How much work is it to love your DSM? [Archive]

DSMer

October 16th, 2006, 10:36 PM

I have realized somthing... It is ALOT of work to continue loving my DSM.
Anyone else have this problem.
I swear, my car personally raped to devil or something and now he is pissed and unleashing his vengeance.
Ahh but for the few hours or day at a time that it works, it is fun!

4dr slpr

October 16th, 2006, 11:26 PM

Most people who own dsm's seem to be glutton for punishment it seems.

Daenan

October 17th, 2006, 02:46 AM

You have no idea.

Bottom line is that if your DSM has ANY mods, do not make it a DD.

Every little job will turn into a big one. If it seems like you are flying through any kind of maintanance, you will run into something shitty before it's complete. When the car is running good, it's going to break soon.

These should be written somewhere on the underside of the hood from the factory.

ScrappyJack

October 17th, 2006, 08:03 AM

Several years ago, I wrote something along the lines of "a backup vehicle should be part of the DSMer's 'stage 2' modifications."

Mine was always a love/hate relationship with DSMs.

Anaxagoras

October 17th, 2006, 09:27 AM

Well , mine ran decent untill low compression and I decided to "get it fixed" which turned into a 2.3 etc , it was built wrong and basically blew up , had to scrap everything ( t3/t4 in a garbage , fmic is serving to keep a bay door cracked open at work. sooo 4.3k down the drain then i had to buy another body for 2k .. now its been at james since feb and that will cost me around 4400-4600 . :frust:

If my dsm screws up "majorly" again im done , ive been overly fustrated with the car but its not really because of the mechanical problems its just because of the problems trying to get it fixed properly and in a good time limit. For the amount of money to replace a head gasket compared to the amount of money ive spent on the damn thing , id just laugh at little things like that.

Its alot of work , probably as much as loving a girl because of her personality if she is fat AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHA

HA

Glenn

October 17th, 2006, 11:49 AM

Mine runs fine. :)

TrendSetter

October 17th, 2006, 11:57 AM

im just finishing mine up. never driven a dsm before. this thread is not very encouraging. i shoulda stuck with small block chevys.

Anaxagoras

October 17th, 2006, 01:52 PM

Mine runs fine. :)

I don't like you sometimes. :lol:

Anaxagoras

October 17th, 2006, 01:57 PM

im just finishing mine up. never driven a dsm before. this thread is not very encouraging. i shoulda stuck with small block chevys.

Its not that the cars are horrible , its just once you get into dsm's and items being fairly "cheap" for it . "modding it" becomes overly done . Whats makes this worse is when you mod one thing on the car you have to change something else and it goes on forever untill you are no longer modding but fixing the things you added.

If you stick with basics like a 16g turbo etc they will last you a fairly long time , unfortunately you will eventually add larger.

Stick with basics and items ment for our cars and you will be fine , dont expect though to add on a t3/t4 with supporting mods and expecting a year of no problems. The best mod for our cars is a good tool set and breaker bar heh.

TrendSetter

October 17th, 2006, 02:08 PM

, dont expect though to add on a t3/t4 with supporting mods and expecting a year of no problems.
oops too late

Stevevo8

October 17th, 2006, 03:30 PM

Mine runs fine. :)

But only in reverse......LOL

Stevevo8

October 17th, 2006, 03:31 PM

Its not that the cars are horrible , its just once you get into dsm's and items being fairly "cheap" for it . "modding it" becomes overly done . Whats makes this worse is when you mod one thing on the car you have to change something else and it goes on forever untill you are no longer modding but fixing the things you added.

If you stick with basics like a 16g turbo etc they will last you a fairly long time , unfortunately you will eventually add larger.

Stick with basics and items ment for our cars and you will be fine , dont expect though to add on a t3/t4 with supporting mods and expecting a year of no problems. The best mod for our cars is a good tool set and breaker bar heh.

F the breaker bar. I use a length of pipe cause the breaker bar broke.

Anaxagoras

October 17th, 2006, 05:02 PM

heh i tried the ole "pvc pipe" on the end of my ratchet , damn pipe busted mid way and bounced right at my face , i had a black eye for like 2 weeks. i ended up going to lowes to get a kobalt breaker bar the next day heh.

Stevevo8

October 17th, 2006, 05:14 PM

DSMer

October 17th, 2006, 07:47 PM

Mine runs fine. :)
I know your Altima runs fine Glenn, we are talking about the DSM's!
I am going to have to.....:bs:

F the breaker bar. I use a length of pipe cause the breaker bar broke.
I use the second pipe from my 3 ton floor jack, fits right over the 1/2" socket wrench perfect, breaks them all loose. Anyway off topic.

