Do you know how much I hate you right now? Just kidding.. I love you, but I hate how poor I am so I can't get my cannon plugs yet :(
Gank... Actually, I may not do that yet since I don't have the cannon plugs and the hassle of trying to modify that harness to work would piss me off... But some day.

Ha - I've got the same (almost) plugs for my harness, not installed to the firewall yet. I haven't decided where I want to run them through exactly. Looks awesome though, can't wait....

BTW - I need new pants! I'll send you the bill :)

Thanks, I LOVE those connectors...... that song cracks me up

Yeah that harness was a MEGA-PITA to relocate. Not entirely worth it. A ton of wires had to be extended, some shortened, and the ones that were shortened were off the main fuse block so the factory connectors had to be reused. It wsa a 2 week long trial and error ordeal that also resulted in one bent fender from an adel clamp.

Thanks, in hindsight I should've put them somewere else to hide them a little more, oh well.

LOL - I have a tower of towels sitting ontop of the engine hoist for a reason ya know ;)

So no updates tonight, total bust of a night. Work kicked my ass, the only thing that I got accomplished was powdercoating the strut tower bar and bending the downpipe into place. I have no idea how it happened, but it seemed to angle itseld up 3/4" The v-band wasn't sealing so hot. It took me with the oxy/ace-torch and my 170lb buddy with a 4' jack handle inserted into the pipe to coax it back into place. Lines up perfect now though.

Regardless, no more pics tonight. I'm hoping tomorrow is a lighter day so I can get some stuff accomplished tomorrow night.

any updates yet. im excited to see what new awesome thing you do with this car

That wiring job is hands down the best I've ever seen. Totally awesome.

I'm really liking that paint job, and wire tuck. Really nice job mate.

Thanks guys. I'll give the full update tomorrow afternoon/evening

So updates............

When I left off we were dicking around with the exhaust.... well, the exhaust is done, Tips and all. I started out by making a new 2-stroke tank... I dunno why, But I only have one picture of it. Holds about a qt and a half and works well.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1238966585

After that was in place I could finally install the strut tower bar.......

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1238966585

After that it was time to mount up the radiator

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1238966585

Stock FD waterpumps are awesome for VMIC/HMIC setups. The outelets point in great directions. That od looking hose that joins the lower hose at the waterpump to the hardpipe is a stock FC hose. Than the same hose for the slight angle to get into the rad came from the same section of hose. So whe it's time to replace hoses, I still need a stock easily accesible hose rather than trying to source some wierd shit..... good shit

So now we start with the ducting, using the shine auto bumper so both the intercooler and the rad have thier own seperate vents.

Duct work in the sides of the fram and on the bottom as well

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1238967386

Duct work continues for the intercooler

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1238967386

Duct work is finished

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1238966447

By this time its ready to fire......... & I do. Classic Auto owes me a beer ;)

Now it's about 6 in the evening on Friday and I'm lewft with a choice. I HAD an appt set for dyno time on Monday & I need to break the motor in. A very good friend of mine is having a b-day part in Jersey some 50 miles away. I think, this is perfect - 100 miles of break in on saturday, a few hundred more on sunday, then 200 miles to the Dyno.... PERFECT. So I decide to work until the car is DONE.... I finished bleeding the brakes @ 11:00 saturday MORNING after pulling an all nighter.. I'm getting too old for this shit. Off autobone for some wipers, a quick blast to the car wash and it's off to Jersey.

A few things of note from the drive......

Coolant temps - never got above ~178* while moving. The only time they climbed higher was when I was sitting in traffic. Then they got to 185* when the fan kicked on.

Oil temps - the highest I saw was 167* and that was sitting in traffic. Usually they hung around 150*

Oil Pressure - holly hell! The first time I started her up I FREAKED OUT becuase the pressure was climbing, climbing, climbing from about 70 PSI @ a fast cold idle to >110 PSI around 2500 rpm cold and 2800 RPM hot. What freaked me out though was the voltage on the sensor was being reported to the MoTeC, but was out of "range" for the AIM, so it read 0.0 PSI and the warning light went off. I had to do the first two heat cycles with the laptop open and a seperate Dial Gauge visible that was outputting the voltage for the oil pressure sender.

Idles great, runs really well even though she running WAY rich and everything seems to be bedding in nicely. Still haven't done a comp check but that'll be soon.

