Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Deuce Cam
Posts: 1346
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:41 pm
Location: AZ

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby Deuce Cam » Mon Feb 01, 2016 8:58 am

Looks great. Since the webbing layout is different than oem it seems like it was probably much easier to apply. Did you end up needing more than 1 role of the reflective tape?

strmrdr23
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 94
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 8:11 pm

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby strmrdr23 » Mon Feb 01, 2016 11:30 am

hood looks awesome!

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Mon Feb 01, 2016 7:14 pm

Thanks guys! I'm glad you all like the look.

I had some folks not like it because it reflects heat back down into the engine bay instead of absorbing it. But with my build I didn't want to have to replace a dulled out CF hood every year. I'm starting to realize the problem with CF hoods is that there is a lot of work in maintaining it, to keep it nice. But I really like the look, so let's hope it's worth it.

I'm calling around for quotes on the Xpel Ultimate wrap on top of the CF hood and CF headlight covers. It seems like shops are quoting around anywhere from $450 to $600. Hope that helps anyone who is interested in such a thing even on painted hoods. Here in the Pacific NW, there is a bunch of rocks flying everywhere, my DD has tons of chips and I bet the CF hood would even worse because of the clearcoat/gelcoat layer.

Deuce Cam wrote:Since the webbing layout is different than oem it seems like it was probably much easier to apply.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of them removing all the crash supports, but it did make the job a lot easier.

Deuce Cam wrote:Did you end up needing more than 1 role of the reflective tape?

Yeah I calculated it ahead of time and it needed about 1.7 rolls or something like that (don't quote me). So I got two rolls of 2"x30'.
I still have some left, but not that much.

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Mon Feb 01, 2016 7:35 pm

YoShImUrA wrote:So interesting the ecu stuff. I only wish I knew what the hell you guys are talking about. Lol

We're just talking about the ways how we can adjust the ECU to give the correct amount of fuel at a given time.

In very simple terms, the ECU some different modes.

Under harder acceleration, use fuel map always
Under coasting or cruising, switch to O2 sensor adjustments. When changing throttle, use fuel map as well
Under deceleration (throttle at 0% and higher RPM), kill fuel

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Sat Feb 06, 2016 11:37 am

I've been following this HP Academy free tuning lesson series and it's pretty helpful in explaining some of the concepts. Thought you guys might be interested.

https://learntotune.leadpages.co/free-t ... ns-signup/

Lesson 1 AFR
Lesson 2 Ignition Timing
Lesson 3 AFR Affects Power
Lesson 4 Advanced Functions
Lesson 5 Rotary Turbo
Lesson 6 The Next Step

I'm currently just finishing up lesson 3. The Ignition timing lesson helped a lot with my understanding of why we're firing the spark before TDC and why it is important to have just the right amount. It's great!

User avatar
jondee86
Moderator
Posts: 2910
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:21 pm
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby jondee86 » Sat Feb 06, 2016 1:36 pm

Good choice :) Andre Simon started a tuning shop (STM) here in Wellington and earned
a reputation as one of the best tuners around. He has sold out of the business now to run
HPA, but I still go to STM when I need to go on the dyno. Ben Silcock has been with Andre
since the beginning, so these guys definitely know what they are talking about !!

This was the STM racecar back then....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tob4lKrVSrk
Gets left on the line but drives around the other car with ease :)

Cheers... jondee86
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Sat Feb 20, 2016 1:30 pm

Weird, I'm not getting email notifications of this thread anymore. Sorry for the inactivity. I thought I didn't have any new replies haha.

That's a crazy drag car!!

Today the a clear film wrap guy finally came to install Xpel Ultimate. However it was not successful. The film had some flaw in it so he ended up taking it back and ordering a new film. I sure hope the film takes less time than previously to arrive. I waited for 2 weeks already.

I was a bit bummed, and still wanted to make progress on the car.

I tried adjusting the cold start fuel settings some more and since I had it running I drove it around to tune the partial throttle section of the fuel map. I'm starting to think that I need to use Alpha-N to tune the ITBs fully. MAP did its job but now I got my TPS working correctly it's time to build a new map.

