Brian_92GSR

I've got my f-max kit and working correctly, but I have some problems with exhaust leaks. For one, there are two holes on the downpipe for the o2 sensor; I just need to find a bolt to put on the one I didn't use. I really don't understand why that wasn't included in the kit. As for the exhaust manifold, the nuts won't go on the top studs because they hit they manifold. Would the best bet be to take the studs out and replace them with bolts with a lower profile head? Again, did f-max even try to put this on a car and actually use it? This is really a problem right now because out of the 5 studs holding the manifold on at the bottom, only 4 nuts are on (so only 4 of the 9 nuts are on right now). The one on the very left broke off. What is the best way to get the stud out? It broke off inside the block. Hopefully getting the top bolts in will take care of the exhaust leak, and I might not have to worry about the broken stud for a while.

LSturboHB

i would NOT drive the car like that. you should try to get the stock studs in there with the origanl nuts. you suck cold air into the combustion camber POOF you'll be doing a complete tear down.

Brian_92GSR

Like I said, the stock nuts do not fit, and I don't think I'll be able to find new nuts that are smaller. I plan on getting the bolts tomorrow, which should take care of things. I'm just posting to let everyone know about this problem with f-max (the intercooler piping didn't fit either). Also wanted to get some ideas on the broken stud, and how to get it out.

b18bvudoo

well yor downpipe shoulda came w/ a bolt to cover the unused hole. about the manifold i had the same prob too . get new nuts and washers too. nuts alone arent going to hold it that well. you'll have to cut a section of the washers for them to sit down flush, if you know what i mean, otherwise the washer will hit the manifold too. if you want i'll take a pic tomorrow. the good thing is that i dont have any exhaust leaks due to all these little side tasks.

about the broken stud, cant help you there. but there were times during the install when i thought for sure i'd break one of the studs tryin to get the manifold on. good luck and keep us updated.

turbopimp

Ditto what LSTURBOHB said... it would not be a good idea to start or drive the car in that condition... your best bet to get the car drivable is to pull the manifold off and get a dremel w/ a cut off wheel. Grind the manifold where the interference is to allow the nuts to go back on flush. The studs that you mentioned will probably have the same diameter head as the nuts...so that means if you use them you may not get them to thread correctly into the head... four crossthreaded holes will be even a bigger mess than one broken stud...maybe you might want to exchange that manifold for one that fits

Hassan

I had the same problem with my manifold. I went to the hardware store and picked up some nuts. I forgot the size. I don't use a washer on top part. I am using the factory nuts for the bottom.

Hope that helps

Brian_92GSR

Does anyone remember what size nuts they got? I went to NAPA and was told I most likely wouldn't find anything that small.

MiraiZ

Sigh...Brian, I hear you man ....Mine just finished today...got help from two pro mechanics and the whole thing was a BITCH and a half...I wouldn't have been able to do this in a million years by myself.

Problems we encountered:

1. Poor F-max intructions!!
Couldn't make out a thing in their photo copied pics. Oh..and that damn ****-poor drawing of the MF2 wiring schematics suck serious ***.

2. Downpipe way too short and they sent me the wrong one!!! Way too skinny and the flange didn't match up. Very poor and careless work!

3. Manifold bolts wouldn't allign right...wound up buying new ones!
4. Fuel line clamps were way too small. Would not fit at all....had to buy new ones.!

5. Could not figure out what to do with the GM map sensor...when this is setup, what was I suppose to do with the stock wiring?!?!?

6. MF2 ...don't know if this is working or not...opened it up and only get one LED and it lights up only when revving the engine...are the other LED's suppose to light up too?:sad:

7. BOV...I drove it a bit, and I have a feeling that I am leaking boost from the BOV...is it suppose to be open at idle and close when on the accelerator?

