Levant IX Progress

[MJ23FE]

Sounds good sir, and you may want to hold off on that manifold, we've got something in the works ;)
I already own the manifold. It's one of their first gen pieces. I'm not against upgrading at all, but it really comes down to my financial state at the time this all happens.

Of the products I'll be purchasing from you folks, right now it would be the Megan O2 Housing. However, I will be utilizing your services for the coating and porting of the turbine, and possibly the FR manifold.

Going back to the manifold you have in the works. I really hope there will be dyno tests performed, which compares MAP Tubular vs. MAP ported stocker vs. Full-Race vs. whomever else (Shearer, JMF, etc).
A single car with a generic parts setup (3" TBE, IC pipes, Intake) would be used, with each manifold being fully tuned to show the actual differences in gains. Not fully tuning the baseline and swapping each manifold on without any changes made to the tune. That kind of thing happens all too often and skews results since a/f changes as well as the kind of timing and such which can be maximized. Cams can skew this test as well.

Sorry for going off! LOL

Just as an example, I feel the same way about your O2/Downpipe Recirculated combo vs the traditional O2 Housings such as Megan and TiTek. There really is no way of justifying the purchase without being able to physically show the benefits.

I hope you don't think I'm hating at all. These are just things that I would definitely want to know before buying an item. Especially if I'm spending $500+ on the product. I can easily spend Between $100-$150 knowing I'll be in a ballpark for gains. Going higher than that in regards to price is nothing something a lot of people are willing to do.

-Jalal

[v8klla]

Don't worry I understand, there are a lot of people in your same boat. Testing these things up to those standards, especially during the peak season, is tough to squeeze into our schedule though :(

[MJ23FE]

No worries, Chris.

My setup will still come out great and I'll still be utilizing your services!

-Jalal

[MJ23FE]

Picture I took last night. Ghetto street lamp lighting!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/4906156273_4ab4e719c9_b.jpg

-Jalal

[MJ23FE]

soooooooooooooooooooo.....

i'm at work on saturday at the restaurant. worked a long a$$ day, and a few people i work with pissed me off because they are effin' tool bags. but whatever, my shift was over and i head outside to the car. i get to my passenger door and notice a broken piece of plastic, i kick it away and think nothing of it. then i'm like.... wait.... wtf..... take a step back, and look at the car.... first the front.... ok, it's cool, than the rear. WTF!!! of course this sh!t happens just to top off the night.

the dude backed into my car and nails the quarter panel/tail light/bumper right at the edge of the quarter panel. tail light is broke, bumper is scuffed real good, and looks possibly bent, and the quarter panel is pushed in pretty good right where it meets the bumper/tail light, and the bend put a nice kink in the wheel arch. the hit actually pushed my car over a good 4-5 inches because i was parked in the space completely straight, and my wheel was straight, too. well, when i get in the car, the steering wheel is turned to the left about 1/8th of a turn! dude really rocked it! He def nailed the car at least @ 10mph to push it like that.

turns out he left a note under my wiper.

"Sorry we hit your car. Please call us. ###-###-####"

I call the cops first and get their opinion. They show up and tell me that it's not worth getting a report written up yet because it'll screw me with the whole NJ zero liability BS. He said to get an estimate and see if the guy turns out to be nice and see what happens. If he's a d!ick and give's me issues, then come in within 30 days and get a report going.

So I call up the guy and we're talking. I'm being super nice, and telling him that accidents happen, etc. He said that he looked at the damage and it doesn't look too bad. That it looks like it just needs some paint, etc. I'm like, it's definitely dented and the bumper is all scuffed, etc. I really have no idea how much it'll cost, but let me get an estimate and I'll let you know. He said, yeah, no worries. Just let me know what it is and I'll take care of it. In my head I'm thinking this dude has no idea. this is definitely going to cost $1,000+ in my opinion.

The cop tells me to get his name, license place #, and insurance company, so I ask him for that info. He starts to spell out his first name, and low and behold, HE'S MOTHERFACKIN LEBANESE!!! WTF! Haha. So that was humorous, we shoot the shit a little, but I keep it all business.