Several years ago, I wrote something along the lines of "a backup vehicle should be part of the DSMer's 'stage 2' modifications."

Mine was always a love/hate relationship with DSMs.
Jack, I found this fact soon after buying my DSM, bought the wife a new car and took her old one as my D.D.

I fell back in love with the DSM again tonight, I will post in the Kill section.

Glenn

October 18th, 2006, 01:13 PM

I know your Altima runs fine Glenn, we are talking about the DSM's!
I am going to have to.....:bs:

Call all the BS you want. The car runs like magic! (Still doesn't stop worth a shit though)

ohwhythehellnot

October 21st, 2006, 03:34 PM

Well mine just needs an oil change, and she will be perfect. BUT i did put alot of work into her.......

it was worth it tho.

DSMer

October 21st, 2006, 05:55 PM

well, the day I started this thread I was doing a launch and the wastegate dumptube bolts broke off my Tial. That night I went around the car and tightened down at least 40 bolts that were loose. The bracket that holds the shifter cables to the trans, yha that was so loose I lost 2nd, 4th and reverse. Today I have decided the Pink Whore has a blown headgasket. SWEET! I FUCKING HATE THIS CAR. But when I fix it I will probably love it again.
ARGGGGG!!!!!!!!
Oh well, that gives me a excuss to install the cams I have laying here, and I might as well get a SMIM.

This car is like a disposible camara.

edit: To be fair, I think the motor mount inserts are the reason for all the bolts being loose. In 2 days those tans. bracket bolts have backed out 1/3 of the way again. Anyone else here have problems with prothane (or whatever they are) inserts?

ROYALGSX

October 23rd, 2006, 11:00 AM

edit: To be fair, I think the motor mount inserts are the reason for all the bolts being loose. In 2 days those tans. bracket bolts have backed out 1/3 of the way again. Anyone else here have problems with prothane (or whatever they are) inserts?

Never had a problem with my Prothanes. But I also use Blue Loctite on EVERYTHING :idea:

4G63-GST

October 23rd, 2006, 12:20 PM

I am probably one of the most patient people when it comes to my car, but I am almost done. My car has only been driven 784 total miles in 18 months. My car was tone apart for body work and paint, so the drivetrain came out almost 10 months ago and it still is no where to completion. It sucks to have to wait this long, but I figure in the end, she will be good to me so I have stuck with it.

DSMer

October 23rd, 2006, 05:11 PM

but I figure in the end, she will be good to me so I have stuck with it.

Good luck with that...

Never had a problem with my Prothanes. But I also use Blue Loctite on EVERYTHING :idea:

Blue is the medium so I guess you don't have much trouble breaking bolts loose? I would think if you used that Red Loctite you might have trouble breaking some bolts loose... What do you think?
I am about to pull my head and install a 2nd Mitsu MLS 4 Layer HG, Web street cams, and a Magnus SMIM... maybe I will coat all the bolts with Blue Loctite. I am definitely removing the front and read prothanes. Jose C. told me a few months ago, "If you don't remove the front and rear prothanes all those bolts will rattle loose". Surprise, surprise he was right... I have heard one Brother on here even had his oil filter fall off due to prothanes

ROYALGSX

October 23rd, 2006, 07:12 PM

Good luck with that...

Blue is the medium so I guess you don't have much trouble breaking bolts loose? I would think if you used that Red Loctite you might have trouble breaking some bolts loose... What do you think?
maybe I will coat all the bolts with Blue Loctite. I am definitely removing the front and read prothanes. Jose C. told me a few months ago, "If you don't remove the front and rear prothanes all those bolts will rattle loose". Surprise, surprise he was right... I have heard one Brother on here even had his oil filter fall off due to prothanes

Use blue, you'll have no problems. Yes red is the shit you have to heat to remove, blue come out...ish, usually.

Glenn

October 23rd, 2006, 07:58 PM

Good luck with that...

Blue is the medium so I guess you don't have much trouble breaking bolts loose? I would think if you used that Red Loctite you might have trouble breaking some bolts loose... What do you think?
I am about to pull my head and install a 2nd Mitsu MLS 4 Layer HG, Web street cams, and a Magnus SMIM... maybe I will coat all the bolts with Blue Loctite. I am definitely removing the front and read prothanes. Jose C. told me a few months ago, "If you don't remove the front and rear prothanes all those bolts will rattle loose". Surprise, surprise he was right... I have heard one Brother on here even had his oil filter fall off due to prothanes

While you have that head off, why not consider a set of ARP head studs?

