Vengeance68 Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 First I wish to thank John Peirce for all of his help with troubleshooting issues caused by the repair shop I used. His honesty and willingness to spend HIS time helping me is well above par. If/when I upgrade or replace my turbo it will be sourced from him. Thank you. I would also like to thank InFront Motorsports of Auburn, WA. I stopped by during business hours and spoke to Ben who was very helpful. Later that evening on a whim after experiencing some issue caused by the repair shop I used originally I stopped by well after hours and knocked on the door. John, the owner, came out and spoke with me as well as to what to look for. John Peirce and Infront Motorsports will be getting all of my future business. Thank you, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gex Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 John and his shop are a decent crew no doubt. They tuned my car and have installed several parts for me. That said I have to offer a word of caution. I have had to return my car there a number of times to fix errors. Once was on a flat bed after the replacement axle they put in literally came out. Another my external wastegate was set up wrong causing massive over boost issues along with pinching my power steering lines. I came in waited 3 hours just to get a quick tune revision and still have the issue. I had to return a second time to have the issue fixed properly. Then there was the time they broke the center divider for my cup holder and did not even mention it to me (I did not take the car back for this reason just something I noticed). I still think they are a good shop and mean well but they are not without fault. I wish they would take a little more time and caution when working on customer cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTris Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 When you wanna wash that load outta your mouth, take me up on my offer to meet for a drink. I was the first to run his custom VF40, and I'd be happy to let you take it for a spin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 MrTris, be gentle. lol I am not able to do much of my own wrenching anymore... partially due to an injury and partially due to not having some basic shop goodies like a floor jack and jackstands. So moving forward I have to trust others. I have been using the same shop for all of our cars for a couple years now without issue. It is a repair shop not a speed shop. The shop that I had or thought I had perform certain maintenance tasks and whatnot has failed miserably. My car has not one mod on it in connection to the motor or drivetrain. She is stock, and looks like she has been very well taken care of. I took her in 5 weeks ago to have the motor pulled, compression test, leak down test, blah blah blah... I also had a catless up-pipe installed, had the turbo checked, and more blah blah blah. Upon my first time picking it up a week later I am told they had a hard time getting the TMIC back on... weird but okay, maybe the mechanic was short, who knew. I am also told that the car pulls like a raped ape... again, strange comment but okay. I get in it and notice a new high toned whistle/flapping noise when I put my foot in it just enough to get into boost coming from the passenger side. Also, yeah she pulls insanely hard... Like she is under boost all the time. Before I get 5 miles on her I get a CEL and she goes into protective mode. I turn around take her back and explain what is going on. I get a call on the beginning of the 3rd week saying she is ready and that she had a vacuum leak... all better and ready to go. I get in start her up and now I have an exhaust leak on the driver side? WTF???? Plus the still the whistling/flappy noise on the passenger side, no boost whatsoever and a CEL. I turn around and take it back. I again explain and drive with the shop manager so he hears what I hear. I get a call on the beginning of the 4th week, she is all ready... Exhaust gasket had blown and another vacuum leak, now all that boost is back. I get and notice that I was on empty and the car only had 70 additional miles on it. It had a 1/2 tank when I last returned it. WTF??? Anyhow, 5 miles and a CEL with the whistling flappy noise still and crazy power again... I turn around take her back. Call John P and he informs me of the vacuum line with the pill in it... to check for it. So I get back to the shop, manager says no such thing... I know I'm in trouble now. Manager claims they blocked the vacuum line on purpose to up the boost cause all the kids were doing it online. I guess I looked angry cause he took 3 steps back. I asked about the pill in the vacuum line... nothing nada zilch just a blank return look from him. So I told him I had one waiting at Auburn Subaru and he could go pick it up and pay for it then install it correctly. I also asked about the 70 miles on the odometer yet burned 1/2 tank of gas. HE then tells me his tech took it home and tried to get the CEL to come on... So what you're saying is he beat the shite out of my overboosted car with no tune