So many people would like to know what the Green Monster has in it. The real question is, what HASN'T been in it. I am going to cut to the heart and soul of my DSM building experience.
A DSM enthusiast turned into a DSM guinea pig when I got my 1st 1G.
The old champagne gold talon. It was a 90 tsi awd, and came into my hands via a tragic event. I let a friend drive me home while I was drunk, and he was doing a pull which landed my red fwd laser into a cement filled pole.
I got the talon through him as a replacement. Long story short, it ran low 12s on a stock shortblock, an HRC 20GH, 880s, 100 octane and alcohol injection. I of course had the usual DSM things such as a 3 inch exhaust, wires, and GM Maft, data logger, 2600, 255hp, johnny racecar FMIC, etc. I soon popped that motor and freshened up the tired motor with new bearings, bored .040 over, crower springs and retainers, arp studs, and more boost.
Being a cheap bastard, and always looking for a technical "build not bought" challenge presented my DIY/custom/homemade mistake manifold. I have been a fan of alcohol injection since day one, and took it a step further with a direct port meth setup. It is controlled via DSMlink to this day and ran many 11 second passes, and opened up the upper RPM band by a significant amount at the high 11 second power level. Not too shabby if I dont say so myself.
The car went through a transfer case in high eleven second trim. This was after NUMEROUS hard launches and many, MANY occasions of wheel hop. I was all smiles when I busted it because it was the first time I ever went through a tcase. It served a very abused life, and I was glad to see it go.
Soon after I cracked the mounting tab or "ear" off the block. I arc welded it back on using Ni-Rod and it went on to run high elevens again.
Not satisfied with the HRC 20G-H I set out for something bigger. I abused my HRC 20gH for 4 years, it never saw less that 20 psi its first year, and ran around 25 psi for the remaining 3 years of its life. Granted the car was down about 6 months of the year, but hanging off the 4G63 has to put some wear and tear on it right?
Over time I ended up with a buschur stage 3 shortblock, 1600s, -6 lines from pump to rail, DSMlink, Blitz DSBC boost controller, blitz TT, GM MAFT, FP2s, direct port meth, a real front mount intercooler, short route piping, and high 11s all day on 24 psi. I finally nutted up, cranked up the boost to 30 psi and 11.4 on 110 octane on the HRC 25GH.... still, I was not satisfied. The car was getting more and more "ghetto".
I was looking for a fresh start at this point and I found it.
A local DSMr and now friend (Mahesh Rao), was parting with his parts car. Not just any parts car, a clean shell with uncracked glass, and all body panels in tact. It had no engine or drivetrain. The interior had no seats in it either. It was perfect.
This was it. I emailed him instantly and offered him a 12 pack of corona, and somehow I ended up throwing in a Viscous coupling as well. I picked it up the following weekend and brought her home.
I swapped everything over from the champagne talon, and held onto it for as long as I could...then finally scrapped it. It was like loosing a child really. I never felt so attached to something non human
The help I recieved from the crew helped me get the Green monster on the road in 3 months. Just in time for the local CMI event at Sac raceway.
I ordered a 35r through FFTec and was hoping for the best. The shakedown passes weren't that impressive, but it was a start. 11.7 on 23 psi with 91 octane and meth injection. I let it rest for a bit due to clutch issues, and other small problems (leaking headgasket, solid lifters unscrewing themselves and making valves kiss each other) and rebuilt again.
I dropped off my motor at full function and the engine was machined by Robs in hayward. 5 miles into the break in, and about 15 minutes of running time led me to spin rod bearings number 1 and 2. I pulled the motor out that same weekend, and brought it back to FFTec for a tear down. We never really reached a conclusion as to why they spun. That aside, I received the utmost help from the team at FFtec. A couple weeks later, we had the shortblock rebuilt and back in the car.
I acquired a venom intake manifold with a mustang TB from a local DSMr and company co-owner Kamil from Hi-Rev. I hated to drill 4 holes in the bottom of it but that direct port meth was something I was never letting go of.
After going through a "freshen up" I put everything back in and ran low 11s on 2 gallons of 100 octane mixed in with 7 gallons of 91, as well as the meth. Very happy with the progress, I ran that motor for a month of weekend abuse on the highway, as well as the track. The trap speeds were there for that 10 second pass, but traction and money were limited. I managed an 11.012 @ 133 spinning through 1st and part of 2nd.
In early October that 2nd rebuild decided to quit on me. I spun rod bearing #1. Ready to throw in the towel, I explored my options.
