Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

My experience with mufflers is just Thermal, Magnaflow, and Hooker. And that is the order in which I rate them from favorite to least favorite. I like all 3, but that is the order I like them.

Also I have heard cheap bullet mufflers that sound like arse. This cheap one I bought may fall in that category, but all I need it to do is muffle a little as the magnaflow will do the most. So we shall see.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Your exhaust is going to be a bunch of mufflers welded together :lol:

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

yeah baby :D

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Spotted a tiny leak that looks like it's starting to form at one of the heater hoses where it is clamped. Glad I found it now while scouring all over for any leaks, instead of finding it when it blows up on the freeway somewhere.

So I ordered up both new heater hoses since they are both probably from 1991 and the other one is probably just waiting to go out too.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Well got to drive the shit outta it this weekend since it was beautiful out. I've got about 200 miles on it now since the rebuild. So far it's running pretty damn well. I used to have the FIAV/ISC blocked off. I decided to reinstall it all, so I could have an ISC again to help the car idle better. I did still leave the FIAV blocked off though since the car isn't driven in real cold conditions. With the ISC installed, the car idles 100X better then it was in the past. Just start it up and idles right away. It still hiccups every now and then, which I blame on the large injectors and cams. But I don't need to worry about it almost dieing or anything. I think I'm really going to like having that ISC again.

One issue I am noticing is that after a good bit of driving, the car likes to push some coolant into the overflow. And if it gets too full, pukes it out the overflow drain. So I bought a 1.1 bar cap from O'Reilly's since they have them on the shelf, hopefully that'll help a little. I still may buy a 1.3 bar one from MAP though. And I still need to finish building my scoop underneath to help direct some more air into the radiator.

Oh and I also wired in, and am now running, an Evo8 MAS. I used the plug n play airflow adjustment numbers off the DSMLink Wiki, and they appear to be working pretty well.

All in All, I'm just happy I've been able to drive it around for 200 miles, and for the most part it's running great!!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Nice! I wanted to take mine out too but was too lazy to put the battery back in the car. I can't wait to check out your car again!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Yeah, likewise. This spring has been a long time coming.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Congrats man, must feel good! Now go sign up for the dyno day :D

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Yeah it feels great being able to drive it around!

As for the dyno day, not sure if I'll sign up considering I'd like to get it on the dyno and tuned here soon at DB. So not sure if I want to spend another $50 shortly after to make nearly the same numbers.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Gratz B-man! I am jealous!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Same here on the dyno thing. Now that it's done though, you have to give me a ride. I'll try and remember how it felt three years ago or whenever that was that I rode in it, then compare to the current setup, haha.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Yeah I remember that. I remember that was when I had a driveshaft carrier bearing issue, so it was a bit bouncy feeling when I was on it.

Right now it feels about the same as it did then, because I'm running around on 15psi. Hopefully it'll feel a lot better after I get it tuned. The only thing I'm worried about is that the only 2 times my car was ever going to get on DB's dyno, some sort of catastrophic failure occured just before hand. Hopefully the 3rd time is the charm...

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Big thanks to Momin / Elite! Got my exhaust issue resolved, and took the old hooker muffler off and put on just a standard straight through oval SS Magnaflow. Car sounds better. Still a little loud, so I may consider throwing in this last resonator.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Today I tried to track down an oil leak that we seen while at Elite. I cleaned off the leak yesterday. Today there is absolutely no leak at all. I'm kind of befuddled...

So I then decided to install this Self Powered Infiniti Sub that I got from old man Hill awhile back. I have all the wiring installed. The sub works and man does music sound so much nicer now. The stock 1G system sucks. All I have left to do is to mount the fuse, and then screw down the sub itself somehow.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I might have to check the beast out soon if its cool with you.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

My/our pleasure. It is still a little loud, but sounds better with the new muffler.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Sure Brownman. You can stop by anytime. Although there really isn't that much to see as it's nearly the same since the last time you seen it.

And yeah, still a little louder then I'd like it to be. We'll give it some time. I really am wondering how big of a difference this other muffler/resonator would even make. Noise kind of just comes with the territory I suppose.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I have the same sub in my car. Sounds pretty nice and is easy to take out at the track.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Now you can bump it to bobby brown!!!!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Too Hot To Handle, To Cold To Hold, They Call The Ghostbusters And They're In Control... Grabbed Their Proton Packs Off They're Back And They Split...

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Well I decided to park the Talon after lunch today and drive the Saab back to work. On the way to lunch, I heard a ticking sound. The car has always ticked slightly upon warm-up, even before the rebuild happened. I've always considered it to be cold start piston slap due to the forged pistons and the material Mahle uses. This ticking today did get quieter after the engine warmed up, but didn't go away fully. I have about 250 miles on the motor so far since the rebuild.

I've never heard what rod knock sounds like, but I figured to be safe I'll just shut her down and start doing some investigating. Tonight I plan on pulling the valve cover to see if a rocker has fallen off. Also I'd like to check to see if the lifters are still good, but I guess I don't exactly know how to tell if one is bad (unless it has real obvious physical damage). Any advice? Anyone local who is more of an expert in this area, willing to stop by and listen to the ticking and give me their .02 cents?

