Everyone starts somewhere, I remember asking really noobish questions that would get me uber neg-repped now, so I try to help whenever I can Keep up the good work

[jrmiller84]

Originally Posted by statik

I woudln't ditch the tube just in case it decides to spit something out (like if you overfill with fluid) though i've never seen it happen, but replacing the pink tube can't hurt haha (no one will see it but now we all know). Everyone starts somewhere, I remember asking really noobish questions that would get me uber neg-repped now, so I try to help whenever I can Keep up the good work

Exactly, sometimes the answers are extremely hard to come by even with searching. Hell, I've been researching this entire project for the past 2-3 years now and I still have questions. I'm a kinesthetic learner though, so I had to get in there and just start taking things apart.

I will say that the pictures thread in chat is an excellent way to determine how a lot of things are to be used. I find myself searching through there quite often just to see how things should be connected.

[jrmiller84]

Update

Tomorrow I will start doing a majority of the work to the new motor. I have the motor mounts and will be mounting the SR tomorrow. I also got my intercooler, gauges, and a plethora of other parts that will almost complete the swap.

Here are some pictures of the parts I've gotten in.

BA Motor mounts


Clutch Fork Pivot - For sale btw($30). If no one claims it before tomorrow morning I'm installing it Don't necessarily need it for my swap since I didn't upgrade the slave cylinder and my pivot is in good shape.


Hybrid Development Intercooler




I got my BOV flange welded onto the hotpipe today but the guy did a kind of shady job.



I was worried about the seal so when I got home I closed all the ends of the hotpipe and filled it with water. Sure enough, one tiny area of the weld was dripping very slightly. Do you guys think JB Weld will hold a hole of that size under boost? It's literally like a pinhole in size.

Awesome updates tomorrow after 9pm EST.

[Ninjabread]

I'd say go back and have the guy redo it. I can do better and I have almost no welding experience.

[MURPHY]

wow how much you pay to get that welded for? looks horrible lol

your making great progress man. keep it up

[jrmiller84]

Only $20, once again you get what you pay for. This is the first time I've ever had anything welded so I wasn't sure how much it would cost. I'm going to grind down all of the excess solder (I guess that's what they use??) so I can see exactly where the holes are and take it to someone else. I don't trust him to do it again.

[Ninjabread]

I'd go get my money back at least

[420sx]

those welds look like ass! go hit that dude in the face, take his tig and do it urself. jeez what the f... im sorry u got janked. go get it redone jb weld... NOT