LTA 1998 GSX

[spoolinpos]

Did you get a used 6-bolt crank?

If I were to do it again I think I'd go with a cast intake manifold - the sheet metal manifolds are light and look cool but you don't really have to worry about cracked welds with the cast.

Josh is good people for sure. Wish we had him involved here years earlier.

Yup I sourced a used OEM 6 bolt crank. The bearing surfaces seem to be in nice shape, so hopefully it will just need a polish and be good to go.

Yeah I've been buying from Josh for a long time now, always recommend him to other, especially for OEM parts!

 

[spoolinpos]

Well I finally have something very PRETTY to look at! The turbo showed up the other week, and this thing is a beaut. I'm not going to disclose all the sizes due to the type of racing I'm in, but it'll be a nice power upgrade which I need since I'm moving away from using any nitrous down the track. Next to show up should be the @MorrisonFab work of art exhaust manifold! I'm thinking maybe another month or so on that piece, but it should pair with this Xona rotor turbo perfectly.



I also wanted to go ahead and take a look at the engine harness and re-loom it with some fresh TESA tape, well I fund the wires were a bit of a mess, and a bunch of cracks on the wire insulation. I decided to add a OHM Racing engine harness to the list of mods for the winter! I can't wait to see a fresh brand new engine harness in the car! Since they do not accommodate anything for the auto trans connections, I will be making my own small shiftbox/trans harness and will post that up also. I'll go more in depth with that once the engine harness shows up (ETA of end of March/start of April).

 

[Ludachris]

Nice!!! Too bad it isn't summertime, you could always use it as a fan to cool your garage while you're waiting to install it. That thing is massive.

 

[spoolinpos]

Not too much to update for the chassis yet, but did get more VERY pretty parts in.

The @MorrisonFab exhaust manifold is an absolute work of art! I need a nicer car to install it on . It's their large runner Xona V-band manifold with an added 1/8" NPT bung for an EMAP set up if I ever want to check in on exhaust manifold pressure.

OHM Racing did a great job on the new engine harness! I just need to make a shift box harness myself, and rewire a handful of things, and that should do it for electrical. I plan to pull the dash out and take out as much as I possibly can, then install the harness and get the dash back in.

I also tossed a quick coat of POR15 on the new OEM front knuckles and lower control arms from @DSSA .

Next up should be the engine from Force Engineering! The bottom end is actually done, just waiting for the head to be completed and I'll make my way out to pick it all up.

I'll be posting up the shift box harness when I get around to making it, I had a couple people asking to document that process a bit, so be on the look out for that.

Next post should be the engine!

Thanks for looking!

 

[spoolinpos]

Just an update on the car. I did get the motor back, but haven't had the chance to work on that at all. I've been grinding on the relay board and interior electronics. I pulled the dash to get as much crap out as I could get my hands on, which of course has turned into a rather larger project than I was planning.

It was time to redo all the wiring I had previously done for the relays and what not. I ended up making two separate relay boards. The main board which has 9 relays, mostly for the launching tricks that are needed for these auto cars. The second board consists of 2 30/40amp relays that will have constant 12V, and a switched 200amp relay that will feed the main board. This secondary board also has a 125amp inline fuse between the battery and 200amp relay. All in all, I'm happy with how it has turned out, it was literally a mess of wires before.

Before: Yeahhh, I definitely didn't care about presentation, I just installed as I went, covered up with the carpet , and it all worked so I didn't bother cleaning this up till now. Believe it or not, it was actually way worse than this photo too when the OEM harness and the mess of wires used to install the shift box's harness was still in there .

And some of relay board progress and where I stand as of now:

Also, as you can see I have gotten the OHM racing harness installed, and made the shift box harness. It was really nice they made this harness with pigtails I requested for the VSS, TPS and RPM so I was able to feed the shift box those signals that way.

Just tossed the dash back in!

All in all it was a great project for me. I came away with a WAY better understanding of the different ways relays can be used, and how everything communicates to each other as a whole.

Thanks!

