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My 521 down in the lab...


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Well its been a few years since the 521 has gotten any attention, but it's on the front burner now!! My good friend and I leased an industrial space to get serious about building and working on cars. He's one hell of a mechanic, builder and fabricator, so the plan is for us to make some really cool shit! It's been a lifelong dream to have my own auto shop and its finally happening. Its taken a few months to overhaul and set up the space, it was pretty run down, but were up and running now! Picking up where I left off in back in 2018. First order of business is getting the steering rack mounted up. As always on the 521, it starts by looking at my pile of scrap steel and scratching my head. I bent up some flat stock to get the steering rack positioned in a straight line with the steering arms at the wheels. Then I played with centering the rack and tucking it as close to the oil pan as possible. Tack Tack! 

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I hooked up the input shaft to the steering column, Its a tight squeeze but it fits. Set it on the ground and holy shit! The wheels turn when I turned the steering wheel! Link to video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GQaMaEvPywCxJFZQ9

 

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Anytime! I'm here usually Monday through Thursday right now, still tattooing on the weekends. Shoot me a text and we can figure out a good time.

 

On 4/15/2022 at 11:03 AM, hobospyder said:

no fair, can't see any of the pictures

 

funny story, i work with a guy who knows you now

Oh yeah? Tattoo related? 

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Turns out the photos I tried posting were live photos or very short videos so they were too big. I think I've got it figured out now! After testing the steering to make sure it worked and everything cleared, it time to reinforce. Did some CAD (cardboard aided design) to box it all in.

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7 hours ago, hobospyder said:

Your buddy tsunami

Oh cool! I've known him since we were kids.

 

I wanted to use the stock 240sx airbox so in order to make it fit I cut the bottom off it. The air filter might dirty up faster but I think it'll breath easier. I went with mounting it to the motor rather than the inner fender, so a bracket was made! Here it is all nestled in its new home.20220331_190949.thumb.jpg.1b348201738a7e7f07ed190e31a14b96.jpg20220331_171820.thumb.jpg.41343cee69be7d3e2d256e7a9553e123.jpg20220331_171828.thumb.jpg.418e940984ef8b92fe2f2184283a294a.jpg

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I'm no expert on this but if you have tuning problems it might be that the MAF/MAP??? is too close to the throttle body. Nissan mounts them away on the opposite fender for a reason. It's to stretch out the intake pulses and homogenize them.

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7 hours ago, datzenmike said:

I'm no expert on this but if you have tuning problems it might be that the MAF/MAP??? is too close to the throttle body. Nissan mounts them away on the opposite fender for a reason. It's to stretch out the intake pulses and homogenize them.

That's good to know. I'll keep that in mind if I have runability issues once it's finally running. With the body drop the engine bay is pretty cramped so this location was pretty much my only option. I want to say I have about 14-18" between them depending on if I'm measuring from the inside or outside of the intake runner.

 

I ordered I 2.75" stainless mandrel bend with a 4.25 radius, that was the tightest I could find but it still wasn't quite tight enough. So I proceeded to cut it apart and make it fit!20220406_144924.thumb.jpg.2c47de0779a489a53e0b54aaf91f533d.jpg20220406_161456.thumb.jpg.9c4454780c11566b5da97fa8f0f2214d.jpg20220406_162608.thumb.jpg.9d6c2e96a28063d4f7f0d8fa3a297b29.jpg20220406_191225.thumb.jpg.115f5f2bb7df40b4a21f7c34dc9d706f.jpg

I got some stock 240sx radiator hoses and trimmed them to fit, they aren't perfect but they clear everything so they are an acceptable fit I'd say.

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Radiator is now mounted! I used some flat strap steel, did some bending, drilling and welding. The bottom is basically a U shaped channel with bolts welding from the bottom, poking up as alignment pins. The top was a little more tricky because it has to bolt in so I can remove the Radiator when needed. So an L shape piece with a nut welded to the bottom got welded to the core support. Then I made a F shaped one what will clamp down in the Radiator. I had some leftover toolbox drawer liner material so I cut some strips and layed it in the channels as an isolated. Well see how it holds up, I might have to replace it with some rubber if it wears out. I got a universal fan from ebay and set it up as a pusher. Mounting it to the back would have been more ideal, but it was the slimmest one I could find and there's still not enough room between the rad and the waterpump pulley. 20220407_153220.thumb.jpg.a990c656f1480f21150c66f2d7a22702.jpg20220407_162642.thumb.jpg.e63fbfbed06845c605605a18db6c0805.jpg20220407_165152.thumb.jpg.13c8960c302f806f028130a9491c0a7f.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Gave the engine bay and frame a little loving, it was looking pretty shabby from sitting for the last few years!20220413_152801.thumb.jpg.989432af9936182cff944e32e4859c96.jpg20220418_204252.thumb.jpg.ab5b74f36d1b979cc89b4c42975c3c40.jpg20220418_205237.thumb.jpg.1d6e6a636ab0087ff6c7ff6b1db3db34.jpg

