I thought I would post a quick update on my car as it is one of the higher boosted turbos and is equipped with the AEM FIC that has emerged as the solution of choice for OBD II FI management.
I have a Lovefab turbo kit with Approx 30,000 miles on it. I sent my car back to Cody after driving almost 2 years at 500 rwhp and the MSL harness and full AEM ECU. My goal was to increase both power and day to day driveability. I knew Cody was involved in the Beta application of the FIC and he told me he was getting great results (understatement, but more on that later)
My car is a bit of a bastard step child as it is a 2000 with a 97 motor. The only thing I had done was a Jim Elkin's build using ONLY Darton sleeves and JE pistons. At the time my HP goal was 400 and I did not feel it was necessary to upgrade HG or head bolts. My car had been puffing a little white smoke for the past several months on startup and Cody agreed that it had a telltale "sweet " smell of antifreeze. My coolant levels had been steady and a recent leak down showed all was well at <10% on all cylinders so we decided to go ahead and move forward with the project. In an attempt to isolate the smoke source Cody had the turbo seals replace, removed the headers to check for leakage from valve seals and really went the extra mile to find the problem. After continued smoke on warm startups he decided to recheck compression and leaks downs and confirmed that all was as it should be. Too weird, After the shop was closed and quiet he went back and redid the leakdown and was able to hear a tiny amount of bubbling into the coolant. The engine must really be healthy if it can give great leakdowns with a bad head gasket! It is likely that the increase in boost floated the head enough to worsen the problem and increase coolant leakage after warm shutdown. Cody got on it and 3 days after the HG and ARP bolts arrived the engine was pulled, inspected, repaired and replaced. During this process a missing ground was identified as well as an assortment of minor items that were attended to.
Once back together the process of tuning started and the journey to 18 PSI began. The car was good to 7 psi but started missing at 13 psi. Cody swapped his own cars coils into my car to determine if this was the problem. I had had a functioning coil miss at boost with Devin a couple years ago so I knew they need to be a 100% for higher boost levels. Everything checked out though and the miss didn't go away. The plugs were all new and all looked fine , but Cody swapped them out anyway. VIOLA! New plugs don't always work. Sooo...onward to 18.5 PSI. The next day I got a phone call with the sound track of my car cracking the tires loose in 3rd gear!
That weekend Cody DELIVERED my car a 2 1/2 hr drive to Grand Rapids and we took her for a spin. I was speechless. All I could do was grin from ear to ear! It started up in 1 crank, it idled with NO searching or bouncing. it was a well behaved as stock until you put your foot in it.
I have now had the car back for almost 3 weeks and I still smile every time I turn it over and it fires up immediately. The drivability of the car has made me fall in love with it all over again. I can get on it in second up to 19 psi and take my foot off the gas and the rpm's fall gently to 900 and stay there. I am a happy man.
Those that know me , understand that I have been down a long and frustrating FI road and have certainly paid my dues. The single take home point from all the frustrations is the need to find the right person to work on your car, and there aren't many choices in the FI arena. I want to publicly thank Cody for always sticking with me and my cars peculiar issues. He never threw in the towel with the repeated BS and figured out the problems even when several issues at once were making diagnosis extremely difficult. I am sure there are other people who are knowledgeable and reputable, but Cody has this thing figured out and down to a science.
A couple take home points from this last experience:
1. Lovefab turbo now has 30,000 miles on it. I have had no problems. it is a quality product.
2. The AEM FIC is the solution for OBD II if you want you car to run like stock. I have 19 psi and 750 injectors and it runs perfectly.
3. The single disc RPS clutch is holding up to the 19 PSI just fine and has over 25,000 miles on it. This is a good clutch.
4. Factory head gasket and head bolts on OBD II are probably only good to slightly over 400 rwhp. I believe mine started to go bad shortly after I went to 500 rwhp.
5. A good leakdown does NOT equal a good head gasket. Use a stethoscope and do it in a quiet place.
6. Coils can be weak but not dead. A coil that works at 6 psi will NOT necessarily work at 10 ps.
7. The life expectancy of a well built motor can easily be over 50,000 miles. I have almost 60,000 (25,000 at 400 whp, 28,000 @500 whp) and I still have leakdowns below 10%.
8. So far stock rods are good to > 550 RWHP.
9. Stock TCS is great and worth preserving by using the FIC. The control is smooth and welcome when the rear end cracks loose at 80 MPH.
I am not affiliated with Lovefab, RPS, or AEM. Just a happy camper that might be able to save someone else some headaches.
