Trondelond's EK4

The rest of the EK9 is here, and I'm running out of space.

Nice updates man!
Good idea face lifting it

Turfy said:

Nice updates man!
Good idea face lifting it

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Thank you!
Yeah, the exterior was pretty sorry when I bought it (cheap, ill-fitting fenders and a crap carbon hood), and wintertime+lowered too much was a really bad combination for the front. So I figured why not! Hopefully it'll turn out good!

Awsome mate goina be epic when it's done

looks great man, are you getting her painted?

kellsled said:

Awsome mate goina be epic when it's done

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Thanks, although I´ll settle for "decent"

feeesh^^ said:

looks great man, are you getting her painted?

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Well, I´ve at least got to get the silver bonnet and yellow front bits painted, but I really should get the whole thing done. I´ll just have to see what kind of deal I can find.

Got all the crap I needed from the old motor moved over today, and put on a new OE clutch and release bearing. I kept the Fidanza flywheel, just because I like it. Put the B18 one on the B16.



Did some cutting, soldering, crimping, taping, wrapping and a little more taping to the IAT sensor wire, as it's in a different position compared to the B16. Just need to figure out where I'm going to put the EVAP-doohickey now.



I've got a new plug for the IAT wire somewhere, but I can't remember how I disassemble the plugs. Must do research. The wires just have terminals on them now, and they have worked since I bought the car, but it bugs me.

Aaand whoomp, there it is!



With a buckedload of luck I should be able to drive it around late tomorrow night.

Love how the b-series engines look when theyre all cleaned and sprayed up!
Looks great man!

Turfy said:

Love how the b-series engines look when theyre all cleaned and sprayed up!
Looks great man!

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Thanks! I can´t take credit for the fresh paint, as it arrived like that! Would probably have started it tonight if it wasn´t for an exquisite headache. But got everything up top sorted, except adjusting the TPS, installing the airbox and setting the timing. Driveshafts are back in place, so tomorrow will be exhaust and gearlinkage day as well.

Got the new radiator installed, and modified the old bracket, plug and wiring to work with the new fan.



The IAT sensor almost didn´t let me put the throttle cable back on, and the terminals are quite different from the EK4 one, so I hope this´ll work. Need to get a new plug for the IAT.

So yeah, that´s it for today.

More stuff done! My first go at adjusting a TPS, went pretty well. Only got it to 0.47 volts, but I´m happy with that! Was over 4.5 at WOT, so..



Filled the engine up with oil and some sort of remedy to clean the engine - the engine was pretty clean when I opened it, so I didn´t expect much to come out of it. However, the additive smelled like ripe ass when I poured it out after running the car for the recommended 10 minutes, so I´m assuming it works.



Slapped the driveshafts in, bolted up the suspension, hooked up gearlinkage and discovered that you CAN use the EK9 cat when you install a B18! Whoo!
Tried to bleed the clutch with a vacuum pump, but only managed to suck all the fluid straight through the system. Got the clutch to the point where it was gripping 0.5cm off the floor, but luckily it bled itself during nighttime. Gravity FTW.

Then the real fun began. Was ready to fire the engine up, but as I was adding coolant, I noticed water trickling down on the floor. A leak. It wasn´t easy to find, but I localized it at the hoses that connect to the thermostat housing. The hoses were a bit too big for the B18 housing. Got some serious clamps on there, and there STILL was a leak. Tried to tighten all the bolts again, in case there was some leak in a join. Still leaking.
Pretty desperate at 1am, I ripped off the thermostat housing, and found that the O-ring was missing(!). I seriously doubt this engine has been running in this state.



Must have a chat with vtec performance about this. Fortunately I now have two spare engines, one high-comp b16 and the one i ripped out. So i managed to replace the o-ring and assemble it all again, no leaks at all.

Started the car, adjusted the ignition, fixed an IAT sensor problem and let it run 10 minutes to let the engine cleaner do its thing. Changed oil and filter, and put on a new bolt and washer.



Couple of minor things left to do, make some kind of bracket for the airbox and such. But had a 200 mile trip with the car today, and it´s running great! Great power, and it feels so much happier at revs than the old B16.

