Cars

B16 X19 update again

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Busy times, with covid havent had a need to drive much. I did end up with an issue where during Vtec it would miss. Looking at hondata logs, it also was dropping the voltage pretty heavy during this time. through a bit of hunting, I found they drain was from the fuel pump. This car was originally a carb car and the pump was pulling form the tank. although technology has come a long way with fuel pumps, they still like to push rather than pull. so I got a new tank with the connections on the bottom and re routed the fuel lines. so the pre filter/pump/post filter were all near the bottom, then pushed the fuel up through an aluminum line before going to the rail. Low and behold, the miss issue is currently gone!

I also built a wing out of foam and fiberglass. it a littl too big IMO, but just a little, I like the width (56″) but the 18″ depth is a little too much. I still really like the look it produces even though I am sure it is slowing me down at speed.

Cars

The B16 X19 Completed. ok no car is ever complete.

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Its been while. I have to say it i for good reasons. Last spring when I went o start driving for the season, The car started up and ran great! I am running hondata that went in without a hitch. The miss at vtec actually still there but the Datalogging pointed out where the issue was. Kinda.. First I disabled vtec in order to get the tuning started. the miss was still there. So it isnt a vtec issue but an RPM issue. I started looking at injector dead times. I altered them a little and the miss went away.

I dont remember wher eI left this blog as far as the overheating issue, but that has been soled as well be re-routing how the cooling system works. I have to manually trigger the cooling fan if I sit in traffic because I havent rewired that circuit from hondata yet. But it sits about 178-184 99.9999% of the time. I manually hit the fan in the upper 180’s.

The car isnt stupid fast, but it is pretty quick. I am running the LS transmission so the gearing isnt really for crazy fast anyway. but getting over 37 MPG average driving to work. 75% freeway. Here is a soft 1-3rd pull

I had another issue with the Fuel pump stopping. Looks like I didnt do research right and a 5 amp fuse was WAY too small.

I reconfigured the cable shift as well. it works awesome. Smooth and precise.

Thats all for now, just wanted to update. Still contemplating the B20 vtec vs Turbo b16. but that is a different story.

Cars

What I would do differently if I did the b16 X19 again

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Mistakes and what I would do differently.

This is going to be somewhat an ad-hoc list. I am creating this for those of you who wish to do the swap and I want to let you know of the pitfalls I ran in to. First, There is more than one way to do this, my swap is by no means a “bible” to do yours, but guidlines.

The number 1 thing I screwed up on as well as would change if I did it again, Spend more time making sure the engine/trans is in the right spot. I am fine left to right. I probably could go an inch or two lower to see if I can make the shift rod that comes out of the trans more accessable. right now when all the way out, it is about 1/2 inch from the suspension. A bit tight IMO. Because I didnt, I cant say if moving it lower to clear would be too low for the oilpan, trans, or exhaust, but if I did it again, i would check that. The workst part. the shaft angles. I messed that one up a bit. it looked right with my mock up, but my mock up wasnt right or things moved when I put it all together. when sitting, my shafts do not run stright into the transmisison. the angle, according to the driveshaft shop that made the shafts, will be fine although not ideal.

The transmisison mount from most of my build up pics are not what I ended up with. It looks more like a straight piece going out. it now it held also by a tube going up and braces to front and rear. (will show pics when I get to it) This fixed an issue with the mount not holding to the frame of the fiat. it actually started tearing the metal. I totally forgot about the torque twist that is applied and only took the downward weight of the drive train into account.

Cooling system was a bitch. too many trials and too many errors. I will get around to redoing most of it in stainless rather than the stainless/rubber hose mess it is now. but generically here is what worked for me.
Additional Pieces.
Upper Coolant neck from Ktuned.
This allows for an easy fill spot. Maybe not needed, but helped.
inline coolant temperature sensor adapter. with Bleed valve (purchased seperate)
This will go in the hose going to radiator. you will put a Bleed valve in rather than a sensor. This will be used because the hose going to the radiator start lower comes up to clear the transmision then goes back down to head up to the radiator. this high spot WILL need to be bled.
Coolant purge tank with 1 barb in the bottom.
The routing.
For the main circuit
runs out from the head, to the inline bleed, back down to run to the radiator.
Radiator out goes back to engine. before it goes to the return near the thermostat, you need a tee with a small outlet to go to the bottom of the purge tank.
For the heater Circuit
Mine is just looped right now, no heater.
there is a debate online on if it can be blocked off. My reseach shows most of the blocked off ones are full race with no thermostat.
Possible issue when merging into fiat heater. Fiat runs an on/off type valve. Honda runs a bypass style valve. Will just shutting off the flow be an issue? see above reason about blocking it off. same applies. I am going to put in a remote heater baypassvalve (sold for semi trucks) so I can put the valve back in the engine bay yes electronically control the flow from the dashboard.
When running this, I stay at 178-182 degrees.

I also have been debating on if I should have put the ECU in the spare tire well. it is there now, and it nice and handy, but seeing where some K swap people have put theirs in the trunk so the harness is closer to what it would be in the stock honda (going towards the rear) it might have been cleaner.