So I get to autobone, the car wash, and the gas station, someone comes up to me at each place to say something about the car......... something like....... "do you drift"

So anywho, I head off to Jersey and procceed to get ridiculously lost, so much that my GPS was lost.... I swear the people who built NJ said, "our state is going to suck, so lets make it impossible for people to leave" ;)

Driving down this one main drag about 2 miles from the house where I'm supposed to be and I slam a pot hole.... thanks Jersey. Later in the evening the good friend of mine hit the SAME pothole and bent his rim. So I'm fuming made at this point becuase I'm late, just hit a pothole, and then I start to smell something......... "is that fuel or is that exhaust?" I think to myself. That smells like fuel. I pulled up to a light and the car stahled... "WTF??? she's NEVER stalhed when warm.." someone honks at me becuase the light turned green, so I fire the car up and the low fuel pressure light comes on. "MOTHERFUCKER!!!!! FUEL LEAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I punch the gas to get some momentum up to make it to the next side street which is approaching (i was on a main drag, no place to pull over) kill the engine, kill the battery, pulled down this side street and in one deft move I reached behind the passenger seat with my right hand while my left hand un dis the harness and went for the handle. I leap out of the car, pull the pin in the extinguisher, pop the hood and look at a fuel soaked engine bay with fuel spraying out of the #1 secondary injector. Not spraying ontop of the engine either mind you, but spraying in a 90* sweep from the Alt to directly on top of the turbos!

I stood there poised for about 5 minutes waiting for the fireball that never came, thank god.

So I call my buddy who thankfully wasn't too inebriated to come pick me up in his Fiances Mazda 3. Good thing they didn't take his MS6 - no towhooks. So he picks me up and we run to the HD to buy a towstrap and some line. I fashioned a bridal from the corners of the strut bar to directly infront of the intercooler so the hook doesn't scratch the front bumper. We put a pad down just in case. Now we can't close the hood though. So I tied a bolund around the hood catch, wrapped the line around the strut bar and then tied a rolling hitch to the tow strap. The thought being the load on the tow strap will keep the hood closed.

Well the rolling hitch, the knot that's not supposed to slip down a line slipped. I guess it didn't like the flat towstrap and the hood FLEW UP while moving. With enough load to break.... not pull out, but BREAK 4 of the 6 rivets that were holding the brackets for the hood struts. :banghead:

Regardless, we got the hood re-tied, and finished towing it to his buddies house were we proceeded to eat and drink copius amounts of alcohol.

The next day, this morning actually, after spending 1/2 hour arguing with the guys @ U-haul that say my Cherokee can't tow the Mazda, and me saying that I've done it twice and back and forth an back and forth they finally let me take the fricken trailer. Thier trailer weighs ~300-400lbs less than the 7.. regardless, she's home now and I have an interesting phone call to make to Tim Marren tomorrow about the Marren injectors and the custom fuel rails that he built for me and why a fricken pothole and 35lbs of rail pressure is enough to jar an injector loose.

Cars, maybe I should start collecting stamps.

I must say, I LOVE my XJ. We call her The Mighty XJ. Really nothing this truck can't do.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1238969716

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1238969716

How does the XJ take towing the FC? Coincidentally, I'm about to buy an FC in Texas and tow it back with my dad's XJ. What engine is in yours and is it all stock? Do you think we'll have any troubles with the 4.0 I6, using the same U-haul trailer you used?

Sorry to threadjack

Wow, even as I read I was probably panicking the way you did not knowing what I was gonna read next about the outcome considering the amount of time, money, blood, sweat, and obscene swearing you've put into that car. I'm glad things didn't escalate past a fuel leak.

Jeeps have plenty of power for towing w/ the I6 4.0L. I have a TJ and the only issue is the wheelbase, stupid laws - they won't let me tow a car trailer even though it can easily pull that much weight!


Glad to hear you got it running, so close to DGRR though, I'm sure you can get it ready for the trip though. Sounds like that was the only issue (albeit a big one) but still.. one big issue is better than 5 little ones.

1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport, 4.0L, 5spd, 3.07:1 rear
Magnaflow Hi Flow Cat, Borla catback - both necessities, factories rotted out
OME 3.5" lift, BFG 31" mudders
I built the rear swing out for the full size spare.

There's alot of weight over the rear and I've found that it's REALLY hard to adjust the tongue weight with those trailers. That's the problem. That and the trailer weighs almost what the car does - 2100lbs!!!! The tires are a touch too big and on some of the bigger bumps the tires were actually rubbing the molding. On a few hills I found myself dropping to 4th gear.

