Mannykiller

Big Update:

Been Very busy working and generating my side business to get the necessary funds to change a few things on the car. Got it pumping and was able to get a few things paid for!

This may be out of chronological order but who really cares? I'll try to keep it as organized as possible.

I was sick of looking at my cheap skate battery box with unsealed battery so I figured I'd go ahead and return it to go with an optima yellow top. I didn't want a damn near 50lb battery in my car so I went with the smaller Optima d51R Yellow top. Weighs around 26 or 36 lbs I think... I can't remember. It was a solid decision after talking to a few people with lighter batteries that seemed not to have enough juice when needed the most. I was able to get a 100 dollar trade for my autozone battery towards the Optima but there are cheaper places online to get the battery. Cost me about 80 bucks to do the switch. I needed a good mount and didn't want any problems from the tech guys any either which or that track.. so I looked up what everyone was using for this model battery and Artek industries kept popping up. THe mounts were 85-100 bucks shipped but I went onto their actual website and they had a sale going on for the powdercoated black D51R mount... So I was jazzed about that and ordered right away. Looks Very Sturdy and feels secure. Love the way it looks. Don't mind my mixed up posi/neg's haha I just wanted to see how it looked and wasn't paying attention. This will go in the bin area behind the passenger seat.

Battery and mount

While I was waiting for my motor I started to think about allllllll of the little things I skipped in terms of taking my time/planning and good execution.... and knew that this car would eventually end up off the streets more and onto the track. With that said.. safety was a serious concern. Using Pandazfd as a template. I went and talked to a local shop called GS werks about fitting the car with a 6pt Competition legal cage. THe owner seemed pretty cool and knew what he was talking about in terms of what I needed etc, so I pulled the trigger. But first I had to pull the windshield out.

ATTENTION:
for anyone who has ever pulled out a windshield.....I would rather pay someone than do it myself. I'm pretty sure the windshield in the car was the original window from 93. The original montego blue was under the stripping and the window spider cracked everywhere. I followed a detailed youtube tutorial and did everything exactly like the guy did... But his took 20 min. Mine took 4 hours. I didn't want tiny little glass crystals all over my car and garage so I took my time. But after 3 hours and 30 min I got fed up and started being more rough. I took pictures but I must've forgot to upload them.. but guys like I said.. I really don't think this is worth the time it took to do it on my own.. Next time I'll pay.

After the windshield was out.....I called Dan up and he said he'd come pick up the car for me. I have access to a trailer and my truck to pull it. But this just made things all the more convienient. He came and picked it up no extra charge. That was nice!

So over the next couple weeks Dan got to work on the car. I asked for a few things specifically. 1. I wanted helmet clearance and to retain the door guts so I could keep my windows. 2. that the cage would be competition legal for Top drift. So they sent an e-mail to tech to double check to see what they could do for the main hoop to give me as much clearance as possible. They got the ok to tilt the main hoop back up to 20 degrees as long as it was gusetted to the body of the car and braced accordingly. So here are progress pics.

a better pic of the tilted main hoop

Pictures for the rear of the car. The Main hoop seems a bit low here but to have it lean back the way it is and still comply with rules there could only be 4 bends if i'm not mistaken.. so we had to make a compromise to get the clearance and still be legal. But I've been in cars that weren't comfy...and to me.. it's worth it for the clearance =-) Plus the guesset panels look sick!!!

A-pillar prep

door bar mock


Interior main hoop gussettes =-) they did a really good job on these

Sneak peak before it was fully finished..

Rear Gussetts finished

Door bars and main hoop placement

Drivers seat clearance... Now THATS what i'm talking about!! LOVE IT

Interior Main hoop Gussette panels all done up

A-pillar gussettes

Roof clearance

Door clearance

And thats about it with the Cage. It came out good. I'll be adding a rear Strut Bar and possibly a main hoop to strut / (dash) bar but I'm not so sure it's even necessary vs the weight.

Anyways.. Ended up Coming across an authentic Espirit Tail light cover so I couldn't pass it up




AND while I was getting the cage done.... I asked Dan what he thought about front end protection and he said he could do a simple front Bash bar with a Jack point.. So He made one for me for a damn good price. Since the car was already there.. I said go for it.

It would be a shame to smash up all my nice ducting.


Also, Since I was pushing towards more track oriented driving.. I figured I better get some more wheels that wouldn't be so expensive to replace if I messed them up. So I sold the Advans.. and got some nice new used condition wheels. Practically brand new. I'll wait to unveil them though =-)
Teaser


Also, PUlled the old battery box out.

And this part I'm not too happy with at all. I was up at 1am last night after a 13 hour work day and wanted to get my dash fitting. Spent a couple hours making a template to fit the dash with the cage a-pillar bars and really messed up.

