Datsun B310 turbo coupe, A15 project

[Atomic]

1 minute ago, Maschinenbau said:

350 to fix the radiator? Is it an original brazed copper core or something? You can buy a brand new aluminum one for different models for half that. Like this ebay junk for example

 

It's brazed copper core with more water channels. They asked 160 euros for the core, rest would be the labor (the price was 380 euros total, got the detailed quotation today).

I just need to check that the core thickness is about the same, because the fans I have now will probably hit the water pump pulley if it's any thicker. I have one in my mind at the moment, it's for nissan vanette KC1 with A15 motor. Thanks for the link, I'll keep looking for a suitable one.

[Atomic]

Bought the new vanette radiator. I'm prepared to modify the mounting of it and relocating the cooling fans. It should arrive between 3-14.5 

 

Lets get this turbo datsun on the road this summer 😄 

[Atomic]

Filled the rear diff with fluids:

 

Installed the fuel tank and made cables from the ECU to the pump

 

 

And then I bled the brakes. I'm not sure if the master cylinder is big enough for the brakes I have. There is quite much pedal travel until it grabs hard, but doesn't go to floor by any means. It would be interesting to test in slow speeds and while engine is running how it actually is. 

 

The radiator was last reported in Denmark this morning. So maybe I'll get it tomorrow if I'm lucky, or then I have to wait till next week. Anyways, the first start is near!

[Atomic]

New radiator is here! It wasn't quite what I expected, its made out of aluminium and has plastic caps, ugh.. But atleast it's big:

 

Should have plenty space for the fans too. So next up is making some supports for it and we're ready to crank the engine? Sweet

[Atomic]

Welp, there are some problems, banjo bolt snapped  yesterday on the water port. The water was leaking from it so I tried to tighten it a bit more, but..

..

Had to take whole turbo out. I bought new banjo bolt today that was lot thicker than the previous one, bought new copper washers too.

Well, what's better than one broken banjo bolt, two banjo bolts!

 

I'm getting another new banjo bolt later today. This is just so frustrating. I'm supossed to start the car for the first time tomorrow and I have invited some ppl to watch. Now I'm stumbling with banjo bolts snapping into the turbocharger, ugh..

Edited May 9, 2019 by Atomic

[Mattndew76]

I'm excited to see this thing run.  the A series motors are such good turbo motors.

[Atomic]

Just now, Mattndew76 said:

I'm excited to see this thing run.  the A series motors are such good turbo motors.

I'm super nervous! Let's see what tomorrow brings 👍

[Atomic]

Update to banjo fitting situation. Datsun holds the coolant now too. Tomorrow will be interesting to see if we have any fuel leaks. I'm kinda worried that either the rail or the weld on injector pockets will leak for some reason. Possible air leaks are also one fear regarding the idle quality. But let's see what I will post after next 24 hours. Fingers crossed for some YouTube video 

[Mattndew76]

Get out the JB weld 

[Atomic]

Datsun runs! With three cylinders. It is confirmed that one of the injectors is faulty, or clogged. It gives same resistance like all the others and I was able to drive it manually a bit, but it didn't spray much. I'm going to call the local shop tomorrow and see if I can get the set tested and cleaned.

 

With 3 cylinders it sounded like one of those rotor engines 😄 It has quite deep tone to it, lets see how it will sound with all the cylinders. Videos following up when getting it running properly!

[docbainey]

Congrats!!!!! 

 

What's this been? Like 6 years in the making??

[Atomic]

Hahhah, yeah over 6 years now 😄 !

[Atomic]

3 cylinder action:

 

[Atomic]

4 Cylinders running!

 

[docbainey]

Bad Az!!!!

 

Road test time!!!

[Atomic]

7 hours ago, docbainey said:

Bad Az!!!!

 

Road test time!!!

I wish!

 

Today I fixed couple of problems. The idle started hunting really badly due to poor trigger wheel alignment, fixed that. 

Then the idle valve was wired into correct polarity, but i had it sitting in inverse, fixed that.

One fuel fitting started leaking, fixed that.

I got the idle around 1000 RPM, but then next time I started it went to 1800 RPM.

I'm still suspecting I have something weird going on with the throttle body, or the IAC valve. It bugs me that the Tunerstudio has so poor selection of frequencies for the IAC valve, like 32-64-96 etc.. No middle grounds etc, but maybe that's from the board layout so it's a hardware limitation maybe? 

So, I'll be trying to get the idle to 600 RPM somehow next, hmm..

[Draker]

Impressive work!

[Atomic]

Update on the idle situation. 

 

I blocked the IAC valve path and the engine was running with 600 ish RPM. There were couple of vacuum leaks, such as in the flange between throttle plate and intake plenum, I put a new set of silicone to seal it.

