Small update:

Made a sheet metal mounting bracket for the injection water pump:







This bracket took all day to make. Custom stuff always takes forever for me, but the effort was worth it

This post has been edited by enderswift: Nov 22, 2015 - 11:14 PM

Are you running the tank in the engine bay?

Dude thos fab skills are amazing....

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The stock washer bottle will be used as the tank thanks to this:

http://www.alcohol-injection.com/en/push-t...g-tank-tap.html

aaaand this:

http://www.alcohol-injection.com/en/water-...oat-switch.html

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Thank you, that's high praise after seeing the 2gr build It never ceases to amaze me how something like a bracket can take hours upon hours to produce

Custom work always takes time. Its never been done....

Hi 6gc, I've been very busy with a clutch and steering rack swap over the weekend! I could not wait to rip out the crappy clutchmasters clutch and spare my synchros any more pain!


And so the tear down began the Friday morning after after thanksgiving. It was tough to motivate myself to do anything... the food coma was still quite strong


First thing to do was to take apart the super strut suspension, which I'm getting very good at doing very quickly. Unlike mcpherson there is only one right way to take apart superstrut without ruining it cosmetically, but once you understand the correct order its pretty easy


Here is a shot of the shop I am lucky enough to have access to. It's so nice to be able to work on the car without having to race the sun or contend with the weather! How I used to do everything on a driveway outside is beyond me


Here's a shot of the parts that are coming off. You dont need to remove the subframe, but I do because I like the extra space when removing the transmission. It adds a decent amount of work but the accessibility is worth it imo.


Another benefit of removing the subframe is it makes it a thousand times easier to use a slide hammer on the axles. Aftermarket axles don't have the convenient tabs like the OEM parts do, so an axle adapter is needed. Trying to use that adapter with the subframe in place is a good way to lose your mind, so I avoid the issue entirely


After a little more work it was time to remove the transmission


Easy


And here's the piece of garbage clutchmasters clutch. They just don't make a good product for the 3sgte/s54 combo... but I've already devoted too much space on this thread trying to convey how much they suck, so I'll move on


I spent waaaaay too much time installing my new competition clutch flywheel. I'm super paranoid about stuff coming loose so I made sure everything is perfect. Red Loctite and ARP hardware add a little piece of mind.

First impressions of the flywheel are very good, it looks and feels like a really high quality part. It's a little less weight than the stock wheel but not excessively so. I'm hoping to get a slight improvement in revving speed without affecting the smoothness of the idle.


I got tired of laying on the floor holding heavy parts overhead so I switched my attention to the trans. It got a quick inspection before I proceeded to replace everything related to the clutch. New fork, new pivot ball, new throw out bearing, new everything. I was very surprised to see that the old pivot ball had actually worn down about a mm over its life. I thought buying a new one was overkill but apparently not


And here are the aforementioned parts properly installed and generously lubricated in a relatively cleaned up bellhousing


Finally the South Bend clutch was installed onto the flywheel. I used brand new Toyota pressure plate bolts with red loctite and torqued them to 22 ft-lbs using the proper sequence. Knowing my luck they'll still get loose


I also replaced the steering rack amidst all of the clutch work. My 'old' rack developed a clunk when changing directions. All inner and outer tie rods were ruled out before I found that the bushings guiding the rack itself had worn out after only a few thousand miles on the road aftermarket rebuilds are so hit or miss sometimes.. But they are generally better than rolling the dice on junkyard parts.

In any case this time I spent a bit more and went with an AC Delco rebuild instead of an Advance Auto brand. The difference in quality was immediately apparent when the new part arrived, so I have high hopes that I wont have to do this again!


At this point the transmission was back on the engine and hanging from its own mount. I had spent the majority of the weekend working on the car and was honestly burned out. I don't know how I used to pull 12-15 hour marathon installs for multiple consecutive days.... Actually, yes I do, in the past my project car was also my daily! It HAD to be finished in two days or less lol

Fortunately these days I can take things a lot slower, which is easier on me physically and mentally. For instance my hands are not completely wrecked after this weekend like they would have been in the past. Unfortunately the car will have to wait until next weekend to be completed

Moments like the one poorly shown in the above photo make me really want a DSLR camera. They way the light filtered through the engine bay from underneath was so awesome... wish I could have captured it

This post has been edited by enderswift: Nov 29, 2015 - 11:52 PM

That. Garage.

