Really great build and thanks for allowing the pictures and keeping us all apprised on the results/impressions.
For what it's worth.........I have my Eibach sways set full loose up front and full tight in the rear. CAUTION.....that's for my set up and driving style. I'm running JIC/Cross with adjustable everything. That seems to give me the best overall balance on the track. I still get understeer, esp. on uphill exits (ie The Glen) but it's the best I can do until I move up to Penske's.
Good Luck and enjoy.

 

UPDATE: 1300 miles in and everything is going great! I had the EPL tune customized for the car last week and it definitely has a nice amount more power, but not as much as I'd expected. My butt dyno says I'm up about 50 whp and wtq, maybe a little more. The biggest problem I have with really telling is that the car was parked for about 4-5 months in my garage before I shipped it to Vivid, and I only drove it about 40 miles from my house to drop it off for shipping, with very little time pushing the car at all.

I have one weird problem that's happened a couple of times which is the car won't boost. The first time I had to restart the car and it went away, and it happened again a couple of days ago when my friend was driving the car. I took the car to his house so we could take it for a drive, and we went to pick up a pizza after already doing about 20+ miles of pretty hard driving. On the way back to his house he was driving and we were just cruising normally, then we hit a long straight stretch and he floored it. However, when he went to get on the gas the car wouldn't boost, but he let off the throttle and tried again it was immediately ok. The first time it happened to me I was getting out of a rest area and merging back on the highway and the car would only boost at 0.2 bar and wouldn't go above 4200 rpm no matter how hard I hit the gas or what gear I was in. But turning it off/on fixed the issue and it didn't happen again until my friend was driving.

I think I had this same problem happen when the car was still stock engine-wise, so I have no idea where the issue is coming from. In that case I was doing an auto-x event and my foot slipped on the clutch and I did an awkward launch and it immediately wouldn't boost and all power was gone.

The new clutch, flywheel, and GT2 slave conversion took some getting used to, but now I've gotten pretty good with it and don't have any issues. The only weird thing is the revs "hang" in 1st gear after pushing in the clutch. In every other gear they drop very quickly just as you'd expect with the LWFW, but in 1st gear they don't really drop at all when you push in the clutch unless you wait a good 3 seconds or so. The mechanics of that don't really make any sense to me, so I have to assume the ECU is doing it.

The Eibach sways totally changed the handling of the car. I didn't think just sways and no other suspension mods would make that big of a difference, and that they'd only make the car corner better. The suspension is definitely improved in every aspect from straight line performance to the car now having zero body roll in corners.

Overall, it feels like a totally different car, from the power, exhaust sound, suspension performance, and better braking with the Motul fluid and stainless lines. The pedal feel is vastly improved over stock. The GT2 clutch conversion was the best mod overall. The shifting is much more mechanical-feeling now that there's no mushy clutch pedal and the pressure plate and disc are so much heavier/better/stronger. It makes the car so much more rewarding to drive now.

It definitely takes a good amount of getting used to going from the stock clutch to one with all of these upgrades. Shifting when you're driving normally and not pushing it take the most practice since if you don't shift very quickly your revs don't match on the upshift. Shifting when you're really pushing it means you have to shift as fast as you possibly can!

 

HI,Thanks for update info...Enjoy..

 

" The only weird thing is the revs "hang" in 1st gear after pushing in the clutch. In every other gear they drop very quickly just as you'd expect with the LWFW, but in 1st gear they don't really drop at all when you push in the clutch unless you wait a good 3 seconds or so. The mechanics of that don't really make any sense to me, so I have to assume the ECU is doing it."

I have the same issue let me know if you ever figure it out.

 

Thanks for the review. If the boost issue is not consistant and happened before the mods, maybe check the factory boost solenoid. I have heard of those going bad. But you would think if it is bad it is bad. hmmmm still thinking.

 

Good Stuff!

 

i didnt see a hybrid turbo in your modification list...with stock k24 turbos and wastegates you have a slow responsive boost especially at low gears

 

Yes that was that last "must-do" engine mod suggested as part of my build by a lot of people, but I really just ran out of funds. There was just one more thing and one more thing I did that added up to another grand and another grand and another grand until I spent about double what I'd planned to.

The car doesn't suffer from any power problems right now for sure. I assume you mean low RPM when you say low gears. My power is very very useable starting at about 3000 RPM and by 3500 it's at the point where the RPM and boost start to climb faster than your eyes can keep track! And on the track I have more power than I can use in most situations even with slicks on the car and start to spin the rears, so additional power won't do me much good with making the car handle or drive better. I think the power it has now is a perfect level for the car in terms of real-world useability, including the track.

At some point in the future I may upgrade to the 18g wheels on my K24's, but the next mods to come are springs/struts (or coilovers), a new rear wing, and possibly some GT3 and aftermarket suspension bits like GT3 lower control arms, dog bones, and a few other things so I can adjust the suspension more.

 

Congrats on the build. You probably picked up at least 50 HP/TQ from stock. You really need wastegates on K24s to really feel a tune. Do you have upgraded wastegates? The wastegates make the car feel a lot more beefy and linear. IE it doesn't sometimes feel fast and sometimes feel slower. This is due to the factory wastegate springs opening up with exhaust pressure on modded cars running more boost and the exhaust "flapping" past the turbos prematurely.

