Today we need a custom radiator to finish out a project. With the limited amount of engine bay space due to the added components of the newly installed turbo kit, we need a half size unit. Marietta Radiator will create one for us with our required size and hook up locations. As soon as it returns we will have the last piece of the build and it will be time to strap it on the Dynojet for a proper tuning session.
Autocross is starting soon! 
- February 25th – Stone Mountain – Test and Tune
- February 26th – Stone Mountain
- Points 1 March 9-11th – SGMP (Adel, GA) – Dixie National Tour March 25th – Turner Field
- Points 2 April 1st – Atlanta Motorspeedway
- Points 3 April 21-22nd – zMAX Dragway (Concord, NC) – Evolution Super Shootout April 29th – Atlanta Motorspeedway
- Points 4 May 5-6th – Atlanta Motorspeedway
- Evolution Super Shootout May 12th – Turner Field – Novice School May 13th – Turner Field
- Points 5 June 9th – Atlanta Motorsports Park – “Special Stage” June 24th – Turner Field
- Points 6 August 11th – Turner Field – TNT / Driver Development August 12th – Turner Field
- Points 7 August 25th – Turner Field – TNT / Driver Development August 26th – Turner Field
- Points 8 September 4-7th – Lincoln Airpark (Lincoln, NE)-SCCA SOLO Nationals September 23rd – Atlanta Motorspeedway
- Points 9 October 6th – Turner Field
- Points 10 (Subject to Braves Playoff Schedule) October 7th
- Turner Field – Champion of Champions (Subject to Braves Playoff Schedule)
For more information please visit their website: http://www.atlantascca.org/
Direct “bolt-on” products from aftermarket manufactures are a lot of times, less than perfect. In this case, the intercooler piping was far from fitting correctly. After conferring with the customer, we decided to modify the piping as well as the intercooler to fit nicely on the car. The kit now fits, and the project continues.
We don’t generally see retired grocery getters turned street warriors here at the shop. If we do it is not an 88′ Honda Accord with a turbo kit. In this case that is exactly what we have. This customer is a member of the ASAP car club and is a familiar face even though we had not done much of anything for him up to this point. He has installed a turbo kit on the OE motor and was running an open down pipe. While this is pretty cool for a little while, it does tend to wear off and become annoying. Not to mention it can be detrimental to your motor if it is too short.
Our customer wanted to install a 3″, down pipe back, exhaust. He ordered a Vibrant Performance, 3″ inlet 3″ outlet, oval Stealth Series (black finish) muffler. He also provided us with the 3″ tubing we would need to get the job done. There was one problem though. After getting the car racked and looking at what I was working with, the down pipe was not fully complete. It cut off prior to the oil pan and had been crushed a little for clearance of the cross member. This was out of the realm of what I had estimated and would required some extra work if I were to complete it. Unfortunately it was beyond his budget and would have to wait for another day. No worries though, because I could still finish the exhaust and simply mate it to the down pipe later.
In general this was a fairly straight forward exhaust system. A long straight down the middle of the car, a couple 90 degree bends, a little kink and another couple short 90′s. Getting the 3″ pipe centered in the stock location turned out to be the most difficult thing to do. When the stock exhaust piping is a mere 1 3/4″ it is easy to see why it could be a bit of a hurdle. After getting the pipe centered and tacked into place, all that was left was to finish the welding and hang it back up. Even though I couldn’t get the entire exhaust done, the fabricated and installed unit looks great and is in perfect position.
We should be seeing this customer again in the next couple of weeks to finish the job and take care of a few other minor issues with the car. Then everyone can rest easy in his neighborhood, there will be no more rude awakenings at 2 a.m.
