LTA 1998 GSX

[LaserRS92]

What exhaust manifold to head stud kit is that? I like the blue hue tying into the rest of the bay. That's an impressive manifold and turbo combo you have!

 

[DreamChaser7]

I’m just going to say that thing is fu&#ing gangster! Love it

 

[spoolinpos]

What exhaust manifold to head stud kit is that? I like the blue hue tying into the rest of the bay. That's an impressive manifold and turbo combo you have!

Thanks! I got a titanium exhaust manifold stud kit from JD Customs in the burnt finish.

I’m just going to say that thing is fu&#ing gangster! Love it

haha Thank you!

 

[MorrisonFab]

Got a big dumb smile seeing this! Can not wait

Also, love that you installed it moments after it arrived

 

[spoolinpos]

Hey All,

So the car is currently with Chris at Red Rocket Racing in Syracuse Indiana for an 8.50 cage, chute mount, and also having Chris do up a more tubular upper core/radiator support in an attempt to open up some more room in the engine bay. As of now, not totally sure when the car will be finished up, but this is giving me time to do some other things around the house and also clean out that damn garage.

Here's the car pretty much done with prepping it for the cage:

I have been collecting some odds and ends though while the car has been gone. I picked up a Chris Wymer billet forward (rear) drum and also finally pulled the trigger on a billet front clutch drum from @kiggly Racing. Both are beautiful units, and I'm looking forward to tossing them in when the trans is out next. Chris's forward drum should eliminate the issues of cracks forming around the splines on the OEM units. Although I haven't completely failed a 5 friction front clutch pack in the OEM front drum, I usually always saw a decent amount of ware on the fricitons. I'm not sure if they will be enough for the new poower that the next gen turbo will provide. So, it made sense to finally go with the stronger front clutch set up.

Anyway, here are some pictures!

Chris's forward (rear) drum: pictured along with a shipment of new Raybestos Stage 1 RED frictions and new steels to assemb rear clutch packs:

And the Kiggly billet front clutch with the 6 friciton clutch pack that goes with it:

OEM return spring installed and ready to go when the time comes! The small springs that come with the kit (seen in the photo above) are just placed inside the OEM larger springs on the return spring assembly.

I'm also going to be putting together a coil on plug set up. I'm really just after not having to deal with the coil pack being under the intake manifold anymore. Just need to wire the coils up and trim the boots to length. Hopefully I can get the wiring correct on the first shot! I also think it'll look nice.

Can't wait to get the car back and see the cage! I'm sure the next post I make will be showing that off.

Thanks for looking!

 

[92AWDHX40]

Hell yeah

 

[spoolinpos]

Well I suppose it's time for a little update with the car and plans. I had to take a look back and remind myself where I left off on here. The car is still at the chassis guy, and Chris is doing an outstanding job so far. This cage is looking super tucked in the photos, and I just cannot wait to see the final product. The cage needs to be wrapped up and the chute mount and tubular upper core support need to be fabricated. The car will not be out this year, so I'm looking for more pretty big changes over winter including a major change in the rear drivetrain and suspension

I'll just do my best and list out most of the changes:
-Possibly paint cage, fit dash and other interior components.
-Pull engine: Engine will be getting a mechanical fuel pump set up installed and some other odds and ends sealed up and reworked.
-Pull trans: Install the billet drums and hopefully install the Circle D converter (Will be selling my PI #6 converter)
-Pull front subframe to install NDD manual steering rack and Volk Metal Craft solid front K member bushings
-Pull current fuel system out in favor of a bay mounted fuel cell (2.5 gal) Will be hanging onto the Vamos fuel cell for future use.
-Pull the entire drivetrain and rear subframe in favor of the Volk Metal Craft tubular subframe, R'venge built 3.307 3000gt/stealth rear diff, DSS stage 5 axles, and everything that goes along with the conversion.
-Will be seriously considering a changeover form ECMLink to Fueltech
-Will be looking into smaller drag racing-oriented brake set up.

So yes, I came across a good deal on a Volk rear subframe that is make to fit s 3000gt/stealth rear diff! The package came with the rear subframe and components, knuckles, a Boostin Performance rebuilt/service 5 speed 3/s rear diff, Drive shaft shop level 5 rear axles/hubs, and a drviesahft shop 3.5" Al driveshaft with a custom tail shaft portion to fit the rear diff!

Unfortunately the rear diff itself is the wrong ratio for the auto, but that's okay as I was lucky enough to source a core and have it built right from R'venge Performance. If you haven't heard of them, they are doing a ton of great work for the 3/s platform, and Chris over there got me hooked up with a 6 speed 3.307 core and build. Really looking forward to being able to finally rock some of his stuff. I ended up selling the 5 speed rear diff to fund the new diff build, so it all worked out.

