silen7guardian Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 "New" Transportation: I am now driving a '99 Saturn SL2 5-speed. I learned to drive stick! Woohoo! MTs aren't so fun in morning traffic, though. The Saturn is a complete piece of crap, but the motor is good and the clutch is supposedly new. It also gets at least twice the gas mileage of my Subaru. Driving this piece can also be entertaining. Between my poor shifting, crappy aftermarket wheels, and broken/loud exhaust, people often seem to think I'm trying to race. The other day, somebody driving a Honda Odyssey floored it from a stop light after I accidentally spun my wheels a little at the previous stop light. Cops seem to stare me down more, too. Sorry, officers. I don't like the loud exhaust, either. Regarding the Subaru: My compressor housing has a lot of little grooves in it from the compressor wheel spinning against it. I have a pretty good picture, but the attachment function doesn't appear to be working right now. The damage is not very bad, but I figure that it will at least cause air flow disruption if not worse. Combining that housing damage with all of the problems VF40 owners seem to experience has caused me to seriously consider other turbo options. I've been looking at a "new" VF46, which I can get from a US seller on eBay for about $500. I put new in quotes because I suspect it's rebuilt. From the listing: "UPGRADED TURBO - Larger TD05 Wheel - Ported Wastegate housing - Better Actuator." The advantage to this is that I think I can use the stock oil lines... right? VF46 turbos supposedly spool faster than the VF40, too. However, for $900, I can get a new Kinugawa Turbo TD05H-16G 8CM from eBay that comes with an install kit (gaskets, oil lines, bolts, etc.) that would offer me MOAR POWA! The advantage to this over BNR is that I don't need to send in my core, and I don't need to spend additional money on an oil line upgrade since it appears to be included. ...and since I threw away my old center housing rotating assembly (CHRA) cartridge like an idiot, I don't really have a core to exchange anyway. I'm not yet sure what I'll go with for the turbo. We'll see how the financial situation turns out, but my default option at this point is the $500 VF46. Whatever I choose, I'm not spending more than 1K on a turbo. Today, I want to make a build list that includes what parts I want to replace and their estimated cost. If I like how that turns out, I'll post it here for your input. It's getting warmer! My Subaru has almost melted out of its snow bank! Soon I'll be able to check the oil pan... which I'm a little bit scared to see. EDIT: Attachments are working. Picture added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 six star speed, check out there web site, vf52 for 799. 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silen7guardian Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 six star speed, check out there web site, vf52 for 799. Well, without a core to exchange, it looks like their cheapest is a thousand dollars. http://www.6starspeed.com/vf60tu.html That still keeps it within my target price maximum though, and it's bolt-on ready. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm25rs Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Well, without a core to exchange, it looks like their cheapest is a thousand dollars. http://www.6starspeed.com/vf60tu.html That VF52 6053 is an upgraded unit. See this for standard rebuilt VF52: http://6starspeed.com/reihivftusuw.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silen7guardian Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 That VF52 6053 is an upgraded unit. See this for standard rebuilt VF52: http://6starspeed.com/reihivftusuw.html Okay. From another page, it was saying the sale price was with a core refund. Your link doesn't say that. If that's accurate, then this is really good. Thanks, you guys! From http://www.6starspeed.com/vfwrtu.html "Core Refund: A core price of $200 is built in to the sale price indicated." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silen7guardian Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 [attached] Does anyone know of a high-flow catted down-pipe for the 5EAT that costs $350-ish or less? 'Cause even though catless on a DD will anger Max Capacity (that was you, right Max?), catless is way cheaper.OBXT Rebuild List.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coredump4 Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 [attached] Does anyone know of a high-flow catted down-pipe for the 5EAT that costs $350-ish or less? 'Cause even though catless on a DD will anger Max Capacity (that was you, right Max?), catless is way cheaper. While I have not used it, ERZ/CNT makes a reasonably-priced catted DP. PM them for price; see: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140386 Also, a summary of DPs: http://legacygt.com/reviews/showcat.php?cat=13 Good luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 [attached] Does anyone know of a high-flow catted down-pipe for the 5EAT that costs $350-ish or less? 'Cause even though catless on a DD will anger Max Capacity (that was you, right Max?), catless is way cheaper. Not me, mine is catless. 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danteneon Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 I apologize if I missed this info, but I have gone over your thread and one thing has jumped out at me. I noticed that the nut for the turbo impeller on the input side is missing. Did you find it yet? We have seen quite a few of these come off when the impeller makes contact with the housing. More than likely it got shot into the intake hose...the furthest we have seen it go is to the MAF In case you haven't done so yet, make sure you find it before you do anything else. I like to cook my pets and my family. Use commas. Don't be a psycho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silen7guardian Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 Oh, wow. Thanks! I was wondering what could have hit the front of the compressor blades like that. Updates: After about a month of owning the Saturn SL2, the diff pin shot itself through the transmission. Sold it (and its wheels separately) for $575 total. That's a $725 loss, excluding all the work I'd already done on it. I ended up buying a 2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue. I'm surprised with how much I like driving the intrigue for a cheap, old GM sedan. The motor looks like it would suck to work on, but it's been solid so far. It has a nice, clean interior, and it's more pleasant than the Saturn. I also like the part where its twin-cam V6 has the highest output (210HP/230TQ) of all the GM naturally aspirated sedan V6 motors of the time... I think. This means that I can feel good about how my DD is faster than all the kids' Grand Prix GTs. It's very important that I am able to feel smug about my DD's power. Since I plan on eventually replacing the motor anyway, I've been really tempted to just toss in a VF52, get it tuned, and pretend like nothing is wrong until the motor blows up... since I have a second car and all. I know it's a terrible idea, but I'll probably do it anyway... for science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silen7guardian Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 Updates: Well... now the Oldsmobile Intrigue has died, too. The symptom is some sort of loud chattering in the engine that gets worse with each drive. A quick googlin' suggests a balancer rod bearing has failed, or a number of other cause that are catastrophic to the motor. Anyway, I just decided that, with my luck, it was time for something like what is now my current vehicle: A 2012 Camry SE (4-cyl). I like it better than I thought I would. It's still a Camry though. Since buying the Camry set back my Subaru-fixing plans rather significantly, I'm just going to try to fix the Outback with a rebuilt stock turbo (or something along those lines) and sell the Outback late this fall. It's not what I wanted, but I can put the proceeds from selling it into the Camry, and then get a nicer Fun Car later on in life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPeC.B_MaZTer Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 check that the spark plugs didnt become loose on the Olds. its common and sounds worse everytime driven until the plug shoots out the head and takes the threads with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silen7guardian Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 check that the spark plugs didnt become loose on the Olds. its common and sounds worse everytime driven until the plug shoots out the head and takes the threads with it. Interesting. I did change out the plugs several months ago... I'll have to check that out. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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