You and me both pal!
Not much progress in the last month, just too busy doing adulting.
Did manage to create the front exhaust mount and get it tacked on. Also have the end of the down pipe done (flex section and transition from 3" to 2.5")
And some parts showed up.
First $185 order of ARP hardware.
3" stainless for the new down pipe
EFR 6258 turbo finally showed yesterday. The T25 inlet and 3" outlet makes for an odd looking setup. But its going to be a MUCH better choice than the T3 turbine’d super 16G that I had originally. Excited to start getting it installed next week.
Dan
:bigtup:
This build is one of the only reasons I even sign on here anymore.
If you need help in the wheels and suspension department when it comes time, please message me. I mainly do air ride stuff, but can also get KW/ST suspensions as well fifteen52 wheels.
Sounds good. For now I have brand new Bilsteins, Autotech springs, and some knock off wheels I bought back in like 2007, lol.
At some point I may do coilovers if the ride isnt right.
Dan
Originally I thought for sure that the new EFR turbo would fit very similar to the old 16G given the basic size. Fortunately it would not which led me down a huge rabbit hole (as usual).
This was the original setup:
Turns out the best way to fit it was to flip it around. This meant having a different intercooler. I couldnt really find anything that I liked that would fit well with in/out on the same end. So I thought why not go water to air. And well, here we are.
First I came up with a wood jig to hold the turbo in place.
Then found an IC I thought would work and made a poster board mockup of it. Scabbed together a bunch of random couplers and hoses and decided I could make it work.
Fast forward to a bunch of parts showing up.
Needed to modify both the inlet and outlet of the IC which required both flanges to be removed. To avoid getting any metal inside I connected the shop vac to blow through while cutting. It worked perfect.
One side cut
Cast inlet elbow cut
For the outlet I wanted to match the 3" dia of the TB, so I cut and formed a piece of 3" tubing to the outlet of the IC
Was “talked into” using the Vibrant HD wiggins type clamps instead of couplers and tbolt clamps. So got those welded onto the IC and TB late last night.
Placed in approximate location. Im still short another cast elbow that I need to weld to the turbo, but I cant go much further until I make a manifold.
Im super stoked how its turning out. Its soooo much cleaner than what I had originally.
As for the manifold, Newman was gracious enough to model it for me using some basic location dimensions. I ordered the weld els for it today, they should be in later next week along with the head flange.
Dan
IDK how a few of you guys on here that are capable of this level of craftsmanship aren’t millionaires with self running businesses.
It sucks dealing with other people’s projects, expectations, impatience, and lack of wanting to pay fair money for services rendered. it’s not worth it lol.
This. Plus youd never want to work on your own shit.
Dan
Not just a great fabricator but also very punny.
Whipped up a new fan shroud for dual 10" Spal fans last night. Just need to add the mounting tabs which I should have today.
Bent up the 0.090" sheet on the brake at work.
Then welded and shaped the corners. I backed up each corner with a small bent piece of aluminum welded to the backside.
Cut the holes out with my handy Bosch jig saw and cleaned them up with the floating belt on the Dynabrade (best tool ever). Finished with 180 on the D/A and then a red scuffy. Im gona feel bad having it powder coated, maybe.
Dan
Finished up the fan shroud.
A friend cut the mounting tabs on his CNC which saved a ton of time trying to get 4 exactly the same.
I hand filed the shroud to accept them, and welded them on the backside for a clean look. This will ultimately be powder coated wrinkle black.
Installed with the top cover I formed a few weeks back
With that done it was time to start on the collector for the manifold. I managed to get two of the tubes cut and fit pretty nicely. The other two got borked up somehow (the first two I did) so I need to redo those tomorrow.
Dan
Finished up the collector last night. Fit turned out pretty nice for my first time I think. Also got the bends and straight pieces cut so its ready to assemble. Should be starting on it tomorrow night if the head flange shows.
Dan
pro.
Did you make a fixture to cut the elbows?
Not really. I drew some circles and lines on poster board and used that along with a square to mark them at approx the right angle. Then cut them on the bandsaw and sanded smooth.
I figure I can tweak them as needing during assembly.
Dan
Head flange came in yesterday but its wrong, so I decided to work on the valve cover project last night.
Recall that I had two covers baked and blasted a while back. And did some milling to fit the COPs.
Ill spare you the details of cutting and fitting the piece from the donor cover and start where I had it clamped in place for welding. I welded both sides, then ground and sanded it smooth. Just a few pin holes were unearthed after grinding, which I’ll likely just use some filler on vs trying to weld since Im pretty positive this is going to be painted.
Im pretty stoked how it turned out. I still need to remove the extra tabs and likely decrease the radius of the top pulley guard as Im not going to be running a timing cover.
Dan
Maybe a really dumb question, but where will you be putting oil in this thing? 
Super clean. :tup:
Crankcase vent.
Got it. Pretty trick man. Can’t wait to see more progress.