RAAMaudio ST, street, track, dog hauler, grocery getter, ultra low weight audio.....

[RAAMaudio]

Recent progress.
GT2560R install nearly finished, decided to stay with its stock compressor wheel
Passenger and drivers engine mounts now urethane filled, passenger side upper lightened, drivers side smoothed and buffed, I can barely move the engine, might be a bit to stiff!
Built new 2 point brace/undertray mount
Replaced all hard plastic lines with HD rubber hoses, SS wire wrapped all ends to ensure stay on.
New 6061 aluminum front caliper mounts designed and installed to move calipers in to fit 6ul wheels
New front knuckles as the stock ones had been modified to fit the BBK/15x9 wheels, no longer needed so went to stock knuckles.
Relocated and new lines for OCC to fit alumium expansion tank

Work in progress:
Design and install backing plates for brake ducts
Bent NACA ducts formed in undertray to glow air out through the wheel wells(like the Vette World Challenge unit I had on my race Vette)
New ECU and air filter housing mounts
Design and build heat shield with air duct for alternator as 1/4 of the oil cooler outlet blows directly on the alt now.
Finish all new radiator, IC, etc, ducting
Tap Mishimoto upper hose connectors for AN fittings

 

[RAAMaudio]

I know I need to do more with pictures and have been given advice but have not followed it so I promise to if offered again.

1) Samsung Galaxy 6, best photo resolution to take good pics but files not to big?
2) Best place to host photos directly from the phone?

I have a bunch on the phone but the files are too big, have edit them down, then host them somewhere...

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Todays update:
1) Pulled GT2560R turbo off and apart and took the cartridge to Turbos Direct which is just 2 miles or so from the RV park we are at, they did the billet wheel upgrade in 45 minutes at a great price
2) Looked over the compressor and turbine housings to see if needing porting and polishing, not much if any, both very well finished.
2) Finished tapping the Mishi exp tank, now have braided SS lines hooked up, got rid of more plastic lines, looks pretty cool as well
3) New oil line made and installed to feed the turbo so I could use one of the overly long lines it came with for the expansion tank.

 

[TempeST]

Ooooooo billet wheel upgrade! Curious to see how it does. glad to hear you got the lines all figured out and installed.

as for the pictures, I usually email them to myself, and before it sends the email it asks if I want to send the pictures in actual size, large, medium or small. I always pick medium as it is small enough for the forums and it doesn't require a host

 

[RAAMaudio]

Yes, it is a beautiful piece of sculpture my even me wife very much appreciated

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I have never seen an option to post pics here unless hosted, perhaps and issue with Firefox?

 

[TempeST]

When you reply, select "go advanced" and when in that screen scroll down past all the smileys and you will see a button you can click that says "manage attachments" and you can use either the "select files" and upload more than one at a time or use the "basic uploader" and upload one at a time for computers with slower connections or what not. Hope this helps.

 

[15pbfist]

I screen shot them and then crop back to original and never had a problem

 

[RAAMaudio]

Whew,
Been putting in serious hours on the car and still I wrote up an updated list of things I am still working on! 17 items are on it, most if not all are updated on the first post of the build thread.

The car should be running by tomorrow evening but just doing a leak test, around the block to settle things, have to adjust the ride height, alignment due to new stiffer springs. Then back to finishing up as much as I can and making tuning runs for the new turbo then for the WMI as well, need tunes for using it and not depending on access to methanol in our travels.

 

[DarthvaderIX]

At least your car has parts on it, mine, still waiting, you know how hard that is, damn hard....I want my toys now or I am going to pout

To keep myself busy, besides getting the house ready to sell and smaller tweaks on the car I am shopping for a new Duramax Denali dually

I will likely have to order to get just what I want though, more waiting........

And I am still waiting for the Helix wheels to come in.......

And my wife is out of town, waiting for her to return......

So I have been buying, selling and trading some guns, at least having some fun in that area but need to get two Kahr PM9's sold so I can buy some higher capacity 9's to go with the LCP customs I just bought.

Rick, This is Jacob, we have been emailing back and forth a bit. I didn't know you were into guns as well! I happen to know a guy who runs a gun shop if you need/want anything.

 

[RAAMaudio]

Crappy picture of the Siebon CF RS style hood with locking areocatch latches. All stock latch, cable, prop rod etc parts removed for several pounds of weight savings. Installing and lining up the hood took a couple of hours including window washer nozzle install, etc....the aerocatches took about 5 hours of serious effort to get lined up, operational and flow with the hood vents layout. I wanted to mount them wider aparts but ran into fitment issues with the aluminum rod location due to custom radiator install and the design of the hood and aerocatch parts.

In the end I really like how it turned out but it took 3 times longer than expected, as mods mods seem to do

Sorry for the dirty car pics, still doing other mods, parking outside in the desert with wind and dust storms, a bit of rain, not going to detail the car and take better pics until worth the effort and stays clean for more than a day.

The hood does not line up perfectly but does look better in person than in this pic, part of this or possibly all is my car is modded to the point there is little to go by when putting it all together again, I spent a lot of time on the bumper beam, IC, coolers, hood, pins, etc...and still not perfect.

