Pitchblack Rally Recce Raider Build

[irish44j]

Just a bit of goofing around this evening. So sitting around my garage I have a Jensen 220 amp and a Bazooka Tube sub. I got these long ago from a buddy who had them in his Eclipse GSX in college about...oh, let's say 25 year ago. About a decade ago I had this stuff installed in the WRX for a while until I took it out for some forgotten reason, and since then it's literally been collecting lots of dust under a workbench cabinet. NO MORE. What an 80s truck needs is some old-school bass assistance, especially with the Raider's little speakers (which are still stock - that will be fixed at some point as well, though they sound surprisingly not awful).

Anyhow, getting the main power wire from the battery into the passenger compartment was the most work since all the wiring grommets are stuffed back behind the HVAC on that side of the vehicle. But eventually ran it through, ran the contol and pre-out wiring under the center console (I'll install a cutoff switch there for the amp once I fine one), an basically just hooked stuff up to see if it actually still works.

Anyhow, yeah, it works - and it sounds pretty good once you get the equalizer set up decent. Of course I tested it out with some old Snoop and Dr. Dre. So, tomorrow when I have better lighting I'll figure out exactly where to mount the amp (likely just the passenger floor under or behind the seat.

 

[irish44j]

A couple of other random thoughts:

1. I'm more or less suspecting that at least one of my injectors isn't working - either not firing or clogged, so I'm just gonna ge some reman'd ones for cheap and throw them in to see if they solve this misfire, because I'm sure I'm getting spark on #2 and the plug is too clean to actually be getting combustion.

2. I'm getting a coolant drip off the bellhousing. The underside of the two heater hoses where they attach to the heater core were wet the other day so I tightened them up. So this may just be residual stuff from that. The other possibility is that its the coolant pipe running from the water pump down under the IM. This worried me from the start (it's a terrible design, frankly). Can't see the "valley" with the IM on, so I'll check that this weekend when I pull it. If it's leaking, there will be a bunch of coolant in there. That said, no coolant is dripping from the front area of the engine, which I would expect if that was leaking. So, we'll see. Hoping this is just heater pipes, and if so will probably just slather them up in silicone and put the hoses back on.

I did lie on my back with a small light and traced tiny remaining drops of coolant up the driver's side of the bellhousing to the bolt on the bottom of the IM rear mount bracket. And looking up, that is DIRECTLY below the heater hoses. So I'm fairly confident this is just remaining coolant making its way down there and dripping slowly as the car sits. It doesn't seem to be coming from the middle area where it would be if it was the pipe in the "valley."

3. It's mildly annoying that everythign on this truck uses fine thread (1.25 even on M12-size bolts). German cars all use 1.5 thread on the M10-M12 sizes, so I literally have no nuts for things like exhaust flanges and other stuff (even though I have giant boxes of hardware for the German cars. So I just ordered a few boxes of nuts and bolts from McMaster for this vehicle lol.

4. Need to paint the other two wheels and order some tires, just because. Also need to remove the pinstripes and other cosmetic stripes on the other side of the truck.

 

[Salonika]

I fully support the bass assistance. I yanked an amp and sub from an old truck about 10 years ago, had the speaker repaired, and put it in my Montero. Almost as good a decision as rebuilding the engine in that truck lol.

 

[irish44j]

I fully support the bass assistance. I yanked an amp and sub from an old truck about 10 years ago, had the speaker repaired, and put it in my Montero. Almost as good a decision as rebuilding the engine in that truck lol.

It's kind of funny since I mostly listen to metal, so it does more about having a nice fill. I'm about 20 years past listening to rap and r&b for the most part lol

 

[b dkw1]

I can confirm that the Generals are better in ice/snow than the BFG's. I run the 30X9.5's on my GF's Colorado.

 

[irish44j]

I can confirm that the Generals are better in ice/snow than the BFG's. I run the 30X9.5's on my GF's Colorado.

Thanks. Even if they were equal, a set of five of the Generals is over a hundred bucks cheaper to boot.

 

[irish44j]

Nice day out, with a week of rain in the forecast, so spent some time on wheel prep and painting. I did the other two bronze on the Raider. Not surprisingly, they look the same as the others...

Then got the girls to work doing some sanding and prepping on the set of five "snowflake" steelies that came off the Blue Raiders. I don't plan to use them, but figured if they look nice I might be able to sell them. Of course, the girls didn't do this for free.....$5 each and a 10% cut each of whatever I can sell them for, lol

Not gonna win any car shows, but they look pretty good from 10 feet.

Then pulled the IM to take a look at things. Pretty sure now that the coolant drips were from the heater hoses. There's no sign of any coolant in the "canyon" between the cylinder blocks or leak from the coolant pipe from the water pump. But this was mostly so I can test the injector wiring and replace injectors, which will happen later this week. Also pulled the valve covers (everything looks nice in there, and oil is present) to check torque on all the head bolts. I'll also replace the PCV valve while I have the IM off, since I forgot to do that before.

Only new part that arrived was the replacement spark plug wires. Decided to get some better ones this time. The ones I got before were really hard to push onto the plugs due to the insulator design, and were kind of ugly too. These have a much better insulator design and look nicer. Plus they are all a bit shorter and fit perfectly. The other kit felt a bit "universal-ish" to me.

What else...

found my mic for the stereo/phone interface, so installed that. Apparently nothing sticks to the old plastic on this thing, even after extensive cleaning. IDK what the deal is. Anyhow, installed it with a screw, kind of stealth, should work fine. Very exciting.....

