Here is the new car. I was looking to go f production, but a friend made me a deal I couldn't refuse on this 99. Although it is not turbo charged, I am sure there is a huge knowledge base that will allow me to get the most out of this car. I plan on going to the runoffs this fall, and would like to represent myself well. The car is still in storage at PPIR, I will be picking it up in the next couple of weeks to start the prep work for the upcoming season.

 

That looks like it could be a lot of fun.

 

So I decided to perform the valve retainer upgrade today. Here are the pics, this first pic is a comparo shot of the two retainers. The original on the left and the new retainer on the right. The new retainer is 2g heavier than the originals. You can see how much more substantial the replacements are.



Okay, this next shot is staged, but always remember to block all of your oil return passageways.



This ensures that the next non-staged photo does not happen to you.

These two shots are taken from the eye piece of my borescope, they are a little hard to make out, so I will describe. What you are looking at is a valve keeper/cotter sitting in the middle of the bottom of my oil pan. Because, I failed to block off the oil passageway then proceeded to demonstrate my butter fingers or as I prefer, my hole in one prowess with cotter golf. Fortunately, the cotter went down the passageway that sees double duty as the dipstick passage, so its free fall to the pan was unobstructed. After I said aww shucks for my bad luck, I broke out the trusty borescope and inspected the passageway. There was no keeper/cotter to be found, which meant that it had to be in the pan. So I drained my $10 a quart oil out hoping that the keeper would come with it. But no such luck. I broke out my trusty borescope once more and low and behold a photo op. There not the best but I think you can make out the keeper. I was able to fish it out with a telescoping magnetic pickup tool.

So remember, do what I say, not as I do.......**** I need to go buy a lotto ticket!

 

Wow. I just bought magnet telescopes this week actually. I thought that I dropped this little metal spacer sleeve on the intake manifold into the frikken head. It was actually on the upper plenum :(. Then I bolted the lower manifold on and proceeded to cut a zip tie and have it explode and drop plastic bits down into the intake. Had to take intake off and put it back on :(

What oil do you run that is $10/q?

 

Amsoil???

 

Ha. There's two retainers in my subaru engine somewhere.

There's also countless exhaust manifold to head nuts somewhere in my crossmember. I tend to drop things and they don't hit the ground and they are lost forever.

 

Schaeffer 9000 fully synthetic. It has a high zinc levels which helps with certain wear items within the engine. On my f20 it is very beneficial to the cam chain tensioner.

I'm not quite sure how they are able still use zinc as an additive, maybe it is because they dont manufacture a large quantity of oil

 

You run that all the time? From what I've seen, most, if not all, high zinc oils are marketed/sold as break-in oil. Typically only meant to be run for the first 1 or 2 thousand miles and then swap to normal oil after everything has soaked up the zinc and been work hardened.

 

Let me correct myself; high zinc when compared to normal oils. Yes I run it exclusively, I need to do a bit more research on how long I can, or should run the oil with e85. Currently I change it every 1500 or so, but my car is not a dd so it is not to bad on the wallet.

 

Wooot! Fantastic f20 engine conversion! Looks good.

 

I apologize if it's in this thread and I missed it (I didn't see it), but could you elaborate on what you did when you relocated the steering rack? How much did you move it, and more importantly, what did you do to make sure it wouldn't ruin any geometry, or what have you?

I'd love to do this swap (as if that'll ever happen) and this is the one thing that really worries me.

 

Pg #1 & 3, have information on the steering rack. I did have to push the rack forward a little bit but, it has not affected the steering. The car has normal steering effort and feedback, there is no change in bump steer.

 

I cannot get over this build, every single time i have an issue with my car and am ready to give up on it i jut pop in for a reminder of the beast it will hopfully be when i get outa school.
that is if theres jobs available when that day rolls around.
keep up the good work, and +1 on the panaspots, i had a set of 14x7 panasport uls on my 1974 bmw 2002, wish i woulda swapped em onto the miata before i sold it.

 

^^^ Thanks for the love. The turbo project on this car was my gift to myself for finishing school. I have plans to wide body the car at some point, but have decided to go racing this year, so the project is on hold. Besides, when I really let this car run I could get in trouble. Were as with the track car, I never have to look over my shoulder before I let it rip.

 

You MUST get a proper video of it. Preferably 1-6th WOT pull

I've said it 100 times and will say again: this car makes me giggle like a girl.

Can't even recall how many times I've linked people to this thread to drool

 

After I get proper traction there are a few performance runs I want to make. They are 0-100-0 and the standing mile, will need some aero mods for the second.

The car makes me giggle too.

I had the car out last week and bitch slapped a GTI, the guy asked me what I had under the hood, when I told him, he responded with "I've heard about your car". Can't help but smile a little bit when you hear that one of our girl cars is getting a rep!!!

 

Curious... What are your eventual power goals?

 

^^^ Not sure about final power goal.

The car is a beast as is, and nothing is stressed at this point. In other words I am on the very conservative side with my build and tune. I could get another 100 horse with my current setup just by turning up boost and fuel pressure, but why? The car is crazy, loose your license in a heartbeat fast now, and completely reliable. I could jump in it right now and head to the east coast without worry. No leatherface, I **** another engine cuz Im boost addicted and power crazy issues here.

That being said, At some point I will put a 600 hp tune on it and have a low/high boost button, but where in the world could I possibly use 600hp and not get in trouble? I can't do it with the 485 I have now. The 600 number will be a nice graph for car shows, but I seriously doubt I would drive the car that way as I like the inside of my engine where it is....on the inside.

 

Bitch lol

 

Maybe so, but at least I'm in one piece and running.