Jumbo's custom turbo build

Rubare said:
Damn.. You most be a smooth talker!!! Lol thanks for answering..

I see your point of view.. If you like the car you have why buy a new one. Might as well improved the crap out of it and keep it for more years to come..:tup:
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Exactly. I got 110,000 miles out of my old motor before spending for upgrades, so I hope I got more value for my dollar over the long term. I keep the car I love and give it all the stuff I wish it had from the beginning - except tailored to my personal tastes. I would think it is pretty common for people to get a new ride every 5-10 years or so. I bought my FX new in 04 and here it is a little more than 6 years later. I guess you could argue I it is just like I traded in my FX and then spent $20K on a fully custom built FI FX. Not a bad price if you look at it that way...

HumbertoCALI said:
Wowser....

I am so behind..

Looks like they did this right..
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I sure hope they did it right!!! Being heavily involved in the process makes me know about all the little details and obstacles. There are a few things that I would change if I had it to do over again knowing what I know now. But it's all water under the bridge - I love the car and I'm totally happy with where it is going. I'm sure your body work experience tells you how time and money are always greater than expected. I was planning for a $12K build when this started.

1bad_fx45 said:
i like your conviction to follow your dream and having the bank roll to back it. hope you get the shop will warranty their works...
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Bank roll was saved up over three years. Anybody can do that with a little discipline. It's just a matter of priorities in saving. As for the shop - I am confident they stand behind their work. I need to be realistic about issues - they are going to happen and they will be more expensive than with an OEM FX. I do not expect anything that goes wrong to be covered by the shop - I expect it will come out of my pocket, unless it was an obvious installation error.

jbaker1121 said:
20k including JWT+ engine build is about 600hp safe.
JWT kit with proper tune (9kish) is about 420 safe with no engine build....
just saying I'm not sure about the "spanking":confused.:
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Engine power limits don't speak to the transmission. 600hp safe motor will still blow a stock transmission... or even a lightly built transmission. The choices I made for fuel delivery, turbo and wastegate/BOV were designed to max out the drivetrain with margin for safety. Guess what I am saying is that a JWT TT kit by itself can't compare to what I have done with the FX. But sure - $20K including a JWT would probably get you to pretty darn close race with my setup. Till that happens tho - only one of us has performance data. The other one of us is just guessing.

drew855 said:
Wow that thing is mean. Can't wait to see some videos of it on the street.
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You and me both, brother!
 
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Quick one concerning the haltech again. You posted earlier that you don't have the MAF sensor anymore am i right,....??
What of that would still be connected......the turbonetics kit keeps the MAF at it's oem position as that kit normally works with a ECU tune.
I could just keep it there and add the GM sensor for the haltech couldn't i...??
 
jumbosrule said:
I got 110,000 miles out of my old motor before spending for upgrades, so I hope I got more value for my dollar over the long term. I keep the car I love and give it all the stuff I wish it had from the beginning - except tailored to my personal tastes. I would think it is pretty common for people to get a new ride every 5-10 years or so. I bought my FX new in 04 and here it is a little more than 6 years later. I guess you could argue I it is just like I traded in my FX and then spent $20K on a fully custom built FI FX. Not a bad price if you look at it that way...
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Well said!
 
raymond said:
Quick one concerning the haltech again. You posted earlier that you don't have the MAF sensor anymore am i right,....??
What of that would still be connected......the turbonetics kit keeps the MAF at it's oem position as that kit normally works with a ECU tune.
I could just keep it there and add the GM sensor for the haltech couldn't i...??
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Ray - the MAF is gone, but of course the wiring harness and connector remains. I just have it zip tied out of the way. My Tuning is based on Speed Density rather than Mass Air Flow:

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/electronic_fuel_injection/index.html

The Haltech tells the OEM ECU everything is fine with the MAF (dummy signal) even though it is not connected. Instead I have other sensors installed along with the Haltech like the IAT (intake air temperature) and wideband O2. These sensors are wired into the Haltech, which then makes the air/fuel corrections based on the integrated data.

Here's a practical example of why Speed density is a good thing: Last week while driving on Houston highways, I hit a 5-gallon plastic paint can. It broke the bottom engine bay pan and knocked loose my intercooler piping, causing a boost leak. If I were still MAF, I would have been calling a tow truck. But because of the way speed density is calculated and controlled, the motor still functions with the air that it does get. I was able to drive my car with no boost for the next three days - till I took it back to the shop. There are disadvantages to Speed Density too, but for my location, goals and preference I decided on Speed Density.

:nerd (2):
 
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jumbosrule said:
Engine power limits don't speak to the transmission. 600hp safe motor will still blow a stock transmission... or even a lightly built transmission. The choices I made for fuel delivery, turbo and wastegate/BOV were designed to max out the drivetrain with margin for safety. Guess what I am saying is that a JWT TT kit by itself can't compare to what I have done with the FX. But sure - $20K including a JWT would probably get you to pretty darn close race with my setup. Till that happens tho - only one of us has performance data. The other one of us is just guessing.
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actuallyyyy that information is not me guessing its straight from Vinny at Vinny ten.:tup:obv a TT kit by itself is lesser.

We're all happy for you and cant wait to see it in action.
 
I think Humberto spend around the same amount for his body kit. so adding your mod plus his.. It'll be around 40+ for having a kickass FX.. Which in reality is not bad at all..
 
