11 second hx35 1995 GSX build/repair

[A_USER_NAME]

I have been putting this off for some time but now its finally time to start. This is more of a story on my car, with some hx35 action coming up

Backstory: On my first deployment in 2011-2012 I decided I wanted to get into cars, my buddy had an evo but I couldn't afford one, so he told me about DSM`s. I started looking over craigslist and the first one I found I was very interested in, I took a huge risk and bought it while I was deployed because I couldn't pass it up.





It was my current 1995 gsx, I bought it off of an enthusiast who had already put a good amount of work into the car. It came with a built 2.3 stroker, running E85 pushing 28psi on an EvoIII 16G with supporting mods obviously.

My first DSM experience:
I had my brother in law go buy the car for me and drive it to my house where it would wait for me to return, on the drive the clutch burned up melted itself together. I was pretty upset, I still had a few months left on my deployment so I ordered up the parts so they would be waiting for me. After I got home and my father and I fixed her up (Mid june 2012), I was pretty excited at this point. That was the first time I really worked on a car and I was hooked.

I had never driven a car that was somewhat quick so I was excited to see what she could do. After the clutch was all broken in I was finally able to start running her.

DSM 2/Cody 0
Around mid August of 2012 I was driving around with a buddy that had a 335i after work one day, 2 months after I replaced the freaking clutch. I was tooling around and during a 2-3 shift I grenaded something. Freaking out at first because all I could hear was clunking and grinding and popping. I looked down at my tach and smiled, it wasn't the engine. Such a big relief that was. I broke something in the transmission, not sure what but I will take it apart one day. I looked on craigslist and out of luck someone had just put up a rebuilt transmission and transfer case, their eclipse had been rear ended. I picked it up that friday and that saturday my father and I swapped out the transmission and transfer case. It was a little easier this time around

First time down the 1/4
In October 2012 a few buddies and I took our cars to the local track to get some times, all I wanted was something in the 12`s. My friend in the 335i had the same goal, he missed his mark by .004! My fastest time of the day was a 12.977 at 106.24mph. I was very happy I got into the 12`s and wanted a faster time already!




Second 1/4 trip
9 December 2012 we headed to a track that was about 2 hours away *risky riskayeee*, but from the buzz this track was "so much better". We hit the test and tune night, my buddy in the 335i tagged along again.
I got a new personal record at 12.843 at 107.71mph, with a dragging clutch, spark blowout and shifting at 6000rpm!


More problems!
I will say at this point I have been lucky when it comes to the reliability of my car, I would take her on a road trip if I had to, so long as I could find E85

Early January 2013 my car sprung a coolant leak, I *thought* I had repaired it and decided to join a local meet/cruise up a mountain. My friend Zach was taking photos during the drive as my passenger so I was focusing on getting into good spots for some cool rolling shots. Fail! I look down an my temp gauge is pegged I pulled over and let the car sit while we got a ride and finished the meet. I drove her home, overheating every 2 miles. That was fun.

My buddy Zack took this photo that made me realize I was overheating, the stock boost gauge is coolant temp, and its maxxed, not sure on the temp, but it doesn't start moving until 224*, CEL doesn't come on until 230* I believe. Im guess I was sitting at around 260-280*. Huge failure on me, what a shame.




Thennnn, I get a short notice deployment so I couldn't fix her

Fast forward to now, I'm back home and ready to work on my car, with my father of course.

I picked up a few part on my deployment to make my build a little more fun.

Tomorrow I start working on her, I am running a MLS head gasket so lucky or unlucky for me, when it overheated it didn't blow like a composite would, the cylinder head just warped, causing a combustion leak into my coolant system, causing coolant loss, causing overheating

(Near) Future add ons.
-Fidanza flywheel (to get rid of my clutch dragging issues)
-EvoIII Intake manifold
-Ported/coated FP exhaust manifold

-8 blade hx35 in .55 a/r bep housing
-Punishment racing o2 housing with tial 2 bolt wastegate
-New oem MLS head gasket
-Evo 8 valve springs
-Replace broken passenger door handle
-Move some wires while the engine/transmission are out this week

VVVVV I FAILED TO DO MY RESEARCH AND BOUGHT THE WRONG OFH VVVVVV
-Forward facing OFH with oil cooler
^^^^^ I FAILED TO DO MY RESEARCH AND BOUGHT THE WRONG OFH ^^^^^

So my solution for ^ error, I bought an Evo III OFH which will work, won't be front facing but it'll give me the external cooler capabilities I really want.