I made the template far too low mounting...as the dash mounts deceptively High.. SO now I have big gaps in my dash.. which really bother me...but theres no way I'll source another dash just to destroy. Sucks bad...but live and learn I guess.



The trim is actually really nice.. the gaps are just too big. More Updates soon!!!Stay tuned!!

hamizle

So much detail my goodness.. Sir, you have some serious energy. 13hrs of work and jumping into some wrenching on the car till morning? What's your secret? Subscribed!

Mannykiller

^ Every time I think "god i'm tired, I remember the feeling of sitting out and watching everyone else drive their cars while I sit around and wish mine was finished." Time to get on track. Sick of sitting out!!

Mannykiller

Update:

Alrighty, so I've been moving trying to get this thing back to dyno ready. Had a couple little hic-ups. So here we go!

I put in an order with Elliot at Turblown/Turbosource for the Innovate ssi-4. It'll allow me to log my fuel pressure and oil pressure with the Adaptronic Select ecu. It will also allow me to run a couple safety parameters in case of low fuel/oil pressure. The install in simple and the module is a good price. Good piece of mind, .....especially since i'll be going on my 4rth Motor since I've owned the car. So with this.....I've figured whatever I can do to help "PREVENT" a catastrophy...i'm going to do haha. Also got some electrical goodies to move all my aux wires for gauges, innovate products, and anything in the accessory department...straight through a single separate fuse box. This way everything will be easily accessible and right in front of me so I won't have to look around all over the place for install, or for trouble shooting. Question though!! Where should I pull Power from? I was thinking the Ignition Switch, so it'll all turn on when I turn the key. Any suggestions?

I also got a nice piece in from Fully Torqued Racing. The handbrake uses some really nice hardware and a Wilwood cylinder and reservoir. I wanted the reservoir so that I could run dual calipers and keep the two systems from interfering with each other in necessary situations.
Love the handle... may be modifying the mount bracket though. we will see.
And finally got my motor back from Howard. Looking forward to getting this thing running again.

Exedy twin disc, Excessive LIM, Full Function Rails, I.D. 2200 Sec, and Water pump housing, tb and elbow. I still really want to run the RE cosmo UIM TB and Elbow but I can't seem to find one as of late and I really don't want to run into any weird flow problems etc. I know people run it without problems but i'm just wary at this point. we'll see, we'll see.

Waterpump housing installed

Clutch Install...and my makeshift flywheel stopper


Excessive LIM installed and ffe sec rail w/i.d. 2200

Picked this piece up when I first built the motor...forgot who I got it from but it's excellent. Has extra ports in it for temp and pressure.. So I used one of them for my new Oil pressure sensor to run to the innovate ssi4

installed..along with OEM temp sensor, pressure sensor, and spark plugs. Using the autolite 3932x's right now for the time being but have extra 3932's with the resistor strap as well. I was told the resister strapped plugs are a bit better.

Oil filler neck fuel lines, aeromotive fpr and fuel pressure sensor installed

Calm before the storm...ready to go in.

raised the motor on the hoist and remembered I needed to install the oil level sensor plug..even though I don't use it and it's just a plug. And the Full Function Engineering Motor mounts still needed to be installed. So I tried using a new Viton o-ring...and this happened...

Luckily I had a spare..and I forgot to snap pics of the Full Function Engineering Motor Mounts. But god they're nice.. I love them. I'm using them on the Lowest engine height setting BTW.

So I dropped everything in and buttoned up some of the little things like plug wires, starter, engaged the clutch, and made sure everything was nice and secured. Also installed the Radiator and fans. I love that it's all just one piece.. lines and all. There are 4 mount bolts that hold the entire thing in and the bottom mounts really hold the unit sturdy..... And waalahhh! installed!

Continued:

Then something awesome happened.... I got an update on my FB ...and looks like I got a sweet shout out from one of the best known rotary specialty shops in the world. RE-A!!! I had to screen shot this to share with you guys. After all the hard work.....even though the car doesn't run yet....this really just keeps me inspired and motivated to keep on going!

Here is the space I will have to fit my externally gated BW EFR 8374 in. I know everyone has mixed feelings about long runner manifolds. But I'm going to stick with my educated guess that the longer runners coupled with a far more capable turbo.. will boost low-end/midrange power and give me the power delivery I am looking for. Power under the curve and a nice Broad Tq Curve.

although I couldn't snap pics of the mock of where I want the turbo to fit.. it is going to be a tight fit. going to have to really shoe horn it in there. I'm not excessively happy with the bulkiness of it but I'll have to just suck it up and make a heat shield for the LIM. Oyhh yea..also installed my second eccentric case ventilation line haha (..had to change the crank to eccentric). As everyone does..I routed this to the rear OEM factory turbo drain location on the passenger side rear iron.