That being said, the stock tire size is a 225/75/15 - 28.25". I've got 31" tires on there, so I lost ~8% of my torque becuase of the size. When I first put the tires on it was noticable. Nothing to make me want to re-gear the rig but definately a little slower.

She'll tow it, but good luck convincing the asshats at U-haul. Took me a while of argueing with them saying I've done it twice
but th computer says no
I've ACTUALLY done this TWICE
but the comp says no
has the comp actually done this?
No
Well I have
The comp says no
Palm meets face

I would try to borrow a set of smaller tires and be prepared to re-drill and mount the rear straps to better distribute the weight, or just creatively secure the car. Fill up with 93 and you'll be fine. Or source a better trailer.

Auto or 5spd? The auto's have a 3.55:1 rear. I don't know what the OD in the tranny is though. You might have better gearing. I run ~1700 RPM @ ~65 on the highway. WHen I was downshifting into 4th for some of the hills I was @ ~2200 @55-60. SOOOOO much torque in that engine

Lemme put it this way, we call her The Mighty XJ for a good reason

Yeah me too. I'm still in shock that the fuel didn't ignite. I'm thankful, but still in awe. I mean spraying RIGHT ON THE TURBOS

Well.... there's a few things that still need to be done. The fuel leak is a big issue, we're hoping the solution is quick and easy and hopefully I'll be able to get a look at it tomorrow. If the solution I have doesn't work, the trip is pretty much off. If it does work, than the list is only

Refinish my 4 BBS's and get a new set of tires
Build a Belly Pan
Vent the fuel tank
get an S4 A-pillar and stereo surround
Finish breaking in the motor
Dyno Tune
Emmsions & registration (the worst part)
and an alignment

I SHOULD be able to get everything done in time, it's really the emmsions so I can reg the car. Stupid CT retarded emmsions laws

Thanks for the input. My dad's is an auto, bone stock down to the tires. I actually printed the pic of yours towing the FC to show them, lol. If U-haul gays out on us, we'll probably be able to find a trailer from somewhere else. Or we might have to get another vehicle altogether, since it is a 1000+ mile trip.
hmm...

Okay, that's enough threadjacking. FCs coming along good, I'm glad it didn't catch on fire :rofl:.

1000 plus miles is tough. I don't think I'd do 1000 miles though. There has to be a lighter trailer. Penske's are aluminum and MUCH nicer than the u-haul garbage.

Yeah, I'm pretty stoked she didn't go up in flames either. It would really make all those, "Fix it with fire," or, "No, it's fucked! Torch the car, collect the insurance," jokes/comments really ironic

Man random fuel leaks bit the both us in the ass lol

Car looks awesome though, congrats and best of luck with the tuning and break in.

I'll mail you a CDN beer if you don't make DGRR :lol:

i am scared to pressure my system for the first time.

Yeah whats up with that? I dare say that a leak in the middle of a braided line is cause for a little more concern though... WTF?

Thanks on the compliments. I spoke with Tim Marren and he is sending me a handful of grommets and spacers and new o-rings so HOPEFULLY I'll still be able to attend. SO up in the air right now though.

Before I fired her off I turned the fuel pump on and cranked the FPR to 80PSI. I'll be running ~40 +14lbs boost so we ramped her up to 80 without starting the motor to look for leaks. I would do that first before you fire her off. The first leak we found was on a gauge, yes a mechanical gauge that I had @ the end of the rail. So we pulled the gauge and put a plug in. Then the injector worked it's way into the LIM boss and popped out of the rail.... Cars.............

Wow man, at least you're driving yours. I'm still pulling things from mine. Glad to see you are nearing the finish of the car and looks like you are going to make to DGRR with ease. This week will consist of many long nights for me. I have two major hurdles to overcome....the first being my fuel setup (I have to build a new tank w/sump to run the A1000 pump) and the FMIC setup. The rest is just putting the new stuff on.

I needed some encouragement as it is almost overwhelming what I am trying to accomplish. Your thread has provided me the kick in the booty that I need. We need to try and hook up in NC. You've done a nice job on your car!

Ari from RP just called me about my injector order and what I was gonna do and I basically immediately asked if he could do the proper injector modifications (1600cc secondaries) so I didn't have to do it myself like I was going to. :rofl::rofl:

Hopefully one less thing to worry about when I get my car's swap underway.

