so I went ahead and brought a grounding kit for the car. hoping to improve on the taxing electrical system I have on the car already.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNIVERSAL-10MM-HIGH-PERFORMANCE-RACING-EARTH-GROUND-GROUNDING-WIRE-KIT-BLUE-/260391699672?hash=item3ca08e04d8&vxp=mtr
I already had existing 10mm wires and ad to use them in conjunction with this kit. it's universal so not cut exactly to the sc length.




I myself haven't noticed any specific difference with this kit installed. after about 2k miles my alt took a crap on me and I had to have it rebuilt. so maybe down the line I can/will see a difference?

 

so last week(my assembly date). I realized that my turbo seals went. so I had a g-pop rebuild kit luckily avail. I would up using the rear shaft clip from one of my lesser ebay kits(those fit). so the gpop kit came with the o-ring that goes between the compressor side and the rest of the turbo.

Being as how ive done a few turbo rebuilds but never used this gasket I thought it a good idea to put it on. silly me didn't lube it up. I just put it in there dry. maybe that is why when I get down the road and go into boost is pops off??





I stopped immediately and it slightly bent my compressor blades(I straightened them back out). But I drove the car back a qtr a mile like this. YES I put the compressor clamp back on. it wasn't as snug as it usually is without the o-ring. but lesson learned, don't run with one?

 

so, in anticipation of hopefully/finally getting my head decked/gasket matched this month. iam going to also change the oil pump, I have some nifty cam gears from Australia, and re-brought some 264 cams, got the valve stem seals and ready to put in these injectors.








speaking of injectors, ive also gotten my **** wet with this aem v2. looking at the john fast king videos has helped me sync the aem and even make a drivable base tune.

just there is 17 videos, and honestly learning how to tune the aem is pretty boring honestly. I have to get my add in order at some point. because getting ****ed for $700.00+ for one map. isn't my idea of a good time.

 

so now TODAY. iam going to start on the fun task of dropping my subframe and installing these bad boys.

 

so it's that time again. time to crank up the heat, and my valve started leaking. so I picked one form a local junkyard. and I had a genius idea to make the nipples stronger. some jb weld and ta-da!!















and it still leaks. it leaks at the plastic seam at the bottom, so I found this alternative. thank god for club Lexus and the internet.

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%...2F&h=DAQGT-zYF

 

so I finally got around to getting these fenders rolled. the process wasn't bad but would had been better if I had an assistant chick to hold the heat gun on the fenders as I rolled. I tried to match the front and back curves evenly as possible.

I brought this nifty kit.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Roller-Tool-Lip-Rolling-Extend-Tools-w-1500W-Heat-Gun-Fender-Finisher-/351443501724?hash=item51d3aa429c&vxp=mtr
it's an eastwood knock off, but does the same damn thing. you need to lock title the adjusting bolt, and grease the threads before use tho.

oh, and in the process I eliminated the only spots of car-aids(rust) by cutting it out/off and spraying some black paint to cover it up in the meantime until the lazy monster goes away and I feel like welding on some new metal,here is the results of my work.


















and even the plastic strips have metal in them.

 

so I finally, finally got around to pulling this damn sub frame to install these suspension goodies. working solo has it's drawbacks. But the job must be done. total took me 12 hrs(2pm-2am) I didn't get to install my wheel bearings like I wanted to and my rear diff solid mounts either. and u will know why in a bit.

 

so then on the journey of removing my sub frame the damn left rear abs sensor got stuck/jammed in the hole, and broke apart. so **** my life. worst of all there is still plastic pieces left in the hole. not just an issue of sensor replacement. now I might have to do the whole sensor.








here is the comparison shots of the rear mk4 sway bar and the front sub frame bushing.

 

well there was this weird nut-locker for the upper arms. never seen this one before, anywhoo getting the ball joints off was more of a challenge than anything. I didn't take any pics of the arms installed after because it was dark. but here are some snaps on the rack.

 

and here is the current alignment specs for it after the serial 9 arms..

 

Well it's been a while. went to a dyno day(mustang) and had a surprisingly **** poor performance. granted i have a stock ecu and a stock injectors. but i never expected a crappy result like this??

 

the guy told me that i had no boost till 6k. so either i needed to raise my redline or i had a boost leak. well until now i never really did a boost leak down test, so i was kinda stumped, i made sure all my hose clamps were tight as they could go. so i figured my 50mm outdated(and later to be found rusted) external waste gate was to blame?

so i brought a more modern eBay 46mm v-band waste gate.





it is so boot-leg it has tial on it. it was a sturdy unit and the construction was good quality. came with 2 springs and no id on how many lbs they are tho..

 

so when i did my swap i DID NOT replace my exhaust manifold gasket. they looked okay but obviously over time they needed to be replaced. so i figured this was a cause of my boost pressure leak.

But as a major surprise to me i found the cause of the leak.

















so fml x7 times. i wasn't expecting this . ive been rolling around on this manifold for the last 3 years. no telling when this came apart. and i was in a bind because this is my only daily driver. so i had to act fast and attempt to weld this mfer back up until i could get a new manifold.

 

I didn't have stainless steel wire but i just had carbon steel, i cleaned it up pretty good for a still newly novice noob.
so i had to use the old gaskets as i plan on buying new ones when i get a new manifold. the v band is perfect i can take off/on the waste gate with ease.

 

i brought an oil catch can. and thanks to my welding experts austin and mike, they shortened it so i can fit it in a certain corner in my engine bay.













i also picked up a new power steering pump because mine was going out. i would like to replace the rack to, maybe down the line...