Steveevo9

iTrader: (4)

Your car is coming along very nicely mate, well done.

I will try to give you some options for your exhaust manifold candidates through my own investigation, cost not considered.

After Market:


http://www.gtspec.com/index.php?nav=...&pid=57&cat=93,
http://www.racebydesign.net/store/in...16d27cf8f2b01b

http://www.junauto.co.jp/products/exhaust-part/index.html?en',

http://www.powerplayimports.com/index.php?page=parts_list&cat_id=209',

http://www.evasivemotorsports.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=TOMEI_MANIF OLD',

http://www.full-race.com/catalog/pro...85c23476a4340d,

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...=303683&page=2, Mynes,

http://www.jmfabrications.com/catalo...roducts_id=289,

http://www.jic-magic.com/ViewProduct...41&CarMakeID=6, &

http://www.jscspeed.com/evo/exhaust/...vomanifold.htm,

Ported OEM

http://www.norcalevo.net/forum/index...c,24339.0.html,

http://www.fiaracecentricstore.webde...35/4372880.htm,

http://www.paradigmperformance.net/p.../manifold.html,

https://secure.buschurracing.com/cat...57653363878de9,

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=330262, MILSPEC do Exhaust Manifolds as well, &

http://www.musemotorsports.com/cem_evo.html.

Some Manifold Covers


http://www.cobbtuning.com/products/?id=3345,

http://www.evo9parts.com/product.php?productid=697,

http://www.rallysportdirect.com/shop...cbc0883356383d, &

https://secure.buschurracing.com/cat...74579387210b6c.

I like the Full Race, Mynes, & JM Fabrications in the tubular design, they all look well built & strong. The FR & Mynes have shown nice gains dyno wise.

For strength & OEM looks with very good gains I prefer PPI stock ported & Burschur Racings offerings, also the Crucial Racing version looks the goods as well.

No doubt you have seen all these around with the depth you have gone into your very nice evo. Just some food for thought mate.

Regards Steve

saff_cossie

Car looks to be coming along nicely, well done and interesting read.

I have an FQ-400 rep here in Australia which has most of the parts list on it including badging. I cannot take credit for all the work as I purchased it like this but it has been done very well. It has 412bhp at the fly going by my rough calculations on drive train loss.

Will post up some pics if people are interested

MagicManRed

iTrader: (14)

Dude, I cannot thank you enough for that. You're the man. I really really appreciate it. I ended up getting the GT Spec manifold. It's basically a replica of the HKS. The runners on it are equal length to stock, only it's prettier and 5lbs lighter. (See my next post) I read a bad review of the GT Spec here on evoM, but there was too much mumbo jumbo about how the experiment wasn't controled. anyho... I'm happy with it.

And to all of those people that say you canNOT install a turbo mani without dropping the turbo or gorilla-ing out the mani... you're wrong. You have to remove the oil/coolant lines from it, loosen your downpipe (and carbing 6 point bar if you have one so that the DP can go down a bit on its rubber hangers) and you'' have enough play to take the manifold off of the studs and slip it off the head. Then again, depending on what manifold you buy... maybe putting it in may require you to remove the turbo. One of the bolts for the GT Spec requires a stubby 14mm. there is NO other way to get to it. Thats the ONE thing that having the turbo removed would have possibly hepled with.

YES YES YES , i want to see pics! hell yes.

I really cannot thank everybody enough for all of the support and positive feedback! thanks man, thank you very much :-)

The engine is pretty much almost done. Next is the FP Green evo turbo, and I'm pretty much finished under the hood (with exceptions to a motor damper)

after that, its drive train, and well, you know the rest. I've only mentioned it like 100 times. LOL

MagicManRed

iTrader: (14)

Sorry guys. This friday that just passed, I couldnt make it to the dyno in NJ because I ran into a bit of a problem putting in my turbo manifold. In the process of loosening the bolts, I stripped/snapped one of them into the turbo. Had to drill it out and re-tap it. (worked out just fine, and I didn't have to take out the turbo)

But anywho... here are some pics of what I've been doing lately. The next weekend coming up I'm DEFINITELY going to the dyno. This monday I'll be getting my greddy profec II spec B so I'll be holding that 23psi throughout the whole rpm band. Cant want to see my numbers.

Some pics of the trunk bar i installed:












Now some pics of the turbo manifold installation:












Here are some things i noticed when I had them side by side. The stock manifold, had what seemed to be a better port job. Even though the GT Spec had the right cut outs, if u look deep enough, you'll see that it's almost a circle port, which doesnt match up with the turbo. I question flow at this point. (but i'm no professional).






