Life and Times of Garagelu: S15 Build in the Dirty South

[SoundEfx]

This build is baller.

[turboshoebox]

So jelly of this car but i'd glad it went to this guy. You are taking great care of it!

[garagelu]

Over the weekend, I was able to pick up my exhaust manifold from the welder. HKS manifolds have really beefy tubing...way thicker than normal manifold and good welds so it is less prone to cracking than most manifolds. However I've personally seen a HKS manifold cracked so I wanted to make sure this brand new one is braced like other manifolds to prevent that. After all, I don't want to waste my time taking it off if it does crack and plus HKS manifolds are almost impossible to come by these days. I think this brace will do great.

Origin Fabrication is the shop that did this for me. Top notch welding work.

[tricky_ab]

Man, I love your attention to details with this build. And I also like that you're taking your time with it. Too many people think it's a constant sprint to the finish.

[garagelu]

I received my clutch in from south bend/dxd racing yesterday. I custom ordered this clutch because the standard clutch for sr20 has a sprung disc. On S15, they have a dual mass flywheel. I did not know this before but you need a unsprung disc if you have a dual mass flywheel.

I had trouble finding a unsprung clutch in the market. I think the only one I could find for a reasonable price was ACT. I think OS Giken and ORC had one but they were well over 1k.

I had a dxd racing clutch in my previous car and loved it. Great price, great pedal feel, held plenty of power and never had any issues with it. So I called John at south bend clutch to see if I can custom order a unsprung disc with the sr20 clutch. He said not a problem so I asked what the turnaround is...expecting several weeks. He tells me just an extra day. Ordered it, took 2-3 days to make, shipped it out and was at my door in just 2-3 days.

[RalliartRsX]

Cluchmasters FX500 is an unsprung setup as well. Pedal feel is stock and holds 500 ft lbs (at the wheels). Price is about $390 shipped and I have had very good luck with them on several different vehicles (Just a FYI).

Great build! Keep it up.

[future]

Do you get cheaper prices calling Southbend as apposed to buying from a vendor?

[garagelu]

Originally Posted by RalliartRsX

Cluchmasters FX500 is an unsprung setup as well. Pedal feel is stock and holds 500 ft lbs (at the wheels). Price is about $390 shipped and I have had very good luck with them on several different vehicles (Just a FYI).

Great build! Keep it up.

Damn that's good to know. I never had experience with clutchmasters

Originally Posted by future

Do you get cheaper prices calling Southbend as apposed to buying from a vendor?

Not really. It is actually cheaper through a vendor. I did ask them to price match with the cheapest vendor I could find and they came within 20-30 dollars of them. Free shipping and no sales tax so I just went through them direct.

[garagelu]

[collegekid]

Did you buy your intercooler kit already? Which one did you get and did you have to notch your frame rails? I cant see from the pics

[garagelu]

Originally Posted by collegekid

Did you buy your intercooler kit already? Which one did you get and did you have to notch your frame rails? I cant see from the pics

Yes I did. I originally had a S13 intercooler core and use S14 piping. It was a Greddy RSPL that I had laying around. That core would have required me to either 1) cut clearances in the frame rail 2) cut the bumper to fit (requires a lot of cutting)

So that's when I went back and forth on a few different kits...mainly between Greddy and Blitz since those are really the only 2 affordable ones out there right now. I also had considered buying a garrett core and welding custom endtanks.

I ended up buying a brand new Blitz LM kit off a zilvia member for 500 bucks which is a crazy steal. I believe since the Blitz LM is fitted for S14/S15 it sits in the proper place so you don't have to cut the frame rails. There is minor cutting of the bumper required though.

Then few weeks later a brand new ARC FMIC popped up on ebay. The lowest I could get the price down was 1400 iirc. I was so tempted but then I stepped back and thought...what's the point. A FMIC is going to get banged up with rock chips and it would suck to mess a ARC up. Plus you won't really see it once the bumper is all installed.

[RalliartRsX]

Originally Posted by garagelu

...........

Then few weeks later a brand new ARC FMIC popped up on ebay. The lowest I could get the price down was 1400 iirc. I was so tempted but then I stepped back and thought...what's the point. A FMIC is going to get banged up with rock chips and it would suck to mess a ARC up. Plus you won't really see it once the bumper is all installed.

QFT!! Not sure why anyone would spend that kind of coin for a brand name..... In addition, the (ARC) cores are nothing out of the ordinary and the typical Greddy RSPL core would cool just as well, without impeding airflow and minimal pressure drop.

