- Location
- Los Angeles, CA
- Car
- 05 FX35 RWD
Cry.
They should really have fully road tested for you, but good to hear it pulls hard.
They should really have fully road tested for you, but good to hear it pulls hard.
Jumbo's custom turbo build
- Thread starter jumbosrule
- Start date
With the weather lead in I was almost sure it was going to end up with you losing control and crashing your "new" car. Glad that didn't happen and the issue is repairable.
Sorry man, reminds me of when my big bro broke my AFX slot car set on Christmas day.
Sorry man, reminds me of when my big bro broke my AFX slot car set on Christmas day.
raymond
Member
- Location
- Netherlands
- Car
- FX35 RWD
Doc you always say exactly the same as i want to.....so it is easy for me to again +1 you.
Hang in there brad.......as a air bubble is the only thing let to fix you almost there and luckely not that big of a deal.
I can imagine it would still sucks a lot to leave her there again......man i really hope i won't stumble into all that issues :frown:
- Location
- Houston,Tx
- Car
- 2007 Infiniti FX35 AWD
that's exactly what I was thinking so I skipped to the end to make sure brad didn't put the fx in the ditch on windfern lol
Sent from my Behold II
$$$ + patience + disappointment are all part of the custom game. Kudos to you for handling everyone of them in stride. Be sure to insure your DD ride to cover the extras. I had a vehicle with $18K in custom mods and it was totalled by some kid. His insurance company only paid me the book value even after 4 years of waiting for a trial. We ended up suing my own insurance company (former) under the underinsured policy to recover a little bit more.
Thanks for recognizing reality - This is how custom builds go sometimes.
I wasn't handling it this well before I got a second car about three months ago to occupy my time (and to be a DD) while the FX was down. Once I got that car the pressure was off so to speak. After that, I didn't really mind the speed bumps along the way with the FX build. I've been in close contact with the shop since the first day I walked in to talk with them. I know exactly what is going on with the car and what they are working on at any given time. I'm a project manager by career and recognize where the build shop could have done better from a logistics and execution standpoint, but the guys responsible for my build impress me every time I visit with their technical understanding. They listen, explain and don't talk down to me.
The delays are all, "justified" IMO and largely depend on outside vendors. Examples of vendors that each caused major delay: Long block machine shop - 4 weeks, Garrett turbo parts - 11 weeks and the ceramic coating vendor (10 weeks) ... and then there added work as a result of the failed manifold and destroyed turbo - replacing and coating those items. I need to mention that the shop paid for the replacement turbo. I was responsible for a new exhaust manifold, but I already had my original so it cost me prep, coating and time only.
Yes, I looked into coverage with my current company. They are not willing to go more than $5K above book value. If I want more comprehensive coverage I'm going to have to switch providers, which is a shame because I love USAA.
I'm sure I'll hear about the car sometime today...
- Location
- Houston,Tx
- Car
- 2007 Infiniti FX35 AWD
so are you gonna go check on big red today? hopefully she will be ready
Well got some good news and bad.
Good - the shop figured out the problem. They also boroscoped all the cylinders to see if there was any visual evidence there - no damage or wear, everything still looks new. It should - the new motor has about 1000 miles on it. All we have to do is remove and replace one part.
Bad - the head gasket is not sealing properly at cylinder #3. The longblock package came assembled from the machine shop, so we are thinking machine shop assembly error.
The shop is pulling the motor, removing the head and installing an HKS gasket themselves and at their own cost. I mean yeah I'm bummed I have to wait, but still impressed the shop is owning up to a failure that was not under their direct control.
If you have been following this thread then you will remember I had a coolant overflow issue back when I had the car for break-in. Here's my sequence of events.
After the car was assembled with the new motor for the first time, Powerfab dyno tuned it using a base map from a similar VQ build. At that time 430whp was made, coolant overflowed and all things pointed to a cooling system air bubble. The shop burped out the air and then dialed back the tune for the break-in period.
Breaking in the new motor only took about 850 miles and a little less than three weeks. Boost was limited, rpms were limited... I never had a chance to boost the motor so the coolant issue disappeared. At the very end of that break in period, the exhaust manifold failed and destroyed the turbo CHRA. I had it back to the shop the following day.