I wish I had got a plain hood now and the rear sides of the hood vents as more functional, if needed I will add them and have a very holy hood

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UPDATE:
I will likely make an ABS vertical section cut into the leading edge of the vents, sticking up 1/2 or higher, to help create more negative pressure behind it and evacuate more air out of the vents.

 

[RAAMaudio]

2 days of work to seal the air into the grills so it it has to flow through the coolers, at least the vast majority of it that is, barely any place else left to go. Molded ABS sheet was the main material.

Notice:
ABS formed from top of IC to DHM bumper beam to force as much air through IC as possible.
Real velocity stack CAI.
Insulated intake and air filter housing(had to leave the German beer logo and steins showing
Blue aluminum fittings in Mishimoto expansion tank connected to braided lines.
Lightened passenger side engine mount upper, lower is 2 part urethane filled.
Setrab dual pass oil cooler with lines on the same side so not in front of other coolers, 40% of the air through it flows into the engine bay instead of onto other coolers.
Bottom of IC, which I lowered from the original DHM placement, fits against undertray, 20% of IC flows out below other coolers, vial custom lower core support.
DIY Mishimoto radiator is mounted 2 inches below stock radiator height.
DIY upper aluminum core support also mounts Aerocatch hood look pins, not shown.
Also not show, stock horns mounted further back for weight distribution, seems not that important but a whole car approach yields big returns
There is probably 200+hours of intense labor invested in the front of this car for cooling, weight reduction, etc, alone.

 

[SeanBonham]

Nice Work!

 

[Pete]

2 days of work to seal the air into the grills so it it has to flow through the coolers, at least the vast majority of it that is, barely any place else left to go. Molded ABS sheet was the main material.

Notice:
ABS formed from top of IC to DHM bumper beam to force as much air through IC as possible.
Real velocity stack CAI.
Insulated intake and air filter housing(had to leave the German beer logo and steins showing
Blue aluminum fittings in Mishimoto expansion tank connected to braided lines.
Lightened passenger side engine mount upper, lower is 2 part urethane filled.
Setrab dual pass oil cooler with lines on the same side so not in front of other coolers, 40% of the air through it flows into the engine bay instead of onto other coolers.
Bottom of IC, which I lowered from the original DHM placement, fits against undertray, 20% of IC flows out below other coolers, vial custom lower core support.
DIY Mishimoto radiator is mounted 2 inches below stock radiator height.
DIY upper aluminum core support also mounts Aerocatch hood look pins, not shown.
Also not show, stock horns mounted further back for weight distribution, seems not that important but a whole car approach yields big returns
There is probably 200+hours of intense labor invested in the front of this car for cooling, weight reduction, etc, alone.

Do you have pictures of how you lowered the intercooler? I am most interested in this as I have an under tray as well and want as much air going through the coolers not around it.

 

[RAAMaudio]

Sorry no pics but pretty easy, used some 1/8" thick aluminum I mounted to the locations the IC would of mounted to then screwed the IC to it at the height needed.

Make sure to cut out the area between the grids on the bottom of the radiator support and you can look at other areas as well to increase airflow out, it all adds up and takes of a little weight

I went a bit more radical since already had a DIY radiator install that I lowered as well as lowered the AC unit but still the IC sits around 2" lower than they do.

This was from when I still had the Jline IC, notched bumper beam, etc, not have the DHM race IC and tubular bumper which is a damn good deal and barely weighs more than the stock bumper and IC and a great deal less than the Jline weighed.

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GOOP RV, amazing stuff. I recently repaired a separated radiator mount rubber bushing to bolt bracket and breather hose to intake manifold port, plastic to aluminum, working very well so far. I wish I had used it when I replaced the broken rocker trim panel clips, there are areas where it was glue on, I used the top 3M double sided tape which is holding up but the Goop RV would of been even better I am sure.

 

[TempeST]

Good God Man. I love this! Great work. Definitely going to be looking into doing some of these DIYs you have going on. oil cooler and Sealing off the air flow for sure

 

[RAAMaudio]

Addicted to mods, me? I love this stuff but am really looking forward to the next house my wife and I design and build, lots of great ideas and all from the land around it as much as possible.

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I need to pick up some 1" hose, might go a bit bigger, going to mount the inlet in the ABS on the left of the oil cooler and blow air onto the front of the alternator. I will have a dip in the middle and might stuff some stainless steel wool in the middle to catch and let moisture out a hole in the bottom. The oil cooler blows quite a bit of hot air on the alternator right now.

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One mod leads to another, and another......part of the fun

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I need to spend quite a few hours and post up all I can on the build thread to help others out, always glad to help my fellow enthusiasts will all I know or learn and of course learn from others which I have done all my life.

 

[RAAMaudio]

Had to take some time off on projects, had eye surgery yesterday, torn retina, went well but not much fun getting parts inside the eyeball welded with a laser....better than loosing my eye site by a thousand fold, maybe million fold, etc.....

