D16SiHatch's new EJ6 build thread

[D16SiHatch]

thank ya sir ^

ok question though. this whole wiring issue is starting to worry me.

i've got these 2 diagrams here, and i don't know if either of them is correct

http://www.honda-tech.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=105332&stc=1&d=1265671674
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/5750/obddistharnessxa9.jpg

since i coudn't trust the diagrams, i'm pretty sure i just mirrored the pin locations. (i say pretty sure because although it was only yesterday i'm not 100% sure if that's how i did it lol) time to break out my awesome opossum paint skills to show you what i did.

now the only reason i can think of that this wouldn't work is if the sensors were placed in different areas of the connector, all the while still maintaing the same layout between obd1 and 2. i don't think honda would do something so evil.. but i may be mistaken on that

 

[GlassHeadlights]

Your car is '96 and OBDIIa so ignore the OBDIIb plug stuff.

 

[D16SiHatch]

well however i did it must have been correct because she started right up and there was no check engine light! let it warm up and eventually it came down to a fairly normal idle. it kinda was hiccuping and idling rough though, and then started idling at like 400rpm. determined the wires were crap and arc'd quite easily so i replaced the cap, rotor button, plugs, and wires. after installing those things it definitely runs a lot better and the idle is normal. when i was driving it bumped up to like 1400rpm when i came to a stop at idle, but if i sat long enough it seemed to go down to a normal idle. not sure why it did that.. i'll have to keep an eye on it.

it was getting dark so it's kind of hard to say if it's burning anything for sure. i do know i didn't smell anything or notice anything when i had it started in the garage under the lights. and watching the tailpipe as it idled the exhaust was basically clear. now will it spit some blue if i rev it out to redline, i reckon that's quite possible lol, but i dunno yet.

been keeping an eye on the underside of the car and haven't spotted any(more) leaks. i discovered 2 coolant leaks earlier so i remedied those and it seems to be a happy camper now.

anywho, at this point i'm getting an awfully annoying/loud tapping noise from the cylinder head. i'm assuming it needs a valve adjustment.. but i dunno. i'll pick up some feeler gauges soon and adjust the lash. maybe it's somethin else though.. can the sohc vtec engines have noisy lma's like b16's do?

here's a few pics from today.

had a leak here so i pulled off thee uh coolant neck? .. whatever ya call it .. and saw this.. what the hell is that!?

oh.. well i haven't the slightest idea how that got in there lol

anywho, stuff i bought for the tune up. i was suprised how damn expensive the cap and rotor button were.

and how she sits now

now not that i'm suprised but the brakes felt like ass lol. i'll be replacing the rotors and pads up front, and the drums and shoes on the back. possibly hardware as well, depends on how bad everything is in there.

 

[GlassHeadlights]

My Z6 head is quiet. 350,000 KMS on LMAs too.

I would replace that filter.

 

[D16SiHatch]

yea it's in bad shape i know lol. i'm more concerned with getting it running properly at the moment though.

 

[D16SiHatch]

i picked up some pennzoil synchromesh and a set of feeler gauges the other day.

the synchro stuff seems to have helped the 3rd gear grind quite a bit. and after adjusting the valves (only a few were off by a few thousandths at most) it seemed to quiet the head down a bit. there is still a unusual ticking noise but i guess i'll just have to live with it. it's only a temporary engine anyway until i get the vitara setup together.

also, might i add, this engine feels soooo slow. after getting used to the ls in the hatch this car feels like it just doesn't have any balls to get moving. still decently peppy i guess for tooling around but when you get on it, it's like the engine has no sense of urgency to your request lol

so now to a problem i have, one of many lol. my speedometer doesn't work like 75% of the time. when it works, it works flawlessly. most of the time however it just sits at around 20mph. once you start moving it will bounce between like 18 and 22mph and then usually it levels off around 20mph and stays there no matter what the actual speed is. i did check the 7.5a fuse that i've heard is related to the speedo malfunctioning, and it was intact. as soon as you turn the key to run the speed jumps to about 20. i then read that if you unplug the vss and the cluster continues to act stupid then that means the vss is fine and the speedo is bad. so i unplugged the vss and turned the key to run. the speedo again jumped to 20mph. so if what i've read is correct i'm lead to believe it is solely my cluster that is at fault. also, i have not thrown a code for the vss which again leads me to believe it is functioning properly and the speedo has failed. does that sound right?

