Drama on The Dog's First DCC Gathering

After two years since the project started on Mar 9th 2008, The Dog can finally come with me for her first gathering with fellow Daihatsu Charmant Community members! The gathering was held on a sunny Sunday, Mar 20th 2011 on Senayan Parking area. This was actually a small gathering to discuss the plans for DCC's 5th anniversary next month.

To be honest, The Dog seemed reluctant to join the gathering. She gave me all sorts of drama during the day. First, she refused to start after i stopped by an ATM. Starter motor seemed struggling hard to crank the engine. At first, i thought it was heat soak from the exhaust manifolds so i waited for it to cool off a bit. Crank it again, still struggling. Ffffffuu... Okay, this won't work. I won't bring The Dog to the gathering like this. I have to solve this first. Got a help from a few guys to push The Dog, shift to first gear with clutch on and once she had enough momentum, off with the clutch and there she goes. Definitely something with the power supply to the starter motor.

I quickly head off to the nearest auto-battery shop and told them the problem. They took their battery tester out, checked the voltage, told me to crank the starter, checked the voltage again and scratch their heads. "The battery's fine. Have you checked the starter?", they said. Well, it was the same starter i use on the old engine and it was fine before. So, i asked them if they have any ground cables. Luckily they do, well most battery shop has anyway, and i told them to put more ground cables to the engine block. Here's how the engine looks after.

Notice the bright green-yellow thick cables coming out from the battery? One goes attached to the front of the engine, near the cam gears cover and other one goes to the back. Once done, fingers crossed, turn the ignition key, crank and *vroom*. Wow it worked! I had been suspecting this for a while since i noticed the ground cables were too thin. I was focusing on other problems so didn't really find the time to fix it. Well, now that i have been forced to put the cables, i'm relieved that i did.

That's not the only problem she gave me. On the way to the gathering, i drove on a highway and she decided to act up again by giving me high temperature reading. This reallllyy started to piss me off as she never gave me this problem before. I tried to speed up hoping that the wind might cool off the radiator. It turned out making the matter worse. Fearing i might overheat the 4A-GE, i took the nearest exit and drove slowly to the gathering using alternate routes. Temperature refused to cool off but i decided to keep on going until i finally reached the gathering spot.

Let's stop the drama for a while and focus on the fun part, shall we? Obviously i was a bit late from the starting problem. A line up of beautiful Charmants had already parked on the gathering area. I quickly took my place and was greeted by the guys. Nourie told me to open the hood and took snapshots of my engine. "Finally you finished the car!", they said. Well, a project like this is never-ending but thanks guys! Here's some photos i took myself. Can you spot The Dog?

Quite a few interesting Charmants i saw on the gathering, some packing mods i wouldn't have thought of putting on The Dog but turned out quite well actually. Here's a taste.. How about an Autobot Police car?

or this internet/audio/GPS/Hello Kitty-packed Charmant?

I'll feature one of my favorites soon in another post.

As previously said, we discussed the plans for our next 5th anniversary next month. Some meeting spots have been selected and surveys will be done soon. Also we have some plans to make another batch of T-shirts. During the gathering, we also voted for the best Charmant in some categories like best engine, exterior, interior, etc. We aren't allowed to vote our own car so it should be fair, i guess. Winners will receive some goodies and parts for their Charmants and will be announced on the Anniversary gathering. After the discussion, we then continue to have lunch together before bidding farewell to each other.

Okay, back to the drama. During the gathering and also on the way home, the temperature remained high. I haven't installed my custom lateral rod so i decided to make a quick stop in an autoshop so that i can also check what's causing the high temperature. A quick analysis, i found out that the fan is not turning although the temperature is obviously above the thermoswitch threshold. I ruled out faulty thermoswitch as it's still new and working last week. Unplugged the cable going to the switch and the fan turned on instantly. Okay, fan is good also. Radiator is also brand new so that couldn't be the problem. Three things left to check: waterpump, faulty radiator cap and thermostat. I decided to replace the radiator cap in the shop and carry on to install the lateral rod. Here's the rod installed.

