I've been waiting a LONG time to "finish" this damned thing...or rather, start a new phase with it.
Not sure how many of you have seen my project thread over on MG, but its ginormous (85 pages long). I'll give you the short list of details.
Bought the car two summers ago. Been using it as a daily driver ever since. AC quit the August of the year I bought it, and I haven't fixed it until now because I've been too busy spending money on the fun parts. Ramen noodles have been a staple in my diet for going on two years now as well just to get to this point (I'm a Mechanical Engineering Student at The University of Florida).
First mod was to get rid of my airbox. Damned thing was taking up way too much room. Also did a catch can to fix my broken crank breather setup.
Second mod was VEMS standalone engine management. Ordered August of 2008 and finally got it running perfectly in May of 2010 lol. It was a great adventure and I know 1000% more than I did when I started. The entire fuel map is my own creation and the car runs like a dream. Its on individual LS2 coilpacks.
I also had a 3" side exit downpipe exhaust for about six months. Finally got tired of that and made a straight thru 3" out the back.
The next major thing was Porsche Boxster S calipers with S8 323mm rotors, machined hubs, custom carrier brackets, and braided lines.
After that I set out to make my own custom coilover suspension setup with Bilstein struts, Eibach springs, A1 racing sleeves, hats, and collars, and my own homemade perches.
All the while I had been collecting parts for the turbo build. Basically these next select few pictures sum it up in a nutshell.
When I first bought her
DP and WG dumps lol
VEMS box
turbo choices
Some suede interior work
taken one hour before the above pictures
spare stuff
brakes
had some nice wheels for a while but traded for two sets of other nice wheels
suspension stuff
A1 stuff (these for the fronts)
stance like a mofo (and new exhaust)
some other wheels I picked up
other, other wheels I got
took it to carlisle this past year and put 3700 miles on it with no hitches
and now for the turbo parts
I haven't skimped anywhere on anything that I intend to keep on my next phase
Hargett QDC's everywhere
and here is the basic setup and how it might look (but without the silicone couplers)
well MG gets the most updates, so its the best bet...but you better believe I'll be posting pics all over the place when its finished.
Its an H1C. The HX35 is the newer version of the H1C with a slightly different comp wheel that might flow a tad bit more. Exhaust wheels are identical. Its got an HX35 12cm housing on it. I also have a 16cm, but I doubt thats what I want. Fingers crossed that it doesn't smoke haha. If so, its a $60 rebuild kit and then off I go again :) *knocks on wood*
yeah, I'll post up on QW when its done I spose. I just don't really love the format of that forum (love it or hate it), and there isn't much traffic in the t44 area. Otherwise I would post more. Not sure when the 12cm will spool and I wont be able to find out right away because my injectors wont be here until next week. Even then, I can't use them until I get the custom intake manifold made because they are a super short body to allow for a larger plenum. Anyway, I am hoping for spool around 3k-3500 and full boost by 4k. That would be awesome.
heh, I loved the green too but I stripped them down for some reason. Right now they are bare metal awaiting a new color choice/better paint job. I can't decide what I want though! I really like those wheels in light colors. Really accents them.
No internals yet. If I was to do them, it would probably be a 1-2k downward spiral of money. Built head, rods, custom pistons, coated bearings, new seals, new oil pump, everything balanced, etc., etc. and I'm not quite ready for that right now.
I'm just hoping to make 300-350awhp by keeping the boost limited and playing it safe until rods. This is only a stepping stone until later when I go with something more in the 67mm range. So basically after this, all money goes towards engine parts and exhaust manifold design...and fuel system, and transmission. The list goes on. But for now, this should be fun.
C4.Style, I love that pic from the rear. I am definitely going to get those stickers printed out, but I need to space the current wheels out first.
So update:
I JUST got home from installing the Holset. Here is what I posted on MG:
I literally JUST got home from installing the Holset. I will update more tomorrow, but I'll just say the install went almost flawlessly and it looks effing MEAN. It took us two full days to get it all done. Had to make a new downpipe, tucked the exhaust up as high as it can get which is a huge improvement over before and its perfect, spent a LOT of time mounting the intercooler and getting that perfect, and then making all of the pipes for it.
