New: Project 22T

[cody]

It's okay to mix them.

[kidatari]

Originally Posted by ScottyS

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!

Awesome!! Glad to hear that you got everything together.

Vacuum leaks are inevitable with these cars, because of the intake plastics cracking. You could try the starter fluid trick for finding vacuum leaks, but it's not the most conclusive test.

The seatbelts are a 2-hour job. You have to pull the front seats to do the job. Be very gentle when pulling the trim out of my old car, because while 95% of the clips were intact when I did the install, they can break very easilly.

The steering wheel is easy, just pop the horn button out and loosen the center nut to remove. Make sure that the wheels are straight-ahead on your car, and install the wheel so that it is perfectly straight, and tighten the center bolt. For the horn connection, connect the spade connectors as is on my car. Don't forget that you'll lose Cruise Control though.

[ScottyS]

Originally Posted by kidatari

Awesome!! Glad to hear that you got everything together.

Vacuum leaks are inevitable with these cars, because of the intake plastics cracking. You could try the starter fluid trick for finding vacuum leaks, but it's not the most conclusive test.

The seatbelts are a 2-hour job. You have to pull the front seats to do the job. Be very gentle when pulling the trim out of my old car, because while 95% of the clips were intact when I did the install, they can break very easilly.

The steering wheel is easy, just pop the horn button out and loosen the center nut to remove. Make sure that the wheels are straight-ahead on your car, and install the wheel so that it is perfectly straight, and tighten the center bolt. For the horn connection, connect the spade connectors as is on my car. Don't forget that you'll lose Cruise Control though.

Yeah, I figured as much on the leaks.

Thanks for the info on the trim, probably will happen this weekend.

Today, I did the rear trunk lid, stock headlights (mine were cloudy), grill (mine was all worn), instrument cluster, and a couple of dash pieces. It already looks 100% better inside and out.

I would love to get my extra pair of 03 WRX seats in there, I will look at the possibilities.

I will also pull and paint the black exterior window trim at some point.

Josh (and Deede), thanks so much for posting in my thread and bringing my attention to your car - this has saved my bacon on this project big time, and I really, really appreciate it.

[kidatari]

Originally Posted by ScottyS

Josh (and Deede), thanks so much for posting in my thread and bringing my attention to your car - this has saved my bacon on this project big time, and I really, really appreciate it.

Just glad to hear that my car went to a loving home

[ScottyS]

Yeah, spent some more quality time in the garage this weekend!

1) Hooked the water lines back up to the throttle body - I think that fixed the idle problem.
2) Put my spare BPV on, the other one had a vacuum nipple broken.
3) Adjusted some other vacuum issues.
4) Swapped the seat belts!
5) Swapped in WRX seats - they sit high, I might have to fix this later
6) Fixed a pre-existing wiring issue with the tail lights and dash lights - first I had to reverse the hacking that had already been done (not on Josh's car) and then find a short in the dash light circuit (between the relay and the 10amp fuse) and then bypass said short because ripping the lower harness out is not smart on such an old car. But, got it done! Now everything works properly, I just had to bypass the fuse box (using a new in-line fuse holder) for the dash circuit!

[A1337STI]

I've got some Jamerex seats i'de sell really cheap. good for Auto cross, rally cross, Rally america, but not Nasa pro rally. Probabbly SCCA time trials too. (fixed back, but no FIA rating)

Sounds like your car is really coming along, pics ?

[ScottyS]

Yeah, I need to take some new pics. But honestly, it looks almost like the first pics still, because I have not done a whole heck of a lot to the exterior.......I updated the first post though.

[ScottyS]

Update: I just finished putting on the '06-'07 TMIC and Scott's TD04. This was kinda a pain in the rear, but compared to the rest of the car so far it was easy ;-)

I had to relocate the ignitor chip (easy) and the coolant tank (annoying). This involved some creative work with stock aluminum from the Home Depot to make brackets, and I think it's going to be OK but I don't like the way I had to attach the tank to them, so I may redo this in the future.

Setting up the TMIC geometry was pretty time-consuming, in fact, it took all day and 2 trips into town. Fortunately, morgank set me up with an old aftermarket silicone STi Y-pipe that enabled me to use part of the stock '06 pipe and a little 2" exhaust pipe to get it all to line up. I just cut the bends I needed out of his old pipe and spliced things together so they fit well.

