robs junkyard 92 vr-4

[BlackStealth]

I build OBD1 datalogging cables for our cars. If you're looking for an OEM OBD1 plug and pins, the part is $10. If you want a built OBD1 datalogging serial cable it's $20. This cable can be used with Evoscan software if you use an FTDI compatible USB-to-Serial adapter.

[rob5625]

I was just going to use plain pins for the obd port, didnt know where to source out an actual obd plug. Is that something they will have at the electronics supply store (Its a good proper electronics store) or wheres the place to get that? Also the laptop I use in my cars is old as balls and actually has a serial port, if I just wire the send/receive pins properly to a 9 pin serial plug it should work without any adapters correct? Looks like a palms serial is different from a pc's serial but I assume its just a matter of matching up the corresponding send/receive ect pins?

Also nw injection confirmed the injector I dropped off was stuck closed and flowing at zero cc lol. Ultrasonic cleaning, filter basket replaced and its good as new tossed it back in the car and what a difference! Much better idle and so much more responsive, only makes sense I suppose since I just brought an entire cylinder back to life lol.
Will be sending the other 5 in now for sure as its probably safe to assume if one was that bad then the rest cant be in very good shape as well. Redneck stethoscope noticed the newly serviced injector has a much louder/sharper click to it compared to the others, I feel this might just dam near solve the last of the running issues im having.

[BlackStealth]

You won't find OBD1 plugs at any electronic suppliers. I purchased mine in bulk from a person that contacted the manufacturer to build them again, with a minimum order of 10,000 pieces.

Yes pins 2 and 3 are swapped when you change gender on RS232 cable (palm to laptop).

[rob5625]

10,000 pcs is a few more than I need lol. Gonna keep an eye out at the scrap yard, I read somewhere that the power antenna connector can be modified to work.

[rob5625]

got all injectors cleaned and reinstalled, car was running great untill i hit boost a few times then it felt like i was down 2 cylinders. popped the hood to find the middle coil pack arcing real bad to itself. got 3 other coils to try but sure looks like i should have listened to rez about replacing all the ignition components lol

[Outreachvr4]

updates on the project?

[rob5625]

sorry guys, been slackin on the updates so this is gonna be a long one!

new coils got the car running great, finally able to boost so i started dattalogging and turning up the boost a bit. might hit the dyno instead come spring cause logging 3rd gear in these cars is kinda nutter on public roads, i mean at 190 or so km/h all i could think of was some dumb ass opossum crossing the road and taking me out lol. its the polar opposite of driving my 6-speed sentra thats for sure.

with the car running good i threw insurance on it and started driving it to work which finally gave me a nice, indoor, lighted and heated place to work on it and thats where all my big boy tools are anyways.

next on my list was to get all the gizmos working, started with the active aero. i got the front working in the summer but the rear was giving me troubles. ended up being the plastic gear which activates the micro switches was all gummed up on its pivot causing too much resistance causing the plastic gears to skip and never actuate the switches. cleaned, greased, replaced all the threaded inserts in the spoiler cause they were permanently rusted to the mounting bolts and its good as new. didnt take me long to realize that with the rear spoiler up a short fuck like me cant see shit out the back window

tried the active exhaust next. cable was snapped and while trying to free up the diverter valve i snapped the shaft clean off. this got put on the back burner for now.

on to the ecs. replaced all the capasitors, replaced the missing cluster bulbs, repaired both sub harnesses for the front struts and picked up a set of front ecs struts from the scrap yard to replace the non ecs replacements the p/o had installed. works like a charm!

replaced a whole bunch of burnt out cluster and dash switch bulbs and soldered in a jumper in the climate control to switch it to celsius. repaired a lot of hacked up wiring from whoever ripped out the aftermarket alarm in this car. got that light in the drivers door working, found the trim for around the radio, new shift boot, replaced that felt door window scraper thingy cause mine would flip up when window was going up and was real annoying. basically i was doing just about anything to avoid working on that dam active exhaust lol.

thought i was given only the valet key with the car but after getting the key code from the dealer realized i did actually have the master key. turns out the tumblers for the passenger door, hatch, and glove box were just seized up with years of non use and i was able to get them working again by just cleaning.