Your next step for power should be relatively cheap. 18G upgrade and 5 bar and you're basically maxed out on pump fuel anyways.

 

Hey Scott,
Glad to hear your car is running well. How was HPR today? I wouldn't waste your money on any power upgrades if you're trying to improve your lap times. More power beyond what you have won't help you. Put that money towards an LSD and some coils. I've run RUF PSS9s, H&R, and JRZ coils on my car and the H&R coils were the best bang for the buck if you still drive your car on the street a good bit. Their sweet spot is GT2 ride height and they work real well at the track and the valving is spot on for the turbo. Price is very affordable too. I am now on JRZs with 600/800 rates and its nice to have the adjustability but it comes at a much higher cost. I've run 2:03s at HPR with the H&R coils. They are now on my friends turbo and he ran with them at the track last Friday and was amazed at the difference. Get some GT3 LCAs on the front and adjustable toe arms on the rear and you'll be good to go. Don't waste you money on dogbones, you don't need them as the stock eccentrics will get you -2.0 camber in the rear. Take care...

John

 

Congrats on the build, and good luck getting the rest of the bugs sorted out.

 

I suggest a quick check both your waste gate actuator rods are intact. One can snap and result in similar vagaries in boost from the waste gates flapping.

 

I missed the questions people posted on this thread over the last couple of months and I'm just catching up now, sorry!

I'm still running the stock wastegates. I've had them looked at and they seem to be working just fine. At some point I will upgrade them, most likely when I do the next round of mods. I think I picked up a good amount more than 50 HP/TQ from stock. Right now I'm significantly faster in straight line speed than a 997 Turbo S based on a bunch of straight line comparisons on the track against a few different cars.

I'm really debating whether/when to go with the 18G upgrade. The current power level is really excellent both on the street and the track. It's been about 8 months since I really looked into what I'd need for this next step but I think it was:
18G compressor (or was it exhaust side?) wheels for my K24 turbos
5 bar FPR
Second fuel pump (maybe)
Upgraded wastegates
New tune of course
Done - Upgraded diverter valves to AP billet models.
Done - One step colder Denso plugs are already on there.

Hey John. I had a blast at HPR that day. I was running one session with a heavily modded GT3RS and I was basically running even with him. He could hold very slightly higher speeds in the corners and I was pulling easily on every straight. I was really impressed with how well my Turbo was handling with just Eibach sways and Proxes R888 slicks on it. I can't wait to throw the new suspension on to see how it does! My rear struts have started clunking so it's time to replace them, but I got laid off a couple of months ago so I'm holding off on major purchases until I get a new job. I've been eying the H&R coils since they're cheaper than other options out there. I've had H&R springs on a couple of my cars including my last 911 (though that had Bilstein struts not coilovers) and they worked great. I've also heard a lot of good things about the KW Variant 1, 2, and 3 setups (which one people have depending on how much track versus street time they spend and how rough a ride they can tolerate of course), and that setup is similar in cost to the H&R. I've got a few of months before I'll be putting them on so I'll keep researching it and see which one I end up with. The H&R is definitely near the top of my list, and I really appreciate your feedback on it. It's hard to find a lot of info from people that have used this setup.

I didn't see you at HPR for the September/October event. Maybe I was just there on a different day? It was the one where we got the yellow long sleeve shirt, but I can't remember exactly when it was. I was there for 5 events this year I think but it's hard to remember. I know I was there in April, June, and at least two other times and saw you at two or three of them. Your car looks really well balanced whenever I see it rounding the track. Maybe we can swap cars for a few laps one day?


Thanks! After having more time to figure out the limp mode/boost loss issue, I believe it's due to the MAF. It may just be dirty, or it may not be working correctly and in need of replacement. I've ruled out a boost leak because now that it's cold the issues went away entirely. They only happened in hot weather. If it was a leak, it should get worse and definitely not disappear entirely in colder weather.


I still haven't been able to figure out the high rev issue in 1st gear. Nobody seems to have any idea why that happens.

They're ok, no issues, but thanks for the pointer.

 

Hey Scott,
Good hearing from you. Sorry about the job loss. I'm sure you'll be back at the grind in no time. Glad your car is working out well. Yeah, I must have missed you at HPR toward the end of the season. I got 14 days out there this year but didn't go much at the end of the season when they went to the short course due to the repairs. I cracked one of my front rotors out there at the end of November and haven't been back since as we've been waiting on parts. I'm having my brakes swapped right now from 350mm rotors to 380mm units for some extra heat dissipation and I should be up and running in another 2 weeks or so. We'll definitely have to coordinate and meet up out there for some laps. Should be fun. I don't think you could go wrong with the H&R coils as I mentioned in my previous post. Great bang for the buck and works well out of the box with nothing to fiddle with. I think you can pick up a set for under $2K, either the street or Club version. I would do the club. I ran it in conjunction with the H&R sways and it was great street/track set up. I personally wouldn't mess with your turbos. More power won't make you any faster out there as you've found out. Save your money for a good clutch type LSD like a Guard and you'll instantly shave 2 seconds per lap. Best of luck and happy holidays! See you soon....