Finally done with round 1 on my car!

[kenamond]

Okay, I finally got done with my first round of mods which were initiated by the dramatic failure of my T25. Took almost 2 months (waiting on IC pipes, returning the wrong ones, getting wrong ones again, switching vendors, returning wrong parts, etc.), but here's what I got:

K&N FIPK gen2
Dejon intake pipe
FP B28 (which I ported/polished - fun stuff!)
Ported 2g mani (ported myself - not quite as fun - cast iron sucks!)
Ported 2g O2 housing (ported myself - not fun - cast iron harder than mani and sucks more!)
Dejon lower IC pipe
Cleaned and straightened stock SMIC
Dejon full upper IC pipe
1g BOV - sanded to like-new and painted
New 1g valve cover with **no leak** (which was needed, because I broke the stock one trying to fix the leak )
BCS mod
Autometer boost gauge
Knowledge of how to pull my transfer case, exhaust, bearing bracket, and oil pan to remove the zip tie I dropped in my head while running my boost/vac line **no leak** and I found/extracted my destroyed T25 thrust bearing pieces
3-gauge A-pillar mount (backlight not wired yet)
Straightened front bumper cover support bracket (got mangled backing over a 12" high cut-off sign post which forced the cover into an unattractive shape **looks much better**
A butt-load of DSM knowledge from reading 49875093751092 posts on this forum

So I'm only getting 12psi even with the BCS mod with boost spikes of 15psi max . I built my boost leak tester yesterday and had to wait for RTV to harden (hardware store didn't have the screw-style valves, so I had to use the tubeless tire valve style that doesn't seal too well).

I probably have boost leaks. It spools up a bit slow, but pulls maybe 20hp harder and sounds a bit deeper *nice grumble in the ported exhaust/turbine*

So now I need a 2.5" turboback with hi-flow cat, an MBC, palm logger software (already bought a refurb-ed palm IIIc but figuring out the OBD-gauge site puts me to sleep), and either a turbo timer or a habit to wait before shutting the car off (there was enough coking in my T25 to convince me that it's important).

Thanks guys!!

 

[4BangR-x]

Nice Job

Yea get a turbo timer or just sit with the baby for a minute while she cools down

 

[Gamble97]

Sounds nice. Any pics?
And I would go w/ a 3" exhaust

 

[kenamond]

Pics:

B28 turbine housing before and after

2g mani ported 1, 2, 3, 4

Engine bay before and after

Another shot of the engine bay after

Bumper before and after

Shot of the car

 

[dr1ftx3]

Nice clean up man. Great work.

 

[kenamond]

My boost leak tester sucks too bad to be of any use. The stem is too long, so the pump hits the lower radiator hose. The stem leaks like a sieve since it's the rubber grommet style tubeless tire type rather than the screw on type. I also need an air tank. Using a bike pump is just pointless. I might have gotten 5psi before I got pissed enough to give up and rebuild my tester.

My hardware store sucks (doesn't have any of the parts I need to make a good tester). I wonder if I can just get a bike tube with a threaded valve+lock nut, cut off the tube around the valve, then use a rubber washer on the inside of the tester and torque the crap out of the nut on the outside.

I think I'm still smelling antiseize vapors coming off of my motor. I can smell it in my garage when I park it, and it's gotten fainter since I've been driving it. Kind of an acrid smell - not burning oil. Is that normal? It smoked like crazy on my first test drive, both out the exhaust (burning the oil my dead T25 left behind) and off of the mani/turbine/O2 housing, but that's all cleared up. Had a coolant leak where those cheap clamps hold the upper radiator hose on (had some corrosion on the engine side which was probably the cause), so I put screw hose clamps on it which fixed the leak. I also noticed an oil leak on the turbo feed line when I was priming the turbo, but I was able to tighten that (with a crow's foot 11mm, universal, and 2 3/8" extensions). I was actually happy to see the oil - atleast it was priming the turbo!

I've probably only put 15 miles on it so far (very short commute). No oil or coolant leaks, though.

 

[ericbev]

That feed line is a pita to get to when the turbo is all bolted up. Good to see you could get it tight enough to stop the leak.

That porting on the hotside looked very very nice. Looks like you did your research and took your time. Kudos.

You will be smelling lots of things burning in and off. Drive it a bit more and keep an eye and nose on things. 15 miles isnt much so go take that thing for a nice cruise.

Looks like your headed in the right direction. Keep up the good work and keep us posted.

 

[Bo0O0ostedDSM]

You've done some nice work... keep it up!

 

[kenamond]

Thanks guys!

Well, I got all of the pieces for my 2nd attempt at a boost leak tester.

- Bicycle tube with non-schraeder-style valve stem (p-something). The whole stem is threaded, and I got a schraeder adaptor so I can use the standard fitting on a portable air canister. Guy at the bike shop just gave me an old tube for free - the stem was fine.
- 3 lock nuts. I'll put two inside the boost tester as jam nuts and one on the outside to smash the layers together.
- 2 fender washers
- 2 rubber washers
- Another 2" PVC end cap (the first one has a 5/8" hole which is way too big for the valve stem)
- 2.5" coupler hose

First, I'll cut the end of the stem off (the end with the innertube on it).

I'll drill and tap a hole in the PVC end cap so that the valve stem will thread through the PVC. Then I'll stack everything outside-in as (nut/fender-washer/rubber-washer/PVC-cap/rubber-washer/fender-washer/nut/nut). The two inner nuts, of course, are jammed together. I'll torque the nuts down nice and tight, and hopefully the rubber washers will smash into the valve stem threads and make a good, stable, strong seal. If it leaks enough to worry about, I'll add some RTV to the stem threads and thread it through the PVC. Then of course I'll hose clamp the coupler to the PVC endcap with some RTV to help it stay put and seal well.

This is probably overkill, but I'm done fuxing around with it.