gotta love the Baker Fire Sleeve

Gotta give some love to Elliot at Turblown. Since my very first week here Elliot has always helped me out. Build advice, products, turbos, boost accessories...He's always been there and never taken advantage of me. I've done business with a TON of people even before this car..and I must say that he is one of the most positive good people I've come to know and call my friend. If anyone has any questions about the Adaptronic ECU's or any boost related gear...I urge you to contact him for all your needs. He will take care of you. They've actually just started tapping into the JZ piston motors here in the states and have been running them in Aussi land for years. Since they've got a US distribution center now thanks to Elliot....you guys should all check out what they offer. But a quick break down...Pretty much your getting Haltech performance with a mom and pop shop customer support system. Anything you need to know will be answered VERY quickly etc. So go check out Adaptronic ECU's from Turbosource/Turblown Engineering, Elliot WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU!!

Going to need more of this

Then I started prepping the cabin for round 3. Needed to make things neat, reainstall the dash, paint the roll cage and re route my battery cables lines etc and do my accessory fuse box... so I finally followed every open lead and pulled out everything I wasn't and will not ever use again....

Mannykiller

Continued:

was good to get all that crap out of the cabin anyhow. Crap clankin around and looking like crap........End product. Not much better because factory colors look like doo haha

And sprayed self etching primer on the cage, then the silver flake base. Pink and clear to come.

god I hate painting

And some more stickies

Also, I had to completely flush my oil system. I didn't want to take any chances given that the ceramic seals could have left ceramic dust particles in the oil. This stuff could really mess things up. I spent almost 2 days and 9 cans of Brake cleaner between mostly the two giant oil coolers, cycling brake cleaner then water and sitting and again and again...I don't even know how many times till the coolers were completely clean inside and no oil came out on the rinse/flashlight inspection. This was a real pain in the ass. But seriously necessary. The lines were pretty straight forward but still wanted to be sure they were clean and clear as well. Also did the Thermostat block thoroughly too. Anyways, stay tuned for this turbo manifold build and the buttoning up of the car before I get her started! Thanks guys! more soon!

Mannykiller

Small update:

I spent most of yesterday feeling pretty crappy. Felt like I had some type of crazy hangover.....except I don't drink. Pretty sure it was being in the garage at night and spraying the paint in closed quarters like I did. The door was open but there was literally zero wind. The paint shop called to tell me that they couldn't get this specific paint in CA now so i'm assuming that might have had something to do with it? Maybe not? who knows...either way I won't be spraying without a respirator again. Just not worth it. I was also able to lay down the first 2 coats of my hot pink magenta as well, but I didn't want to post pictures till I was finished. Well disaster struck and my last 2 cans both malfunctioned and the cans were compromised haha. It's actually not very funny at all because each can is 25 bucks. And lets hope to god they have enough to replace the two cans that were ruined so I can finish the cage and make sure the paint is nice and even. Right now it's kinda Blotchy. But heres a couple pics.
messed up can




I was also able to start working on turbo placement. Once again...sticking with the long runner design. But the Manifold needed to have/and be the following:

Nice and smooth Bends for better flow
be as close to 20-22" of runner length as possible
fully divided
be as far away from the LIM as possible
allow top mount wastegate placement
have excellent priority wastegate placement (tear-dropped)
dual egt bungs easily accessible
Easily accessible turbo mount hardware
Be able to install the manifold while the motor is in the car
be braced easily

After 3-4 hours of messing with placement ideas I finally realized that there were a few things I would need to sacrifice in order to retain my existing Intercooler position. I was going to move the Ic....but that would require re-doing my ducting...which I really don't want to do.
So I came up with this position..



More updates to come but i'm going tobe busy here for a few days so I may not get to posting. Stay tuned!!

kooky

Im mostly a lurker on Zilvia but i just wanted to say WOW. I just finished reading and viewing the build from the start and it blew my mind as well as taught me a bunch! Keep it up man! This thing is BEAUTIFUL!

Salvarath

What's with those rear gussets? LOL That would not fly on my car; OCD kicks in hard staring at that picture.

xBtony

Hi Aaron. Car's coming along nicely.

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ryandriftingfat

Giiiiiiiiiiirl, you fancy.

__________________
WYLD STALLYNS
http://instagram.com/ryandriftingfat

Mannykiller

Hey thanks much!

Thanks Tony



Not sure what you mean....

After a loooong day of thinking and working on the car. I've realized that although I have in fact talked to Elliot about using his manifold...I would be selling myself short if I abandoned my project. Not in terms of quality...because His products are very nice, but in terms of exactly what I want. Even If I were to use the same manifold the R-magic Pink #6 car were using...it still wouldn't be mine. I'm going to stick with my design and I know it'll turn out good.

