Rex4Life

Whoa, been a while since an update. Much has happened.

The fuel pump relay resistor circuit has been modified and I'll soon post an update. Basically the stock FB wiring was unable to deliver the required voltage to the upgraded Walbro fuel pump. So as is common with FC's, I did the fuel pump re-wire. This involves using an additional relay and running heavy gauge wire straight from the battery to a fuse, the relay, the resistor relay, and then to the pump. The FB wiring was only able to support 10.5 V to the pump and with the resistor included this brought it down to about 7.2 V. The Walbro was having trouble holding fuel pressure just revving in the driveway. The re-wire circuit brought the voltages up to 13.8 and 9.4 V which is just what it is supposed to be.

On a related issue, I think the Walbro is still overrunning the stock S4 fuel pressure regulator (even at the 7.2V setting). I still get a little vibration from 1800-3200 rpm and I'm pretty sure it's running a little rich due to the slightly increased fuel pressure. Under boost and higher rpm the engine runs smooth. An upgraded fuel pressure regulator will be added in the future.

I found about 8 vacuum leaks and fixed most of them--some where major. Here are the biggies: Upper to Lower TID connection wasn't making a good seal, thermal wax unit was venting too much past the throttle plate shaft, BAC and ACV gaskets. Fixing these leaks improved the engine operation quite a lot. Still some of the throttle shaft bushings have minor leaks but I don't know of any way to fix them.

The exhaust has been upgraded to a Corksport downpipe, Bonez hi-flow cat and still the stock GSL-SE muffler. Believe it or not these upgrades produced no additional boost. I am positive the GSL-SE muffler is the largest restriction and as soon as a high flow muffler is installed I expect the boost to increase. Leaning towards a Magnaflow or a Powerpulse muffler--not sure which one yet.

Installed some Moroso spiral core ignition wires and they look great and definitely helped the engine run smoother at high rpm.

Still waffling on the intercooler situation. Determined two different ways to pipe in a FMIC, either way is ending up with 700-900 degrees of bend which I consider a little too much. The cost for aluminum piping with that many bends will also be about $300. That's without moving the radiator and condensor and keeping p/s and a/c. Basically going underneath the battery with the outlet and going thru the pass side radiator support for the inlet. I've been looking at a 99-04 mustang hood scoop that I think will look good. Yea the TMIC has drawbacks but for the level of boost I'm going for I think it will be OK. Either way still not decided (but no WRX scoop LOL). In any event the IC needs to be installed before I start running with the better exhaust setup.

I did have the driveshaft re-balanced and that basically fixed all the vibration problems less the one mentioned earlier. I drove the car to San Antonio and the Driveshaft Specialist fixed the problem and were very good about it--no charge and very nice about it. I still recommend them because they are good people, the shop was well maintained, the product quality was good, and they stand behind the work they do--right or wrong!

So now I'm enjoying the car even with 5 psi of boost--it's real fun to drive--and can't wait to get up to 8-10 psi.

Almost done with the base project and maybe a few more exterior improvements and new rims/tires--we'll see.

Scott

p.s. Still watching the idle vacuum at about 11 in hg and the compression readings (all bounces even at 82 psi)--not real happy with these numbers yet--I was hoping for better from a fresh rebuild. Need to check the max reading on compression though.

RotaryRevn

Thanks for the update! I'm taking good notes to aid me in my project. If I was you, I would buy one of those gel batteries and locate it to the passengers side storage bin to make room for the fmic piping, I think you will be happier with the fmic. keep up the good work

Rex4Life

Well this weekend I installed an Aeromotive A1000-6 fuel pressure regulator.



The install went real good and had no significant problems. Man I love these stainless hoses with the AN fittings. Now I have a fuel system that will support as much fuel as I need and then some.

One minor issue came up and that was the hood clearance. Ended up using a hole saw to cut a 7/8" hole to fit the top nut and adjustment bolt of the regulator. A little gentle forming of the hood was also required to get the necessary clearance. There weren't too many places to install the regulator and the location I picked had the cleanest look--only drawback was the hood clearance.

