Eno

iTrader: (1)

Eh guys...

First of all I'll say this: I'm not a car guy, but I'm learning. Perhaps the hard way, but I'm learning. The fact that I'm AT made that learning curb a little steeper still...

A few of you would have noticed the Vancouver Island FI thread awhile back and it essentially timed out in March around when I went down to Seattle to get the tune done to it. As it would happen though I thought Progressive Auto in Victoria was up to the task of getting the install done that was not to be the case. Reason the thread fell off the radar is because things didn't go very well and the path forward has been slow. Everything takes time.

All of the warnings from those in here who are passionate and knowledgeable about such things went unheeded and I am paying the price. Needless to say I've got my share of "I told you so's" through PM.

So what is the result of this debacle?

A rebuild.

This will include a built tranny, a built motor and no more wish list. A bittersweet announcement, to be sure!

As the story goes there were a few things about the original install from Progressive Auto in Victoria that didn't quite work:

a) Front motor mounts were left completely undone.
b) Plugs left in were hotter than stock- one of which showing signs of detonation.
c) small amounts of gas in oil from failed starts with wrong injectors
d) wastegate actuator arm on one side was catching on its turbo manifold because the engine was crooked in the bay (see a) )
e) bad overall oil / coolant line management

The result? Well suffice to say that I now have a rod that, if thrown hard enough, would come back around to you like a boomerang. Many different things contributed to this problem... fortunately the boys at Intec Racing in Kent have taken me firmly under their wing and are piloting the rebuild. This time, we're going to get it done right!

Currently, the tranny is at IPT to be built up and the block is being prepared at the machine shop. Various parts are arriving and being stockpiled. Upgraded parts include:

Cosworth Pistons
Cosworth Head Gasket
Cosworth Main / Rod Bearings
Brian Crower Forged Rods
ARP L19 Head / Main Studs
Apexi AVC-R Boost Controller
DW 800cc injectors
DW 300lph fuel pump
Pathfinder VQ35DE cooling package
Osiris Uprev Tune
HPX Upgraded MAF
IPT JATCO RE5R05A Built Transmission
Mizu Slim Fans 2x14"
Mizu rad
NRG Hood Dampeners

We're also doing a brake upgrade to a Wilwood system. Figured the car is down there already and it's easier than shipping across the border.


Anyway guys... I know this is a busy place and I wanted to put my experience out there for others to learn from. I've paid the price so hopefully you won't have to.

Any folks new to FI or interested in learning about what it takes for a non-car guy to jump into the FI world may be interested in my thread over in driver where I basically go from the arrival of the kit to the state its currently in can go HERE

It's 20 pages long... but if you want an honest, no BS assessment of an everyday guy with limited knowledge taking the plunge and all the hurdles along the way- it's probably a good read and might answer a lot of questions.

superchargedg

iTrader: (4)

I wish you good luck as it seems you got screwed by that first shop.I have been following your thread on driver.

IslandZavage

iTrader: (8)

Appreciate you telling your story. Hope everything works out good for you. Hopefully no one will have B/S I told you so comments (nothing gain/learn from that).

Eno

iTrader: (1)

To be fair most of the comments are tongue in cheek

Thanks for the good wishes guys. I think the right shop and more importantly the right people are involved in the project now. I sure hope for smooth-ish sailing from this point forward.

I need that guy from the hotels.com commercials to train me to wait... I'm an instant gratification type so considering I took delivery of the kit in December- I'm sure you can imagine how much pacing I've been doing since then!

ImWeeZzel

iTrader: (27)

Good luck with your build, keep us updated

djamps

iTrader: (1)

Wow that's some serious detonation! Lucky they didn't install a window on your block and you're still able to reuse it.

Eno

iTrader: (1)

The verdict has generally been that one of the plugs was detonating since I got the car back about a year and a half ago. This subsequently weakened the parts in that one cylinder. When combined with the wastegate actuator getting hung up and being unable to open... we start to see where some additional problems surfaced.

As for installing a sun roof in my engine block- I got VERY lucky indeed. Fortunately the guy running the dyno recognized the problem instantly and shut down the pull.

RudeG_v2.0

iTrader: (1)

How much power are you planning to make with your new setup? Did IPT say how much power their built trans setup can hold?

Eno

iTrader: (1)

As has been said in a couple of places around here: it's going to make what it's going to make. There's a similarly built g35 mt in Alberta with the same kit and he puts down 475 but he's got water meth and a haltech. With the built bottom if I really wanted to push harder on the pounds i could probably go beyond that (he's stock motor running 10lbs Max- if I recall.) with the boost controller if we can tune a high boost for raising eyebrows and a lower end for daily driving that's what I'll shoot for. I think I have the parts to put down 500 but I'll leave that to the boys at intec to decide.

Regardless, about the trans they basically told me that it will hold whatever power they can make on my build. IPT was brought up very early on and intec swears by them. That's good enough for me!

red on black

iTrader: (3)

My toughts exactly you got lucky in your bad luck man,altough vq's are relatively easy and cheap to find now but still,30 years from now youll still have a numbers matching car.....


good luck with your build,I someday want to go FI too,as soon as it gets cheaper lol

Sylvan Lake V35

iTrader: (23)

Shoot for 550whp, I hope it goes well from here on out.

dikspiel

iTrader: (70)

Might I suggest going with the ProEFI ems? I get the vibe that you want every fail safe possible and the ProEFI ems seems to be the best option currently for that. I am not knocking the UpRev fyi and I am no way bias (I have a haltech).

djamps

iTrader: (1)

As an uprev user I'll second the standalone recommendation for built-blocks or anything more than 10psi or F/I + competition oriented. It involves much more than just the lack of fail safes, it's worse than that in my opinion. I plan on starting a thread on it eventually, not going to pollute this thread.

