The Project Pad

Nice!!

Thanks Hank! I hope to be as good with porting as you are with a TIG!

Head studs Installed...

Head Installing...

Head installed and torqued...

I also have swapped my turbo cams into my 7A and vice versa. I have installed them but have not a pic at the moment.

I also decided to polish the inlet of the Billet K26 turbine housing and should be done with that by tomorrow. I have been debating shaving the compressor housing and giving it a polish like the Volvo, but given time constraints may leave that till after BBQ.

This would have been posted much earlier, but Im having issues with the tablet. the only browser that will post pics without giving an invalid is firefox, and it crashes constantly while trying to post on this thread. Subsequently I keep having visions of stabbing a knife through the tablet, but come to my senses after I realize, at least its not an Ipad.

Guess that means my turbo will be MOAR shinyer than yours.

Nice porting though. Im going to polish that porsche k26 hotside I have. Cheaper than ceramic coating for the time being.

yeah, maybe so. But Im the one who shiny'd it.

Ok, so I got a pic of the cams installed...

And I also painted the inside part of the valve cover flat black...

Now while I just sold the volvo turbo to Jared, I made some changes to the billet K26 I figure may or may not help. I decided to polish the inlet of the turbo as far as I could get in there.

Here is one of the finished product. Its hard to decipher what you are looking at, but since the walls of the inlet are like glass, its ...very shiny.

Now since the exhaust manifold is so clean and new looking I also put the wastegate through the beadblaster.

I couldnt help myself with the compressor housing. I just like a clean look.

and today I finished up the reinstall. I have everything done but I need to get some hose to finish up with the diverter valve. with all the changes, thats all I have to go get from the parts store. I did however have to cut the oem inlet hose, but it still works the way I need it to.

And the compressor housing finished. I decided not to polish it but leave it looking smooth like just out of the bead blaster.

Love the new hi-res shots of the engine bay, looks godly! Some vids would be nice...

PRY4SNO wrote:Love the new hi-res shots of the engine bay, looks godly! Some vids would be nice... :hide:

Thanks, I can't seem to be satisfied with normal. I couldn't shake it without a 12 step program. Good luck getting me to go suckas! Hank would be in there too!

I actually agree with you. I would like to make some vids to he honest. I may just strap the tablet to the passenger seat and see what I can come up with. Also which is better...YouTube or vimeo or ___? I would like the least difficult way to post vid, and of course high speed eye candy from MEXEECO.

Got her running today...sort of. Fired right up and settled into a nice 3k rpm idle. It took some doing, but I rigged up a way to pressurize the engine. Found that when I put on the phenolic spacer, it raised it up slightly so the oil dipstick was not seated all the way down. I took the dipstick tube off and slotted the ear that bolts it to the intake manifold so it would seat all the way down and still line up with the mani. I also found the rubber tee undernieth the mani had a couple tiny holes in it. I dabbled it closed with "the right stuff" and left it to cure overnight. I'm sure it will run like its supposed to when I'm finished. I also found the coolant inlet on the turbo was seeping. Replaced the copper seal ring and got it to stop.

So, tomorrow I may be driving it around to get all the bugs worked out before the cruise next weekend. Been looking forward to this all summer. Bummer I couldn't drive it all summer, but I had to make sure I could cover the expense without any surprises.

wicked. Can't wait to see it in 10 days

So I got the vac leaks fixed and fired it up again. Still idling at 2700, pushed down on the throttle and it closed bringing the idle down to where it should be. Let go and pops back up to 2700. Then adjusted the rod for the cruise control.(which works by the way) Same issue with the dipstick tube, spacer made it happen. Car ran fine after that. Filled the reservoir for the awic and primed it. Buttoned it up and took it for a ride. Got on the freeway ramp , first, second, third and pop. Blew the boost hose right off the turbo. Except the clamp broke. I got a pic of it but it looks like I over tightened it. I drove it home and parked it till tomorrow. I will install another clamp and try try again.

I'm also concerned about my steering. The steering wheel seems to change positions as I make turns. I'm sure my suspension is good, but I need to check that the refurbished rack isn't the problem.

steering fixed. car made it to and from BBQ 2013, with one casualty...

so, saturday, I skipped the drive to valley of fire and went back to the lab. Marc said, Lets tune... We took three runs and got it set for 91 craptane. its just so disappointing because of the crappy 91 we have to swallow. I mentioned to him I was going to install the flex fuel sensor I had picked up a while ago and he said I just need two things from you...
1. A full tune on 91
2. A full tune on E85

A light bulb turns on

I am on empty, lets go get a tank of E85. we go, fillerup, get back on the freeway and begin to tune...