LOL!!!!!! I wouldn't say with ease, there have been many a long night since the last update, so much that I haven't been updating the thread. It's been wake up, go to work, go home play with my dogs for a bit, hit the shop, the shower, bed, wash, rinse, repeat. Good luck with your project.

Yeah we do:icon_tup:

Yeah, I don't like to mess around with fuel, I'd rather let the pro's do it. Good call.

So I guess it's time for an update -

Many a long night has been spent sorting out little issues but most of them are dead and gone.

Over the weekend there was a bad drivetrain vibe that developed while I was getting some breakin miles on her. I knew the rear wheel bearings were bad so we went ahead and replaced those, what a fricken nightmare. The bearing wistle was gone but the vibe remained. So we started jokeying around tires because mine are about 10 years old, literally. Vibe remained... now we're getting annoyed. Swap the driveshaft (mainly because it was on there so tight we had to beat the piss out of it to get it off the pinion plange, I figured we might have done some damage....) a little better but it was still there. Now we're pissed. So right after we swapped the driveshaft my buddy and I went back to the annex, back up on the stands she went and he helped out until midnight and I carried on until 2:30 in the morning swapping the rear out and double checking EVERYTHING else on the fricken car. Vibe was finally gone. So I went to sleep.

Woke up around 8:30 and got on the road. Plan was to meet Ihor @ IRP @ 10 and pick up my 140 amp alt, and then head over to meet Dave @ KDR for some dyno tuning.... well driving through Jersey I started to get this nasty rotten egg smell. I figured it was just Jersey :suspect: When I got to IRP I shut the car off and heard this sizzling noise coming from behind me. The Optima redtop that I relocated to the passenger bin was scalding hot to the touch, fuming and just a generally unhappy battery. Soooooo we let the car.... and bat cool down a bit, did a little troubleshooting and said eff it.... Ihor swapped the alt right there for me. Great guy, pleasure to deal with and the alt of course kicks ass. Where as before I had 14.5+ volts and the voltometer neddle bouncing with whatever music I had playing at the time, the new alt holds 13.5 volts rock steady regardless of the lights, wipers, heater, fogs, stereo it doesn't matter, it just stays.

So with Ihors help I got back on the road and off to KDR. While we were swapping the alt I noticed that my charge pipe had broken in half..... cheap chinese aluminum didn't like the temps used for the ceramic coating I guess and it became brittle and cracked, then broke. HUGE boost leak. So I nursed her over to KDR where we put a coupler on it so we could at least tune her.

After sorting through some mechanical issues with the TB sticking EVER so slightly and a few calls back and forth to Motec to figure out why the BAC wasn't turning off and keeping the idle at 1600.... we started making some pulls. First pull..... 131 hp @ 1lb :rofl: After some troubleshooting (like 2 minutes) we figured out that in my sleep deprived state I got the lines from the boost and vac chambers crossed. (Good to have EVERYTHING on hand. I brought the wiring schematics for the Motec, all the pin-outs and even the schematic for the twins with ALL the vac boost lines color coded - that was the saving grace) The end result was the turbo control valve was closed, the charge control valve open, and the charge relief valve open. What that means was turbo control was closed and NOT proving exhaust to the secondary turbine, the primary turbo was boosting to atmosphere through the charge relief valve and backspooling the secondary turbo through the open charge control valve.... and still making positive manifold pressure.

So after a few hours working through various driveability issues and and other things we made some REALLY nice pulls. End result was 313 RWHP @ 7.5ish PSI and 7k RPM with conservative timing. I'll be back in a few weeks after some hard miles to and from DGRR to up the rev limit, up the boost, and MAYBE play with the timing... probably NOT play with the timing though.

My first time meeting Dave @ KDR and I really can't say enough good things about him. Very proffessional, VERY thourough and not at all afraid of the new software. Between the two of us working together it went incredibly smooth. I'm really looking forward to getting back on his dyno in a few weeks to turn up the boost and start playing around with the sequential turbos... like REALLY looking forward to working with Dave again. GREAT experience with both IRP and KDR today.

