379/1000 First Start ....Build Log

[broxma]

Update and future - I have entered into agreement with a person selling a TRE stage 3 transmission which will be going into 379. I'll be doing another lengthy picture post about the swap once it arrives which should be within the next few weeks. I am calling the dealer to inquire about the transfer case recall as it pertains to 379 as well which, minus the driveshaft, should give 379 and entirely rebuilt or new driveline.

For the record, At the recent Texas Shootout, 379 ran a 14.6 at 100 mph with no second gear, bogging to a stop off the line. I couldn't get the timing map set to get any spool from the turbo, so the launch was less than spectacular. It did this at 11 PSI. Once the tranny is in and I have a tune on the car, I will make another 11 psi run to see the difference in the setup at stock boost levels. My guess as of now is that the car can run quicker than 13.50 at 11 psi on the setup I have now with just a tune, which would come in just under two seconds faster than a stock VR4, at stock boost levels. This is my current goal for the next few weeks anyway.

/brox

 

[broxma]

To update on the tranny.

So the guy kind of boned me over which didn't make me happy at all. I had sent him a message telling him I was ready to buy it, which he replied it was on the car still. I told him no worries, let's arrange shipping and as soon as it's off the car, I'll send the money. Few days later he send me a PM telling me someone else was interested in it. Long story short, he sold it to someone else who was behind me in the obligatory I-PMed-First-So-I-Get-First-Dibs line. I think most people stick with that rule unless someone declines to buy something, but in this case, I just got screwed.

So I bought a brand new, never been used black powder-coated ShepTrans from a guy in Texas. Paid cash as well, just in case the other seller runs into any problems, I want him to know I am not a person to be trifled with when it comes to money, because I'm halfway to baller status and all.

The tranny is in but I didn't take any pictures of me putting in because I was hopped up on Tramadol the entire day and Steve, even though he broke the 6mm bolt holding the speedo sensor off in the new tranny, was having too much fun watching me list around the garage as I spoke nonsense and sang obscure songs which I was making up on the spot. I'll get a picture of the thing installed though so as to be thorough.

So the bad news, I didn't get the used Stg3 TRE tranny. The good news, I got a newly built Stg2 Sheptrans. Either will work, but I'll take the new one if at all possible.

I have the Evo seat rails on the way thanks to someone around here, and once I figure out what the noise is on the Evo and sell it, there will be many interior/exterior pictures going up of that part of the build.

/brox

 

[broxma]

So after the electrical issue was resolved I set about fixing a few things on 379. I also have a few pictures of some recent stuff I accomplished below which is not chronologically correct but who's keeping track of this stuff anyway.

First thing I did, replace the 4 fuse GVR4 block with a DSM 3 fuse. Why? Mine was all fukaka'd. It had broken in several places and had no top. I checked out the wiring docs to get an idea how to wire it and ran into a snag. The DSM block didn't have a large 80/100 link to run the alternator/cabin wire off of, so I got a large 80 amp blade from the most evil store in the world and wired the alt/cabin on that line alone. The others I used the junction block for. This is what I switched to.

I am being picky here but I hated not having a cover and having a crack on the original one. Whats messed up is I had to relocate the battery because the MAT battery I got from Advance was bigger than my Braille. So I moved it to the firewall on the subframe. You can kind of see it in these pictures.

So I switch the fuse block because it's broked, and now, it's in a place you can barely see it. Go team.

Next, Big Brakes. I have had these calipers laying around for a while, painted them recently and put them on. The rotors are a little small in diameter actually by about .2 inch. I have a set of slotted Evo rotors I am going to mill down to 12.3" to get more pad on the disc.

Here they are under the car set on the ground.

This is to confirm I got my stickers from the GB. They are Rice magnets. I have been pulled up on more times in the last two days than the entire time I drove my evo. Just tonight I had a guy in a new Celica pull up on me.

Ahh, so I didn't really show much with the new IC we built. So I had to pull it off to wire up a new fan and I decided to take some pictures.

She's a dirty one. It's getting alot of run off water from the front.

The inlet side.

Where she normally sits.

Here is a little something which is the only thing I have retained from my time with my Subaru. I have purged my mind of the Subaru, even as it sits lonely under a cover in my carport waiting to be put back together. However, one thing these Suby guys like is horns. Well, I do too. I picked these up on a GB on NASIOC a long time ago and just put them in. Hella Supertones.

