So, I've been meaning to build a splitter for the DLux for forever and finally got around to doing it. My local Tap Plastic store only had 1/4" thin ABS in stock so I decided to just do a simple bumper-mounted splitter for now (it's way too floppy to use the chassis-mount setup I had on the coupe).



Marked it and cut it with a jigsaw. You want a blade that's got 10 teeth per inch. The blade I used was actually for wood and cut just fine.



It melted back together in a few spots, but it was nothing a dremmil couldn't fix. Did a super lazy inner trace just to make sure I didn't cut it out too thin.



Threw a few bolts with some LARGE washers in it and ta-da!




So back to this lean issue. I pulled the plugs the other day and they all looked perfect. Slightly rich if anything. Bought a new sensor and the AFR is on the money. So, I actually drove a car to a meet for the first time in over 2 years last night.





I was surprised how nicely it drove, though the coolant temps started climbing over 200?F when I'd do pulls or come to a stop, which is odd. It never typically gets over 160? even when it's over 100? outside. So that's today's project






I went to a drift event last weekend. Being able to fit all this shit in the car was nice. Used to be such a pain packing everything in the coupe haha




Only decent photo I got because 3 runs in, the clutch decided it didn't want to hold anymore.


ALWAYS fuckin something. 3rd gear synchro is shot so I need to pull the trans anyway. At least the car survived the 3 hour roundtrip with zero issues otherwise.

Not really much media for this post, so here's a pretty picture to start it off before a wall of text.



I finally got the car to the track. I was hoping to get a shakedown session in before doing full track on Thunderhill East at Super D, but due to Covid, the heat, and all the local street spots being a bust, I didn't get a chance. Literally 5 minutes into the track being hot, it was black flagged due to someone leaking oil all over it. Fortunately Super D had the small skidpad rented out too so I got a chance to get a quick shakedown in. The car felt amazing temps and psi's looked great, but in such a small area it was difficult to keep my eye on the gauges under WOT.

Once I hopped on track, I did a couple grip laps. I was surprised how many blind and off-camber turns there were. Once I got a chance to go WOT I noticed the AFR would periodically shoot off the gauge, but would drop back to safe range after a second. So I let'er rip and holy fuck did it feel good. Legit the best driving car I've ever driven. So much turn-in, yet manageable and grippy and fast. For the first couple of laps I just left it in third gear and everything worked great, aside from me initiating everything a bit too early and using far too much e-brake.

I took a break and then went back over to the skidpad and did a few laps with Dom and Nic. The flat spots from sitting on the e-brake were so bad I though I had broken my car  I've never used the e-brake that hard before. After the runs, I noticed the AFR was sticking at 18+ for a lot longer than it had been in the morning, but it was still running fine, not stumbling or acting like it was leaning out. Nic suggested the wideband sensor may be bad as he's had similar issues in the past, so I swapped out the wheels and hopped back on the track and started really ripping it.

The first lap out I chucked it into turn 2 in 4th and went to downshift to 3rd and it wouldn't go in gear. Drifted turn 3-5 in 3rd and dropped to 2nd for turn 6 and tried to upshift to 3rd and it wouldn't budge again. I tried entering turn 10 in 4th and dropping to 3rd and of course it wouldn't go even with me slamming it with the force of Bruce Banner. 3rd gear synchro DED. So I just did everything in 3rd again, dropping to 2nd and revving out at turn 6. Not quite as exhilarating. Then I decided to give turn 1 a go. Ripped it mid-way through 4th gear and initiated the feint crossing the start/finish line at about 95mph and clutch kicked the shit out of it until it wouldn't stay sideways anymore haha I gripped the rest of the lap in an attempt to catch up to Dom, which was fun. Not sure how, but this dumb slammed car handles amazingly well. Super curious about what kind of lap times it'd put down if I really pushed it. Anyways, of course as I caught up to Dom, he pulled into the pits, so I ripped it as hard as I could down the front straight and I noticed the AFR weren't returning to safe levels what so ever so after giving turn 1 another go, I cruised the rest of the way around the track and into the pits. AFR stayed off the gauge the entire time.

