Revise and rebuild I suppose...

[s14unimog]

Thank ya thank ya.

Originally Posted by codyace

That's a pretty slick turbo brace, and I really think that will help eliminate (or at least slow down) some of the failures with the tubular manfolds. The *only* think I could maybe suggest (and this is all on assumption) is that if you were to debate on selling them, that you would need to create a brace that could incorperate a few different 'clockings' of the compressor housing (if you know what I mean). This is where some of the rod end/turnbuckle soltuions end up working well as it self adjusts to many different setups. Not nitpicking just dropping the idea out there to ya

Either way, it's a good idea - a much needed one at that.

PS: I don't wanna hear any of the 'southeast temps' comments. It was 8 degreees last night up here

Thanks Cody! I don't intend to sell them for just that reason. There has got to be hundreds of different "bottom mount" turbo positions and equally as many boss locations and actuator mounting orientations to sift through. No thanks; lol. You are right though. Another detail that isn't that obvious in the picture is that the assembly fits there with about 0.01" interference. So as it sits it's actually just barely pushing up on the assembly. My fear was that it would be pulling on it; which might induce a premature failure.

I have to admit I'm a bit of a b*tch when it comes to cold weather but without snow, which I would be all over in the Jeep, I can't do anything with this mid 40's temperature. I would go 100% on my Jeep if I lived in temperatures like that.

Originally Posted by lazysk8er2

Im not sure if you covered this but running flex pipe with your exhaust will lower the chances of cracking the manifold.
The brace is cool btw.

Ya and I've run them before but that can be hit or miss too. I'm also running poly exhaust hangers, poly engine/trans mounts and the exhaust has no conflict issues with the chassis. I have had the car like this for quite a while without issue and its been tracked often. The failure last time was right through the center of the weld and Tomei also agreed that despite the assembly, it should not have failed like that. If this manifold does the same thing then I'll just repair it myself and continue with the addition of a flex section.

Originally Posted by sex14

this thread is full of win. btw what wheels are those? are they varsstoen?

Preciate it, I have a set of silver Rota Grids and polished/black J-Line 7SL2's; no Varrstoens

Originally Posted by bc.

First of all, great writing in this build, I can actually read everything you type without getting bored or confused.
When I saw your recirc setup I laughed and said, 'holy shit!' out loud. That is some cool shit right there man, I don't think I have ever seen anything like it before.
Keep on keepin' on, everything looks great.

Thanks, I can feel ya on the grammar gripes that plague build threads often; it gets exhausting to try and figure out what they're sayin.

[bc.]

First of all, great writing in this build, I can actually read everything you type without getting bored or confused.

When I saw your recirc setup I laughed and said, 'holy shit!' out loud. That is some cool shit right there man, I don't think I have ever seen anything like it before.

Keep on keepin' on, everything looks great.

[onehundredoctane]

Love it when people diy and still manage to keep things simple and straight forward, not to mention CLEAN!

So the Uwharries huh? I grew up about 20 minutes from them, I hear there are some tough trails with huge rocks over there. . . never was into 4x4's but as I've gotten older I've been thinking more about it.

[s14unimog]

Ya man, K.I.S.S. I guess; lol. Ya man uwharrie was a riot and worth the 5+ hour drive. I'll probably go back again this year. There are plenty of places to challenge even the higher end built rigs. Shit, I almost rolled my truck twice.

[s14unimog]

HA! Screw you weather. Fortunately a 40k BTU heater and 8 gallons of propane later, I've overcome it! Cool thing about this little paint project is that it's the first of many things for me. It's the first time I've painted something indoors; which rocks! It's the first time, I got to use my new HVLP gun and its also the first time a paint project hasn't taken my efforts and smashed them to pieces. I have to tell you, painting is an incredibly rewarding part of any project. Instantly your months of hard work has been converted to a finished product. It's also one of the most frustrating things I've had to learn. In the past I've painted a hand full of things (valances, bumpers, wings, motorcycle fairings, etc...) all in all probably 15 or so different projects. Within that list, there has been equally as many headaches; if not more. This time however, not so much; thankfully.

Here's what I did.

Considering there was a good deal of new metal I prepared all of those surfaces with a 3M etch primer. As I detailed in some previous posts (I think) I capped the triangular openings at the back of the inner fenders, plug welded a bunch of the unused holes in the fenders, relocated where the engine harness passes through the firewall, capped and shortened the fronts of the frame rails, ground out all of the factory undercoating, removed the center core support/ hood latch strut and the tub work obviously. Here some pictures of that.





