mikeb75's build thread

[Hindsight]

On the other hand I had originally planned to gloss black them so they’d match the color scheme. I'm not sure how they would match up if I changed the car color (to say an atomic orange with the same gloss black accents).
Opinions?

Gosh I dunno.....

porsche-carrera-gt3-rs-06.jpg

Gloss black accents go with everything, even flat black. Good to have some sheen contrast.

Did you spray the dip with the "DipYourCar" sprayer or did you use conventional equipment with an air compressor? It looks good. Curious as to why you needed to thin the dip.... doesn't it come pre-thinned?

[mikeb75]

You can buy dip pre-thinned, but it costs only a little less than original (full strength) Plasti-dip.

So, by my maths:
1 gallon original Plasti-dip $68.00
1 gallon Xylene $20
Total $88 and 2 gallons of material

vs
2 gallons of pre-thinned (ready to spray) Plasti-dip from the Bay-of-E $99

every dollar counts... plus I got majorly high doing the mixing

I already had a Harbor Freight HVLP; but didn't use it. Instead I used a Wagner "Control Spray" picked up from the rain-forest place, worked just fine. I'm sure the DYC equipment would do a fine job also, just more 'spensive. I actually think DYC used the Wagner gun a long time ago.

[Hindsight]

Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

Thanks for the info. It really turned out nicely!

[bbjones121]

Car looks great! Go black mesh.

[Flamshackle]

Love the plastic black. Car is looking great!

[mikeb75]

After having the exhaust reviewed (and found to be not terrible) by the mechanics I wrapped the downpipe and catalytic converter with some DEI Titanium wrap (matches the headers & up-pipe). Yes, there is the likelihood that the cat will overheat and could break down. Regardless; wrapping seems like a very good idea. After heating it up and cooking out some of the resin and taking a test drive I found the engine bay appreciably cooler than before I had wrapped it.


Added an e-bay special 3rd brake light; had to take the harness out and re-verify the T I added for the 3rd (had no voltage) and fix the turn signal connector as 1 of the pins lost the wire (not fully crimped). I’ve also followed other builder’s leads and epoxied some wire stays to route the wiring harness in the rear.



Looking at the pictures of the rear of the car; if I had to do it over (more likely -when) I think I'd gloss black the entire upper insert area where the lights and upper mesh panel is. I'll also try looking for gloss black vinyl instead of paint.

[Frank818]

Wooo!! Nice matte black on the car, man!! Nice, really nice!

[shinn497]

I'm going to follow this build enthusiastically. Are you going to leave your car matte or use any of their gloss topcoats? I think the latter would look great on this car.

[mikeb75]

Matte because race car (or something like that).

Am discovering why you dip the car after it's built; scratches when moving the panels around the garage to finished the mesh installation. BTW; gloss black won & looks pretty bad@$$, haven't quite finished side vents, but they look better than I expected.

I have a few spray cans of P-D (use it on my helmet and other things), so going to try to patch it... should work since it's a textured & matte finish.

[mikeb75]

I had been planning doing this for a while –had ordered aluminum sheets from an online remnant dealer and was just waiting for the body panels to be sort of attached.

Whatever! Taking inspiration from the Andrew & Tamra build I’ve boxed in the passenger side scoop and routed the intake filter from it. The panel facing the engine/turbo has a sheet of Thermo-Tec Heat Barrier on it to try to reject some heat.

I maximized the opening in the side vent & used a hex-extruded aluminum to allow the best airflow into the air box. Got this done just before the re-scheduled tune tomorrow morning -and glad I did; I think any adjustment to the inlet pipe before the MAF could do funky things to a completed tune.













-_- there’s an airfilter hiding in there
Still need to finish the top panel on the airbox; but it’s good enough to get tuned!

[Frank818]

Yeah! Nice fit! I wonder if such a box would change the sound on acceleration... sometimes "airbox" do.

[AZPete]

Nice work, Mike. I've already got the same hex screen in my body vents so I may copy your air box.

[Tamra]

Looks great! We noticed a difference in temperatures with our box installed. Let us know how the tune goes!

[mikeb75]

Tune session didn’t go exactly to plan… go figure. Got the car hooked up and the tuner worked out the fueling tables to deal with the wonky injectors. Finishing a pull one of the water lines out of the pump let go and we dumped a cars worth of coolant on the dyno floor. A touch embarrassing…

After replacing the bad rubber elbow (YUGE thanks to Andrewtech for the replacement hose & note to self –replace all the 200K mile rubber hoses!), we refilled with water and burped the cooling system and were back in business.

The next issue we encountered was heat soak of the intercooler – Everyone currently building an 818 already knows this - there is NO WAY a stock WRX A2A intercooler will work in the stock location / venting. The IC was reading ~ 150F between runs with no rear engine cover before we got a fan blowing straight over it. We should have a pretty good plan to deal with this once the hard-top is installed.