When I pulled into the pits I got a big waft of fuel and saw fluid pouring out of the bottom of the car so I jacked the car up with the quickness and grabbed a fire extinguisher just in case. Fortunately it was on the cold side and it was actually just coolant leaking out of one of the swirl pot lines. Sure did get my heart going for a second!

I couldn't identify where the fuel smell was coming from, but my guess is there's something funky going on with the hard lines, whether it be a pinch, pinhole puncture, blockage, or shitty fitting. At this point, I've replaced just about every other component in the fuel system. Also hoping the wideband sensor is just bad otherwise some pistons might not be very happy with me

I forget why, but I popped the hatch and found the battery tie-down had snapped and the battery was just chillin on its side in the spare tire well. Thank fuck it's dry cell and didn't leak acid everywhere. Curious as to just how long it had been flying around. I don't recall hearing anything flying around back there, but I did have a couple hard off-track excursions earlier in the day.

At that point I decided to call it and pack up the car. It was already 2pm and 100?+ out. Gave me a chance to watch they other doods boogie down the front straight and huck it into turn 1, which was very exciting to say the least. I don't care what anyone says, 100+mph entries are always cool regardless of linking it to another turn or not.

In the end, it was a slightly frustrating day, but I still had a ton of fun out there. Thank fuck this car handles as well as it does or else it'd be part-out city with all the head and heart aches this thing has caused me. Julian just announced they're going to do East at the end of the year again so at least I'll have a chance at redemption.

Also, quick side note, Federal Evolution ST-1 feel fucking great. 10/10 bang-for-the-buck tire and they come in 225/35r18, which is what I was running up front with 225/40 ST-1 in the rear. Extremely balanced.

Jeez you put a lot of work into that thing!

Wow! This thing came out really good. I feel like the armrest swap tied the two tone together on the interior. And the painted arches and bumpers works well on that car. That seems like one that can last a long time with the manual trans and such.

What was her other odd manual suv?

Quote from: harri on November 22, 2020, 01:36:37 PM
like all-a-dis 

thanks dude. I was hoping to have installed a bit a quicker, but now I might as well wait until I get to vegas and can take apart in my garage.

"final" product








Note the black steering wheel and associated trim pieces




Yes, I transferred just the armrests between the door cards






Note the bumper/arch molding is a lighter gold/champagne






Then the sis wanted to paint the bumpers, so I shared a few OE two-tone examples and she did this








i like it. Especially cuz my sis painted it hah

But thats it. A silly adventure into the R50 pathfinder world. But also got me pumped to work on my own turds (miata and E46). tbd

fluids

this was Sta-Lube 75W90 Limited Slip Diff fluid




Did trans, transfer case, rear diff and front diff


Coolant flush was done after all the motor gasket/hoses were replaced


There was an annoying clunk when depressing the clutch pedal - could not figure it out so pulled the clutch pedal assembly


It's missing a spring and bushing here, but wasn't the source of the clunk
turned out it was the connection between the pedal lever and clutch master rod.
Threw some axle grease on it and it was a somewhat better

dash cam - power routed through the headliner, a pillar, dash, center console

Engine stuffs:

After cleaning


Before


After (yes that's a new coolant hose)


This vacuum hose is a pain since it goes to an actuator in the valley of the motor. Replaced the hose with new bulk vacuum hose.




Did a new thermostat just cuz




So many hoses and gaskets






Some marking on the head (was previously caked in grease), must mean something to a VQ nerd.


New plugs


NGK FOR LIFE


PCV valve 


This is how brittle some of the hoses were


hella vacuum hoses to replace


coming back together


lastly accessory belts

ricer things 



This is a Garagestar license plate bracket from my miata bent to serve its new purpose in the world 














added a spacer and long bolt so the license plate would be more forward facing