Oh, did I mention I no longer have /need an oil pump on my turbo?
Thanks Cody!
I have a Lovefab turbo kit with Approx 30,000 miles on it. I sent my car back to Cody after driving almost 2 years at 500 rwhp and the MSL harness and full AEM ECU. My goal was to increase both power and day to day driveability. I knew Cody was involved in the Beta application of the FIC and he told me he was getting great results (understatement, but more on that later)
My car is a bit of a bastard step child as it is a 2000 with a 97 motor. The only thing I had done was a Jim Elkin's build using ONLY Darton sleeves and JE pistons. At the time my HP goal was 400 and I did not feel it was necessary to upgrade HG or head bolts. My car had been puffing a little white smoke for the past several months on startup and Cody agreed that it had a telltale "sweet " smell of antifreeze. My coolant levels had been steady and a recent leak down showed all was well at <10% on all cylinders so we decided to go ahead and move forward with the project. In an attempt to isolate the smoke source Cody had the turbo seals replace, removed the headers to check for leakage from valve seals and really went the extra mile to find the problem. After continued smoke on warm startups he decided to recheck compression and leaks downs and confirmed that all was as it should be. Too weird, After the shop was closed and quiet he went back and redid the leakdown and was able to hear a tiny amount of bubbling into the coolant. The engine must really be healthy if it can give great leakdowns with a bad head gasket! It is likely that the increase in boost floated the head enough to worsen the problem and increase coolant leakage after warm shutdown. Cody got on it and 3 days after the HG and ARP bolts arrived the engine was pulled, inspected, repaired and replaced. During this process a missing ground was identified as well as an assortment of minor items that were attended to.
Once back together the process of tuning started and the journey to 18 PSI began. The car was good to 7 psi but started missing at 13 psi. Cody swapped his own cars coils into my car to determine if this was the problem. I had had a functioning coil miss at boost with Devin a couple years ago so I knew they need to be a 100% for higher boost levels. Everything checked out though and the miss didn't go away. The plugs were all new and all looked fine , but Cody swapped them out anyway. VIOLA! New plugs don't always work. Sooo...onward to 18.5 PSI. The next day I got a phone call with the sound track of my car cracking the tires loose in 3rd gear!
That weekend Cody DELIVERED my car a 2 1/2 hr drive to Grand Rapids and we took her for a spin. I was speechless. All I could do was grin from ear to ear! It started up in 1 crank, it idled with NO searching or bouncing. it was a well behaved as stock until you put your foot in it.
I have now had the car back for almost 3 weeks and I still smile every time I turn it over and it fires up immediately. The drivability of the car has made me fall in love with it all over again. I can get on it in second up to 19 psi and take my foot off the gas and the rpm's fall gently to 900 and stay there. I am a happy man.
Those that know me , understand that I have been down a long and frustrating FI road and have certainly paid my dues. The single take home point from all the frustrations is the need to find the right person to work on your car, and there aren't many choices in the FI arena. I want to publicly thank Cody for always sticking with me and my cars peculiar issues. He never threw in the towel with the repeated BS and figured out the problems even when several issues at once were making diagnosis extremely difficult. I am sure there are other people who are knowledgeable and reputable, but Cody has this thing figured out and down to a science.
A couple take home points from this last experience:
1. Lovefab turbo now has 30,000 miles on it. I have had no problems. it is a quality product.
2. The AEM FIC is the solution for OBD II if you want you car to run like stock. I have 19 psi and 750 injectors and it runs perfectly.
3. The single disc RPS clutch is holding up to the 19 PSI just fine and has over 25,000 miles on it. This is a good clutch.
4. Factory head gasket and head bolts on OBD II are probably only good to slightly over 400 rwhp. I believe mine started to go bad shortly after I went to 500 rwhp.
5. A good leakdown does NOT equal a good head gasket. Use a stethoscope and do it in a quiet place.
6. Coils can be weak but not dead. A coil that works at 6 psi will NOT necessarily work at 10 ps.
7. The life expectancy of a well built motor can easily be over 50,000 miles. I have almost 60,000 (25,000 at 400 whp, 28,000 @500 whp) and I still have leakdowns below 10%.
8. So far stock rods are good to > 550 RWHP.
9. Stock TCS is great and worth preserving by using the FIC. The control is smooth and welcome when the rear end cracks loose at 80 MPH.
I am not affiliated with Lovefab, RPS, or AEM. Just a happy camper that might be able to save someone else some headaches.
Oh, did I mention I no longer have /need an oil pump on my turbo?
Thanks Cody!
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