Yoshi's VR-4 Transformation **Pic Heavy**

This build has been a long time coming. It started sometime last year when Yoshi decided he wanted to update the look of his mint 92 VR-4. He only drives this car maybe once a month and it has less than 90k on the odometer. His wife was always on him on how dated the front end looked so he finally bit the bullet and decided on the 99 front end conversion.

I started by gathering information, sending him over part numbers on what all he was going to need to buy. Not shortly after all the parts started flowing in. Needless to say my wife started to get a little concerned as she though I was the one spending all the money on these parts...LOL

So prior to me getting the car, it spent some time at 3sx. It got Executioner turbos installed, 550cc injectors, Complete Dejon Blow through setup with MAF-T, and a bunch of other little goodies. Basically Yoshi wanted 400hp and that got him there. I have done some work to the car including removing the stock exhaust and installing on of the Ebay M2 exhausts which looks great, minus the cans not being completely straight.

I have been sitting on an attic full of parts for about 6 months now which includes the following:

Full 99 front end conversion with all panels brackets, splash shields, etc
94 Glass angel eye/demon eye headlights
Oohnoo Dual Core FMIC
CX Racing Hard pipe kit

So here is basically what his car looked like prior to Yoshi dropping it off:

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpics/10002/stock.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpics/10002/stock2.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpics/10002/3sx.jpg


Over the winter the only thing I was really able to do for the build was to polish the hard pipes:

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1406.JPG
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1408.JPG

Now that it warmed up I was able to start the major work on the car. He dropped the car off to me a about a month ago to start the work.


Started by tearing into the front end. Jacked up the car, removed the front bumper, underside panels, etc.

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...%20%281%29.jpg

Out with the old headlight buckets:
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...%20%282%29.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...%20%283%29.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...%20%284%29.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...%20%285%29.jpg

---Continued

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...%20%286%29.jpg

I started tearing into the upper part of the enign to cleanup and install various items.

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...%20%287%29.jpg


Below are some things that 3sx had installed when the turbo install was completed.

Upon removing the upper intake manifold I found tons of black silicone adhering it to the lower plenum. I spent a couple hours scraping it off so that it didn't end up in the combustion chamber.

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...%20%288%29.jpg

When removing the EGR system as part of the vac delete I came across some issues with the rear pre-cat eliminator 3sx installed. One of the holes for the EGR tube was stripped so they installed a standard bolt/nut. The other bolt was cross threaded & rusted. This car has no rust on it so it was most likely old hardware from something else. When removing the cross threaded bolt the head broke.... Of Course!!!

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...%20%289%29.jpg

So I drilled out the bolt and when using my extractor the tip on the extractor broke off... DAMN It!!! Now due to hoe this tube is designed and the tip of the extractor being carbide, I was not able to drill this out. I wouldn't be able to put the pressure on it needed to drill it out without fear of breaking the eliminator EGR tube. Since this was getting a block off plate I attached it with High temp silicone and used the bolt/nut on the other hole to clamp it all down. After the test runs it was not leaking so it should hold for the time being. I believe Yoshi is going to contact them about this since they are the ones to originally install it.

Here is the wiring for the MAF-T The RPM wiring going to the PTU was suspended in mid air above the transmission and zip tied to the catch-can.

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2810%29.jpg

I also don't see why 3sx installed the catch-can to begin with. They installed Krank vents on the car whcih if they did what they claim to do there would never be any oil in the lines "Guess what?? The catch-can was bone dry even after a year of driving!!" So yeah it was removed as it was not needed.....

Here is the rats nest of EGR, Vacuum lines, Etc that I removed for the vac reduction.

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2811%29.jpg

And here is everything hooked back up nice and neatly

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2817%29.jpg


2nd gen headlight buckets welded in. I was even able to find some paint to closely match the stock color, well close enough..... :P

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2813%29.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2814%29.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2816%29.jpg

Now with the buckets all welded into place it was time to move onto the FMIC install.

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2818%29.jpg

Yoshi went for Bob's "Oohnoo" Duel Core FMIC kit which has had nothing bu rave reviews. I started off by mounting the core to the front. Bob has all the mounting points specific for a 3s so no need trying to figure out the placement.

