Mother of god.....

[aerospike2002]

I am so sick and tired of this bullcrap. I took the car in today to have the new C2 system installed.

Well, guess what I found out? Yet another way Stafford's work is coming back to haunt me. Anybody who's been following my threads will know everything I've been through. Well, this just tops the list. Basically, Stafford did a shoddy job at installing the new short block he bought me when his "paint" guy put a rod through my old one by misshifting it.

Anyway, these are some of the best mechanics around (GT Pro) and not only do we distribute for them, but I have taken much of my work in the past to them. They have never disappointed me and have been right in the past on every count.

So basically now, another one bites the dust. My ridiculous exhaust leak that was so bad it was causing my turbo to not spool, was not all I thought it was. The engine is screwed as well. Running on 3 out of 4 cylinders. When we took the block apart, the rings were fried, pistons were melted, and the walls were all scored.

Cause? Stafford's fuel system, combined with his lack of gaskets, lack of flexpipe, lack of support brace, and throw in some good quality bad assembly on the engine. Mix well, and VOILA! You have my situation.

By the way, this officially confirms to me (as every other company or shop I have taken my Celica to has said) that we should not be running any of this piggyback crap. No Split Second, or anything else. I don't know too much about eManage, but it seems to be kind of a hybrid between something like the SS PSC-01 and a PFC....so maybe it's cool. Anyway, the stock ECU is too finicky and just does not take input correctly. It tries to advance or retard timing to compensate for the turbocharger, and no matter what the piggyback tries to do, it just can't come around full circle. Hence, not enough fuel at crucial points, leading to small bits of detonation that, over time, will cause my situation. I kind of think that anyone running piggyback is just living on borrowed time. I also think that any of you who are still running on dreams of saving yourself some money by not purchasing a stand-alone should just kiss that one goodbye.

So basically I'm left with getting new pistons (now I'm going with low comp), new rings, boring the block, and while they're at it, installing an ARP head stud kit.

The one positive thing, I suppose, is that having the engine out will make the turbo install SOOO much easier. However, that's nothing to compare to the $4500 I've got to drop now for this "turbo install."

What a day....I hate my life. I'm going to bed to sleep on my depression....

[aerowilson182]

Wow, im starting to get really nervous about my turbo install now, because Im using the split second black box with 2ZZ injectors. Do you think that since Im only going to be running 7lbs, and I dont dog it all the time, that I will be alright as far as reliability?

[aerospike2002]

I have no idea bro....someone else please answer him. I will probably give a biased answer since I am SOOOO angry right now.

[aerospike2002]

And anyone else who reads this....especially Boosted or Smaay.

Out of CP, Arias, JE, and Crower, what do you guys like best for pistons? I have heard that quality control can be sometimes iffy at JE. Same thing with Crower too. I know Arias is top notch, but pricey. And I have a good connection for CP.

Also, my machine shop is very good. Would you recommend going with a sleeve and bore, or just a bore and oversize piston? My shop wants to do the bore and oversize piston....but I need opinions from you guys. I have heard something about the 2zz cylinder walls being very close together and what not - maybe I heard something about aluminum too, although I thought the short block was cast iron...

[ted18852103]

dude you must have the worst luck in the world i fell sorry for you

[Alfy1]

WOW now I am terrifeid....

[aerowilson182]

yeah man i feel bad for you too, but I seriously have a feeling that my luck might take me in the same direction. But you are trying to build a drag setup tho right, cause Im keeping it kind of conservitive

[Black_TRD]

Originally posted by aerospike2002
And anyone else who reads this....especially Boosted or Smaay.

Out of CP, Arias, JE, and Crower, what do you guys like best for pistons? I have heard that quality control can be sometimes iffy at JE. Same thing with Crower too. I know Arias is top notch, but pricey. And I have a good connection for CP.

Also, my machine shop is very good. Would you recommend going with a sleeve and bore, or just a bore and oversize piston? My shop wants to do the bore and oversize piston....but I need opinions from you guys. I have heard something about the 2zz cylinder walls being very close together and what not - maybe I heard something about aluminum too, although I thought the short block was cast iron...

