flounder

Progress... I got an F1 stage two carbonized kevlar clutch and PP. Should hold up to 250ftlb of torque, it looks like a quality product but the clutch material isn't very thick. Will probably last 10-15k miles with the type of driving I do, but I only put on about 4-5k miles a year.

I'm off to autozone to pick up a slave cylinder and then it's complete.

Next stage, clean engine compartment.

flounder

Has anyone ever painted their waterpump pulley? I'm thinking about painting the front of it the same blue as my block. Add some color to the front.

Yay or nay?

flounder

Bit of an update....

My new engine mounts came in the mail today, and since I will be installing the engine in the driveway I have been hoping for a nice weekend to get started. This weekend appears to be in the high 30's/low 40's so I will try to at least shoehorn this bastard into place tomorrow afternoon.

I had a 2hr window last weekend where I pulled off the hood, gave the cradle a good cleaning and had a chance to wipe down most of the engine compartment and get it ready.

If the weather works out, I will hopefully be posting pics of progress by sunday night.

flounder

Progress...

Well, I got more done today then I thought I would. Engine is in and the engine mounts are installed, I still need to bolt together the ppf, install the driveshaft, exhaust, radiator, IC piping, etc, but most of the wiring is connected so I am hoping to have it idling by tomorrow afternoon!

flounder

She runs!

After I realized that I had the s-wire and the oil sender wire crossed, I dry cranked until I got oil pressure, popped the INJ fuse back in, and it fired right up.

It sounds healthy, no leaks I can see, and the stiffness of the s2 clutch kit feels so nice. I'm still a couple of days away from a test drive but so far so good.

I will put up a vid soon.

viperormiata

iTrader: (24)

Looks great man!

soviet

iTrader: (10)

How did you clean the head/block headgasket surfaces? I'm going through the same thing and was told not to use anything abrasive on it.

flounder

Use this exact disc. It's good for the block and head, and anything else on your engine for that matter. Don't use the green hard discs, those cut away too fast and will mess up aluminum pretty quick. Just make light sweeps until the surface is clean and even looking. You don't need to run the grinder at full speed, I usually turn down the regulator on my compressor to about 40-50psi.

Back to the car, I haven't started it/worked on it since Sunday night and from the looks of my week probably won't have any free time until the weekend. I will update on the weekend.

flounder

Well, Detroit got hit with 4" of snow friday night, so my lazy *** spent all weekend on the couch. Hoping for some better weather in the coming week so I can wrap this build up.

flounder

Ok, I got a chance to do the first test drive on Saturday afternoon. I've put on around 30 miles so far and the only issues to note are a very small oil leak running down the oil return line and my downpipe is touching the trans tunnel causing a vibration/humming.

I am pretty sure the leak is just a loose clamp on the hose, and the vibration may be from the new engine mounts I installed. I think I need to add a shim or two and hopefully that will give me more clearance between the tunnel and dp.

I kept it under 4k rpm for the first 20 miles, but let it rev up to about 6k after that. (wastegate wired open and zero map on emb) It runs good, the clutch already feels pretty solid, it only hops a bit when backing up but even from a dead stop going forward it feels really nice and the pedal travel feels stock. Only 470 miles to go before I reconnect the wga and let the fun begin!

The next time I take it out, I will snap some new pics.

wittyworks

iTrader: (6)

Definitely make sure that you let that clutch have it's break in period. You should have done some more research before buying the stage two, I think there's a couple threads here about it. It's pretty good up to about 200, but once you fry it once it starts to degrade. Mine would slip getting on the highway when I hit like 4500 rpm in third gear full throttle. I wasn't dropping it at that point, just accelerating. Sorry to post somewhat of a bummer post. If it does slip, I would suggest just getting a fm setup.

flounder

I hope I have better luck.

Specs for it say 291hp/260tq. My turbo is only a china 2854 so I don't think I'll see anywhere near those torque levels at 15psi.

I guess we'll find out in about 470 miles

flounder

Went on a nice long 80 mile excursion today and my confidence with the engine and clutch is building! But no boost yet.

The clutch has felt great since about 20 miles in. The pedal is a little stiffer but I like it, and the engage point feels identical to stock.

After I hit 60 miles, I ran it up to about 6500rpm a few times and one thing I noticed is how much stronger this engine feels above 4k then before the rebuild. I can feel the vics kick in like vtec yo! Even with 0 boost (watching the gauge) it just feels like it's going to be a beast. Compression numbers at 57 miles was 185 psi even across all four when warm. I will test it again at 500 miles.

I was able to fix all the leaks but the dp flange where it meets the cat is touching the trans tunnel and driving me crazy. Lots of vibration in the cabin whenever they rub together. I am not gonna sweat it though since it will all be replaced shortly with a nice 2.5in system ending at a straight through muffler. I am debating on cutting the flange off of the dp and sliding a new intermediate pipe over it then relocating my wb into the intermediate pipe.

I also removed the little vapor canister from the engine compartment and capped the ends off. It definitely makes for a cleaner look. I ordered a new 2 row aluminum radiator from ebay which should be here by Wednesday, and yes, I will be wrapping the heater core hoses very shortly.

Only 375 miles of break-in to go.

flounder

250 miles to go. Honestly, the engine and clutch both feel rock solid and I am growing impatient for da boosts.

Today I went out and did some NA launching with redline shifts and nothing has slipped, leaked or exploded. I'm seeing boost creep to about 1-2psi by redline and it's making me horny. Me thinks 300 miles is my new target for the fun stuff.

Does anyone think I should go the full 500?

Golferluke

I don't know if i'd be doing redline shifts half way through breakin period? Just take a quick trip up to bay city and back and your good to go. Only 4 hours away from boosting with piece of mind.

flounder

RX8 injectors arrived today.

flounder

Here is a shot of the new radiator.

flounder

I installed the new injectors on Thursday night and have been tuning for 12psi at the moment. It's so nice to have bigger injectors! I'm seeing afr's in the low 11's at 70% DC.

The clutch is holding the power just fine so far, and I plan on turning it up to 15psi within a couple days.

I really need to get the exhaust situation taken care of, I feel like I'm leaving about 30hp on the table with this pos stock system. I don't want to wait 2 months to order one, so I think I'll make a trip to my friendly local exhaust shop and see what they have to offer.

psiturbo

iTrader: (1)

Huge difference the exhaust system.

Good job!

flounder

3" straight, magnaflow#12579.