Small Update:

The defected spray cans were replaced for free (Thank god) and I was able to finish off spraying the pink. ...and clearing it. Let's hope it holds up just as well as my Engine bay paint. Also, I hate painting and I won't be painting again. I despise it. But a lucky tip off from a buddy of mine had me throwing on my clothes and speeding down to Los Angeles last night to go pick up a very rare piece.
Thanks Bruce Kress for the tip off on the rad hood. This may very well be one of 3..and the only BNIB Authentic D-max hood in the States.
gotta love showing up to an actual shop, strapping it to the top of my Prius for the long haul home on the freeway was sketch for sure. I drove 55-60mph all the way home haha. Was afraid my prius would catch air...or worse..my hood fly off and ruined lol



Drove home and admired it some more.

ehhhregartless

This is such a great build. Please don't stop until you know you can rest easy lol

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IG: @zeedakay

conrad_s13.5

<3 everything about this

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cONtRol FReAkS

Mannykiller

Small Update:

My battery install took much longer than expected haha. I spent all day after 2 re doing the whole thing. I had to go help a buddy put up a wooden fence at his rental that took about 30 min but then I was back at it. It was funny though...I got there...and lined up all the post support beam mounts before we started and he was like.. "what are you doing?..." I was like.."this is faster man...I got shit to do on the car." Hah.. he was like.. "guess your right."

Anyways. I mounted the battery mount in the same location as the battery box previously. The only difference was I used better hardware and Now I had a ton of room. I had to re-route my coil ignition harness for the direct fire AEM coils around the cage ..which meant pulling the whole thing off and feeding it through the necessary bars. I didn't want anything to be ran on the inside of the cage. I have some braided covering I'll be putting on that will make things look neater but First I had to make sure I had everything planned correctly so it wasn't all un organized etc. Started with mounting the battery...then ran grounds and power wires.
But before all of this I had to clean all of the overspray off and extra flake dust/paint from the entire cabin. That took a while but glad most of it is gone at least..

Where I would mount the Optima yellowtop d51R..love this battery braket by the way..really sturdy too!!

then worked on the ground cable.. I wanted it to be much shorter than it was. So I cut out about 16" built up a ton of solder then hit it with a torch and it sucked the solder straight in. Thanks Shawn for the tip! forgot to take pics but it was a bit hard with 2 hands.


Best part..looking clean!!

Not bad!

The paint came out pretty good. It's not perfect but the clear should protect it a little bit at least. I also have some lighter spots on the undersides of the bars because I got lazy and didn't want to get on my back and shoot the paint.


Work process, had to cut and solder some things to clean up excessive lengths and re-route things

and how I left it for the night

I'm still looking to find someone to weld up my manifold for me. I really want a good job done on it...but at the same time I have a lot in materials so I don't want to end up paying 900-1500 just to have someone weld it out. I simply need a good welder who is into good precision welding that isn't looking to rape me lol. I have a couple options out there and I'm currently weighing them.. just going to be certain before I pull the trigger.
Things are moving in the right direction though and It should be ready to fire up sooner than later. More progress soon!

Mannykiller

Small Update:

I had to work Fri-sat and sunday.. LOOOOng days too. But that didn't stop me from hustling a bit on the car. I havn't been able to find fronts yet to complete my wheels so I used some spare fronts I forgot about. It's nice to forget about these things...then when you find them your like "oh crap" SAVE!! I'm trying to have the car running again in 2 weeks time. We will see if I can swing it. Front spares are Rota p45R's. 18x10 +20. I got an excellent deal on the 4 rears with 4 brand new Nitto Nt555's 225/35/18 so I threw a pair on for the time being.

And my rears =-) Enkei Rpf1 18x10.5 +15 SBC finish.


The Prius fits it all

Wrapped in some left over Nitto Invo's I had in the backyard. 245/45/18


And This one came back to bite me. I originally expected to mount my turbo much lower than I am currently going to.. So I needed to change the inlet angles of runners into the turbo flange.
So I had to cut the only inlets off



So Even though my buddy has been working crazy hours plus overtime and everything else in-between at his work.. he said we can make the manifold happen. I'm looking for a trailer to purchase here pretty damn soon, but i'll probly borrow one today or tomorrow so I can transport the car over there at night. We'll be working on it after hours from 6-8/9ish for this next week or so till we get it finished. It's again...going to be much more work than just purchasing a manifold from turblown..but I really want the long runner and and I have a lot of $$ in materials that I don't feel like trying to sell. Plus all of the material I have is top notch and took a bit of research to figure out/plan out. I'll keep you guys updated. I'll be running a second ground from the battery to the transmission bell or housing or block on top of the ground I already made, installing my knuckles wheels and dropping the car down onto the ground...as well as anything else I can get to before I pass out tonight haha. I'm motivated to finish and I can't wait to see what the long runner and manifold do on the dyno.

