Stu

Still have the EP71, havent touched it other than the odd drive - its still scary.

AE86 is painted, slowly piecing it together this summer.

Few other small customer jobs to finish then back into the EP71 next year once the AE86 is legal - have some upgrades in mind.

DIS will likely be hall effect sensors compared to the standard reluctor pickup in a distributor.  

With a stock ecu the fuel pump only runs when the engine is rotating ie cranking or running.  It doesn't run with just the ignition on.

Thanks mate, its got a bit tidier since those photos but I havent done anything else since as its away at the painters.  Got some suspension for it though.

AE86 update

Could be a chunk of something has got into the diff ring gear.  Ive had that before. Locked it up good.

I use 4r7s when wiring up customers cars. 1.2ohm are too low, usually need to be at least up over at 6-7ohms total to not burn out injector drives.  What ecu are you using? They usual state what resistance they will operate at.

You really need to check the waveform with an oscilloscope.

Hey dude,

There isn't any voltage supplied to the 4 pin distributor plug, there are reluctor pick ups on the triggers inside that create voltage back to the ecu in a wave form.  Cranking and idle its common to have somewhere around 0.5v and at peak rpm somewhere up around 6v.  

This thing is great! Any more progress? Picked up a Levin Hatch myself recently, its off to paint soon too

Good to see you are still playing with this thing mate!

As above, yes they do. Nice three wire unit so can adjust both above and below set idle.  They respond very well in my experience and are physically quite small. 

Even the factory 20v 4age unit can be made to work very nicely. 

No major EP71 news to report other than Ive bought some stainless 3 inch bends and straight to make a bigger exhaust.

AE86 has been taking any available time, engine is almost ready to go back in.

Haha sure is addictive!

Have you got the throttle body air and water lines around the right way?  They usually run rough as shit if they are wrong.

Sure is! Im super stoked I got hold of it.  Trying to get the engine back in this week but running out of time with a few other things on.  Will update when its done.

Build is here

Didn't think anyone read this any more

Its this thing.  Facelift Levin, slightly tweaked 16v with some headers and HKS bits, T50 5 speed (possibly close ratio), LSD etc.  

Im currently tidying it up

I really rate the innovate stuff. I use either an Innovate LM1 or LM2 when running customers cars - these are a stand alone controller so you need a window bracket etc to hold them while driving.  The LM1 is very old but rock solid and very very reliable.  Ive had it on the dyno and run parallel to much more expensive motec systems and while its not quite at the same level it certainly holds its own.  The LM2 has a few known issues but I have personally yet to have any issues.  As a stand alone I have used the MTXL in a couple of cars, and a LC1/LC2 if you don't need a screen and feeding straight to an aftermarket ecu.  All seem to work pretty well.  Ive also used a couple of AEM stand alone units but one of them had issues and after a long process was eventually replaced.

Engine run in is a contentious issue and everyone has there own take on it.  If you've had the engine built by an engine builder, then i would suggest talking to them first as they may have their own method that they require you to follow, which will help avoid later arguments if anything should anything go wrong.  If you've done it yourself then you can use any method you like.  I know a couple  of specialist engine builders who drag race at very high level (Robbie at RIPS) who recommend a hard run in right from the outset so I have always followed my own version of that approach (albeit not as hard as they do) and in many years of doing it I've never had any issues - some of my old engines are still going strong 15 years on.   

I start with a couple of heat cycles running 30 mono weight run in oil and straight water coolant - I've heard of the occasional engine having head gasket issues when running glycol.  So start up and run the engine without letting it sit at idle or sit a constant rpm for too long.  It depends on the engine but on a  4e/5e/4age I range from something like 800-4500rpm range as an example.  By having free rev accel and decel it allows both edge of the rings to bed in.  I do this from cold till operating temp then turn it off and let it cool back to ambient before doing it again.  I like to keep the tune lean to avoid bore wash preventing proper ring bed in - I often turn off cold start enrichment in the tune. 

Once the heat cycles are done I head straight to a quick drive with low boost and lots of accel and decel.  Key thing again is to get the tune good as fast as possible and try to avoid running at a constant rpm or idle for too long.  My 4agte had 6psi and 8000rpm within the first 5-10km with good afr's but conservative timing.  After 30km or so I drop the mono weight oil, cut the filter apart and have a good look at whats going on.  If all is ok I run a normal weight mineral oil next with a decent zinc content then run for say 200km before again dropping the oil and checking the filter again.  Third oil change is usually synthetic and my intended normal oil then game on with the tune and the intended boost level.  The tune being on point is key.

There's so many different opinions but I know what works for me and the type of engines I use.  I like the short interval oil changes which give you any tell tales of issues and not being a nana.  But have a chat to a couple of local engine builders and see what they recommend as well.  Getting as many opinions as possible then make a decision based on your own gut feeling is key.

Good luck!

Your teeth count should be 24 not 12 - well unless the dizzy has been mucked with

Last month I took this thing out on a cruise to a Japanese Nostalgia meet that's held every year.  Threw the kids in the car and went along to check out some other cool cars from the era.  Super fun day, the car ran pretty good and drew a bit of attention.

One of my work colleagues brought along his tidy 4agte Levin which I have since dyno tuned for him - super simple un-opened small port 4age with a gt2860 (Stock S15 turbo) and a Link Atom.  Managed to run a very conservative 160kw on a touch under 12psi.

In other news, Ive got a new turbo on order for the starlet and also have bought an AE86 so will set that up as a nice simply street package for now.