Bogwon's 87 7M GTE project

[Backlash2032]

If you have the stock dp look at the flex section. Mine just recently cracked and I opted to get the dm 3 inch wide mouth dp

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[Grandavi]

Make sure the flanges are flat on the elbows. If not... Grind them. Heavy welding tends to warp them and its good to not over stress that area

 

[Bogwon]

Been awhile since I took any pics so here we go!

Stock restricted-to-all-hell-bo:

...and I think I may have found my exhaust leak. Wrong size gasket anyone?

Here is my DP, not for certain but I think this is after market.

And here's some new coolant piping eye candy!

Correct me if I'm wrong but I was told there are four coolant hoses that go along the firewall and that would mean this would be the last one that needs to be replaced.

Thanks for looking and thanks for the advice guys! Glad to have a community to bounce ideas and questions off!

 

[Bogwon]

Small update, ebay elbow should be here on Saturday, hope to have it on and running again (no exhaust leaks! *fingers crossed*) by Saturday evening providing everything goes as planned...

On a side note, last time I used ebay I was living with a friend of mine trying to save some cash and my "shipping address" was still his place on my ebay account and didn't notice until after I purchased the elbow. Called my buddy up just to let him know it'd be showing up and that I'm a dumb ass for not checking the shipping address on my account before making a purchase. He confirmed that indeed I am a dumb ass but at least this way I get to come out for a visit and see his two boys who are like nephews to me. Can't wait to see the little guys and my friend and his wife.

 

[Bogwon]

So I was out pulling the old elbow in preparation for the new one that's coming and ended up pulling some vacuum lines... Guess these get brittle after 25 years on the car.

and this was a pre-existing condition:

So looking like I'll need a couple new hoses. Gotta go figure out which ones these are and where to get them from now. Any help is always welcome!

 

[Bogwon]

After some searching and quite a bit of reading, I'll be taking my torn hoses to the auto parts store to see if they have any replacement hose and if that fails I'll hit home depot or lowes. Wish me luck!

 

[Bogwon]

Got and installed the elbow today. Pretty straight forward couple of the bolts were a pain but easy install. The 02 sensor bung in the new elbow is just a little bit lower on the elbow than the stock elbow and made for an interesting stretch on the 02 cable. I should probably do it right and lengthen the wires but didn't want to jump into that just yet.

Overall verdict on the new elbow's performance wise, it seems about the same at lower RPMs but 4-6k it really opens up better than the previous. Happy with the purchase and pretty easy install. Here's a couple videos I shot today after the install.



[video]http://s738.beta.photobucket.com/user/tjgraham1981/media/MVI_1392.mp4.html[/video]

[video]http://s738.beta.photobucket.com/user/tjgraham1981/media/MVI_1393.mp4.html[/video]

 

[Bogwon]

I feel like the car is ready to start turning the boost up with the exception of the gauges so that is my next bit of purchasing that is happening now as we speak. Seems there are sooo many gauges out there though and which ones to get in each category is damn near mind boggling!

To start, I want this wide band:
http://www.amazon.com/AEM-30-4100-D...=UTF8&qid=1363718433&sr=1-4&keywords=wideband

This boost gauge:
http://www.amazon.com/AEM-30-4406--...F8&qid=1363718886&sr=1-3&keywords=boost+gauge

Thinking about an EGT and oil pressure gauges in the near future as well but for now I'm going to start with these two. Need to look at BOV's as well as I still have the stock one on the car.

Edit: did some more research and I decided to go with this gauge (http://www.amazon.com/AEM-30-4900-W...8&qid=1363735282&sr=8-3&keywords=aem+wideband) rather than the other two as this one has both gauges in one and also has a fail safe. Order is placed and now I wait for shipping 3-5 business days!

 

[Bogwon]

Hey all, been a few weeks since my last update. Just been enjoying the car and doing a couple small things like getting the wideband bung installed in the down pipe and running that set of wires through the firewall. Couple other little things here and there but mainly cruising around town and having fun driving the car.

My next plan of attack for things to do is getting the wiring done for the wideband and the vacuum lines run for the boost part of the gauge.