One thing I noticed is when I set the voltages for 0 and full throttle, I get 0-100 when the engine is off. However, when the engine is running, full throttle is indicated as 90%.

User avatar
jondee86
Moderator
Posts: 2910
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:21 pm
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby jondee86 » Sun Feb 21, 2016 2:31 am

aceforever wrote:One thing I noticed is when I set the voltages for 0 and full throttle, I get 0-100 when
the engine is off. However, when the engine is running, full throttle is indicated as 90%.

Does it consistently read 90% every time you hit WOT, or does it sometimes
give other readings while driving... 85% or 100% for example ?

Cheers... jondee86
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:40 pm

jondee86 wrote:Does it consistently read 90% every time you hit WOT, or does it sometimes
give other readings while driving... 85% or 100% for example ?


This is the first time I've tested data logged the same hill twice. (one at partial throttle and one at full throttle) I'll do it once more during the weekend. What would this suggest?

---

Been looking deeper at using alpha-n tuning and found this neat Hondata ECU guide regarding ITBs.
https://www.hondata.com/help/smanager/i ... ngitbs.htm

Hondata wrote:Thus using speed-density fuel metering does not work very well, as there often is a range of cylinder filling which is represented by the same manifold pressure. An example would be at low rpm - the MAP reading will go to almost atmospheric pressure at light throttle, and will not change as the throttle is opened.

Image

A fuel table for ITBs tuned using the MAP sensor. Note how the table is very steep as the MAP nears atmospheric pressure. In this table, just 10% change in throttle from 90% to 100% resulted in the fuel value doubling.

While the engine will run correctly tuned using the MAP sensor, it would be very sensitive to small changes, and would very lean with a change in elevation or ambient air pressure. For this reason it is not recommended to tune ITBs using the MAP sensor.

Image

The same engine tuned using the TPS sensor. Note the shape of the fuel curve - at low rpm, a certain throttle opening will result in maximum air flow, and opening the throttle further will not increase volumetric efficiency. Hence the flattened shape at low rpm / high throttle opening. This effects becomes less at high rpm where the throttle / fuel relationship is more linear. There is an anomaly around the idle area, which is characteristic of ITBs. Normally they need 2 - 4 times the fuel of a regular plenum at idle.

Note that there is now no inherent correction for changes in air pressure or elevation (provided with the MAP sensor when using speed-density). For this reason it is recommended to use atmospheric pressure correction which using alpha-n.

ITB Dyno Tuning

1. Create a new calibration based on the built in ITB calibration, or a previous calibration. This will save a lot of time changing the shape of the fuel curve.
2. Check the TPS setting and ensure that the TPS range is 0-100%. If necessary, set the TPS Parameters to do this.
3. In TPS Parameters specify that the TPS sensor is used for table indexing.
4. If necessary, increase the number of columns and alter the TPS value for each column to give more resolution.

The most time effective way of tuning for ITBs is to perform dyno runs at a constant throttle opening, matching the column index TPS values. Note that the tuning range of throttle opening and rpm will depend on the dyno - but generally you can tune the bulk of the fuel table this way.



There's this one part that I remember you saying, jondee86. Regarding that at lower rpms, partial throttle is equivalent to full throttle. I really like how the Hondata manual explains so much more than the haltech one.

User avatar
jondee86
Moderator
Posts: 2910
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:21 pm
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby jondee86 » Tue Feb 23, 2016 12:23 am

If you have any looseness in your throttle linkages, or if the carpet or floor mat
can get under your gas pedal, it can take a very firm push to get the pedal/throttle
all the way open. Usually, you don't press that hard during normal driving, so the
logged TPS % can show as less than 100%. I had the same thing until I learned to
really press down on the pedal when making WOT runs.

With TPS tuning, because the difference in airflow is minimal between 90% and
100% throttle at high rpm's, it's not a big issue. I think I had my ECU set to consider
anything over 96% TPS as full throttle.

The Hondata TPS map suggests that you need to tune the High Load-Low RPM and
Low Load-High RPM sections of the map. Generally speaking these are areas that
you will not visit during normal or sporting driving. No-one with any mechanical
sympathy will use full throttle at 1500rpm with normal ignition timing. Likewise,
there is no point in having your engine turning 7000rpm with little or no load.