Our ebay throttle body has an issue on return to idle. Seems like the throttle plate rubs the inner bore, could be tolerances/heat related, will disassemble and check clearances.

Next and the killer we had dropping oil pressure. I can only assume we were low in total oil level and without any cooler hooked up we probably just exceeded the thermal capacity of the system and the Shell Rotella T6 thinned out. Need to move up our plans to add the oil cooler; just ordered from ebay. Could also consider changing up to 5w50 weight.

So the tune session was ended at that point; we pulled 224 HP @ 7K RPM (estimated 140 MPH in 4th gear at red line). The turbo boost curve was promising –once it spooled up it held a flat 18 PSI to redline; no taper or fall off. Looks like there is some extra headroom in the turbo. However, the tuner was a little puzzled/disappointed – he expects 280-300 HP from a 2L + VF39, so something is going on that causes our engine to behave very differently from a standard EJ205 (little surprise there given all the Franken-work we've done; it's pretty much a miracle the engine runs/idles).

I don’t know what the injector duty cycle was or advance & detonation retard; so I don’t know how much we left on the table. The tune seems pretty drivable and linear once the turbo is spooled; but we didn’t capture any graphs or data to review (session ended a bit abruptly when the oil pressure issue was noticed). The CEL codes have been disabled for TGV & evap control system. I'll consider this a good starting point, but it's going to be a work in progress. After we knock out the issues we'll schedule a trip back to take another swing at a home run.

What We Learned:

• Check coolant lines (replace any originals left on the car)
• The stock WRX A2A intercooler is pretty much totally inadequate in the default build location with body work and lack of venting
• The engine/turbo puts out a ton of heat when pulling to redline
• The radiator can dump a lot of heat with modest airflow (just the fans)
• A VF39 can supply 18 PSI (don't know CFM) on a 2L bock up to redline with no fall-off
• Anything that can go wrong will go wrong when your car is sitting on a dyno; it's a good time to have friends close by
• Dyno sessions are a good learning tool for the car; running it up to 140 will expose weak points -better to find them before risking my life on a track a few hours from home

[STiPWRD]

Mike, thanks for sharing your results. I'm guessing you went to turboxs for the tune? That's probably where I'll end up eventually. Can you post the dyno plot?

[Frank818]

A lot of learning went through that dyno test, hey Mike? Things like that always happen, especially on a hand built car. But we know next time will be better!

[mikeb75]

Yes on TurboXS; Jermaine was doing the tune

No on dyno plot; nothing was captured or provided since the tune session was pretty much aborted. Only a few full pulls were done to 7K, and I didn't really look at the graphs much; was spending more time looking under/around the car for more leaks or issues.

Finally, yea, the tune was a bit more stressful (to me) than I expected; never been through one of those before. Jermaine was pretty much unphased by all the events; I guess he's seen much worse before. Me, very phased. Not quite as bad as the delivery of my kids... but the same kind of stress; just less sleeping on a hospital couch (delivery 1 was a 23.5 hour ordeal, number 2 was a bit less).

[Tamra]

The best news is, you learned a lot and didn't blow up the car. Now you can fix a few things and go back more prepared.

I'm curious on your dropping oil pressure issue. Was it a steady decline as the car heated up? I thought the T6 was supposed to be good for not thinning out.

[thall818]

Mike, good info. Sorry the dyno didn't go as planned. 224 @ 18psi does seem low. Two things come to mind. One is compression, have you checked? The other is more of a left field guess, because I don't know where the 18psi is measured. Is that what is programmed for the boost solenoid or what is measured? My point being that if the computer asks for 18, doesn't mean it was getting it. I think a bad boost solenoid would throw a code, but would a leak in tubing? A wastegate not closing perhaps? A boost gauge would confirm your pressure.

[mikeb75]

Good ideas but...

-compression was checked before engine was re-assembled. Read between 155 and 160 across all 4 cylinders (was actually shocked at that). Leak down test was not performed... Compression numbers were not re-confirmed after engine was 'completed' or installed; but we never split the block or removed the heads. Only the valve covers & timing belt cover were removed (timing belt, water & oil pumps replaced).

-boost numbers were read by T-ing a connection off the BPV to a sensor tied into the dyno hardware/software. This was confirmed by a dedicated add-on gauge on the dash and the AccessPort itself.

-Definitely a stumper on the T6 issue; always thought it was a stout oil... but the pressures definitely went down as the tuning session went on and the engine & systems were heated. Since we didn't have any an oil cooler installed, I guess there was no where for the heat to go... the oil temp gauge (again, an add on plumbed into the block at the front oil galley plug, and the pressure gauge plumbed into the block at the rear oil galley plug) read heat going up over the session, but never got to what I consider critical; didn't see it over 230... but I admit the gauges were never tested/base-lined before installation.

