Dsmkauai said:

Looking really good bro. Can't wait till mine looks this clean . Hey are you running a spacer in the rear? I really like the stance and wheels. Looks killer on the white.

Click to expand...

Thanks.

Yes, I'm running spacers on all 4 corners. The details are in my profile.




For the first time in a long time, 1837 has been virtually problem free for months now. I've rolled over 1,000 miles on the motor, and I've yet to have any issues with the car overall. Things are looking pretty good as far as making the Shootout this year (knock on wood*).

I recently added a pair of Recaro SRD buckets. I ordered sliders from Japan, and they work and fit awesome. They basically make the Recaro seats plug and play, and you can even retain the stock seat belts if your prefer to. I opted to go that route, since my Sabelt harnesses are out of date, and alone probably wouldn't pass tech at most tracks.

The brackets are made to order, and it probably took almost a month to get them:









Installed:







To sum it up, the new seats are awesome. I saved about 10 lbs per side compared to the stockers. The thing that's probably most noticeable about them is how much lower they locate the driving position. I'd guess you probably gain 2-4 inches of headroom with these seats. You definitely sit significantly lower in the car.

Of course, they feel and look great too, and are probably one of the nicest creature comforts I've ever added to the car.

Wow bro those look amazing In there! Really like what you've done with your gvr4's. they are truly blessed to be In your hands

3 quick questions about your DSS driveshaft. 1) I see your ordered the 3.5" version (did you already have an upgraded transfer case)? Or did you simply put the stock yoke on? 2) Any noticeable acceleration differences? 3)Are you running a drive shaft safety loop?

90laserRSfwd said:

3 quick questions about your DSS driveshaft. 1) I see your ordered the 3.5" version (did you already have an upgraded transfer case)? Or did you simply put the stock yoke on? 2) Any noticeable acceleration differences? 3)Are you running a drive shaft safety loop?

Click to expand...

1) The DSS shaft for the Galant VR-4 is only available in the HD 3.5" version. The 3" non-HD version is only available for the DSM guys. I have a stock transfer case, and the DSS driveshaft comes with a yoke machined to fit the stock xfer case.

2) There was no noticeable improvement in acceleration, although, I doubt the difference is something your ass dyno could measure. I've haven't had the car out at the track this year yet, but I think that's where the DSS driveshaft will shine. Stay tuned for that.

3) I just made a deal to purchase a FF driveshaft loop. So, no, I'm not currently running one but should be in the near future.

After running the DSS driveshaft for a while, I would not recommend this for a daily driver. The DSS aluminum driveshaft takes any tiny little drivetrain noise and amplifies it x 1,000. You basically have a 6+ foot long piece of hollow aluminum tubing that resonates with any sound the drivetrain makes. So, in my car on decel, you get this horrid sounding drone. When I had the stock driveshaft in, the driveline was completely silent, even on decel. I've triple checked for issues, but after hours of testing and rolling around under the car messing with stuff, all the driveline is tight and everything is operating as it should. So, I just deal with the noise.

I've had another person tell me a similar story. He ended up swapping to a carbon fiber driveshaft, which fixed his problem.

Bottom line, don't buy one of these for your DD unless you love to hate yourself.

Thanks for quick answers. I'm sort of confused though, because on DSS's website (for DSM at least), they say you need the 300m 25 spline output shaft to use the driveshaft.

http://www.driveshaftshop.com/mitsu...th-25-spline-yoke-for-shep-trans-case-upgrade

90laserRSfwd said:

Thanks for quick answers. I'm sort of confused though, because on DSS's website (for DSM at least), they say you need the 300m 25 spline output shaft to use the driveshaft.

http://www.driveshaftshop.com/mitsu...th-25-spline-yoke-for-shep-trans-case-upgrade

Click to expand...

You're looking at the wrong part...

MITSUBISHI 1990-1994 Eclipse / Talon AWD 650HP Aluminum Driveshaft (3"): http://www.driveshaftshop.com/impor...2-factory-shafts-650hp-3o-aluminum-driveshaft

MITSUBISHI 1990-1994 Eclipse / Talon AWD 950HP Heavy-Duty Aluminum Driveshaft (3.5"): http://www.driveshaftshop.com/impor...afts-950hp-3-5-aluminum-heavy-duty-driveshaft

haha.. Dang it! thanks!

90laserRSfwd said:

haha.. Dang it! thanks!

Click to expand...

They didn't give me this "Wiseman" title for nothing

The Galant twins + a 1GA doing work road trippin ~7 hours the shootout:






Made it!