 

[spoolinpos]

Just a little fun update I have for today. I have installed a switch panel in the location of where a radio deck would go, and have deleted most of the car's speakers. I didn't want to totally lose the ability to listen to music though, because this is still a car I plan on driving around and enjoying. Originally I was looking for some kind of solution, like a single AUX input or something that I could just plug my phone into, and get audio through two door speakers. I'm not very knowledgeable with car audio, or the different options out there to be honest, but I managed to stumble across these cool little mini wireless, bluetooth sterio/AMP on Amazon.

It was cheap enough, so I decided to order it, and see if I could make something work. Super glad I decided to just tackle this little project now, as I have already ripped into the interior pretty good! I paired this amp with a custom harness I made that plugs right into the car's oem radio harness, and just used wires to send audio to the door speakers, worked like a charm! I found my old speakers were completely toast, and the passenger side speaker just wasn't working anymore, so I went back to my trusty Amazon account, and ordered up some super cheap 6.5" JVC speakers to toss in the doors.

-Also a small plus that came as a nice little surprise to me is these JVC speakers have fairly small magnets on the back of them, they are considerable lighter than the OEM units. I'm sure the smaller magnet isn't what those audio guys are after, but it 100% was a welcome surprise to me.

So I was able to use an OEM bracket that's located under the car's glove box that originally was used for the ABS module, and also for 2 of the center counsel's mounting screws. After drilling two holes and mounting the mini amp, it literally looked like it could have been installed there from the factory, and it fit perfectly under the glove box.

I put some power to the mini amp, connected my phone via bluetooth, and it sounded so much better than I thought it would have. I'm not looking to win any kind of audio competitions by any means haha, but I was just super pumped that a small idea actually worked out way better than I thought, and I still have my music to turn up for when I want to try and drown out everything else going on!

Anyway, that was a fun little project, and should work out very well for what I'm looking for. I just set the bass and treble settings on the mini amp to where I liked it, and keep the volume all the way up on the amp, so I just adjust volume on my phone so I wont need to get to those setting knobs that are on the amp.

I also have completely wrapped up (till I need to add something) the relay board and switch panel. This project was fun, I will post up photos of that once my Carbonetics airbag delete tray comes in (should be either today or tomorrow according to the tracking number) to give the interior a more finished look. I just need to now finish up interior stuff from the rear seats back, and find a solution for some carpeting, and I can start to think about moving forward to the front suspension and power train stuff!

Thanks for looking!

 

[spoolinpos]

Got the air bag delete from Carbonetics, it's a pretty nice piece! Much better than just having an open hole in that location imo. I believe I ordered it in December, so honestly it came at the perfect time for me. I tried to order as soon as I made my mind up on it.

Anyway! Here's what the final product looks like for the relay boards. I'm happy with how it turned out, my fingers will 100% be crossed when I put some power to it and test out all the communications. Crazy to see just how many things are integrated together when it's all arranged on a board! I still have two more relays in the rear of the car for the fuel pump!

Also here's a photo of the switch panel. It's a pretty "budget friendly" solution, I spent all my money on relays . Everything has since been labeled, and it's a lot nicer looking than the 4 or 5 different style toggle switches I had somehow crammed all in the bottom right side of the center counsel. Those holes have been plugged up with grommets, and that usb port where the ac switch use to be is the communications port for the shift box.

Just some pictures of the air bag delete mocked up and where I'm currently at with the interior project. I believe I have an idea for some carpeting, so in the next couple days I may take some measurements and get something ordered to work on that.

I still have to mount the Kirkeys, and maybe just a harness bar for now so I can at least drive the car around a bit once it's running. At the moment, a cage is in the plans, but I'm not sure when I will get to it just yet due to a lot going on in life. This car will never see full 1/4 mile hits without a cage so I def will try and start to budget for one.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to possibly starting powertrain stuff soon here. As always, thanks for lookin!

 

[OH91awd]

Got the air bag delete from Carbonetics, it's a pretty nice piece! Much better than just having an open hole in that location imo. I believe I ordered it in December, so honestly it came at the perfect time for me. I tried to order as soon as I made my mind up on it.