ROYALGSX

October 23rd, 2006, 08:36 PM

While you have that head off, why not consider a set of ARP head studs?

+1 ^^^^

DSMer

October 23rd, 2006, 08:44 PM

I have ARP's and a blown Mitsu 4 layer w/2k miles on them. I guess the head gasket doesn't like 30+lbs. of boost and just a pinch of knock.
It is my fault...
Like a dumbass, after my dump tube shot off my Tial and I was replacing the bolts I had some trouble... I had to use a die (?, it rethreads the bolt) on the bolts and blah, blah... I got in a hurry and that is were I screwed up. The newdsmman forgot to hook up the vacuum line to the W.G., hehe! So however much a 50 Trim on 9.1:1 weisco piston motor will boost on a few 3rd gear pulls is how much it boosted!

I noticed it sounded different and I thought about it and knew what I did. I pulled over and fixed the problem. Later that night after hard runs (21-22lbs) it would blow the top off the coolant reservoir and over heat, the next morning same thing. I think it is a blown H.G. given the things that happened before.
Ohh yha, I had to keep adding water, but it wasent leaking out anywhere exept when it boiled over.

4dr slpr

October 23rd, 2006, 09:02 PM

What's the oil look like? Water in the oil? Oil in the water?

Daenan

October 24th, 2006, 03:27 AM

Red97Talon

October 24th, 2006, 10:14 AM

Never had a problem with my Prothanes. But I also use Blue Loctite on EVERYTHING :idea:

You can loctite whatever you want, it does not matter. Things that you would never expect to rattle apart will. Here is a few choice favorites of mine.

1. Alternator bolts came loose. Not the mounting bolts, but the bolts the hold the 2 halves together.

2. Starter power wires came loose from the starter.

3. Variouse intake manifold hex plugs ect.

It seems that street driven DSM's with prothanes WILL loosen bolts. It's not a matter of if, it a matter of when. If you feel hard core enough to daily drive on prothanes then you better add "Bolt tightening" to your oil change interval.

EaglesFly

October 24th, 2006, 11:29 AM

You can loctite whatever you want, it does not matter. Things that you would never expect to rattle apart will. Here is a few choice favorites of mine.

1. Alternator bolts came loose. Not the mounting bolts, but the bolts the hold the 2 halves together.

2. Starter power wires came loose from the starter.

3. Variouse intake manifold hex plugs ect.

It seems that street driven DSM's with prothanes WILL loosen bolts. It's not a matter of if, it a matter of when. If you feel hard core enough to daily drive on prothanes then you better add "Bolt tightening" to your oil change interval.

Jose, sounds like you used my car as your examples!!!:lol:

UndrPSI

October 24th, 2006, 11:46 AM

Add to that list tranny to block bolts backing out causing the tranny to fall off and break the ear of the block! Good times! Good times!

It seems the one mount that over does it is the one by the friewall. If you leave that one stock it absorbs enough of the vibraion so that the bolts arent as pron to back out.

Red97Talon

October 24th, 2006, 01:42 PM

Jose, sounds like you used my car as your examples!!!:lol:

That's because your car is actually street driven unlike some!!:censored:

DSMer

October 24th, 2006, 06:20 PM

Boosting hard + overflowing coolant= pushing coolant... = I am a pro= I wish i wasn't = headgasket problem = hopefully I can fix it this time too....

Yeah.. fresh block deck as well as cylinder head resurface... Make sure you re-re-re-re-retorque those ARPs.

So you are pushing coolant also? Sounds like once again those autozone axles outlasted the head gasket... :lol:

I pulled the valve cover and all my ARP's are tight as hell

Too much boost + knock = dead H.G.
Better then a piston, rod, ect..

I am pulling the front and rear prothanes, screw it. It is not worth it to keep them, that is foo show!

Daenan

October 24th, 2006, 07:43 PM

My car is never not pushing coolant

4dr slpr

October 24th, 2006, 08:01 PM

I don't like owning running dsm's

TrendSetter

October 25th, 2006, 08:18 AM

im all set then. no bolts have come loose on mine, it doesnt push coolant, hasnt blown a head gasket....perfect!

ROYALGSX

October 25th, 2006, 10:20 AM

im all set then. no bolts have come loose on mine, it doesnt push coolant, hasnt blown a head gasket....perfect!

You just F'd yer self. JINX!! :nono:

TrendSetter

October 25th, 2006, 01:18 PM

my galant doesnt run. no ecu, no intake mani, no turbo piping, etc etc.
but all that does add up to no loosening bolts and i cant blow a hg if the motor isnt running.

