my kat thread

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Thanks, I just went to the junkyard and picked one up though.

[Swedish Mike]

Edit: Sorry, just saw you wg arm.

/Mike

[PapaSmurf2k3]

OK, update...

The oil line leaks (i figure that can be an easy fix), the crappy fuel pressure regulator from ebay leaks out of EVERY possible place it could leak from, and the turbo seizes/doesnt spool. Ever since I clocked the turbo, its been finnaky. It has to go in perfectly straight, and if I tighten the clamp down too much, it the blades wont spin. So I hooked it all up and tightend it just enough where it still spooled, but didnt move. I took it for a spin around the block, and it must have gotten josseled or something, because it was seized when I got back. Does anyone have any insight on this? maybe the bolt is loosening itself on the clamp... or is there something els? The motor is still running weird/like crap, and my Emanage boost gauge is only reading about -3PSI when the car is running (vac line T-ed off of the FPR vac hose). Pics soon.

On the bright side... there are NO coolant leaks!

[j-z]

ive been wondering whats been going on with your setup. the turbo should work the same no matter how its clocked. the turbo was probably fuked when you got it. ive got a volvo turbo that does the exact same which is fuked. may be why youre only making 3 psi as well. and what kind of fpr do you have? also, you should be able to tighten the fuk out of that clamp and everything work properly. i dont know what the deal is there. so the compressor housing and wheel has good clearance, but the exhaust side doesnt?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

the turbo was probably fuked when you got it. may be why youre only making 3 psi as well. and what kind of fpr do you have? so the compressor housing and wheel has good clearance, but the exhaust side doesnt?

well, the turbo wasnt fuked when i got it, it came from my friends WRX with... probably about 20k on it. and im not making 3psi (heh, my intercooler piping isnt even hooked up yet), im making -3PSI while the car is running (IIRC, that number should be around -20psi)... but there are no vac. leaks anywhere (that i know of). the FPR that i have is this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...%3AITI reccommend not buying from that guy, he sucks, no communication, slow as hell shipping, shipped the wrong color, and when it got here it was all scatched up and has dings and dents all over it, and leaks everywhere.

If i take apart the turbo, it spins freely on the compressor side, but when I put it back in, its a little rough (meaning, not so much clearance on the exhaust side). I dunno, its kinda hard to explain. I thought I should be able to tighten the crap out of that clamp as well... as it has a flanged inside, so the tighter you make it, the closer it forces the 2 halves together... time for a VF-34 or VF-22, or VF-39?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

And another thing.... why do the check engine lights only come on when there is something useless broken, like EGR clog or some crap, something that doesnt effect the way the car runs at all, but when its completely running like crap, it thinks everything is good..... grrrrr

[lrb_2000]

the FPR that i have is this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...%3AITI reccommend not buying from that guy, he sucks, no communication, slow as hell shipping, shipped the wrong color, and when it got here it was all scatched up and has dings and dents all over it, and leaks everywhere.

lol... you're complaining about something you paid $13 for haha.. sorry, but I had to say something.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

bah... it was $30 with shipping... besides, NICO members told me about them and didnt say there were bad. Ive been betrayed by nico

[PapaSmurf2k3]

So the turbo spool problem has been solved, turns out there was a dowel pin on the bottom of the exhaust side of the turbo and an inlet on the compressor side, and ever since i clocked it, the dowel pin had no where the go, so when I clamped it down, the bottom would stay out and the top would go in, binding the turbo, she spools freely now and sounds beautiful

I replaced my "Megan style" FPR with this unit http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...ene_2the quiality is MUCH better, no leaks, came with a diagram, better hardware, better engineering in general.

and heres a semi-recent pic of the engine bay.

to do list: change out the FPR adaptor to the nismo unit, get exhaust & intake piping done, fix oil leak, and find out why its running like crap. Im still open for suggestions. (vac reads around -1psi at idle and around -7 at 4.5k) I put a compressed air hose thing on one of the vac lines and pressurized the system (with the car off) and did not find any leaks.

