Nice car
Thanks guys! Its been a fun build so far and I hope I’m satisfied with it once its done!
And yeah, I thought the intake size was odd as well… but I measured it with a set of calipers and the outer-diameter was 2.8". I’ll measure it again tomorrow to make sure, because I thought the same thing you said Colin, not a common size at all. The TB is a stock B16 one I believe… so 60mm?
As far as breaking it in and that stuff… I used 30Weight NonDetergent oil and let the motor idle for about 15-20min, varying the RPM a little and basically just got it to operating temperature. Drained that oil (and didn’t find much on the magnetic plug as far as shavings, just the slightest amount of very fine shavings) and filled it with 5w-30 non-synthetic Valvoline.
Since the first oil change I have only driven it around my parkinglot at work in 1st gear (small parkinglot) varying the RPM and letting the engine ‘brake’ itself to create a vacuum and try to seat the rings. So the motor has literally less than 5 miles on it, and less than 35min of run time.
The reason I haven’t driven it more is being that the car is in pieces, the door latches are out etc etc… not to mention its not registered lol. I’ve tried to not run the motor until I can get it on the road and actually do some road driving and break it in.
On the aspect of tuning… I’ve already had the tuner make me a Neptune base-map that he said is basically stock with a little bit of timing adjustments made for safety until I can get it on the dyno. I fully trust that he knows what he is doing… he is the only authorized Neptune dealer in the state and tunes his own 850whp/low 9secong lsvtec motor… and has actually been flown around the country to various states to tune cars for people. That being said, I want to only break it in on the basemap and get it on the dyno asap like you said. I just need to save up the few hundred bucls for the tuning session.
I’m also not sure what kind of dyno he uses, I wasn’t there when he tuned my brothers car. I know that whatever he uses measures at the wheels though, but is NOT SAE corrected. Whatever can be determined by that lol.
But 180whp is my goal. 185whp will put a big smile on my face… anything above that will make me happy as a pig in shit (so to speak).
Thanks for your input and insight Colin. Its appreciated.
Everyone I’ve talked to recommends running non-detergent oil for at least the first couple thousand miles. Also, there wasn’t any need to change oil after the first startup, the method I used doesn’t call for an oil change till the 500 mile mark (people often suggest changing at 100mi, but according to the people I spoke with this really wasn’t necessary). Shoot me an email and I’ll send you the method that was recommended to me by a very reputable source as well as how I changed it a little to meet my needs.
B16a TB should be 60mm unless it’s an older one which is 58mm IIRC. It’ll be something you want to upgrade eventually, but you should be able to pull decent numbers for now, I know mine did.
Heh… Makes me wish I would have bought the MaxBore TB my brother had a while back. For sure it will be on the list of things to eventually upgrade.
All I need is to get the flanges finished on my Cat and then i’ll be ready to get it registered so I can get it on the road!
Im completely anxious… During one of my short drives through the parkinglot at my work I got ballsy and took it into vtec and wow, it put a big smile on my face. Im just hoping the rings seat properly still even with the amount of idling and slight driving/rpm load i’ve had on it so far. Gah.
Ok I lied… when I measured 2.8" on the intake that must have been the inner diameter, or I was drunk or something lol. Upon measuring it today I got a 3.0" measurement for the Outer Diameter. Even though its still funneling air through the stock b16 throttlebody, I’m hoping the intake is an upgrade in comparison to the stock airbox.
Not much progress… but some!
I finally ordered the flanges, 2.5" donut gasket and pipe to finish my cat. Got that all installed so now the exhaust system is done… It sits pretty good too! The cat didn’t turn out pretty, by any means… and I need to spray it with some high-temp paint to prevent any rusting etc… Also, not many places where it hangs low. I was pleased with ground clearance.
I also routed the steel-braided oil line for my pressure-gauge through the firewall so that is out of the way… Still can’t decide where to mount it though… Im thinking of making a fiberglass pod and mount it where the ashtray is supposed to go… shrug
That’s prettymuch it… I just need to get it registered and then drive it to my brothers shop for paint… Grr, getting excited!
love the build…
which header did you get??..how’s the clearance once installed??..did you have to cut the crossmember???..pics plz:angel:
Ah, all too familiar projects! Glad to see you went with a good weld on ball flange and moved that cat as far back as possible - it will definitely be to your benefit!
I think I showed you a pic of my gauge pod that’s in that location, right? The only pic I have is bad, you you can sorta see it in the background. It’s neat but after having it installed I’m really wanting to move it elsewhere. It’s just not easy enough to see and the fact that it deletes the little “pocket” under the ashtray is much more of an inconvenience than I had anticipated (and this is on a car which virtually never gets driven. Yet nearly every time I get in the car I try to toss something into that spot).
The header is an eBay special… 4-1 style, 2.5" collector… basically a jdm type-r replica, but the price was right at $70. Fitment is good, ground clearance isn’t too horrible. Yes I had to notch the crossmember a bit… I’ll try to get some pics up of it.
Colin: Yeah I was happy with how the welds came out… I thought it to be a good idea to keep the cat away from the collector, even though it looks horrid.