Glad you used common sense thinking instead of "Omergaerd!! ARC!! BJ please!!!" and said "Da fuq?!?! Who the hell is going to know there is a run of the mill......sorry, ARC core in the bumper opening??"

Sure the fan boys are just foaming at the mouth with that choice

[tricky_ab]

If you purchased the Blitz kit, there's minimal modifications that needs to take place. It's the same one I had purchased for my old S15.

Originally Posted by RalliartRsX

QFT!! Not sure why anyone would spend that kind of coin for a brand name..... In addition, the (ARC) cores are nothing out of the ordinary and the typical Greddy RSPL core would cool just as well, without impeding airflow and minimal pressure drop.

Glad you used common sense thinking instead of "Omergaerd!! ARC!! BJ please!!!" and said "Da fuq?!?! Who the hell is going to know there is a run of the mill......sorry, ARC core in the bumper opening??"

Sure the fan boys are just foaming at the mouth with that choice

[garagelu]

[CamryOnBronze]

Ugh, so stoked for you Kevin. My dream. One of these days... lol.

Can't wait to see this!

[S13project]

looking damn good. gonna be so nice once its back on the road

[S15_Night_Rider]

So sick!

Just planning on sticking with the stock Spec R aero/width of body and enjoying it that way?

[SilviaForTheWin]

absolutely love your s15! only ever seen a couple that are this clean, so yours is one of the greats! hope my s13 will one day be on this level

[garagelu]

Originally Posted by S15_Night_Rider

So sick!

Just planning on sticking with the stock Spec R aero/width of body and enjoying it that way?

Yup. S15's are one of the few cars that looks worse with a widebody/aero...imo.

Originally Posted by SilviaForTheWin

absolutely love your s15! only ever seen a couple that are this clean, so yours is one of the greats! hope my s13 will one day be on this level

Thanks bro. Anyone can build a clean car...just need patience and a little money and time.

[garagelu]

My painter called me this morning to give me a few updates. The car is going through re-assembly and final touch ups. Detailer going to do his thing on Saturday. So looks like I'll be picking the car up next Friday!!!

Time to knock things off the list one by one. Only 1.5 months till my wedding so not too much time left.



ARC radiator got polished tonight. It was in pretty rough condition when I got it so went over it with 3000 and finished it with mother's mag polish.




Borrowed some tools from work. My job responsibilities mainly deal with tooling and torque for the past 6 years so over the years it is just habit to make sure every bolt is torqued to the right spec on my car. For some reason it was really difficult finding the torque spec for the compressor and exhaust housing bolts. But finally found it...18-21 Nm. So I borrowed a torque wrench from work and set it to 20 Nm. The click wrenches from work allow interchangeable ends. It's impossible to get to most of the bolts on the turbo with a socket. So I was able to torque all of them with a open end and boxed end on the click wrench I had.

[tricky_ab]

Totally forgot that you had that ARC rad. I can't wait to see pictures of this thing in the sunlight!

[xpinoyxmk]

Great turbo!


Finally got mine tuned and it pulls very nice.

[garagelu]

Updated pic from my painter. Looks like it just needs final detail and then I can pick it up. Today I'll be cleaning the 3 year old dust that has collected on my parts so they will be ready to install as soon as the car gets back to the shop.

[S13project]

hope to see you at import alliance sportin those Yeezys

[garagelu]

Went ahead and replaced all the exhaust manifold studs. The original ones were a little corroded.


Installed Tomei rocker arm stoppers today.

I decided to run aeroquip stuff this time around. I looked into XRP but their stuff is ridiculously expensive compared to aeroquip. Caterpillar, where I work, uses mostly aeroquip as an OEM for hoses and plumbing so its great stuff. Plus I can go down to the summit racing store on the way home from work and grab it whereas XRP you'd be waiting a week or 2 for it.


Got everything routed nice and tucked behind the turbo. All I need is a 120 degree -6 fitting for the turbo. I bought a 90 degree and it hits the wastegate arm.


Tomei is making some killer stuff. Great fitment and quality.

[garagelu]

Went to go check on the car this past Friday. There are a few issues that need to be fixed by the body shop so goin to have to wait another week or so before I can take it back to the garage.

[wsmiteh]

Looking great, always love seeing builds like this.

[CamryOnBronze]

Simply amazing Kev. Attention to detail is fantastic man!

[Will.]

hey kev, its w2tang from Instagram,

amazing build!

[S15_Night_Rider]

So beautiful! Love fantasizing about bolting together my S15, with everything either new or cleaned/refurb'd.