Some food for thought though..... and think about this.... stock FD makes 215 RWHP @ 10lbs...... I made 313 RWHP or 146% of RWHP at 75% of boost level, and with a lower redline. The torque curve KEPT CLIMBING strait to ign cut. Brian is very pleased. Brian is also making ~5lbs @ 2400 in 5th running NON-sequential. There's alot left to get out of this motor me thinks

So left to do on the "I Hope This Is the Last Fucking List," list that I have tacked on my wall is

install FTP lenses
Mount Inverter
Wire Inverter
Refinish my 3 other BBS rims
cut and buff the FR fender and bumper
glaze the entire car
Mount new tires that should be here tomorrow.... err today actually
get hub rings machined down
and my brakes still suck, they start off good and get squishy after a few hundred miles... so Thursday morning I'm going to install a new master and see if that helps it at all.

Looks like tonight is going to be another all nighter. I'll take Thursday off, work through the night Wed, nap a little on Thursday morning and then take off for DGRR. Thursday night in VA where we're stopping will be my first real nights sleep in probably 3 weeks.

Where at in VA? If you're heading through Blacksburg you're welcome to swing by and I'll show you around town and you can see my project that's about ready to get kicked into overdrive in the next few days.

Wow, I'm glad you got it done in time!

Unfortunately, not all of us had the same luck. :D

Fantastic build, really.

We'll have to talk at DGRR.. I want to see this thing! You giving ride alongs :)

A friend of mine and I are both build REs right now. His for an FB, mine for my FC and we're both anxious to see what these motors can make and I'm very interested in seeing the stock twins behavior! He's got an APEXi single for his and I'm running a larger single on mine, but if you can pull out 313whp at 7.5psi on the twins... at only 7K... that gives us both big hopes.

Glad you're going to make it.

Where in VA are you stopping through? I'll gladly trade you dinner for thought, lol...

We're staying in winchester along 81. Don't know where blacksburg ius and there are 3 in VA :rofl:

That's a shame.... these cars are never "done" though

Thanks. Definately have to chat it up for sure @ DGRR.

As for the RE's power potential.... it would be on par with any other ported rotary really. THe intakes are larger so that certainly helps but it's the entire package that makes or breaks the HP. I did everything that I could possibly do to make this motor as effiecent as possible. I ported everything, portmatched everything, ceramic coated everything etc etc etc... so the motor is really as effeicient as it can be. Proof is in the numbers. I'm making more power at less boost than some FD guys running the identical turbos and manifold. So yeah, I'm pleased. Next time on the dyno we'll start horsing around with the twins in sequential and try to get full boost by probably close to 2k, and up the boost to 14.

Stopping in Winchester VA for the night. Plans got changed so HOPEFULLY we'll be there by dinner. I'll be all hopped up on redbull, smokes and mt dew though ;) Where are you located?

I live in NOVA, but I'm about 1.5 hours from Winchester. I'll be leaving for DGRR at my home in Culpeper which is about 2.5 hours from Winchester, lol... I assume you're hitting up 81 to roanoke, lol... We'll catch up at DGRR...

werd, actually changed the reservations to Harrisonburg for Thurs night. Right off of 81. Figure split the driving in half, and plan to get to the damn around 3:30. That's the plan anyway. Aight, I'm off to knock the the "This Better Be the Last Fucking Allnightyer Thrash List," list which consists of

Finish refinishing BBS rims
Mount new tires
machine hub rings
replace master cylinder
bleed brakes
replace waterpump
change oil
mount inverter
wire inverter
Wema sender
Glaze car
vacuum
fail emmisions test

I think that's it. Not too bad but I won't have the Master or the waterpump until 10:30 and I'm planning on leaving @ 1. I love cars. Gonna have to up the Redbull dosage me thinks ;)

Congrats on the car man! I really am amazed by it. The build up is just insane and I give you props on the amount of detail that you have put into your FC. I can't wait to see it and snap away w/ my camera! Gotta couple of SB-600 flashes that will be used remotely and that should compliment your fresh engine bay nicely!

-Allen

TTT, Blacksburg is about 30minutes to an 1 hour south of Roanoke on 81. You should come, I'll introduce you to Taboring ;)

I wish I could be at DGRR just to see this car. What a build. Good job.

working w/ a couple more right now but here is a teaser! Love the car man. Super nice and I was blown away at the detail in person! Congrats and major props! Very well done!

I was trying for a while to get some nice shots but was being REALLY careful w/ the tripod and flash to not get in the way of everyone and watching out for the cars.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...lly2009238.jpg

glad to see you made it! Car looks clean as hell.

The car was VERY well put together and thanks for coming out to the event!