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Been a while since I updated. To sum it up? Blown motor on the dyno a week before seven stock. No need to elaborate, I've already moved on.
Purchased a brand new OEM Mazda engine from Ray and sent it off for a build. (Still looking for a second as a spare if I don't rebuild the current one for later use).
I did experience some boost creep issues with the EFR8374 turblown kit. Couldn't keep the boost under 17.5psi no matter what we did. That's unrelated to why the engine gave, but I'm considering an dual external gate setup to correct all that.
Parts are still rolling in. Received some 99-spec rear hatch shocks, which will be a lifesaver.
Most notably on purchase I ordered so long ago that I nearly forgot about, are my Fikse wheels.
First of all, Rich (GoodfellasFd3s) and I have known each other through the community for nearly 15 years now. I was in the market for some wheels and I was familiar with Fikse from some of my other vehicles. I will also say that I've owned a ton of cars and never has my cheap *** purchased a brand new set of wheels from anywhere. I've always picked up HRE, CCW, Fikse, etc. second hand and have them refinished because it saves a ton of money. The downside - you usually have to deal with sub par offsets, widths, and sometimes minor or major curb rash. I generally estimate $200 a wheel.
Fast forward and Rich sold me on a new set of Fikse with proper offsets. I got to choose every bit about the wheel, with some of his personal recommendations on sizing, width and offset based on experience and I got a KILLER deal. Now, Fikse was going through some supply chain changes and Rich informed me that there was going to be a fairly substantial wait time on the wheels. I bitched and moaned, but I didn't give him too much grief. Well, 4.75 months later, here we are! BTW - Fikse has been back in the production swing, so I'm sure the wait time is much more reasonable, though still slightly delayed.
Smooth transaction, great looking wheels. The pictures DO NOT do them justice. These are the Profil 10's, with a step lip and anodized center. I'm super excited to have them and can't wait to get them on the car. If you're in the market, hit up Rich, he's got the connection on Fikse (and a ton of other FD parts and hard to find stuff from Japan).
I am hoping to have the new engine back in in late December, but depends on how long the build takes. Here's to hoping!
Hey man,
Wheels look great, I seriously considered some Fikses from Rich.
On your turbo... consult my build thread or my thread in the single turbo forum on the 8374 IWG. The ported turbine housing is the fix with that setup. Kills 2-300 rpm of spool but got my boost down to manageable levels and I made tons of power.
Hey man,
Wheels look great, I seriously considered some Fikses from Rich.
On your turbo... consult my build thread or my thread in the single turbo forum on the 8374 IWG. The ported turbine housing is the fix with that setup. Kills 2-300 rpm of spool but got my boost down to manageable levels and I made tons of power.
Thanks for that. Did you end up sending your housing back to Turblown to have him port it?
I actually bought an extra housing and Turblown ported it, because I didn't want down time, but yeah, Turblown were kind enough to do it for me as an experiment that ultimately worked. ... and honestly, check the pics, if you have the tools you could probably do it yourself. I'm not even sure it needed to be as aggressive as that, but basically you need to make it so the front rotor/runner can vent some exhaust flow. That's the part that has trouble.
Engine undergoing break-in. 500 miles on it and 110+ on all faces. She's solid!
Will update with some photos soon.
Sakebomb BBK on the way - Wilwood reds with AP floating rotors, Rear competition Kit
Ohlins FP Spec currently being valved
Swapped the **** autometer gauges with some Defi Racer's
Works Bell Short + Works bell GTC Tilt + Nardi Deep Corn (Nardi Poo Corn as Rich calls it)
Redline Goods boots / handles on order
Looking to get some boost in it soon!
Rich (GoodfellasFD3S) took care of all the work for me. I provided him a BNIB OEM crate engine from Ray Crowe and he got to workin'.
Some of the things we optioned for:
Street Port
RX Parts Seals
Excessive Motosports Single Piece Dowel Pins
Excessive Motorsports Oil Pan
Exedy Twin Disk courtesy of Sake Bomb Garage
The blood of Rich Farrell, courtesy of the ports
One thing I'll tell you about Rich in relation to other shops / individuals / builders I've worked with on various other cars - Rich is a good dude. I mean that genuinely, he doesn't bullshit, if he doesn't know about something he won't feed you some horse ****. I plan to run ethanol and he doesn't have a good feeling about it, but he also mentioned he's never run it despite lots of people having success. We did go viton rings for all that, he was sure to ask how I planned to use the car and what my power goals were, fueling, etc. Now Rich has a full time job in sales, so he's not doing this for a living - it takes some time. However, I got frequent updates, frequent pictures, even as parts arrived. I know it's easier to communicate when you're a one man show with only a customer or two at a time, but believe me, it's easy to screw up or blow a customer off. I never felt like I was just the side job.
I've got about 600 miles on it now and Rich is checking in frequently, providing break-in instructions, asking how it's running, providing some input/pointers, etc. I performed a boost leak down test yesterday and found about half a dozen leaks which I've buttoned up. I did an oil change around 200 miles in and plan to do another at 1500.
Fuel changes - moved to a weldon regular with a -8 return, because I like overkill. It's not necessary. CJ provided me with a one-off fuel hat with one of his -8 returns. He doesn't sell these anymore, but I had asked for it and he had one floating around. Fuel pumps (dual 450's) are staged by ECU. Both prime at start and then kick over to single pump until ECU conditions are met to trigger second pump. Added a bypass line for the ethanol sensor so it has a -6 and 3/8 return to a single -8. Added the fuel pump level sensor gasket/seal so the car doesn't smell like gas anymore. Deleted the factory/oem hardlines under the car.
Interior changes of note:
Removed crappy autometer gauges, which I wanted to do earlier and finally did. Autometer boost gauge uses crappy plastic / nylon line into the cabin (dumb). Oil temp was also reading about 20-30F under correct temperature compared to the ECU sensor I had in the oil filter pedestal. Removed the A-pillar in favor of a prosports triple pod and relocated gauges. Now running the Defi Racer gauges with proper sensors and no BS.
Replaced the cluster bulbs, need to pull the HVAC panel again as a couple bulbs aren't properly seated. I opted for incandescents because I don't like hot spots from LEDs.
Ordered new vinyl and new center console pieces so everything will sit nicely (Thanks Ray!)
Other stuff:
Added some KTS braces under the car. I have an LRB undertray I need to install, 99 sides to get painted and installed, Fikse wheels to mount and install. SBG Wilwood Kit and Ohlins FP Spec on order. Will need a corner balance and alignment after all that fun stuff. Removing my hyper sport combo lines in favor of Stanley OEM combo lights as I prefer the smooth face rather than the two bulges the hyper sports have.
Added a banzai trans brace, new clutch lines, rebuilt the slave.
intake ports look smoother than other port jobs out there. is this the case or do the pics just make them look that way? mine have always been more roughed up for better atomization.
intake ports look smoother than other port jobs out there. is this the case or do the pics just make them look that way? mine have always been more roughed up for better atomization.
If you don't have a tune-able ECU you should keep the primaries rough as you will need to add to the "throttle pump" setting so they don't lean you out on low rpm accel when the fuel sticks to the port walls.
But tuned right smooth ports work great as long as you didn't needlessly increase port volume grinding to get down through all the casting defects- which will drop intake velocity and hurt low rpm power.
A pro might go back and rough the short radius side to trip the flow to turbulent and get it to hook the tight bend on the opening line better for slightly higher flow #s.
Haha
10-23-17, 02:55 PM