Yes the 2zz block is aluminum and have a special lining think it had to do with MMC or something like that plus the bores are to close together to just overbore it you WILL need sleeves. You could go directly to Darton or buy them through monkeywrench

[iMouseGTS]

I heard you cannot overbore, that's why my shop sent my block to monkeywrench to get sleeved. Goodluck with your car man. I'm still deciding on if I should stay with the Split Sec or not, I want to pass emissions.

[Smaay]

Originally posted by iMouseGTS
I heard you cannot overbore, that's why my shop sent my block to monkeywrench to get sleeved.

correct...you can not overbore our engine..the cyllinder walls are too small...definatly get the block sleeved..just order the rods, pistons and sleeves from MWR....

Im sorry to hear that your engine is in that bad of shape...

[cool2miketlu]

Originally posted by iMouseGTS
I heard you cannot overbore, that's why my shop sent my block to monkeywrench to get sleeved. Goodluck with your car man. I'm still deciding on if I should stay with the Split Sec or not, I want to pass emissions.

You will not pass emissions with a turbo, before they even test they see aftermarket turbo with no certification to make it legal you will not pass. That is why I just said F'ck it and swap to PFC.
I believe when the guy threw a rod in your car it was never properly fixed, when something was not fixed right more problem will come up. And it did...
Sorry about your problems man, too bad you had to go through what you are going through. All I can say is this is more messed up than Smaay's situation, and it is way way way more messed up than Smaay's situation.

[genax]

hmm you are getting crappy luck. if you can since your rebuilding you might as well close the deck and replace every bolt with arp.


if anyone plans on getting boosted dont use a stock drivetrain or stock longblock and expect 100,000k miles. i am no technician but i highly recommend an ecu like the powerfc. it seems the stock ecu don't want to be piggybacked and adjust accordingly. an example of what your doing with a piggybacked ecu vise a seperate ecu like the powerfc.

its like trying to get the neighborhood slut to close her legs even after marriage. no matter how hard she tries she ends up sleeping with you anyways. you give her a new brain (ecu) makes things a whole lot easier to adjust and easier to not revert going to the old ways. yeah this analogy helps out.

[Tikked Again]

While I agree that a complete replacement ECU would be the way to go. I and many others have not had any issues with piggybacks.

[Bing]

ARGGHHH!!! That just really sucks Aero :furious:

Didn't you notice your car was really shaky? I mean, if you run on 3 cilinders, the car runs like sh*t.

Crower sells pistons nowadays? I guess you mean Wiseco. My only experience is with Wiseco, so can't tell you about Arias or JE.
I just hope your engine gets fixed completely, because driving with a slight damage would cause a avalanche of problems. Even if it's the smallest damage on any thing within the engine.

[c2gas]

Well I would look from the positive side.
"You don`t have a blowed engine, just you are forced to go st2 now!!"
You will not end up higher costs, just have to pay now.
You have to go the sleeve way if the wals are f..ed. No other choice.

[mtskibum16]

Josh, why are you going with 9.5:1 compression as opposed to 8.8 or so? I am just curious if there was a reason or if that is just what you want......

[EuGeNiLe GTS]

ouch good luck man.

how much have u spent all together so far since u started tryin to get a turbo on there reliably

[soceur]

actually id rather have gone with 9:5:1 compression pistons also. I assume the power band off of boost would be much greater.

[Boosted2.0]

Eh - Stafford put in a used motor not a new rebuilt one so theres no telling on the block quality. I do recall SF said he had one of his guys re-ring the motor.

Anyways I can tell you that you were definitely running on all 4 cylinders originally though - I brought my scan tool up one weekend to help mike out when he started retuning your car after the engine replacement and there was 0 misfire and the fuel trims were pretty normal. More likely it was something that happened to the car between then and now that hurt it. Have you had an A/F Ratio gauge on the car? I don't recall there being one then. If there is did it ever go lean?

Anyways I couldn't agree more on the standalone thing - I've been telling everyone for as long as I can remember that they all need to go Power FC for a proper tune. That being said its not necessarily that which blew your engine. For all we know your vacuum line could have popped off the FMU or you could have had a severly dirty MAF or something of the sort.