Last week was the first time since that failure that everything was assembled and ready for power. We now have a new radiator, CHRA, exhaust manifold, etc. After removing the boost and rpm limits, the shop was driveability tuning for about 200 miles over five or six days. They looked more closely at normal driving conditions and manipulated torque tables to protect and smooth out the transmission response (torque management is a brand new UpRev feature). The night before my test drive, they put the FX back on the dyno to see if they could detect any transmission slipping at current power levels. They did four back to back pulls to maximum power and the coolant burped out on the fourth pull. No transmission slipping. At that time the shop attributed the overflow to finding the limit of the cooling system. In retrospect we all see the big picture.
The shop was able to determine the gasket fails at Cylinder 3 under the highest boost pressures (13psi).
Shop says two weeks, given the gasket is available immediately. I'm thinking.... another month. Luckily it's not costing me anything except time and patience. Zen, right?
:balanced:
Good - the shop figured out the problem. They also boroscoped all the cylinders to see if there was any visual evidence there - no damage or wear, everything still looks new. It should - the new motor has about 1000 miles on it. All we have to do is remove and replace one part.
Bad - the head gasket is not sealing properly at cylinder #3. The longblock package came assembled from the machine shop, so we are thinking machine shop assembly error.
The shop is pulling the motor, removing the head and installing an HKS gasket themselves and at their own cost. I mean yeah I'm bummed I have to wait, but still impressed the shop is owning up to a failure that was not under their direct control.
If you have been following this thread then you will remember I had a coolant overflow issue back when I had the car for break-in. Here's my sequence of events.
After the car was assembled with the new motor for the first time, Powerfab dyno tuned it using a base map from a similar VQ build. At that time 430whp was made, coolant overflowed and all things pointed to a cooling system air bubble. The shop burped out the air and then dialed back the tune for the break-in period.
Breaking in the new motor only took about 850 miles and a little less than three weeks. Boost was limited, rpms were limited... I never had a chance to boost the motor so the coolant issue disappeared. At the very end of that break in period, the exhaust manifold failed and destroyed the turbo CHRA. I had it back to the shop the following day.
Last week was the first time since that failure that everything was assembled and ready for power. We now have a new radiator, CHRA, exhaust manifold, etc. After removing the boost and rpm limits, the shop was driveability tuning for about 200 miles over five or six days. They looked more closely at normal driving conditions and manipulated torque tables to protect and smooth out the transmission response (torque management is a brand new UpRev feature). The night before my test drive, they put the FX back on the dyno to see if they could detect any transmission slipping at current power levels. They did four back to back pulls to maximum power and the coolant burped out on the fourth pull. No transmission slipping. At that time the shop attributed the overflow to finding the limit of the cooling system. In retrospect we all see the big picture.
The shop was able to determine the gasket fails at Cylinder 3 under the highest boost pressures (13psi).
Shop says two weeks, given the gasket is available immediately. I'm thinking.... another month. Luckily it's not costing me anything except time and patience. Zen, right?
:balanced:
aquilles10
Member
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Car
- 2018 QX60
^^ sorry to hear that. At least you have another DD now. And at least your shop is trustworthy and stand up. Deep breaths.
- Location
- brooklyn, ny
brad, I say this with nothing but love & respect, & only in your best interest, I know in the past some things I may have said to you about these guys, you told me I wasn't being fair to the shop, but, bro, step back & look at the big picture here. I told you back in august that your problem was head lift & that the head gaskets most likely are suspect & most likely the cause of your issue. now I'm not telling you this to say see I told you so, or to say that I'm some kind of internet diagnosis genius, no, that's not the case. but what is the case is that the problem was so obvious that even someone over the internet could tell that there was a gasket issue, step back & think as to why something like this can be so obvious to someone just hearing the symptoms, yet the shop, with the vehicle right there in front of them takes another 5 months to realize what should have been obvious long ago.... when you said you picked it up & after a few blasts it was spewing fluid again I knew this was going to be the end result yet again, why have they been so clueless? air bubble? that's just lame...
