Fog Light Mod

READ THIS ENTIRE LETTER BEFORE ANY MODIFICATIONS ARE DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
O.K. First, open your fuse box and unhook your battery. look for the fog light fuse. It will be a blue 15 amp fuse on the far right side if you are
standing directly in front of your car. It will be the second one from the direct front of the car. Take it out. It will have two empty metal
connectors where the fuse used to be. run a wire from the empty spot on the right side (If you are standing directly in front of the car!) to a new fuse
(put the fuse anywhere you want). Run a wire from the other side of the fuse to the battery if you want to control your fogs when the car is on or
off. If you want your fogs to be controlled only when the car is on, run the wire that I just mentioned to the ignition switch. Hook it up to the
double sized black wire with the white stripe. This wire is the wire that sends power to the engine computer when the ignition is on. If you can find
it, it might be easier to run your wire to the double sized black wire with the white stripe at the CPU beside the fuse box under the hood. The wire is
in there, but there are so many wires that you might not find it ,or you might splice the wrong wire and screw up something REALLY bad. The wire is
going to be in the harness on the top left side of the CPU (If you are standing directly in front of the car!) on the 4 cyl. On the 6 cyl , look
at the CPU that is closest to the fuse box. The wire should plug into the very top or the very bottom of the harness. This should make finding the
power wire a little easier! To hook up the fog button, you have two options. Your first option is to pry that whole button cluster out (power
mirror buttons, cruse button and fog) with a flat screwdriver. on the back of the fog button, there will be a harness with 4 wires coming out of it
(the harness will have 6 spaces though.) Cut the green wire with the black stripe. Run the end that is connected to the harness to a ground somewhere
(a GOOD ground). Check the ground with an ohms meter to make sure it is good. Tie off the end of the green wire with the black stripe that runs
down in the dash. DON'T LET IT TOUCH ANYTHING METAL!!! It goes to your high beam/low beam switch in your steering column. use electrical tape to
tie it off. To get your button to light up only when the fogs are on, cut the green wire with the blue stripe and the black wire with the yellow
stripe and the green wire with the white stripe. tie off the end of the green wire with the white stripe that goes into the dash with electrical
tape. DO NOT LET IT TOUCH ANYTHING THAT CONDUCTS ELECTRICITY!! This wire is the power wire from your taillights! It is hooked to almost every
interior light in your car as a positive (+)!!! Now tie off the end of the black wire with the yellow stripe that goes into the dash the same way. It
also goes to every light in the interior as a negative(-). DO NOT LINK THESE TWO!!!!! If you do, you will burn out your interior light dim
switch (rheostat), and no interior lights will come on at all when you use your parking lights!!!! (A rheostat cost 50 dollars from Mitsu!)
Take the end of the black wire with the yellow stripe that links onto the harness, and connect it to the end of the green wire with the blue stripe
that links onto the harness. Connect the end of the green wire with the white stripe (that links onto the harness) with the end of the green wire
with the blue stripe that goes down in the dash. Now plug the harness back onto the button, and pop the button assembly back into the dash. Hook the
battery back up. You are set to go. The fog light button should light up when the fogs are on (If all instructions were followed). The fog lights
will turn on when the car is off if you hooked the power up to the battery. They will turn on only when the ignition is fully on if the power is hooked
to the ig. switch or the CPU. The fog light relay is NOT a high speed relay!!! do not attempt to flash your fogs quickly, or the relay will jam!
To UN-jam the relay, click the fog switch off ,and flip the headlights on and off once. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to e-mail me. I
check my e-mail at least once a day!

Headlights

When changing your headlights, take note that the low beams use 55 watt MAX 9006 bulbs, and the high beams use 9005 bulbs.  I personally have 100 watt bulbs in my car with no problems.  The fog lights use H3 bulbs.  I have heard of people using 85 watt bulbs on the fog lights with no problems.  The low beams are very limited.  if you use a high wattage bulb, they will either over heat and explode (literally) or melt the wiring harness to the bulb and short out.  Blue head lights tend to have low illumination and high glare.  This means that you will blind oncoming traffic while not even having enough light to see the road yourself.  PIAA Super white bulbs allow a much better view of the road.  I would recommend these bulbs to anyone that needs a little extra light.  Removal of all the bulbs is straight forward and requires no special tools (screwdriver required for fog lights)

Springs

Springs are one of the most important suspension modifications that you can do.  several springs are offered for the Avenger/Sebring, including coil over type systems.  The factory springs spring rates are usually around 260 pounds per inch in the front and about 160 in the rear.  Different models have varying spring rates.  You have to select a spring that fits your driving conditions.  Intrax makes a spring kit that drops the 4 cyl car 2 inches in the front and 1.75 inches in the rear.  The front of the v6 is dropped a little lower with these springs because of the extra weight.  Eibach makes a 1.3 inch drop spring for front and rear, and Progress technology also makes a 1.3 inch drop spring for front and rear.  Sprint makes a spring that drops 2 inches front and rear as far as i have heard.  I would recommend a rear camber kit to anybody that drops their rear more than 1.5 inches.  You can buy camber adjusting shims that mount between your upper a-arm brackets and your frame in the rear for VERY cheap.  the front of the car does not really need a camber kit, but if you must, Ingalls and American specialty products makes a camber kit that can adjust the front camber.  it mounts in place of the front upper a-arm studs.  To install the springs, you must have a couple of 17 mm wrenches, a spring compressor, a couple of 14 mm wrenches, and preferably a torque wrench.  For the front springs, have the front of the car supported by stands on the frame, and remove the front wheels.  undo the 14 mm bolts at the top of the strut tower.  Undo the 14 mm nut that holds on the strut bar to the strut perch.  Undo the 17 mm bolt that clamps the strut to the strut mount.  Now undo the 17 mm bolt that connects the strut mount to the lower lateral arm.  Once removed, separate the strut from the strut mount and maneuver them out individually.  Now, mount the spring compressor as recommended by the manufacturer of the compressor onto the spring.  NOTE THAT THE ASSEMBLY SHOULD BE OUT OF THE CAR NOW.   remove the top nut from the strut and release the spring as instructed by the compressor instructions CAREFULLY.  Spring compressors are not toys.  Serious injury can result from improper usage.  once the old spring is off, place the new spring on the shock and place the compressor on it.  If you are installing lowering springs, cut one or 2 small layers off of the stock bump stop.  This allows full suspension travel.  Torque the shock shaft bolt to 18 ft lb., or basically hand tighten.  Try to use a new self locking nut if possible.  Also make sure the shock tower mount is positioned correctly on the shaft.  Now place the strut in the fender.  Place the strut mount on the strut in the fender.  Torque the strut mount to 64 ft lb..  Now make sure the strut is seated on the strut mount, and torque the strut mount clamping  bolt to 75 ft. lb..  Now place the sway bar on the strut mount and torque to 28 ft. lb..  Now lift the hub assembly so that the strut tower studs stick out of their holes under the hub, and torque the nuts on them to 32 ft. lb..  If you choose to install a camber kit, it should come with instructions for it's specific application.   Torque the wheel back on to 85 ft lb..  Now put the vehicle back on the ground and check the torque on all the bolts again.  repeat the process for the other side.
    For the rear, remove the back seat bottom by pulling on the black rings on the front of the seat and lift it out.  Now unbolt the side cushion seats from the car.  This will take a 14 mm wrench if i remember correctly.  now, fold down the seat backs and pry off the plastic wall between the seat and the trunk.  this will expose the strut towers for the rear.  Now, raise the rear of the vehicle and remove the rear wheel.  Untorque the strut tower bolts from the car (14 mm).  Untorque the lower mounting bolt for the strut.  Remove the strut from the fender.  Replace the spring from the strut as you did in the front.  Install the assembled strut in the car.  Torque the bottom mounting bolt to 71 ft. lb..  Torque the strut tower nuts to 32 ft. lb..  Torque the wheel on the car at 85 ft. lb..  lower the car back down.  When done, re-install the plastic wall in the interior, push the side cushion on and down  (it has a hook on it), and tighten it down with a small ratchet or wrench.  re install your rear seat, and you are done.  Wait 3 days and then get a 4 wheel toe alignment (the springs take 2 to 3 days to settle to permanent ride height.  It will lower itself slowly during this time.  be patient.  If you installed a camber kit, get that adjusted also with the alignment.  re torque the wheels after 50 miles, and you are good to go!  The springs will give you a "stiffer" ride and will increase cornering capabilities while minimizing body roll caused by "soft" springs

Struts / Shocks

 When installing shock absorbers, follow the same steps as removing the springs.  the shock absorbers on the Avenger/Sebring are the same as on an eclipse or eagle Talon.  There are several shocks available including GAB, KONI, KYB, and Tokico.  I personally have Koni Adjustable shocks.  I set them at 75% and they do a great job.  A must for people that want the ultimate performance and handling.  Shocks increase the dampening ratio and cause the car to be more stable at high acceleration and hard corners.

Pedals

Foot pedal covers increase the surface area of your pedals and make it much harder to "miss" the pedal when you hit it hard.  Most universal ones clamp on from the rear to the factory pedal and do not replace your factory pedals.  They do give a better feel to the pedals however.  Nice add on for performance junkies that want it to be a little easier :)

Emergency Handle

Cusco makes a flanged out Emergency handle button that replaces the stock little button on the emergency brake handle.  The factory button merely screws off and the Cusco button screws on in it's place.  it has a larger surface area to allow for easier e-bake usage around corners where you want a little rear end action.  It is hard to miss when using the handle.  Do not screw it all the way down. It will not completely engage if you do.

Gauge Pod

Autometer makes a few a-pillar gauge pods that will fit the avenger.  the pods for the eclipse will fit, but MUST be screwed down to make a perfect fit.  The factory a-pillar pops out.  The full pillar gauge pod for the eclipse does not directly fit on the avenger.  The top of the a-pillar must be cut off approximately 4.5 inches (measured in the center of the pod) from the top if you choose to install a 4th pod.  now cut off the excess molding in front of the first pod from the top about 3/4 inches (measured from the center of the pod).   If you did this correctly, you should be able to get a single pod for an eclipse and screw it inline with the base 3 pod pillar on your factory a-pillar and put the top of the a-pillar above the 4th pod.  Now pop in the fully assembled A-pillar, and you are good to go!

