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speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 9:14

Yeah I'm still pissed at the bolt issue. What probably pisses me off the most is that I only have myself to blame LOL!! I bought a helicoil kit but if I can clean up the old threads enough I'll just use those. Honestly I don't think I did that much damage. I noticed that a couple threads came out with that bolt, but if the others were just marred a bit I think they're salvageable. But I'll use a helicoil if I need to. It just bugs the crap out of me that it's not perfect LOL!!!

Yeah I think I'm going to send them back and have them do a darker face, or at least have them coat it completely instead of like this. And then have the lips done in SBC or super black chrome.

And yes a-hole, I know they would look better concave LOL! And OBVIOUSLY I'm thinking it lol!!! Hell, I'm even thinking about getting a set of TE37V too when they come out in the larger sizes lol. Nah, I do like them though. But if I got those, I'd sell these probably. But honestly, these things do look better in person than the pics, they don't really do them justice.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:14

Last night after I got home from Loveland, I started working on my car, tapping the hole for the exhaust stud. I got the hole tapped and the proper bolt installed, so that's finished (I hope lol). I had black grade 8 bolts in there before and I was looking for some to replace the one I lost, but apparently no one sells them anymore, so I just switched to the same size bolt that's a different color and I'm pretty sure it's the same grade. It just has a 13mm head now instead of the 15mm the black ones had. It irks me though because the black ones looked like they belonged there, like they were bolts specifically made to replace exhaust studs. Plus they weren't noticeable against my black manifold, but of course that's the anal me talking LOL.

At this point (around 530pm) I decided to go ahead and swap my turbo CHRA back to the original one so I can test it and see if it burns oil too. I left the manifold and everything mounted to the car and just removed the CHRA itself. I had a bit of trouble getting the turbine-side bolts out and I took a break for dinner around 630, but I watched a few episodes of Grimm on Hulu so I didn't get back to work until about 9pm LOL. Actually I just went downstairs to turn the lights off in the garage and I was gonna call it a night but I decided to do just a bit more work. Around 1am I was finished with the turbo swap and it is pretty much ready to drive now, aside from topping off the coolant. So maybe I'll take it for a spin tonight if the sun is out long enough when I get home.

Also while I was at Dave's, he pointed out that the exhaust ports on the new manifold are pretty small compared to the exhaust gaskets (thanks Dave, I needed something else to be anal about lol), so I'm checking with another guy that built a short runner manifold (the one that inspired me actually) and he used the same flange from Racing Beat and I want to see if he has any problems with exhaust flow or anything. I may just draw the larger circle from the gasket on the flange and chamfer it so it's a smoother transition into the smaller passages.

I think that's all the updates for now.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:14

Get out there and see if it smokes or not! Haha.

Yeah, the exhaust ports of the flange were freakishly small, even compared to the stock brick manifold. I think you'll be fine if you chamfer the edges to help "funnel" exhaust flow toward the turbo better.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:14

Well I was going to take it out after work yesterday but my new coolant temp sensor from Spa came in so I decided to install that first so I can kill two birds with one stone and see if that works while I'm seeing if it still smokes. I'm fairly certain it's still going to smoke anyway, I just want to make sure.

Carter hasn't gotten back to me yet. Maybe I'll just email Racing Beat and ask them what's up. In the mean time I'll just start modifying the manifold I guess. I'm still trying to decide if I want to get a different flange and have it remade. At least then I could have more input on the manifold and make sure the small issues annoying me are fixed haha.

I just put in an order for a couple Nitrous Express Y fittings also, -4AN on all three ends so I can use AN line for the vacuum tubing near the turbo. I still need to figure out what's up with the fire sleeve stuff though, I need to get that ordered.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

I burped the coolant last night and drove the car over to Oscar's house to check out his FD. His FD is REALLY nice btw. It looks like my water temp gauge issue might be fixed, I didn't see the gauge read anything crazy the whole time WOOHOO!!!

The car also smoked like crazy so I'm even more sure now that the old CHRA is bad as well lol. I was going to drive it to work today but then I remembered that I still don't have the blinkers installed in the new bumper. Maybe I'll take care of that at lunch and drive it this afternoon. Although it's supposed to snow this afternoon too. Oh well, whats another year waiting to drive it? lol

Oh Carter got back to me too. He said he chamfered the entrance to the manifold too, so I'll do that. Although there is a small space between the runners where they meet at the T4 flange that they aren't closed off from each other, and Carter said I need to have Tom fix that before I install it, so I'll be calling Tom today I guess. I'm looking to start installing this new turbo and doing the other mods within the next week. I really hope to have it on the road with the new turbo before next Friday, but I think we all know what pipe dreams look like haha.

Postby **RX-7 Chris** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

Maybe we can both get our cars done at the same time and go for a drive.

VRx8 · Postby **VRx8** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

I would like to know what is Racing Beat opinion on this flange, maybe is made for N/A 13b's.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

So the car smoked with the new CHRA? So is the smoking non-turbo related for sure?