With most B series transmissions being shifted by rod vs cable, I originally opted to extend the rod back. This works, but is VERY loose. I ended up making a bracket for the transmission input rod that allowed me to use a cable shifter. I used a porsche spyder shifter. it was the cheapest route. actually cheaper than a used honda cable shifter. If I did it again, I would go with midwestbayless K series cable shifter. it was made to drop into the X. I have to tear up the tunnel quite a bit to get the porsche shifter to fit. it is about 150 buck more than the used porsche, but it would have been better and easier. The adapter I made allowed one cable to push-pull, which the other controlled the rotation. Works Great as well as very tight.

Cars, Phtotgraphy, Uncategorized

Winter Projects Stalled

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Updating on where I am on the winter projects. Lets Start with the X 1/9. It has been sitting in its temporary home awaiting a new garage. We are converting our current garage to an “in-law suite” for Kendras disabled uncle. Once its completed and his house sells, the garage will be replaced with a more functional detached garage. Although there is a little room to work on it in the temp garage, it is freaking cold and no real room for the heater. the heater is kerosene so it kicks out humidity which I already have an issue with because of the tarp style roof (condensation is a bitch). I hope I dont have a ton of rust to clean up. I know I will have a little.

So the X. Where it sits right now is I had 2 issues. One is when it goes into vtec, it misses like crazy. Late fall I found there was a transistor that was broken. 2 of the legs werent even connected. I bought a new one and soldered it in. Insurance was already switched to storage so I really didnt think flying down the road to test vtec would be smart without insurance. Damn I am getting old, I actually cared about not wanting to get a ticket. the other issue I had was with idle coming off throttle. it hangs about 2200 RPM until I blip the throttle, then it settles. I went through a couple forums and all the suggestions didnt help (iacv, vacuum leak ect). Right now I am running on crome (yes, spelled without an “h”). a free software to tune the honda. Because of the transistor issue it got me thinking if something else could be wrong with the ECU. Well I guess it is time to get a new one. I figured as long as I am going that route, I might as well go with a different tuning setup. Crome isnt bad, but Neptune and Hondata have more to offer. After alot of research and deliberation, I chose Hondata. Why? the number 1 reason why is it hooks up to other industry digital dashboards if I choose to replace mine. Another, albeit minor, reason is it has more industry following. More shops will tune hondata than any other honda tuning hardware/software. Downside. it is more expensive as well as needing a module to connect to my RD-1 digital dash where the neptune was direct plug and play. yup another $$. I think it is a small price to make sure any issues are not ECU related as well as will last for future endeavors. Out of the box I wont see any real performance gains, but even in stock form, I should be able to tune another 10-15 HP from everything I have seen on Dyno vids. Now, if I decide to go with more displacement or turbo…. yeah there is a big boost in HP. Personally, my goal would be a modest 250 WHP. Along with this, hondata allows me to control the temp the cooling fan comes on. right now it is hardwired to a switch. Being mid engine, I had issues with the fan coming on way too hot. The thermoswitch is in the radiator, where the honda is in the engine. this will allow me to kick the fan on at engine temp 186. this is where I was hitting it manually. usually when I stopped at a light.

The Spider. This one also stalled with the lack of garage. I was hoping to get it to dales to work on (still might) but life got in the way and we have had fun doing other things like working on cars we NEED to work on. I still havent replaced the timing belt I need to do before I try to start the car. but it does spin by hand and has compression. I have the new belt and tension pulley ready to go. The rear panhard rod was dead. there are 2 types put on these cars. a straight one and one with a slight bend. the one on this car was the slight bend type so I bought a replacement. ISSUE. it needed the straight one. Still need to order it. The Steering idler also was broke and needs to be replaced. I did get a almost new top for it that I am waiting for spring to replace. hoping to do a video during a “garage day” with other Michiganders that have done this before. I havent bought the new seat upholstery yet as I am still thinking of what color. I am sure Kendra will have a say. it is originally black, but the top will now be tan so thinking I might want to switch paths and go tan. I know I am also in for a treat when it comes to rust. I already know I am going to have to fix a few spots on the bottom as well as one of the front frame rails needs a thick band aide.

On the Photography front. I got a new tripod. Figured my meijer special has done its time. In reality it was because I went to take a picture of the blood moon and the slight wind we had was too much and it wouldnt hold still. as I was looking at tripods, I started thinking about a gimble as I am getting more and more into wildlife. I found an inexpensive (Cheap) neewer brand. the reviews were pretty good with the exception of it is still as hell. sure enough, when I got it. it was crazy stiff. even with the lock bolt undone it would unscrew rather than spin. Quick google search and plenty of people fixed this issue by tearing it apart and re greasing it with wheel bearing lube. I went through the process and poof. smooth as silk. Great purchase. No big lens purchases this year. been pondering either a 70-200 or a 60-600. the 70-700 probably would be better as that fills a gap I am missing. I currently have 17-50 1.8, 85 1.4, 120-300 2.8. Sigma also makes 50-100 1.8 that might fit in nicely.

Well those are the projects for now. just a quick update before bed. I am also thinking of doing a video on where I am on the X as people have been asking for a video and more pics.

Cars

To B or not to B. or go with K

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My personal thoughts on K series vs B series in a fiat X19.

Quick hit. K series is the best….. If you have the cash. B series is “good enough” if you are under a budget.

