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379/1000 First Start ....Build Log

Chim55117

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2007
Messages
429
Location
Little Canada, Minnesota, United States
Again, major props. It always inspires me how much skill, fabrication, and time you put into this project. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif
 

524of1000

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2008
Messages
574
Location
San Antonio, Tx
WTF! I spent Like $200 at FFWD and they never gave me a sticker! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif
I can prolly swing by for a little bit tomorrow and help with yours as I really don't feel like playing with Betty at the moment. She's being a bitch /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 

G

Staff member
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Messages
8,896
Location
zompton
Wait, no oil cooler?
 

broxma

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
911
Location
San Antonio Tx
No oil cooler.

I spoke to Darren about that and he reassured me on something I already knew. It's really not needed for a normal car. Many of the guys over at EvoM have removed their factory coolers and have no issues. This car isn't going to be my DD very long. Once I sell my Evo I'll get something more realistic for everyday driving.

And the secret to getting a sticker. Ask for one.

/brox
 

G

Staff member
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Messages
8,896
Location
zompton
I wouldn't consider that turbo and the other after market parts as items that would be used on a "normal" car. If your just fixing it up to sell it, well then that's another story.
 

broxma

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
911
Location
San Antonio Tx
Well by normal I mean DD. This car is not meant to be a full time DD nor is it a track car. I plan on doing some straight line stuff and using it during the winter.

Normal? Yeah, probably not at all. However, I am confident it will be fine given the usage and conditions under which I plan to use it. If this was meant to be a track car running laps all day, oil cooler would probably be a good idea.

/brox
 

G

Staff member
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Messages
8,896
Location
zompton
Then why are you hooking up the oil and coolant lines to the turbo?
 

broxma

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
911
Location
San Antonio Tx
This is a joke right?

/brox
 

broxma

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
911
Location
San Antonio Tx
Tonight was start-up night for the new turbo setup. My new 3" 4 bolt O2 housing is clocked slightly off and doesn't allow for any access to one of the nuts holding the DP on. I had to nail it with the impact until I finally got it to seal. Even so the DP is out of whack a bit but not so much it bothers me. I'll be having the QTP cutout welded in this week so I'll adjust it then.

Fortunately, and for the first time, there were no leaks. The car sees boost at around 4K with the Ebay GT35r and at 13 PSI the butt end of the car squats like a weightlifter with a prolapsed rectum. It's not exactly responsive at low RPM but I am yet to do a compression test since I re honed the cylinder walls with the FlexHone.

I only have about 18 miles on it since the install and have yet to turn up the boost or tune it at all. It's still on the base tune I had using the AGP turbo which may be a bit timing heavy on the top end. The switch to E-85 will happen within the next month or as soon as the station near me opens up.

In all, even riding three people deep with one portly fellow in the back, the galant seems to be laying down some good power. I have a few loose ends to tie up tomorrow and will get some pictures of the final setup with a full list of all the PITA parts I needed to get the thing running. Overall, thus far, I am mightily impressed. Again, this is all an experiment. I will run it until I kill it or I get the BB 35 I have my eye on.

/brox
 
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524of1000

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2008
Messages
574
Location
San Antonio, Tx
It's a kick in the pants. For sho. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif
 

broxma

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
911
Location
San Antonio Tx
Finally got around to taking some pictures of the Ebay turbo installed. A little explanation will come with these so bear with me.

28l8cg3.jpg


Engine pic. So the GT35 has a 4" inlet due to the anti-surge ports. I had to buy a transition coupler to go from my 3" intake to the 4" compressor. In addition, the compressor uses a 2.5" outlet so I had to buy a 2.5" 90 degree silicone bend with 6" legs to match it up to the existing pipe. The existing pipe was in fact already 2.5", however the AGP turbo was a 2" outlet so I hacked the welded on 2" bend, used the circumfrencial weld as the bead to hold on the new 2.5" bend and cut it to length to fit the compressor. There is almost no room between the turbo and the radiator and the compressor housing itself prevents the hose from going on more than about an inch. I used good T-clamps to keep it in place.

30wwhn9.jpg


You can see how close everything is up front. To get it all in was like a puzzle. First I got the turbo in and clocked it to its lowest position. Then I fit the lower IC pipe, then I removed the pipe. Then I put the radiator in, then put the pipe back on.