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

RX-7 Chris wrote:Maybe we can both get our cars done at the same time and go for a drive.

I like that idea.

VRx8 wrote:I would like to know what is Racing Beat opinion on this flange, maybe is made for N/A 13b's.

Not sure. I believe it's for all 13Bs.

chickenwafer wrote:So the car smoked with the new CHRA? So is the smoking non-turbo related for sure?

No this is the original CHRA that came with the turbo. I just wanted to try it with the oil drain clocked straight up and down to make sure the turbo was bad before I sell it. But I'm going to make absolutely sure it's turbo related with the new turbo. Hopefully IT won't smoke lol.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

Oh yeah, I took the car for a drive a bit ago. I believe it's still burning oil, not really surprised haha. When I got back I took off the bumper to install the lights and paint the bumper rebar black so you can't see it through the hole. I'm waiting for the primer to dry so I can paint it and reinstall the bumper, and the blinkers are installed now too. If it doesn't snow tonight I may drive it tomorrow.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:14

Just bought one of these...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-Series-6-AN-to-6-AN-1-8-NPT-gauge-adapter-blue-/200720229968?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ebbdba650&vxp=mtr

and two of these...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-an-Female-to-6-an-Male-Expander-Fitting-PRE-64627-/230511418851?pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item35ab8d1de3&vxp=mtr

I decided to just run 6AN line for now for cooling the wastegates, and I got the gauge adapter so I can keep my water temp gauge plugged in there too. I'll put that right off the engine, pretty much where it is now, before the coolant moves to the wastegates.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:14

That's a good idea. I'm going to get one of those -6AN union fittings with the 1/8"ntp tap for a fuel pressure gauge, going to put it right off the fuel rail.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:14

^I'm not 100% sure yet I'm going to use that piece, because I'll still have to use the grounding wire I'm using right now. Whereas if I drill and tap a hole in the water pump housing I won't have to ground it. I think it would be cleaner that way, but space on the WP housing is limited and I need to put it in a place that will still give me the readings I'm looking for...i.e. I don't want to put it after the thermostat, I want to know what the temp is right off the engine. Now that I think about it though, I may be reading too cool right now because the coolant hasn't flowed back through the engine from rear to front. Anyway, I still have some decisions to make lol.

I took the manifold down to Tom right after lunch today and he sealed up the gap between the two runners. He said it really wasn't a big deal but he'd fix it for me anyway. And he said since I'm going to port the exhaust flange of the manifold anyway I should port the T4 flange where the runners are welded to, because there is a lip on the outer sides of the runners where they meet the flange so I should port the inside of the flange where it meets to make it smooth. I'll post pics of what I'm talking about if I can remember. I'm thinking of going to get the tools and do it tonight.

Either way, I'm pretty much on course for all this. I'm just waiting on a few parts to get here, and I'm waiting to install the turbo and manifold to see how long lines need to be.

I still need to order heat sleeve/fire sleeve for the lines, and I'm still waiting on the intercooler to get here. That whole deal is making me a bit nervous, I have a feeling it was a scam but it may not be. It's a guy on facebook and the pic he posted was from a thread on 7club from a few years ago. I asked him about it and he said it's the same one, but it took him several days to even ship it. He claimed he didn't have any money to ship it until that day and he gave me a tracking number but it doesn't work. Dave, I may need to use your friend's investigative services lol. This kid is on one of the rotary clubs of facebook but if you look at his profile he has nothing about cars, only skateboarding. We'll see what happens, I may have to track him down.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:14

Haha, just let me know! I can pass along my friend's info, I'm sure he will help you out.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 9:14

Well we emailed back and forth for about an hour last night on facebook and he seems to know his stuff about FDs, and also the IC is in Henderson, CO already, so I'm thinking maybe I jumped the gun on this lol. But if I do need his info I will definitely ask for it lol, thanks!

I ordered some fire sleeve today. I got some from this place...
http://www.firesleeveandtape.com/as1072-aviation-aerospace-firesleeve.html
...because they had more sizes and I believe it was cheaper than DEI also. I got 5ft of the -4 and 5ft of the -6 sized sleeves, along with some tape to wrap the ends.

I tried to find some burs to use to port the manifold but I haven't had any luck finding good ones locally yet. I talked to a company that turned out to have their warehouse in Littleton, so I gave up on that idea lol. I'm going to look at Sears tomorrow because Zico said he bought a Craftsman one years ago and still uses the same one, but he said it's expensive.

I think I'm going to go ahead and start tearing into the car tomorrow. If everything works out right, I should be able to have the car back up and running week after next, if not next week. But we all know things never go as planned so it'll probably be back on the road AFTER Deals Gap LOL! Better not be.

I'm still looking for some kind of small mufflers for the wastegates. As it stands right now, I have nothing ordered for that and nothing in the works yet, not even pipes to route the exhaust out of the area.

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