I also sold the Al driveshaft that came with this package. I was really only after the custom rear tail shaft portion. The OEM unit needs to be shortened a bit to fit this 3/s rear diff when using a Volk rear subframe. So, I will be hanging onto the custom part, and installing it on my current Al driveshaft.

Times like this I sure wish I had a lift, I will get some photos of everything during installation I'm sure, but here's some cage update photos and also some photos of the rear subframe/diff/axle score!

Although it will be an 8.50 cage, We did agree to having a few extra bars added in case it's decided to build the cage into a quicker cert. The added items will make the process easier from what I understand if we go that route. I'm super pumped with how it's turning out so far, cannot wait to get eyes on the final product! Go check him out on FB at Red Rocket Racing

And here's the rear subframe/diff/axles as I picked it up. Was a little bit of a trip, about 16 hours total in the car to pick this up, but totally worth it! Can't wait to get this all sorted with the new diff and installed in the car!

That's all for now, looking forward to getting the car back and having the winter to go through all the planned changes! Come catch us at the Shootout also, we will have a little bit of a garage sale going on!

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Christian

 

[spoolinpos]

Hey All,

Figured I'd drop a little update. I picked up a NDD front subframe that came with a de-powered OEM rack from Eaton MotorWorks and FIBA's V2 front bump steer kit. I had planned on pulling the OEM front subframe and installing the VMC solid K member bushings. I figured this popped up, and I would jump on it. Looking forward to taking more weight out of the car. I also picked up a carbon fiber CSL hatch and FAL poly rear hatch glass at the shootout, so there's more weight off the car. The hatch is in pretty rough shape, and has cracking going on at the top, We're going to try our best to flatten those spots and then either wrap it or possibly paint it. It's more of a budget CF hatch set up I guess you could say ha. I also picked up a set of BC racing coilovers, so there's a chance I wont have anymore really wild weight transfer photos . We'll see though!

Out with the old:

And the new (to me) front subframe that will be taking its place:

I tried my best to get a total weight loss between the OEM front subframe, lower control arms, and compression arms (without the power steering bracket, pump, and lines) and came to about 120lbs loss between OEM and the new tubular front subframe set up, NOT FRIGGEN BAD!

Here's a quick photo of both front and rear subframes that will be making their way into the car, hopefully the 3s rear diff shows up soon from R'venge Performance:

And the new (to me) coilovers that will be making their way into the car:

I also placed an order through Warren ( @antilag_200 ) at Anti lag racing and will be getting a front and rear brake set up from him! There's more weight off the car and some nice looking brakes, can't wait to get my hands on these!

I will also be re-doing probably about 95% of the harness wiring. My hopes is that the vast majority of the wiring in the car (interior and engine bay) is all new. I will hopefully soon be to the stage of planning out my engine wiring harness. I may split this into two major components of wiring. The main component will be all the needed sensors (ex IAT, Coolant temp, TPS, etc) and the second harness will be more dedicated to the FuelTech input expander if I end up getting one. The input expander will most likely handle input such as transmission drum pressures, turbo shaft speed, and other inputs that are more "wants" instead of "Needs".

That's all for now, thanks for looking!

 

[1cleangsx]

Just went thru this entire build thread and Holy Cow, what a journey! Any updates?

 

[Ludachris]

Any updates?

Was wondering that too - what's going on Christian? Hoping you'll also chime in here too:

The DSM drag racing event prep and debrief thread

I know the racing season is winding down, and we already have a "What you did with your DSM today" thread that a lot of people post in, but I wanted to create an ongoing thread specifically for the drag racers, where they can share quick updates on what they're scrambling to get done to prepare...

www.dsmtuners.com

And just wanted to also say, I'm really sorry to hear about your dad. I'm sure that's been weighing heavily on you. We're all here for you man.

 

[spoolinpos]

Hey Guys,

Sorry I haven't been on top of the updates. There's a lot that has been going on on my end. I appreciate the kind words @Ludachris , things have been much different.

I'm going to kinda skip over a lot and just jump right into the track time at the 2025 Shootout. I will come back to parts updates that happened before the 2025 shootout in later posts (like them beautiful Kiggly planetary gear set).

The car survived the dyno, so it was time to get the thing ready for some passes. My only real goal was to get the car to Norwalk this year and get an 8 second slip. We did just that. I had a lot of help with my friends, without them this wasn't going to be happening. So thank you Scott, Paul and everyone else.

