1 thing leads to another when your bored....56k no no
 

Well I started last week taking shit apart solely for a new IC and pipes. Just like with a girl, one thing led to another and now I've gone a little farther than I planned on. I figure I still have another 3-4 weeks home before I can go back to work....so this should keep me busy.

Painting is a slow progress but steady...should be done soon. I think the flat black will clean everything up very nice. I'm also going to get some black wire looms and try and re-route and hide some of them bitches. Charcoal canister is gone. The new CF hood is here and the AAC headlights will be here Monday.

I'm getting a ETD manifold and rebuilding the turbo. Same RMDP but this time no gaskets. I have the IC pipes, I just need the IC. Going to mock up what I want and have them all welded and I'm going to paint them black. Got a nice K&N filter to replace my shithole ebay one. Drill and tap the oil pan and run new oil lines. And if all goes well, a new exhaust setup.

Then I need to install the new soft-top and redo the stereo. Should be a fun couple of weeks. I'm busting out my 48 hours of community service now, so that puts a small damper in the plans. I'm pretty excited though, this is the first time I've really touched the car in 2 years.

I plan on taking pictures of all the progress and updating this thread. :)

Vash-

did you have to do something special to make that MAF fit? looks might nice :bigtu:

Have you test fit the hood? On my hood the front heat vent was too far down and hit the top of the valve cover when I tried to close...so I had to trim it:vash: Looks like fun...keep pics coming!!

Looks nice, that flat black will be alot easier to keep clean than the mariner. Nice hood- pics when installed!

mazda/nissan- The MAF is the RX7 one and I just got a 3" K&N to fit it.

Ugh....don't tell me that about the hood. :bang: I cant test fit it yet. I had a hell of a time opening the box with one hand, I'm not about to try and carry it outside...lol. I'll wait till this weekend for my bro to give me a hand.

I'm hoping the flat black just cleans up the engine bay. That it wont look so shitty I guess. I'm also swapping to all black hoses. I cant decide on either a crinkle red valve cover or a flat goldish valve cover. Whichever one it will be powder coated, not painted. And I plan on cutting it to expose the cam gears and get a set of HKS ones. I'm trying to bring a little color and cleanliness to the engine bay.

I got a good amount done tonight. Here's where I stand now on the progress.

Vash-

I like the flat blacK!! wish I had thought of that sooner...It's always the waiting time that makes little Ideas turn into full scale projects. I just posted a few new pics on my Begi s3 build...while I was waiting for parts..I started a few projects..clean up wires etc. but instead of removing parts I just painted around with Rustoleum (?spell check?) using a few different sized brushes and a steady hand :bang: yeah flat looks better than gloss... not bad for a one-armed-bandit:giggle:

Thanks man! Yea...I thought for about 5 minutes in the autopart store about gloss or flat, I'm glad I went with flat. Doing this shit with really only one arm is a fucking bitch....notice I stopped at the really hard part! lol :giggle:

I hope to not be a shithead and halfass the job. The firewall just looks like its going to be a nightmare, but I figure if I got this far.....:) The hardest thing tonight by far was un-wiring the pivot headlight controller, that'll be on ebay this weekend....along with the FM hood! :bigtu:

Vash-

It reall looks GREAT. The flat black background will really be nice when you get it all done, and yes, the firewall will be a PITA. I really like your hood, where did you get it? I have been considering making that change for some time but had not seen a hood as nice as that anywhere. Keep up the good work, it will be done in no time.

that really does look good, something i've thought about doing to mine, after seeing it, i probably will eventually

so are you nixing the FM hood? Details please.

Thanks guys! I'm doin my best with it. I forgot to mention before I sprayed any paint, I used the rust converter on any rust spots I could find. Let it sit for 24 hours and boom....black, sandable primer. Both sides now have about 4-5 coats of just flat black. I'm also doing any brackets along the way I run into.

