New to forum! My SC...need some help!
06-16-13, 08:31 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
New to forum! My SC...need some help!
Hey everyone I just joined CL because I just purchased a 1993 SC300 NA-T automatic from a member on here named chizz95. Its got a Clean Title with 94,500 miles on it but has been in a front end accident in 99' and had its rear bumper replaced in 10' from rear end collision as well. It has a vertex bodykit and is painted a custom dark grey color. I purchased it for $4000. It had 18" Work Equips on but he wanted more than I wanted to pay for the rims and I was planning on getting a new set. It has an an ebay turbo kit with a Godspeed T70, ebay manifold, wastegate and intercooler. Its got a Walbro 255 and osidetiger rebuilt 660cc inj. Its got a TT 1.3mm headgasket and ARP head studs. It has a MAF delete and is running an old HKS VPC with MKIII 550 chip and APEXi SAFC II.
Basically its running pretty crappy right now. When I bought the car he said that after he put the VPC in it never really ran quite right and hesitated off idle at tip in and between shifts. However at higher rpm with over about 20% throttle the response was pretty good. Im not an expert but the cars computer kinda seemed to be very confused and the A/F was all over on the wideband. It would be running lean one second then rich the next and I wouldnt even be adjusting the throttle input. The valve cover was leaking so I replaced it and discovered a lot of oil and the spark plugs werent even tight. I bought NGK BKR7E plugs and gapped them to .28-.29 and tightened them properly. I rewired some damaged harness clips and put on a new oil feed line for the turbo which sprung a leak because of its horrible location. Im doing a synthetic oil change and coolant flush with the good stuff tomorrow , Im slowly fixing all the neglected things and hack jobs this kid did and corners he cut. I hate jumping into someone elses project!
Ive been doin alot of research on the HKS VPC and Apexi SAFC and how they work and the problems they have together. My buddy has a 06 STI with over 500whp and is sponsored by ECS Performance out of Windsor CT. I talked to them and they said they wouldnt recommend running the VPC and SAFC with each other and if I replaced it with AEM FIC it would probably solve all of my problems. Anyways im taking it to them tomorrow to set up and game plan to revitalized my Lex. Think I got a good deal on this thing? Any input from you guys is appreciated.
Basically its running pretty crappy right now. When I bought the car he said that after he put the VPC in it never really ran quite right and hesitated off idle at tip in and between shifts. However at higher rpm with over about 20% throttle the response was pretty good. Im not an expert but the cars computer kinda seemed to be very confused and the A/F was all over on the wideband. It would be running lean one second then rich the next and I wouldnt even be adjusting the throttle input. The valve cover was leaking so I replaced it and discovered a lot of oil and the spark plugs werent even tight. I bought NGK BKR7E plugs and gapped them to .28-.29 and tightened them properly. I rewired some damaged harness clips and put on a new oil feed line for the turbo which sprung a leak because of its horrible location. Im doing a synthetic oil change and coolant flush with the good stuff tomorrow , Im slowly fixing all the neglected things and hack jobs this kid did and corners he cut. I hate jumping into someone elses project!
Ive been doin alot of research on the HKS VPC and Apexi SAFC and how they work and the problems they have together. My buddy has a 06 STI with over 500whp and is sponsored by ECS Performance out of Windsor CT. I talked to them and they said they wouldnt recommend running the VPC and SAFC with each other and if I replaced it with AEM FIC it would probably solve all of my problems. Anyways im taking it to them tomorrow to set up and game plan to revitalized my Lex. Think I got a good deal on this thing? Any input from you guys is appreciated.
06-17-13, 01:25 AM
#5
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Welcome to CL 
Hmm interesting, just go to that usersname here or google it, seems he had some problems with it. Could be a money pit. For only 4k thats how much NA good conditions SCs go for. Hopefully you didnt buy someones elses junk/problems.
Knock off kit + Ebay turbo kit can tell you at least something right there.
I do like both sets of wheels tho.
