Seraph0

Hmm.. the title doesn't sound too approprate does it? lol.. I don't care. I'm excited. After years of preparation and months of building I fired up my freshly built motor today.

It all started in the summer of 1999 when I finally got my hands on my DRAG3 turbo kit for my 98 GS-R (the very first production one according to ben@importparts too... man i bugged him for MONTHS about when it was going to be ready... ). For over four years I had a ridiculously fun setup... and very basic. I never changed a thing except for some basic changes (different turbos... revhard manifold... 3" downpipe.. PRofec A... etc). I never got anything "fancy." Th head has never been off the car. I ran the FMU and stock injectors the whole time.

After multiple... umm... accidents up to over 30psi of boost (damn wastegate lines.. and balking PRofec)... I finally started smoking out the tailpipe last summer.... 4 years after turboing my stock motor.... It was good haul, but the time I was waiting for had finally arrived.

Over the years I had gathered all the parts I needed preparing for this very time. Endyn 84.5mm rollerwave pistons. Crower rods. ARP head studs. Upper and lower gasket sets. Timing belt. Everything was almost ready before I even needed to build. (Gotta thank Ben@importparts.com for hooking me up with EVERY part I ever needed no matter how obscure!).

The day came late November after I spent the weekend in Dallas with my old time friends Arturbo and Chris and Stan and Falcon and Iggy and many more. As soon as I got home that morning I took my car over to my long time buddies at Deepstage Motorsports. Within minutes my car was on the lift and the motor was coming out. (Damn Garcia you have that process DOWN... I never woulda made it past getting the A/C compressor unhooked!)

Over the next two months I scrambled around everywhere getting help from some of the greatest people in the industry. Special thanks to Art and Earl for taking care of my block having it bored and sleeved by Benson's. Extra special thanks to Larry Widmer at Endyn for working his magic on my combustion chambers for 84.5mm and just the rapid turnaround.. and even for all the guidance over the years you have been involved in this business. I remember when "T.O.O." was like a phantom oracle on the internet prophesizing (sp?) all kinds of great knowledge to all of us youngsters (I was 17 at the time). Joe, Jason (st00pid), Mase, Chris... Thanks to you guys for helping me on my most ignorant subject... tuning. I needed a crash course over the last few months and thanks to you guys I have come a long way. Thanks Jason for letting me hang around and watch my first dyno tuning session. Art I have to thank you again for re-educating me with all this new information that has come along since... oh... about August 2001... Yeah that's when you had to drive all the way from Dallas and pick me up off the floor (you know what I'm talking about).... It was a long fall down that mountain, but I'm on my way up climbing once again buddy (damn that steak at Outback hit the spot tonight too... ).

I can't thank the guys at Deepstage enough. For letting my car take up space in their shop for three months. Willie has always been my mentor. I might be so bold as to say I taught him how to turbo Hondas many years ago, but I am forever humbled by his incredible knowledge on ANYTHING mechanical... from fastener metal alloy composition to just knowing how to fix EVERYTHING I broke in the process. G is the master man... haha... He can fabricate ANYTHING. Hands down the BEST mechanic I have ever seen. Like some people call themselves tuners and others are real tuners... G is a M E C H A N I C. There is nothing too difficult to do or too tedious for him to help me with. He helped me so much with my car I can never repay him. I even have to thank Drew the "Bear" for every time he "CHA-CHINGed" me with $$$ signs in his eyes everytime I would use a freakin ZIP-TIE! And every kidney punch when I needed my concentration broken under the hood. I gotta say I never knew how to change an axle until Drew showed me though. I gotta thank Merv for giving me the "he's f*ckin with you" look everytime Drew would BS me about something. Man Merv kept me sane around those jacka$$e$!

So today was the day. Everything was in place. The last item on my mental checklist has been crossed out. Time to cross my fingers and turn the key... hoping I installed the rings right... and the bearings... and the oil pump... and.. and... and..... *crank crank crank.... vrooooooom*

800RPM.... 900.... 950... 1000.... 1200.... 1500..... 1500........... 1200....... 1000..... puurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Awwww... what a sweet sound.... relief. She's alive again. Reborn like the renaissance.

Refraining away from story-telling mode... I still have some issues to work out. Not really issues... but just some things to take care of. The P72 I had socketed didn't work... It wouldn't turn on the fuel pump relay. So I'm borrowing a friends. I need to find another one. Tomorrow I install my 880s and try to work my magic and create a basemap. And now without further ado.....

MarkC's famous Homer Simpson style engine building bloopers!!!
- Filed the rings COMPLETELY crooked on the first piston I attempted... The gap was 0.014" on one end of the ring.... and somehting like 0.048 on the other.... D'OH!!! New ring set... CHA-CHING$$
- After I had the crank in was pushing in the pistons... when I turned the block right-side-up..... the thrust washers fell out onto the ground.... WTF..... I put the girdle on backwards........ DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Tightening the coolant temp sensor in the head... Was going ok... But it sure seemed like it was taking a long time and many turns.... Pulled the socket off the sensor and a piece of the sensor fell on the ground... with the remainder still in the head... D'ooooooooh "Willie!!!! HEEEEELP!"
- Tightening the tube nut for the aluminum hardlines bringing coolant to my turbo.... Didnt realize the whole tube was twisting as I was tightening the but and that the aluminum now looked like one of those twisted candy canes..... #@$$#@$
- Don't know HOW many times I installed something only to remove it later realizing something ELSe had to be installed first... for example... the 3 bolt bracket that attaches to the flywheel cover with the little shield for the shift lickage.... Yeah... well... you have to attach that shift stabalizer bar BEFORE you install that bracket... grrr....

Nfurno

Congrats MarkC!!!! Does this mean we get to start reading Dark Vader kills in the "Kills Sec." just like old times again?

Nid Styles

Sounds like a great time too me.

Now get out there, and beat the **** out of the new engine.

Arturbo

Glad I could help and I am in love with elise. LOL

art

RacerXI

It's nice to know the little problems i'm having aren't off by far of the worst other people have had during their engine build. Best of luck with the new setup.

quikB18B

Congrats Mark

I hope this motor last twice as long as the original.

Hope to see you soon

Rory Breaker

Awesome Mark! Glad to see everything is rockin n rollin for you!

b18bturbo

wow old school is back again.... good job mark

cinq

Now, this is a story worth reading.

HXMan

lol at the homer stuff!

If the stock engine lasted you eight years, I wonder how long this will last? 8!