New Owner of 1837/2000

[faqinshiet]

Nice work! I will for damn sure swing by with my galant on my next trip to sd!

 

[transparentdsm]

DAMN dude looks great!!

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Thanks for the compliments, guys. The garage is great to work in now. I got the head off the car last night, and the results were not what I was hoping for...

It looks to me like the casting was porous and just overall garbage in that area. I'm thinking a pit became a hot spot, which eventually torched a hole in the casting? I'm no expert in trashed heads, though, and I've never seen damage like this, so I'm definitely open to other suggestions. I just know the head was clean when it went on, and not it has a gouge in it right where the fire ring was. I was hoping to just do a head gasket job, but looks like I'll be in the market for a head at this point. Sucks.

On the plus side, I checked crank end play to see how my ACT 2600 has been treating the thrust, and it's still right where I set it when I built the motor: click

I'll sort out what I'm going to do with the head, and pull the trans to install my QM twin disc in the mean time. I should have some updates on how that goes here soon.

 

[iceman69510]

You could have that welded then resurface the head.

 

[slugsgomoo]

Do you have pics of the plugs?

Honestly to me, based on the pitting, and the white in that hole, not to mention the fact that there's less carbon there than in the adjoining cylinders... I feel like pre-ignition is the issue here. Casting is a possibility, but I'd lean towards injector issue.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

A lot has happened since I updated this last. Life has been crazy lately, and time for the car has been slim to none. Wrenching a little here and there, I finally got it all back together. After pulling the head, I got to work knocking out some of the other additions I planned to make to the build.

Once everything was pulled apart, I went ahead and did some cleaning where needed. I also repainted the hot parts, per the usual. If I had to guess, damn near 60% of my time is spent cleaning rather than building...But it's always worth it in the end.

Here's a little before and after of the head. It took the machine shop 2 times to get it right, but it turned out pretty decent in the end. I went ahead and ported the oil passage since I lost some meat from the deck surface.

Since the car was down and apart, it was finally time to put in some of the new parts I've had on the shelf. The big one was a new Quarter Master Gear-Drive 6-leg clutch and flywheel custom spec'd for the car by Tim at TMZ. It was a pretty pricey addition, but it's also a pretty nice piece of hardware. A new Mitsubishi TOB and Competition Clutch release fork & pivot ball went in as well.

Trans installed single-handedly...Because engine hoist > any amount of hands.

After much wasted time and ass pain, DSS finally shipped me a new slip yoke. With the addition of all new Torque Solutions motor mounts, I'm hoping the slip yoke will hold out longer than the last one did. Time will tell. I also added a Vibrant resonator in place of my old cat make some extra room for the DSS driveshaft.

A Fluidampr and some new ARP hardware sum up the new additions.

Head back on.

All buttoned up.

Annnnnnd finally done wrenching. Got some fresh corn juice and put some miles on the car!

At this point, I've got about 200 miles on the new setup, and so far so good. Now, just need to get back on the dyno, down the 1/4 mile, or on the road course...Or all of the above /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsugh.gif

 

[thomcasey]

I can only imagine what this looked like. Pics are broken, lol. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting thomcasey:
I can only imagine what this looked like. Pics are broken, lol.



Sorry. Should be fixed now. Google used to make 3rd party hosting easy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

 

[thomcasey]

Excellent. Such a clean build.

 

[transparentdsm]

damn dude looking good!

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Took 1837 to C&C the night after the track (David's Evo pictured). Photo dump here: click

My oil pressure sender sh** out. In the process of changing it out, the OFH cracked, so ordered a new one and installed it:

I liked the Federal RS-RRs on 820 so much I ordered a set for 1837:

Other than that, just been filling up on dirt cheap race gas and driving as much as I can while we still have beautiful weather here in SoCal. It's pretty nice driving it rather than wrenching on it, honestly.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Haven't wrenched on 1837 in months, and honestly I don't miss being under the hood *knock on wood*. Other than a recent alignment and new tires, all I've done is drive it. Took it to MOD, to some cars & coffee meets, local meets, up Palomar Mountain, and a few other places. It's been great simply enjoying the car.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

It's been a while...

Ever since installing my set of Torque Solutions motor mounts in the car, everything wants to come loose all the damn time. Well, back in November of 2018, I had a little issue.

One of my calipers came loose, and snagged the wheel. Luckily the damage was minimal compared to what could have happened. But, the incident claimed my caliper, line, and worst of all, the custom bracket used to mount the the brake. Due to the unavailability of new adapter brackets, I didn't have any quick options to repair the damage. So, I solicited the help of Paul Volk to hopefully engineer a bracket for myself, and others who want to do the 3KGT brake upgrade in the future. In true Paul Volk fashion, he engineered a new part which exceeded any expectations I could have ever had, and delivered it to me for some final testing.