 

[GlassHeadlights]

Yeah, sounds right.

I don't have anything to comape to (except S2K ) but I thought my mini-me was quick.

 

[d-mon]

good thread!
i am also putting a z6 into my 97 ej6.
using the y8 intake minifold too.

 

[D16SiHatch]

worked on the car a bit yesterday and today.

i was just going to replace the heater control panel and then be done, but i decided some of the panels were in need of a good cleaning, and also stray wires to some neon tubes from the previous owner needed to be tracked down and removed. he did leave me a dc sports short shifter though, and i'm ok with that lol.

stuff scattered about

and the inside.. just about switch over the blend-air cable and install the new panel.

my e-brake was quite loose so i tightened that up a bit. and found like a dollar in change, which was nice lol.

then today my friend offered to recharge the a/c since i now had the new control panel installed. pulled a vacuum on the system, charged it, and then purged it of any air. he also went over the lines and fittings with a fancy Snap-on gadget that detects refrigerant leakage. didn't find anything out of the ordinary, which was good to see lol. at this point everything appears to be working fine, and the a/c is cold. next hot day, i'm really lookin forward to using it lol.


in other news, i'm still continuing to search for another z6 block to build.

i'm also searching for some rims/tires. both driverside tires have slow leaks and i'm not going to put any money into tires for the ghey ass steelies. just doens't make any sense to do so. still searching for another gauge cluster on the cheap as well. the whole speedo stuck at 20mph thing is beginning to annoy.

 

[D16SiHatch]

So i was thinking today why not install some soon to be needed and very useful gauges. so i went ahead and ordered a 3 gauge a-pillar pod. now i already have an autometer cobalt boost pressure gauge and an aem wideband, so that leaves me with needing an oil pressure gauge. i'm stuck between these two. can't decide whether to add to the cobalt theme, or add to the aem theme lol. it's a little over $200 for either gauge so the cost is not a factor in the decision.

thoughts?

autometer cobalt 6153 full sweep electric oil pressure gauge
Auto Meter 6153 Gauge Cobalt Oil Pressure 0-100 Psi : eBay Motors (item 270574103836 end time Jun-03-10 08:19:17 PDT)

or...

aem oil pressure gauge with digital display and led sweep
AEM Oil Pressure Gauge 0-100PSI

 

[D16SiHatch]

So it's been awhile, but i'm back lol.

I won't go into detail.. but since i didn't lose my license.. the build will continue. i was just afraid to put any money into the car if the very real possibility existed that i might lose my license. now i do still have it, however, i have 2 years of probation, and an over $600 fine. not to mention what i have to pay my lawyer :-| and of course i also just paid for tuition and books !

That being said, i still have money to keep with the plans so next on the list is to find a z6 block and i'll go from there.

In the past month or so i haven't really done much with the car other than drive it and enjoy the a/c during these hot ass past few days. god how i missed a/c lol. my exhaust did brake though clean off right behind the cat, so i just bought a new catback. installed it a few days ago. i'll see when i can get pics of it.

 

[phunky.buddha]

Ouch... what happened?

 

[D16SiHatch]

long story but i guess i'll try and do a cliff notes version

this was over 3 months ago. so just by chance i happened to see my gf after i had left work in her ss s/c cobalt and i made the bad decision to go fart around with her in my hatch. i caught up to her and matched her speed for a few seconds, downshifted to 2nd and sped up from 40 to 60 and then immediately slowed down after. note this is a 4 lane grass median seperated state route where the speed limit is 45mph. open area all around so no i wasn't endangering anyones life let me get that outta the way. so, needless to say we continued to play around, cat n mousing if you will after turning off this road. i was unaware at this point and only learned later that apparently a cop had seen my little 40-60 sprint and was high tailing it after both of us.

