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Kevin's 1990 745ti DD

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Car died on me in the middle of a turn lane one night. Had it towed home and tracked down the problem to the ignition powerstage. Replaced it and haven't had any problems with it since.

Also got the valves reshimmed a few days ago. Got the IPD shim kit and some feeler gauges, and even after measuring and remeasuring, the thickest shims in the kit (4.35mm) weren't thick enough for the cam. It's MUCH quieter, but the clearances are still just barely out of spec.

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Also got a couple pics of the RSI and T cam together for comparisons sake:

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Like I said the car is much quieter and pulls a lot harder all the way to redline. I measured the clearances again with the new shims and I'll eventually order the correct ones from FCP. But for now I just need to make another trip out to the dragstrip to see what kind of 1/4 mile time I can get with all the recent upgrades.

Other than that, she a dirty girl:

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Which RSI cam did you go with, stage 1? And how do you like it all around, for daily driver status? Any loss of low end grunt, strange phenomena at around town cruising or highway speeds? Noticeable MPG loss?

edit: after posting and scrolling up I noticed it is a stage 2. All other questions still aply.
 
I really liked the low end power of the T cam, especially around town, so I was skeptical with this cam, but Derrick (940guy) told me with his 15g it hardly made a difference, and he was right. Since it spools so quickly it sort of balances out the powerband, even with the cam gear timed straight up. Full boost hits at about 2500 rpm and it'll pull hard as hell from there until it shifts at 5500, higher if I manually shift it. Still spins the tires down low too, pulled out of work and floored it at about 20mph, boost hit and spun at a roll about 30-35mph. So the power down low is definitely still there. Cruising around town is great and highway speeds are fine too, the only thing I've noticed is that at higher speeds the turbo stays closer to being in boost instead of around 15-10hg or so. My odometer doesn't work so I don't have an accurate scale for MPG, but I can definitely tell it's gone down slightly. Hope this helps!
 
Are you pretty happy with the PLX wideband? I'm trying to decide if it's worth the extra $30 or $40 over an AEM.

And did I miss what you're running for injectors? I've got a '91 745 parts car with a 15g, orange tops and a 012 MAF. Trying to decide if I want to carry that setup straight over to my 940. Haven't driven the parts car enough to gauge how the combo works together.
 
Are you pretty happy with the PLX wideband? I'm trying to decide if it's worth the extra $30 or $40 over an AEM.

And did I miss what you're running for injectors? I've got a '91 745 parts car with a 15g, orange tops and a 012 MAF. Trying to decide if I want to carry that setup straight over to my 940. Haven't driven the parts car enough to gauge how the combo works together.

Yeah I'm thoroughly happy with it. The graph feature is sweet and the max/min feature is useful also to see what peak AFRs I'm hitting if I'm not constantly staring at the gauge. I can't say anything comparison-wise about it vs. an AEM because I've never seen an AEM in action. I also got mine new from someone on here for about the same price that AEMs go for so I can't say anything about the price difference either.

And I'm still running greentops. AFRs are still a tad rich under WOT so I'm not too concerned about getting different injectors at the moment.
 
Do you experience any tip in ping with the green tops? I only ask cause mine did and only bringing it up cause someone else had asked about injectors. With the 15g, greentops and chips mine would ping when I first got into it, standstill or already moving. Browntops put an end to the tip in ping. Just curious on your experience and adding mine.
 
Like scottyd said, I've experienced tip in ping ever since the car was in stock form with the 13c. It used to be pretty common but for whatever reason one of the biggest influences was adding the ebay intercooler. Went from happening every time I got on it hard to only sometimes, and since the chips and everything else I now only hear it every once in a while. And when it happens it's only for that split second (just one 'tick') and then it's rich again. Thanks for the input though, I'll keep that in mind.
 
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Got a package today. Holset HX35W from a Dodge pickup. There isn't really any shaft play, it's in great condition aside from the inlet having a dent in it which I'll have to straighten out. Planning on getting injectors, AMM, oil lines, downpipe and a manifold before swapping it on. Not sure if I'll just use a ported 90+ or get an OBX or something similar, but I'll figure it out eventually. Compared to a 15g this thing is stupid big.
 
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Dat swaybar.

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Who needs ac? Or I guess I should say, who needs broken ac? In the midst of a marathon oil change session with a bunch of my friends I decided to yank the rest of the components out. The condenser was already gone, so I removed the compressor, dryer and all the lines.

Other than that I've just been gathering random parts, replacing sensors and keeping up on preventative maintenance. A month or so ago I swapped for a new TPS and a newer, cleaner throttle body. Old vs. new:

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Seemed to smooth out the idle a bit. Also swapped to another triple core radiator (third times the charm). Original radiator and the second one I tried both had a leak in the same location, but this one is holding up good so far. Shortly after that I installed a catch can to hopefully catch some of the oil vapor from getting back into the intake.