257i1ps.jpg


Another of the squeeze. You can see the 90 -6 an fitting I used here. The oil line is actually run under the water pump hard pipe and into the turbo at a perpendicular angle to the block, from the back. I didn't have time to get a large spacer to allow for the feed to run over the compressor. In addition, the oil feed fitting on the turbo? Yeah, -4 inverted flare, basically a brake line fitting but the wrong thread. Took an hour to find one that worked and unfortunately it's aluminum. I wanted a steel fitting to get more torque on it but instead had to use some teflon tape to keep it from leaking. The bottom of the fitting is again, -4 inverted flare, but the top is -6. Well that's a problem because the feed line, oh hell yeah, it's -4. So it goes a bit like this.

-4 inverted flare to male -6 / -6 female 90 degree both sides / -6 male to -4 reducer / oil line

The drain was not much better. The flange was standard Garrett smaller flange so I tapped it for a 3/8 npt barb fitting. I used the factory return pipe, hacked off the flex section, flared it and ran fiber line between them. The 3/8 NPT is oddly the same OD as the oil drain tube. Thus far it is not leaking.

11h8i0w.jpg


So this is the dump tube and the "Modification" I did to the cross brace. Honestly, I just beat it with a hammer. At some point I will pull it, cut it and weld a new piece of steel in there or just build a tubular one with plates to support the lateral braces.

rr894g.jpg


Here you can see the FFFH and the dump tube. The dump sits almost on the IC pipe. I actually had to cut some of the IC pipe down at the endtank connection just to get it to clear at all. With the FFFH, there is enough room I could have moved the dump out a lot further, but hindsight....

So this is what I actually did tonight. This was essentially spurred on by Steve(524of1000) due to his top notch work with the mini OEM Evo Gauges I gave him. Basically, I gave him the OEM boost and oil temp gauge that my Evo came with and he made a pretty badass little holder for them where his clock was. I'll get him to take pictures of it. Anyway, not wanting to feel left out but stuck with 52mm Prosport stuff. I went ahead and made this.

fuwfhs.jpg


Unfortunately, the gauges don't sit flush. I have to either cut the bezel or build a spacer, but they fit nice and tight. I have the Boost and Wideband in there now but I'll probably drop the wideband for FP or OP since I can log the WB with my laptop.

6edvug.jpg


Installed with the radio trim piece in place. Just need to find a solution to the flush sitting issue and it won't be too bad.

2ut2khe.jpg


So this is what she looks like. Pretty much the same but different. The toilet plunger hood prop is now a fairly well known accoutrement and I am considering buying one of those really nice plungers like Adam Sandler sold in Punch Drunk Love, like all sparkly and stuff.

2czbm69.jpg


The finally running and not smoking night time shot. last thing I am looking for are the front rotors since mine aren't quite right.

315c0tt.jpg


Still missing the last few MM on the pad. No worries, the car stops.

Next step will be the Evo seat install since I just paid Boz for the Evo 8 Seats he was a selling. Having the brackets should make it pretty easy. Steve is going to take my old seats I think but one needs some stitching. I'll get pictures of that install up next week. Until then, I am going to finish the gauge wiring, get the WB installed and start doing some street tuning until I can get on the dyno.

Thanks for looking.

/brox
 
Last edited:

524of1000

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2008
Messages
574
Location
San Antonio, Tx
I think trimming of the bezel would work quite well. And since you asked...

 

broxma

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
911
Location
San Antonio Tx
Well we have the first failure of one of the Ebay parts. Oddly, not the turbo. The wastegate it is. I finally got the boost gauge hooked up and took the car out. Running the gate directly from the compressor housing with an 11 psi spring, I am hitting pressures north of 25 PSI at WOT. This is directly connected with no MBC or EBC in line. So step one, replace wastegate with something that may actually work.

/brox
 

broxma

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
911
Location
San Antonio Tx
Second failure in as many weeks. This time, Again, not the turbo. I did inspect yonder turbo tonight and she is right as rain.

Clutch. I had a Ebay clutch laying about which had been in the car since I put it back together. It was one of those "F1 Stage 9000 Super cool looks like the real thing but ain't even close" clutches. Well a few days ago I'm motoring down the road and suddenly I press the clutch pedal in and whoops, No slowy downy. I can get the car in gear if it's not running, but in gear, clutch in or clutch out, doesn't matter, it's moving.

After a bit of looking I realize the pedal is fine, the slave is fine, the TOB is moving, gotta be the Disc or PP.

So a spring on the Ebay cheapo disc broke out, wedged between the disc and the flywheel and basically locked the two together. So no matter what I did, I could not disengage the clutch.

