All threads are chased. Turbo is assembled. Ordered a set of head to manifold studs/nuts/washers.

Working with FFWD Connection on a set of ARP fasteners for the turbo to manifold and O2 sensor housing to turbo. Then I'll get her going!

ARPs are on the way. I ended up ordering from Summit Racing. FFWD connection was less than awe-inspiring.

How did you troubleshoot the housing flapper bleeding boost? Any test I can run on mine?

Pulled the housing off the car. Strapped the arm shut, blew compressed air though. Tons of air getting by.

Your should seal better since you have the 10.5 housing. Better design.

Just read through this whole thread from start to end, absolutely fantastic work!

I'll be keeping up to date from now on. Keep up the good work

Going on at noon today:

Thanks, man! I'll be really excited to get it running "right" so I can really enjoy driving it.

Pretty close to wrapping her up. As long as I didn't muck up the rebuild on the center section I should be boosting tonight!

My least favorite part of assembling this, every time, is the oil return line. I'll be investing in a modular piece where I can leave the fittings connected to the turbo and pan.

Had some issues last night but managed to work through them. I noticed that the center section of the turbo didn't seem to be sandwiched well. Of course, I had the clamp rotated where it was all I could do to reach it. Managed to get it off and into a better position. I think that's taken care of, now. Then I messed with the return line for quite some time. Ended up having to pull the flange off the oil pan and drained a quart or so. Gave up for the night.

Managed to get the line on this morning. Downpipe is bolted back up. I'll pull the O2 tonight and put on the heat shield. Then it should be fan, IC piping, and intake. I'm pretty close!

Well the car is back together. I took a long lunch and finished installing the IC piping and intake. I had to skip the lower heat shield. 2/4 of the bolt holes had broken bolts. I'd prefer not to have the rattling under-hood. I have enough false knock as it is.

Car cranked up, first start. That's always good. Burning off tons of moisture and oil, of course.

I'm only hitting wastegate pressure. I put the factory BCS and new factory boost lines in. I'm guessing I may have swapped the wastegate and the turbo outlet connections. I'll check that out tonight.

Other than that, seems to be running well!

Put about 10 miles on it tonight. Drivability seems improved, actually. Turbo spools well. Car seems peppy, just not hitting more than 11-12psi. I'm assuming the solenoid is having issues. I checked my lines, they should be right. I'll put a little time into it when I can. My other option is to stick the GrimmSpeed in and turn the duty cycle down just to see how that goes.

Small victory!

Another small victory.

I used EvoScan and checked out my BCS yesterday. Tested out okay. Lines were run correctly. The only think I hadn't looked at were the tables in Tephra. Sure enough, the gear-based tables were zero'd out, and that's what V7 uses to control boost. Put the values in for a couple maps and I'm hitting 15-16 by my gauge this morning. I know my gauge is at least a psi low. I also haven't done a leak test since I put the turbo back on. I'm guessing a leak test and maybe another turn on the solenoid will have me boosting happily.

For my own amusement I put the stock (non Tephra) ROM back on the car. Ran exactly the same 15psi by the gauge. Good to rule that out.

Good stuff man, good to see you keep plugging away.

Thanks!

Small setback...

Starter wire rubbed through the terminal cover and shorted against the heat shield. I had the wire running under the starter instead of over. My fault.

Luckily I have a second charge harness. I took the starter and had it tested this morning, works fine. No major damage, thank God.

Quick boost leak test didn't show any leaks, but I wasn't very thorough after finding that my heat shield was hot. I'll probably work on it tonight.