Ricktalife's EPIC fails and maybe a build thread too

[Ricktalife]

Waiting for a call to tell me my MSP is ready to be picked up. I have it at a shop right now getting the clutch, flywheel, turbo, manifold and downpipe replaced.

 

[yudkib]

dayam. thats gotta be like 800 dude... haha my next car wont even be worth that much

 

[Ricktalife]

Oh it gets better. I got a phone call and I'm told that the replacement T25 STOCK turbo isn't the same as what was on the car. They didn't tell me exactly what was different, but I bought the replacement from a member on here when he removed it for a 28rs. How the **** could it be different?

Not to mention my dad has done nothing but piss and moan about this car and tells me about how big of an inconvenience it is to him, even though it's my car and I'm the one who has to drive it when it acts up. Though when I offered to sell it, he said no. **** my ******* life.

 

[jeffmsp]

maybe the turbo was just clocked differently. easy fix

 

[yudkib]

is the t25 water cooled?

 

[Ricktalife]

maybe the turbo was just clocked differently. easy fix

That was my first guess, but the shop doesn't specialize in turbo's so I'm not so sure they know. The reason I bought an OEM turbo was to keep it simplified for them, but apparently it didn't work.

is the t25 water cooled?

I would imagine it is, because they told me about how they were reinstalling the lines for the turbo at one point in the day and they were asking why I had provided an extra oil line. I told them I got it for $10 so I just threw it in the car in case one was damaged.

I'm just really pissed off because I spent weeks and weeks collecting gaskets and all this extra stuff that I might need just to make the installation go smoothly, and yet it wasn't enough.

 

[jbrewer4639]

man I feel your pain. Hang in there the night is always darkest before day

 

[Ricktalife]

Car is just about finished. The shop said the CEL is on so I'm guessing (or hoping) it's just the 02 sensor at the manifold that probably went bad. I already replaced it once, but with another used one since I got it for $30 bucks, and it's lasted me about 2 years now I believe.

 

[yudkib]

its probably one of the o2's. most shops arent smart enough to remember which go where, if you have a wideband, it just confuses them more.

 

[Ricktalife]

Well I just brought it home and it drives very smooth now. The clutch is like butter and I watched them bleed it so I'm wondering if maybe the lightweight flywheel had an effect on that? Doesn't matter to me since I didn't want a stiff clutch, I was just surprised when I first got in it. Didn't boost a whole lot, just enough to make sure the turbo worked. It does lol. Seems that I'm running lean in boost, which is probably due to the FIC not being hooked up properly. I plan on removing that very soon and selling it so we will see where that lands me.

As for the bill, I nearly fainted. I know the shop owner so he gave me a good break on labor, but the damage was still $1048 and some odd cents. That was including the installation of the rear motor mount and trans mount that they had done a little bit ago. I know he didn't rip me off and spent a ton of time on it. He told me that a walk in customer would have been charged $1500 plus, sooooo yea lol.

This damn car refuses to let my bank account recover.

 

[BearProtege506]

sick protege man, sad to hear you say your trying to get away from it.... what all are you getting rid of on it? (if you still are doing a part out?)

 

[Ricktalife]

sick protege man, sad to hear you say your trying to get away from it.... what all are you getting rid of on it? (if you still are doing a part out?)

Well the car I was after fell through so the full part out has been put on hold. However, I will be putting up a stock turbo and s-pipe for sale shortly. I am unsure at this point if I want to sell my Greddy Profec B or not. I'll have a sale thread up again before too long.

 

[SeR_Cyclops]

how is it running since you got it back? and you know were gonna need pics of that new steedspeed manifold....

 

[Ricktalife]

how is it running since you got it back? and you know were gonna need pics of that new steedspeed manifold....

Haha oh yes I need some new pics badly. It really needs a good wash and interior detail so hopefully I can do that this weekend and have a little photo shoot. It is running 10 times better now that the new clutch and flywheel are in. I actually have some umph in lower rpm's and I really like the responsiveness of the duo. As far as the manifold, turbo and s-pipe go, I really can't say how big of an improvement I notice until I get this thing tuned properly. I have a good bit of debt to pay before I can shell out the money for a new EMS since I've decided to part with the FIC. A Haltech Sprint 500 would be optimal, but I'm not so sure my wallet can survive another 1k + bill for this car in the next couple months.

I also noticed the clunk is gone again. Maybe the shop tightened some stuff up. For once my car is driving like it should. Can't wait for a tune.

 

[jdwk]

I noticed my front sway bar clunk would go away for a day or two if I had the car in the air for a while. I am pretty sure with the weight off the wheels, the bushings get deformed in the opposite direction which makes for a tighter hold when you put the car back down and stops the clunk for a while. You really need to get the endlinks so the sway bar is completely zero'd out. Although you may be talking about a completely different clunk.

 

[Ricktalife]

I noticed my front sway bar clunk would go away for a day or two if I had the car in the air for a while. I am pretty sure with the weight off the wheels, the bushings get deformed in the opposite direction which makes for a tighter hold when you put the car back down and stops the clunk for a while. You really need to get the endlinks so the sway bar is completely zero'd out. Although you may be talking about a completely different clunk.

Damn, you could very well be right about that. I guess we will see in a day or 2. I already installed new OEM links because my adjustable one's seized up just like my first pair of OEM's... I've spent probably close to $300 trying to fix that god damn noise.

 

[hornsfan10609]

I am unsure at this point if I want to sell my Greddy Profec B or not.

I just bought one, (a spec 2) how do you like it and why would you want to sell it?

 

[jdwk]

Damn, you could very well be right about that. I guess we will see in a day or 2. I already installed new OEM links because my adjustable one's seized up just like my first pair of OEM's... I've spent probably close to $300 trying to fix that god damn noise.

I've spent at least that, and untold amount of time. I built my own end links with no so cheap custom ordered parts and they worked but were noisy themselves. I spent about $120 on parts and shipping after trying a few different designs, but all were noisy. I bought the AWR front and back for another $200+ after shippnig, but the fronts aren't long enough, and it's an inferior design that will obviously cause noise and require maintenance so I sold them at a significant loss. Then I spent hours going through parts catalogs and driving all over town to find something that would work quietly and without maintenance. I also replaced all my bushings, urethane on the rears.

Car was quiet for a few weeks, but now the rear bushings are squawking over hard bumps because urethan on metal does that and I used the lube that came with them and it clearly sucks. Just need to redo them with better grease when I stop being lazy and get under the car again.

I'd love for the car to be a little faster, but it's just going to stay the way it is until I pull the trigger on something new. Although if I keep it much longer, it'll be time for belts. Hurray, I love doing timing belts!

 

[Ricktalife]

I just bought one, (a spec 2) how do you like it and why would you want to sell it?

I honestly haven't even used it that much. That is the only reason I thought of selling it. I was running 9 psi when I had my SSAFC but I am currently untuned so it is just sitting in the car doing nothing right now. Once I land on a new EMS I will be utilizing it so I guess I will keep it.

 

[yudkib]

how much boost is your wg set to? and how much are you planning to run?