Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I got a fin under my radiator to just like that

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Hey it took me three afternoons to change my tranny, I'm such a noob.

Glad to see things are coming together on the car Brandon! I want a ride sometime

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

LESSON LEARNED

If you are installing a SMIM, and your stock brake booster line does not fit, do some research before just adding some 3/8" hose. There's a friggin check valve inside the OEM vacuum line that goes easily un-noticed. I've been boosting into my brake booster for the last few weeks now and couldn't figure out where this boost leak was coming from. I feel like an idiot, and just figured I'd warn anyone else out there reading this, so they don't do what I did.

Thank god I just happened to have a bunch of extra 3/8" check valves sitting at home randomly from when I did my Catch Can setup!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

So, the dsm oem valve is invisible from the outside?

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

That sucks Brandon, Hopefully you didn't blow the diaphram in the booster.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

It is shoved inside the OEM line. Now that I know about it, I can see it if I look down the inside of the hose. It's in there a good 3" or so.

And my brakes seem to be working just fine. I guess I'm not sure how to really test if it was damaged a little bit though. Maybe I'll change it out this winter just for safety sake.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Your brakes would feel a little stiff, like you would have to push harder to get the same ammount of stopping power. If the pedal feels like it did before, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Well, you want to have it working how its supposed to, the brake booster needs a check valve.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Yeah, I did put one in. Like I said above, I had like 5 3/8" check valves laying around from when I did my catch can setup. So about 2 minutes after I posted up the lesson learned, I installed one of them. So it's all good now.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Car is running better and better every day.

But tomorrow it will be heading in to MAP to get the new clutch and tranny installed.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Nice one. The end is near!!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Just got the car back yesterday. Lil Brown did a good job on the install, and also let me know of a couple little issues he took care of as well. I think he did a great job. This tranny shifts way better then the old one.

This is the first car I've ever been in with one of the new Fidanza clutches also. I have the 4.3 one. I was expecting it to be very grabby, which would make it a lot more difficult to drive, and very jerky. It is a bit more grabby then my old X-Clutch, but really not bad at all. So far I'm very impressed with the drivability of the clutch.

Now I just need to get some pieces painted.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Some more small updates.

The front bumper and the side trim piece that many have seen fell off my car awhile back, were both dropped off yesterday for painting at none other then Osseo's Maaco. They should be ready for me tomorrow.

I removed my TB and Kevbo is rebuilding it better then I did.

Also removed my compressor cover and brought it in to MAP. Kyle welded a 2.5" elbow onto it for me so I could ditch the 90* coupler and the hump hose couplers I was using. The welds look great, I'm real happy with it. This is going to make the lower IC pipe assembly fit a lot better then it used to. I had everything tightened as much as I could before, but was popping the couplers on the lower IC pipe off right at around 30psi. So getting the lower IC pipe to fit better was high on my priority list. I ended up just using about 8" of that diesel radiator hose that is often used as couplers, between the elbow and the lower IC pipe. It is a bit long, but I like it because it would have been hard to lengthen that pipe and still be able to get it down there easily.

Anyhow, that's it for now. If I get ahold of a camera I'll take some updated pics.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

sounds good now to get some numbers on it

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I'm signed up for the Mitsu Cookout Dyno Day on Saturday. I guess we'll see how it does then. It won't be professionally tuned or anything, just tuned by little ol' me. Hoping to be somewhere around 30-35psi.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Sick i hope 35psi+.

Hopefully he put beads on those pipes.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

All the piping is the same, just a new elbow on the the turbo is replacing 1 of the old pipes/bends, and the cast elbows come with a lip on them.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Cant wait for the results!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Woot! Get that thing on the rollers, excited to see what it does? I may just have to venture out for this....

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I'm anxious to see numbers. I've been considering switching out my gt3076r for a BW s300 or the s362

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

basically the reason i am going to the dyno day

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Some pics.

Here's the looong coupler I used for the lower IC pipe. It may not be the most efficient design in the world, but it made fitment so much easier which is why I like it.

Also just powder coated this valve cover the TKR Mark gave me. It will be going on my car. I was going for a somewhat OEM look, but with a little twist. So instead of the stock silver/grey and red, I did it in Gunmetal and red. I think it'll go well because all of my piping is gunmetal as well.


Mark if you're reading this, my plan is to coat your 2 valve covers tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

The valve cover is awesome!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Looking good in the neighborhood.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I like the VC.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

That valve cover looks really nice.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Nice work b!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Got the IC pipe coated as well. Also got the TB back from Kevbo, thanks again man!

Everything is back together. Now to just get it running right!

The new VC looks pretty good I think!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

looks good

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

That looks damn good. The VC is sweet!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

As many know, some bad crap happened and it's getting a little bit of an overhaul right now.

Just thought I'd add some updates...

Pistons/Rods are all installed. I ended up getting a 2G head from Andrew for cheap. Jet has it now and is doing a little bit of port work so it'll mate to my 1G SMIM.

I got my new oil cooler setup on today. I picked up an external oil cooler, and picked up some AN/Push-lock fittings and hose. In the end it cost around $100 for the entire setup. Pretty happy with how it turned out, and the mounted location should work out nicely. She feels pretty sturdy :)

Here's some crappy cell phone pics!

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Nice, keep up the progress so we can all rock the spring opener.
Also I hope that you put the bumper on to see the clearance.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Of course I did. The bumper is already back on. Worked out great.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Very nice, that's where I have mine as well.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Updates:

MAP welded a -10AN bung onto my oil pan for me. The goal there was so I never have to buy another gasket/crush washers for there again, and never deal with leaks there again EVER!

Also, just got in from torquing the rod bolts down. Using ARP Moly Lube, I torqued them to snug, then to 25ft/lbs, then finally to 42ft/lbs. Then loosened and repeated. Got that info from this thread:
http://dsmlink.com/forums/showthread...d+bolts&page=2

Anyhow, I have an oil pan gasket on order from Napa, and should be here Friday. So hopefully Friday I will have the oil pan back on and be done under there.

Then just waiting to get the head back from Jet, as he is port matching it for me. Then bolt everything back up and cross my fingers...

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Some quick pictures with a real camera.

One is of the new Oil Cooler with the bumper on.
One is of the Oil Pan with bung welded on, and -10 Push-lock fitting that'll be utilized.
Last is of the motor, with one new piston in the freshly honed cylinder. I used a bottle hone on it. I may try to clean the surfaces of those other pistons up a bit since they do have some carbon build-up on them. I tried chemically cleaning and that's as good as I could get them. What else could I use, brass wire brush?

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

Where did u get that oil pan fitting for the pushlock line?
Also good luck with that oil pan gasket there are a lot of mixed reviews.
Wire brush or emery cloth but use care.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I would never use an oil pan gasket. Just grey RTV but let us know how well it seals up.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

I got the fitting from MAP. It's just a -10AN 45* push-lock fitting.

Re: My Winter Upgrades
 

You could media/sand/walnut blast the pistons to get the carbon off.