On start yesterday OP was reading 35 at idle up to 83 @ 4000RPM00. I did see the idle pressure level drop after I performed the oil filter re-locate, but that is expected as I added a few feet of -AN10 hose. Will definitely re-check numbers after oil cooler is installed.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

-Definitely a stumper on the T6 issue; always thought it was a stout oil... but the pressures definitely went down as the tuning session went on and the engine & systems were heated. Since we didn't have any an oil cooler installed, I guess there was no where for the heat to go... the oil temp gauge (again, an add on plumbed into the block at the front oil galley plug, and the pressure gauge plumbed into the block at the rear oil galley plug) read heat going up over the session, but never got to what I consider critical; didn't see it over 230... but I admit the gauges were never tested/base-lined before installation.

On start yesterday OP was reading 35 at idle up to 83 @ 4000RPM00. I did see the idle pressure level drop after I performed the oil filter re-locate, but that is expected as I added a few feet of -AN10 hose. Will definitely re-check numbers after oil cooler is installed.

Mike
We also use T6.
At 80* (cold idle) we run 80 psi, At 180* (hot idle) we run 24psi.
The oil temp of any oil will make a big difference.
The rule of thump I hear is that > 10 PSI per 1000 RPM is good.
Bob

[mikeb75]

Mike
We also use T6.
At 80* (cold idle) we run 80 psi, At 180* (hot idle) we run 24psi.
The oil temp of any oil will make a big difference.
The rule of thump I hear is that > 10 PSI per 1000 RPM is good.
Bob

Thanks for the confirm Bob. I remember seeing ~80 @ cold idle before the oil filter relocate.

I'll be taking notes on the oil pressure & temperatures until I'm satisfied the system is working properly.

[insurance guy]

Thanks for the confirm Bob. I remember seeing ~80 @ cold idle before the oil filter relocate.

I'll be taking notes on the oil pressure & temperatures until I'm satisfied the system is working properly.

what intake filter are you using?
where can I get that?

[mikeb75]

Dumb idea? I have lots of them…
The purge control solenoid, valve and venting to the charcoal canister were removed from the car, who want to deal with all that crap.


But I did install a charcoal canister and vented the fuel tank to it –no one likes an explodey garage.


So I’ve been bothered by not having a way to purge the canister; so I looked into a way I could have something to perform a purge – even if I had to do it manually. This may be totally wrong, but here it goes (for your review and (dis)approval):
1 Normally Closed, Momentary 2 way valve + 2 hose barbs of the correct size + Some tubing


= a user activated purge circuit. Just remember to let the engine warm up and hold it open for a minute or so every once in a while.

[Quiny]

I was considering the same thing. I did leave the OEM purge solenoid and I plumbed my purge line hose to it. I just don't know if it will ever activate without the tank pressure sensor or tank temperature sensor hooked up.

[mikeb75]

A tale of total noobishness follows; I’m a bit embarrassed to post it, but I’ll take my punishment; safety reminders for everyone. The story it doesn’t end too badly. (Amazingly):

Was welding some support brackets in to fit an oil cooler. I did a search online about recommendations for welding on a car. I had questions about safety when there was gas in the tank. The majority of the information I found described making sure the battery was disconnected… no one seemed overly concerned about fuel.

I’m putting the oil cooler on the driver’s side, and that happens to be pretty @$*& close to the fuel filler neck. I was welding along on the lower support, having covered the (immediate) work area with damp towels – but didn’t cover it well enough. A bit of slag spalled on the corrugated coolant pipe –and burned through.

Much better a coolant than a fuel or oil line…

Cleaned up, replaced the coolant line, covered all the sensitive bits a lot better and got back to work. I think I still need to triangulate the upper part of the cooler; but overall I’m pretty happy with the results. I can mock up the thermostat now and plan the lines and order the (correct) fittings…

I am going to need to figure out a way to get more air into the cooler; only about 1/3 of it is exposed in the side vent.

[STiPWRD]

I too learned a lesson about welding 2 weeks ago when installing lower harness tabs. I didn't have any fuel in the tank at the time but I did stupidly use cardboard to shield things, which quickly caught fire. Luckily my house didn't burn down but at least now I'll never take safety for granted again. Now I use sheet metal as a shield and have a water hose on standby, wet rags are a good idea.

[Tamra]

Glad nothing major happened. We had a similarly embarrassing moment with the coolant line earlier in the build when we accidentally touched it to the battery... Say the least we had a lot of cleanup to do and had to replace a section of the corrugated hose. No welding mishaps yet but then again we haven't welded anything directly on the chassis.

