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Old 11-27-2016, 10:14 AM   #27 (permalink)
solidus
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Orlando, Florida
Posts: 694
Drives: 15' Nismo Black 6MT
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OP I'll tell you a story to put this in perspective. Maybe 4 people on this forum even know this but I think it can help you understand where we're coming from.

This past February I bought a 2015 Nismo, I immediately did Ark Springs, Takeda Long tubes , exhaust and HFC's. I had recently gotten rid of a full bolt G37 coupe and I still had my UPREV tuner cable with the license. Right off the bat I felt like my G37 ( With full bolt , geared and carbon driveshaft ) was much quicker than my new Nismo so I felt my only option was to go boosted (I go progressively harder at everything I do. ) and looked at my options. I knew what I had cash wise and I knew what was necessary for each of the options availible. I looked at F.I. , AAM , Vortex , Boosted Performance , Stillen and the company which cannot be named. Taking it all into consideration with the peripheral modifications I'd have to make and labor I decided on the BP kit. If money was'nt a concern I would've shipped my car to F.I. but I could'nt because even though I had the money , it's highly likely that I would've been subjected to at least 2 years of cold shoulder.
So.........I got my clutch , had it installed. As soon as it was broken in I sent the deposit for the kit. While waiting for the kit I ordered my guages, boost controller , Fuel return system and radiator. When the full kit arrived I bought new RE-11 tires. As soon as the tires were installed I took the car to my friends shop to do the install. Had a few issues that ate up time but finally got the install done. First time on the dyno I did'nt have the trans harness up high enough and it burnt the harness. I almost passed out because I thought I had to replace the ECM,BCM and PCM. Went to Nissan to get a price and they quoted something like 1500.00. I spent 7 dollars on some wire did a little soldering , raised the harness and wrapped it in leftover lava wrap...situation resolved. Take it back to the dyno to finish the tune.
Kept getting random boost spikes of 16psi when the boost controller was set to 9.5psi. Thought it may have been the solenoid so we turned it off. Finished up the tune at 7.5psi just to get it over but it was still spiking from time to time at WOT. Car made 443rwhp/374rwtq on a heartbreaker Mustang dyno. I did'nt think that was all that bad at 7.5psi. Left the tuner with the expectation of troubleshooting my boost controller and having it retuned at 12psi later.
The very next day I decide to take the car for a spin. On my way home I got on an onramp and saw nothing but road ( Hey y'all watch this moment. ) I decided to just have at that stretch of road. Right at the top of third gear it felt great. Hit fourth gear and it was incredible. To my amazement it suddenly felt like I got a nitrous hit and the car surged and chirped. Pulled like I never imagined. I was thinking to myself "Holy $#it!!!" . Then.......silence. In my rear view I see a poof of smoke then my oil pressure guage went to zero and my dash lit up like a Christmas tree. The whole time all I heard was wind noise. I was numb because I knew what it meant. I coasted to the side of the road and popped the hood. There was no oil leaking anywhere just smoke coming from my breathers. My boost controller showed a peak of 23.7psi, no need to investigate further because I'd call that catastrophic any day of the week. Called AAA and the GF to let her know I would'nt be meeting her like I planned. ( She showed up to do the "Told ya so" dance on the side of the road. )
Once home I just put it in the garage and walked away. Went online to price built blocks and had to ask myself exactly where I wanted to be before I spent the money. (The car felt great at 7.5psi) After going back and forth I decided to just find the lowest mileage motor I could , disconnect the EBC and run 10.5 springs at wastegate pressure. This completely removes the idiot factor. God smiled on me and I found a complete 2015 Nismo motor with 7500 miles, cost me 3k for the motor. Next week I'll be swapping over my intake manifold , injectors and fuel return. Then slap new GTR plugs into the new motor then have it installed. The install is going to cost me right around 1400.00 . Then another 500.00 for a retune at 10.5psi. That's a little less than half of what I originally spent.
I don't blame anyone for this because what I believe actually happened is that I plumbed the EBC backwards. It's been since the beginning of October that I popped the motor and I have'nt so much as pulled the oil pan and I don't plan to until I'm taking the car to have the install done. If my block is salvageable I'll start to build it over a year then swap it in and sell the one in the car now. The emotional me is kicking itself in the a$$ over this. The logical me is learning from it. The original cost of my kit was 7300.00 (minus a couple hundred because I already had Uprev ) and right now I'm a tad over 20k with my adventures. Putting it back together on wastegate with 10.5 springs is just making it as "idiotproof" as I care to go until I get a built motor. This time next year I intend to have a built block and looking to be making around 700rwhp.
Sorry for making it a book but that's my story. If I had financed this it would be too easy to walk away. Fear elicits two distinct reactions:

Fack Everything And Run
Fack Everything And React

Forced induction is deep water when it comes to car modding and it demands that you are ready from the start to deal with forced induction things that may or may not happen. In my case it would've been too late to try to save up a Built Block fund because I would've had to wait for weeks to get that money set aside.

Really hope this helps you understand at least a little bit.
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