OK so I am officially FBO now with VRSF 7" HD Intercooler and VRSF catless downpipes.
I ordered these bits during the black friday sale and it took a while to be shipped.
I received the package and dropped my car off at my garage for install. Somehow one the O2 bung had reversed threads on one of the downpipes. I have ordered 4 sets of downpipes with some other friends and they were all fine except for mine.
So... this meant I was only able to install the intercooler first. After the intercooler was installed, I went out for a drive, turbos wouldn't spool and limped with a half engine light...Smoke tested the connections and found a leak at the turbo outlet to intercooler connection. Since the connection is more easy to reach from the top, my mechanic decided to take the radiator fan out and broke the nipple connecting the overflow tank on my upper coolant pipe. Since everything was taken apart already, we tightened the connection until there was no more smoke coming out and called it a day.
Upper coolant hose came, installed, and my mechanic noticed the Lower coolant hose was starting to crack as well.....
and... my belt is screeching after coolant sprayed onto it from the broken nipple so I decided to replace the lower coolant hose, belt, belt tensioner and the pulleys at the same time as I have no idea when they were last done.
Finally...everything was installed. Time for testing! I already bought the MHD OTS Stage 1 map pack so I just plugged my phone in and flashed to Stage 1+... The car felt a lot more powerful after the turbo is done spooling. Also, IATs were a lot cooler than before especially on back to back pulls from 80km/h to 200+ km/h. Didn't bother to log anything though...
Shitty Intercooler Pic
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However, with the new added power, the flex in the rear control arm bushings are even more noticeable. Since the car is only for spirited driving/track, I ended up going with Hard Race Camber Arms/Toe Arms/Guide Rods. Originally I planned to go with Bimmerworld arms but after a bit of researching, these arms are prone to crap from the road which causes the bearings/joints to develop slack due to lack of dust boots. Also, the arms were out of stock when I needed them and I can buy Hard Race parts locally...
Hard Race Arms
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Of course, new arms means new alignment. I chose to reduce the caster on my car this time so I can gain more camber on the front and with new rear camber arms, I added more camber to compliment the front camber which allows faster cornering (hopefully).
Front: -2.8 degrees camber/-0.1 degrees toe out/6.7 degrees caster
Rear: -2.4 degrees camber/0.1 degrees toe in
With less caster, my tire now rubs the inner fender at a different spot. All the noticeable slack from the rear is finally gone. Butt dyno says I am cornering at faster speeds than before.
Back to the downpipe.... Tiago from VRSF was quick to resolve the issue and sent the replacement pipe out immediately. I didn't know they sent it until he gave me the tracking number and found out it had been delivered to my friend's house already on the same day.
Picked up the pipe a few days later and since I had time, I stood around and watched my garage install/wrestle the pipe. Definitely not something I want to do myself without a lift. It's the first time my mechanic did downpipes on a 335, so... he chose to lower the front subframe a little and support the engine for more room to release the v bands on the downpipe.
As soon as he lowered the subframe, I saw the infamous rear wastegate actuator rod! This is inaccessible on RHD cars due to the steering rack in the way. Since my wastegates were rattling like crazy, I asked them to take a stab at adjusting the rod as well.
Rear Wastegate Actuator Rod on RHD car
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We ended up tightening the rod by three complete turns based on his experience with wastegates on other cars and this completely eliminated my wastegate rattle! I know it will come back eventually to bite me but hopefully by then I will have the $$ to replace OEM turbos or go for Pure Stage2/GC Lites or whatever...
Old Exhaust Gaskets, completely fell apart
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Downpipes Installed, no rubbing on subframe
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With everything buttoned up, MHD OTS Stage 2+ map was flashed and I went out to test. Turbos spooled up a lot faster and revs climbed a lot faster than Stage 1+ but I am pretty sure tightening the rod helped quite a bit as well. The increase in power is definitely not as strong as Stage 1 to Stage 1+ but it is still noticeable.
Next... an unexpected purchase... a used Howerton Engineering Twin Tank with Aquamist HFS-4 kit from
@R.G.! I originally planned to do a dual oil cooler setup first but this kit showed up at the wrong time... I didn't want to miss the opportunity as I don't think I have seen this kit sold as used.