I only say this to you for the simple reason that I know you really want to have faith in your shop & I know you want to defend them & support them, but at the same time I really think you should try to step back & see the whole picture & realize some of there faults here too. theres a fine line between not wanting to make waves in the hopes that they take care of the problem and just laying down & taking it in the rear. like before, I think I'm more mad about this whole thing than even you are. I really hesitate to butt in here again, but I am doing it & sticking my neck out here again because I consider you a friend & I just feel that I have to say something here... if I'm out of line again I'll just shut up again, but please at least step back & see the whole picture here and at the very least, stop defending them & start pushing at least a little, if not then they aren't going to care if your car sits another month or 3, no skin off there back, they already have there money... you are the only one that can fight for you & whats right here, hope your back in your fx soon & that all these problems are behind you soon man...
I only say this to you for the simple reason that I know you really want to have faith in your shop & I know you want to defend them & support them, but at the same time I really think you should try to step back & see the whole picture & realize some of there faults here too. theres a fine line between not wanting to make waves in the hopes that they take care of the problem and just laying down & taking it in the rear. like before, I think I'm more mad about this whole thing than even you are. I really hesitate to butt in here again, but I am doing it & sticking my neck out here again because I consider you a friend & I just feel that I have to say something here... if I'm out of line again I'll just shut up again, but please at least step back & see the whole picture here and at the very least, stop defending them & start pushing at least a little, if not then they aren't going to care if your car sits another month or 3, no skin off there back, they already have there money... you are the only one that can fight for you & whats right here, hope your back in your fx soon & that all these problems are behind you soon man...
- Location
- Dallas, TX
- Car
- 2007 FX35 RWD
^That's true, one bad thing about them doing it for free is they don't really have as much incentive to get it done.
Yeah, I remember the head gasket warning from you John, but it's not like it wasn't on the shop's radar screen. We did discuss it. I've let them have it once or twice along the way but don't feel the need to flame them for those things here on the forum.
Said this so often at work it has become part of procedure: We are at where we are at and pointing fingers isn't going to get the job done better or faster. I can always have a sit-down with them after the job is done to discuss what we can do better next time but during the build it might be counter-productive for me to become an ass. I recognize the shop has some organizational opportunities for improvement. What business doesn't? Some of these part issues have just been bad luck as well.
I'm glad all you guys are on my side and everything but I'm calling it the way I see it. After all, I think I have a better hold on the big picture than anybody else. I do exactly this kind of project management for my career and I'm used to much more complicated, problem prone, sensitive hardware and much bigger, slower, bureaucratic companies & vendors. Maybe that makes me the ultimate speed shop customer? Big picture wise - I think they are doing a good job. Does they live up to Turbocad or Rookie's standard? Obviously not. But this is what I've got here in Houston... or at least who I researched and picked. It's not like I'm going to change now so while I appreciate the sentiment of your post, I'm not sure I see the point other than, "told you so", which I can take. I'm not defensive about it. You have some valid points - acknowledged.
Now, let's all wait together for the shop to finish and see this very build last for 100,000 miles with standard maintenance and perfect performance delivery.
Said this so often at work it has become part of procedure: We are at where we are at and pointing fingers isn't going to get the job done better or faster. I can always have a sit-down with them after the job is done to discuss what we can do better next time but during the build it might be counter-productive for me to become an ass. I recognize the shop has some organizational opportunities for improvement. What business doesn't? Some of these part issues have just been bad luck as well.
I'm glad all you guys are on my side and everything but I'm calling it the way I see it. After all, I think I have a better hold on the big picture than anybody else. I do exactly this kind of project management for my career and I'm used to much more complicated, problem prone, sensitive hardware and much bigger, slower, bureaucratic companies & vendors. Maybe that makes me the ultimate speed shop customer? Big picture wise - I think they are doing a good job. Does they live up to Turbocad or Rookie's standard? Obviously not. But this is what I've got here in Houston... or at least who I researched and picked. It's not like I'm going to change now so while I appreciate the sentiment of your post, I'm not sure I see the point other than, "told you so", which I can take. I'm not defensive about it. You have some valid points - acknowledged.
Now, let's all wait together for the shop to finish and see this very build last for 100,000 miles with standard maintenance and perfect performance delivery.