The new hood is from autokonexion and was $480. Hood looks 100% awesome, but getting it here wasn't a cake walk. All and all....I am happy, that is assuming there are no fitment problems (knock on wood). :eek5:

Hustler, the FM hood will be ready to go as soon as I get this one on. I just want to make sure all is well before I sell it. I was planning on going to ebay, but if someone here is interested....I'm all for a mt.net sale. :) I will use the same shit they used to pack my new hood (corner covers, tons of bubble wrap, and a nice box). I paid $100 to have it shipped here, so I assume $100 is the going rate.

Vash-

I dont like flat black on cars, but for some reason it doesnt bother me on this one go figure.

I vote crinkle red for VC. the gold is to ricey

Yea I think I'm going crinkle red on the valve cover, 99% sure. I'm ordering the new manifold this this week, but I'm trying to find a nice high temp paint to coat it with. Do you guys have any specific product you have used and liked the results once in the car and hot? I'm looking at VHT stuff and some products on Eastwoodco.com.

The hardest thing I am trying to figure out right now is do I get the cheaper IC with a side inlet/outlet setup. Or the more expensive V-mount bottom inlet/outlet setup. I'm not going the V-mount route, I just like the idea of 90* silicone getting me under the radiator, rather than going around it.

I know some guys might think why, but I'm not looking to go super crazy as far as a complete new turbo setup. But I'm going to rebuild the TD04 and maybe upgrade to the 19g wheel. Also having it cleaned up and the compressor housing polished.

I'm hoping that the new manifold, rebuilt turbo, 2.5 IC pipes and new IC, and a 3" exhaust makes a noticeable difference. Right now the IC pipes go from 3" to 2" and in some spots 1", they are a fucking mess...lol. And the exhaust is the FM duals 2.25" from before the turbo went on. The EMB is tuned nice for where I'm at, so I don't think I will be switching to MS until I go back to work and have the money for it.

I just hope for the new changes I make, that I make a little more power than I previously was making without touching the boost control. :)

Vash-

You dont really need a high temp paint. This is mine. And its just primer black.

Attachment 213496

^ You said you removed your charcoal canister. What does that thing do anyways? (i just never looked into it)

From what others have said it's part of the evap/emissions system. Take it out and just connect the lines. I'm still not sure what to do with the other line. I just know when everything goes back together that the canister is staying out!

The valve cover I will be buying already powder coated. I was referring to the high temp paint for the new manifold. I want it black and hidden. :)

Vash-

^So the charcoal canister is not important then. And sorry for the misunderstanding of the paint usage. black would be nice

I love the crinkle red myself, but have no idea how to do it. You know? Would love to find out so I can paint mine! :)

In a modern fuel-injected car, the fuel system is a sealed system. the charcoal canister collects gas vapors from your gas tank. During startup, the solenoid (mounted on the bracket with your igniter on the passenger-side fender well) opens and allows the gas vapors to be released from the charcoal canister to the intake manifold. By doing this, unburned gas vapors never get released to the atmosphere.

Older cars used to have vented gas caps to alleviate the pressure caused by the gas vapors. This let a lot of vapor into the atmosphere, which is technically bad, as gas vapors do a lot of harm and blah blah blah.

Just put the hood on! Literally almost got in a all out fistfight with my brother in the process. I had to ask for help with my wrist being fucked and all. He was insulted because I asked him to be careful, from there it just blew up and I did everything I could to not lose control.....fuck me. :vash:

In any case, the hood looks great! I'm really glad I painted the sides of the fenders black, I think it would have looked like shit being blue. No clearance issues like someone said earlier. I cant decide whether I will add hood pins or not, I probably will to keep the hood from bouncing on the highway. Gaps seem even, CF looks awesome. All and all I am a very happy customer. Now I just need to add the black mesh, drill a hole for the hood prop, and decide on pins. Now I wait for the AAC CF healights to get here...:)

Vash-