The upgraded FPR was necessary because the Walbro fuel pump was over-running the stock T2 FPR. This resulted in rich operation below about 3000 rpm and excessive gas in the crankcase oil. The reason I did the upgrade so fast was cause I don't like the fuel getting in the oil. I know it will still happen to some degree but I had like 1" of fuel on top the oil and that's just too much. Even with the idle mixture leaned out as much as possible, it was still running rich and a little rough.

With the new FPR the engine runs and idles perfect.

Scott

RotaryRevn

Man, those braided lines sure look good. Did you have to do anything to the stock se fuel lines that run under the car?

Rex4Life

Well I finally have a working intercooler. Broke down and decided to install a Porsche 944 FMIC--couldn't make myself cut into that perfect hood to put in a scoop.

My design goals were:

1) None to minimal impact on oil/coolant temps.
2) Keep A/C, P/S, and battery locations.
3) Use aluminum piping to avoid rust (a must in Houston).

I got a good deal on E-bay--$140 but it has a small dent that can't be seen.


And a few pics of the 2-1/2" intercooler piping and FMIC installed. I know the IC is not necessarily the best, but it fit in my budget and as you can see it fits very well in the stock FB front air duct. Note the N/A oil fill pipe vs. the stock T2 pipe.







I purchased all the piping, hoses and clamps from Road Race Engineering. They have really good prices for mandrel bent aluminum tube. Their main focus is Mitsubishi Eclipse mods but they have a DIY section to buy stuff like this.

If I had to do it over, I would buy that new fiberglass T2 hood from New York Mustang (at the time I started I didn't know it was available). Installing this FMIC was ALOT of work--a real lot of work. If you can't do pipe fitting and design stay away from this job. Now if you don't have A/C and P/S and relocate the battery, the job will be much easier but still nearly the same cost.

Overall cost was about $762: 944 IC=$120; piping, hoses, clamps=$380; welding=$110, N/A oil fill pipe=$12, P/S cooling coil=$25, battery=$60, misc=$55.

You can't go anywhere and buy a FMIC kit for an FB. This was not cheap at all but I got a quality install and it appears to work very well. The TMIC would be maybe a few $100 less but would work no where near as good. The P/S cooling coil was removed and I installed a new one from Summit (This one actually has fins on it). Also, I had to fabricate a new battery tray and purchase a smaller battery of the same capacity.



This was one real expensive and PITA part of the project, however, this FMIC works good--but I don't have any hard numbers to put out yet. The outlet seems to be near ambient and the inlet is warm to hot. So far I haven't noticed any turbo lag. About 1/3 of the IC is obscured by the front bumper--but--the stock FB inlet vane grill (not shown) will install with minor changes and help move more air into the FMIC. I still need to fab up a front license plate bracket and I might also add some ducting to improve the airflow.

Now I'm ready to up the boost a little but first I need to get a descent boost controller. Will update when I get more info--almost done--whoo hoo!

Scott

Rex4Life

And another pic of the engine bay from above.



This one went into my sig till I get something better.

hondahater

iTrader: (2)

sorry to bring up an old post but damn dude you are the man!!!!!

whtshdw25

your car is soo cool,

you should try and get us some footage of your car running down the street that would be awsome

setzep

Good job. I know it had to be a chore to fit that FMIC with a/c and the stock battery location. Congrats, great looking and functional daily driver turbo FB.

RotaryRevn

did you have to relocated the a/c components??

Rex4Life

Hey Guys, thanks for the good words.

Setzep: Yea the FMIC was a chore but now it's done and was worth it.

RotaryRevn: Currently I don't have the AC compressor installed but I did check clearances and it looks OK. the belt is going to be the closest.

