LD20 turbo wagon build

[funwithmonkeys]

I love that bumper!

[Sleepys-14]

Very nice build so far! And great attention to detail. This will be an awesome cruising machine!!!!!!

[Baz]

I notice that it appears that the mouldings on the rear windshield seal were fitted after the seal was installed.
Did you install & align the moulding on the front windshield before installation on the vehicle.
It is most important for correct fitment to install the mouldings to seals before installation.
The mouldings are not a locking strip.
Its the other way around. The installation into the body is what locks the mouldings.
Especially the wide rear moulding on the wagons.

[jon510]

Hi Baz,

You're right, we didn't put the moldings in before installation. We were quite worried it would be easy to bend the stainless on installation and previously when I've had the glass guys do it they install the moldings after. On the rear it seems this is likely the only option, but it seems as though the channel is too wide for my stainless on the front, I was wondering if it wasn't the deluxe molding or something and that was why the stainless seems too small.

I will likely take the car into a glass shop once it's moving to see if they can sort those seals out for me. The quarter window seal isn't sitting correctly either so I'm hoping they can solve that too.

Jon

[jon510]

I've been puttering away on the car. Have a bit of progress....

radiator installed.jpg (60.77 KiB) Viewed 5434 times

I ordered a new champion aluminum radiator. Got it in and installed a derale electric fan I have sitting around and will end up using an adjustable thermostat control on it. Seems to fit ok, the fan is pretty tight but it's in there. The lower radiator hose is less than ideal so I will have to look at a more permanent solution down the road but it works for now. I also found one of a few air filters that would fit, I've used some old ducting I had kicking around to allow the valve cover vent to still attach to the intake after the filter, it's a bit tricky getting it all connected but I think I've found the right combo of hard and flexible hoses to make it work.

fan and rad.jpg (63.05 KiB) Viewed 5434 times

I also have laid the unwrapped engine wiring harness back into the bay. It would be nice to have this all hidden but I'm not sure I have that in me. Once the wiring is all hooked up I will look to see if I can delete the backup lamp and starter relays without any issues. I just need to get the wiring under the dash sorted out and install my dome light before hooking up the battery.

I also finally found a throttle cable setup that seems to work after a bit of experimentation. I kept the later model 200sx pedal, but then hooked it up to an 87/88 200sx cable. Still needs to be cleaned up a bit at the firewall, but the length is about bang on. 3rd cable I tried! I also had to slot and install some washers at the far cable attachment, the 200sx cable nuts are smaller than those that were on the ld20 cable obviously.

throttle washers.jpg (48.77 KiB) Viewed 5434 times

I also worked away at swapping my springs for a few days. Stephan and I finally got the old springs off with a nut cracker on the front eyelet bolt. The front bolts and the rear shackles are not in great shape but I imagine new replacements are NLA. So I've made do for now. Form flex springs are in, and I've ordered the KYB AGX Ae86/camaro shocks, I'm hoping these will work. The stroke length is way longer than I need, I'm just hopeful my measurements are ok and they won't bottom out before the bumpstops do. I persused the KYB shop dimensions but there didn't seem to be much else with the correct mounts that would have better dimensions for this suspension

spring 2.jpg (66.13 KiB) Viewed 5434 times

spring.jpg (53.54 KiB) Viewed 5434 times

I started getting the futofab rear bar installed today, should be able to get that on next week. Unfortunately despite notching the front oil pan, the big futofab front bar doesn't quite clear the pan, and it also hits the oil filter just a tad. So I'm going to have to get it bent a bit by a shop here if I can find one that has a press or other tool to do it on a 1.125" bar. Or go custom. Doh.

I'm hoping next week I can get the wiring complete, install the dash instruments, heater core, and potentially new fuel lines. Then I'm ready to try to get the car to fire back up again!

Jon

[Baz]

Hi Baz,

You're right, we didn't put the moldings in before installation. We were quite worried it would be easy to bend the stainless on installation and previously when I've had the glass guys do it they install the moldings after. On the rear it seems this is likely the only option, but it seems as though the channel is too wide for my stainless on the front, I was wondering if it wasn't the deluxe molding or something and that was why the stainless seems too small.

I will likely take the car into a glass shop once it's moving to see if they can sort those seals out for me. The quarter window seal isn't sitting correctly either so I'm hoping they can solve that too.

Jon

Please send a pic of your front screen seal. They are hard to confuse as the profile is very different.

Our rubber manufacturer recommend when installing any window seal that attaches to the glass, to use Palmolive dish washing detergent
as a lubricant. The type that women soak their hands in to soften them. This will not affect the rubber & can be cleaned off easily.
Use of a good lubricant will enable the seal to be seated & align correctly.

Here is a pic of a 240C coupe that has a wide moulding & fits similar to the 510 wagon real hatch seal.
Deluxe & SSS coupe much the same.

This seal was installed with the moulding inserted into the seal before fitment to the car.

This is a rather large windshield.

[510tdi]

As another wagon owner contemplating purchasing seals, I really appreciate Baz's input and communication about his products. Way to go Baz!

About the suspension. I've been in touch with Kelvin who's been involved with 510s for many years and owns one of the sweetest wagons ever. He feels that even the 1" front bar is a bit thick for a road car and that he gets neutral handling with good springs and no rear bar.

