I talked to FM this morning, they offered me a very reasonable price on a new manifold, so I ordered that.

TK picked up some new tooling recently and is looking for an excuse to use it, so I'll probably go over to TechShop with him and we'll see if we can repair this one. If so, it'll go on the shelf as a spare in case the new one warps as well.

As for the question of relief cuts, I'm a software guy, not an ME, but I've heard people argue that if you leave them out then a manifold that shifts the stress in this way will crack instead of warping. Of course, it's better if it doesn't shift at all, but...

--Ian

 

.

 

Every tracked turbo manifold I've seen that has relief cuts has closed them. I've never played with a fancy tubular manifold, I'm referring to either cast or weld-el log manifolds.

Good call on the new FM units. As much as everyone would love to run a TSE setup, myself included, a few hundred dollars for a quality replacement is a little cheaper than replacing your entire hot side setup.

 

Use relief cuts. Indeed, the fact that they closed is evidence of their necessity. TSE's may not need them as it utilizes a very high end material.

 

The FM manifold showed up on Friday, started trying to assemble it with the turbo today and discovered that the turbo-to-manifold flange on the turbine housing is warped as well. It's bowed about 5 thou, with a matching arch of about 5 thou on the old manifold, so I guess the turbine housing needs to be resurfaced as well.

--Ian

 

WHAT?! That's so weird!

 

Yeah. I guess I got it hot.

Haven't gotten the turbine housing off the CHRA yet.

--Ian

 

Argh, dup post.

 

I gave up on trying to get the turbine housing off myself and took it to the pros. ATP fixed it for me for $100, money well spent. Picked it up today.



I've got just over a week to get it all reinstalled and working...

--Ian

 

Well, turbo/manifold/elbow are all resbonded and assembled.



Can't go in the car til I get a hand with shoving the motor around, though. The 2863 compressor housing is bigger than the 2560, and even with the "lip" folded over, the legacy turbo location on the FM manifold (same as the ancient BEGI kits of the 90s) means it won't go over the studs without unbolting the motor mount and someone pulling the motor over with a crowbar. Hopefully I can talk TK into coming over tomorrow.

The Supertech valve stem seals seem to be holding in my car just fine.



Unfortunately, when I went to hang the muffler I discovered it has cracked where the inlet pipe meets it. ISTR someone else on the forum has seen that happen -- will have to call FM tomorrow and see what they say.




It's cracked almost all the way around, except for a tiny bit near the gusset at the top. Sounds like it needs more gussets.

--Ian

 

Jbweld. Done. Easy peasy..

 

Ugh. Depressing to see that.

 

Car is back together!





Haven't fixed the muffler yet, though. I think I'm just going to take it around to a local welding shop and have them fix it. I don't really have time to mess around with trying to get it warrantied before Miatas@MRLS.

--Ian

 

Yeah there was a thread recently about a bunch of these cracking.

What's with the coupler in the fog light?

 

That's the brake duct inlet. Silicone size reducer fits nicely inside the fog light bezel, then goes to a short length of aluminum pipe, and the orange duct hoses are clamped to that.

--Ian

 

Took the muffler around to a local welding this morning, $20 later it's all fixed.





After Miatas@MRLS is over I'll look into reinforcing it with additional gussets.

--Ian

 

Also over the weekend I replaced the FUCA bushings on the driver's side of the FD. I'd done the passenger ones when I did the Ohlins, and it was quiet for a couple weeks, but then it started clunking again. Doh, should have done both sides at the same time, so that shock came out again. No pictures, it looks the same as the passenger side above.

With the suspension done, I took it for an alignment & corner weighting today:



FDs are a bit heavier than Miatas, but have similar balance. Mine is a relatively heavy example -- Touring package, so it's got the leather, sunroof, Bose stereo, etc, and it's almost completely stock. The Ohlins are a bit lighter than stock, as is the RB exhaust, but the 6ULs are actually slightly heavier than stock (stock FD wheels are shockingly light, 16x8 and 13 pounds) and the oversize Koyo radiator is adding a bunch of extra coolant.



I'm told that if you put a single person on the right side of the car, the L/R balance works out almost perfect as well -- almost like it was designed to be RHD.



--Ian

 

Sooo, ETA for testing your fuel starve fix?

Also, how do you get along with the milwaukee tools, 18v fuel? Currently trying to decide between those and hitachi's 18v series. Youtube is not helping, both feels good in my hands.

 

As I mentioned in post 1041, the fix seems to have worked. I got it down to 1/4 tank without any starvation.

I picked up the 18V Milwaukee lithium impact wrench earlier this year on clearance. It's not "FUEL" (thus why it was on clearance), but the batteries seem to be interchangeable. It works well, much better than my 15-year-old 18V nicad milwaukee impact wrench. I need to replace my drill as well -- it's the same age and the nicad battery packs are basically all dead at this point.

--Ian

 

Milwaukee all the way.