Justin's 200 20v Avant

[Justin517]

Awesome, where'd you get the shirt?

Blipshift.

http://blipshift.com/products/high-five

I also got this one...

[Mcstiff]

[Quattro-JC]

I'm super happy with this car. I honestly can't decide if I like driving the 540i or this better, they are very different yet both on about the same level of awesome.

Hey J - didnt know you got a thread over here. Coool. Yeah. Know just what yer sayin of course...!

[Quattro-JC]

BTW sorry the connect didnt work this week, too bad too as i was in the S6 in the end - you coulda tried out the IMS. billet that youre thinkin about. (Though mines RS2 not K26...)

[Justin517]

Ah, good seeing you here.

Yeah I'm sure we will meet up eventually... probably good I didn't get a ride in that thing, my credit card would have possibly been on fire shortly after hah.

[Justin517]

Got myself an MRC chipped ecu, only made sure it worked and blasted around the block, but felt good, can't wait to get it on the highway tomorrow on my commute.

[chaloux]

Sweet! My guess is it will be amazing and having you turn into Nick/Chris/Casey in no time

[Quattro-JC]

Nice. I just got a second mantranny for the 5er, goin in tomorrow...

[AngryTaco]

Sweet! My guess is it will be amazing and having you turn into Nick/Chris/Casey in no time

Dont give him ideas! It's bad enough all of us are broke. Don't suck him into the swirling vortex or doom too

[Justin517]

Well she spikes to 24 psi and rips like a raped ape... but my clutch slips a little past 20 or so PSI (at least in 10°F weather, if that matters, I assume more powah in cold). I knew it was on its way out a bit because when I first got the car it slipped a bit at WOT and full boost (15 psi at that time) but I think the flywheel had a little surface rust or something because once it slipped twice... it went away.

So, I guess I'll be clutch shopping. I really like the idea of southbend and hear awesome things (I will be staying away from spec, too hit or miss and horror stories) but for cost reasons I may just go with a clutchnet Stage 2 for $420 shipped with the 20% off Winter promotion.

As far as going ape shit crazy on this car... I'm sure it will happen eventually, but not for at least 2 years when it's emissions exempt and maybe gets retired from daily duty all winter. I really like the fast spool of the K24 when I encounter "rubber banding" traffic. Plus with how slippery the slope is I'm very happy with the car making close to 300 hp for my driver with this minimum investment, it is about on par with the 540i now IMO, which was the goal. Neither car is brutally fast but way more than enough to put a smile on my face daily.

Once I put a clutch in the car I'll still have just under $2k total investment, minus the DMV costs, so If for some reason I had to get rid of the car (wont even happen, but for arguments sake) I can probably still recoup most of my cash invested.

So... that's where I'm at. I'm open to cost effective clutch options that I haven't mentioned yet and input on if the Stage 2 will be fine for the chip I'm running.

Regards,
-J

[Quattro-JC]

Yeah honestly a new stock clutch would be fine for that level of chip but hey why not upgrade while you are in there is my lifetime motto. But I wouldn't go crazy overboard on it. The K24 indeed is good for DD, and means in 'real life traffic' you can really enjoy feeling the spool and playing with it, vs a high-rev-only turbo setup.

[Justin517]

Yeah, The sachs kit is between $350 and $400, I figure for an extra $20-$70 it might be worth it to do a slight upgrade for potential abuse now and then... open to input though.

[AngryTaco]

Yeah honestly a new stock clutch would be fine for that level of chip but hey why not upgrade while you are in there is my lifetime motto. But I wouldn't go crazy overboard on it. The K24 indeed is good for DD, and means in 'real life traffic' you can really enjoy feeling the spool and playing with it, vs a high-rev-only turbo setup.

This ^

My car became less fun as soon as I installed the volvo k24. Its faster on the top end for sure but the stop light to stop light became slightly less fun due to the increased lag

[chaloux]

Jc's just being a pansy.

[chaloux]

Power is just like everything else, a THE MOAR THE BETTER DERRRRP

[AngryTaco]

except when you have to wait forever for it to kick in LOL...but when it does.....hold on tight

[Quattro-JC]

Jc's just being a pansy.

Find a babysitter for Maddox, cuz I am seriously driving to your doorstep right now to put my foot in your ass.

Wait... it's -20C up in yer neighborhood, your ass is probably frozen shut for winter. Guess it will have to wait for spring.

[Justin517]

lol!

I know fully well that a gigantic turbo will provide about the same HP at lower revs as a small turbo, even if the PSI at a certain RPM isn't the same... 'cuz flow, but then the payoff comes up high.