Mannykiller

Update: 8 Hours after 8 hours

Where the hell did 8 hours go?!! Well yesterday was "one of those days." It was good because I made a lot of un-noticed progress, but at the same time in my mind...I can pump out anything in 30 min haha. I got home around 3:15 after work and got straight to work. When I say "un-noticed" it's because sometimes there are things that you will never remember doing. For instance..you'll always remember when you got a new set of wheels. But you will probly never remember that you went to install a wheel hub and the bearing was shot. You'll remember what to do to fix it but the memory....its all selective haha. Everything I did yesterday fell under this category. I spent another 8 hours working on the car.

I got my order from Wirecare.com A bunch of braided sleeving in various sizes to clean up and help keep jagged edges from biting through anything important.

And I got my Modified Knuckles from David Campo. He did a great job on them, but I couldnt' leave the steel raw.



found some leftover flake from over 2 years ago!!! still sprays like a champ!


I started the install but......that's when I found my drivers side wheel bearing all jacked up. But here is the passenger side

Also needed to add a ground from the Battery to the engine. I chose the uppermost transmission to rear Iron bolt hole. Fit around the terminal nice and flush.

around the cage on the body side of it will wrap up nicely in the braided sleeving.
Battery connection

So I needed to address this mess

First thing was to separate everything. Mount all my components and THEN route everything/run wiring.
I had to angle grind off one of the welded bolts that stuck out of the trans tunnel for something OEM (don't even remember what it was for) but after that I got two solid positions for the Innovate products. Innovate Tc-3 and SSI-4. leaves position to plug in all necessary cables & inputs.

Also Mounted my Adaptronic Select in the foot well area. Half of it is recessed into the void and the other I'll be putting on the frame area. I liked this because it angled the ecu inputs towards the driver, which makes plugging in things and getting to it much easier. As you can see, I still have a lot of cleaning to do. The flake overspray gets everywhere!!!

And here is a horrible picture of my gauge and switch panel. I added a switch for my oil cooler fans.

That's it for pictures. But What was so frustrating yesterday was those things you don't hear about as well.

I let the neighbors kid sit in the drivers seat before the car went out for a cage and before I even thought about it he was mashing the breaks and clutch.. well by the time I noticed it was too late. SO now I have to re-bleed the system. only one clutch slave bolt was holding it in place with about 4 turns on it...well it bent the bolt and it was a bitch to back out because it was caddywhomped out and there is limited space... then I went to put the hub on.and it was jacked beyond supreme, and my roommate came home and moved my box that I was letting dry in the sun (Knuckles) and they fell in messing up the fresh coat, ......had to find the right size spacers to hard mount my kill switch on my panel and that was annoying, then when organizing wiring.. you just have to go at it and that takes time too. But All in all, that was a solid day. Better than finding out I need a new wheel bearing etc on the road. Today I'll be working on some wiring harnesses for customers after work so I won't be able to get too much done till I finish. but I'm going to order a new hub assembly from autozone. Lifetime warranty. Now that's a deal! And hopefully tonight I can finish up routing my ecu wiring/wideband/egt's/fuel pressure/oil pressure etc.

Updates soon!!

Salvarath

What I was talking about is that the rear gussets aren't the same. Take a look at the pic, it looks like they weren't even measured, just eyeballed and welded on. This car is amazing and those gussets should not be on it haha. The spacing on them is nowhere near the same lol Sorry I'm not hating on the car I just think the standard of this build is not met when it comes to those gussets aaaandd I have OCD lol

OBEEWON

Way into the cage color on there. dope

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Mannykiller

Your right, They are different. I think two different people did them honestly. But not much I can do about it now. SHould I cut them out? It bothers me..and it sucks that it is..but I really don't want the car to be down anylonger. Kinda my luck. Should've really payed closer attention.

KravingAKouki

Don't worry about it dude. Just focus on getting the car running right first, then critique it later. I made the mistake to do that with my s13 and it still isn't running. If I were you, I would get it running, get the shakedown runs in, get it to your standards, then once everything is right and 100% go back and tinker with the little things.

Mannykiller

^ yea I' not gonna bother with it all. Painted etc...and everything already. Just going to get it going and drive it. When you first start you tell yourself your not going to cut any corners on anything. But after a while you get sick of watching everyone else have fun while your "that guy" building your car. Even If I would've noticed it when the car was dropped back off...I probly wouldn't have had him fix it. Whatever though.

Mannykiller

Small update:

A looong night... early morning.

Well yesterday I got off work and forgot that my gorgeous girlfriend would be working. So I decided to do some work on Le'Wolfe.

