DMFWallace
Ignoramus Bigotus
- Joined
- May 1, 2004
- Location
- Fredericksburg, VA
Okay, the only thing I know about the ECU is it has, as best I can tell, "John Dillon" written on both broad sides of the ECU..
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don't forget the delrin subframe bushings. makes a world of difference
Haven't been getting on the car much because of the bad vac elbow. Things are still going smooth though. Has a little whine on cold start. Sounds like PS pump noise but I want to take the serp belt off and check the idler. Maybe turbo? Idk. Haven't really investigated yet. Still solid though. Pulls 20 inches cold and hot in park, little less than that in gear.
Can't stress this enough. Admittedly, I had already popped for the IPD poly inserts into the existing mounts (which were in pretty amazing shape on mine) when I found out about these. The difference is considerable either route you go.
My R has something similar, but it sounds mechanical (see #7 below). I warm it up religiously and drive easy for the first mile or three. Once that's done, it's on!
Now that I got the old lady an LR3, I'm going to keep the motor and tranny from her T5 as backups (maybe even rebuild both).
Yours is absolutely gorgeous in white BTW!
Anyway, my feelings on P80 R ownership.
1) Awesome part throttle poke! Great for tighter technical roads where you still want some thrust but you don't really have the space or attitude to floor it.
2) TRACS is a joke! Better off to turn it off. "IF" it's able at all to catch wheel spin, all it does is slip - grip - slip - grip in a jerky way like an old washing machine.
3) Kind of sensitive to throttle lift off. More than I figured it would be. Wound up backing it in on a wet day once. HPF!!!!!! Be smooth transitioning off the gas when entering a braking zone while turning!
4) Smooth vs rough roads. Mine likes to skip over bumps at entries and I don't think it's that stiff! I'm running Canistos on mine (Volans in storage) with '45's but I'd like something with a little softer sidewall.
5) FIX THAT DASH if it hasn't already been done.
6) TAKE CARE jacking up and putting it on jack stands. P80's are dumb in this respect. I've never felt comfortable under these things. That last time I was under there I used a floor jack, 4 jack stands, and old 2/7/9 jacks on the sides before I felt comfortable!
7) Power Steering pump doesn't use power steering fluid!!!!! Luckily I figured this out on the old ladys T5.
8) It definitely under steers on the gas. Only once was it off throttle. Just in a little fast and wet. Otherwise, and if you're cracking on, try not to hammer it too hard at exits. If you do, and it starts spinning, try easing off a couple of degrees of steering. I've found this helps me regain some traction without just plain letting out of the gas.
9) I'm forever chasing the volume since the stereo likes to adjust up and down with vehicle speed. My BMW did this but it was less drastic.
Overall they are kick ass performance sedans!!!! Tons of room and tons of trunk space. There are even big frame rails at the back which are great for hooking up hitches. Excellent on road trips to bike parks and fun 6/10ths to 7/10ths mountain road carving.
Still not sure if I'm going to keep it. E60 550i's and 996's are calling me in my sleep.
5) Please elaborate? The dash is in great shape compared to my GLT, but if there's a problem area I need to preemptively fix let me know!
The mounting points typically break and if you reinforce them before they fail you can keep your dash from rattling apart.
Whelp! Its been about a week so I suppose it was about time for me to break something!
Not quite sure what went wrong. Hadn't been driving the car hard at all tonight. Was actually on the way home from picking up my daughter from her auntie's house when I noticed the car was making a ticking sound that I could hear with the sunroof open
Got the car home, driving normally - don't feel anything wrong - but it's brokeazz. I'm thinking rod knock, not 100% sure though. Will limp it to the shop tomorrow and perhaps take a look oin the pan. It's full of oil, everything seems okay, just making a tick now. I'm wondering how the hell it went from driving normal and quiet to "what the hell is that ticking sound??" In about 15 minutes. Oh well. I'm in it for enough dough that its worthwhile to fix or replace the engine. If anyone has insight or knowledge to share about exposing the bottom end on these now is the time!
https://youtu.be/34N7BgBBMCc
Ahhh yes. That happened to my blue car (the glt) Its rather aggravating - that's the main reason I stopped driving it! Will read up on reinforcing the dash mounting once I fix the knocking sound and/or rebuild the motor
I actually had about an eighth a bottle of that super thick lucas additive, added that to the oil and the noise came down a little bit. Might consider stepping up to 10-40 oil and adding a bit more lucas. Just worried about gumming up the itty bitty turbo passages with that uber thick lucas.. might be my imagination though.Thicker oil and maybe overfill a bit? Can't hurt to try if you're gonna rebuild/replace anyway.
Agreed. Compared to redblocks these things are a maze but they're far from the worst. I've done more surgery to my GLT than all of my redblock cars combined. I'm glad I had the learning experience on that car as opposed to finding out the hard way on this nice example. Only thing I haven't done yet on a P80 is swap an engine and mess with the delta link rear.. It's so funny to me that all of my other cars look like total ass but run just dandy.. and the one car I have that is absolutely gorgeous has this annoying ass noise that worries me to death Ugh.. P80s. It's a love/hate.Well my thinking is similar. I have a ''97 T5 that will give up the ghost for the R.
I just hate working on P80's!
That's a consideration! I guess I should probably make an account on a FWD oriented forum and start doing research on the popular RN swaps and how to do it. The R is doing fine overall, no lack in power, not even a hiccup. The ticking is just annoying..#1 but pull the motor out of an R or out of an 05+ T5 and just keep the manifold and K24 and swap tunes.