That should be about it for these next few days this thread will get more interesting I promise

31 December 2013:

First off my intake manifold came in today :hell yeah: I got a deal on this, $100 shipped




It begins, my dad draining the fluids (radiator, transmission and engine)




Ball joints popped and axles removed




Downpipe removed, starting the t-case




Manifold/turbo removed along with intercooler piping and radiator hose.




So today my Dad and I got to work, we have the engine ready to get pulled out. All that is left are the motor mounts and fuel lines. We started by draining all fluids, then removed the battery, down pipe, axles, t-case, radiator hoses, exhaust manifold/turbo/intake, disconnected the shifter cables, intercooler piping, then we unplugged everything (sensors and hoses, lines and plug ins)

Overall it was only a few hours of work, we weren't really concerned with time. I just returned from a deployment so a lot of it was talking and stuff, but we got the car where I wanted it to be today.

Tomorrow we are going to remove the engine/transmission, pull the cylinder head and possibly tear the engine apart to check on everything. We are going to send the cylinder head to the machine shop to get checked out, its warped so I need to make sure its still in the tolerances Tip: the minimum cylinder head thickness is recommended at 5.185 inches, its going to get a resurface and possibly a valve job with new SS valves installed. That is all we can do until my parts get here, once they arrive this thing should be back on the rode shortly after.

 

[A_USER_NAME]

Well we didn't work on the car today, I will be heading over in the morning to continue with the plan.

I am now trying to decide what I need to do about this ball joint situation I am having, my driver side SPC ball joint camber kit thing is shot. I also need to replace the boots of my lower control arm ball joints along with a few bushings. Fun stuff! More to add to the list I guess.

 

[A_USER_NAME]

Thanks guys, in the light of things it's more time/money that's going to go into my car. It will probably be my get away for a little while. Take care everyone.

 

[A_USER_NAME]

My parts arrived on the 7th



Parts:
-Tensioner tool
-2 tial wastegate gaskets
-Replacement Fidanza flywheel friction surface
-2 stock evo turbo bolts for my FP manifold
-Tail waste gate bolts (need to order 2 more, I misinterpreted the ad thinking it came with 4 bolts).
-OEM timing belt, mine had a pea size hole in it, luckily it didn't break!
-Injecter seals
-OEM MLS head gasket (I also have an OEM composite, need to checkout the block surface first to decide what I'm going to use).
-Last but not least, a new pedal rubber cover thing

Today my Father and I removed the engine and transmission (I need a picture of myself working on the car, it looks like my Dad is doing all of the work!), all we had to do was remove the motor mounts and we were good! Not too exciting but it is progress.





Thats my dads buddy Donnie that helped out a little, and my engine. Sorry for the terrible pic.





Next steps:

-Remove the cylinder head and send it to the machine shop.
-Replace the flywheel and checkout my clutch.
-Clean up the engine bay and attempt a mini wire tuck, I know nothing about wiring or electronics so it should be fun.
-Remove the carbon canister located under the battery tray.
-Possibly disassemble the engine and check everything out. At the very least drop the oil pan to have a look.

Drive safe everyone

 

[bluesbabybones]

Glad you're continuing your project! Keep up the good work!

 

[Volition]

Looking good! I am kind of in the same boat an heading in the same direction...but I am thinking hx-40...found a 35 for a good price though so I might move on that...best of luck! I will check back!

 

[Talon96fwd]

Your car is looking great so far keep up the good work looking forward to more updates ....

 

[A_USER_NAME]

Well, my dad and I removed the cylinder head a few hours ago. Its bad, finger nail grabbing grooves in the cylinder walls and torn up pistons. Looks like I need new pistons/rings and a block. The car ran so great before this though

I am half tempted to just buy a big turbo and run it until it blows up but that would just set me further back. Lets be proper about this. For the time being there is a "rebuilt" stock block for $200 a few hours away from me I might grab and run until it goes, meanwhile rebuilding my stroker. It would be fun to touch 9-10k rpm

Decisions decisions...

