I would like to talk to this guy. I’m open to other options but also really picky as I’ve had bed luck with my stroker and it was built twice by a reputable shop in So Cal.
I also have a good local engine builder , Steve stack is his name and he is veryyyyyyy anal on his builds and stands by it . Yes he will fix it if its not right . My new engine is there and I have 3 more about to go there .
Call, ask for Rick, tell him Travis sent you.
To give you an idea of his abilities, Ray’s Supra (local car) was the first Supra engine that he built, and it’s currently making over 1100WHP…nearly 7 years after he built it. Very, very rare to see that on something that is making ~7 HP/CI.
Are you changing your oil cooler with each new engine?
I flushed it out but didn’t change it.
That is one of your problems. Needs to be changed every time there is an engine change/failure.
I’d delete it WAY before I ever reused it.
Good to think about, I will swap it out with the next engine. But neither engine has suffered any bearing damage ( I assume this one hasn’t since it isn’t knocking but who knows what will happen when I tear it down), just premature ring wear.
So here is a little bit more drama from my car.
Two weeks ago I had to go back to Groton CT after spending two weeks home during Christmas stand down. With my car loaded with about 400 lbs of uniforms, clothes, and other stuff I started my 200 mile drive. About 30 miles into my drive, around Troy I downshifted to pass someone and suddenly I had no boost at all. The car has a pre-turbo MAF so I knew it wasn’t a major boost leak since the car still ran. I exited the freeway and got out ready to fight a fire in case I has ruptured the oil feed line but everything looked fine and the car was still idling fine. I figured that either the turbo ate itself or the waste gate spring had collapsed in my Tial MVS.
I drove the car in super slow N/A mode all the way to Groton as I needed to report back for duty. When I got there I took off the intake and sure enough the compressor wheel was rattling all around. I then needed to figure out how to get the car back to NY pretty soon as this was on Jan 2nd and I finished training in Groton Jan 13th and am now in Ballston Spa for at least 8 months.
I remembered that I had another previously killed Holset cartridge so I went about dismantling it. and making a temporary non-turbo that would not leak oil or loose pieces into my engine.
And in the mean time I ordered a new cartridge from Performance Techniques in CA (these guys are the place to go for a rebuilt Holset $450 for a fresh rebuilt cartridge is their normal price, mine was much cheaper since they feel my pain of how often I have issues)
Also while switching in the dummy turbo I found the problem. I did a boost leak test prior to disassembling the turbo just to check how things were and it had developed a large boost leak where the compressor housing mates to the back plate and the turbo probably spun itself to death maintaining 22psi with such a leak. Also the oil filter on the feed line wasn’t completely clogged but fairly gunked up so oil supply was limited at the same time as the turbo was working to hard. To prevent that from happening again I ordered a 0-150 psig sensor to put on the feed line after the filter to monitor pressure going to the turbo. This sensor will be monitored by my Zeitronix ZT-2 and pressure either too low or too high will trigger an audible and visual alarm on the dash.
hate to hear about all the problems, but glad you’ve got it figured out… good luck! i want a ride when you get it back on the road! 
+1 on replacing the oil cooler… you can flush it all you want, but you can never get everything out.
For the moment the car is up and running. I took my sweet ass time getting it back together and I cleaned out the intercooler and all the piping (there was a shit ton of oil in there from the blown turbo). It also took some doing to fit the pressure sender onto the feed line, I had to slightly re-route the feed line to make it fit.
Now monitoring the oil pressure I think I see what may have been tough on my turbos. Holset calls for a min. pressure of 10psi at idle and a max of 72psi under load. I am fine at idle but prior to the car warming up the pressure rockets past 90psi so I pretty much really have to wait for the car to warm up before even taking it near 3k RPMs.
Also of note is that my pump gas tune was still set up for CA 91 octane gas and to get my engine to not knock even at 17psi (wastegate pressure) we had to seriously dial back the timing. As seen in the picture of the timing table below.
Yesterday while driving around and testing things out I decided to re-load the stock timing tables and see how they would behave with 93 octane. Here is a picture of the stock timing table.
And as a pleasant surprise there is not a sign of knock up to 19psi so far. I really need to get the car out on an empty road in good weather and fine tune the shit out of it.
Good to see it up and running. In this cold weather, I’d strongly consider running Rotella 5W40 (and go back to the VR1 in the spring/summer). Easier cold starts and those pressures should come down too.
I switched it over to 10-30 VR1, I wish local stores would stock it but I just ordered a bunch from jegs. I think the oil pressure with the 20-50 was through the roof and that probably didn’t help the turbos oil seals.
Advance has the 10w30. Rotella 10w30 is fine too.
Thanks Travis, last I checked Advanced only had the full synthetic 10w30 and my car is consuming way to much oil to spend that kind of money. I’m rocking the conventional VR1 for economic reasons.
I’m seriously loosing about a quart every 100 miles from the blow by in cylinders 1 and 2. I really need to get a new short block going.
How’s the GSX coming along?
It runs, actually pretty good right now except for the oil consumption.
I’ve decided that I’m not rebuilding my stroker motor since the resulting poor rod ratio just seems to be not working out real well for longevity. I’m currently talking to several shops about building a fresh 2.0l shortblock for the car.
local shops? If so, where are you looking to get it done?
I don’t have cash in hand yet since I was going to fund the engine with my tax return but my wife decided that we would take a two week vacation to CA instead. I am awaiting someone to pick up and pay for a 1971 GMC Sprint that I own in CA to fund this.
Right now I’m getting quotes from Jackson Auto Machine in MD, and Buschur Racing in OH. I intend to call Travis’s guy next week once I have some other quotes and also once I have actual money to deal with.
Can AMS or ETS do anything for you?
My girlfriend takes all my spare money too 