Re: Evo X upgrades
 

He's not sure right now...no compression in 3 of 4 cylinders, sounds like the motor is dead now. Funny thing is he went back to stock and was on all stock components...one theory is a piece of the wheel may have gotten into the motor after the failure.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Yeah, I exchanged a couple PMs with him on EvoXforums. This is the same guy that swapped turbos 5 or 6 times (outdoors), in front of his townhome. He's industrious but I don't know if he's competent.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Jake's Evo couldn't help but come to mind when I thought of his situation, drill bit in the motor, lol. Hopefully it was something like that and not the turbo.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

scheides is a fucking genius.

/case closed

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

LOL nice work. Glad its fixed!

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

LOL, +1 for Scheides i guess. did the clip come off or something?

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Cotter pin FTW!

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

LMFAO! How the hell is that possible! It happened on the SAME DAY! Unreal. Slap that thign back on and boost boost boost!

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Crazy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dmraBaOmtU
My fix:
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/wp-cont...aperclip_1.jpg

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I picked up a clip with a lock as well. It's a little longer than I'd like but I hope it works. I'm going to run to scheides' tonight since getting the arm back in place with compressed air would be a lot easier than strongarming it.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

First time i did the WGA tightening i used my hands, it was real hard, and actually i had to back it off one turn because i just couldn't get it...second time was at noob mod day at Scheides...WAY EASIER! Good choice.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I say enlarge the holes and run a suitcase padlock :D

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I'm sitting at the office and dreaming about the short course at BIR. I can't wait for the next TTM date on the 23rd.

Scheides helped me square away the WGA issue in just a few minutes last night. I hung out for a couple hours and handed him tools...I think there was only one bolt holding the turbo/manifold on when his 11pm curfew rolled around.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

lol curfew. Glad to hear its taken care of. If you are cruising around I should be wrenching a little bit before hitting the streets myself tonight.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Not a great start to the day. Was driving over to Dad's to do an oil change and heard a strange sound...started looking around and discovered a nail in one of my tires. No problem, I paid the stupid 'hazard' insurance at Discount Tire and ran over there.

Turns out that Stellar had stripped out some of the aluminum caps that screw into my Rays lug nuts. I had previous noticed a couple light scratches in my rims that weren't there before but shrugged it off since I wasn't 100% how they happened. No doubt about this one.

It'll probably take an easy out to get it off...then the misery of trying to special order a JDM replacement part (often can't be done and you have to buy a complete new set). Discount has a new tire on order for me, anyway.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

That gets two sad faces:

:( :(

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Think I should go buy an easy-out and an electric drill? I'm not sure if I should wait and bring it to Stellar or not. That's a longish trip on a tire with a nail in it.

--
I started typing an email to Justin but I'm just too mad. I can see what they did--they stripped out the plastic hex key that Rays sent with the lugs and switched to a steel hex wrench. The reason Rays sends out the plastic one is because aluminum is softer than steel and will easily strip it out.

I was mad when I ruined my first set of aluminum lugs because I was dumb like that but an alignment shop that works on nice cars all the time? They should have known better.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

WTF, Sounds like Stellar, isn't so stellar.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

I'm a guy that tends to give people the benefit of the doubt for a long time but so far:

1) Lip scratches on two of my wheels. They are light scratches but they weren't there before I brought them in. It's hard to be sure where these things come from so I didn't say anything.

2) Left the adhesive from the old wheel weights on the rim. Not a felony but it struck me as lazy.

3) Now the problem with the lug inserts. I'll probably end up removing them all and running without them. That feature is unique to the Rays Formula lugs but it gave a nice, clean look.

http://www.vexmotorsports.com/assets...rmulablack.jpg

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Either these were cross-threaded or the heat from the track day caused the threads to stick? Now I'm not sure which it is.

At Discount Tire can get the new tire on for me on Wednesday. This was the first time that I actually paid for their $100+ road hazard and I'm glad I did. $240/tire!

http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/a...10/inserts.jpg

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Man, that blows Mike...it'll work out though :(

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Are they going to shave the tire so it matches the same rolling diameter of the other 3 tires? Pretty damn lame about the lug nut situation, I'd bitch and make them pay for a new set. Or get these baller ass lugs: http://www.cbrdspeedfactory.com/Abou...5/Default.aspx

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Oh man, that really sucks. I'd take the car back to Stellar, raise some hell, and demand they replace every damaged component. Taking proper care of a car is easy, not doing so is pure laziness which is unacceptable when dealing with expensive components on a car that someone is obviously very anal about.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Good question about the tire shaving. I don't know if that's something that Discount Tire can do or not. Every other car that I've owned it wouldn't matter.

Kracka, there are times that I wish I had some of your fire.

It seems like there are two types of people in the world...careful and not careful. It only takes one 'not careful' person around your stuff to wreck it for good. It's pretty much inevitable at some point. Growing up it was always my kid brother...he doesn't even have to try, damaging things is like breathing for him. <sigh>

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

So true man, so true :(

Example: Bright yellow/black Lambo Superleggera in my parking garage at work; he has the first reserved spot with a Bentley on his driver's side. Problem is on his passenger side is a handicap spot... I come out from work and see a Ford Taurus with handiplates on it parked about a foot away from the Lambo. Look a bit closer and there is a HUGE dent in the passenger door, looking a bit closer you can see the yellow paint still stuck on the Ford's driver door! The dent has since been fixed, but I can even imagine what paint and dent repair must cost on a Lamborghini.