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2819%29.jpg

I got the passenger side pipes in place but had some issues with connecting the upper pipe to the front turbo. Bob sent out a 90 coupler that I was told is what connected the front turbo to the pipe. The Front pipe was already angled up about 25-30 degrees. There was no way I was goignt o be able to use that 90 degree elbow. I ended up cutting some of the stock soft pipe and made a coupler to fit it perfectly.

The other pipe leads up to the Y and it is a very tight fit. I had to do a lot of pulling to get it into position even with all the clamps loose. The vertical pipe going to the Y-pipe is part of the CX racing kit. The kit fit like absolute shit and I had to make about 4 cuts to get it to work.

Vertical pipe has bends in the wrong place.
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2821%29.jpg

Driver side pipes. I ended up having to cut one of Bob's pipes as it went up to high. If I cut the CX racing pipe coming out the top I would not have the room for the t-bolt clamps much less the room to even tighten them down.
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2822%29.jpg

Here are the lower pipes all installed:
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2823%29.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2828%29.jpg

Oil Cooler has to be angled in order for it to clear the pipes.
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1531.JPG

On to getting the upper pipes to fit. This was the hardest challenge using the crap CX Racing kit. Most of the pipes are way to long and look to be just off the shelf aluminum l bends. CX Racing also sends out a bunch of couplers that didn't even belong to this version of the kit. Plus no instructions really leaves you wondering how the hell it all fits together.

Bob's kit on the other hand has each pipes labeled as to where it goes!! Big Props to Bob on the little things as it really helped out.

So after much pushing, pulling, squeezing, cursing I got most of the pipes installed.....

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2824%29.jpg

here is a great example of a pipe that was way too long and had to be cut:

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2825%29.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2826%29.jpg

After getting in the new red couplers from siliconeintakes.com I was able to swap out the blue ones and clamp everything down nice and tight.

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1532.JPG

I also cleaned up the 3SX MAF-T wiring job so it was clean and no wires were suspended in mid air!!!

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1533.JPG

Now it's time to get the front bumper all fitted.

The bumper has to be trimmed in a couple locations in order for it to fit with the FMIC. Mainly the areas where the stock fins and fog-lights would have gone. The fin mounts are removed to keep it clean looking.

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2832%29.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2833%29.jpg

Once it was all fitted and attached we turn to the underside panels. These are specific to the 99 front bumper and have a really nice built in lip. Here are the panels that it consists of:

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1528.JPG

Here are the shots with all panels/lip installed:

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1535.JPG
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1536.JPG
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1537.JPG

Yoshi decided to not have the black part of the bumper cut or cut the crash bar. This does hinder some flow to the Inter cooler but not by much. I would say that 80% of the core it still in straight airflow.

We also replaced the inner wheel wheels plastics with the 99 specific panels to keep a complete stock clean look.

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1534.JPG

Spent some time getting the wiring figured out as I had to wire in HID's, Demon eyes and angel eyes.

The HID's are on a separate power circuit as the stock wiring is not the best. 10awg power wire to each ballast on a 30amp relay. Stock headlight triggers the relay. The angel eyes are wired into the stock parking lights. The Demon eyes were wired into the stock fog light switch. Fog light circuit was modified so that it would work seperatly of the headlights as long as the key was in the on position.

Car on the ground and lights in place:
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1538.JPG
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...2/DSCF1539.JPG

Yoshi loved the Evil Eye hood so might as well add that to the list of things being done. I built his the same way I did mine. Stock hood and steel:

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2838%29.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2839%29.jpg

All sanded and prepped ready for install. He is taking it to a body shop to get painted as I don't have the equipment to do a really good paint job.

http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2840%29.jpg

And Installed:
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2842%29.jpg
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpi...20%2843%29.jpg


Here are some night shots of the headlights in action that Yoshi took in his garage the night he picked up the car:

Angel Eyes:
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpics/10002/Angel.jpg

Demon Eyes:
http://3s.gonzoinc.com/albums/userpics/10002/demon.jpg

So the job took roughly a month to complete with me working basically every weekend on it. I work 8-6 during the week so no time during the week.

I think the project came out great and I hope Yoshi enjoys it for years to come........

Tell his ass to bite the bullet and buy 99 lights :)

Great work, Greg. Hate that he's going with the 99 conversion (not a fan) but I know it appeals to a lot of folks and it will work out well for him. His car is super clean

subscribed

Looking good. I love threads like this, and look forward to updates.