Working from home today and due to it being December my workload is really light. Decided to take advantage of the extra time.

Good louvers all bent 45 degrees and ready to be degreased for painting

Attachment 178329

Painting them a matte black with some high temp rustoleum

Attachment 178330

Painted.

Attachment 178331

Then Sixshooter dropped by and peer pressured me into doing a thing.

Attachment 178332

All in all the angle grinder was very easy to use as long as I braced both arms on a hard surface to keep them steady. Cut through the aluminum like butter. We used a step bit to drill the corners and then connect the dots. I still need to clean up the edges and drill the final holes for rivets but the major cuts are all done.

You did a thing!

You sure have come along way over the last few years. Very nice work.

You're alive! I cut of at least 2 grams of weight out of my hood. You'd be so proud. When is your car going to be back together?

Well I spent a significant amount on parts this month.

I am looking forward to a spirited ride in your car. Stop by sometime. I will introduce you to the family.

I thought you only needed like $300 more in parts last time we spoke. I'll definitely drive up that way to show her off.

Today I finished a thing.

Attachment 178349

I just took the car out for her inaugural drive. Meeting up with Sixshooter for some brew and then taking him for a ride. Clutch holds above 5.5k rpms now! More to follow.

Find teh oil leak!

I had the wrong date on the concert I mentioned. It isn't today. I'll be wrenching on the car.

I drove the car to Sixshooter's place and we found a few issues that need to be fixed. I have an oil leak out of the back of my valve cover that needs to be taken care of as it is coming out pretty steadily. We also noted that the turbo is still leaking oil out of the intake side. This was really upsetting as I thought I had taken care of this issue but I decided to take another look at my oil drain. BW suggests a minimum of a 1/2" line for the turbo oil drain on EFRs. I thought this is what I was running but I wanted to be sure. I pulled off the oil drain like and the brass fitting on the block and used calipers to check. Everything was indeed 1/2". The line was ever so slightly obstructed the looped power steering line and Sixshooter thought this was causing a slight kink in the line which was adding some restriction. I decided to take a look online to see if anyone else was having this issue and I found this thread on the Focus ST forum:

The EFR7163 Story - Page 25

TL;DR: This guy was having oil make it into his exhaust creating smoke and I also believe he had some come out of the intake side as well. He messed with his 1/2" (-8AN) drain line for a while before switching to 5/8" (-10AN) which completely fixed the issue. So I decided to man up and step up my own oil drain as well. I just picked up a straight 3/8" NPT to -10AN fitting and a 45 degree -10AN to push lock barb connector. I have some 5/8" braided stainless line (courtesy of Sixshooter) that I will be using. I am really hoping this is the problem. I have the car apart in my garage and will be fixing the valve cover at the same time tomorrow. With any luck I could still make Sebring.

Worked on the car today. The fittings for the new 10AN drain line required a new routing. I had to go under the steering rack and back to the turbo. This actually worked well and there are no kinks and a nice steady downhill too the oil pan.

Attachment 178390

Attachment 178391

I then moved on to the valve cover. I think I found the issue...

Attachment 178392

Got a new gasket from advanced auto and all was well.

Attachment 178393

I also cleaned out the intake piping with brake cleaner to get rid of the residual oil. The car did not like this on first start up so it took quite a lot of cranking and then a small amount of rough idling to start purring again. Valve cover leak is fixed for sure. Was going to drive around to check the new oil drain before I realized that I had a small exhaust leak from the vbands on the turbo. Clearly I was in too much of a hurry to get it all back together. Letting that cool down so I can fix those later.

Did you remove and drain the intercooler?

Yes I did. There is a surprisingly small amount of oil that gets trapped there. Almost all of it gets collected in the coldside pipe as it makes the 90 degree upward bend to the intake manifold. There is a dip there to get under the sway bar and it collected all the oil that didn't make it into the intake itself.

So I keep blowing intercooler pipes when I hit around 12psi. I don't have a bead roller and the popular DIY one I have seen here requires welding. I took a different route that just requires a cut off wheel and a file.

Heavy duty wire cutter crimpers from advanced - $20

Marked for surgery

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...02cfbdb751.jpg

Use a 4.5" angle grinder and cut off wheel to chop off the tip.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e9d1076fc5.jpg

Roughly hand file some of the ridges to create room for the pipe and avoid crimping more than you need. Get bored because hand filing takes to long and leave it looking like shit.......because good enough

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...87ac6128dd.jpg

Then you can hand crimp four beads on the pipe like so. It isn't the prettiest, fastest, or easiest way to do this but it sure is cheap and effective.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...96fa6009db.jpg

Hopefully this stop the pipes from blowing off now so I can get some virtual dyno pulls in and tune the EBC.

