vitaminZ

iTrader: (1)

Car cranked fine but was idleing funny. the idle was sitting just under a 1000, let say 950. i probably have an air leak somewhere (boost gauge not hooked up yet, hose is capped and ziptied (still has slight hiss). i swear i can hear hissing from inside the engine bay. it is hard to say since this is my first forced induction vehicle so i am not used to what it is supposed to sound like. since i had all new piping minus the headers i had that burning smell from the manufacturing process residue . i had a slight rattle at idle upon initial start up that became harder to hear as the car warmed up. while driving i heard it a few times. it is not loud. the header clearance was minimal but worked. i can live with the way it is rattling right now, i think. lol i believe the v-clamp on the down pipe against the header is the cause of the rattle. anyway, i drove to my buddies house, who lives about 5 miles away. the car was running fine, i hit boost once at around the 2.5 mile mark. at the 4.5 mile or so mark i got on it just a bit (i didn't stomp on the gas, it was gradual) until i hit about 4000rpm where the car felt like it hit the rev limiter but i wasn't even close. it did it once more then as i turned into my buddy's street the power steering went out. i looked down and notice all my dash lights were on, my car died and smoke was coming out of my engine. i went and got Ray (backagain) for some help. i tried to start the car again and it did but now the car had a hard time holding the idle so it would die if i wasn't reving the engine a bit. i drove to ray's house (about another 100 ft) and took a better look under the engine. the cause of the smoke was oil burning on the turbo. it was obvious the oil was escaping from the oil feed fitting on top of the turbo. i looked down and noticed more oil in the engine bay. not sure how much i lost yet. also, the adhesive backed heat shielding on the y pipe had slid off and looked burnt. it was touching the belt on a pulley wheel. the oil feed line is not kinked, i know because i checked it a few times. i am not too worried because i feel the problem is with the turbo charger. i am sure the oil feed npt fitting on the turbo was tight and it did have teflon tape.

indications on my dash were voltage fine, oil pressure didn't seem off to me, temperature was just fine. i had no service engine soon lights and i don't think it ever came on.

i am sure this will end up being something minor, forced induction blues i guess. i know ray had problems for a while before his vortech started treating him good! lol i am going to stay positive. please give me your input on this guys and gals. if any of you have had similar problems with a turbo install let me know. thanks

btw, i think the turbonetics kit is very well manufactured. the install was tight and frustrating but in the end it was worth. i hope to get some input from turbonetics on this. hey brad or reggie, what can you do for me about the heat wrap, it slid down very quickly. it was zipped tied although the heat might of been much. can i get something like that covered? i mean i have pics of the install i could show you everything was done in good time, no rushing. let me know if there is anything you can do to get me some more heat wrap.

guess i will go to nopi next year!

thanks in advance

taurran

iTrader: (18)

It looks like you installed the kit with headers? What kind of headers are you using? The downpipe WILL come in contact with any nismo-style headers. You will either be hitting the body or the headers, and making a lot of noise. Unless you modify the downpipe, this is unavoidable. Your pipes are probably being pushed out of alignment because of this and you are getting a leak at one of the v-band clamps that holds it together. This would explain why it would lessen as the car warmed up. There is a bad seal at the band clamp because of the misalignment and as the metal heats up, it helps to seal this leak.

Also check at the base of the downpipe under the car and make sure that you aren't contacting the body near the area where the driver's side y-pipe flange would be. This might be contacting because of the headers.

The turbonetics reflash sets your idle at 900rpm. It going up toward 1100 might be the case if you're running ac.

I would REALLY recommend getting gauges installed before taking the car out on the road. You at least need boost, and wideband AFR or EGT. A boost gauge would at least let you know if you were building boost properly, and would alert you to any possible boost leaks. With your explanation of the header install and the lack of a boost gauge it's hard to say if the hissing is from a boost leak or if it's an exhaust leak. Does it sound like a sputtering hiss? If so, I'd say it's an exhaust leak.

edited out my "idea" on the issue. The sky is not falling.

MIAPLAYA

iTrader: (3)

OK just to clarify right now you are:

(A)leaking oil from the turbo oil inlet
(B)The car is dying at idle


For A I believe Turbonetics recommends using teflon grease instead of tape as that could obstruct the oil if it breaks apart. I will double check on this though ASAP.

For B It sounds like you have a vacuum or boost leak somewhere. Can you check all your hose connections pre and post MAF. Sounds like air is getting in there. Also pull the MAF completely off and see if there is any residue on the MAF itself.. For the warranty stuff call Turbonetics 805-581-0333 And ask for REggie.

backagain

iTrader: (3)

ok, the car is at my house, jaime left it here last night, 12nv and i looked over the car today and found out that the oil feed line wasn't tight at all, thats why oil was leaking, that is now tightened and no oil leak at all. also found a T-clamp on the intake tube had come off completely, (2 actually) , those were tightened and car is running fine. thanks everyone for the quick replies, i'll pass this along to jaime (vitaminz) as he is at work right now. will have pics up shortly, maybe some video as well

MIAPLAYA

iTrader: (3)

Nice....too bad my answers were a bit late....Dammit Dan call me next time!!!!

backagain

iTrader: (3)

will do ,

redline350ZZ

iTrader: (1)

Any tips on the install .....I plan to tackle this task next month.....As soon as the groupbuy MIA was so nice to tell us about is ready to ship....

backagain

iTrader: (3)

we have over 150 pics of the install, nice detailed pictures, will make a gallery of all the pics later on.