the cop comes flying up behind us on this side road and my gf see's him so she pulls off. as soon as she is no longer between me and the cop car his lights become visible so i pulled the car over. soon after i found myself face down in the asphalt with a gun drawn and pointed at me. what a lovely evening that was. also unfortunately for us this little game we were playin happened to look on the dash cam a lot like we were fleeing/eluding the police officer when we sure as hell were not. excellent. you can imagine the trouble that caused and the difficulty of trying to explain what occured.

now many months and dollars later, the city attorney and law director finally agreed to drop it to a wreckless op, so it's settled thank god! but as i said above, not without a 2 year probation and $600 fine. and i believe they said if i commit any jailable offense in the next 2 years like wreckless again or drunk driving for example i get to spend 60 days in county : |

 

[phunky.buddha]

Ouch. At least you weren't hurt, and nothing seriously bad happened.

 

[D16SiHatch]

yea i mean atleast i still have my license and i can go to school and work. if i had been found guilty of the fleeing i would get a minimum 3 year license suspension with no driving privileges. suffice it to say this last few months has been a nightmare.


updates on the car:

spent last evening removing the strut assemblies and bringing them to my buddies shop to remove the stock springs and install the coilovers. it was a pain in the dick to the say the least. had to oxy-acetylene torch off all 4 of the nuts that secure the shock mount and i ended up having to replace a strut because the threads were destroyed. didn't get home till after 3 the other night so haven't had a chance yet to try and get them reinstalled. we'll see when i can get around to that lol, the girl and i are going to red white and boom tonight

 

[D16SiHatch]

I installed the strut assemblies back into the car today. she sits lower now definitely, however as i imagined the ride comfort has gone down. even with cutting the bumpstops into a fraction of what they once were it's difficult to have the car low and still get enough travel to make for a nice ride.

so i guess this will do for now but i'm going to have to invest in a nice set of coilovers and struts. i've never worked with an aftermarket setup but i presume they would allow you to have the car ride a lot lower without giving up all the suspension travel correct? i guess i'll have to do some research on that subject.

anywho, here's two pics

 

[GlassHeadlights]

My Function & Forms are adjustable from the lower mount, I was almost tucked on stock Si's. I love them. Completly comfortable yet stable, rides like my dads S2000. I should have gotten higher spring rates but still worth $600 or whatever they were.

Man, why did I have to crash her.

 

[D16SiHatch]

so i installed an hid retrofit kit the other day

purchased from retro solutions on the honda-tech forum
DIY BiXenon Projector Retrofit Kits, LIFETIME WARRANTY - Honda-Tech
custom HID conversions, HID kits, LED, CCFL specialists - retrosolutions


now some pics! here is the lovely box that the kit came in

found this excellent translation on the side. thought it was pretty humorous lol

part way through deconstruction

in order to seperate the headlight halves i had to bake it in the oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes. it's kind of squirly to say the least trying to accomplish this with oven mitts on, and also trying not to break any of the tabs off.

and here it is with the projector installed. after the stock reflector has been removed it will slide right through the stock opening. no cutting required.

at the back you can see where the rear of the projector comes through. there is an alignment ring, lock washer, and lock nut. the wires with the black connector control the high-beam functionality and angel eye. the clear harness coming through at the bottom controls the led backlight ring. in some cases you need to cut a hole through the reflector in order to fit that harness, however i didn't need to. the harness fits nicely through the hole where the stock reflector bracket used to be.

here is the completed headlight assembly. in order to reassemble you have to bake it in the oven again so that the sealant becomes pliable and gooey again. the kit also includes 2 good sizes tubes of extra sealant if you need them.

and here they are reinstalled back on the car

here they are with just the angel eye rings turned on. they appear blue in the picture but they are actually bright pure white.

the led backlit colors are hard to capture with the camera so i didn't bother posting them up. they basically light up the reflector housing behind the projector.

anywho, here is a pic of the light output. it's not as great as say tsx retrofits, but still quite nice i think. certainly miles above putting hids in stock housings.

one more for ya. yes my sisters car is bubblegum pink btw lol

ok i think that about covers it. hid color is pure white 5100k btw.

 

[philyphreak2127]

looking good dumped sorry to hear about the ticket.

 

[willb2305]

i think ill have to try that retrofit hid kit on my accord. looks clean on your car. except i have projector headlights and not my stock headlights in.