I was looking into getting a datsun 510, and throwing a SBC in it. I was seriously considering getting out of the DSM scene, more than I ever have.
Sick of all the issues, the down time, the parts that break, the leaks, the headaches, and all the usual DSM things.
I thought of one last thing; the raw power the 4G63 produces. That feeling of being THROWN into your seat. It was all worth it again, especially the build. Welding, cutting, fabbing, bleeding, aching the day after a long night up till 6am with my honda buddies and crew friends. It was always a learning experience. In the end it was all going to be alright.
I talked to Jake (evil eagle) about a possible shortblock build. It would have happened but plans changed, and time went by.
I settled on a local machine shop that has build experience beyond my wildest dreams. Recommended by domestic owners, and almost every other breed of car out there, I settled on Daves engine and machining (Mopar engines west).
I spoke with Angie, and told her my goals. 30psi, right off the bat and possibly a small shot of nitrous. All on unleaded fuel, plus a healthy dose of methanol.
I selected Groden aluminum rods, topped off with Mahle pistons. Everything glides on ACL race coated bearings. A Kiggly girdle secured the main caps while ARPs held it together. I made sure to run the ARP L19 head studs, and took the advice of Angie and ran a Cometic Headgasket. I had a bad taste in my mouth from the Cometic years ago, but ran it anyways. Everyone deserves 2nd chances right?
A month went by, and Dave's delivered. Getting ready to start mating things together, me and my friends decided to sharpie up the piston tops.
That whole month while the motor was in the machine shop, I went to work on an SW Racecars 10 point roll cage. It was one of the hardest things I have done to this DSM. My brother has been welding for about 15 years, and gave me a quick 10 minute lesson on how to bust decent beads using his millermatic 185.
This is what I got in the mail, shipped to my door for under 450 bucks.
My buddy Woody, and I went to work on stripping out the interior getting things right for the roll cage install ahead.
It was a week long project, on my first cage. Grinding, cutting, welding, measuring. Making sure everything was to spec for my height and size.
The traction issue was resolved with some budget wheels, and BFG Drag Radial 2's.
Here it is sitting on the meaties, caged up awaiting the heart transplant.
I decided the car needed a different look. Something that was cheap, quick and dirty. I headed down to my local OSH, and started looking at colors. I didn't want to rattle can the whole car, I needed something that could be sprayed. Settling on a hunter green shade, I started to prep the body.
Yours truly with a fro.
I ended up spraying the paint on a warm sunday afternoon at about 1:30. I was waiting on the fire dept. to swing by and ask me what I was doing spray painting a car in my driveway? I had the air compressor running full blast, and the spray gun spewing paint all over the place. I was ready to show them that I was spraying a water based latex paint. You heard that right.
Giggle all you want, here she is. $20 for 2 quarts of paint and I only used one.
After wrapping up the engine install, redoing some wiring, and finishing up the cage it was time for a break in. I followed the previous steps of breaking in the engine, and set off to do a hard break in. I pulled timing, set the boost low at 20 psi and had a fresh 5 gallons of 100 octane in her. A few half throttle rips brought a warm feeling that I almost forgot. I was in love with boost all over again. Drove her back home, and changed the oil again. 20w50 VR1 went in, as well as a fresh set of BPR8ES's.
I turned on the meth, raised the boost and went out to get a rough tune. This friday night was going to make or break the CMI event. I did a few rips and settled on 30 psi out of the 35r, and the tune was prety safe. The car was ready for the local CMI event.
My oldest brother Angel wanted to head out to the track with me and the crew. I was excited to have him with us because he is the die hard V8 guy, and wanted to see what I had going on.
First pass, straight off the trailer netted me something I have been waiting for and working so hard to achieve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvU1Gl3ydrY
10.5@133 with an easy going launch. The car felt so alive, and powerful. Bull frogging it out of the hole like never before. This Saturday test and tune was going to be one to remember.
I left the track that day with a 10.4@136 on the same tune from the night before.
After a couple runs, I decided to save it for Sundays main event.
Here are all the runs from Sunday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YurFFaGyHQ
First pass that day against TrecTec's talon ended the fun. I roasted the clutch, but went on to baby it in hopes that I would catch a nice streak of luck in the qualifiers. It was a no go. I was eliminated and ended up with an overall great weekend, and new standards.
I will be posting up a very detailed mods list here soon. I just figured I would hopefully get this posted up to give you guys a rough idea of what my past 8 years of DSM building has been like, and what I have achieved with the help of friends, family, UPS, and above all. The DSM community.
Garage built, not bought.
Ted Marquez
