getoffmyinternet Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 Was that your thread about the cv's being some strange length and not being able to figure out which was which? I saw one like that where two known good cv's were stood up side by side with two backwards ones. It seems clear now that, unless mine in fact are backwards, the longer center shaft goes with the longer splined shaft, right? It seems that the outside flanges are identical, so that part shouldn't matter. Knowing myself well, I made it a point to only take appart one at a time so I wouldn't inevitably get them mixed up. I think the reason the driver's side is a better fit is that the distance between the diff and the wheel isn't that much different between the two sides. It was only like a half inch closer on the driver's side, whereas the cv's are like an inch or so difference in length? It seems like another driver's side cv would even work on the reverse. I'll keep a close eye on the travel and any binding once the wheels are on the ground. I'm not sure what else I can do at this point. It does make me wary of getting tighter springs though for fear of raising the back end to the point of closing the gap on those shafts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted March 29, 2009 Author Share Posted March 29, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bishopsrock Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Been busy so not visited HybridZ in ages - i'm very impressed -your car is looking great! Tyres are on my 'to do more with' list - what spec did you go for in the pics??? Also, I think that Stoney should leave the stuff in your thread where it is because this thread is the only start to finish, complete documented step by step that I have been able to find on this site - if he chops it then he makes it incomplete and this is unwarranted after you have put so much effort into documenting it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Rowe Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Looks good - so what rims and tyres did you use? regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 Haven't got the tires yet. Just trying to figure out if they're big enough. I assumed the tread width from the tires I spec'ed out above and scaled my tires to match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 So I got the msd lazer tach today and tried to install it. It doesn't work with the ecu tach signal either. That wire has been no help to me at all, I don't know if it's some sort of strange signal or what. I tried tapping one of the leads to the ignitor to see what happens and just as I thought, it reads 1/6 of my rpm, for obvious reasons. So then I bought six diodes and tapped all of them, but now it's back to reading zero. Turns out tapping more than one of the leads doesn't work for whatever reason, unless I'm missing something. Now I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to calibrate the gauge, but the instructions were pretty skimpy. It came with a cd, but the only thing it says you use it for is to change the shift light and the backlight features, and I'd have to get a serial-usb cable anyhow. I don't even know how the gauge works in 6cyl mode, there's not setup for it... Unless I'm missing something. When that doesn't work I'll have to find another signal source that pulses for all 6 cylinders, like a common output from the ecu, or the actual coil source if that will work. And when that doesn't work, I'll have to buy a tach adapter, pretty much defeating the purpose of buying an aftermarket gauge in the first place. I'll have to decide if having this pretty gauge is worth it or not. The only way to do it then, as I can see, is to get the adapter designed for individual coils. I've given up on trying to use the ecu tach signal. So that's the plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadianz Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 I think the tach adopters are about $50, that is what Im running on mine... the 50$ is worth the annoyance of getting it working. I just used the msd one. good luck Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 The msd one on summit is $80, but I'm sure there are cheaper alternatives. I'd like to find out if a simple signal divider would be easy enough to incorporate, but will otherwise look for the tach adapter on ebay or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 I also just found a tach driver by msd that generates it's own pulse, by what I assume to be the coil wire's emf. Sounds like a much cheaper solution than getting the equivalent driver that taps into the wire itself. msd 8918 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted April 12, 2009 Author Share Posted April 12, 2009 I went ahead and ordered the gmr pickup so it should be here in a few days. I got the map sensor installed so now the boost gauge portion works. I think it would look really nice to have the other lazer gauges to go with this one, man I wish they made a speedo. I also got some marine style 12v pin lights that I'll use as blinkers etc. The only ones I can find right now are red. I gunned it a little today and the boost peaked at precisely 15psi. I thought the stock setting was like 8psi or something. Unless it was something I did or didn't do... Not that I'm complaining, just baffled. It's possible someone removed the restrictor beforehand, or that I didn't hook up the wastegate controller properly, or that the stock boost is only a nominal value and it just spiked past that for a second when I loaded it? In retrospect, I still think the ultimate question is how much boost can you run on 91 octane (or whatever is readilly available for a street car in your area)? That is, putting aside how much the engine or turbos themselves can handle-- let's just say that wasn't an issue . The compression ratio is about 8.5:1, and I know they pump up to 175 psi (low miles) in the chamber. Also, I found an equation for effective compression = (boost / 14.7 + 1 ) * c/r. Not sure how solid that is though (in a perfect world I guess if you were boosting 14.7 then you're essentially doubling the ratio...). I guess I'd like mythbusters to see how much you can pressurize 91 until it explodes. ...Given I'm sure there are other things at play here, like chamber shape, spark, a/f, etc. We should tell them to do it on an rb26 then, the myth they are testing will be that it is indestructible. Two birds with one stone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 I got the gmr pickup today from summit. STILL DOES NOT WORK. It's doing exaclty what it did when I tapped straight into on ignition wire, reading like 150rpm. The instructions say for distributorless ignitions hook the thing up to a +12v on one of the coils. It also says to set the tach to 4cyl, that part doesn't make any sense. The tach doesn't have a setting anywhere for # or cylinders, I don't know how the hell this thing is supposed to work. It says something about it being 1cyl operation in the options for the software, but this is not editable. It's some kind of single pulse sygnal then from one cylinder apparently, but then it seems like the gmr pickup would work perfectly because it is only hooking up to one cylinder. So why does it only read 1/6 of the actual rpm????