Stock Power
B series honda engine and trans can run you from $500 up to $4000+. The b20 is cheap. REAL cheap and only about 130 HP stock. you can run around 200hp stock by getting the b18c type R. The K series you will run 163hp to 221hp stock. a quick look at ebay puts these starting out about $3000. with the hight HP going 4-5000.

more power!
why write what has already bee written. http://www.enginelabs.com/engine-tech/engine/honda-b-vs-k-series-right-build/
Quick synopsis: Normally aspirated, the K kicks ass. Boosted, the B catches up and some say surpasses the K. If you want torque (any torque) the B series is not your friend. they are much higher revving engines that dont turn on any real power until upwards of 5k. Stock internals can easily hold 10k RPM, but you will need to get parts, and a tune to get power at that RPM, but it can hold it. Add a few more go fast goodies and it can hold it as a daily driver.

The Swap itself.
The K series is pretty straight forward. IF you buy midwest bayless Kit. There are a few cuts you have to make and they give you the templates to do so. you have to weld up a small box as well. It is a pretty painless affair. from the quick look at the kit you will still need to get the shafts and fuel pump. if you are carburated, you will have to figure out how to get fuel from the bottom of the tank as fuel injection pumps push, they dont pull well .
The B series, there is no “kit” for it as it really doesn’t need one. Basically, you need to make 2 cuts. one small one in the frame rail above the end of the trans. about 1.5 inch by 4 inches. (then boxed out to re-add strength) and one small cut in the drivers side strut tower to allow the honda engine mount to stick about 1 inch in. 2 mounts will have to be created to hold the honda mounts. one on the trans (passenger) side, and one one the engine (drivers) side. I used 3×3 steel square tube with sides cut to fix.
Another BIG issues I had was with shift linkage. people have used the rod linkage with god results. I did not have those good results. I converted mine to cable. I used a porsche shifter ($100) but since then, using the shifter in the K series from Midwest would have been much better and easier.

My personal total cost for the b16 swap itself, not including issues I had with the engine.
Engine/trans (in running car) 1700
custom shafts 800
shifter 100
shift cables 150
fuel pump 100
mounts 200

I chose the B because of the affordable nature as well as there wasnt a kit for the K series yet. I also love the high revving nature of the b16. reminds me of the Fiat engine. Some people say that with the engine on the drivers side upsets the balance. I dont think this is possible. for one big one. there ARE x19’s that have the driver sitting in front of the stock X19. they would be complaining if there were issues with weight.

all and all. if you can afford the K, DO IT. period. no debate. if you cant, than the B series might be for you

