Finally my own build thread
 

After 4 months of prep I started the turbo install last weekend. Many forum members will notice parts that they were going to throw out, but sold to me instead :).

Started by removing the stock manifold and exhaust system. The previous owner decided he would weld the entire exhaust into one piece, so it took a fair amount of wiggling and twisting to remove.

2.25" catback exhaust installed:

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/4656/dsc00428to5.jpg



Got the ETD manifold repaired over the week (it had a crack due to relief cuts), and I hogged out all the stud holes so it has space to expand when hot.

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/6787/dsc00423iz3.jpg



Everything is just mocked up so I can figure out the charge pipe routing. Not that I will use the ridiculous Greddy ? pipe in its present form:

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/1/dsc00422gh3.jpg



Cold side is pretty much figured out:

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/8034/dsc00425hg6.jpg



The pipes don't hang that much below the car:

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/156/dsc00427pd0.jpg


Green wire indicates the radiator position. The intercooler brackets will need some cutting. Here the intercooler is just kept on the ground (working alone, that too in an apartment parking lot, sucks):

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/6563/dsc00424kt4.jpg


Boost gauge and the innocuous megasquirt serial comm plug (time to play spot-the-DB9 ;)):

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3196/dsc00431qi0.jpg


I still need to mount the wastegate actuator. Its just sitting on one hole. Think it'll be ok on one bolt?

Ask ben :giggle: I believe his is mounted on one hole.

Keep the updates coming. Love the DIY builds

Nice exhaust and boost gauge. :bigtu: Looks like its coming along well. Keep the pics coming.
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

Kool. What intercooler is that? I thought mine was small.

stock Greddy kits, and therefore most of us Greddy folk, only have one bolt securing the WGA to the compressor.

First gen MX6/Probe GT. Its big enough for my needs. If IAT's go too high I will switch to something more substantial like an Evo intercooler.

Are you cheating by using an audio jack to DB9 ala Microsquirt?

If so, then it is the audio connector in the plate.

We ran microsquirt on the FSAE car this year, otherwise I would have been in the dark.

Met Bruce Bowling at competition actually.

Looks like a fun build, can't wait to get my shit started.

Yeah its the stereo plug.

Progress is really slow due to my schedule. I hope to finish plumbing the intercooler this week. I just found out my drill takes a max of 3/8" bits, need to return it and buy a 1/2" one. Gotta love harbor freight's extended warranty.

props for being a driveway/carport/parking lot builder man..

I barely get by in my garage, dont think I'd even attempt 1/2 this stuff otherwise...

GL!

I work in a car port with like a 50ft extension cord from my house. My neighbors love me!!!

Can someone please educate me with regards to relief cuts? I have read lots of conflicting posts on the subject. People say that the Greddy manifolds MUST have relief cuts or they will crack. Pipefather has just had his ETD repaired as it cracked BECAUSE of relief cuts and by the looks of the pictures he has welded the cuts up. I may be being very dense but this is confusing the hell out of me :P

Thanks

Tom

Intercooler mounted:

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/9781/dsc00432vs9.jpg

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/2992/dsc00433kz7.jpg

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/5219/dsc00434gq9.jpg


I ended up removing nearly 15" of the original jim b pipes.

looks nice so far, i cant wait to be starting my build

Good progress......
 

Oil pan drilled and tapped. Really, I dont know what the big deal is about this. It took me all of 15 minutes to do the actual work. Of course, I took off the passenger side wheel and got good access to the area with the drill held horizontal.

I started with a pilot drill bit about as big as the 9/16" bit's web diameter. That made it easier to center the large bit and prevented walking. I was able to get an accurate round hole without any swearing or struggling. I used PTFE lubricant on the drill which also contained all the drill swarf. It made tapping a heck of a lot easier too.


http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/23/dsc00452dx9.jpg


This is the fitting I used. It is 3/8" NPT to 5/8" barb, along with a locknut. I used fuel/oil resistant pipe thread sealant, and there was no need for any jb weld as the subsequent flushing operation showed no leaks.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/8720/dsc00450dj5.jpg

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/5921/dsc00448cv0.jpg


I sanded and painted the manifold with BBQ spray paint. Looking good now. Don't know for how long it'll stay on though:

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/9650/dsc00457sn8.jpg

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/464/dsc00460dy4.jpg


The intercooler as seen from the outside of the car:

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8959/dsc00456hv7.jpg


Yeah, I know :cool: You can't quite see it.

