Tabres Posted July 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2016 11 hours ago, Lanter said: Dammit man what is with these turbo cars. Have you set an appointment to have the car retuned? No, I haven't. My intention was the put miles on the car for a while to find little issues rather than experience them at the tuning appointment. I guess I am finding them but I didn't expect to fight the same things over and over again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted July 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 (edited) First wash in 10 months or so. Not too bad for a 20 year old car with original paint... Still need to crawl under the car and adjust the coil-overs down more. I replaced the Aeromotive fuel rails with DivisionX fuel rails the other day. The DivisionX rails are so, so much nicer. Had the car out and about and it's running well. Still need to chase down a tiny vacuum leak under the dash but it's not a big deal. Probably get around to that this weekend. Edited July 27, 2016 by Tabres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideTech_Ryan Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 Congratulations! I will admit, I am jealous of that car. Great write up with good details! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanter Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 Car looks great as always! Glad to hear the division X stuff fixed the issue. Man I can't believe that white has held up that well, most crystal white cars don't make it 20 years without at least one respray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prokiller Posted July 29, 2016 Report Share Posted July 29, 2016 i would have never thought it was original paint either. CW always peels somewhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted July 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2016 2 minutes ago, Prokiller said: i would have never thought it was original paint either. CW always peels somewhere I know. I always keep waiting for it to happen. Seems like it is always on the roof of the under the c-pillars on the rear fenders. I think what has saved me has been that I've owned it for 15 of the 20 years and it's always been garage kept by me and I've been pretty super obsessive about keeping a good coat of wax on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prokiller Posted July 29, 2016 Report Share Posted July 29, 2016 7 minutes ago, Tabres said: I know. I always keep waiting for it to happen. Seems like it is always on the roof of the under the c-pillars on the rear fenders. I think what has saved me has been that I've owned it for 15 of the 20 years and it's always been garage kept by me and I've been pretty super obsessive about keeping a good coat of wax on it. or right under the belt molding on the doors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted July 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2016 (edited) Not a great photo because all I had with me in the garage at the time was my phone, but I took about 2 hours this afternoon to readjust all of the coil-overs. I honestly don't know how much I lowered the ride height as I didn't bother with a before measurement. I just kept lowering the car until I was happy with how it looked... lol I'm going to have to go out soon some evening with my DLSR and take proper photos now that it's "done" minus the tune. Edited July 29, 2016 by Tabres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTTRacing91PGT Posted July 29, 2016 Report Share Posted July 29, 2016 Car looks awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted July 30, 2016 Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 Love how you have it sitting! Car is super clean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sho Amo Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Such a classy looking car. Thumbs up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockbacca Posted August 4, 2016 Report Share Posted August 4, 2016 Photo shoot NOW!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted August 5, 2016 Report Share Posted August 5, 2016 14 hours ago, Spockbacca said: Photo shoot NOW!!! This!!! This now!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockbacca Posted September 16, 2016 Report Share Posted September 16, 2016 On 8/5/2016 at 8:51 AM, tony said: This!!! This now!!! This!!! More of this NOW!!! And Even more NOW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted September 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2016 I'll have to see if I can twist the arm of a buddy of mine once the trees start to turn a little. I feel like I'm a decent hand with a camera but I've always been complete shit trying to take pictures of cars... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95riosnake Posted September 26, 2016 Report Share Posted September 26, 2016 I agree, the car looks amazing. Glad to hear the endless issues you've been having seem to have tome to an end finally. Can't wait to see a photoshoot. Autumn is a great time for photos. Some of the best photos I've ever taken of my car (and coincidentally, the last photos of it together circa 2012 ) were taken with leaves on the ground. Especially with a white car, the colors of the leaves will really give a nice contrast and the chrome wheels will pick up a lot of those colors as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted September 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2016 (edited) I've had a few questions lately from local folks, and I'm sure some of you I know online are also wondering why I haven't made an effort to get my car tuned yet. The main reason that I've been putting it off is because I've been chasing (what I thought was) a small oil leak since I put everything back together. Despite my best efforts, until now, I hadn't been able to find it anywhere. To go back a little bit, a few weeks I took the car roughly 80 miles round trip to a cars and coffee, the furthest it has gone since I got it together, and after I got home I noticed the exhaust was smoking, burning off oil. I've always had an issue getting the pan to seal well on this car, and that seemed to be where the source of the leak was coming from again. I gritted my teeth and spent quite a lot of hours and pulled the turbo kit off of it, hung the engine with a support bar and pulled the front suspension out. I changed the gasket and put liberal amounts of RTV on all of the surfaces. The pan leak is in fact taken care of now I'm happy to say. But in the midst of that repair, I happened to notice there was engine oil puddling in the valley of the block. Super weird. I pulled the intake and couldn't locate where it was coming from. I resolved to clean everything up and just watch it. Some Googling brought me to a few results where people did have oil blow up from a leaking oil pan and get into the valley of the block similar like I had. Seemed a little far fetched and while I wanted to believe that was the case I always knew it wouldn't be. I've driven the car a few times since then and am again experiencing the same issue with the exhaust smoking and oil in the valley of the block. Today