For the last few weeks, I've been busy between new bling-bling in the engine bay, installing water/methanol injection and new rod bolts... Here are some highlights of the install....

Used windshield washer container for storing "juice"


Painted and cleared cross member.


Some more wrapping to do


Painted and cleared upper and lower pans


Fidanza








As I inspect the rods, I couldn't believe my eyes. They had already gone through the 1st layer.


Mind as well. ACL FTW!!!


Had to get a shot of the shaved caliper.


Anyways, it's been a busy summer. Trying to do all this crap and still work full time has kept me on my toes. But, it's all a great time as usual...

 

whoa, all I can say

 

that turbo kit uses the stock manifolds? WTF?

 

Nice article! Rod Bearings look like you haven't been changing your oil or it's been over rev'd/overboost'd.....I've been thinking of doing the ARP rod bolts just for peace of mind especially if I able to get a reflashed ecu......

 

awsome pics...i love pics!!!

 

Yeah - THAT ain't normal wear-n-tear!!

How long you been "boosted"????

Nice work, btw.

gr

 

The 5.5 gen SFR turbo kits are designed to come off the stock manifolds/precats.

 

must be nice

 

Only boosted for a few months.

Over reved for sure. Boost hasn't been turned up more than about 8.5 PSI (and that is seldom). I predict the rod bearing damage occured prior to my turbo days. Most likely on the track actually.

CMax03, that was exactly why I wanted to replace the rod bolts, for peace of mind. I am very lucky that I pulled those caps off when I did. Man, that was close!!! I wish I could have done the mains too.

 

Your car is slow.

jk...nasty lol

 

OP is definitely ambitious! Good thing too, considering the rod caps.

 

lol +1

 

Thumbsup bro man... good shyt... I like I like, see this is when its o.k to start a thread with pictures of new ish.... again great job man

 

That's definitely one of the best turbo setups I've seen in a Maxima period! Everything is so well placed....that's cool that it's setup with the stock exhaust manifolds.... What are you running in the 1/4 mile 11.7 sec? It's beautiful dude!!!!

 

Unknown at this time. With the WOT box installed, water/methanol injection and stronger rods for higher boost, I should be in the 11s as long as the driver mod is in place.

Still waiting for things to cool down a bit here in Vegas. With fall season just around the corner, I am sure I will have the answer to this soon...

 

u know i never asked this question before and now seems a good time as any; are replacing the rod bearings more of a maintnence task or do you feel the engine rev a little easier with fresh bearings in there?
or did you replace them because you heard some knocking underneath?

 

I replaced the rods as basically peace of mind. Knowing that the 3.5L has weak rod bolts and the fact that not only am I going to put out more HP by having the water/methanol injection, but I also wanted to turn up the boost to around 10 PSI. These were the main facts influencing my decision to replace the bolts. It wasn't my intention to replace the caps until I discovered they had gone through the first layer. They never spun, so there was no knocking.

As far as rev easier, my car is still sitting on the rack as I plan to finish the repairs next week, I am out of town in Reno right now. However, I don't foresee a difference in the way the engine will rev.