I've also ordered a new ROM chip for my HKS F-CON piggy back system for 550 injectors and once I've the to hang of playing with the new wideband/boost/failsafe gauge then I'll install the F-CON/FCD system and play with a little bit of tuning. Nothing too major but I'd like to see if I can turn the boost up to around 10-12 psi. Shouldn't be a problem as most stock set ups see that amount of boost with no worries. 15-18 psi will be my goal for the current set up that is not all installed yet and that will be where I stay until I decide to do more to the car.

I wish there were some better instructions on the set up and install of the F-CON system but I guess it seems pretty straight forward and found a few gems of wisdom here from Crisp who seems to be an HKS proponent. Trial and error is not something I want to deal with when it could detonate my engine so I'll be watching my AFR's like a hawk while messing around with the fuel system and engine management systems.

Snapped a couple more pics of the F-CON harness and the FCD that's already wired up to the harness from the PO. Going to double check the wiring but it seems like everything is where it's supposed to be.

^ FCD wiring to the harness.

^ The wires that are running through the firewall from here are for the pressure sensor in the engine compartment which is also already all wired and had the vacuum lines tapped. Should be plug and play once I get the new ROM chip installed into the E type F-CON.

Thanks for reading and happy modding guys!

-Taylor

 

[Bogwon]

I've been looking at intercooler kits lately and was hoping someone could answer a question about the kit from driftmotion. (http://store.driftmotion.com/static/i-new7mickit.php) This kit comes with the HKS replica BOV does that mean it's similar quality as the cheap ebay specials or are these decent BOVs? Trying to figure if I need to pick up the real deal along with the intercooler kit.

Thanks for any thoughts you guys might have on the subject!

 

[Backlash2032]

Mine never sealed or worked properly. Ended up using my 30 dollar eBay special ssqv

Also, with the location I would get a first Gen ssqv as those are known to.handle heat I believe.

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[Bogwon]

Mine never sealed or worked properly. Ended up using my 30 dollar eBay special ssqv

Also, with the location I would get a first Gen ssqv as those are known to.handle heat I believe.

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Do the newer generation ssqv's not hold up to the heat as well? I was planning on getting the one on the DM site actually, though I believe it's a ssqv 4.

 

[Grandavi]

I have the kit but I got the authentic HKS bov. Aaron says the replica is fine but you eill have to excuse me for not being a believer.
Biggest problem with that kit is simply that the bov flange is directly above the recirculating point causing a bit if an issue. Not an issue if your standalone.

I am assuming your talking about the 7m new one. You won't get instructions or support from DM regarding it either, they are just a distributor. It's actually a Cx racing one.

I couldn't use the two top pipes...

 

[Backlash2032]

I have no issues with stalling with a vented bov. Or issues with fitment.

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[Bogwon]

I have the kit but I got the authentic HKS bov. Aaron says the replica is fine but you eill have to excuse me for not being a believer.
Biggest problem with that kit is simply that the bov flange is directly above the recirculating point causing a bit if an issue. Not an issue if your standalone.

I am assuming your talking about the 7m new one. You won't get instructions or support from DM regarding it either, they are just a distributor. It's actually a Cx racing one.

I couldn't use the two top pipes...

That is indeed the kit I was looking at. Any suggestions as far as what you would do differently knowing what you know now? Is there a better kit out there for a comparable price?

 

[Grandavi]

I think for the price, its pretty decent. My issues were that the flange wasn't in a good spot for the BOV to recirculate. Also, the bracket on the 3000 pipe replacement was about 1" off from where it should be. The next issue was the bend of the 3000 pipe elbow would have ran the pipe straight through where my AFM sits.. I cut out the fender hole as much as I could, but couldn't get it to fit.

I have just had some bad luck with DM.. so it may have been just that.. plus I didn't have access to a bender to "unbend" and reshape the top 2 pipes. Other than that.. once I made up a manual, it went fairly simple.

In the end, I had to move my coolant reservoir (its under the Driver side headlight right now.. I can see it, but its a pain to access.. lol) and I had to move the oil cooler (which is normal) My HKS BOV is now sitting in the new pipe (I had one custom built with a flange) but I had to turn it 90 degrees and have a short hose to recirc with.

Will be going stand alone in about 6-8 months and at that point I will just vent it to atmosphere.. which will allow me to turn it 90 degrees to look normal.

