Gran Damn

[ericjon262]

Sounds good! Throttle response seems good too. Have you looked into make a quarter wave resonator for it? Looks like a great way to cut down on unwanted frequencies without adding any restriction and a fun project.

Sucks about the power steering, sounds like you have done everything. I will say if your inlet elbow has an o-ring and it does not have a groove it sits in, I have found these types of connections to be super finicky, and I have had to make sure I leave space for the o-ring to roll into its final resting point as it gets installed. Otherwise it finds a way to get pinched and leaks. Not sure if your leak tester was able to test that connection.

And that's not a bad 0-60 for a FWD, though I am shocked the car is as light as it is, looks like a 3400lbs car visually. Google says your stock 0-60 was about 8.3 seconds so shaving a second off ain't too shabby, and I am sure you could get into the 6's with a perfect launch. What do you think you are making for power? I feel like with the cam, heads, and exhaust you should be able to get into the 230hp+ range which should be able to get you into the high 5 second range for a car that weight (if not limited by traction). Probably feels similar to when my WRX was stock which was plenty quick for a daily.

I don't plan to do much other than maintenance, and driving it.

part of the short list of things I plan to do that isn't maintenance, I am going to try and empty the AFT out of the trans and swap it for a heavier oil. one of the TSB's states to fill the trans with "Saturn manual transmission fluid" which is something like 75w-85 IIRC.

the inlet to the pump is integrated with the pump reservoir, I won't say it's impossible to be leaking, but I feel it's not likely, especially when the old pump didn't make the same noise prior to all of this, and I did nothing to mess with it other than unbolt it, and bolt it back onto the engine.


Edit: I'm beginning to wonder again if it's not the power steering, but something else. it only makes the noise going left, and I don't feel anything in the steering when it's making the noise. when I leave to go to work later, I'm going to try something I should have tried a long while ago, and see fi I can replicate the noise stopped.

I have no idea what the power is, and I don't want to make a claim of anything, it makes whatever it makes. I'll take it to the dragstrip next month for shits and giggles and see what it puts down for a time, but I'm not expecting much.

[ericjon262]

so, now I'm beginning to question my sanity... the noise pretty much only happens when three criteria are met...

1. Vehicle moving (neutral or in gear)
2. Engine speed above idle
3. Turning left.

take any of those away, and it doesn't do it... I sat in the parking lot at work and rev'd the engine to about 2000 RPM, and turned the wheel back and forth, no sign of the noise I typically hear, it made it every left turn under power on the way to work... WTF?

[zok15]

Are you saying that if you put the clutch in during a left turn while driving (engine at idle) it will not make the noise?

Are you able to bypass the pump with a shorter belt? That's how my subie has been for the past year now because I got so sick of power steering issues.

But I ask because if the noise goes away completely when the pump is not being spun, then you can verify it is indeed the power steering system.

[ericjon262]

so, I'm even more confident it's not the steering now...

I dumped the ATF that was in the trans, and refilled with about 2.6 quarts of synchromesh, while not completely gone, it's drastically quieter, if I slam it hard, I can induce the noise, but under normal driving conditions, it's way quieter, I plan to drain the ATF out of the Fiero transmission now and see if it makes that one quieter too.

[zok15]

Weird it is only happening when turning left, maybe a loose clearance on the output shaft bearing that supports the CV cup is the root cause?

[ericjon262]

I have no idea, I'm just glad it's no longer as apparent as it was.

[zok15]

DD lyfe. I always like to keep at least one thing broken on the WRX at all times. Keeps the rest of the car from breaking somehow.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Power steering noise is usually a whine or growl. Transmission gear noise can sound like a pile of bolts moving around in a tupperware bin.

[ericjon262]

ok, so a couple updates.

Syncromesh is the shit. put it in the transmission, and my "power steering noise" went away...

I was having some tuning issues. I tried implementing dual bank fuel control for shits and giggles, and it didn't work, so I went to take it out, and then my AVT852 cable stopped working. this is highly unfortunate, because the only way to flash a .bin file to a P04 PCM is with DHP, all others use a proprietary file type. I was kinda dead in the water at this point, the dual bank fuel control not working was making the car run like crap, and the parameters to change it are not available in HPT. fast forward a few weeks, and I find the PCM hammer now supports read capability for the P04, so at a minimum, I can download the bin from the car, because my revision control kinda sucks and I wasn't sure which file had been flashed to the PCM. that still doesn't write a new, corrected file to the PCM, so the car sat while I waited for PCM hammer to support writing to the PCM. about 2 weeks ago, I learned that HPT has a program called "tune translation" that can convert a .bin to a .hpt, so I finally had the tools I needed to fix it and drive the car again!