Phtotgraphy

My Photography Obsession

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Where my love for photography came from. not sure. I know late in HS I had a slr that I loved to take abstract pictures in B+W mainly. Sold off that camera right after HS to pay bills. It wasnt until I was in my 30’s when I got back into it. I worked at Spartan Motors and the marketing/brand manger Todd got me back into it. We had an Olympus e-20. Borrowing this worked well for some cool family shots, but as time and technology moved up (and no longer working at Spartan) forced me to buy a Nikon d50. this camera really got me back into photography. I had the kit lens plus a Sigma 17-200 (f 3.5-5.6) this camera had a much quicker shutter speed than the Olympus, making for some cool shots by the pool. I was still an “auto mode” person and that was ok.
My girls played sports, from hockey to softball. I coached them quite a bit do I never really got the sports photography bug yet. I took a few when I could, but that was it. Then came the time where they stopped listening to me as a coach (saw me as a dad more) and it was time to pass the buck. They were now being coached by someone else. I was one of those terrible parents that made coaches want to quit. I was approached by another parent who had a DSLR. She calmly told me “let me guess, you used to coach, so did I. Get a camera, it will calm you down” I wish I knew who she was, she was a parent form the other team. Well I had the d50 so why not. the next game I went with my D50 and started to take pictures. Dang it! she was right!. I was spending me energy trying to get good shots more than caring about what they players were doing, which in turn allowed the coach to, imagine this, COACH rather than deal with me spewing.
Well it wasnt long before I wanted to upgrade. (plus my boss borrowed it and busted the LCD, he was my boss what was I to do)I tasted blood and wanted more. Off I went and got the D90. Loved this lens. It was far superior to the D50. I was now regularly taking pictures at softball. some of the games went close to the evening. pictures where horrid. Blurry, Grainy, just ucky. Time for me to really start learning about photography rather than just taking pictures. thank goodness for google! Long and short of it, I needed better glass.
I really loved my sigma lens. And seeing how Nikon lenses were way more expensive, I started looking around for a decent zoom. I wanted the 70-200 as that was THE sports lens to have, but I found a sigma 50-150 2.8 used for a good price. Sold. What a great little zoom. I was taking better pictures because I could frame them in the picture rather than cropping. At this point I was “auto/Manually” taking pictures. seeing what the auto would set and replicating/tweaking it. This worked pretty well. but for the quickness I needed to swap around the field, what worked pointing towards home, didnt work when pointing to the outfield. I hit up google again. I started reading about Fstop. I found when shooting sports with e telephoto, f4 was the most popular setting. not the only one, but the mose popular. So I swapped out to aperture priority. WOW. that is when I started to reach the 50% mark of photos good enough to keep. The D90, although a great camera, was starting to lose its newness to me. I know not the best reason to upgrade, but it was one! My coworker had a couple of d7000 that he and his wife had a small photography business with. after researching, and talking ot him, I bought a used D7000.
So I know had a “real” setup, in my mind. 2 cameras. one primary, one secondary. pretty cool, I thought. It was at this time I wanted more reach. Again hitting up google. Strongly becoming a Sigma bigot, I noticed the 120-300 2.8. wow 2.8 throughout. that is cool. found a used First gen and bought it. (along with a monopod because this beast is HEAVY) This was crazy cool. It would could stretch and give me great shots. Looked cool too. But… standing near 3rd bas (or first) I could reach the entire field except for the base I was right near! wow, that sucks. so I would swap out innings for the 50-150. Each time I did that all I could think of is the dust coming in. I didnt like that at all. Another parent photog told me to just mount the 50-150 on my D90, put that on a neck strap, then leave the 120-300 on the D7000. amazing! now I could swap almost on the fly to get those close shots I needed!! woo hoo!!
taking pictures at every high school and travel game of my daughters became my passion. about 150-300 pictures of all the girls per game. Loved it. I was getting to the 75% mark now. Reach, like power, is addictive. I was looking at longer lenses. Mainly the sigma 150-600. But after thinking, if I got a doubler, I essentially would be at the same 600mm at 5.6 as the 150-600 lens. but at a much cheaper cost. So I bought a 1.4 and a 2.0. Works well. no the 600mm at 5.6 is not as sharp, but does good enough for non pixel peepers. I find I use the 1.4 more than the 2.0.
After tournaments, I was asked to take the team picture. the 50-150 at 50mm was pretty good. but it was old glass and I wish it were sharper. Ok, sigma, send something my way. I found that the 17-50 2.8 sigma rocked. Fit well in my arsenal. so I basically have 17-300 2.8. Life was happy and good. Then the kids graduated.
without kids in sports, what am I to do? well I still have plenty of friends who want me to take pictures of their kids in sports which is awesome as I Really enjoy it. I am not thrilled with the photos with the D7000 at high ISO, so I researched and bought a re-certified D500. amazing camera. The higher ISO allows me to take indoor shots with much less noise.
With the kids not in sports, I also want to migrate to different types of photography. landscape, maybe portraits. A friend pointed out that I love cars, why not start hitting up car shows and take pictures there. Sounds like a plan. now I am reading that 50mm or 85mm make great car lenses. I have the 17-50 but currently have a hole because my daughter is taking a college class and has my D90 with my 50-150 lens. the 50-150 has always been “good” but never really excellent, especially now that I see how sharp the 17-50 is. so back out shopping. I sold some DJ equipment to help fund it. I “retired” a year or so ago and really dont need all the stuff anyway. (kept enough for karaoke, but that is for personal parties) when I googled 85mm, one kept coming up. the SIGMA 85 1.4 ART. awesome! I get to keep my pure sigma line! It came in. Wow, serious Beast of a lens. but dang it is sharp. I havent been able to shoot in good lighting yet, but even in dim it is crazy sharp (was testing it out at ISO 2000, shutter 1/320 and f1.4. the relatively quick shutter was because my “model” was a 2 year old running around.

and that is my photography story. Lunch is once again over. Back to work.

Cars

8 year “winter” project coming to light.

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Its been awhile since I have updated since I have updated the world on My fiat X19.  Although I currently dont have pictures, I will add them later.

here is a list of what has been done over this winter/spring:

  • Shift linkage converted from rod to cable
  • New floor pans
  • Cooling system fixed
  • New 15×8 wheels with tires have been fitted
  • Fender Flares have been added
  • New carpet has been added
  • New Digital Dashboard has been configured and fitted
  • new throttle cable path
  • oil pressure gauge
  • wide band O2 Guage

So here we go one at a time.

first, this got smartly moved from a shove it and get it done to adding yet another winter to it. It was a great move as I started to half ass things and there was quite a bit more I did over the winter I may never have done.  So I was almost ready to drive the car last summer, I even insured it for more than storage.  Well I have a slight issue.  It was over heating (215 and climbing when I shut it down). Feeling the radiator, I could tell the coolant wasnt circulating through. this is when my friends said stop.  move it to another winter project.  so I did.  this is what happened this winter.

Shift linkage converted to cable from rod.  I was not happy with the sloppyness of the shift linkage.  I tried to modify the rod to get it to feel better with no avail. I think the distance and the reversing of it just wasnt going to be tight enough. So I started out trying to think of how I could fix it. I know the People who are putting the K series in the X love the shifting of the cable shifter so I started to see if I could get a cable shifter for a B series.  During that search, I found a great video on how people are using Subaru engines midship. Subbie transmissions are rod shifter transmissions. What they were doing is converting it to cable.  Once I saw the video I was sold. basically. a cable shifter uses 2 cables. 1 for the front to back movement, 1 for left to right. how that converts to the rod it actually quite simple. picture a piece of metal connected to the rod shooting off 2 inches or so like a flag. the front to back cable attaches to it near the rod. now when the cable goes out, it pushed the rod out.  when it is pulled, it pulls the rod back in.   the rotation of the rod the subbie people did it with bell cranks, I followed a 914 conversion page ans ran the cable around. so when you move the shifter left, it pulls the cable, in turn the cable, with is connected to the flag pulls the flag causing the rod to rotate.

