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So small progress, I guess. Hydroholics was undergoing a change in management so things were briefly shut down over there, but now they're back up and running I was able to order my rear cylinders and the last of the replacement parts I needed for my pump. Still waiting on the 10" cylinders to come back in stock for my fronts. Also ordered 60 feet of 1/0 gauge welding cable and assorted tools to rewire the car.
Recently my starter would take a few attempts to actually crank (basically would just click, and have to go back/forth a couple times before it actually cranked). Initial research on ClubLexus revealed the problem to be the dreaded bad starter (tl;dr 4.5 hour labor time, involves removing the upper/lower intake manifold to access). That kind of put a damper on my suspension for a bit. Good mechanic friend came through for me and was super reasonable - we spent a weekend replacing the dead/dying OEM unit with a re-manufactured one from Denso. The car also got new OEM knock sensors, Amsoil oil/filter, and I topped off the coolant (pro tip: coolant bridge is going to spill coolant everywhere). Ran a little short on time with my mechanic friend, so I opted to put off the coolant temperature sensor and differential drain/fill service for later, as those were more preventative than necessary.
Meanwhile, on the suspension front, I have pretty much everything needed. Only thing I'm really missing is fittings, which involves mounting everything to get an idea of what I need. Good friend of mine on the west coast stepped in to build/wire my switchbox for me (after watching me butcher not one, but two enclosures...) and is also modifying a new radio trim bezel for some little personal touches I have in store. I also had him make a small tray piece for me, which utilizes the OEM CD changer mounts, so I can mount some electrical distribution components up front.
On my end, my new batteries came in. Going to order another later (3 batteries total) as a secondary battery for car audio. Between tomorrow and Friday, I'll be leaving my car with the fabricator to modify my trunk/spare tire well to hold my batteries, hydraulics components, and other electrical distribution in the space, and some miscellaneous metal stuff. Possibly going to have the trunk side of hydraulics plumbed, and some new hoses made to run to the cylinders, while it's in his care as well.
Welp, dropped the car off with the fabricator Thursday night Will update this post as I receive progress pictures.
Originally Posted by bassnbenz
the idea of hydraulics is awesome. bringing back that 90s show car vibe
It's definitely a road less traveled. My main reason for going hydro was for the better ride quality (with accumulators) at my desired ride height. My old UAS setup rode too stiff at height, and also didn't raise much either (limited by struts) so I started looking into alternatives - came across Hydroholics, and later Dice Suspension Systems, and I was sold haha.
Initial setup is definitely more on the complicated side, but if done correctly, you'll rarely have to mess with it besides changing oil and rebuilding the cylinders every 2-3 years. I can't say I'd recommend this as a "first suspension setup" for anyone though. The universal aspect of it is somewhat of a double-edged sword - Good because you have a wide range of resources for replacement parts, but bad since you basically have to "make it fit" (unless you're running something like Skipper Designs).
So after a little over 3 weeks of waiting, that fabricator decided the work I wanted to have done was more than they could handle at the time After picking up the car, I decided I should probably get a second opinion, so I brought the car over to Tyler @ OdysseyFAB (aka Cashflo) the following day - ran some of my ideas by him, and he said it was all very doable.
Since he's currently booked with projects for the next two weeks, I decided I'll focus a little more on the plumbing side of things. Going to work on plumbing the pump, and valve manifold, as well as rebuilding the dump valves (technically, they don't need to be rebuilt, but I figure it's good preventative maintenance given the age of the system). Sad part is this isn't even all the fittings I need. I think I'm still missing some elbows and straights, and adapter fittings for the accumulators. Once I'm done, all I'll need to do after mounting it all, is getting hoses and/or hardlines made, and connecting them up to the system After that, it's only a matter of running wires/hoses, and installing the cylinders themselves.
So during my drive back from Odyssey in my previous post, the car started acting up. Briefly hesitated, then threw a CEL, followed by a VSC off/Check VSC notification. Pulled the codes and found that I have a dead/dying camshaft position sensor (for reference, the codes were P0171, P0330, and P0430). Went ahead and ordered the part - managed to get a good deal on a new OEM sensor through a liquidation sale. Also found out that I had a bad battery... Pretty sure my dying starter put a major strain on it, and killed it, so in I've stuck in one of my hydraulics batteries. While I waited for my mechanic's schedule to open up, I just tried to knock out some other miscellaneous things.
Picked up a new toy during Black Friday, and it's proven to be EXTREMELY useful so far in terms of assembling/disassembling hydraulic fittings. I know, I know, you're probably wondering "Why don't you just buy a vise?" Well, if I had a workbench to mount it to, I probably would - but this is the next best thing. Folds up neatly for storage as well. So far I've just disassembled my dump valve manifold in anticipation of all new fittings. Currently waiting on another batch of replacement o-rings (shipped the last set to the wrong address...) from Hydroholics so I can rebuild the dump valves themselves. After that, it's time to reassemble with all-new fittings, and swing by the Goodyear store to have some new hoses made and then I can begin plumbing the trunk.
Reminder that hydraulic plumbing involves way more fittings than air suspension... everything pictured came off of the manifold besides the flow control (black valve body with the brass twist-**** on top) valve.