So I bought a Spec Stage 3 clutch tonight. I'm going to resurface the ACT flywheel I have and throw that on with the new clutch. The Ebay PP is actually fine since the spring bounced out flywheel side. The flywheel is OK as well but the disc is clearly not good. The spring began to rip the other springs out as it beat on them and wore down the edge of the rivets.

So, I'll grab some pics of the clutch going back in. Should happen this weekend if shipping works out.

/brox
 

broxma

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
911
Location
San Antonio Tx
Yes. I bought a 1995 Infiniti G20t which I have been playing with. I needed a car good on gas mileage to drive cross-country so this is what I chose.

The Galant has been fairly static for the last few weeks. The only real changes have been to the ECU map which I have started tuning. I am putting 1650cc injectors in it after the holiday but am holding off on the bottom end rebuild until I get a SR20VE motor in the G20.

/brox
 

broxma

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
911
Location
San Antonio Tx
I'm sure none of you have been waiting anxiously to hear about how the Ebay Turbo is holding up. It has been mentioned in passing a few times in some other posts, so to give you an update...

The Project Ebay Turbo is an amazing success story thus far. The unfortunate thing about the turbo is that it is way to large for my wastegate and I cannot actually control boost. Boost has shot as high as 32 PSI at times and I have been doing a lot of throttle boost control. The plan for the future does not remove Ebay from the fray as I plan to actually delve deeper into EbayLand with the next purchase. I am already using an "AMK" ??? ebay manifold which I had to heavily modify to get to work and a Tial 38mm wastegate. Full open with a wastegate dump I hit 11 PSI at around 4K and I'm at 30+ by 4700. My next purchase is going to be the OBX T3 Manifold with a 40mm wastegate. Oddly, the OBX manifold is the only manifold with a lifetime warranty which instills me with no confidence what so ever, but it can't possibly go any worse than it is right now.

This has been the major setback which has held me back from doing things like actually tuning the car, or taking it to the dyno. Why tune if I can't control boost at all? Why dyno if the boost will not be consistent? So until I get that sorted out, serious work will be on hold. However, as per custom, I have a bunch of pictures of stuff of little consequence.

First, this should give you an idea of how much I've been driving the Galant lately.

2csbhfr.jpg


Now this isn't because it isn't the best car I own, but with the battery issue and the boost issue, I was sort of waiting for a resolution. Plus the Infiniti gets like 35 MPG as opposed to the 12 I get in the Galant. Regardless, soon as the issues I have get resolved I'll be back in the Galant.

Onto the rest....

Let's start off with the 89 Manual seatbelt install. So I got very lucky at the junkyard, same yard I got most of the rest of the stuff for the car (4 bolt LSD, 29mm swaybar, etc). I found a really nice condition 89 Galant with a grey interior. So I set about ripping it apart of course. I grabbed the underdash panel, that goes without saying. Yes it's wonderful, and it matches color. I also grabbed the entire seatbelt system including all trim pieces. It was about this time that I realized, A) contrary to what is commonly thought, there is no actual write up on doing this, and B) this is not a "Bolt on/Just slap it in there" mod. That idea is BS and anyone who says otherwise is a liar. Fact.

First things first, Do this...

ehjaeo.jpg


Essentially remove all the plastic, front to back, including the O SHee handles because you will be pulling the headliner down a bit. Take out all the rail stuff along the pillars, the old belts, everything. I was not careful during this process since I had no intention of putting any of it back in.

Here is where you'll be doing most of your work, except for the drilling into the sheetmetal, more on that later.

2qa8t91.jpg


This is where the old mechanism was in the bottom of the B pillar. You reuse the forward uppermost hole for the mount location.

e9szll.jpg


So this is how you mount the 89 mechanism. One huge problem. There is a heavy metal thing which sat there before. It is removed, but it had one very important function. It was the hole for the plug which held the plastic trim on. So for my money, it had to go back in, else there is an ugly hole in the carpet.

So you modify it like this.

2hwpg5w.jpg


Essentially you just cut off the one side which now interferes with the mechanism. You cannot lay it over or under the new mount location, so it has to be cut if you want it back in.

280joll.jpg


This is why that piece has to be cut. The plastic cover for this.

So for the upper mount, where the belt is on the top swivel, you can reuse a bolt hole already on the car. However, that location will not correspond to anything on the trim. You will have to drill a large 3/4 inch hold into the 22 year old plastic. Then comes mounting the trim. Yeah, that doesn't fit either. You have to drill a new hole for the plastic push lock thing to go into because if you reuse the one that is there, it sits to far forward.