B16 rod transmission converted to Cable shift

What I used was a porsche boxster shifter. Funny, on ebau it was about $75 buck. the Honda cable shifter was about $200! Hindsight,  about 2 weeks after I bought the porsche shifter and tore up my tunnel to install it, Midwest Bayless offered a cable shifter that bolts into the X for the K swap, but it would have worked in my case. Ugh.  It shifts smooth as butter.  I am going to redo the flag part as right now it hangs too low.  But that is for another day.

Floor pans.  yeah, I really didnt have floor pans. Dale and I “fixed” them before, well I did a quicky hack job so my feet werent hitting the ground.  I bought a set on ebay (later found out they were located about an hour from me and I could have just picked them up)  and welded them in.  no big story, it was easy peasy.

Floor pans and view of shifter guts

Back to fixing the cooling issues.  new thermostat, added a secondary filler neck and vent to help get the air out, found out I have the hoses backward, replaced the tubes under the car, new aluminum radiator, new head gasket, new water pump.  Ugh. and it still was over heating. I hit up honda-tech.com and they had 2 suggestions. 1. swap the heater return and the bypass return. this way the bypass return hits the thermostat more direct, rather than the heater return. 2. use a Honda genuine thermostat.  Well, between the 2 things, it works!!! I still have to hook up the cooling fans, but at least now the radiator gets hot so I know I have circulation.  the final cooling diagram:

Deleted diagram. It was wrong. I finally got is working correctly and will add a diagram when I have time.

Generically.  main circuit. out of head to new filler neck,  to top of radiator, out of bottom of radiator, back towards engine, tee to expansion tank bottom only inlet, bleed valve before thermostat highest spot, then to thermostat then h2o pump.  Heater Circuit, out from head backnto return line second one from thermostat. I bypassed the heater for now.  Bypass, from head to return line closest to thermostat.

New Wheels and tires.  13 inch tires are getting harder and harder to find, let alone performance ones.  So I decided to upgrade to 15’s. Vicks auto had a set of 15×8 with 0 offset. I liked the look so I picked them up. now for the issues. 15×8 with 0 offset will not fit with stock struts.  I really didnt want to get coilovers (yet) so I opted for a 1/2 spacer front and rear with the appropriate hub centric conversion built in.  now the wheels fit without hitting it was time for tires.  the right size to fit under the fender easily would be 195/45r15.  well, that is a bit of a stretch on 8 inch.  2 others have 205/50 front and 225/45 rear.  both have flares.  my thought was I wondered if 225/45 will fit up front.  I bought 2, figuring if they didnt fit up front, I would buy 205’s for the front and put these in the rear. If they did fit, then I would buy 245/40r15 for the rear and keep the 225’s up front. after ALOT of massaging/trimming of the fender, the 225’s fit! So I ordered the 245’s for the rear. I also got myself ready knowing I needed flares.

stock vs new rear……  (width: 6.5 inch to 9.6 inch…)

Now for the flares. there are a few styles available for the X19. Baylees, Faza, and PBS.   there are also 2 popular full fender kits, Dallara and Boig.  I like the full kits, but they are 3-4 times the cost and work to get installed.  I decided on Brayden’s choice from midwest. Brayden mixed Faza Front with PBS rear.  took a trip to pick them up. (love midwest bayless) when I went to put the fronts on, we had an issue. the 225’s rubbed on the front and rear when I turned. After some thinking, I decided that I would just stretch the, a little by cutting them at the top, spreading them about 2″ then refberglassing them together. Poof, it worked and the wheels can turn. I think if I didnt go with the spacers, it might have had the turning radius fine for the flares.  I also molded them in (real rough) to the airdam as the airdam I have isnt the one that is supposed to be with the flares.

the Dashboard.  my original idea was to modify the stock dash to maintain the look of the original, just having new gauges that would be able to read the honda info.  here is what I found. tach would work with a few mods, h2o gauge would work, amp would work. so far so good. Speedo would be a GPS unit, oil idiot light worked.  I really wanted more info than that.  so I picked up a RD-1 digital dash. fully customizable and works with my ECU. now I have almost every reading I want. bought a used instrument panel so I didnt have to kill mine, and made the digital dash fit in it.  I also added a few idiot lights I would need. Brights indicator, Turn signal indicator, oil light, amp light.  well I got the turn signal and the brights indicator working. the oil and the amp, not so much.  oh well. I wanted a separate oil pressure gauge anyway.  I also picked up a wideband O2 gauge that will help when I go to tune it.

lastly for this update.  the throttle cable.  Last summer I actually drove it with a jenky throttle set up.  stock fiat to the engine compartment, bastardized connection to the honda throttle cable.  This would not do.  I bought a 110″ dune buggy cable, some stainless (ok, it turned out not to be stainless,  not happy here) tubing. now I have a single cable from the pedal to the throttle body.  I use the tube to direct it around the engine up to the manifold where it can be adjusted.

well that is all for now.  Lunch is over.