ROYALGSX

October 25th, 2006, 06:02 PM

my galant doesnt run. no ecu, no intake mani, no turbo piping, etc etc.
but all that does add up to no loosening bolts and i cant blow a hg if the motor isnt running.

Touche'... :lol:

red93AWD

October 27th, 2006, 08:45 PM

DSMer

October 27th, 2006, 10:17 PM

Lol I just read this thread and I am honestly getting to the point of becoming scared of all modified cars because of my DSM. I bought it when I was 18 and of the 4 years I have owned it I think it has run for a total of like maybe 14 months haha. Thank god I have a DD. I also recently joined the navy and will be going to Japan sometime in the spring I hope and was considering buying something cool over there but after all the work I have put into the damn Talon I don't know if I ever want another hooked up car again lol. But I guess I love cars to much to just leave it all. :bashcar:

I guess these cars a designed for 200hp, not 400... I think that if you leave them stock they are alot less problem prone. I have owned my car since April 15th of this year and I just broke 2000 miles on it. I am on a fresh 6 bolt swap blah blah. I bought it as a daily driver, but quickly realized that would not work out. I remember reading one about a guy that hated his DSM... every time it would break he vowed that this was it, he would fix and get rid of the damn thing. But every time he fixed it he immediately fell back in love with it and it broke again before he realized he should sell. LOL.

ROYALGSX

October 27th, 2006, 11:25 PM

I guess these cars a designed for 200hp, not 400... I think that if you leave them stock they are alot less problem prone. I have owned my car since April 15th of this year and I just broke 2000 miles on it. I am on a fresh 6 bolt swap blah blah. I bought it as a daily driver, but quickly realized that would not work out. I remember reading one about a guy that hated his DSM... every time it would break he vowed that this was it, he would fix and get rid of the damn thing. But every time he fixed it he immediately fell back in love with it and it broke again before he realized he should sell. LOL.

Yep, that's the life as a DSMer. I've gone to trade my car in on something every time the trans took a shit. (x4) :lol:

DSMer

October 27th, 2006, 11:56 PM

Ok current project... I thought I would run this by ya all and see what you think... It doesn't matter because tomorrow I will finish pulling the head and will be able to look at the gasket, but to speculate is fun.
Ok, I blew my head gasket, has anyone ever seen one blown so that it leaks down the side of the block a little? Like this here:
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h278/b16aef4dr/head2.jpg

See the wet spot? here is another, it is coming straight down from the head, could it be where the gasket is blow apart?

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h278/b16aef4dr/head1.jpg

I will post a pic of the gasket tomorrow when I pull it out.

DSM Love!

Daenan

October 28th, 2006, 01:41 AM

ohhhhhhhh Jose and I have some talking to do.

Daenan

October 28th, 2006, 05:15 PM

They usually blow out the water jackets... or.. mine do.

In case you need reference material. It's pretty obvious to see where mine was leaking.

DSMer

October 28th, 2006, 07:04 PM

Here is mine, I sprayed it down with brake parts cleaner, I dont know if that matters. I cant tell, I do not know what I am looking for...

Top side (touches head)
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h278/b16aef4dr/1-2.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h278/b16aef4dr/2-2.jpg

and here is the bottom side (touches block/deck surface)
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h278/b16aef4dr/3.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h278/b16aef4dr/4.jpg

Where did it blow out? And what is that I am looking for? Sucks, it was pretty new...

Daenan

October 28th, 2006, 08:11 PM

maybe there???

DSMer

October 28th, 2006, 08:25 PM

So it looks like I am looking for places that the exhaust type residue is left, kind of blackish?

Daenan

October 28th, 2006, 08:32 PM

Well if you are losing coolant, it's happening because combustion gas is blowing into your cooling system. The air that's going into the cooling system is pushing the water out of the cap and out the overflow... so basically you are overheating because your water is being replaced by air.

But yes... "charred" looking metal is a good sign for bad things.

DSMer

October 28th, 2006, 08:35 PM

Yha, I was popping the top off my plastic overflow tank, only after hard boosting.

AWDSM15

November 2nd, 2006, 07:52 PM

The talon isnt happy because you called it a man. Its actually a she. :silly:
She came factory with pink badges.

DSMer

November 2nd, 2006, 08:10 PM

The talon isnt happy because you called it a man. Its actually a she. :silly:
She came factory with pink badges.

That is why I call her the pink whore.
I think she should be happy now (for a little while)
I am trying to get her to the track on Sunday hoping to run a...