Member Profile - Marcus' GT Spec B 6MT Wagon

[marcus.bspec]

CMA CALLED WITH SOME NEWS - [EARLY JAN 2021]

On JANUARY 8 2021, nearly 4 months after the turbo went in, I got a call with some ripper news..

Car mods Australia approved a swap over and got in touch with GTpumps when they reopened after New years to enquire about turnaround time for a GTP turbo, as a replacement for the GCG unit.

A great result, cannot thank them enough for their help. They did this independently of GCG, seeing as they had nothing more to offer... unsurprisingly...




X-FORCE 3 INCH CATBACK INSTALL + STEERING WHEEL COVER - [EARLY FEB 2021]

I know its probably hard to believe that I didn't have a proper catback exhaust system on the car... literally a stock mid section along with a 3" downpipe and the header of course.

Good way to start the new year, with a new 3 inch stainless catback from Xforce. Fitment was near perfect, tucks up against the underside of the car incredibly well, and sounds throaty and clean with a nice
deep tone to it. Much more refined compared to what I am used to, first time a car of mine has had mufflers and a proper turbo back.

exhaust.JPG (83.99 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

exhaust underside on car.JPG (76.82 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

I also received a steering wheel cover in the mail, which I purchased in April of 2020.. looks killer and fit perfectly once I stitched it on. Feels unreal for something that cost so little, $12.00 with shipping to be exact....

steering wheel cover.JPG (48.39 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

HEADLIGHT RESTORATION - [EARLY FEB 2021]

I completed a 10 stage Headlight restoration a couple of weekends ago, much needed. They turned out great! Tonnes better than before

BEFORE

HEADLIGHTS BEFORE.JPG (93.36 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

AFTER

AFTER.JPG (39.8 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

COMPARISON

COMPARISON.JPG (66.48 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

COATING THE DOWPIPE - [EARLY FEB 2021]


I decided to ceramic paint the DP with VHT flame coat, which I had previously used on my header and up-pipe as a surface protectant.'

downpipe.JPG (62.83 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

The DP was covered in surface rust and so I decided while it was out of the car (hopefully for the last time for a long while) that it'd be best to give it some love.

rust.JPG (41.95 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

Have to be respectful to the PHATGT goodness Now to run it through heat cycles once back on the car, allowing it to cure.

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

[marcus.bspec]

// REMOVED THE GCG TURBO ONE LAST TIME


The GCG turbo came off a week or so ago for the last time, good riddance... its been on and off the car a total of 5 TIMES now....

turbo 4.JPG (23.98 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

This is what it looked like after the OPR.....

turbo1.JPG (53.96 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

turbo 2.JPG (72.9 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

turbo 3.JPG (37.22 KiB) Viewed 13883 times

I chose a GTPS03.5TM from GTPumps with a 7cm rear housing, which is due to be sent out any day now. Hopefully it all works without any dramas. Needless to say, I am properly
itching for a good drive....




More updates soon! The Car goes in for a tune on the 26th of FEB. Onward and upward, lets make some more power!!!

[Yowie]

Quality update!

What a load of shabby business with the GCG. Good luck with the new turbo.

If you are willing to sketch a basic diagram of your new catch can routing I'd be keen to see that. I'm not bright enough to follow the written description.

[nvmylh]

Damn what a drama with the turbo, that sucks!

I'm still weary of these OPR's for turbos. They can bypass like 3Lt/min (which doesnt sound like much BUT:10mm oil pumps flow about 5lt/min at idle and 47 at 5000rpm and 80C temp. according to subaru). So whenever your engine goes above 40PSI oil pressure the OPR bypasses a bunch of oil straight back to the sump, potentially taking that oil away from all the other bearings etc. in your engine.

I've been looking at them because I want to be a gt3576 on my ez30 and it won't like how much oil pressure the ez runs, even with the standard gt35 restrictor. I'm wondering if the gt35 restrictor needs to go before the OPR ? Turbosmart say dont use any..

Did you notice a drop in engine oil pressure at all with your OPR? Maybe the amount it bypasses really is insignificant, but is something I'd need to be 100% sure of before installing! Having said this there is a gt3576 turbo ez30 on this forum that uses the opr but I havent confirm what and where the restrictors are..

[marcus.bspec]

Quality update!

What a load of shabby business with the GCG. Good luck with the new turbo.

If you are willing to sketch a basic diagram of your new catch can routing I'd be keen to see that. I'm not bright enough to follow the written description.