Uncategorized

fiat x19 honda B series (b16,b18) rough guide

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As I saw another person in the xwebforums site wanting to do the B swap, I was thinking would I do it again? hell yeah! and I think it would be much quicker this time. with the knowledge I gained what would be my quick how-to list? Well, here I go.  This is how I would do it again.

  1.  Remove fiat engine.
  2. Clean engine compartment
    1. remove cooling fan and mount
    2. remove fiat engine mount from chassis
    3. remove coolant tank mount.
  3. jack fiat about 30 inches from lowest spot on car  but level front to rear
  4. loosen Lower A-arms if not done with engine removal.  you will undo this and redo this MANY times.
  5. pull the engine up through the bottom, start to roughly place the engine/trans in place.
    1. you will have the intake off and the exhaust should stay on (for clearance). I also took the Dizzy off to keep it from getting broken
    2. transmission side A-arms will have to be unbolted to fit the engine in.
    3. You WILL have to notch the frame in the wheel well in order to have the space for the trans to fit.
    4. Height wise, dont make the mistake I did and put it to high. Watch the Shifter from the trans. if it is too high it will get in the way of the a-arm bolts.  This rod moves in and out, if you can put it below the suspension mount of the fiat it would be better.
    5. once you have the height close, put the a-arms back on (dont have to tighten)
    6. with the wheels on, either lower entire car or (much easier) jack up the suspension and put something under the tires so the car sits fully loaded in the rear.
    7. now you need to fully put the engine/trans in the right place.
      1. left to right, I found the front of the engine will be tight with the stock crank pulley really close to the frame. (single belt “race” pulleys will have more room)
      2. line up the hubs with the shaft mounts on the trans to be as straight as possible. I used wood dowlels  as fake shafts.
    8. once lined up, you need to block up the engine.trans to keep it from moving. this can be done in various ways. I kept the engine hoist on to hold most of the weight, then blocked up with wood on the bottom and wedged in the engine compartment.
  6. Time to start the engine mount planning.
    1. Several ways to do this and I am not going through all of them.  But here is the primer.
      1. front (cam side) of engine mount WILL involve cutting into the shock tower on that side.
      2. putting the engine in with the engine mount on the front of the engine is near impossible.  Works best to put it in place after putting the engine in as it would have to get around the frame rail.
      3. put the mounts on the engine and trans.
      4. create mounts from those to the car.
    2. Engine/trans will come in and out SEVERAL times during this.
    3. I did not use the Honda mount that it towards the front of the car. it isnt on all B series cars so I figured it wasnt really needed
  7. once engine is mounted, Order Drive shafts
    1. this can take time so once you can get it ordered the better.
    2. Yes the trans side is VERY short.
  8. Shift Linkage
    1. so, I originally used the fiat shifter and just extended the rod. to me I couldnt get it to feel right. someone might be able to, I couldnt.
    2. I decided to swap it to a cable system, not easy but feels awesome. For details, google both subaru mid engine shifter and 914 cable shifter
    3. when figuring linkage, I wanted to make sure this engine can be taken out easily so the shift rod configuration I couldnt get tight. if I welded up one piece rods it might have been better
    4. most people used the honda shifter/rods
  9. Clutch
    1. adapted fiat line to the honda slave.
    2. I had the cable trans with a cable to hydraulic adapter.
    3. next time would get honda hydraulic trans to make it easier
  10. put engine back in.
  11. intake
    1. intake WILL have to stick into the trunk a little.
    2. cuts will have to be made even if you plan on removing the access panel for good.
    3. Throttle cable
      1. I went with a new cable with using stainless tube as a guide.
      2. at the pedal, you will have to mount the cable lower than stock as if you leave it where it mounts in the stock location it will be too touchy. (know from experience)
  12. Wiring.
    1. After several attempts at modifying the stock wiring, I when the easy ($$$) route and ordered one from Rywire.
      1. about $500
      2. had loose ends for the parts that go to the car
      3. was built with no chassis wiring expected which the stock harness has them in ti and they wont be needed
    2. mounted ECU in the spare tire well
  13. Cooling.
    1. several ways again, but here is the info that is critical
    2. flow.
      1. main circuit
        1. out of head
        2. put in a bleeder valve in engine compartment at highest spot
        3. to top of radiator
        4. to bottom of radiator
        5. back to engine compartment with tee going to expansion tank
        6. to  thermostat at head
      2. Bypass comes from head to  back of thermostat
      3. Heater circuit
        1. from head to heater
        2. heater back to return behind thermostat
        3. NOTE.  Hondas are a bypass valve system, fiat is an on/off system.  honda people have deleted this circuit without issue so I dont think the on/off wil cause an issue. mine is looped with no heater.
  14. Instrument panel
    1. buy Honda dash and adapt
    2. Buy new guages
    3. I bought the tunerview RD-1
    4. Tunerview RD-2 is better, but more expensive and didnt work with my chipping software (crome)

well I think that is it.  a quicky primer.  with Walt’s power point

Things will make more sense

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The Fiat x19 b16 swap

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So I have been asked by several people about my Fiat X19 / honda B16 swap. I decided that I should just put the story here. Yes, story, this is not meant to be a technical document even though it might contain some technical stuff. First of all, I would like to thank several people and I will probably forget a few (sorry). First and foremost, my wife Kendra for putting up with my addiction to fiats. Second (only because he doesn’t feed me or take care of me) is my best friend and partner in crime, Dale Mund.