And did a final mount for the amp behind the passenger seat (raised with a 1/2 wood panel below the carpet to keep it off the actual floor), and tried to so some hiding of the wiring as much as possible (audio stuff is not my strong suit nor do I have the patience for it, really). The wire you see there is the ground, going to the seat base bolt. That will move someplace else when I get around to it.

 

[irish44j]

Well, nothing too big to say at the moment. I pulled the IM, as noted. That gave me the opportunity to better seat/tighten the coolant hoses and pull the fuel rail. With that all unhooked, I was able to check all the injector wiring. Full 12v from the firewall connector, 12v to all the injectors, but the wiring connectors on the harness-side all look pretty corroded and was getting a bit of intermittent signals on a couple of them. So I spent some time with cleaner and little teeny slips of sandpaper to clean them all out and add some dielectric grease. After doing that got better voltage it seemed, though I still think the #2 injector itself is the problem. But at least I ruled out wiring issues, I think. Also re-wrapped any cracked wire tubing.

While it was sitting there, I took the intake tube and spent some time on it with Shin-Etsu, which is a (OEM Honda) rubber restoration product. It works pretty well. Half done:

All done:

So with my shelf almost empty, it moved back to its old place and the rolling workbench is all that's left with parts on it (and mostly stuff just removed with the IM). I have a few things on the way, as well as some speakers for the rear sides and door speakers (which I need to cut holes for in the panels).

 

[irish44j]

Can't say I did much today on the truck. A few little things not worth documenting, really. I did take a few minutes to install the A/C compressor, which I had left off when putting the engine in, and attaching the lines with new nitrile o-rings. Once I did that, figured what the hell, might as well see if the system is leaking or not, for future reference (A/C will the pretty much the last thing I do on this, mechanically). The Black Raider, according to the P/O, had working A/C before the engine was pulled, and since he maintained stuff I had no reason to doubt it.

But, the compressor had sat out in the weather and was seized up, so it got trashed. The Blue Raider (never tested the A/C) had a compressor that, for what it's worth, felt fine and wasn't seized. So that's the one I installed. Then, going to test with my manifold gauges....crap. The high-pressure port is on the line and it was clear the P/O had done a R-134 conversion on it on the Black Raider (which also makes me hope he did other necessary things for the conversion). But the low-pressure port is on the compressor itself, and that was off the Blue Raider that had not had such a conversion. So, in spite of stay-at-home stuff, I made a quick trip to the local parts store, which was a ghost town. Gave me an excuse to drive the Porsche anyhow..

On a normal day, this parking lot would be packed, since there's a supermarket, Office Depot, pet store, and large gym there. Not these days...

So picked up the conversion fitting for the compressor and put that on

And set up the vacuum pump and pulled vacuum to clear an moisture from the system. After running it for a few minutes to get a good vac, sealed up the valves and I'll probably let it sit for a day or two to confirm if there are any leaks or not

So yeah, that's it for today. Some stuff coming in over the next few days should provide a few small projects.

 

[irish44j]

I do need to get a new bearing or idler pulley for the AC belt though....just posting here to remind myself.

 

[irish44j]

Only two minor things to report today on the Raider:

1) After 24 hours, AC system still holding full vacuum. So, I'll probably get a new dryer and charge it up and see if the compressor is good at some point (new compressors aren't very expensive anyhow). Not that AC is a big need for a vehicle like this, but it's nice to have when you want it. All my old cars have A/C except the rally car...

2) Got some fine-thread nuts in from McMaster so was able to button up the exhaust back to the back of the cat. Because when engine checking it's best not to have exhaust leaks forward of the O2.

Otherwise, spent the afternoon at a very emptyish Lowes picking up some wood for a deck project I'm about to start in my free time.

Having a 16' trailer is convenient when picking up 16' decking boards. My estimation is i picked up 1,100lbs of wood today, loaded it in three carts, busted my ass pushing it to the loading area and loading it solo. I could have asked the Lowes people, but man, those guy look pretty burned out and figured I'd just do it myself to save them the lifting late in the day. I may regret that decision tomorrow morning lol...

 

[PacS14]

Man I feel you! I got plenty of work around the house right now since we recently moved to a 10 acre wooded property, clearing the brush by hand has been a pain, and I'm only clearing some areas around the driveway and house, I'm not going to clear the whole 10 acres by hand, I'm not that good/crazy. I need to fix my tractor...damn it too long of a list before the Monty.

 

[irish44j]

Man I feel you! I got plenty of work around the house right now since we recently moved to a 10 acre wooded property, clearing the brush by hand has been a pain, and I'm only clearing some areas around the driveway and house, I'm not going to clear the whole 10 acres by hand, I'm not that good/crazy. I need to fix my tractor...damn it too long of a list before the Monty.

Clearly your first order of business needs to be converting a good chunk of that 10 acres into a gigantic garage and shop being in the suburbs I am very frustrated by the fact that I cannot add a standalone garage in excess of what I currently have lol

 

[PacS14]

Clearly your first order of business needs to be converting a good chunk of that 10 acres into a gigantic garage and shop being in the suburbs I am very frustrated by the fact that I cannot add a standalone garage in excess of what I currently have lol

Of course a full shop is in order. I've been looking at the metal buildings for a while, I got to wait a bit more though, not just because I don't want to take out a loan, but because I might have to move in the not so distant future (military life), but since I'm 4 years away from retirement; it doesn't matter where we move next, we'll keep this property, this will be our forever home, so it will happen eventually.

 

[irish44j]

I didn't so much as touch a vehicle today.

But I did build a deck, by myself, in about 8-9 hours....so that's something I worthwhile