All that is necessary is to have some values in those areas just in case you visit
them momentarily when you make that accidental 5th to 2nd downshift :lol:

Cheers... jondee86
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Tue Feb 23, 2016 9:57 pm

jondee86 wrote:If you have any looseness in your throttle linkages, or if the carpet or floor mat
can get under your gas pedal, it can take a very firm push to get the pedal/throttle
all the way open. Usually, you don't press that hard during normal driving, so the
logged TPS % can show as less than 100%. I had the same thing until I learned to
really press down on the pedal when making WOT runs.

With TPS tuning, because the difference in airflow is minimal between 90% and
100% throttle at high rpm's, it's not a big issue. I think I had my ECU set to consider
anything over 96% TPS as full throttle.


I'll test it again to see if that's why. Should be pretty simple to verify.

jondee86 wrote:The Hondata TPS map suggests that you need to tune the High Load-Low RPM and
Low Load-High RPM sections of the map. Generally speaking these are areas that
you will not visit during normal or sporting driving. No-one with any mechanical
sympathy will use full throttle at 1500rpm with normal ignition timing. Likewise,
there is no point in having your engine turning 7000rpm with little or no load.


Haha, I actually do full throttle when trying to start on hills. Otherwise the engine stalls out. Any tips here?

jondee86 wrote:All that is necessary is to have some values in those areas just in case you visit
them momentarily when you make that accidental 5th to 2nd downshift :lol:

LOL. I did try to shift from 2nd gear to 5th once when trying to shift into 3rd. Totally a cringe moment when the gears started to grind. Luckily I pulled it away quickly.

I forgot to mention before that I was trying to pinpoint more of what's going on with the high idle. A friend suggested it could be the brake booster leaking. I plugged up the vacuum line to the brake booster and RPM dropped by about ~100 or so rpm. Is small leakage common in old brake boosters? Is there any issues with that other than possibly less aid in pressing the brake?

http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/129 wrote:Other than hard braking, another symptom is an engine misfire at idle, when we depress the brake pedal. Atmospheric pressure lowers the engine vacuum, by leaking through the diaphragm. It is simple to test for this. We can unplug the hose at the brake booster and block the end with our thumb.


The page goes on about the BMC seal leak could cause brake fluid to leak inside the vacuum side of the brake booster. This could result in damaging of the diaphragm.

I did notice some fluid between the brake booster and BMC when I was removing the BMC/Brake Booster to replace the leaking clutch master cylinder.

User avatar
jondee86
Moderator
Posts: 2910
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:21 pm
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby jondee86 » Tue Feb 23, 2016 11:23 pm

This is how the Toyota FSM suggests testing your brake booster...

Image

These are good/not good tests, and will help to detect any leakage.

A long time back I think we concluded that your car may have a TRD gearset, due to
the sound of the engine when you ran thru the gears... or something similar. If so,
you will have a much taller first gear, which will make it seem like you are taking off
in second gear with the standard AE86 gearing. This will make hill starts more difficult
due to the lack of torque multiplication with the taller gearing.

The extra torque has to come from the engine which means you will have to give
the engine more rpm's when slipping the clutch to get the car moving. If you need
2500rpm on the flat, you may well need 3500-4000rpm for a hill start, depending on
the steepness of the hill. Rather than use WOT when starting, use 4000rpm then
start engaging the clutch. When the clutch starts to bite it will try and drag the speed
of the engine down, which you counteract by applying more throttle.

As the car starts to move, continue letting the clutch out smoothly, and increasing
the amount of throttle at the same time... kind of a balancing act :) What you want
to happen is have the clutch fully engaged at a speed where the engine has enough
torque to accelerate the car up the hill. So, for example, the engine speed drops from
4000rpm to (say) 2500rpm at which point the clutch is fully engaged and the car is
moving uphill at a steadily increasing speed.