I bought some oil dye and a UV pen light and did some investigating. What I have going on is a head gasket leaking in the area of cylinder 1. At this point no one could convince me otherwise that either I or this this car am cursed. Frankly. I would be able to accept this if it was my fault, but I refuse to own this one. I had shit surgically clean when I put the engine together. For me this year has been like a dark comedy of issues with the car. It is beginning to take everything I have just to continue putting one foot in front of the other. For your entertainment, a video I uploaded to YouTube of my findings... Edited September 27, 2016 by Tabres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockbacca Posted September 28, 2016 Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 That sucks Bryan. Considering the level of work that you do do wouldn't it be more likely that its just a head gasket failure and not dirt or anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95riosnake Posted September 28, 2016 Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 Any chance your new house is built on an Indian burial ground? You certainly do seem a bit cursed over the last year with this car. I really hate to see you going through all this BS when you put the car together so meticulously. I would also be inclined to think more along the lines of a defective head gasket rather than dirt or installation error. That UV oil dye is a pretty cool diagnosis method though... I'll have to keep that in mind for possible future headaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted September 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 2 hours ago, 95riosnake said: Any chance your new house is built on an Indian burial ground? You certainly do seem a bit cursed over the last year with this car. I really hate to see you going through all this BS when you put the car together so meticulously. I would also be inclined to think more along the lines of a defective head gasket rather than dirt or installation error. That UV oil dye is a pretty cool diagnosis method though... I'll have to keep that in mind for possible future headaches. Ha, I should check on the Indian burial ground. At this point I wouldn't rule anything out. Though, I may have jinxed myself. A week or two ago I was talking to my dad on the phone and musing about how pulling the heads is literally the only thing I haven't done since I've had the car back together. I guess it's time to check that one off of the list, too. A defective head gasket is what I too am thinking is the culprit. As you can imagine, it's very discouraging. But, at the end of the day it's just a lot of hours to fix this, and probably about $300 in gaskets, fluids and miscellaneous stuff. Could be a lot worse... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prokiller Posted September 28, 2016 Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 it really sucks that you have to pull it all again but like you said, it's just the labor (not that your time is not worth anything), the cost is just minimal. and at least you don't have to pull both of them, just the one side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanter Posted September 28, 2016 Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 Man I hate to see this... If you have I would take break away torque values on your head bolts to verify the fronts haven't loosened or something odd. I really can't believe how much your car has tested your patience this year. Hopefully you can get it back together before the snow hits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted September 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 Hello darkness my old friend.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95riosnake Posted September 29, 2016 Report Share Posted September 29, 2016 Ugh, the all-too-familiar scene in your garage I'm sure... I bet you can pull the top end off that car in about 15 mins flat by now, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prokiller Posted September 29, 2016 Report Share Posted September 29, 2016 might as well just install zippers instead of bolts at this rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted September 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2016 (edited) I finished getting all of the odds and ends pulled off the car yesterday, which left me free to pull the transmission this afternoon. I contacted a buddy of mine to borrow his engine hoist, just need to schedule a convenient time for him to bring it by. It's a pretty sweet deal for the both of us. I get to borrow his engine hoist for a little while, he get a case of beer. Once he shows up with it, though all I have to do is remove the two motor mount nuts and the engine will lift out. Also this afternoon I ordered all of the gaskets I'll need. Only about $130 shipped so not too bad. I found my head gasket on sale on close out on RockAuto for only $16, a great deal considering they're normally about $50. Everything should be here on Tuesday. So... things are rolling... Edited September 30, 2016 by Tabres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockbacca Posted October 3, 2016 Report Share Posted October 3, 2016 (edited) Dang. That deal still going? I might have to pick up some spare parts. Any thoughts in new mounting hardware for the heads? Just to have all the ends covered of course. Edited October 3, 2016 by Spockbacca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted October 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2016 Already has ARP hardware everywhere in the engine, including the head studs. I'm confident it isn't the hardware but I'll pull them anyway and check for stretch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted October 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) So after work last night my wife helped me get the engine out and I got it torn down to the bare short-block. I found the source of the issue and this one is pretty embarrassing to admit, but it happened, my fault completely so I'll take it on the chin... Would you believe the head gaskets were swapped and on the wrong sides of the engine? Apparently when I put it together I must have got what was left bank and right bank turned around in my head. Just goes to show you can be as super careful as you want, and mistakes/accidents will still happen. Really sucks but there is literally no damage to the short-block or the heads or anything so in the grand scheme of things its not big deal compared to what it could have been. Just a simple replace the gaskets and put everything back together... I ordered the other head gasket last night and it should be here tomorrow so I'll likely have most of the car back together this weekend if nothing else comes up that would pull me away from working on it. How everything got left last night... Don't do what I did... Edited October 5, 2016 by Tabres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prokiller Posted October 5, 2016 Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 can't say i've done anything that severe just getting confused, but i've installed a fair share of distributors 