Amazingly, they fit in the stock spot perfectly and the wiring snaps right in. If you go over to NASIOC, you'll find about 4 thousand threads about monkeys not being able to hook these up, like they are some strange device that no car has ever been fitted with. You'll also find posts by me getting furious at these retards for overcomplicating the ever loving hell out the wiring. Literally, these people run dedicated power from battery to relays, and tap into the horn switch, wire loom, 10 ga. grounds, and on and on and on. Idiots. They plug right the hell in with the factory wiring, on any car damn near.

I rotated them down a bit as they are directional and were right behind the bumper support. Loud. Now I'm a train.

This is my new rear swaybar.

I have no idea what brand it is. It came with poly bushings on the links and poly bushings on the clamps.

It's like 26 or 28mm or something. I found it on a 91 AWD Eclipse at the junkyard. I paid like 9 bucks for it or something. I installed it tonight. Easier to get on than the stocker.

That's it. All that is left now is tuning, Evo front seats, and body work. Me and Steve may tear down the motor and throw some 20 over forged slugs in it on eagle rods in the next few months though.

/brox

 

[SouthCaliVR4]

Damn, You have access to some awesome toy building tool's! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif just had to post & ad my compliments to your build, some very impressive work you have done there, good to see another one saved /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif look forward to seeing it firsthand someday And look forward to hearing what you get out of your set up. Hope I have the same wrecking yard luck this weekend.

Peace, Geoffrey.

 

[524of1000]

Those horns are loud as hell. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

Just read all 5 pages. Nice work. Your local pick-n-pull is a goldmine. My local boneyard is filled with raped and plundered corpses, not 3KGT-VR4 calipers and 26mm swaybars. Nice fabwork, I guess thats one of the things I like about these cars, old school hot rodder custom made stuff. You need it, make it. Unlike the fart pipe honda crowd that spends 10k on bolt on crap to run mid 14s.
So what did you do with your temporary IC setup? I need to something for 488. Also I didn't see anything addressing clutch and flywheel. Looks great tho, nice attention to detail.

 

[broxma]

The Evo 8 IC with the welded corner pipe is sitting on a shelf in my garage. Steve said he may borrow it so he can sell his setup until we can get him a decent core. I currently have 3 or 4 intercoolers just sort of chilling in various spots in the garage. I'll ask Steve what he wants to do and if he's in no rush I can let you know.

The Clutch and flywheel, I have a Findanza aluminum flywheel with a F1 stage 3 sprung 6 puck. My plan is to put a Exedy twin disk on in the future once the piston issue is resolved.

Since this has been bumped up I suppose I'll do a little update. Oddly, nothing much to 379 is being done at the moment, mainly due to the latest issue. The problem is I had a progressive increase in smoke from burning oil coming out of the car. I knew it had to be one of three things. Valve seals, turbo or rings. Considering that it had gone from almost non-existent to really damn bad in a few weeks, I was thinking rings. My compression test showed 85, 140, 95, 145. Very strange. Bear in mind I have Evo pistons and brand new OEM rings with about 2K on them. I figured that I didn't get a decent score on the cylinder during install or have a cylinder out of round. I ordered a proper Flex-Hone to resurface the walls and will be doing that this week.

In the meantime, I have been putting the Evo back into a stock(er) condition. I removed the Evo IX turbo, the DNP tubular manifold, the HKS catback, the HKS cams, the external O2 dump, bunch of stuff and will be selling that as well as the car in the next few weeks. I should see about 1500 or so from the sale of the items I pull off the Evo plus about 12k for the car so I'll be in good shape to finish the Galant. Honestly, all I really need is body work, Evo front seats and a bigger turbo and I should be able to lay down 500+ HP with the setup. I'll have to factor in the clutch though as well but no big deal.

379 will always be a WIP. I was discussing this with Steve last night, about what I wanted for my Daily driver. After talking with him I may go hunt down a car like my old 2G GSX and turn that into a nice street car. I have also toyed with the idea of getting a 97-99 Spyder and doing an AWD conversion to it. If either of those things come to fruition which in reality either is at least plausible, 379 will quickly become a dedicated straight line race car, complete with fuel cell, cage, stripped interior, etc with intentions of running 9's. Much of the stuff I have on the car now will come off and I will either buy another VR4 or sell the obsolete parts.

/brox

 

[broxma]

And time for the obligatory update. Maybe someone else will start at post 1 and read this whole thing for the first time so as always, education first.

