Idle hands: assorted projects

[UnderControl]

Got brackets in black.

 

 

Then spent some time working out rerouting the fuel line and getting wires sorted.

 

 

 

[Rustbin]

Are you friends with Mr Bluehands? 

[UnderControl]

Cheap gloves make convenient caps, and in the case of the water in and out lets they made for a good way to keep from spilling more coolant on the floor when I flipped the engine on the stand.

 

Got the wire routing and branches all situated so it's on to turning rainbow spaghetti into black cannelloni.

 

 

[UnderControl]

Engine harness is all wrapped up.

 

 

 

[UnderControl]

While I've had things out of the way I wanted to go ahead and address my old fuel rail spacers. The nylon has seen better days and was probably never really appropriate anyway.

 

 

With 4 shiny 6061 spacers turned up and new gaskets on the valve covers and intake I was able to button up the top side.

 

 

 

[UnderControl]

Onto plumbing the turbo. Oil feed line is easy enough.

 

 

Using the same feed port as before.

 

 

This is about the time I started questioning my packaging decisions. Turbos are supposed to be kept with the drain no more than 15° from vertical and with my existing drain fittings I'm sitting at about 30. Did some figuring on how to make up a hard line.

 

 

Have some 3/8" stainless so went ahead and roughed out a new flange. It'll be tight.

 

 

 

Times like this make me really wish I had a mill. I may remake the flange out of 1/4" for some extra clearance. The real trick will be finding some 9/16-5/8 stainless tube locally.

 

[datzenmike]

 Can you not clock the compressor and turbine housings so the center housing oil return outlet rotates and is facing down? Gives you more clearance than present also.

[UnderControl]

Pictured is after clocking the center section to get the angle to ~13.5°. Had I thought that far ahead when building the up pipe I'd have put the flange more parallel with the ground or even angled a bit towards the engine. Doing so now would require more rework than just making a hard line.

 

Waiting on a call back from the metal gettin spot, but sounds like they may actually have a few feet of 5/8" 304 tube locally.

[UnderControl]

Printed up some 5/8 pie cuts to test clearance while I wait on the real deal. The test fit did verify that the 3/8 flange probably isn't gonna fly. So I'll get around to making to making up one out of 1/4.

 

While I wait on parts I started working on the coolant lines. Which led me to tonight's installment of making things that are cheaply and easily available.

 

 

I had previously used the throttle body coolant ports, but I no longer have the heater lines those branches from so I'm just going to use the heater ports. They're quite a bit larger than the -6 lines that actually go to the turbo.

 

 

Will need to get another fitting for the return line since the 90° fitting I used previously fouls on the wastegate.

 

 

[UnderControl]

Started playing around with getting the drain hard line made up. Also fully verified that the 3/8" flange won't work, even with a counter bore for the tube to sit in it's still too tall to use with these pie cuts. With the 1/4" flange it's still tight.

 

 

 

I'll end up switching out the bolts on the drain flange for studs to make it easier to install. I have new hardware for the turbo flange that should be lower profile on the way as well.

[UnderControl]

Oil drain fun continues.

 

 

New low profile nuts provide some clearance.

 

 

It clears the drain tube, but with the drain in place I don't think there would be any hope of actually getting a tool on it to tighten it. So, I may end having to bolt the turbo on to the crossover before installing it back on the car, which will make that fun to install.

 

 

The rest can be mostly straight, although after putting it back in the car I think I'll redo that last bit to kick it toward the back a touch.

 

 

[UnderControl]

Got the last section of tube adjusted and am happy enough with where it's landing. Will have a pretty short run for the AN hose.

 

 

I neglected to get any additional oics before cutting the tacks off the flange to get it all welded up.

 

 

Just need to weld the flange back on and assemble the hose before being able to cross that off the list. I'll also need to switch around my coolant hoses since the hard line gets in the way of running the return from the near side of the turbo.

[UnderControl]

Aside from tidying up the coolant and feed lines the turbo plumbing is done.

 

 

Tough to get a decent picture down there.

 

 

[UnderControl]

Axel is back in. Still need to pull and paint the diff cover.

 

 

Otherwise I been fiddling with piddly bits. Got a clamp on the oil feed line.

 

 

Put the down pipe back in to get the wideband wiring routed.

 

 

Then tore apart the interior and cut a big hole in the dash under the gauge pod for easier routing of wires and hose.

 

 

 Not really sure why a gauge that should pull <5A would require a relay, but the manual calls for one and I have some micro relays and holders on hand so meh.

 

 

Don't have any climate control at this point so I did a bit of probing to find an already fused, switched power wire to commandeer. ignore the twisted wires, just a quick test until the proper connectors show up.