I had been driving the car for a couple days, I thought I had an alignment issue, because that car tended to dart around a bit, so a buddy came over and helped me do a tape measure alignment on the front end, keep in mind when I aligned it in the garage, I just eyeballed the fuck out of it. we pull a tape, and it's dead nuts zero toe... erg. I wonder if it was torque steer that I was feeling, and I just wasn't used to it because the car is a 5 speed and not an automatic anymore. after that, we evacuated and charged the AC, I was planning on driving the car to Greenville so that when my girlfriend got done with a work convention, we could have a weekend away.

you'll notice I've said "was" several times... well, I had a car with working AC for about 16 hours... yesterday when I got off my first nightshift for the week, I was probably a little more tired than I thought, and didn't quite make it all the way home before I woke up in a curve facing a jeep about a mile from home... I swerved, missed the jeep, but lost traction and hit an embankment and put the car on it's lid...

not my proudest moment. Thankfully, the other driver and vehicle were OK, and I managed to get out through the back window with only a couple bumps and minor cuts.












The car is back at the house, I plan to see what I can salvage, I don't really know what exactly I'll do yet, I know the transmission has a broken chunk out by the starter. I suspect it's probably junk, but it wasn't a nice one to begin with anyways. it's not the rapid catastrophic disassembly I would have preferred, and I'm bummed out it never made it on a dyno or to a track. I was thinking about trying to sell it, but I was also considering putting it into DD status, AC is kinda nice to have. oh well, one less iron in the fire now, I'm just glad that 1. I'm ok, 2. nobody else was hurt, and 3. it wasn't a vehicle I care more about.

[Emc209i]

Jesus, I'm glad you're ok. Do you have decent insurance? Obviously the car is a write off. I get you're probably attached to it, but it's time to let it go obviously.

You got that thing so comfortable you couldn't stay awake.

[ericjon262]

I have USAA, They were really good when I got hit in the suburban, but that also wasn't my fault, so we'll see how this goes...

As far as attachment goes, I was genuine when I said I was thinking about getting rid of it, but it was also rapidly becoming a nicely put together car so it was also making sense to keep it. hopefully USAA is as easy to deal with as they were last time. I'd like to try and get most of the stuff I made off it, the salvageable 5 speed parts, and the cam before I scrap it. it sucks because at this point, the only thing I didn't have working on it was the cruise control.

last night was the first day of my night shift week, on my quick turn around, I was on days, then had one day off, and then onto night shift. I had a hard time getting rest before work, so I had been awake for way too long to be driving. bad decisions were made, oh well, it is what it is.

[Emc209i]

I was thinking about you today. Just out of curiosity, did you replace the condensor accumulator orifice tube orings and liquid lines, or just vac it down and fill?

I can see the bent condensor in the car while it's on its back.

[ericjon262]

Everything but the lines and evaporator was new. The lines were inspected, and the evaporator was flushed. Vacuumed it down, charged it. I put alot of good parts into this car, it's a shame this is how it went.

[Emc209i]

That's aweful. Feel for you.

[ericjon262]

Thanks, hopefully USAA sees the good parts of the car and none of the bad. it really wasn't a bad little car, but it might also end up being a bit of a relief to have one less thing to keep up with.

[Shaun41178(2)]

Glad you made it out ok. That's a wreck

[Series8217]

Damn dude. Seriously glad you are ok. I've had the "wake up to a turn" experience and it ended similarly. No more driving tired. Really glad you made it out of this one without serious injury to yourself or others.

[The Dark Side of Will]

It's great to hear that you're ok. That could have gone really badly... like suddenly-and-permanently-stop-posting-no-one-knows-why badly.

Similar to my flipped Fiero... smashed it on the car's maiden voyage after auto-to-stick swap and engine replacement. It really sucks to put that much effort into it over time and then inadvertently destroy it yourself when you're the only one on the road. The impactful lessons are hard to deal with and I hope you can take some away from this... since you you already got away from it your life and all the pieces of your body.

[eHoward]

I'm glad you're OK. That looks like it could have been really bad. If you can, I would try to find work that isn't nightshift. And if you're not feeling up to the drive, it sucks but sometimes you just have to book the hotel. I would try to charge that back to your employer or client.

I worked wacky hours for many years of my life. I had a multi-year period where I was regularly getting up at 4:30AM and returning home around 9PM to commute between PA and NYC. It definitely takes a toll on you.

The good news is you now have a perfectly valid excuse to buy another car now maybe one with advanced safety systems.

yesterday when I got off my first nightshift for the week, I was probably a little more tired than I thought, and didn't quite make it all the way home before I woke up in a curve facing a jeep about a mile from home... I swerved, missed the jeep, but lost traction and hit an embankment and put the car on it's lid...

[jdv]

Good to see you make it out in one piece.