On the rod question Crower is the best bet Carillo is better than Crower but they are pricey.

[aerospike2002]

Ok, thanks for the advice everyone. You confirmed what I thought about the 2zz short block. I'm just going to order the Stage IV from MWR - see how fast they can get it to me. That's a reconditioned short block, Darton sleeves, Wiseco pistons and rings, Crower rods, and ARP studs all around. But I'm going with 9.5:1 pistons. I, my shop, and several other ppl have told me that 8.8:1 is too low. I want to continue making power in the high end.

Anyway, to those of you running on a piggyback still. Couple of VERY knowledgeable members here have confirmed what I said. Seems to me like it's only a matter of time before something goes wrong.

And to Gas and the other members who tried making me feel better. Well, it was a good try. Hehe....but it's hard for me to find humour or positive sides of this anymore. Especially when I've dropped over $10,000 into this project between turbo installations, parts, down time and having to rent a car for several months, blah, blah, blah. I just want it to be done, and I can make reliable power from 6-7 psi. It sucks that I even have to do all this crap for just 6-7 psi of boost. But the pieces have to be replaced with OEM or aftermarket anyway, and the aftermarket pieces are ending up being cheaper AND better/stronger at the same time. I guess I'll just have stuff on there that I can talk about even if I never take advantage of it.

*sigh, sigh, sigh*


Oh yeah....Boosted, it may have been running fine when you went up there...but my experience with Stafford is he has constantly been putting "band-aids" on my engine/turbo stuff to get it to run just right when I pick it up. Then if f's up down the road. Everything that has gone wrong with the car seems to have been a result of that practice.

I believe you, though, about what you said that it ran well when you went up there. Not calling you a liar at all. When I picked the car up, it was running beautifully also. But here's the problem - whatever happened with it is a direct result of either the turbo kit or his craftsmanship in putting the engine back together. This is because I never pushed the car hard. Seriously, I never ran it above 5000 rpm after I picked the car up and drove it for the 2500 miles I had it before it took this dump. Reason: I still have stock clutch and am trying to baby it. So it could not have been my fault in any way (even though I don't think you were implying that).

Also, Bing, yeah, my car has been running like ****. Well, that's an understatement. Read this thread and you'll find out what I've been experiencing - we just had hopefully thought it was on the exhaust side only....no internals crap as we discovered. Then this.....

http://www.newcelica.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=153366

Last question...I meant on pistons...what are you opinions? Wiseco, CP, JE, or Arias? MWR offers Wiseco standard, but those are at 8.8:1. I'm going with 9.5:1 so I have to order different ones anyways. I have a good connection for CP. I haven't heard too many opinions on them, though. I have heard that Arias is awesome, but expensive. JE can have some bad quality control. And MWR uses Wiseco and I heard the same thing about their pistons and quality control sometimes. But this is all hearsay.

[mtskibum16]

Boosted: What do you think about the 9.5:1 compression instead of 8.8:1? Thank you.

[Bing]

Well, I search around the VW/Audi 1.8T 20v forum alot and I know they have 9.5:1 compression as well. They are pushing 22PSI with the GT28RS.

So, it's possible but I would surely reinforce it. Because I know the german engines are very strong. 9.5:1 would mean more power though.
If you lower the compression, the lower the power output, but the more boost you can run. My advice... go with 8.8:1 because I know you will up the boost lol, check under my name. *starts shaking his hand*

[cool2miketlu]

It all depends on how much boost you will be running, bigger boost lower compression.

[mtskibum16]

Yeah that's what I figured. Josh, it sounds like 9.5:1 would be a good choice for you if you don't want to run more than 6-7psi....Again, I am sorry to hear about your troubles.

[EastcoastSpeed]

My last customer is running 8.5-1 and the car is realy moving at only 5 psi. and very smoth though that is probably becuas i had the full rotating system balenced:cool: ganna turn up the boost as soon as he gets the greddy profec e-01

[C2til]

Originally posted by N/A2ZZ
with the 8.8 comp pistons, you are able to run a higher boost than 9.5 with out detonation....