Of course you can do hill starts with higher engine rpm's, but this is harder on the
clutch. You need to decide depending on how much torque your engine has at lower
rpm's, how steep the hill is, and how many girlfriends you have in the car ;)

Cheers... jondee86
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

SgtRauksauff
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 113
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:43 pm

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby SgtRauksauff » Wed Feb 24, 2016 8:33 am

Is a small leakage common in old brake boosters... nope. and with the brakes, it will just get worse, until you try to stop and the pedal is rock hard, and you have to use your entire body to slow down just a little bit. I had a booster fail at a track day, that was NOT fun at all.

you've found that plugging the hose drops idle by 100rpms... i would see if you can pull and hold a vacuum on the brake booster itself, just to make sure that the booster is bad. not overly difficult to change, just a PITA (at least for me) to contort to get to the mounting nuts on the firewall.

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Thu Feb 25, 2016 7:01 pm

Thanks jondee86 for the tips! I'll practice them next time I battle a hill.

SgtRauksauff, I just did a leak down test, and there is a leak within the brake booster. I'll replace it as soon as I order one.
Here's how I tested it. I used one of those vacuum testing tools and taped with electric tape around the opening on the and the vacuum tester tool.
Image

SgtRauksauff
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 113
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:43 pm

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby SgtRauksauff » Fri Feb 26, 2016 9:51 am

Good that you've identified an actual leak! That's basically how I'd have tested as well. Now that it's identified/isolated, you can at least plug the port on the manifold, and work on tracking down if there are any other vacuum leaks on the motor!

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Sat Feb 27, 2016 9:00 pm

Ah, so the vacuum tester I have is actually leaking a little bit. Maybe a false positive. I think the lower RPM was actually because the butterfly valves closing more on start up. I'll have to test this again.

I drove to a new friend's house. I was asking around and he said he would take a look at my suspension.
Image

He noticed the tension rod is bent a little towards the center of the car on the driver side (left).

It seems like to get caster the same on both sides, the left tension rod had to be adjusted to more negative caster.
Image

Here's the right side for example:
Image

While digging around, it seems like part number 48670-19155 BAR ASSY, STRUT, LH. is no longer available.
I suppose I could get the aftermarket ones:
https://technotoytuning.com/toyota/ae86 ... 86-corolla but they are quite pricey for $220

Given the amount of damage in the front left. (The left popup headlight assembly was also damaged) I think the previous owner had an accident there. Anything else I should look out for? For something to damage the tension rod, they could have damaged something else?

---

My friend also found out that the right side wheel has some play. We narrowed it down to an inner tie rod. I'll have to verify though.

EDIT: Looks like battle version JUST had a group buy. Damn let's see if I could get on there.

shagymc
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 353
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:43 pm

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby shagymc » Sun Feb 28, 2016 7:33 pm

Just wanted to let you know I'm loving the free tuning videos and thanks for the heads up! Hope you get your suspension issues figured out too!

SgtRauksauff
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 113
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:43 pm

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby SgtRauksauff » Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:22 am

If the tension rod / radius arm is bent, that indicates a pretty hard hit to the wheel/tire. Everything from the wheel bearing, balljoint, tie rods/rod ends, swaybar endlinks, steering knuckle, even the bracket for the tension rod to mount.. it could all be tweaked a little. I think the most likely is the lower control arm. I would ABSOLUTELY recommend double-checking the bolts for your steering knuckle/NRCA/strut mountings.

Why do I recommend that, you ask? one of my bolts came loose and fell out, the car turned itself into a curb, and ripped off the wheel/brake/strut from the car:
Image
Image

The T3 rods are super beefy!! My control arm was twisted, and basically junk, so I replaced it. The T3 tension rod mounting tab was slightly bent, but I put it in a vise and straightened it out. The actual tubular and front section was not damaged at all.

I think if i'd have had the stock rods installed, there would've been even more damage.

Deuce Cam
Posts: 1346
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:41 pm
Location: AZ

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby Deuce Cam » Mon Feb 29, 2016 10:04 am

If there is a bent suspension component, it isn't a bad idea to take apart the entire corner for inspection.

Used oem tension rods come up for sale occasionally in the classifieds. Best bet is scouring the part out threads for a steal.

The nice thing about the stock components is they may provide more of a safety net in an impact that the aftermarket stuff because they're not as beefy as aftermarket. Better to bend a tension rod, lca, tie rod, etc. than a chassis pickup/mount, steering rack, etc. Plus they're dirt cheap to replace if needed by scouring the classifieds.

