240hoke

Yo, where do you recommend buying ARP studs from? -Austin

I ordering my engine parts and pieces and was wondering if i should replace the headbolts, I have reused them once. ive heard lots of different opinions on this and wanted to see what you guys think. -Austin

hey, your predictions sound about right. On my very bad dyno pull w/o tuning the sds, and ignition problems at 5k I ran 182hp and 220ft/lbs at 8 psi on the stock turbo. This is intercooled though. New turbo on the way and hopefully will get all my problems fixed or at least most of them 350hp here i come -Austin

The "whoop whoop" you are hearing is compressor surging more than likly, sounds linda like there is a bird under your hood when you let off the gas? This is caused by the boost slowing the turbo down when the throttle plate is shut. I would suggest to check you vaccum line to the BOV. As far as checking to see if the turbo is good or not, there are a couple things to do. Take off the air inlet to the turbo and check to make sure the impeller turns freely and smoothly, also wiggly it back and forth to check for play. Play shoud be nonexistent. Chances are if the turbo doesnt have much play then it's OK. Next take off the outlet pipe from the compressor and check for excessive oil, if the turbo bearing is shot you will see oil here. If all that checks out fine you should be good to go! Sounds like a nice find, good luck with the car. Oh and get us some pictures! -Austin

I i think they are about 100 bucks, might could find one for cheaper. i dont like the terminals on them, they are brass and strip easy. One of my ternials broke off last time, not sure how to hook it up now. Possibly solder a connector to it? btw i think it is #2250 or something like that, the one with teh blue sticker lol -Austin

hey, just got a new gas tank today which is modified with a 3/8" pickup. I have a MSD EFI fuel pump which has a 3/8 inlet and 5/16" outlet. i am trying to decide wheather or not i should go stainless -6An or use the factory 5/16' supply line. the pump has a 5/16' outlet and is supposably capable of suppling 500hp application, so i should be fine with the stock line, correct? Thanks, Austin

One the proportioning vavle thing, you may not need one but make sure you test your brakes in a safe place before you get in an emergency where you need them. Dont want the rears locking up unexpectedly in a corner I plumbed my wilwood vavle in the exact same place as the stock one, i just took the stock one out and bolts the willwood vavle in its place, you can use the stock lines and all. Just gotta have adaptors for the vavle. i can post some pics if you want them -Austin

dont forget to port out your intake manifold to the TB

Well here are the pictures of piston #1. I count 4 cracks in the ring lands and a serious piece missing from the piston... the missing piece of the skirt is whats got me, am i dealing with more than detonation? Besides the obvious note the two cracks in the ring lands: I've higlighted this one so your can see the cracks: -Austin

from the looks of the plugs my 5&6 were always a bit richer. but they were all pretty black lol. update: engines out, hopefully have the bottom end broken down tomarrow! It's bad but this is actually kinda fun... -Austin

ive got the engine ready to pull. ive decided to just pull the whole engine. While its out im going to clean it real good and fix up my magnets so i Know they are perfect. I think i am going to go with stock turbo pistons i may be getting ahead of myself, still keeping my fingers crossed that its just a ring but.... Anybody have a set of pistons in good shape they would like to sell me? I could do with just one, but im worried there my be damage to the others. My goal for the motor is 300-350 hp. If set up right this is doable on the stock pistons correct? I'm hoping to save money on the pistons and possibly get a t3/t4 turbo while i've got the engine out. btw I know that the knocking was caused by my ignition problem. So my number one priority is to get that fixed while im getting this motor put back together. -Austin

Im running SDS EM4-6f, NPR i/c, MSD fuel pump, SVO 370cc injectors. heres a pic The problem im having is that i cant rev the car over 5 grand, at this point the ignition goes crazy tach bounces around, car engine starts to ping. I just pushed it to hard yesterday and i guess the detonation finally got to it. Im going to try and pull the block out tomarrow. Ive checked out almost everything on the engine about the 5k problem, even sent the ECU back to SDS for testing, so far i havent checked the vavle springs(which are supposably new). Im thinking, though, that there is a posibility that the crank pulley may be vibrating alot at 5k or my magnets arnt in a perfect circle. While the motor is out im going to check the valve springs and redo the magnets hopefully in a europully and have a machine shop mount them perfect. how can i test vavle springs? hopefully ill have some pictures of the damage by the end of the week, just have to get time to break down the bottom end. it will be back and better then ever even if i do go broke -Austin