The only problem that I didn't forsee was the oil return where it goes into the pan. I had a straight fitting on it and that hit the alternator. Put a 45 degree fitting on it and now its perfect.
No leaks, no rattles, and NO SMOKE from the Holset!! It has performed flawlessly so far. Still waiting on injectors and such, so we went out and tuned the car (at 1:30 am after we buttoned everything up) on as low boost as possible. The wastegate limits it to 6 or 7 psi (VEMS was showing around 150kpa which is 7psi) right now and that's perfect. At that boost pressure, I have to have the rev limit at 6500 or it starts to run out of fuel.
Right now with no boost controller hooked up, I see 5psi by 3200 RPMs. With a boost controller hooked up, I expect that to improve even more and climb quickly thereafter when I have the fuel for it. I have to say at 5-7psi its rather slow lol. Its a whole different car. Used to be able squeeze on it at 2500 and feel full torque. Now its got no guts below 3k...as expected of course. I simply cannot wait to turn the boost up. I can tell its going to be a lot of fun.
I got plenty of pics and will take even more and post them tomorrow evening.
Overall, I'm ecstatic! Couldn't ask for more at this point.
*Disclaimer* I cleaned a lot of the mess in these pictures up this afternoon. I moved the coils over to the intake manifold side, changed some vac. routing, etc., etc. so its so much better now. I'll have to take pics of it later this week. This was at like 1:30 in the morning, so I just wanted to get home! I had to get up for work at 6. Also, Tom's TIG took a shit when we started welding. Needs a new torch in a bad way. The line to the torch started smoking when we tried to hit the thick intercooler for some brackets.
I don't have pics of everything of course because I was too busy with the car, but I got enough. I'll try to outline what we went thru for the build as a whole.
First order of business was stripping the car of its boost components. To my surprise, everything came off really easily. No rust is effin awesome. Didn't even have to use any PB Blaster at all.
Off came the stock IC piping and IC, then started unbolting manifold, turbo, lines, and downpipe. All of it was relatively easy but time consuming as always with turbo manifolds and their related components.
Got 'er down to nothing and proceeded with mock fitting the new turbo and manifold. Got the manifold on with a little help from the pry bar (not much needed really, but it helped) with the turbo attached and all. Got it snug with a few nuts and then decided the best place to go from there would be mounting the intercooler.
I never really test fit the IC. I just made a mock one out of some cardboard and held it up to the car and said, "This should work." Well it worked...but barely. I'll have to get more pics of the clearance later on. For one thing its a tight squeeze to the pulleys, but the worst part is its width. When we were done it cleared by about a centimeter. One thing I knew would have to get cut out was this support thingy here...
After that was finally all figured out, we had to decide how to route the IC piping. I always envisioned the piping in my head the way we eventually did it. Our reasoning was because when I go with a custom tubular manifold and bigger turbo it will be over by the fender more. IC piping over there wouldn't work for the future so well over there. The way it is now, its fairly flexible for future upgrades.
Next was cutting the IC piping and debating whether to use the Hargetts or not. We decided not to use them yet because everything will probably change a bit when I get the intake manifold and also because I need to get some tight 3" aluminum 90's to replace the silicone ones we used (for lack of a better option at the time). That was one thing I didn't foresee.
Tacked the pipes up with the terribly functioning TIG and called it a night.
Next day we started out by getting the downpipe welded up. I need to put another v-band in it because right now I can't get it out of the car without having it on a lift. That will be for next time though. We did so many things right. Got it absolutely perfect as far as fitment is concerned. The downpipe used to hang a little low thanks to the first guy who made it for me. We chopped it up to accommodate the Holset and in the process sucked it up at least a few inches. My ground clearance has increased dramatically now. I'm super happy about that.
