Necro bump-

For anyone still around from the old days (including you Sylvan!) I do still have the car and overall it's been pretty reliable. I had a few problems with it but nothing related to the FI build... though recently it sounds like I had an oil scavenging pump issue that looked like either a head gasket failure or a pump seal failure. It's at the shop now for further analysis but everything is pointing to scavenging pump (according to smart people).

I found a new shop in Calgary called Rev'd Performance who I've got an initial sense will take good care of the car for me. Like Lightspeed at first, Intec and then MonkeyNutz after them I'm hoping for an honest group of guys who know I'm car stupid and feel sorry enough for me to not rip me off.

I'm still just a hard parker but the car is paid for and constitutes a substantial financial and emotional investment over the last 8 years... I'm not even sure if anyone still buys these cars anymore but I still enjoy it.

Not sure if anyone is still around but send me a shout out if you're still here!

Holy ****... reading back through this thread... maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.

 

People still buy these cars, albiet for less than what you paid for your wheels back when you were building this awesome thing! It's my first "fun" car and I love it.

 

Even though we lost our G to motor failure a few months ago I'm still here alive and kicking, glad to see you still have yours. This place is definitely an addiction for me, I just can't seem to quit it. I mainly stop in once a day to fulfill mod duties but somehow I end up here for an hour lol.

 

Every year I think I'll sell it and then I chicken out... then somehow cost justify it versus a replacement "functional" vehicle.

All the G drivers I see around locally are about 1/3rd my age... I can see the cops mean mugging me when they drive by and then realize I'm actually just old and not a young addict. The exhaust is leaning on the loud side for me now so I'm thinking of transitioning back to something like what I had originally (Stillen, true dual).

If I thought I could get a reasonable price for it I'd sell it in the states since there seems to be more appreciation for these cars down there- but I always talk talk talk and then just drive it for another summer. It's only got 80k on it so it's in great shape... but that works both for and against the thoughts of selling it.

Then stupid stuff like this happen and I remember the poor thing is still just an 06.



I am always left wondering if my story helped talk anyone out of going the FI route- and if not talking them out of it helped to educate them in what not to do... and the precautions that should be taken.

Thanks for dropping by to say hi guys!

 

Car is back on the hoist for substantial work... issues involving a lack of back pressure because of the high flow exhaust resulted in a pretty severe oil leak into the turbos. Guess this also was the result of (or at least compounded by) how the drain lines were run. In the subsequent travels it turns out the rear main seal will need to be replaced and the heads need to be redone since at least 2 valves are leaking between 30-80%.

Interesting to note that the recent feedback from JWT on the turbos in the 700BB kit is that they were really intended to go on a stock platform- ie: stock exhaust with higher back pressure so as a result of that I guess the configuration of the kit accounted for that. I learned that higher output builds using this kit run the oil drain lines upwards- higher in the engine compartment... Requiring an oil pan modification and the engine to be pulled. Unfortunately this wasn't done in the original or subsequent build- not sure if it was known at the time. I'm probably paraphrasing the wrong things but suffice to say some work is getting done.

Turbos were soaked with oil but apparently are in good shape. They're going to Alamo to be sure.

On the plus side this gets everything put under the microscope again to help ensure longevity of the overall build... on the down side it's hard to continue putting money into this since it's already eaten its fair share.

 

Whats your back story on the FI build? Im actually picking the g35 as a new FI project car.. seems like the VQ and the 2005 november or newer trans are pretty reliable even under low boost...

 

There's 46 pages of backstory, just start at page 1 it's a good read.

Don't sell the car Eno, just find creative ways to make it more enjoyable to drive for the next year, and that doesn't mean just bolting on more power

 

Hey eno i still got mine and on 02/18/2003 i bought it new and its been through quite a bit since.

 

The story continues... But here is a familiar view of the engine 5 years after the fact:



Heads were leaking pretty substantially so they're getting torn down and restored... oil lines have been run "the right way" and then after that I think it's time to look at dampening the exhaust sound since it's on the obnoxious side. Start with some different cats (these were custom) and see where that lands me.

There was a lot more leaking then they were comfortable with so that will come with its share of fine tuning... replacement of fittings etc. We're in a bit of a lull now since many parts are at various shops being restored.

 

A person really needs to ask themselves what they want to accomplish with the build... By the time you've got the kit in there are substantial costs associated whether in time or money (or both) and when it's all over you're left with a car that leaves you wanting. Just a little bit more... and a little bit more. Tighten this thing up- get that part...