Exactly! Less compression means more boost, and more timing advance, less chance of detonation, therefore more/safer power whit forced inducion! Please do it right! It is not a good idea, at all!
Most forced induction toyota engines run 8.5 to 8.8:1, and mitsubishi engines under 8:1! If you want to make power up in the power curve, do not try to run more compression in a forced induction engine! You will need to spend just a little more for the fuel system and probably valve springs, and you can boost 10 or more psi, and the Gt28RS will rock your brain in any rev range!

[Darkside]

jesus fvcking christ

i'd just get a new car....one that doesnt need thousands of modifications to be somewhat fast......and one that actually passes emissions......and one that you can actually get insured at a reasonable price

[Darkside]

i call it 12s or 13s.....there are many cars that go that fast stock - they are more expensive, but with all the money he keeps pouring into the engine over and over again, he could have easily bought one by now that actually passes emissions and could be insured

granted, i realize that he never expected this mess in the first place, but if i were in his shoes, i'd quit before i blew even more money to fix it when i could use that money for a better car and save myself headaches down the road

[Bing]

Hey darkside, what ever happened to your 300whp project? You went on a down low for a while.

[Darkside]

Originally posted by Bing
Hey darkside, what ever happened to your 300whp project? You went on a down low for a while.
lots of drama, that's what

it will happen, just later than i expected :(

[Bing]

Oh ok.... :( Keep us updated. It's nice to see more boosted Celi's :D

[aerospike2002]

My car passed emissions (visual and exhaust) with the SF Kit. That was WITHOUT paying a guy under the table. I just took it to any old shop and they had no problem with it.

C2Til....my fuel system is already set up. 550 cc injectors, 165 lph Power Enterprises fuel pump (good for 500 hp), and a high flow fuel rail. I just purchased Denso Iridium IK27's and you already know that I'm running the PFC. So I'm pretty covered on that aspect....

And Darkside....I was about to sell the car as of last week. I completely agree with you about this. This has, undeniably, been the biggest waste of money in my life. With the amount of money I've dumped into this car to make it look good, and perform well, I could have purchased a car I actually wanted. When I was considering a Celica, the only other car I wanted was an SLK 600. I was offered a killer deal on a used model, but I passed it up and chose to purchase my Celica because I did not have enough money then and I wanted to buy a vehicle outright. However, after seeing how much money I've dumped into this Celica, I could have just financed the remainder of the SLK 600, and the bottom line would be very close to how much money is in the Celica now.

This is getting unreal....

[EastcoastSpeed]

You can say that about almost any car, it gets to a point were if the kitchens to hot you better get out . Sounds like you might be there, dosent sound like its fun for you anymore:(

[C2til]

Well..you seems to have it all, good engine management, good fuel system, good turbo kit, the ignition is amazingly good on the celica as it is.

If i ware you, i woud have had the pistons a long before, there is a night and day diff in how strong aftermarket forged pistons are compared to the stock ones. And don't worry about the low compression! You still going to have an amazing power curve!

Take care of the clutch, get a set of vavle springs, add 50% water/50% alcohol, tune it right, bump it up to at least 10-12psi, and you will love it for years!

[C2til]

btw whit the supporting mods you had, and as far as i see you had correct tune (if the stafford piggyback can tune correctly) it is almost impossible to ruin the engine THAT bad, there must have been some major issue whit it before stafford got the block.

Can you post pics!? VERY close ups from pistons, cylinder walls, bearings, piston top, ect...i really want to know what happened!

[C2til]

Oh, and myself being not a big fan of piggybacks...but i do belive in eManage, it works somewhat differently to the safc or SS, and many of the C2power turbo owners including Gas himself use it for a LONG while now whitout problems whatsoever!

[aerospike2002]

Originally posted by C2til
Oh, and myself being not a big fan of piggybacks...but i do belive in eManage, it works somewhat differently to the safc or SS, and many of the C2power turbo owners including Gas himself use it for a LONG while now whitout problems whatsoever!

Yeah, like I said, I don't know much about eManage either, but it seems to me to be the one "piggyback" (non-ECU replacement) that appears to work. That's why I think it's something more of a bridge between a full stand alone (like the PFC) and a piggyback (like the Split Second unit).

