The owner of this xB has JDM fog lights installed, which he discovered interfere with many of the air intake kits available for his vehicle. So, rather than spending hours searching for an intake he brought his xB to us so we could fabricate him a custom intake that would work with the space he had after installing the JDM fog lights.
September 1, 2009
August 24, 2009
‘08 STi P&L Turbo Kit
The owner of this ’08 STi had his original motor let go on him while at the track. As a racing enthusiast, rather than going back to the dealership and trying to get the motor covered under warranty he decided to step up his game and take this car to the next level.
The stock block was tossed in favor of a Raw Performance Street Series Block. The Street Series Block includes forged CP Pistons with high performance rings, STi forged rods, and a STi forged crankshaft. The forged pistons in this block offer greater strength than the original cast pistons the STi comes equipped with. The new motor was assembled using stock heads for now, although our customer is probably going to have some head work done in the future.
The owner of the vehicle chose to run the P&L rotated mount turbo kit. At the heart of this kit is a GT35r with an .82 a/r hot side housing. Due to the larger turbo, the stock top mount was replaced with a larger TurboXS unit. Some of the additional supporting mods include upgrading to a TiAL 44mm wastegate, HKS SSQV blow off valve, Deatsch Werks 850cc injectors, a Walbro 255lph fuel pump, Perrin equal length manifold, a custom oil catch can, and a South Bend FE Series clutch.
The car put down 388whp on our dyno running 93 octane. (Dyno Chart coming soon!)
August 21, 2009
Dodge Stealth R/T Custom 4″ Exhaust
Here’s a car you don’t see around too much anymore. The owner of this Dodge Stealth R/T has been working on this project for the last few years. One out of the many modifications he made was to switch from the original twin turbo setup to a single big turbo.
To go along with the larger single turbo, he wanted a 4-inch custom turbo-back exhaust. After some strategic planning, we were able to fabricate and fit a full turbo-back 4 inch exhaust under the car, without it hanging too low, or being too close to the drive shaft. This exhaust is one of a kind, and certainly a nice showpiece. It was constructed so all the joints are v-band connections. The cat was installed with v-bands as well, so that our customer may easily remove the cat and install the test pipe we fabricated for him when he goes to the track.
The owner still has some things left on his sheet of modifications to wrap up, and we can’t wait to see the car when it is 100% done!
August 19, 2009
SR20 240sx Turbo Inlet
Here is a quick turbo inlet we made for a SR swapped 240sx. Per the customers request we reused his old air filter and silicone couplers, Dan fabricated and welded the aluminum tubing.
July 28, 2009
08 Scion tC (AT) - Part 2
This ’08 Scion tC was previously in our shop when the customer had us switch out his TRD supercharger setup to a Dezod turbo kit. This time around the owner brought the vehicle back for some additional power upgrades as well as some upgrades to his automatic transmission.
After the turbo kit was installed the owner noticed the car would get hung up in first and second gear during wide-open pulls. Having already installed a B&M transmission cooler, he decided the next step was to upgrade the valve body. By upgrading to an IPT valve body, the transmission now shifts quicker, more precise and no longer gets hung up in gear.
To try and extract more power from his turbo kit, the owner upgraded from his log style manifold to an equal length turbo manifold. The equal length manifold has better flow characteristics allowing the turbo to spool faster.
With the installation of the new manifold, we had to fabricate new intercooler pipes since the turbo was relocated. Since we had to fabricate new intercooler pipes we switched the car over to a blow-thru MAF sensor. The blow-thru MAF allowed us to put the sensor behind the blow off valve on the cold side of his intercooler piping. The benefit of this setup is that we did not need to run piping from the air filter onto the inlet of the turbo. We were able to mount the filter directly on the turbo inlet, which saves room in this cars cramped engine bay, and in this case, the setup also ended up saving our customer some money since it cut down on some of the fabrication time and components. However, we did fabricate a inlet pipe for his turbo, just so we could try and get the filter away from the hot ambient air next to the manifold. He does always have the option to just stick a filter on it though.
After all the work was finished, the car was put back on the dyno for tuning where it put down 258 whp and 235 ft. lbs.
The mods proved to make a really fun and enjoyable street car, that can also put down some decent numbers at the track.