More wires thrown out of the engine bay and dash area today.



Hooked up a handsfree mic and a DAB-antenna to my new headunit - Pioneer DEH-X8500DAB - and noticed afterwards that the DAB antenna needs to be grounded. Must pry off A-pillar tomorrow again :



Been without music in the car for pretty much a year, so this was a lot of fun. Plus the bluetooth streaming is convenient.

And I´ve added the biggest piece of luxury I´ve ever had in a car - a cupholder! Got my mitts on a LHD version, and it sort of fit the RHD console, but I swapped my old one over. It´s pretty worn, so I´ll have to mess around with some dye or something.

Bunch of stuff for installing the front arrived today, along with the underside tray thing.



Installed the airbox more permanently, as per usual I´ve been a bit quick on the draw, and sawed off one of the arms that fit the OE holes. So made a bracket, and bolted the arm back on. Had to modify (angle grind) the expansion tank holder, and moved it. Must get some black hose for this.



Also installed a Tegiwa engine damper, as I´m not sure the B16 engine mounts like the extra torque. This thing was a bastard to install, as things had to be done in a specific order to work. And Tegiwa don´t really do manuals. The product really does what it says on the tin though, engine movement was dramatically reduced. I will have to do something about the preload though, because the vibrations go straight to the fender with a loud buzzing at idle..



Aaand, also installed a Tegiwa brake stopper, and this really made a difference. So all in all pretty pleased with todays little mods.



Also figured out the reason for the O2 sensor error message; it wasn´t actually connected. The plug weren´t too interested in coupling, but a lot of persuasion solved the problem. And here I thought the CEL was on because of the ELD error..

Managed to get a little less preload on the engine damper, got the DAB antenna placed properly and found out that the bluetooth-streaming works a lot better with the phone plugged in (apparently), so now it's starting to feel very well sorted. Looking forward to the next long trip with a stereo AND cupholder.

In addition, fuel consumption seems to actually be lower than the b16.

Found some new polybushes I can use temporarily for the radiator :



And got a new plug for the IAT sensor from rywire. Finally, all wires have plugs on them.



Off to a trackday this weekend, will be fun to see how this all works..

Back from the trackday, and I got an incredible brake shudder from the OE discs which wasn´t too much fun. So I´ve ordered a set of EBC discs since I´m real curious about them. The high carbon ones.

The car worked just fine otherwise, except for using a lot of oil on VTEC. But as it doesn´t use any off VTEC, I´m not bothering with this issue right away. Took some old R888s with me, and they got badly worn on the outside. But I suspect this has to do with me running them at 27-28 psi hot, and not camber/toe.



And yesterday, I started with this :



Went via this :



And ended up with this. Much better :

Yay! Well, at least they're not warped. And look good. Can't comment on much else yet.

After tons of fault searching with my headunit, since there was a lot of crackling past a certain volume, I found that the cause was loose speaker wires in the rear..
Bought a cheap set of 6x9" speakers, and fitted those to the standard holes. No more distortion!

And tonight I've done this. It should be this easy in the front as well. This was a walk in the park. New wheel bearing!

Car looks absolutely mint mate. Lovely example.

marcc said:

Car looks absolutely mint mate. Lovely example.

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Well, the stuff I show you is decent, I suppose. Thanks!

Oil changed after about 6000 kms, including a trackday.
Had some problems with my front right brake pulsating on a brake dyno, which escalated to a real bad case of disc warpage (yes, residue buildup. I like to call it warpage. Sue me.), and I thought changing discs and thoroughly cleaning the hub would solve this.
But no, now I've got juddering again, and I figured out that it was the front right brake again. Not quite sure what to do with this - doesn't seem like the hub is warped, and it's clean. I did find that there was excessive amounts of air trapped in the glider bolt bellow-things, but I wouldn't think this would be strong enough to cause these problems? Anyway, let the air out and we'll see.



I've had the old OEM discs grinded, but putting these on will probably just cure the symptoms. I also noticed that the front left wheel bearing is on its way out, so I'll let the shop have a look at possible causes for the juddering as well. Grr.

A lot of new goodies, hehehe, thanks for sharing