When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The 587rwhp setup lasted a solid 2 years of consistent abuse but I started to get greedy on a mostly stock motor. It held up until about 32psi, estimated around 630rwhp. It actually did hold 32psi fine, it just didn't like it for long before the motor lost compression pretty quickly. That started the next iteration, since it was either to balance and clearance a streetported motor or to spend a little more and build a semi pport motor.
You can see the carnage where the e-shaft flexed enough to touch the rotors to the irons. The bluing indicates a large heat build-up, which I believe led to the flattened corner seal springs.
The irons had minimal damage thankfully. I unfortunately did not take a picture of the irons.
So what does one do when they need to build a stronger engine for more boost? Studs and dowels!
Been slacking on updates, here's a quick one to hold you guys over until I get into the next set of pictures to upload.
So, I took the car to the drag strip not too long after waxing it to see what it would do. It was a hot day, around 95F with high humidity so I started on low boost, around 23psi to see how it ran. I got a great launch out of the hole, 1.8 second 60ft on the R888's and shifted smooth. Car ran great to the 330ft and then started to break-up before the 660ft, ran a 7 second (forgot the change) @ 10Xmph in the 1/8th and a 11.3 second 1/4 @ XXmph letting off shortly after the 1/8th and rolled the car back to the pits.
I let the car cool down while trying to help a friend with their car. I didn't see anything abnormal in the quick glance on the logs, so I went for another run; same result. It ran solid until just after 330ft. I check everything over, and see the air temps in the logs are climbing quickly, 90F to 170F in just under 3 seconds. I find a crushed IC pipe leaking very badly from the engine rocking. I fix the pipe and go for another run and get the same results again. I just call it for the day and spectate for the rest of the afternoon, seems like something needs to be changed.
So on the way back from the track, I run into a GT500 Mustang, modified blower, full bolt-ons, dyno'd around 800rwhp. We get some pulls in and the car is really not happy and very inconsistent but still giving a good challenge to the GT500 so I stay in it. I get the GT500 on the first pull by a good 3-4 car lengths with no air temp issues. The next run, he gets me by a car. We rinse and repeat a few times before the GT500 owner has had enough. I should have went easy on the car because I had cracked the ceramic on the spark plugs at the track with the high air temps and the repeated runs on the highway sent the L1 spark plug bits through the front rotor. No pictures unfortunately but there was almost no damage to the rotor housing but enough to need to pull the engine and replace the front rotor and clean up the exhaust port where the rotor/ceramic hit. Motor was hurt but not destroyed. The intercooler also expanded quite a bit somehow.
Moral of the story: Don't use cheap spark plugs and check your plugs at the track.
Plugs with damaged ceramic that went through the engine. T1, L1, L2, T2 from left to right.
Damaged HKS core intercooler, no picture of the damaged IC pipe.
Pulled engine to fix the spark plug damage
Engine back together with new oil pan on it.
Nice oil pan
Engine almost ready to go back in.
Another shot of the engine prior to going in
Back together, reusing the intercooler after it pressure tested ok
Ready to go
Out for a cruise, the light really brings out the blue in the paint
Picked up some widefoot sway bar mounts, new swaybar later on
So at this point, I still hadn't figured out the air temp issue entirely. I figured it was just brutally hot at the track because the car was fine on the highway or a back road. I get to that soon though.
Picture from a car meet just cruising around
A cool picture from work
So, I decided to upgrade my old battery relocation to something NHRA approved.
New battery box, some wiring, changing things up with a remote disconnect and a battery disconnect for maintenance.
The remote disconnect, the disconnect sticks out the rear bumper.
All done
So the car has been running pretty good until I get home and notice it's leaking underneath. It's leaking bad, between the trans and engine there is coolant.
Looking down from the top of the engine, you can see a puddle forming.
Turns out the threads had been pulled out of the front iron on one of the extra dowel pin locations. The stud leaked as a result out the rear iron.
Picked up a new welder, and good thing, because the drill bit I bought to fix the issue was about 1" too short. I ended up welding a bolt on the end to extend the drill bit. I'll try to find a picture later on.
You can see that I fixed the issue by through-drilling the engine in that stud location with the engine in the car.
Here's the through stud popping through.
Hah, here's a picture of the drill bit extension to finish through-drilling the motor while it's in the car.
Car running good after the through-stud.
I finally decide to work on improving the interior a bit
I take the car to Import Takeover and this is where I finally find the same air temp issue I had last time. This time, I figure out what it is. The intercooler flashes because the vehicle speed is too slow to cool it fast enough, 80F > 160F from 1st to top of 2nd gear. This is where I decide to upgrade it.