Today, I go out to the car to get something out of the trunk. It opens but makes a weird sound as if there was some tension built up. Well when I go to close to trunk..... donk.... it won't latch on. The hit definitely knocked something out of whack and I don't know what. Great. So I had to ghetto rig the trunk and tie it closed from the inside. Since I forgot to undo the trunk light and didn't feel like undoing the rope, I just disconnected the battery for now. I'll undo the bulb tomorrow when I get the estimate.

I'm going to get an estimate tomorrow and see what happens.

The upside is that the dude left me his number, which rarely happens, so I don't have to worry about my deductible. Also, this allows me to get my bumper repaired, which it needed along with my CF exhaust shroud. It also allows me to upgrade to some JDM Evo VIII MR matte black tail lights. If I get REALLY lucky and the car needs a new bumper, I MAY also be able to pick up a JDM rear bumper. If I can get the JDM tail lights, AWESOME! If I can get the JDM tail lights and shroud, double AWESOME! If I can get the JDM tail lights, shroud (JDM style shroud) AND the JDM Bumper.... FOCKIN AMAZING!!!

Hopefully this dude accepts whatever the estimate is, and that if he does accept it, that the car isn't in the shop for ever. I already have a friend that has offered me her accord coupe while my car is in the shop. Lets see what happens.

Another day in the lift of Jalal.

Pics to come tomorrow.

-Jalal

[cmspaz]

Shitty.

Expect a week for each round of parts to arrive, and hope they get everything they need in the first shipment.

[MJ23FE]

Estimate has come in....$3,227.73.

I called the guy and left him a message. Lets see how long it takes for him to get back to me.

-Jalal

[Jaei Sun]

Your exhaust manifold is swaintech coated isn't it? I have a FP race manifold on my DSM and it is doing that same crazy blistering / flaking that is in your nighttime pic. I wonder if they warranty that?

[santa]

Estimate has come in....$3,227.73.

I called the guy and left him a message. Lets see how long it takes for him to get back to me.

-Jalal

So did it bend the frame or what? I'd assume it did since your trunk wont close anymore. I'm guessing that guy is going to flake since its $3,000 plus! lol. Good luck man!! I had something similar happen to me but, when I went out to check on my car the dude's car was still backed into mine LOL!!!

[MJ23FE]

Your exhaust manifold is swaintech coated isn't it? I have a FP race manifold on my DSM and it is doing that same crazy blistering / flaking that is in your nighttime pic. I wonder if they warranty that?
Yeah, it began the blister about 25-30k miles into it. And then started with a very small crack about 35k miles into it. I have about 50k miles on the manifold with the coating and it looks like what you see above.

I don't know what kind of warranty Swain will offer. However, I would definitely recommend calling them up and/or e-mailing them just for good measure. I would include links to photos of your own manifold as an example.

I've heard someone tell me once that they offer variations to their White Lightning profile, but I don't know how true that is.
So did it bend the frame or what? I'd assume it did since your trunk wont close anymore. I'm guessing that guy is going to flake since its $3,000 plus! lol. Good luck man!! I had something similar happen to me but, when I went out to check on my car the dude's car was still backed into mine LOL!!!
LMAO! Damn!

I don't know if the frame is bent to tell you the truth. I surely hope it's not. I guess we won't know until it's on the frame machine. I'll be kinda pissed if it is, but not really since it'll be getting fixed. When does an accident really effect the title on your car (clean, salvaged, etc)?

I called the guy earlier today around 11:30am and left him a message. It's 6:40pm here now, and I'm going to the mall with my gf a little later. If he doesn't call me back by the time we get back from the mall I plan on giving him another call.

I did not tell him how much the estimate was for, but said that I got one and that he should call me so that we can discuss what he wants to do. I told him that I would like the car to get into the shop ASAP so that I can get it fixed. I let him know that this is my only car and that I will most likely need to get a rental while it's down.

We'll see what happens.

My quote included a new bumper $814.22 which doesn't include the brackets and foam absorber; and one tail light $348.47 and for these 2 parts only it will be $1,162.69. I can get a JDM Evi IX Rear Bumper and JDM Evo VIII MR tail lights for $1,284.04 shipped to my door (assuming their shipping costs are correct $168.83). I would gladly drop the extra $121.35 for that, plus the cost of the deamonwerkx crash beam to have the piece of mind.

Time will tell how this all plays out. My guess is that he will flip a shit about how much it costs and that this will go through his insurance. If it doesn't and he cuts me a check, amazing!!!

-Jalal