Finally, pics of the car as it sits today:

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/676/dsc00461vs2.jpg

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2122/dsc00429ue5.jpg

Any ideas on quick and dirty ways of plumbing the intake side of the compressor?

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/817/dsc00462mn7.jpg


The coupler coming off the compressor is 2.5" ID and necessary for the bypass valve return line. The AFM and greddy stock foam filter is what I have.

Is the corrugated hose you get at home depot/hardware store a good solution?

the flex hose will work temporarily, PRE-COMPRESSOR ONLY! obviously it will expand massively after the turbo, but I see you already have metal pipes there already.

I put my afm with a fairly flat filter straight off the turbo, but didn't have the recirculating pipe (VTA) and a greddy turbo+manifold, so I dunno how much farther forward/backward yours fits

I used exhaust paint on my manifold, it turns greyish, but its lasted a month or two including a track day.

props from me too for doing this in a parking lot!

thanks.

i actually tried using the stock greddy intake U-pipe, but the AFM sits at the wrong angle with that, due to the turbo being farther forward and lower.

Wait. Thou hast a Megasquirt, no?

Be gone the AFM!

Or is it there to comply with a series rule? If that be the case, could you not put the AFM directly on the compressor inlet, or on a short 90? Doesn't really matter the mounting angle if it's not being used. A clever person might even open it up and loosen the spring a few dozen turns.

Great progress man, but why did you paint the flanges? I forsee leakage there.

Actually I think that's what I will end up doing. The reason I want to retain it is because the filter mounts to it, and the insides are gutted like so:

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/3913/dsc00344lr2.jpg

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/4...0352tq8.th.jpg

I'll probably mount all the electronics into a hobby box, and begone with the AFM.

Even with a gasket?

Looks great, Saw some pieces that used to be in my possession. I feel like a father sending their children off to do more work elsewhere. Doesen't look like your using many however.... Great build. Goodluck with it all. Be done with the AFM. Cleaner / Neater.

I want to get rid of my flowmeter, not as bad as yours, but it doesn't do any good. Yours is a work of art, so it'd be nice to save it, but just mount it on your livingroom wall. Anyway, congrats on the build, been waiting for that for a long time!

OMG that's a beautiful fitting. I wish I'd done that.

I didn't JBweld, just a normal fitting, but the angle is nice, and the locknut can't hurt.

The issue I noticed was I did a similar things, had no trouble with it, chips, etc. But when I pulled (unrelated) my oil pan a few days later, it was FULL of shavings. I'd used grease, shop vac to suck, air compressor to blow, and washed it with several times the amount of solvant FM recommended..... I really thought I was good but it wasn't even close.

That said, I don't know what to do different. Pull the pan, or just live with it. :-)

Thank you peoples.

I decided to keep the AFM for now, since I couldn't find a way to have that AND keep the recirc valve (very important to the stealth factor) with the parts I have right now.

Problem solved:

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/9381/dsc00465nn8.jpg

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/245/dsc00466fs2.jpg


3" aluminum flex hose from Ace hardware. Not what I'd like to see in my engine bay, ideally, but it should do for now. The rubber flex hose is for the odd-shaped BPV recirc fitting on the subaru turbo inlet.

I see problems in your near future...
I'd get a Silicone 90* to go off the turbo towards the fender, that way you retain your recirc location and have a much shorter intake tube and the current one gets out of the way of your fan.



Oh, and yes, gasket = more leakage. The turbo flange is the one that usually leaks even with gasket, see if you can get them ground flat, both mani and turbo, and then mate up with out gasket. The Mani to head flange may be ok if you belt sand it and use a standard exhaust gasket. Hope this saves you some headaches.

thanks for the advice, i'll see what i can do about that.

The beginnings of a stupendously average :bigtu: downpipe:

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4732/dsc00477vr5.jpg

http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/6158/dsc00478gz4.jpg

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/5800/dsc00479zk5.jpg

It is 2.25" and mig welded at the local exhaust shop. thanks to miataspeed1point6 for tack-welding the pieces.
Some research on the subie forums revealed that people haven't seen that much of a gain with a bellmouthed flange on the TD04L. Could be something to do with the wastegate flapper placement and the way it opens. So I decided to keep it simple for now, and thus the flange is just a flat plate.

