Batou's 1993 Eunos Roadster NA6CE S-Special - 黒い龍

Some more parts have arrivied for the "budget" build...

ENGINE & DRIVETRAIN
# Link G4X Plug In ECU
# Denso EV6 (1.8 VVTi) Injectors



I sent the ME442 back before it was fitted, I played with both peices of software and I learned a few things. I understood more of what I was doing in the Link software, the help was better and the layout "made more sense", given I'll be spending the time to learn to tune the car over time having software that I enjoy using and learned from is important. It was quite quick to build up a base map with what I needed, and compare the settings with those from other map files from either your own, links resources or other users, super useful. Lifetime guarantee included with the Link which is nice and also, a huge public forum of users supported by the company and thier engineers / tech's. Fantastic, learnt a lot reading on there.

The MEITE however crashed out more times than I care to remember and wouldn't even load half the maps I tried (strike 1), no inbuild comparison tool to see what you have changed (you can use a software dev tool like beyondcompare to what I think are xml files I suppose but mess) and although parts of the software were intuative I found it clunky to navigate and follow (strike 2). Sure, more time with the software might make the difference but I really didn't get on with it and found it frustrating to use (even more so if it crashes out part way through changing a map!). The other thing that I found an issue was I swear they had a forum for ME users that was public on their site, nope gone... so no community help endorsed by company themselves, to me that is part and parcel of a product like that so that is... Strike 3! Out.

The Link is not entirely plug and play from the box on an early NA6 so its not all plain sailing, but some basic wiring is really all that I need to undertake, also, there isn't a huge number of users running the Link platform on the B6 at the moment when compared to the ME221/441. That said, from the ones that have spoken to they are either really happy with it, or really happy and quick to tell you why they binned their ME221 .

Also picked up some VVT injectors which I have brand new OE seals for so I'll take them to get cleaned, tested and fitted up with new seals before fitting, they should be more than I'll need as I don't think I'll go beyond 264/9.0 cams further down the line... . Anyway, plan is to take my time over the winter and learn more as I go. I have a lot to do on the car as a whole anyway so I can dip in and out and let new information/skills develop during that time.

boggissimo pic from different angle to soothe ocd...


AE101 Silvertop's & Link G4X by batousan 2, on Flickr

INTERIOR & AUDIO
# AEM X-Series UEGO AFR Gauge & Wideband Sensor

Okay so yes the expense of a wideband gauge controller and sensor is annoying but given I'll be doing a bit of tuner DIY I'll need one, I wouldn't be driving along glancing at a laptop anyway and I suppose its cheaper to replace a gauge than an ecu if the wideband controller dies.

SUSPENSION & CHASSIS
# Destroyordie Adjustable FCAs (Upper & Lower) 
# IL Motorsport Hardened Rubber Bushings
# R-Package Lower Tie Rod Ends
# OEM Mazda Lower Ball joints
# Maruha Complete front suspension bolt kit (mar18080800)
# New front hub assembly


NA6CE vs Destroyordie Fronts by batousan 2, on Flickr

Okay so the front end is complete, relatively painless other than the rust prevention mentioned in the last post. Both sides are on and I've of course not had it aligned yet. The car drives straight with the wheel centred so I have my settings equal either side but I don't have anything to set caster so the steering is super wandering around at the moment (only driven round at slow speed) so probably also got a bunch of toe out which doesn't help. Once I've done the rears I'll get the car fully aligned at a place like WIM. I'll report more on the bushings and handling changes when I'm at this stage, if I was to review now I would say the car handles like a new puppy on its first walk out of the house .





Also fitted new R-package track rods, the car came with them from factory but I buggered one side on removal so decided to replace both and keep the one I didn't ruin as a spare. Anti seized (even though the Maruha bolt kit is treated) pretty much everything apart from the brake discs as I don't want to be dicking around snapping seized bolts or setting fire to pb blaster like I did during removal. I'm sure ends these do help bumpsteer as I haven't really had issues of that nature so better not change it.



I buzzed back chassis, treated, sealed and re-painted while everything was removed. Clean metal > dynax seam sealer > buzzweld rust encapsulating primer > corroless glass flake chassis-in-one and bilt hamber dynax UC.. Built everything back up and fitted brand new hubs.





Cheeky manifold shot ^.

