King320

Your call, but do you think it might be a good idea to go test drive something like a 997 turbo or a ZR1 corvette to see what you could have for the same money and none of the headache?

AMGSC

True, but I will still invest in another performance car and leave it stock. But I don't want to waste all the investment I already put into this car. Some of the repairs are obviously sunk costs but others like the engine, tranny, blower, brakes, suspension still have value once the tuning and boost are calibrated.

///AMG4EVER

Robert - I was actually glad when I read about your decision last week... Now this! Really!?

Modding is a vicious hobby that will never end... the only way to end it is by moving on.

I will spend extra money and extra time on the car only to part it out; recover around $10K in parts and sell your car (in good working order) for $20K+... just please cut your losses asap, even if it means a fire sale, a trade in or just driving it into carmax.

$25K-$30K can set you up on a better platform and I assure you will be 100 times happier than now...

Most of us feel your pain, but man, you just keep coming back for more. There isn't one day you don't think about your car not running properly... it has been 4-5 years under the same grief. You really need to move on.

AMGSC

I don't mind dropping another $5K to get it up to 18-20psi, lose 100 lbs and install my DRs with with a 200 shot of direct port nitrous. According to Brad, my engine felt surprisingly strong compared to the E55s they worked on. Maybe he was just being kind after I paid him another $3K to debug the electronics and vacuum leaks. Car had perfect 150 compression and 1%leak-down across all cylinders which is unheard of even on motors coming straight from AMG. Even with electrical short circuits and loose hoses, the car posted 428rwhp on only 6psi with a standard sized pulley. I know the motor is healthy enough to take it to the next stage. The wire harness prolly needs to be replaced but that should not prevent me from testing the limits of this fresh block.

I am still trying to decide on either Evosport or DynoComp. Meanwhile I am going to put another 1K miles on it to break the motor in.

cannonball55

Wow, I didnt follow the build closely at all but was aware of it. Sorry things didnt work out better, and I hope you're able to kick the habit if thats what you truely want to do.

off topic but he's a liar i personally wouldnt trust a thing he said.

MB_Forever

Part of the mistake that happened in Robert's case, and this is only my opinion, was taking the car to "independent" aftermarket companies/tuners. Yes, initially it sounds like a good financial decision since one saves a lot more money that way. However, and as Robert has learned (and is continue to learn) that the consequences could be catastrophic and the cost/expense could come out much higher than going directly to one company - even if that company was initially much more expensive than others.

If you're going to push the limits and mod your car to the extreme, it is always a good idea to pick one (and only one) company, preferably the most reputable one, and go with them. You send your car to their location so that they have more control over it, and have them do all the research and work 100% at their facility. Also, try to only use their products or have them create any custom part you need instead of going to your own sources for different parts. This guarantees that only one company touches your car and only one company is responsible for any problem that may arise. In addition, this helps to avoid getting into a situation where company X is blaming company Y for bad work and vise versa.

Anyways, I wish you the best of luck with your project, and I hope to see it complete one day. You had a good vision/plan for your car and it would be shame to discontinue it now I am sure many of us would love to see it complete one day

AMGSC

Thanks for the support. I am taking a little longer this time to consider my options. The tuning is not a slam dunk to either DynoComp or Evosport as I am trying to run more than double the existing boost. The car runs so smooth and nice now that I also worry I might mess it up again by taking the next drastic step. It's just been so long since my car ran right that I want to enjoy it for a a few weeks before I get bored with it and then the radical transformation experiment begins.

blackbenzz

I've been waiting forever for this project to finish. Guess I'm going to have to do it myself if I want to see any results

AMGSC

Ok. Project WTF will the official code name since I've been saying that for 4 yrs now...Why stop now? I kind of miss muttering that to myself for a few weeks now.

OJwerks

it would be nice if your "project" / "problem" threads had some pictures in them for them to be more entertaining... not all just txts of your ranting lol ...

anyways, good luck on project WTF ... i would just buy a 996TT and spend money on that but thats just me