I have much much more to list and I am trying to post up fresh items daily until I don’t have anymore. We have lots of Z33 used parts, Lots of NEW and USED STi/WRX parts, and some Honda/Acura used parts to list today. Our pricing on NEW parts will be AT COST prices. That is the price Batlground paid for these items. Most of the USED parts will be HALF OFF MSRP. If you have any questions about any of the parts please give us a call 770-319-9605 for the most prompt response. If you cannot call us email batlground@gmail.com, it is the next quickest way to have your questions answered. I will try to keep up with your comments but this will be the last place I look and will have the longest time before response. If you don’t see something here, ask, we might have it and I didn’t post it. Thanks everyone!
Nissan 350Z/Z33
-USED Tein Flex Coilovers 15k miles on them $1000
-USED B&M Short Throw Shifter $115
-USED HKS Twin Power DLI $237
-USED Nismo Exhaust (from Y pipe back) $500
Subaru STi/WRX
-NEW 04-07 STi Racecomp Coilovers $1650
-NEW 02-07 STi/WRX Racecomp Yellow Springs $256
-NEW 02-07 STi/WRX Racecomp Black Springs $256
-USED 02-07 STi/WRX Racecomp Yellow Springs $200
-NEW 02-07 STi/WRX Racecomp Carbon Fiber Brake Ducts $330
-NEW 04-07 STi Carbotech CT1001-1521 “Bobcat” Front brake pads $196.25
-NEW 03-07 RS,03-07 Outback, 03-08 Forrester, 03-07 Impreza Wagon, 03-05 WRX Carbotech CT1004-1521 REAR brake pads $112.00
-NEW 07 WRX Carbotech CT460/647 XP10 Front brake pads $185.94 (also fits 300ZX)
-NEW 12/01-01/03 WRX, 7/98-01 RS Carbotech CT770-1521 “Bobcat” REAR brake pads $110
-NEW 03 WRX Carbotech CT929-1521 “Bobcat” Front brake pads $119
-NEW 04-07 STi Carbotech CT961-1521 “Bobcat” REAR brake pads $147.88 (2 sets)
-NEW 04-07 STi Carbotech CT961-XP10 REAR brake pads $149
-NEW 04-07 STi Whiteline Front Sway Bar $200
-NEW 04-07 STi Whiteline REAR Sway Bar $200 (2 available)
-NEW 02-07 STi/WRX Whiteline FRONT Spherical End Links $90 (Open Bag)
-NEW 02-07 STi/WRX Cusco FRONT Pillow Ball Mounts $300
Honda/Acura
-USED Skunk 2 B18 GSR Intake Manifold $145
-USED AEM 25-300 “Bolt On” type Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator (RED) $70
-USED/NEW B18c1,B16A2,B16A3 Mahle Pistons ACR181189F01 W/ Wrist pins, NO RINGS. Two of these pistons are used and two are brand new. $300
MISC
-NEW KONIG Hotswap wheels 18×9.5, 5-114.3 bolt pattern, +25 offset. All hardware and accessories included (center caps, Carbon Fiber “look” spoke covers, cover bolts) $500
On Friday I was out for half of the day when I lost a battle with some funky shrimp. I came in to find a 94 Honda Accord coupe and a 2003 Honda S2000. The owner of the Accord had purchased a Bride GIAS Kevlar seat from us and we were making custom mounting brackets. This wasn’t your mom’s Accord though. This beautiful white coupe had a H22A swap, and was sitting very nicely on some CCW wheels. I didn’t know you could get those wheels in a four lug pattern, and I certainly didn’t know that were folks out there willing to throw down that kind of cheddar for these wheels to go on their Accord. Obviously this is a man that takes pride in his car and I really appreciate that. Having had a 94 coupe myself I will always have a sweet spot for the car. Mine was not even close to this level though. This customer will be returning for a wire tuck in the near future. Maybe we can persuade a turbo kit in there too. 