- Location
- brooklyn, ny
the point of my post was, I know what a business owner goes through, there can be 100 problems a day & many times it's nothing more than a juggling act. you can't possibly have every issue in hand at any given point, that's the juggling part. you grab for the biggest problems first, the ones that are about to crash, take care of it & move on to the next priority. my point was more about priority. without it, it's easy to be sidelined, a juggler is not going to worry much about the problems that are way up at the ceiling until the ones that are about to crash are dealt with.
if a customer is very unhappy, & rightfully so, as in we screwed up, they would have to become a high priority. yes I have had times that we have screwed up & had an unhappy customer on our hands, it happens to every one at some point. the thing that's done at that point is, drop everything else & make it right. if it means pushing another job off for a week then so be it, get guys to put in some overtime even, fixing this problem has become priority.
a customer that is cool & understanding & willing to just wait & not put any pressure on is not going to become a high priority. jobs already paid for too? I've had the guys cars that have been sidelined for a while because they were understanding & cool with anything, mean while I got a whole bunch of other things being juggled & I'm overloaded with other stuff. the worse thing a customer can say is don't worry, take your time.
the point was, you can point out the shops fault to the shop without becoming an ass. you can be understanding but at the same time be expecting & apply pressure too, enough to become a priority. I don't think I said anything negative about there work itself or anything about going to some one else, but at the same time I don't think you would be being an ass if you said hey man, we knew we had a problem here months ago & now, you redid everything, re-tune it & give it back to me months later telling me it's perfect, yet the same problem is still there? you screwed up & you have to make this right. I'm not happy, I understand the whys & the hows but I'm not happy & this should have been done by now, I need my car back. how quickly can you get this done? can we get this done by the weekend? well can we at least make sure I get it back after the weekend? you can remain understanding & not being an ass, yet still put some pressure, there needs to be a reason for priority. money is no longer the incentive, a head gasket can be done in a matter of days if it's a priority, rather than it being a stick it back in the corner type thing. you yourself said your expecting a month... my whole point was you'd be justified in not accepting that & voicing that to the shop. I'm going to bet that's what viet meant when he said unacceptable too, meaning it's beyond the point of not putting pressure on, beyond the point of just accepting. I admire your ability to remain zen about it & be accepting, but your conveying that to the shop is not going to get you any priority.
honestly I had no intension of emphasizing the I told you so part, that was only used to illustrate the point of being justified in not being happy or accepting, nothing more. anyway, like you said, we wait & see, & yeah, it will be nice when it's all behind you & you enjoy many many miles of boosted bliss
if a customer is very unhappy, & rightfully so, as in we screwed up, they would have to become a high priority. yes I have had times that we have screwed up & had an unhappy customer on our hands, it happens to every one at some point. the thing that's done at that point is, drop everything else & make it right. if it means pushing another job off for a week then so be it, get guys to put in some overtime even, fixing this problem has become priority.
a customer that is cool & understanding & willing to just wait & not put any pressure on is not going to become a high priority. jobs already paid for too? I've had the guys cars that have been sidelined for a while because they were understanding & cool with anything, mean while I got a whole bunch of other things being juggled & I'm overloaded with other stuff. the worse thing a customer can say is don't worry, take your time.
the point was, you can point out the shops fault to the shop without becoming an ass. you can be understanding but at the same time be expecting & apply pressure too, enough to become a priority. I don't think I said anything negative about there work itself or anything about going to some one else, but at the same time I don't think you would be being an ass if you said hey man, we knew we had a problem here months ago & now, you redid everything, re-tune it & give it back to me months later telling me it's perfect, yet the same problem is still there? you screwed up & you have to make this right. I'm not happy, I understand the whys & the hows but I'm not happy & this should have been done by now, I need my car back. how quickly can you get this done? can we get this done by the weekend? well can we at least make sure I get it back after the weekend? you can remain understanding & not being an ass, yet still put some pressure, there needs to be a reason for priority. money is no longer the incentive, a head gasket can be done in a matter of days if it's a priority, rather than it being a stick it back in the corner type thing. you yourself said your expecting a month... my whole point was you'd be justified in not accepting that & voicing that to the shop. I'm going to bet that's what viet meant when he said unacceptable too, meaning it's beyond the point of not putting pressure on, beyond the point of just accepting. I admire your ability to remain zen about it & be accepting, but your conveying that to the shop is not going to get you any priority.
honestly I had no intension of emphasizing the I told you so part, that was only used to illustrate the point of being justified in not being happy or accepting, nothing more. anyway, like you said, we wait & see, & yeah, it will be nice when it's all behind you & you enjoy many many miles of boosted bliss
raymond
Member
- Location
- Netherlands
- Car
- FX35 RWD
Any news on the FX yet brad...??