All the vacuum and water hose re-routing was interesting as well, since I did not have a huge supply of different fittings or pre-formed elbows, but it all looks OK. I need to change out one water line that I would like to route differently when I get a longer piece, and my adapter/reducer for the BPV is hokey. Other than that it's OK.

Now I just need to drive it a little more than up and down the hill here, and also figure out how to evaluate for boost leaks.

[sperry]

Pictures!

[cody]

+1 for pics!

You upgraded the turbo? Did you have to upgrade the injectors or fuel pump and what about tuning?

[ScottyS]

Originally Posted by sperry

Pictures!

Agreed.

Originally Posted by cody

You upgraded the turbo? Did you have to upgrade the injectors or fuel pump and what about tuning?

Kinda, the TD04 is very similar to the VF-11, however it probably has better flow and a higher PSI rating (?). Basically, it was newer in design and manufacture....and there are a lot of cheap ones out there should this one kick the bucket.

The boost is still below 10psi with all tuning/mgmt at stock. According to everything on the internet, injector upgrades are not required until the mid-teens PSI. There is a built-in fuel cut that should kick in at around 14psi that needs to be circumvented if running a MBC approaching that number. I would like to upgrade the fuel pump at some point just to refresh the old one since it's not an expensive mod.

I am planning on running in this config or maybe up to 12psi for a while, so no engine management for me. There is somebody selling a ECU upgrade that basically is plug and play and is theoretically mapped for either mild upgrades like mine or more. I'm not so sure that generic mapping is a good idea, and also I do not know if the ECU retains the ability to learn with that plug-in. I cannot afford the pricey standalone management out there, and frankly on a car this old I'm not sure it's the best idea unless I want to do a lot of wiring. I'll slowly research it however while I work on suspension.

[cody]

Interesting. Nice work! It looks way better than what I pictured from your prev. post.

[ScottyS]

Originally Posted by cody

Interesting. Nice work! It looks way better than what I pictured from your prev. post.

Heh, it's still kinda ghetto until I get all fancy braided lines and metal fittings.

Scott, where are you guys getting those oil filter bypass kits to make pressure/temp fitting points? Also, where did you source all your nice hoses and fittings?

[sperry]

Originally Posted by ScottyS

Heh, it's still kinda ghetto until I get all fancy braided lines and metal fittings.

Scott, where are you guys getting those oil filter bypass kits to make pressure/temp fitting points? Also, where did you source all your nice hoses and fittings?

I'm running a Canton filter relocation kit and Fluidyne oil cooler with Earl's (or the cheaper Summit house brand) fittings on my car now, but my gauges are not installed in the oil cooler plumbing anymore. I installed the oil pressure sensor in the top rear 1/8bspt galley plug of the driver's side head, and the temp sensor in a drilled/tapped plug on the top of the block.

In the past before I was running an oil cooler, I used a relatively cheap PermaCool oil cooler sandwich adapter from Summit that I drilled out so it was no longer a cooler adapter and instead acted like a sensor galley for the 1/8" NPT Autometer senders:



I believe Dean is still using this setup on his car (or maybe he sold it with his WRX). I believe there are several kits for the EJ motors these days that include these sorts of sandwich adapters for gauge sensors, so you don't have to go the DIY route with all the drilling if you don't want to, but the PermaCool adapters are super cheap IIRC.

As far as the hoses, pretty much everything "nice" looking is part of the Perrin Intercooler kit, it's just all been recently powdercoated so it looks nice. My radiator hoses are Samco, and the intake is a KSTech deal that Knucklesplitter put together for me. So, I didn't really source any special hoses or anything, they all came with the various kits that are on the car. I would talk to Knucklesplitter, he should be able to source you the custom stuff you might need since he does that for his intake kits.

[ScottyS]

OK, Friday I pulled the intake manifold and replaced the two manifold gaskets as well as the throttle body gasket. There were also some leaks in the hose that vents between the crankcase and both valve covers. All other hoses were refreshed as needed and wires and hoses run a little more cleanly. I fixed the turbo-to-coolant-tank hose with a longer one while I was at it.

