Operation X

I’m getting the PD tore down because both of the front Bearing have some not-so-smooth feeling. I planned to upgrade them to ceramic anyway so it’s no big deal.

On another note, I’ve been trying to tune and I have a pretty annoying problem with my trim maxing out when I’m at cruise under 60mph. I know it learns this because I reset my trim and it doesn’t do it right away. but it will if I drive about 10 minutes.

So I bought new MAP and MAF sensors but It did not change the problem.

Next step is going to be the less than 1 year out o2 sensors. I don’t know where to go from there. I haven’t even started tuning because I can’t run it in close loop because of this. I’m running a stock tune.

SuperCharger Build:

I got my Rebuild kit for the Powerdyne on friday. The new bearings are all pressed in and the case has been reassembled. I just need to get some locktite on the bolts and then it can go on the shelf.

Misc:

I finally swapped over to 98+ wiper blades. They look a lot nicer since I pulled off those wings on mine.

Seats:

I’ve been tossing ideas about my seats. I guess I’m getting to that age were  want to be really satisfied with my comfort level in my car. I’m done with any cloth seat. I hate them lol. So I did a few things to prepare for upgrading my interior.

First I took out the procar seat. its really just too big and probably not that safe with the mounting. Which means the stock cloth seat goes back in, but the cushions are in rough shape so I tried to revive them. So I Got a steamer

And took the seat apart.

I applied the steam. This really does “inflate” the foam close to original size where its compressed. It obviously it won’t fix all on it, but it helped.

After steaming one side:

Right side is steamed the left is not

I did the same thing with the back cushion as well.

I then put some heavy canvas material on the support areas and glued them on.

The end result:

I like the back cushion it wasn’t nearly as rough so it shaped back quite nicely. The bottom after riding in it is not quite up to par. it’s still pretty much flat and doesn’t hold its shape even after the steaming.

Back in its home

So the next step I’m taking is to get some nice firm foam block and carve out the stock shape and replace it. I’ve ordered the foam and some tools to help me. If everything goes well I’ll be ready to order a custom tailored leather covers for the seats front and back. Because there is a car show locally this weekend I wanted the stock seat back in so it looked good.

So a number of things are flowing in for the car for like Supercharger build, Subwoofer box, and now some fancy foam material for the seat. I’m going to try and cut an exact copy of the factory seat except with some super high density foam.

The spec of this foam is something like 50lb for the index As you can see its very firm.

With 240lbs it doesn’t budge much. When I thin it up in the factory shape, I expect it to stretch a little bit more. I’ll cut it oversize first to account for the size loss over 20 years.

Here is an experiment of how dense this stuff is. it resists compression quite well.

The is a 2″ roll of tape

This is 50lbs worth of ammo

It compressed about 1.5 inches

Got some tools to help in the cutting as well. I can carve turkeys at thanksgiving now lol. and slice bread with ease.

So I have a serious decision to make as far as seats go.

Option 1
-Keep the factory seats and hope that one day in the future someone will offer a foam replacement.
-In the meantime, I’ll cut my own hopefully.
-Get custom leather covers for the front and rear.

Option 2
Get 6LE seats (pleather) with matching rear covers.

The cost of both is about equal however, I’m on the fence pretty hard about which is the best direction.

Yesterday I started cutting my foam that I ordered however the electric knife gave up very quick. So I’m shopping for a replacement to finish cutting this foam.

Factory cushion:

Denim material is holding up well.

.

Sizing it up:

Making my marks:

The cuts:

I stopped here because the bread knife I have makes pretty jagged cuts.

I got the cushion mostly shaped.

It fits pretty well.

I ran it for a couple days.

My results are that I still need to make some mods to the cushion. I left it thick in areas to allow me to cut it down.

I ran the numbers again and to ship the 6le seats with the brackets we are talking 1000 bucks. It makes me really want this cushion to work. I can get a whole new set of leather 2 tone seats covers for the front and back with that.

The biggest issue I have is the bolsters don’t have anything to keep them in place. The factory cushion has a wire to support the foam internally. so I’m going to either build a support for this cushion or if that doesn’t pan out I can always add foam to the factory seat as a last resort.

I cut on the cushion some more. I’m going to try and make some reinforced bolsters on the side with either fiberglass or preferably thick sheet aluminum.

Then I can find some hook and loop strips to put down for the cover to attach to

I am occansionally filling the parts pile with SC build stuff

This week is a PSI limiter from 928 motorsports.

This is their compact version. I’d be interested to see what their mega version looks like. :-\

There is a quarter in the picture for reference.

 

So, the past few weeks I’ve been having a lot of trouble tuning. I finally figured out my problem. It turns out I cause it more than a year ago but it didn’t show until I tried to tune myself. My mail order tune was OL and I’m trying to tune CL.

When I swapped y-pipes I deleted the precat sensor. In my mind if I have the 2 upstream sensors that it wouldn’t matter. However, the precat sensor keep the CAT from overheating. Without a sensor there is dumps fuel to try and keep the CAT cool. But that was causing my fuel trims to max out in the process.

Well I fixed the problem and added a bonus. I ordered 2 bungs and welded them on. I now have my sensor back in place and a place to put a wideband when that time comes.

Please excuse my welding. it’s really the first time I’ve welded anything. I’ve used one a couple times but honestly I’ve got maybe an hour total welding time. I think I had the feed up too high. It built up faster than I wanted. but it’s sealed so I’m not going to complain lol.

Dropping the y-pipe. I actually considered cutting and welding it on the car. I’m glad I didn’t try. that would have been a PITA

Shitty welds lol:

Good to go!

So lately Ive been hindered by stalling while coming to a stop or just letting off the gas completely.

I first replaced the IAC valve but no effect, then I found a pretty good vacuum leak around my EGR plate I made. But even after sealing it back with RTV, it continues to stall just not as bad. I’ve used carb cleaner and there doesn’t seem to be any vac leaks that I can find. So more tuning or searching is required.

(Update: The problem with the stalling was my tune. the vac leak really messed up my numbers when i tried to tune. it was basically flooding it out.)

 

While the weather’s getting cool again, I need a place to put my tops. My plan some time ago was to build my 12″ enclosure into the spare tire area. that area has been emptied however I’ve not gotten a chance to build it yet  So I decided to go ahead and pull the 12″ sub until I get to it and get my trunk space back, T-top holders included.

I had to first mod the old brackets to make the fit of the tops a little better. They were pretty tight before.

They fit better now.

Now If I can only build the fiberglass enclosure. I have all the material, its simply a matter of time.

My 8″ amp is lonely.

The Operation X is going to be paused briefly until after my future wife and I get married. The goal is after the wedding to jump back on and get the SC build finished, but we will see.

Happy New Year!