User avatar
jondee86
Moderator
Posts: 2910
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:21 pm
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby jondee86 » Mon Feb 29, 2016 12:52 pm

SgtRauksauff wrote:... one of my bolts came loose and fell out, the car turned itself into a curb,
and ripped off the wheel/brake/strut from the car:

:shock: UGH!!!! Now I have to go out to the garage and check the bolts in my RCA's

Cheers... jondee86
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:56 pm

Good god SgtRauksauff. Were you alright?

@Deuce Cam, I could start measuring and feeling up the parts for bentness. My friend says it seems to be just the tension rod. But like SgtRauksauff said, it could be very small tweaks.

SgtRauksauff
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 113
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:43 pm

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby SgtRauksauff » Wed Mar 02, 2016 7:45 am

I was fine, it was a slow turn through a roundabout. Crazy thing is, I was about to put the clutch in for a downshift to second for some hoonage with my buddy behind me in his SVT Cobra, but the car just jinked sideways before I could even start to drive like an arse.

I agree with Deuce that in normal circumstances, stock parts are better for almost everything, unless your car is used almost exclusively for racing/competition. My radius arm was just fine, but the end of the control arm was mangled, so I had to replace the control arm. The top of the strut snapped off, and I was lucky that it didn't yank the camber plate right out of there too.

User avatar
jondee86
Moderator
Posts: 2910
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:21 pm
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby jondee86 » Wed Mar 02, 2016 2:58 pm

SgtRauksauff wrote:I would ABSOLUTELY recommend double-checking the bolts for your steering
knuckle/NRCA/strut mountings.

This is a kind of interesting/technical point. From your pictures it seems
that the hex bolts that thread into the NCRA's held fast, and it was the socket
head capscrews that came loose.

Looking at this from an engineering point of view, the head of hex bolts was
bearing down on a HARD cast or forged iron surface, so no deformation of
the surface could happen. But the capscrews with a smaller bearing surface
were tightened onto the aluminum block without a hard washer to spead the
load on the relatively soft surface.

My guess is that the loads from the suspension were sufficient to cause the
socket head to deform (basically compress) the aluminum to the point where
the capscrews lost their clamping force and came loose. Then it is only a
matter of time before the screws back out or fail by bending.

Therefore if anyone is using NCRA's on their car, your advice about checking
that the bolts are tight is on the money. If beating on your car in autocross,
circuit or drift... check them before every event.

Cheers... jondee86
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

SgtRauksauff
Club4AG Enthusiast
Posts: 113
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:43 pm

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby SgtRauksauff » Thu Mar 03, 2016 7:13 am

That is exactly what happened. I believe that the forward capscrew loosened enough to allow bending/breaking. The previous season I had autoXed and track-dayed the car a TON, lots of times with negative-offset wheels with super-sticky tires (225/50-14, 255/40-13). So a large scrub radius only added to the compression on the front area of the NRCA, and when it got loose, started to introduce a shear load on the bolt. The rear bolt was snapped, but the knuckle kept the broken part there. The front bolt, though, was not blocked by the knuckle, and could have even been broken the previous season. This was the first time driving it in the spring after parking it after the last race of the previous season. It was a huge car show weekend, so I just tended the battery, changed the oil, aired up the tires, and started driving. Since it wasn't for an actual driving event, I didn't go through most of the checks I do before an autoX/trackday. I've also started using loctite thread locker on those bolts. This is EXACTLY the reason that actual race cars use safety wire. Also, a reason why I like the T3 NRCA's even though I don't have them: they have a lip that fits inside the bottom of the strut. This would have prevented the inadvertent steering/rotation of the knuckle/NRCA separate from the strut/spindle.

Anyways, sorry for jacking your thread, Ace.

--sarge

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Fri Mar 04, 2016 7:03 pm

No problem SgtRauksauff! Thanks for the tips. Also thanks jondee86 for chiming in.

So I decided to go with BattleVersion's tension rod since they had a group buy. I begged and pleaded and they let me buy a set since they had an extra.
That's on it's way here now.

I also bought two MOOG inner tie rods to repair the slop there. That's also coming soon.

