Kevin's 1990 745ti DD

Well?

Well.. it was a rather disappointing night to say the least. One wheel peel sucks, my lsd wasn't working and power was only going to the passenger rear wheel. Got 3 runs in and each time I was spinning like crazy off the line, just couldn't get any traction no matter how I tried launching, even just gentle throttle. 60' times were in the 2.5 area, same as before when it was bone stock with the 15g, and I didn't see any improvements in 1/4 times either. Trap speeds went up from ~87mph to 93mph however, so I could definitely notice some improvements once I hooked up.

Need to replace the lsd, maybe get some better rear tires for the night and then give it another shot. Also need to go when it's not a street car only night (they weren't prepping the track at all, my roommate's fox that hits steady 14.3s was hitting 14.7s last night).

So what was your ET?

Mega delay on the reply. Best ET that night was a 15.2, same as when it was stock + 15g. Disappointing, but steps were taken in the past month and a half to help out.

First of all, I ended up solving the boost/vacuum issue I was having before. After spraying starter fluid over basically the entire intake tract from the filter to the head and not seeing any change in idle, I decided to do a boost leak test. Headed to my friend's house to borrow his air compressor, and we capped off and pressurized the intake to about 12psi and it wasn't leaking at all. It really had me stumped at first, and I probably still would be to this day, however on the drive home I noticed my torque converter slipping quite badly. Just a steady cruise, holding the accelerator still and I could feel the car lurching a bit. So I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to mod and swap in the spare AW71 and torque converter that has been taking up space on my bedroom floor for the past several months.




Trans came out fine, and I did a new rear main seal while I was at it. Took the pan off of the spare AW71, and the fluid was dirty and smelled very pungent, sorta burnt smelling. I took the pan off of my trans, and the fluid looked and smelled good, it was just a little more of a darker red. I made the executive decision to mod and use my original trans with the new torque converter, and stay away from the unknown trans.




These are just a few pics I snapped during the process. My hands were covered in ATF so I didn't take many. I used some steel rod cut to length to shim the accumulators, and everything went back together fine. Took it for a test drive and boom, the problem was solved. The car now accelerates as it used to, plenty of acceleration without needing to be in boost to get going. I can imagine that with the torque converter slipping it was causing less load on the engine which is why I was having to build boost to accelerate.

Aside from that, I had a rewarding junkyard day last Thursday:



Snagged a G80 rear axle, Billy HD struts and shocks, TME lowering springs and the heavier duty strut bearings, all from the same 940 (which also had IPD sways and Cherry Turbo upper and lower strut braces which my friend got to a day before me). Sold the Billys which broke even with what I spent at the yard, and the rear end and springs will go in soon. I'm excited to have posi again, I miss the feeling of both wheels spinning.

Other than that, everything has been good. Redid my exhaust hangers so no more rattling and tidied things up a bit. Here's a couple more pics for those who just scan the thread for pictures.

Baller wagon!

Makes me wonder if the converter in the sedan is going

Quick update from today, I now have posi. Swapped in the new rear end I picked up from he junkyard and everything is working great.



We also dropped my buddy's rear subframe out of his e46 to change all the bushings to solid aluminum ones. After struggling with its IRS I'm happy to say that I'm perfectly satisfied with the simplicity of the solid axle setup.





Like I said everything went smoothly. Only had troubles getting the parking brake components put back together properly and the lower torque rod bolt was a pain to get lined up right, it kept binding up in the bushing. Took it for a test drive when I was done and it worked great, no funny noises and the speedo still works too with the new sensor. I can definitely say I missed being sideways with both wheels spinning. It's also great to have traction during the onset of boost in first gear. I used to get one tire fire at a 20mph roll if I were to put my foot to the floor, but now it accelerates nice and solid.

Recently at my graphics business I recreated the 700 series Euro Stripe kit for my buddy's holset-powered 744, and since doing so I've been toying with the idea of a kit for wagons.

His car, first run:




And mine:





Had to respray the bumpers and side trim and rolled a fresh coat of paint on the hood which really made the stripes pop. I've removed and redone the rear stripe a couple times already because I can't quite create something that flows properly with the body and design of the car and doesn't look "forced." Not sure if this is the final version I'm gonna go with, but we'll see. I didn't necessarily want to follow the rear body line exactly, I kinda wanted something a little more "sporty" however I might make one that follows it exactly just to see how it looks.

The whole design needs a couple minor tweaks here and there, but once I figure everything out I'm hoping to end up being able to sell a 'replica euro stripe kit' at some point in the near future.