The rod went in easily so my measurements were correct after all. I didn't get to install the 4-links as the shop's about to close.

Anyway, new radiator cap. Let's see if this works. It's was only one or two kilometers drive to my house but it was definitely nerve-wrecking. Temperature's still hot! Arrived at home, turned the engine off, opened the bonnet and waited for the engine to cool off a bit. Opened the radiator cap and turned the engine on again, with ease this time thanks to the new ground cables. Peeked through the radiator cap hole and saw no water flow. Hmm.. this could be either the pump or the thermostat. Pump is less likely as it was okay last week. Decided to open up my remote thermostat housing, 10mm wrench should do it, and took the thermostat off. Went inside the house, mom helped me boil some water over the stove, throw the thermostat in and waited. Hmm.. boiling bubbles started to appear and thermostat remained closed. Waited another minute and still the same. Gotcha! Faulty thermostat! This explains also why my fan didn't turn on. If you checked my writeup previously, you'll see that water flows like this:

radiator --> thermoswitch --> thermostat --> engine

If the thermostat refused to open, thermoswitch will always be exposed to cool water and will never turn the fan on. It's only when the thermostat opens will the switch get hot water and activate the fan!

I was afraid that i have bent my cylinder head from overheating but seeing that there was no water bubbles coming from cylinder compression after i run the engine with no thermostat, it seems my 4A-GE is doing okay. This just goes to show how reliable 4A-GEs are. It ran for a day under high temperature and yet still smiling. I don't want to speak too soon so let's see later if it's still running well.

DIY: IACV Blockoff Plate and Electrical Radiator Fan Wiring

Did this DIY when i was back in Jakarta a few weeks ago but only got around to write about it now since i just got my Samsung Galaxy S back. The photos below are in the phone. Also the air for my lungs apparently comes from it. Nearly suffocated without my Galaxy S.

The Dog had been running electrical radiator fan since the engine conversion finished but the fan was connected directly to the battery through an engine cutoff switch. Crude solution but it was only for temporary. It was only a few weeks ago that i finally installed proper relay and wiring system for the fan.

I wrote a guide on the wiring last year, you can read about it there. Since my thermoswitch is normally-close type, i am following diagram C from the guide.

As you can see on the diagram, a 5-pin relay is needed. The shops nearby only sell the funny looking kind with some special connector needed. Luckily the pin positioning matched my relay socket.

Using a wire cutter, 5 minutes later problem solved. No cursing involved.

Couldn't also find the special round-shaped thermoswitch connector, i had to cut off the plastics around the metal pin and solder a generic wire spade to the pin.

Forgot to take pics of the installation process, but here's a video of the system in action. You can see my Suzuki Wagon R fan turning off automagically after the temperature is lowered enough. The relays are on the passenger side strut tower.

Also notice how my idle speed is a bit too high. It was around 1500 RPM even on warm engine. The idle speed reduced significantly when i shut the IACV vent hole using my finger, a sign of faulty IACV indeed. Since i am too cheap to buy another one, i decided to just ditch the IACV and replace it with a custom block off plate. Read about IACV here.

IACV is located under the throttle body or TB. It's fixed with 5 bolts. You need to pull off the water lines and some vacuum hoses and remove the throttle body before you can comfortably unscrew the 5 bolts. Here's the IACV paired with TB.

Air route follows red arrows, goes into TB inlet hole, then green arrows into the IACV body and air passage, finally goes into the engine following blue arrows. Normal IACV blocks green dashed arrow route when the engine warms up but mine obviously didn't so i had to come up with this.

Right is the custom IACV block off plate and left is the gasket i made from carton paper. Notice how the bolt hole positions match the ones on the TB. Add some silicone sealer, shorter bolts (old bolts can't be used as my block off plate is too thin) and i end up with this.

