Blackenedwings Franken-turbo install thread
07-17-2009, 03:35 PM
#152
Life begins @ 30 psi
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Thanks guys, you rock. 
It's pretty freaking sweet to have the support of this board, I would never have come close to getting this car done without it. Apparently the turbo is in now, and Ray from PFS told me he is hoping to get it started on the dyno today. They probably won't finish today, and Ray is out this whole weekend, but I should be looking at driving the car home early next week.
It's pretty freaking sweet to have the support of this board, I would never have come close to getting this car done without it. Apparently the turbo is in now, and Ray from PFS told me he is hoping to get it started on the dyno today. They probably won't finish today, and Ray is out this whole weekend, but I should be looking at driving the car home early next week.
07-20-2009, 10:41 PM
#155
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I chatted with them early today (monday) and they said it would probably be done and ready to drive away by midafternoon tomorrow if they didn't have any issues, and Wednesday at the latest. I'll chat with them tomorrow and check on it, but keep your fingers crossed.
07-21-2009, 10:25 AM
#157
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I will definitely take some videos hopefully this week. My buddy is coming down from RI to visit for a big RX-8 meet this weekend, and he is bringing his video camera so I'm hoping to get some video of the drive down there and of the meet.
07-22-2009, 06:40 AM
#158
whines all the way home
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Yeah, I was getting so jealous watching everyone else get boosted, but I've taken my time with this build getting the right parts, installing all the pieces to make it reliable, and getting a professional installation and tune. I'm going nuts not having my car, but soon soon!
07-22-2009, 08:54 AM
#159
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Yup, I wanted to do everything possible to make sure the setup is reliable. Doing the research to find all the pieces that make that possible was one part, and a professional tune is crucial. I would have installed the turbo itself on my own honestly if I had a garage, but in the end it works out better this way. If they have troubles with the car on the dyno it can't be attributed to my crappy installation of the turbo components. Although they did compliment me on the meth kit installation, so that was nice since I did it in the blazing sun in front of my house one Saturday.
07-26-2009, 07:28 PM
#161
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I don't have the car back, lets just say I'm having more "issues" with the shop. I won't get into it right now, suffice to say my review of my experience with the shop is not looking too charitable at the moment. Thanks to Ray from BHR for helping me with a few questions and listening to me yell and rant about it.
07-26-2009, 07:51 PM
#162
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Dont worry,,, Like you said alot of the stuff you have isnt a perfect mate and some of the items have to be custom built never underestimate the length in time that custom parts take, so many unknowns,,,
07-26-2009, 08:21 PM
#163
I don't have the car back, lets just say I'm having more "issues" with the shop. I won't get into it right now, suffice to say my review of my experience with the shop is not looking too charitable at the moment. Thanks to Ray from BHR for helping me with a few questions and listening to me yell and rant about it.
I'm not trying to be a d*ck, but Jeff did warn you about that shop
https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...8&postcount=90
Hope you get it sorted out
07-27-2009, 07:37 PM
#168
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It shouldn't take 45+ days in a shop to have this done. At all. The brake install is the same that Dan did in the rain, at night, in less than a day. The turbo install is the same installation that CRH is doing in 3 days. They didn't start work on the car for almost 3 weeks. They didn't check the parts well enough to see if anything was missing, and they ignored my explicit installation instructions. Then they had to go back and fix the stuff they did wrong. The ONLY reason the car has been there this long is because of their issues. Issues that they repeatedly refused to be honest about and contact me with until it was too late.
All of that is forgivable. Honestly if I picked up my car and was able to drive it away I would have written a glowing review about how it was worth the wait despite the communication problems. The timeframe is not my complaint. The installation including brakes and tuning brings the total of this job to $3000 not $1600 but I don't have a problem with the cost either.
What I do have a problem with is that I was greatly misled about their tuning capabilities and now I'm up **** creek without a paddle. I was told that they had the AccessPORT software and had tuned RX-8s before with it and it was no problem to tune my setup with it. What they didn't tell me is that I was actually the first RX-8 they had on the dyno with the AccessPORT. I can only assume they expected the Cobb RaceTuner software (no they apparently don't have ProTuner) to work the same way other ECU software did. Boy where they surprised. So they have been dynoing my car for two days without any idea what they are doing.
