So I've been hard at it ever since i picked up the car. For those that don't remember, the car was completely stock when i bought it, so everything done is done by me. Ton of pics.

a couple stock pics first:






couple of both my rs and the gsx:





one of the rs chilling in montana with its new owners:




now on to the good stuff, pics of the gsx in work and finished products. i'll put little descriptions underneath some of them:


old exhaust including downpipe and cat after being taken off the car.

new apexi exhaust and downpipe.

under the car after the old exhaust came off.

new muffler in position.

new exhaust is so huge!

see above.

rockford p162s 6.5 inch components up front. took out the little crossbeams for fitment and overall aesthetics.

fun little tweeter install. one of the two per side that comes with the rockford components. took out the cone and motor structure of the stock tweeter, and put the new one in the basket. turned out super nice.

new wheels. msr black 6 spokes, polished lip, kumho ecsta tires.

little side shot.

greddy shift knob, linked to a pacesetter short shifter, apexi black auto timer, and alpine cda-9855 headunit. very happy with the way that turned out.

extreme psi hard intake pipe with k&n filter. hard piping kit, and turbosmart dual port blow off valve. not happy with the piping kit, so will be doing a short route setup when i install the fmic. piping is on the way. that'll also change where the bov sits.

nice little closeup of the bov

brushed aluminum bezel trim. i like it. keeping the gauges stock.

closeup of the dremel work i had to do to get one of the gauges to fit.

not perfect, but i can definitely live with it. can only see the cutting from that angle anyway.

prosport boost/vac and oil pressure installed, during the day. they light white to match the stock gauges.

same gauges at night. light to amber to match the stock gauges.

apexi s-afc 2 black edition mounted but not yet wired in.

pacesetter short shifter/center console ripped apart.

everything put back together.

the garage.

my pile of parts and tools for the car.

that's right, watching tv while i'm under the car.

i should add that all the wiring takes forever because i go through and use my air force electronics skills to do it right. there's not a single connection that hasn't been soldered and heatshrunk.

still got a ton of parts to put on the car:

new hard piping, black coated
new silicone couplers
new t-bolt clamps
fmic
evo3 16g turbo, exhaust manifold, and o2 housing
stainless oil lines.
turbo xs boost controller
walbro 255 lph fuel pump
dsm fuel pump rewire kit
pte 680cc injectors
procomp adjustable black shift light
adjustable fuel pressure regulator
fuel pressure gauge
urethane shifter bushing kit
nx ntercooler kit (not really to use, just to have)



i'm sure i'm forgetting some little tidbits, but that's the gist of it.

very nice man, just so you know you didnt have to dremel out the gauges

actually yes... i did. on that one. the gauge was too deep and wouldn't fit unless i dremeled it. why only one side is done.

Why does your sig say GS-T?

Do you have an Eprom ECU? If so you should have went with DSM link with all the money you've spent.

to your first question, i just made a stupid typo. fixed now

to the second question, i have no idea if i have an eeprom ecu. i am planning on upgrading the engine management when i build the 6 bolt for the car.

Looking good. Wondering the same as above, title says GSX but sig says GST and car says GS IM SO CONFUSED!

edit: ah

the car only says gs because i took the x off. trying to be slightly sneaky.

Those rims look familiar.... LOL

The pic under the car (with jack stands) looks quite familiar. As a matter of fact, I have that same photo opportunity out in my garage at the moment. Good to see that another DSM is getting the proper work done to er. I must ask, is that gauge which is being an issue a mechanical? In all honesty, every electrical gauge I know of doesn't have this issue. I've never really looked into mech. gauges however. Lookin good and keep it up. Pics are always welcome.

actually no. it's electrical. it's not an issue, was just a bit too deep.

Looks good man. Keep up the good work. You found a really clean car to start with as well. That's always a plus. And you can verify if you have an EPROM ECU by taking out the ECU (under the radio), take off the cover, and look for the EPROM chip.

okay... so another update followed by the woes.

Started on the 16g install today

Everything is going great on it. Got everything off the car, including the stock side mount i/c and all the piping. Got the evo3 16g mounted on the evo3 exhaust manifold and the evo3 o2 housing. everything is going great. Put the turbo in the car. Now comes the bad part. I bought a 16g install kit from extremepsi.com and apparently they didn't give me the right fitting for the oil feed line. Now I have to wait til tomorrow, and hopefully find some in town, if i can't, the car will be out of commission for the week. Oh well.