You should have said something. I would have gladly brought down my diy beed roller last weekend and given it to you. Mostly because I'm going to buy a real one sometime in the near future.

Blah. I love this forum. Everyone really just needs to voice their needs before they do things. Someone can probably help out. Did you check for 99-00 AC compressor/bracket?

If he does not have one, I'm almost positive @gesso or I still have one in our collective piles of scheiße

Sixshooter came over today and we finished beading my intercooler piping. We also decided to begin modifying the valve cover to allow for better venting of crankcase pressure. We drilled out and retapped my 3/8 NPT fittings to 1/2 NPT. Then Sixshooter drilled out the interior passage between the center plenum and the driver side plenum. I think this will make a huge difference in the effectiveness of my catch can setup and relieve any excess crankcase pressure.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0142458b0b.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b9446d3772.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dfb594c9c0.jpg

I still need to get some steel or copper wool in there before I seal it back up. I have fittings on order from summit that should be here sometime this week.

What catch can are you using?

​​​​​​​I don't have any spare compressor brackets.

I'm using the same all-star cannister from summit racing that Steve is using.

I finished up the valve cover this weekend. Put some course steel wool in all 3 chambers like so.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...39bd8bbedc.jpg

The crank case venting should be substantially better now that I upgraded from the puny 3/8" lines to 5/8".

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...18177355f8.jpg

Weather is pretty shit today but I am still considering taking it out for a quick spin to see if I still get any oil from the turbo now that both the breathing and oil drain have had substantial capacity added. I would really like to start getting some full throttle pulls in this thing. I want to log wastegate spool, EBC at wastegate, and then eventually hook up my VVTuner box and see how the spool is effected by that as well. I am guessing the EBC will give me atleast 500 rpms and then the VVT will do another 500rpms. I also got some ID1000s so I can turn up the boost.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5721fda850.jpg

Get that steel wool out of there asap. Its going to come apart and end up in the engine, its also going to rust away to nothing too. You need to use the copper scrubbers that are self contained.

Serious question. How does steel wool rust when it's always oiled?

"oil" Remember, the stuff going into your catch can you want to leave the engine for a reason, its corrosive and full of water.

I get that some of it will be corrosive and there will be moisture but there is also actual oil getting into those chambers which then drains back into the engine. There would be a coat of oil on the steel wool the entire time.

How will you ensure that the steel wool won't break into pieces and wreak havoc on the engine?

Edit: I see leafy just asked the same thing.

How would this even happen unless it's corroding? There is nothing moving around it. Steel wool doesn't just break apart if no force is acting upon it. It is all enclosed in completely separate chambers. You are all freaking me out but I honestly can't logically get to anything actually going wrong when there is clearly oil getting into those ports that should stop the steel from corroding. Are there any documented cases of someone losing an engine to steel wool or is this all just speculation?

I don't think it's as dramatic as the two above make it seem, but to answer the "how" question: there is condensation going through there all the time, mostly when you cold start the car. It's oil and water combined, not just "coated in oil all the time" like you think.

So I understand that moisture and other substances pass through the chambers. However, there remains a coat of oil on everything in there which is apparent anytime you remove the valve cover and open the chambers. They are not bone dry. These is a film of oil on all surfaces. So I guess it comes down to weather the oil isn't enough to protect the steel wool from the moisture and other corrosive gasses. I'm not convinced the oil won't be enough and I have never seen someone have an issue with it. I know other people have used steel wool.

The inside of my valve cover vent chambers were completely corroded from the bare aluminum remaining in contact with the moisture much of the time. And so were the steel cover plates that screw onto the bottoms of the chambers. Even the little phillips screws rusted away to nothing.

Oh, wait. Nope. Everything was really oily and had to be degreased prior to getting anything done with them. And it had been parked for a couple of weeks.

How long had yours been parked, Ryan, when you pulled the valve cover off? How dried out was it? Corroded? Rusted? I'm curious.

I'm guessing this is much more of an issue in the cancer states where Leafy lives.

Yeah, now you have salty moisture condensing in there.

Haha, leafy and I are probably neighbors...

MA isn't THAT bad...

Not so sure it's worth the risk Ryan. Get the stainless and never worry about it again.

