SVX Fixin's

 I've read on the forums and Facebook that to get parts for your SVX, you buy another SVX. Thus far, I haven't had to do that. *knocks on wood*

Tonight I decided to tackle the driver's side door lock. I picked up a new security system a couple of months back because the OEM one just wasn't working. Not to mention it was draining the battery - something I only found out after I replaced it. However while it would lock/unlock the passenger door just fine, it wouldn't lock the driver door. I figured the solenoid was bad, so off came the door card.

Turns out the solenoid was NOT bad, it was disconnected. And not only disconnected electrically, but also mechanically. It looked like someone replaced it and didn't hook up the mechanical end right, and so they disconnected it from power so it wouldn't make noise. The mechanical end was flipped 180 and the solenoid itself doesn't actually rotate, so whomever was in there before just didn't do it right.

While I was putzing around in the car, also decided to fix the interior footwell lights. This car is from 1992 and it is VERY advanced for it's time. The passenger side light I found the bulb was out a while ago, but the driver's side was missing the whole assembly. Luckily I had some 12v red LED strips that I was going to use for a similar project in another car that I never got around to installing, so I installed the passenger side after lopping off the connector and installing my own. The connectors are oem-ish and the strips will likely not fail for the rest of the life of the car, so now all I have to do is 3D-print up some brackets that work with the oem mounting points. Driver's side connector is annoyingly short and will take some gymnastics to install, so that I'll leave for another day.

I've still got to reinstall the driver side door card anyway, as the speaker in that door was totally destroyed. I've got some replacements saved in my buy later amazon list, so maybe I'll pick those up sooner rather than later so I can button this thing up.

Also, one of these days I'll take some pictures to document such activities. I thought about it while I was finalizing the door actuator reinstall, but today has been a busy day and I just wanted to finish it and get back inside. Mission Accompished.

Long Update

So I haven't updated in a while, mainly because of a LOT of life changes that I may or may not get around to posting over on Drunken Ramblings, but regardless I'm here updating now so be happy and stuff.

My last posts were about the 850 and the maroon project car (hereafter referred to as 'moomoo'), and possibly about Beige Betty. Well the 850 is gone, the project car is being torn apart, and Betty is pretty much the same as before, albeit now with an AW71 and a new rear main seal (and leak-free as a result!) My current DD is the Yellow Yeti, which has been referenced before as a Yellow Box. It has some fairly significant upgrades, one of which is a full 3" exhaust made by yours truly. However, at the moment it's got some issues, the biggest of which is the lack of reverse.

The transmission itself works fine - as in, it shifts in and out of gears without catching and going forward is fine. However, put it in reverse and it just sits there and spins. If you're on a FLAT (and I do mean _flat_) area, it'll start to think about going backwards, after a while. So I researched it and it turns out there's a cone clutch in the overdrive, and this is the cuprit in this situation. Oddly enough this same overdrive clutch completely failed in my first Volvo, a 1981 242, which necessitated replacing the transmission as well. So this weekend (well, my weekend, from wednesday to saturday) will be spent pulling the running gear from moomoo and transplanting it into Yeti.

This will include the transmission, flywheel, clutch, throwout bearing, pressure plate, driveline, rear end, and speedometer. Why the rear and and speedometer, you ask? Well because the '83 has a cable-driven speedo, and the '86 does not. I could swap out the tailshaft, but Yeti's rear end has a rumble that I think is bearing related, so I'll just do the whole thing. Plus I want to tap into the signal for the speedo for a HUD project, and having all of that in the car for testing will make it easier to actually do it.

And then there's the flywheel and clutch. When I bought moomoo I had to do the clutch, so it should still be in fairly good condition. We'll see though, and I'm hoping and praying (though research seems to suggest that they'll interchange) that the B230 flywheel will fit the B23, because the B230 flywheel is different and the clutch won't swap without it.

What else? Oh yeah, while I'm in there I'll replace the rear main. And probably pick then engine up a bit and pull the oil pan to replace that gasket as well, because it's leaking badly from *somewhere*, and while the pan is off I should probably drill the boss for a turbo oil return... And do the front seals too, maybe even drop in the B cam from the '86. And do the timing belt. You know, basic stuff. While completely replacing the majority of the drivetrain.

Yep, totally doable in a few days, right?

Keyless Entry Powers ACTIVATE!

I installed keyless entry on Roon tonight.  Did a bunch of other stuff too, but that was the high point of the evening.  And while I was typing this, decided to make a tutorial/guide on turbobricks to make it easier for others to do the same, right here. (you will probably have to have an account and be logged in to view it)  Short version in the pic to the right.
I found out that I have to do some rewiring as well.  Turns out that the wires from the old harness aren't supplying 12v switched like I thought they would be, so now I don't have a power source for my fuel pumps nor knocksense.  Also the switched power that I THOUGHT I would have for Megasquirt, wasn't.  Thus is the problem with adapting a prior harness to work with your new shit.  I've got to rewire power down the main harness anyway, so while I'm in there I think I'll fix a couple of things that came out wrong the first time around.  This is a learning experience, folks.  Next time will go much smoother, I'm sure.

And we're legal!

Took some paperwork down to the DMV today, and $193 later, we have plates, tags and should get the title in the mail sometime in the next couple of weeks.  I think thus far I've paid more for the title issues for this car than I paid for the car!  Sheesh!  Got the plates mounted as well - went for a slightly less than stock location for the front plate.  I think it looks pretty good, so I did the same on the '86, though I didn't take a pic of that.  Then I did some mock-upping of the exhaust on the '86, and found that where I was going to put the cat and muffler wouldn't work under the car, so I had to rearrange my plans there.  Not a big deal really, I'll just need more 3" straight pipe than I originally thought.

Then I figured out a side exit mounting point, installed the new master cylinder, put on 400-series side markers (Sorry Michael! I'll show you how to do them though, it's REALLY easy), and started installing a keyless entry system.  Got that to the point where it'll flash the lights, but I needed my manual to tell me where to splice into the door lock system to actuate that and I left the manual at home.  D'oh!  I'll bring it with me tomorrow.