Pics show everything off, followed by full reassembly 4 hours later.

Results: best yet - the idle problems are 100% gone, the motor runs like a top, and boost wants to go to 10psi now at stock settings. The whole car drives smoother now, it feels great. Still some minor pulsing at WOT, but I'm hoping that a full injector clean plus a new fuel pump will iron that out.

[ScottyS]

Finally got the oil sandwich adapter installed, the one I got from Summit needed a larger diameter filter o-ring, so now I am running a big filter for 91-95 Corvettes and Izuzu diesels. Heheh.

Those of you with oil pressure instrumentation, what are your typical idle, cruise, and WOT numbers?

[Dean]

From memory...

Very low, <25 PSI consistently, and below 20 often.

50ish I think

More than 50ish.

I'll check when I go out tomorrow.

[ScottyS]

Update:

Installed an EGT, drilled and tapped the manifold under hole #4 (driver's side rear). Am not showing readings above 1500 right now.

New fuel filter.

New plugs, NGK 6E11's I re-gapped to 0.037". The old plugs were 6E11's too, but were gapped at 0.046+", I now have no hesitation issues at WOT. All cylinders showed clean burns, except #2, which looks oil-heavy.

Installed Fuel Cut Defender so I can raise the boost to 14psi.


Noticed that after 40min of hwy driving, I went to park and got some torque bind and felt some weird "slipping" as I did the parallel maneuvers. Not sure what the deal is there, but I'll be watching it....I suppose I should probably jack the car up and measure the rotations on all four, huh Scott? :-o

[sperry]

Originally Posted by ScottyS

Update:

Installed an EGT, drilled and tapped the manifold under hole #4 (driver's side rear). Am not showing readings above 1500 right now.

New fuel filter.

New plugs, NGK 6E11's I re-gapped to 0.037". The old plugs were 6E11's too, but were gapped at 0.046+", I now have no hesitation issues at WOT. All cylinders showed clean burns, except #2, which looks oil-heavy.

Installed Fuel Cut Defender so I can raise the boost to 14psi.


Noticed that after 40min of hwy driving, I went to park and got some torque bind and felt some weird "slipping" as I did the parallel maneuvers. Not sure what the deal is there, but I'll be watching it....I suppose I should probably jack the car up and measure the rotations on all four, huh Scott? :-o

I think you're just joking, but just in case you're not: if the rear-end is the wrong ratio, you can't drive more than about 4 feet w/o massive shuddering, so I'm pretty sure you're okay.

[ScottyS]

Originally Posted by sperry

I think you're just joking, but just in case you're not: if the rear-end is the wrong ratio, you can't drive more than about 4 feet w/o massive shuddering, so I'm pretty sure you're okay.

Nah, not joking, but it sounds like that is not my problem....something is weird, but only after it's hot, apparently.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by ScottyS

Nah, not joking, but it sounds like that is not my problem....something is weird, but only after it's hot, apparently.

You still have the auto tranny in there? It could just be the transfer clutch being a little ornery when it's hot?

[ScottyS]

Originally Posted by sperry

You still have the auto tranny in there? It could just be the transfer clutch being a little ornery when it's hot?

No, it's a 5MT! Yikes, huh?

[ScottyS]

OK, I installed the Walbro and re-did the TMIC Y-pipe. I still don't like the Y config, and it turns out that the STi one does not fit right either. The long-term solution will be some custom combo of silicone and metal, but I need to research more parts options.

I plan on doing a grounding mod and rearrange some gauges soon. In addition to adding an MBC.

[ScottyS]

Update: MBC and fuel cut defender are working well together, once I adjusted the voltage clamp value for our altitude. Right now the boost peaks at 14psi and tapers to 12psi, which should be plenty safe for my current injectors. Rumor has it that JDM grey-top 440's work with my ECU, I might have to watch for some of those in the future.

[ScottyS]

4000 miles since the engine swap from kidatari's car! Yeeeeeeehaaaaaaa!

I'm starting to get the hankerin' for engine management and tuning, with rumors of a programmable chip for these ECU's in the near future, without piggybacks and stuff.