So yeah the car looks a bit stancey at the moment but I'll sort that when I get it alignned, think I need to raise the fronts. I think the previous place but some weird settings on the front so I levelled out the dampers to match either side and I feel its a good 10mm lower and I might have a touch too much camber now I've got it on the ground and properly looked at it...


NA6CE Too Much Camber by batousan 2, on Flickr

So now onto the rear, I'm going to drop the whole rear subframe and diff if I can do it in one go. I'll send that off to be blasted and painted as I've had enough of brushes and rollers for one year.


NA6CE vs Destroyordie Fronts by batousan 2, on Flickr

they all do


when your diff(s) cost what mine did then maybe you need help 

Rich.

I've not got that far yet

Rich.

Picked up a filter system for the ITBs, clears the 70mm stacks nicely but we'll see how it fits once in the car. It was bought off a nice chap who had it running on a similar setup (RHD too) so should have no issues with clearances.



Also re-instated my timing marks by rotating the engine to TDC, the nick was so small it was so hard to tell, but it was there.



Ran the car upto temperature and adjusted the timing back to 10 deg BTDC before I started pulling it apart. I've dropped the coolant as I don't want it pouring out of the port behind the inlet manifold when I remove it (new shiny alu rad on the way too) and I have a weep at my heater hoses which needs doing anyway.

After that I stripped back some of the wiring and seperated the stuff from the loom that I wont be re-using and labelled everything up. After that it whrottle body and air valve off off, unplugged and labelled up all plugs, fuel rail out, top inlet manifold bolts out before I realised it was 22:45 and should probably have a sleep before swearing at the lower bolts. Progress is progress, no turning back now.



I can't think of any reason to drop the tank unless I had an issue/leak, if there is a reason I'm not sure I want to know it because no I hadn't planned on dropping the fuel tank

Been tidying up the bay and working on a few small jobs but had some time today to drop the rear diff (subframe next). Lots of very tight bolts, the ppf collar at the back was an absolute twat. After beating the crap out of it for about 30-40 mins I started to wonder if it was actually welded on, eventually my perserverance paid off and diff is off...


Rear End Refurb - ユーノス ロードスタ S-SPECIAL NA6CE by batousan 2, on Flickr

Probably should split the case just to have a quick looky on what diff is actually in there, not that I have the spare cash to change it right now if its not what I'm hoping to see.

VVT injectors going off for a clean next week, wiring expansion loom for the ecu is done but not recovered the heatshrink down just yet until I've tested it all works, exhaust mani is off and old sensor out so will swap that over to the bosch lsu 4.9. If I get fed up with the subframe tomorrow I might test the throttle cable fitment (I might need a 1.8VVT cable if these too much slack) and plug in the ecu to calibrate it. Need more time to faff with this car, small hours over the weekend is not enough.

Also picked up a new cabinet for the garage in the sales, local halfords offered a massive extra discount on the already "black friday'd" pro 6 drawer so I caved, sick of working out of a portable 2 drawer and tools everywhere.


New Cab by batousan 2, on Flickr

ENGINE & DRIVETRAIN

# Toyota Billet 4A-GE 20V "Silvertop" ITBs
# Hummelink Billet ITB adapter manifold with 1/8npt vacuum ports
# 6x 1/8NPT Port Vacuum Block/Manifold + 3/8NPT for Brake Booster
# Link G4X Plug In ECU
# Denso EV6 (1.8 VVTi) Injectors
# ITG JC40 Sausage Filter & Backplate
# SFS Performance Silicone Rad Hoses




Okay, been meaning to update this. I've posted a bit here and there on youtube but good to keep a solid record on here and of course accept some ideas/input from people who have gone a similar route or help others rather than it getting buried in some FB post.