What I also noticed is that on the stock manifold, the runners accumulated with a smaller angle V which meant less air was running into itself. The GT Spec seemed too open to the point that one runner may want to feed the other. See pics below to see what I'm talking about. I did my best with the focus.







Anywho... after removing the turbo, time to clean up some threads. (I don't take chances with installs, weather it be on my car, or someone elses, I've had too many bolts snap, studs strip, hell it even happened on this un-install, only more reason for me to do whats in the pictures below and then use some never-sieze.








Now for the cool part!! God I love my scale. LOL



5lbs GONE! Like magic. Now I don;t have to worry about that trip to mcdonalds witht he supersized meal.


Glamour shots:












After a days driving. (the discoloration. still looks good)





I bought some heat wrap, and if you noticed, I put some on my upper radiator hose that was very close to the upper intercooler pipe.
While i was at it, I decided to wrap my downpipe (which is massive) because it ran right across the t-case, and the oil pan. Not to mention , was resting on my 6 pt carbing brace. (this wrap now eliminated my rattle). I also (when I had my downpipe loose) grinded down the sleeves of the spring loaded bolts for the downpipe fastener... and now NO MORE EXHAUST LEAK! yessssssss. I got that nvidia outlet housing to work with the turbo XS donut gasket (the custom one that I grinded in the early pics of this thread). anywho... here are the pics of the wrapping.




Yes I used zip ties, so sue me. LOL I love them haha.


This weekend I'll have a dyno graph for u guys. Maybe i'll use sean ivey... or go back to t-trix. dunno yet.


hope to hear from u guys!
-MR

MagicManRed

iTrader: (14)

ugh... zip ties melted ... figured they would. so i stapled the heatwrap.

Anyone know if i put the heatwrap on backwords? is the metalic side the barrier? and should the cloth side be on the outside of the part you are trying to keep the heat in?

let me know if you guys know anything about this.

-MR

Steveevo9

iTrader: (4)

You are very welcome my friend. Well done with all the photo's you are providing us with, it shows how much attention to detail & passion you are putting into your build.

I thought the ole zip ties would let go at some time , I'm a fan of them as well. Another method to try is using tie wire (stainless would be nice if you can get it) to hold your heat wrap on, it comes up very neat as well.

The new manifold looks awesome from GTSPEC, certainly adds looks to the engine bay. I hope it's performance matches it's looks, I really like their O2 housing as well. I'll keep checking in on your progress & updates, give that dyno hell mate.

Regards Steve

saff_cossie

Here is a picture, my other ones are too big so will host them externally and put a link up.

Enjoy.

BBS

iTrader: (18)

I wish we could get that Owens development manifold like the 360 and 400 utilize :[

MagicManRed

iTrader: (14)

greddy profec 2 spec B going in tonight! pics tomorrow...
Dyno on friday! then pics of that of course...

a little worried though... I've been noticing a strange air type smooth whistling sound as soon as the turbo kicks in, and then the reverse sound of it when i let off throttle. almost like an air leak...

any ideas of what this may be?

I'm going to check all my couplers before putting in the boost controller....
It's kinda strange, almost makes my BOV sound like an HKS with a whistle at the end... just a deeper toned whistle. LOL

in a way... i hope its the turbo taking a crap
I know what u guys are wondering, why would my turbo go bad at under 30k miles... well, when the stock turbo manifold was off... i stuffed a towel in the hot/cold of the turbo so that no dust gets in.

with MY luck... it rained that night, HEAVY. (my car was in the driveway) and with my luck yet again... the evo had to have the vented hood that allows water to go through... and AGAIN... with my luck the turbo manifold sits RIGHT underneath that...

So when I popped the hood that morning... the towel was soaked... and there were little puddles of watter down into the turbo. I soaked up as much as I could, nothing I could've done about it really.

there were even small metal shavings in the puddles that came off of the towel from re-tapping one of the holes for the turbo manifold.

So anywho... slapped on the gt spec, turned the car on... all was fine... revved her up to burn/spit out anything and it seemed great. even seemed to get rid of an exhaust leak i had.

didnt notice anything then... but maybe it all took a toll? if it did... looks like I'll be getting the FP Green REALLY soon... made quite the chunk of $$ yesterday... gotta love the computer business... over 1k in a day... i wish i could do that everyday for the rest of my life.



so i apologize in advance if it turns out that i have to reschedule the upcoming friday dyno tune yet again... tonight i will know for sure. if it's just a coupler, i should be fine, but im worried that it's not, cause the car didnt really lose any power.


ahhh enough of my rambling... get back at me guys!!! i need your feedback!!

