Drag Race Build 2g awd swap forward facing 6466

[mikEclipse99]

A little history; I have owned this car since 2008. Shortly after I bought it it spun a bearing and so I tore it town and built it into a 2.3L(why you may ask? because I was 18 and didn't know what I was doing) So, I daily drove the car with the 2.3 for years, fast forward to 2013 and 60k more miles on this 2.3. It was time to refresh the bottom end and strap a holset H1C I got for free on. The plan was simply to pull everything out, put new bearings, rings, gaskets and put it all back together.. However nothing ever goes to plan and here is what came of my original plan! Enjoy!

Final assembly on the bottom end. Crank, rods and pistons all sent to a machine shop for balancing, crank was polished for good measure. 60k miles and not a scratch on any bearings!

Got everything back assmebled again with the Holset strapped on. Same stock head too.

At this point there wasnt a whole lot in the engine bay so it was time to clean clean clean! I started welding unused bolt holes closed and grinding them smooth.

During primer, I think for never doing this before it turned out quite nice!

Now was time to get everything back together again. Also, it was time to start hunting for a FWD transmission. The last time I had this car out back in 2013 on my way home from a joy ride the FWD transmission started knocking really bad only in 2nd gear. I still have no idea what would have caused that or how it happened. While occasionally checking classified pages I one day came across the deal of a lifetime! For what it cost to go on a fancy dinner I was the new owner of this beauty!

Rusted to hell and back, this car looked like it had sunk with the Titanic and has been at the bottom of the ocean ever since. Anyways, this is a 95 gsx. I made the choice to finally do the dreaded awd swap I have always wanted to do. So, I get her back home and start tearing into both cars. Drop the subframes, start digging for subframe bolts, here is one out of the awd

Stripped the AWD car in no time, check out that rust!

Im still working on this thread- this is only barely the beginning. Why didnt I start this when I started the build! Aghh

 

[mikEclipse99]

So, it was time to start getting everything put back together.

Got the motor in, and its looking like the end is near!

A close friend of mine has been working on perfecting his intake manifolds he builds, here is the one he built for me.

So I was very excited to get this strapped on and ditch the wimpy stock 2g intake.

 

[mikEclipse99]

Little bit of wet sanding in the kitchen sink! haha good thing my other half doesn't care

Meantime I got my hands on a nice awd trans finally! now the hunt was on for axles, as the donor car only had the driveshaft, gas tank, rear subframe, and rear diff

Got it all installed, new intake, got the TURBAA on and things are looking up for me!

now was time to start making some intercooler piping. Got it all mocked up, took it over to my buddies house(the one who did the intake) had him weld it all up voila!

Now it was time for that ugly exhaust manifold to not be ugly anymore. I decided it needed to be ceramic coated, this turned out beautiful !

The end was almost here. It was finally time to start it! for the first time in about a year and a half!

 

[mikEclipse99]

So, the first start up was a success and a failure. Yes it did start, yes it did smoke. A LOT. I had no idea how old this turbo was as it was sitting around my friends garage for god knows how long. so I figured it had to be the turbo was blown. 50 dollars later I rebuild it and boom! Still smoking..BAD
This is where my simple refresh took a turn for the better! Or for the worse on my bank accounts side haha - will upload the rest here shortly!

 

[mikEclipse99]

I took a break from being irritated from my smoking issue so I finished up the awd swap. Got the rear subframe mounted up, carrier bearing brackets welded in place. Nothing like trying to weld upside down with absolutely no room! Man would it be nice to have a lift!

Picked up a new set of coilovers too!

Got everything finished in the rear, the only thing needed at this point is one rear axle!! Time to get back to work up front. First thing after taking a short break was this crack in my exhaust manifold... So I pull the manifold off and at that point find out the horrid truth to where the smoking was coming from!

All that oil coming from the head! Mind you this head is the stock, besides some old bc 272 cams. Definitely time for a new head and a new manifold. After many discussions and research I decided to take a drive over to Curt Browns place to drop my head off. 6 days later its back at my doorstep! This man is awesome!

At this point I knew what turbo setup I wanted but hadn't pulled the trigger yet. I wanted to finish getting the motor put back together. Picked up a set of GSC s3 billet cams and Findanza cam gears

Strapped the head back on the car with some fresh L19's

Heres the new setup, STM forward face t3 manifold, Tial 44mm MVR and PTE 6466 gen 2 goodness

New half radiator installed

Got my hands on this awesome catch can/ coolant overflow and Jays alternator relocation

Also got a s90 74mm throttle body so I came up with this ingenious method of making the throttle body hole bigger hahah Tubing notcher some clamps and a drill worked wonders haha!

If it works it works! haha
also found these neat bumper quick release thingy majiggers!

 

[mikEclipse99]

got the turbo drain all finished up, the startup was soon!

The screws in the bumper cutout were temporary and are now rivets..
Well the startup was a success! The smoking went away and it was running perfect! I couldn't have been happier. At this point in time it was October of 2015. The goal for this car to be at the 2015 shootout was long gone haha. So the goal went to be at the 2016 shootout. I made the choice to start working on the roll bar. which will one day be a full cage. I bought the SW racecars 8 point.