I started the install back in November in between a busy work schedule and I’ve taken my time to make sure everything is as perfect as it can be before I fire up to minimise any issues. I’ve spent endless hours of research, learning how to create the wiring needed, planning out the engine bay routing etc and first start strategy in that time. I ordered a Koyorad back in the Black Friday sales but its coming by boat from Japan I think (arrives this week) so I decided to install the old (still functional rad) Sunday before last so I could at least make start on the dialling in process for the ITBs and adjusting the map I’ve worked on for the Link ECU as I expected to have some hiccups on the first start that I’d need to resolve. Everything bar the new rad is in and really happy with the overall look, I took some comments on board from earlier and took a bit extra time to working on the overall finish, so did a bit of polishing up and painting here and there, also had my OE alternator fully refurbished and bead blasted back to brand new finish too. Whilst there was nothing wrong with it electrical issues down the line will hopefully be minimised as a result of some preventative care. I've also stripped back the OE wiring harness completely, re-pinned the front coolant sensor and oil pressure sensor and used Raychem DR25 heat shrink for anything that goes near the engine, everything else has been re-taped in engine bay grade tesa harness tape and re-routed for the cleanest look without doing a full wire tuck. 


4AGE 4-Throttle ユーノス ロードスタ S-SPECIAL NA6CE by batousan 2, on Flickr

The install itself was really quite straight forward in reflection, just fiddly, I just spent the time to make sure all mating surfaces were perfectly flat, clean and blemish free. I spent a lot of time removing the old material and some extremely fine sanding to get rid of any marring from that process. I then used some gentle persuasion in the form of heat, penetrant fluid and back and fort of inlet mani studs… thank fk they came out without issue. To fit up the manifold I use the lightest smearing of hondabond (not RTV!) on the mating surface and around the coolant port that gets covered for extra sercurity/peace of mind, I literally squeeze the bonding compound until its flat with the end of the tube and press the end of the tube flat against the surface, move it around where I want it (I would not recommend squeezinge it outside of the tube and smearing around to apply it like you would on a diff casing) and then the same on the ITB manifold so theres something both sides of the OE manifold gasket.



I don’t plan to run open stacks so I have an ITG JC40 Sausage Filter as I mentioned a few posts ago but didn’t want to ruin it on the first start or set it on fire so took it off for now. I’ve done all of the install DIY including the wiring and the map is created from the Link G4X basemaps, help from friends who are also installing Links on their Roadsters (muchas gracias to Alex and Haris) and endless hours of reading books, articles and watching videos on EFI tuning (So much to take in, I have massive amounts to learn and I’m super excited about that).



The wiring I’ve done is TPS to Link ECU via Expansion connector (kit came with connector/pins but I did all of the wiring and used Raychem DR25 shrink throughout) and the same for the Bosch LSU4.9 Lambda sensor, then the IAT sensor is wired to the AFM, for fuel pump control I’ve just jumped it for now in the diagbox, I have got a seperate wire coming from the AFM that will go into the firewall to ECU but I need to order in some pins to connect an Aux from the ECU but not sure what those pins are at the moment. It works for now but not ideal to have the fuel pump running constantly with the ignition key position on a road car.


NA6CE Link G4X Ecu by batousan 2, on Flickr

Speaking of fuel, I opted to fit a set of 1.8 VVT 265cc injectors instead of the usual RX8’s mostly due to cost and avoid the risk of buying fakes, they are absolutely fine for this application, not much more flow than stock but a better spray pattern than the early NA ones. Had them cleaned, serviced with pintles replaced and all new OEM seals, here they are mated upto the OE fuel rail. I don’t expect this high temp paint to last on here but I thought I’d try and make them look nice.



I had to slightly interference the fittings for the fuel lines so they didn’t catch on the throttles during operation, no big deal just need to be careful not to oval them, I also replaced the rubber lines with some gates fuel hoses that were E10 safe, not that I’ll use E10 if I can help it. With everything fitted up and wired I started with flashing the ECU with the map I’d worked on and made sure the wiring was all working as expected, thankfully there were no problems there (I can’t really test Lamda reading until it started up).



I’ve noticed on youtube people don't really post a real first start (there are some but not many) and you can usually see a car is up to temp and idling nice already, I didn't think there would be any way it would just fire up and idle smooth from cold on an unknown map unless your some serious pro tuna or have previously had it running. That and the fact that damn, there are usually so many issues with ITB setups, it sometimes just doesn't work, it takes time, and its well, erm, tense (I bought a fire extinguisher that morning lol). However, I decided to leave the camera rolling after I’d been cranking it with no injection to check timing "just in case" so I turned the injectors on and after about 3-4 cranks ,and some adjustment to pre-crank prime enrichment, wow, I wasn't expecting that...



