Bought not Built

Starting this thread to keep track of what I am doing and to solicit advice and feedback for planned upgrades / unplanned problems.

Bought in January 2020 from an acquaintance of mine from college, who put in a built bottom end with a stock head. When I bought it, compression tests showed 180 across the board, and the engine had about 20k miles on it. The engine is probably a bit over 30k miles now. Not shooting for big power, immediate goals are all around reliability / driveability.

Edit: Added in some pics, notice the wheel lift, suspension is trash for autocross.

Current Baseline:

• Miles on chassis 115k, miles on engine ~30k.
• Built bottom end bored .020 over (Eagle H-beams, Wiseco 88mm pistons, Mahle Clevite Main & Rod Bearings, H11 head studs).
• Stock k04 (missing a downpipe stud) - ~40k miles
• Stock-sized TIP/SR intake
• Full exhaust
• Port/polished IM
• Corksport TMIC
• Freektuned
• Dual Catch-cans, Damond PCV plate

Chassis:

• Corksport Struts & Shocks
• Eibach Pro Kit Springs (ew)
• Stainless lines front/rear

Recent Maintenance:

• 9/5/21 - Plugs @ 114,750
• 9/5/21 - Compression Test - 180 all +/- a couple points
• 7/21 - Brake Fluid flush

Known Issues:

• Suspension is garbage
• Plugs didn't look awesome at last change, though that may have been due to high-heat autocross days.
• Piston closest to the passenger side looks "damp" compared to the others which show no signs of moisture.
• Need to clean up the engine movement somehow, new bushings somewhere

Upcoming Plans:

• FMIC
• Coilovers (BC Racing? FA?)
• HPFP Cleaning
• Injector Cleaning and Seals
• 3" Intake?
• Oil cooler
• Hood vent
• Paint Care - Correction, coating

 

Seeing if this works for image posting - Compression Test results, 8/9 cranks per cylinder, Drivers side to Passenger Side. Plugs are in the same order. (Is Cylinder 1 on the driver side or Passenger side?) Definitely curious why the Passenger-end piston (4?) looks damp, leaky injector?

 

working now

 

Fabulous

 

Don't bother with Imgur just hit that upload button. But yes that album is showing up.

 

Got a few items first up on the hit list here grabbing from graveyard because of the free shipping:
-Injectors with new o-ring & filter kit, seals
-Injector Studs
-HPFP rebuild kit

Looking for thoughts on Intercooler core - any discernable difference between the Mishimoto M-Line and the TR8? Leaning Mishi since it has a better flow rating.

 

The m line vs the tr8 will be very similar. Difference you probably wouldn’t ever notice. Grab whichever is cheaper and readily available.

 

Thanks, figured that was probably the case. Been perusing your thread again for inspiration, especially on the oil cooling / monitoring stuff.

 

Yup. That was important for me. Definitely something that matters on the track but not so much the street. I’ve collected a ton of data surrounding oil temps and coolant temps. Biggest bunch of BS is the classic line “your oil temps will be same as your coolant temps” yea never have I ever seen that before...lol.

 

Order is in for injectors / seals / o rings; hpfp rebuild kit; injector studs.

Attaching pictures, the Previous owner had a boost and oil pressure gauge installed, and removed them for some reason along with the sandwich plate when he was selling. Looking to either replace the boost gauge with an oil temp gauge or go with a 3 pod and run the boost gauge for fun. Is there any benefit in having the mechanical gauge over just using the AP?

Another one: On the oil pressure gauge, does it look like the wires are cut too short or too mangled to make use of as-is? Wiring is something I am definitely not familiar with on cars. Also included the pictures of the sandwich plate and the plugs on that.

 

The oil pressure gauge wiring should be no problem. Just need power(switched on with key) and ground. The other wire is usually for headlight dimming. You can leave it or hook it up. Looks like you should have no issue wiring that up, anything that’s too short can be easily extended.

 

There is a road nearby that we've used as our local Touge route called 33 heading into Brandywine, WV. It's always been a good drive since it is only 30 minutes from home, running through the George Washington National Forest in VA, and up over a mountain, stopping at a Lake on the WV side before Brandywine. Very twisty, lots of elevation change, and the road quality is generally very good. Went out for a run yesterday to take advantage of the weather with some friends, and the car did really well, no hiccups, knock, etc. However, it always serves to demonstrate deficiencies in the car, such as the suspension and intercooling capability.

Picked up a used Forge BPV and a used CS Recirc hose, as well as a Damond PS Cooler for really cheap and some very very cheap Mishimoto Coolant hoses. Can't seem to get the front of the BPV to unscrew, looks like the previous owner never took it apart, so its in serious need of a good clean and LUBE.

Side note - looking at FMIC kits, a guy local to me is selling a Gen2 Ultimate Racing FMIC kit. I presume the core won't work since the brackets are different, but the piping should work, right?

 

Small update:

• PS Cooler installed - can't believe I got this thing for so cheap, came with all the fixin's, went in super easy. Old PS fluid looked like chocolate milkshake.
• Fixed the inner fender liner on the passenger side - the previous owner decided rather than get some non-shitty wheels, he would rather cut the fender liner to pieces to make sure it didn't rub on the precious XXRs. Managed to take some plastic I had, cut it to size, and do the drift stitches with some zip ties.
• Picked up the intercooler piping, but the dude forgot to bring the BPV flange when we met, so he needs to ship it to me. Looks to be in pretty excellent shape, have my eyes set on a core as well. Also see in picture the mishimoto hoses.

 

Rounded off this bolt on the bottom of the HPFP housing, 5 minutes into what should have been a pretty interesting rebuild and cleaning. Recommendations for how to remove? E8 Reverse Torx won't work on it now, maybe try a size smaller?

Injectors and seals are in, but the injectors honestly look like garbage. Lots of residue, dirt, etc. all over them, as if nobody could be bothered to take a rag to it for 30 seconds. They have a piece of paper attached to them showing flow rates are all good, but I'm still waiting to hear back from Graveyard on if they sent me someone's uncleaned injectors.
All in all, more frustrating than I expected.

 

Graveyard = garbage , I would not trst them with my anything. If you can get a dremel in there you might be able to make a slot for a flat head screw driver.

 

Make sure the pump doesn't have fuel or residue in it then use a small map gas torch to heat the area where the stripped bolt it at. Use a vice grip or strip socket to remove it. You could also use an impact screwdriver tool and a socket hammered on to try to get it off.

Or have someone weld a bolt to the stripped head and try getting it off that way.

 

Followup - I removed the brake booster line and hammered that E8 bit down as much as I could and voila - out it comes. Now waiting on Graveyard to tell my why my cleaned injectors look dirty, and to rebuild the HPFP.

 

Finished up the HPFP Rebuild, everything went back together just fine, starts up, no leaks, sounds good.

My problem is the HPFP Actual is fine at idle, and cruising around town, but as soon as you give it some beans, the pressure drops instead of climbing. Key on engine off test, the pressure did rise to 950 on the first try, but after starting it back up when warm for a little bit, and then shutting it off and monitoring pressure, it didn't rise above ~415. FPRV broken, or did I screw up the spill valve?

 

Dont know the symptoms of a bad spill valve, but a hot shut down with pressure rising but not reaching 1600 PSI is a sign of a bad HPFP valve. For reference, its driver side (its the yellow clip) by where the fuel enters the rail.

 

It matches the symptoms for sure, just a bit flummoxed about how cleaning the HFPP would make the FPRV go bad, unless the total loss of rail pressure via uncapping the lines made it give up the ghost, or a small bit of debris made its way into the line and clogged it.