I really wanted to start the re-wire and I wanted to look at everything to ensure it was all solid. First thing I needed to do was run new wire from my old switches to the new ones. I won't be using any of the old wiring just because I have new stuff. So first I laid everything out where I wanted it routed and made sure all the lengths were correct. Then started the crimping for rocker switches. Then after the switches were done I double checked length....tightened it all up with zip ties and wrapped the wires with braided sleeving. It actually came out pretty damn good. ANd now theres only the one large 1" braided sleeve running the entire drivers side of the car. Looks really nice. Here are some of my worst pictures haha.


routing and organizing with zipties

more routing

Old switch location and process

1/4 size braided sleeving for switch routing

1" braided sleeving...the only one running down the drivers side of the car

routing on the outside of the cage. I had to un plug all the fuse box connectors to back it out and then go back around it. Which was a pain. But the end product was much better and out of the way. the white wires are going directly to the battery (Fused) to power each Bosch 044.

I still have more to do but here is the drivers side complete. Just need to crimp and solder on new grounds and the driver side is complete
going to be pushing these up flush over the whole thing so it looks nicer =-)

better routing pic I took this morning

rear trunk area

panel

Still have a lot to do, And I work all today, tonight, Saturday and sunday. So I guess I might be able to get to some things tomorrow morning and sunday night. We'll see... went to sleep at 2 last night though and had to wake up at 5:45. I don't miss doing that at all, i'm definitely feeling it right now. But I get off school here at 3 and go straight to the stadium.. so if i'm lucky I'll get to sleep before 2 tonight, that way I can get up and make some progress!!

More updates soon!

Stay tuned!

nujabe

i love this build so much. keep going !!

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Some black guy who lurks zilvia.

Mannykiller

Update:

Worked the weekend but was able to squeeze in some wiring Friday night and here and there Saturday etc. I'll just cut to it this time.

Station

Wires everywhere but slowly cleaning itself up

Finished the two fuel pump relay grounds. This location was much better than the previous.

And this is why I wanted to double check EVERYTHING. STILL cleaning up the previous owners BS. The guy was nice enough..but there were A LOT of things he Failed to mention. Then after payment and I picked up the car..I go to the gas station and the car doesn't turn off. I drove straight back and he said "I don't know bro." The dick-head also took out the navigation and blue tooth unit after I put the down payment down. But whatever. Anyways here was where hacked into power. Ignition terminal area...yikes.

This clean-up repair took about 45 min. unexpected but a necessary fix. Glad I found it. Soldered everything that had frayed wires and used my higher end clear heat shrink over the thinner cheaper black stuff I had.

And finished. Also added 3 Power feeds that I may or may not use. One of them I will be using to power gauges, wideband, tc-3, ssi-4 and digitial EGT gauges. And the Others are just for the future if I need to power anything else.

So here is the accessory fuse box I picked up and I'll be mounting it on the underside of the cage A-pillar steering column support bar. It'll be easier to access here and I may even have a couple tabs welded to it just to solid mount it. But for now it's ziptied here so I can easily work on it. Not sure what amp fuses to use but i'd imagine with the low draw of all of the accessories that will be powered through it...they shouldn't have to be over 10A. Anyone with any input will be greatly appreciated.

since I had clear heat shrink I decided to do a little extra organizing. Power to wideband

Power to Fuse box for accessories...and future ones if need be.


And this was a bummer but I tried every possible location for the oil cooler fans switch...and it just wouldn't look good anywhere on the panel. So I had to settle on drilling the plastic dash.

Oil cooler fan switch installed


I also finished re-wiring up my Oil coolers. Decided to go from drivers side around the passenger side and then through the wheel well and into the cabin this way instead of going through the drivers side because there was simply more room. A little bit longer loom but it's nice and neat now so it won't matter. Wasn't able to snap pictures but I can't wait to get off work so I can go finish up and see how it's going to come together. I'm excited!! All nice, new, and solid wiring so now I don't have to wonder about this or that. I simply know that it's all legit and solid. So today I'll be running a few grounds, crimping power leads to gauges, routing and organizing. Wiring should be wrapped up shortly! Then off to start and knock out the manifold!!:icon_tup:

Stay tuned! more updates soon!

Mannykiller

Update:

Well last night I got more wiring done. Power and grounds to all gauges, egt sensors, egt gauges, logging systems, ecu, Oil cooler fans is done. The majority of the job consisted of measuring wire and ensuring I made a good Crimp/solder. What a pain after a while. I developed a method where I'd take a huge breath of air before I hit the spade crimp/wire with solder as not to breathe in what is probably absolutely an absolutely toxic gaseous fog haha. Can't be good for you. But I know that everything is good to go now. ALl that is left to wire in is the Oil cooler Fan switch. I've decided to do this seperately so that I can run the oil coolers when the car is completely off with no key. So I'll be running power and ground after work today. Then all that's left is making it look pretty by routing and making sure everything is where I want it. Maybe also covering the new stuff with braided sleeving...which is even more tedious because I didn't buy the install tool. Anyways...cheap pics but didn't really look like I did much. But that's ok...lots of progress was made. Here are some pics.

put a little extra heat shrink on the oil cooler power and ground because it is being routing up and around the wheel well area. everything is sealed and easily disconnected if need be.

heat shrink

done

horrible lighting


finished the last ground for my fuel Pumps. The one on the other side is for the pump relay.