Car's first hit off the trailer after a couple years and really no testing went 9.0 at 155. Second hit was our 8.8 sec pass at 159 mph. We pulled the plugs after that run to see what timing looked like (it wanted more!). We added boost, timing, and tried for a better 60'. I feel like the car would have had a 8.50 in it.

First pass 9.0:


Second and last pass of The Shootout, 8.8 at 159 mph:


Also, here's a little LTA Recap video that Scott put together:


I believe we hurt something while getting more aggressive with the 2 step after our 8.8 pass. We really need to get this car to 60' better. It happens. We yanked the head over night, and I was expecting to see damage, but there wasn't much. Leak down test before we pulled the head told us exhaust valves were not happy on cylinder 3 I believe it was. Poured some water in the chamber when the head was pulled and it was leaking pretty bad out of those exhaust valves. We called it a weekend.

I've already got the head fixed up and ready to get things back together. I will be making some changes to try and keep valves happy. Unfortunately, I'm not 100% sure what caused the damage. One theory we think is the distribution of nitrous using the single nozzle. I will be changing to a direct port dry nitrous system to make sure distribution is consistent between all cylinders. I've also made a change to Kiggly's race only valve springs, as we are targeting higher boost levels on M1 for next year. I'd really like to get back into the 1/8 mile local no prep stuff again for 2026.

It was a great time at the Shootout as always. Thanks to everyone that said hi and helped out, it's much appreciated. With how the rules are looking for 2026, we may either have to make a turbo change, or donate to the Q32 pot . Either way, looking forward to next year's Shootout!

As always, thanks for checking this out!

-Christian

 

[Ludachris]

Hey Guys,

Sorry I haven't been on top of the updates. There's a lot that has been going on on my end. I appreciate the kind words @Ludachris , things have been much different.

I'm going to kinda skip over a lot and just jump right into the track time at the 2026 Shootout. I will come back to parts updates that happened before the 2025 shootout in later posts (like them beautiful Kiggly planetary gear set).

The car survived the dyno, so it was time to get the thing ready for some passes. My only real goal was to get the car to Norwalk this year and get an 8 second slip. We did just that. I had a lot of help with my friends, without them this wasn't going to be happening. So thank you Scott, Paul and everyone else.

Car's first hit off the trailer after a couple years and really no testing went 9.0 at 155. Second hit was our 8.8 sec pass at 159 mph. We pulled the plugs after that run to see what timing looked like (it wanted more!). We added boost, timing, and tried for a better 60'. I feel like the car would have had a 8.50 in it.

First pass 9.0:


Second and last pass of The Shootout, 8.8 at 159 mph:


Also, here's a little LTA Recap video that Scott put together:


I believe we hurt something while getting more regressive with the 2 step after our 8.8 pass. We really need to get this car to 60' better. It happens. We yanked the head over night, and I was expecting to see damage, but there wasn't much. Leak down test before we pulled the head told us exhaust valves were not happy on cylinder 3 I believe it was. Poured some water in the chamber when the head was pulled and it was leaking pretty bad out of those exhaust valves. We called it a weekend.

I've already got the head fixed up and ready to get things back together. I will be making some changes to try and keep valves happy. Unfortunately, I'm not 100% sure what caused the damage. One theory we think is the distribution of nitrous using the single nozzle. I will be changing to a direct port dry nitrous system to make sure distribution is consistent between all cylinders. I've also made a change to Kiggly's race only valve springs, as we are targeting higher boost levels on M1 for next year. I'd really like to get back into the 1/8 mile local no prep stuff again for 2026.

It was a great time at the Shootout as always. Thanks to everyone that said hi and helped out, it's much appreciated. With how the rules are looking for 2026, we may either have to make a turbo change, or donate to the Q32 pot . Either way, looking forward to next year's Shootout!

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As always, thanks for checking this out!

-Christian

Great update - quick summary, photos, videos. Next year will be even better!

 

[92AWDHX40]

See you next year in the pits always a great time seeing you and your dsm. And chatting it up as Always.

 

[mecha]

i added LTA 1998 GSX to my collection

 

[jdxnc]

Man I wish I could have made it out to Ohio this year, looked like a great time as usual.

With any luck we can line up in Q32 together

 

[spoolinpos]

Man I wish I could have made it out to Ohio this year, looked like a great time as usual.

With any luck we can line up in Q32 together

It was a blast as always. Hope you're recovering well from your surgery and can get back out there this upcoming season. It would be an absolute pleasure to line up with you at the Shootout!

 

[Ludachris]

Been quiet in this thread for 2026, Christian. No updates since last year. Looks like we lost another one to Zuck.

I see you got one of these fancy graphics though, so congrats: