Low Mile 98 GSX

[XIT]

This is the Build Thread for Low Mile 98 GSX. Reply below.

 

[XIT]

Hey everyone,

This is an enormous update. A little backstory, I saved the car from a kid that was the typical DSM owner that shouldn't own a DSM. The same no maintenance just beat it to death story. From what I can gather, before it was his the car was a Fast and Furious era showcar. I would like to spend some time tracking down the cars history but I haven't done that yet. From the amount of bondo and fiberglass on the fenders and quarters, I can tell you certainly that it had a molded body kit back in the day under the custom blue paint job.

I got the car with low compression on cylinder one and after some diagnosing I ripped the head off to find a couple bent valves and a cracked guide. The timing kit was new so I figured the belt snapped or something and was replaced without checking out the head.

I got the head rebuilt and put the car back together and drove it. After a short while, I installed an Apexi N1 exhaust and aftermarket o2 housing and had issues with boost spiking in the midrange. Rolling into throttle at ~3k rpm would cause boost to spike around 30psi. Mind you, the factory BCS and gate were on it.

A little while after that and I installed a VRSF fmic, ebay bov, ebay 16g, denso 660cc injectors, and an fp intake tube. With that I tuned it and ran it at 18-20 psi. It ran and drove great.

Attached to this post are images of how I got it and how it ended up at the point described in this post. FYI the images in this thread are pretty big. The best way to view them is to click the first one in each post and look through them. Sorry in advance!

 

[XIT]

After a while of driving the car in that state, I did aa couple launches and some pulls with some friends. The launches were great. Preloaded the drivetrain, slipped the clutch, all four tires chirped, and we were off. The second launch only lasted until the top of first gear, though. With a loud boom, lots of grinding and chunking noises, and a ton of blue-gray smoke, I knew something had gone wrong. At first I thought it was drivetrain related. We coasted for about a quarter mile and I pulled onto the shoulder of the country road. I ran back to the spot and saw tons and tons of oil on the road. And lots of little chunks of cast iron. I got the car towed home and turns out I had a couple new holes in the block.

Almost immediately following this I had to go out of town for work and had to move. The car sat for about a month or two before I could touch it again. I towed it to the new house and quickly made use of the new two car garage. Within a day and a half The car was stripped to a chassis and I could finally investigate the engine failure.

To my surprise, the engine had been recently rebuilt. 3 stock rods, one cheapo aftermarket replacement, and a set of JE pistons. One of the stock rods had snapped and shot two holes in the front of the block, and a huge on in the back. It took the starter and oil pump with it. It looked like the piston got stuck in the bore and caused the rod to snap. This theory was supported by the bore of the hole being smaller than the others. I'd assume the PTW clearance wasn't set loose enough and the piston just swelled up with the heat.

 

[XIT]

With some CP pistons and Carillo rods, I was on my way to building a damn good motor. I picked up another split thrust block and the crank out of my motor was beyond beautiful. I dropped the head off at my head guy's shop and the block and rotating assembly at a local engine builder. With that, it was time to start on the body.

With the engine out, I had the perfect excuse to tuck and shave the engine bay. With well over 100 holes filled, it was time to lay down primer and block sand it all.

 

[XIT]

Some of the keen eyes on here might have noticed the radiator bracket holes being shaved. This is called foreshadowing.

After the bay was prepped, it was time to get to the body. This was my first major bodywork heavy project. I had painted my bike the summer prior ('03 GSXR 750), but that was on new plastics and only one small dent filled on the gas tank. This car was a different story. For the most part it was straight and in great shape but what lied underneath the paint on the quarters was a nightmare waiting to reveal itself to me. Bondo and fiberglass well over 3/8" thick to blend the panels together tapered into the metal through the quarters. The fenders were so far gone I just got different ones. Both aftermarket fenders so the fitment isn't the best but we do what we can with these cars.

Once body work was done, I sprayed primer and got ready to block sand every inch of the car. I also sprayed a mirror I wont be using to see what the color I chose would look like.

 

[XIT]

After spending about a week of 8 hour days blocking the car and engine bay it was ready for sealer, base, and clear. The color turned out amazing and for a garage paint job and a beginner using cheap-ish guns, I think I did an awesome job.

 

[XIT]

Soon after, the rest of the body panels and pieces were painted. All while waiting on my motor to come back from the machine shop. In addition to the bodywork, I got the interior back together and wiring done before the engine got back from the machine shop. The quoted 2-3 week lead time quickly grew into a two month wait. Only to have a block machined and the pistons, rods, and crank installed.

 

[XIT]

I even got wheels and tires mounted up before the engine got back to me. New brakes all the way around as well. But the motor would be back soon.