Oh, and I don't think that Stafford's turbo kit had anything to do with it either, now. It had failed long before the engine started to sound bad (meaning the 4th cylinder was going). I think it had something to do with either Stafford's work, or the block he ordered. Either way, it's his fault and not mine because he told me, and I quote, "we completely overhauled the entire thing...replaced all the internals with brand new components from Toyota."

This was, apparently, because the engine was from a vehicle that, although only had 12,000 miles on it, had been upside down in an accident and so had been starved of oil.

Boosted, if you know anything different than that, feel free to post up. That is exactly what Stafford told me and, if you know a different story that's actually the truth, then it just is another example of Stafford's multitude of lies to me.

[aerospike2002]

C2til....hey, would you recommend I still keep my alky injection system? Because I was thinking of selling it to the guy who is buying my kit. But he hasn't paid me for it yet, so I suppose I could still make a choice.

Matt, if you read this, will you allow me to still make a choice if I am informed differently about keeping the alky system?

[Bing]

Originally posted by aerospike2002
C2til....hey, would you recommend I still keep my alky injection system? Because I was thinking of selling it to the guy who is buying my kit. But he hasn't paid me for it yet, so I suppose I could still make a choice.

Matt, if you read this, will you allow me to still make a choice if I am informed differently about keeping the alky system?

What's the best gas you can get there? Might be good to rely on the alky system if 93 is the best you can get. You don't want to be running high boost on 91 or 93. :(

[cool2miketlu]

he is in CA so 91 is best he can get :chuckles:

[iMouseGTS]

Thanks to aero, I just ordered a AEM UEGO wideband. I'm staying with the SS unit until I can really afford the pfc.

[C2til]

Water/alcohol injection is one of the best safety devices for a FI engine, it will prevent knock,cool the intake air and engine, clean the engine (it will keep the compression down by clearing carbon deposits buildup), alow you to run more advanced ignition, or more boost, or run lower rated fuel!

You got to ask yourself what you want...tune the engine whitout it, and use it as a safety device, or use it while you tune it to gain more power in many ways, but from then on you rely on the water/alcohol injected so you must NEVER run low on water!

I woud keep it, if you don't need it, you can just send it to me :-P

[aerospike2002]

Ok, I'll keep it. Mine, by the way, is just straight alcohol. It is plumbed into the intake piping, after the MAF sensor but just before the throttle body. It injects using NX components.

Is it bad that it's just straight alcohol? I check my level every time I'm at the gas station. And alcohol is SOOO cheap!!!!

[pro-style-gts]

I have heard to use a 50/50 mix because the water steams up and cleans ur engine at the same time.

[monkeywrench]

Compression ratio:

Let's assume you are making 270whp at 8psi with 9.5:1 compression. Dropping to 8.8:1 would put you at approximately 260whp. A small loss. Now, let's say you turn the boost up a little bit to compensate. At 10psi you're now making 285whp. At 8.8:1 it's easier and safer to tune and you can run higher boost. You can run higher compression but for street driving we've found 8.8:1 is a great compromise. Lower compression doesn't hurt top end power or anything like that, it just costs a very small amount of power at all RPMs. The additional boost and timing you can run as a result more than makes up for the loss.

Little known fact: all things being equal, a turbo will have less lag with lower compression. Lower compression wastes more expansion energy from the combustion event, causing hotter and faster exhaust gases to exit through the manifold and spool the turbo.

As for turnaround time, we have several 2zz blocks now so we will almost always have sleeved blocks on the shelf ready to go. If you ship us your block first you don't even have to worry about the core charge.

Crower rods- they're very impressive pieces. They're similar in dimensions to other Crower rods that easily handle 800+ hp in Honda and Mitsu engines. I think we will be breaking a lot of other parts of these engines long before the Crowers will be any kind of limitation.

[twistedGTS]

How noticeble would be the power loss at very low RPM's using 8.8:1 instead of 11.5:1?. I'm talking 4k and lower for daily driving.

[Boosted2.0]

I'll try to answer everything in one post.