107jevk.jpg


Here you can see the original hole on the left and the new one on the right. It is at the correct height, but wrong distance on center. You have to do this both sides. Oh, and the A pillars? Yeah same thing. The "Holes are already there" notion is nonsense. Almost nothing is there. Even the mount for the retractor mechanism at the bottom of the B Pillar is not how it mounts in the 89.

The bottom of the B Pillar also doesn't sit as low on the side and kind of pops the door card when you open it. I am yet to take a longer look at this but I think I can fix it. Regardless, this is what you get.

27wrpn6.jpg


A very scary looking Steve in your back seat next to your new manual belts. This was after just getting the Passenger side in, he was this happy, and we hadn't even begun the other side.

Oh and the 91+ headliner is different than the 89, so the trim won't fully cover it. You can see what I mean in this picture. You can see the fray of the edge of the headliner under the trim along the top. The trim is Factory 89' and the headliner misses it by about 3/4 of an inch.

2mdmbdg.jpg



So I bought a Braille for my Evo but the guy I'm selling it to has a stereo going into it so he wanted a bigger battery. So I got the braille. Good thing is I already have custom bucket for the Braille I had built for the Evo, which fit nicely, back in the exact same spot I originally had the battery in the first place.

e0jst0.jpg


The Perrin filter just fits next to it and I made a new BOV return line for it. I am going to pretty up the wiring tomorrow with some Solder-on stuff and some 2 gauge.

Next on the list. So the same guy who is buying the Evo, didn't want the Charcoal Drag DR-31's. He wanted the Evo 9 wheels I had on the Galant. So I simply swapped those over. They are the same offset and tire size, 235/45/17 and both had z-rates on em so I really don't care. If anything, it makes the front brakes stand out more.

5vnakg.jpg


Last mod, which has thus far been an abject PITA.

n4uxhs.jpg


K-sport coilovers. So I bought them from someone off the forums here with the knowledge that one of the camber plates had broken. This in fact, is and was the case. It makes no difference because I have an extra set of camber plates, but the issue is, on that same strut with the busted camber plate, the bottom bracket to mount to the spindle is crossthreaded on the actual strut. What does this mean? I can't adjust the height of the strut at all. My belief is the same upward thrust which broke the camber plate also pushed the aluminum bottom up and shanked the entire assembly. Needless to say, the one strut is essentially useless to me so I called K-sport and am getting a new strut.

Now I know what you're saying, you would be able to break it loose. That's what I said. That's what K-sport said. Wrong. So I put it into a vice, attached my plumbers wrench to the strut, and attached a 6 foot breaker bar to the wrench, and probably had in excess of 1000 ft/lbs on it given the distance off center. That essentially ripped the vice out of the table. It's done, finito, finished.

So those will go on later. Other than that, got some stuff to sell so I can buy the manifold. Beyond that, full bottom end rebuild with forged stuff, probably from Darren at FFWD because he is awesome.

Thanks folks.

/brox
 
Last edited:

524of1000

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2008
Messages
574
Location
San Antonio, Tx
Purchasing parts from Derrin or having him do the entire bottom end? Cause having him rebuild is gonna net you one bad ass block... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif
 

broxma

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
911
Location
San Antonio Tx
Much time has passed since I have updated this post. In the next week, there will be a change to the turbo setup in the car. This change should fix the underlying problem which has plagued it since the GT35r went on which is abject lack of boost control. I have decided to go semi-expensive, semi-Ebay with the solution, but I have it on good authority that the low end part of my solution will get a rave review. I say low end, but really should just say upstart and not Import specific. Regardless, holes will be cut, things will be slightly changed and I should be able to finally hit the dyno with 379. The important aspect of that is does the GodSpeed Ebay GT35R turbo hold up on the dyno and what kind of power will it make? This is considering, the thing is an absolute monster as of now and has been flawless thus far. The question was posed by me many months ago as a way of taking the anecdotal evidence of crappy Ebay turbos to task. This will finally be verified.

So when the new stuff arrives the post will be updated with pictures and an in depth look at what is going on. In addition to the changes to 379, Steve's car, 524/1000, is getting a new booster and should be laying down close to 350-400whp when we are done with it. The dyno on 379 will definitely be in September. I am going to call for a time once I get the new setup on.

/brox
 

Nartanian

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
611
Location
Richfield, MN
Amazing work and write up. Your work is always impressive. Looking forward to your final review of the eBay turbo.
 
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