View attachment 665890

Anyway! Here's what the final product looks like for the relay boards. I'm happy with how it turned out, my fingers will 100% be crossed when I put some power to it and test out all the communications. Crazy to see just how many things are integrated together when it's all arranged on a board! I still have two more relays in the rear of the car for the fuel pump!

View attachment 665892

Also here's a photo of the switch panel. It's a pretty "budget friendly" solution, I spent all my money on relays . Everything has since been labeled, and it's a lot nicer looking than the 4 or 5 different style toggle switches I had somehow crammed all in the bottom right side of the center counsel. Those holes have been plugged up with grommets, and that usb port where the ac switch use to be is the communications port for the shift box.

View attachment 665893View attachment 665894View attachment 665897

Just some pictures of the air bag delete mocked up and where I'm currently at with the interior project. I believe I have an idea for some carpeting, so in the next couple days I may take some measurements and get something ordered to work on that.

View attachment 665898View attachment 665899View attachment 665900

I still have to mount the Kirkeys, and maybe just a harness bar for now so I can at least drive the car around a bit once it's running. At the moment, a cage is in the plans, but I'm not sure when I will get to it just yet due to a lot going on in life. This car will never see full 1/4 mile hits without a cage so I def will try and start to budget for one.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to possibly starting powertrain stuff soon here. As always, thanks for lookin!

Looking damn good! Makes me want to bring my car up and have you rewire it

 

[spoolinpos]

Looking damn good! Makes me want to bring my car up and have you rewire it

Thanks! I think I'll be taking a nice long break from wiring after this! !

 

[spoolinpos]

Been awhile since I last posted anything. I took a break, but was picking on things here and there. I honestly forgot where I even left off here ha. Anyway, I'll let picture speak for themselves.

Alternator relocated to the back of the block to free up some room for the exhaust.

New Valve cover, IC pipes, radiator set up, and more in a recent photo of where the engine bay is at:

Updated fuel feed for the pump, moved away from a single 10an feed to a dual 10an thats Ys to a 12an. I also relocated the post pump filter to under the car.

And some from when I was getting the short block and head together, who doesn't enjoy fresh engine photos haha

There's a bunch more I'm sure. I'll try and keep up a little bit better than what I have been. I plan on getting the car up and running again this year, would really be nice to get it back out racing a bit again, but we will see how things go.

Thanks for checking it out

 

[spoolinpos]

Well figure I'd share an update. The car WAS up and running, and working bugs out as they popped up. Got it to the dyno and make some nice jam... and planetary gear set soup! . The trans it out, and I will be putting together a new trans for the car. Dyno video and trans in the next post!

Switched over from the 2150s to the Alpha Injection Clinic 2600s.

Another project on the list is to install a rear hatch mounted puke tank

Where the engine bay sits as of now:

She still cleans up fairly well

 

[spoolinpos]

Got it to the dyno, made some nice power! We stopped at 47psi falling to about 45psi. I saw 88lbs/min at the top of the gear, it's def moving some air!!! Unfortunately after our last hit, we ended up hurting the planetary gear set which in turn cracked the aunnulus gear and flange. I do believe this was due to throwing the trans into N right when I got off the throttle. I never use to do this, but we decided to go this route to avoid letting the engine hang up in high rpms too long with these aluminum rods. I believe I may look into rerouting the trans lines to allow continued oiling of the planetary gear set, I still need to do more research on this though.

Anyway, the trans it out, I have most of the new parts already needed in my spare parts stash, but the case looked questionable, so I sourced a different 2g w4a33 trans case to use in this build.




The damage! We'll get it back out there and making rips! Would love to get this thing out to a race or two this year.

 

[spoolinpos]

Hey all, a little update on this thing. I have the trans about 95% wrapped up. I just need to bolt on some miscellaneous accessories, the ATF filter, and then get the trans in the car to mark where I want to weld the ATF return fitting on.