And that's it for pictures.. sorry guys hahaha. sometimes I get distracted and don't feel like pulling the phone out to snap a pic.

more Updates soon..

stay tuned!!!

Mannykiller

Small Update:


Last night I wrapped up the last of the major wiring...Fuel pressure sensor is installed and tapped to log through the ssi-4. Main battery power is all hooked up and I actually took a video of the first test to make sure everything was working but photobucket is taking forever to post the video to my page. I got a message saying that the video would take a while to show up, ...so i'll just post it when it comes up. Other than that I didn't take any pictures. But both fuel pumps are working, Although one of them is loud and the other one is nearly silent... pretty common among bosch 044's though. I finally got to use my 200 dollar aeromotive 40micron filter with the shut off valve haha. 2 years later...go figure. Anyways it came in useful because my primary fuel lines aren't hooked up so I didn't want to spray fuel all over the place. The shut off valve worked like a charm. Other than that...I did more cleaning up, braided covering, routing, zip ties...zip ties..zipties.. cleaned out all the aftermath wiring bits here and there, and used double sided tape to fix both looms to the left and right frame rails going down both sides of the car. I was skeptical it would hold but I was surprised at how sturdy it held the braided sleeving.

The Oil cooler fans, on the separate circuit worked great. The LED lit switch is really bright..and the oil cooler fans really Kick some air out. I'm really glad I did this as I know it'll help with cooling.

Also, got the positive battery terminal organized and covered with the OEM red terminal cover. This is a need to pass tech at the track. Today I need to fill the oil coolers with oil, go over all fuel line connections to make sure everything is tightened up and possibly look at my Radiator Fan Wiring just to make sure it's up to par.

Sorry for the Lack of pictures.... this is just one of "those" updates to keep the thread up to date.
More Updates soon!

stay tuned!!

Mannykiller

Small Update: Fabrication

This is just another one of those examples of why I need to invest in a good welding machine. I'm basically ready to start the motor. I have no turbo manifold...but I have all my materials. I'm still stuck because I refuse to pump out a bunch of money to have someone weld out my manifold. I may just jump into it tonight. Make cuts carefully with my Angle grinder and just make slow progress with it till I have a full manifold. I can use masking tape to hold the pipe together for mocking...but I'll need something els to hold the pipe to the flange etc. I mean I could always go to a shop and have them do it but then they're going to want to do it "their" way. "no no man, I've been doing this for years" Or "lets just make it short" I simply need someone to weld. My buddy will weld for me..but I want to start now and I don't want to wait.

But tidying up everything yesterday. Took a couple pics of the double sided tape fixed braided sleeving running down both sides of the car.



Other than that, remember when I told you guys I let my neighbors kid sit in my car? Well when he played speed racer and mashed my open clutch and brakes with no rotors on....it closed up the spacing on my front brake calipers. I already fixed that last week... still a pain in the arse though.. Well today while bleeding the clutch I realized real quick what else had happened.. AFTER brake fluid spilled out of the transmission bell housing and all over the started and my garage floor. Well It pushed the piston all the way out of the slave and the rubber boot popped off so that it was no longer attached when I pulled the slave out. Had to go fishing for 45 min to get it out of the bell housing because it was wedged behind the clutch fork. Annoying!!! Finally got it, cleaned up the mess, and got back to zero...bleeding the clutch. Then I had no more brake fluid haha...so ran to pep-boys and got it bled in about 2 min flat. Thank god for speed bleeders... Seriously...best investment ever.
Brakes and Clutch are solidly bled and feel good. Adjusted clutch and that was that. Cleaned the garage and sat and wished I could jump into the manifold.

Hopefully I can make some progress here this weekend. We'll see how that goes though. More updates soon!

Stay Tuned!!

Mannykiller

Update:

Well this weekend I had off, So I got some work done. I worked on the turbo manifold a lot. Cutting with my Angle grinder, mocking, cutting, mocking, and repeating the process. Jacob..I kept thinking about what you said..."buying a manifold...bolt on and go." And trust me...at times I kept asking myself if this was even worth it. But.. after working alllll day Saturday on runner entry angle, clearance, and making sure EVERYTHING was exactly how I wanted it.. It was all worth it. Top mount, Top entry, Good room for wastegates, Room to take off UIM if need be, Won't need to remove turbo or manifold to get to any of the fasteners, Cleares 4" down pipe, 1/2" clearance from runners to frame rail, Clears hood, Enables easy access to Down pipe, Good room for all fuid lines, enough room for planned filter, long runner design =-) I'm Amped to get this finished guys!! Seriously!!