1 - I would go for the 8.8:1 myself, but at 6-7 PSI he should be OK with 9.5:1

2 - As far as piston brand is concerned I trust wiseco. Its what I use in my car. I have heard good things about Arias and JE

3 - Alcohol is great by itself and does not need to be mixed 50/50 in applications where intake temps are at a good level. Joshua's intercooler looks quite large so it should be no problem.

4 - as for how the engine was put back together, it doesn't matter because pistons don't melt themselves due to bad or poorly installed rings - only severe lean conditions cause that. If there was a mechanical problem on the bottom end it would have been obvious when you took delivery of the car.

[MicaCeli]

Sorry to hear that dude.

:wave:

[Boosted2.0]

Originally posted by monkeywrench
As for turnaround time, we have several 2zz blocks now so we will almost always have sleeved blocks on the shelf ready to go. If you ship us your block first you don't even have to worry about the core charge.


:thumbup: :thumbup: :applaud:

Gotta love these guys. I don't think anyone else is providing this level of support for the ZZ motor series at this time. Also I just bought my first thing from them a couple weeks ago and it was a very pleasant and profesional experience. Matt and I don't always see eye to eye on everything, but I really have a ton of respect for the amount of support and products that they provide.

[cool2miketlu]

Originally posted by Boosted2.0
:thumbup: :thumbup: :applaud:

Gotta love these guys. I don't think anyone else is providing this level of support for the ZZ motor series at this time. Also I just bought my first thing from them a couple weeks ago and it was a very pleasant and profesional experience. Matt and I don't always see eye to eye on everything, but I really have a ton of respect for the amount of support and products that they provide.

You know they do this for the 1ZZ also... so this is a hint of what job you may be doing for me in 2005 :chuckles:

[Boosted2.0]

Originally posted by cool2miketlu
You know they do this for the 1ZZ also... so this is a hint of what job you may be doing for me in 2005 :chuckles:

Sure - complete shortblocks are easy and longblocks are even easier :D

[mtskibum16]

Originally posted by Bing
What's the best gas you can get there? Might be good to rely on the alky system if 93 is the best you can get. You don't want to be running high boost on 91 or 93. :(
Joshua, you only plan to run 6-7 lbs of boost! Stafford had that system set up to turn on at 7psi. This means, that it will never even turn on for your application! If you plan to run only 6-7psi AND you have lower compression pistons, you are never going to need the alchohol injection! With the pfc and a good tune you will be just fine!

[g7celica]

Originally posted by C2til
Water/alcohol injection is one of the best safety devices for a FI engine, it will prevent knock,cool the intake air and engine, clean the engine (it will keep the compression down by clearing carbon deposits buildup), alow you to run more advanced ignition, or more boost, or run lower rated fuel!

You got to ask yourself what you want...tune the engine whitout it, and use it as a safety device, or use it while you tune it to gain more power in many ways, but from then on you rely on the water/alcohol injected so you must NEVER run low on water!

I woud keep it, if you don't need it, you can just send it to me :-P

Is a Water/alcohol injection any good on a stage1 (c2) or is it overkill?

[Asha'man]

@g7: You might be able to boost a little bit higher. It will decrease your engine's tendency to knock by keeping your combustion chamber temps lower. So you might boost up 1-3 PSI. You just have to try out and watch your EGT and for knock.

You'll need a good tuner anyway.

@aerospike: How's it going buddy? Everythings getting to a normal level again? Wish you the best for the new year. I know how it is to wait for your car.

[aerospike2002]

@Ash...

Pretty good bro. The engine is out of the car and we're just waiting for the Stage IV short block from MWR. I've been updating my C2 Project website with pics and what not. I still feel sick about spending this much money when I don't intend to ever boost above 6-8 psi (I don't even use a boost controller!), but I've gotta get the car in working order again, and I might as well do it right this time around.

*sigh*....I'll just be glad when I get the car back and it's perfect again according to my standards. It hasn't ever been perfect since I dropped it off at Stafford's.

[Hetts]

Out of curiosity, how come your not boosting higher? You have probably done more internal upgrades then other people on this board that are upping boost...

