Spyder Build Thread

[stealthee]

Back on post 321 you said.

Broke one of the AEM sensor pins on the cable side assembling it. Guess I’ll just get a sensor harness for their gauges to get an assembled pigtail.

That have anything to do with it?

[mjannusch]

No, I used a different sensor pigtail but I didn't check all my connections with an ohmmeter. It is possible that there's a bad wire... I soldered everything and used shrink tubing over the connections, but I guess you never know unless you test it.

[stealthee]

Gotcha. Just making sure you didn't overlook something obvious. Good luck.

[ChargerX3]

I like that display.

[mjannusch]

I know my alarm settings work on the LCDBC since with a failed MAP sensor the AEM sees a solid +5v on the sensor input, and the LCDBC is flashing red and says Overboost Warning or somesuch thing. LOL. So I guess the feed from AEM -> LCDBC -> climate display is working properly. That's cool...

[stealthee]

You should make it say Danger to Manifold.

[mjannusch]

Is that before or after the floorpans fall off?

[DCIV]

Before.


Coop

[mjannusch]

Figured it out. There was actually nothing wrong with the wiring. I decided to use a Barometric Pressure sensor wire from the stock MAF harness for the MAP sensor, and changed the input pin for MAP to be the Baro pin... But I forgot to hit Enter when I did it, so it never actually changed the pin in my AEM map.

Fixed that, but the LCDBC was still freaking out, until I realized that I also need to send it the Baro reading instead of the MAP reading. Now all is well again.

Some hydraulic fluid leaked out of the reservoir for the top and behind the rear seat, so spent some time trying to clean the carpet pad under there (to not much avail). I guess I'll just pick up some new pad for under there. Other than that, the interior work is all complete with the panels and everything reassembled and looking nice.

Wish there was a fix for the door bubbling..... Grrrr. Might get desperate enough to make something happen there, but not quite sure what yet. Seems like you'd have to take it apart, make new foam, and then readhere it and vacuum bag it or similar. Or I have a set of door panels that are still okay that I might consider using.

[Chris GTO TT]

That door bubble is a bitch. Even my super clean VR-4 had it.

[mjannusch]

I think if anyone ever cleaned those panels with anything other than water on a cloth, the glue will let go.

[mjannusch]

The car ran today!!!!!!

After finishing up the fuel system back by the tank, and fixing a leak back there (return line clamp wasn’t small enough)... It fired right up!

Got some of my base stuff set up - base timing, idle stuff, basic low load fuel map tuning. Not quite in boost mode yet, just set up N/A to get the base stuff done.

One sensor problem - the flex fuel sensor isn’t reading. Not sure why yet. I have it wired to T4 on the AEM, which is the stock MAF sensor signal line. I have to charge up my osciloscope to check out the signal tomorrow. Maybe I have a bad sensor... +12V checks out at the MAF harness, and the ground is to the firewall.

Small fuel leak at the fuel pressure sensor which is mounted in an AN adapter on the rear rail. Should be an easy fix.

I think I’m going to put my “spare” ‘95 Spyder front bumper on it for now, and take the original bumper and the ‘99 to a paint shop and see what they think about trying to match the ‘99 to the ‘95. And the carbon hood...

I’m not sure if I’ll be working on it tomorrow or not, but should be able to finish it up and get it on the road if I don’t run into any complications.

[DCIV]

Congrats man!


Coop

[mjannusch]

I got it all back together today, and it drives!

I put my "spare" '95 front back on, thinking that I can take the original with to the paint shop to see if they can match that way. The stock intercooler air tubes are on, and fit okay on the big SMICs. I put the foglights back on, so it has its original look back, which is nice. Undertrays and stuff are on also, but I can't find my radiator shroud so that's not there.

Is the radiator shroud different between the '95 and '99 to fit that coolant bottle in there? I'll have to fire up ASA and take a look. I'm guessing it may be "good luck" finding one these days unless there happens to be one sitting in a Mitsu warehouse somewhere. I should've ordered one when I got the '99 parts, but thought I still had the shroud in a box somewhere but it is nowhere to be found.