Partially assembled my solenoids as well. Waiting for all the mounting positions to be finalized before I can start making wires to connect everything.
On the fabrication front, my good friend, and fellow ClubLexus member Tommyucf20 stepped in and fabricated a battery rack for me. I also had him modify my pump mount so I could bolt my valve manifold to it. This piece is crucial since it allows me to further compact the size of the final assembly. The goal is to fit two batteries, the combined pump/manifold assembly, and various electrical components within the spare tire well. After those parts come in, I'll need to figure out the mounting of all of the hydraulic components, as well as have some other odds and ends fabricated. From there, I'll have another friend strip out the rust and bedline the spare tire well (cleaner/durable finish, and makes fluid cleanup easier). Then it's just a matter of measuring and ordering hoses, and wiring everything up. After that, the only thing left is the actual cylinder install and I'll be hitting switches
So not a whole lot has really changed. Pretty much waited for Odyssey to become available, got tired, and gave up on that idea. Also ordered a new battery since I was using one of my hydraulics batteries, and that was apparently lost/stolen in transit so that's set me back a tad. Thankfully, I found a new fabricator through a mutual friend of ours and he and I have been working on stuff since. The main thing I've been having him work on is modifying my pump mount so that it bolts into the spare well in the same manner that the battery rack does. The bracket's normal configuration allows it to bolt down to a flat surface, but since the spare tire well is very uneven, I've opted to let the pump "hang" from the sides. Other than that, I had him modify the battery rack with a small plate for mounting my electrical solenoids, design an alternator shield, and I'm having him work on a couple other small odds and ends to really tie things in together. He also had a full powdercoating setup at his shop, so I've been having everything sandblasted and powdercoated as I go along. Should hopefully have everything, short of the actual cylinder install, sorted by the end of the year. I'm excited to say the least.
Will post pictures of everything when I get a chance to take some (since I have stuff kinda scattered between his shop and my house)
good to see you still active and modding along with the hydros! phew what a big job but looks like fun!
Yeah, I'm around haha. Cylinders won't be installed "this year" but the management should be 100%. After this my next move is aero and some minor interior work.
Replaced coolant temperature sensor (preventative)
Installed 320A alternator and 1/0 power/ground cables
Installed 1/0 negative battery cable (big thanks to YODAONE for the comprehensive write-up!)
Installed shorter serpentine belt
Replaced the trunk seal
Now the car has developed some new issues which my mechanic and I are trying to figure out.
Battery light on the dashboard - Did both DIY and professional tests on the charging system, and everything is working fine. I think it's just the car freaking out since 100A to 320A is a big jump, and the car probably thinks the alternator is overcharging. For reference, the light just comes on whenever I start the car and stays on. It's not really an intermittent thing, but it just stays illuminated on the dash until I shut the car off. One thing I did note is while the car is idling in DRIVE, the RPMs drops below the kick-on RPM for the alternator, so my voltage drops as though my alternator's gone out completely.
"Headlight Leveling System" error on the dashboard - Admittedly this one is pretty annoying since I just fixed the camshaft position sensor which caused the red light + "VSC Off" message. I think what happened was when my mechanic started the car with the front jacked up, the car tried to compensate for the angle and overadjusted itselfDengman mentioned that the headlight leveling issue is possibly a side affect of the car reacting to the new alternator.
CEL for bank 1 and 2 knock sensors - Apparently I bought counterfeit knock sensors, so I'll be having those replaced with authentic Denso later. Until then, I'll just keep my code reader on me, and clear fault codes.
(Will add pictures later because I need to go find them all)
So these past couple months haven't been particularly big on progress as I had some large orders to take care of.
That being said, I was able to accomplish the following:
- Mounted my wheels/tires (finally)
- Had a mounting bracket fabricated for my bosozoku horns
- Finished having my Hydroholics side-mount pump bracket modified to bolt into the trunk and hold the various wire distribution pieces
- Stripped all of the rust out of my spare tire well, and undercoated/bedlined the inside of it.
Now that school's started up my progress will be a little slower, but here's my current to-do list:
- Route 1/0 gauge power wire into the trunk
- Re-route old 4 gauge power wire from my trunk to inside my dash
- Delete CD changer and install my wire distribution blocks that my friend made for me
- Install new head unit, and hard-wire the harness using said wire distribution blocks (I highly recommend the Beatsonic harness, but since I'm doing a complete overhaul, and already cut my wires up as it is, I'm moving forward with tidying things up)
- Install ambulance siren and PA microphone
- Install CB radio and mount antenna
- Install new wood shift panel w/ integrated clock
- Install bosozoku horns
- Mount and plumb all of the hydraulics components (pump, manifold, etc.) except the actual hoses to the cylinders, which will be done during final installation
- Connect all of the dump valve wires to the corresponding wires of the switchbox
- Connect wires to the StreetCharger unit
- Make and connect power cables for the pump
- Final installation
04-28-17, 12:44 AM
Will update this post as I receive progress pictures.
After picking up the car, I decided I should probably get a second opinion, so I brought the car over to Tyler @ OdysseyFAB (aka Cashflo) the following day - ran some of my ideas by him, and he said it was all very doable.
After that, it's only a matter of running wires/hoses, and installing the cylinders themselves.