So bad news out of the way, todays story:

We started by removing the clutch and flywheel. For almost 10K miles of pure abuse the ss-tz south bend has held up extremely well.



We moved the engine from the tire it has been on the last few days to an engine stand.




Removed the intake manifold, valve cover, cams Don`t forget the cam angle sensor under the cam gear for you early 2g guys, I did and broke it , rockers, lifters, L19 head stud nuts and washers.






Then took 10 minutes of pulling, hitting and prying to actually get the head off of the block. :hell yeah:

Tops of 2 pistons have chew marks from something that got it. Also for running e85 there seems to be a lot of buildup, is this normal?






Let me know what you think about the cylinder walls, I will take it to a machine shop to see its salvageable but we shall see.



Thats about it, I didn't even think to take a picture of the cylinder surface or block deck, I can next time I'm at my dads.

Discovered that my water pump is starting to cry also, which was that slow leak I though I had fixed I guess. Another thing to replace!


Have a good one everyone!

I don't think anyone will, but don't let this be one of those "dsm's are unreliable" stories. Understand that I ran this car hard, I enjoyed it and I know you have to pay to play.

 

[richard33]

run your finger nail along the scratches. If it catches on them if will need to be taken apart and brought to the machine shop. They will have to determine how much material they need to take off based on how deep the scratches are. It may be reusable depending on that.

 

[A_USER_NAME]

run your finger nail along the scratches. If it catches on them if will need to be taken apart and brought to the machine shop. They will have to determine how much material they need to take off based on how deep the scratches are. It may be reusable depending on that.

There are a few that really catch my fingernail. I am already .02 over so hopefully .02 more will save it.

So at minimum I am looking at machine work for the block, and new pistons/rings.

I will rip out the crank/rods and look at them too.

Question: One of the cam caps for my intake cam had a decent groove in it too, on the cam and the cam cap surface. Something shot up the hole where the oil comes in and made a nice groove. Is this a huge issue? I would assume it could possibly effect oiling for that area. I will have to take pictures of that too.

 

[richard33]

You should start looking for another block just in case. Since its already .020 over it might need to be replaced. If the pistons are reusable I would go for another block and use the pistons if they are not stock.

Get some pics of the cam cap. I know it is an issue you cant just replace it with another cap. You would have to get it lined up at the machine shop as well.

 

[A_USER_NAME]

You should start looking for another block just in case. Since its already .020 over it might need to be replaced. If the pistons are reusable I would go for another block and use the pistons if they are not stock.

Get some pics of the cam cap. I know it is an issue you cant just replace it with another cap. You would have to get it lined up at the machine shop as well.

Yeah I will probably end up doing that, the pistons are probably ok. I will just need to smooth out the chew marks haha! The block is done for sure though, no doubt about it.

I will be sure to take some next time I'm at my dads.

 

[A_USER_NAME]

Well I have a mini update

Got my engine to a reputable builder in phoenix a few days ago, it should be done by the end of the month, if not sooner!!!!

The block was salvageable by going another .02 over so I had to get new pistons. Not a big deal though.

All loaded up heading to Kristen Bond at Bond Speedworks!



A pic he sent me before it got sent to the machine shop.

 

[that408gsx95]

Awesome detailed thread took a wile to get threw but very entertaining can't wait to see how your build turns out

 

[1sick_gst]

Nice build so far! Looking forward to more updates..loving the details!!

 

[A_USER_NAME]

Allllllrighty! After some complications and such I have my engine back! Woohoo! Now it's time to get it reinstalled and rippin!

Engine work completed:

-Replaced bearings with King bearings
-Resurfaced head/new OEM MLS head gasket.
-New badass custom 9.8:1 Wiseco pistons that will handle a bit more than my previous pistons.

-Painted block and head for a nice new look.
-Block was bored an additional .02 over for a total of .04 over.
-New water pump, timing belt and all necessary gaskets.
-New cam angle sensor.


If you are wondering why I didn't replace my tensioner and pulleys and such, it's because this engine only had about 12,000 miles on it if that before I decided to rebuild. Everything appeared to be in great shape and functioning properly with the exception of the water pump, additionally the timing belt had a pea sized hole in it.