After some thought about what color, and how to produce the finish that would be ideal, I decided to go with something I was familiar with. I've had good success with this SEM's Hot Rod Black on a few bikes. It's tough as nails, fuel and oil resistant (to an extent) and produces the sheen that I wanted for the bay. It's also cheaper than a 2 stage with a flattening agent added to the clear. Here are a couple bikes I've done in the past.

I actually tried "dusting" this bike on the final coat to give it a flatter look.





Supplies! All of this ran about $125



Considering the new inner fender work, I opted to seam seal everything from the underside so that I could retain the stitched appearance in the bay. Here are a couple picture from that. It's a 3M paintable beige.







With all of the involved body prep done, I constructed a paint booth from 1.5mil 20x10 plastic rolls and attached it to my rafters. After about a days worth of pre-heating the body, I waited for a mid 60*F day, to boost my heating ability, and shot the paint.



Covered all of my bases, from prep & cleaning to temperatures to gun settings. Which finally brought me to that all important moment; shooting paint. For those who have not painted an engine bay before, it's not an easy target. You're constantly changing your fan pattern to get in all the nooks and crevasse; not to mention fighting the urge to paint what you must lean over to shoot the more interior features. Either the case, it's done. Fast forwarded for your viewing convenience; lol.











I've let the paint cure for a little over a week now and am now just waiting to receive my exhaust components back from ceramic coating. Should be Friday of this week. Once I have that back, I guarantee I'll have the motor back in and plumbed for good in under 6-7 hours. Now the fun begins!!!

[jr_ss]

Lookin good man... I dig the "protective" cap, should've just thrown a paint suit in with all your materials. I just finished priming my bay, guide coat sanding is a lot of work. Keepin my eye on this. Good luck

[s14unimog]

Ya.... It dawned on me AFTER I got home, so I said fuck it, I'm not washing paint out of my hair anymore.

On a side note; my exhaust parts are back from ceramic. Is this hot or is this hot?



That's one fine looking 20G if you ask me.



Unfortunately, however they forgot to ceramic coat the manifold hardware. I know it isn't necessary but I really regretted not doing it last time after I bolted the rusted OEM hardware over that pretty ceramic. Not this time.

I did however take a second and rivet in my cold air intake duct; that shit's poppin!

[sex14]

awesome build man, thumbs up from a fellow zenki owner.

[homeslicej2]

Loving this still. I enjoy finding updates on your build. I know that's a Greddy turbo elbow, it looks like a Greddy DP too. Who did the ceramic coating? I've been thinking of having Swaintech coat all of my exhaust (to the test pipe) and hot side IC piping. Did you weld in a bung on the DP for a wideband O2 before the coating?

[JaredP]

looks sick man, i didnt realise in the tub thread that your bay was black (in the pics it looks like it has almost a bronze in it). all the pics answered any questions i may have had too and i cant wait to see the engine in.

ceramic coat sure is nice to deal with too, makes such a different

[s14unimog]

Originally Posted by homeslicej2

Loving this still. I enjoy finding updates on your build. I know that's a Greddy turbo elbow, it looks like a Greddy DP too. Who did the ceramic coating? I've been thinking of having Swaintech coat all of my exhaust (to the test pipe) and hot side IC piping. Did you weld in a bung on the DP for a wideband O2 before the coating?

Thanks man, ya it's a GReddy dump but a Blitz downpipe. I don't use the narrow band O2 sensor so I have my wideband in the dump pipe. Classic Powder & Ceramic in Winterville GA did all of the coating. The guys do killer work and never have any of my stuff for longer than a few days. That's who powder coated all of my suspension arms.

Originally Posted by JaredP

looks sick man, i didnt realise in the tub thread that your bay was black (in the pics it looks like it has almost a bronze in it). all the pics answered any questions i may have had too and i cant wait to see the engine in.
ceramic coat sure is nice to deal with too, makes such a different

Ya, it was probably the mixture of lighting. It's definitely very black. Thanks.

[A54]

Nice Thread...

[s14unimog]

Gettin there...

[OBEEWON]

Paint is as smooth as butter on a baby's bottom.

[homeslicej2]

Bay looks fantastic. Thanks for the heads up on the powdercoater, but Swaintech's ceramic exhaust coating is far beyond a simple paint or powdercoat. I'm glad Carroll's engine builders has experience with SR's and other imports with tight tolerances. Around here, all the machine shops are used to old Ford/Chevy/Dodge engines with massive tolerances (compared to imports & modern domestics that is). I wouldn't trust any of them with my little 4-banger.

[s14unimog]

Originally Posted by OBEEWON

Paint is as smooth as butter on a baby's bottom.

Thank gawd! I would have gone postal if I had messed that up after everything.