[510tdi]

OK Jon,
I'm feelin' it. I know we've got some info coming any time now. What's the scoop? Too busy zippin' (chuggin'?) around in the wagon?

[jon510]

Sorry, it's been a while since I posted. I have been working away though. I finally got the wagon back up and running today and ran it around the block. Thankfully the clutch seems ok, I think it's slipping a bit but likely a pushrod issue. And the brakes seem ok. The car seems a little ... sluggish compared to what I was expecting from the other LD build thread. Thankfully I can look at a little boost to fix that. I'm working on tidying up a few things and finishing installing the rubber and then I will be soundproofing the inside and reassembling the interior. Working on some new seats right now too. I'll post a bunch of pics shortly. It's nice to have it back moving again!

Jon

[510tdi]

Great to hear Jon.
As far as seats, I found some from a mid 80s Mercedes 190E. They have nice adjustments but are not electric, are the right size, and look perfect stylistically. Just an idea.

Thanks for the update!

[jon510]

Still not much time to write, but I'll post a couple pics.

I've adjusted the clutch and the car seems to have much more pep, feels pretty decent. I haven't gone for a good drive yet so hard to tell what it will feel like. It's not cooling properly, I wired up my fan recently so I have to see if that helps. Had a bunch of coolant leaks off the bat but I think I fixed those.

The car looks pretty good outside. There are a few spots on the sides where the base didn't quite go on right, but hard to notice. The color pops pretty nicely I think.

outside.jpg (57.81 KiB) Viewed 5201 times

side shot.jpg (51.14 KiB) Viewed 5201 times

I'm still working on a few wiring things in the engine bay. Slowly getting things cleaned up. Then I'll pull it and re-wrap it. I managed to get the car running without the fuel pump so that cleans things up. I need to wire a fuel cut off switch into the car so it's a bit more secure in the long run.

engine bay.jpg (55.51 KiB) Viewed 5201 times

I've installed seats from a later 2000 model RSX. They feel great and aren't too hard to get in, the driver's seat was offset too far to the left so I had to slot the mounts. They do sit high but are ok for me, I kind of like it. I've been getting the hardware in for my datsport seatbelts and I think thankfully despite the seats being pretty wide the reel sits far enough back that it won't interfere with the seat.

seats.jpg (53.71 KiB) Viewed 5201 times

The 200sx hand brake has worked out pretty well. Still needs a bit of adjusting. I wish I'd mounted it another half inch further forward, something was off when I measured it initially (multiple times). Anyway, does the trick.

hand brake.jpg (50.65 KiB) Viewed 5201 times

I have the rear springs, futofab bar, and kyb agx's in. It will be interesting to see what the car handles like. Still have to figure out a front bar..... Hopefully I can have my futofab one modified to fit.

I'm tweaking a few things and then will run the car to an exhaust shop this week. Hopefully after that I can get it out for a rip for real. Getting close but still lots of work....

Jon

[510tdi]

Of course you're going to be ultra picky about the aesthetics but I think it looks fantastic. Thanks for the update and looking forward to hearing how it really runs.

Thanks

[okayfine]

Great success. Wagon looks awesome!

On the front bar, can you just space it down a bit? Maybe just some 1/2" flat blocks with appropriate bolt spacing?

[jon510]

I did try mocking up the bar to be spaced down a bit but it still seemed to interfere. I have to get under the car again and give it another go to make sure this is the case.

Driving it a bit, I'm wondering whether the bar will be too much anyway. The car is stiff with 225lb up front and 215lb in the rear, with the rear sway bar installed I lift a tire pretty easily in the corners on the rear and get slip. I might try disconnecting the rear to see how it is for now, and then bending either the futofab or a stock sized bar for the front. I guess I should have done springs first before ordering bars.... Hard to tell how the spring/shock combo is working at present, I'll have to fiddle a bit. I wish I'd got the illumina's up front instead of the HP blues so I could adjust both front and rear.

I'm fixing a few kinks for now and slowly assembling the interior. I'm doing a dynamat butyl knock-off as we speak, I'd like to try to get the noise down with the diesel.

I also had an exhaust put on last week. Way more $ than I expected from Midas, but it now has 2.25 from the turbo dump to the back with the previously installed magnaflow muffler. Sounds pretty decent, way less loud than my z20t. Unfortunately the end of the exhaust is hitting the bottom of the rear quarter so I'll have to have it in this week for a trim.

The car is a bit less peppy than I'd hoped based on the write-up from the previous install. Definitely very driveable and smooth with reasonable torque, but not chirping the tires much. I need to get a boost gauge and tach installed so I can see where I'm at. A bit more boost would be nice but the engine does smoke a bit already so I don' t think I can get on it too hard. THe zx transmission seems pretty good on the highway, but a tach will tell the full story.

I'll try to get a video up in a bit. And then the recipe.....

Jon

[bertvorgon]

If it was me, I would disconnect the rear bar. I never ran one on my wagon.

The issue could be that the shocks in the rear cannot react fast enough ( too firm ) and this causes the wheel spin as there is not enough compliance for weight transfer to the rear under acceleration. That I did fight on my wagon at the time. I ran some Koni's and had to set them as soft as possible. And then in corners they cannot droop quickly enough so it picks up that wheel a hair.