Swap City: Part 5 — Wrap Up
With the major work of the swap finished, this remaining post will be about smoothing out the rough edges in time for track day. If you’re new to the project or want to reminisce on the journey, catch up here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
Our main issue to be resolved was that the fuel pump was constantly priming, even with the key turned to the ON position with the engine off. This is a common problem with RS swaps and with the help of Sum, we tried multiple things to remedy the issue. We tried swapping out the fuel pump controller, checked that the lines were grounded properly, rearranged the wires between the ECU, fuel pump controller and the fuel pump, and replaced wires. Unfortunately, none of those were successful in fixing the problem. Since the problem isn’t incredibly serious and the car functions normally, it can be solved later on.
The next issue to deal with was with the power steering pump. The pump was making a loud noise when turning the wheel because a lot of air was getting into the system. The sound was a type of high pressure burbling noise and it was obvious air was getting into the power steering system since the fluid in the reservoir was very frothy — a telltale sign of air being introduced in a power steering system. Our initial thought was that an O-ring in the power steering pump went bad and needed replacing. We opened up the part of the pump to replace the O-ring, about the size of a dime, and replaced it with a new one. However, the problem persisted and it turns out one of the new hose clamps on one of the power steering lines was faulty and wouldn’t tighten enough. Because of the loose-fitting clamp, air was able to get into the line, causing the noise.
Another annoyance was that the exhaust hanger bolt on the tail pipe was rattling like crazy since it couldn’t screw in all the way. The reason was that the exhaust hanger, the metal flange sticking out of the exhaust used to hang the exhaust to the car, isn’t aligned very well for the car. This caused the bolt to be crooked while screwing in, messing up the threads, and unable to screw in all the way. In order to fix that, the fixed nut and bolt had to be rethreaded using a rethreading kit. Once both were rethreaded, and about half an hour was spent aligning the bushing and bolt correctly, the rattle was gone.
Finally, I realized there was no initialization plug under the steering wheel, which is needed to install a Cobb Accessport — which I planned on installing. For those unfamiliar with what a Cobb Accessport is, it is basically a small computer that you plug into your car’s OBDII used to change your car’s fuel maps to gain horsepower and torque by optimizing fuel/air mixtures. After some searching on the forums for people with similar problems, it turns out that a wire near the ECU had to be grounded and that would serve the same function as the initialization plug. After we were able to install the Accessport, we changed the stock fuel map to a Stage 1, which supposedly adds ~30hp and ~40ft-lbs of torque. Quite substantial gains for a basically stock engine bay and fairly light car.
These issues were dealt with just in time for track day at Thunderhill Raceway. With this being my first time driving on the track and still running the stock radiator, I held back a bit and short-shifted between 4000–5000 rpm. Even holding back a little, the car felt amazing on the track. The handling was very predictable and a lot easier to rotate than what I was anticipating, and this was with FR-S tires, which aren’t meant for great grip. The car felt pretty light and tossable in corners, and was still quick, even though I was holding the engine back.
Overall, I am really satisfied with the car. The handling is superb and acceleration is effortless. The swap was stressful at times and quite time-consuming, but the final product was well worth it.