Along with the manifold I was also able to get the spare fitting and flange welded out....I almost forgot about it, but It's for the second vent to oil catch can. -6AN aluminum 90 degree bend push lock line on an alum flange. Came out great. The tapped brass fitting set up I did before was a cop out..it was crap. This way is much more secure, and the old set up was only able to clock a limited amount away from the motor to manifold flange...so it was basically touching the flange...no bueno. So lets get to pictures!!

First up was turbo Position...I thought I had it fixed but after looking at it...I wasn't happy with it for some reason I can't recall....so here is the new position.

from the top


LIM clearance

Frame Rail Clearance

Measuring Pipe ;-)

Making cuts...this part took a LONG time

cut mock cut mock cut mock cut mock...definitely a process.. but have to get it just right.

mmmmmm

Flange to the shop to get cut perfectly flat..

Nice Nice..

Initial tack to get them shaped correctly



Catch can vent to rear passenger side fitting -6AN

Installed

Fixed up Purdy

Final Inlet Mock up

Mannykiller

Continued:

That last pic above is the money shot. I Worked on the entrance angle alllllll day Saturday. Probly about 6 hours embarrassingly.. But I wanted it to be just right.. Nice smooth bend into the turbo. There will be no harsh bends or anything under a 5" CLR bend. The front runner is actually a 6" CLR and the rear runner is 5" CLR. This was the custom stuff I ordered a while back. Nice thick 11 Gauge. Shouldn't even need a brace...but I'll probly add one just because.
In other happenings with the car I came across an OEM Roof/Hatch visor... Love it.. super clean too.



And just sitting the Espirit Tail light cover on for kicks..

After all this crap...I thought my day was over. But my girlfriend had to study for a big test on Tuesday so I decided to push it into overdrive haha...
Worst installs are Aero catch hood pins...TONS of cutting, fine fibgerglass dust and if you mess up...yea..don't mess up...especially on this hood.

I used my old mount location because I really liked them....and I feel like this location is stronger than other options.
Used cardboard to trace where my old cut outs were.

Literally scratched the cut out into the hood with a fine tipped etch and started cutting. A good tip to do this is if you cover the entire engine bay with something so the dust can't get all over. I used 3 giant beach towels. Also, just as important..I had my shop vac right next to the dremel..this way after every big cut I vac'd up the dust and kept cleaning to an all time min. This really helped visualize where I needed to cut and kept dust from going EVERYWHERE. it still got all over..but this was better than a garage filled with dust particles like last time.
didn't snap pictures because this process is long enough and takes special attention so I didn't want to break up my groove and pull my gloves off..dirty my phone etc. So instead...here is the end result. If they're off...I can't tell.. But they measure the same and I'm really happy with the result. Best of all..Luckily.. which never happens..the pins actually lined right up!!! didn't even need to adjust them!! I was amazed..and really stoked on that haha. Here are some pics!
Drivers side

Passenger side.. put some stickies of my cousins Luxury Hat company. Not sure if I like the location of them though...But "Melin Brand," go check them out!

I'll have to take a better pic without glare but these pins are definitely worth the install time. They're clean and I love popping them open for use haha.

Mannykiller

NO Pics update:

Well I set a data limit for my s4 and I got close to exceeding my data limit by uploading too many photo's to photobucket, so I can't post anymore pictures till tomorrow. I was able to get work done. I had safelite come out and install a windshield. Full function sent my replacement primary rail spacers with the quickness... Installed them, hooked up all of my Engine Harness plugs/connectors and grounds and cleaned the upper intake manifold out because it had been sitting for a few months. I was supposed to tack the lower runners out of the engine flange extending up towards the turbo inlet runners onto the engine flange but time wasn't on my side yesterday so It didn't work out. Hopefully I'll get them done tonight or tomorrow. I bookmarked a spot with a good buddy of mine to paint the car in August. Should take about a month...and I'm really excited to see how it comes out. I'm still slightly at odds on color. Black is just sick...but rainbows are so beautiful.... haha. We'll see what color I finally choose. The car is practically ready to start though. was going to give it a quick fire just to do a quick systems check but i'm just going to wait for the manifold to be finished. I havn't removed any of the port blocks since the motor has shown up. Well one time to hear it suck/squish and blow..but since then all openings have been sealed. Didn't want to chance anything falling or working their way into the fresh motor.
New I.D. 1000's in the primary spot snapped right in and as far as fuel goes...that is my only change aside from the Flex fuel sensor I'll be installing when it comes in. More updates soon..pushing for this manifold to get finished asap.


more updates soon!

Stay tuned!