I put almost 1,000 miles on 1837 driving to the Shootout and back, which puts me at a little over 2K miles on the new motor. Aside from being a little dirty from getting stuck in the rain on the return trip, there wasn't a single hiccup with the car. I was confident in the car this year, and I'm glad I waited it out to ensure the trip would be trouble free. I've never had 7 hours of constant seat time in 1837, and I learned a few things on the trip, good and bad:

The good:
The new Recaros are awesome. When I first installed them, I was worried about how comfortable they would be. For starters, the seat cushion is narrow, and your legs are locked into the driving position. The ride height is also significantly lower, and you're literally sitting on the floor in these compare to the stock buckets. Once I drove the car around a bit, I got used to both, but I was still on the fence about how 7 hours in the Recaros would feel. I can confidently say these are the most comfortable seats I've ever driven in. After 7 hours, my ass felt just a good as it did when I first got in the car...No bullshit.

I also got better mileage on E85 than I thought I would. I was averaging around 18 MPG on the highway, and we were cruising between 75-80 MPH most of the time.

Lastly, the JIC coilovers didn't have me pissing blood after 7 hours, which was welcomed.

Oh, and no breakdowns :grin:


The bad:
I really only have 2 main complaints after being in the car for an extended period of time. The first is 3" exhaust drone gets old after like 45 minutes. Meh.

The second, and far more annoying issue is the DSS driveshaft. The DSS driveshafts are NOT for street cars, IMO. The driveshaft is noisy, and amplifies every noise in the driveline. It also seems to create some sort of weird harmonic noise on decel, which is horribly annoying. I've done hours and hours of testing, troubleshooting, and diagnosing trying to pinpoint the source of the noise to no avail. No matter how much testing I do, I still only draw one conclusion; the issue is the DSS driveshaft is just a noisy POS. Additionally, my driveline was completely silent with the stock driveshaft, further reinforcing the problem being the DSS shaft itself. I suppose I should have considered how a giant piece of 3.5" hollow aluminum tubing would act compared to the stock driveshaft, but I didn't. The moral of the story is don't put a DSS driveshaft on your Galant if you enjoy listening to smooth Jazz on your commute to work...You won't enjoy the experience.




After I got the car home I gave it a good wash, and figured I'd change the oil. It was far before it was due, but I wanted to pull the filter and chop it open to inspect after the long drive. Zero metal, and really zero contaminates overall. The filter element was spotless:







East Coast MOD is coming up in a few weeks, so hoping to take 1837 and 820 out for that. I'm also trying to find time to get back to the track and hopefully break 11's. Got cams and a SD swap on the list of things to do to 1837 as well...Just too much to do, and not enough time to do it all.

Winter is coming...So time to get back on the jack stands again soon

Picked up a Stage 2 Shep trans at MOD. A good trans was the last thing the build was really lacking, so I'm excited to get this in for next season.





The stock cams will be coming out and I've got a set of HKS cams going in. I've got 264 and a 272 exhaust cams, so not sure if I'll go straight 264's or do the 264/272 combo.

Cool score, I'm anxious to see how the 264/264 combo work out for you.

I missed this day. Wasn't keeping track. I'd like to hit one up

Thanks for posting about the Bosch AL4008X alternator. I went and bought one about a week ago after my previous alternator caught fire ! I will probably also build a small heat shield to put between the alternator and the downpipe. I also got mine from a local store related to Advance, it was a CarQuest store. They got it in one day from California. Summit also sells them, for less $, but note that the expected delivery from them is a month, and they say their supplier is "out of stock" when you call them.

I have a little question about what the home grown terminals are in this post below. Do you mean the small bolt and nut that go through the top plate of the pump hanger? Yours looks shiny and new, usually they are pretty rusty ....

GST with PSI said:

I was pretty happy to see my home grown terminals on the pump hanger holding up great!
View attachment 300826

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the explo on the DSS drive shaft and stock drive shaft.
You are right that the cost of a proper rebuild with new OEM parts is very high. I had mine done by Nick at Pina when he was there. He did things right as he always did and it cost a bundle, well over $1000 is all I remember, for parts and labor. That was several years ago. New lobro and everything.
So Last year, I sent my car to English Racing for a 650 whp flex fuel build (should probably update my profile ) and when they were "done" with it, one of the first things Lucas did to fix remaining issues was to modify the drive shaft hanger bearings by stiffening up the rubber part of them with basically hot-melt plastic glue type stuff. Before they did that he said the ds was whipping around and actually hitting the floor, or hitting something, during a heavy pull. After that, well, it behaves ok except for the extra vibration from having stiff hanger bearing mounts. So the driveline is noisier and vibrates a little, but it's not bad. I never use the stereo in that car anyway .

We're on Boost said:

I have a little question about what the home grown terminals are in this post below. Do you mean the small bolt and nut that go through the top plate of the pump hanger? Yours looks shiny and new, usually they are pretty rusty ....

Click to expand...

All the details are in the link. Scroll down until you get to the part about the fuel pump hanger: http://www.galantvr4.org/ubbthreads...00&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=7&vc=1

We're on Boost said:

Thanks for all the explo on the DSS drive shaft and stock drive shaft.
You are right that the cost of a proper rebuild with new OEM parts is very high.

Click to expand...