But, that doesn't matter much to me right now. I have this thing about revving the piss out of things ever since I sent the driveshaft through the back seat of my G-body while turning 6800RPM with 4.11 gears. This is the same reason why I bought a 540i instead of an M5, they both make almost exactly the same hp up to about 5200 RPM, I have even seen dynos where an M62 makes a few more hp down around 3500 rpm. The extra displacement of an S62 is to make up for the torque loss down low from the bigger cams and ITB's. The extra 45-55whp only comes on beyond 5k or so, a place I spend less than 5% of my driving time.

So... a gigantic turbo on my 200 is IMO like an S62 vs an M62, yes more power but also more high strung and that power is made in an RPM range that I seldom use. I like putting the throttle down anywhere between 2500 and 4000 and getting as much power as possible as quickly as possible.

[Justin517]

Well, I think I'm just going to go with clutchnet stage 1.

I just tried calling but as I expected at 6pm EST they are closed, I just wanted to make sure their kits come with the alignment tool, I assume they do and someone here can probably answer that anyway.

The car also needs a power steering pressure line from the pump to the rack, durq on here says he has one, otherwise its get mine (possibly) rebuilt or retrofit a 5000 hose with the crush washers instead of orings. I'm hoping the good used line pans out.

Back to the clutch, I assume I need flywheel and pressure plate bolts, the exhaust gaskets are metal donuts so I'm hoping those will still be in OK shape, if not bosal makes a replacement that any FLAPS has, I'll be getting new bolts for those flanges too, believe they are M8 40mm long, non nylon locking nuts.

might just do the hose when the tranny is out... I imagine it would be MUCH easier.

Crap I should probably do my passenger side CV boot too, its torn but not clicking.

I forgot how much love these cars need, but I have put about 5,000 essentially trouble free miles on it, given the price I paid and the little I've done so far, I'm still quite happy.

[vt10vt]

Technically the flywheel bolts are stretchers but its standard practice not to replace but to use blue loctite when you put them back in. Not 100% sure on the flywheel bolts but I've reused multiple times without issue.

Interested in the new clutch! That will be sweet, I've been looking at their setup a too, among others, I just hate that they're all so expensive. Sweet 20v in general, I've been following along

[Quattro-JC]

Good clutch kits will often come w/ new bolts, alignment tool and sometimes even TO bearing etc. But no idea / experience w/ clutchnet. Agree a phone call is best to sort out all the deets.

[chaloux]

And if you get lost there's always Southbend from Marc at EFIExpress

[Justin517]

And if you get lost there's always Southbend from Marc at EFIExpress

I would love to go with southbend, they seem like the crem de la crem... But I just cannot justify over $500 for a stage 1 setup.

[Justin517]

I bought the Luk setup for $260 shipped. There is at least 1 person on MG running it with no issues, and a handful of my friends have run them in other cars and we have yet to hear anything about a failure... one was even in a 1989 accord with a 75 shot and it held up just fine, so... I went cheap as anything else just isn't required at the moment.

[Justin517]

Well my all metal nissen radiator blew up, from what I can tell its been in the car for at least 10 years, so no biggie. I got a new nissen replacement, sans aux rad hookups since as well know the 20v part is NLA. I will be keeping the rad and probably get it rebuilt as a spare at some point.

I just capped off the aux rad but will remove it when I finally install my snub mount setup.

I will be keeping it though as it will be perfect if I ever go to W/A intercooling.

Still haven't done the clutch lol. It doesn't slip as long as I roll onto the power in 4th and 5th so it doesn't bother me in normal driving, but I'd like to do it by early winter if we slow down a bit at work.

A nice side effect of doing the radiator was I had to remove the power steering pump. IT doesn't leak a drop as It was rebuilt a few thousand miles ago but I always thought it was weak on the brake side because the brake light would stay on for 15-30 seconds after a cold start. Anyway I have made it my practice at work to blow out every banjo bolt I encounter in any job (I figured out why a customer kept blowing turbos in his WRX and saved someone replacing the injection pump in their NPR box truck in just the past 2 months with just compressed air) so I did the same with the feed line to the brake bomb and when I got all systems bled and topped off I found that the next few cold starts and all since have the brake light go off immediately and the brakes feel better after a few subsequent stops.

I need to replace both front outer CV joint boots which I will do when I do the clutch, no clicking or play, just small tears.

I also have a rear sway bar from an A5 that I am going to look into making brackets and links to fit in the rear if possible.