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After just a few days of driving and it's definitely working:

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That was with it just empty, so I stuffed a piece of steel wool in there as well to help it baffle better.

A few weeks ago I was leaving my shop after a not so good day at work and I stayed in first and roasted the tires til about 40. Pulled up to a red light and noticed my rear window was quite misty. When I looked back forward there was steam billowing out of the hood. Pulled off into a parking lot and discovered I had blown one of the nipples off of the (original) heater valve. Grabbed a replacement from AutoZone and replaced it on the spot. Exactly week after that I drove out to Lakeland to sell my hydras, then to Orlando to visit some friends, then all the way back home, and less than a mile from home I noticed the same mist on the rear window. Pulled into my driveway and the entire engine bay was showered with coolant, and I discovered that it was the heater core hose that connects to the head under the intake.

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Developed a nice little split, of course right in the super convenient location under the intake manifold. Strange how it held for about 4 hours of driving that day, mostly highway and a 50-100 mph pull and it decided to let go right as I was getting back into town. Definitely not complaining though. So I ordered both hoses from IPD, along with a new breather box & o-ring, coolant temp sensor, poly endlink bushings and new intake manifold gaskets for my Yoshifab phenolic spacers. While I was waiting for all that to arrive I cleaned up and painted a spare intake manifold I had laying around.

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Parts arrived and I swapped it all on. Would have gone much smoother, however I accidentally dropped a tiny washer/spacer that goes in the grommet for the fuel rail mount. And it fell into my lower timing belt cover (super convenient again, I know). I don't have a 24mm or 1.5" socket head for the harmonic balancer, so I bought an extendable magnet to try to retrieve it. The tip ended up breaking off of the magnet, so I ended up just using my dremel and cut a small square off of the lower cover and fished the washer out with a paper clip.

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I win. Everything else went back together smoothly.

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Since then I decided to sell the holset. It would be fun, but for the amount of money it would take to get working and the parts I'd need to make it fun and enjoyable on a DD basis, I decided to not go that route. I figured it would just be more of a headache to manage and it might really only be fun from a roll whereas I enjoy a good pull from a dig. So I sold it to my buddy Mike who's going to use it for his 16v +T swap. I grabbed an uncracked 90+ from the junkyard last time I was there, so my plans are to port it out and swap on something slightly bigger but still a more or less bolt on.
 
Get a 19T compressor wheel/housing off ebay.

That might be what I end up doing, although I'm hoping to find something complete. I rebuilt my 15g but it whines a bit under certain vacuum and the hotside has the typical crack. I'm keeping my eye out for an 18t or 19t with an uncracked straight flange.

Every time you update, I like this car more and more. Good work

Yup, I can't say this car hasn't given me any inspiration.

And reminds me, I should update my build thread.

Thanks guys it means a lot!


Update: The Yoshifab spacers definitely make a difference. After a long drive or a hard pull, I can get out and feel the manifold and it's only lukewarm.

I picked up two more silicone bends for my intercooler piping, one from the turbo to the hotside pipe and one from the coldside pipe to the throttle body. Also got some plug wire heat shields. I had the intention of putting these on and removing the OEM hand-slicers/heat shields because I didn't really like the look of them, but they're sorta covered up so I'm probably just going to leave them.

Then yesterday I swapped on a set of browntops with a fuel rail off of a 940 that eliminates the cold start injector and that also has a schrader valve so I can check the fuel pressure if need be. Swap went good, new o-rings and new fuel line from the feed hard line to the rail and in between the rail and the FPR.

Pic of everything all together:
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Also swapped on a different IAC valve from a jy car. It's idling and running great, HOWEVER I do have a question for those of you who follow this thread:

What vacuum does your car pull under: idle in park, idle in drive, and a casual acceleration/cruise?

Idling in park (when warmed up) mine pulls a steady 18-20hg. Idling in drive it jumps to about 12-10hg. Gradual acceleration it almost evens out at 0. Any less than 5hg while accelerating and the car won't really go anywhere. If I let off the gas while cruising it'll pull 20hg or more.

I don't really think it's a vacuum leak since it's fine at idle, and I don't think it's a boost leak since it hits 18psi easily and pulls hard and isn't stupid rich like it used to be. It hits 10.3-11 at WOT depending on RPM range instead of just hitting 10.0 constantly.

I noticed the change after the injector swap. With the greentops it would accelerate pretty good at about 8-10hg, but with the browntops it's higher. Is there something I'm missing? Or if this is normal, can someone explain it for me?
 
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Temporary weight reduction. Heading to the drag strip tonight. (And then to find a vacuum cleaner..) Hoping for some better times!
 
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