tuner4life

Not too much to document at this point. I took the end links off and it still creaks when turning the wheels, so I'll be going through the front struts again using IPD bits. it is currently parked for the winter, I'm just stockpiling parts that I will install at the beginning of spring. So far, drilled/slotted rotors and ceramic pads and a new power antenna:

This thing is sweet!!

I forgot to mention, I did clean the IAC while it was out.

In this thread here: I figured out that it was actually the stopper that keeps the TB from closing all the way got knocked out of adjustment and making it idle high, on top of a TPS that was going out. Both issues are fixed now and it is running great! I was on the fence about the blue hoses, but pretty much all IPD's silicone hose kits are in blue, and according to my wife, (technically, it's her car), blue and orange are opposites on the color wheel so they go well together or something.. I will say, I do like it a lot more in person than I thought I would. Doing the 3 lines on the rail in Saffron is a pretty good idea! I hadn't thought of that... I'll have to look into getting some touch up paint made.

And installed!! And in typical fashion with this car, I fix something, something else breaks... It has a new starter and polished bits, and now the CEL is on for the Idle Air Controller... Ugh... I think maybe some cleaner got into it or something and killed it. Who knows. A new one is on order... On a positive note though, I fixed the clunk in the front end.. It seems that nut that connects the lower end of the right side sway bad link had worked it's way loose.. I pulled both sides and reassembled with loctite. Problem solved! Slowly making progress with this thing.

The finished manifold:

Was busy most of the weekend, but found enough time to polish the fuel rail and cover. I an going to use black pinstripe in the 3 grooves, otherwise it's done. Next, I'm going to start on the intake manifold, had to strip some crappy silver paint off first... All the further I got this weekend.

You have PM.

Well, it ended up being the starter itself. New parts are on order. Thanks everyone. I'm really considering polishing the intake manifold while it's off so it'll match the cam cover. Also going to replace as many vacuum hoses as I can get to with silicone while I'm in there because I found several that were hard and cracking. Nothing really to note so far except the horrible dirty engine block... I'll have to clean that up too..

Not swapped, It's the original n/a 2jz with a turbo setup installed. Cute little t61 for now. It is one of less than 20 RSP blue/black int. sc300s made in 1997, so it's definitely my baby. Still debating future plans for it, need to finish the other projects before I open the financial floodgates on that one.

The ignition switch? That could definitely be too. Good call on the cable too, I'll have a look at it while it's apart. Thanks

And back at home: Wife got in it after work last night, turned the key and nothing, not even a click. I was 40 min away, and after having her do all I could think of over the phone, decided to just call a tow. Really wish they would have brought a rollback, but the guy was very careful and nothing was damaged. It was late last night by the time I got to look into it, but It definitely won't even crank. All positions if the ignition switch seem to work like they should, but it just won't crank. The think that gets me is that when the key is turned to "start", the dome lights don't even dim at all. I can hear a quiet relay click when I try to start it, but nothing. At first I thought it could be the PNP switch, but I tried running the shifter back and forth from P to 1 and back to P probably 20 times and still nothing. It hasn't had working reverse lights since we bought it, so maybe it could still be the problem? Also, obviously, it could just be the starter itself, I was gonna try tapping on it, but it is about impossible to get to. I was planning on pulling the manifold off and polishing it this winter anyways, I'll just pull the starter and have it tested/rebuilt while I'm at it. I tried making sure that it wasn't the alarm by unlocking the car with the keyfob, and still nothing. I'll dive into it the next evening I have off, yee ha.

Wrong color

Very nice looking table!

I am still mildly obsessed with this vehicle. Love the new place too!

Oops, moved the pics.. Putting them back up..

The entire front suspension is now new. I am still hearing some squeaks and groans, but I think it is just everything settling. Got a prelim alignment and drove it around. I have missed driving this thing. And a neat pic I snapped last night in the rain. It still needs some work, but I think it is suitable to drive for now. The n/a cams and V70R ecu make a very noticable difference!

Congrats on the new place! You need to paint all the blue on that building SD Green though!

Got the axle out and warrantied out at O'reilly last night. The boot had a cut in it right by the clamp. I dont believe that the axle is causing the shaking though because I discovered a loose inner tie rod end while taking it all apart.. Ugh.. I'll be getting new inner/outer tie rods and boots, and control arms... Here we go again... Oh, and no parts store seems to be able to get the correct pass side trans output seal. So I ordered one from the dealer... We'll see if that one fits and doesnt leak.

Alright, so it's back together and we drove it around on Saturday. It still needs an alignment pretty bad, but despite that drove/rode pretty good. (Horribly dirty in these pics) Here's where things started to go wrong. I noticed that during medium/heavy acceleration there is a vibration (almost a shaking) coming from the front of the car. It is pretty bad. I first blamed it on the the bad alignment, but it only does it under significant acceleration, which rules out tires, wheels, and most suspension parts. I checked the front end over and as far as I can tell nothing is loose. I did see a lot of grease leaking from the outer most boot of my "just replaced" O'reilly reman pass side C/V axle. I also can grab the outer half of the shaft and there is play (up and down not just in/out) where the outer shaft goes into the cup on the inner shaft. Is it normal to have play like that? I'm going to replace the axle under warranty this week and see if that fixes the shaking problem. Also, don't get a trans output shaft from O'reillys either, It has an extra "dust boot" looking thing on it and it sticks out too far and really doesnt fit very good. I thought it was going to be ok, but it is leaking like crazy to I'll be picking up an oem seal when the axle gets replaced. Also there is something leaking around the turbo area, havent looked into it too much yet, but it seemed noteworthy while I was under there. I am starting to get frustated with this thing. It seems that whenever I fix a whole bunch of stuff, a whole bunch more stuff starts falling apart. I'm really close to just pulling the whole drivetrain and replacing/resealing everything at once. Second pic didnt work first time around...

Sooooo much cool stuff on there ^ , soooo much monies though! Maybe in the future.

I decided to spruce things up a bit under the hood while it was all apart, so I sanded/polished the cam cover and thermostat housing. I still need to do the fuel rail, intake manifold, etc... but I did the parts that I had to to for now to get it put back together. Finished these pieces late last night, my fingers hurt like hell from sanding. I figure it might also be a good time to throw these in as well: It's slowly getting there. Where do you people get those sweet carbon fiber spark plug covers, throttle cable covers, etc..?

I'm paused partway on the timing/cams project because of having to work extra this week as well as a funeral, so not much to report right now. But my cool stickers did come in. I'm like one of the cool kids now. lol

Ok, this thing has had me thinking ever since I first saw it. You mentioned that it pulled your other 850 around just fine and had reasonable power. Now I'm not sure how much this whole setup of yours weighs, but (since I'll never actually be able to fine one of these) could I reasonably assume that a n/a 850 with a manual transmission might possibly be able to pull a car on a flat 2 axle trailer reasonably well? (Obviously with brake control and other assorted safety features). If that is true, then a turbo model should do even better? How about an XC70? I'm really just playing with ideas at this point, but theoretically if this thing can do what it does, shouldn't a standard 850 be able to pull a similar sized car on a trailer? Lately I have been looking to buy a larger truck to pull stuff around, but if I could get the job done with an 850 then that would be awesome. Thoughts?

You have paypal.