I am convinced that there is some kind of Japanese curse the detects when your car is really running well, you think you have every problem fixed, and WHAM! a bolt of lightning zaps something on the car, so you get to start all over again. Today I had Bryan at RotorSports Racing install my Apexi PFC. He rode shotgun after the install with his laptop and fine tuned the maps so everything worked perfectly. When he was done, we went back to his shop, he disconnected his laptop, got all his stuff out of the car and shook my hand and said goodbye. I started the car and....****! All my dashboard warning lights came on- and stayed on. Bryan spent the next two hours unsuccessfully trying to find out what was wrong. I finally told him I would bring the car back later. As I was driving the 80 miles home, it soon became apparent what had happened, when none of my power equipment would work-windows, sunroof, etc. My alternator must have died right after we got done tuning the car. I barely made it home. There was not enough voltage left in the battery to properly work the fuel injectors. I have a new alternator coming in tomorrow. That should fix the problem........................until next time. !@#$%^&*()@#$
Ron A.

 

it's a love/hate relationship....

 

its a 10 year old car, if your alternator crapped out only, consider yourself lucky

 

yeah, 10 year old car.

in my opinion.. if you want an FD,
and you want it to run right,
you should replace or upgrade practically everything you can.

This reminds me of what happend to my computer recently, I built my comp myself, and it is really really fast, and runs really great.. but every now and then something goes out(yeah I cut corners getting some cheap parts).

just recently my powersupply went out.. so the comp was totally acting up.. restarting itself.. wierd graphical glitches.. and finally didnt work at all.

so I got a new powersupply for 30bux and whammo.. good as new.

so what.. u got a new alternator... shouldnt have anything to do with all that tuning you got right?

 

In my opinion, if you want an FD and you want it to run reliably you should replace the AST with an aluminum aftermarket unit and thats it. I have had two FD's and in both cases the cars ran well as daily drivers with that one modification. The car was driven in all kinds of conditions (that Houston has to offer) with neverany problems.

But.... who wants to do that when the alternative is more fun?

 

only replace the ast???

 

I keep telling you guys its the Kensai way of getting back at us for nuking them!

Its not a curse Ron - its a plot...

 

I think his point is to leave it as close to stock as possible.

I think a downpipe is also a must - if only to get that hot & failure prone pre cat out of there.

 

Dang dude... I can't wait for Russian cars.

 

You mean you don't have a Twin Turbo Lada yet?

DAMN.

Just wait until I get my Yugo back on the road....maybe.
(that was a pun, get it? Yugo -maybe? Never mind...)

 

Yeah but they were exported to australia too, did the aussies have anything to do with WWII? Last history class I took said no.

 

Ron, I would think by now with your streetported engine and PFC your FD should pull past your Z06 - but I didn't see a midpipe or HF cat - do you still have that restrictive main cat on there?

 

kwikrx7- Yeah, it's still there. When I had the PFS system on the car, I was a little apprehensive about putting a hi flo cat on. The PFS required the restriction to help mange the boost level. Instructions specifically stated that running without a cat would cause serious engine damage. Now with the Apexi in place, that will be the next thing to upgrade. Actually the FD is already a little quicker than my vette, except off the line, unless I really get a good launch. Otherwise, I make clouds of smoke and don't go anywhere, or bog down and take a second to build boost back up. Once I get going, I'm fine. The chevy is bone stock, too. If I had $35K of upgrades in it like in the FD, it might be a different story.
Ron A.

 

35K in your FD and its barely faster than a Z06? I have less than 4,000$ in my FD and I beat Z06's...

 

I know how ya feel man. I had my altanatar crap out on me. Then like 3 weeks later I had some igniton wirerign problems that lead to my car catching on firer, luckaly was put out fast with no major damage. Then 2 weeks ago had to replace my radator.

 

Australia lost 39,366 military personel mainly against the Japanese.

-pete

 

more like a hate hate relationship for me rx-8 here i come...

 

Ask the people in Darwin - I've seen the headstones...

On topic, it's not a curse. Just underengineered.

 

lol, in Communist Russia, you don't drive Lada, Lada drives you!

Anyways, I just hope that I don't have anything major go wrong with mines, I *SHOULD* be fine for a while (boost leaks might come up, but oh well) without any major problems, as I have rebuilt my motor, turbos, and replaced the clutch.

 

icemastr- Read again. I said the only place my FD was not ahead of my Z06 all the time was at launch. I'm not going to start a FD vs Z06 war again, but the point is that a *stock* GM product is able to be competitive with a heavily modified FD, without the love/hate factor.
Ron A.