Air / Fuel Gauge

When installing Air/fuel ratio gauges, you can hook them up to the factory o-2 sensors.  Tap the send wire for the gauge into the White wire with black stripe on the upstream o2 sensor on the 4 cyl Avenger/Sebring.  On the v6, the lead wires are green with black stripe and white with a black stripe depending on which upstream sensor you tap into.  The upstream O2 sensor is the one that is piped closest to the engine.  Air/fuel gauges add to your knowledge of what your engine is doing.  it measures how much fuel in relation to how much air is being burned in your cylinders

Exhaust

When installing a cat back exhaust for your 4 cyl Avenger or Sebring, you have the option of getting a pre made exhaust for the mitsu eclipse.  to get the exhaust to bolt up, you will need to add an extension pipe about 5 to 6 inches long between the catalytic converter and the exhaust kit.  you will also need to extend the exhaust tip or muffler (which ever one you choose) about 5 to 6 inches.  Stainless steel extensions are preferred, except on extending the tip, of which it is mandatory.  If extending the whole muffler, you can use the fac. muffler hangers.  If you extend the tip, you will have to get a new hanger welded on the extension close to the tip.  If you have the v6 avenger, it has been recently found that the eclipse exhaust is too long to bolt up to the catalytic converter.  It will actually have to be cut down about 6 inches.  Muffler shops can install these kits, and will usu. charge around 100 to 150 bucks.  Exhaust kits increase the flow of exhaust from your motor while keeping optimum back pressure needed for torque.  A good exhaust can add approx. 7 hp.

Catalytic Converter

The catalytic converter on the eclipse is the same as on the avenger.  If you use a Random Technologies catalytic converter, it would be best to either run without your o2 sensor for a few weeks, or to just prepare to buy a new one.  the o2 sensor cost about 125 bucks.  The high performance catalytic converter has oil in it from when it was manufactured that will cake up on your O2 sensor and burn it out, causing your check engine light to come on, and your car to run rich and slower than normal.  After approximately 2 weeks, all the oil is burned off, and the conditions go back to normal.  You will be able to tell this because the "converter smell" will be gone from the inside of your car (new random tech converters have a foul odor from the manufacturing oil, it will smell like it is clogged, but it is not).  High flow catalytic converters increase the flow of exhaust out of your engine.

Spark Plug Wires

Spark plug wires will NOT give you as much performance as you think that they will.  The only spark plug wires that will give you any performance better than brand new factory wires on a stock ignition is Nology Hot-wires.  They add about 1 hp to the wheels through the whole power band.  They must be grounded to work properly.  Installing these wires on the 4 cyl Avenger/Sebring is kind of difficult.  they must be routed in different places because the size of the built in capacitors is much longer than the size of the stock wires.  MSD and Magnecore, and several other companies make spark plug wires that will fit the I4.  Ask for spark plug wires for the Mitsubishi eclipse 4 cyl NON TURBO with the same year as your car, or ask for Neon DOHC spark plug wires.  the v6 Avenger/Sebring uses the same spark plug wires as the 2.5 Dodge Stratus.  This makes wires  a lot easier to find.  If you upgrade your ignition system, using GOOD spark plug wires is a must, or else you could run into problems.

Strut Tower Brace

When installing a strut tower bar from Pilot Motorsports, Tenzo R, or any other company that sells this type of bar, it is best to reshape the bar with a hydraulic press.  Bend the concave arc on the driver side of the bar into a SLIGHT s-shape like the passenger side is.  SLIGHTLY increase the s-bend on the passenger side to allow for engine clearance.  This modification is a trial and error modification and is best to bend the bar small amounts until it clears the engine and the hood.  BEND THE BAR AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE.  The straighter the bar, the stronger the bar.  DO NOT APPLY HEAT TO THE BAR AT ANY TIME IN THE BENDING PROCESS.  This will take away the bar's strength.  Neuspeed makes a bar that mounts on your front upper a-arm stud (the rear studs behind the strut tower).  This bar requires no modification to install.  Strut bars increase front frame rigidity that is needed in hard corners.  The frame "flexes" slightly and causes slow turning response, and Front upper strut bars solve this problem.

Oil Cap

Performance oil caps ensure a good seal as well as add to the performance "look" to your engine.  4 cyl Avenger/Sebrings use the same size oil caps as Hondas, and the v6 Avenger/Sebrings use the same size oil caps as Mitsubishis

Rear Tie Bar

Rear tie bars increase the strength of your rear cross member, and adds rigidity to your frame.  They bolt up to the bolts that hold on the rear lower arms.  When installing, jack up the car, and remove the wheels.  Take the bolts out of the rear lower arm that connect it to the cross member.  Install the tie bar.  Retorque the rear arms to 71 ft. lb..  torque the wheels to 85 ft. lb..  Drive the car around a few hard corners, and re-torque the lower arms.  Get the rear toe of your car aligned as soon as possible.  Re torque your wheels after 50 miles.  Pilot Motorsports makes this bar, and Neuspeed is producing one soon.

Sway Bars

Sway bars decrease body roll by equalizing the downward force on both sides of the car when cornering.  When installing sway bars, make sure that you were equipped with front and rear sway bars from the factory.  Installing just the front bar will cause the car to over steer slightly, and installing the rear bar only will cause the car to under steer slightly.  IF your car did not come stock with a rear sway bar (and don't take it for granted that your car is an ES or an LXi that it came with a sway bar, it might have not, mine didn't), then you will have to replace your lower rear arm assembly on the rear of your vehicle to bolt up a sway bar.  These can be purchased from your local Chrysler or Mitsubishi parts dealer.  You will also have to buy bushing brackets for the rear bar, and links for the rear bar, and the corresponding nuts and bolts for these parts.  buy the bolts for the bushings from a hardware store because you will need them to be slightly longer than factory.  To install the front sway bar, you will have to suspend the car on jack stands, and remove the wheels, and busing brackets for the factory sway bar.  Next, remove the 2 sub frame plates under the sway bar.  If they don't want to come off, then take it to a shop to have it done.  If they do come off, good.  One of mine was only partially removable (passenger side).  You will have to fish out the factory sway bar (VERY DIFFICULT).  The next hard part is installing the new bigger sway bar.  If installing a RM. Racing bar, it won't be extremely difficult, because it is basically a factory bar with a larger diameter.  The Suspension Techniques sway bar is bigger and routed at different angles than the factory bar and will take a while to fish in the position that it is supposed to be in.  Once in place, grease up the new bushings that came with the kit and install them on the bar, and install the bushing sleeve over the bushing.  Bolt the sway bar up to the links, and then torque down the sub frame plates.  now torque the wheels up and you are done.  No alignment required.  To install the rear bar, just use the same strategy that you used for the front.   Rear takes about 15 min.  if you have to replace your lower arms, Get a rear toe adjustment.

Short Throw Shifter

Short throw shifters will decrease your shifting time while increasing the amount of work you put your arm through while driving.  Manual transmission cars can use the Pace Setter quick shifter.  This is the only shifter that will fit in the Avenger interior without interior modification.  It still pushes on the center console some and causes the console to shift left and right slightly when shifting in 1,2, 5 or R  The shifter comes with full instructions and is pretty straight forward to install.  With the pace setter shifter, you will need to get some washers to space the gear selector cable away from the shifter assembly.  Without these spacers, the cable will get hung up on the assembly, and will make it VERY difficult to shift.

Wheels

Selecting wheels for your car will probably be the first real modification that you do, and you should do it carefully.  Chrome wheels are generally heavier than painted or powder coated wheels, thus tend to reduce performance.  The Avenger/Sebring uses a 46 mm offset and a bolt circle of 5x 4.5in.  You should get a wheel that closely matches these specifications.  Make sure that you have hub bore clearance when purchasing a wheel.  if it is not the EXACT hub bore size, then get some hub bore centering rings.  Most wheel shops install these free.  if installing wheels yourself, don't forget to remove the brake rotor retaining clips that are on a couple of the wheel studs before you bolt up your new aftermarket wheels.  The wheel will not sit right if these items are not removed from all of the rotors.  You can not fit a wheel larger than 19" on the Avenger/Sebring with out clearance problems.  The largest width that you can use on a 19" wheel is a 7.5" because the only tire size that will fit correctly is a 215/35/19  if you get an 18" wheel, you can bump up the width to 8 inches and use a 225/40/18.  If you have lowering springs, you will want to use a 225/35/18 maximum for clearance.  You may also have to "roll" the fenders in the rear to accommodate the wider tires.  This is a process of cutting the inner lip of the fender and mashing it flush with the body.  You only have to cut the upper edge.  Get a professional shop to do this for you.  make sure you rotate you new tires every 6,000 miles

Brake Pads

Metallic brake pads increase the stopping power of your car and reduce the risk of brake fade.  Brake fade is an occurrence when you have hammered on your brakes so hard for so long that your brakes tend to slightly "glaze" over and reduce their friction.  You will notice this if you lay on your brakes a lot and suddenly you mash the brake and your car doesn't slow down as well as it did a second ago (or in some cases, at all).  Stock pads have a tendency to do this.  Metallic pads usually do not do this.  They are always reliable for as much stopping power as you need.  Axxis and KVR make metallic pads for your car.

