As you all know, the motor is out of the 240SX. I've been squeezing in some work time here and there, but not too much has happened since we pulled the motor.
First off, I removed the CA18DET's exhaust manifold to take a look at the turbo. I had noticed earlier that it appeared to have not been clocked as it should have been. (When running the SR20DET T25 on the CA, the compressor housing must be clocked to clear the exhaust manifold). The guy in Japan who installed it just cut off one of the outlet holes entirely, as you can see here:
And he butchered the hot side outlet:
He also cut up the inlet for the air intake tube. The replacement from the blown turbo is pictured for comparison.
So, I opted to buy a blown turbo for the parts that were damaged and replace them.
The blown turbo:
Last night (Friday) I spent a good two hours making a tool to release the snap ring that holds the compressor portion of the turbo to the center section. Tomorrow, I should be able to release the damn thing and get it apart. The tool I made was originally a crappy pair of needle-nose pliers—I cut off the tips, bent then to make "claws," and then used part of an old bed frame to make extensions for the handles. Now, I didn't have any power tools at my disposal (hack saw FTW) so I'm extremely sore. But worth it? Yes. I did buy a set of snap-ring pliers from O'Reilly Auto earlier this week, but they're too weaksauce to take apart a turbo. :(
Last Saturday, one week ago, I went to Budget Pick-N-Pull in Belton. While at the junkyard I was able to get some good deals.
Uncracked dash (which was a pain to remove)—$15:
Electric radiator fan—$10:
I picked up some other random stuff there too. But all in all, I did well. Now to find some power steering lines and a gauge cluster...
And this is what the CA18DET looks like right now... it's awaiting more parts:
My dad's house also made progress and is looking pretty good:
I've got Solo & Ensemble for band next weekend, which I'm honestly not looking forward to. Ensemble? Check. Solo? Not so check. But we shall see.
Thanks for reading.