What happened. I tore into the car. Initially I had figured the issue I was having was the rings due to low compression. No oil in the exhaust runners, no oil in the exhaust manifold before the turbo and S-tons at the turbo outlet. Go figure. So I pulled the pistons, ran a 120 grit 3.5" ball hone up and down for a few and threw them back in. This will hopefully solve the low compression issue. I also adjusted the rings a bit, random internal garbage, nothing major. Me and Steve had this part wrapped up in about 3-4 hours honestly.

Onto the turbo. Seems the oil seal was lifting off the seat. This was cause by a massive amount of cooked garbage under the seal being forced out by the pressure. How much pressure I have no idea since I never hooked a gauge up to it, but I figure I built the car for 30+ and I was probably safe. No big deal. So, I could rebuild or, better idea LET"S PLAY A GAME!!!!!

I present to you, for your testing and viewing pleasure, the Ebayest of Ebay, the brand with no such reputation for reliability...

The GODSPEED GT3582!!!!!

So the idea here is simple. I am stuck. Essentially, I have a full on T3 setup with a bad turbo. Not just one bad T3 turbo, but two bad T3 turbos. Sure sure, I could redo it all and slam a stocker on there for nothing but what do we learn from that? Nothing. So I says, "Self, you're a man of means. You can go huge and get a Dual BB GT35, drop a restrictor in the oil line, fab up the water lines. But why? Isn't that a path already followed?". I say, screw the norm, I am gonna try something stupid. I can afford to drop 284.55 with free shipping on a turbo for the sake of experimentation can't I? You bet your 284.55 with free shipping butt I can.

So that's what I did. The real idea here is I am a man of evidence. I work in definitives yet hate them in language. I rarely say "always" or "never" unless I mean it. But for me, I need proof of everything. You say there is an Easter Bunny? Prove it. Show me evidence. You say a pink teapot is orbiting the sun and created the universe? Evidence please. So for years, I have heard a variety of things about Ebay turbos. I have heard both good and bad, mostly bad, but let's find out if that is perception or reality. Sure this may be only a single data point in a long term study, so I implore the rest of you to follow suit and test this hypothesis with me. As for now, all I have is anecdotal evidence which has thus far dissuaded me from taking to purchasing such an item. I would wager that like may internet topics, the majority of anecdotal evidence is not based on primary sources. I will be that primary source. I will provide an honest single data point and report back as a primary source with no outside influence. I am going into this with a totally open mind.

Essentially, I did not build this car to get fed by a turbo such as this. I think it is apparent that I have really spared little expense in almost every department, save for the Evo pistons, which cost wise are my biggest regret. Regardless, I built this thing to run 450-500 HP. Let's see if she can do, and not just do it, but for how long. Let's find out if the conception of the overwhelming majority of the interwebz peanut gallery is correct and the reputation of these things is justified. I will of course be making a backup plan as I am not inclined to put all the eggs into one basket. But I am willing to drop a few bills to try this out, if for no other reason than my own self education. Hopefully the turbo will be here this week. I should have it together not shortly afterward and once the break in is done, it's game on. I will dyno tune the thing on a dyno dynamics, get some numbers, and see what I can get out of this puppy. If I can hit 450, I will consider it a success. If I hit 500, I will consider it a raging success. If it lasts longer than 6 months, worth the money. If it last longer than a year, I'll buy one a year for 5 years and still not hit the cost of a true dual BB GT35, or just barely. This is the plan. I hope you will join me.

As always, Steve and I will be snapping pics of the entire event. If this thing can hit 450, I will put a "Powered by Ebay" sticker on the back of the car.

/brox

 

Cant wait to see how this is going /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif . I was planning to do exactly the same thing!

 

[cheekychimp]

I like to see stuff like this, good on ya Brox. I seem to remember a similar thread where a guy bought an Ebay Chinese Evo III knock off turbo and despite all the negative publicity it lasted some considerable amount of time. Food for thought, if (as you have stated) you can buy five of these for the cost of a single 'real' turbo.

Even in the case of a catastrophic failure somewhere else in the system that destroys the turbo you can simply replace the unit a little earlier in the year than you intended, (hell you might even be able to rebuild it from a plethora of spares you have). Not to mention as well that if you buy only one turbo you have only ONE shot at it lasting five years, so you have to hope it wasn't thrown together at 5pm on Friday night when the turbo builder was in a rush to punch off duty and get to his girlfriend's place. With five turbos you have a pretty good shot at one of them being good and lasting longer than a year which means your chances of having boost for 60 months is actually pretty good.

