My build
Well a lot of you are awear that I have had a pretty big project on my hands coming along. I planned for the car to be done last weekend but was unable to complete this due date because of some issues that I have ran into, but I will get into that later on.
So here is what my build consist of;
GTM stage 2 twin turbo kit
HKS 2.5 cat-back exhaust
GTM 2.5 resonated test pipes
GTM competition oil cooler.
This is where my review will start and I will provide updates and pictures as we go. First off my car is a 2009 6 speed with sports package, and with the navigation.
Disassembly:
Well I must state this part was pretty easy. The passage header came off with no delay but the driver side was a major PITA. First off all three heat shield bolts were seized in there, so 2 of them snapped and one had to be cut off due to it stripping. With the A/c hoses in the way it was also no fun to get your hands in there. With about five cuts on my hand and 4 hours later I was able to finally get it off. Since i was pretty much replacing the whole exhaust system I just drooped the whole thing in one piece and slid it out of the back of the car. Removing the the intake manifold is also really simple just need a deep well 12mm and need to remove 4 bolts and 2 nuts. Now when taking this off there is really only 4 hoses that need to come off before lifting it. there are 2 vacuum hoses in the rear one directly in the middle and the other for the EVAP. Then you need to disconnect the the coolant hose that connects in directly below the throttle body on both sides. After those hoses are off she will lift right up for you. Also removal of the fuel rails to get the injectors to come out was really simple. Just 4 12mm bolts and thats it. Just make sure to disconnect the electrical connector in the back that connects the fuel injector harness before you go to remove it completely. Now drilling and taping into the intake manifold was alittle unclear to me since the directions didn't give the tap size and the drill bit size. After a swift call to Sam he was able to tell me what I needed. The tap is a 1/8 NPT but i can't remember the drill bit size I wanna say 11/32 but could be wrong. Also the pictures are a little unclear here. If you were to look at the instructions you will see that there are 3 holes in the intake manifold. One under each throttle body and the other in the rear. No where in the instructions did it tell me where the rear vacuum port went an after I drilled the hole and taped it I realized this. So with a phone call to SAM he told me thats for a EBC. Well at this time I didn't plan on installing one (but was going to get one in the future) so I was a little upset till Sam told me its no worry and you can just plug it off. After realizing that I also realized hey it was better that I did it now and cap it off then to have to remove the whole intake manifold again later to drill the hole for when I do get my EBC. So the point of that is DON"T DRILL THE REAR VACUUM PORT UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO RUN A EBC, or something else you want a independent vacuum line for. Also removal of the lower oil pan was simple. Instruction tell you to use a small flat head screw driver but I didn't feel comfy with that so i went and bought a stung plastic non metallic scrapper and removed it that way. Just be sure to be very careful it seems like it would bend easy. All in all I would say taking everything apart was the smoothest lol. Lest move on to the Assembly.
Assembly
I started off with the fuel pump. There are a different set of instructions for this for the 370 then the G37. After reviewing both sets I would say the 370 fuel pump is easier. You will have to cut into the fuel pump power and ground wire so you can solder the new wires on that connect to the fuel pump. Like I said this was pretty simple. Just make sure you take pictures of where each wire goes to that way you can put it back the way it came apart. After that one i went to assembling the turbo's. Sam already clocked the driver side for me so all I had to do was install the AN fittings and then the banjo fittings. Once the fittings were on make sure you install the coolant and oil line since it will be a major pain to do once the turbo is in(learned that the hard way lol). Also for the driver side do not install the internal waste gate till after the turbo is mounted, or the oil return fitting. This will make installation a whole lot easier(same goes for the passenger). Clocking of the passenger side is pretty easy charge outlet faces straight up, hard to mess this up i think. Once I got the turbo's prepped i installed the exhaust manifolds. I did not have to move studs on the driver side to get it to mount up. It was a direct bolt on as where the passenger side was a different story. The passenger side needed the two rear studs removed and i had to drill and tap 2 new holes to install the allen bolts that will hold the manifold on. At first i was very intimidated by this. The kit came with a temp plate that you install and it already has two holes in it as pilot holes. After you tighten that down it is really simple. Follow the directions here so you don't go to far in, you will need drill stops and measure it out from the tip. I want to say of the top of my head the drill stop gets set to 42 mm don't hold me to this USE THE INSTRUCTIONS. After I drilled the first hole I removed the temp plate and drilled it with the size needed so I could tap it. I found this to be allot easier then anticipated, the temp plate makes this idiot proof, the hardest part is getting the drill bit in there so you will need a 90 deg drill and might have to cut drill bits smaller. After the drilling the exhaust manifold lined right up and the holes looked amazing. looks like they been there from the factory so i was very pleased. Once I got that all bolted down i installed the turbo's. After tq'ing down i installed the last banjo fitting for the coolant and the oil return lines along with the external waste gates. Now the driver side oil return fitting was fun. So here is a little trick. Install the external waste gate first and tighten down. After that install the oil return fitting loose and I mean very loose just get a couple threads started. Once you did that install the oil return hose and clamp and tighten it down. Once you complete that, then tighten down the fitting to the turbo. Trust me on this or your going to want to put your head through the wall. It is normal that the hose is slight pinched by the external waste gate. The coolant lines connect in to the driver side and passenger side heater core hose. Use the T fitting provided. Here i had to go buy some hose clamps since the kit only came with 4. I am going to skip some off the stuff I found simple like replacing the fuel injectors and installation of the intake manifold and other small stuff that i felt was self explanatory. Installation of the oil cooler is simple also. Just remove the bumper support and install the brackets provided in the kit. The driver side where the inter cooler bracket connects, the upper stud needs to be cut down or its going to hit the couplers when you go to install piping. the inter cooler piping requires a ton of patience and is time consuming at least for me it was. Be patient and it will all line up. the instructions for this are very good and Sam provided me with a ton of pictures. Like I said just be patient anf pay close attention to the instructions and pics.
