Assembling the puzzle (will update as I go) (pics included)

[beatersubi]

F.Y.I.: I've seen big truck aftercooler hoses up to 5" I.D. And your local exhaust shop should have an expander for those coffee-cup-mod situations.

[scuzzy]

Okay, so far today:

Went back to plumbing supply and took back the 2x.75" and was referred to Apex Supply co for a 1.5x.5" Previous one didn't fit in but one side of the hoses.

Went to Pull-A-Part and dug through nine Saab 900's before I found a recirc valve (all the other cars had been molested, the last one was in a far corner of the lot and was untouched as far as the engine is concerned)

nabbed the recirc valve, some hoses and such $6 total cost.

Went to Lowes and picked up a .5x.5x.75" copper Tee to mate to the recirc valve.

got home and started some sanding, cut all the shielding off of the up pipe and sanded it down to remove the rust/etc.

I've got some VHT paint rated to 2000F so I was going to paint everything in that, header wrap it, then let it cure on the car.

removed the existing wrap from a downpipe I bought about a year ago for cheap and hadn't worked on; was shocked to see all the surface rust and pitting (and this thing was ceramic coated!) luckily no weak spots, nothing worn enough to where it couldn't be sanded out.

I'm using a DA air sander and it's a slow process

edit: I need to take this to an exhaust shop and have an O2 sensor bung welded in, does anyone know what the best place on a downpipe to have one done at? this isn't a bellmouth.

[vrg3]

Nice, keep it up.

I'd mimic the stock downpipe's oxygen sensor location if you can, but it doesn't matter all that much.

[scuzzy]

Nice, keep it up.

I'd mimic the stock downpipe's oxygen sensor location if you can, but it doesn't matter all that much.

I don't know how it's positioned.

I've got a guy tomorrow that'll tig-weld a bung in for me.

[ciper]

As long as it is before the first CAT, not bumping into anything when the engine moves and after all 4 exhaust pipes meet it should be fine since its a self heated unit. Closer to the engine is better though.

[vrg3]

Here's a diagram of the stock Legacy Turbo exhaust:

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~v/pics ... xhaust.png

[scuzzy]

Thanks Vikash, I didn't weld it in the stock spot because I was worried about clearing some other stuff/distance to firewall and the distance to the A/C charge line coming out of the firewall; so I did what I figured would work fine and did it about 55* angle on the right side coming out across the face of the connecting plate - it's a little shallow but I don't think I'll have a problem. distance to the plate is about an inch and a half.

The guy I took it to was someone I met on the local SCCA forums here who has a garage that would make any enthusiast like me wet their pants.
Three cars, seperate garage for his wife's car. Heated and airconditioned, very well lit.
He's got a million tools, a TIG welder, MIG welder, auto lift/etc. you name it, he had it. I about creamed my pants. I asked him if he was adopting. he wasn't

I stood around and drooled at the road racing tube frame car he was rebuilding (I didn't think to take any pictures, dumbass me), his two miata's he autocrosses with (not so much this year). Jesus.

Anyway, long story short is he tig'd the bung (he supplied) into my down-pipe, and did a beautiful job. only cost me $20 (I offered $50, he wouldn't take anymore than $20 - not like he needed it anyway, dude probably makes three times as much as I do; he's a DBA)

took it home, blasted it with brake parts cleaner (this is after sanding the fuck out of it for four hours before I took it to him.

brake parts cleaner left a nice frosty film on it, so I took a propane torch and heated the downpipe to approx 120F, let it cool a bit while I shook up my VHT black Matte paint and sprayed away.

This is the result, sorry for the low quality:





Snaaaaaake Snaaaaaakkkee. (looks like a snake in the last one)

And some other pics for your enjoyment:

My garage is too small

Used, washed, and recoiled (stuff breaks easy when wet) header wrap. will be wrapping my headers, not the downpipe (never wrap mild steel, it tends to rust due to the wrap holding water - the downpipe I had worked on today was rusted pretty bad but nothing all the way through thankfully)


Saab 900 recirc valve. Works good, bleeds at idle just like the stock legacy one.


Real men don't need safety cages on their air compressors.


Turbocharging my washing machine, another project for another day. (400mph spin cycle here we come!)


I do not like sharing my garage space with a washer/dryer and a hot water heater, but whatever; it's a garage.


The wagon, like a cat in the night, waiting to pounce.


I intend to light my garage with these:




If I can get a hold of the track for them (I got the lights, 20 of them free from work - we were tossing them); hopefully if someone rents the room in my house this month then I'll do it this month.

Rest of them here: http://www.thelostdays.com/public/car/120907/

[vrg3]

Cool, looks good!

[scuzzy]

quick question;
I know on our exhaust manifold, the section that bolts directly to the heads is cast iron, is the up pipe and crossover pipe cast iron as well; or is that mild steel?

Matters because when I wrap the headers, if it's mild steel the wrap will just make them rust through; but if it's cast iron (I can't tell because the material is so thin) then it shouldn't be an issue.

[vrg3]

Actually, I think the cross pipe and up-pipe are stainless. Try sticking a magnet to them.

[scuzzy]

Pulled the engine Friday night, didn't take much pictures except for ones of my clutch and flywheel to show the wear after ~1000 miles.
http://www.thelostdays.com/public/car/121507/
to view.

cause of the oil leak was a slow leak in the rear main seal that didn't manifest (run down the block and drip off the crossmember) till the car had been ran and then sat for a few hours (so the oil thinned out real nice when it got cold)

Replaced the seal, screwed up the new one putting it in (tore some rubber off the outer facing) only one I had and didn't want to fuck with it anymore but it went in easier than the other one (which I bent out of shape slightly and probably caused the leak) threw some high-temp RTV silicone on it and let it cure partially overnight.

