Ok so... E36 M3 went pretty bad on this car in the last couple weeks. I spent about 30 hours on it from Thursday night until Saturday early afternoon getting it back up and rolling.
Problems. 1) Oil leaks. Dizzy o-ring, oil pan, valve cover, oil return line 2) Exhaust leaks. Everywhere. 3) Coolant leak. Out the turbo.
So the exhaust leaks were getting bad, and come to find out, i could actually grab the turbo and wiggle it around on the manifold. Why? Well, the IDIOTS that built this (cough cough McCormick Motorsports cough cough) had the most berkeleytarded solution to mounting a CT26 to the factory flange as i've ever seen.
They had welded together a T2 and a CT flange, and THEN bolted that to the tapped stock manifold, so it all went IHI flange -> T2 flange -> CT flange. To make matters worse, the bolts used to hold it on were about 3mm too long, so they would bottom out before the flange ever sealed. BRILLIANT. I don't know how this car boosted at all.
Solution Remove old E36 M3. Buy new bolts. Shorten said bolts a bit. Blast old E36 M3. Grind off the brazing crap that was on there. Bolt on stuff. Have baller older dude weld up the adapter to the manifold to doubly ensure it will never leak. Have baller older dude weld bolts in place to triply ensure they will never come out. PROFIT.
Finished product:
NEXT.
As those of you who have watched the Escort build, i suffer greatly from "Project Creep." Let's examine.
"While I'm In Here..."
1) Walbro 255lph HP
2) Aeromotive 13109
3) Supra 440cc injectors
4) ZombieSS 440 Revision II ECU
5) Moroso oil catch can
6) Outlaw pheno spacers
7) New fuel filter
(All parts were previously accounted for in budget, this is just me finally getting around to installing parts that i've had for 2 years.)
Thursday night:
More tear down. (Had it down to just block/head and trans, but no pics, sorry)
First step of re-assembly, figure out fuel rail. WE GOT ALL THESE -AN FITTINGS AND I USED BRASS FITTINGS LIKE A BALLER.
Fuel rail and 440s in:
I worked through the night. This is about 6am on Saturday.
7am on Saturday.
Like a boss.
Where the magic happens: (Placeholder for now until i repin my FCON harness)
After that thrash, making it to an MX6/Probe meet where you're still the fastest car by a WIDE margin, priceless.
End results? Well, it sounds better, pulls much better off-boost (no exhaust leaks and big timing advance from the ZombieSS ecu), doesn't mark its territory, and is getting over 30mpg.
My super reliable happy fun time butt dyno says it's a mid-low 13s car on 7psi now. This ECU has maps to 18-19psi and i'll be dynoing it on the 10th @ 15psi in a showdown against some turbo Dodges where i will be asserting F2T dominance.
I'm laying the throwdown now: The F2T is the unsung hero of the 80s turbo 4 bangers.
Next up: I finish suspension and attempt to fit 245/45-16s "under" stock fenders. Then FCON time and over 20psi of boost. Then similar shenanigans happen to mndsm's black 88 MX6 GT.
Dan? Come on in here and tell us what's going on with your car.