ChristianKustomz
Member
Hello. I am new to this forum so I appologize if I have any newbie Q's or post in the wrong section a head of time.
Ok so here is the problem. I run and operatate a performance shop in Westminster, MD so I am very familiar in what to do and mechanically inclined, however I have never had a car so Frankenstein'd in my shop before. It's pieced together and has so many parts from other cars and so many things done to it from other people I don't really know where to start so I'll try from the beginning.
It's a 1991 3000GT VR4 with a completely rebuilt engine. That much I know is good. He took his car down to a performance shop where they stole most of the aftermarket parts off the car and replaced them with parts from other cars. Wires were cut and things were moved around and turbos replaced with bad ones from a WRX.
He took it to another shop in Laurel where they too stole off his car again the turbos replacing them with poorly modified and leaking 13g's (15g's were stolen) of which were replaced with another set of bad stock 9g's. More wires cut and alarm system stolen along with the turbo timer and gauges. Apexi NEO is untested at this point too but was told its ok.
My customer picked me up so we could get the car only to find out the shop reverse polaritied the guage wires and fried the fuel pump. They put in a used Walbro and the car started again. His car originally went into the shop for a problem with it spitting after 5k RPM's. They stole his AEM and installed an ecu from a Montero which was also stolen by the shop after that. So I'm not sure of the ecu that's in their now. The fuel injectors were also stolen and swapped with God knows what and it has an AeroTechnics adjustable FPR. It has a FMIC and a grandier manual boost controller. The vacuum lines instead of being capped at the TB they left lines on them and just installed a tri-splitter on it which joins all three together. He informed me he has also done a 6-speed conversion on it as well.
Getting the picture yet...it's a Frankenstein car. Everyone knows my shop and our work so everyone comes to me to fix their cars but this one has me stumped.
It still has the problem of at 5k it looses power and spits like a machine gun. While coming to a stop the engine will sit and idle at 2k for about 2-3 seconds and idle back down to 1100 RPM's. Now I'm thinking for that IACV or idle adjuster screw but that's all the way in. I know it has good fuel pressure and climbs 1psi per 1lbs of boost but still nothing shows. I'm not really concerned with the lightly smoking turbos but need to figure out why it's losing power. The car does occasional decided to just shut off. I let it sit for a few seconds and then she fires up again. Other times she won't do it at all. I have read on here that a speed sensor or cable or ecu can have the same effect but I do not want to parts swap this guys car. He has been through enough but this is definitely testing my skill to its max and I'm just clueless to what the problem could be. I'll try and post some pictures up in the next day or two.
So any ideas at this point would be appreciated. My only thought would be to start from scratch but I'm not quite sure where scratch is. There are too many things rigged on this guys car. Any opinions on whether or not just starting with fixing the known issues or jump right on the main issue of 5k fall out? My thoughts are to take the car back to stock fix all the little things and work back up again. However it's his money and I do not want to blankety go crazy with it. Any chance I could just figure out what the problem is, fix it and then do everything else later?
Take into account the 5k problem was there before he had all these problems with people stealing from his car and Frankensteining the hell out of it.
One more thing. Because he did a 6-speed conversion on it doesn't the ecu have to match that for idle and drivability or am I wrong? I know with nissans you have to change the IACV and the ecu when swapping from auto to manual because of idle problems but I know this isn't a Nissan either.
Thanks for the help and sorry for the long post.
I also forgot to mention the shop we picked the car up from said they had it on a dyno (5-hours worth...BS) but said the car was leaning out too. Not sure whether I should believe them or not but that's what they said. I am going to talk to my customer about installing a wideband first so we can figure out where the A/F ratios are.
Ok so here is the problem. I run and operatate a performance shop in Westminster, MD so I am very familiar in what to do and mechanically inclined, however I have never had a car so Frankenstein'd in my shop before. It's pieced together and has so many parts from other cars and so many things done to it from other people I don't really know where to start so I'll try from the beginning.
It's a 1991 3000GT VR4 with a completely rebuilt engine. That much I know is good. He took his car down to a performance shop where they stole most of the aftermarket parts off the car and replaced them with parts from other cars. Wires were cut and things were moved around and turbos replaced with bad ones from a WRX.
He took it to another shop in Laurel where they too stole off his car again the turbos replacing them with poorly modified and leaking 13g's (15g's were stolen) of which were replaced with another set of bad stock 9g's. More wires cut and alarm system stolen along with the turbo timer and gauges. Apexi NEO is untested at this point too but was told its ok.
My customer picked me up so we could get the car only to find out the shop reverse polaritied the guage wires and fried the fuel pump. They put in a used Walbro and the car started again. His car originally went into the shop for a problem with it spitting after 5k RPM's. They stole his AEM and installed an ecu from a Montero which was also stolen by the shop after that. So I'm not sure of the ecu that's in their now. The fuel injectors were also stolen and swapped with God knows what and it has an AeroTechnics adjustable FPR. It has a FMIC and a grandier manual boost controller. The vacuum lines instead of being capped at the TB they left lines on them and just installed a tri-splitter on it which joins all three together. He informed me he has also done a 6-speed conversion on it as well.
Getting the picture yet...it's a Frankenstein car. Everyone knows my shop and our work so everyone comes to me to fix their cars but this one has me stumped.
It still has the problem of at 5k it looses power and spits like a machine gun. While coming to a stop the engine will sit and idle at 2k for about 2-3 seconds and idle back down to 1100 RPM's. Now I'm thinking for that IACV or idle adjuster screw but that's all the way in. I know it has good fuel pressure and climbs 1psi per 1lbs of boost but still nothing shows. I'm not really concerned with the lightly smoking turbos but need to figure out why it's losing power. The car does occasional decided to just shut off. I let it sit for a few seconds and then she fires up again. Other times she won't do it at all. I have read on here that a speed sensor or cable or ecu can have the same effect but I do not want to parts swap this guys car. He has been through enough but this is definitely testing my skill to its max and I'm just clueless to what the problem could be. I'll try and post some pictures up in the next day or two.
So any ideas at this point would be appreciated. My only thought would be to start from scratch but I'm not quite sure where scratch is. There are too many things rigged on this guys car. Any opinions on whether or not just starting with fixing the known issues or jump right on the main issue of 5k fall out? My thoughts are to take the car back to stock fix all the little things and work back up again. However it's his money and I do not want to blankety go crazy with it. Any chance I could just figure out what the problem is, fix it and then do everything else later?
Take into account the 5k problem was there before he had all these problems with people stealing from his car and Frankensteining the hell out of it.
One more thing. Because he did a 6-speed conversion on it doesn't the ecu have to match that for idle and drivability or am I wrong? I know with nissans you have to change the IACV and the ecu when swapping from auto to manual because of idle problems but I know this isn't a Nissan either.
Thanks for the help and sorry for the long post.
I also forgot to mention the shop we picked the car up from said they had it on a dyno (5-hours worth...BS) but said the car was leaning out too. Not sure whether I should believe them or not but that's what they said. I am going to talk to my customer about installing a wideband first so we can figure out where the A/F ratios are.