I have to find a boost leak, something did not line up quite right, taking the car to get it ready and cool overnight then on it in the AM.

 

[shouldbeasy]

Agh!!! Eye surgery is something I definitely want to avoid in my lifetime. My sister has had multiple surgeries - one just recently! She does have a sweet eye patch though...

Quick question - does your car fit inside the toyhauler? I am hoping so, cause dang, that'd be cool.

 

[RAAMaudio]

It was not fun but at least fast and little pain left but going to take some time to clear up the blood I have to look through though I can still drive OK.

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It was a big task finding the right toyhauler, car, etc to fit our plans, garage is 14' so just enough room to get it in and tie it down and can squeeze by it to go into the garage if needed. Also the trailer had to have weight rating to carry the load though I had to take out the elevator system but we did not need it, stiffen up the ramps, stronger tie downs, and cannot carry fuel in the two thirty gallon tanks on the trailer or water in the 90 gallon fresh water tank. I could fill them near a destination though if needed.

We have to find the right place to get the car in as toyhaulers have a high floor height and I use Race Ramps and if not place to park it to help have to put down the trailer front jacks and lift the front as high as I can. I put a winch on the floor, a bit in the way going through the sliding glass doors, just in case I have to winch it in sometime. It is a bit of a hassle loading and unloading for shorter drives so my wife just drives the car to save the trouble.

We are likely to sell the trailer soon and get a motorhome for more actual living space and being able to just stop and be in the house instead of the trailer out back and other reasons like taking more things with us. We are looking into getting a well sorted and modded Suzuki Sidekick, an ATV and my wife wants a Yamaha XT225 enduro. We would get a 40 MH with lots of slides, bigger engine, and a 20' open deck trailer and design a second deck and ramps for it.

 

[shouldbeasy]

I figured it would be a tight squeeze! I had looked into a toy hauler briefly and couldn't find one large enough to fit the dimensions I had for the FiST. Glad you did!

That being said, I think a trailer would be the best bet for moving the toys with the house. I'm in a position where I may be looking to do the same set up as you - in some permutation that is. RV living has its attractions to me but having my toys and tools near by for service and to keep me modding.

I'll keep tabs on your thread for sure as I'm sure you'll come up with a very elegant solution.

Heal up quick!

 

[RAAMaudio]

DHM GT2560R has been on for awhile now, stopped tuning to take the time to install the WMI kit in the rear of the car and many other upgrades being done.

Vdyno showed 309WHP and 265 ft lbs on 91 octane but it was getting pretty lean.

WMI, I have spent many days designing and building a sealed enclosure in the tire well for the tank, including cutting out some of it to lower the tank and pump as much as I can get away with.

I had already deleted the windshield washer bottle up front with plans to use the WMI tank and fluid to wash the both front and rear windshields then got to looking more at the toxic issues with methanol, it does not take much to cause one to go blind.

Those with a rear mounted tank might want to consider what could happen in a serious rear end collision, pop the tank...scary situation to say the least!

I wanted mine in the rear as part of a comprehensive plan to move as much weight to the rear as possible, now I wish I had put it all up front as had plenty of room, battery already in back, live with the 14 or so lbs up front.....

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Not sure if posted on the build thread yet, installed 8k front and 7k rear Swift springs on the BC coilovers.

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Finally working on the rear BBK aluminum caliper mounts and parking brake setup on the 4 piston rear calipers. I was using DIY prototype steel rear caliper mounts and no parking brake for 2+ years. The aluminum ones are not a lot of weight savings but it all adds up and corrected a couple of issues during the process.

I found the aluminum mounts I had made were not to my spec so just paid another $106 today to have that corrected.

In the mean time Brian at Fastbrakes came up with a better design for the parking brake cable setup which saved me a huge amount of time compared to designing my own way of doing it. I did have to pay a machine shop take .050 off the radial mounts to clear the wheels but that was due to my original design, not FB and they were already fixing the other error so not a bad deal overall.

The new cable mount Brian developed adds considerable clamping power, the original ones from WW were just to pass some spec rules on some race cars having to have a parking brake but it did not work that great.Now they are real parking brakes, low cost and easy to install part and using the stock cables. (Note: Stock cables might not work for a lessor modded ST than mine with camber change and side to side knuckle swap, caliper upper forward mounted, etc.)

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I am adding water cooling to the Tial ext WG, DIY brass light weight fittings, custom hoses, etc...it had inlet that came with the WG so I figured I would use it considering all the heat on track days at the WG. Parts are on hand, just have to drain out some coolant and install them in a couple of days when the front is back up in the air, cannot get a drain pan under the front right now.

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3 Stage Autometer shift light installed, just need to wire up the tach signal and program it. I have had this unit in other installs, and loved it, I can set what I prefer which is 200 below redline, redline and 200 above and with different intensity, etc...

What I love about this unit is color changes, intensity, etc, all I need to know when to shift, when to float below redline on a shorter straight to save an up and down shift upsetting the chassis, focusing on braking, the line, etc...not looking at the track, downshifting, skip shifting, avoiding the dreaded money shift....damn fine driving aid while at speed on track