Keep us informed!

Edit: I won't join you on the turbo purchase, but I have put aluminium rods in a street car (Grodens if you please) against all advice. It will either be a very sad tale of carnage or the best fun I've had in a car since that night on Fat Goose Hill with the Chinese nurse /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif

 

I kinda already have joined you. I picked up a "known good 900 mile" ebay special s16g basically for free thrown in with the engine I bought. So not only am I running an ebay special its used. But it fits my budget. I am certainly interested in watching this. I'll be here with popcorn in hand /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Oh yeah and if you have a low budget intercooler setup taking up space in your garage let me know, we could work something out.

 

[524of1000]

He sent me a pic of the GT35 today. Damn that thing is big. We may have to do a lil finagleing to get it in there just right, but we'll make it happen and we'll make it happen soon. Hopefully we'll be seating both of our piston rings the same weekend /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif

 

Pictures /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif ????

 

[SouthCaliVR4]

I have a godspeed bar & plate intercooler on mine, works great. I'll be curious to see how long their turbo lasts, esp givin how hard I just know your gonna push it!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[524of1000]

Mr. Larry has been understandably pre occupied with a few other things lately, so I'll give a short update. We have the turbo. It's a beast. However, the current intake setup is for a 3" inlet and the new turbo is a 4" inlet. Likewise, the o2 housing we custom made for the previous turbo was something like 2.5" and the new turbo requires a 3". The oil return line also needs some modification. All of these issues are being adressed at the moment. 379 should be up and running shortly, unless something castatrophic occurs which as we all know is possible, but we are doing our best to avoid this.

 

[broxma]

I figured I had time today to update things a bit since as Steve has said, I have been preoccupied as of late. Essentially, the family unit had a medical emergency which kind of put everything on hold for a few weeks, so about the time the GT35 showed up, it was removed from the box and has sat there ever since. I am only now at a point where I can begin to think about finding the stuff I need to install it. I want to be rather clear about everything I needed to install and get this thing running since it is a bit of a departure from the previous turbo. So I'll start with the differences.

The GT35 is both oil and water cooled. I had been running the oil only cooled AGP 3147 and re routed the old water lines. I'll be finding a water solution using stock 14x1.5 banjo bolts as the water fitting on the GT35 are the same thread pitch as stock.

The oil fitting is an unknown thread pitch. A standard -6 an fitting is too small. I am going up to the shop tomorrow to have Tommy take a look and figure out what type of fitting I need. It will none the less be connected to the same SS line off the factory oil port on the head.

The return line may have been the problem with the old turbo. I believe it is possible that the oil coking issue on the AGP's oil seal may have been from inadequate flow back to the pan due to the limitations of the return pipe. I had an aluminum block made to accept a 3/8 NPT pipe or fitting which is enough in my opinion. The previous setup sort of necked down to about 1/2" I.D. and probably didn't allow enough flow. I am going to do some modification to ensure the best return flow and liberally use the turbo timer in the future.

The turbo hits the factory water line. The under line which comes off the water pipe actually hits the compressor housing when mounted. I can either switch to an NT pipe and pull the water from somewhere else or cut and flare it shorter. It is already cut in half with a fiber line connector, but I may need to cut it even shorter and swing it in a direction which clear the housing.

The Exhaust outlet is 3". The previous O2 housing is setup for a 4 bolt-DSM DP connection but is 2.5". I had a custom 3" housing made which eliminates the wastegate return. I will be dumping the wastegate to atm instead so as not to complicate the surfaces of the housing. The old housing will also have the return eliminated and welded up. This will be important later, but not for me.

The compressor outlet is 2.5". The AGP turbo has a 2" outlet so I have to modify the existing lower IC pipe to match the new outlet. I will probably cut the old one and use a 90 degree 2.5" silicone hose to make the connection until I can get a new 2.5" bend welded on.

The Compressor inlet is 4". The AGP inlet is 3" so I bought a transition coupler to go from the 3" intake pipe to the 4" housing. Since the actual inlet on the turbo is surrounded by the anti-surge ports, I don't see much degradation from using this method.