Sure as hell didn't cost me US$19.99 to make.

No more air coming into the IACV vent and I'm now idling at 1100 RPM when warm. 1100 RPM is still a tad too high as the manual said it should be around 850 RPM but it's much better. My idle screw has been set to max so no air coming from there. I'm currently suspecting the PCV air passage inside the intake manifold is leaking air from the cut-n-shut work. It could also be a split vacuum line. Will have to check it this weekend.

Here's the block off plate in action.

By the way, ditching your IACV for this block off plate will disable your PS and AC idle up. Don't forget you'll also need to loop the cooling line or block both lines off.

A Write-up on 4A-GE 16v Cooling System

Don't bother reading this post. This is just me writing down stuff i know so that i don't have to memorize them for future reference. Of course, you're welcome to read if you wish to know more on 4A-GE cooling system.

Found below diagram on Bill Sherwood's web. Bill's diagram is simpler and monochromatic so I decided to sharpen up my Photoshop skills and put fun colors and letters so that kindergartens are happy, grownups learn more and the world is a better place. I know it's overkill to use PS for this but shut up and read.

Click here for bigger resolution of diagram above.

The coolant flow is such:

When thermostat is closed, water is pushed by the water pump into the engine block through "IN" port. It then circulates following the orange arrows inside the engine block, goes up to the cylinder head and exits through OUT1 and OUT2 port. From OUT1, water passes the thermostat and back to the pump following blue arrows to repeat the cycle while from OUT2 it goes basically the same only the water is also diverted to the heater and throttle body before arriving back to the pump.

If the thermostat is open after exposed to enough heat from the water coming out of OUT1 and OUT2, the flow is same only now water also goes in and out of the radiator (green arrows) so that heat can be reduced.

That diagram above obviously shows a 16v RWD 4A-GE (bigport?) seeing it has fan attached to the pump and the thermostat is integrated to the water pump housing. FWD 4A-GEs like smallports has its thermostat separated from the pump and housed inside what's commonly known as 'remote thermostat housing' looking similar to these, pic taken from this awesome guide.

So, what are we learning from the diagram? Here's some:

First, cylinder 4, being furthest from the water pump, gets preheated water since coolant passes the other cylinders first before reaching it. This is why it's more common that engine gasket close to cylinder 4 fails first than the other cylinders.

Second, since there are two output ports for coolant from the cylinder head, you can block the water flow from OUT2 and still have the water flowing. However, this is not recommended because water around cylinder 4 needs to travel back to cylinder 1 before finally coming out the head. This way, heat will build up quicker around the back causing higher risk of overheating.

Third, you can bypass the heater rendering it useless or you can keep the heater function and if the engine is going to overheat, turning the heater on will also help cool the engine. It's only fair that you suffer what your engine is suffering.

Fourth, the thermostat needs to stay exposed to heated water or it'll always block water coming in from the radiator. To achieve this, water coming out of either OUT1 or OUT2 needs to always "tickle" the thermostat. This shouldn't be a problem if you have the RWD waterpump as it warrants this requirement by having the thermostat integrated to the water pump. If using a remote thermostat housing, however, you need to ensure that at least either OUT 1 or OUT 2 goes through the remote housing first before coming back to the pump. This is a mistake done by my workshop before. Allow me to elaborate their mistake so you won't do the same.

Above picture is taken somewhere from the web that i forgot. Anyway, as you can see, my workshop bypasses the remote housing by connecting OUT2 straight to upper radiator outlet on OUT1. They were confused as to why the radiator stays cold although the engine has been running for some time. Luckily it wasn't running long enough. What happens when you connect it the same way as my workshop did, the thermostat is not exposed to heated water and won't open. This means the pump is not pulling any water, water is not pushed into the engine block, blah blah blah and finally no water going to the radiator!