Originally Posted by homeslicej2

Bay looks fantastic. Thanks for the heads up on the powdercoater, but Swaintech's ceramic exhaust coating is far beyond a simple paint or powdercoat. I'm glad Carroll's engine builders has experience with SR's and other imports with tight tolerances. Around here, all the machine shops are used to old Ford/Chevy/Dodge engines with massive tolerances (compared to imports & modern domestics that is). I wouldn't trust any of them with my little 4-banger.

I hear ya. The bottom of my carbon/frp hood can attest for this stuff though. Its amazing how well it works. David over at Carroll's is a real perfectionist, not to mention a really cool dude. If you get to use him in the future you won't regret him.

[Junior x]

dammm looks good. glwb
(:

[codyace]

Nice choice on the engine bay paint. Flat or Semi Matte is the only way to fly IMO...I hate when the rest of an engine bay is overly shiney.

[OnPoint]

this is so bad ass. I remember seeing that ka-t years ago.

[s14unimog]

Originally Posted by codyace

Nice choice on the engine bay paint. Flat or Semi Matte is the only way to fly IMO...I hate when the rest of an engine bay is overly shiney.

Thanks Cody, my thoughts exactly.

Originally Posted by OnPoint

this is so bad ass. I remember seeing that ka-t years ago.

Nice, it cool that a bunch of people payed attention to that build. That was a different time for sure; lol.

[homeslicej2]

I just noticed that from a previous post that you put your wideband O2 in the greddy turbo elbow location. I know AEM recommends placing theirs ~36inches downstream of the turbo bc the heat can damage the sensor.

this guy is making a lot of people on zilvia look stupid


my suggestion? take notes and pay attention


nice work

[s14unimog]

Originally Posted by homeslicej2

I just noticed that from a previous post that you put your wideband O2 in the greddy turbo elbow location. I know AEM recommends placing theirs ~36inches downstream of the turbo bc the heat can damage the sensor.

I run a thermal insulator which pulls the O2 slightly out of the stream. I've heard that it yields an inconsistent reading but I've logged mine in parallel to the dyno operators and seen no difference.

Originally Posted by ixfxi

this guy is making a lot of people on zilvia look stupid
my suggestion? take notes and pay attention
nice work

I appreciate that comment.

In regards to progress:

I've spent the last week or so working on the transmission and final assembly details. I'm literately waiting on my exhaust manifold hardware that was missed during ceramic coating. Its a obnoxious detail that I almost wish I skipped over but I suppose it will be worth it when assembled. Fortunately it gave me a minute to finalize all of the brake lines, rebuilding the slave, swapping transmissions, etc... So as of today, if I got the hardware back I could have it completely installed, plumbed and waiting for the wiring details. So I'll have pictures soon. I can't wait to see everything together!

Originally Posted by ixfxi

this guy is making a lot of people on zilvia look stupid
my suggestion? take notes and pay attention
nice work

a lot of people say i am negative

and you are all very right, i am a very, very negative person.

so i would like to quote the above post as a sample of my kind and gentle side


with that said, i was taking a leak thinking about this thread. i would like to give a thumbs up (with my other hand, the one not holding my penis) to the s14unimog. for a guy doing what appears to be almost all of the work single-handedly, he's doing a fantastic job.. for fucks sake, even the paint is turning out real nice WITH that shitty shop-vac make-shift spray booth. and whats even more impressive is that he appears to have a machinists mentality or background, whichever... which basically means that machinists are rarely artistic because he thinks with numbers too much.

either way, i like this thread and would like to give it my approval. two thumbs up and an erection, nice job.

[jr_ss]

Originally Posted by ixfxi

either way, i like this thread and would like to give it my approval. two thumbs up and an erection, nice job.

So, you either way you made a mess, because you are no longer aiming with one hand and it's damn near impossible to piss into a toilet with an erection...

But on a serious note, I do agree, he's doing some legit work..

[s14unimog]

Originally Posted by drunkmunky

Great job on the wiring. Doing it proper takes for ever and it is a little appreciated item.

man, don't I know it; lol.

Originally Posted by Buddy

Ive just finished up the whole back end of mine and de rusted it front to back. All bar the bay. If / When my SR packs up in the Kouki I shall be coming back to read this up again. Love the attention to details and all the little extras.
Keep it up man.

Thanks bud, good luck with it.

Originally Posted by ixfxi

a lot of people say i am negative and you are all very right, i am a very, very negative person. so i would like to quote the above post as a sample of my kind and gentle side
with that said, i was taking a leak thinking about this thread. i would like to give a thumbs up (with my other hand, the one not holding my penis) to the s14unimog. for a guy doing what appears to be almost all of the work single-handedly, he's doing a fantastic job.. for fucks sake, even the paint is turning out real nice WITH that shitty shop-vac make-shift spray booth. and whats even more impressive is that he appears to have a machinists mentality or background, whichever... which basically means that machinists are rarely artistic because he thinks with numbers too much.
either way, i like this thread and would like to give it my approval. two thumbs up and an erection, nice job.