Had NewRXr out here today. I let him drive and wow what a blast. I wanted to get some other opinions about the car and he's really experienced so I was lucky he offered to do it. He could hear and feel things that I had no idea about. It was a real hoot and I got a chance to meet a new RX friend. Someday I'm hoping to drive someones real TII and compare to my car.

Almost done with the job, just need to tidy up some wires by the ECU/drivers firewall, make another bracket for the AFM, and put in an electronic boost controller. Oh and I'm also debugging a serious fuel in the oil problem--more to come on this in the 2nd gen forum.

Scott

purple82

It'll feel like a pig compared to your car.

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

Make sure you have the oil neck with a breather on it.

Rex4Life

Yea DF I had the original T2 oil neck for a long time and now I'm running with the NA oil neck. Both were/are hooked up per the FSM routing. Weird thing is there appears to be premix in it too.

Savington

This is like a shitty ending to an amazing book. What's going on with your car, Rex4Life?

Wang

Hey guys, Rob from Pineapple racing assured me that if you take off the rear sway bar on the SE it will handle a lot better with my setup, which is a large street port and a nice sized turbo anyways does anyways know if this is true or heard anything?

Oh hey Rex4life just wondering did Corksport custom fab your down pipe? how much?

setzep

I removed my rear swabar and it isn't going back on

RotaryRevn

That good of a difference huh? You running a front sway bar?

Rex4Life

At this point I'd say the basic swap is completed. Last week I tested the fuel injectors and two of them had very minor leakage. I do not think that is the cause of the fuel in the oil problem. I took the two good injectors and put them in the primary locations and put two cleaned/tested 720 cc injectors in the secondaries. To control the bigger fuel injectors I had my ECU converted over to an Rtek 1.7 which is basically a modified chip for the stock S4 T2 ECU. This chip has many advantages and should allow me to run higher hp into the 280-300 bhp range. There's really nothing to show as far as pics, the ECU looks the same and the injectors have blue tops instead of the red/purple tops. I do owe you guys some pics of the ECU, knock box, pressure sensor install. It all fit up pretty nice in the stock ECU location.

I've been looking over in the 2nd/3rd gen forum and the fuel in the oil problem seems happen to alot of engines--especially turbos running higher boost. I also think premixing makes the problem more obvious--as in oil level rising--this is due to none of the crankcase oil being consumed by the engine. I believe the only way to really fix the problem is to rebuild the engine with new side seals/springs AND have tighter clearances on the rotors to side housings.

Aside from this one issue, the engine idles good, runs strong, and develops good boost in the 10-12 psi range. Compression is over 100 psi on both rotors and very consistent pulses.

My engine builder has offered to rebuild it but I do not want to remove it, pay shipping both ways, and be without a car for several weeks, then have to put it back in. If I pull that engine out--it ain't going back in--a Cosmo RE would be installed. So I'm going to just live with the problem and change the oil every 1000 miles--that's what several other guys are doing in the 2nd/3rd gens. If I was **** about it I guess I could chase the problem and rebuild but I've been working on this for a year and I just want to drive, enjoy, and wax it--right now I'm tired of all the engine work (that goes for the wife too). If you want to read first hand what these other guys are saying, search for blowby in the 2nd/3rd gen section--it's more common than I thought. I suspect many more have the problem and don't know it--cause the OMP is eating up crank oil and masks the problem.

Tell ya what though, that Porsche intercooler works real good. One nite I was boosting alot, several 10 psi spirited runs, pulled over and the inlet was real hot too the touch, outlet honestly felt like ambient. I did measure some voltages on the throttle body temp probe and yea it's bringing the temp down close to ambient. Wish I had a way to measure the pressure drop, that's really the other test that needs to be performed.

The downpipe was $169 and is a off the shelf direct bolt in for a second gen. This one works with a stock cat size which I had to use due to emission laws here. I used a RP hi-flow turbo cat.