A few other little things I picked up for the Galant: New floormats courtesy of Benjamin Mashallapour, and a sweet new custom horn button by André Phan.

Shortly after getting the car back in order, I also learned Wheelwell selected the Galant for a feature in Super Street Magazine.

Wheelwell and Super Street had me drive the car 2 hours North to LA, where we did some video takes, and a full photo shoot. The shoot went down in the the Angeles National Forest, where Larry Chen took tons of photos of the car in various spots all up and down San Gabriel Canyon Road. He even got some video behind the wheel driving 1837, which will hopefully be posted on Hoonigan's AutoFocus YouTube channel at some point. Overall, I feel super lucky and humbled to get such an awesome opportunity. Not only did Larry get to spend all day shooting my car, but I'm able to represent the DSM and Galant community to a wider audience of automotive enthusiasts. Hopefully, I'll get some of the final content here in the coming weeks, and be able to share it here. And, if I'm really lucky, we might see 1837 in an upcoming issue of Super Street Magazine. Here are some shots I took that day.

Overall it was an awesome day! The car made the 4 hour round trip, and held up like a boss getting flogged in the canyons all day. Lastly, hats off to Jonathan Mill and Wheelwell for making this opportunity happen!

 

[idreamidrive]

I am digging the new style floor mats. I have almost put a hole through the ones I picked up 6 years ago.

 

[slugsgomoo]

let us know when the magazine hits... I'll definitely have to pick it up /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[transparentdsm]

Agreed I want a copy for sure.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Well, the Super Street article dropped, and it turned out pretty sweet. Larry Chen is the man, and can capture photos that simply defy logic:

Super Streer Article: click

Wheelwell Video: click



Since the Wheelwell feature, Larry Chen published his Autofocus episode on the car a few weeks ago: click



Then, shortly after the Wheelwell shoot with Larry, I got another opportunity to work with Super Street when they invited me to bring the car out and compete in the 2019 Showcar Shootout. I'm not going to rehash everything again here in the build thread, but if you're interested in how the competition went, you can check out all the details here: click

Super Street Showcar Shootout Video: click

Video I made of my fastest lap at Streets of Willow Sprngs: click



Even after a proper flogging at the track, the car is still running great. No issues to report, and no wrenching required. I've done some little stuff like fix a small exhaust leak and install my Gamble Garage aluminum coolant reservoir. I also revamped the rear trunk area with new coverings and a custom sub woffer box. I'll throw some pictures up of that when I get a chance.

Other than that, the car gets driven a few times a month and chills out in the garage. The best thing I've ever done was stop trying to make more power. Wrenching on this thing all the time is for the fuckin birds /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[GSTwithPSI]

In The News did an awesome job on a custom plaque I had made capturing the Super Street feature on the Galant.

This little space on the wall is a constant reminder of all the time, money and energy spent in the garage. But more importantly, it represents the work and efforts of those who have become a part of the build over the years. You people are the parts that can't be bought, or replaced. You are the most valuable parts of the build, and mean more than any sum of nuts and bolts combined.

It's better sweet getting the Super Street feature. I learned just recently Super Street was ending their print magazine. December 2019 would be the last issue to hit newsstands, so I'm extremely grateful to have been a part of the magazine before the end of its tenure.

At the end of the day, it's awesome to reflect back and think about all the awesome people I've met and the friendships I've gained through building the car, and car interests. Many of those started here on the forums, so I never this place for granted.

I actually did a bit of wrenching on the car for the first time in quite a while. The clutch on the car has never been very cooperative. In hopes of getting the QM to be a bit more tame on the street, I changed up some of the hydraulics on the system.

I went from a "green" slave (which has a 13/16" slave piston) to a "red/gold" slave (which has a 3/4" slave piston). The idea being, I get a bit more travel at the slave, which makes the clutch release a bit more effectively. I went ahead and installed a new clutch master cylinder as well, just to make sure there were no hidden issues there.

I checked the clutch fork position in the trans window by removing the boot. I just wanted to verify nothing crazy had changed since installation. It looked good as well, so I installed the new hydraulic components, and bled the system.

Once I had the car out on the street, I could immediately feel a difference. Nothing drastic, but the twin disc was a bit more tame...And if you've ever owned a twin, than you know anything helps.

In other news, my wife got me a dope ass custom cut gold Cover Craft sunshade for Xmas. The car never sits outside, but when it does, that old ass 90's dashboard gonna be protected.

Rolled 169,000 miles on the chassis over Xmas, which is picture worthy

Still nice and tidy underneath:

Had a light burn out in my Greddy temp gauge, so ordered some tiny ass bulbs and replaced them:

Lastly, I finally got around to refinishing the trunk area. I rebuilt the custom subwoffer box, and put in a custom floor panel. It turned out nice and tidy, just as I hoped it would.

Thanks for following along.

 

[bobdole]

Looks super nice.

 

[CutlassJim]

What are the sources of the two different slave cylinders?