[equinox92]

NGK BKR8EIX Spark Plugs

Boring update... but interesting enough to post.

So recently the car developed a bit of a high boost misfire. I had just replaced the coil packs, so I thought it was a bit odd. I do remember having a tiny little bit of a misfire before I swapped the coil packs, which really didn't even need replacing, so I decided to dig into the plug situation a bit more.

For whatever reason a few years ago I decided to buy some NGKs on Amazon. We all know where this is going... so I sort of suspected I had gotten some knock offs. Bought some new plugs from Rock Auto and replaced them. I think I had some knock offs.. but you tell me.

Either way, misfire is completely fixed with just plugs! Yay!

 

[Razor7]

Nice! I recently hit weird misfire issues - only after starting, after the car had been driven ~250+ miles (outside of any learning period), and only at idle when blipped to get into first. Would misfire on 1-3 cylinders. New coils and plugs seem to have fixed it.

-TC

 

[seoul_mates]

Your car is a beauty. Sick thread. Glad you got it fixed up man

 

[Combat Chuck]

Great meeting you at the Speed Expo Garrett! That RX-8 looks like a lot of fun to toss around the track.

 

[equinox92]

Likewise dude!!

With the kinda cruddy times I had with the Mazda that weekend, I should have just brought the GC. Lesson learned for next year though

 

[Combat Chuck]

I'm hoping to have Artoo ready for next year as well, tossing GC's around track is just so much fun! The event was definitely an inspiration for me to stop screwing around haha

 

[prezy4life]

NGK BKR8EIX Spark Plugs


For whatever reason a few years ago I decided to buy some NGKs on Amazon. We all know where this is going... so I sort of suspected I had gotten some knock offs. Bought some new plugs from Rock Auto and replaced them. I think I had some knock offs.. but you tell me.

Either way, misfire is completely fixed with just plugs! Yay!

The exact thing happened to me. Bought a set from Amazon and they went bad quick. The electrode tips melted. You can't trust 2nd or 3rd party vendors on Amazon. I also bought a set from Rockauto.com after this mishap and all is well now. A lot of people making gain dishonesty; in the end it's going to bite them back... Yikes.

 

[equinox92]

It's been WAY too long, and it's not worth a full post but... strides have been made to get the GC back to tip top body shape. Figured I'd take the most annoying part to communicate to a paint shop and do it myself.

And by that I mean have my friend who is a professional welder actually do it so I didn't make the sheet metal look like a mushroomed out hollow point bullet.

With this out of the way it should be a lot easier for me to get a shop to just PAINT stuff. Needs a bit o' filler, but of course it does.

More later... this is exciting for me

 

[Stew3223]

Yayyy shaved door moldings. Are you going to have the whole car repainted you think?

 

[equinox92]

V3 STi Nardi + Custom Adapter

Hi. I exist still. I even modified my GC the other day.

I've had a decent condition V3 STi Nardi wheel and an STi horn button laying around for almost 2 years now...so I finally decided to get it installed. As well all know, these wheels are a bit of a bear to get working in the facelift dash cars, something about rings and spacers and horn buttons.. lots of effort. I didn't know at the time the parts weren't 100% a changeover, mostly because it's been years since I scoured the forums everyday, but also because now the GC mostly sits in the garage and I don't mind having it down undriveable while I figured things out.

Either way, I got my hands on a JDM "clockspring" assembly and got to work. Removing my V4 Momo and clockspring reviled the white plastic we all have seen before. Comparing it to the JDM assembly, the magic ring and spring fit right on in.. but I wanted to make a copy of it so that everyone could use it!

Started with some rough dimensions, as well as a separate print to get the spacing on the wheel right so the adapter ring would locate properly. This helped me make some design changes while other stuff was printing out so I could really move fast. I think 3 prototypes in PLA got me to where I needed to be. The piece slips on the center piece, presses on the preload spring, and the hooks on the inner piece grab on to the SMALLEST sides to retain it even when flipping it upside down.. just like OEM!

Oh, and I guess the flappers cancel the turn signals just like OEM too.

Another added benefit of having the CAD for the design is that I can adjust the angle in the circle of where the flappers are. OEM is 150 degrees of rotation before a cancel.. if you have a much shorter rack, like for example a 2015+ STi rack, that amount of angle would need to be reduced in order for the signals to auto cancel MORE appropriately. Something I may play with in the future as my 04 rack DOES sometimes not cancel all the way on some turns due to angle differences.

It was at this point I totally forgot that I needed the extra length to make up for the clock spring.

Whoopsies.

I added another 13mm or whatever it was and then sent it on the printer, but this time in ABS. I didn't bother prototyping it again in PLA as the added distance wasn't going to be the questionable part of the design. Printing some of these dimensions in ABS was going to be a bit more of a challenege since ABS does like to shrink a lot if cooled down too fast without the entire rest of the part. To comabt this I do have an enclosure I use some work lamps to heat.

