this sucks...part deux

OK, well the saga of the oil cooler leak continues.
After waiting for 3sx (it took 8 days from date ordered to today when my oil line finally arrived) I gave up, and got a ride from my girlfriend down to Philly for the weekend, leaving my car up at school. So yesterday we drive back up here...the plan being I will fix my car as soon as the line arrives on Monday (today) and drive back home tonight.

On the way back up to NY, my gf's side mirror decides to fall off at 85mph...and was dangling by the wires so I had to put my hand out and hold it for 20 miles....(if some of you remember, I decided to try and fix that the first time with epoxy putty..well that only lasted a week). So we pull over I slice the cords, and spend all this early afternoon soldering the wires back together and reattaching the mirror via a different 'plastic specific' epoxy. Great mirror works...4pm, UPS arrives.

So I jack up my car, pop the wheel off, wheel well comes out. I start to unscrew the hardline from the lower rubber line. CRACK...my hardline twists, rips, and literally comes into two pieces...at the damn bolt. I spend 30 mins trying to loosen that bolt using 2 wrenches...I try everything....breaker bars, 18 different wrenches, 20 different angles, using the pavment for leverage, anything I can think of...and it wont budge. So I disconnect all the other lines, brackets, remove oil cooler, remove other end of line at oil pan. This all took 10 bloody knuckles, 2 hours of struggling, 2 cans of PB blaster, and one hell of a mess.

So now I'm kicking myself for not just getting decent SS lines to begin with. Trying to save money and ordering the $35 hardline from 3SX resulted in 10 days of my car being down, and now I need to spend more money and either buy SS lines and fittings, or buy the other stock line. Either way, as far as I can see I'm screwed. I ran around in my gf's car, only to find: Mitsu dealer is worthless, Autozone and Advanced Auto are close-to-worthless, and all performance shops close before 6.

So here I am, wasting away my Spring Break in a desolate college town, with no vr4, and my hopes of going to the track this week with all my friends are getting smaller and smaller. Sorry for complaining so much, but I just need to get it out, and everybody around here has no idea what I'm talking about. The one good thing that will come from this...is I will make a detailed account of this ordeal so that anyone in the future gets this fixed in record time.

bummer man I'm sorry to hear it. When you get all of that fixed up I'm sure you remember how damn good it is to be driving a vr4 instead of something else... Thats what I'd be thinking anyway.

Damn man that's all SO stressing. Good to hear your learning from your mistakes though and helping us 3kgters along the way. I hope your able to make it to the track. You must be RUSHING with everything huh?

dont feel bad, my car wont even start, the starter will go but it wont turn over. I'm spending my spring break working 40 hours, and the tow truck is coming over tomorrow to take the car to the dealership. Luckily my uncle is mitsubishi used car manager, so he'll take care of me up there, but still, i think the bill will be high due to i might have fried multiple things accidentally. Not sure how i did it though.

That sux... i felt that away when my car was in the body shop after my reck... a week without my vr4 is stessfull...
you might the www.MVPMotorSports.com
their a performance shop in my town... they are really good... most people are the us has heard about them some way... the owner Dusty has had his supra in alot of performance mags... he had one of worlds fastest supras... he has set the speed record for supras... anyways what im saying their not some hole in the wall...
that or try www.GTPro.com

Update: all local speedshops and dealerships are worthless. Some are claiming the parts I need don't even exist (funny how Jeff Lucius and half of 3si have had them running for years) others are saying they can order something by Monday (wow how time efficient!)

So I'm debating 2 ideas...spend $90 at summit racing and have the parts here by Thursday

Or block off the oil cooler and drive home gently with a few hour long stops in between.
http://www.3si.org/forum/showthread.php?t=262723
Here is the thread at 3si where a few mentioned this...if any of you has any insight as to how bad of an idea this is, please speak now or forever hold your peace.

Update:
I just decided to take off the oil cooler entirely...I just rerouted the feed line in a loop right back to the engine...I'm gonna drive home staying off the boost, and fix everything with SS lines at home.

Damn bro, that sucks man....sorry to hear about your unfortunate luck....reminds me of the time when I could unscrew my sisters stupid oil filter. Anyways, if it makes you feel any better, I'm spending my spring break writing a freakin' research paper and since I suck at writing, it probably will take up the whole time. :( But yeah, I thought 3sx was really good with sending stuff to their customers in like 2 days or something!?! Wonder why it took you so long to receive yours this time....

at least your car engine isnt taken apart waiting for your "so called friend " to put it bak together. i might have to just go pay 2 grand to get my engine done up the way i want it

Well I made it home...I turned down the boost controller to wastegate pressure. Slowly accelerated to 80, put it in 6th, hit cruise control and made it home fine...no leaks.
I watched my oil pressure and engine temp gauges more than I watched the road...but no problems...and I actually got amazing gas mileage. Did 180 miles on 1/3 tank...
SS lines are on their way from Summit...and I added a section to the FAQ about oil cooler leaks.

When I did mine I had a hell of a time seperating the hardline from the softline. Gatecrasher and I fought with it for hours.

The final solution was to put a vice grip on either side of the joint. One vice was positioned to rest on a toolbox, the other was pounded with a hammer. I ended up bending the release on the vicegrip but I got it to release without damaging the softline.

Haha, yeah that sounds like one idea I tried...one wrench against a 60lb rock, hit the other with a hammer...still no luck.

The good news is my new SS lines are here.