New turbo setup installed on #931

Pulled an all-day/all-nighter with my buddy Brent from JMFabrications from saturday 8am till sunday at 5:30AM! We installed the following list of parts:

• T3 tube header
  
• Tial MVS 38mm external wastegate
  
• Turbonetics 60-1 stage 5 T3T4 turbo
  
• Brent fabbed up a stainless o2 housing and dumptube
  
• Modified existing fmic core: flipped the inlet end tank and welded on a 2.5" cast elbow
  
• Custom 2.5" polished aluminum upper and lower ic pipes
  
• Knockoff Tial bov

Engine bay paint

The seam of the paint on the fender attachment area. The line goes right down the 90* corner. That spot seemed like the least noticable place and it was easy to tape. really, the best option would have been to take the fenders off, but this isn't too bad.

The subframes are still groddy and rusty, Im going to swap those with #931 next weekend with the entire drivetrain, engine wiring harness, fuel system, brakes, suspension, and all 931's modifications.

Dragstrip results: improved ET w/ 16G

Fun night at Island dragway. wednesdays are $15 to run a street car and they serve free bbq food all night. Track was empty, every run I went right up to the line, I think one single run I had to stop and wait for a car or two. Made 6 runs, ate 2 cheeseburgers and a hotdog, salads, and free soda. $15 plus a gallon of racegas. What more can a man ask for?

Started sprinkling rain about 8:35, I just decided to pack it in as the traction would surely be worse. I just about got my headlight back in and pumpgas filled and they called it for the night. awesome.

Only changes from last time are that I set the base timing to 5* (it was about 3* before) and I removed the air filter and pass headlight.

• 12.763 @ 107.41 1.830. 4600rpm = bog. last weeks tune, 21psi no knock. 7:10pm
  
• 12.733 @ 108.98 1.891 4700 Spun w/ wheel hop. no datalog. boost shoulda been ~23
  
• 12.647 @ 109.86 1.877 4700 bog but clean. 23psi.
  
• 12.447 @ 110.29 1.761 5000rpm launch & 23.5 to 24.0 psi.
  
• 12.350 @ 110.69 1.734 same everything, better launch at 5000rpm 7:50pm
  
• 12.396 @ 110.59 1.762 same again, just a bit of spin in first. 8:22pm

So, got this brick into the mid-low 12's with a better launch. Still not great 60' times, but they are solid for the tires and setup I guess. I think it just took me a little while to get used to an electronic vehicle speed activation vs a mechanical clutch switch coming off the launch rpm. The way it is now, the ecu comes off the 5000rpm limiter right away and tends to spin the tires easier, where the clutch switch setup that I used on aem and dsmchip ecu's would stay on the 5000rpm lmit until the clutch was all the way out which seems to be softer on the tires.

still must have a big boost leak or a weirdo boost controller as I couldn't get more than 23psi that would just touch 24.0 on the logger one or twice a run. E3-16g's should be able to do 27-29psi atleast for a midrange spike then fall off a bit. mine never makes it over 24.0 no mater what. I was too pussy to pull off the wastegate hose to really see though!

So, I guess I'm happy with that. May 16th the car is getting a 60-1 turbo, tube header, new ic pipes, so this was the last time out with the little turbo. Hopefully the next wednesday Island is open (may 20th), Ill get into the 11's with the big turbo and no boost leaks.

Engine bay cleaning and prep for paint

Today's progress: After I gutted the engine bay. Removed the engine wiring harness, throttle and shifter cables, clutch master, brake master, brake booster, detached most of the chassis wiring harness, wiper motor, and bunch of misc other crap. That got me to here:





Then a generous soaking of simple green, a box of brillo dish pads, and a long ass time of bending over:





So, while it came out pretty clean, I still need to sand some rust in a few spots. Majorly under the oem battery spot, that's going to need some wire wheel work. wonder if I can get close enough to a match of the stock green or just go black engine bay?

Underside inspection of 139 on the lift

I got #139 into the garage today and up on the lift to check out the situation. Emptied the interior of misc parts and started organizing. The interior is pretty much together other than rear seats, radio, and ecu. Undercarriage has a bit more rusty stuff than #931, mostly on the subframes and suspension members. Steering rack is leaking bad and looks beat.

So my plan now is to swap even more out of 931 Thinking of removing the complete engine/trans/xcase and all of the front subframes, steering rack, control arms, hubs, axles in one big monster unit. Most of those parts are in better or non rusty condition on 931.

• disconnect the engine wiring, radiator & heater hoses, shifter cables, clutch slave, side engine mounts, steering shaft, strut tops, wheels, brake lines all from the top. 
  