Another thing i'd like to kick out of my head is the fact that water also flows pass the throttle body (purple arrows). This is where those purple arrows go:

Coolant water flows pass the throttle body is to control the IACV, Idle Air Control Valve. What this valve does is control the flow of air coming in from the IACV air bleed hole (that big hole just in front of the throttle plate). If IACV is open, a small amount of air is leaked from the air bleed hole to behind the throttle plate. This bumps the RPM a bit, useful during cold starts to avoid the engine stalling. If the IACV is closed, the opposite happens. No air is leaked and RPM drops.

The IACV achieves this function by some amount of wax which is exposed to the coolant temperature. This wax expands or shrinks depends on the temperature and in turn controls the IACV. The flow is like this:

Cold engine --> Cold coolant --> IACV opens --> Air leaks --> RPM increased

Warm engine --> Hot coolant --> IACV closes --> Air blocked --> RPM reduced

I don't know how it works precisely but this is what i imagine in mind:

Hope that gives you an idea of how IACV works.

One of the problems common to 4A-GE is high or hunting RPM on idle even after the engine warms long enough. This could be a sign of faulty IACV most probably from the wax aging considering how old 4A-GEs are. You can check for this by blocking the IACV bleed hole in front of the throttle plate using your finger. When the engine warms enough, you should feel no vacuum. If you get some vacuum and the RPM drops suddenly, there you go, you've got a busted IACV.

If you don't feel any need for IACV (meaning you're sure your engine won't stall during cold starts) or you can't find any replacement for your broken IACV, you can install an IACV blocking plate. I won't name any brand, you can just google for "4AGE IACV blocking plate".

Last thing i'd like to bore you with: notice that the thermoswitch to control the radiator fan is on the radiator input of the remote thermostat housing. This means it is only exposed to water leaving the radiator. This water is cooler than the actual engine temperature having passed through the radiator before. What this means is that the thermoswitch must have lower temperature threshold to activate the radiator fan.

Let's say you want the fan to turn on when engine temperature reaches 90 deg C. Assume that the radiator will drop water temperature by 20 deg C. So for the fan to start at the right time, the fan thermoswitch must have its threshold set at 90-20 = 70 deg C. Interesting yet risky design. There's a delay between water coming in and out of the radiator and if the thermoswitch reacts too slowly, the fan would turn on too late and you could overheat the engine. I wonder what's the reason behind this? Do share in the comments if you know and i'll trade the knowledge with more boring posts.

*** edit 25-Feb-11 ***

It seems that my imagination has served me quite well. Forgot that i have a TVIS 4AGE service manual pdf and in it is a diagram of that IACV i talked about. Close enough to my imagination, lol.

Update 25 April 2010 - Fuel and Cooling

Here are some MMS sent by my workshop earlier last week. The thermostat housing has finally found its resting place, on top of the engine brackets. The water pump pipe has to be extended to reach the thermostat housing's outlet.
The fuel pump and filter also have found their home in the rear trunk. I noticed yesterday when i visited the Dog that the fuel pump and filter are in the wrong order. The way they are placed below, the fuel pump comes before the filter while i want it the other way around.
Last update from the MMS is my instrument panel. They made it using aluminum but it still has to be cut to fit the dashboard space.
Meanwhile, i acquired a used air filter intake pipe. It was meant for Honda D16 engine but seeing the way the pipe goes, i am sure it can be fixed to fit my 4A-GE. The best thing is that it has provisions for the engine ventilation hose and air intake temp sensor. The straight long section will have to be cut.

Last engine swap update is the wire mess that i still need to clean up. Nothing that cable spiral tubes can't fix.

Meanwhile, meet the first member of my suspension upgrade components. Used but uncut RS*R AE86 rear springs rated at 4.5 kg/m. Payments for them have been made and now they're on their way from Japan.