Brake Lines

Stainless steel hoses reduce the play in the brake pedal that is caused by your rubber factory brake hose flexing under the pressure of the brake fluid.  Stainless steel braided hose does not flex, thus supplying the full amount of pressure to the brake calipers without loosing any pressure to expansion in the old rubber hose.  SMC and Goodrich brake hoses are available for both the avenger and sebring in various colors

Rotors

The brake rotors on the avenger/sebring are NOTORIOUS for warping.  This causes the steering wheel to vibrate when stopping, and possible premature lockup of one or both of the wheels in braking.  Getting the rotors turned in these cars does not seem to be enough to fix the problem.  The fac.  rotors are made up of cheap metal that does not respond well to heat changes.  The best solution is to replace all you your brake rotors with cross drilled or slotted rotors from Brembo, Power Stop, or power slot.  Brembo actually manufacturers the blank rotors, and they are drilled by various companies.  These rotors withstand heat changes VERY well, and don't crack as drilled fac. rotors would.  DO NOT RE-SURFACE DRILLED  OR SLOTTED ROTORS!!!!  If they warp, they must be replaced.  "turning" drilled rotors causes them to crack under hard braking.  No not brake hard on new brakes for at least 500 miles so that you don't ruin your new pads by glazing them prematurely.  If you do, they will not grip as good, and your stopping power will be greatly reduced

Brake Paint

If you decide to dress up your brake calipers with paint, make sure you use HIGH TEMPERATURE paint or paint made specifically for brake calipers.  Brake calipers get VERY hot and will melt any other paint.  The melted paint will seep on to your calipers and ruin them.  be VERY careful.

Bushings

Polyurethane suspension bushings are a must for the EXTREME performance enthusiast.  They eliminate the excess "play" in the suspension that causes imperfections in driving.  They Are available from energy suspension, and replace most of the rubberized suspension bushings in your car.  To replace the bushings, you MUST have a hydraulic shop press.  There is basically no way to get most of the bushings out of their housings with out it.  You can try beating them out with a hammer, but trust me, this will take about 20 X as long as pressing them out.  And don't even try to beat the 'eurothane bushings in.  You have to carefully press them in.  Most of the bushings are in hard places to work with, and i would not advise installing them unless you HAVE to have them or unless you are one of those people that HAVE TO HAVE IT ALL!!!  They go in so many places and require so many special techniques that i can't list them all.  You will have to find out for yourself, if you dare!

Clutch

Upgrading the clutch in your car is considered regular maintenance for some of you 4 cyl guys, but to some, it can be a performance mod, so it is listed here.  It is easy enough to do yourself if you have a small array of metric tools and a free day or so (Engine hoist doesn't hurt either ;) ).  Using a stiffer clutch increases the amount of torque transferred to the wheels, resulting in more wheel power.  To replace the clutch, you must remove the transmission.  To do this, first, place the car on jack stands, remove the front wheels, remove teh inner fender walls from the driver side fender.  remove the battery, and it's stand (kinda tricky).  Next, Remove the air intake pipe.  Now remove the starter.  Remove the 3 bolts holding the rear motor mount to the bell housing.  Remove the shifter cables (kinda hard).  Unplug the speed sensor by the rear motor mount.  Unplug the reverse light switch wire that is close to where the battery was.  Get a jack to support the tranny and engine before going any farther.  You can also get an engine hoist for this portion of the job.  support the engine with teh engine hoist, or with the jack at the point where the bell housing meets the engine.  NEVER JACK ON THE OIL PAN OR PULLEYS!!!!!!  YOU WILL BE SORRY IF YOU DO!!!!!  Next, remove the bolt that holds in the driver side motor mount.   Now, you will need to remove the driver side cv axle.  Have a drain pan ready to catch all your tranny oil (a clean one if you want to re-use the oil).  Remove your strut.  Unbolt your cv axle from the knuckle (Chrysler says not to do this, but trust me, this is the BEST way to do it).  Now, unbolt your front lower arm from the cross member, and slide your c-v axle out of the knuckle.  next, pop the cv axle out of the tranny with a crow bar and a hammer.  Try to pry it out using the little edges provided on the tripod chunk.  once removed, tie your lower arm in a position so that your ball joint is not damaged.  DO NOT DAMAGE THE BOOTS ON THE CV AXLE!!!  BE CAREFUL!!!!!!  Now place it somewhere where it won't be damaged.  Next, remove the center motor support bar from under the car.  It is not heavy.  You MAY HAVE TO HAVE an engine hoist for this.  they rent for about 20 bucks.  remove the bolt for the front engine mount and remove the bolts for teh support bar, and it drops straight down.  now, undo the bolts that hold on the driver side motor mount.  Now, undo the bolts for the hydraulic clutch and move it to the side.  Now for the terror..........the Passenger side cv axle.  BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS PIECE, THIS IS THE HARDEST PIECE TO FOOL WITH ON THE JOB!!!  Take apart the suspension just as you did with the driver side.  have a friend hold the cv axle from the passenger side to make sure it doesn't cut teh boot on any of the metal parts under the car.  Use a metal pipe and put it against the fin on the middle of the green tri-pod chunk like on the other cv axle, and knock the axle out that way.  DO NOT HIT THE CV BOOT!!!  Now slide it on out without hitting the cv boots on anything metal.  Place it in a safe area out of the way.  Now undo the bolts on the bottom of the bell housing close to the engine and remove that aluminum plate.  Now get a friend to put a torque wrench on the bolt for the crank pulley and have him spin the pulley until you see one of the 4 flex plate mounting bolts.  When you find it, get a wrench and remove the bolt.  do this until you have all the bolts removed from the clutch (4).  Carefully support the tranny, and slide it out from under the car.  Now, get the new clutch and bolt it up to the flex plate (55 ft.lb.) (the bolts are asymmetrical.  they are not in a normal universal pattern, and the clutch will only bolt up in one bolt configuration.  Takes a max. of 4 tries.)  After the new clutch is bolted to the motor, carefully fish the tranny back onto the motor.  This is hard, tedious work, and will annoy the heck out of you for  a couple of hours.  once the Tranny is back on the clutch, begin to bolt the tranny onto the engine.  (top bolts 70 ft lb /bottom, 80 ft. lb..)  Place the side motor mount back in it's place.  Put the little plate back on the bottom of the bell housing.  If you want, you can install the cv axles now.  get a small metal pipe and cover the end of it GOOD , i mean REAL GOOD with shop rags so it won't cut anything, and knock the cv axle in at the butt of the green chunk right where it joins with the cv boot.  Not covering the pipe GOOD will cause it to cut the boot, and give you MUCH grief.  Do the same for the passenger side.  You will need a LONG pipe.  make sure you don't screw up the oil seals on the tranny when doing the cv axles in and out.  that will cause you MUCH hart ache also!!!!  Now put the suspension back together.  the lower arm torques at 85 ft lb..  the cv axles torque at 145-188 ft lb..  just make sure you can put the cotter pin back in them.  Now reinstall the center engine  support bar deal (58 ft lb.).  and place the bolt for the front engine mount in place.  Do not torque it yet.  Now start working with the driver side motor mount.  place the bolt in it and tighten it up so that you can easily place the rear motor mount bolts in the bell housing without a problem.  torque those down to 54 ft lb..  DO NOT OVER TORQUE!!!!!!!  if they feel like they are about to give, than they probably are, BELIEVE ME, FIXING A SHREDDED BOLT IS NOT FUN!!!!!!!    Now torque up the side mount nuts to 42 ft. lb..   The side mount bolt should be 51 ft. lb..  Don't forget to plug in your reverse and speedo wiring!!  after the rear and side mounts are all torqued, you can go ahead and torque the front mount bolt (41 ft. lb.)  Re install the shifter cables.  re install the hydraulic clutch cylinder.  re-install the starter (40 lb ft.)  re install the intake pipe.  re install the battery box brackets.  put in the battery.  Fill the tranny with oil.  put the inner fender paneling back in.  bolt the tires back up.  get an alignment, and you are good to go!!  ( should be, unless you broke something ;0 )  )

Differential

When installing a differential, you must be pretty careful.  Limited Slip Differentials cause power to be applied to both drive wheels instead of one in acceleration.  Currently, Quaife makes an EXCELLENT maintenance free differential for the NV-t350 transaxle (Avenger manual tranny).  To install the differential, you need to remove the transmission.  You also have to have a shop press.  You will need some Locktite thread sealer, some Locktite 518 gasket maker, 2 new cone bearings for the differential (dealer part), and a spare output shaft bearing.  Also buy a new set of ring gear bolts (12).  When you remove the tranny, remove the bolts around the bell housing with the bell housing facing UP.  These are 1/2 in. bolts.  After you get the bell housing off, Take the differential chunk out (it is right there).  unbolt the bolts from the ring gear, and discard them.  pop the speedometer gear off with a small screwdriver, and beat it on to the new differential with a rubber mallet.  now, press the new cone bearings on to the new differential CAREFULLY!!!  (if you mess one up, you messed it up.)  After you get the bearings seated on the new differential, get the differential seated on to the ring gear (best way is to press it).  Torque the ring gear bolts to 60 lb ft.  Now place the assembled LSD in the tranny.  clean the bell housing seal with a gasket scraper and carb cleaner.  Now apply the 518 to the tranny side of the assembly (a CONSTANT bead.  any breaks in the line will make a leak).  Use the cardboard card that came with the new output shaft bearing to hold it in place in the bell housing.  The side with the plastic around the OUTER edge of the base of the rollers goes on bottom against the output shaft.  Wedge the cardboard in between the bearing and the bellhousing, and thread the cardboard with thread.  have the tranny on the press, and sit the bell housing up on the input shaft, lined up with the shift rails and the output shaft (IF YOUR TRANNY IS KIND OF OLD, THE HOUSING SHOULD SLIDE OVER THE INPUT SHAFT WITHOUT AN ISSUE AND PRESSING IS NOT NEEDED).  Now begin to press down around the input shaft (use a metal pipe).  As the output shaft comes closer to the bearing, remove the cardboard with the thread without breaking the Locktite seal.  if you break it, just squirt some more on it and seal it back up.   now, keep it coming on down with the press.  if it seems to be hanging up around the output shaft area, it probably is, Try the cardboard thing AGAIN!.  (hopefully you didn't break the bearing when it hung up).  after you get it going, it WILL hang up on the shifter rails.  tap the rail with a flat screwdriver, and it should line up and continue to come down.  after it gets going good, it may hang up on one of the lower shifter rails.  get something EXTREMELY skinny (like a file) to tap it with.  The tranny may suddenly slam shut, catching your file with it.  Just release some of the pressure, and re-seal the spot with 518.  After it is back together, tighten all the 1/2 in bolts with thread locker to about 21 ft. lb.  Re-install the tranny.