 

[XIT]

It was a Friday that I was called to go pick up my engine. Once I got to the shop, I was talking to the builder about piston ring gaps, oil clearances, and PTW clearances. The only thing he had for me was ring gap and its .027 top and second ring. We were talking about what the limits of the short block were and he said it would handle up to around 40psi and stated the stock main bolts would be the next limiting factor. After two months of waiting and bs about why it was taking so long, he forgot my damn arp main studs. He ended up putting them in while I hung around the area and I was able to go home with the engine that day.

Once I got back it was full steam ahead. That Friday night and the following Saturday morning I got the engine fully dressed to get dropped in the car. The other parts that went in/on were a set of Crower (not BC) 272 cams, a Redjack t3 twin scroll manifold, and a precision gen 2 bb 6062 turbo. I bought an AGP .75 AR divided exhaust housing to hopefully build a complete response-monster of a DSM. Sunday I attached the trans and dropped it in. That Monday it was a time to start fabbing the exhaust. I was not ready for the headache that would prove to be.

As foreshadowed, the tucked radiator setup can be seen in this photo dump.

 

[XIT]

The exhaust setup I opted to go with was a full 3.5" from the turbo back with one resonator and one muffler. All in all it only costed me about $450-500 in supplies and materials, and about 8 hours of my time. I had to run an Evo oil filter to make room for the piping and it was an insane game of pie cuts to try and clear the alternator, the oil filter, and the charge piping. The first bend out of the turbo took 3 tries to get tight enough. Don't mind the welds, I didn't buy a tank of tri-mix to weld the stainless and I was fighting welder settings during the toughest part of the build. The wire feed kept jamming and it was just a mess. But it got done.

This was one of the many instances in which I would much rather take a slightly lower quality product (in terms of welds) to be able to say that I built this car entirely with my own hands. And the fitment is impeccable. Way better ground clearance than the Apexi N1 that was on the car (by about 2"). It fits amazingly and doesn't hit the body when driving or anything. And I kept all the factory heat shields in place! You can't buy quality like that off the shelf.

 

[DreamChaser7]

I even got wheels and tires mounted up before the engine got back to me. New brakes all the way around as well. But the motor would be back soon.

View attachment 672610

View attachment 672611

View attachment 672612

View attachment 672613

Looks good! Going to do a color sand and rub out or just clear spray?

 

[XIT]

Finally the best part of the build... the first fire! After redoing all the wiring and installing a tiny battery, the car barely wanted to crank. It was so slow and weak. I wired up multiple different batteries and tried my jump pack and jumping with a car; nothing worked. After days of diagnosing I took my brand new starter back to autozone for a replacement and she cranked very well but still wouldn't start. The CAS was in 180 out and the ect sensor was shot so the car didn't want to start. With the CAS flipped it fired up but wouldn't hold idle. Once the sensor was fixed, it idled great. After bleeding coolant, I was off for the first drive.

First start
Idle
Break in pull
Some turbo noises

 

[XIT]

Now for some beauty shots and my comments.

First off, I would like to say that this build was a bit of a rush job. Almost all my free time went into this. I didn't want the car sitting on jack stands forever like most projects do. I set my self a hard deadline and goal of getting the car back together for a car show this year. I knew I'd be missing out on the summer fun of having a car and I wanted to get this done ASAP. That being said, I still made time for my family, friends, and girlfriend. I still went camping, to holiday parties, and made time to have fun. All said and done the project took me a little under 3 months front to back. I did everything on my own, in my garage. It's been an incredibly stressful and rewarding experience. It's important to have balance and I feel like I've achieved that.

This was a budget minded build. It was put together on good deals on used parts. For instance, the manifold setup and wastegates cost me only $600. The fancy $2000 precision turbo only costed me $550 (don't ask me how I got so lucky on that ). It's not perfect. It's not made of gold. It's a driver's car and of driving quality. I'm not afraid to put miles on it. Hell that's the whole point of building it.

It's not done yet. I have plans this winter of doing the fuel system and putting it on e85 this spring. I also want to get on speed density. There is a ton of room to grow with power and I'm not in a huge rush to crank this thing open but I know I'll get bored and want to tinker. For now, this is it for the update. Enjoy the beauty shots.

PS: I'm sorry if the images throughout this post are annoyingly large. It's annoying to resize everything.

 

[XIT]

Looks good! Going to do a color sand and rub out or just clear spray?

Thank you! I plan on giving it a cut and buff but I probably wont wet sand it.

 

[chrisman287]

Car is beautiful I love what you’ve done with it. Tail lights are cool too.

 

[XIT]

Car is beautiful I love what you’ve done with it. Tail lights are cool too.

Thank you so much!

 

[DreamChaser7]

I agree. Awesome work. No clue how you manage to accomplish that so quickly. I mean seriously, where does all of the stuff in the engine bay disappear to? I wish I knew how to do that. .

 

[Spleen8urLSX]

Excellent work you’ve done, I love the choice in color. Car looks all around good.