8. Whats the deal with the ghetto **** intake flex pipe (tube?) thingy..??

9. Suprisingly...after hearing all the nightmares about the IC pipes..it was about the ONLY thing that fit with little issues...Remember (I have a JDM front end, which is not suppose to work -according to Reverend)...


I drove home and boosted to about 0.2 BARS...but it wasn't as gut wrenching as I was hoping it 'd be...of course at .2 BARS..about 3psi (I think) it wouldn't be ...right? I still feel there might be a leak somewhere...I will check tomorrow.

But after saying all that, I do still admire the quality of the kit...now...just have to figure out how to get it to give me what I bought it for...POWER!!





[Modified by MiraiZ, 10:09 PM 1/14/2002]

JM Performance

Hey,

I'm surprised everyone had so much trouble. I was able to install the kit by my self. I was actually very happy w/ the quality....ever see a DRAG kit?

Anyway, good luck to you guys still doing the install. IM me anytime for help.

Matt

newsense

I actually had an fmax kit on my car before the revhard. The manifold had these tiny flat spots so that the bolts can be put on without hitting. The problem was that they were so close to the flange that it was difficult to get them started. I found that i had to tighten each bolt equally, if you try tightening one all the way down and then try starting another, it wont fit, it will hit the manifold. If you hold the manifold on the studs but just a tad bit away from the head, you can get them all started and then turn them each equally and it should go on rather easily.... I'm not sure if they changed the manifolds or not but that is how mine was..... hope this was helpful

MiraiZ

Matt... you must have gotten lucky with your kit! But glad you didn't have to go through this mess!! But I'm totally glad my IC pipes fit...


oh...thanks for the info on the MF2...I know what I did wrong now ...will fix tomorrow!!


[Modified by MiraiZ, 12:08 AM 1/15/2002]

b18bvudoo

this is what i did to get my manifold on. i actually didnt buy new nuts but shaved off the round end of the stock nuts instead. then used washers with the bottom section of the washers cut off in order for the washers to sit flush against the flange w/o hitting the runners. yes it was a bitch to do and took me ~40 min to do the top nuts. but at least there's no exhaust leaks. definitely poor manifold design . but everything worked fine first time out (thank god).

those with the mf2, did you get it tuned yet? i know its suppose to come preset for your car and mine seems to be working fine. dont know if i should have it tuned or not.

dustin

I'd be a big jerk if I said 'told ya so'

You encounter crap like this in ALL turbo installs! Glad you finally got the kit on.. Happy boosting.

Dustin

dustin

My DRAG kit fit way better than any of the Fmax installs I have seen posted on here... I only had to cut 2" off an intercooler pipe to make everything line up. Everything else just worked.

Dustin

sgT

Did you tell them that you had a JDM ITR?
I dont think it would matter if you did anyway.
The fitment is completely different on a jdm car.

SiR Kid

I just wanna know exactly why you had to shave the exhaust stud NUTS?

Mine went on without issues on my custom setup. My F-Max manifold fit perfectly, first time, no leaks, no problems, and 3 months later, no cracks.

What exactly was stopping you from putting the stock exhaust stud nuts directly on? It looks to me like you just added some lockwashers... I have no idea why...

Besides a SLIGHT problem with getting the turbo to slide on the manifold studs because of them being MAYBE 1/32nd of an inch out of line or bent, I had absolutely NO issues.

b18bvudoo

if yor asking me then its because the top flange holes on the manifold was too close to the runners. there was no way in hell i could have screwed on the stock nuts w/o them hitting the runners...so i shaved off the round section of the nuts.


edit: oh yeah another big problem was the very tight fitment of the downpipe, kept hitting the ac compressor.


[Modified by vudoo666, 1:09 PM 1/14/2002]

MiraiZ

Dustin

I knew you'd be here to say your 'I told you so's' ...But to be fair, I think all these kits have their faults ...just in different places. F-Max has ZERO tolerance...what I mean by this is that, it uses every little bit of space and leaves very little room for errors or variances. (ie the manifold)...These FMAX folks need to provide BETTER instructions for stuff like the MF2 and that GM map sensor that they included...because there is no way someone could figure that stuff on their own.

