Astroboy's reliability build (pic intensive)
 

Backstory: 90 chassis from Long Island that went cross country to Oahu after its first swap (short nose to long). Did some autox in Hawaii, swapped to a BP, did a hackjob boosting it, and shipped it back to CT. Sorted everything out and cracked out 213whp/191tq@9psi on this setup: BP, coolant reroute, OTT intercooler setup, RX7 550's, standalone MS1, Koyo 37mm rad, modified ebay catchcan, 8.3lb flywheel, stage 3 spec clutch w/ aluminum pp, hondata im gasket, tubular mani, 3" turboback exhaust w/magnablow highflow cat and blowmaster muffler.

Going to:
COPS
99 Head w/ dual exhaust cams and fm cam gear (only have one)
84mm supertech pistons 9.0:1
mtuned rods (5 pre loved ones)
mtuned dual feed fuel rail
190lph hp fuel pump
Injector Dynamics fuel injectors 1000cc
new gaskets, pumps, and belts
6 speed
3.63 gearset
torsen


Head is going to have work done on the ports and valves. Block is going to be bored, dipped, and checked for straightness. Everything in the rotating assembly is going to be balanced.


Currently interior is out thinning out the harness, engine is going to be pulled by this weekend, have the shop picked out for the head and block work (about $900 for everything from a reputable shop), and have almost all the parts for completion (waiting for the gearbox to come in, and need to order/find the gearset and torsen). Once the engine is pulled I am going to clean the bay up and do some stitch welding in the engine bay and cabin followed by paint.

My finish time is the end of March or when my wife has our kid, whichever comes first. Have some sorta constructive criticism?? Lay it on me. Want to be an unconstructive dick? Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfcefpoCj0M

Pics:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5247/...ddd231d7_b.jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4810688_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1790535_n.jpg

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3056517_n.jpg

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4040083_n.jpg

I'd like to thank everybody that sold me their old parts for sweet prices! I will be uploading pics of the hardware and engine bay when the engine gets plucked later in the week.

I want your front bumper

I did too, until autokonexion made the deadline for payment christmas day. :vash:

Build looks good so far, now where exactly are the reliability mods in that list? I see built block, head work etc, but what is going to make it so reliable?

Built engine and the 6 speed. I am going to get some pretty full proof lines also (water and pressure/vaccume). I couldn't think of a better title but that was the driving force behind this build...get 300ish whp and not have to worry about grenading the gearbox (currently using a 90 5 speed), blowing/melting a line, bending a rod, or breaking a piston.

The bumper is going to go under the knife after the car is up and running to give me some more clearance.

6 speeds will break at 300 still. It's more than stock so there us more load increasig wear.

But it will last longer than the 5 speed.

I love the hotside charge piping...

Maybe if he tracks the car every week and is in boost for hours at a time. Most if not all 6 speed failures are track oriented.


Plus, he might have a magic 5 speed! The ones that last forever, like mine :giggle:


Astroboy, your car is cool looking. I had "so-so" feelings about the Adore bumper but it's growing on me.

Thanks guys. I may have the magic 5 speed but don't want to push it. It has made magical whining noises for the past 60000ish miles. I am going to be tracking it out here once she is put together so we'll see how the 6 speed does.

She's now ready to have the engine pulled. Should have it out tomorrow, only a month behind schedule :(

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7128035_n.jpg

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._5740612_n.jpg

The goods:

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3392885_n.jpg

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7334262_n.jpg

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3248291_n.jpg

And if anybody knows the origin of this Exhaust manifold please chime in. I am trying to decide if I should move the ewg off #4 and get it to draw/exhaust off all cylinders and if so how.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...4_900562_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._2693331_n.jpg

This is what will be attached to it:

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...1_333628_n.jpg

And I need to make this my avatar:

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...0_934225_n.jpg

I like your exhaust manifold...its different. I'd definitly try to move the ewg to the collector, maybe on the bottom side if it would work there..

In to watch.

What turbo is that? T3 something?

I really want to move the ewg to the top and plug the opening for it...or build a new manifold seeing how 2 runners are the same length, one is an inch shorter, and the one with the ewg is an inch longer.

Fae, there is no lable plate on the turbo so I am going by the wheel measurements and the mt guesstimate is a 3071 made by Garrett and is replacing a 3074 by Turbonetics it is a Garrett T3/T04E 50T .48/.60

Today we managed to make a HUGE fucking mess, put together an engine stand, and gank the engine/transmission out. Everything looks kosher to me so far :D We'll see if there is more to the story upon teardown this week.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._2943850_n.jpg

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4721468_n.jpg

Nothing says, "reliability" like a mystery turbo!

I also think the front bumper is cool.

