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Max97COBRAtkd

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So I put the Lokar flexible dip stick tube in and that took care of the oil leak. The Lokar stick is a very nice piece but the one thing I do not like about it is that the strap that comes with the stick to attach to the head is about 4 inches too short. I'm not sure how I feel about not having the tube firmly attached to the head to keep it from blowing out.

Has anyone else used the Lokar tube? How did you secure it? I'm considering just making a custom strap that goes down to the bolt boss on the head where the stock dipstick tube was secured.
The strap bolts right to one of the valve cover bolts. It's the bolt right next to where you see the dipstick:

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stradt03

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I can't keep a damn oil dipstick tube o-ring in this thing!!

I'm on the 3rd o-ring and it appears to be leaking also. I'm lubing the o-ring up before inserting it into the block and am trying my best to ensure that it is inserted perfectly straight. The tube appears to be seated, but after I drive the car I notice a small oil puddle collects under the car and with an inspection mirror I can see that the o-ring on the tube has been compromised and is allowing oil to push out. The o-ring is never fully cut, just more of a "slice".

Any tips, tricks, or voodoo black magic needed to keeping the o-ring integral?

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stradt03

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I'm hoping the 4th time is a charm. I put a new o-ring in with the Lokar tube, this time I put some Permatex grey sealant on it. I'm going to let it cure for 24 hours and then test it out.

Hoping to get an alignment tomorrow so I can put some miles on it. Dyno tune is still scheduled for the 18th.

I realize I've been slacking on pictures so here is a startup video

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brian97cobra

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I'm hoping the 4th time is a charm. I put a new o-ring in with the Lokar tube, this time I put some Permatex grey sealant on it. I'm going to let it cure for 24 hours and then test it out.

Hoping to get an alignment tomorrow so I can put some miles on it. Dyno tune is still scheduled for the 18th.

I realize I've been slacking on pictures so here is a startup video

th_VIDEO0100_01_zpszcffneos.jpg

I use a stock dip stick and I always add some grey rtv to the tube around the o-ring. Mine has been leak free each time.

Hope it works for you. Also try going back to a stock tube if not.
 

stradt03

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Finally got that damn dipstick tube to seal up with a little help from Grey Permatex sealant. Did one last oil flow test through the turbos, came in at 6.5oz/30 seconds. Finally will be able to get an alignment in the morning.
 

brian97cobra

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Finally got that damn dipstick tube to seal up with a little help from Grey Permatex sealant. Did one last oil flow test through the turbos, came in at 6.5oz/30 seconds. Finally will be able to get an alignment in the morning.

I guess twins need more oil flow. He told me 4.5oz at idle for 30 seconds on my single.

Glad your oil leak is fixed.

Keep the thread going. Post pics
 

stradt03

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Not much of an update....I've just been trying to put some miles on the clutch to break it in before Friday.

I did have a couple issues that I had to troubleshoot.

1) the sticks on my eboost solendoids were on backwards so the labeling for the ports were not correct resulting in me hooking up the boost/vac reference lines in correctly. I'm not sure what the consequences could have been if I didn't double check my work prior to taking it out on the road but I'm glad I found it now rather than on the dyno.

2) I had this grinding noise that increased/decreased with speed, it was worse when on the throttle and would give a loud grind when hitting bumps. I eneded up finding and fixing the issue this evening. Take a look at the video and see if you can guess what the noise is.

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brian97cobra

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Not much of an update....I've just been trying to put some miles on the clutch to break it in before Friday.

I did have a couple issues that I had to troubleshoot.

1) the sticks on my eboost solendoids were on backwards so the labeling for the ports were not correct resulting in me hooking up the boost/vac reference lines in correctly. I'm not sure what the consequences could have been if I didn't double check my work prior to taking it out on the road but I'm glad I found it now rather than on the dyno.

2) I had this grinding noise that increased/decreased with speed, it was worse when on the throttle and would give a loud grind when hitting bumps. I eneded up finding and fixing the issue this evening. Take a look at the video and see if you can guess what the noise is.

th_VIDEO0097_zpsuyemqx4s.jpg


the noise... ummm maybe exhaust pipe hitting trans ?

I have no clue but the suspense is killing me!
 

stradt03

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the noise... ummm maybe exhaust pipe hitting trans ?

I have no clue but the suspense is killing me!

Ended up being the metal evap line that runs along the same route and the fuel line and rear brake lines. It had popped out of the plastic retainer and was making contact with the drive shaft. Whoops! I popped it back in the retainer and put a few heavy duty cable ties on it to make sure it doesn't pop out again.

I was able to get an alignment last weekend. I took it to Firestone since I have the lifetime alignment from them. The alignment tech was a cranky old man who refused to do the alignment since the car's suspension was modified. He went and cried to the manager and the manager told me that the lifetime certificate was technically void since I modded the car. Only problem is that they SOLD me the lifetime certificate while the car had all these parts on it and they have even aligned the car 3-4 times already.

Long story short, they aligned the car and I kept my certificate, but I have a feeling that either A) the alignment is crappy or B) I will need some new steering components. The steering isn't very responsive and really takes some effort to make intentional movements. I think I'll take it to a different Firestone and let them try to align it before I throw more parts at it.