Got the fmic installed, and all the piping on, although i have to redo the routing of the upper charge pipe.

Toward the end of the night, it started raining. My buddy, who's been so kind as to let me use his garage, had parked his trans am outside. He doesn't like for it to get rained on. Well, it started raining while I was under the car, and I didn't even pay it any mind, as I was way busy. I hear him start up the car about an hour later, and then he comes running in all kinds of pissed. Apparently the hood of the car was up, and rain on his engine is a no no. I didn't really understand that before tonight. To top things off, He shorted his lights, so they stayed on until he pulled the fuse. I'm sure I'm in trouble come tomorrow, we shall see.

Here are the pics:


During taking everything apart

Itty Bitty stock side mount

New front mount

Turbo assembly, final coat of paint, before installation

Another angle

Big gaping hole.

New Piping

New assembly in the bay

Front mount, well... mounted. Also Spray bar for the NX kit installed.

Short route piping.

the good dole sark side :), now get some black interior ;)

we've discussed already.. but damn.. it looks amazing man.. I envy the fun project you have going on. ;(

So got the parts I needed this week and went over yesterday and did another round of work. Happy to say the car is running again. Some pics with captions as usual:


Me working on the downpipe

Me working on the oil feed line

Oil feed line in place

The two parts I waited all week for installed on the turbo. Oil feed line done.

New t-fitting and oil pressure sender for the gauge.

Downpipe bolted up and oil return line in place.

Short route charge piping in place. You can also see the boost controller just a little.

Everything done. Just still need to route those red wires a little better.

Intake and BOV installed, and exhaust manifold heating up, starting to change color.

Front bumper back on.


RAN INTO A PROBLEM THOUGH

As I was pulling the car out of the garage, there was this weird click/thumping happening. Thought I really screwed something up. So I pulled her back in the garage and jacked her up to find this:




Apparently having the different angle of the evo3 o2 housing and having to tweak the downpipe a bit to get it to work changed the whole geometry of the exhaust. So now the flange of the exhaust is hitting on the universal joint of the driveshaft. It'll be a 20 minute fix today, just going to whittle the flange down with a shop grinder and all will be well.


Another shot of the manifold after it's been changing colors.

Shot of the o2 housing and funky o2 sensor placement. Those crazy japs.

Night shot of the head unit and turbo timer

Shot of the lighting around them


Anyway, should be driving the car in another couple hours. Just have to finish that one small problem up and i'll be good to go.

Nice work, looking good.

Car is fully functionaly again. Took it for a spin tonight. Boost is different than i had imagine. turboxs mbc is currently set at 14 psi. Doesn't start boosting til somewhere between 3.5k and 4.5k rpm's (unsure exactly where right now) then i can watch it build, then with about 2k rpm's left before redline, maybe 2.5k i've got full boost. i'm just wondering if it's normal, destruck, how does your big 16g act? just curious if i've got an issue i don't know about that i need to fix or what.

oh yeah, also very evident now is the stock clutch can't take the power. going to upgrade to a act 2600 unit next month, then tune for the most power i can get out of the turbo.

You should be seeing boost way faster than that with an evo3. I ran that turbo on one of my cars and I had full boost(~17psi) at 3400. I would check for boost leeks fist...

Originally posted by spartan
You should be seeing boost way faster than that with an evo3. I ran that turbo on one of my cars and I had full boost(~17psi) at 3400. I would check for boost leeks fist...

Bingo. With all the tweakin you been doing under the hood it would make sense that you ARE going to have some boost leaks of some kind. It's super easy to test for boost leaks and there is a good writeup on vfaq.com

But I really can't believe how many mods you've done to that car in such a short amount of time. Good job and good luck!

Originally posted by ScreaminE

Originally posted by spartan You should be seeing boost way faster than that with an evo3. I ran that turbo on one of my cars and I had full boost(~17psi) at 3400. I would check for boost leeks fist...

Bingo. With all the tweakin you been doing under the hood it would make sense that you ARE going to have some boost leaks of some kind. It's super easy to test for boost leaks and there is a good writeup on vfaq.com But I really can't believe how many mods you've done to that car in such a short amount of time. Good job and good luck!

i'll check up on vfaq.com. as for the mods in the time span, i just really enjoy working on cars. it's my passion. and i seem to get really good deals on car parts. so, with winter fast approaching, i don't want a whole bunch of parts sitting in the garage until it warms back up enough that i feel like going out in the weather to work on the car. funny thing is i still have MORE parts for it going on in the next couple weekends, so i guess stay tuned.