All in all it seems to be a good intercooler kit. Just was a pita to put in (you don't need to remove the bumper to install)

 

[Bogwon]

I think for the price, its pretty decent. My issues were that the flange wasn't in a good spot for the BOV to recirculate. Also, the bracket on the 3000 pipe replacement was about 1" off from where it should be. The next issue was the bend of the 3000 pipe elbow would have ran the pipe straight through where my AFM sits.. I cut out the fender hole as much as I could, but couldn't get it to fit.

I have just had some bad luck with DM.. so it may have been just that.. plus I didn't have access to a bender to "unbend" and reshape the top 2 pipes. Other than that.. once I made up a manual, it went fairly simple.

In the end, I had to move my coolant reservoir (its under the Driver side headlight right now.. I can see it, but its a pain to access.. lol) and I had to move the oil cooler (which is normal) My HKS BOV is now sitting in the new pipe (I had one custom built with a flange) but I had to turn it 90 degrees and have a short hose to recirc with.

Will be going stand alone in about 6-8 months and at that point I will just vent it to atmosphere.. which will allow me to turn it 90 degrees to look normal.

All in all it seems to be a good intercooler kit. Just was a pita to put in (you don't need to remove the bumper to install)

I read through your build about your IC struggles with this kit and it really does seem like you have horrible luck with all the DM stuff. I think I will go ahead and get this kit and if worse comes to worst then the muffler shop just down the road from me can do some bending for me at a decent price. Not too worried about relocating the oil cooler and overflow tank either, read a couple posts about this mod and had expected to do that anyway.

Also am I to understand that if I'm running stock ECU that I have to run the recirc BOV? Will it throw a code if I vent it to atmosphere and cap off the recirc piping or is there something more detrimental that I'm missing in regards to this? Was actually planning on using the recirc anyway most likely (not a huge fan of the BOV sounds, just a personal preference) but options are good in my humble opinion.

Thanks for the info and experience btw, it's nice to read about potential issues before I'm in the middle of crossing that bridge.

 

[Grandavi]

The AFM meters the air coming in, so if you don't recirc it will cause issues because the air will be different than what the ECU expects.

Also, I am not sure about this yet and have not attacked it, but I turned the fuel pressure from my MKIV denso fuel pump down to 25 psi because with a 60-1 CT26 with 550's running off of the AFM, it seems that the pump is over supplying fuel running off of the stock AFM. Turned down the fuel pressure and so far it seems much better (if my wideband is reading correctly). I don't think you need to upgrade the fuel pump with 550's but I have to go back and read again. Just was noticing that I would get odd blue smoke after a hard pull because I was running super rich and I think it was washing the oil off of the cylinder walls. No issues so far, just watching it so I don't lean out (think I am correct)

When you do the pipes, I would remember to set up the intercooler core so that its slightly to the driver side when you hang it because it lines up better (you will see when you line up the #1 pipe and the fender pipe. If you get stalled a little, I can email you a PDF I through together that shows what pipe goes where and how its intended to hang. Also, hang the core angled a bit so the top tilts away from the windshield. Its how its intended to go on. For the money its a nice kit.

My car will probably only get 1000-2000 km put on it before I go full standalone.

 

[Bogwon]

Awesome info man, something I didn't think about! Thank you! I'm just about ready to put in my HKS F-CON fuel mapping system too so I have a bunch of changes going on the car in a very short amount of time.

I would very much like to see this PDF you speak of too.

Thanks again!

 

[Grandavi]

I bought a "one-off" HKS Fcon Vpro with tables for a 7MGTE and harness for my engine as well (yellow plug though). Its on its way from Japan.. only one in the world..
HKS built it and actually made tables for the 7M for someone in Alaska who abandoned it when his engine died... so Reg Reimer picked it up for me (they did all my engine work and he is going to tune it).

Problem is I now want to go to a bigger/better T4 turbo rather than sticking with the 60-1 CT26... which means I have to pick up a manifold and whatever else I will need... (never ends.. lol)

Its going to set me back a bit $$ wise... but will be interesting to see where the car ends up.

oh yeah.. pm me an email address and I will forward you the install PDF I made.