I used the ball joine separator that looks like a two prong fork to remove driver axle just hammered it up into that area and it popped out. Or you could of just used a small screw driver and tapped it out from the opposite once you removed the passenger axle.

How did you remove the top ball joint from knuckle?

This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: Nov 30, 2015 - 4:45 PM

every car owner should own a DLSR. It's about capturing those precious moments of your baby growing up.

but DAT GARAGE!!

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Yea a pickle fork would work, but I'm not a big fan of it because it is pretty rough on the trans and axle. Cant use the screw driver method because I have an LSD diff in the way

As far as separating the upper balljoint goes... Just disconnect the lower bracket, the figure 8, and the tie rod to allow for the removal of the axle from the hub. Once the axle is out there is space to use a 2 jaw puller from a front end service kit. Easy as pie and much better than wedging a breaker bar between the axle and going to town with a hammer..


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lol, HUGE improvement over a driveway!

Blasphemy! I say.

Hammering is out of the question because it damage the ball joint plus the strut housing and/or even the knuckle depending where you hit it.

I used a huge pitman arm puller(the one you rent from AutoZone) and it couldn't fit over the knuckle area that the ball joint sits on top off.

Then tried using my harbor freight ball joint remover

http://m.harborfreight.com/3-4-quarter-inc...Fnot%20provided

But the U opening isn't wide enough to pass around ball joint. So I removed strut and knuckle together and hammered it out in two tries

This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: Dec 1, 2015 - 10:05 PM

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/291411892133?...=ps&lpid=82

you need the silver 2 jaw puller from this kit. you can rent them from advance auto parts. It fits perfect and doesn't scratch or ruin anything

This post has been edited by enderswift: Dec 1, 2015 - 11:25 PM

seriuosly, you guys need a hammer and a 2 inch piece of wood.... it comes out, no damage.

Thanks for heads up 2gr guy.

I tried the one I'm the middle, which would be 2nd biggest in that kit

Great work Luke!

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Thanks Ben

Hello 6gc,

Its been a long time since the last update, but progress has been made The water/methanol kit is FINALLY installed

The second half of the install mostly consisted of routing piping and doing hours upon hours of tedious wiring.

My favorite.

Progress kicked off by installing the devils own self-sealing intake and level switch into the factory washer bottle:


I wanted to go with the factory washer bottle as my reservoir because it makes for a clean install. There is no room in the bay for an aftermarket reservoir larger than a quart, I'm not a fan of having a tank in the trunk, and the washer bottle actually has a decent amount of capacity. Not to mention I could wedge my pump right next to it and shorten the tubing and wiring lengths significantly.


Here is a top down view of the mounted pump. It has been fit between the frame rail and radiator, right beneath the relay box supplying power to the rad fans. Tight fit is an understatement, but everything clears, and the pump is rubber mounted This positioning is very convenient because it allows the pump to be mounted close to inline with the water/meth intake (crucial for pump operation) and it also provides easy access to a high current 12v source at the relay box. I was very concerned with the pump negatively affecting the electrical system everytime it kicked on.


Some quality time with the wiring diagrams showed me the way


Even managed to hide the in-line fuse in the relay box I want this engine bay to look as stock as possible. From here I decided to move on to something besides wiring and bent up some pvc tubing.




All tubing was formed using a brake line bender and a heat gun. Tedious work, but looks awesome. I tried to hug the ac line as much as I could since it was an easy path between the pump, nozzle, and wiring loom


Had a leak early on while pressure testing which soaked my injector connectors and made the car run pretty badly


More wiring! This time in the cabin to conceal the controller. Holy crap this was a ton of work. Would have been a ton worse if I hadn't installed that terminal block two years ago, made sourcing pwr, gnd, and acc, much easier.


Part of the reason the wiring was so difficult is because I made all of the harnesses modular. I want to be able to remove parts of the meth system without having to cut wires. That involved adding in connectors at the controller so the dash bezel can be removed, connectors at the pump, at the map sensor, level switch, led indicators.... everywhere. And you better believe all of those locations are extremely difficult to solder in!

Sleeving everything nicely was also a huge PITA. But I can confidently say its all bullet proof. Nothing is more annoying than intermittent wiring faults, so a little extra up front effort is well worth it.


