Long time lurker, first time poster
08-23-2017, 11:17 AM
#1
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Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: NH
Posts: 7
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Long time lurker, first time poster
Hey all, I'm John from NH. I bought my '94 back in Sept '15. A coworker was selling it so he could get into shifter karts. I test drove it and loved it, so I sold my '04 STI and bought it. The car had 147k on it, had a color matched oem hardtop, and was already turbo'd. I autox as much as I can.
Here's a picture of when I bought it
Since then I've done Vmaxx sport coilovers, Advanti storm S1 15x9, and maintenance items like timing belt, water pump etc as its come up
And how it sits now with 156k two years later
The turbo set up is very much a homebrew diy setup that works but isn't the greatest. Already had a diypnp ecu and RX-8 injectors. The turbo is a bit on the large side for my needs, and I'd like to downsize to something like a gt2560r in the future.
What finally made me make an intro post is I overheated the car driving up Mt. Washington last year. I didn't realize I had a leaky radiator cap and also didn't notice the temp gauge was pegged. I pulled over and shut it off when I had steam coming out the overflow bottle. Oops. I was able to put water in the radiator and drive it home without issue once it cooled down. I took the car to a shop in town to check it over and they told me it was ok, so I've kept driving it.
Where I'm at now is the Headgasket needs to be replaced because it smokes (steams?) on a coldstart on humid days, I have a little oil in the coolant but no coolant in the oil, and at the last event I was at once I parked it and popped the hood I noticed the coolant rushing into the overflow from the radiator. Still runs as good a sit ever has though.
I'm going to lurk more as I do more research. I'm trying to figure if I want to do internals when I have the motor apart. I'd like to have 250ishwhp one day. Coolant reroute and a rollbar are in the nearer future.
I didn't intend for this to be so long but here we are. If you made it this far then thank you. If you have questions because you're curious or I left something out let me know.
Thanks guys.
Here's a picture of when I bought it
Since then I've done Vmaxx sport coilovers, Advanti storm S1 15x9, and maintenance items like timing belt, water pump etc as its come up
And how it sits now with 156k two years later
The turbo set up is very much a homebrew diy setup that works but isn't the greatest. Already had a diypnp ecu and RX-8 injectors. The turbo is a bit on the large side for my needs, and I'd like to downsize to something like a gt2560r in the future.
What finally made me make an intro post is I overheated the car driving up Mt. Washington last year. I didn't realize I had a leaky radiator cap and also didn't notice the temp gauge was pegged. I pulled over and shut it off when I had steam coming out the overflow bottle. Oops. I was able to put water in the radiator and drive it home without issue once it cooled down. I took the car to a shop in town to check it over and they told me it was ok, so I've kept driving it.
Where I'm at now is the Headgasket needs to be replaced because it smokes (steams?) on a coldstart on humid days, I have a little oil in the coolant but no coolant in the oil, and at the last event I was at once I parked it and popped the hood I noticed the coolant rushing into the overflow from the radiator. Still runs as good a sit ever has though.
I'm going to lurk more as I do more research. I'm trying to figure if I want to do internals when I have the motor apart. I'd like to have 250ishwhp one day. Coolant reroute and a rollbar are in the nearer future.
I didn't intend for this to be so long but here we are. If you made it this far then thank you. If you have questions because you're curious or I left something out let me know.
Thanks guys.
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08-23-2017, 04:21 PM
#2
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: TAMPA, FL
Posts: 817
Total Cats: 20
Head gasket can be done with the engine in the car over the course of a weekend. Check head for straightness while it's off. Do a reroute while you're at it. Seal up all the intake side stuff with rtv, put locking fasteners on the exhaust side, etc.
Doing internals is more involved and will inevitably result in a lot of "while I have it apart, might as well do x"which for me was literally everything. This can easily turn into a year long space shuttle type project.
Nothing wrong with a big turbo, even at low boost. My T3T04E is huge and laggy by modern Miata standards but I find it easy to drive even at low boost. Above 4k rpm it has a nice big plateau of torque, with no noticeable lag. I personally believe that having a big exhaust side gives you more security against knock especially at higher boost.
Doing internals is more involved and will inevitably result in a lot of "while I have it apart, might as well do x"which for me was literally everything. This can easily turn into a year long space shuttle type project.
Nothing wrong with a big turbo, even at low boost. My T3T04E is huge and laggy by modern Miata standards but I find it easy to drive even at low boost. Above 4k rpm it has a nice big plateau of torque, with no noticeable lag. I personally believe that having a big exhaust side gives you more security against knock especially at higher boost.
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08-24-2017, 01:08 AM
#4
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Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: NH
Posts: 7
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Head gasket can be done with the engine in the car over the course of a weekend. Check head for straightness while it's off. Do a reroute while you're at it. Seal up all the intake side stuff with rtv, put locking fasteners on the exhaust side, etc.
Doing internals is more involved and will inevitably result in a lot of "while I have it apart, might as well do x"which for me was literally everything. This can easily turn into a year long space shuttle type project.
Nothing wrong with a big turbo, even at low boost. My T3T04E is huge and laggy by modern Miata standards but I find it easy to drive even at low boost. Above 4k rpm it has a nice big plateau of torque, with no noticeable lag. I personally believe that having a big exhaust side gives you more security against knock especially at higher boost.
Doing internals is more involved and will inevitably result in a lot of "while I have it apart, might as well do x"which for me was literally everything. This can easily turn into a year long space shuttle type project.
Nothing wrong with a big turbo, even at low boost. My T3T04E is huge and laggy by modern Miata standards but I find it easy to drive even at low boost. Above 4k rpm it has a nice big plateau of torque, with no noticeable lag. I personally believe that having a big exhaust side gives you more security against knock especially at higher boost.
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08-24-2017, 10:39 AM
#7
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: TAMPA, FL
Posts: 817
Total Cats: 20
Yeah 3 inch exhaust all the way from the wastegate to the rear bumper is the way to go. A huge portion of complaints about any given turbo is related to the plumbing (diameter, bends, leaks) but attributed to the turbo.
When I had an exhaust leak around my flange, my small turbo felt laggy as ****. With the leak fixed, the big turbo felt responsive. So I kind of feel you'll get big payoffs from just fixing the plumbing on top of the head repairs and the cooling mods.
When I had an exhaust leak around my flange, my small turbo felt laggy as ****. With the leak fixed, the big turbo felt responsive. So I kind of feel you'll get big payoffs from just fixing the plumbing on top of the head repairs and the cooling mods.
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