Thanks for reading! More updates on the way! I can't wait to get this car going again.

 

[A_USER_NAME]

Well this is taking longer than I had thought it would! Go figure haha...

So my Dad and I got rolling on the car again, we got the engine back in along with the transmission, new Fidanza flywheel!!! Axles, transfer case along with the hood back on and deleted the carbon canister

To start off simple I plugged the water outlet for the turbo coming off the block since my Holset won't be using it. Take the original piece that bolts into the block (Right), go into any hardware store and find your match (left)

Teflon that piece for days and it'll be good to go, this still protrudes a bit more than I would have liked so I might have to remove it and cut some threads off, but my HX35 should clear it.

We also washed the engine bay/transmission and transfer case because there was about an inch of dust there See pics below:

Pretty dirty huh?

Cleanish not how I would have liked it, I might pull it again and paint it, not quite sure yet though.

Bolting up the Fidanza flywheel! This thing is LIGHT.

Mating the Southbend SS-TZ to the flywheel. I highly recommend this clutch.

Checking out the transmission, looking for anything broken/missing/cracked/dirty/bad seals and re-greased the pivot points on the throwout bearing fork.

Look how much they missed each other! Lmfaooooooooo

Working the engine in, actually went very smooth. It probably helped that I only had the OFH and pulleys on the engine, leaving a lit of wiggle room.

This is where we stopped, I cannot freaking wait to drive this car again. Sitting in it for the first time in 8 months brought back a flood of good times I had.

I left everything else untouched, basically what it came down to is that I want to finish the car but it's about an hour away at a friends shop so it was a pain in the a%% to set time to go work on it. So my Dad and I figured it would be best to get the work done that I needed a shop for (engine/transmission install) I know you tough guys are thinking "I don't need a lift to do that blah blah blah" but when you live in a housing community where the most you can do to your car is change a tire, you do need a shop so I figure I can discreetly finish the small stuff without it being a big issue.

What's left that I can think of:
-Intake (getting the new manifold all ready to go including TB)
-Exhaust, I will be replacing every bolt/gasket.
-Intercooler cleaned (maybe replaced?)
-Intercooler piping cleaned, and I will be replacing all of the couplers/clamps.
-All sensors connected, replace damaged/broken ones
-Still thinking about tucking some wires
-New fuel rail all setup
-Replace injector seals
-Clean/take apart and replace anything that needs it
-Uhh and a lot more I'm sure I can't think of haha.

I'll have my car back to my house in a few days so the updates will *hopefully* be coming more often. Though this is not a rushed build, I don't need the car so I'm taking my time and ensuring everything is done properly. I will be replacing anything that needs replaced so waiting on parts will be a good chunk of time.

Some may be wondering why I'm going to replace some of the things I listed, thinking like I normally would "oh it'll be fine"

My main reason is because when my Dad and I are working on my car and I see something that would probably be fine, but could possibly be an issue one day and I say "oh it'll be fine" he proceeds to brief me on why that part specifically should be replaced or fixed or properly torqued instead of "yeah that's good". He has been into racing for about 15 years now, pavement and dirt, currently races dirt cars and has seen countless guys blow engines and such. At least half of the guys say "Damnit I should have replaced that _____"

If you have to think about it or tell yourself with a convincing tone that the part or whatever you are looking at is fine, you should probably go about fixing it properly. Yeah it'll take 10 minutes to fix that one (or 5 haha) stripped valve cover bolt we all have, but take the time an fix it, it makes for a more satisfying build I promise!

Thanks for stickin with me those that look for updates!

 

[A_USER_NAME]

Over 4 years its been sitting now, that's how life goes sometimes I guess..

Well I've found some motivation to get back at it and the car should be running (or near it) by the end of this month. If it's not then I'll be parting it or selling it, that's the deal I made with myself as I can't stand letting this thing sit and waste away. The paint is shot now, engine bay is covered in a nice layer of dust too.