Im now officially hooked on the crack pipe. three pulls and this thing is like its a Raped Ape! The billet K26 will boost to 33 psi, holy shit!

Fourth pull he gave it more timing and said, this ought to take it to the moon. I mash the throttle, starts to build, torque curve maxes out and...RPM's spike. FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU! guess were done tuning. My clutch cant handle the power!!!!

and everyone should have seen the grin on Dave's face when he got back to the shop. When last I saw him on Sunday he was still grinning!

sundays smile was even bigger actually. that's because I took Marc back to the hotel so we could get ready for the banquet, and got into a race.

I came up to the first light on 215 and was in the right lane. A Shelby Mustang no more than a few years old pulls into the left lane. light turns green and we set off like normal except he is posturing like hes a bad ass in a Shelby Mustang. OK, Eff it, I mash the throttle and take off. So does he. Now while Im driving hard knowing my clutch will slip if I go full bore, I feather the pedal so that does not happen, which means its only 90 percent of what its capable. Despite that handicap, I start to walk away and have to get in front of him to get around a car coming up. I get through all the gears as fast as I could while Marc is keeping an eye on the guy and my speed and laughing his head off the whole time. I am focused on driving and dont even notice how fast I got it up to. We start coming up on another car and the light so Im not about to endanger anybody and the race is clearly over with me being 4 to 5 car lengths ahead I put on the brakes wondering if he is going to be cool and give the customary thumbs up, or the customary "I'm a duschebag drive by" for the win after its clearly over. Of course he chose option 2. Marc then asks me if I noticed how fast I got it going. I said no. We crested around 145.

That is why the smile was still there sunday morning even though I now have to buy a new clutch since my rebuilt 2b spec wont hold the power they sold it to me for. E85 FTW! And, Great job on the turbo Hank, Great job on the tuning Marc!

I heard you beat a mustang, but damn that's freaking awesome! I need to work towards e85. The amount of power difference on that is crazy.
Good to actually meet you this weekend Dave. Car looked great.

wow man... don't know how this one slipped past me. Awesome work, it must be ridiculous power in such a little chasis haha

It is, but there are other builds that make much more. I am very happy with the power levels I am getting out of this configuration. Now if I could just get motivated to tear it down again and get started on the last of the mods and upgrades...

I got a package from Marc earlier in the week to fix the minor problem with excessive power.




This should rectify this issue very nicely while allowing the power to get to the ground. I never got to feel the true potential of my engine and the tuning we performed at the last Battle Born get together. Very soon I will begin the teardown for the last of the upgrades to take the engine to its most potential. It will also be the chance for refining the front mount radiator/heat exchanger/oil cooler and how it all fits together efficiently without modifying the core structure and headlights. there isn't very much room up there, so it will be quite a challenge for sure. I really want to keep the radiator up front, and would hate to have to make a major change in direction regarding its location back to side mount.

nice clutch

the other piece of good news is you can more or less ignore your intercooling issues on e85. Latent heat of vaporization means you can pretty much ignore high IATs. pump gas, a different story, though...

Awesome, I can't wait to see the v2 of your front-mount rad solution.

Good god I wish we had corn fuel up here... might be time to buy a quarter section and get at 'er myself.

Good to know...Just wish E85 was closer to me than it is. I did find out about a station selling 92 octane Ethanol free not too far from me. may have to put in a tank and see if it performs better then the slop they normally feed us.

Thanks again Marc

PRY4SNO wrote:Awesome, I can't wait to see the v2 of your front-mount rad solution.

Good god I wish we had corn fuel up here... might be time to buy a quarter section and get at 'er myself.

perhaps it may be time to move closer to some? I hope I can find a radiator that will cool well and fit well without major mod. I have a few to look at and keep in mind.

scubadave wrote:Good to know...Just wish E85 was closer to me than it is. I did find out about a station selling 92 octane Ethanol free not too far from me. may have to put in a tank and see if it performs better then the slop they normally feed us.

Thanks again Marc

Uh…care to share that information?!