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Thread: This ain't no build thread!

  1. #886
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    Got around to checking my current drain yesterday. Put a new fuse into my meter and connected it up. Happily, I only saw 11.4 milliamps with nothing turned on. I'm guessing the old battery just wasn't good. I will be putting the Battery Tender on it before I head off to work next time (whenever that will be) to keep the battery charge topped off.

  2. #887
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    Couple of days ago the weather was nice so I decided to go about finishing my footwell light install. One of the biggest PITA jobs I have ever done on this car (which is saying something). After multiple times in and out from under the dash I finally had the power wire connected. This was made difficult beyond just the location of the wire by the vamp clamp provided with the kit being a little too large to bite on the factory wire. I closed it up a bit and got everything working. Well, for a little while. After multiple tests the lights stopped working. Checked the fuses and found the room fuse blown. After replacing that I had the header light back but not the footwell lights. I was too tired of underdash work so called it a day.

    This morning before heading out I figured I better check my taillights to make sure nothing had happened to them. Good thing too, as it turned out the passenger side brake light was out. All fuses were good so I figured it was just the bulb. I decided to go ahead and replace all the bulbs back there so picked some up. I replaced the backup lights with LEDs, of course I installed both backwards (LEDs are polarity sensitive if you don't know) but after correcting that everything was good and noticeably brighter. For easy reference, the backup and turn signal bulbs are 7440, the brake/taillights are 7443 (dual element type).
    '00 SE, intercooled BRP MP62, Reverant MS2, Ohlins DFV, Konig Flatout (now X 2)
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  4. #888
    Individual-1 ☚ ☻ ☛ Agent☣Orange's Avatar
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    Chief, I’ve installed a couple sets of those footwell (center console) lights and both times went easy and trouble free. I also replaced the incandescent bulbs they came with to better and brighter LEDs with the side effect of drawing fewer amps. I used an Add-A-Circuit fuse to run a constant power wire to the lights and then ran a wire from the driver door switch to the console lights’ ground wires. The door switch is a negative switch so when you open the door, the switch plunger pops out and completes the ground circuit thus turning on the footwell lights.


    No todo que es oro brilla.

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  6. #889
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Agent☣Orange View Post
    Chief, I’ve installed a couple sets of those footwell (center console) lights and both times went easy and trouble free. I also replaced the incandescent bulbs they came with to better and brighter LEDs with the side effect of drawing fewer amps. I used an Add-A-Circuit fuse to run a constant power wire to the lights and then ran a wire from the driver door switch to the console lights’ ground wires. The door switch is a negative switch so when you open the door, the switch plunger pops out and completes the ground circuit thus turning on the footwell lights.
    Do you remember what gauge wire you used? The wires in the kit I bought are much larger than the stock ones, I thought that odd but in looking at the Moss kit theirs are the same large gauge. I'll look into your suggestion of the Add-a-Circuit, although I already have two of those in the cabin fuse box for gauges/ECU associated power so it might be too crowded. If I get really ambitious I can pull the dash to get access to the damn factory wire and splice in a tap by soldering it.

  7. #890
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    Forum was jacked up yesterday so I couldn't post this stuff. Good thing I saved my write-up so it is easy to copy/paste.

    I’ve been working on getting what I needed to install the LED foglights I bought during MATG. They are the 90mm Morimoto units sold by TRS. The guy I bought them from had already mounted them on the factory brackets so I just needed the wire connectors and some film for protection. Got all that a few days ago so started in. Here is a picture of the foglight:



    Here is the film I bought from Lamin-X. Since these are not a factory arrangement I had to get bulk pieces. I bought two 4 X 8” pieces for around $15.