I assume you mean copper

They probably make stainless wool somewhere. Some oem's use plastic open cell foam as a breather filter but I wouldn't. VW uses a plastic windage tray in the oil pan of some Jettas, Beetles, and Golfs but they can deform if the engine runs hot. I've seen people use green scrubber pads somewhere but cannot recall where. I wouldn't do that either.

Do whatever you think is best. I'll support you! :bigtu:

Either one. I did a quick search and found both pretty easy. Personally I would use something with a heavier caliper strand to keep bits from showing up where they shouldn't.

If you notice, those steel plates are passivated and the screws plated. Plated screws are pretty normal, but they paid extra to passivate those baffles rather than just leave em raw.

I'd be worried about something so fine just straight up coming apart. Its not like the BP is the smoothest motor ever.

I believe Chore Boy brand makes a copper scrubber that is actually copper and not some sort of copper electroplated pot metal, I'd probably be more comfortable using that in a catch can before I'd use anything steel wool. Personally I'm not comfortable putting ANYTHING like that in an engine, but that's just me.

Yes it is, especially Worcester, it's the scariest of the bunch

You should roll through some time. I legit live in the most hilarious part of town. It's so scary that all my neighbors are fellow med students or nursing students, or work in some capacity at the hospital. Hell, I can walk to the trader joes nearby.

Trader joes... now that's some scary shit!

I hate you all for making me take this engine apart again. I just want to drive the fucking car but I am going to get some copper scrubbers because you've awoken my inner paranoia.

That's the spirit!

I will never join you in eternal limbo Troy! NEVER!

I replaced the steel wool with copper scrubbers today.

Attachment 178680

I will admit that I was wrong about the steel wool. The main chunk came out all as one in each chamber. However, there was steel "dust" and small particulates left behind. These pieces could have easily been carried by oil back into the head if I had driven the car. Had to make sure I cleaned it out really well. Would have taken the car out for a drive but I needed to finish building my 4 tap keezer for my new keg setup. My chocolate mint stout is ready to be transferred to a keg.

Yum, that sounds so good!

Wait, chocolate mint stout?

You've been holding out on us!

I got my co2 tank filled yesterday so I could finish assembling and testing this beauty.


Attachment 178722

The chocolate mint stout will be her maiden voyage.

I see what you did there. It's like a bait for us to come work on the car, isn't it Ryan?

If we can't drive our cars cause of the lovely snow/salt combo, you can't either. This is payback for your nice weather :giggle:

So I've driven the car a few times since my last post. The intercooler pipes do not pop off under boost now. However, I'm still getting oil out of the compressor housing side of the turbo that is making its way into my intake piping. It didn't immediately present itself but was fairly obvious after the last time I drove the car. I'm starting to get very frustrated with this issue as I've dramatically increased the size of the oil drain and crankcase venting passages to no avail. Southeast Power Systems told me the turbo was fine but I'm starting to think the turbo has to be at fault here. I cannot for the life of me figure out why else it would be pushing oil past the seals if it has adequate drainage and the crankcase pressure isn't over the top. I can also confirm that the drain line is not so low in the oil pan. Does anyone have any insights here?

I'm hoping for a simple solution. And a cheap solution.

Do you have a turbo inlet crankcase vent?

I do not. I am currently running 2x 5/8" hoses to my catch can which vents to atmosphere. I read the catch can thread like 5 times. There still seems to be quite a bit of debate about whether running the vent to the turbo intake, intake manifold, or exhaust is necessary or even a good idea. I understand why someone would want to do this but many people don't do it. I find it very hard to believe that would be the reason for my turbo gushing oil as no one else seems to have this problem. Sixshooter runs an identical setup without issue.

That should be plenty, unless you have some other weird source of crank case pressure. Does your dipstick ever pop out? Any way to get a pressure sensor on your crank case.

My dipstick never moves. Not sure where I would put a sensor to be honest.

If you have a shop vac, try pulling the oil cap, pressurize the engine with the blower end of the shop vac, and confirm your catch can exit hose/filter is dumping a lot of air. If it is, you know that entire system is not restrictive and thus not your problem. If there's hardly anything coming out then it's probably restrictive which it shouldn't be.

If not restrictive on testing, my guess is bad turbo seals too.

Wouldn't you want a filter somewhere in that test?

Or pull vacuum at the filler hole and then check vacuum at the catch can ports.

The car doesn't have any blow-by at all at idle when you remove the 710 cap. A car with blow-by makes blow-by at idle as well as under load, in my experience.



I think he did a compression test earlier in the diagnosis of this issue with even numbers across the cylinders, which should show a cracked ring or similar issues.