Fast Intentions Stage 2 TT build by MA-Motorsports.

Spooler

I have several irons in the fire, so to speak. Brian at MA is getting with the machine shop to see what they think. They have built many a motor and have sleeved many. Only one engine that I know of has had Darton MID sleeves. That is Mikes, bullitt5897. I know MA has done one engine with LA sleeves. I am just like anybody else. I can't afford for this to happen again. It is raining here again today. I need to drain all the coolant when the weather breaks.

Spooler

It is a high HP build. Crap happens. As far as the Mustang comment, you go right ahead. I will pass.

Spooler

I wish there was more information available about High HP builds. I haven't found anybody that has been successful yet. A couple of folks still working/testing a solution but they haven't posted anything about it. It is purely frustrating. Still researching. My wife asks me how it is going. My response is "It is the black hole of information."

cv129

I have no dog in this fight, nor am I ever going to have a FI build, but this thread is invaluable.

The information from a high up build that actually gets driven this much and this often will serve as an epic example for anybody that goes down this path.

Sorry to hear. I initially thought this was one of your jokes (remember the 4 way JRZ, and then the you sold your freshly finished build for an offer you couldn’t refuse, or your front shocks blew...). Best of luck!

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Setrab | RE-71 | SPL | JRZ | Nismo | ARK | Whiteline | RacingBrake | CJM Oil Pan | Ti shield

Spooler

LOL, I wish it was one of my leg pulling posts. It's all part of a build. The ups and downs. Anybody can go down the path, it's not for the faint of heart.

Spooler

I will figure it out guys. I am just doing what nobody has attempted before or even documented. I have a good idea of what I need to do. I just need some conformation and I may not have that for a bit. My motor needs to come apart and be inspected. That will tell the tail of what happened for sure. I got one more chance to get this right and I will be taking my time. I have some good people around me helping.

Hotrodz

Yep, there aren't that many of us that are in the big boost game. I'm not up for a high dollar high horsepower mall crawler or I would just go buy one! That's no fun and I get more enjoyment out you knuckleheads giving us crazies a hard time. The commentary is priceless.

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Fast Intentions TT Installed and Tuned by Seb at SpecialtyZ 610whp 560tq:|Fast Intentions 3" TT-TDX|SpecialtyZ/Fast Intentions 72 Row Oil Cooler|SZ 6 Puck Clutch & Flywheel|3GsCustoms|Z1|Wavetrac|Hotchkis|Whiteline |Blitz|Fortune Auto 500|Fujimura|SPL|H&R|TK|TWM|RPM Rollbar|Sparco|Next Level Performance|TrackSpec|AeroFlow Dynamics|Pioneer|

Spooler

LOL, You so Crazy..... I enjoyed all 7k miles I put on the car so far. I will be back up and running eventually. Hold my Mt.Dew and watch this.

Spooler

One thing is for sure. You need to put many a mile on one before you can declare all is well with the headgaskets.

URBiN~HURMiT

man, Spooler, I feel your pain.
My car is back down at MA-Motorsports as well …
It started running real crappy soon after I got it back from build.
Took it to a few shops up here in NJ but nobody wanted to touch it so I put it on a flat bed and back down to Maryland it went.
When it arrived at MA-M they determined that (most likely) the passenger side turbo had failed - which in fact it had - but they didn't get to replace it immediately because of the workload in the shop.
I've owned the car for almost 9 years now and almost 6 of those years it's been sitting in a shop somewhere accumulating tire rot.
aaarrrggghhh

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- -Z&I ~~~~

gbrettin

Ughh, that sucks man. I wanted big power in my Z but couldn't stomach the cost it would take to do it in a VQ. Keep up the good right man.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

BGTV8

Sad to see the news ............

If you are going to start again, start with an R35 (VR38) block .....

Can I also suggest that you need two tunes in the car .... one with "enough" boost for fun-DD and another for "mega-grin factor".

There was a time when I had to build 3 race engines (starting with new blocks following catasrophic engine failure) in one season before biting the bullet and retiring the wet sump and going dry-sump, so I understand the frustration. I eventually stepped out of competition for the season and spent time researching and "building it right". I had some really robust conversations with my engine-builder and lots of phone calls and discussions with others who had been down my road (my race engine was based on the Buick 215 alloy V8 which was the genesis of the Repco-Brabham F1 engine in the 60's) and I found a heap of research available. Not wishing to say anything about MA but there are a few guys here in Oz who run VQ35HR TT engines in off-road buggies and they all run 600-700 HP for extended WoT). Check out the Finke Desert Race as an example of arduous duty - but these guys limit their boost to aid reliability hence my suggestion for 2 tunes - OR start with a VR block. There is a shop in South Australia who are doing a billet VR block but it is a serious investment.

Blowing the bottom hose off suggests you've got boost/combustion pressure into the water jacket so head gasket clamping pressure is the key and I suspect a VQ block - even with closed deck sleeves is never going to be 100%.

Hence the suggestion of a VR38 block as the basis of doing it again.

Two quotes to remember ...

"Good luck with your project"

and

Look after SWMBO unless you want to find out how much your half of the house is worth !!!

Spooler

LOL, I am leaning on a couple VQ35DE guys. I think they have had it figured out for a long time. The problem with the VQ37VHR guys is many people have had issues and just swept it under the rug to save face, so to speak. I have however decided to just be transparent no matter how much it hurts. There are a list of high HP guys who have all had blown headgasket issues. They do a dyno number and then they are gone. Some sell out and some rebuild and you hardly ever see the car being driven again. You never hear of them mention any problems. They still act like they have a high HP car and they don't. I was running two different boost levels. I am good with the power level that I had, now to figure out how to make it live. Most high HP cars are not even driven. They mall crawl or whatever. They can do what they want but that is not my thang. The only car being driven similar to mine is Freshhkiicks. I am not sure of his HP level. He had headgasket issues at 10k. My wife is good for now. This can't continue though.

Bman427

If you decide to go with Darton sleeves make sure you find an experienced shop to install them. I had one of the first LS1 darton blocks and had nothing but nightmares with the block. I would call Darton and ask them who can do the install correctly. Personally I'll never use sleeves again.

I dont think sleeves will fix the issue anyway. I'm having deck stanchions machined above each chamber for additional strength. My shop thinks it will handle up to 30psi. It should be done in 6 weeks, I'll post some pics.

I would be interested in knowing what is needed to use a 3.8 block...

Spooler

Good luck, your gonna need it. You are in the black hole of the VQ37VHR. Let us know if it works short term and long term. I am not sure if I am going to do sleeves. I have many more questions to ask that need answers. I have 2 machine shops with Darton MID sleeve experience.