[Jookmasta]

so did u use an egr block off plate? also u have all ur intercooler piping done right? what piping do u have and what don't have as im sorta lost on that.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

yes I made my own EGR block off plate, and no, none of the intercooler piping is done yet, im just running the stock intake and MAF setup (as can be seen in the pics) until i get the motor to run right.

[le_ryan]

hey , off topic, but i was lookin into doing a side pipe when another member pointed me to your direction.Do you got any pics of the mod?thnax

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Right now there is no exhaust in the car, but here are some pics of the sealed rocker panel ready for the pipe to go through it.



the pics are kinda old, and I still have to do some sanding/molding/painting.Basically, I had rocker panel rot (like everyone els) and decided to make good use of it. I cut out the rot and welded in a section of 3" piping. I then completely enclosed the rocker panel with fiberglass. I plan on running a 2.5" tip through this section of the exhaust, the rest will be 3". Ill get some pictures of the routing underneath once I get it done. I previously ran 2.25" piping through there, but it wasnt sealed off so the rocker panel kinda rusted away around it.Let me know if you have any questions.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Well I found out why I dont have vac, and the car is running like crap. I did a compression test and cyl 4 has ZERO compression. Im guessing the intake valves are stuck open and thats why there isnt any vaccuum as well. Now I have to pull the motor again, and seeing as how I dont have any time to rebuild it myself, Im just gonna drop it off at the machine shop and have him fix the valve problem and re-assemble the head.

man, do I have crappy luck(this is probably due to me putting the cams in backwards initially)

[PapaSmurf2k3]

So instead of pulling the motor, I decided to pull the head (which, amazingly, got done in record time!)My suspisions were correct, and Cyl 4 was F'ed UP! upon pulling the cams and everything out, I noticed that the buckets on the intake side were sitting lower than all of the rest.



I then pulled the intake manifold and removed the ARP studs and pulled the head. If you have a weak stomach, please... turn away now.





I took the head to the machine shop, and was greeted with "bitter beer face" when he looked at it. He removed the valves, and they were bent to ****, and the guides were smashed and cracked.

Another head gasket, inake gasket, and exhaust manifold gaskets have been ordered, and I should have the head back on thursday. What do you guys think about the piston? I showed the picture to the guy at the machine shop, and he seemed to only be worried about it pinching the ring, and it not sealing well in the cylinder, but I told him there was no momentum going, and this was all done by just the starter, and he said id probably be ok if i just smoothed it all out (get rid of any possible hot spots). I can't beleive this was all done just by the power of the starter! (that thing has some balls!)

[fiznat]

OUCH dude! Man that really sucks.... but at least you know what the problem is now. You gotta suck it up and go back to the machine shop with your head hung low haha but it should be all good from here on out. Hell, you could have had a much more expensive disaster, like that guy who snapped off his cam sprocket or that other guy who blew up his KA-T motor because he cheaped out on rods.

[Florida240sx]

or that other guy who blew up his KA-T motor because he cheaped out on rods.

I could be joining that list soon.Hopefully not....

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Ok, So I was just reminising about this so I figured I'd give an update. The car still hasnt been tuned, and It needs a bigger turbo before it does.







Thats all I have for pics right now. I had to pull the transmission again because the damn pivot fork bolt broke and that was the cause of my double digit slave cylinder replacement record.

The car still needs to be aligned, new tires, new turbo (18G?), Tuned, and something funky is going on with the brakes.

[WDRacing]

Glad to see you're still plugging away man...

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Thanks, but there will be no plugging until august that is until Foster wises up and goes and does some stuff to it so he can drive it.cmon Foster, you know you want to make my car a 400whp monster

[superDorifto]

forget it,...i have daily arguments with foster, and hes never gonna go KA-T again. LS1 mabye....