The lower section of the downpipe will have a flex section in it and go straight to the catback (no cat). It wont be welded on to the top section, just fastened with a slip-on style clamp. This is to maintain the awesome serviceability that this downpipe has, there's no need to remove even the turbo or jack up the car, it can be pulled out straight from under the hood.

Engine bay plumbing done:

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/2037/dsc00480bx2.jpg

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6410/dsc00484xp9.jpg

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/9068/dsc00481dr5.jpg


Rear shelf clearance:

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/8303/dsc00482zq6.jpg


Does anyone think I should clamp the upper downpipe to the stock location on the bell housing? I have read that this caused failures when not using a flex section. But I will be using one. I am worried that the thin gauge (0.065") I used on the upper downpipe elbow might give out eventually.

So now the only things remaining are:

1) Weld up lower downpipe section.

2) Transfer MAP sensor to different housing. Working on that right now.

3) Weld IAT sensor bung. Any idea where I can find a steel one locally?

4) Bleed coolant to the turbo.

5) Turn key. Tune. Enjoy. Repeat. (OR, see everything go up in smoke :noob:)


Let me know what you guys think of this.

looks much better and your progress is great, and what can I say: you are building a twin of my future project, so I am all over your thread waiting for updates all the time :D

HOWEVER:

I dont know where or how you got your info, but the bellmouth not making much power as oposed to the plate is COMPLETELY THE OPPOSITE FROM THE TRUTH.....
The hks dp for subies is the only one out of all of them ever designed like that...it is a complete and utter failure. brand new they try to sell them for 99 bux shipped and noone buys them. that is because it is very very bad, most td04's wont go past 14-15psi on them easily, because of the shitty "identical to stock" design....the only folks that still use that downpipe are externally wastegated.

now you can beleive me or not, but I have never heard of it not making a difference.

ps: I tuned 2 05 wrx's last week, one had a bellmouth dp and exhaust, the other a borla header, uppipe, exhaust, and hks downpipe...the latter made significantly less power with more mods same boost level similar tune..the only thing i can blame for it was the downpipe.
im sorry, Im not trying to be negative, just sharing my .02:o

thanks for the kind comments. I was kinda hoping you would see this thread and comment on the downpipe. I got that info from NASIOC's downpipe FAQ:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...hreadid=445812

Now I know better than to blindly follow some FAQ, but the evidence in that and other threads is compelling, and you said so yourself:

I do believe you, but for my goals (7-8 psi max, for now ;)) I don't think its worth the effort and money for me to do a bellmouth.

Plus, when you want to make some actual horsepower (oh, no thanks, a few hp is fine for me, thanks), you can run an external. I sure wish I had that excuse to change over. :-)

I like the intake, nice!

ahh, ok I see now. Im so used to see 15-20psi on subies I keep forgetting that miata's usually run low boost. In that case I dont think itl kill your performance THAT bad, after all you will be pushing so much less exhaust gasses through that hotside you wouldnt even be giving the turbo a proper workout :D
Besides, when you're ready for bigger power and more boost, this will be a good excuse to go external in future

forget DEI, now there's DRHI....Direct radiator heat injection....


and how exactly is the wastegate supposed to work now?

yeah i will do something about the filter. Allow the noob to test v1.0 before thinking about v3.0 :).

Wastegate works same as it does on the stock subaru downpipe:

http://nathan-warner.com/stock_vishnu-downpipe.jpg

pipe on the left side.


MAP sensor/IAT pigtail mounting box done:

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8514/dsc00487mn6.jpg

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/589/dsc00488kh0.jpg

can i has pic of backside of turbo?

Sure:

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/6...mals009wj6.jpg

did u consider porting it? ive heard good things about improved spool and more power from a good porting...
this is a finished product of what im working on:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...rsx/turbo3.gif
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...rsx/turbo2.gif
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...irsx/turbo.gif
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...rsx/turbo4.gif

ok makes more sense now.... shouldn't be an issue. But I think the bellmouth would be better.

holy shit that's a lot of work. why not get a vf39 instead?

pfather- you need at least a cheap 110 mig welder... I think it's holding you back. There's no way that dp flange isn't killing exhaust flow when the wastegate opens... no way.

i mean, technically it's exactly how my t3 is....while i would prefer to have a bell mouth...i have no means..unless i build a new DP.


http://www.atpturbo.com/Merchant2/gr...GT-010_450.jpg


but i agree....it probably hurts flow. but even with my wastegate ported i still have creep :)


what i really need is this:

http://www.racetep.com/carpics/T3T4starcoatedsm.jpg

Its actually not that bad if you have the right air tools, and some time to kill while waiting for other mods to come in....

there are lots of reasons to go that route over a vf39, first of all the spool: on a ported td04 like that, spool is ridiculously fast. auto-x guys can appreciate that. the flow also gets a tad better, making the turbo a bit peppier up top and not fall flat on its as as violently as it does on a stock wrx.