How does not knowing exactly what trim turbo I have, have any bearing on the reliability of the car? Perhaps it won't spool as quickly as I would like but I don't see how a rebuilt turbo will my setup less reliable. Care to elaborate jack?

For valentines day I cleaned up some oil, removed all the accessories, removed the head, and took some pics. All the cylinder bores have the crosshatching still in them and it looks like I was leaking some oil from valve seals (especially from #2 & #3). I am not sure what is going on in cylinder 1 & 4 but I am sure when I pull the rotating assembly out I will extract more info from it. Here are the pics:

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._2680293_n.jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4386476_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._8240740_n.jpg

Cylinders 2 and 1 (in that order). It is hard to see but there is a black spot at the top of cylinder 1 only on the left side of the cylinder and only at the top.
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...2_704607_n.jpg

Cylinder 4 and 3 (same) and cylinder 4 has the same shit as 1. I can't feel a pit or anything so idk what's going on.
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1511043_n.jpg

And my discombobulation:
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...4_461294_n.jpg

I want more details on the camera setup.

I do as well.

All your pictures are fantastic, they make mine look like a underwater disposable.

Oh and I like your manifold a lot. I may copy the design, hope you don't mind ;)

This seems to be a common mod on the forum.

The majority is with my cheap 18-55 Nikkor, the one with sweet dof of the engine out is with my 50 prime, all shot through a D5000 with a steady hand. Very minor photoshop (No sharpening things) and it is hosted on facebook which is known to reduce the quality of hosted photozzz.

I don't mind if you copy it, if I decide to make a new manifold (which would be a copy of schlammed's design) you can just buy mine ;)

Rip your car into tiny pieces?

You inspire me in 2 ways:
1) Your car is torn apart and there is still snow on the ground (damn u and your garage)
2) You take the time to wipe off your hands and pick up your fancy camera. IDK if my Canon XSi will even go into the paint booth this summer

Ill have to swing by in the miata soon and make you jealous that my shit runs.

I do post cleanup photos, your setup will be fine in the booth post spraying; and you better come over and flaunt your running top dropping shit. I still need to see what a 6 speed feels like with a 4.1 rear :P

It gets old quick. a new rear end is on my shopping list for late in the season.

annihilate harness

My main reason for doing that is to get rid of all the air bag wiring. A little bit of me did it to clean up the harness but the main drive was to bid farewell to all the blue wiring (bottom right of my garage pic).

no special lighting? just the garage lights?

Most lighting is from fluorescent lighting but there is also a window next to where I take pics so I will arrange things to get that nice sculpting light from the window (which is usually brighter than the fluorescent).

Completed the teardown. Going to mic the crank tomorrow but everything looks good to me. I think the black marks on the cylinder walls is just carbon seeing how there are no abnormal marks on any of the pistons or rings. Now I need to get a new harmonic balancer bolt, cam gear bolts, acl race bearings, acl thrust washers, new crush washers for the oil squirters, and new transmission stuff.

Block:
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._2478708_n.jpg

Old pistons and rods (still straight):
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4779286_n.jpg

Crankshaft:
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._5600277_n.jpg

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._5182503_n.jpg

All together now!
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...9_505272_n.jpg

So today I stopped being a sickly bitch, got some shit done, and took photo's of said shit. Head is torn down to go to the machinist with the block and rotating assembly through a snow storm no less and am nearly finished with the drivers side of the harness. Should have it all done tomorrow; so be able to put the harness back in its original channeling and bolt it up. Here are the photos:

Soldering in stages for the edfc from l to r: soldered, heat shrank, and tinned
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7666900_n.jpg

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3146548_n.jpg

Loom coming out of drivers side:
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1254349_n.jpg

Completed (but still need to connect the wires to the plugs at the end):
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._8314681_n.jpg

Torn down 99 head:
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7009459_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3421969_n.jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1204825_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4557913_n.jpg

And my organizational skills:
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4393690_n.jpg

Finally a fender wire tuck I'd be proud to call my own.

looks good!

Thanks guys. I'll have finished product shots tomorrow after I battle the snow. Probably won't get to do the passenger side like I was hoping though :(

Head and block are at the machinist. He had to deck the block a tad because there was some rot on the seating surface between the cylinder and one of the water jackets. The exhaust cam is being cut and drilled for intake cam duties along with a cleanup of the ports and valves. Should have it back by the 7th so between now and then I need to finish the bay, the wiring, and figure out what I am going to paint the block with.

I finished the loom for the passenger side today and started to start mocking up the wiring in the cabin, going to swap the power source for the LC1 to the ecu switched pwr so they will have the same power source powering them. PICS!