• lower the car on the lift until the subframes are on a rolling dolly. 
• unbolt the subframes from the unibody
• lift the unibody up. 
  
• roll the whole front end away. 
  
• swap cars on the lift and set the new car down onto the complete front end assembly and bolt it up

Tentativly Im thinking of doing the drivetrain swap around the weekend of May 23. I think I can get everything out of 931 and have 139 atleast rolling in one weekend. The the next week I should be able to button it up and have the car running.

Anyway, here's some pics from tonight:

 Rust is really not too bad, mostly around brackets and bolts.

Q: How much do I trust welded suspension that was done by the person who hacked that hood?

Wow. Clear plastic lens.

Headliner is absolutely mint. I'm floored by this as the one in 931 is all stained and groddy.

Dash is in great shape with no bubbling by the vents.

I haven't found any cracks or imperfections yet.

Trunk and rear seat area has been gone over with some sort of 

undercoating that is hard and sandpaper like. It looks decent and clean.

The guy I bought the car from did a good job with the trunk mounted battery and running the cables, but I think Im going to remove it and use the lawnmower size battery mounted to the steering rack subframe. (lighter and no NHRA issues with the cutoff)

Purchase of #139/1000

I picked up #139/1000 this last weekend. The car was previously Turbotommy's car from NJ, then it went to Maryland for some lawn ornament time. The body is really really nice, two single dings (rear pass door and under the pass tail light) and only a couple scratches. Interior is very very nice, but is currently full of parts.

The car is only a rolling chassis, needing an engine/trans, fuel parts, ecu, and all engine accessories. 86k miles on the chassis. My plan is to swap all the parts I need from the GVR4 Im currently driving (931/2000) once I get it cleaned up. Goal for this car is a solid 11 second pumpgas car and super clean exterior/interior. So anyway, for a first post, here's some pics as it sits. I don't think the car has been washed since it was parted out in like 2007.










It's pretty empty under the hood. Unfortunately, the wiring has been taken apart. so I'm going through it for sure before goes in. Might remove the harness and paint the engine bay while it's empty.





:banghead:Way to mangle a perfect hood to glue in vents. Looks to have been cut with a sawzall. Guess that's something else needed, another hood. I got a nice uncut white front bumper and white roof strips, so those need to be painted.

First time at the track with #931

Wow, that was fun. I really forgot how much I enjoy pedals and shifting. Last time I had a dsm at the track was 2005 in the yellow 1g my shop put together (10.0 @148). It's just as fun in a slow car either way and Im glad to be back into it for a hobby. 

Got in 5 runs, 3 gallons of 116 racegas in the tank (holy shit $11 gallon now) 

• 12.98 @ 107.4 1.881 left at 4650rpm and bogged to 2900. street tune. 19psi creep> 21
• 12.91 @ 108.9 1.940 left at 5250rpm spun/let off, 11.5 AF, +4* timing 21psi solid
• 12.68 @ 110.3 1.892 - 4900rpm spun first let off. 12.0 AF 23psi
• 13.55 @ 108.2 1.859 - 4700rpm spun through first then missed 2nd 12.0 AF 24psi
• 13.02 @ 109.1 1.965 - 4400rpm, bogged. wheel hop on 1-2 shift...let off in second. 
  

Not a clean run all night, but it was super fun no matter what. The DS-Map tuning worked great. The greddy type S boost controller ended up pegged on the high setting to only get 24psi. 

So the car is just about where I thought it would be mph wise, I just can't get it off the line worth a shit. It wasn't like I was hitting the tires too hard with aggressive clutch, I was slipping the clutch more than normal i think. Tires would just break loose once the clutch was all the way out and boost came up in first. On the last run I got tire spin from a hard 1-2 shift and it started to wheel hop in front and had to let off. 

Literally went up in smoke on a 4700 launch, but would bog on 4500. There was like no window of opportunity with these tires. oh well. They are really hard rubber, couple year old regular street tires I got off a parts car. With some decently sticky tires the car should go real low 12's as it sits. 

Didn't get to check the ic coupler I repaired (silicone rtv and duct tape). It likely ripped open on the first pass. 

I have a bunch of things to take care of before going back: 

• Reroute the ic pipes. My lower pipe going into the IC has a 3" to 2" 90* coupler that had a hole. It has to bend more than 90 to make the hole alongside the radiator. Just not a good setup as the coupler is creased. 
  
• Get some different tires of some sort. 
  
• possibly change the boost controller out for a manual since it was maxed out at only 24psi. 
  
• remove more weight. This week I got the front crash support out (~50lb), Id like to ditch the rear one too.