Other than that the wagon is running good and solid. Chirped 2nd with my mom in the car the other day and she got a kick out of that. An angled-housing 16t is on it's way here, which will replace my whining 15g, and I'll probably end up pairing it with a 3" downpipe. After that the next thing on the list is brakes. Master cylinder, lines, and possibly rotors all around too.

Interested to see what you do with the rear stripe, as I'm not crazy about what you have there. Fronts look good though.

And, put me in line for a set when you have them finalized.

kevin, i think if you had the pillars and the window frames on the side blacked out, that rear decal would look SO much better. i love it anyway though!

Not really feeling it on the wagon. The big rear window kinda takes away from the look

496truck said:

Interested to see what you do with the rear stripe, as I'm not crazy about what you have there. Fronts look good though.

And, put me in line for a set when you have them finalized.

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miguel.760ti said:

Not really feeling it on the wagon. The big rear window kinda takes away from the look

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To be quite honest I'm not sure I'm feeling it on the wagon either. I like the stripe on the front quarter panel and I'm trying to see if I can figure something out for the rear just so when the time comes I can offer both a sedan and a wagon kit. But we'll see. I may post up a feeler with a few different ideas and see what everyone likes more.

Stephen said:

kevin, i think if you had the pillars and the window frames on the side blacked out, that rear decal would look SO much better. i love it anyway though!

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This is a good idea, I may grab some plastidip and black out the pillars and trim and see how it looks.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Wow I with the pics I took of my car came out that good...I guess thats what happens when you crappy camera phone lol.

Kevin I was gonna say the same thing about the rear window trim when you sent me the pics the other day that maybe blacking it you might look better. Also I'd like to see what happens if you make a rear graphic that follows the body line exactly, that may flow better. The one on the rear in the pic looks a little too wide on the bottom compared to the top

Haven't had much time to work on the design any more, but I'll get around to it soon.

So the aforementioned 16t ended up being a scam. However, the day after I found out, I went to a local junkyard and found an angled-housing 16t off of an S70 T5, along with an OEM Volvo strut brace. The turbo had some shaft play so I figured I would just rebuild it. However, I ended up trading the brace to a friend of mine for HIS straight-flange 16t with either a cracked compressor housing or a bad wastegate (it wouldn't make over 12psi). It was rebuilt less than 3k miles ago and was in great shape. I figured if it was a bad housing I could use the good one off of the junkyard turbo and if it's a bad wastegate I can either use the junkyard one or the one I'm currently using on my 15g.

For simplicity's sake, I will refer to the junkyard 16t as turbo A and the 16t from my friend as turbo B. So I took the housings off of both of them and couldn't find a visible crack on turbo B, however upon closer inspection I noticed the compressor blades were slightly bent. I figured since I've got them apart, I might as well swap all the best parts to one turbo just for peace of mind. So I disassembled both turbos fully and compared parts.




Here's the reason for the shaft play in turbo A.
I ended up really cleaning up the blades from turbo A and swapping them to the CHRA with the new rebuilt goodies from turbo B. In case there was a crack I couldn't see on the compressor housing, I cleaned up the housing from turbo A to use as well. So I ended up with a good housing and blades and a sub-3k rebuilt center section with an angled exhaust housing. Not bad.


You can see the bent blade(s) on the right wheel, specifically on the blade closest to the left wheel.


Cat approved.



Angled vs straight:



And the spare 90+ I snagged a while ago that I'm going to port and use along with it:


Finally, I also snagged some V90 tails on the same junkyard day and also got a V90 wiper cover.

Looking better and better. The middle-finger wiper tops it off hahah

I always knew the angled housing was better but wow. Look at the size difference. Should put a picture of the conical too just for the lulz.

wow, nice car, i dont really like the ''new'' 740'is, but this one is really nice. keep up the good work!

doucheNozzle said:

I always knew the angled housing was better but wow. Look at the size difference. Should put a picture of the conical too just for the lulz.

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As requested:


Straight - conical - angled


Starter began acting up recently, so I replaced it with a clean refurbished Bosch unit I found at the junkyard not long ago. Old vs new comparison:




Haven't had any problems yet, and the car just sounds crisper and newer when it cranks. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but with the old starter it sounded sort of tired, like it was trying really hard just to crank.

So several months ago I picked up a spare N/A 8v head for really cheap, with only maybe 130k on it tops. It's filthy and it's been sitting on a shelf for a while, but I've been thinking of cleaning it up really good, possibly a mild rebuild and then swapping it on with a new head gasket for peace of mind/preventative maintenance. I pulled it out today to start cleaning it up and noticed it has some scratches on the bottom of it.





Not worth it to use this head? Or would I need to get it resurfaced at a machine shop?

Yikes. That last one looks pretty deep.