I pull the injectors out and get them cleaned. They weren't very dirty but EGT's were uneven, indicating an issue. I also decide to pick up a third set of 2200's.
I find a good deal on a 10AE FC semi-local to me and decide to pick it up. Built motor, streetported, studs, extra dowels, T04R turbo with a nice manifold, Tial wastegate, front mount, Haltech ECU, Tein coilovers, and more. Motor was clearly low on compression so I got it for a decent deal. This car really tested my patience over the next 2 years until I finally fixed the multitude of issues I found. This really cemented the idea that buying a modded car can be a nightmare and should be avoided unless you're certain it's in appropriate working condition and not hacked together.
Engine bay on the 10AE
Getting it home!
The solution to my air temp issues, a custom air to water setup
Just double checking my measurements were right, it's a super tight fit.
Getting the A2W in there with a heat exchanger!
Initial placement
Fabricating the IC piping
All fabbed up
Adding the water hosing to the setup to finish it off.
Now that the A2W is in, I do some testing and it works great. It keeps the air temps in check but it really does not work that great for street use. If you do repeated pulls, it heat soaks pretty bad - this is why I recommend keeping an A2A setup as long as possible to anyone who asks.
Steaming out of the rear tank.
So, with the air temp issues resolved, I decide to turn the boost up and find the next limitation, fuel supply. The parallel -6AN lines just aren't balanced between the two rails and I'm overall just not happy with how they look. Time to upgrade!
Time for a -10AN PTFE feed and return setup. Completely redo the fuel system.
Sumped fuel tank, dual -10AN sump to dual pre-filters, to the Bosch 044 pumps. The two pumps Y together and go into another 6 micron filter before the engine. I extend the existing 10 gauge fuel pump wiring with 30AMP fuses.
All wrapped up, new fuel pressure regulator, new lines, new fittings, new filters, front to rear with the flex fuel sensor relocated to the rear.
This is where the car really starts to jump to the next level of boost. At this point, I had only gone to about 28-30psi on this setup and not very much.
After inspecting the factory axles, I found them twisted and decided to avoid a complete failure at some point and upgrade to DSS Pro Axles. They really are beautiful pieces.
New Timken bearings and everything pressed together. The passenger axle was actually twisted inside of the hub as well and had to be cut out!
Trying to get them installed and I see that they're not quite lining up as expected.
This is with all of the other bolts in and me pressing as hard as I can to get it to line up. What the hell is going on here?
Turns out DSS absolutely has the incorrect measurements on the axles. They made them way too long! I wasn't the only one to complain about this issue but they still appear to be making them too long to use straight from DSS. I luckily live about 3 hours from DSS, so I simply drove out there and had them shorten the axles while I waited.
Over an 1" too long!
Fresh ARP hardware really looks nice.
Studs sticking out just a hair.
Time to keep updating the interior, old steering wheel.
New steering wheel.
Side by side shot of the cars. The FC slowly coming along with a lot of rewiring work.
So I decided to drop the 3 port and go back to a 4 port boost solenoid. I wanted to run a 7psi gate spring for launching and turn the boost up to 40psi in higher gears. I'd either have to go CO2 boost control or a 4 port. Seeing as it's a street car, a 4 port seems like the best solution for now.
Car is running pretty good, I'm slowly inching up the boost and the car is handling it very well.
I love how the fluorescent lighting really shows the blue off.
Just pumping some E85.
See what I mean about not using cheap plugs and checking them often? These are R7420-11 plugs, the leading on the left worn down in less than 5k miles!
Time for some Denso plugs this time around. They're essentially the same heat range but I've heard they're a little better.
Well the car was driving great and I'm heading home from work one day and the road is completely destroyed around a sharp curve. I couldn't go around the hump in the road and it takes out my radiator, radiator fans, damages my oil pan, and exhaust. I find pavement everywhere afterwards. The fans look a little lower than normal here because they were ripped off the mount on the rear and barely hanging on at this point.
Coming around the curve, traffic made it impossible to go around and I didn't stop in time with people behind me.
You can see it's over 6" higher than the path the tires are on!
Oil pan damage
Radiator damage from the fans being forced into the fins.
Fan shroud and fans destroyed.
Radiator ruined.
Picked up a new radiator, interestingly enough, they have changed since my last purchase. This one is slightly thinner but still works great.
A new fan shroud, and I picked up some new motors along with RX-8 fans.
The old radiator, you can see it's been through some miles. Not the best fab work either.
This time around, modified it a little better with a smooth curve and some nice port work on the lower end tank.
Picked up a very hard to find Tri-point sway bar! I was ecstatic to find this for sale.
Getting it all cleaned up after the radiator mess. Trying to get it ready for DGRR '18
01-22-19, 01:57 PM
