The Project Pad

so, i got my exhaust manifold back so i decided to put in some work today. everything fit back up perfectly so far, the turbo flange got pretty warped when it was welded so i have to get that machined hopefully within the next few days here at the local machine shop. after that gets back i just have to re do the wastegate dump on the one side and i should be all done after that as far as welding/fabrication goes. hopefully once the flange gets machined it doesnt throw the downpipe orientation outta whack too much, or else ill have to doinga bit of cutting and re-welding there too. enough talk, onto the pics...

first off, i re did the outter heim on the tie rods because when the car was off the ground they would interfere with the strut arm itself.


hole in the inner fender for the intercooler pipe, both pipes are one piece with Vibrant VAN-Jen clamps on all connections, more pics on those below.


Vibrant Van-Jen clamps, kinda like a vband, kinda like a wiggins i guess from the pictures that ive seen of them, kinda like pretty fiddle sticking cool and surprisingly easy to work with.
you first weld the two ends to whatever it is youre connecting...


then this sleeve goes over both ends


the clamp goes over the sleeve


you latch that bastid down and....VIOLA!!



they will allow for 12 degrees of misalignment, but all the connections i have are straight balls on with maybe 2 degrees max of misalignment, hopefully they keep everything together

my new Turbosmart race port blow off valve


close up of the power steering hose setup


Accessory bracket setup with the manual tensioned alternator



the exhaust manifold




the 'downpipe', if you can even call it that.


and onto my FAVORITE part of the engine bay that a few of my good friends despise, but i adore.

neon pink.

Looks great man! Diggin the pink! xD

pink and black is sweet. Did you just paint them or what?

paint what? all the pink stuff? no sir, everything i powdercoated.

ok gotcha, that was my second guess (and most logical)

by the way, I think this might be the cleanest project on this site at least from what I've seen of the bay. Very nice attention to detail. I can't wait to have the time to do the same. I have my green push-to-connect fittings just that reason someday.

thanks man!!! that means alot

im glad ive taken my sweetass time with the bay and all, i really didnt want to just build a drag car, although thatll be pretty much where its driven. once i got that powdercoat setup, i knew it was gonna come out alright, lol.

Seems like a worthwhile investment (the pc setup). Might have to think about that for myself...

Braided lines everywhere wicked clean setup

Personally I would never paint on any compressor, but its yours so do your thing.

gonna be loud loud loud with that fender exit

nothing wrong with painting a compressor at least thermodynamically speaking

its comin together like butt-cheeks, it is.

and that clamp setup looks nice, too. i do like the attention you paid when you put the door trim around the hole for the IC piping.

i like this shot, BTW. pink, whatever floats your boat. and my personal opinion is that there is too much black with no real separation of components.

You said something of the sort about the color separation once before to me. Idk, I liked like all black idea at first, the pink thing as you know was just recently. I was going to do more pink stuff, but decided against it. At least I used ss braided line and not the black stuff, lol.

The rubber around the ic hole was more of something that I wanted to do so the pipe wasn't rubbing on the metal.

loxxrider wrote:Seems like a worthwhile investment (the pc setup). Might have to think about that for myself...

i just got one of the electric kits that craftsman makes, cause i still lack an air compressor. plugs into a normal 110 outlet and blows the powder out of the gun, lol. the gun gets tough to open sometimes when the powder gets caked in certain places, and the 'lock' clip for the gun broke in the first few hours of use, but its not really even needed to be honest. cheapo electric oven off craigslist and youre set.

Thats kinda what I figured. Sweet! I'm definitely doing it, thanks

well, my friend took an awful iPhone video that ill try and post later. but the good news is the car fired up the other night. had a few issues with wiring the harness due to my stupidity, but it all worked out in the end. the pwer steering was leaking which im working on rectifying now, then i just need to tidy up a few things in the interior wiring wise and i should be ready to get on the road, then onto the dyno in about a month if things get planned accordingly.

video. you cant make a thing out other then the pink turbo, but the audio is decent, lol.


idle was high cause we had the idle screw set to hold the motor at 2k rpm for the first fire/heat cycle.

power steering leaked, and one of my nifty LED gauges is dead. other then that, it was a pretty error free evening.


Link to video

dont it feel GOOD to finally hear this bitch run?

w00t, congrats and keep it up

well, car moved up and down driveway for a bit today, sounds solid, feels pretty good too. just gotta tighten up a few more nuts and bolts, put the sway bars and bumpers on then its time to drive around.


Link to video

looks like someone is just learning how to drive a stick LOLZ!!!!!!

nice!!! more vids...

That twin disc clutch is no fiddle sticking joke, lol. I can't say I'm too excited about driving that on the street here and there.

well, once again, i told you so.

Yeah, I drove a twin disc recently and it wasn't easy. It was doable though.

its 'doable' lol, but i may need to workout my left leg a bit first.

i predict this thing is going to be nasty on the 1/4 mile strip