Got everything tacked for now
Took the manifold back off to have Tony(intake mani guy) make me a downpipe. I had an idea in my head to have an electronic cutout so I can have one out the bumper and one normal exhaust out the back. After some of tony's wizardry he created this masterpiece

got my hands on a hks carbon ti finally, always wanted this exhaust !

 

[mikEclipse99]

A couple weeks passed and I didnt really work on it too much by now its freezing outside and snowing. One day I got the urge to start buying parts again after I finally found a set of rear lsd axles and it was game on!
Picked up a tubular rear subframe, driveshaft loop, fuel cell and new fuel system. 2 bosch 044 pumps, -8 feed and return

Grabbed some new wheels and tires too
527's and Bridgestone re760's

For the first time catching a car wash and fresh air in almost 3 years!

My cars meeting eachother for the first time. Finally got one of my dream cars, 2015 evo final edition #672

Traded the wheels to the evo, and dropped it off at Buschur for a tune, peeked through the key drop off slot and oh hey GTR!

back to the dsm game, finished welding the cage and got it painted

Picked up some carbon goodie and some Corbeau FX1 pro seats! hood and hatch for a hell of a deal!

 

[mikEclipse99]

picture I found online after my first car show with the new setup

 

[mikEclipse99]

I street tuned the car at about 30 psi. Haven't had any real track time or dyno time this year and probably wont. This winter will be tear back down again, make the switch to a Curt Brown 2.0L bottom end, new ETS thicker front mount, TRE trans, and twin disc so 2017 season I can turn this car on kill mode and see what it'll do! I am very excited!

 

[95REGF150]

Very cool build. Thanks for taking the time to post up all the pictures. That car is a monster can't wait to see what it will do when you push it.

 

[Vegas Smith]

Damn, this is a bad car (in a good way). Do you worry about debris hitting the turbo facing forward? That's such an awesome looking setup like that.

 

[mikEclipse99]

Thanks! I wish I had started this thread while I was doing the build. That being said Im sure there are a lot of pics missing. As for the forward face turbo I have a screen on it and *knock on wood* haha

 

[mikEclipse99]

Mind you this wonderful shed/garage is where this build and a good friend of mines build took place. Wooden floor, no insulation, but it gets the job done! We had my 2g and my friends 1g in here. Getting in and out is no easy task! Also, it is actually terrifying

I knew I'd find some other pictures, here is a picture of the rest of my exhaust that goes out the back

 

[95eclipser]

Heck yeaaaa man you posted one! Im glad I bugged you yesterday about it.

Now time to read.

Update. Love the build man. A lot of attention to detail and not giving up. Couple questions.
Where did you get the fuel cell from?
Also is that a Seibon rear hatch or some other brand?
And the XXR's what size are they? they look great on a black car.

 

[mikEclipse99]

haha I had a slow morning at work so I decided to make one. Like I said I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff because I didn't start the build thread during the build. Thanks for bugging me!

 

[mikEclipse99]

Where did you get the fuel cell from?
Also is that a Seibon rear hatch or some other brand?
And the XXR's what size are they? they look great on a black car.

Fuel cell and driveshaft loop from Brian Vamos. look him up on facebook he makes some really good quality parts
Carbon hatch and hood are both VIS
XXR's are 18x8.75 hyper silver +20mm.

I have since put them on my evo and I am looking to get some Hoosier QTP for my 2g for the 2017 season

 

[petegsx]

Awesome car, I love the attention to detail! Where you work, are they hiring? Lol, I wish I could afford some of these parts! You have done an incredible job, keep up the great work! What is your trick to putting on and taking off your intake manifold? I have a smim, used exhaust manifold studs for the intake, it was a pain in the @$$ putting it on (while the motor was in the car) and I dread ever having to remove the intake.

 

[mikEclipse99]

Thank you haha get in the trucking field, I sell big rigs! I somewhere have all the pictures of redoing the engine bay I'll have to find. As far as getting the intake on and off its actually pretty easy with ratcheting wrenches. They are a life saver!

 

[petegsx]

I have ratchet wrenches... I could only use the open end of a wrench. Ratchet or regular wrenches won't fit on the nut, if I remember right the intake runners are in the way stopping me from using anything other than an open end
But anyways, nice build!

 

[mikEclipse99]

That's a bummer! Luckily with how my runners are I'm able to get at it with a ratchet up top and ratchet wrenches underneath

 

[95eclipser]

Yea I would love to see more info regarding the engine bay spray. And what you did with your harness and fuse box.

Who makes this?

 

[ceedawg]

Wow what a Gorgeous car! Your hard work paid off man. Wish I could do all that to mines!

 

[Austin Jedrzejek]

your build looks awesome! i have a topmount 6466 and do you not like the 2.3? my engine is currently getting built and i have a couple days left to decide if i want to change from the 2.3 to the 2.0. what made you decide to change to the 2.0?

 

[95eclipser]

your build looks awesome! i have a topmount 6466 and do you not like the 2.3? my engine is currently getting built and i have a couple days left to decide if i want to change from the 2.3 to the 2.0. what made you decide to change to the 2.0?

Most likely it is because he plans to drag race. If I had to bet. The bigger turbo needs to be rev out more to make power. A 6466 is a huge turbo man.

 

[Austin Jedrzejek]

Most likely it is because he plans to drag race. If I had to bet. The bigger turbo needs to be rev out more to make power. A 6466 is a huge turbo man.

I know thats why i bought it