sorry to hear Dan, that sucks that you have to get rid of the kit. do you plan to start another turbo setup in the future or are you completely done with FI to the RA?

 

Damm...hope she get a new and better job ASAP!

About 1 year ago I got $5k ready for my FI mod but then I lost my job too...end up using the money to pay the bills until I found a new job 4 months later...

Now I started again the "shoe box saving account" for that mod...

 

I'm not sure yet. If I do sell it, I won't turbo the RA, but I'm not TRYING to sell the kit, merely selling it if someone wants it.

 

I want it.. but don't want it because you'll be better off with it haha.

 

I'm not convinced that doing what migueralliart is doing isn't the BETTER way to get the most out of this engine. we will see.

not to say boosting won't gain you more, it obviously would net you more HP, but is it safe to boost more than 10psi without doing all that work anyway? if not, and your target is way up there, you have to do all this stuff. but at that point, and we are all guessing here so it's not a real number, we should be putting down well over 200HP (closer to 250) ATW, and turbo charging the car isn't going to do anything but make it harder to drive.

like I said, I'm not convinced that turbo is necessarily the best route for an engine such as the 4g69 on a FWD chassis.

 

still, it sucks man you had it almost done.. i say wait a while like 2 to 3 months so she can find a job.. you also need a hobby

 

yeah, realistically all I need to do is finish the exhaust, mount the intercooler and run piping for it. everything else is bolt on and tune. as far as my planning was concerned the kit is 100% complete, but I don't think anyone wants to buy the cheapy pipe bender and deal with that problem like I have to. I am actually considering buying some 90* couplers if I keep the kit, and bending only the pipe that needs to be less than 45* or so.

I have more than one hobby, I like driving my car more than I like working on it actually, and I am still planning my head, cam, and IM work.

I work at a steel distributor, so I will build an exhaust manifold as well if I don't go turbo. I don't like the idea of having a 3" exhaust though, so I might put some restriction inline before the cat, maybe use 2.25 for the DP, 2.25 to 3" on the engine side of the cat, 3" to 2.5" on the back side of the cat, 2.5" to 3" on either side of the round muffler, and 2.5 to 3" on the rear muffler. should give me enough backpressure for a short ram intake inside a cold airflow box (fed from the foglight) ported IM, ported and polished semi built head, reground cam, exhaust, pulley, and the smt-6 for tuning, even with the 3" highflow cat and two 3" mufflers

 

dan,

sorry to hear about your woes man. I'm glad to hear that you will at least keep going with this cylinder head project! Good luck to you and your GF, my gf and I recently went through a LOT of hell last X-mas, her car was repoed, lost her job etc. The only thing worse than financial problems with your significant other, is gettin' cheated on. Good luck and I hope you guys are able to stay comfortable.

 

If she doesn't mind working retail, tell here to try walgreens. Thats were i work and they make pretty good money and you can move up in the company quick. They love to promote....But i know she would like to stay in her field of work. But times are hard..I graduated with a BS in Information Systems and I'm training to be a store manager!!!

 

Dan,

You were mentioning the cam regrind, I am also *very* curious to see how this turns out. I really wish we could get someone to install it before migue gets back home. I'd really like to see the gains here. I know I won't be doing all the upgrades that Migue is doing because I suspect he hasn't mentioned a few. Furthermore I will not be changing my compression with different pistons, or messing with the rods. Basically I'm doing the cylinder head porting and knife edging, cam regrind, smt-6, and port n' polished IM. Still doing the 3-angle valve job but I'm letting the shop do the whole valve train rebuild. I want to either send them (the head and IM) off here:

http://www.hpcoatings.com/am/product..._friction.aspx


Or do the ceramic coating myself. I'm weary of doing the ceramic coating myself because:
a) my oven is horrible.
b) I'm a noob

This HPC coater is basically the same sort of coatings and dry film lubes that Migue was already discussing. Perhaps I can take the head into them assembled with the new valve job and then they can coat it all. That's the hope, I don't really know how realistic it is yet, but these guys are also in town, so no biggy if I have to pull it all apart. The shop doing the valve job said they could pull it all apart and give me the springs to get coated/frozen. Now that I'm starting to accumulate parts, its getting more difficult to figure out which order to go in.

 

yeah, it gets much harder the further you get into it doesn't it. try getting it all at once and figuring out what order(in stages) it should go on the car in

I would think that you would need to have it all disassembled in order to have it coated, it looks as if they coat the valves with something and use a lubricant as well. that would appear to have to be done with it taken apart. If you have a seperate oven I would say try it yourself. I am sure it can't be that difficult if you follow the directions and take your time, and since you are bringing it somewhere for the valve job you can get everything all set up and then take it to the shop in baggies and boxes much lower cost to you, especially since everything will be done, and you will have everything complete and ready to bolt on in much less time.

The cam was supposed to be done this weekend. After he finishes the guy will have an aggressive NA profile. Orlando told me that the lower lift cam lobes were to be left alone, and the high lift cam modified. He had to send all kinds of stuff off to the guy in order for him to produce a good profile, I am sure he will explain more about this when he gets the cam and specs back from the shop.

I was going to contact the guy this after this weekend to see about a turbo profile, but I am not sure what my induction type will be anymore. Orlando has chosen to refrain from releasing the company for various reasons, a recent change of venue for the company being the first reason. It's not a secret, it's just not out until the cams out. I will send him my spare cam regardless of a dyno, when you add lift and duration to your high lift cam, especially with the supporting mods to back it up, you greatly increase your top end power.

 

ok, I just picked up the head on my lunch break. I guess it begins!

I really wish migues pics still worked, I don't want to start pulling everything apart until I get the shop manual or a visual reference. It's probably not even that hard to pull it all apart, but I am *really* good at breaking stuff AND hurting myself. I'll take a closer look tomorrow and if it's something I feel like I can do, I'll do it, and retake all the pics.

Dan, you don't happen to have done this with pics already eh? hehehe

 

Ya I didn't think the cams were any big secret at all, I just figured there was nothing yet to report. I hope it works out well for him, I'm eager to send mine off

 

more trouble on the home front. put the kit back up for sale

GF still has no job. major family problem came up a couple weeks ago. what a bummer

 

Dan,

Sorry things are going so rough man. I hope things go well and good luck.