If you're comfortable tearing an engine down and rebuilding it then I welcome you to the various challenges I ended up having to depend on others to see me through. What I will tell you is the rods in the AT are softer than those in the Revup... and while the Revups had their own issues their stock parts were more resilient to the rigors of boost up to around 10psi.

Now my issue happened because- short version- a wastegate was unable to open and there are a lot of valid comments in this thread about the fact the tuner should have seen that coming and dumped the load on the car. That's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in history now- for me. But it happened and I was left paying someone to pick up the pieces for quite a long time. I was pushing for a reliable, safe build and overbuilt in the right places... in my case specifically for the build I was going with fuel was the key.

Transmission was a whole other thing... you can dump a transgo in there for snappy shifting but it won't do anything to protect it from extra torque. You can put a transmission fluid cooler in and that'll help a little. I upgraded the transmission during the (second) build so I'm not sure how the stock one- even slightly upgraded with transgo and cooler- would have responded to the additional pressure.

Anyway- just my perspective.

 

You should look into either resonated cats or adding a resonator somewhere else in the exhaust. Simply swapping out one set of cats for another isn't going to make a big difference in the overall sound since the rest of the bends and diameters are all the same.

Looking forward to seeing what direction this re-build takes you

 

Okay well the saga continues.

The shop had everything buttoned back up and ready to give back to me (save for the resonators) but one of the guys heard some pretty significant knocking. Long story short they'd found significant metal filings in the oil and were able to lift the motor to inspect some of the bottom end things and found that a bunch of bolts used to secure the crank in the block (or something to that effect) were extremely loose- like half of them on the one side. The crank was too damaged to leave so the engine had to come out again. Turned out damage to the block and the crank was so severe that I ended up having to source another block.

Build quality from the major rebuild was pretty substandard given the quality of the components used (many of which were leaking / seeping) not to mention the bolts / nuts used to hold the crank in place were loose. They'd also installed my Wilwood brake calipers upside down but I guess anyone could do that. (?)

It's amazing it's taken this long to matter but the car has been pretty gently driven. It's been about 25000kms... Fortunately the current shop has agreed to do the additional work involved for half- which... hopefully only coincidentally, was what the former shop said.

This isn't really to lay blame on the previous shop whose shirts I used to wear with pride I now use as shop towels. It is, however, a shout out to anyone who- like me- depends on the competence and honesty of others to do the heavy lifting when significant car upgrades are involved.



My nightmare with this car continues but at the end of it it'll be a fresh build with what I can only hope is a reliable shop that will see the car to the end of its life.

 

Wow that's definitely a failure of the other shop to properly torque bolts to spec, sorry to hear this.

 

Okay well sorry to necro this post again- unfortunately it's taken this long to get the car back. Not sure if anyone even comes in here anymore but figured this will help to tie off the loose end in case anyone is still around.

The damage to the engine components was severe as I mentioned before. All 6 pistons were cracked to add to the components that needed to be replaced- all of them cracked in the same spot. I'd reached out to Intec around the time of my last post and they initially said they'd help and then the new shop tried to contact them and they went silent. I didn't push that since a long time had passed and I'm not 100% sure if they're responsible... I mean, anything could happen... right?

Pretty disappointing.

So the new shop, Rev'd Performance out of Calgary went back through an almost complete rebuild. This was plagued with challenges as my red nightmare, the ginger gold digging wh0re that she is, started knocking out turbos in an unexplainable fashion. A couple more modifications and some new lines seemed to solve that problem. I went in to pick up the car after almost a year and a half and the boys had her done up nice and tight- even had the car detailed... it looked pretty sharp I must say.

I took off, excited to have it back and thinking the worst was behind me when the power steering pump crapped out...

**** sakes.

Funny enough the same tow truck driver who had dealt with the car last year a couple different times was the guy who came to get it this time... so he knew the car and remembered the story.

Anyway... We're back to 0km on the engine components. Maybe now is the perfect time to sell?

I think I'll finally just walk away from this thread... but this whole thing is a mini-novel on all the reasons why you need to seriously consider whether or not the speed is worth it in a car jammed with aftermarket parts. If you can do all your own work, then great! This is an awesome project car that will keep you busy all day long... but if you're like me and you just wanted a little more acceleration and depend on others to help bail you out every time something goes "ping" then I strongly, strongly advise against it.

 

Glad you came back for the update, my gut feeling is the tuners have gotten too aggressive and didn't factor in a little room for error as things wear. Cracking all 6 pistons is rare, possibly defective but likely a really aggressive tune.

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