Turbo Timer

For some of the extremist that will soon be turbo charging their Avenger/Sebrings, A turbo timer is a must!  It lets your car idle for a preset amount of time to give the oil time to circulate through the turbo and cool down.  The avenger/Sebring uses the same ignition switch harness as the Eclipse, so this is just plug and play for the most part.  If your timer didn't come with a wiring harness, no fear, you can still do it yourself.  the white wire from the ignition is constant 12v, The Black wire with Red stripe is the starter wire, the Black wire with White stripe is the primary ignition wire, and the blue wire with black stripe is the secondary ignition wire.  In most cases, you will want to use this instead off the ACC wire (solid blue)  the Park brake wire is in the center console, and it shows 12v when park brake is down, and is grounded when the park brake is pulled.  For those of you that get Greddy turbo timers with optional speedo sensors, the wire to tap into for that can be found behind the radio in the wiring harness closest to the gas pedal (should be right beside a black harness).  look for a yellow wire with a White stripe.   It will be close to the middle of the harness.  This is the Speedo wire.  Tap into it.  Turbo timers are fun and helpful to the longevity of your car.  Cars with theft deterrent systems require "special Installation" for the turbo timer to work correctly with your security system.  that is explained later

Motor Mounts

Prothane makes Motor mount inserts and bushings for the Avenger/Sebring I4 5spd.  The motor mounts increase interior noise TREMENDOUSLY.  They also eliminate wheel hop, and allow you to get more power to the wheels.  They are fairly easy to install.   The passenger side mount is very straight forward.  IT requires a hydraulic press, and a VERY large punch for the factory bushing. After you install the passenger side bushing, torque the top bolts to 63 lb ft.  Torque the side bolt to 85 lb ft.  The driver side busing requires a 3" punch.  Use the instructions for removing the tranny to access the motor mounts.  for the front and rear, you only need to place the fillers in the factory bushings.  the rear mount bracket bolt should be torqued to 32 ft lb..

Gear Ratio

The Avenger I4 5 spd puts out 140 hp and 130 lb ft of torque to the flywheel and 110 hp and 110 lb ft of torque to the wheels stock.  It uses the same drive train as corresponding year Mitsubishi Eclipses, and is built in the same facility in Normal, Il. The 5 spd Avenger has a final gear ratio of 3.94 and utilizes a Hi performance New Venture T350 transmission with 1 to 5 gears as 3.54, 2.13, 1.36, 1.03, and .81 respectively.  It has a reverse gear ratio of 3.42 to 1.  The Avenger/Sebring I4 has a bore of 3.445 in. and stroke of 3.267 in.  The stock compression ratio for this engine is 9.5 to 1 and it utilizes Dual Over head cam shafts.  The 420A motor in the 4 cyl avenger idles with exhaust gas temps of 7 to 800 Degrees.  The normal running EGT is 1200 degrees and race temps get as high as 1500 degrees.  The oil in the 420 is 150 degrees in driving, and 180 degrees in idle.  The 420 A also is tuned to run slightly rich all the time.  The motor and transmission used in these cars were specifically designed and built by Chrysler corporation.

Clutch Restrictor Mod

In the hydraulic clutch system of the 5 speed Avenger/Sebring, there is a pressure restrictor plate.  Removing this plate is easy.  first, remove the hydraulic cylinder from the tranny.  Now remove the bolt that connects the hydraulic line to the cylinder.  Get a small magnetic screwdriver to remove the restrictor plate.  You will notice that the plate is about 3 mm in diameter.  Not very big, but then again, the hole is not big either.  Make sure not to get any dirt in the hydraulic system.  Re-assemble the unit, and you will now have about double the pressure as before, and a MUCH quicker clutch response.  This will result in longer clutch life, and quicker engagement.

Speed Limiter Removal

On your ecu, unplug the lower plug. Look for the yellow wire WITH WHITE STRIPE. It will be close to the middle of the harness. cut it so that you can re-attach it again if you have to. This will kill the speedo signal to your pcm, and ELIMINATE THE 110-115 mph SPEED GOVERNOR!! Santiago got his car up to 130 today.  The only side effect is that you will get a check engine light code 15 (no speedo signal), and your cruise control won't work. It is best to hook up this wire with a relay so that you can control the connection from inside the car.  When the wire is re-attached, you can once again use the cruise control.   The check engine light will light up if you drive the car for about 3 or 4 min with it disconnected, or if you go about 3 or 4 miles.  There is also a way to hook it up with the factory cruise control button so that the wire stays disconnected until you turn on the cruise, then it goes back to normal, but it has not been tested.  It is best to use the relay/switch plan.  See ya in the fast lane!
 

Axle Replacement

To replace the front axles in a 2G DSM, first, the front of the vehicle must be elivated and suspended with jack stands.  Next, the Front wheels must be removed.  Next the sway bar links must be unbolted from the strut forks.  next the axle nuts must be removed from the hubs.  Next the nuts must be removed from the bolts connecting the lower control arms to the front crossmember and the strut forks.  next, the tension bolts on the strut forks must be removed.  Support the hub assemblies with a jackstands or similar objects and slowly lower the assemblies to allow removal of the strut forks.  Next remove the bolts from the lower arms and slowly pull the lower suspension away from the car and slip the axle out of the hub.  now place the end of the axle above the brake assembly, bein careful not to scratch or rip the boot.  get underneath the car and pry the other ends of the axles from the transmission with a pry bar.  Be careful not to break the axle seal.  about 1/2 quart of fluid will drain from the transmission upon removal of an axle.  Once the axles are removed, new axles can b placed in the transmission by firmly pushing the ends into the casing.  If the axles do ont go completely in the transmission, they can be gently tapped on the opposite ends with a rubber mallot to fully install them.  Now just follow these instructions backwards for re-assembly.  The bolt connecting the lower arm to the crossmember shoudl be torqued to 81 ft lbs.  the tension bolt on the strut fork should be torqued to 75 ft. lbs.  The bolt connecting the lower arm ot the strut fork should be torqued to 64 ft. lbs.  the sway bar link should be torqued to 25 ft. lbs.  The axle nut shoudl be torqued to 145 ft lbs, and torqued more to align the catch pin holes on the axle nut. the wheel lug nuts should be torqued to 85 torqued to 85 ft. lbs.  The transmission should be topped off with factory reccomended fluid.  The filler hole on the NVG T350 transmission is located behind the driver side axle.

Apex Integration Super Air/Fuel Convertor Instalation

Instalation instrustions for the apex-i afc can pefound on apex-i's website at www.apexi-usa.com.  If your vehicle is not listed on their instructions, simply follow the basic instructions of installing the TPS wire to your car's factory throttle position switch sending wire, wire the power to the ECU's main power wire, wire the ground wires as instructed ot the ecu's MAIN ground wire, wire the sensor wire to the vehicle's main manifold absolute pressure sensor or mass air flow sensor, and wire the rpm wire to a reliable low voltage tach output wire or a coil wire with a fairly large resistor.  With any vehicle's factory schematic, installing the apex-i afc should be a breeze.  IF yoru car uses a pressure sensor, all readings read by the afc should be checked againes a real vaccuum gauge at atmospheric pressure and under idling conditions to insure the correct sensor type has been sellected.  On most cars, the blue wire can be tapped into an oxygen sensor sending wire and oxygen sensor voltage can be monitored in the "sensor check" feature of the afc.  Referencing the correct voltage is the tuners responsibility.  On some mistubishi vehicles that use the karman vortex sensor, input 1 on the afc can be used to monitor knock sensor output  (Mitsubishi computer controled vehicles equiped with knock sensors output voltage in proportion to knock.  that means that the more knock you have, the more voltage the knock sensor will produce.)  Mitsubishi's usu. use solid white wires for oxygen sensor and knock sensor leads to the ECU.

VEHICLE SPECIFIC WIRING INSTRUCTIONS

Dodge Avenger 96-2000 ALL /Chrysler Sebring 96-2000 ALL / Mitsubishi Eclipse 96-99 420A / Eagle Talon 96-99 420A
POWER: pin 20 (top harness) oversized black wire with white stripe
TPS: pin 35 (top harness) brown wire with red stripe
MAP: pin 36 (top harness) yellow wire with black stripe
GROUND: pin 10 (top harness) black wire
O2 Sensor: pin 30 (top harness) white wire with black stripe
RPM: pin 73 (bottom harness) white wire
Pressure sensors could be 5,6, or 7.  Most newer model cars (late 97+ use 7 and earlier models use 6.  TEST BEFORE USING)

Fuel Pump Re-Wire

Most cars have very high voltage drops between the batery and the fuel pump.  This causes the fuel pump to run at less than 100% strentgh.  to increase the voltage to 14 volts to yoru fuel pump, simply cut the power wire going to the fuel pump, then use the end of the wire comming from the car (i.e. the factory wiring) to trigger an on/off relay.  The relay trigger circuit should be grounded to a trust worthy ground.  The switch side of the relay should be wired so that constant power goes into one side of the switch, and a wire leading to the positive terminal of the fuel pum should be connected to the other such that a closed circuit is made  when power is sent to the relay trigger circuit. the relay trigger circuit is usu. labeled with numbers 85 and 86 for in and out respectively.  The switch side fo the relay is usu. labeled with 87 for use with the relay activated, and 87 A for use with the relay de-activated, and 30 to feed the other side fo the switch (which ends at either 87 (on) or 87A (off)).  This trick works on most cars, but some fuel pums are not designed to be run "wide open" all the time.  Please check with the manufacturer for reccomended voltage before trying this.

Why do axles break?