[Asha'man]

@spike: Sounds great! I've to admit that I should look more often to your project site. :)

[Smaay]

Originally posted by Hetts
Out of curiosity, how come your not boosting higher? You have probably done more internal upgrades then other people on this board that are upping boost...


I have the record for the most internal mods...just gotta get the thing put together...

[aerospike2002]

About Smaay....yeah, he's got me beaten squarely.

He's in it for the records, I'm in it to get my vehicle running again. I could care less about boosting more. I'm just trying to get the Celica in the power range that it should have had from the factory. And, admittedly, have a little fun.

But at this point, I'm sick and tired of all the money I've dropped into this vehicle. From the attempted vehicle theft, to the resulting bodykit damage and all the work it took to get that back to perfection, to 3 blown engines (1 misshift by a guy who I don't know from Adam, one from a bad engine installed, one from running too lean), going through 2 different turbo kits, and now having to rebuild the entire bottom end. It's just ridiculous now.

I should have dumped all this money into something that I could have gained something out of. Anything - bonds, savings accounts, IRA, stock market. For what I do to the Celica, I get little respect out of it as it is anyway, and I certainly get no money back from it. It's just a bottomless money pit. Worse thing is that regardless of how much I do to the Celica, and how nice it looks and performs with top quality components (Trial, Volk, C2 Power, etc., etc., etc.), most everyone still looks at it as rice. Granted they don't understand what quality components are, but it's not like I'm the one who is out there to teach them. A Celica is a Celica is a Celica. It will never be a Supra, or a Skyline, or Porsche. No matter what anyone does to it.

With all the money I've dumped into it, I could have bought the vehicle I originally wanted. A nice used MB SL600 with a factory warranty and enough power to make me happy. Plus, it's an entirely different level of "class" than the Celica will ever be.

Basically, this is not fun anymore for me.

So that's why I could care less about upping the boost.

[fraugts]

you should not be discouraged by the money spent or the ignorant comments of people...
Now there are quite a few guys (including myself) working on their Celicas as projects. For my part, I wish us all success in our goals with our rides...:applaud:

[aerospike2002]

I'm not really discouraged by the ignorant comments. I knew they would be coming when I bought the vehicle.

I am discouraged about the money spent. Because for what I've dumped into it, any rational individual should be able to realize that much more could have been done with it. Something much wiser and which will actually benefit the individual in a monetary fashion.

[mtskibum16]

Personally, I plan to put every extra dime that I have into my Celica untill it is where I want it to be...But for me it is fun. If it is no longer fun for you then I can understand where you are at. Just feel free to send me that MWR block and I will send you my stock one with only 30,000 miles.:D lol...I'm just kidding... But seriously, send it!!;)

[aerospike2002]

I would go back to stock Matt, but knowing my luck, I'm guaranteed to have problems down the road all over again :wtc:

[Hetts]

Originally posted by Smaay
I have the record for the most internal mods...just gotta get the thing put together...

I didnt mean that he had more internal mods then anybody else, just more than some that are upping boost...

Originally posted by aerospike2002
I would go back to stock Matt, but knowing my luck, I'm guaranteed to have problems down the road all over again :wtc:

Ive had terrible luck with cars too... Im 18 and have already been in two wrecks, one was my fault, and then some lady plowed into the back of me going ~50 while i was nearly stoped about 3 months ago... still fixing small things with that. But i would have to agree, having to replace the engine in your car 3 times with 2 different turbo kits takes the cake for ****ty car luck.


I havnt had to replace anything like an engine in my car, but i know what a terrible feeling it is having to spend money on things like that. Hopefully everything will be done right this time, and it seems like it is going to be. Good luck with your car man

[Boosted2.0]

I feel your pain Josh - its why I got rid of my GTS and bought the Alltrac - I wanted a cool turbo car that I could screw with without having to worry about toasting the motor all the time. (So then I went and turned the wick up to high and toasted the head gasket but hey - whos counting ) :D

seriously though this is a great but expensive hobby. Its alot cheaper when you do the work yourself though

[mtskibum16]

Originally posted by Boosted2.0
seriously though this is a great but expensive hobby. Its alot cheaper when you do the work yourself though
:werd:...way cheaper!