I actually considered a vf39 or better yet, a vf34 on a miata, but changed my mind: they are 3-4 times more expensive, the 39 will be considerably laggier, and the 34 way too expensive altogether: used they go for like 500-600. With a ported td04 u get the best of both worlds: good spool, enough power, and most of all: cheap.

hmm, maybe i'll think about it once I get tired of the present setup.

m2cupcar: did you notice the deep "dish" that the turbine wheel and the wastegate flapper are set in, compared to some other garretts and even the Greddy turbo? i guess that's what prevents the loss of significant flow at lower exhaust flow rates. the subaru people have been using this with good results for up to 10-15 psi, even the STi (which runs around 12 psi stock) has the same type of downpipe, and that turbo spools by 2000 rpm.

But yeah, I agree, a bellmouth wouldn't have hurt in any case. Anyway, today's the big day, let's see what the results are.

Alright guys, ITS DONE!!!

Got the lower downpipe welded by a muffler shop (so much faster), but the idiot did put a crush bend in there when I told him not to. Ah well, its not bad, just not what I'd like to see in an exhaust.

There's still a small leak near the upper/lower DP junction, I need to get one of those stepped band clamps like the turbo tony DP uses. Also my LC1 isnt hooked up.

But that didn't stop me from hooking up the laptop, loading up a safe (rich, but not pig rich) map, and going for a ride.

here's the result:

http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/1979/spoolrx2.jpg


Comments???

Looking good :bigtu: Now get that WB hooked up and have fun tuning for the next 6 months :D

Edit: Woo 100th post. God im sad :bang:

Please elaborate

Get a Dynafile, a straight air grinder and a pack of Clean ‘n Strip disk from Scotch-Brite and you're done

UPDATE:

car has been running fine for the past 4 days. Its really rich and running retarded timing (got 18 or 19 mpg:eek5:) because the damn band clamp is in transit from NAPA and there's no real sense in hooking up the LC1. But the power is just awesome!! The turbo has COMPLETELY transformed the character of the car, its way, way better this way.

So I went ahead and invested in a set of nice wheels: Can anyone guess what wheels these are??? HINT: its a staggered size front and rear.


http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/2778/dsc00502bk9.jpg

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/7429/dsc00501jo5.jpg

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/1488/dsc00499rq6.jpg

lookin good....i cant wait till u get dyno tuned and see what this setup is good for....

MRS. Congrats on getting it running dude.

from a 2000+ MR2 spyder?

bang on.......

drop it like it's hot!

Where were those pictures taken? I feel like I've seen the background before.

Hines Drive and Haggerty in Livonia.

Looks good. Glad you got it up and running so quickly. Is it faster than mine?

i have no idea, its still completely untuned.....but I intend to find out soon LOL.

Congratulations pipefather :-) Nice build you have there. If its a B6 the td04 isn't a bad choice. If it's BP its a bit on the small side. Now it's up and running you can swap bits in and out pretty easily anyway.

Fred.

thanks fred. looks like its holding 7 psi boost right up to the redline, even untuned. its funny i'm even hitting 7 psi at the manifold because that's supposedly the wastegate opening pressure. So I have 0 psi intercooler pressure drop then??

Well, I measured the "pressure" of my wastegate via spring rate and compression etc etc and got 18.2, on the car I saw 17 - 17.5 at the manifold at full boost, but 3.5psi with the gate wide open. Most likely your gate is slightly stiffer than it says to account for coolers etc. Also, the lower your boost the closer to exhaust pressure you are at etc and the more likely you are to get exactly the gate pressure at least at the turbo side of the cooler. Your cooler is a decent size, I wouldn't expect too much drop from it on a B6.

disclaimer : I'm no expert, just opinionated as all hell ;-)

are there some videos for a car starved kiwi stuck in england?

Fred.

Nice progress Pipe, congrats on getting it on the road so quickly.