Happy to, I've drawn up a couple of simple diagrams using AutoCAD after work. See below;

CATCH CAN SETUP.JPG (41.98 KiB) Viewed 13855 times

Here you can see the Yellow Dashed Line showing the LHS and RHS Head Breather ports (originally routed straight into the inlet from the factory via a plastic pipe). These two ports branch
off into two hoses of equal length to balance out the pressure between the heads, which then join into one and head into the first inlet on the catch can.

The Bright Blue dashed line shows the sump breather hose occupying the second inlet on the catch can.

Finally the Solid Purple line represents the hose coming out of the outlet port on the catch can and into the turbo inlet hose, shown in the solid green.

CATCH CAN SETUP 2.JPG (40.19 KiB) Viewed 13855 times

This second diagram shows 2 ports on the Turbo inlet Hose.

Port 1 - Used to route the Head Breathers from factory using the aforementioned plastic pipe to the turbo inlet

Port 2 - Used to route the PCV valve on the back of the intake manifold and the sump breather to the turbo inlet

I have blocked off Port 2 as shown as well as the PCV valve on the back of the intake manifold

The Sump breather now has its own port on the catch can, as do the Head breather hoses

[marcus.bspec]

Damn what a drama with the turbo, that sucks!

I'm still weary of these OPR's for turbos. They can bypass like 3Lt/min (which doesnt sound like much BUT:10mm oil pumps flow about 5lt/min at idle and 47 at 5000rpm and 80C temp. according to subaru). So whenever your engine goes above 40PSI oil pressure the OPR bypasses a bunch of oil straight back to the sump, potentially taking that oil away from all the other bearings etc. in your engine.

I've been looking at them because I want to be a gt3576 on my ez30 and it won't like how much oil pressure the ez runs, even with the standard gt35 restrictor. I'm wondering if the gt35 restrictor needs to go before the OPR ? Turbosmart say dont use any..

Did you notice a drop in engine oil pressure at all with your OPR? Maybe the amount it bypasses really is insignificant, but is something I'd need to be 100% sure of before installing! Having said this there is a gt3576 turbo ez30 on this forum that uses the opr but I havent confirm what and where the restrictors are..

I don't know that the OPR would affect engine oil pressure, I know for certain that any leaks would...

The outlet from the OPR is pressurised, so provided you don't route it directly into the sump you shouldn't have any issues. It's fairly common practice to route the OPR drain
into the drivers side rocker cover, tapping in an AN fitting and welding shut.

[Yowie]

Thanks for the diagram. Me an' Vincent woulda been satisfied with freeze-dried Tasters Choice right? And he springs this serious gourmet shit on us. At best I was hoping for a "back of envelope" sketch photographed and uploaded. Quality work with the AutoCAD.

Having briefly thought about it, by eliminating the PCV valve, you lose that strong vacuum drawing on the crank case at idle and low load (substituting for ported vacuum under those conditions). There wouldn't be much blow-by at idle, so perhaps it's not a big deal with that altered setup.

[marcus.bspec]

Thanks for the diagram. Me an' Vincent woulda been satisfied with freeze-dried Tasters Choice right? And he springs this serious gourmet shit on us. At best I was hoping for a "back of envelope" sketch photographed and uploaded. Quality work with the AutoCAD.

I use CAD and Revit to make a living, so the diagram took all of 10 minutes thankfully hahaha

Having briefly thought about it, by eliminating the PCV valve, you lose that strong vacuum drawing on the crank case at idle and low load (substituting for ported vacuum under those conditions). There wouldn't be much blow-by at idle, so perhaps it's not a big deal with that altered setup.

You're 100% correct. The can doesn't see any blow-by unless I'm really beating on the car. So far so good, new setup seems to be doing well

[Yowie]

It occurs to me, if you now have a blocking plug/bolt where your PCV used to be, you could drill and tap that and insert a temperature probe (K Type or otherwise) to get a genuine reading of intake air temp - for a gauge or to feed the ECU.

[marcus.bspec]

It occurs to me, if you now have a blocking plug/bolt where your PCV used to be, you could drill and tap that and insert a temperature probe (K Type or otherwise) to get a genuine reading of intake air temp - for a gauge or to feed the ECU.

correct

[marcus.bspec]

I managed to install the GTPS03.5TM turbo charger on Monday the 22nd of February...

Unsurprisingly it returned fantastic results, no smoke/oil leaks, and it sounds phenomenal.

