StryfeS13's Build Thread..No more KA-T...5.3L LSx

[s13Vanessa]

KA-T FTW! Keep it up. And I did shim work too, its definitely worth it.

[StryfeS13]

Changed my oil today. I was bored so I went ahead and took pictures.

I used Mobil 1 oil



Get the 1/2 inch ratchet so you can break the oil pan bolt free without busting your balls



Old oil



New oil!

[Razi]

Yay!

[StryfeS13]

Primed my driver quarter panel today.

Word of advice...don't get lazy and use paint stripper...it'll clump up all your paint and leave a mountainous terrain on your panel. LOL.

I was grinding down to metal for like an hour...Oh well, weight savings!! HAHA

------------------

Anyway, I'd like some input on what to get next. Let's say I have $1000 to spend.

Do you guys think I should get coilovers/suspension parts/LSD, a paint job, or finish my turbo setup for my Holset?

Keep in mind I have no suspension mods other than front coils and rear "helper" springs.

[Razi]

Paint!

It's always nice to walk out to a clean car.

If it's just paint, it shouldn't suck away your whole 1k savings.
You could probably spend the rest on suspension.

[StryfeS13]

KA might be getting sold....350 sbc might be going in....

[StryfeS13]

However, if I don't get go with the 350, I got these today...

TOMEI 555cc Injectors, BRAND NEW!!! For free!





^Lol japanese instructions? Useful....

[StryfeS13]

Tomorrow's Project: Cleaning Engine Bay/Engine, and Painting Engine Bay:

My engine bay is terribly dirty, because when I swapped my new KA in, I had to be at work, the following day. So, because of that, I had no time to clean off the old grime.

I decided to use wheel paint for my engine bay. Why? Because it's durable, it sees constant abuse when on wheels, so, why not try it in the engine bay? I will be cleaning off everything with Simple Green, some elbow grease , and some fine sandpaper.

More pics tomorrow, when I start on it.



I also ordered front sway bar bushings from FRSport, because I found out that one of my bushings is a wadded up piece of TAPE.

[StryfeS13]

Painting/Cleaning The Engine Bay

So, as I said yesterday, I was going to try to "refresh" my engine bay, since I didn't have time to do it when the motor was out. It actually came out pretty good! Good enough!

The supplies...



Before paint/cleaning/anything, wires all over the place, gatorade overflow tank hahaha





I cleaned off/sanded a section and sprayed a coat to see if I liked the color. Turns out it was a pretty cool color, even sparkles in sunlight



Since I was pulling everything off anyway, I painted my coil bracket, and cleaned that too



After I got most of it painted, notice the wiring harness is out of the way, etc (I had a big plastic cover over the engine while painting)



After I put everything back together, and finished.



Way better than before I think!

Before/After

[Razi]

Nice!
It's all one color now finally. :P

[StryfeS13]

Did some bodywork on my passenger fender...

Body work sucks. But there are dents and they need to be fixed...

Here's right after "cheese grating" the bondo, notice how it's still rough looking



Here's after going over it with spot putty and sanding to smooth it out



Here's another dent. Right after the "cheese grating" that's why it's rough



Then spot putty/sanding



Another dent fixed



Bondo cocaine!



I primer-ed it and noticed I missed a few dents so I'll fix those tomorrow. too tired haha

[StryfeS13]

Sway bar bushings arrived!

Took less than 2 business days for these to arrive from FRSport, they always ship fast



I never knew polyurethane felt so "solid." I figured it'd be like rubber.



New bushings vs. old bushings....look at that bushing...




I haven't been able to tell the difference yet cause I haven't driven it, but i'm sure it'll be significant compared to those old ones.

More body work

[Razi]

Frsport ftw.

Get that thing painted already!

[StryfeS13]

Lol I think you're the only one who follows my build Razi.

I wanna paint it, but since it was painted before with Rustoleum, I gotta pretty much sand it all the way down. New paint doesn't stick to Rustoleum I've heard.

I might just leave it primer gray....I want to boost it and do suspension.

I got my wastegate today with a 16 psi (1.1bar) spring

[Razi]

Boost ftw. :P

Nah I bet a lot of people check your thread, but they never respond haha, I do that a lot with other builds.
I just lurk around.

[turbonxsx]

f*** yeah a fellow Holset turbo guy

[StryfeS13]

I can't stop buying things....i need boost!

[S13AL]

^ I lurk on this thread a bit. Don't let the lack of responses kill your motivation. My thread is pretty dead right now too.
What color of paint are you planning on? or just staying with primer?

[StryfeS13]

Installed my Walbro today!

I got my Walbro yesterday, so I decided to install it today. This thing is tiny compared to the stock unit! I also may have figured out why I had my boost issue...my old fuel pump was like freakin DEAD.



New vs. old



Old fuel pump



New fuel pump mounted



New connections heatshrinked



Replaced the o-ring where the fuel pump bolts down



Some pics of my haggard car at my dads house

[StryfeS13]

^ I lurk on this thread a bit. Don't let the lack of responses kill your motivation. My thread is pretty dead right now too.
What color of paint are you planning on? or just staying with primer?

I'm keeping it primer for now. In my mind, everything else comes first, and then paint. I mean, I thought about painting, but then I realized, I'm always screwing with it, taking motors out, etc. If I paint it, I'm just gonna scratch and screw up the paint. Once everything is finished I'll paint it.

[Razi]

Noooooooooooooooooo.

Even though it's a pain in the butt, pull the pump out and ziptie that filter onto the pump or it'll fall off.

That's how Spooled240's and my walbro pump died.

[StryfeS13]

How will it fall off? It's not just sitting there like that. It has a retaining ring on the bottom that I had to force on with a small socket. I don't think that could fall off.

[Razi]

I did that plus zipties just incase.

The ring might be enough but I did it for extra security.

[StryfeS13]

I couldn't even push that ring on with my fingers, I seriously had to like stretch it over the tab that the filter sits on. I even tried to pull it off with a pretty good amount of pressure, shook it around, etc, didn't budge. But I guess I'll zip tie it lol

[StryfeS13]

Man, that fuel pump made the biggest difference. My old fuel pump MUST have been on it's way out, my car seriously came alive with this new pump.

I ordered my manifold for the Holset, and I got some 3" V-Band flanges too, for my custom downpipe

[StryfeS13]

Just bought one of these:

[Razi]

Man, that fuel pump made the biggest difference. My old fuel pump MUST have been on it's way out, my car seriously came alive with this new pump.

I ordered my manifold for the Holset, and I got some 3" V-Band flanges too, for my custom downpipe

New pumps ftw.

[StryfeS13]

^ Yeah definitely haha.

I decided to just bite the bullet and buy that CXRacing new "revised" manifold, since I couldn't really find any reviews of it anywhere. Was $260 shipped :O

eBay parts are getting pricey! lol

[StryfeS13]

I'm spending all my money. Lol.

Just bought this for my turbo setup. Decided to run my Tomei 555's and a Z32 MAF. (I was thinking of selling the 555's, but whatever.)

[StryfeS13]

More stuff came!!

My 3" v-band came..i needed this cause I want to run a 3" downpipe, not a 2.5" like the H1C has. So I welded the flange to my turbo...Keep in mind I don't really weld...




Also, my manifold came, I couldn't find any reviews on it so I just bought it.





My Z32 Maf came too, but there's no reason to take a picture of that.

I also ordered my intercooler kit, and some 3" pipe to make my downpipe with.