IMAG3944_zpsdhfehuke.jpg


I've put about 300 miles on the car this week, trying to drive it everywhere at every chance I get. I'm scheduled for the tune tomorrow so I'm hoping to put at least another 100 on it and change the oil before then. I do have a pesky oil leak (not the oil dipstick tube this time) that is resulting in oil collecting on the front sway bar. I THINK it was coming from the AN fitting that connects the scavenge pump line to the oil pan bung. I took it apart and hit it with some fresh PTFE paste and snugged it back up last night.

Another close call I had was that the labeling stickers that came on the Turbosmart eboost2 solenoids were put on backwards. This results in me hooking up the boost reference lines incorrectly. I discovered this while giving all the lines a once over and noticed that the labeling stickers on the solenoids did not match the casting marks on the solenoid. I contacted Turbosmart and they confirmed that the stickers were indeed on backwards. I'm not sure what the impact to the car would have been if I had thrown the thing on the dyno like that, but I like to think that I dodged a big bullet.

Other than the pesky oil leak, the car feels great! I've been messing around with some low boost (5-7psi) and the thing just wants to run! The dual BOVs on the intercooler sound great. I just need some time to figure out how to work the damn eboost2, it isn't very intuitive or user friendly.

Haven't put the front end back on yet, I'm wanting to make sure that I have resolved all the leaks and other issues before I bolt it on. I've gotten a lot of strange looks driving around like this.

IMAG3942_zpsgunzaqba.jpg
 
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stradt03

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It made a little over 700 on 15psi. We got on the dyno at 9 and had all kinds of issues with oscillation beginning at 5100rpms and knocking with a fat A/F ratio and 11 degrees of timing.

We got a lot of it sorted out but then the power was dropping off pretty significantly at 5500. Decided to try to pull the mufflers off and see if they were creating too much backpressure. Power shot up another 40hp and didn't fall off like before. It was quiting time at that point since it was after 5 already.

I guess these are the next steps;
1) I still had a decent oil leak on the front of the car that I will need to track down and fix
2) Figure out what to do with the mufflers. I want to keep the 3" catback so I'm open to suggestions for mufflers.
3) I think I'm going to convert the boost reference lines over to high-temp nylon and push-to-connect fittings. One of the lines to the wastegate came off and resulted in the oscillation
4) Put on the MMR thermostat housing I have sitting around
5) The steering is down right dangerous, the alignment I received last weekend is WAY out of whack, just looking at the front end, both toe are way out and is resulting in some scary steering response.
6) Get back to the dyno and up the boost

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stradt03

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I'm kicking around the idea of going with Meth injection also. Any pros/cons that people can sway me either way? Seems like most people are going with an alkycontrol or Snow system. Any thoughts on these systems?
 

stradt03

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brian97cobra

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It made a little over 700 on 15psi. We got on the dyno at 9 and had all kinds of issues with oscillation beginning at 5100rpms and knocking with a fat A/F ratio and 11 degrees of timing.

We got a lot of it sorted out but then the power was dropping off pretty significantly at 5500. Decided to try to pull the mufflers off and see if they were creating too much backpressure. Power shot up another 40hp and didn't fall off like before. It was quiting time at that point since it was after 5 already.

I guess these are the next steps;
1) I still had a decent oil leak on the front of the car that I will need to track down and fix
2) Figure out what to do with the mufflers. I want to keep the 3" catback so I'm open to suggestions for mufflers.
3) I think I'm going to convert the boost reference lines over to high-temp nylon and push-to-connect fittings. One of the lines to the wastegate came off and resulted in the oscillation
4) Put on the MMR thermostat housing I have sitting around
5) The steering is down right dangerous, the alignment I received last weekend is WAY out of whack, just looking at the front end, both toe are way out and is resulting in some scary steering response.
6) Get back to the dyno and up the boost

View attachment 51100
View attachment 51101

update?


:)
 

stradt03

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Slow progress....I got kind of pissed with the car and the oil leak so I put it in the garage and left it there for a few days just so I could take a break from it.

Oil Leak
I hopped under it the other day and let it run while looking for the oil leak and I think I found it. The MM oil filter relocation kit has 5/8" textile feed/return hoses that run from the oil cooler to the passenger side of the radiator where the filter is mounted. I observed that when the car gets up to operating temp, the feed/return hoses get saturated with oil. These hoses are almost 9 years old so I assume they are just old and beginning to weep a bit. I ordered up new hose and -AN fittings and made new lines and mounted it all back up yesterday.

I'm also taking some time to clean up the mess that the dripping oil created. My thoughts are that if the area is oil free, then it will be easier to identify any additional oil leaks (if oil was leaking from additional areas).

Race Fuel
I also decided that I'm going to run meth injection rather than race fuel. The car is primarily street driven and race fuel is not readily available anywhere near me. I'm looking at both the Snow Performance and Alky Control Systems kits. I'm thinking that I like the Alky Control Systems kit better since it has all braided stainless lines and will come with a 3 gallon tank that mounts in the trunk.

Mufflers
Still looking for a nice 3" straight-through muffler to replace the Bassani mufflers that were on the car. I'm still torn between going with a "race" muffler like a bullet or a magnapack or if I should just go with a traditional straight through like the one listed below.

https://www.magnaflow.com/products?partNumber=14264

I'm also toying with the idea of going to open-air waste gates. The waste gates are currently plumbed into the down pipes so to accomplish this, I would have to cut the flange off the down pipe and weld up a plate to block the hole.

The updates are still coming....just a little slower than before.
 

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