Things I've done:
Got a battery and hooked it up to see how blown my wiring is from sitting so long. Luckily it all seems to be okay, I figured some pack rats would have eaten away at it but no.
Had a past wiring issue with the fuel pump that finally I figured out, cleaned out the fuel lines and added a new filter so that's all good to go (DW300 still ran after years sitting in e85).
Had the injectors flow tested/cleaned and got new seals. My injectors actually tested fine, just needed to be cleaned for good measure.
Installed water neck/thermostat housing/pipe, at the same time I managed to break off the head of the bold that holds the water pipe to the front of the block...yay
Made the turbo setup basically ready to drop in, still need to figure out the drain setup. I might just use my old rigged up drain, stock drain tube chopped with rubber hose clamped on ...it worked for a while!

I only get a few hours every weekend to work on it so hopefully that's all I need, I've only got two more!

To do list that I can think of (basically my old list still ):
-Engine and transmission oil
-Install intake (already bolted the throttle body on)
-Install radiator
-Install exhaust/turbo
-Clean intercooler/piping
-All sensors connected, replace damaged/broken ones
-Install new fuel rail setup
-Install oil cooler setup (I'm pretty sure this is going to be a PITA) for help: http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/7-bolt-evo-iii-oil-filter-housing-on-a-2g.287955/
-Figure out the front engine mount, mine looks...odd

Goals for tomorrow:
Go to ace and buy a lot of new hardware that is either missing or just needs to be replaced, I have no clue where a lot of bolts went over the years.
Get the radiator installed along with the intercooler, possibly drop in the turbo setup (Manifold, turbo, o2 housing ect) and get the exhaust under the car mounted.
Fill the transmission.

Obviously more things will come up but at the moment that's all I can think of, hopefully this will be what gets it going. The complications of what I might run into is what makes this seem so daunting, hopefully it'll be smooth sailing.

Thanks for sticking around.

 

[A_USER_NAME]

Just a quick mini update, worked on it last weekend and today, a lot! Got all my oil lines and such hooked up and spun the engine to make sure oil pressure is good...it is!!! Ran into some minor complications as always but nothing that's stopping this from happening.

Tomorrow she should be running! I'm so excited. Just have to install the radiator hoses, intercooler piping, intake/filter, spark plugs, exhaust, add coolant and we'll be rockin!

I'll add more details and pictures of what I did later.

 

[A_USER_NAME]

It is running! With only a couple hours to spare from April!

Have some things to figure out still but it idles pretty decent and sounds soooooo good. With the exception of what I believe is a loud lifter ticking.

Need to figure out what to do with the MDP sensor, any tips? I switched to an evoIII intake manifold so there is no spot for it. I feel like I remember reading about a part that basically allows you to run a line from the manifold to it but can't find it, the search continues!

Hit the two step and built some boost, it revved down normally but then died as if the recirculation from the blow of valve to the intake wasn't connected (it was). I suspect the MDP sensor not being able to do it's job is the reason.

I connected the coil pigtail to the wrong plug in, who knows what for. That held me up for a few minutes, then I figured it out and it cranked right up!

It's so good to have this car running again. I can't wait to button everything up, track down all the small issues and get this car on a dyno for tuning!!

(I still plan on recapping the last few days of work!)

 

[A_USER_NAME]

Went over before work today to install the front o2 sensor and replace/fix all vacuum lines. The idle has backed to about 950-1050 which is good. The car still tries to die after high rev so I need to figure that out.

I have an issue connecting the car to my laptop, might be the link cord itself so I'll purchase a new one.

I decided to take it for a short test drive and I'm so glad I did, I can't believe I let the car sit so long. It was so great driving it again, I had the boost turned down but it pushed about 15psi and I'm surprised at how fast it spooled! Pulled good too! Adding the lightweight flywheel is definitely noticeable and how it revs, the car shifts much better than it used to. I was having pretty severe clutch dragging issues in the past which I believe was due to an improper step on the flywheel. I filled the transmission with 1.5 quarts of Pennzoil synchromesh and .8 quart of Redline heavy weight shock proof.

Next is reinstalling the headlights, bumper and hood. Then off to try and register it which potentially could be an issue, it's been expired since August 2013.

 

[A_USER_NAME]

March 23, 2018:

I went to Ace and bought some new hardware, this included downpipe bolts, test pipe bolts, exhaust manifold nuts, radiator bracket bolts and some miscellaneous stuff.

First thing I did was install the intake manifold with a new gasket.