Ray or Jeff, if you could give me a call I would appreciate it. I have to figure out how I'm going to fix this disaster.
All of that is forgivable. Honestly if I picked up my car and was able to drive it away I would have written a glowing review about how it was worth the wait despite the communication problems. The timeframe is not my complaint. The installation including brakes and tuning brings the total of this job to $3000 not $1600 but I don't have a problem with the cost either.
What I do have a problem with is that I was greatly misled about their tuning capabilities and now I'm up **** creek without a paddle. I was told that they had the AccessPORT software and had tuned RX-8s before with it and it was no problem to tune my setup with it. What they didn't tell me is that I was actually the first RX-8 they had on the dyno with the AccessPORT. I can only assume they expected the Cobb RaceTuner software (no they apparently don't have ProTuner) to work the same way other ECU software did. Boy where they surprised. So they have been dynoing my car for two days without any idea what they are doing.
Ray or Jeff, if you could give me a call I would appreciate it. I have to figure out how I'm going to fix this disaster.
07-27-2009, 07:40 PM
#169
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07-27-2009, 07:48 PM
#171
wow.
should have saved the 3k and had some locals help you with the install and had MM dyno tune it for you perhaps...
I'm sure you could have found a garage to use...there seems to be a decent local scene where you are living
you don't need a lift either...I have done it 3 times on jackstands...each time gets faster
should have saved the 3k and had some locals help you with the install and had MM dyno tune it for you perhaps...
I'm sure you could have found a garage to use...there seems to be a decent local scene where you are living
you don't need a lift either...I have done it 3 times on jackstands...each time gets faster
07-27-2009, 07:54 PM
#172
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I didn't want to put a huge burden on the locals here. I've been helped out a lot by the folks here and they are a good bunch. I appreciated the help, but there comes a point when you are just taking advantage of people. Dan in particular gets hit up for help by basically everybody in the Tri state area. I did try to find a garage to do the work at, but my options were somewhat limited and the main reason I decided to go with PFS is that I heard they were now doing AccessPORT dyno tuning. My biggest issue with doing the install myself is that I would be at the mercy of Jeff's AccessPORT subscription service. I have never been shy about my complaints that the tunes are good but they take an insanely long time. I would also not have any dyno graphs from the result. Putting the car in the hands of a known rotary shop, that I had heard a lot of positive feedback from who could dyno tune with the software I needed seemed like the best solution so I went with it.
07-27-2009, 07:54 PM
#173
You need to march down there now - hopefully they have the car in a running condition . Negotiate a price for the work they have done so far less ******* about time and then drive the car outta there (hopefully they have not killed the motor already) .
Then you can reassess your options for tuning once you get the car back ...
Sounds like they lied to you about their capabilities so I would not trust them from this point onwards
Then you can reassess your options for tuning once you get the car back ...
Sounds like they lied to you about their capabilities so I would not trust them from this point onwards
Last edited by Brettus; 07-27-2009 at 07:57 PM.
07-27-2009, 07:56 PM
#174
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The car is running in that it is able to be run on the dyno... no leaks or anything like that. It does not have a drivable tune however. I could flash it with MMs base turbo map and drive it out of there, but I'm going to try something first.
07-27-2009, 07:56 PM
#175
I didn't want to put a huge burden on the locals here. I've been helped out a lot by the folks here and they are a good bunch. I appreciated the help, but there comes a point when you are just taking advantage of people. Dan in particular gets hit up for help by basically everybody in the Tri state area. I did try to find a garage to do the work at, but my options were somewhat limited and the main reason I decided to go with PFS is that I heard they were now doing AccessPORT dyno tuning. My biggest issue with doing the install myself is that I would be at the mercy of Jeff's AccessPORT subscription service. I have never been shy about my complaints that the tunes are good but they take an insanely long time. I would also not have any dyno graphs from the result. Putting the car in the hands of a known rotary shop, that I had heard a lot of positive feedback from who could dyno tune with the software I needed seemed like the best solution so I went with it.
i hear ya...it's just a bad deal...
hope they didn't mess up your car "trying" to dyno tune it