That is a good question.  From what has been seen here, axles will break from being twisted at odd angles, from large varaiations in axle angle, and from torsional shock.   Most people think that it takes a certain ammount of torque alone to break a cv axle.  NOT TRUE.  001 broke an axle with only 114 lb ft of towque to the wheels.  002 broke an axle with only 215 hp to the wheels.  There are SEVERAL other factors that contribute to axle failure.  First condition that can cause axle failure is excessive drivetrain motion.  when 002 broke the driver side axle, the front motor mount bolt had come loose and was no longer holding the front of the drivetrain. This caused the drivetrain to rock backwards suring load, and this moved the axle into a different angle and brought the angle further away from 180 as load increased.  the farther away from 180 degrees that the angle is positioned, the more stress is introduced to the axle joints.  This extra stress creates heat, which weakens the metal and leads to cracks in heated areas (which include the Constant velocity joint, tri-pod, and the axle shaft area that connects to the joints).  The axle grease helps to relieve some of the heat from this, but the grease is only designed to obsorb normal heat produced from slight joint movement.  Once the axles create enough heat to fail, they usu fracture the weakest part that has been worn (in some cases the CV ring, in other cases the shaft into the tri-pod).  Driving with axles at lower than 180 degrees only introduces more stress on teh joints when load is applied because of the increased axle angle when under load (the front will torque down just as the rear will torque down on rwd vehicles to an extent).  This constant wear will make the axles weak in these points and easy to break.  Wheel hop (a condition where traction causes the wheel to skip  instead of grab or spin) will also cause axle failure.  Wheel hop introducs another direction of motion to the axle's normal operational rotation, and makes the rotation irregular.  this act can cause the axle to bind, crack the cv, or even fracture the hub end of the axle due to stress.  it is almost like hitting the bottom of your axle with a hammer or driving down the road raising and lowering yrou car repetitively.  This is why jumping several hills and such can cause drivetrain damage as well.  To a certain extent, axles take shock from road conditions, and some of this shock is transferred to the drivetrain via. the motor mounts.  if the motor mounts are too stiff, you will eliminate the chances fo drivetrain angle causing breakage, but you could also increase the risk of fracture due to torsuional shock.  it's like thumping a flexi-straw stuck in pudding compaired to thumping a flexi-straw stuck in cement.  the straw in the pudding will flex LESS than the straw in cement because pudding takes some of the shock.  Same principle with solid motor mounts.  Also, heavy wheels can reduce the life of axles.  turning wheels takes torque.  The farther out the weight is distributed on the wheel, the more torque it takes to turn it.  This is one of the reasons why cars with larger wheels usu. have axle problems.  havign axles not designed ot supprot the weight of your car will lead to failure for must fo the same reason.  CV axles are not designed to have a LOT of torsional play.  In most race cars, the impact of sudden torque is absorbed in the sidewall of the tire.  As the sidewall wrinckes, less stress is applied to other crucial components like the drivetrain.  On cars with stiff sidewalls, this creates a problem for instant torque transfer. If the tire tread is made of a sticky compound, the wheels may not spin, but all of the shock will be taken on my the drivetrain, and most of the force will be taken on by the weakest link, which is in most cases cv axles.  if the car does not have good traction, teh tires will spin, and little is damaged.  If the vehicle creates enough power and torque, and sufficient shock is NOT removed from the drivetrain via suspension trave, sidewall flex, tire spin, or drivetrain motion, all of the shock torque is sent to the axle.  Most cv axles cannot take a large amount of angular momentum at once. This usu. leads to fracture of the weakest part of the shaft.  in most cases, this has been found to be the end going into the transmission, as most are not designed to encounter extreme shock, but to transfer it.  001 has broken 2 of these.  the ammount of power nessacessary to break an axle in this manner will varry, but unless an aftermarket-high strength differential is used, in most cases, this event will lead to differentaial failure first, as it then becomes the weakest link.    Using a higher stregth alloy usu. solves this problem, unles the axle is put into a high load bind.  Unfortunately, there is no real answer as to "how much power does it take to snap and axle".  the life of a driveshaft or an axle is dependant on all of these variables.  If the vehicle is safe on all of these issues, most axles will last for a long time.  if the vehicle meets all of these standards and axles do break in noticabel areas, it is mroe than likely due to weak material.

When do I need to replace my differential?

Replacing the diffential is usu a safe thing to do in most situations.  Most factory differentials are spider gear open differentials which allow one wheel to spin faster than the other for ease of cornering and short term maneuverability.  when one gear begins to spin faster than the other, 4 small gears on the inside of the differential begin to turn against each other.  2 of these gears are attached to a shaft across the differential, and the other 2 are attached to the axles. these gears are not designed to spin at extremely high rpm's in most situations, and are not designed to constantly spin.  the assembly will generate frictional heat when this occurs, and once the gears are heated, the side gears will begin to turn the shaft holding them in place.  this shaft is usu. held in place by a small pin.  once this pin breaks, teh shaft can slide out, usually does, and the spinning gears go across your transmission usually fast enough to break the casing of the transmission.  This is usually the result of continuous cornering at high speeds, single wheel spin at a high rate of speed, or instantaneous torque.  IF enough load is applied to the spider gears at one time, they can and will break loose and shoot out of the transmission. This is explained as differential failure in the previoius article.  Most all aftermarket differentials are designed with high strength materials that can withstand excess heat and stress and will not shatter.  Clutch style differntials use a clutch pack design between the opposing axle gears to reduce individual wheel spin do to friction of the clutch pacs causign the differetial to "posi-lock" to some degree and apply extra torque to the wheel that is not spinning.  this affect is done when teh clutch packs wear out.  Another design is the use of screw gears in place of the 2 side gears in a differential.  teh 2 side gears are able to take more stress in most occasions becaue of increased size, and will also supply a "positive force" once one wheel begine spinnign becaeu the direction of the screws is usu. forward.  this momemtum spins the entire differetial forward, and transfers power to the non-spinning wheel.  Another style of differential is just a solid connection bwtween both axles.  this shoudl b used for straight line only.  Most people call this a "spool" because that is what it resembles.  This device does nto allow ANY accelerated movement of wone wheel compaired to the other and thusmakes it INCREDIBLY difficult to make a car turn without loosing traction on the wheel that is turning slower than it should or loosing traction on the wheel that is turnin faster than it should (less likely to happen).  Once the specific differential fo rthe application is selected, the differetial must be able to accept all of the shock load the car can supply.

How can I POSSIBLY STILL have detonation????