    Their instructions say to wet the glass with water, I’m not sure how much good it did as the water ran right off. One sheet is enough for two so I had extra in case I screwed it up. After cutting one piece in half I laid it on the glass starting in the center:



    I worked my way around the film in a spiral pattern using a squeegee I had to work it. After a little bit of work it came to this:



    A little X-Acto knife trim later and we have a finished product:


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  9. #891
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    Yesterday I started in with the installation of the lights. There was some white or silver paint on one of the brackets so I cleaned that off, and put some shims under the two extra fasteners the LED lights use vice the stockers so that the lights were square to the brackets. After all the prep work I mounted the lights and ended up with this:



    Next I cut back the stock wires to solder on the new connectors (H11) needed for the LED fogs. I double-checked the polarity just to back up what I had read online, the factory green wire was positive and the black wire was negative. Connectors had a red and a black wire so I connected the red to the green. Got that all done and plugged in, but when I powered up the lights I had nada. I thought maybe it was because I had the headlights removed so went ahead and installed the second connector. While doing that I noticed after plugging in the light that the red input wire was going to the black wire on the light. Either the wires on those connectors are standardized or the Chinese worker who made mine was having an off day. Considered undoing the wires and resoldering but that would have made the wires incorrect. Looking at the connectors I figured I could get the individual wires out of the connector and swap them. I did this by inserting a small jeweler’s screwdriver to release the tab like so:



    The tab holding things in place was weak so I had to bend it up a little so it would hold once I inserted it back into the connector. It’s kind of hard to see but it’s the little piece sticking up by itself from the top:



    Put everything together, powered the lights up and voila! All was good. I zip-tied the wires to the factory bracket to keep things from flopping around:



    For the NB1 at least, you don’t have to cut anything for these to fit the bumper cutouts. The stock lights are somewhat deep and slide into the openings. These are much slimmer and end up just behind the back of the openings. The 90mm size is perfect to fill the hole in the bumper.

    While I had the front bumper off I decided I would finally install the X-Pel film I’ve had sitting around for the headlights. Had to sand/polish them to get a smooth surface because they looked like this:



    Pulled them off the car first because I have a film on the inside of the lens from gassing of the paint I used on the inner bezels. Swished some alcohol around to take care of that (didn’t quite do it all), while doing that noticed the driver’s side projector was moving around. Found the nut holding it in place had loosened so tightened that up and put some high temp silicone on top of the nut to act as a keeper of sorts. Did the polishing then installed the film it was only slightly a PITA. Passenger side was done second and ended up a a little better than the driver’s side but overall good:



    I should note this job is very difficult due to the compound curves of the lens. I took my time and worked around the film using my heat gun on the low setting. The slight cloudiness is normal and should work itself out over the next two weeks.

    I was hearing a chirping from the clutch slave so knew it was time for some lube. I have been thinking about a better mousetrap for this and decided to try a plastic washer to see how that worked out. I have some leftover material from a cone of shame so cut a piece out from that. Punched a hole in the middle using the arch punch set I got from Harbor Freight (hey, didn’t have a set before but I do now), shaped it with a little heat as much as I could and then installed it. Here is how it looked before installation:



    Ain’t the prettiest but should do the job. I am going to keep my eye out for some kind of cup that I can use, Teflon would be nice and I might be able to make one when I get back to work. I’ll keep everyone updated on how this works out.

    To end up I adjusted the rear brake calipers. Nice day’s work.

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  11. #892
    Super Moderator tsingson's Avatar
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    Love that you kept the fog lights. I feel that the NB1 tuppereare and fog light package looks the best but of course, I am extremely biased. Looks even better with your color.

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  13. #893
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    You mean like this:



    I agree, I like the front end with fog lights.

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  15. #894
    Super Moderator tsingson's Avatar
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    Those look clean. I used some fogs I got from Walmart that fit the hole nicely. They only ran me $17 at the time and they stand up to all rocks on the road. If anything happens to mine, I will follow your footsteps with those.

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    I’m a big fan of amber lights and have seen some impressive, 3-inch LED trailer lights that would fit the bill. Of course, those are to be seen rather than to see with.


    No todo que es oro brilla.

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  19. #896
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    Amber fogs? You're showing your age.