One other thing I did notice in my quick 10 minutes of lunch time troubleshooting, is that there really isn't much tick when you free rev, or just cruise down the highway. But when you get on it, that's when you can begin to hear the ticking...

Worst case I suppose would be rod knock/spun bearing. I really have never heard a car with rod knock, so I have no clue. I guess I'm just preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best, all a guy can do eh..

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Im guessing its just lifter tick? Try and narrow down where the ticking is coming from if you can.

Man that would suck if it was something worse.. if it is, and I were you, dsms would be done... lol

Good luck!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I'll be at work/the shop, but if you don't get any takers let me know, I'll swing over to help diagnose.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I actually had a dream last night that I traded the Talon in for a C5... hmmm....

I highly doubt that'll happen though :)

I will spend time tonight trying to narrow things down as good as I can.

If no one else steps up, maybe I'll just stop by your shop Momin. I love your new location :D

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Even though you haven't heard rod knock, you will know once you hear it. It's more of a knock knock knock on a door than a tick.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I'm also considering picking up some Seafoam or MCCC to clean up the combustion chamber. The head I put on had fairly dirty valves on them. Lots of shit cooked on them. So that may also be a cause. Hopefully some MCCC can wipe out a lot of that build up.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

My timing belt makes some slap noises at certain rpms.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

You used the valves that head had on it already? I thought you had it all rebuilt with the stuff from your 1g head.

Anyway, I always had a bunch of lifter tick with that head, so maybe that's the issue. Especially with Mobil1 10w-30.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

So how does one tell if a lifter is bad? Will it just push/plunge in and out easily without having to do poke it with a pin or something?

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

It was rebuilt using the stuff from the old head, like the Crower Springs/retainers, and new stem seals. The old head was stock valves, never had upgraded valves in the car. 4 of my valves from the old head were destroyed. So they just used the same valves when they redid this head. I figured they would have at least cleaned them a bit, but they didn't. I regret it now, hindsight is a bitch like that. I figured some E85 would help clean the crap outta them. I just called Dodge in Blaine, and they have some MCCC so I'll pick up a bottle of that, and suck it in through the PCV after work, and hope that it can clean those things up. I guess I don't really have a way to tell if they really do get cleaned or not.

But really at this point, what I really want to know if it is rod related or not. Because if that's the case, I need to start figuring out what to do ASAP as spring is damn near here.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Rod knock will usually make a somewhat hollow almost wooden sounding knocking noise on decel, like it you rev it up quick and then it decel back down on it's own. You can also then unplug each injector 1 at a time and see if the noise changes on any specific cylinder. The rod knock noise should get quieter on the cylinder with the spun bearing with no combustion happening/less load on it.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I'll try that. Maybe just turn off each injector 1 at a time via Link.

From what I've noticed thus far, the ticking (not knocking on a door sounding, not hollow sounding, it's more lifter tick like) is apparent when I put a load on the engine while accelerating. Free revving, and deceling (meaning letting go of the gas pedal, but remaining in gear) I didn't hear the tick.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

You sure you're not hearing the injectors? Didn't you upgrade while you did all this, or no? Maybe you have some loud ass injectors.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Same injectors (blue top PTE 1600's) that I've been running for a couple years now. I didn't really do any upgrades while the car was down. The only things that have really changed recently was switching over to an Evo8 MAS, and putting in a new fuel filter and new fuel feed line. But the car has been running fine with them.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Sounds to me like it's lifter tick. Do you know if it has the stock lifters, or the revised 3mm ones in it? When I put my cams in I used the 3mm lifters, and I haven't had a problem with lifter tick since.

They're pretty easy to install, the only shitty thing is, that you have to pull the cams to do it. It's not a big deal though if you have the timing belt tool that takes the tension off the belt so you don't have to take the timing belt off.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I do have the revised lifters.

I took the VC off and everything looked fine. I tried to wiggle each rocker and they are all nice and stuck in place. I tried pushing down on lifters and they were all stiff, couldn't push any down.

Stopped by Dodge and picked up 1 can of MCCC. Sprayed the whole can through the PCV line. Smoked out the whole neighborhood :) The car has been idling for quite awhile now. I'm going to take it around the block to see if the sound has gotten better.

Brownman did stop by, and heard the car idle, and free rev. Sounded like he didn't think anything was abnormal.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

He was just here, no worries, just a little normal valvetrain noise(maybe a lifter starting to die).

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I was just about to say the same thing, i was just there.
Mo you back at the shop finally? i gave up stopping by to see you.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Yeah, thanks for stopping by Brownman. We'll see ya Friday maybe.

And another big thanks to Momin and Andy at Elite, for taking the time to look at it quickly.

Apparently just some valvetrain noise, thank god. Also another thought was that currently I'm just running around on some cheap 10W-30 oil for break-in. Hopefully when I change over to 15-40 some of that noise will dissipate.

So for now, I think I'm just going to stick with the DSM motto, and "Let er Buck". I have an appointment at DB for a tune, so I suppose that'll be the true test :D

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Yup, finally back on my feet(kinda).

Get her tuned and enjoy it!(just make sure to mention to Shane to keep an eye on your coolant temps).