Not one to be satisfied, our customer is already thinking of future modifications, including a fully built engine and trans along with a GT3076R! We’ll keep you posted…
Here are the modifications that were done this time around:
Turbo Toyotas Equal Length Manifold
Turbo Toyotas Slim Radiator Fans
Verocious Custom Aluminum Intercooler Piping
Blow-Thru MAF
Verocious Custom 3” downpipe and 3” V-band exhaust
Verocious Custom Wastegate Dump Tube
Custom Vibrant Oil Catch Can Setup
Tial Q 50mm Blow off Valve
IPT Valve Body Upgrade
Tuned by Verocious
July 22, 2009
Stock PCV System vs. PCV System w/ Air Oil Separator
This 07 STi came into the shop down on power and knock prone. After some diagnosis we discovered the intercooler had quite a bit of oil inside of it. Finding a large amount of oil in the intercooler was a pretty good indicator that oil was most likely making its way into the combustion chambers. When oil gets on top of the pistons in an engine it will hinder combustion efficiency, causing knock, which is very damaging to the engine. The oil gets there by way of the PCV system (Positive Crankcase Ventilation System), which carries a mixture of air and oil vapors.
By installing an oil separator, or a catch can, the lines from the PCV system are run into and out of a tank or can that usually contains a baffle inside. When the air and oil mixture hits the baffle the oil is separated from the mixture. The difference between the oil separator and the catch can is that an air oil separator drains back to the oil pan. A catch can, just as the name describes, acts as a can that collects the oil, meaning it will periodically need to be emptied.
The dyno chart below illustrates how much power can be gained with the installation of a high quality air oil separator or catch can when there is an excessive amount of oil in the PCV system.
Run 12 is the car after the stage 2 tune was finished. Run 1 is the same exact tune as run 12 except the oil has been cleaned out of the intercooler and a Crawford Air Oil Separator was installed. In this case the owner picked up 26.5 hp and 8 ft. lbs torque at the wheels.
June 16, 2009
07 WRX Transmission Upgrade
Often times people only consider transmission upgrades after they break something, or it has become a necessity due to the power output of the engine. In this case, however, the owner of this ’07 WRX understood there was a need for adding some strength for those occasional trips to the drag strip. Since this car serves as both a daily driver as well as a toy, it was important to our customer to keep the car civil for commuting and highway driving, while still improving acceleration and strength in lower the gears.
To meet our customer’s requirements, we recommended replacing the stock gear set with PPG gears and synchros, using straight cut gears for first and second, helical cut gears for third and fourth, fifth gear remains stock. Using the stronger straight cut gears for first and second means the trans should withstand repeated launches at the drag strip without consequence.
It’s no secret that straight cut gears generate more cabin noise than helical cut gears, so by using straight cuts in combination with helical cut you get the best of both worlds. The strength where you need it, for launching, and by the time you hit third, the transmission noise is still docile enough for everyday street use.
Along with the installation of the gear set, we also installed a new Southbend clutch. After the clutch break in period he’ll be back to get the car on the dyno for a tune, we’ll post an update and let you know what kind of numbers the car makes.
June 3, 2009
COBB DP Neckdown Removal
Here are a few shots of a quick mod we do. In order for the COBB downpipes to mate up to the factory Subaru exhaust they have a neckdown where the downpipe and midpipe meet. Even when you upgrade to a larger cat-back exhaust, the neckdown is still a choking point for the exhaust. By removing the neckdown you remove the choking point, allowing you to reap the full benefits of your aftermarket exhaust setup. In addition to removing the neckdown, when we do this modification we replace the warp and leak prone 2-bolt style flanges with v-band flanges. The V-Bands allow the connection to be more easily serviced, and they hold up better in performance applications, as they are less prone to warping and exhaust leaks.
May 27, 2009
’08 STi Verocious Custom Turbo Kit
This car features a custom Verocious Motorsports turbo kit that we put together. The kit was pulled together using the following components:
Verocious Rotated Mount Uppipe
Verocious Downpipe to Magnaflow cat back exhaust
Verocious 3.5” intake
Raw1 Track Series Block with Stock Heads and Cams
TurboXS Top Mount Intercooler
Twin Walboro In-tank Pumps
DeatschWerks 1100cc injectors
FP HTA GT35r Turbo with .82 Tial Stainless Exhaust Housing
Custom Mounted Defi Guages
The car is an animal on the street. With this turbo kit we bumped the stock output from 249 whp and 254 ft. lbs to 380 whp and 365 ft. lbs. There is also more power to be had with this kit, but the car is currently running stock heads and cams and those are the limiting factors right now. The owner is already talking about having some head work done as well as putting a FMIC on the car, and we are very curious to see how those modifications will translate into more power when we have the chance to strap this car back down. We’ll keep you posted.
May 19, 2009
Honda Ruckus - Custom Exhaust
Here’s a pretty cool project that we just completed, a custom Moto GP inspired exhaust for a Honda Ruckus. If your not familiar with the Honda Ruckus it is a bare bones tube frame scooter that comes with a 50cc engine from the factory. Which means it is as easy to modify as your first BMX bike. The customer who owns this one, has changed just about everything and has turned his Ruckus into a laid out custom. In addition to the cosmetic changes this Ruckus features an engine swap and a big bore kit pushing it out to 180cc’s. Perfect for cruising the beaches!