Overhauled Corona Axle and Some Bits

Not much of an update but here you go. Here's the finished Corona Axle, overhauled and repainted. Mom and Dad helped me with the repaint. They used some FlintCoat after scrapping the old paint with wire brush and sandpaper. Job well done! Thanks guys..



Just got my Ebay order of igniter plug delivered. My old igniter plug had lost the plastic housing, only the metal lug inserts are left, not a good friend of vibration and movement so i decided to get a new plug.
Last bit to update. My new thermostat housing didn't come with a good thermoswitch for the radiator fan so i bought a new one. Referring to my AE92 parts catalog, the Toyota part number for the thermoswitch is 89428-20060. Being an OEM replacement part, the list price for said thermoswitch is not cheap. However, the seller offered a substitute. He had a part substitution reference book and offered me this instead.
That's the same part as the OEM replacement only without the heftier Toyota price tag. I am still looking for the matching plug for it. Any idea where i can get it? Ebay isn't helping so far.

A Fortunate Mistake

Two days ago, my dad helped me shop for a set of new clutch for my 4A-GE and some other stuff (thanks Dad!). Since i thought that my smallport 4A-GE came from an AE92 GTI Corolla, i asked him to get the clutch set for said vehicle model. After he handed the stuff over to the mechanic, it turned out that the clutch cover didn't match my flywheel! So dad had to go back to the shop and get the correct one. To avoid repeating the same mistake, the mechanic took the flywheel off so that dad can bring it and match the clutch set directly at the spare-parts shop. The mechanic was surprised when he found that the flywheel stud bolts were very short and that they only have a few millimeters of thread left to bolt into the crankshaft. Here's what i am talking about..

It certainly is not a good idea having such short bolts keeping your heavy flywheel attached, you'll break the bolts in no time or even worse, rip the threads on the crankshaft. If my dad had bought the correct clutch set, the mechanic wouldn't have unbolted the flywheel and he wouldn't have found the bolt problem. A fortunate mistake, indeed. Hence, flywheel bolts were jotted down the shopping list also and so dad went back to the shop.

Another thing added to the shopping list was this..

I needed to get the sensor on the right which is the water temp sensor. The old one was missing the connector socket and so i needed to replace it. The part number for 4A-GE smallport is 89422-20010.

While we wait for dad to return from shopping, here's what i promised you earlier, comparison shot between my new and old radiator.

It's clearly wider and, you can't see it but, thicker also.

Look, dad's back! He brought good news and bad news. The good news was that he got the clutch set and water temp sensor. Here you go.

As you can see, the clutch cover now fits the the flywheel. Oddly enough, this clutch set is for Toyota Corona '83-'89 production. How it fits my smallport flywheel is still beyond me as said Corona was equipped with 4A-C, the same engine as our Charmant, and not 4A-GE. Even stranger that when the seller tried KE70 clutch cover at the shop, it fits also.

Below you can see the new water temp sensor.


The bad news was that he couldn't get longer stud bolt of the same head size. The ones he got have slightly bigger heads although the length was correct. Below you can see the old bolt on the left and the one dad got on the right.

See how the head is slightly bigger? This unfortunately prevents the bolt to be used as the spacing is too narrow and the bolt head would bump each other. Here you can see that the length is correct compared to the old one.

The bolts dad got should fit perfectly if they are to be used for 4A-C flywheel which has only 6 bolts hence more spacing. Sadly my 4A-GE has 8 bolts and the spacing is too narrow for them to be used.

With the stud bolts and some sensors still missing like the knock sensor shown below, another visit to the parts shop is still necessary. I am guessing 3-4 more visits still needs to be done before i can actually finish the engine swap.


Last thing i want to show you is that the 6001 bearing i bought fits. This confirms that you should use that size if you're using smallport also. Also on the left side of the pic shown below, you can see that the hole for the starter motor is on the correct side now which is on the exhaust side. The sandwich plate was taken from my old 4A-C and this proves that you can use it directly for the 4A-GE.