Notice the spark right next to my fuel filter!
and then we were finally able to use a friend's welder and got the IC pipes all buttoned up. They aren't the prettiest welds, but the penetration is perfect and they are strong ones. Next time we are going to grind them down and do some nice, pretty welds on it and fit the Hargetts.
Finally we had to mess a lot with the damned drain line because it required a 45 on the block to avoid hitting the alternator. We got it all sorted out though.
Like I said, I also moved the coils to the driver's side and changed up a few other things, but here is the finished product for the most part!
We then started it up (actually started it previous to getting the top pipe finished to check for leaks and it sounded awesome) and it was perfect. Different sound than the stock turbo for sure. Not sure how to describe it though. We then tuned the car for as low boost as possible and called it done.
I also noticed that the turbo spins down for a pretty long time after the car is shut off. Not like a BB turbo, but long nonetheless. Wastegate stinks up the inside of my car when it opens up because we didn't make a dump quite yet.
Anyway, I'm tired once again, so I'm going to have to call it quits. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
Oh, and all of the stock parts are for sale! Everything is in awesome condition. No cracks in the manifold or turbo housing, turbo made 20psi no problem, wastegate was perfect too, intercooler didn't leak, etc...everything is perfect. Let me know! It would sure be nice to recoup a little cash.
haha yep, I do leak some oil. Head gasket weeps a bit and the steering rack drips. I really need to get on the rack, but I don't feel like pulling the motor.
I'll try and get some vids when I turn the wick up. Even now it sounds sweet, so if I get a chance to borrow a camera I certainly will :)
well, first I drew it...then I used some vector graphics program called inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org/) to trace it out over my original drawing. Some photoshop too, but definitely not for the whole thing. Just little parts of it here and there.
major update, I'll just let the pictures do the talking unless anyone has questions. The engine still needs to be built internally and I need a built 01e, but the rest is there to make 1000 hp.
Killer build, man. Love the first pic with the lightning in the background.
I hate it when my car acts like a little bitch, treating me like the bitch
FS:Brand New K&N Air Filter RU-3700 (3" inlet, 5" base, 4" tall, 4 5/8" top), Brand New 3" Injen (Amsoil) Dry Filter Setup with Heat Shield, Brand New OEM 06A Oil Pump, Used Greddy Intercooler...throw me some offers
Thanks all. Plans are now starting to formulate for the internal hardware side of the game. I'm a glutten for punishment and my mechanical engineering side really cannot resist a high-reving build. The thought is a de-stroked tall-block for a 1.9 rod ratio, 2.3l, solid lifters, cams to match, dry sump, and a final result of 11k RPM and 1000+ chp. This might take a while to piece together unfortunately. Seems like you have to go to all parts of the globe to fetch all of the necessary stuff... or you have to make it yourself 8)
Here are some more pics and one vid that I didn't include before. The car is super, super rich here. First time it was started with the new setup (new fuel setup too). My mom loves to make comments in the videos lol. I had to get the car running in a weekend on this setup so my parents could move (I'm away up at school all year). Its funny that the car was idling like that because it was so rich (fixed in the vid above), but I fully intend to have it idle like that even when its tuned properly because of the new cams. Sounds very IMSA-esque!
By the way, Hank Iroz made all of the pretty stuff like the dp, exhaust manifold and wg. All extremely awesome parts.
I cannot wait to clean this car up once I have more time and a better place to do it!
I also just realized I never posted any vids from its previous setup. There are some decent ones if you peruse my youtube account uploads and favorites.
Will do. I have seen vids of an HX52 on an urS4. Unfortunately the videos are private on youtube, so I can't share, but it works well :) Pro52 will probably be the next turbo if this one doesn't meet my goals [exact same turbo except 71mm inducer vs 67mm and bigger exducer as well ;(99mm for hx52)]
The turbo definitely makes good power into the 700 whp range for an AWD car.
Ordered August of 2008 and finally got it running perfectly in May of 2010 lol. It was a great adventure and I know 1000% more than I did when I started. The entire fuel map is my own creation and the car runs like a dream. Its on individual LS2 coilpacks. 
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