Goodluck on getting this thing to its full potential and hopefully us CL members can help
Hmm interesting, just go to that usersname here or google it, seems he had some problems with it. Could be a money pit. For only 4k thats how much NA good conditions SCs go for. Hopefully you didnt buy someones elses junk/problems. Knock off kit + Ebay turbo kit can tell you at least something right there.
I do like both sets of wheels tho.
Goodluck on getting this thing to its full potential and hopefully us CL members can help
Last edited by Joey-E; 06-17-13 at 01:44 AM.
06-17-13, 06:04 AM
#6
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I'm sure that you will have to replace the turbo, and make sure to have a shop tune your car.. as well as strengthen your turbo manifold, ebay parts don't tend to think about how heavy that turbo is on that manifold.
06-17-13, 09:00 AM
#7
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Thread Starter
Thanks everyone for the positive response. The intercooler is on straight I checked it! This morning I did the oil change and coolant flush and cleaned the bottom of the engine to get rid of all the oil residue from that horrible valve cover gasket leak. Also discovered that the crossmember has a crack in it. 
Besides that this car needs lower control arm busings and a good set of coilovers (its on springs and stock struts now too bouncy). Well im off to go to ECS performance Ill keep you guys updated. Thanks everyone! 
Besides that this car needs lower control arm busings and a good set of coilovers (its on springs and stock struts now too bouncy). Well im off to go to ECS performance Ill keep you guys updated. Thanks everyone!
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06-17-13, 06:36 PM
#11
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Hey everyone im back!!! Thanks for the positivity guys this car does make me quite nervous jumping into someones half assed, non daily driven project car(even tho he has a daily driven sticker on it 
). The color is custom he said its BASF Diamont BC250: 2 oz BC195: 1oz BC171:1 oz and that will be my color. I have a feeling im gonna need that, this bumper scrapes on everything. 
So anyways just came back from ECS Tuning and good news. One of the guys said it is probably cool to drive the car around a bit just cruising low boost and watching the A/F making sure its not going lean when on boost. I drove it about 45 mins away into CT and then drove it around today and it seems to be running decent. Its weird though, sometimes it runs really lean (16.5:1) at idle and then sometimes its super rich (like 12:1). Cruising on the highway at 70-75 it bounces between 14:1-16.5:1 which he said was ok for highway cruise. However sometimes when I get into boost it takes a little longer to go rich and makes me nervous...sometimes it only goes to like 13:1 or so. So to prevent my plugs from fouling and any damage to the motor im taking it easy and not driving it much and using my alternative transportation my CBR600RR (pic below). Im scheduled for July 8th to drop my car off for the AEM FIC and Boomslang SC300 harness. I figure about $800 bucks for the two and maybe $500 in labor and tuning.
Thinking I should upgrade this turbo as it is starting to have shaft play (friggen godspeed turbo crap) and i saw some oil leaking back through the compressor which im assuming means bad seals? Anyways can anyone recommend a good budget turbo for about 350whp? I want something decent, can be used... looking for under $400. Maybe a Holset? Im still learning what can fit. This turbo is a T4 flange, .68 hot .70 cold T70, I believe it has a 4" inlet and 3" outlet. Ive been browsing craigslist for a good deal on something but im afraid that if I buy something its not gonna fit and im gonna have to modify my downpipe or manifold? Any speculation from you guys is mucho appreciated. You all are making me feel quite welcome!
BTW heres a pic of my other toy.
). The color is custom he said its BASF Diamont BC250: 2 oz BC195: 1oz BC171:1 oz and that will be my color. I have a feeling im gonna need that, this bumper scrapes on everything. So anyways just came back from ECS Tuning and good news. One of the guys said it is probably cool to drive the car around a bit just cruising low boost and watching the A/F making sure its not going lean when on boost. I drove it about 45 mins away into CT and then drove it around today and it seems to be running decent. Its weird though, sometimes it runs really lean (16.5:1) at idle and then sometimes its super rich (like 12:1). Cruising on the highway at 70-75 it bounces between 14:1-16.5:1 which he said was ok for highway cruise. However sometimes when I get into boost it takes a little longer to go rich and makes me nervous...sometimes it only goes to like 13:1 or so. So to prevent my plugs from fouling and any damage to the motor im taking it easy and not driving it much and using my alternative transportation my CBR600RR (pic below). Im scheduled for July 8th to drop my car off for the AEM FIC and Boomslang SC300 harness. I figure about $800 bucks for the two and maybe $500 in labor and tuning.