I had to hold the throttle open a tiny amount to keep it running at around 1500rpm and it was rich as balls (showing 10.5. afr) to be fair the outside temperature was -1 in and about 3c in the Garage so getting fuel to atomise on a cold car is bad enough and there was nothing on the walls so its not a surprise it took a few cranks, I probably didn't need to add more enrichment or fuel to the map so a bit of patience there would have been better. My strategy was just hold on some light throttle and move the fuel tables/warmup about to keep it running and get it safely up-to temp before making any major adjustments to the fuel map to get it to idle without assistance (still needed to sync the throttles at this point). I re-checked the base timing now I could get a better reading on the gun and it needed -6 degrees of offset to get it to 10 BTDC, obviously this was going to make the idle a bit more difficult but the base point needs to be set. I was of course checking everywhere for leaks or noises the whole time and there was an unsettling lack of issues, I kept thinking I’d not seen something but no, it was fine not a single problem at this stage. I’d had the entire harness from the fuse box to the engine and everything else separated, re-pinned a few old work connectors so I was sort of expecting maybe some gremlins but no, wow.

After it was up to operating temp and I’d got the air out and topped up the rad (I’ve dropped and replaced the coolant and all new hoses remember) and I got the fan to come on (already checked the output from ecu was working but nice to see it working automatically) and some further work on the mapping I couldn’t get it to idle higher than 750rpm ish so I re-checked base timing with some throttle on and set the 500 and 800rpm rows on the ignition map to 15 degrees BTDC to help the idle up so it would remain steady, I was initially confused why the idle speed was so low and the Link has idle ignition control so it was wanting to add more ignition advance to get it to my 950rpm target. So turned it off and after asking around a few mates I facepalmed realising I haven’t checked the sync on the throttles yet I pulled the stacks and backing plate off and adjusted the sync and idle speed on the throttles until it sat at a reasonable rpm target.


STe Carb/ITB Syncrometer by batousan 2, on Flickr

I got it to sit and idle nicely at 950rpm showing 14.63 AFR after my warm up enrichment had finished, dialled in the fuel table guesstimates a bit more to allow me to at least give it some blips and see how it revs.



After turning the car off and re-checking for leaks or problems now it had hit normal temps I called it a day, came back a few times just to make sure it wasn’t on fire though lol.

I made some changes to the map after I’d gone through the logs and decided what I wanted to do next, hadn’t set the idle speed mechanically to account for electrical loading as I just wanted it to run for a bit before. So I flashed the new version of the map which I’d pulled a lot of over-enrichment out of the cold start parameters and adjusted some of the base fuelling which was way too rich, temps were around 8C in the garage now so it had no drama starting. I then raised the idle to 1000rpm ish to account for the extra load, its showing 4kg/h on each throttle at idle now and still super smooth, like really feking smooth. When I pop the lights and turned the heaters on full etc it drops to around 900-950rpm and stays steady. I changed the ignition at idle lower down, its now at 12 btdc on the 800rpm row to help push it back up, and 15 btdc on the 500rpm row and normal idle at 1000rpm is 10 btdc, it seems really happy there. I have it in open loop with idle ignition control switched on with min and max clamp values set conservatively so its not running 20 degrees at idle or something. After that I was trying different throttle loads and adjusting my fuel map to suit, amazing how the wildly different the tone is for varying amounts of throttle inputs. Really can't wait to get the rear subframe and suspension back on and get it on the road under some proper loading. Also a bit adjustment to overrun settings too, mostly because I'm a child and my neighbors didn't already hate me enough, frankly they should be happy I’m still on a very modest volumed exhaust.




I need to find a proper placement for my IAT (its just clipped to the brake prop valve at the moment) and still need to dial in the tune a bit more once its moving under its own power and being an amateur so will certainly look into a taking it somewhere when I get the car running reasonably well enough to do some distance in it but I’m so happy with how its gone so far, and wow does the Hummelink kit sound absolutely glorious and look the part!! 10/10 would recommend.


4AGE 4-Throttle ユーノス ロードスタ S-SPECIAL NA6CE by batousan 2, on Flickr

(Also, as I wrote this the Koyorad arrived so thats next to go on).

Finally, I put together something of a silly, nostalgic montage of the momentous occasion so if you are an enjoyer of old dead memes, nostalgic cockrock soundtracks from certain video games and ITB noises then you might appreciate its comedic, cheesy short production.