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