Blasted the clutch with brake parts cleaner, cleaned the pressure plate and flywheel with WD40 and a clean shop towel, then reassembled the mess (ran out of brake parts cleaner in a can, I need to buy stock in the company and a case of that stuff)

Last night was mostly pulling the engine, tonight (saturday night) was putting stuff together, pulling old stuff off/etc. I like this slow pace, makes the job easier when you're not pushed for time (I've got till Jan 2nd before I go back to work)


Tomorrow I've got to drive a neighbor (using his truck) to the airport early in the morning, I figure I'll get started back on the car after I get that sorted out; tonight I did a little plumbing work for the IAC and PVC hoses to the turbo, the turbo clears the N/A intake manifold mounted in the stock location with no clearance issues (so the manifolds are the same in that regard)

I've just got to figure out how to route the IAC hose around the bottom of the turbo intake elbow housing without putting significant bends in it so I don't cut off the airflow to the engine when it's idling and such, then tomorrow I'm going to actually disconnect the steering rack, remove it, and install the new crossmember and mount the steering rack back to it; what I've got to do to complete this process I don't know yet, I'll figure it out I suppose, got plenty of time.

Only problem is it's fucking cold outside, and my garage only stays about 20F warmer with the shoplights going.

[scuzzy]

I'm not one for taking pictures along the way much because I suck at it, and I tend to do things and work on solutions in real time - stopping and taking pictures as i do something else would only slow me down and mess up my train of thought.

It's a lot like coding, many programmers go back and write comments after a function is completed, not during the process.

With that said, here's what I took tonight. Officially the process is over.

Some Notes:
* I ran this EJ22T without the turbocharger for two years, the crank bolt on my original EJ22 motor walked out and gnarled the crankshaft up, so this was the most logical choice for me. That being said, I was and still am using the stock EJ22 N/A computer - this isn't the best idea, but it'll do for now.

* The process took four days, I started Friday night (12/14/07) that I got off work at about 8PM and worked till 2AM pulling the motor and other various things around the garage. It was my full intention to work slowly, maybe five to seven hours a day at a time. I kept the TV going (highly recommended) to keep me from losing my sanity in frustration, as I have done so many times before. It makes your work a little slower and you get a little less done in the same period of time; but you're able to work longer and not go insane because of some stupid problem. I finished on Tuesday (12/18/07) at about 10PM, this was the first startup without engine coolant (incase I needed to pull the motor again)


In a nutshell, what I did during these four days:
* Pull and replace the crossmember, I was able to unbolt the steering rack and let it "hang" to avoid touching the tie rods.
* Replace the rear main seal on the crankshaft. Mine was leaking from a botched previous install about a month ago.
* Reseal the passenger side valve cover which was leaking a little, and the oil filler tube.
* Clean my clutch, pressure plate and flywheel, inspect for problems (has about a thousand miles on it)
* Construct an intake out of plumbing pieces and one expensive ass radiator hose.

The major problems I ran into before and during the swap:
* Some silly problem with a bolt hole on the rear of the turbo that had to be drilled out so I could put a bolt through it.
* Clearance of the power steering lines to the up pipe (probably a N/A related issue); was able to pull them away.
* Clearance of the A/C suction line coming out of the firewall; too close to the turbocharger. (a N/A-factory car issue); was able to push it away and wrapped it with heat wrap to hopefully keep it from being exposed to the turbo heat.


Other general notes regarding performance/etc:
* The position of my O2 sensor lends itself to a long warmup time, on the order of ten minutes if I let the car idle to warm up, or two minutes if I get out and drive it at a light pace.
* The N/A ECU is BARELY able to keep up with fueling to compensate for the turbocharger and only under certian conditions
* Pinging under high gear-low rpm-WOT conditions. Not constant but pretty frequent. 0.0 O2 sensor volts (full lean)
* Runs pretty consistent middle of the road as far as A/F ratio at partial throttle.
* WOT will only go lean if you punch it over fourth gear, below fourth gear you can roll into the throttle easy and then drag the engine out to about 5000 before it starts to lean out. anything 4th and above needs to be easy on the throttle.
* The HKS Downpipe I bought a year ago to do this swap with is LOUD and RASPY. I hate the Rasp note, even my old N/A engine didn't have this kind of rasp. Not sure what's causing it because there are no exhaust leaks that I know of, so I may just have to get a resonator.

Okay. I'm getting tired, so here's the pictures:



Coffee Cup Mod (sorta)



Recirc valve setup.


The Getup.


Old Heatwrap on the A/C suction line. Hope this works the way I want it to.


Pulled the power steering lines for clearance.


Clearance to wastegate arm (note wastegate opens fully without contacting heat wrap; which is old stuff in this picture)


HKS Exhaust just dumping to atmo Raspy bastard!


Left Side.


Right Side.


AWIC Clearing th suction line and break booster line. Note it's not hooked up to a water source yet; but after running around this evening the intercooler was only warm to the touch.



Old-n-Busted on the left. New Hotness on the right. Old'N'Busted was a bitch to get free because it was covered in oil and grease!


I need a work bench, and an engine stand Look at that wheel gap Jesus damn!


Hanging steering rack (No I didn't break any bolts, it was covered in oil and grease too; good thing for oil leaks I suppose).


Okay folks, that's all for now. I'm going to have to take it easy on the car to prevent it from pinging (running 93 octane BTW) until I get an Autronic ECU.