I replaced the planetary gear set, annulus gear and flange, new Kiggly 5 friction front clutch pack for the direct drum, new rear clutch pack for the forward drum (even though my old clutch pack came out looking perfect still), new low/reverse frictions, new OD clutch pack, and a new kickdown band. All drums were cleaned and rebuilt with all new seals, O-ring, D-rings, and any damaged bushings I came across were also replaced. I believe I replaced a bushing on the center support, the larger bushing on the direct (front) drum, and also replaced the pump bushing. I also used a minty trans case I found, just needed some cleaning up and tossed some paint on it, came out really nice imo.

I had Aaron Gregory service the valve body, as I don't feel ready to tackle that part yet. He modded the unit in a way to run the RD port oiling mod. This mod will rework the ATF routing, and can be found in one of Joe Bucci's YouTube videos. This is supposed to supply the planetary gears with cooler oil, and more volume from what I understand. I do believe this also increases oil supply to the planetary gears when the transmission is in neutral. Should be much safer to throw the trans in N at the end of the run.

Precision also cleaned and gave my converter a clean bill of health.

Hopefully all seems right once we shake this new trans down! Really trying to get this thing to the Shootout again this year.

Below are just some pictures I captured during the process.

Case used this time around. The before and after paint!


New pump bushing, kick down servo apart, and measuring input shaft end play.

Thanks for looking!

 

[spoolinpos]

Update, is it considered a Shootout scramble yet?

Trans is back in and street tested. All seems to be going well so far! I ended up NOT doing that RD oiling port mod just yet. I found that an adjustable restrictor may be needed to maintain proper converter pressure, and I'm just not ready to deal with all that at the moment, so OEM oiling route it is for now. I did not seen any signs of over heating on any of the old transmission parts, so I think OEM oiling will be fine for now.

I also made a little change with the valve cover. I switched from the MCR to a FF unit. I do not care for the baffle system in the MCR. Although I have an updated version of MCR's baffle on it's way, I simply just like the FF unit a little bit more. Anyway, the FF baffle system looks like a step closer to the OEM's baffle system, and I just personally like the look of it. It also seems to be a little bit lighter, so a plus there too.

Burn down/ Puke tank! I installed the tank, and have started the fire wall pass thrus. Once I get the pass thrus all situated and a 16AN bung welded on top of my catch can, I'll be ready to plumb it all. I will be eliminating the small POS temporary catch can I'm using for the oil pump cover vent, and running that line to it's dedicated firewall pass thru, and directly back to the tank. At some point I will also reinstall my vent fitting for the balancer shaft inspection hole and T it into that same line used for the timing cover vent.

The drain system I put together for the tank:

The valve cover ventilation will retain the catch can, and I'll be more so using that as an oil/air separator. I still would like the ability to drain any oil that makes it's way up and out of the valve cover, so this seems to be the best way. I'll be welding up a 16an bung to the top of the catch can, and then routing the 16an line to the fire wall pass thru, where it'll transition to a 1.25" hose and make it's way back to the burn down tank. I'll get some photos up of all the plumbing once it's completed!

Hopefully we're able to get everything wrapped up and tested out before The Shootout! Hope to see a lot of people there this year!

Thanks for lookin'

 

[spoolinpos]

Wrapped up the burn down/puke tank. I beleive all that's really left before The Shootout is to test out the nitrous and get this car to come up on the 2 step. The actual launch dialing in will more than likely be done at the track. Aside from that, an oil change, and final inspection, this thing should be Shootout ready!

I am 100% waiting for the first person out in the wild to as if that's my exhaust coming out of the hatch

Thanks for looking! Hope to see a lot of people at The Shootout!

 

[spoolinpos]

Well, I took the car out for a drive to my parent's house, and their neighbor was the first person to ask if the puke tank's stack was the exhaust ! So it happened haha.

Anyway! We're ready for The Shootout! I wanted the ability to hop into the street eliminator class if everything seems to be going well, so I dug the rear hatch panels out of the garage rafters, trimmed some of them up to fit the changes that have been made back there, and boom! We are now back to a 100% full interior in the cargo area, with the privacy cover back on and new carpet in! I do like it much more with the panels and all back in there, so I'm sure they will stay. I may redo the carpet at some point though, as I kinda was fed up with trying to refit everything back there, I kind of rushed that part.