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Rubare said:
I think Humberto spend around the same amount for his body kit. so adding your mod plus his.. It'll be around 40+ for having a kickass FX.. Which in reality is nor bad at all..
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Haha you guys talk about it as if th FX isn't worth anything anymore. I know when i bought my 03 FX in dec 06 it still sat me back 45K USD. Now an 04 here in the netherlands still costs 35-40K USD due to all taxes etc....

I wish i was done for 40K dollars :laugh:
 
Haha yeah, it's 40k or so just for all the extra stuff. But rather than buy a new car and spend that much, put it towards the FX and it's like getting a new car.
 
Ka boom!

Wow. Did NOT see this one coming. Found out why I lost boost today.

"...In the attached photos you'll see your turbine wheel along with what we pulled out of your turbine wheel. We're going to have to get it on a rack and pull more plumbing to be sure but as of now it looks as if the OEM exhaust manifold liner separated from the manifold itself and then traveled down stream and took out the turbo. I've personally never seen this before, nor can i recall ever reading about it. But then again you are of the 10% who are single turbo and thus didn't have cast iron aftermarket manifolds as part of a standard TT conversion. So a freak occurrence it would appear."

brad_turbo_01.jpg

brad_turbo_02.jpg

So my understanding is that something inside one of the manifolds broke loose and destroyed the turbine. Luckily, the compressor (cold side) was not effected, so I need to replace the turbine side of the turbo only. The exhaust manifold, cross over and merge collector were from a previous turbo build and then the up-pipe was custom fabricated for my FX. The shop plans on tearing down the hot side and boroscoping everything to identify where the metal debris came from. They are covering the cost of replacing the turbo, but I will have to provide another exhaust manifold. Luckily, I have the set that came with the FX.

After the Shop finds the failure location and cuts open the tube, we will see if we need to make any changes to my OEM manifolds before we have them media blasted, coated and installed in place of the old G35 manifolds. Gotta take speed bumps in stride, right?
 
Sucks but not TOO bad considering the shop is covering the turbo. Your attitude is amazing Brad, don't think I'd be coherent at this stage......
 
that right there^^ is EXACTLY why I refused to use my headers as they were welded by the "pro" that did them for me, the slag or sugaring on the welds can break off & hit the impeller. what your looking at there is probably a result of a bad weld job. it don't take a huge piece to do this kind of damage. a small piece can cause a little damage, this in turn makes the assy unbalanced at that point, frigin turbos spin 80k,90k rpm & more, it's not long before they self destruct.

if you built this yourself I'd say now you learned a lesson, however you paid a pro to do this, so all responsibility for that lies with him. luckily I refused to even attempt to run my car knowing the possible damage it can cause.... ask the "pro" if he back purged all the welds he did on all the plumbing to the turbo... I'm nolt a gambling man but this one I'm willing to bet was the results of a bad weld job. that's why I'm so anal with my build

oh, & forget about just installing a wheel on the exhaust side at this point, the whole center cartridge assy needs to be redone at least, it will be so out of balance & not last if you just replace the exhaust impeller... wow bro, I feel bad for you, so much for professionally done:tdown:
 
Logan said:
Sucks but not TOO bad considering the shop is covering the turbo. Your attitude is amazing Brad, don't think I'd be coherent at this stage......
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Yeah I agree - they are covering the turbo, IMO it doesn't get any more professional than that.

turbocad6 said:
I'm not a gambling man but this one I'm willing to bet was the results of a bad weld job. that's why I'm so anal with my build

oh, & forget about just installing a wheel on the exhaust side at this point, the whole center cartridge assy needs to be redone at least, it will be so out of balance & not last if you just replace the exhaust impeller... wow bro, I feel bad for you, so much for professionally done:tdown:
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That's not fair to the shop. I took the FX away from them before they were finished with it, granted this probably would not have been caught no matter how long they had it. The components in question were "proven" in a 550whp G35 application so I was thinking my risk was low (we were all thinking that).

Either way, nobody is blaming or pointing fingers. It happened, it's mostly covered and I expected issues along the way.

What's funny to me is that my career has trained me to take this in stride. I'm responsible for getting new hardware developed and built for the space program. Talk about cost growth, schedule slip, scope creep - I see it all day every day. Machine shops, part inventories, integration, risk management, earned value...

Working on the FX is just FUN no matter how you slice it! The normal set-backs are frustrating but I have my eye on the big picture.
 
Accepting - what choice do I have? They are paying for it and fixing it - what more could I expect for a failure that hasn't really been fully diagnosed yet?

Just gotta be Zen about it. :balanced: It will be done, just a question of time.
 
yeah man, I guess I should apologize for getting so mad when I first saw that,I guess it just reminded me of how disappointed I was when I realized that my headers were ruined from a bad welding job too. it's funny man, soonster was here before & we were talking about this & after a bit he turned to me and he said man, your as pissed off about his turbo as you were about your headers..., then I think it hit me & I realized why I was so pissed off when I saw this :)

I didn't say any of the stuff I did to upset you or make you feel bad, I think it just really pisses me off to even see something like this, I'm sorry bro... hope it gets taken care of & alls well again, in the end since there footing the bill for the turbo guess it's not all that bad really, but man... I do get mad just thinking about it...
 
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