This is a question that ADP has asked OVER and OVER again.  Detonation as most people know it is only HALF of detonation.  most people observe detonation as a "knock" or "ping" made my a motor that is running lean.  This is true.  If the air/fuel ratio is too high, extreme heat can be created, and that heat CAn linger to the next engine cycle and caue pre-ignition of the incoming fuel befor ethe piston is at the top of it's stroke, causign the engine to hesitate due to restrictive forces adn will cause the piston to rock against the cylinder wall on the exhaust side (because the fuel is JUST comin in on the intake side).  This will destroy your motor, BUT, that is not the "beef" of detonation.  That also does not explain why detonation leaves scars on teh "intake" side of yoru cylinder walls.  Lean conditions create excessive heat which has to go somewhere.  During normal combustion, ignition is EXTREMELY hot in itself.  Much hotter than teh exhaust temperature (just as the heart of a fire is MUCH hotter than the flame.)  All of this heat usu. escapes thorugh thermal conductance via the aluminum head (if so equiped), steel sleaves to aluminum block to water (if so equipped) to the oil, and through the spark plug.  The ammound of head spark plugs can transfer out of the cylinder is indicated by "heat ranges".  Usu a colder heat range (some manufactures increase heat range numbers, some decrease) indicates a higher thermal conductance.  If the spark plug cannot release enough heat, excess will linger in the cylinder during the next 2 strokes.  HERE IS WHAT MOST PEOPLE MISS!!!!  Not ALL of the gasoline will burn in ignition.  Some gassoline will linger, but most if not all of the Octane will be used and transformed into waiste.  The remaining chemicals left after combustion that do not get converted are assumed to linger around and coughed out of the exhaust as a slow burning flame........WRONG!!!!!  What is gasoline without octane????  DANGEROUS.  If you will rememebr Octane is what controls the burn of gasoline, and the higher the octane count, the slower the burn.  With no octane left, this "waste" will become a ticking timebomb if it is not released and QUICKLY.  BACK TO LEAN CONDITION.  If you will set up this scenario now, the spark plug is one heat range higher than needed, so your cylinder DIDN'T release enough heat and still is excessively hot after the ignition.  That heat will cause the EXTREMELY flamable waste to burn AFTER ignition on the downstroke.  You may think, "well, fi it is just making a second burn, that is no problem, that means more pressrue on the piston going down, adn more power right?"  Think again.  Remember this "waste" has little to no octane.  compare the burning of starter fluid to the burning of diesel fuel.  That is a good comparison as to the burn of each substance here.  The waiste will "EXPLODE" and HAMMER down on the piston, usu cracking the piston if it is made of a brittle composite, or wear into the bare material due to corrosion of the thermally equal surface layer. This explosion usu. happens close to the exhaust side of the cylinder and will act like a JACKHAMMER between the piston and the cylinder here, hammering the piston into the INTAKE side of the cylinder while thermally breakign down the exhaust side.  you may ask "well, if I richen it up so that I don't get LEAN HEAT, can I still avoid this".........yes and NO.  Adding more fuel increases the risk of having waste fuel obviously, and combustion MAKES heat and NOT all of the heat is going to get out irregardless.  if you add too much fuel, there will ALWAYS be a slight bit of detonation as long as ignition is still happening.  The key to solving this puzzle is to have the RIGHT ammount of fuel to make a "clean burn" and still not skyrocket the exhaust ga temperatures.  (this is where EGT's come into the equation).  Of course, If you run lean, yoru EGT's go up..........then as some people know (usu. expierenced tuners) the egt's will begin to FALL again.  put 2 and 2 together.  Increwasing the air/fuel ratio WILL make mre heat.  If the heat isn't comming otu of the exhaust, where is it going???  All of that heat is being thermally transfered into your pistons, head, head gasket, and spark plugs via detonation.  This can usu. be seen on a cyl head temperature gauge.  cylinder head temperature should take double it's increase rate when EGT begins to decrease.  All of this thermal transfer WILL break down the metal and cause engine failure.  The rod bearings will also be damaged from this detonation as they are not designed for such extreme loads of pressure.  If you have ever recorded engine knock and noticed that there was knock at lower rpms, but it went away at higher rpms, and thought that it was caused from engine harmonics..........think about this.  IF the engine "rattled" at a certain RPM range, it shoudl "rattle" again at the next harmonic octave (remember, engine revolutions are a type of frequency).  IF you notice in high revving engines, it usu. DOESN'T.  the engine may carry the same tune, but that doesnt' necessarily mean that it will detonate at that level.  So why is there knock at lower rpms?  Easy, simple answer......there is mroe time for it to happen.  No matter what it is, everything happens as a function of time.  Ignition takes x ammount of time to occur and detonation happens after ignition.  At a certain point, it becomes mroe difficult for detonation to "keep up" with the engine speed.  The engine is simply spinnig too fast and pulling fuel in and shoving waste out too fast for random detonation to occur. this is why at higher rpm's you can run mroe timing and get away with it without knock, and this is also why knock seems to dissapear in well tuned cars at high rpms.  It is simply eliminated before there is a complication.   This is the same principle TIMING RETARD is based on.  Everybody knows timing retard reduces the chance of knock.  does anybody know why?  One of the main reasons this happens is because it reduces the ammount of time that detonation can occur (almost like raising the RPM).  if the ignition happens later, the detonation must happen later.......if it hasn't already passed out of your exhaust valves.  If the engine is still porly tuned, this could lead to other proplems.  The heat and explosion from the detonation could occur while exiting your exhaust valves.  In most cases this will lead to exhaust valves cracking or chipping, or breaking.  Most people call this "burning exhaust valves".  This usu. happens when timing is retarded a great deal to eliminate "knock".  Most people know that chances of getting knock is also accellerated by increased cylinder pressure, due to supercharging pressure, or piston design, or both.  Increased pressrues make it almost inevitable to encounter detonation as the pressure creates a more volitile enviornment for the unburned waste and heated fresh fuel.  This is the main reason most forced induction engines have lower compression.  It reduces the chances of encountering detonation on a regular basis at less than 100 load and at less than max boost at low RPM. This does require a higher ammount of supercharging pressure to equal the cylinder pressure of a raised compression engine.  As mentioned earlier, the headgasket allows heat to escape the cylinder.  Materials with a high thermal conductivity (like copper) allow more heat to be released from the cylinder and reduces the thermal damage done by detonation and lean conditions.  These gaskets will also transfer more of this heat to the water and oil channels, showing a higher increase in coolant temperature under similar circumstances (just like a COPPER SPARK PLUG).  Lower intake air temperatures also help to slow pre-ignition by reducing the cylinder temperature for incoming fuel (like a colder spark plug).  This is usu. done with an intercooler or aftercooler on forced induction engines, alcohol injecton (alcohol can mix with engine oil and "thin" the oil, making it loose viscosity faster and ruin moving parts) and water injection to an extent (water does not burn, and can cause oxidation to cast pistons/ iron heads/ and cylinder walls, and can lead to corrosion to copper gaskets in some cases) additional fuel to an extent (more fuel can lead to detonation and higher temperatures), and nitrous oxide to an extent(nitrous oxide can lead to a lean condition and higher temperatures).  One problem with calibrating air/fuel ratios with an intercooler is that the cooler air is much denser than normal uncooled air.  This introduces much more oxygen per "lb of boost"  and can end in a leaner condition than desired and can end in disaster.  most cars come with an "intake air temperature" sensor so some sort to judge the desnity of incoming air, and in combination with a mass air/flow sensor or manifold pressure sensor, the ammount of oxygen can be measured and mixed properly with fuel for a "clean burn" through the entire power band.  In instances where humidity is high, a smaller quantity of air is actually oxygen, and a lower ammounts of oxygen lead to slightly richer than optimal conditions and results in a loss of power, but usu is not so extreme as to cause "cruising detonation".  with all of the information given on porblem areas of internal combustion, one may say that it is almost imposible to get a car perfectly tuned in........that person is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT.  Profesisonal race teams spend fortunes on metering devices and technology to figure out the optimum settigns for their vehicles, adn it does take that level of equipment to get it absolutely right, but weather is variable, and so are most gasoline manufacturers.  It is VERY HARD to have a perfectly tuned car, but with this information, at least it is easier to aim for.
 

Electrical Modifications for 420A transmission swap

One of the main things you may notice if you do a transmission swap in a 420A powered car from automatic to manual is that your speedometer doesn't work, your car has a 6K rev limiter, and your reverse lights don't work  There is a solution.  To solve the rev limiter problem, simply use a manual transmission engine computer. This will raise yoru fuel cut to 7200 rpm and your ignition cut to 7800 rpm.  To fix the reverse lights, simply get a harness plug for the manual transmission reverse switch (it is located near the front of the transmission) and run both wires to the 10 pin harness that was originally hooked to the front of the automatic transmission.   One wire should be run to pin 1 on that harnes (black wire with a white stripe.....goes to the reverse light fuse)  and the other wire should be hooked to pin #6 which is directly below pin 1.  Pin 6 has a red wire with a blue stripe coming from it.  This should get your reverse lights working again.  To get the speedometer working again, you will have to get the factory plug from the M/T speed sensor (might have to get it from a junk yard) and you will need to run the #3 pin from the harness to pin 66 on the lower ecu connector.  This will be a yellow wire with a white stripe.  This wire is hooked in parallel with your speedometer and should still send a pulse signal to it.  the middle wire from the speed sensor should be sent to pin 43 on the lower ecu harness.  This will be a black wire with a green stripe.  This supplies an internal ground for the circuit.  The #1 pin from the speed sensor should be run to pin 44 on the lower ecu harness.  This is a solid yellow wire.  This supplies 8 volts to the sensor, which is the normal operating voltage.  DO NOT SEND 12V TO THE SENSOR.  This system works because the auto transmission computer takes signals from the intput and output speed sensors and converts that to relative speed pluses that the engine computer and speedometer can use.  Without the auto transmission, the EATX-ECM has no output to the gauge or ECU.  This electrical re-wire should fix this problem.  Pin #3 on the speed sensor should have a little more space between the center plug than pin #1.  To restore cruise control and b able to start the car, you must hook up the clutch pedal switch.  the black wire with yellow  stripe from the 10 pin harness used for the transaxle range switch should be located in pin #5.  This wire should be hooked up to a clutch pedal switch that is grounded while depresed.

What turbocharger should I use on my 420A?

This is a copy of one of my post on the avenger/sebring owners group forums.
it is not really the name brand that makes the difference, it is the quality of the product. the only thing is that "usually" companys that produce a good product crate a name brand for themselves that everyone associates with :-/. anyways, in regards to the 50 trim to4E, I studied the flow maps of the 16, the 20 adn the 50 trim garrett pretty carefuly, and did a little examining on the characteristics fo our engines demand and what some have done on which turbos, and it basically breaks down like this. http://www.armond30.com/flowmap.gif here is a link to an animation comparing the 3 turbos compressor maps. first is ES-R's turbo ranging from 1 to 3.4 on the y axis (that is 0 to 35 psi in laymans terms) and ranging from 0 to 700 cfm on the x axis. the next graph on top is the standard 16g compressor (used in the "super 16" turbo) and the next one is the standard 20G compressor (used on the "super 20" turbo). as you can see from the graph, the 16 will support much less boost than the to4 turbo will, but the graph also reaches fatther to the left side of the graph. this is an indication of "quicker spoolup". that means that the turbo will build efficient boost physically "sooner" than the other turbo. it is also more efficient at lower psi ranges whereas it is harder to get the big to4 to be as efficient in that range (meaning turbo "responce" is faster....or to put it in another way, when you hit the gas cruising, the boost gauge will move "faster" with the 16 when you are tryign to achieve lower pressures). the next graph on top of the other 2 is the 20G compressor map. you will notice if you look carefully that the 20G compressor is pretty close to havign the same left side border as the to4E, then the garrett graph keeps on going up. that basically means that the to4 is just more efficient thatn the 20 in higher boost ranges (25 psi+) and will produce more pressure at lower temperatures easier than the 20G at a certain point (from looking at the graph I would guess this would happen at about 4K). Also by studying the graph, and studying the airflow characteristics fo an engine fo our size, the 20G cannot support a full 30 psi at redline (ever notice HRC advertising their rins at 25 to 28 psi.........that's why......the turbo physically won't "spin" hard enough to do it......28 psi at redline is about all that turbo is "supposed" to be able to do. I have had my compressor housing polished to help flow. that may give me am extra 20 or so cfm across the board, but I doubt it will allow me to run more boost efficiently. if you pay close attention 'though, the to4E DOES go up to the 3.0 mark, and is still efficient to a degree there. that means that es-r's turbo will efficiently produce 30 psi in a larger range than my 20G, but that is still at the same air/flow rating. This would make you think that the psi doesn't matter , but it does. it is just liek having higher compression in this case, and the gains would make that obvious. The turbo will spin and support more boost at the same effiency but still have the same air flow rating.......but you still gain the extra pressure in the cylinders....and the cooler temperatures from being mroe efficient. since the To4E will have similar spool characteristics as the 20G compressor, but has more top end, I would honestly say that it is a superior compressor than the 20G to a point. if you plan on going out and makign over 25psi on a regular basis and making POWER......ES-R's turbo is the right choice, if you plan on having a car that run between 10 to 18 psi more often than higher boost, but still plan on running up to 28 psi on occasion, the 20G compressor is probably the best choice (i.e. if your car is a daily driver) and if your car isn't going to see high boost at all, the 16 is the way to go.
Then there is the debate on turbine wheels and wastegates. people usu. get bigger wastegates to eliminate boost creep. this is where teh wastegate port is too small to allow enough exhaust to bypass the turbo to keep it at the correct pressure. most small cars will work fine with a 35 mm wastegate. Cars with a little extra exhaust backpressure in the manifold may require 40mm. Cars that flow more exhaust (i.e. cars that produce more hp or have bigger engines take bigger wastegates). Internal wastegates work great with turbos that aren't going on EXTREME high output applications that "need" boost regulation (i.e. some professional racers will run 45-50 psi because they can). A turbo like the T04E really needs an external wastegate because of what it was designed to do.......make power. havign an external wastegate doesnt' take away from the output flow of the turbo to the main entry of the downpipe, and allows more control because most have interchangeable springs, adjustable pressure regulator ports, and they can be placed in a different spot than the turbo. You probably could design an interlan wastegate for something as big a sa To4E turbo, but the output to the downpipe adn teh actual size of the actuator shaft and port woudl be so big that it woudl only make the turbo even more inconveninet to place. with short runners to the turbo, manifold pressure does become a problem when producing high output. with my turbo, most of the exhaust is used to keep the turbo spinning at higher boost levels, so wastegate size hasn't really become an issue (one fo the other reasons is that the wastegate has a 15 psi actuator.....from what I understand, that applys a little mroe pressur eon keeping the valve closed when it is supposed to be closed......I may be wrong on that fact 'though), but the excess pressure HAS blown other things out. I HAD to replace my EGR system because of this. if my exhaust runners were longer or larger (i.e. held more mass) this wouldn't be as much of a problem, but I woudl probabyl loose velocity to the turbine wheel and woudl really REALLY show the effects fo havign a 10 cm turbine housing (usu. teh bigger the housing, the higher the flow, but the more lag.......notice this is on the HOT side of mitsu turbos). From what I understand, the generic t3 turbine and housing is abotu the same as a tdo5h-7cm in size........that is a complete guestimate, and I could be wrong there also. if so, it would take less exhaust to spin the turbine because less is blown over the turbine wheel. it also requires a slightly bigger wastegate to control. this is where I see that I am missing out. if I had a 7 cm turbine wheel with an external 35 mm wastegate, I don't doubt that I could make at least another "useable" 30 hp. plus, the output from the super series turbos is only about 2.25". this is pretty small for BOTH wastegate and turbine exhaust to flow out of, and it does cause a restriction. I am nto exactly sure of how large the output from the t3 turbine is, but there is always the external wastegate to make up the difference. with all that said........do I think that I picked the wrong turbo. I have for a long time. can I still work with what I have of course. I don't think that EVERYONE shoud lget a 50 trim t04E turbo by ANY MEANS ( I think about 15 % of the people that really get into it should, because that is about all the people that will actually KNOW how to make serious power AND use it) and a good deal of others shoudl get a good street turbo like the 20G that gets the job done on the street, and people that are just starting out with turbochargers with stock engines or whatnot shoudl ALWAYS take the easiest route. I think the easiest route is a HRC stage 2 turbosystem, but honestly, I would not have picked the 10cm housing for that turbo. I think a 7 cm would work MUCH better with what people do with them, then when you build the motor, upgrade to a 10 CM to help out exhaust flow and stay away from boost creep (because there is no point on still running 5 psi with a built motor) just my spare change of information (I would say 2 cents, btu I think it's worth about 30 )

