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Still need to dial in the fitment on the front bumper and the headlights but we're getting closer. Hopefully this week we can get the new wheel bearings put in, going to borrow a buddies press. Then to figure out what to do about the turbo situation.
I honestly think I should just replace it with something smaller and more responsive. I was originally going to go with the borg warner EFR but that falls a bit out of my price range and to go V mount on top of that also adds to that budget so that might be on hold for a bit. If any one has any advice on good, decently priced ball bearing turbos that would be greatly appreciated. The next purchase will probably be brake pads and new tires.
I ordered some EBC redstuff pads and i got in some new tires as well.
For the tires, I got some hancook ventus v1 evo 2's. I went a little wider in the rear, 275/40s instead of 265/35s, which had a slight stretch in the rear. and retained the 235/40s in the fronts.
Installing the brake pads were initially a bit more annoying than intended, mainly because we did it under a carport at night, but also replacing the hardware. autozone surprisingly had what I thought was the correct hardware, but as it turns out, the pins were too shorts, so i had to clean up the old ones and reuse them, thankfully they weren't in bad shape, thankfully all the clips fit no issue. (not my favorite hardware design, but it worked out fine)
So far so good!
then we bled the brakes, got her on the ground, brakes were nice and solid, except... I noticed that the brake master cylinder, especially under hard braking moves...a lot. So I need to figure out a brace for it at some point. Apparently that's common.
Then on to locking in the suspension with the new tire set up and all the brake work done. We roughly set the spring rates and set the heights at all 4 corners.
I think if i could bring out the fronts about 10 mm, the fitment would be pretty spot on. I'm not going for a super flush fitment, just something that looks pretty good, but is usable for the street and eventually the track. I know for some, spacers are taboo, but for now its a consideration.
I went to start the car the day after, and sure enough, only one rotor fired. up. After some further investigation, we realized it was the rear rotor that wasn't firing up. The first thing I check was general compression. I did the poor mans compression test and heard all the puffs, so there is at least some compression. Having check that, i plugged the fuel and ignition back in and checked to make sure we had fuel pressure in the lines, which we did, we also pulled the spark plugs and checked spark which we had. So the only other thing i could get was an issue with the fuel injectors.
I finally threw in the towel and contacted Pettit racing, which is only about an hour away from me. I'll be taking the car up on Tuesday. Since I am already planning on redoing my intake and turbo set up anyways, I figured now would be a good time to get her checked out.
If all goes well, I'll have her closer to what I want by the new year.
Happy thanksgiving everyone. So the car took a trip to Pettit and the motor came out. Huge thanks to JR who helped me out with the tear down, I was finally able to see what it looked like on the inside and it wasn't good news.
What was surprising was the stock ports, one of the previous owners went with a huge turbo. The news got worse when I saw the housings.
totally unusable, going to need new housing at least and then we saw the rotors
Rotor saw pre detonation at some point. So it looks like its time for a fresh engine and a new harness as well.
In other exciting new, I was talking to Cam and the idea of going back to the stock twins came up. I think I may go that route. In the meantime I will be selling my old turbo and intake piping set up. It was sat to see the blown motor, but I'm excited to see where this goes
Damn man sorry to hear about the motor but you are in good hands. Cam has always been a twin turbo guy. I sometimes miss my twin turbo setup but the simplicity and power gained by single turbo is hard to give up. Especially these days when single turbos have less lag than before. Keep us inform of the progress and brap on
Thanks dude, everyone at the shop has been super cool. I'm still exploring options, for now I'm pretty set on the twins but who knows where I'll be in the future lol. I am selling my big single set up though, turbo, down pipe and all the intake piping. I'm excited to see the difference.
So the current update is that I'm waiting on a new s8 engine from Japan, I did some research and found that the changes are pretty minor, still if anyone knows any notable changes, then feel free to mention them on here. I'm hoping to have the car back on the road before the end of the year. In the meantime here's a better picture of the front fitment in the daylight and the last picture I took of her before she comes back from pettit. On a side note, I'm debating getting the efini badge for the front and rear bumper. Still debating on whether to get a silver or black one. (The red wont match my red)
Much happier with the fitment, but definitely should look into getting a big brake kit in the future if I end up staying with 18s
Merry Christmas everyone, probably one of the best Christmas gifts I've had in a while. Huge than you to Cam and pettit racing for helping me out with this and especially Cam for spending 10 hours with me on Christmas day to help me get my car back on the road. The ca has a brand new series 8 engine as well as stock twin turbos, ceramic coated. The engine has a street port, 850 primaries and 1650 secondaries, all factory wiring with manual harnesses (the car previously had a hacked up automatic harness).
Brand new zero mile engine.
Here's a pic with everything in the car
Honestly I know its still the break in period, but It drives like a brand new car. I love the response of the factory twins, driving it on the street is so much more enjoyable. It made the almost 90 mile trip home without a single hiccup. Temps stayed consistent at 87 degrees Celsius and i haven't seen temps higher than 88. I'm dailying it for the next month and a half or so, that will be the true test but honestly, everything is looking good so far. It's gotten me to work no problem so far (About a 40 mile round trip). Might take her out for a cruise next week wth some friends. I'll take more pics as I update.
Yep Cam does good work and has been around these cars for many many years. He usually prefers the twin turbo setup and he has it down to a science. The lights look great I also switched to those lights on my Fd.
So the car took another trip to Pettit and Cam and the guys showed it some more love. We added the pettit cool charge inter cooler and like he said, it really picks up in 3rd. The car definitely feels livelier. We're still running close to 8 pounds of boost but the plan is to bring her back for some more power. It definitely feels faster now though especially from 3rd and up. Im getting more and more used to the chassis and it really is a joy to drive. It's been my daily for almost 3 months and its been driving beautifully.
Yes sir. Cam is great and I almost went with the intercooler setup you have. I instead went with a vmount from rotaryextreme. I am also single turbo. Pettit is awesome with those twins and your car is probably a little more street friendly than mine. Cam builds great reliable cars. At least that's what I have heard.
So it's been a while since I've posted. Covid has slowed things down a lot. But I've been driving and enjoying the car a lot. Its just been so hot here in south Florida! Recently the car has been refusing to start without a jump. Runs fine, idles fine. Just has a super weak start. Hopefully it's something as simple as the battery. There has been some weird issues with the electrics in general. I don't know what I did but I used this black and decker charger, and all of a sudden, my ODO came back! I've never been able to see the car's actual mileage and yet here, we are. Anyone have any Idea what that could be? Maybe it's worth sending my cluster out to someone? Any advice on getting better voltage readings? Any particular alternator? Battery Recommendations? New starter?
Now I know the real mileage! Wish I could clean it up! Pettit's Motor still runs beautifully over a year and a half later!
I've read not to trust the voltage reading on the commander. I've grabbed a multimeter and measured under the hood, my commander at least reads a bit pessimistic.
I've read not to trust the voltage reading on the commander. I've grabbed a multimeter and measured under the hood, my commander at least reads a bit pessimistic.
Great thread! It was an enjoyable read.
Thanks! Yeah I'm probably going to be prying under the hood next. I'm going to throw a new yellow top in there to replace the redtop and see how that goes
10-21-19, 12:42 AM