I then had to fit the universal catch pan I've had sitting in the corner of my garage for a year or two. Just made 5-6 brackets out of some Al stock I had around the garage, and got it nice and snug.

Those two tasks along with some other smaller odds and ends the needed to happen, and we're ready to head out Thursday morning! I hope to see everyone there, come by and say hello! Scott will have his really cool EVO V there at our pit area, and we'll be hanging out. Look for the big ass LTA flag we got hahaha!

Thanks for looking!

 

[spoolinpos]

Shootout recap. We won the Street Eliminator class!!! What a weekend! The car did very well for the most part all weekend long and went rounds! We originally entered the 9.5 index class as this car is very, very untested on this new set up, so we wanted to see how things would go.

We first learned quickly that the 60' needed A LOT of work, and the .038 size nitrous jetting just wasn't enough, so we upped it to the .042 jet. Car got up on the converter much quicker, and ended up adding a few hundred RPM to the two step, and we were back somewhat in action. Went from super lazy 1.66 60fts, to a 1.436 in the SE finals. Still, need to get this thing able to cut some mid 1.3Xs when needed, but we'll just have to work on figuring that out with time.

I made the call to switch classes when the car was able to pull off a 9.23 at 149.76 mph in qualifying on Friday night (with a still lazy 1.55 60'). This is exactly what I wanted to see along with solid looking logs to make the choice to hop over to the SE class. This was also my very first time in the 5s to the 1/8, which was a huge goal I had, so I was so very happy to see this.

Although this pass was great to see, we had an issue pop up. I run the Jay Racing alt. relocation kit, and it's know to have the belt fly off that connects to the power steering pump, crank, and water pump pulley. I didn't like the spacer design, but figured I would improve on it by making a small dowel to help stabilize the power steering pump bracket at the top. It seemed to be working, but this pass the belt came off, causing higher than normal water temps by the end of the track. This was a little concerning, but after checking things out, all seemed to be good thankfully. We made an adjustment to the angle of the power steering pump bracket, and the belt was solid for the rest of the event, thankfully cause I'm not ready to give up my power steering, I like it too much.

Another trending issue we noticed was we were having a really hard time keeping the boost up in higher RPMs. I really wanted to see things hold at least 50psi through the gears, but the best we could accomplish by the end of the event was a spike to about 51psi, and falling off to 45. This is something I will be looking into in the near future. I will be searching again for boost leaks, and possible making a switch from the 3 port solenoid to a 4 port and see if anything improves. I'm thinking there's either a boost leak popping up in higher boost, or the wastegate is cracking open. Anyway, this is something that will be looked into, as there's definitely power on the table right there.

The car performed and went rounds, living mostly in the 9.3x ET area. I qualified 2nd in SE with a 9.3x on Saturday, and was ready to go at it Sunday. I'm really happy about this, as the trans I put together seems to be holding up great so far! (well I put everything together except for the valve body).

So Sunday comes up, and battled as the rounds went on. Semi finals came up, and unfortunately my opponent wasn't able to get their car started up, the track staff/crew declared them DQed. Just as they declared this, they were able to get the car started. Not the way I like to take the W, but I was awarded the win, and we were off to the finals.

Up against Bob Breach and his beautiful 1g (fast as hell) in the finals, I knew this was going to be an extremely difficult race for us to pull off, but we gave it our best try. I knew I would have to do my best on the light to even have a chance at him. Unfortunately, Bob wasn’t able to make a full pass. Again, not the way I ever want things to go down, but I did manage a new 1/8th mile PB and 1/4 mile PB of 9.111 at 146mph. It would have been a race as I did very well on the tree, and I wish it would have played out with us both having amazing runs. I hope we can line up again in the future!

We ended the weekend with an adrenaline rush and a Street Eliminator victory, I'm so thankful for everyone that has helped accomplish this! The car is in one piece, a trophy to add to the garage, and some money towards safety upgrades is a blessing.