My Big16g boosts around 2600 and full boost (1 bar / 15ish psi) at around 3200. Definately need a new clutch / flywheel. I use 2600, daily use isn't bad at all, and have never had trouble putting down the power. Boost leaks for sure, no way it starts spooling that late. I shift at 3k around town and already have enough boost to blow off, so you should check it out. Check your intercooler piping, a loose hose can cause major leaks. I'm having issues myself currently -_-

EDIT: Forgot to add, I see boost all the way to redline, I think it has something to do with it being ported and clipped, not sure. I am for sure that I get power all the way though, I have tested it enough times }(

Jesus christ. I have a lot of envy for you. You just shelled out several thousands of dollars and you have the time to work on your car, in a garage. *sigh*, one day. I like pictures, keep em up.


http://talontimes.blogspot.com

Good job on everything man. As far as the spool on the Evo 3, definitely do a boost leak check! I reached 23 PSI daily by about 3500 RPM's with it. Once you get that taken care of and replace the clutch, you will be having a lot of fun :)

well, only in first does it take a while to reach boost. it reaches at 5k. other than that, every gear boosts pretty quick.

Originally posted by hookduphatch
well, only in first does it take a while to reach boost. it reaches at 5k. other than that, every gear boosts pretty quick.

How can you even tell?? 1st gear is usually done and over with in about a second.

lol

i watch carefully.

I don't want to whore your thread, because your project is looking clean and the mods are methodical. However, I must recommend looking into getting a Centerforce or Southbend clutch. Research ACT, CF, and SB before you buy. I won't explain because I don't want to start something. Keep up the great work. It should be a very fun street car come spring by the looks of things.

it's a fun street car now. and if by problems with act you mean the problems with disengagement, i've got that covered.

did you ever figure out your boost issue?

it's boosting fine now. no clue why. lol.

Yep. May be putting these on tomorrow.

Hybrid Connection 2.5" O2 Housing, thanks to orzech.


Tubular Manifold


Both parts are painted with DEI High Temp Silicone Paint. Good stuff. They're actually a semi gloss black, the lighting was just weird, and those spots are gone now. Just put on a few more coats.

anytime :)

Okay. Been hard at it for a couple days, and very happy with what I've done. The pics:


The whole engine bay as of now.


Various things rerouted and new catch can installed


Tubular manifold and O2 Housing installed, New spot for the boost controller.


Shot of the turbo and the routing of some of the new silicone vac lines.


Accel 8.5mm Spark Plug Wires and new spark plug wire cover


Short route piping routed correctly and the routing of the oil feed line. I had the o2 sensor wires underneath the oil feed line for a nice look.


Removed the cruise control (didn't work anyway) to make a home for the greddy oil catch can.


The catch can and the custom bracket I made for it.


The new j-pipe that routes for a front mount. No more having to route the piping under the crossmember.


The bracket I made for the boost controller and another shot of the lower i/c piping. I'm glad that the boost controller isn't just zip tied to a water line anymore.


The entire engine bay and the new strut brace.


The new O2 housing in its new home. Thanks again Chris.

So all in all I am very happy. I wasn't even close to in a rush this time, meaning I could slow down and think everything out. I also had the time to make those little custom brackets and just do EVERYTHING 110%. Good times, hope y'all like.

Jeez, all that money for the new goodies and you couldn't even spring for a PC'd valve cover??? :rolleyes

J/K/ man. It looks real good! :thumbsup

Looks real nice. I'm sure that's not a crack we see in the j-pipe there, correct? This is kind of a testament to how it can look if you take your time. One of the problems that many of us have (yeah, that's an inclusive us ;-) )

MB

nah that's not a crack. it was just a drip or smudge of something.

That's alot of new colors.

not quite sure i understand what that means?

...does this mean what I think it means?

Nice, looks like your coming along pretty fast.

now go buy yourself a non cruiose throttle cable and remove that big ugly cruise box from your engine bay. then do the emissions removal/battery relocation and space will start to open up in your engine bay.

overall looking good though. nice o2 housing :)

It means you've added a ton of new shit in a very short time lol.

You should make a compartment around your air-filter and re-locate the battery. It is going to start getting really hot in there. lol

Looks good. Except the valve-cover area, and the top of the radiator :P


http://talontimes.blogspot.com

99gs
95TSI