The fitment on the hood is off. I need to mess with the hinges to try to bring it over to the passenger side about 1/8 of an inch to even out the side gaps, and then maybe play around with the fenders if I'm not happy at that point. It also hits the adjuster on my FPR, so I'm going to have to redo my bracket to lower it a bit. I want to build in some rubber grommets anyways to isolate it and the boost solenoid from the body as much as I can. Right now with it solid mounted, you can hear the fuel flow pretty loudly when it primes before startup. I do have the AEM set to toggle it to lower voltage when running, but the prime is still quite noticeable.

The biggest complaint with the Deft hood though - is that there are no threaded inserts for hood struts. WTF. I'll have to figure out how to add my own.

I drove it down the driveway and around the cul-de-sac a few times. Clutch is VERY grabby, and I sort of forgot how to drive this thing also. It feels very unfamiliar right now, but in a good way. After deciding everything was working right and looking underneath for any leaks I might've missed - I got on it in 1st gear a bit and boost hit at about 2500 rpm and I damn near ended up doing a donut. Holy shit the 16Gs on a stroker come on HARD. I wasn't prepared for that at all... I had driven Jesse Rink's car when he had 6G74 + Evo III 16Gs and that setup of his is what I patterned my car after - his was super torquey like that, which is what I liked about it so much. Above 2500 it feels like a big V8 - a lot like the Stingray does.

Big smiley face for me today...

A few minor things that need to be tweaked, but overall so far I'm really pumped to get to doing some tuning and seeing what it can really do. The throwout bearing is noisy - and is some sort of custom one for the Pit Road M clutch. Guess I'm stuck with that for a while, 'cause there's no reason to tear into the trans again since I built everything I wanted into it. No center diff upgrade, thinking that with the front LSD it'll push more power to the front and be easier on transfer cases. We'll see, I guess. I have a shelf full of spare transfer cases if that idea doesn't pan out...

[Jeff V.]

That's awesome. It looks really nice. It actually makes me miss our Spyder a little bit.

I checked ASA for you. If you're talking about the plastic duct that goes between the front bumper and the radiator, it was the same from 94-99.

[DCIV]

I’m happy with my 16g’s as well. This car should have came factory with 14b’s and 550’s. They would have been a cult classic that way.


Coop

[mjannusch]

If that had been the case, it would've been the 3000GT that was the '90s Japanese halo car to have instead of the Supra. It would've been super easy to upgrade to most any TD05 frame turbo, which took basically 12-13 years for someone to effectively try it (Altered Atmosphere), and by then it was too late as they weren't making any more.

And then we had bizarre stuff like Jeff Lucius (who I respect a lot, other than this) saying stuff like "anything bigger than a 15G is pointless", etc.

I loved my 14B turbos on the car, but they were getting tired and it isn't cost-effective to repair them - so brand-new real Evo III 16Gs it is.

[DCIV]

Yup it would have been a cult classic right away. Could have gotten almost 500whp with a boost controller. Oh well....


Coop

[mjannusch]

Anybody have tricks on cleaning the underside of a hood? Mine has 23 years of grime, oil, grease, fingerprints, and whatever else on it. This photo is AFTER I went at it with foaming engine degreaser and maximum strength Simple Green in a spray bottle. I even used the pressure washer after the engine degreaser. It got some of it off, but there's still like a layer of grime that's tough to get off. If I really scrub at it with Simple Green, it'll come off the structural areas, but not off the back of the outer hood skin very well.

Any better cleaners that won't strip paint?

I decided to put the stock hood on... Not really digging the Deft hood. It isn't perfect as far as finish and the corners by the windshield are a little wonky. I just don't feel like fucking around with my fender alignment and all that to get it to "sorta" fit. I'll try to find someone locally to sell it to.

[DCIV]

Polish maybe?


Coop