This miscreant washed up on my door step monday, just took it out of the box tonight:
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6910969_n.jpg

Little more tidy:
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3091585_n.jpg

Current bay situation:
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._8067308_n.jpg

Passenger side loom:
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...1_276063_n.jpg

Got these neglected puppies for my daily once the snow goes away :D
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._5887022_n.jpg

astroboy - your pm box is full I need your address to send this conector. PM me or email me.

Sorry about that, shot you an email.

Spent some time today getting the 21 years of filth cleaned up. Finished up the passenger side, tomorrow I am pulling the master cylinders and getting the rest of the drivers side. I took a pic before I started to work on the drivers side for effect, and the back corner of the drivers side is black because there is so much surface rust there.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7941800_n.jpg

Love the pictures man, keep em coming

Looks amazing dude!
Are you painting the bay, or did i miss it?

The EFDC is nice, I would love to get that setup for my mkV GTI.

Thanks! Your desires will be fulfilled with copious amounts of photographs. Here's one now :D

I am going to do the bay carbon gray with some other things to make it a unique bay...maybe pink dildo's...maybe heat reflective tape. Not sure yet :dunno:

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1963198_n.jpg

Up next is getting the rust off, removing the dp, getting the seam sealer out/off, filling the unneeded holes, and stitch welding. Lots of stitch welding :drool:

All the seam sealer that needs to be out (where we are stitching) is out with nary a scratch. Also got the amphenol, diff, and ARP head studs in. Thanks a lot to you guys for hookin a brother up! Also the machine work is nearly complete and I found some ARP cam gear bolts..Just need to verify the cam gear bolts are M12x1.25's

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3312162_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7545776_n.jpg

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._5082579_n.jpg

ARP cam gear bolts? The big bolt that goes in the middle? Do those shear off??

Also, what is that diff? I don't recognize it.

This.


So far a great build, subscribed for more!

Yes and not that I know of but I have a strong desire to replace mine and seeing how they are like $20 shipped I don't see why not.

It is a mazdaspeed (04) diff with torsen and 3.9 gears which will be pulled out and put in my 94 carrier.

Why it look funny? Is the MSpeed diff different than the other two torsens that mazda used?

Well the ms torsen is a bosch unit that is a sprung torsen. Now I am not sure if I can get it into my carrier...may be putting this bad mofo back on the market :( I'll figure this conundrum out yet!

Link to wire bulkheads, please?

I got it from sean and he got it from here:

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trk...All-Categories

Probably came from the mother land and has a high rad count but that will most likely help my build ;)

You can also call these guys, get a local vendors number, talk to the local vendor, and get exactly what you want in the $100 range:

http://www.amphenol-aerospace.com/default.asp

I need an assortment of wire colors to rewire my car, any idea where I can get an assortment of wire?

I like to find wire harnesses for other things/cars because they come in a wide variety of colors and gauges. I picked up a trailer wire harness for extending a bunch of wires and it worked out quite well. I did similar with a junk wb 02 harness. Radio shack and home depot sell spools of single color wire for reasonable price...just make sure it is stranded.

So it looks like the torsen is the same as all 03+ ones and it is a torque sensing one. Still not sure if it will work though. Guess I'll find out when I go to put it in.

I bought a lot of automobile grade wire from http://www.wireandsupply.com/category_s/23.htm

They have pretty good prices.

damb that connector looks so much better using a real camera instead of my phone.lol

Yeah it does, I can't wait to wire that fucker in!

Well the bay is thoroughly stitched. Still need to hit a few spots with the grinder but sans an hour of grinding , seam sealer, paint, and some re-routing of brake lines the bay is done. Should have it completed (like ready for the engine to go in complete) by this time next weekend...or at least that's the goal. Here are a few welding shots and the finished for tonight product:

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6232069_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7728945_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...4_540757_n.jpg

And when we were done headaches were had by all thanks to all the undercoat smoldering :ugh:

Your seam welding looks so much prettier than mine does. Sweet pictures too, I like the photography in this thread.

Please take some pics of the brake line rerouting. I am thinking about doing that some day.

Thanks, my buddy is a whiz with a welder. I was the fire blower outer guy and the remove the excess wire guy.

Most definitely will. Nothing crazy though, I don't want to have my brake lines running through my cabin. They are only going behind the cowl along with the proportioning valves, shouldn't have to wory as much about heat soak with them back there.

This makes me want to pull my motor and do all the seams in my engine compartment even more. I am already going to tuck the wires so why not.

Got the bay sprayed and pit the brake booster back in for the running of the new brake lines. Once I have it properly bent I'll be pulling it back out and painting the lines and associated firewall hardware. The area that is only primed has something special for it but won't be going on until the brake lines are finished.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._5742404_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._2744799_n.jpg

The color is daytona carbon gray and it won't ever become glossy.

Love the color! Id just be leaving it like that. Keep up the good work

yeah that color is badass. Leave it!

love the gray