We undoubtedly have some work to do, and as for plans to the car, you'll just have to check back for the updates

This Shootout was amazing also, what a turn out! Had great friends there, new PBs, perfect weather, and a hell of a camp set up, I couldn't have asked for more.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the weekend:

What. A. Blast.

Thanks or looking!

-Christian

 

[Vegas Smith]

I had issues with my MCR valve cover gushing oil into my catch can. It literally filled up my entire catch can with pure oil under 50miles of driving. I contacted MCR and he blamed my engine. A few months later I read about a new "revised" baffle. I wound up getting the new FF cover as well with no issues.

 

[Justin DuBois]

The race is about more than the 10 seconds you spent on the track - you won.

 

[spoolinpos]

Just a little update as I sit on my couch with my Sunday coffee and not much else to do. I have started to collect some of the items I plan on putting on over the winter, and ended up just knocking out some small installs. There's a no prep event on the 21th local to me that I try and attend to wrap up the season.

So far I've collected a few items including a billet Magnus transfercase side cover, Vamos rear drive shaft loop, MAC 4 port solenoid valve, and a NDD manual steering rack. So far I tossed on the Magnus side cover and the Vamos rear driveshaft loop. I have also gathered some new rubber for next year. Hoosier 18110, DO6 compound full slick, as my QTPs are not legal for my local small tire class (AWD car must have a tire that's 8" or less in tread width, and MUST say 8 on the sidewall). They weren't understanding that the DOT QTPs show section width (9.5) and not tread width like a non DOT slick does... So this was the work around for that, and they may help me get these 60's down to where I want them to be.

There are some other pretty big plans for over winter. I really hope to get the car in for cage work, and possibly a big change up with the turbocharging system, along with hopefully a CIrcle D torque converter depending on if they follow through with the project and when it would be completed.

Thanks for lookin!

 

[spoolinpos]

Well, I got the car out one last time this year, and accomplished my last goal I had set for myself- Enter and win one round in a small tire class. I also had a really awesome experience and got to race one of the fastest no prep cars in the U.S., John Quick! He put a bit of a whoopin on me haha but I had a smile the entire way down thinking to myself, I cannot believe I am running Quick right now.

I set a few goals for myself, go a 5.xx in the 1/8 mile and win one round in small tire, and I was very happy to accomplish both goals this year! I learned a lot on the way, and am looking forward to the set step. As for goals, I'm honestly not even sure right now, but it's going to take more power. I'll have an update on that when I make my mind up, whenever that is.

Anyway, here's some pictures and videos of the no prep event from Saturday!

Round 1: Drew 4th pair with a nitrous notch back, really awesome dudes with a really nice street car! This was the first time on the new slicks and a non prepped surface, so I took a few hundred RPMs out of the launch to see how things would shake down at first, and he def got the hit on me. I was able to make the power needed to accomplish my first ever small tire round win!









Round 2: Got paired up with John Quick! Once I found this out, I was pretty much shitting myself . I put the rpm back into the launch, and tried to add a bit more duty cycle to the boost control, and give it hell. His car is SO loud, I couldn't hear myself think! I forgot to connect my dragy which I'm still mad at myself about, because I really wanted to see some of the times my car would put up. Anyway, He pulled pretty hard away from me and I was eliminated. It was such a cool experience to race him though, never thought I'd see the day where I could be trying my luck against some of these guys! Here's some videos of that run!









Anyway, was happy to get the car out one last time for the year. Now to focus on the changes over winter, and maybe close the gap that was put on me by maybe half? haha here's just a couple photos from the event.

Stay tuned for the upcoming upgrades!

Thanks for taking a look!

 

[92Turbski]

Hell yes! Way to set out and accomplish both goals! Car looked awesome. Way to represent with the DSM, too!
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience, pictures, and video.

 

[spoolinpos]

Cool little update, I made the 2024 DSMTuners calendar!!! How cool is that?! I believe my month is January. What a nice surprise and I am totally honored. Now I have to keep going, and can't part the thing out!

Well, with it being time to put the car away for winter changes, brings a firestorm sale of turbo and hot parts!

