2015 Build Thread

I know the snow is falling. But how was the first drive ? I suppose you will be parking till the spring.
 
You are correct. Haven’t driven it, and won’t until next year. Fired it up in the garage and revved it up a bit to check for leaks. Neighbours all gathered around when I hit the anti lag.

Sorry everyone for not being on top of updating the thread. Have had way too much s*** going on lately but it is on my list of things to do!
 
With the cooling system finished, I could send the exhaust out for ceramic coating. First, the manifold was planed flat to remove any warp and ensure a good seal.



While the exhaust was out at Top Gun coatings getting a nice coat of titanium ceramic, I turned my attention to the turbo. It received a full rebuild. The turbine shaft was polished to a mirror shine, and the center section was given a shot of ceramic.







A few days later, I got the parts back from Top Gun. The titanium ceramic looks great, and should help to keep the heat down under the hood without needing to wrap the exhaust.









 
With the turbine housing back, I could reassemble and clock the turbo with all new gaskets:





With what felt like some mad tetris skills, I got all the components in place, mounted up, and torqued to spec.







The turbo just clears the block. I doubt its possible to go any bigger than this monstrosity!



Some shots of the bottom end



 
As you'll see later, I actually ended up swapping out this 45* fitting on the turbo oil feed for a 90*. But, pics of it installed anyways, along with some other misc. engine accessories fitted.







As I got to work on the oil drain line, it's short length combined with how low the turbo sits compared to the drain posed a problem. Obviously, downhill flow was paramount, and while this was the first iteration, I ended up changing it as well later on.





Used a couple brackets to keep the ignition wires neat and tidy and away from the hot exhaust:





The intake piping was finished off now that the turbo was installed.

 
All vacuum lines were replaced with high temp Turbosmart silicone lines. They are thick-walled and guaranteed not to collapse or balloon under high boost or vacuum conditions.









Next task was to figure out some sort of coolant overflow. I found an aluminum can down at Mopac, but the mounting bracket it came with was super sketchy. Drilled and tapped for some studs, epoxied them in and used some jam nuts for good measure:



With that taken care of, I measured out what I'd need for a bracket, and fabbed one up out of some aluminum stock.











With the bracket completed, it mounted into a stock mount on the frame rail:







 
Only the best fluids for this build. I wasn't sure if I'd have enough of the Ate SuperBlue, so I picked up a can of Wilwood Hi-Temp racing just in case. The SuperBlue has been outlawed in Canada and is impossible to find.



I know there is a lot of literature out there on running an oil restrictor with a journal bearing turbo. In my specific application, because i'm taking oil directly off the filter outlet, and it's being regulated externally, I MUST USE ONE. Without it, the turbo ends up seeing upwards of 85-100psi oil pressure. I didn't like the Garrett restrictor I was running before, it was brass, stuck up way too far, and looked like s***. Since I was going to switch the 45* oil feed fitting for a 90* as mentioned earlier, inspiration struck. I decided to mount the restrictor directly INTO the fitting. It will allow me to easily swap it out for various sizes if need be, and it'll be completely hidden. Here is the 1/8" NPT hex plug that I drilled out to match the Garrett restrictor. Held beside the restrictor for comparison.





I grabbed a new 90* -4AN to 1/4" NPT fitting, and drilled and tapped the bottom end to accept the restrictor plug:







With the plug installed with some Loctite for good measure, it looks great, and yet nobody will ever see it:

 
With the turbo oil feed taken care of, I decided to see what I could do with the drain side. I wasn't totally happy with the first one I came up with, and this build is about every little detail. "Good enough" isn't in my vocabulary.

Rather than the two 90* fittings and the straight drop out of the turbo, I made it a lot more free-flowing by installing a 45* onto the turbo, and going with a 90* and a straight fitting for the line.





Comparison pic of the old (bottom) vs new (top.) You can see how much better it's going to work.

 
Nice update as always! I wish I could take my car off the road for like a year and get everything as clean and proper as this!
 
(attn) How did I miss this thread!??? Serves me right for only looking in the Protg section! (smash)

SUB'D!!!
 
what a totally amazing build, man. It oozes sexy.

I'm loving each and every detail and especially loving the gloss black. I'm positive it's been covered before but I see you're non power steering, did you do the full de-power as seen in a probe(?) thread a few years back?

Either way, keep it up. amazing work.
 
what a totally amazing build, man. It oozes sexy.

I'm loving each and every detail and especially loving the gloss black. I'm positive it's been covered before but I see you're non power steering, did you do the full de-power as seen in a probe(?) thread a few years back?

Either way, keep it up. amazing work.

the rack de-powering was covered earlier in this thread.
 
the rack de-powering was covered earlier in this thread.

Went back and looked at it. I did exactly the same thing, except i missed the Welding part. damn. Oh well, it is what it is.

Loving the stuff. My favorite is everything haha. but the wiring is probably it. The exhaust work and V-band clamps make me happy. Good on you.
 
Shouldn’t be that big of an issue without welding the pinion shaft, you’ll just have some side to side “slop” in the steering wheel before it actually does anything. Welding it ensures that the steering feel is very precise and direct.
 
Just got caught up reading this amazing thread. I have to say that you go above and beyond making every detail perfect and have the car looking mega clean! I admire your work on the car and skills. Can't wait for more pics and updates once spring comes around and you get the car back on the road.
 
Just read this start to finish, amazing build! Looking forward to further updates.
 
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