Not hating. I genuinely enjoyed the picture with hole in the block. I support you trying them out, just take it to a very good tuner.

 

Great build and awesome pictures!

 

I, for one, welcome the 11:1 CR.


I like the build!

That's a seriously strange wastegate setup, though. :lol:

 

Thanks guys!

Are you talking about the original external wastegate setup I had? It was strange but it did work well.

I got the block back from the machine shop today finally. Looks nice. They are still working on the crank since it had to be ground down slightly.

 

Is this going to get an MLS headgasket? If so, the block surface doesn't look adequately prepared to me.

 

Ok guys small update. Still waiting on the damn machine shop to finish my crank but I should hopefully have it back by tomorrow, or the end of the week at the latest. Thats the last thing I am waiting on before I can start assembly on the engine. I got bored so I did some mocking up of the parts to get an idea of how everything would look and to make sure everything would fit properly.

Painted the block


Test fitting manifold










If I end up getting the crank back in the next day or two I should have everything back together and the engine back in the car by Saturday. It sucks having the car down for this long as I'm having Miata withdrawals. She'll be alive soon though.

 

I also welcome 11:1 and boost
At the power level you're looking to pursue, tune has to be good either way. And I bet most saying it will fail aren't running e85. (I know it doesn't make your engine indestructible, but you sure can do some absurd things with the stuff.....assuming its actual e85)

 

Any time you try something uncommon, you're going to get some razzing if for no other reason than to make sure you've completely thought it through.
Vlad is right; your tune needs to be good regardless. Good luck. Check out nitrodanns 12:1 build.

 

Wow, that is coming together quickly. The exhaust manifold looks glorious!

Maybe it is just the angle of the photos, but how is your hood clearance with the wastegate bracket?

 

I think the manifold looks awesome, very sturdy and fits well. Can anyone guess what manifold that is? lol

It's probably the angle but if you look you will see that the wastegate bracket is just sitting there, it's not actually bolted to the turbo yet so its sitting up a bit higher than it should be. When its bolted on it is at the same level the oil fill cap is at so it shouldn't have any issues with hood clearance.

I have a pretty good local tuner who is going to help me out with tuning it. I even bought this thing to make an electronic det can just to be on the safe side.

Pocket-Size Stereo Amplified Listener - RadioShack.com

I was gonna go with knocksenseMs but after doing some research I found it to be pretty much crap and I trust my ears over that thing. My buddy has a turboXS Knocklite that I may throw on there as well...we will see.

 

is it the $700 ebay special? I forget the name.

 

haha not quite $700 but yes CXracing. I know it is a risk going with it but it seems very well made and quite sturdy. I've heard pretty decent things about their "new, thicker" manifolds so I guess I'll find out soon enough.

 

CX Racing?

 

oh nevermind, I was thinking of that other one (made by a local guy actually).

but hey, everyone keeps talking about the cxracing and no one has really tested it for us yet, so this is actually pretty cool

 

Ah, you beat me to it. Did you buy the entire kit from them? It looks pretty decent for how cheap it is.


Were you thinking of DOC? It looks like a direct knockoff.

 

No I just got the manifold and v-band downpipe. I didn't need the turbo as I already had a few laying around. I'll upload a few more pictures of the manifold and downpipe ihere in a minute incase anyone is curious how it looks.

 

Ok here are more pics of the manifold and downpipe















New radiator

 

DING DING DING

we have a winner.

Yep. And yes, it does look awfully similar...hmmmm

 

The buy it now on the DOC is like $800 and the cx racing is like 430 for just the mani. I'm intrigued. Not sure it's inexpensive enough for me to personally not have Abe muster one up.

 

I wanted to have Abe make up a mani and downpipe but the lead time on it was at least 2 months and I needed something quicker than that. Maybe one day I will get him to make something up for me but for now I will see how this Cxracing manifold does.

Do you guys think I should spray some high temp ceramic coating on there? or leave it as is? I'm not gonna wrap it.