It is his mechanic background as well as a good garage in which to work in made this possible. I could not have done this without the help of several people on xwebforums.com. Especially Mr. Biswanger who supplied the PowerPoint on his conversion. (http://autox19.com/b16) The people of hondaswap.com for their help on the honda end. Rywire.com for the custom wiring harness. DriveshaftShop.com for the custom 1/2 shafts. Jeff Miller for his aide and advice on the exhaust. Elise for finding the original X that was converted.  And the Many friends I have that I have annoyed through these years.

So why the swap?  I was running the X with dual DCNF carbs and it was running pretty darn good. sounded awesome. One day it started backfiring. after weeks of trying to troubleshoot the backfiring I was thinking of a swap.  the B16 swap was done before, along with other swaps as well. What I liked about the B16 swap was it was relativity inexpensive, required no major structural changes and most of all it kept the spirit of the X by being a high revving engine. After many nights of thought, I decided to pull the switch.  First I sold the dual carbs. Then I decided to really make it hard to go back I pulled the engine. When I pulled the engine I found the reason for the backfires. although I checked the header for leaks, I didn’t check the o2 bung because I didn’t have fuel injection and it was capped with w bolt.  Well, the bolt fell out. Oh well, carbs are gone and engine pulled.  Now to sell the engine and trans. It went pretty quick as I really didn’t want to make money, just wanted it gone so I couldn’t turn back.

Next step was to find an engine and trans. I Looked at the importers but I was seeing if I could find it cheaper. I found and engine, and someone else with a transmission for about $1000 total. not a bad deal.  The engine was a OBD1 JDM and the trans was a mystery. Well it gave me a place to start. even if they were only to be a mule to get the mounts made. About 3 weeks later, I found a running honda with a OBD0 JDM. Called the guy up and he said it ran great, except it only went to 4000 RPM.  I knew it was probably in limp mode. didnt know why but I thought I would check it out. $1500 later and I was driving the purple pimp mobile home. i ran great (except limp mode) but was lowered too much and had funky ground effects. yeah, I am getting old. Now before we took it out, Dale suggested I get this one running right before we yank it out. He keeps me on track. I replaced the TPS sensor and reprogrammed the ECU to not check for O2 sensor and all was well, limp mode was off. Side note, it came with a chipped obd1 ECU.  so now on to the swap!

pimpmobile

Ripping the engine/trans out was pretty easy.

So we moved on to prepping the X. We had our first issue. After disassembling the back ens and removing a few covers, we found that the cross member was pretty much non existent.

That is from where the previous owner tacked on a few pieces for a little strength. After much thought and a few feeble attempts at fixing it, we gave up. Now to make a new cross member. The rear suspension is partially held up by this member so we now have to figure out how to make sure the suspension stays straight. Dale came up with a pretty cool jig that held the suspension in place while we cut the old member out.

Grabbing some very large steel tubing (probably too big) we built a new cross member. Used the jig to keep the suspension points in place while we welded the crossmember in place.

Starting to get real fun! I cut anything from the engine compartment that wasnt needed for it to run, including the fiat mounts.  We then slid the engine and trans in place. just like was noted from other that did the swap, we needed to notch the frame on the transmission side.

Other than that it looked pretty good. from there we started mocking up the new mounts. things worked out pretty well, bought new bushings, fabricated the mount that bolts on to the transmission.

 

now we bolted the engine in. It fits!  woo hoo!!  oh  wait. we need to put the intake on.  ugh. Looks like we positioned our engine just a little higher than the one in the powerpoint. Well, this wasn’t meant to be a show car, so POOF cut that cross member out, replace it with a bar and go with hood clips for the engine cover.  there, problem solved.

 

Now for electrical. there are SEVERAL websites that show wiring diagrams for the honda b series. I was thinking this would be a great time to hone my electrical skills.  Yeah. that looked good on paper. After several months of struggling I had a working harness. except it looked REAL ugly.

at this time I called up rywire and piked up a race harness. yeah, it was expensive, but it was right. and it looked good.

Now for fuel. I am going to eventually go with a fuel cell up front, but for now the stock tank will work. picked up a Walbro pump as the X had a carbed engine and that pump wont work on a fuel injected engine. (i had an electrical rather than mechanical) Had a new line made forgoing from the pump to the honda filter.  I kept the stock filter because it is a good filter and there was an easy spot to mount it. Now the moment of truth. Time to start it. We weren’t trying to drive it, so nothing else was needed right now, even the coolant lines weren’t run. It didn’t start. more trouble shooting. After sending the harness back to rywire with my ECU so they could test it, we found it wasn’t on the ECU/wiring end. We were not getting spark. New Dizzy time.  Now we had spark!   still wont run. Compression test showed we had compression, but not as much as we should. Static timing. Yup. timing was off.  looks like the belt slipped at some point in time. new belt as well as a new crank pulley (the other was cracked so a new one would be best) and we had compression and she started up. YAY!