Thinking I should upgrade this turbo as it is starting to have shaft play (friggen godspeed turbo crap) and i saw some oil leaking back through the compressor which im assuming means bad seals? Anyways can anyone recommend a good budget turbo for about 350whp? I want something decent, can be used... looking for under $400. Maybe a Holset? Im still learning what can fit. This turbo is a T4 flange, .68 hot .70 cold T70, I believe it has a 4" inlet and 3" outlet. Ive been browsing craigslist for a good deal on something but im afraid that if I buy something its not gonna fit and im gonna have to modify my downpipe or manifold? Any speculation from you guys is mucho appreciated. You all are making me feel quite welcome!
BTW heres a pic of my other toy.
06-20-13, 07:45 AM
#12
Rookie
Thread Starter
New Wheels
Some more pics for you guys. Here are my new Work VS Emotion Reps 19x9.5 15 offset with 235/35ZR19 Nankang NS20s My control arm bushings are so smoked though that the drivers front wheel moves in and out. I just ordered polyurethane front bushings kit for upper and lower. Any tips to putting them in?
06-20-13, 08:48 AM
#14
nice pickup. I can save you alot of future time and hassle by telling you to not go aem fic, and do the tt ecu mod and run a 2jzgte ecu.
the problem you are talking about with it randomly going lean and acting wierd will not be fixed by the fic without alot of workarounds, and even then thats alot of money to spend to still have issues. If you run a gte ecu you will get coilpacks, and you won't have those issus anymore, and you can get all of that for less than what you are about to do. The problem with the tunes on na-t's is actually the stock ecu, but when you use an aem FIC its a piggyback that still uses the stock ecu, which is always fighting everything.
The FIc has alot of extra features and with alot of time they could iron out some of those issues, but you still have the stock ecu which doesn't support coilpacks, and it still wont drive 100%, the stock ecu cannot handle the transition to boost it gets confused every time.
just looking out the only reason one would mess with it is if they are odb2 and had to keep the stock ecu for emissions, but on a 93 you can use anything so I would run the best and thats a 2jzgte ecu or a standalone, the stock ecu is garbage no matter what you pair it with.
believe it or not the HKS vpc + safc is known to work really well, just not on the stock GE ecu. if you had that on a 7mgte ecu which has boost fuel and timing maps, or even on a 2jzgte ecu with a mk4 chip, it would run very well.
the problem you are talking about with it randomly going lean and acting wierd will not be fixed by the fic without alot of workarounds, and even then thats alot of money to spend to still have issues. If you run a gte ecu you will get coilpacks, and you won't have those issus anymore, and you can get all of that for less than what you are about to do. The problem with the tunes on na-t's is actually the stock ecu, but when you use an aem FIC its a piggyback that still uses the stock ecu, which is always fighting everything.
The FIc has alot of extra features and with alot of time they could iron out some of those issues, but you still have the stock ecu which doesn't support coilpacks, and it still wont drive 100%, the stock ecu cannot handle the transition to boost it gets confused every time.
just looking out the only reason one would mess with it is if they are odb2 and had to keep the stock ecu for emissions, but on a 93 you can use anything so I would run the best and thats a 2jzgte ecu or a standalone, the stock ecu is garbage no matter what you pair it with.
believe it or not the HKS vpc + safc is known to work really well, just not on the stock GE ecu. if you had that on a 7mgte ecu which has boost fuel and timing maps, or even on a 2jzgte ecu with a mk4 chip, it would run very well.
Last edited by Ali SC3; 06-20-13 at 08:53 AM.