dsmcarnag3
10+ Year Contributor
- 55
- 1
- Jan 1, 2012
-
east moline,
Illinois
This is my dsm, and it is one in the truest sense of the word.
this car has been molested..... which begs the question. Why the hell wouldn't you start with a different car? there a couple of reasons. first and most obvious is money. at the time I got this car I had recently bought a 95 impala ss with 124,xxx miles on it. thinking this would be a GOOD car, I gave my 90 laser rs turbo fwd (with 210,xxx miles) to my brother. Dumbass!! That SS started to drain me financially, to the point I was without a drivable car and laid off from work for a short period. with work starting back up I had little choice but to pick this gem up for $1500.00 so i jumped on it. knowing my situation Xeiros let me make payments, which was sweet since I was still paying $500 a month for a car that wouldn't move.
when I got the car, it wasn't running very well and was fuel-cutting at 3k, so it really wasn't even fun to drive. I started with the normal tune-up. ngk 1 step colder plugs, ngk wires, fuel filter..... a little better but still fuel-cutting! dammit! on to the boost leak check, and of course a beat car with 145,xxx miles on it. need I say more. got those taken care of, running even better, still cutting. didn't know what it was running for boost so I got a autometer gauge hooked up and no wonder. it was pushing 16-18 on a t-25 under normal driving and 21-23 in 4th at low rpm. so I guess it's time for a boost controller, but I'm broke so... my friend with an evo told me to hook the turbo vac line straight to the wastegate. then you run wastegate pressure? over my head but I was desperate so I did it and problem solved. now I can twist 6 most of the time without a problem. I drove it like that for a couple of months while I was paying the car off. now the cars paid for and the fun begins.
since I still have a powdercoating hook-up the first thing I wanted to do is clean up the engine bay, so Xeiros picked up a valve cover from a guy on here for me since hes a proven member. it looked to be in good shape so I blasted it and had it coated only to find out it was cracked in 2 places.
shit happens and jb weld works wonders, 
. got my hands on a 2g intake manifold from dsmgraveyard, and when I got it there was a broken bolt that hold the coilpack. 
!
Ican't win.
moving on, after some research I picked up a vrsf fmic, seen a lot of people are happy with them and the price was fantastic. sold! new turbo time. didn't do a TON of research but like the capability of the fp green, so I picked that and the fp manifold up. ordered it with the external wastegate option so now I need a o2 and wastegate. no choice but the punishment with a tial 38mm, expensive, but a nice unit.. this thing is sexy. knowing all of this isn't going to work worth a damn without tuning I picked up a eprom ecu off ebay (over paid, I guess) and sent it out for link.
while I was waiting for that I picked up an aem uego and got that installed, and found that I was running full rich. so when got the ecu back I did some checking and the front o2 is toast. barely registering, but link killed the fuel cut I was randomly still getting, and its running good so I'm waiting to change it when I put the new turbo and o2 housing on. lazy I know. so this is where I'm at right now, a pile of parts waiting to go on. I still need a couple of parts to get everything on. planning on some time later this month, after that its off to get painted. trading the impala for the paint job. my body man wants that car bad, and he can have it. I'll update after I get the fmic and 2gb bumper fit. LONG road ahead!!
when I got the car, it wasn't running very well and was fuel-cutting at 3k, so it really wasn't even fun to drive. I started with the normal tune-up. ngk 1 step colder plugs, ngk wires, fuel filter..... a little better but still fuel-cutting! dammit! on to the boost leak check, and of course a beat car with 145,xxx miles on it. need I say more. got those taken care of, running even better, still cutting. didn't know what it was running for boost so I got a autometer gauge hooked up and no wonder. it was pushing 16-18 on a t-25 under normal driving and 21-23 in 4th at low rpm. so I guess it's time for a boost controller, but I'm broke so... my friend with an evo told me to hook the turbo vac line straight to the wastegate. then you run wastegate pressure? over my head but I was desperate so I did it and problem solved. now I can twist 6 most of the time without a problem. I drove it like that for a couple of months while I was paying the car off. now the cars paid for and the fun begins.
since I still have a powdercoating hook-up the first thing I wanted to do is clean up the engine bay, so Xeiros picked up a valve cover from a guy on here for me since hes a proven member. it looked to be in good shape so I blasted it and had it coated only to find out it was cracked in 2 places.
shit happens and jb weld works wonders, . got my hands on a 2g intake manifold from dsmgraveyard, and when I got it there was a broken bolt that hold the coilpack. ! Ican't win.while I was waiting for that I picked up an aem uego and got that installed, and found that I was running full rich. so when got the ecu back I did some checking and the front o2 is toast. barely registering, but link killed the fuel cut I was randomly still getting, and its running good so I'm waiting to change it when I put the new turbo and o2 housing on. lazy I know. so this is where I'm at right now, a pile of parts waiting to go on. I still need a couple of parts to get everything on. planning on some time later this month, after that its off to get painted. trading the impala for the paint job. my body man wants that car bad, and he can have it. I'll update after I get the fmic and 2gb bumper fit. LONG road ahead!!