Rolled the frame outside and gave it a good pressure washing. Finished it with a squirter of fresh paint but I didn't get a picture of that part

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  • 1 year later...

Making some progress on the ol' 521 recently so I figured I should share. I had a set back since the last update that brought progress to a screeching halt! I accidently brought the ECU and engine wiring harness out with the trash🤬 It was a really dumb mistake that i'll hopefully never do again. So dumb. I was able to save up and keep checking back on ebay and with lots of time and patience I was able to find replacements. Anyway, I got the Walbro inline pump mounted to the frame rail along with a prefilter, and 10 micron filter post pump. I used copper/nickel line to run hard lines up the the motor that sneak in under the intake manifold for a clean look. Also ran all new brake lines with the same tubing. I really dig the copper look for the lines, and its pretty inexpensive and easy to work with over steel lines. I've turned the task of wiring it all up over to my friend who is a whiz with that stuff. All of the engine bay wiring is tucked under the intake and out of sight as much as possible. I'm in search of an ACV valve for the intake, anyone know on an interchangeable one from another Nissan that I might find at the junkyard?

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  • 3 months later...

I'm in need of help figuring out if my ECU is dead! If you read my previous post, I mentioned how I accidently junked my known working ECU. I bought the same one to replace it from ebay. We've referenced Icehouse's KA24DE wiring diagram into a 510 fuse panel, and also the factory S13 wiring diagram and have wiring hooked up as followed:

We have grounds on pins 107, 108, 116, 6, 13, 39, and 48

We have 12v switched on pins 36, 38, 47, 46, and 109

The Red with black pin #4 on ECCS relay has no switched ground.

We have spark but no injector pulse. 

We're stuck at this point, and wondering if someone knows if there is something we're overlooking. Or if there is a way to test the ECU. It looks like there is companies online that I can mail it out to and have it tested for under $200 but I wanted to check with you guys first. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

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2 hours ago, blackdeth666 said:

I'm in need of help figuring out if my ECU is dead! If you read my previous post, I mentioned how I accidently junked my known working ECU. I bought the same one to replace it from ebay. We've referenced Icehouse's KA24DE wiring diagram into a 510 fuse panel, and also the factory S13 wiring diagram and have wiring hooked up as followed:

We have grounds on pins 107, 108, 116, 6, 13, 39, and 48

We have 12v switched on pins 36, 38, 47, 46, and 109

The Red with black pin #4 on ECCS relay has no switched ground.

We have spark but no injector pulse. 

We're stuck at this point, and wondering if someone knows if there is something we're overlooking. Or if there is a way to test the ECU. It looks like there is companies online that I can mail it out to and have it tested for under $200 but I wanted to check with you guys first. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

 

Can't really help you there, other than to suggest finding another enthusiast with the same running engine combo you could swap your ecu into?

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19 hours ago, blackdeth666 said:

I'm in need of help figuring out if my ECU is dead! If you read my previous post, I mentioned how I accidently junked my known working ECU. I bought the same one to replace it from ebay. We've referenced Icehouse's KA24DE wiring diagram into a 510 fuse panel, and also the factory S13 wiring diagram and have wiring hooked up as followed:

We have grounds on pins 107, 108, 116, 6, 13, 39, and 48

We have 12v switched on pins 36, 38, 47, 46, and 109

The Red with black pin #4 on ECCS relay has no switched ground.

We have spark but no injector pulse. 

We're stuck at this point, and wondering if someone knows if there is something we're overlooking. Or if there is a way to test the ECU. It looks like there is companies online that I can mail it out to and have it tested for under $200 but I wanted to check with you guys first. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

Dude maybe I could swing by and give you a hand with the wiring.  When are you around? 

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21 minutes ago, Icehouse said:

 

 

Dude maybe I could swing by and give you a hand with the wiring.  When are you around? 

Man, you would be a saint if you could do that. I'm at my shop monday through thursday up in Mount Vernon. I could compensate you for your time.

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