My new car!

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:14

Probably, haha. Actually, I bet them come in a small padded USPS envelope, even though I paid for FedEx shipping. I just think shipping is a way companies scam customers most of the time, they add extra profit into the shipping most of the time when the charges are stupid like that. Just give me the real price of the product and charge me the real shipping prices!

I'm almost stalling out on things to do; waiting for the RE-Speed aluminum oil fill neck to finish up the oil system, CJ-Motorsports LIM spacers for the secondary injectors, need to ship out the stock primaries to Witch Hunter for cleaning and flow balancing, 120* -10AN fitting for the oil thermostat since the 90*'s I have don't clear the frame, and then my wife (sugar-momma) is ordering me my Braille B2015 dry cell AGM battery, billet aluminum mount, and some black exhaust wrap for my birthday. I also still need to either get a new wastegate v-band flange welded to my manifold or buy an adapter to convert the 46mm TiAL flange to the 44mm v-band flange. I also need to get an 02 bung welded in the downpipe, which I just got.

So I just need to get those pieces and I can finally get everything wired up/installed and then start testing systems; test the fuel pumps, pressurize the fuel system and check for leaks, install the turbo system, then fire her up!

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:14

Yeah I think so too. They lure you in with low prices and then rape you with shipping. Sometimes when I'm shopping around I'll take the lowest few prices, go all the way to checkout to get shipping prices and compare those.

It's weird coming to the end of a project huh? Trying to figure out what all you need to tie up loose ends, seeing if you can get them from the same place so you don't get so raped on shipping...LOL.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:14

Well, CJ-Motorsports partially redeemed themselves today, they issued me a partial shipping refund...of $3.42 haha, so the shipping came down to around $14 and change...still way too much for shipping two 1/2 oz pieces of aluminum. But anyways, nice they did it because they didn't have to.

Yeah Eric, it feels really weird coming to the end of a build. This is the first car I've built like this...doing it all at once. With my RX-8 I did it piece by piece, first suspension stuff and wheels, then brakes, then some minor motor shit, then fly/clutch, then finally the turbo, etc. Here, I did it all at once, so it's definitely a different experience.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

Why did they refund you that little amount? Seems like an arbitrary number lol.

Well Dave, I wouldn't say you're coming to the END of the build, or that you're doing this one all at once. I think we all know this is a disease and it's never really finished. I guess unless Melissa says it is. Then it's definitely the end of the build. LOL

VRx8 · Postby **VRx8** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

Yeap far from done. I keep telling my wife '' this is the last thing i'll buy for the car'' NOT!! lol

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

Haha I told Melissa I won't buy any car parts for a while, which means a couple months haha. She really doesn't care though, as long as I pay my bills and whatnot she's cool with it. She knows this is my hobby.

Of course this isn't the end haha, just of end of doing this at once. I'll NEVER be done with the FD. I already have plenty of future plans:

-Next I want to start on the interior or the exterior, not sure which.

-Interior wise I want to finish the black interior conversion, do some other trick custom stuff I won't reveal just yet haha, and do a small audio system that I'll probably never use.

-Exterior wise I want to keep it clean and simple; carbon FEED sides and carbon RE-Amemyia street diffuser, blacked out turn signals up front, RS Pantera carbon duck tail spoiler, and that's probably it, save for maybe a different set of wheels (or two) haha.

-After that I'll probably move to brakes and suspension; I really want the Ohlins Road & Track coilovers, do all new PowerFlex poly bushings, new OEM pillowball bushings, Rotary Power trailing arms drag launch kit, then some BBK, not sure which.

You can clearly see there is still a lot to do, but I will do it piece by piece now.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

chickenwafer wrote:-Exterior wise I want to keep it clean and simple; carbon FEED sides and carbon RE-Amemyia street diffuser, blacked out turn signals up front, RS Pantera carbon duck tail spoiler, and that's probably it, save for maybe a different set of wheels (or two) haha.

-After that I'll probably move to brakes and suspension; I really want the Ohlins Road & Track coilovers, do all new PowerFlex poly bushings, new OEM pillowball bushings, Rotary Power trailing arms drag launch kit, then some BBK, not sure which.

Careful, that's a slippery slope lol.

I want some of those Ohlins too. The DFV I think is the name. So expensive though. But every time I drive the car and have to get my back realigned I want better riding coilovers on the street.

JTurton7 · Postby **JTurton7** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

what do you need interior wise? ive got everything behind the seats. 94 so its mildly better quality haha. the bins are kinda hacked up from a battery relocation.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:14

Ah I already JDM rear seats so I'm good there. I love the rear seats, they're much more functional and better looking than the bins IMO.

To complete the interior conversion I need black carpet, black headliner, black sun visors, black seat belts, black door dills (I actually want carbon fiber ones), and black kick panels.