-MR

Steveevo9

iTrader: (4)

G'day MR,

I just read the other day that Mike@AWD did some tests on exhaust mani's & they went with the GTSPEC/FP because it made the most power.

Regards Steve

MagicManRed

iTrader: (14)

you have no idea how happy that just made me .... YESSSSSSSS

FP it isss... i really hope i push about 450 awhp once i get the FP in...



**NEWS**

turns out i WONT be going to the dyno this fri... Have to do some minor body work, and still have to diagnose that air/whistle sound and make sure i'm not getting any leaks.

I don't want an improper tune, or a dyno sheet that isnt accurate showing my HP if im leaking somewhere...

funny thing is that my boost guage shows no difference in the reading since before the noise. its a VERY low noise, and you can only notice it when its quite out with the windows up. once the turbo spools, you cant hear it at all if it were even still making the noise, (which im pretty sure it isnt) I think its just the way the air is hitting the intercooler pipes at a weird angle as it passes through one of the couplers making a whistling sound. Reseating them would correct it, but who has time for that? LOL

I'll most likely be ordering the FP Green Evo in 1 or 2 weeks, with the ported housing and the 18psi actuator (hey, if ur gonna do it, do it all the way!)


Also, since i'll be off this friday, i'll finally have time to put on that greddy profec and take some pics and give you my feedback on how it holds boost on a stock turbo.

talk to you guys soon!
i cannot thank you enough!

-MR

MagicManRed

iTrader: (14)

Sorry its been a while guys... been doing research on combination of parts and what type of power is being out putt-ed (if there is such a word LOL)

Looks like instead of the FP Green, I'll be getting the FP Red. and I managed to skip the waiting line of the turbo by 2 mothns to 2 weeks. (someone had a few in stock with ported housings)

Apparently this turbo can produce 500 hp with stock internals, and some good parts on the car. The man selling this turbo to me says that my intercooler (not being as efficient as some other ones out there) and high flow cat may bring down the 500 number, but im content that my o2 housing and injectors may make up for it a little bit. Hell i'll be happy with 450-480 awhp.

This has now just become project FQ500

In the mean time, as many of you must have seen the top gear episode of the FQ400, im sure you would ask, how am I going to "nail all those ponies to the ground"?

Well look what just rolled into my front step:















For you unfamiliar with how to determine which excedy this is ... its the twin disc HD series with light flywheel (11lbs)
Courtesy of John Shephard (shepracing.com / sheptrans.com)

He also shipped me some LSD gear oil, and trans oil for when i do my swap to start with fresh fluids.

She weighs 29lbs, I cant wait to pull out the stock and pop it on the scale.

Now that I spent nearly another 5k on the car.... I'll be waiting to re-cooperate to spend the other 3k on the built t-case from sheptrans with the REM treatment. Launching will be fun

So for those of you who remember that I said I'd finally get the greddy profec b spec II boost controller.... here are the pics.. if anyone has a black one, I'll be glad to trade. Silver is not the most discrete.



















When that Turbo comes in, i'll be taking some pics of the install... and I'm going to have to drive VERY carefuly until that clutch, and t-case get installed and then the cars going for a tune.


wish me luck guys... looks like the 'under the hood' part of my project is done (minus an aluminum radiator which I'll be doing some research on... feedback is appreciated! and a shroud for it, and then the upgraded, or additional in-line oil cooler)

Anyone recommend any rear sway bars? I was looking at the 27mm agency power, It's pretty thick, and white (matches the carbing under my car) but some say the 25mm cusco is best.


See you guys in about a month! gotta make some $$$$ (time for an ebay selling frenzie) anyone need stock MR parts? LOL



-MR

MagicManRed

iTrader: (14)

Oh.. FYI... i fixed all the HUGE pictures in this thread, so no more horizontal scrolling... sorry for the wait!

I got bored of waiting for the turbo... so i needed something new LOL

its silverrrrr!!!




saving up $$ for that t-case.. almost there guys
cant wait to dyno after all is installed.

BBS

iTrader: (18)

Glad to see youre still updating your ride! It's looking better and better.

DSMorBUST

+1^

its good to see you still have it in one piece! lol

seriously though.. good job! keep it up man..