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stony Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Are there wires on the tach that need snipped? the autometer tachs you have to cut a combination of wires. If it makes you feel better i could get mine working either:icon56: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 Nope, there's a custom plug on it and a headphone jack input (for the software--a serial port from pc to fine tune the shift light). The custom plug has three wires for map, +12, gnd, and green input. The adapter/driver, that this exact tach calls for when employing distributorless (coil on plug) ignition, has +12, gnd, and green. It makes me mad because it seems foolproof, yet dozens of attempts have failed. Plus, nowhere in the manual for the tach does it mention even the word "cylinder" so, ugh. I think I realized how the original z tach works now that I have it off. It's just like the tach driver, it senses rpm by the emf pulses from a wire you clip through. That wire was the distributor power source routed all the way through the dash and back out to itself. Basically, if you don't have the tach plugged in, your car won't start. I wonder if I can either wire in the driver to that, or better yet, run the main ignition wire through the firewall to mimic the original setup and clip it on. It's even made for the same number of cylinders, I just don't know if the pulses resemble each other enough, ie. the emf will be strong enough to drive the tach. FWIW there's also a strange screw on the original z tach that almost looks like an adjustment, I wonder if they needed to be fine tuned to be precise because of the way they work, does anyone know? There is also a spot next to the power source that says +6v but there is no stud there. Could be a sensing signal for a different variant of the same tach housing, who knows. I'll take a picture of it later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 For a second I was thinking that the common wire to the coils is hot all the time, so it wouldn't work, or it wouldn't work because the instructions said you can't hook it up to all the coils at once (supposed to hook it to one coil and set the tach to 1cyl). But then if it were easy to find a common wire, what the heck, I might as well try it. And then I remembered exactly where the common wire was, because last time I left it unplugged, the car wouldn't start. So I hooked the driver to the middle wire on the plug leaving the coil loom (wired just like the coils themselves) and wouldn't you know it, the tach works. I'll have to hook up my laptop to be sure it is reading accurately, but I don't see why it wouldn't. The moral of the story, don't always follow the directions, because sometimes they are completely wrong. Now I just have to figure out what to do about the speedo. Maybe I should just give in and get the cable-x or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 lol. i wouldnt trust mythbusters with diagnosis and R&D on one of these engines... or maybe any for that matter. some of their ideas are ridiculous interpretations and/or misrepresentations of ways to properly/accurately test for certain criteria and outcomes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted April 19, 2009 Author Share Posted April 19, 2009 Oh I know, I just like to fast forward to the parts where stuff blows up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted April 24, 2009 Author Share Posted April 24, 2009 I'm getting bored with realistic goals. I read the whole tech thread on the garrett website to figure out how to map out a turbo. The only thing they didn't mention is how to map a dual setup. I assume that the flow rate would be half of the total for each, while the pressure ratio would have to be the same. I'm not sure if it works exactly like that in real life though. I plugged in 500hp just for fun, and it comes out to 24psi of boost, meaning 64lb/min flow @ 3.0 PR total. What I don't get is their equations don't seem to account for the engine configuration. I mean there's obviously much more to it than displacement, as illustrated by the fact that stony probably has twice the power with the same engine I suppose that you can look at it like modifying the engine other than displacement or compression increases the VE and stuff like that, which is included in the garrett formulas. I put in estimated BSFC and stuff like that too, but there are so many factors it is hard to see how each one affects the outcome. That aside, I browsed their midsize turbo list and found this one to be pretty ideal (it's acually the only one within operating limits), aside from making a hybrid or something. I haven't figured out how to guestimate the lower revs yet based on what boost is below peak hp. I didn't even realize until after that this one says direct replacement for skyline, along with 8 other models. There is also a larger turbine option, but it doesn't have an accompanying map. A pointless endeavor I know, but a fun one nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted April 25, 2009 Author Share Posted April 25, 2009 Update on the msd tach: looks like it's inaccurate at higher revs, I don't understand it. Also, the needle gets stuck sometimes right when I turn it on and I have to flick the gauge face to get it to start spinning. The good, or not so good, news is I bought it cheap off ebay, so if I can't get it to work properly it's not a huge loss. I'm going to see if the tach driver will power my stock gauge for curiosities sake. If not, I guess I'll have to stop beating around the bush and get one of those dis tach adapters for like $80. Super annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Rowe Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Have you been to an Auto Electrician? On my 240Z after I put a Crane system in I had no tacho either and the electrician put a module in my original tacho and bingo all working perfectly. He assures me he can do the same with my RB26 260Z original tacho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getoffmyinternet Posted April 25, 2009 Author Share Posted April 25, 2009 Hmm, that doesn't sound cheap, but worth looking into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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