i just tore the engine apart to get a look at it. i cant really tell anything too much. cyl 1 was oilier then then others and had much less carbon, anyway heres teh pics, head gasket was perfect. This makes me sick it hasnt even been a year since i had the engine completely rebuilt. Ive got a friend with a rebuilt f54 block from an NA 280zx and a rebuilt p90 head, i may use it. But its going to cost me as much as a set of forged pistons since he wants the money back that he put in it. Im not sure what im going to do yet, dont really have anymoney rightnow. Sunbelt is out of the question 2500 for a basic rebuilt, yeah right! -Austin

Well just ran a compression check. Cylinders 5-6 apear to be fine with reading in the 145 -150 range. Cylinder 1 is bad though with 90psi and it takes it a while to get there. Looks like im in for some new rings. I was thinking about having sunbelt do the job and let them check over the engine possibly redoing the head. Do you think its worth the extra time/money to have them do it, or should i just check for a place around here? -Austin

hey guys, i went over to the Rockingham dragstrip for import day and got a few runs in. Every run was very dissapointing my best time being a 14.2 @ 103 mph, this was with the 1/8 mi being .3 seconds slower than my average at the local 1/8 track. Anyhow I'm not sure what was up but I think not being able to rev above 5K was really killing me. Had a little bit of light pinging at the end of the track (running 14psi on stock t3). Anyway on to the bad news... The engine is smoking very badly out of the vavle cover breather. It comes out around the hood and front when stopped and fills the cockpit when I take off, It is most noticible when accelerating from a stop. It has done this before after running it real hard but never this bad, and now it is constant. I was thinking maybe my vavle guides are messed up. Hopefully i will be able to do a compression check tomarrow and open here up. What are you guys ideas? This brings up another thing, i still cant rev over 5k. Several people have told be that it is a possibility that my valve springs are giving out at the high revs, i just shruged it off cuz they were new. If i decide to take the head off or have to to fix this how can i check the springs? Thanks -Austin

Thats looks really good, doesn't look like you have much room for the seats though. Hope you're short

I think the Maxima conversion is the way to go, in the end it will cost the same as the GM conversion, and in my opinion look alot cleaner. i believe they make a 125 amp one? correct me if im wrong. I was using a northstar caddy alternator, with a bracket that i made. this worked really good and didnt have any issues until my bracket broke at the drag strip im using a 280zxt alternator now and havent had any problems, looks alot better than the big Gm one anyway -Austin

HOLY SHIT BATMAN! ok im really scared now, i really didnt want to see that. I think i might go cry.

Well i got my dynomax in last week. It sounds awesome!! cant even hear it while going down the road but a nice sound when you get on it. Also took the car to the track (1/8 ) and ran a 9.0 which doesnt seem that bad to me considering i cant shift over 5K and im running a 3.36 rear. At anyrate, just wanted to say i'd recommend the dynomax mufflers to anybody. i used a 18" round SS dynomax btw. -Austin

Sounds like it might be a TPS issue, check all your wires there. -Austin

ON3GO has got a blitz NUR spec on his car, im not sure if its up and running yet but i know he purchased one. i just got my SS ultraflow today, getting it putt on thursday. ill let ya know what it sounds like. Ive just been sitting here staring at it and dropping soda cans through the middle if it -Austin

BayareaZT said it right. The stock T3 starts to lose it's efficientcy in the double digits, the boost isnt the problem its that the air is really hot and that is where you problem of detonation comes in. -Austin

Alright guys, I ordered my muffler this morning. Dynomax Ultra Flo 3" in/out SS round muffler. Cant wait to get it! On a side note, bastaad, as far as the glasspacks go, the ones with little scoops on the inside. Corky bell suggests that those be reversed so the scoops point the other way. Im advocating using these i just though i would mention it. Im not going to be running a resonator or anything for now, I hope this muffler is enough. -Austin

Which muffler did you like lockjaw? are you talking about the round ultra flow?

Everthin' -Austin