Is drivetrain loss a static number or a percentage?

hmm. well, I beg to differ, but it "is" and it "isn't" a percentage. it's all in how the power is measured. If I rememerb correctly from systems and controls class, the equation for powre transfer is F= M*A + b*V+ K*X (f= force (torque), M=mass, A= Acceleration, b= dampning, V=Velocity, k= spring rate, and x= position). obviously spring rate and position are not included in drive train powre transfer, so a you have to absorb force is the velocity of the bearings, and the "acceleration" of the gears and drive train. now, on a "brake" dyno which takes samples at various engine speeds, you dont' have "acceleration" and therefore, power loss is ony due to drivetrain velocity (which is the same no matter how much hp you have). on an accelerometer type dyno (like most chasis dynos, including dynapack, dynojet, mustang, etc) the car will have mroe acceration with more power, therefore, it takes more "force" to accerate everything with rotational mass than it would to accerate everything under a lower power level, bacically because the more powerfull engine will accelerate the drivetrain "quicker". so realisticly, if power is measured on a standard accelerometer, you have power loss from drive train velocity, AND drive train acceleration. that's why a stock 2g vr-4 makes 230 wheel hp from the factory (proven) and 320 at the crank. there is a "lot" of stuff to accelerate. that is what I have been lead to believe by my own studies, and that is what I consider "true". as for the potential for the vr-4's drivetrain, I think the stock transfer case can take about 650 or so awhp (estimate) if all 4 tires are hooking. the transmission can take mroe than that (not sure how much 'though). this is all 94+ info 'though. I don't know about the first gens. as far as the engine, it is a well built 3 liter engine. it can take abotu as much power as any other well built 3 liter engine if tuned correctly

How do you install new gears in a neon transmission?

basiclly, you unbolt all the belhousng bolts (all 1/2" head)
then, tap the bellhousing up off of the case just lke you
would if doing a differental job then remove the bolt for the reverse gear shaft
then slide the shaft out
of course remove the differential assembly
the reverse gear sits by itself on the side wth a small stubby shaft holding ti in place wth a black plastig washer on top of it
remove the shaft, then unbolt the 2 10 mm bolts holdng the reverse selector in place
lift the whole reverse system out (blocker, gear, and selector)
next, remov ethe output shaft bearing, and remember it's orientation
now, look at the man selector shaft. there will be ablack thick clip on the nside fo the transmission that holds the shaft at the rght position outside of the tranny. push that clip off and put it aside
this will allow you ot pull the man selector back and out of the way fo rthe lateral selector
now, but the transmission on it's side, and unbolt the backplate (all 1/2" heads)
next, you will see two bearings with snap rings around the shafts. use a snap ring tool to remove these
next you will need to elevate the transmssion and press out both shafts through the center of both bearings either simultaneously, or mm by mm one at a time
then both input and output shafts are removed from the transmission, reverse blocker assembly at the base of the innput shaft, blue case bearings should still be in teh case
next, if you choose to install a different ratio (i.e. 3.55 final) you wll need to disassemble both gear sets and use all the gear spacers from your current gear set to allow everyythign to line up properly (the 3.55 cars don't hav e areverse blocker, so you 'absolutely have to do this' to have 0 problmes and have ti all go back together correctly)
once you disassemble each gear set with a combination of removing snap rings and maybe pressing off a few gears, and replacing them with the new final drive set, or jsut the new 5'th gear, or both, re-assemble the "entire" setup in teh case "carefully
this means shft forks, lateral selector, input and output shats together
use rtv aroudn the edges and bolt holes fo the back plate to seal it up
torque all those bolts to 21 ft lbs
make sur ethe snap rngs are back in place
use loctte sealant 518 or mopar alumnum surface gasket maker to seal the bellhousing with the case
to install the bell housng, yo uhav eto hold the output shaft up in it with an boject that is easy to remove
I now use very large zip ties like that are made to hold big house ductng up ( you can buy them at lowes). if you wedge it n between teh bearng and race with the bearing half way in, you can remove it while the bearng is abotu to line up with the output shaft, and the assembly plops together
oh yeah, you have to put the reverse stuff back the way it was and the diff and ring gear also
if you change the fnal drive, you have to change the ring gear
and you "can't" re-use the ring gear bolts. you have to buy new ones from chrysler (safety reasons)
 

Why does my 93.5-98 Toyota supra drop psi when the second turbo kicks in, and what can I do to fix it (LONG)?