fabbed up a test pipe one night which now made it fully cat-less and the exhaust was too dam loud so i had to fix the active exhaust. ended up cutting an access hole in the pipe just before the diverter valve which allowed me to empty a whole can of pb blaster up in there. cut off the lower valve bushing and started tapping the shaft up and down. finally got it moving freely, welded everything back up, welded on a new shaft where i broke it off before and replaced the broken cable with a $2 bicycle brake cable (dealer wanted $80 for that part) and active exhaust is working once again you wouldnt believe the swamp water that spewed out of the passenger tail pipe, god only knows how long this car has been stuck in sport mode, it was nasty lol

that crosses a lot off the to-do list mechanical wise, going to start concentrating on some cosmetic repairs soon so shes nice and sexy for this summer. definately will be taking it to the drags this season cause at this point i dont think its as fast as my sentra. butt dyno cant tell and even the real dyno wont tell me much cause of the weight difference.

been keeping track of all my expenses on this project, havent added it up yet but even if its more than the cars i see on craigslist im still happy i got this one. dam near know it inside and out now and thats the way i like it.

[rez604]

nice update dude! i'll definitely come out with you for the track days.

[rob5625]

got that little light under the hood working today, would have gone a lot quicker if someone had told me that it only comes on with the parking lights!

had to get a new battery today as well, the old one that came in the car crapped out with the colder weather, reconditioned battery from edmonds was only $60 so it wasnt too bad at least.

[rob5625]

anyone have or have leads to where i can find a 290km/h metric speedo or cluster? dont want to go aftermarket inlays or anthing but local searching hasnt come up with anything oem so far. just the oem backing will be fine and ill just modify my odometer. online search hasnt found anything besides super inflated "rare jdm part" prices. i mean dodge did sell at least one or two tt stealths in canada didnt they? lol

[rob5625]

it wasnt easy but i did finally get oem looking aftermarket gauges installed in the oem locations. my stubby fat fingers didnt help much but some random wierd princess auto tools i thought id never use got it done.

couple days later she started acting up with a bad missfire. got error code 53 and the tach was super erratic during this missfire. it would only happen after she warmed up a bit and would literally turn on and off like a switch. i was able to eliminate the power transistor but still felt like the erratic tach was my best clue so i worked my way backwards until i reached the old original cas sensor. wired in the second gen cam/crank sensors again and its all back to normal. still too early to tell but i think this has also solved a weird hard start problem i was having when the engine was "warmish" cold starts were great, hot starts were fine, but after 2-4hrs of sitting she would take a whole lot of cranking before starting up. fingers crossed cause it was an embarrassingly long amount of cranking that would turn heads in the way we dont want lol

still looking for a metric tt speedo btw

[rob5625]

Guess I jinxed myself cause the problem came back this morning. Now I tested and tried 2 different but used ptu's and they both acted the same. Its not the #3-6 coil. Preliminary harness inspection seemed fine. Now still considering the tach becomes erratic and/or reads way lower than true engine rpm when the problem happens what else should I be looking into? Ill try swaping in my jdm ecu first I guess. How often do the ptu's crap out? Like what are the chances that both of these ones bench testing fine yet both randomly act up in the same way when driving?

One thing to note is the problem started the day after I removed the oem center gauges but aside from the now disconnected oem "boost" signal from the ecu I dont see how it could be related.

[rob5625]

forgot to mention but i got this issue sorted out. ended up being the used ecu i bought. nothin too bad just a few messy solders and looks like it wasnt re-coated after the last rebuild. had some corrosion that wasnt there when i first recieved it so id guess it was the climate change from back east to the wet coast that did it in. new capacitors, thorough cleaning, re-coated and its good as new!

after getting the a/c working a few weeks ago its now official... every little gizmo and gimmic is now working on this car. ecs, active aero, active exhaust, digital climate control, 4ws, ect, ect, its all working! why go through all this pain and suffering you ask? cause im a car nerd and its these little random things i love solving.

with all that done and over with i switched over to some cosmetic stuff. got a metric gauge overlay coming from blackcat customs and some s-techs springs currently in the mail. scored me some cheap cobra rims, cleaned n painted the calipers and started experimenting with plastidip on all the weathered plastics.

[rob5625]

definitely needs a drop now lol