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Ill-Advised lifted 245+T DD Project

Benjam83 said:
Honestly, the one that bit me was someone who'd built a rather decent reputation in the community...he's gone now. But yeah...good riddance.

Just do your homework prior. Get the vehicle history report (carfax, etc), insist upon any pictures you need. Hire a local mechanic or a TBer to take a look at it for you. If they refuse any of it, you're better off without that car...
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the closest i came to it was a buddy out in the pnw with a daihatsu move that he was gonna sell me for a REAL good price. 2wd auto. then i realized the only way i could drive it home was traversing the rockies, and it was january and idk if a 51hp naturally aspirated kei car would have made it lol
 
Pinguin-did you every find any rear shocks? I am running 1.5” lift and ipd overloads- standard shocks too short. Saw you had posted in another thread and read this one. Nice work in the hvac/blower assembly!
 
PeaceEngineered said:
Pinguin-did you every find any rear shocks? I am running 1.5” lift and ipd overloads- standard shocks too short. Saw you had posted in another thread and read this one. Nice work in the hvac/blower assembly!
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I hear vanagon shocks fit with a lift. I think that's wha @cosbySweater used.I've got shock spacers since the guy I bought it from used a kit that came with them. Ideally, I'd just run a standalone shock, though. Might try the special gowesty billy HDs when I get to that point.
 
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More stuff for this ADHD addled build thread:
Finished the rebuilding of the RX-7 calipers.
These things were absolutely *ROACHED*.
Honestly, for what I've got into them, the BNE medium brake kit wouldn't have been that much worse. Also, these things are unobtanium now. It was a good upgrade option back in the day, now, you're better off with something you can still buy off the shelf.
But, I had these, so I split them, and sent them to @Jack for coating. Got a seal kit from Atkins rotary, and a set of pistons and bleeders from rockauto. Oil blued the original bolts after removing the rust. We'll see how that holds up, but right now, they look boss.



If they leak, I'll probably cry.
 
Got the new Genuine Volvo™ Blower motor resistor in the mail, and it's a genuine piece of crap. There's probably 1/2" of play side to side in the bracket, and the ceramic isn't keyed to the bracket in anyway, so it also rotates. I know if I stick this in as-is it's gonna be rattly and annoying.


The old one looks mostly fine, what do the TB sages say, put the old one in and send it, or figure out a way to pot the new one?

Original for reference:
 
I'd suggest something, but then I'd guess wrong. I'll keep quiet about it.
Search google on TB to see how many went bad. If less that a bunch, keep original.
 
Might just wire something like this in
Stick it where the factory amp was, in the center console, stick that potentiometer where the factory knob goes. Just need to figure out the AC bypass.

Update: ordered the PWM controller, and a bench top power supply. So, I'll get to playing with that soon. If it works, should be an OEM+ solution.
 
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Power supply arrived today. Controller should show up tomorrow. I think this works by using a potentiometer to supply a voltage to the controller. So if I figure out what voltage I need for it to spin the fan at about the stock low speed, I can just use a transistor and zener diode of the proper voltage to force the blower to run when the AC is on without impeding the operation of the upper range of the controls. At least that seems like it should work. Maybe I'll blow it up. Hopefully not.
 
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OK, so the bypass is slightly more complicated than I thought. I'll need to make a voltage divider to give me the correct signal voltage for low speed operation, then run both signals through an op-amp based maximum selector circuit to send the higher voltage to the PWM controller. Once I get the circuit figured out, I may try to put it on the same board as a PWM controller and get a board made to fit the 240's 3533004 amplifier case. It's got a nice heat sink for the FETs, and bolts in right behind the dash. But right now, I'll settle for working.

Anyway, here's the controller. It was $20 from some evil billionaire.

Has absolutely no problem spinning the motor on the bench.

Got some speed measurements on the motor by taping a small weight to the shaft so it vibrates and measuring the frequency with a guitar tuner app on my phone. Measured the frequency on the stock low speed setting with the resistor, then reproduced that frequency with the PWM, and measured the resistance from Vin on the control pot to the sweep. So the bypass circuit will switch on the PWM, as well as send power to a voltage divider when the AC is turned on. The voltage divider will output the signal voltage to spin the fan at low speed. That signal as well as the signal voltage from the PWM control pot will be sent through an op-amp maximum selector circuit that will output the higher of the two voltages to the PWM. This way, the fan will run whenever the AC is on, while still allowing the driver to set a higher speed.
 
ybICMFH.jpeg


I've been MASSIVELY overthinking this.

There is a minimum speed at which the fan is really gonna be useful. So, rather than dick around with comparitor circuits and such, I'll just add another resistor parallel to the Vin and Vout of the pot that also goes to the Vin for the control circuit on the PWM. This will set a minimum control circuit voltage, or a "Speed 1" whenever the fan controller is switched on. Then the sweep of the pot will adjust the speed from the established minimum to a 100% duty cycle. That way, all I have to do for the AC bypass is use a relay to switch the board on.
gPuVEh7.jpeg
 
Still better than replacing the resistor. Would be really easy to do on a failed resistor, and just leave it in place.
 
Having figured out how to mostly get the PWM controller to work how I wanted it to, I said screw it and reassembled the box with the stock resistor. If it fails, it will be a simple matter of sticking the PWM box in the dash, plugging a few things in differently and reassembling. Got one side of the box back together. Working on the other. Maybe I'll make some actual progress tomorrow.
I've got a pretty nice dash in the attic (only one crack!) and I think I'll put that in for now, might try repairing this one over the winter.

Anyway, get the heater box in, get the interior buttoned up. Then on to other things.
 
So, long story, said screw it and put the stock resistor back in place. Then came the holidays and a lot of no progress. Went back into the garage today to finish up the HVAC saga. Need to get the firewall grommet over the fittings for the evaporator. Soaked it in boiling water, still couldn't stretch it over. Decided to buy a tool.
0hAc8Cyl.png

Should work for my needs. May have to extend the tips. When I'm done with it, I think I'll gift it to @mikep for when a ban isn't enough.
 
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