    Well, this question is one of those "etched in stone" questions where people only used information that was acquired years ago and left alone, until now.  Most people would say "buy a single turbo and replace the stock twin turbos.........that will get rid of the dip", or "do TTC like MKIV.COM says........that will get rid of the dip".  both of these answers are absolutely correct.  Putting on a single turbo WILL eliminate the dip in pri at 4K rpm, but think practically for a second.......do you really want to do ALL that work to get rid of a dip???  Also, doing TTC WILL get rid of the dip at 4K.........but again, you loose the basic aspect that Toyota wanted the car to have......optimal power and torque over a large driving range using sequential control.  Plus, you get excessive turbo lag from trying to spin both turbos at lower rpms.  This hurts the automatic guys more than the manual guys, but it is stil VERY annoying.  Well, We at ADP have figured out a new, fairly similar mod to TTC to eliminate the dip.  First, you need to understand how the Sequential turbo setup works.
    Basiclly, you have 2 Hitachi CT12-B turbos mated up with both turbos connecting to a central manifold.  These turbos are similar to the HT-12 turbos used on 93-95 Mazda RX-7's, also made by Hitachi.  The turbines from the turbos both empty into seperate Oxygen sensor housings.  the front turbo housing goes straight to the downpipe, whereas the rear turbo has a large flap-valve which blocks exhaust flow from exiting the second turbine/o2 sensor housing, thus keeping the turbine wheel from spinning.  There is also a smaller flap valve which connects the o2 housings of both turbos.  This valve is used for "Pre-spool" which will be explained later.  The compressor housing for the back turbo is connected to a valve box which also closes to restrict air flow from going backwards through the rear turbo compressor when it is not being used.  All of these valves are controlled by individual electronic solenoids or "VSV's" as toyota calls them (vacuum switching valves).  These vsv's control pressure being sent to each valve's respective actuator.  Each actuator resembles an internal wastegate actuator with a vaccuum pump looking mecanism on top with a rod comming out of the bottom of it whis ic pushed out at a certain pressure.  The MAIN exhaust valve's actuator can be found under the turbo/manifold combo.  it has 1 vaccuum nipple and has 1 vaccuum hose connected to it.  the compressor's actuator can be found beside the compressor valve box near the rear of the engine in between the intake and charge pipesby the rear turbo.  it also has 1 vaccuum nipple and 1 hose going to it.  the actuator for the "pre-spool" valve is located behind the rear turbo.  this looks like a standard toyota wastegate actuator with 2 parallel vaccuum nipples with 2 hoses connected to it.  If you follow each actuator's vaccuum hoses, you will find that the vsv for the main exhaust acutator is located by the front turbo, the vsv for the compressor is located on top of the rear turbo charge pipe, and the vsv for the pre-spool actuator is located by the rear turbo intake pipe.  The ecu controls when it should use the pre-spool acutator based on engine rpm and current boost puressure read via the stock toyota 2 bar map sensor.  The map sensor is located on the intake manifold (engine side) near the center.  It should have something like "pressure sensor" or something like that written ont it, and it has a vaccuum hose connected to it.
    Now that you know what the ecu uses to control your stock turbos, you figure "ok....kool......I still don't know what to do, and there are no pretty pictures to look at".  I'm getting to the good stuff :).  Just in case you don't have a boost controller yet, I would reccomend you get one.  they are pretty useful to have.  the stock supra only has 1 wastegate.  The actuator for the wastegate has 2 nipples, and is located on the front turbo.  one nipple will be connected to the compressor housing, and the other nipple will be connected to a VSV.  this is the factory boost control solenoid.  what you will want to do is run the compressor nipple to the "in" port on your new boost controler's solenoid, and run the "out" port on the new solenoid to either nipple on the stock wastegate actuator.  PUT A VACCUUM CAP ON THE NIPPLE THAT ISN'T USED, AND ON THE NIPPLE ON THE FACTORY VSV THAT USED TO CONNECT TO THE ACTUATOR.  The supra ecu will cut fuel if it sees over 15 or so psi of boost (stock boost pressure is 12 psi).  To fix this electronically, you will need to either install a Greddy BCC (boost cut controller) or a Split Second VC-2 (fuel cut eliminator).  these 2 units are both hard adjustable voltage clamps, and teh BCC usu. sells for 80 bucks.  the VC-2 usu. sells for 55 to 60.  For a cheaper, less accurate way fof controlling map sensor output, you could install a HKS FCD or a Split Second VC-1.  both are soft clamps and begin to reduce voltage at a limit of 5 volts (approximately 14.5 psi = 5 volts from 2 bar map sensors).  These don't always/usually work well.  If you don't want to install either of these, I would suggest doing the fuel pump voltage mod from MKIV.com to keep your input voltage to your fuel pump at a constant 14 volts.  The variable voltage to your fuel pump is also partially controlled by the map sensor.
    Now, you know how to hook up a boost controller, and you have read MKIV.com to do the fuel pump voltage mod, and you know more about why your car has a map sensor........"BIG DEAL" you say, wait.........it gets better.  now, your factory ecu usu. opens the pre-spool valve for the rear turbo at 3K rpm and the big valve for the exhaust and compressor at around 4K rpm under wide open throttle.  The rear turbo is allowed to spin with the compressor valve closed during pre-spool because the compressor valve box contains a reed valve which allows a pressure balance between both sides (compressor1 and 2).  even though it doesnt' have the air flow, the turbo is allowed to spin enough to pressurize the rear compressor housing until it is needed.  At 4K, the turbo is "supposed" to only need to be accellerated a slight ammount to compensate for beign added to the system.  when increased flow work is done (downpipe, gutted cats, exhaust, intake, etc) this acceleration gap becomes BIGGER.  that's why when you dynoed yoru supra, yoru car dropped about 50 hp for a second at 4K.  Toyota didn't design the control system for all that extra flow, so the control is less than optimal.  that's also why your boost pressure drops 2 psi or so at that point.  the best way to ensure you don't burn out your rear turbo at a very early age by hitting it so frequently and changing the acceleration of it so suddenly is to either keep the turbo spinning all the time, or continue reading;).  The Main exhaust actuator responds to 5 psi of pressure.  the compressor actuator responds to 6 psi of pressure.  Basically, what you need to do is take the 2 hoses that go to the main EXHAUST VALVE ACUTATOR'S VSV (solenoid) and connect them togehter with a hose connector.  Again, this vsv is located near the front turbo.  Then, do the same for the COMPRESSOR VALVE ACTUATOR'S VSV (solenoid) but use a vaccuum T instead of a straight connector.  IT is good if your vaccuum T has a restrictor on one end.  if not, buy a restrictor hose connector as well.  Now, what you want to do is run the nipple on the T that has the restrictor on it to your intake manifold.  you can find a vaccuum hose comming stright out the back or from teh side fo the manifold easily.  just get a regular T and connect a hose to it.  so now you have a hose connecting the t in front of the actuator for the cold side to the intake manifold.  you hav eto do this becasue toyota equips teh supra with a pressure tank with a built in check valve.  this pressure tank routes before both the hot and cold actuators in the vaccuum hose diagram, and only allows aor to flow one way, meaning that once you build pressure in your lines, it holds it.  The way that pressur eis relieved is when the vsv's click over and vent the pressure off.  since there are no more vsv's in the system fo rsequential control, you must have this pressure balance hose.  the Restricto ris important because without it, pressure would beed off way too fast if you dropped pressure (i.e. while shifting gears or decellerating for a moment).  If pressure drops in the line too quickly, then both hot anc cold actuators close and your turbo still gets started and stopped abruptly.  when the pressure is allowed to bleed off slowly, then the actuators will close slowly when neeed be.  this way your rear turbo doesn't have to slam stopped and it doesnt' get compressor surge, but it still goes back to single turbo after a couple of seconds of no boost.  this essentialy takes the RPM dependency away from the second turbo's control, and makes it strictly boost dependent.  also, since yoru rear turbo will become fully operational at 6 psi, there is really no need for a pre-spool actuator anymore, so you can kinda ignore it (it won't hurt anything to leave it hooked up, it just wont' do anything important.  you will notice that your car is now louder at idle and when you fre-rev the engine.  you may also notice that the engine seems to rev a bit faster than before.  this is because the stock ecu sometimes leaves the car in twin turbo mode after boosting, so when you calm down after a run, the exhaust flowing through both turbos silences the car a bit.  now, you can guarantee, that if your car is BELOW 6 psi of manifold pressure, exhaust is ALWAYS ONLY flowing through the front turbine.  this results in a little more backpressure under little/no load and a slight bit more torque (hince quicker revs).  It sounds mean.  also you will notice that boost doesnt' fall off when the second turbo starts (6 psi).  that is because the turbos don't have to spin that fast to support 6 psi, so there isn't as extreme of a change in momentum for the rear turbo, making your rear turbo last longer.  also, you dont' have to worry about trying to eek 12 psi out of the front turbo till 4K.  this much power creates HIGH backpressure, and realistally isn't that great for your rear turbo in the past (which only felt the thrust pressure at that time, wearing out the turbo thrust bearings, reducing their life).  Now, you still have sequential turbos, you have no dip, your car is louder at idle, it revs faster, and there is no question that the rear turbo is working at optimal conditions ad maximum momentum.  This results in an increase of hp also.  you have to be VERY CAREFUL now when driving.  the stock supra 6 spd with this mod has a tendency to break traction in 2'nd gear EXTREMELY EASILY, and could get you hurt or killed.  With Basic upgrades, plus this mod, you will be making more power than stock original vipers(with pump gas mind you), and the car must be driven as so.  you can also easily toggle between this mod and True Twin turbo by blocking the pressure balancing hose as described above by either removign the hose and putting vaccuum caps on both t's or just replacing the  t's in the manifold hose and the actuator hose with straight connectors.  TTC gives an infanently smooth curve, but still remember you will have more lag and it won't be sequential (which is one of the coolest technical aspects about the car)
    If you have done the sequential mod listed above, adn the fuel pump mod from MKIV.com, and the boost controller install as suggested above, then the simplist way to eliminate fuel cut at 15 psi is to put a check valve in place before the map sensor.  The stock mass air flow sensor is responsible for fuel calculation, so you shoudl see no ill effects from this.  we have run up to 21 psi with a supra in this form with no problems.  Now you know even more USEFUL information about houw your supra works, and you have accessed some of the hidden power from yoru car.  Personally, I think the car responds better in TTC while racing, but the sequential mod does make power more usefull for daily driving.

Want to instal a wind diffuser in yoru rear bumper to reduce drag?
1. Take measurements of bumper.
2. Go to local metal supply store and buy around 1/16" thick peace of aluminum sheet metal this is easy to work with it is soft.  Have them cut the metal to your measurements they have a shear that can cut it out straight
3. For rounded edges take width and divide by 2 to get radius for end. Draw center line the whole length of metal. Place compass center on center line the length of half of the width form the end of metal sheet. Draw circle this will touch the edge in 3 places if it is right. The end top and bottom of metal sheet should be tangent to the circle.
4. Now use metal shears to cut the rounded edge. You may need to use drimal grinder to get edge smooth.
5. Next is the circle hole placement. This is best if you make cardboard circles and place them equal distance apart on the metal sheet, using your center line for a guide. Mark centers.
6. To cut the circles you will need a small drill bit for first hole and a whole saw bit to cut the actual hole. You can find a hole saw at any hardware store. Find a size that will fit your detentions well for the size defuser that you decided on. I used a hole saw for wood 2.25" in diameter, this works because the metal is soft you don't have to use a metal cutting one if you defuser is aluminum.
7. Use small drill bit to drill starter holes on the centers that you marked.
8. Next use hole saw to drill out the large hole using the starter hole as a guide. I found it easy to use some oil on the cutting edge and the surface that you are cutting it keeps some of the heat down. Also do not press down hard on the drill as you are cutting the large hole if you do it will dig in fast and hard and twist the whole peace around the drill remember this is soft metal. I found this out the hard way.
9. Use a rivet gun to attach to car placing the rivets from the center out this will keep the metal form gapping up. This way it will form smooth to the car.
10. Now use a large drill bit to drill in the center of each hole through bumper. Make sure you are not drilling through anything on the other side. Use Hole saw bit now to place in center of each hole and cut out the bumper. Use a firm grip to not allow the bit to come out of the hole and scratch the aluminum.
11. Now if you cannot see though the hole and there is some foam on the other side this means that the bumper cover will have to come off and the internal bumper will have to be removed.
12. Now that you are done you may need to make some kind of thing to channel the are to the holes because if your defuser is located low on the bumper the are will still get trapped in the top of the bumper cover. A peace of sheet metal cut to fit and curved should work. My defuser is at the top so I did not need this.
 
 

New questions will be answered as they are asked.