Project MIDTRBO

[ericjon262]

I'm not mad, just disappointed...

[ALLTRBO]

Nope, it's buried in my garage under a bunch of stuff for my 2012 Camaro SS. I've been having fun with that instead, it has no bad vibes attached to it (and it's not going to... because no one else is touching it). I'm only going so far with it, though, because it's nice to have a full warranty. Once I'm done with that, then there may be updates for the Fiero again...

[ericjon262]

any updates?

[RedZMonte]

Lol reminds me of the old posts on other forums titled "when your mamma says don't Buy SSAC, she means don't Buy SSAC!" lol SS Auto Chrome had some pretty bad crap back in the day, seem to have got a little better but not much. I run name brand stuff here. Seen to many cheap knock offs self destruct/not fit/not work... Glued together Turbo's and miss matched holes, wrong specs. ect..

Shane

[Mars]

I am running dual gates on my Camaro and they are EMUSA brand. Very cheap ebay stuff. They work flawless. I'll never pay top dollar for gates again.

[ALLTRBO]

Thanks man. Yeah, hopefully I can just move forward from here.

You know what I thought about the other day? Earlier in this thread (WAY earlier), I called Dave a "class act". Obviously I got it completely backward... He's a "clact ass"

[timg]

Good luck with the rest of your build. I hope your problems are over. I always hate to see shops putting out bad work.

Tim

[ALLTRBO]

Now, here's the WG's can of worms that was opened when I went to replace it (I fully expect more cans of worms)...

Man, long story short...
The valve seat insert was not installed, causing a large amount of exhaust to bypass the turbo entirely. Remember the problem with the turbo not spinning at idle? Yeah. He blamed it on my turbo being too big.

In addition, the bolts holding the WG to the junk Y-pipe were barely more than finger tight, causing a massive exhaust leak.

The WG's mounting flange was (poorly) hogged out along with the mating flange that is welded onto the junk Y-pipe, and they were tapped for one of two sizes. I say one of two, because one of the bolts was an M10 with a 1.25mm thread pitch and the other was an M10 with a 1.5mm thread pitch. I think that the flange was tapped for the 1.5mm pitch because the 1.25mm bolt and the hole it came out of were stripped worse than the other. Yes, they were BOTH stripped to a degree. Who knows, he may have tapped it for a standard size bolt instead of metric to begin with.

Here's how it is SUPPOSED to work. The WG (both the fake one and the real one in this case) uses M8 bolts, so the holes in the WG are unthreaded M8 holes (imagine that). The flange that is welded onto the Y-pipe should be a threaded M8 hole in this application since the flange was welded flush to the Y-pipe (meaning that you can't put a nut on the other side). M8 bolts are then installed from the WG side while sandwiching the gasket in between the flanges and then tightened to the appropriate torque.

In other words, it's COMMON SENSE. This isn't rocket science! (I should know, I work with rockets and rocket scientists, hah!)
Tell me good people, HOW DO YOU SCREW THAT UP?

So, I can't install my WG yet, as I have to repair or replace that pathetic mess. Pics later.

Here we go, copy+pasted from my PFF thread:

Okay, next up...

This is what I should have received on my car, anodized black top and all (I specified that, too):



Vs. what I did receive:




Here is the other part of what I found when I took off the wastegate...
Poorly hogged out holes (and not even a simple hand de-burring with a larger drill bit) and lovely vice marks:



(washers must be evil, they weren't used very often on this build)





Vs. the right way (valve seat insert and all):





While we're at it, lets have a look at the great seal on the ghetto teflon-taped barb fitting. Another exhaust leak. Surprise, surprise...



I saved the best for last. These were stripped in the mating flange and barely more than finger tight. Two bolts. Too big, used and in nasty condition, and completely different from each other in just about every way. Not even the heads are the same size. The different thread pitch? That takes the cake:





I can't take pics of the mating flange on the POS Y-pipe right now, but of course it looks just as bad. What this all means is that I can't even install the new wastegate without repairing the Y-pipe with M8 helicoils (if they'll even fit in the stripped M10 threads) or building a new one entirely which needs to happen anyway because it doesn't line up to the manifolds. Thanks.

Again, HOW DO YOU SCREW THAT UP?

[3400-95-Modified]

Well I guess when I send a counter weight through my oil pan then I'll start saving to see if they will make a billet forged 3400 crank... LOL

[ForcedFirebird]

I do wonder with these companies though if you sent them a stock crank and said you wanted a billet version made, I'm sure they have a way to do that... granted being one off it wont be cheap due to setup costs, but they have to have a way to reproduce something.

Midget racers do this. Cranks are about $1500-ish as a one off, but there has been a few companies producing them during the Stadium Truck era.

[3400-95-Modified]

I do wonder with these companies though if you sent them a stock crank and said you wanted a billet version made, I'm sure they have a way to do that... granted being one off it wont be cheap due to setup costs, but they have to have a way to reproduce something.

[ALLTRBO]

My friend Will bought a pallet of old 60*V6 racing parts from Ryan Falconer Racing Engines, they were huge on them in the 80's (and 90's?). They moved on from them, and when they moved their location, they had a bunch of leftover (mostly used) parts. Heads, intakes, the crank, rods, and a few others. I believe this crank was built specifically for or by them, and was used in an engine at some point, but it's like new. It has a 3" stroke (not 2.992", aka 76mm, like the 2.8 crank). This billet crank really is as good as it looks in the pics, even up close. The journals are perfect. It was the only one on the pallet. I have no idea if any others are out there somewhere.

I don't know anything about the apparent Crower billet crank that drturbo69 spoke of.

[3400-95-Modified]

I'm a degreed computer technician and I'm doing a better build that this guy did for you... That's pathetic... lol

I also see what your saying about the intake and that makes sense now.

BTW where do you acquire a crank like that? I didn't know anyone made and aftermarket crank for our engines.

[ALLTRBO]

"Certified Master Technician"

Even better, huh?
Oh that's right, it's all my fault!

I should have kept the twin-turbo IROC-Z that I built. I'd rather spin tires to 80mph than to have a car that doesn't move at all!

[pocket-rocket]

Tell me good people, HOW DO YOU SCREW THAT UP?

Stupidity and idiocy on someones part that shouldn't be allowed near a crescent wrench (I hate people like that, especially when they call themselves a "mechanic")...

Glad to hear things are starting to move forward and that your turbo isn't toast