miwitte

Hey guys just brought home a 07 LMB coupe with a ECS charger on it. I had been toying around with the idea of putting one on my 2002 EB car but looking at cost of the charger, clutch, headers exhaust everything else it was more than my 8K or so budget. I decided to sell mine and look for a replacement. I went from a stock 02 EB coupe with 89k miles to a 07 LMB coupe with 40k miles, original owner with a ECS blower on it plus some other parts. Car is a 3LT with HUD. Perfect shape. Delta from my sale to purchase of this car was 8K so very happy.



Here is the build. Car was built by ECS in 2010 Paxton SL-1500 dyno at 564 HP 521 torque. PO asked for a very mild build I think there is a lot left in it. 1 7/8 American racing headers with high flow cats. Borla Stingers(which sound wicked I love it!) Maniac Clutch from ECS and boost and fuel pressure gauge pod. Very nice build. I drove it home yesterday almost 500 miles from Maryland to Charlotte not a hiccup. Stuck in a ton of traffic too. PO was not a car guy so it needs a bunch of TLC under the hood and all over.


So that's the good. A coupe minor things I will be looking into no biggie. First when I went to buy it a couple weeks back I noticed the belt squeak. Sure enough got underneath and the balancer was wobbling like crazy so I was reluctant to drive it 500 miles like that especially with a blower. I figured I would flatbed it. Also there is a aluminum bracket structure under the car that holds the panels not sure what its called but that was busted and he told me about it he took some money off for that. He went out of his way and offered to have the balancer doen and the bracket replaced and he would split it it was about what I would have spent on the car carrier to NC anyway. So the bracket got fixed and a ATI balancer, new seal new blower belt so I was good to go. He had the oil changed out and did the low beam recall for me.

Still has the original battery(from 2007!) and original back tires so they will get replaced.

So a couple minor things came up on the drive. I got stuck in some pretty heavy traffic and temp shot up to 230. Shut AC off and it went down Ill look for the debris and such in radiator today. Any other suggestions? Lower thermostat? Probably will change coolant. Will swap out the clutch fluid using Ranger method. Also noticed it sounds like an exhaust leak when I was driving by dividers and the car was making the weirdest plastic cracking noises. I would be driving and there was all these plastic popping and cracking noises I suspect it hasn't been driven in a long time I had a 07 Z06 that did not do this so not sure what that was. They were actually quite loud but defiantly interior plastic. I could have been from the passenger seat all the way forward he threw in some race ramps I stuffed in .

My only slight concern is the life expectancy of the ECS blower. It was installed in 2010 I think it has about 20K miles on it. He religiously changed oil in the car every 3K and changed the oil in blower same time. I don't really hear and bearing noise but don't know what I am listened for either. What's a rebuild on those look like?

My plan is to get underneath the next couple days go through it and ill post anything. Anything you guys can recommend to look for is greatly appreciated! All in all I think I did very well and I am very happy the car is a beast but there is a lot more in it!

thegame

Cool car !

schpenxel

What size pulley is on it? Just curious. Nice looking car.

Blower rebuilds aren't too bad. Maybe $750+shipping of blower.

I have 10K on mine already and so far no problems with the blower.

thegame

What's the normal mileage before one would consider a rebuild?

schpenxel

I'd just have it rebuilt when the bearings start getting loud.. They'll start making a rattling noise when they're on the way out. A centri is pretty damn simple.. really just a few high speed bearings, impeller, seals and big/small gear. The bearings/seals are mainly what goes.

Not unusual for them to last 50K though. For peace of mind I'll probably have mine rebuilt at around 25K if I don't have any issues before then.

thegame

thanks !

schpenxel

miwitte

That actually looks pretty easy to do. I have a big press in the garage so could probably attempt that. Blower makes no noise so think I am ok. Found a ton of debris in the gap between radiator and condenser go it all out but still running hot.

Air filter was a mess too. There was a restrictor plate in the air filter I read about taking that out is that ok?

schpenxel

Taking it out will increase boost beyond what it was tuned for. Don't just remove it.

miwitte

Thanks that the stuff I need to here from you guys. Like I said Doug put a mild tune on it so pretty sure there is quite a lot left. Have to sort out the cooling before I go there. Ill put it back in today.

Nosferatu

you're not going to fix the cooling problems with stock radiator it's normal for it to start cooking in bumper to bumper unfortunately

Anyways, I read your post and didn't read anything about how you felt about the additional power!

miwitte

Oh it's fast scared the wife yesterday. I've had fast cars all my life but this is fastest. Had a LMB 07 Z06 a couple years back this is way faster. Haven't really gotten too crazy wanted to make sure it made it the 500 miles home Friday. Yesterday was just going through it up on ramps. Same thing today but had a flat on my bmw and doing work on my daughters car before she goes off to college next week. So not much time to play. But it's home and in garage!

schpenxel

What size pulley is on the blower? Just curious since I have the ECS kit also

I'm up in the Greensboro area. Haven't really had any issues with running hot for whatever reason. Guess I just got lucky. Replaced radiator with a new GM one a month or so ago and it brought temps down a bit. The fins of the radiator were stuffed full of sandy looking stuff.. No way you're getting that all out without pulling the radiator in my opinion. I was too cheap to buy a Dewitts but it's worked out OK so far.

miwitte

Spent some time underneath car needs nothing only issue is the cooling. With AC off it will stay around 210, with it on and getting on it 235ish, not good. It was pretty hot today maybe 90.

Looks like the pulley is 3.5 "


Restrictor was put back in, looks like 2 3/4"




I tried to mock up some side panels to direct flow into the radiator on the sides, and on top under the ECS cover as well didn't really help. Also fans aren't coming on until over 200 so that needs to be fixed.

Not sure where to start on the heat issue. I saw a post from Doug a while back about wiring the fans up with a heavy duty relay.

So if I take the car in for a tune after I get the cooling sorted with a smaller pulley and no restrictor(and probably Meth) what can I honestly expect? Car is bone stock just blower, headers and high flow cats and Borla stingers.

Thanks again guys this is going to be fun.

Going to get the cooling squared away, and do the C6 ZO6 shocks and Z51 sways did them on my 02 and it was great!

I still have the 02 in the garage its sold guy needs to come and grab it. My wife doesn't get me

schpenxel

That blower maxes out at over 800rwhp, so yeah, good luck with stock bottom end handling that.

Pulling the restrictor is a bad idea without meth. Just not enough octane in pump gas. Add meth then open up or remove restrictor. I'd open it up to 3" or so and leave it personally. Every 1/16" is about a lb of boost roughly.

The pulley size is stamped on the side pulley or at least it is on new kits