Right on man; I appreciate the props. I hope I can prove to people that you don't have to have a ton of money or resources (although it helps), you just have to give a fuck and commit to not half-assing it.

Originally Posted by jr_ss

So, you either way you made a mess, because you are no longer aiming with one hand and it's damn near impossible to piss into a toilet with an erection... But on a serious note, I do agree, he's doing some legit work..

Thanks bud, I hope yours is coming along well.


Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been in a mad dash to get everything done and sort the last details before time comes to turn key. As you guys saw, I went deep into the wiring, systematically de-pinning and eliminating ALL circuits that no longer served a purpose. A lot of people have asked me why; if its just a drift car then what gives. That's where I guess I'm different. I consider a drift car just like any other purpose built machine. Do it right and you won't spend your days fighting problems or areas that didn't receive enough attention. I've also educated myself on the inner workings of my entire engine and chassis harness. If there is a problem, I know just where to look.

Now for the bad news.

I had a lot of great pictures and the original start up video on my iPhone. Well unfortunately for me, I left my virgin condition phone on the hood of my Jeep, then forgot about it and drove about 2 miles before it slid off. The case didn't help... So I killed it in epic fashion.



Fortunately for me, I use my wife's Macbook to load music and iTunes is a god send. I'd like to take a moment and thank who ever the genius over at Apple was that decided to instruct iTunes to save your contacts, personal settings, photo's etc... Essentially $700 later, I'm back like it never happened. Unfortunately however I hadn't downloaded anything lately so I lost those more recent shots and video.

However! Not before I uploaded the video to FB (don't hate). So, if you really want to see it and have the patients to use that website. Here is the link to that. Otherwise you can check out the video I shot the other night.

FB link - first start

First night out - no boosting

To close out the wiring project, I tried to snap a couple pictures from under the dash; I'm not taking it back off just for pictures, lol. Basically what I did was split the forward chassis harness so that only the necessary connections for the lighting, brake light and fan ran over the drivers fender (when I say over, I mean to say I removed the driver fender and secured it to the top of the uni-body rail) and then ran all the power connections for the kick panel, head lights, brights, etc... to my Blue Seas power block. Here are a couple shots of that.





Once I got everything wired up, there was a quiet moment before I put power to the block. Luckily when I turned the battery key to the "ON" position the car didn't burn to the ground; lol, I knew it wouldn't. Then I moved to turn the ignition. Since I had the dash off while testing all of this, I sorta lost reference for where the wiper switch was and had a bit of a scare when I turned the key and the wipers were on full speed. For a second the thought crossed my mind, "what the fuck did I do that could have caused that!" Luckily they were just at the "on" position; whew...

After that I went on to try starting the car. She wouldn't fire without some throttle and sounded like a subaru when it was running; surely I was down a cylinder and it wasn't the timing. Or was it any one of the MANY connectors I de-pinned so I could loom the harness ??? fortunately it was just the #3 injector not "clicked" into position. After that the car fired right up. All systems go from fuel pressure, oil pressure, head lights, brake lights, blinkers, EDFC, everything. I can't believe it, after all that, I just forgot to plug something in all the way; I'll take that.

Since that night, I've just been buttoning up the little details. bled out the new steering rack with my Chase Bays reservoir and line kit; which is working flawlessly. I roughed in my alignment and I'm accruing miles for break in. I plan to hit about 500 before she see's boost so I'll be setting a dyno date within the next week. I've already set up an appointment for corner weighting and alignment with a cool shop that builds Porsche cup cars. Its fun to be around a group of guys who have no idea what drifting is about yet they blast around road courses in 100k sports cars; cracks me up to see them crawl all over my build. Anyways, more video's to come but I think we're pretty much done here. Can't wait for my first event!!!







Look for the bumper duct next to the fog light opening...

[anarchyperf]

Looking good! Look forward to seeing this all together. What engine management are you going to run?

[NismoTuner21]

Fucking rad work man! So jealous of your tig skills and work area lol. Can't wait to see it put together and running.

[s14unimog]

Originally Posted by anarchyperf

Looking good! Look forward to seeing this all together. What engine management are you going to run?

Thanks! I'm running a Nistune system and data logging boost, EGT and A/F's through my Zeitronix.

Originally Posted by NismoTuner21

Fucking rad work man! So jealous of your tig skills and work area lol. Can't wait to see it put together and running.

Thanks! You and me both man....

[JohnnyDrfiter22]

Wow Amazing Build!!! Wanna produde more catch cans and sell them?? Also what is used to hold up the piping from the air duct