Phatmitzu

iTrader: (34)

Good to hear the problems solved. Now get that puppy on the road and give us some feedbacks!

King Tut

iTrader: (1)

This is good advice and I know I kind of mentioned it when I was checking out Jaime's progress during the install. I would always use the grease instead of the tape especially in high heat areas like a turbo oil feed. Good to see that you boys straightened it all out. Remember it is always good to have a buddy or 2 look over all your work on major installs like this before you drive it to prevent issues like this.

MIAPLAYA

iTrader: (3)

Yes sir...I have always believed that using teflon tape in a critical fluid area like oil feeds, fuel feeds, and nitrous feeds is BADDDD. Teflon paste works just as well. That is what I used on my fuel pressure sensor as well as my oil feed for my turbo and oil temp sensor.

vitaminZ

iTrader: (1)

everything is fine now! i will install my boost gauge and wideband tomorrow and retighten all fittings and clamps on saturday. i will also reaccomplish wrapping the y pipe with adhesive heat wrap. this time i will use these i don't plan to drive the Z again till saturday afternoon. i want to make sure everything is good! so saturday morning i will be busy. thanks to all those that gave input.

i will start a new thread with pics from the install as well as tips on the install soon. for now i will say that the kit fits extremely well but is a bit snug, meaning difficult to tighten some of the clams, bolts, nuts, etc... if i could go back and choose to have it installed professionally i would still do it by myself and with the help of my friends. i am very satisfied with the turbocharger, turbonetics the company and turbonetics customer support. i switched my injen exhaust to the tanabe super racing medalion. my buddy dan loves the sound it puts out. looks good too! I like the way the tips angle out. stay tuned...more to come! :thumbsup:

vitaminZ

iTrader: (1)

being that i haven't had much sleep lately, my memory has failed me a bit the last few days.

i must not forget to thank the two guys that put my Z back on the road while i was work. Ray and Dan that was awesome!! two of the only guys i would trust to work on my Z. i will be there for you guys in a grind when you need me! thanks again for all that you do! :thumbsup:

thanks for all the input everyone! :beer:

vitaminZ

iTrader: (1)

Kit looks damn good by the way! i wanted to make the statement that anyone looking to do the t-netics single turbo with after market headers should take a serious look at the alphawerks headers. they fit damn near perfect with this ST kit. there are other headers that have given some t-netics single turbo owners some trouble. there is a slight rattle when letting the RPMs drop all the way down to idle while in neutral but very low volume. while driving i don't hear any noise. i will dyno just as soon as i can to see what this kit did for my power needs

like i wrote earlier, more to come on this install and kit in the coming days. i will start a new thread.

1 2 NV

Jaime, glad I could help. I'll try and come hang out Saturday and see how things are looking. Let me know if there is anything else you need help with or what ever.

taurran

iTrader: (18)

I don't understand this statement. Alphaerks are the exact same design as Nismo and DC Sports, no? If so, I know for a fact that there is not enough room for a downpipe down there. If you're getting a little rattle at all, it gets annoying as hell over time, trust me. I'm so glad I got the stock manifolds swapped out as now the car purs like at kitten, whereas before it sounded like the exhaust was falling off.

Glad it all worked out for you, though.

backagain

iTrader: (3)

here is a link to pics of vitaminZ's install http://gallery.thevboard.com/index.p...ze=512&start=0

here are pics of the header / down pipe clearance

backagain

iTrader: (3)

this is vitaminZ posting under ray's screen name, i am being lazy and don't feel like logging him off.

anyway this is my favorite, i took this using ray's camera during the install

Sharif@Forged

iTrader: (92)

Thats a great shot! Congrats on the successful install. Its not uncommon to have a leak or two, or a loose coupler. It's all sorted out in the test drive...which you accomplished very well!

vitaminZ

iTrader: (1)

had to rewrap my y-pipe due to oil drenching the heat wrap that i had installed. i have it wrapped with a similar product from thermotec but not adhesive-backed, i used metal zips-ties from DEI to secure the wrap. worked out great!! i am almost 100% sure i fixed the oil leak on the turbo oil feed fitting. also noticed that the oil pressure sensor was dripping a bit, almost nothing but leaking nontheless. i am confident i have fixed that as well. i used pipe cement with teflon, it is a white paste that seems to be superior to the teflon tape. i busted a v band clamp by over-torqueing it. it is on the exhaust side and is the easiest clamp to get to. i hope to get one tomorrow that will work.

i will have more on the kit and my thoughts soon.

i have to give sharif@forgedinternals and paul@avalonracing some props. both of them offered me outstanding prices and customer service. i will go through them first anytime i need something in the future. thanks guys!