Ok, the other day when I was leaving to go to Texas for the Supra Nationals, I was driving up to my friends house and my clutch gave out. It was weird, the clutch just stuck to the floor while shifting from 4th to 5th.

I wasnt driving fast, just crusing in traffic. I couldn't do anything about it, so I had to have the car towed to Lowe's Automtove (Mike Lowe, the guy with the 8 second FB).

So while I was in Texas, I called home to see what was up. They said that my clutch line had burst. (I just had them put in a new clutch 3 months ago...hmmm connection?)

So they also said I was overboosting a little due to my intake and cat-back exhaust, and my parents told them to fix it. (since I was in Texas, I was having my dad keep in touch with Lowe's to get my car taken care of)

They said I was hitting 11psi and I was going to blow my motor. Uh at 11 psi? I don't even drive my car that hard. I know that over boosting will blow a motor, but only 1 psi with only motor two mods?

So pretty much they 'drilled out' my wastegate. Atleast thats what he told me. I always thought you could just replace a restrictor pill, but whatever...

Now, my car is acting weird:

From a stop, if I launch the car and floor it through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, I'm hitting a constant 8psi.

But, if I am crusing and I downshift and floor it, it stays at about 9 or 10 psi.

Should this be happening? What should I do? Should I take it back tomorrow and ask whats going on?

 

I would be pissed as hell... Overboosting 1 psi is bullshit. It was more than likely an inaccuate gauge. sounds like they did alot of work to your car, how much did they charge? If they drilled out your wastegate you cant reverse that... get a boost controller if your worried about that extra pound.

sorry to hear about the cluch

 

Ehh don't be too mad.

If they drilled out your wastegate it should be a good thing. You now can avoid boost creep & run a mp as long as you got an ecu upgrade.


Get the controller and you will be fine.

 

Porting a wastegate isn't cheap. I think RP quoted me 5 or 6 hours worth of labor.

Not necessary in my opinion if you're running stock ECU stock boost with only 2 mods.

 

My car would hit the fuel cut after installing only a dp. No other mods. Even a boost controller couldnt keep it down. All cars are different.

 

Ok lets see:

ok...thats what i sent it to the shop to have done. $100.... eh not too bad, but i could have done it myself. if i had known that was the problem

next:

$36.33 TO TIGHTEN A CLAMP!?!?

next:

I COULD HAVE PUT THAT $72.65 INTO A NEW WASTEGATE! 11psi isnt going to kill my motor, when i really dont even get on it that hard most of the time.

next:

You know what they charged $21.80 for? THIS:



A PIECE OF SHEET METAL SCREWED OVER THE HOLE IN THE INTERCOOLER DUCT. i actually had a cover for this sitting at home, that i just hadn't put in yet because i have been in and out of town for the past 3 weeks...

damnit. lowe's ripped me off.

 

HAHAH, that sucks. sorry to hear about your raping... and im not sure what they did to your wastegate for 72$ obviously not what i was thinking. Looks like they drilled out your restrictor pills in your boost lines. :/

 

haha. if u think abou it 11 psi is 2 whole hands and an finger.

 

damnit. i dont think im gonig to go back there again....

well anyway, does this mean i can slap on a downpipe without having to worry about overboosting?

 

if your gonna just put in a dp you never had to worry about overboosting.

just for info what was the total charge?

 

total charge for everything they did: $261 & change

i just wanted my clutch fixed.....

 

man, lame shops chargin for nothin. well i guess they gotta make a livin! what is with the blocking off of the hole on top of the ic shroud? what was that supposed to do?

 

they claim that my car would over heat if it wasnt blocked off...

uh thats funny. i drove in stop and go traffic in hot sunny weather the other day for two hours, and my temp gauge didnt even move...

 

It directs air into the intercooler rather than the engine bay. It's a good thing

And they drilled out your pill like XS said. Fix that and you'll have your boost back, or take it back to them and tell them that they made it too big.

 

definatly call them back and question it...they c a opening and go for it....your dad says "fix it" and they rack up a big bill on nonsense repairs

 

yeah, im going to go in tomorrow to complain.

$36 to tighten a hose clamp is crazy.

$20 for a 4" piece of sheet metal and 4 screws is crazy.

$72 to make my boost go from 11psi to 8psi is crazy.

damn im pissed.

 

You could have bought a manual boost controller for that.

 

yeah but you cant turn boost down with a boost controller. you can only turn boost up.

 

Actually you can with the RX-7's wastegate control system. Since the MBC replaces the pill in the wastegate actuator line, you can open it up all the way and theoretically run 7 psi if you aren't seeing boost creep.

sorry for the temporary hijack...

-edit- I see you have a '94 in which case you may have the restricted nipples instead of pills. So in that case you would have to drill out the nipple before you could lower the boost.

 

pretty sure with a ebc u can set it to anythin u want....maybe im wrong tho....im usually lookin for more boost

 

1) Don't ever use them again.
2) Don't let someone else authorize repairs on your car. It is only a miracle that they didn't tell you your turbos needed replacing or something.
3) Find a good shop to take your FD to in the future. FDs aren't FBs and you got a whole lot of unnecessary work done.
4) If something is wrong and you aren't sure, ask here first.
5) Mod your car properly and you won't have to worry about things.

Basically they should have fixed the clutch and that is it. The only danger you would have from overboosting would be if it was freezing, and you were repeatedly hitting WOT. Then you might get some spikes at 14+, which might cause an issue. You lost a good chunk of change which could have gone towards a DP, or a portion of a Power FC.

 

did you authorize them to fix all of this extra stuff on your car? you brought it in w/ a clutch problem, and came out with boost problems and a large bill. i dont think you should go back there again.

 

Ackkk. You don't want to be anywhere near 14 on boost without extra fuel.

 

WHAT THE HELL!!!!

Update:

Ok, yesterday I only drove my car home after I picked it up. This morning, as I was driving up to school on the interstated, I checked my boost again and it's still low.

I called Mike Lowe and asked him about the low boost, and he said that I was supposed to be pushing 8psi. He talks to me like I have no idea what I'm talking about, and it seems he's trying to feed me alot of bullshit. I know what he did with my restrictor pill, yet he thinks he has to explain to me how the turbos and wastegate work like I'm in idiot or something.

So after telling him that I KNOW my car should push 10psi, and it has always pushed 10psi since I bought it, he finally said to bring the car in and they would swap out the restrictor pill. (they better not charge me)

When I got off the interstate, I came to a red light. As I came to a complete stop, I noticed the motor sitting at 1600 RPM's AT IDLE! WHAT THE **** IS GOING ON? I never had any problems w/ my motor or turbos before taking the car to Lowe's and getting it back yesterday.

The motor sits at about 1500 RPM then rev's its self up to about 1600 RPM and makes a farting noise before dropping back down to 1500 RPM.

I'm hoping the throttle idle is just stuck or something, but this is crazy.

I swear, they fucked up my car. Like said, I NEVER had any motor or turbo problems since I bought my car with 24k miles on it. I don't race the car and I don't get on it that often, so it's not like I'm beating the hell out of the motor.

Any ideas whats going on now? What should I tell Mike Lowe when I go in after class today?

 

so guys??? what do you think????