Another car was already on the dyno awaiting my return. On thursday we had received a 2003 S2000. This customer had previously been here to get a K&N cold air intake, one of our headers, and a GReddy CAT back exhaust installed. This visit we were installing a Innovate Wide Band O2 gauge, ported throttle body, AEM fuel pressure regulator, Apex’i AFC-Neo (with Boomslang plug-n-play harness), and an upgraded thermostat and fan switch. We also modified his stock fuel rail to accept a fuel pressure gauge. After all the new toys were installed I was to do some tuning. An original baseline run showed the car was making 185 whp. After all of the upgrades were done and tuning was finished the car yielded just over 208 whp. Thats a gain of 23 peak whp, with massive gains throughout the entire power band. The car feels completely different from 4500 rpm all the way to redline. There are not too many bolt-ons left for this car and a supercharger has already been mentioned for a future project. Our customer has stated that the vehicle will be paid off in early summer and that is when he will be looking to push it into the 300′s and beyond.
Visit our EBAY store for all of our items we have to offer. Ebay Store
This past week Batlground was working at full capacity. We had as many cars as we could fit in the building (14) and a few in the lot. By the time Friday rolled around we were literally running around the shop. On top of the long term project cars that we had been working on there was still daily appointments coming in. Everyone wanted their cars back for the weekend. I would too, it was an incredible Atlanta spring on Friday and Saturday.
First of all the Prelude project is a wrap! The car was finally put on the Dyno for a break in tune after a wiring issue popped up with the oil pressure sensor and BCM (Body Control Module). It was also the only car not picked up on Friday. He did make it in today for delivery and the only person happier than our customer is his mom! She was very thankful to be able to get her car back. Thank you for your business and patience Brian.
We were able to deliver the 2000 Accord engine swap. Our customer was able to locate a 2000 Accord EX motor with only 11k miles on it! It really was like having a brand new motor to work with. No oily, greasy, grimy mess of a motor that I either have to clean or bathe in for the rest of the day. Pretty straight forward swap. Stock for stock, with only a adjustable cam gear and distributor to swap over. There was a minor set back at start up when the injectors from the new motor appeared to be frozen. We tried to free them up but ended up swapping over the old set.
A Nissan 240sx (S13) came in with a CA18 swap already completed. The customer had a running car but it was not running right at all. After a general inspection of the vehicle and its wiring, Justin was able to identify a couple problems in the wiring and set up. The MAF wiring had to be adjusted as well as the MAF being relocated further away from the turbo inlet. The ignition timing was off and the S-AFC 2 settings needed to be adjusted. Some tuning will have to be done before delivery of this car. It is already running a hundred times better though.
The MR2 with wiring issues was figured out and fixed. The final problem to be solved was a faulty fuel pump relay. That customer will be returning in the future to get some tuning performed when his engine management arrives.
A long time customer of ours had a small incident with a concrete barrier in his Supra. After the car spent time in the body shop getting new panels and frame adjustment it came back to us for some much needed general maintenance. We finished up all of his mechanical issues and it is now ready to move back over to the body shop for paint.
Monday and Tuesday we saw a Civic with clutch problems. We thought we had it figured out when we found the master cylinder leaking. Unfortunately the car returned the next day for us to find that the slave cylinder was leaking as well.
On Tuesday a Turbo Del Sol came in for some spark plugs and general inspection of the turbo system. The car had not been making boost, and we were going to do a boost leak check. Upon inspection though we found that the turbo was merely hanging on to the manifold and not tight. The waste gate was leaking badly too. What we saw next I have never seen before in my life. The outlet of the waste gate had been blocked off. A plate had been bolted on to the outlet of the W/G! Apparently whomever had previously owned the car was afraid that the open dump of the W/G would blow exhaust into the turbo inlet. How this D series motor and turbo survived infini-boost I have no idea. We were able to fix the issues of the car that night and made sure he got home. This Del Sol will be returning for some much needed tuning as well.
A 2003 Mitsubishi Evolution came in on Wed. to get some maintenance and performance work done. A set of GSC 272 cams, SuperTech valve springs and retainers, ARP head studs, Gates high performance timing belt kit, new OEM timing belt tensioner and pulleys, and a OEM water pump were installed. After the labor was completed Dan custom tuned the car with our re-flash software. At 20 psi on the stock turbo he was able to achieve 346 AWHP. Good for a deep run into the lower 12′s at the strip.