Well lets get ready for the bad part.
After completing everything I recieved my tune from Sam. Car is back together and ready to be started to see how the build went. So I flashed the ecu, and me and my buddy pushed the car out of the garage. Reason for this was if there was a leak of any sort I could push it back in a correct and not have to worry about laying in oil and coolant. Well needless to say the car fired right up and she was alive again. looking under the car I couldn't see leaks so I was happy there. Well my friends this is where the nightmare starts. The car starts to develop multiple problems, air to fuel correction is at 125, I am getting multiple cylinder misfire codes, bank 2 is to rich, etc etc. Also the car is idling rough and when I come off the throttle the car almost stalls. At this point I call Sam and he starts trouble shooting with me on the phone. We start running logs through Cipher and it comes to be that Bank 2 mass air flow sensor is only reading .4 volts at idle. So we swap the sensors and the issue doesn't follow still stays at bank 2. At this point I become lost and after 3 days of trying to figure this out i have become increasingly frustrated.I removed the intake manifold, checked around injectors for possible fuel and made sure all hoses were not leaking vacuum. I didn't find anything so I put the car back together. Next morning I started the car and OMG it ran perfect. It had a nice smooth idle and throttle was responsive. My air to fuel ratio looked good and my a/f correction was at a 100 which is perfect means the tune is spot on. But yet Bank 2 MAF sensor was still reading at .48 volts and was dramatically less then bank one. When reeving the engine it would increase in voltage but was still under specs and was a lot less then bank one. After this I shut the car off and started it again to get another log file of the tps. ECU back in limp mode for multiple engine misfire and my a/f correction is back up to 125. At this point I call Sam and I told him I need to take the car somewhere since this above my head and i have no idea where to start with this. Also I have spent countless hours on the phone with him and him giving me advice on what I should check and how. I have came to the conclusion that He is far to busy to play telephone mechanic. When i said this to him he said don't worry about I'll help you but i feel that is not his place. He sold me a kit, I didn't pay him to install it or to be my tech rep for problems I have that were related to something I have done wrong. Also as he said having a second set of eyes on the car wont hurt and he would recommend to have someone else look at it and make sure everything is ok. In other words I am backing down from this part since i am unsure what is wrong and what to do, and also with numbers that i am getting in my log i don not want to cause harm to my car. It will be cheaper to swallow my pride then to swallow the bill of a blown engine and have someone look at it for me. So like i said after having this discussion with SAM he recommended a garage in Baltimore MD. So to be blunt about this Sam has built a honest and trust Worthy relationship with me that if he says they are good and honest, that I believe him. So as we sit now Sam notified the transport and I am waiting for them to come and get my car to take it there. I will make sure to let you all know what the verdict is when the job is complete. Sam seems to think that is is something silly that i might have over looked so we will see. He was nice enough to call them and explain my situation to them and to make them aware that my car was coming. The garage is really busy but he said they will get me in and take care of me so i was pleased to hear that.
Thoughts of GTM and the kit so far.
Well I must say this GTM is AWESOME. The customer service is wonderful and I was always able to get a hold of Sam when i had a issue. NO matter what time it was and i am being dead serious. He always helped me through and always wanted me to call him back to let him know how something worked out or of my progress. Once again customer service is beyond this world. I know he would have stayed on the phone with me till I figured this out if I have not said enough lets send it to someone that knows this car. He was nice enough to schedule the transport for me also. I would do business with GTM over and over again. Fair prices+great customer service+excellent products=MFW, end of story period. As for the quality of the kit, you can tell that it wasn't put together to maximize profit but to deliver to the customer a great reliable product.
When I get a chance i will get on my other PC and post some pics. Thanks for reading
Frank
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