Jumbo's Silver FX - 2nd custom build

[meme405]

Glad to hear she is totally reliable.

You hear all these stories of people blowing up multiple engines, transmissions, turbos and other parts constantly failing after they go FI, etc. It's nice to finally hear a story that their system is reliable, proves that if you spend the cash and do it properly (and perhaps with a bit of luck), you can have it be problem free.

 

[jumbosrule]

Agreed. I really believe the secret is making a plan, then sticking to it and building everything to a minimum of 25 to 50% over that goal, with no intention of ever pushing the limits of any given system. The exception is the auto trans, which is why I had to back off the boost; to give the trans internals a little margin. It's not like I miss the extra 25whp.

She's my daily driver- still commutes to and from work along with a lunch break every day. I wouldn't hesitate to take it on a road trip. All that being said, I am considering a couple of tweaks here and there. More to come.

 

[porkandbeans]

Agreed. I really believe the secret is making a plan, then sticking to it and building everything to a minimum of 25 to 50% over that goal, with no intention of ever pushing the limits of any given system. The exception is the auto trans, which is why I had to back off the boost; to give the trans internals a little margin. It's not like I miss the extra 25whp.

She's my daily driver- still commutes to and from work along with a lunch break every day. I wouldn't hesitate to take it on a road trip. All that being said, I am considering a couple of tweaks here and there. More to come.

It's exactly because of this why I've enjoyed watching your 3 builds on here. Each of them have been different, and each well planned and executed almost like an orchestra. Sure, there are changes along the way and occasional whimsical projects intertwined, but the forethought and planning is phenomenal. Thta all translates into quality and reliability.

On a side note, I just read about the cassette bluetooth adapter and placed my order! I can't wait till it arrives. I've been using an FM-transmitter variety and it is lacking sound quality.

 

[myron02]

Glad to hear she is totally reliable.

You hear all these stories of people blowing up multiple engines, transmissions, turbos and other parts constantly failing after they go FI, etc. It's nice to finally hear a story that their system is reliable, proves that if you spend the cash and do it properly (and perhaps with a bit of luck), you can have it be problem free.

this is true when adding FI on any vehicle really. People get too excited and don't think that any supporting mods are necessary, crank the boost and stuff starts failing. Keeping it moderate and not going crazy with HP will make any car last. Just need to know the limits and not bagging the crap out of it all the time. As the OP is daily driving it, and doing spirited driving from time to time, it's not a surprise that the car is lasting.

 

[sky14]

Supporting mods and preventative maintenance is key!!!!

 

[vpatel360]

nice

 

[jumbosrule]

So I've got much more info back on the transmission now. There was a little more to it than just a loose torque plate but I want to at least say the car never let me down. I drive it daily and took it into the shop after a full year of turbo-ownership.

1) The torque plate bolts were loose. We don't know if they somehow worked themselves loose or if they were never torqued correctly. Fortunately no damage was done due to this condition.
2) A Ball valve was missing from the Valve Body upgrade (TransGo kit). Either it was never installed or it somehow was teleported outside the VB.
3) The Valve Body TCM is going bad - communication was intermittent on the bench. A new TCM means a whole new Valve Body, so that's what I will be doing. This MIGHT be because of the missing valve ball causing bad sensor readings but we are not going to chance that. I'd rather get a new one that works for sure rather than put it all back together only to find out it has to come apart again.
4) The clutch plates at the front of the trans were showing signs of wear. Not too surprising given the power levels. I will be replacing only the worn clutch plates and adding additional plates to help increase clamping force. This isn't new territory for the shop handling the work - they were actually surprised to see it held as well as it has and are sure the improvements will be noticeable.
5) the Torque Converter caught most of the clutch plate wear metals and had a couple areas that were starting to have fluid restriction. Nothing major - it was caught relatively early given the clutch plate wear. But the TC was flushed and inspected - it's good to go.

The transmission is going back together this week and will be installed back into the car next week before going back over the tune on a dyno.

The shop also discovered two repair items. First, the bracket that bolts the turbo to the front of the motor had cracked at a weld. The new bracket is made from angle iron and not welded. Second, the exhaust merge pipe just before the turbo was also cracked. The shop believes it cracked because the turbo bracket cracked - putting more pressure on the piping which then cracked after heat cycles. Both of these have already been corrected. The new bracket is one piece and the manifold now has three weld beads instead of one. This could have actually impacted boost levels & wastegate function if there was any leak, but I never noticed anything out of the ordinary so I'm glad it was caught now rather than discovered due to performance impact.

Not an inexpensive visit to the speed shop but after a full year with no issues on a completely custom build... I'm not complaining. Plus, I'm glad to have found my new hometown shop. SpecialtyZ rocks. Their communication is WAY better than the original build shop - I get updates about once a week. Can't wait to get the car back - I have a renewed excitement for her!

 

[gto]

Sounds like a full tranny rebuild, if they're changing clutches. Not fun.
They have a great old school guy that just did mine. Really good work, & I've had no issues so far. Just loving the Valve body upgrade and the fast shifts.
You may want to have them look over the Torque Converter if you're already dropped and apart. It was pretty cheap to clean up and overhaul at that point during the repair.

So happy we found this shop. Seb is a cool cat

 

[jumbosrule]

Seb is the man. Heard from him yesterday with an update - should be getting the car back next week.

