As always, slack to update this blog, but I have been tinkering away. Although it seems I start something, hit a bit of a road block then start something else before finishing the last, so lately I have been trying to get those unfinished bits done before starting anything else.
So Im still yet to finish the rear section of the exhaust. With the new raised height of the exhaust, when the diff is at full drop, it will be sitting on the exhaust. Original plan was just to get some cheap shocks that were short enough to clear, but I may wait and get a set of coilovers for the rear. USD sucks right now though!
With the exhaust manifold off, repaired and improved (hopefully), I turned my attention to the turbo. The exhaust housing had a broken stud in it, so this was the perfect oppurtunity to get that sorted. Removed the housing and set it up in the mill. Dropped a carbide endmill in the hole to remove the stud then went and tapped it for a M8 Helicoil insert… Sorted. I noticed that the internal wastegate, which had been welded shut, had started to crack a little. Probably nothing to really worry about, but I machined out the internal waste gate valve/shaft, and machined up an insert to go in the now gaping hole. I made the insert longer than it needed to be so that it protruded into the port of the housing, to remove the “trough” for the internal wastegate valve. Once I had welded the insert in, i got the die grinder out and removed the protrusion and blended it in with the port.
Reassembled, ready to bolt back up.
With the manifold back on the engine, I could make up some braces to support the weight of the turbo and manifold. If you can remember, I welded some tabs on the manifold for this earlier. Machined these up. 6061 Aluminium, and some bronze lined left/right hand rod ends.
Front brace installed (also got a secondary cam belt tensioner from Barry Manon)
I decided I needed to add an oil cooler, so I purchased a 180x350x73mm core from AdRad. They only had the 350mm wide core in 73mm thick, which is a bit overkill, atleast I know it will be more than enough.
Ended up cutting the core down to 100mm, so it will fit nicely under the intercooler. I was busy at work, so I got my mate Adam from C’s Garage to fold up and weld some end tanks onto the core for me, as well as the mounting bosses I had machined up. Finished product:
Purchased a Grex thermostat oil cooler sandwich plate from NST. I was very limited for space, and for options mounting it, either with the ports facing to the front, or to the rear. Had to machine up a new union bolt to mount it as well, the Grex one was too short.
I made a start on making the oil lines, but I need to mount the cooler to get the lines exactly right, theres some work in the front end of the chassis I want to do which is stopping me from mounting it, but more on that later.
I wanted to delete the brake booster, to get a better brake feel, and as a bonus free up some space in the engine bay. Was originally going to use the standard brake master and bias valve etc. But for a couple hundred bucks I could have a Wilwood master and bias valve, so fuck it, bought that, which will get rid of all the messy brake lines on the strut tower. Machined up an adaptor plate to mate the Wilwood master to the firewall.
Mounted the bias valve on there too. I dont think I’ll need the in-car adjustment, just set and forget. Had to machine up a longer clevis for the brake pedal too, complete with weight reduction pockets.
Just need brake lines to finish off the new master setup now. Last item on the update. Welded some -10 fittings to the valve covers to make a proper catchcan setup, then painted them with wrinkle black. Pretty happy with how these turned out.
two8six 