Brian...I would seriosly consider getting new bolts...I may not know too much about turbo kits, but I do have some good knowlege of basic physics...Those bolt you have shaved to get on will be super heated my the exhaust temperatures. Now that there's 'less' bolt to distribute that heat , you do run the risk of that bolt expanding too much and siezing in the block....but if you plan to never to never take off that mani again, then it may not be an issue.

I have done some similar things in the past (not with cars, but with computer parts) and have hadreally hard times when trying to service that part again...just something to think about.


[Modified by MiraiZ, 8:36 AM 1/15/2002]

Brian_92GSR

I got some new bolts that have a very small head (uses an allen wrench to put on) and it looks like they will work for the top ones. I still might have a problem with the left most bottom stud, as it is broken in the middle.

I still have NOT found a bolt to fill the whole in the downpipe. There are two holes for the o2 sensor, mine is in the furthest hole. Can anyone confirm that it is at least a 3/4" fine threaded bolt that fills that hole? I have not been able to find a bolt of that size in town.

Other than that everything is working pretty well. There is a very very small oil leak at the elbow fitting on top of the turbo. I couldn't turn that fitting enough that it was super tight and still have room for the oil line to go on. Do you think taking that off and putting on some teflon tape would work?

b18bvudoo

every thread on my oil feed setup has teflon tape on it. no leaks since i last checked, which was today.

JM Performance

I guess maybe I did get lucky. I mean, I had my share of problems, but none of the ones you guys have. Also, about the MF2.....read the little book that came with it. It gives you much better directions about wiring than the FMAX instructions.

Also, yeah I have a date for the 27th to get my tuned. My seems to be running good now, but I'll post how it went when I get it done.

In the end I still give the FMAX kit a

DeeJay

My dad and I started mine this weekend, so far i have these problems.
- I was sent the wrong turbo. It has a 48 AR, I'm supposed to have 63.
- My down pipe is 7 5/8" too short.
- My test pipes exhaust flange dosen't fit my exhaust.
- UPS lost my turbo gaskets. I put on some permacoat paste gasket. I doubt it will last though.
- The threads on my o2 sensor are screwed up because the dude that installed it cross threaded the sensor. I barely got it out, i chased the threads and kinda fixed it.
- The stupid 90 fitting for the oil pan puts a bad kink in the line. Of course i found this out after I JB welded it to the pan!!

I have almost everything in, I have a few worries before I start. the oil section of the turbo can't line up perfectly vertical because the flange hits the motor mount bracket, It's about 15 degrees off. The intercooler and pipes went in, I had to remove a few hard steering lines that go to the power steering cooler and replace them with soft lines so i could move them out of the pipes way. My manifold, turbo,wastegate, downpipe went on easy.


[Modified by DeeJay, 2:22 AM 1/15/2002]

GruvyTune

i had similar problems with the stock nuts going on the manifold.
I cranked on them hard enough to get them to shave away enough metal to sit right.

hey, what is the best way to check for exhaust leaks. I am spooling ok to 8psi and i hold boost but i am still leaking exhaust and i am getting soot under the hood. I think its from the slip joint which i did seal with high temp ceramic sealer but i still smell some leak. Can it be from around the manifold? How do you check for it?

torin

JM Performance

soapy water, i think......

MiraiZ

I was also getting some exhaust leakage from the dump tube...I basically got some exhaust puddy and aluminum exhaust tape to seal the joint ...seems to be working...haven't had the chance to do the MF2 wiring over again....

Matt: it seems that the B18C's ignition layout is completey different ...so the diagrams didn't do much...but thanks for the effort...I will just have to guess and check with the wiring harness to the distributor using a paperclip or something


[Modified by MiraiZ, 9:09 PM 1/16/2002]