Fabrication jobs completed. New turbo mount, repaired merge collector, new coolant pipe. Coolant pipe was coming too close to the exhaust pipes so they made a new one to provide more clearance.

Transmission was rebuilt and installed. New Valve Body (comes with a TCM which needs to be programmed at the dealership - done) and new + additional clutch plates. Torque Converter was checked, cleaned & installed - all good. Grinding noise is gone. Drove perfect from the dealership back to SpecialtyZ.

Next up is a complete look at the existing tune on the Haltech and a complete look at the transmission management on UpRev Osiris. I expect small tweaks to both but nothing ground-breaking. Hope to get a call on Tuesday that she is ready to pick up.

 

[gto]

I can hardly wait to take a drive in it now that it's sorted.

 

[jumbosrule]

 

[AxelFX]

What a beauty !!

 

[Mellofello808]

Looking good

 

[jumbosrule]

I know it's not much to brag about but thought I would post my most recent kill. Yesterday on my way home from work I was first in line at a stoplight right next to a modified BRZ. Definitely exhaust, suspension & wheels (visible) and not sure what else but he looked at me and nodded at the light.

I never saw him next to me. Pulled away and got a good 20-25 car lengths out in front before letting off the gas. At the next light he pulled up next to me and rolled down his window. "That thing is FAST! You pulled away from me so fast I had to check to see what gear I was in!".

Yummy.

Not quite as impressive was a pull along side a modified WRX a couple weeks ago. He jumped out ahead of me by about a car length off the line and never widened that gap. I stayed on him till we ran out of road.

I have had to relearn how to drive the car when being aggressive - Seb at SpeciatlyZ explained that when I wanted to, "drop the hammer" I should use manual mode only. Leaving it in automatic, the torque converter never fully locks up, which explains the clutch plate wear I was experiencing. Using manual mode puts more power to the ground and the shifts are quick and firm with the new transmission. To get more out of this setup, I bought paddle shifters from TurboCad by way of Ray and plan to convert over when I have the time.

If I absolutely had to change something about the current setup, it would be the exhaust. It's fine most of the time but there is a pretty loud rasp between 3000-3800rpm when hard on the throttle. I can tell it is just a natural resonance frequency but it could be tuned out with the right sized resonator and I would then have a much more refined exhaust note through the whole range. Besides - if I want loud, I can just open the solenoid dump.

Anyway, she's back to daily driver duty without any issues. Really enjoying it.

 

[gto]

Sounds amazing. Fx deserves a Sunday outing
And welcome to manual mode world. I'm in it 100%

 

[wlvrn97]

Nice man...would love to see this thing in person. I'll have mine back from Stillen soon...supercharger getting put in. We should all meet up...GTO too.

 

[gto]

IN :good:

 

[wht2004fx35]

Amazing! Our FX35 will never be like that simply because I don't have your skills LOL - wish I did though! Again - amazing work!!!

 

[jumbosrule]

Gave the FX some needed attention over the past couple of weeks. Lots of small things that have been bugging me for months. The chassis hit 150,000 miles this past weekend. Just over 35k miles on the built motor.

1) New CD player/stereo unit. My 7th CD player unit since ownership in 2004. That means they last about 2 years each. Anyway, CD sound quality is still the best on this system, with the Epicenter and subwoofer participating much more than from any other source of music. So the sound system is back up to full strength and bumping once again. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

I've started collecting some custom parts that will allow me to install something aftermarket in the center console. Nothing for sure yet but I can't keep buying CD players forever.

2) New front seat belts. I hated the old ones from the original interior. They didn't retract properly, they were stained, stiff and just old. I got brand new black interior belts to replace the tan belts. So soft & supple. Full retraction. They are glorious. Never thought I'd appreciate them as much as I do! I like the mix of black & willow in combinations the factory never put out, since I'm combining pieces of my old black interior with what came in the Silver FX.



3) And continuing that black/willow combo - I'm calling it, "saddle" interior because the color contrast reminds me of saddle shoes. I dyed alternating sections of the steering wheel. This is the same dye I used on my shift knob when I converted the Willow knob to a black one. Shift knob is in the photo too; it has been almost a year with no visible wear. It's not completely done yet- will take some more touching up.



4) Brand new OE front lower control arms. One bushing was ripped completely through. The new arms and new bushings tightened up the front end. Less bouncy & floaty now than before. I guess a new set of arms every 150k miles isn't too bad?

5) New rear brake pads and a full fluid flush. Picked up some StopTech rear replacement pads and exchanged them for the worn pads in the rear, which were below 2mm. Then using my Motive power bleeder and a reservoir adapter, I flushed out all the old brake fluid with ATE SuperBlue - my own personal stash of un-opened containers (no longer available in the US). The first fluid that came out of all four calipers was cloudy and dark. I bled each corner until clear blue, then did them all again. The difference was noticeable - pedal is much more firm now. One bleed screw was clogged with debris so a few pumps of the pedal unclogged it. Forcefully.

Think I'll replace all four bleeders the next time bleed brakes for any reason. A couple of them look pretty corroded.

At 7 years old, the StopTechs still look hot.



Hoping I can hit Nissfest at the end of the month at AAA Speedway in Fontana.

The only other thing I can think of right now is some new tint on the front windows. I can see some wear and scratches. As long as it has to be replaced, it might as well match the factory tint rear windows...

Daily driving her and loving it!

Cool random shot.

 

[ocal21]

Sweet ride