The print seemed great, but hardly moved in the groove and was REALLY hard to put on.

The shrinkage was real. I tried a few different things to get it to stop shrinking, and ultimately the culprit was the print fan running during a part of the print that caused the thing later to cool down in the center, but not at the edges which caused this effect (the left two are ABS prints vs the right which is the PLA I decided to print out):

Definitely an issue as that ID is a pretty critical dimension for smooth operation.

Either way, fixed the issue and got a nice print and off we went.

The next thing was the horn contactor. It needed some persuasion to work correctly, and i ultimately ended up drilling down the small hole in the white plastic, and used some printed ABS spacers to bring it to the right length, while still being able to use the connection that it came with on the JDM unit.

I guess I didn't take any photos of that part.. sorry.

I then depinned the old clocking connector, and spliced single wire pigtail so I could reuse the connector for the horn. I was really hoping I could use repin the JDM terminal in the connector, but they were just baaaarely different.

Plugged right on it, put the wheel on and!!!

... it rubbed on the column covers.

After way too much digging I found out that there was a car that had covers that did fit without needing modification... the only car (that I know of right now) that had this style wheel and a new style dash... Yep the 22b.

Maybe one day I'll find the right set of covers.. until then.. I dremeled mine out and they kind look like garbage.

But hey, the final result as a whole is GREAT!

I do still need to pull the airbag stuff out, but I'll do that when it's a bit warmer out. This was the motivating factor to get the adapter piece sorted out.

If you have read to the end you get to see the part where I give you the 3D files to print an adapter out yourself!

GitHub - equinox311/GC8_wheel_adapter: Adapter to allow turn signals to cancel automatically with a V3 wheel on a V4-6 dash style car

Adapter to allow turn signals to cancel automatically with a V3 wheel on a V4-6 dash style car - equinox311/GC8_wheel_adapter

github.com

Now on to that dash pocket....when I get one.

More soon

 

[Stew3223]

I love it. So much detail and work for something seemingly so simple. The hours that go into something like this is what some people who don't actually build their own shit will never understand. Kudos man.

 

[equinox92]

Finally nice enough to drive the GC today. I love the steering wheel.. and there was enough time where I was able to forget about how much effort this project was and the blinker cancel seemlesly works to the point where I forgot I needed to test it lol

That's an A+ from me.

Still need to trim the covers a tad and remove the airbag light.. but I got the other piece to the 'airbag be gone' puzzle and should have it in hand today, so I'll do that all when that goes in.

I also need a factory short shifter in this car, I am coming to learn driving it more... hmm..

I love it. So much detail and work for something seemingly so simple. The hours that go into something like this is what some people who don't actually build their own shit will never understand. Kudos man.

You get it. Knew you would lol

 

[Spec R]

It's been WAY too long, and it's not worth a full post but... strides have been made to get the GC back to tip top body shape. Figured I'd take the most annoying part to communicate to a paint shop and do it myself.

And by that I mean have my friend who is a professional welder actually do it so I didn't make the sheet metal look like a mushroomed out hollow point bullet.

With this out of the way it should be a lot easier for me to get a shop to just PAINT stuff. Needs a bit o' filler, but of course it does.

More later... this is exciting for me

SEriously - when I had my fire car painted. telling them to weld the holes shut was just a month of the car sitting because they didnt get it or their welder was "broken"

 

[mike-tracy]

Very nice sir! I think the light weight of these cars helps make them feel even better through the steering.

 

[equinox92]

Fuel Send Line

Hah, I have the most boring update ever. Swapped in a new OEM fuel send line. During the winter I was snowed in with some really wet snow and my snow blower needed some gas... so I stole some from the GC. When I was in there I noticed the fuel send line was pretty beat up from the clamps coming off/on a million times. I didn't really feel like dealing with it when it became an actual leak.

Easy peasy OEM replacement finally done.

That's all. Sorry it's boring.. been busting ass on this car!

 

[Combat Chuck]

The Nardi wheel looks great on the car! I remember my L had one equipped, but the clock spring was just hogged out and I had to manually cancel the turn signals. Awesome work!

 

[mike-tracy]

I have everything except for the bearing set to make my own VF36. Can't wait to see what the hype is about.

 

[equinox92]

Hi, my name is Garrett and I suck at driving this car even when it's nice out. But I have taken it out a bit, and managed to change the oil last weekend. Now all I ever do is gawk at Steven's GC at the track next to my Dorito.

Yay GC ownership!

 

[Stew3223]

Hi, my name is Garrett and I suck at driving this car even when it's nice out. But I have taken it out a bit, and managed to change the oil last weekend. Now all I ever do is gawk at Steven's GC at the track next to my Dorito.

Yay GC ownership!

It's criminal that we haven't gotten a photo of our cars together.

 

[Combat Chuck]

Now all I ever do is gawk at Steven's GC at the track next to my Dorito.

I don't blame you, I'm in the same boat. Except I don't even bring my Dorito.