Reminds me of my old coworker who flung my other coworker's Cadillac door right into a minivan dinging the hell out of both and paint chipping both.

I really hate how most people treat cars as an appliance and think we're nuts for caring otherwise. This especially irks me when you're at an automotive shop. It's like going to the doctor for a prostate exam and getting kicked in the balls.

http://www.carzi.com/wp-content/uplo...eggeraside.jpg

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

You hit the crux of it there. This didn't happen at a dealer, Jiffy Lube, or a run-of-the-mill tire shop. It happened at a shop that focuses on alignments for high performance/race cars. I'm not the only guy that is going to roll in there with $850 rims and $340 lug nuts.

For the record, I did find a door ding that was undoubtedly done at DB. Then again, the car was there for 3-4 months and they have to pack them in like sardines at night. That's the sort of thing that I can forgive.

As a complete aside--the guys a Discount Tire in West St Paul are pretty amazing. Really professional and they love my car. They mounted the tires on my rims without making a single scratch. I'm pretty impressed with them and that was a place that I was *worried* about bringing my rims to.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

^They do quite a few nice cars though as well remember. I am usually happy about the service i get at my discount tire...but am still afraid they will wreck something.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Justin from Stellar sent me an apologetic email. I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. I had my first set of Rays "Duraluminum" lug nuts fail so at this point I'm super skeptical that it is a strong enough metal to use for a lug nut or an insert in one.

goodhart, I'm sure those CBRD titanium lugs are stupid-priced but titanium might be a strong enough metal for the application. I know I'm just a n00b but I've developed more respect for CBRD the more that I've learned. They have some truly quality shit. You can be baller and buy crap or you can be baller and buy good stuff. I've done a bit of both.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

If it comes out of CBRD or Chad says something is good then you can rest assured it is of the highest quality.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

So, I spent some more money on stupid crap. It's not my fault, I still have a little credit left. I blame it on the banks. They should know better. :beer:

My first impression is that leaving a stop light is a bit easier. I've had too much vodka tonight so please ignore this post and any future ones. lol.

http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/a...ingbooster.jpg

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Here are the pics showing what some rear toe dialed in will do to your tires in one track day. I really didn't do all that many laps, either.

http://s959.photobucket.com/albums/a...enger-rear.jpg

http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/a...nside-edge.jpg

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Well if the Rays lugs were $340, $2xx doesn't seem to bad for the CBRD lugs I guess. More than I would ever pay, but that's just me. They do claim it will shave 2 lbs off the rotating mass, so that definitely isn't a bad thing.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

Yeah, for all four wheels combined plus they're pretty much at the center of the spinning mass.

Are those tire now useless, lomker?

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

WTF happened to your tires?

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

As far as Stellar's workmanship is concerned, that is precisely why myself and the vast majority of Minnesota Autosports Club members go to Jeff the Alignment Guy.

Looking at the tires I don't see what you're concerned about. There is still a lot of tread depth, and the pictures look like they've hardly been used. Buy yourself a cheap tread depth gauge at an auto parts store, then you will be able to see exactly what's going on. Toe in/out is nice as long as you are concerned about those extra few tenths of a second per lap (which you shouldn't be) and have a tire budget which rivals that of an F1 team (which I doubt you do.) I'm interested to know what made you want to have toe in a non-competitive car.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

As far as I can figure this thing is nothing but a throttle signal booster, basically when you give the car 50% throttle this thing sends a 60% (for example) signal to the ECU.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

x2. As far as I can see, it might be just slightly negative? but for one track day, those tires look pretty good though.

Mlomker, I used to work with the guys at West St. Paul Dicount Tires. Some of them are even friends and I'm sure when they saw your car, they liked it ALOT. :) heck, I would. If I were to change any of my tires, I go to where I used to work (discount tires) just because I know they do quality work on tires if you ask them to.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

My sentiments exactly, top to bottom.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

If they are that cheap then I'm not sure why they don't list a price on their website. The only issue that I see with them is that none of them are locking/secure lugs. At least with the Rays they are all 7-sided.

I'm concerned that they aren't going to last a Summer if that's what they look like after just one trip to Brainerd. I'd prefer to only buy one set per year since it's over $1k/set after you pay for mounting, balancing, and all that.

Based on some of your comments, you don't follow this thread regularly. Stellar was fairly insistent on the rear toe whereas I had gone in there asking for 0. I deferred to his advice but I'm inclined to go back and have him remove the toe now.

I tried getting an appointment with Jeff last Winter. He wasn't good about returning emails or phone calls. I've also had people tell me that he doesn't like to do corner balancing and that might be why he wasn't returning my messages. It wasn't a good first impression. Maybe I'll give him another try next Spring if I only need an alignment.

Not according to them nor my initial impressions. Leaving from a stop without bogging was more difficult before because there was a brief delay after a throttle input. I installed it like 5min before finding the nail in my tire so I can't say much beyond that at this point.

Re: Evo X upgrades
 

http://www.cbrdspeedfactory.com/CBRD...ous-Parts.aspx


Price- $285