I Donated Too sigmafour Posted February 4, 2017 Author I Donated Too Share Posted February 4, 2017 Why is it familiar Fahr? And thank you for the clarification on the injectors. So here's the story of what happened on this dyno with the 850s and why we got onto this topic of duty cycle. While the car tuned well with no hint there were any major problems, there was in fact a big issue with the primary meth nozzle. This was only discovered much later when I was taking apart the meth setup on another whim. Inside the car, during the tune the methanol flow gauge behaved appropriately but the issue it had prevented the methanol fuel properly atomizing and meant more injector was being called on to make proper fuel. The tuner did note the injectors were reaching max duty cycle and it was concluded I would probably benefit from larger injectors. However we made good power and so I was on my way and there were about to be some other issues which didn't give me much more thought about the injector duty cycle! As some of you have quite obviously noted... AMR was about to give me some serious headaches. http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8728.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8731.jpg This was the first tune with "STi Mike" who has a terrific reputation and really took his time to tune the car. Some of the same issues Bren had with the car "digging a hole in the AFR and then jumping out" were found and it was interesting to see the two different tuners note some of the same problems. Mike was starting from scratch, not from Bren's map which he wouldn't be able to read anyway but this was also going from an e-tune to an Access port tune and for the most part it was completely drama free. People at the tuning shop though were all very concerned about the AMR. Unlike the tuners reputation AMR's seemed not so good. I kept defending the AMR and how this one would be different, this one had Rob's personal touch it had the custom wheel and I told again the story about the billet and the efforts Rob had shared with me to really giving me personal and great customer service. After-all I had spent $700 on that rebuild and so I knew I got something back really well done and cared for. Everyone else shook their head saying "I don't know man..." The Turbo made good power that day and so the nay sayers said "Okay well I guess you must have a good one but we have never had any good luck with them" The car was tuned on a Wednesday and despite driving the car home I really hadn't used the car the rest of the week. That following weekend I took the car to a tire place because I had some 2011 WRX wheels I had got from Craigslist and all pleased with the car being good now I wanted to get around to putting tires on them so that was Saturday. http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8739.jpg And on Sunday I went up to Vermont with my friend and her WRX for some driving fun and to take pictures. http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8853.jpg That car has changed a lot cosmetically since 2014. It's a very pretty car these days but after all my troubles, modifying the engine on her car hasn't been a priority. I wonder why? It was on that trip while driving back just four days after the tune the first swirl of oil occurred. I was off the highway and waiting at a light and blue fog enveloped the car. Denial is a powerful drug. When I got home I found grease all over the downpipe, subframe and brace. I know I don't need to explain what that was on this forum. http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8931.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8934.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8977.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8978.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8979.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8980.jpg Denial or not, I knew that wasn't the reason for the fog! I ain't stupid, well maybe some. I got it into my head there was something wrong with the catch can setup and so Alberto humored me. I think he knew the AMR was suspect number one but because he is such a diligent engine builder and a good friend he took the time to check stuff out and start ruling it out. http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8981.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8982.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_8983.jpg The car would seem to stop burning oil and then I would get the fog again and some days the car reeked of oil, it was just horrible. It really started to get worse. I hardly used the car, deep down knowing something was wrong and I thought about everything. This was a new motor build, maybe it wasn't put together right, the way the catch can was plumbed. Everything. I did feel sick about the whole thing. Mostly the car sat... Winter came. Snow... and then when I did have to move the car. It was painfully obvious something really bad was going on. http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_0421.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_0422.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_0423.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fahr_side Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 I've also never heard anything good about AMR. Obligatory '[URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/2008-gh8-238668.html?t=238668"]build thread[/URL]' Increased capacity to 2.7 liters, still turbo, but no longer need spark plugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated Too sigmafour Posted September 24, 2017 Author I Donated Too Share Posted September 24, 2017 I best finish this story or at least move it along. So what happened next? Well I was still in denial for a bit but I knew the Turbo had to come back out and at least get looked at. I called AMR and I am not going to make a long story of them. They told me the problem will not be with the Turbo it was definitely the new motor. They said if I swapped the Turbo with another I would have exactly the same problem, they said I would have bad compression, oil pouring out of the engine somewhere but it was definitely not their Turbo. Well I could test that theory. I had another Turbo - a perfectly good HTA68. Once the snow melted and it wasn't so cold it could make a brass monkey cry I finally took the AMR out and well the problem was pretty obvious. The uppipe and intake hose were dry but the back of the Turbo was soaked. There was a lot of oil in the throttle body hose, the Turbo was clearly not good and leaking oil, there was no other explanation. What was getting into the engine and surrounding the car with blue smoke was getting burned off but the rest, well you will see later... Nice rusty center housing on a Turbo rebuilt less than 500 miles ago for $700 http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1448.jpg Throttle body hose... wet. http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1446.jpg The dry intake hose... http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1943.jpg The dry uppipe... http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1941.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1942.jpg Soaking wet exhaust tips... http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1958.jpg And the Turbo itself... http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1458.jpg Well, that was soaking at the back... http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1449.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1452.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1951.jpg So I grabbed the clean HTA68 http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1934.jpg Put it on... http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1944.jpg and took the car down to Alberto's because for the moment there was still so much oil in the exhaust it stank and still blew fumes I needed to swap that off too before I could be SURE the problem was in the Turbo. Some more denial but that would quickly change. http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1979.jpg Took off the soaked Borla and put on an SPTv2 I had sitting around for the Wagon. http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1998.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1999.jpg And about all that oil AMR so clearly told me I had pouring into the engine well we could check the back of the HTA68 and what do you know, it was dry. http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1990.jpg As for the Borla... Not so much. http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1994.jpg http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_1996.jpg In fact, how much oil was in those Borla mufflers? Where had all the oil been going... http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/b2/IMG_2003.jpg So after another phone call I sent the "freshly rebuilt" AMR off to them for an inspection, confident they would say yup, we messed something up and let's sort that out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated Too sigmafour Posted April 11, 2019 Author I Donated Too Share Posted April 11, 2019 Reserved for rest of AMR Story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated Too sigmafour Posted April 11, 2019 Author I Donated Too Share Posted April 11, 2019 Reserved for JMP Story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated Too sigmafour Posted April 11, 2019 Author I Donated Too Share Posted April 11, 2019 Reserved for first Gearbox BOOM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated Too sigmafour Posted April 11, 2019 Author I Donated Too Share Posted April 11, 2019 Reserved for Second Gearbox BOOM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated Too sigmafour Posted April 11, 2019 Author I Donated Too Share Posted April 11, 2019 Reserved for Third Gearbox BOOM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated Too sigmafour Posted April 11, 2019 Author I Donated Too Share Posted April 11, 2019 I give up! 6MT Swap will go here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrig Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 subscribed ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kzr750r1 Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 In for the JMP episode. Still want to send him my original VF40. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awfulwaffle Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 Dude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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