Then there was a leak in the 4th valve cover silicone hose, tightened it.

And final leak was in the vacuum line connector to the brake booster, sealed it.

 

Tomorrow I'll be able to tighten the throttle body down. Lets see when I have time to test it again. I'm still suspecting that the IAC valve is just poor quality or I cannot get good resolution to drive it. I have couple of ideas still in mind what to try.

 

Also, the exhaust manifold is starting to have gold ish tint, looks pretty dope in person:

[Atomic]

Got the idle down to 700 RPM, then the engine RPM started to fluctuate a little, rose to 1000 RPM. We have another set of vacuum leaks.. And they're in the intake manifolds near the flanges where the pipes come in. Sooo, I'm probably pulling the manifolds off and having the insides coated with thicker layer of Devcon or something. 

 

Any possibility that I could re-use the manifold gasket still as it only has had couple of heat cycles? I mean, I can always try, right? 😄 

 

So one step forwards, three steps back. But hey, atleast I know what to do next!

Edited May 14, 2019 by Atomic

[Atomic]

Got the intake manifold finally off:

 

It's currently being fixed and maybe ready in 2 days if I have enough time after work

[Atomic]

Got the engine running with smooth idle. But there is 'knocking' sound coming from somewhere, not sure what might be causing it. Lambda reads 14.2, ignition advance is 8, also tried 10, no difference, rpm 750 ish. Oil pressure around 1.5 bar. Could it be my valvetrain? here is a video:

 

[Atomic]

I haven't done the valve adjustment after hot engine run yet. And some say that If the valve cover is too tight, it might resonate the sound somehow? I also have the breather valve open into the atmosphere, so the valve train noise could be traveling from there also? Anyways, I should probably run the engine hot, change oil, check valve clearance and try again.

[Atomic]

It turned out that I only needed an oil change. The 10w30  / 5w30 I used for initial startup of the engine seemed to be pretty thinned out when I drained the oil out of the pan. I went for 10w60 diamond extreme that is fully synthetic and has ester based mixture. Oil pressure climbed to 3 bars at idle, instead of 1.5 bar. Here is a clip after the oil change:

 

 

No metal shavings were found in the oil, which is good! I would like to get the datsun outside so I can tune the idle properly. I wouldn't want to have another close case of CO poisoning as I almost had with my old Volvo 740 when changing muffler in the garage during the winter

 

Old oil got a bit contaminated, I would guess that's because of really rich fuel mixtures I have been having during the initial tuning and startups, also that would make sense for it to thin out.

Edited May 23, 2019 by Atomic

[Atomic]

Was bleeding the brakes and clutch the rest of the evening, turned out I had a ton of air left in the system:

 

Now the brake pedal is superb and feels really stiff with little pedal movement. The clutch is different story tho. I currently have slave cylinder with 7/8 inch bore, and master cylinder with 5/8 bore. Well great, the pedal effort is minimal, but I cannot actuate the clutch without riding the clutch bearing really tight against the pressure plate (pretensioned kind of). I would need larger master cylinder I would presume. But I'm not sure how close I should get the ratios, I'm afraid that I might get too stiff pedal if I choose something close to 1:1 ratio (slave cylinder vs master cylinder). Of course there is also the pedal ratio that should be taken into an account. Also there is another problem, the datsun flange is at 45 degree angle, so I would need to buy a remote unit with a reservoir mounted to the firewall. 

 

Any suggestions how close I should get the master vs slave bore ratio? I was thinking something really close to 1:1 so I could get more volume to move the clutch, even if it makes the clutch harder to press.

[Atomic]

Bought a wilwood master cylinder for the clutch:

 

Should arrive in 2 weeks. I will tune the car when I get the clutch working, so I can drive it outside and test everything. I had a master cylinder that was 5/8 inch with 30 mm of travel, now bought a 1 inch with 28 mm of travel. It was quite a stab in the dark because I don't know what kind of pedal effort difference it is going to bring. I hope that with a clutch it ain't much of a difference since there is quite a leverage with the current pedal system. The original that I have now is super light compared to my turbo volvo atm, so heavy clutch shouldn't be a problem anyways. I just want to adjust the clutch so that I don't have to 'pre-pressurize'' the clutch pack with the throwbearing as I'm running short on pedal travel now and cannot get the clutch to actuate.

 

I was thinking of buying a kit for a second set of brake calipers for the rear axle of the:

With this setup I would  be able to use locking hydraulic handbrake and save the hassle of making the cable link working from the cabin and stuff like that. Haven't had a hydraulic e-brake before, so it would be nice to try one.