As I said, I am only just now getting back to working on this due to the emergency issue I have been dealing with. On a side note, Steve's head should finally be back from the shop around the same time as many of these solutions get accomplished so both cars should be back on the road within a few days of each other. Fortunately for Steve, he will be getting the custom parts of the old setup so once we have his car broke in and running, the switch to a T3 setup should be relatively cheap. I am getting 2 turbo's rebuilt and buying at least one more back up turbo, probably another GT35 or a GT30. Ideally, we will have several people all running a similar style turbo at which point if one breaks, we can just swap them back and forth and have them rebuilt. Another idea I am toying with is sending one of the Chinese GT35's to get rebuilt and balanced brand new. I want a reputable shop to open it up, look it over and tell me why it will fail. Where is the weak part? Exactly why do the have the bad reputation? Can it be fixed before it is installed if there is a glaring problem? I think I should at least give the turbo that much a benefit of doubt.

Once I start to install the turbo, I will get photos of all of it. All the solutions will be addressed in picture form. In addition to the new turbo, I have another project I am working on which I will get to after the turbo is in. More on that later however. As of now, I am getting started on this and will update soon, definitely later this week.

/brox

 

[broxma]

So as promised, we start the extensive log of how to install an Ebay GT3582 turbo. The real issue is none of this is going to really bolt in. The only thing which bolts right up is the turbo to the manifold and that is only because I can demand both have a T3 flange. Other than that, everything is new and will have to be sourced or made.

Today I started with supplying the thing with oil and water. I am not interested in fitment as of yet so this is truly just, get oil and water to the thing however it has to be done.

These are what I have thus far. The oil inlet is a reverse flare of some strange size. Tommy at Kendrick happened to have on which goes to a -6 AN. The problem is, the oil feed off the head, yeah, it ain't -6 an, it's the normal flare fitting style. So I have to get a 90 degree to clear the exhaust flange and some adapter to make it all work. Should be no problem but ehh. The water fittings are however standard but I figured, let's treat this thing to the royal treatment. I could have just hacked up and reused the old banjo fittings, but screw it, this is an Ebay turbo, not some piece of crap Ebay turbo. I opted for the high dollar Earl's 14x1.5(1.25?) banjo fittings which I will press fiber line onto and secure with Fuel Injection clamps. The other hunk of steel is the return flange, but more on that, well, right now.

So I figured one of my problems with the last turbo, which is getting rebuilt BTW, was lack of proper flow out of the center cartridge. The hole on the cartridge is rather small but the one on the flange, even smaller. I am going to drill it out and tap it for a 3/8 NPT to match the flange I had made for the oil pan return.

Here is how the reverse flare of some strange size fitting sits. It will definitely hit the exhaust flange in it's current position, so I will have to clock it more and get a 90 degree bend for it. Again, it's -6 an and I got Flare on the hose. Another solution will be plotted for that issue, probably a -6 an fitting off the head, a few 90's and some SS braided. Seems easy, I'll let you know.

Here is the Banjo water fitting set in place. One of the fittings will point up, the rear one actually, and one will face down. There is logic behind this. First, the front one pointing up is not possible due to proximity to the exhaust flange of the housing. If it didn't melt the hose, it would surely heat the hell out of it. The rear fitting however has enough vertical clearance to make the bend required to get where I want it to go which is...

...right here. The inlet on the thermostat housing, where the hacked fiber hose is in this picture, will be the return side since it feeds directly into the top of the radiator. The feed side will come from...

...right here. This is the factory hard line which I am going to cut down, again, flare, again, and run a fiber line or -8 an braided under the center cartridge up into the forward water fitting, which is pointed down.

All of this is speculation at this point as I am yet to mount the thing in true fashion. I have temped it on the head but that's about it. I am sure I will have to mod the water cross pipe as the compressor will most likely interfere with it. Other than the oil feed line solution which I think I have a handle on, should be similar to what I described. For reference sake, all the stuff thus far has been around 30 bucks, fittings, etc. I expect another 50 or so for the line and AN fittings, maybe more.

The next major issue to deal with is the 2" hot side IC pipe being changed to 2.5". I have no desire to simply use a transition coupler so I want to find a full 2.5" solution for it. I can weld a pipe on at some point in the future once the car is moving again, but for now, the solution has to be something I can get cheap and local. I am thinking some large diameter radiator hose from Advance will do the trick. An issue I have is I need a full 2.5" 90 degree bend with at least one leg of about 6-7 inches. Most legs off bends are 4" max and that's too short. Another day however.

More to come.

/brox

 

[broxma]

So what did we do today? Not all that much since I am still in a state of convalescing with the wife after her recent issues. What did happen today was Steve was kind enough to come over and hold the turbo/manifold assembly for me while I took pictures of it.