Onto Coolant! yeah, this was an interesting one. how to route it when the 2 engines werent exactly the same. the fiat had more manifolds to support the fiat system. We ended up using the stock stainless Reservoir Tee’d into the return line from the radiator. then plugged the top nipple that we wouldn’t use. Started back up and no leaks! of course we didn’t let it run too long. not sure if the thermostat opened but I digress. We added a tunerview II so we could monitor things because nothing really connected to the fiat dashboard.

Now to get to the 1/2 shafts. I left this until later so I could prolong the $800 expense as long as possible. I measured and ordered them. they were delivered pretty fast and looked great. Rather than put them in, then take the right back out, we decided to remove everything now that everything “worked”. we took the engine out to clean up the engine compartment. because of how we have it routed, it only took about 2.5 hours form start to the engine being out. From there I cleaned up some welds, removed a few more extra wires and such.  I put a new firewall insulation and added the hood clips to hold the engine lid and trunk.

Now the engine goes back in. Slick as snot.  now the 1/2 shafts.  not so slick. they didnt fit. Not even close. UGH. it has now been a little over a year since I bought them. This is not going to be good. Called them up and they were wonderful. They said this kind of project timelines happen all the time. Well after 3-4 shots of trying to get it right (finally shot a video explaining why they didnt fit) It was correct and they fit like a glove.  EXCEPT…  yup more issues. with the suspension fully unloaded, the shafts couldn’t get enough angle because of the CV covers. Driveshaft Shop gave me high performance road race covers which are much stronger than normal, but doesn’t allow the angles I needed. So I replaced those with VW off road covers. Perfect.

Now onto linkage. In theory it is pretty simple. When you move the trans form the front to the back, Where a push from the driver seat to the selector rod did A, a pull to the selector rod will do A. So reverse everything.. NO. wait. because the shifter that once was routed to the front is now going to the back, its function is reversed as well. 2 reverses equals same! playing around between the fiat shifter and the honda shifter, I decided to stay with the fiat shifter. Only one rod to manipulate. I did have to shift where it is mounted a little in order to get it headed to the right spot as straight as possible, but it worked.

Exhaust.  Before I go into that, I am going to explain a little of my plans. I plan on rebuilding the other B16 I have and turbo charging it to a moderate 250 HP. (in a 2000lb car). this is important because I would like the exhaust to be able to be used after I do this. i.e. the downpipe going to the same place as the header does now.   so I threw the header on and. yup another issue. it sticks too far back. as in the flange mount is actually behind the car. the fiats back curves in, so it wasnt behind the whole car, but behind where the body workj is. either way, it wont work. After consulting with many people, it was decided to hack the header and shorten it. yes I will lose “the optimum length” but I am planning on going turbo in a year or so anyway. now for the exhaust. several ideas where floating around. one was vibrant has a muffler that has a side in and 2 out. We mocked it up and it actually seemed like it would work, probably have to do some modification where it exits, but it should work. I pulled the trigger. This was rough as it was pretty costly (because it was polished stainless) and if it didnt fit. that would suck. It came in. and it actually fits better than expected.

 

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good weekend for fiat

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Had a great week working on the fiat x19. Things are getting much closer. Started out with FINALLY getting the lights all working. The headlights pop up and down when they are supposed to! I had to rewire quite a bit as I couldnt find the short. so now there is an ON-OFF-ON switch controlling them. Not the best solution, but it works for now. The only issue with this is I dont have the “running lights only” option. not a big deal as I havent needed those since cruising in the 80’s. Now I just have all lights on or all lights off. good enough for now. Eventually it will be running a single push button switch with relays behind it to control power to the up or power to the down circuit depending on if the switch is on or off.
Put the Shift linkage in. Not really happy with the way it turned out, I may be re-configuring it.
Drive Shafts are in with the exception of 2 bolt as I seemed to have misplaced one of the CV Joint Bolt Plates. not a big deal at $3 a piece. (but shipping is still pretty high on it for some reason. Talking with the vendor to see if they can drop that price a little) I seemed to have been a little off on the measurements. Passenger side is a little tight and drivers is a little loose. My guesstamate looks like it is about 1/4 inch off.
This leads me to what is actually left. I will put this into 2 lists.
To get it moving:
1. Clutch line connected to slave (just need to shorten the line and re-flare the ends) and bled
2. Coolant hoses back in and bleed system.
3. Bleed Brakes
4. Fabricate Exhaust.
5. Figure out starter issue. (doesnt crank while on car. I can hear the solenoid, but doesnt crank. Bench test cranks, Engine turns over by hand)

TO clean it up after it is going:
1. Dashboard. Currently the fiat dash only has fuel gauge, turn signals, Alternator and bright light signals working. My hope is to get the current fiat gauges working. the tach I just need to find the right signal, I havent tried hooking up the temp gauge. the Speedo I am sure will have to be cut out and an electronic one put in its place. The second opiton if that doesnt work is going straight digital.
2. New single throttle cable. the current way is pretty hack. old cable linked to a new cable.
3. Wideband o2
4. Extend stock O2 wires
5. weld/bolt in roll bar.
6. cross bar on rear cross member

Phase 2. tear down 2nd engine. rebuild for turbo application.