As far as the gauge part… I don’t recall for sure if I’ve seen your setup. I’ll have to email ya and see if you can send it over. But what I want is a pod that actually takes place of the ashtray. Roughly the same dimensions, with the two ‘tracks’ on the sides to it slides in where the ashtray goes… this way I would still have the ‘pocket’ underneath.
I’ll email ya as we speak.
You’ll start to like the look of the setback cat when you see your dyno results 
Just think of it like an extra long collector.
Are you only running a single gauge? If so, then something like you described is possible, but it’d be hard mounting two like that. Even the small gauges take up quite a bit of space.
Email replied…
i wish more people made electronic oil pressure gauges that werent expensive. i am very weary about running oil into my cabin, fuel too.
im not nit-picking or anything, build looks like fun
Yeah I hear that… But as long as the lines are mounted and secured correctly, then it ‘should’ be alright. Though, I am very much more comfortable with an oil line than I would be with a fuel line lol.
Gotta grind a little more out of the crossmember for my header, but otherwise the mechanical part of my build is finished. Well, I still have to mount my catch-can, but that doesn’t count!
Basically all that’s left is paint… I just gotta make sure I have the funds for registration/emissions and then it is all a go. Can’t wait to break this thing in on the road… Getting more and more anxious as the days pass.
Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!! (that’s my little school girls scream)
I know how you feel dude!! I felt so anxious the first time i fired my engine up! You’re gonna love driving that thing on the road!!!
Oh… and don’t worry… i haven’t mounted my catch can yet either… hahaha
Hell yeah man looking great!
for sure man. a friend of mine has been building these really awesome parameter monitors using all new external sensors. its just a two line dot matrix type LCD screen with up to 5 different parameters displayed at once on its screen. everything is attached to a sensor and its just one cable that runs into the cabin, i have one but havent gotten to use it as i want to wait to go turbo so its actually worth it.
what im getting at is that i currently have an oil pressure gauge in the cabin, even with earls fittings (teflon like whoa too) it leaked and i happened to be smoking while i was driving. scary.
i cant even imagine if it had been fuel pressure, i cant wait to install this monitor.
[QUOTE=OMG Its Weasel;2168276]for sure man. a friend of mine has been building these really awesome parameter monitors using all new external sensors. its just a two line dot matrix type LCD screen with up to 5 different parameters displayed at once on its screen. everything is attached to a sensor and its just one cable that runs into the cabin, i have one but havent gotten to use it as i want to wait to go turbo so its actually worth it.
what im getting at is that i currently have an oil pressure gauge in the cabin, even with earls fittings (teflon like whoa too) it leaked and i happened to be smoking while i was driving. scary.
i cant even imagine if it had been fuel pressure, i cant wait to install this monitor.[/QUOTE]
How is that scary? The miniscule amount of heat from the cig will not cause oil to ignite. MAYBE the fuel (that is pushing it). I used to scared about that as well but when I worked as a oil and tire tech the master mechanics woul dput their cigs out in gas to prove the point. The gas quickly snuffed the cig as if it were water. Vapor on the other hand…
because i was smoking out of a piece and had open flame from the lighter at the same instance as the oil ejaculation.
HA, smoking cigarettes will kill you man.
Some ever-so-slight progress on this damn thing. Installed a few things necessary for the travel to my brothers shop, where we’re painting it. Fenders are on, Front Bumper support, Rear Bumper Support/Bumper, Door Latches & Inside handles… and I mounted the Catch Can today.
Since I removed the AC/PS I have a bit of new space under the engine bay… So I didnt want to go clogging it back up with the big ass Moroso Catch Can I have. I looked and immediately saw the place I wanted it… Where the metal canister thingy (sorry I have no idea the name) for the AC that sits right in front of the windshield washer fluid reservoir.
All it took was riviting the moroso-supplied bracket/clamp to the underside of the fender… It is very tight under there when I re-installed the windshield washer fluid tank, but I got it to fit.
Really all I’m waiting on is to get the cash for emissions/registration and the small odds and ends still needed for the paintjob… But hopefully within the next month I will be painting it… Hopefully
UPDATE!!!
Well I finally got around to doing some work.
First off, I put it together enough to make the 30mile trip to my brothers shop (RoyalRepairs FTMFW!!!). The drive was uneventful in a sense that nothing went wrong, thank the lord. But it was a fun drive and I finally had a chance to run through the gears and break in the motor. I’ll say that I wasn’t TOTALLY satisfied with the power, but I didnt rag on it hard as obviously I wanted to vary the RPM and get things seated properly.
But after about a week of it sitting at my brothers place, I finally got around to spraying it last night. I haven’t pulled the car out of our makeshift paintbooth yet, but the car IS sprayed!!!
Here is a sample plate of what the color looks like…
Here is the car being prepped and masked for paint…
Some horrible cellphone pics of the car right after spraying… I promise I will get some good shots of it when I put it back together and get it on the road.
And here is a close-up of the tail panel today when I took it out in the setting sun…
TONS less orange peel than the Maaco job that was on there… But I will still sand and buff it out within the next couple of weeks.
And that is that… Next week the car will be emissioned/inspected and then, it will be put away for the winter lol.
But, that is that.
Opinions? Good, bad? Lets hear it folks!
looks really good buddy cant wait to see it back together