    After some problems I have been seeing long term and a little combined research/cogitation, I decided to replace the alternator. Decided upon a NB2 rebuilt unit with 80 amp output (vice the 70 amp of the '00 stocker). Installed that today, while I was underneath I creeped the length of the car while she was running to look for any leaks or out of the ordinary stuff. Nothing presented thankfully. After that was done I went for a drive and did some datalogging. My voltage stayed constant throughout which was good, however I had two alarm lights under different circumstances. After that I sent a message to the Megasquirt builder to pick his brain about what I'm seeing.

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  21. #897
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    Noticed that one of the CEL indicators on my log was the TPS. Checked out Rock Auto and found they had one for $10. I figured WTH, do a little research for the community. Received it and found the connector wouldn't snap locked. Comparing it with the factory TPS I noticed there are two divider pieces there are shorter on the stocker. Here are some blurry pictures that you can maybe see what I am talking about on:

    Stock:



    Aftermarket:



    You are looking for the difference in depth in the dividers between the metal contacts.

    I kind of figured since it was so cheap that maybe they got it wrong. Asked for a refund (which was given) and ordered a Walker replacement. That showed up today, wouldn't you know it the damn thing had the same problem for the same reason. Rock Auto didn't have me send the cheap one back, so I decided to see if I could modify it to work. A little Dremel work and voila! Connector snapped home like it should. I then took the Walker unit and did the same thing to it. That is now installed and calibrated on the Megasquirt. Hoping tomorrow clears so I can do a test drive with some data logging.
    '00 SE, intercooled BRP MP62, Reverant MS2, Ohlins DFV, Konig Flatout (now X 2)
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  23. #898
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    I have had some problems lately with overheating as seen on my datalogs. Did some troubleshooting, it appeared the primary (driver’s side) fan wasn’t coming on or was running at a reduced speed. Further checks showed the fan ran fine with battery power. I also checked the input from the ECU with the A/C running (so both fans should be on), I had full voltage at the connector. Looking at the connector (a Radio Shack piece) it looked like one of the pieces was out of place which could have caused an issue. Here are what the connectors I used looked like, and the one with the connection out of place:





    With that going on I decided to upgrade to more modern connectors as shown:



    Purchased from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1) . They are pretty easy to use, you need to put the seals on the wires before attaching the metal connectors.



    There were instructions included showing the orientation of the metal pieces so they will lock correctly into the plastic piece. On the female side there was a red plastic piece that the instructions said you could use or not. I found I couldn’t use them as they wouldn’t allow the metal pieces to snap into place. I ended up cutting some back as shown, then they worked as designed:





    When you push the metal pieces into place, you can hear and feel them lock. Pushing the yellow wire seals in place required a little persuasion from a small flat blade screwdriver (I wouldn’t use something as small as a jeweler’s screwdriver as you might end up ripping the seal) but it wasn’t too bad. That’s all done, I’ll see how things work next time out.
    '00 SE, intercooled BRP MP62, Reverant MS2, Ohlins DFV, Konig Flatout (now X 2)
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  25. #899
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    I've kind of been chasing my tail with issues. After swapping the fan connectors I again suffered from the cutting out that I thought was being caused by coolant temperature. After letting the car cool some she fired back up normally. I thought about it some more and realized this is what happens when the camshaft angle sensor is failing. So after some research I stopped by the local dealer and ordered a new one. That came today so I got that installed. Before I slapped that bad boy in I compared it to the old one, and found some change. New is on the left.





    You can see the differences. Whether or not this will improve performance over the long run time will tell. Another thing that changed is the part number, I got the one listed on Mazda Motorsports' site and it crossed to this one:



    Test drive afterwards didn't have any problem, but it was cooler out today so it may not have been a valid test.

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  27. #900
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
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    I just recalled that there have been incidents related to the cam sensor that were caused by the connector rattling loose. There was a "fix" of potting the connector on the stock sensor, and adding a new one along the wires, you may wanna keep that in mind if that happens again.

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