[UnderControl]

Continuing to knock out small tasks to the end of completing this project. Really stretching the definition of post worthy at this point, but meh. Here's where the air filter is probably going. 

 

 

 

Ultimately I'd like to box it in and duct the grille to it, but that may be out of scope for the moment. Otherwise, just doing some basic bolting things on. Still trying to decide how I'm going to handle the power steering cooler, but plenty of things to worry about while I figure it out.

[UnderControl]

Got tired of trying to figure out how to make the power steering cooler not look like ass up front. So, back to an earlier thought of mounting it to the fan shroud.

 

 

Made a clamp to attach the upper section.

 

 

And added a few extra windows to the shroud for air flow over the cooler.

 

 

Haven't decided if I'll make another aluminum clamp for the hoses or if I'll just end up using some p clips.

[UnderControl]

Aluminum clamp it is. I was just going to use p clips, but getting them into position was a pain in the ass. 

 

 

Decided to remake the oil drain line. The stainless braided hose was so stiff it was impossible to get on and off with the turbo actually bolted down. This time I went with a nylon braid. It's still finicky to get in, but do able.

 

 

With that done I did a quick test of removing and reinstalling the crossover with the turbo attached. Wasn't as difficult as I had expected. The quick release clamps definitely helped although a 3rd hand would have been nice. 

[UnderControl]

Wrapped up the radiator mounting situation. Wanted the upper mounting to be a bit more solid than what was being provided by just tightening the cover. So, I turned up some bosses so I can bolt the radiator to it.

 

 

While I was at it I also added some lightness and style to the cover. 

 

 

As long as I was playing around with aluminum on the lathe I figured I'd address the broken plastic lock pulls on the square body.

 

 

 

Threads could use to be cut a bit deeper, but I bottomed out the tap so I'll have to do a relief bore to get any more. Much easier to break into with something you can actually wrap a coat hanger around.

[UnderControl]

Pretty much the last thing to do on the turbo portion of this project is to get a support figured out. A bit of measuring and doodling came up with something that should work for the turbo side.

 

 

 

Got to squish the blanket a bit, but this is fine. Short straight shot to the alternator which looks like a good spot to put another bracket.

 

 

[UnderControl]

Got started on the engine side of the brace.

 

 

Will almost certainly add another leg that puts the joint in double shear to add some additional rigidity, but that'll have to wait for the actual joints I'm going to use to arrive. Might be a bit tight for the turn buckle I ordered, but nothing a band saw and a lathe shouldn't be able to handle. 

 

 

[UnderControl]

While I wait for the turn buckle I figured I may as well replace some more crusty rod ends and spacers. This time for steering.

 

 

Making sure to get my use out of the left over stainless bar I got for the spacers on the lower control arms. Went a bit shorter for the lower spacers to get a little better engagement of the nylon on the lock nuts.

 

 

I'm just going to ignore the crusty bits above it.

 

[UnderControl]

Brace is braced.

 

 

Made up some spacers to get the rod ends pretty well lined up.

 

 

Probably going to pop a hole and add a light dimple to the turbo bracket because reasons. Otherwise just needs paint. 

[UnderControl]

Weird weather week here. Started the week with snow and sub-freezing temps and ended up in the low 70s today. I know better than to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I took the opportunity to get some painting done.

 

 

In addition to the various brackets and diff cover I finally got around to capping off the tube ends on the bash bar and painted it as well.

 

 

Since I'm fairly confident I'm don't need the exhaust/turbo to come back out at this point I went ahead and wrapped the crossover and downpipe.

 

 

 

[UnderControl]

Last few days haven't been terribly exciting. Finished rewiring my auxillary gauges and properly mounted my battery cutoff switch.

 

 

Managed to fish the wire for my coolant temp sender under the intake to the adapter in the upper hose.

 

 

Tonight I finally got around to putting the turbo and assorted sundries back in.

 

 

Wasn't too terrible to get in, although the wastegate dump put up a bit of a fight. Opted to leave the blanket off for initial start up to make looking for leaks easier, and definitely not because I forgot to put it on before getting the crossover installed.

[UnderControl]

I was going to wait to fix the tail pipe, but since the season for driving cars without heat has long passed I might as well get to it.

 

Here's where it should be. 

 

 

I needed to make a new forward mount for the muffler, partly because the old one fell to pieces and is absurdly expensive to replace. Partly because I broke one of the bolts; the other hole is crunchy and my metric tap selection is lacking.

 

 

Figured it would also be a good idea to toss the frame for the watts link in to make sure clearance wouldn't be an issue.

 

 

Plenty of room for exhaust activities. Still need to cut the old sway bar links out and clean up under there.