Just kidding.

Finally, a couple of weeks later than I was hoping for, the Mini-Me manifold is here! Clocked the turbo in the general right direction, bolted 'er up for a test fit. It's pretty much "perfect". Tight squeeze by the A/C bracket, need to reroute all the oil/water and intake charge pipe and intake because the turbo is facing the other way compared to before... also need to weld on a couple more O2 bungs, tap a hole for the EGT gauge, ceramic coat the whole thing, header wrap parts of it, fiberglass insulate the downpipe by the oil pan. And, weld on the wastegate and re-shape the dump t00b to squeeze in the small hole that is there between the 3" downpipe and the block.

Speaking of perfect, I hand-tightened a couple of bolts to hold the manifold in place, and I look down at the downpipe... It's sitting about 1 mm from the "cat-back" and the bolt holes all line up on the flange. The downpipe has a flex pipe at the end of it. Nice jarb Love-Fab. Also, the downpipe is 1/2" from the oil pan, for better or worse, that's why it'll be ceramic coated/wrapped/insulated/etc.


Ah well, it's still "in progress", but I've got a lot more confidence that I'll be at the July NASA event at Autobahn Country Club. Thank goodness the Saturday Milwaukee Mile event was postponed, no way I'd have it done by then unless I call in sick Friday

 

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Good luck on things. I look forward to updates.

 

Looks like a tublow thing

Ever hear of Simple Green ?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bbasso &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Looks like a tublow thing

Ever hear of Simple Green ?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Simple green sucks ***.

On my valve cover, after the 8 hour drive home with the hole in the manifold, I used soap, simple green and paint thinner (in that order). Still ugly!

I don't really care.

Top of my hood is also permanently stained, need to go try some rubbing compound or soft scrub. Paint thinner didn't even touch it. Paint is burned or the exhaust chemically bonded to it, or something.

 

Mr. Personal Spell Check,

Instead of writing a huge evaluation on the part, why aren't you out in the garage making all that happen?

 

So I take it that this manifold is designed to handle the stress better?

What's different? Steel thickness/quality? Welds? Manufacturer?

Hope all goes well for you.
-Chris

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Haleiwa-Brando &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Mr. Personal Spell Check,

Instead of writing a huge evaluation on the part, why aren't you out in the garage making all that happen?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I am I am...

Just pulled it all out and welded on an O2 bung. Yay. Ugly but functional. Next step is prep it for ceramic coating and weld on the wastegate.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by quick6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So I take it that this manifold is designed to handle the stress better?

What's different? Steel thickness/quality? Welds? Manufacturer?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The GReddy manifold I had before was cast iron, and was modified to hold an external wastegate. It cracked around that welded-on pipe.

This one is stainless, tubular, but was designed with an external wastegate in mind. I almost went with an InlinePro cast manifold, but this one should be slightly more efficient. Lovefab made it, custom, to clear a full-length radiator. If this sucker cracks, not sure what the next plan is.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I almost went with an InlinePro cast manifold, but this one should be slightly more efficient. Lovefab made it, custom, to clear a full-length radiator. If this sucker cracks, not sure what the next plan is.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I was wondering what to do with my Inline Pro manifold (i.e., keep it or move on to something like a "Full Race" manifold).

Keep us posted.

BTW -- I noticed the C&R radiator in one of those pics and have one myself, but in the interest of better cooling capacity wouldn't a thicker Koyo be a bit better (and would it fit with that mani)?

 

Glad she'll be back soon so we can tape it up @ another event

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by zygspeed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">BTW -- I noticed the C&R radiator in one of those pics and have one myself, but in the interest of better cooling capacity wouldn't a thicker Koyo be a bit better (and would it fit with that mani)?</TD></TR></TABLE>
C&R is pretty awesome. I have no coolant temp issues. The temp never makes it above halfway now

It looks like I have about 3/4" - 1" of clearance to one of the water lines coming off the turbo.. This is on a relatively small GT2871R. So, yeah, you could probably squeeze a bigger one in there.

 

Chris -- are you running a blanket on the turbo housing to help with temps? Might help a bit given the location.

 

I think I might have had a bit of a bad headgasket or some head lift under boost, since I was losing a couple ounces of radiator fluid every few days.

Then again I have a sneaking suspicion it may have had something to do with the Golden Eagle block. Either way, I'm probably going to have a look at it before putting it back in another car.

Anyhoow ...

 

wd 40 and a rag that will do the job