Sylvan Lake V35

iTrader: (23)

The standalone you use is only as good as the person tuning it, So Pro EFI may be worthless to him unless there is a tuner in the vicinity. Haltech/ ViPEC/Autronic would both be much better options for him and his location. He is in the North West tuners are very few and far between so it is best to go with a system that someone with in a 5hr drive/tow has experience tuning. My tuner might even be a stretch to fall in the 5hr away range from where he is. There is an Awesome Autronic tuner in Squamish, "RocketRally" is located there they typically build tune rally cars and STi/Evos but he is supposed to be a top notch tuner they should be close to him but I have a feeling he has a repore with Intec and they are building the car so i would also have them tune it in case issues arise the finger pointing wont occur again.

Eno

iTrader: (1)

550?! Jebus... Here we go!

I am going to stick the uprev route for now and see what happens with the car. I know for the longest time I was looking at Haltech and I was eventually "talked" out of it. As the story goes, Haltech was described as probably the best racing EMS out there but ends up disabling a lot of features built into the car... I don't recall all of the things that were listed but suffice to say Haltech is something I'll look at if I decide to put the car on a track and pursue it like that a bit more. I'm not quite there yet.

Gord, I really like that Form-function photo array and the concept of the article. The reason I have the car and why I'm taking it the route it is follows a similar concept but 1 (or 2-3) steps down from that. Maximum points for those of you who do the work yourselves- I looked down your parts list again and I can't help but be impressed that you did a lot of that work yourself. That goes for all of you out there- no matter what numbers I put down I'll always be hunting down the opportunity to learn more about how to do some of these finer upgrades myself. Unfortunately time isn't always a common commodity for me and being able to leave for a week and come back and have the car finished has its advantages.

I did talk to Rocket but only for the install of the kit and they told me that they only build on subies... which is great. Glad they turned it down and focused on what they're good at. As for a tune- I imagine the focus is on a program and performance whatever platform comes in. It definitely sounds like a place I might visit as I fine tune things a little- or even just go check out on a trip to talk to some folks and get some more perspective.

As Gord mentions I have developed some good terms with Intec and have a lot of respect for the knowledge they have on the G, the VQ and FI in general. They have a racing mentality but haven't lost sight of the fact that some of us want the power with the added convenience that engineers design into the car. So I get a LITTLE less power (when you've come from 220rwhp with a bunch of boltons to -550?!- then squeezing 25 more out by going haltech is a little) but I get a car that will continue to function the way it was designed to. Unless I pull the trigger on some chirpy "neon" driver I'd be quite content if the car performed as close to stock as possible. Sorry Sasha- I still laugh when I tell that story to others. I love it.

I'm going to keep doing some looking into the cats issue. I think my WOTs will be few enough and short term enough that I shouldn't get the same issues guys using the HFCs get on the track. If I get the bug and end up on track then I'll have to go catless.

350zion

iTrader: (58)

SOOOOO Lucky! Good luck brother, sucks to learn this way but atleast ur better informed. Thanks for sharing

350zion

iTrader: (58)

Not true.....

Factory ECU is still running the show, Haltech runs the engine!

Not tryin to turn this into a debate thread, But as DJamps and Dikspiel stated Uprev has its limitations I think its great if ur staying on a stock block under 450 and wanna get ur car out n have fun...But a standalone is better when running higher boost safely on a built block. And yes who is tuning it is a major concern. IMHO

Again good luck, Ill sub to this thread to hear the outcome......

Eno

iTrader: (1)

I may be repeating it wrong- it was back in March and the details of the exact conversation are fuzzy. I know at the time I made the decision there was some 2500+tune vs 700+tune going on in my mind. I do know, in keeping with what Gord is saying above, that the guy doing the tune at Intec is a magician with Uprev so I'm comfortable staying the Uprev course.

I noticed djamps was looking into a potential issue and I'll keep my ear to the ground over there too.

rh_334

iTrader: (2)

That issue is with quick spooling turbos, you shouldn't have it with the 700's. I was one of the first to speak out about the issue and seeked Djamps help a while back. I have since decided to switch to a standalone with the build if the problem still occurs so im not as active about finding a solution anymore.

But as far as Uprev being capable of running a high hp car, it is perfectly capable, Z1 currently has a car that makes 597 on pump running Osiris.

Just wait it out and see what is found out about our issue. Most people have to buy an Uprev license anyway to bump rev limit/idle/topspeed so if i were you i would budget for a Haltech but try uprev first. If you have problems then switch to Haltech.

Eno

iTrader: (1)

The reason I'm sticking the course with uprev is I've already got the uprev license and they'd already started to tune it when things went sideways. I think they'll get it dialed in nicely and if I ever choose to go the water meth (or more exotic still) route I'll expand to haltech. I've got to stop somewhere or I'll run out of money and not have a car like that guy with the 1000-0whp in 200k 370.