Eric- I know how slippery of a slope wheels can be! I'm a wheel whore, too, but not as bad as you haha (not yet). There's a few sets of wheels I'm strongly eying, we'll see what I do, I still love my 5Zigen's tho haha.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:14

Ordered some of the final pieces for the build; Braille B2015 dry-cell AGM 15lbs battery with aluminum side-mount, some 8g ring terminals, Stinger 150amp breaker, and gold plated battery terminals to finalize the battery install.

Also picked up some ProSport black exhaust heat wrap, two -10AN fittings I still needed, and some gas-charged hood dampers so no more prop rod haha. The CJ spacers should be here tomorrow, according to the FedEx tracking info. Finally, I ordered a case of Brad Penn synthetic 10w-30 oil. Racking up the eBay bucks!!

Basically the only things left to do is to send out the stock primary injectors to WitchHunter, which I will do tomorrow, and install everything.

I still haven't received or heard anything else from RE-Speed about the status of my oil filler neck, so I fired off another email to them tonight, still waiting for a reply. It's been 19 days since I paid for it, so this is getting pretty stupid at this point. I have 45 days to dispute the transaction with PayPal, but I think I'll only let it go a few more before I dispute it and just try to get my money back and find a used one or something on the national forum. Of all things to hold up my build!

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 9:14

Did some more little work on the FD today, with the weather being so nice and all, perfect garage time!

Made up the return fuel hose from the FRP, so the fuel system is now complete. Just need to install injectors. Did have a little problem with the secondaries, however. The CJ spacers sit a millimeter or two taller than the surface of the LIM, and they also have a ridge or "stop" machined inside of them to catch the injectors o-ring. All this basically means is my injectors don't sit far enough down, so the legs on the fuel rail don't sit flush with the LIM they bolt into. Not a big deal, I just need a spacer in-between the fuel rail legs and the LIM. Hopefully it doesn't cause an issue...I will be pressure testing the system before firing her up though, of course.

Matt had also helped me a few days pull the engine harness thru so I was laid the harness across the top of the motor. I think I made some mistake in the routing of the wires haha, but it still should work. I just won't be able to route the harness 100% the way I want to, but no big deal.

Now all that's left are some little things. I also have an appointment tomorrow to drop off my manifold at the fabricators so he can weld on my v-band wastegate flange, then I can finally heat wrap and install the turbo system.

I'll get some pics up tomorrow.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 9:14

Hey I looked at my spacers and they do sit a couple millimeters above the ports. But mine fits fine. Although I'm using a different fuel rail setup.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:14

Thanks. I don't know if my injectors are too tall or if the rail legs are too short. I think my injectors are too tall. No big deal, I am just using a spacer in-between the rail legs and the LIM so it will be bolted in firmly. I think in the future I will get some new legs made (or make them) so I don't have to run ghetto spacers haha.

Went over to my fabricators place today (http://www.overkillracecars.com/) and the owner, Justin, did a great job doing a real quick weld on my manifold for my TiAL MVR wastegate. He quickly TIG'ed it and it looks great. He also gave me a great deal so I will be going back to him for sure. Thanks to Matt for getting me his info.

He also had a fully built turbo Firebird in his shop for Pro Mod NHRA racing...500+CI built V-8 with a 94mm Precision billet turbo (the small turbo haha, they have a 122mm in reserve) that made 1420ish rwhp on a dyno at just 15lbs of boost...in race trim they run 30+lbs and they MAX OUT dynos haha. Crazy! I snapped a quick cell phone pic:

Stopped by ACE to pick up some metric stainless M10x1.5 25mm bolts with lock washers for the manifold...so now I'm just waiting on my DEI Titanium heat wrap to get the turbo system installed!

EDIT: Also forgot to add; I talked to Justin (the fabricator) and he said he could replicate my manifold (if we supplied the flanges) out of 304 stainless for about $600, if anyone is interested.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:14

Kinda frustrated...got my wastegate installed on the manifold and test fit it. With the outlet of the wastegate pointing straight down to the ground, the outlet flows straight into the subframe. So now way that will work, obviously, I can't get a dump pipe on it.

So I then rotated it...there is some room/gap towards the transmission, enough to get a dump pipe on the outlet. But then one of the water fittings hits the subframe. Arrggg!!! I tried every single conceivable location of the wastegate, and either the outlet it too close to something, or the water fittings are!

Bottom line, I can't run water cooling with the fittings I have, at least. I need to figure out what size and thread pitch the water fittings are on the wastegate so I can try to get a -4AN banjo fitting for them, that would work perfectly. But of course they can't just be a standard -4AN fitting haha, they are some odd fitting.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:14

Sounds like you're having the same problem I'm having haha.

How close is the dump to the subframe? Do you have enough room for a 90* pipe? I'm going to have to do that myself.

My new car!

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