GTPUMPS.JPG (66.03 KiB) Viewed 13666 times

Rolled the car in to GIR on the Friday where it managed to pull 228kw on 16 pound. Feels absolutely incredible.

dyno.JPG (62.6 KiB) Viewed 13666 times

dyno 1.JPG (54.68 KiB) Viewed 13666 times

dyno 3.JPG (96.84 KiB) Viewed 13666 times

Here is the Link to the last power run @228kw

https://youtu.be/XlM7EHCTiKs


Words cannot describe how happy I am to finally be driving this thing.

[spike2135]

It's such a bonus when the car you have brings a smile to your face. Well done m8

[Yowie]

Great to hear all that oily turbo BS is behind you. That's the trouble with substantial upgrades - all the unexpected dramas that are very difficult to budget time and money for.

That's a very smooth power curve. Noting your "stock engine safe" 16psi boost figure, it's interesting to compare your dyno sheet with others (for that turbo and an EJ) on the internet that show the more traditional sharp ramp-up once the boost threshold is reached.

Clearly this turbo has plenty left in it and is currently doing it very easy. That linear power curve, free-flowing exhaust, non-stressed turbo and (presumably) not-excessively-heated boost air must make the car a very efficient free-flowing joy to drive.

[marcus.bspec]

It's such a bonus when the car you have brings a smile to your face. Well done m8

Thanks a tonne mate! Couldnt agree more!

Great to hear all that oily turbo BS is behind you. That's the trouble with substantial upgrades - all the unexpected dramas that are very difficult to budget time and money for.

That's a very smooth power curve. Noting your "stock engine safe" 16psi boost figure, it's interesting to compare your dyno sheet with others (for that turbo and an EJ) on the internet that show the more traditional sharp ramp-up once the boost threshold is reached.

Clearly this turbo has plenty left in it and is currently doing it very easy. That linear power curve, free-flowing exhaust, non-stressed turbo and (presumably) not-excessively-heated boost air must make the car a very efficient free-flowing joy to drive.

Thanks Mate!

The premise behind working with a larger turbo was to eliminate that distinctive sharp ramp up you specified, that is typical of high boost, stock turbo EJ cars. Also to keep the bottom end happy (ie: not shoving 22 pound through it at 2000RPM with a VF46)

Happy to have made near 230kw to the wheel at 16 pound, rather than the same power at an estimated 20+ pound on a stock turbo and exhaust manifold. This was the intended result.

The curve is exemplary of how the car drives, power surges on through the rev range, sounds great and drives tremendously smooth.

[marcus.bspec]

Now that I'm back to enjoying the car, its time to get rid of that dreaded, orange-peely vinyl.

Vinyl Wrap will be coming off of the car verryyyy soon, I have booked a bunch of stuff in for paint Mid June!

I picked up a new front bar and headlights from Yahoo Auctions in Japan also. Was an absolute steal!

Screenshot 2021-04-07 174915.jpg (176.46 KiB) Viewed 13407 times

The Bar came with a TBSTI Honeycomb Grille and a Genuine STI front lip! The paint on the bar is immaculate and the lip is practically brand new (which is fantastic considering they're no longer being made and cost near $1200 to purchase!!!)
It still has the blue protective film on the STI logo, and I could probably count the scratches under it on one hand.... there are basically none....

The headlights are the JDM factory HID units without the awful headlight washers which I keep losingggg!!!!! They came with K2 Eyelids already finished in 65Z! what a bonus!

So bye bye to the halo headlights I had built last year, another member will be sporting them on a car he has not yet bought

Screenshot 2021-04-07 174052.jpg (83.01 KiB) Viewed 13407 times

With that I have a couple more smaller projects to go on with, involving composites

Screenshot 2021-04-07 174113.jpg (83.44 KiB) Viewed 13407 times

Screenshot 2021-04-07 174147.jpg (57.4 KiB) Viewed 13407 times

I ordered a bunch of 3k 200gsm Carbon Twill (no that isn't all I bought in the photo, there is a 4x1.5m roll also) , Epoxy, pigment and hardener, which I will be using to skin my DAMD style fenders and other parts of the exterior. I will detail the process later in a write up here on
this thread! Super excited to carry through with it, I'm sure it'll be heaps of fun. Hopefully I can achieve some great results. Nice to be focusing on the simpler aesthetic side of modifying cars

Hoping to reuse excess for some bits on the interior also