Thursday we brought in a BMW 540i. This customer wanted a new exhaust from the manifolds back. I had to fabricate a new “y” pipe on the passenger side due to a previous shops use of some 2″ crush bend tubing. This was a fun and challenging project. All stainless piping was used to match the factory quality. The “y” pipe section was 2″ tubing that collected into a 2.5″ section before entering the factory CAT’s. The CAT’s then exited at 2.5″ before collecting into a single 3″ pipe. I installed a 7″ round, 20″ long, Magna Flow resonator and that plumbed into the 5″x9″ oval offset in/out Magna Flow muffler. I was a little worried that the car maybe a little too quiet but after cranking it up I found that it had a really powerful sound while free revving. Definitely a more aggressive note than stock but not an annoying growl at lower to midrange cruising.
Friday I over booked us and we were scrambling to try and keep up. Justin had to take the day off and that really put the pressure on Dan and myself. Along with finishing up the BMW exhaust, tuning the Evo, and breaking in the Prelude-we had a Lexus ES 300 scheduled for some exhaust work after one of the flex sections in the factory “y” pipe decided to break in half. After fixing that section we found that the other flex had cracked as well. Our customer decided to come back another day for that one. We also booked a 09′ Subaru Impreza WRX for a down pipe installation. Dan and I tag teamed that one to try and give us some breathing room near the end of the day. By this point customers were showing up to pick up their rides and Dan had to get back to tuning.
All in all a great end to a great week here at Batlground. The weather is getting warmer and everyone seems to be getting the itch to get their cars started, fixed, or finished before summer time. Race season has already begun, our LS6/350z is up and running now, my KA24DE-T motor is nearly finished at Ball Engine Parts and Service. It will be immediately assembled and installed back into the car. Look out when all 3 of the BG cars are tearing it up at the track and on the streets (legally of course).
Anyone that has been following Batlground over the last 2 weeks knows that we have been working very hard to get our new race car together. The LS6 350Z is the premier vehicle in the BG stable, it is by far the most impressive car we have ever built. We have logged extreme hours in the recent weeks just trying to get the car ready for shake down runs at the track.
That doesn’t mean that we have stopped working on customer cars either-its actually quite the contrary. Over the past 3 weeks Batlground has seen the most business since the beginning of the new year. Here are a few of the cars we have been working on and completed. Some of them you will recognize from previous posts, some of them are new.
First off the Prelude, thats all I’m calling it. I have completed this car and it is awaiting a break-in tune. We have a well documented history with this car. It tried really hard to beat me but so far I have prevailed…. so far. After getting this car started I let it down off the lift and it started making this HORRIBLE racket. I panicked and shut it off, lifted it back up and started it again. No noise, so while running I dropped it back down. As it lowered down it started making the noise again. Some head scratching ensued. I was finally able to figure out the crank pulley was hitting the tension rod in the suspension as I lowered the car. I replaced the driver side engine mount and solved the noise issue. The motor sounds great and I can’t wait to see what the car will do on the dyno.
Next we have a 2nd gen MR2. Our customer had done a 3rd gen JDM motor swap and got the car running. It was not running well but good job considering the difficulty of working on that car in general. The car has some wiring issues and was running a mismatched ECU. The BOV needed its flange welded to the intercooler pipe, and we are installing a really nice downpipe and exhaust. We are still in the process of figuring this one out, but I know Justin can get it done.
The next couple of cars are getting various levels of work done, anything from general maintenance to motor swap. We had a 2010 Nissan Titan get a custom intake. A 2003 Honda Accord getting either a motor rebuild or replacement. There is a 2003 350Z getting a motor swap. We even had some time to dyno a FJ Cruiser, baseline numbers were 196 whp and 231 wtq with a factory 6 speed manual trans. I really look forward to doing some mods to that truck, as a supercharger kit is in the works.