Here are the injectors after being returned to me from Fuel Injector Clinic, they cleaned and flow tested the injectors.



Intake manifold and complete fuel rail in the car, rail hooked up to the filter and fuel pressure regulator.



That was it for the 23rd.

March 24, 2018:

Time to assemble the external oil cooler!



Making some progress.



Time to cut the lines, when you cut these be sure to tightly wrap the area where you are going to be cutting. This makes sliding the hose into the AN fitting painless! I used some sort of aluminum duct tape that worked really well. To cut the lines I used an air powered cut off wheel. Don't forget to really clean out the lines after cutting, there is a lot of rubber fragments as well as residual metal in there!



Dang it!!!! I need to chill while tightening things I guess, it only needed one more turn to be seated! From here I had to buy another hose end fitting so I stopped my assembly.



What better time to remove a broken bolt than after breaking something else haha. This bolt broke as I was removing it to allow movement of the water pipe while installing the thermostat housing. Bust out the extractor!



Too easy! Thought this was going to be a pain.



I realized that I did not have the clutch slave cylinder hooked up which is easier to do before installing the front motor mount. Oops. No big deal, I removed the front motor mount and the two bolts holding the front end of the support that runs under the transmission. The slave cylinder was easy to install after that.



I also hooked up as many pig tails and connecters in the engine bay as I could. I feel like I did a lot more these days, must have got bored of taking pictures . Also got the radiator installed (which was in and out of the car quite a few times along the way ) and remounted the front mount intercooler after a good cleaning.

I believe this was all for that weekend, onto the next one!

 

[A_USER_NAME]

Maybe I'll catch up to what I accomplished some other day

Update time!

The car runs decent! Between the new larger turbo, higher compression pistons, intake manifold and running E51 instead of E85. I have the boost turned all the way down so I'm only pushing 10-12 psi at the most right now. The AFR is super...lean! Like 17:1!!! How odd right? Larger turbo but way less boost, figured it wouldn't be too bad. I added some 91 oct fuel to kinda try to balance it out and that helped A LOT, now in the 13:1 area which still isn't great but I can't really do much with my inability to connect to Ecmlink. I purchased a new link cable and that didn't help, so my OBD2 port is not getting power. After doing a lot of research as to why this might be happening I have not found a solution, going to have to take a multimeter to it and try to track the issue down. I realllllyyyyyyy want to get to tuning this thing! She pulls pretty decent even at just 10-12 psi!

Oh also my driver side ball joint dropped the other day which was funnnnn no big deal besides some fender damage. I replaced the lower control arms as well as threw in new hubs on both sides. Had a spare axle luckily so I'll rebuild this one later.

Something also started rubbing on my new timing belt so I need to swap that out too, oh how I missed the car game!!! Lol
I've heard this can be caused due to the incorrect oil pan bolt being in place but this occured after driving my car for 100 miles or so. I'm assuming something dropped down in there (I know I know, I need to keep the damn cover on) or something else is going on. Ordering a new belt and I'll find out soon enough!

 

[A_USER_NAME]

The car has been doing okay the last few weeks, have a few updates. Got my new plate in which is awesome!! Follow me on instagram @ slowtbh

Alternator gave out so I had to replace that. I used one from a 97 Galant which I heard puts out a few more amps.

I finally picked up some wheels and tires of Craigslist for a pretty sweet deal. They are 18x8.75 +35 XXR 527's In gold. I will probably be painting them black. Had to do a little fender rolling but they fit great!! Also put in new SPC ball joints.

Yesterday on my drive to work I lost an o2 housing to downpipe bolt, SOMEHOW my boost controller line managed to disconnect from my lower IC pipe and get caught in the exhaust in the process causing it to melt not a big deal at all. The car sounds gnarly I have to admit haha.

The car pulls hard and it's a blast to drive. Still need to get my obd port working so I can start working on the tune. I'll be hitting the local drag strip on the first and I'll post my results, just want a 12.8 or faster!

 

[Macgyver'sDSM]

Check the oil pan bolts closest to the crank sprocket/timing belt. There should be 2 short bolts. Shorter than the rest of the oil pan bolts. If you put a standard length bolt in thoes 2 holes they can eat up a belt just like that. http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/oil-pan-short-bolts.441874/