Stuff that stinks, stuff that doesn't
 

In the process of my build, I have had some bad times, some disappointments and pitfalls. I created this thread to share stuff that pissed me off or frustrated me during my build. Please follow along with stuff that pissed you off.

However, I have found stuff that I had not appreciated fully, and stuff that I did not know that existed before starting this build. I am going to share that too.

Lets start with something that has been torquing me off since I started tuning.

My God'damned tuning laptop and the windows operating system in general. Ok, so it was essentially free, but the thing overheats if I breath on it too slowly and then it freezes and/or stops updating my tune in VEanalyze Live. When it gets hot, it has a tendency to stop processing incoming cell changes. I then have to quit tunerstudio completely and log restart it to get it to start working again. If I dare tuning with the top down (since the A/C isn't quite tuned right yet) it overheats quicker. It has actually frozen so hard that I disconnected it from power and the megasquirt and carried it around with me for 20 minutes fully powered up (still frozen) hoping it would finally become responsive and I could save the tune I had been working on and hadn't saved for awhile. No luck. I had to reboot.

Then to really piss me off, it does this: Installs a mother'frakkin windows update while I am trying to tune. I had to stop at a gas station on my way to work last week and sit for 25 minutes in the freaking parking lot while it updated. I had to wait, because I had just turned off all idle control so I could let VEAL tinker with the lower load and RPM scales. If I took my foot off the gas it would die. Also, the laptop battery was almost dead so I had to keep the car running and on the AC inverter so it could finish the update. So I sat. Twenty-five minutes in the parking lot holding my foot on the accelerator at 1000rpm. FUCK!

And then it did it again on me yesterday.

Stuff that doesn't
 

Ok, I am only going to post one good thing in here for now. I hope this thread doesn't end up sucking.

First thing - Wrap and Seal tape. We used to use something like this in the military but it was orange and had a green stripe on one side. It has a backing on one side of it, and when you remove the backing it is just plain rubber. However, when it contacts itself it will eventually form a bond that is damn near permanent. I am using this to wrap all the wires I have to splice or work on in the engine bay. It's reasonably priced too.

Seriously guys, you need to check this stuff out!

Here is the exact stuff I use: http://www.elecdirect.com/product/73...fb896cb41.aspx

This stuff looks more like the stuff I used in the military: http://theelectricaldepot.com/index....x&cPath=14_178

Dude, turn off automatic windows updates. None of my computers update unless I tell them to.

Now back on thread topic:

Sucked: Clocking the old t25 I got from my brothers sr20. Ended up having to cut a bolt head off and replace all 4 bolts for the CHRA. This is after I soaked the damn thing in PB blaster for over a week and took a torch to it.

Doesnt suck: Begi turbo parts (cast mani, downpipe). Once the turbo was clocked everything bolted up like magic. No rubbing or anything. I had to extend my test pip 1.5" to make the exhaust bolt up because I'm running a 1.8 manifold on my 99 motor in my 90 car with a 1.6 downpipe. it was really fucking close to lining up though, not a big deal. Satisfied.

The BEGI aluminum heat shield is shit. Fitment is just terrible using it with a kit that it is advertised to work with. Prepare to trim the shit out of the shield to route the coolant lines around it.

Forgetting to add gas, then making part out thread because car doesn't start. Now that stinks.

Hahaha i remember seeing a thread like that a year ago. Someone that was troubleshooting something for ages and then figured out the problem being the car being out of gas.

LOL i missed that one. I know leatherface had something similar happen though. The motor was knocking and it ended up being a loose crank pulley or something.

Sucked: Having to remove my gt2560r and port a wastegate channel because it was overboosting.
Serious design fuckup by Garrett, and even more of a disappointment when FM told me to restrict my exhaust. wahhhh???

Sucked: SPEC clutch

Sucked: NGK spark plug wires(still sucking)


Everything else is awesome.

Everything is awesome on my car except the time I decided that I needed another hole in the firewall. As I ran the drill bit through it, I hit a constant 12v wire I had going through there to my lc1. This caused it to ground out and glow red melting off the wire coating. It also was carelessly placed right against my brake master cylinder, which got a hole melted it in and the brake fluid leaked out. I have since reroute a the wiring and to this day there is jb weld on my master cylinder. Doesn't leak a drop anymore.

Sucked: Spent days pulling apart the turbo and piping(twice) because I couldn't get above 5 psi and there were no leaks...........cat was clogged with rust from inside of RMDP.

Not sucking: Artech stainless turbo back exhaust to replace everything.

Lots of fun stuff in my DIY build.

Sucked: Pulled some of the exhaust manifold studs out of the head along with the nuts. Had to helicoil some of them and take the studs to the work maintenance shop to get the nuts off.

Sucked: Major exhaust leak due to poor placement of a downpipe bolt/nut. Ended up buying a stud, cutting it down, cleaning it up, turning it into the turbo housing and wedging a nut under the bend of the downpipe in order to seal it up.

Sucked: Made a piss poor wastegate bracket after re-clocking the turbo so the oil feed would be vertical and not horizontal. As a result the turbo wouldn't boost until ~3,800 rpm. Made a new bracket and hit full boost in no time.

Stuff that doesn't: being faster around the track than a friends Alltrac at 20 psi and race gas.

Stuff that doesn't: surprising anyone at the stoplight or track who can't tell that the car is turbo.

Sucks: Working on a stock car. Did some work on a friend's car recently and I had forgotten about all the stupid crap that's so annoying to work around. Every little harness is bolted down in 8 places, the horrible coiled clutch line, the exhaust manifold bolted to the transmission, power steering and AC junk, EGR and all the extra emissions crap. It's so much better once you rip it all out.

Sucked and will suck again: Fitting Sparco Sprints onto factory rails. They fit fine and easy in my NA. I figured swapping them to the NB would be easy. Hell no. Took me two afternoons of grunting to get them in. The rails don't fit their holes at all. Even bought another set of rails in the idea I had mangled mine or the previous owner (who might have) did. With a large pry bar, lots of sweat, lots of little tweaks tothe rails, and tons of swearing they fit. Still have no idea why they were so hard to fit in the car.

Suck: Dropping tools/parts on body work and the ensuing dings/scratches. Then only realizing after the fact some towels could go a long way.

Stuff that doesnt: EFR Turbos. ;)

Stuff that could go either way: AN fittings direct an lines and fittings. They seal, they're cheap, its annoying as shit to have to cut the braid off the line the length of the olive. Aeroquip doesnt have that problem.

Sucks, turbo oil drains that only have space for 3 inches of line so hose ends have to be perfectly angled

sucks, v-band flanges that fit really loose on the pipe (treadstone)

sucks worse, v-band flanges that need to be hammered onto the pipe (silicone intakes).

sucks, fiberglass header wrap.

doesnt suck, DEI Ti wrap

sucks, EMS4

doesnt suck, Swain White Lightning coating

What Sucks: Most all "brake cleaner" solvents since they went CFC free.

What doesn't: Autozone brand brake cleaner. Seriously, this is one of the only ones worth a damn anymore.

Sucks, buying a coilpack and finding it has the wrong connector and then splicing it. And then finding 2 years later that intermittant stumble is because you did a shitty job splicing.

Doesn't suck, having someone buy you a winning lottery ticket, that actually happened to me, unfortunately it was only $3 and that kinda sucks.

Sucked: Redoing the water pump 5 times before realizing that Bosch units are flaming hunks of shit.

Didn't suck: Got my cooling system VERY clean refilling it so many times