Damn I've been away for a while. I lot has happened since my last update. Moved from a house to an apartment and finally to our new house back in September.
I've actually done a lot lately, but i dont have too much to show for it. Some out of necessity and other self inflicted. Oh well
I'll start with more self inflicted first, as that's more fun to talk about.
Starting simple. I saw a shift knob I fell in love with years ago but found out it had been discontinued. I had asked if they could do a one off but they no longer had the prints for it, so I said what the hell I'll get it anyway. Turns out they sell blank shift pattern discs and I found a local engraving company to copy the pattern. It's a MGW Gripper knob to go with my MGW short shifter. Here's the original MGW piece
Here's the new one with the piece i had made locally....pretty damn good!!!!
Next i got a set of JDM 180sx Chuki side skirts. I've been eyeing these for a while but finally pulled the trigger when a friend decided to sell his set locally.
Not a great pic.....
Upgraded from the stock 78mm throttle body to a 92mm
My previous Suspension Techniques sway bar was actually rubbing on my GTO oil pan ever so slightly, so i ordered a GK Tech sway bar for almost 3" of more clearance
after much thought, i decided to swap out my MasterPower T76 turbo for an On3 Perforance Billet 7675. Better flowing than the MP76, very comparable to the Precision 7675 at half the price, and the LS and Mustang guys have been giving props
I bumped up from my 80lb injectors to a set of 95lb/1000cc injectors. I'm planning to convert to E85/Flex Fuel later in the year and took the plunge now:
Now for things that needed to be done.....
1. redoing the turbo setup for the new hood
2. cooling issues....this thing still gets hotter than i am comfortable with
Ended up cutting the new hood for Aerocatch latches
Sad day getting it towed from the old house to the apartment
New hotside ended up being modified LS truck manifolds due to timing, i just wanted to get it running while i continued to work on my tubular manifolds. Welded some stainless tubing and vbands to the cast iron manifolds. Had them coated and wrapped the stainless portion
2.5" 304SS crossover with flex section and used a exhaust cutout as the 2>1 merge
Used a Turboflanges.com 2.5" round to T4 304SS flange
Added a VS Racing 44mm wastegate and dump tube
Made a 3.5" downpipe that transitioned to 3.5" oval for ground clearance. It's only complete to the transmission for now. Plans will be to copy my Greddy DD layout and go from 3.5" > dual 3" > 3.5" tips (Greddy DD was 3" > dual 2.5" > 3.5" tips)
Shitty cell phone vid at idle
Next i went on to fluid cooling, in addition to the oil cooler i added earlier
Derale 4 row powersteering cooler mounted to upper radiator support
And finally on to radiator/cooling which is still in the works
for now the same Griffin 24x16x3 (19x15.5x2.5 core) radiator but with a 16" Spal Extreme fan (2500cfm)
Converted an Ebay aluminum overflow tank to a custom surge tank. Actually modifying this for more capacity and to be self bleeding.
Made a couple of block off plates to fill the gaps around the radiator and lower core support
I also have a LRB undertray to help with airflow while driving
http://lrbspeed.com/product/s13-undertray/
Cooling at idle is still an issue, so i'm making a fiberglass shroud for the Spal fan as a last ditch effor before i splurge for a slightly bigger radiator.
made a form based on the dimensions of the core and the fan
wrapped in a $5 Wal Mart polyester blanket
then a couple layers of fiberglass fabric and resin
Need to trim, prep, and paint after it's fully cured to see how it really works.
Cooling has been the thorn in my side for the last 2+ years. I have a pair of N1 style ducts that i have available but i want to keep that as a last resort. I'm seriously considering an Origin Stream or VS racing front bumper so i'd like to have cooling down before having to modify the new bumper.
Hopefully i have more promising updates soon!