180* out and directional tires on the wrong sides before. the mind is an amazing thing sometimes when you can convince yourself of something. but in the end, at least you realized the mistake and can put this all back together with confidence that it will run 100% going forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTTRacing91PGT Posted October 5, 2016 Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 Relieved to hear there was no major damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted October 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 39 minutes ago, Prokiller said: can't say i've done anything that severe just getting confused Me, either, lol... I've put this long block together myself 3 times before and never made such a stupid error. First time for everything... I've got a good sense of humor about this so feel free to laugh at me, gentlemen. I daresay I've earned it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prokiller Posted October 5, 2016 Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 Hence forth, I dub thee "Backwards Bryan" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTwilight Posted October 6, 2016 Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 So it was your other right all along! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanter Posted October 6, 2016 Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 1 hour ago, RedTwilight said: So it was your other right all along! LOL I too get my right and other right backwards all the time. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted October 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 Had the engine back together on Friday night, dropped it back in the car Saturday morning and reinstalled a few small items. It was too nice on Saturday to waste all day on the garage. The transmission went back in yesterday, reinstalled another few things because it was again too nice to spend all day in the garage. Should get the rest of it back together probably today and tomorrow. There isn't a ton left, just intake, wiring, turbo kit and fluid's really. I expect it'll probably run on Wednesday or Thursday depending on how much I feel like messing with the car... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanter Posted October 10, 2016 Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 5 hours ago, Tabres said: Had the engine back together on Friday night, dropped it back in the car Saturday morning and reinstalled a few small items. It was too nice on Saturday to waste all day on the garage. The transmission went back in yesterday, reinstalled another few things because it was again too nice to spend all day in the garage. Should get the rest of it back together probably today and tomorrow. There isn't a ton left, just intake, wiring, turbo kit and fluid's really. I expect it'll probably run on Wednesday or Thursday depending on how much I feel like messing with the car... That's awesome to hear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95riosnake Posted October 11, 2016 Report Share Posted October 11, 2016 Haha that's hilarious. I can't fault you one bit. Sometimes things get missed, glad to hear it was a simple mistake, but it sucks you had to tear the car down AGAIN lol. Back when I had just put on the Procharger, I had my vacuum lines hooked up the way they would be on a naturally aspirated car, which was a big mistake but I didn't know any different. I had one hooked up to the piping right before the throttle body, well when the car hit boost on the dyno, it pressurized the crankcase big time and blew the dipstick out along with about a quart of oil or so, lol. The guy who was tuning the car about shit his pants thinking it blew up at first. I helped him clean up his shop afterward, it made a HUGE mess. Part 2 of my screw up was my first attempt at fixing it. So I changed the routing of the vacuum lines, then used a check valve to isolate boost from the crankcase. This was the night before I was leaving to drive the car to Carlisle, I didn't test drive it but should have. So I am all loaded up the next morning and the wife and I are heading out, I go to hit the brakes and the car baaaaaaarely stops. Turns out I had basically stopped the engine vacuum from creating any brake boost lol. Too late to do shit about it, I drove it like that with basically no brakes. I had to leave a minimum of 10+ car lengths between me and any car ahead the whole time, super sketchy. Ended up being a somewhat simple fix in the end, but that was an interesting trip for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeahloh95 Posted October 11, 2016 Report Share Posted October 11, 2016 i remember that trip dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted October 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2016 (edited) Wife was out of town yesterday after work so I got a few hours guilt free to spend in the garage and managed to finish everything up. Still needs cleaned up some but it's all set to go aside from fluids and the downpipe. And freaking Summit Racing... this is the first time I've ever really been annoyed with them and it's probably really more the customer service rep than Summit in general. I had to buy a new v-band for my downpipe recently because the original one that came with my turbo kit finally wore out after being on and off so many times over the years. I went online to Summit and spent $27 on a high-quality Vibrant v-band... not cheap for a single clamp. When I took the downpipe off last week, which was literally the first time removing this brand new clamp that had maybe 20 miles of run time on it, the bolt just sheared right off. I called Summit and they're like, "Yeah, idk about this, they warranty is pretty vague." I almost lost my shit on the guy. I was like, "you know, I really expect a LOT more from a $27 clamp. The warranty on this item states that it covers against defects, and if you don't consider the bolt just shearing the first time it's removed to be a defect then I don't know what is. The bolt didn't even stretch, it just snapped. This is not the quality I expect at all, and I'm sure you wouldn't be happy in my position, either. I've spent thousands of dollars with you guys, can you do nothing to help me out here?" After a little more verbal banter the dude finally relented. I check me email and he sent me a shipping label so I can send the broken one back and have it inspected and maybe they'll warranty it and refund me. He also ordered me a new one at the same time and told me they'd cover shipping. I came to discover that the label for me to send mine back is through UPS, which will take two days travel time (I know this from experience). The method of shipping he used to send me the new one was USPS, which will take 4 days. I've never, ever had anything come from them USPS, it's always UPS. So irritated. They're trying to save like a $1.50 on shipping cost and it's gonna screw me for an extra two days... I know it's a kind of silly, first world problem type thing to be upset about man that got under my skin... Edited October 11, 2016 by Tabres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