The oil cooler looks great there.

[Blitzkrieg]

Glad nothing major happened. We had a similarly embarrassing moment with the coolant line earlier in the build when we accidentally touched it to the battery... Say the least we had a lot of cleanup to do and had to replace a section of the corrugated hose. No welding mishaps yet but then again we haven't welded anything directly on the chassis.

The oil cooler looks great there.

My brother did the same thing lol. JB weld fixes everything.

[mikeb75]

In my defense, I always keep a fire extinguisher close by when welding - and I've never had to use it (touch wood)

[Frank818]

That was close. But I doubt it would have burn through the fuel pipe, but probably a fuel line!
I also had bad moments when I was laying under the car and welding, couldn't move my head with the mask and I was smelling something and seeing white smoke on the far edger of my peripheral vision. Took time to move and remove mask, my thick cloth has caught on fire. Got lucky.

You may need a fan on that cooler to get more air in.

[mikeb75]

You may need a fan on that cooler to get more air in.

Agreed! Haven't fitted it yet, but the cooler came with one.

Welding under the car was the worst! I didn't have a Smokey experience, that would have freaked me out.

[mikeb75]

Finished the install a few days ago, just been busy with other stuff.

Welded in a support for the oil thermostat. Finally, a weld I’m not totally embarrassed by.


Plumbing the oil lines was a bit challenging. I'm mostly happy with the final setup except the thermostat being the highest part of the system, but it’s pressurized; should be OK. Will be interesting to see what this does to the oil pressure issue we saw earlier.


A question about plumbing the cooler - I have the hot oil going in the bottom and the cooled oil coming out the top. Is that backwards? What is the preferred direction?



For the time being we will run the oil cooler fan and other fans we’re planning off switches & relays from the control panel. Eventually, I want to add some logic that runs the fans based on temperatures with the toggles being used as overrides.

[mikeb75]

Took a while to fix some issues in the cooling loop. I had to replace and re-do a hunch of the rubber joins. Then it took a long while to completely bleed the cooling system, but with that taken care of it was back to plugging away. And I replaced the center console control panel, made something a little more useful to my driving position; I'll cover it in a later post I guess.

Soooo, headlights. Worst part of the build –evar. Using the Bob-technique I was able to get the front of the car lined up properly. Another day or two and it should be completely mocked-up.

Right now, looks a little like a skunk, or Sebastian from Josie and the Pu$$ycats (really?? can't type Pu$$ycats).




Am a little concerned on the sight-lines out the front of the car. The seating position may be too low, I can’t locate the corners properly (neither can FIL). Anyone else have this issue where the bonnet seems too high?

[Rasmus]

I am going to need to figure out a way to get more air into the cooler; only about 1/3 of it is exposed in the side vent.

I'd suggest a bit of custom duct work. Get out your stiff cardboard and thin aluminum and build a small, expanding, duct to feed the front of the cooler. By expanding the duct as it gets to the face, the velocity of the air will slow down but the pressure will increase. Which is what you want. High* pressure in front of the fins wanting a place to go.

*may be only a 0.5 psi difference from atmospheric but, hey.


Here's how a Stock Car radiator duct looks. Notice how it expands. Just make sure to seal it to the bodywork and heat-exchanger with weatherstripping or the like. That way the pressure has no where to go but through the fins.

[Frank818]

That's a nice duct!!

[mikeb75]

Have not had a lot of progress to show lately, between travel and spending two weeks tracking down and killing electrical gremlins. But now, I think I’ve finished the last of the electrical everything works properly when tested. I re-bundled the wiring harness and re-installed the dash.

The headlights are installed in the buckets; I need to do a little finishing here – I’m thinking of using some of the ‘loop’ side of adhesive backed Velcro to insulate/pad the headlight assembly & clear plastic from the fender bodywork. But I’m happy with how it looks.




I’ve started fitting the doors. So far it’s been mostly going well. The lack of correct screw hardware required 2 trips to the store and I had to do some trimming/profiling of the door latches to have them fit properly on the door par assembly. The functional part of the doors works well (hinges & latching) – even if the drivers side latch brace didn’t fit as cleanly as the passenger. Hopefully it hasn’t bowed out the sail bodywork too far when I tightened everything cause interference with the door skin.

I want to get the door skins mocked up shortly so I can finish drilling the locating holes and get them painted while the weather is still warm.

[mikeb75]

Passenger side came out looking pretty good. Everything lined up with a minimum of trouble.




The drivers side isn't quite the same story...

[Canadian818]

Looks fantastic! I've always been set on going flat black, and now I'm sold for sure. Still dunno if it'll be dipped or wrapped though.

[AgentH]

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