Any words of advice when putting either of these on? Thanks! :)

User avatar
jondee86
Moderator
Posts: 2910
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:21 pm
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby jondee86 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 8:58 pm

The tension rod is a fairly solid piece of steel, hard to imagine that it stretched much.
So when it comes time to take the OEM items off the car, try and figure what caused
one side to get set differently from the other. Is one wheel further back than the other,
or is the bracket that holds the front of the tension rod bent... mounting holes stretched
or lower control arm bent... something alone these lines.

Otherwise you will most likely find yourself adjusting the new tension rods the same
way as the OEM rods were adjusted.

Cheers... jondee86
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Sat Mar 05, 2016 9:15 am

Good word of advice there jondee86. When I have the new rods, I'll make sure to inspect everything underneath there. For now I'll leave them the way it is since I need to drive it to a shop for fixing the throttle bodies.

So the carburetors unlimited place won't work on my throttle bodies when I called in again. The guys seem like they don't want to work on my car at all now. I asked them if they worked on throttle bodies and they said yes, when I mentioned my car brand and model, they instantly kept on saying no on working on it.

I'm taking it to a specialty japanese shop called Ishii Motors around here on monday. They don't focus on throttle bodies but I think it wouldn't hurt. I told them about the throttle plates leaking and the high idle and they want to do their own diagnosis. Maybe I missed something, so I guess I'll have them do the diagnosis and see what's up. I'm still thinking it's the throttle bodies.

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Mon Mar 07, 2016 8:23 pm

Got a diagnosis from the shop.

Image

Haha my wiring job isn't regarded well. I'm going to rewire at some point but this makes me want to do it sooner. They said over the telephone that multiple butt connectors give more resistance and thus I should get install a new harness.

In email:
We have verified the idle issue on your Corolla and also noted the lean condition off idle. Obviously there is a tuning problem here. We touched the wire providing power to the coil and it broke right at the butt connection. This has since been repaired but we have discovered connection issues in the rest of the system which need to be addressed. It will actually be cheaper (and better) to simply start over with the wiring- a fresh uncut harness and creation of a jumper.

There is a factory idle air control valve installed but it is blocked off (for obvious reasons) resulting in no idle control whatsoever. These thermo-wax valves are really unreliable therefore installation of an electronic idle control solenoid is much preferred. This way you can control idle using the Haltech engine management. The only thing keeping the engine running at idle are these misadjusted throttle bodies which remain open at all times. We do not suspect problems with them at this time, just maladjustment. So here lies the problem in touching anything at this time: If we adjust the throttle bodies we will be required to tune the system. With the wiring in this state, we will not tune the Haltech. It is also not on our list of engine management systems which we prefer to tune but it would not be entirely out of the question.

I wish we could be of more help at the current moment but unfortunately the wiring really comes between us and moving forward. There is also a blown 20amp fuse in the Haltech fuse block but I am unsure what it is for. Without the wiring done properly, we cannot adjust the throttle bodies or tune the system. You should definitely talk to Steve and/or Cam when you arrive here this evening to pick up the car. They are both vastly experienced with the AE86 and could give you some useful information.


So I basically have to rewire the harness once more, using less butt connectors?
I guess the good news is that it's not the ITBs? But it's only a suspicion at this point.

A bit lost at what I should do. A few local professionals have said that wiring needs to be done properly. I'm not sure what properly means exactly. Single wire that comes from the ECU to sensors, no but connectors?

I'm also thinking I need to get a new ECU so that tuners around here will work on the tune.
Last edited by aceforever on Mon Mar 07, 2016 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

aceforever
Club4AG Pro
Posts: 637
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Seattle, WA, USA

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby aceforever » Mon Mar 07, 2016 8:36 pm

Got the BattleVersion Tension Rod set today.

Image
Image

Deuce Cam
Posts: 1346
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:41 pm
Location: AZ

Re: Restoring AE86 w/ 4AGE 16v + HKS ITB + Haltech E6X

Postby Deuce Cam » Mon Mar 07, 2016 9:05 pm

Looks good. I always liked their design: separate bracket at the lca with a pivot point for the tension rod where it connects to said bracket.

The shop probably wants to re-pin a new harness with no butt connectors or soldered tap ins, basically like oem which is the most reliable way. The shop is probably looking at it from a liability standpoint.