Project rust-bucket...

[haaken675]

Got one side of the fender flares mocked up today. Love it so far. Hopefully I can get the drivers side done tomorrow and then cut the body. N15 hood vents are and aerocatch hood pins are next!

[haaken675]

So, fairly big update, mainly in the size of the wing! Looks slightly out of place with the rear ended so high; but I think itÂ’s going to look as good as it should perform once the front end aero is done along with a proper diffuser. Made some progress on cleaning up the engine bay and wire harness as well. Made a heat shield that both hid some wiring as well as should protect my coil drivers and some wiring. Hoping to get the bumper swap finally finished next so I can get the fender flairs in and finally move to some real bodywork and paint. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[haaken675]

I think the head bolts are fine, Pasi is still pushing them on his car with the aluminum block, I think he's in the 500-600 whp range.

I'd be worried about knock/headgasket/ringlands.

I'm with you on that one. My goal is to just get the thing running smoothly and safely, while still being relatively fast. Then eventually I can build a motor that will handle a little more boost reliably. I can say safely that the runs I did on slightly too much boost with a stuck closed wastegate, I don't think I would want much more power then that for the cars intended purpose (weekend/track car)

[Northern]

I think the head bolts are fine, Pasi is still pushing them on his car with the aluminum block, I think he's in the 500-600 whp range.

I'd be worried about knock/headgasket/ringlands.

[haaken675]

13 psi on stock headbolts....bold but I like it

Definitely wasn't done purposefully. I was under the assumption that I had things hooked up properly and was starting off on wastegate spring pressure (6psi) only...When the headgasket eventually pops, and its only a matter of time, I will put in my ARP studs.

That being said, it was 95 degrees out and super humid here in Florida, and I beat on it repeatedly and it held as is...That's a good sign at least. Fixing the boost control/wastegate issue this week and will continue tuning. I at least know what I want out of it power wise now.l

[Pootis]

13 psi on stock headbolts....bold but I like it

[haaken675]

https://www.atpturbo.com/mm5/merchan...egory_Code=GSK

Had a vband warp badly on one of mine so I picked this up and it actually worked. Might give it a go

thanks for the tip on that!

[haaken675]

My go-to for this is to clamp both flanges together tightly with the clamp before I weld it. Cover the clamp itself with something or else you might end up with spatter on the T-bolt though...

I don't know if it warps any less, but at least when it warps, it takes the other flange with it, so as long as you weld them in the right orientation together, it still seals. Some clamps warp more than others. I have some Vibrant ones that are super light, and some ebay ones that are like 3x the weight and probably don't warp so badly because of it.


What prep does your engine have for headgasket/fasteners? What fuel and boost are you running?

That's an awesome tip, I am definitely going to try that.

As far as prep to the engine, nothing. I am running on a stock headgasket of unknown mileage. The entire m52b28 block is stock thus far. I have a new headgasket and ARP head studs waiting to go in, I just wanted to figure out a few things before I pulled the head. I wanted to make sure the motor actually ran on its own before I pulled the head just to make sure it wasn't anything I did. My intention is to get the hang of tuning before I put the better hardware in. After that, when I get some commission in I want to recondition the head, new valve stem seals, valve springs, possibly a turbo cam, and maybe new lifters. For supporting mods at least I have a 3" triple pass radiator and spal pusher fan, 19 row oil cooler, 60lb injectors, and my ham fisted attempts at tuning!

That being said, I discovered several issues that I am really surprised didn't result in a catastrophic failure this weekend. 1) I put the wastegate hoses on wrong causing the gate to not open, and 2) I definitely wired my EBC solenoid incorrectly on top of that. If anyone watched the video and noticed what appeared to be stuttering higher up in the rev range, it was the failsafe for overboost I set months ago and THANK GOD i set this originally and just forgot I did so. I was hitting 13+ PSI and had the ecu cut spark thank god. The motor held up to my stupidity thus far, hopefully it keeps doing so through my learning curve...It pulled like a freight train though.

[Pootis]

https://www.atpturbo.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=tp&Product_Code=ATP-GSK-025&Category_Code=GSK

Had a vband warp badly on one of mine so I picked this up and it actually worked. Might give it a go

[Northern]

I have to say, the v bands are a bit of a pun in the ass as they tend to warp much easier, even at low amperages. Nothing some red rtv won’t solve...

My go-to for this is to clamp both flanges together tightly with the clamp before I weld it. Cover the clamp itself with something or else you might end up with spatter on the T-bolt though...

I don't know if it warps any less, but at least when it warps, it takes the other flange with it, so as long as you weld them in the right orientation together, it still seals. Some clamps warp more than others. I have some Vibrant ones that are super light, and some ebay ones that are like 3x the weight and probably don't warp so badly because of it.


What prep does your engine have for headgasket/fasteners? What fuel and boost are you running?

[haaken675]

https://youtu.be/0-OqW2By_HA

Finally got into the boost! A few rounds of tuning and its running pretty decent so far. Need to clean it up on the top end as it starts to stutter, but I think I figured out why.

[haaken675]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuPRg6UBf9T/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuPRg6UBf9T/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Took the car out for it's first drive around the block yesterday! That was such an exciting moment. Still learning the tuning process for sure. The car doesn't like light throttle inputs and it makes it a little jumpy trying to drive slowly around the neighborhood, but im sure I'll get that ironed out quick enough.

[haaken675]

I just ordered some 3mm spacers off of amazon as they would be the quickest to arrive. I'm hoping to have the car drivable by this weekend to start some shakedown drives. I would consider having a new spacer set made once I have the fender flares on and determine 100% what I need final offset to be. I already have 15mm hubcentric spacers currently, so hopefully I can stack such a smaller spacer on top without any issue.

[Pootis]

You can get a 2mm spacer made

[haaken675]

They do indeed! I can't wait to get it all buttoned up and bled so I can get some road testing/tuning started. My passenger wheel rubs the caliper ever so slightly on about 3 of the spokes, and now I am debating sanding down the spoke ever so slightly, or try and find a2mm spacer if anyone even makes one that small. It's possible that if I actually torque the wheel to spec it will center itself and not be an issue, but its definitely tight for sure.