At this point I'd say I'm pretty much done with it. I have been looking at a new muffler and would like to put some new rims/tires on. Other than that I'm good to go. Except for the FMIC and A-pillar gages the car "looks" stock. The engine bay looks clean--IMHO--and I hope it will pass inspection--pretty sure it will. For all the work I've done I'm very satisfied with the car and after the muffler and emissions test I'm gonna get some dyno time and see how well it's doing.

Maybe down the road I'll look at getting a bolt on hybid turbo--but for now 12 psi is keeping me happy.

I'll finish up the thread by next month and put in some nice updated pics of my car.

Scott

steve84GS TII

Just browsing over your project.Nice job.

If you do run a hybrid in the future it would be a good idea to eliminate the hard turn at the throttlebody.Itll help flow,and it greatly straightens out the intake plumbing.There is a straight,CNC machined elbow availible from a member at teamfc3s.org
I run it on my hybrid,streetport S5.Way simpler plumbing,and its easy to drill/tap for a temp probe and the stock temp sensor.(BTW,an intake temp gauge is a very good investment for a turbo engine)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...y/DSC01389.jpg

Rex4Life

Yea I thought about that. Unfortunately for me there are two problems.

1st, I wanted the stock AC installed, so that makes it more difficult but still do-able. No way I'm going without AC in south Texas.

2nd, where's the oil fill neck go? I couldn't find an easy way to run AC, either NA or turbo oil fill, and that elbow.

Thanks for the advice.

RotaryRevn

First off, how does that 12 psi feel? I will be using a stock series 4 motor, with series 4 turbo, 3 inch exhaust (wastegaate ported as big as stock flapper will allow). Are you getting bored with the boost from the stock turbo yet?

I was also thinking of going with a hybrid turbo from BNR. If I do, I kinda want to do it after my engine break in period but before I get the Microtech tuned so I only have to get it dyno tuned once.

Also, Which down pipe do you think is better? Corksport or racing beat? The welds on my RB downpipe looks kinda sloppy! I was thinking of returning it for a Corksport.

Rex4Life

It's pretty good--I'll have to see how it does on the dyno.

I haven't seen a RB downpipe but I can tell you the CS one looks well built and I have had no problems with it.

I'm hoping to drive this car four more years and then maybe get an RX-8. I really don't want to sink much more money into the car--as we all know you won't get the money back by selling. By then my son will be ready to drive and maybe I'll turn the boost down to 5 psi and let him drive it. The best way to get your moneys worth is to use the car and run it--that's easy.

If the turbo goes out I'll be looking at a stage 2 or 3 hybrid. I definitely won't be putting on a standalone ECU so I'm kindof limited on the upper end of hp--maybe 300-350 tops--and I'd have to really want it bad.

Scott

RotaryRevn

Yeah, I think maybe it's just my downpipe, a bad batch or something. Also they told me it would have an exhaust temp sensor on it as well as the o2 sensor but when I got it home, it only has an o2 sensor. I only paid like 100 bucks for it though at their open house, quite a bit cheaper than the corksport so maybe I should just keep it. I'm sure functionally it would be fine.

steve84GS TII

The oil fill neck has to be cut down a little,but it clears.I see what you mean about the AC clearance though,that would be an issue.

Hybrids are nice,but there will be a bit of lag compared to the stock T18.I run a TO4B hi-fi on the stock S5 hotside.It has a bit of lag until 3000rpm,but its kinda nice being able to drive around town under vaccum and not stress the engine.A streetported S5 13B with no boost is still almost 200hp.My TO4B hybrid moves enough air to feed 14psi all day long with air temps remaining nearly ambient after the IC.Best part about hybrids is they bolt right up.
Are you running a boost controller?Normally the S5 turbo wont boost over 6psi without a boost controller.(the S5 ECU has a factory electronic boost controller,but I see your running S4 controls)

The RB 3" downpipe is nice.Its thin wall stainless so its very lightweight.Heres mine.Not shiney,but stainless last forever....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...y/DSC01489.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...y/DSC01506.jpg