My entire turbo kit is up for sale, the XR 9569S, Morrison Large runner V-Band manifold, TiAL MVR w/g, and the side exit exhaust. If you happen to be interested, shoot me a PM or check out my classifieds posts for these parts and more info on them. All these parts have VERY little time on them.

As for the next steps, I'm really trying to get the car in for cage work this winter, so that's on the to do list. I have the NDD manual rack to install, and need to pull the front subframe out to installl @99gst_racer VOLK METAL CRAFT solid front subframe bushings. His rear subframe bushings have been in for while now and have been awesome, thanks for making such great parts, Paul!

I also went in on the Circle D converter, so maybe that will happen over winter? Depends on when they are ready for production. Along with this, there's Chris Wymer over at Absolute Performance & Machine is looking to make a run of billet rear drums for the auto transmissions, so I also plan on getting in on that. It'll be nice not having to worry about the dreaded cracked spline on the rear drum!

As for the turbo and hot side, I am 100% staying with @MorrisonFab , I know I always say it, but I'll say it again; their manifolds are an absolute work of art. I put in my order for their divided T4 consolidated top mount exhaust manifold. Two things here, I've always wanted a top mounted manifold, and I'm finally doing it- I can't wait. I've also always wanted to try this divided T4 set up, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the results with this.

As for turbo, I will be trying out a PTE unit this time around. As for size, we'll just have to wait and see on that but it's going to be one bad little bi*** to handle. Really excited to see everything come together over winter.

I hope to post up some photos as things start to roll in and get going and rolling in!

If you're interested in any of my old turbo set up, shoot me a message!

I can't have a post without at least one picture, here's two more favs from the last no prep outing!

Till next post, thanks for lookin!

Christian

 

[spoolinpos]

Hey All,

I will hopefully have some big updates in the next month or two on the car and change ups! Looking forward to being able to post up some really cool stuff.

However, I had the awesome opportunity to talk to Josh a bit about my journey with not only this car, but also a bit on my overall experiences. Thanks to Josh at Mitsutimes.org for the interview!!! I think what they are doing over there is truly amazing for this community. If you're bored, grab a beer and give it a listen!



Thank you, All!

 

[spoolinpos]

Hello All!

I got a flashy update on new parts and where the car is at currently. As of right now, I am in the process of stripping the interior out, once again. I'm getting the car ready to take to a friend of mine at Red Rocket Racing for a 10 point 8.50 cert chromoly cage, it's been needed for awhile now and I'm determined more than ever to get this thing caged. Really looking forward to having this finally done.

I also got my new exhaust manifold from @MorrisonFab, and what a gem! I've said it a millions time, they put out the best parts! I went with their consolidated divided T4 top mount manifold, and couldn't be happier with fitment and of course the looks. The manifold is flanged for 2x TiAL 38mm MVS wastegates, so I ordered a pair from Extremepsi.

As for the turbo, I am going with a PTE Next Gen R unit. It'll be my first time with PTE, and I'm looking forward to seeing the results this mamoth thing has to offer . It's one bad looking mf, that's for sure.

I will be going with a different radiator set up to open up room to fit the new turbski. Currently, the sportsman cover of this turbo doesn't come close to fitting, which I was almost certain I was going to need to make a change here, I just wanted to confirm after a VERY bried test fit/mock up. I'll be going with a MK3 VW Golf radiator to tuck into the core support, and it should open up a ton of room, and maybe even cool better than the current cheap small radiator I've been using (which has been working just fine).

I should be taking to car in for the cage work either end of March or sometime in April. Once I get it back, I will work on getting the front subframe out to finally install the solid K member bushings and also the NDD manual steering rack. I'll have more updates on that once I tackle it of course. I will have to change the accessory belt set up a little bit to make everything work once again.

Okay enough of all this, on to the good stuff, the photos!

HAD to edit and add a couple more photos after a mock up with the turbo on the manifold! man...

I can't wait to get the turbo and manifold installed fully. This thing has been really turning into something I would always dream about years ago. I would love to see what 20 year old me would be thinking and saying right now.

Thanks for looking!

Christian