I actually found ExtremePSI has the boot kit for the lobro joint, so an OEM rebuild would actually be more feasible cost wise. It's still a lot of work, but if you're doing it yourself it's worthwhile...Just takes time.

Knowing what I know now, I doubt I'd buy the DSS aluminum driveshaft if I could do it over again. I would have just completely rebuilt the stock unit.

GST with PSI said:

... the part about the fuel pump hanger ....



I actually found ExtremePSI has the boot kit for the lobro joint, so an OEM rebuild would actually be more feasible cost wise. It's still a lot of work, but if you're doing it yourself it's worthwhile...Just takes time.

Knowing what I know now, I doubt I'd buy the DSS aluminum driveshaft if I could do it over again. I would have just completely rebuilt the stock unit.

Click to expand...

Oh that's good, what you did with the fuel pump hanger. Wow that thing was so rusty I'm surprised there was any metal left underneath. Anyway when I looked at mine, I was afraid that replacing the electrical terminals would become a major project and I see it was. Having grown up in the rust belt, I have a great appreciation for things like stainless steel, nylon, anti-seize compound, etc.

I really appreciate that you wrote up your experience with the DSS shaft, because I have been thinking for a long time that if my shaft ever needs to be redone again that I might go that way. But now I think not.

We're on Boost said:

I really appreciate that you wrote up your experience with the DSS shaft, because I have been thinking for a long time that if my shaft ever needs to be redone again that I might go that way. But now I think not.

Click to expand...

The noise is most noticeable on decel. I never really hear it any other time. The car is silent under power.

There are others that I've talked to that have had issues with the aluminum DSS driveshafts making noise and such. It seems like a common problem, so I'm not super concerned about it breaking or anything, it's just really annoying. Aside from the noise, I don't really have any issues with it.

One person I know specifically went from a DSS aluminum driveshaft to a PST carbon fiber unit and the noise disappeared. I guess the aluminum units are just noisy

On the Galant DSS driveshaft specifically, most people will likely have clearance issues as well. The Galant version is the same diameter as the DSM HD version, which is 3.5" in diameter. If you're running 3" exhaust and so on, the DSS driveshaft will hit in certain areas, which will need to be clearanced.

That time I blew the welds on the intake...

Holy cow! How much boost were u running??

GST with PSI said:

That time I blew the welds on the intake...

Click to expand...

- The Magnus cast aluminum one is nice in that regard. No flat slabs, it's all curved surfaces. Should hopefully never do that!

GST with PSI said:

That time I blew the welds on the intake...
View attachment 315213
View attachment 315214

Click to expand...

You were obviously granny shiftin, not double clutchin like ya should

boostdawd said:

Holy cow! How much boost were u running??

Click to expand...

Right around 30 PSI. I mashed the gas in 5th coming off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and BOOM! Shit sounded like a bomb went off under the hood

We're on Boost said:

- The Magnus cast aluminum one is nice in that regard. No flat slabs, it's all curved surfaces. Should hopefully never do that!

Click to expand...

I'd love to have one of the cast V3 units, but I just can't swing the investment, currently.

GST with PSI said:

I'd love to have one of the cast V3 units, but I just can't swing the investment, currently.

Click to expand...

You really have to be in a money throwing mood. Or retired.
I'm retired, and for the first time in my adult life I have money instead of debt haha!

It went something like this for me, with throttle body:
Magnus V3 intake manifold $980.00
Boomba Racing Throttle Body $425.00
Boomba Racing DSM TPS Adapter $60.00
New Evo TPS Sensor, MD628074. Needed for the Boomba TB $200.00

I pulled my injectors tonight to upgrade my fuel rail, and discovered some of the infamous black E85 goo. I've seen some people have trouble with goo, and others who have been on E85 for years and never seen it. Until today, I was one of those who have never seen it.

I've pulled my injectors on numerous occasions over the last year, and never saw a single trace of goo. I believe that's because the fuel in my area is pretty good quality overall. However, I went through about 5-7 tanks of E85 from various out of state locations over the last few months driving to the Shootout, and to East Coast MOD. I truly think the fuel station, and the quality of fuel coming out of that storage tank are what ultimately cause the goo.

I gave the injectors a quick cleaning, and now the goo is gone. I'll pull the injectors in another 2k miles and check for goo again, as I'm curious to see if the fuel in my area is contributing to the problem. As far as ethanol content, the tested levels from my local stations have been great. With winter coming up, I'm also curious to see if the ethanol content drops off a bit.

Goo






All clean

That stuff looks awful. What did you clean them with? Do the spark plugs look any different when this is happening?
I'm kind of thinking that my plan for the winter is to run straight 92 octane marine gas which has 0% ethanol in it. Plus maybe some kind of injector cleaner in the gas. I don't know.
I have read though that "winter blend" E85 in the cold climate states is supposed to be more like 70% ethanol. Purpose is higher vapor pressure, easier cold starts, when there is more actual gasoline in it. I think it varies state by state.
Thanks for the pics!