So this picture which appears almost NSFW is actually just an average white guy holding my Ebay setup. Many people have probably wondered in the past exactly how far we can go on this Ebay garbage, and this picture pretty much sums up the culmination of such and experiment. We are talking a Ebay "AMK" (No Idea what the hell AMK is supposed to be...) Tubular manifold, some Ebay 38mm Wastegate(Actually cost me like 78.00 so not bottom of the line Ebay, but Ebay enough), and the aforementioned Ebay Godspeed GT3582. I cannot remember if the Ebay Wastegate originally had some sort of banjo fitting or adjustment screw on top, but it's essentially open now and just a threaded hole. Hard to say really, I guess we'll find out.

So we bolted it up with a single nut to see if it actually cleared everything and guess what? It actually does. It clears both the water pipe and will clear the radiator, so no modification needed there. Good times. The water feedline will be able to swing back and go directly underneath the cartridge along side the oil return line.

Just a more open picture of it all. Bear in mind the entire setup as it sits there was had for less than 450.00. This does not include the insane modification needed to get the wastegate to fit and not hit the PS pump bracket, nor the totally custom O2 housing. But to the door price of that garbage, about 450.00.

Here I think you can see the lower water feed line. Even in its current position, it actually clears the housing. It will get moved but there is plenty of room. A new discovery was made today however. The position of the cold side housing has actually moved in relation to the manifold by about 1". This means that the 2.5" 90 degree bend I need can be a lot shorter than I expected, probably an off the shelf part in most places. Even just 4" of leg after the bend would be enough to connect the two. This does however raise another interesting question. If the cold side moved, then is seems likely the hot side did too. If that is the case, will the O2 housing I am having made fit anymore? I mean it will probably fit, but it may move it 1" closer to the oil filter which it barely had enough clearance for as it was.

We may be looking at a filter relocation kit here soon.

More tomorrow after I get back from the shop.

/brox

 

[524of1000]

Hmm, in hind sight, the shirt went quite well with the senario /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[broxma]

Ok people, I am sure you have all be in stasis waiting for me to update this thing. Well, it has been a hell of a month having nothing to do with my car or any car for that matter. Had some familial issues which essentially put life on hold for the last 6 weeks and it has only just now returned to somewhat normal. Never underestimate the power of the mind.

Onto the show. So what was the issue last time? Oh yeah, the Wastegate. Had to build a dump tube. Got it. Went up to my old haunt and had Jason fab me some magic. We only had the mani, turbo and gate, no car so I had to go on memory as to the fit. We ended up building two because I remembered after we got done with the first one why the tube had to run under the O2 sensor. Stupid dipstick.

Anyway, here are some pictures. of it.

So ya see there it stays to the radiator side of the O2 housing, goes under the O2 sensor and dumps out next to the DP. This was again, from memory.

Here you can see how tight the initial bend was. I had to notch the first bend to get it under the O2 sensor. The curve is still not too bad. I have intentions of changing the manifold and gate anyway but this will work in the meantime.

How did I relieve some of the worry about space down there since I was making this pipe from memory? I had an ace in the hole.

A brand new Forward facing filter housing from FFWD. Darren at FFWD, who is the man BTW, got this to me pronto in like 2 days because I want to have the car running this weekend. Without this, no chance. So thanks go out to Darren here.

Next thing I want to do, See if the dump would fit. Guess what? It doesn't. It hit the front cross member so I'll be notching that tomorrow.

So you can see the gate flange doesn't quite line up. This is because the pipe is hitting the crossmember just slightly.

So I started to put the turbo, sans the gate back in. I did this because I can get the gate on anytime, but getting the radiator in with the 2.5" compressor outlet was going to be a chore.

Here you can see how close it was initially. It basically was resting on the radiator. I eventually cut the silicone down and got a bit more room. I was holding the gate in place to check for interference with the lower IC pipe. It clears it fine.

Here's a better picture of the pipe at the crossmember. I bent the metal a bit but am cutting and grinding all that away tomorrow(today). I may eventually either make a new crossmember with a bolt plate for the longitudinal braces or figure something else out.

So it's starting to look like a car again. I put the fuel system back together tonight, got the ignition sorted out again. Tomorrow is just cutting and wrapping up loose ends. I have a few broken bolts in the block for the oil pan which I am going to remove. About 6 honest hours left and it'll be time for break in.

That is all for now. I'll take some video of the thing once the break in is done.

/brox