on it to compensate for AF ratios. great... At the end of the 4th week, last Friday, I am called and she is ready again. Car is clean, only a couple of miles on the odometer and seems okay... but still that whistling/flappy noise and only under boost or where boost should be kicking in. Too late now, shop is closed until this morning so I drive her some... not flogging her but working on a hypothesis. Hmm, no sound when not in boost range, sound when should be boosting. I stopped at InFront Motorsports in Auburn and John told me to look for a leak in one of the hoses. I hate doing the hoses on these cars... only because it kills my back. Anyhow, this was all coming together in my head and I knew where to target my attention. So I plan on doing my own inspection Saturday morning. This last Saturday I unhook the neg. side of the battery... just my practice... and go to remove the TMIC. Low and behold I take off the engine cover and there is a gap tmic to turbo... The turbo is clocked a couple of degrees outward towards the passenger fender. So I made a few calls to John P., thank heaven for his patience... I bounce a few things off of him, he gives me a few ideas and off I go. So first I just slide it into the intake hose and tighten the clamp so I can adjust the angle of the intercooler to the turbo. No joy, hose does not have enough give. So I loosen the clamp and attach the tmic to the turbo... okay that looks way better. Buuuuut the inlet hose will not mate up to the tmic and the tmic driver side bracket isn't even close to mounting to the tmic. Did I say that the tmic had one of the 2 bolts to the turbo not even hand tight when I started? Okay, My back is burning, both legs have pain shooting through them and I cannot feel my toes... Now I break out the Chevy water pump gasket John P. recommended to me weeks before.... No joy the damn turbo is still just a hair counter clockwise clocked for the tmic to get a good seal. I sent John P. some images... just to share the humour i was feeling. Thank you again John for all of your help brother. You kept me sane. So today I dropped the car back off and the manager wants to blame the new up-pipe... Really I say, don't ya think you should have called me or thought there may have been a problem when the tmic did not go on easily? F it... I hand him my stock up-pipe, tell him to remove the cat substrate and install it. If the same issue happens reinstall my catless up-pipe and take my car over to Infront Motorsports and let them fix it. Then you pay them and call me when I can get my car. Or give me all my money back and I will pay them to go over everything? OR if the problem goes away leave the stock up-pipe in, call me and I will pick up my car and aftermarket up-pipe and we are done. I never had such BS issues with a shop or a part install in my life... even when I was first learning how to work on engines and do head/cam swaps. Well, thank you for listening... That engine rebuild will come sooner than later if they did the same shite quality throughout the rest of the work not to mention their tech flogging the shite out of my car overboosting it for 70 miles on a 1/2 tank of gas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTris Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Shit, that's one helluva story! Thing is, you need to take these cars to someone who knows them. As you can see, standard mechanic methodology and practices don't work very well, and, no matter how good the mechanic, if he doesn't know turbo Subarus, he's only gonna do harm. Sounds like they lost the restrictor pill, and then failed to snug everything up, hence the boost leak and overboosting. Take it to John, or, I suggest you take a trip to spanaway and visit PIA. You and your car will be much better off for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJr Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Sad story, I now have to drive 90 miles to find a good Subaru mechanic. John (jmp)is a great guy, have you talked slot cars yet:) GL with the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 MrTris, get this which I left out. After they picked up the new vacuum hose assembly with the pill in it, the manager hands me what was in my car and says, "see no pill". To which I replied by removing the tiny hose clamps and looking at both sides of the T hoses and found the pill. Best guess is it was on backwards? Yeah so not too sure what to do now. I am out of funds for a while. I may be driving a grenade with the pin pulled. Rebuilding the motor right now is financially out of the question. Same for getting it to John or PIA unfortunately which I should have done in the first place. Back in the day I worked on some STi's and WRX's and never had these issues. I was no authority on the platform like I was with the LX cars but still... common sense and all. I may just button it up once it is running and sell it with all the repair receipts. I hate having a vehicle I do not trust. And I am not writing any of this for pity... more for therapy and to keep me from taking my tomahawk and and chopping off one of his body parts for every lie he has told me. I always planned on doing a new motor, but I figured I'd have some time to do it... You know, slowly get the parts, build as much of it myself as possible then get someone to install it and tune it. I love Subarus... I also like Evo 9's and still love the SRT8 Magnums prior to 2009. But all of these are outside of my reach right now. This car was kept immaculately. And now this no talent arse-clown has completely undermined my faith in it. If there are other alternatives I am not seeing right now, which is possible, I am pissed and too close to this, please feel free to share. That means you too MrTris. Thank you everyone... Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 Love slot cars... Love my rc's too... way too many hobbies and giving any of them up still won't get me out of this pickle. lol Live and learn and make sure to cause bodily harm to those what cause you pain. Okay, that may be a bit much... or not. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTris Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Well, shit. For starters, that other UP has to go back on. This gutted UP business is malarky. And unfortunately, that reinstall sucks for anyone, even with a good back. For now, get a good throttle body hose and make sure its tight, make sure the turbo to TMIC connection is right, and that all vacuum lines are tight and zip tied. Are you sure its the stock turbo? Sounds like if its clocked wrong, its not the right one, just a bandaid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 No I'm not sure if it is a stock turbo. The shop manager told me it looked new. The car had zero issues other than minor oil leaks when I took it in. And that was after running over a dead deer which only damaged the underbelly front cover which I replaced. lol That was on my shakedown cruise when I first bought her. Went from Auburn to Yakima to Ellensburg and back to Auburn one day. She smelled like rotten meat for three days afterward but no boost issues, no weird noises. The hoses are on my list for sure... John spoke of Tomico (SP?) I have not seen them but Perrin are everywhere. The only reason I was changing the UP was I found out it had a CAT in it and was deleted in the 06 and up models or so. Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but the wrong UP or one with poor quality control would not cause the turbo to clock outward would it? Shite, it has been a while but I never saw one cause that issue, not even the cheapo greybox brands. If it doesn't fit it doesn't fit right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JmP6889928 Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Thanks for the kind words. As for your question, an UP that is wrong could cause a very tiny misalignment, but not enough to cause the issue you're having. Even with the Mr. Gasket piece, you're still not sealing up, which means that it's off pretty substantially. As for the inlet hose, Tomioka is the one I was speaking of and it looks nicer than the Perrin as far as fit and finish. Tough to find though. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 Tomioka!!! LOL should have seen me searching for my spelling. Thank you again John. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JmP6889928 Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 OK...I know a guy who knows a guy who has access to the Tomioka inlet hose... Call Yohan at EDO Performance (714) 602-5741 Tell him that Jamaal sent you and he'll take care of you. You can also pick up IC to TB hose too. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 Awesome! Thank you John. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 10, 2014 Author Share Posted December 10, 2014 Update on the TMIC to turbo... I was called to come and test drive the car today with claims the issues have been resolved. The turbo was somehow clocked wrong by 4 degrees. One issue down. There is still a leak somewhere in the boost system and I found another tool left in the engine compartment. The new compression test done supposedly on a cold motor with WOT; cyl 1 158 cyl 2 148 cyl 3 150 cyl 4 150 Shop still has car until they resolve the issues with the boost leak. Once I have some coin I will be replacing the hoses. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTris Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Cylinder numbers look good, but I'm thinking #1 is a bit of an error. We'll call it "mechanical tolerance". Did they "reclock" the turbo, then? I'd be a little worried about the turbo now that they've opened it up, twisted it a few degrees, and then screwed it back down. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 11, 2014 Author Share Posted December 11, 2014 Cylinder numbers look good, but I'm thinking #1 is a bit of an error. We'll call it "mechanical tolerance". Did they "reclock" the turbo, then? I'd be a little worried about the turbo now that they've opened it up, twisted it a few degrees, and then screwed it back down. . Yes, that is exactly what they have done. The catless UP is still on the car. How it, the turbo, got twisted by 4 degrees in the first place is still... a shop mystery. Forgot to also mention I found ANOTHER tool of theirs in the engine bay... Once they find the other leak(s) in the induction system I will claim the car. Then drive it gingerly until I can save some coin and have PIA or InFront look at it as well as upgrade the inlet and tb hoses. If they determine it is healthy relevant to mileage, I will just drive it and start collecting what I need for a full rebuild. I may or may not put a tune on this motor in the interim. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTris Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Yes, that is exactly what they have done. The catless UP is still on the car. How it, the turbo, got twisted by 4 degrees in the first place is still... a shop mystery. Forgot to also mention I found ANOTHER tool of theirs in the engine bay... Once they find the other leak(s) in the induction system I will claim the car. Then drive it gingerly until I can save some coin and have PIA or InFront look at it as well as upgrade the inlet and tb hoses. If they determine it is healthy relevant to mileage, I will just drive it and start collecting what I need for a full rebuild. I may or may not put a tune on this motor in the interim. J At the very least, do a Stage 1 tune as soon as you can, your motor will be healthier for it. I'll keep an eye out for APs cheap locally. And as for turbos, you know who I'll recommend.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 I'd offer to have you drop it by my house when there will be a number of lgt owners drinking beer and laughing while I try to yanl my engine. However, I'm sure Mrs Boxkita would lose it,if another lgt had its hood open at the house. Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 11, 2014 Author Share Posted December 11, 2014 I'd offer to have you drop it by my house when there will be a number of lgt owners drinking beer and laughing while I try to yanl my engine. However, I'm sure Mrs Boxkita would lose it,if another lgt had its hood open at the house. Thank you for the thought, I fully understand. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 11, 2014 Author Share Posted December 11, 2014 At the very least, do a Stage 1 tune as soon as you can, your motor will be healthier for it. I'll keep an eye out for APs cheap locally. And as for turbos, you know who I'll recommend.. John for sure... He won my trust first time I spoke to him. Thank you, J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrr Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Shout out to John Pierce from this guy also. Real stand up guy only with the best intentions for you and your car. I bought a turbo from him and he didn't just take my money and run. He took tons of time in helping through my rebuild. Hats off to JmP6889928 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 Okay, found an unmarried AP3-SUB-002 for a great price with all of the cables and gear... Should have it by end of next week. Now let us see if I have my LGT back by end of next week. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vengeance68 Posted December 19, 2014 Author Share Posted December 19, 2014 Okay, I finally have my LGT back as of an hour ago. Inlet hose and TB hoses had leaks which is what I was expecting. Why/how the turbo got clocked 4 degrees is still a mystery. My worst fear is they swapped it so it will be next on my list. They had no reason to do anything other than take it off to pull the motor. I figure I may have one off of another car. I cannot prove it so... live and learn. I did have one issue I was not expecting... the new catless UP I bought was a mess and had caused leaks at both flanges blowing out the gaskets. I bought it off of Craigslist so I have little recourse there other than to track the guy down and beat him with it. The flanges at both ends were not flat... I put both a straightedge and laser on them and they were off just enough not to sandwich the gaskets as they should. So for now I am running a stock catless UP. I will buy a new one from one of the vendors in January and put it on myself. My AP3 is on its way here. Hope to have it early next week. Otherwise she is performing better than when I bought her. Keeping fingers crossed that continues. So moving forward I'll get a tune on it and start collecting parts for an engine rebuild. Ought to be fun... I will also refresh the suspension... seems to have a bit more body-roll than I expect. I have it from a good source Santa is bringing me a low profile floor jack and jackstands for Xmas. If so I'll be heading under my girl to take a look up her skirt and see what needs to be R&R'd suspension wise. Until then, thank you all for your input, I am now going to start perusing the suspension/brake and engine rebuild posts. Merry Xmas, J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 "So for now I am running a stock catless UP" - removing the cat is key. Whether you get the Cobb Iconel version or the one you have, there's not much difference. Except heat retention. Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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