Still looking for a good places to connect t water feeds for the GT35R. Oil i have kinda figured out but still interested to know where yours are though.
Futher i read in your topic uprev had some programm for the transmission. Now a buddy of mine had the uprev cable so only need to buy a licence to map my ECU but can that be done through a "Standard"mapping as well or is it something you need to do trough there osiris tuner kit..?? And what does it do exactly...?? Is it that neccasary..??
Still looking for a good places to connect t water feeds for the GT35R. Oil i have kinda figured out but still interested to know where yours are though.
Futher i read in your topic uprev had some programm for the transmission. Now a buddy of mine had the uprev cable so only need to buy a licence to map my ECU but can that be done through a "Standard"mapping as well or is it something you need to do trough there osiris tuner kit..?? And what does it do exactly...?? Is it that neccasary..??
the point of my post was, I know what a business owner goes through, there can be 100 problems a day & many times it's nothing more than a juggling act. you can't possibly have every issue in hand at any given point, that's the juggling part. you grab for the biggest problems first, the ones that are about to crash, take care of it & move on to the next priority. my point was more about priority. without it, it's easy to be sidelined, a juggler is not going to worry much about the problems that are way up at the ceiling until the ones that are about to crash are dealt with.
honestly I had no intension of emphasizing the I told you so part, that was only used to illustrate the point of being justified in not being happy or accepting, nothing more. anyway, like you said, we wait & see, & yeah, it will be nice when it's all behind you & you enjoy many many miles of boosted bliss
The thing is that I AM happy. I don't have any major problems with the way things went down. I have a minor problem with the timeframe but I removed that issue with the addition of a DD. In a way I actually enjoy dragging it out because how many custom cars does the average guy build in his life? The journey is just as fun as the destination for me and getting upset just isn't productive. Like I said, maybe I'm just the perfect customer?
In the end, this shop picked the vendors with whom they do business so there is a bit of responsibility on their part. But I can let that go in the interest of having a less stressful, more fun and exciting build. It's not like I have a deadline. How much I spend is up to me the customer, right? You've seen how I've presented the story. Sure, I've been through some ups and downs but it's all part of the project.
The HKS head gasket was shipped out Monday. Shop should have it sometime this week.
The water line comes from a fitting we added to the coolant cross-over. Bottom of the photo.
The transmission torque tables are a new feature offered by UpRev. I believe if you have the cable, you can download the software for free. I don't think it should cost any extra. It's a new feature for Osiris owners.
Are they necessary? No - until now it hasn't been done at all. But it allows you to manipulate torque output to safe the transmission. This allows a more aggressive tune without decreasing transmission life as much.
This is part of the tuner's job so it probably comes down to how comfortable they are with this part of the tune.
raymond
Member
- Location
- Netherlands
- Car
- FX35 RWD
Ok water is clear thanks buddy. Can you tell if there was a reason why they welded a tread on to your thermostat as well and on the water pipe on the other side of the engine. Normally one of your samco hoses ( the one in front of your timing cover) would go there and is connected with clamps. But i see they took out your samco and put another hose there and use NA fittings......
Cannot find anything on the uprev website concerning that transmission feature. Not really sure i understand it though either. So you can in- or decrease the amount of torque output from the tranny to the wheels.
But making an agrassiv tune and then taming it at the tranny wouldn't make that difference. Or do you mean.....when making it aggresive it 'll response better/faster but without putting it to the wheels more.........
- Location
- Houston,Tx
- Car
- 2007 Infiniti FX35 AWD
i drove by powerfab on my way home this morning and saw "BIG RED" parked outside, i just love the stance of those coilovers:top:
We just converted the coolant hoses to AN fittings because they are better than the screw clamps. More secure. That removed two of the three Sameco hoses. No threads on the Nismo thermostat - instead we used a hard pipe connected with silicone couplers.
On the other side of the engine - same thing. Anywhere there was a coolant "barb", it was replaced with a welded fitting.
Keep in mind that I also have the Pathfinder coolant mod, which is an extra tube and a second thermostat. Shot from rear of the motor:
Hope this answers most of your questions.
I'll try to get some better information on the torque management features from Uprev.