We also had a visit from Todd @ AEM this past week. He wanted to check out the shop and drop off a new fuel pressure regulator for the LS/Z. We were able to get the car aligned this week and get it on the dyno. The car is having some issues tuning with a phantom cam trigger problem. Last night Dan also found out that the push rod/rocker/head combination requires modification to work properly. The first rockers we received interfered with the heads, these rockers fit in the head but require you to machine some material for the push rods to clear their guide tubes. That would have been really nice to know before we installed everything, but once again the supplier of the parts dropped the ball. We will get it fixed and we will have the car ready for the event this weekend.
Follow us live as we finish the LS/Z- we will be live broadcasting again on Friday the 12th.
After quite a few set backs in the assembly process of the Prelude project, I have made significant progress. I finally received my piston rings and all of the remaining parts from Honda. Time to get crackin’!
I was able to install all the main and rod bearings, crank, oil pump, rear main seal, file fit all the piston rings, piston and rod assembly, oil pan and baffles. Basically the entire short block is complete and ready for the head to be installed. Hopefully by the end of the day I can have the engine/tranny installed into the car.
I am currently in the process of assembling a Honda Prelude motor. It has a set of custom pistons, beefy rods, and a block gaurd on the bottom end to help support a turbo set-up that should make over 400 whp on 93 octane. It took a rediculously long time to receive the pistons. I ordered them in Oct. and I was told Dec. before I would get them. December rolls through and no pistons. I call, they remember me, but tell me ” No we never said Dec. its going to be mid Jan. before we get those out.”. This is a custom set, that has the special coating on the piston skirt to protect the FRM (Fiber Re-enforced Metal) cylinder walls, so I am at the mercy of the piston manufacturer. The pistons finally arrived and I send them to the machine shop for fitment. When I get the block back from the machine shop I mate the new pistons and rods. We personally do the ring gapping here. That way we know for sure the proper ring gap was used in each application. Piston rings out of the box should be very tight, I have even seen them touch. You are supposed to file fit the rings to the proper gap. In this case proper gap would have been .018″ on the top ring and .014″ on the second ring. I open up the box of piston rings-supplied by the piston manufacturer, they have the right part number on them, but low and behold they are not the right rings. The ring gap is DOUBLE what it should be after I gap them. I was not pleased, the piston manufacturer is next day air mailing me the right rings…hopefully.
Having a delay on the pistons and rings-I move on to another part of the engine build to try and make some progress. I still have to install all the new bearings and seals. Most of these parts I have ordered from Honda direct. OEM parts in most cases are very good and very durable, even when used in a highly modified engine. I had a laundry list of parts I needed from Honda. To verify everything I ordered they sent me a fax of the items to confirm before submitting them. Everything was correct. When the parts arrived I did not double check them-feeling confident that because I have already confirmed the order I have everything I need. WRONG! These geniuses sent me half of the main bearings! What am I going to do with 5 bearing halves? I ordered new thrust bearings and aparently there are 2 different kinds for a 2000 Prelude. Anyone who has had to order parts from a dealership knows they ask you for your VIN number to make sure you get the right parts for your exact car. In this case, according to the Wiz Kid behind the desk, the VIN does me no good. So I have to order both sets, figure out which one is right for me, and send the other set back. Then I can finally assemble this engine. Until then it has to wait, I have to tell the customer it is going to be longer, and no one is happy.
This is just one car that I am dealing with right now. This happens all the time. Being in this industry you sometimes get limited to using a specific vendor and you just have to deal with it. It is very frustrating knowing, before you even get started, it is going to be a fiasco. We are aware of it and we just continue to plug along. At least you have the confidence of knowing that we don’t just get parts out of the box and throw them in without checking. Stay tuned for an update on this car, when its all done it is going to be a jerk-the-wheel-out-of -your-hand-and-involuntarily-switch-lanes beast.
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