End result of cabin wiring, a nice and hidden controller


Also added in a pair of indicator lights. The one one top lights up green when the pump is working (it actually gets brighter as the controller progressively ramps the pump up from 15% duty cycle) and the one below flashes red when I'm running low on washer fluid.

http://vid74.photobucket.com/albums/i277/s...zpsdfbshxen.mp4
Prelim shake down video testing out controller operation. The kit was designed to tap into a factory 3 bar map sensor signal to trigger the pump. It worked, but was off by a few PSI. Turns out the st205 DOES NOT have a 3bar map! its 2.8 bar!

At this point I knew I would have to go with a standalone map sensor. So i contacted devils own and learned that the controller was designed with a standard gm 3bar map as the target. Immediately placed an order for one of those and did a crap ton more wiring


And here it is mounted on another custom bracket. Had to redo my vac manifold setup to accommodate yet another map sensor (this car will have a total of 4 with the ebc) and install a 5v power converter in the dash to power the new sensor. The effort was worth it because further testing showed the pump kicking on exactly where I set the ramp points


what methanol injection?


Soon that first needle will be rocketing towards 17 >:)

Initial thoughts on the effect of water injection? I cant really tell the difference. The system could be run with straight meth for mad power; but taking advantage of that would require really high boost pressure and most likely a standalone controller. Instead i expect to see benefits in how the car feels on a scorching August day when the intake temps are lowered to the equivalent of a cool October evening. Other benefits include engine protection at higher boost levels, and of course the steam cleaning action on the valves and combustion chamber.

Okay 6gc, thats it for now. I'm slowly working my way through installing the boost controller and refining a few things that have been bothering me for a while. I plan to go to the dyno in the next few weeks so stand by

This post has been edited by enderswift: Apr 10, 2016 - 4:11 PM

Clean install! Wish I could see it at the meet next month.

First dibs on a ride at the meet! Damn so jelly.

Fantastic job! The attention to detail is manufacture quality. If I don't see this car at the meet next month i'm going to throw a fit..

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I'm reserving hope that you will come to your senses

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no problem at all

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Kind words, thank you. And I fully intend to make it there

Nice job

I'm a fan of the green LED, nice job with the clean install.

I think you'll see the benefits of the water injection soon with hotter weather around the corner. Nice job on everything too.

at first I thought I was looking at nozzles for a fire suppression system hahaha

although its not a fire suppression system the install of the injection kit looks mint!

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Guess where I got the idea

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Thanks man

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Its a long way before I can justify a suppression system! Frankly I dont think I'll ever build a balls out track car that would warrant it. I'm more of a track capable street car kind of guy

Hi 6gc, heres another update


BOOST CONTROLLER INSTALLED!!!!!!1!!!!!!11!!!!!


almost 4 years after the initial swap I finally have full control over the turbo I've been holding off until everything else was in place to make the most of the power:

Superstrut suspension to maximize tire contact patch - check
Rebuilt transmission with helical LSD upgrade - check
Watermethanol injection to protect engine from boost spikes - check

With these things in place I can make reliable power, and put it down consistently.

So now I am boosting juuust below fuel cut. There is still some tuning to do before I find the perfect balance between spool and peak boost in all gears, but so far the increase in power is really really satisfying 5th at 70+ mph has now been upgraded to a competent passing gear



Of all the things I've installed on this car, this was the easiest. Everything just came together really easy. Wiring was easy, routing was easy, and mounting was easy. The only thing that took a little time was bolstering the vacuum source for all of the map sensors. I wanted to increase the diameter of the hoses and tap in at the back of the manifold to ensure a good signal. This wasn't needed for the install though. The car now has a total of 4 map sensors serving all of the guages and controllers and such














Phase 2 of project ST205 is officially complete. Time to enjoy the car for a while... and get ready for >>PHASE 3
>>



This post has been edited by enderswift: Apr 24, 2016 - 10:16 PM

wow, im amazed, never tought you would go this route.

😍

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I think you'll like my approach. It's gonna be different from what others have done

This post has been edited by enderswift: Apr 24, 2016 - 10:33 PM

*makes popcorn and pulls up the La-Z-Boy*

It is nice being able to pass while in overdrive.