Exhaust Manifold Build

 The current turbo manifold I have came with the engine. It's some kind of cheapo foreign-made thin-walled thing that is far from ideal. It's cracked at least once since we got the car running, plus the interior flow is terrible, with actual flow reversals from one runner pointing back slightly into the exhaust port of another. Absolute junk.

We ordered up stainless 304 schedule 40 fittings, which were very pricey. Now the mockup begins....

Saturday Morning Drive

 I recevied an action cam for my birthday and tried it out for the first time today. Drove the car around the Tucson Mountains, which included this stint through the Saguaro National Park (West) and Gates Pass sections. Really fun ride, especially given that I had most of the roads all to myself.

Got fire extinguishers, battery posts, and paint protectors?

A few updates:

First, finally mounted a fire extinguisher. It's kind of baffling why this took so long to implement, as I've been fighting gas fume vapors and even cracks in the fuel tank welds. Long story short, the extinguisher fits really nicely up under the dash on the passenger side. It's very hard to see from outside the car, but once seated in the car, it's really visible and accessible. 

Second, finally got the exterior-mounted battery terminals installed. This became an issue last month when we dyno-tuned the car-- and had no way to connect accessories to the battery, as it's tucked far up under the rear of the car. This will also help with things like jump-starting, etc. Switched to positive terminal shut-off, too, while adding these terminals.

Finally, installed a stainless steel "paint protector" around the exhaust opening in the body. While I think it's kind of cool to see the charring and black smoke stains along the side of the car, this won't do once I paint the car. Ergo, this shiny new plate(s) system. It's currently screwed on, but will probably get tweaked a bit and then permanently riveted in place after painting.

Re-tune!

After a few months of delays and false starts, Joe and I finally managed to installed the larger injectors and get the car (re)tuned. We installed a stronger wastegate spring and had Steve the Tuner do his magic on the dyno.

Long story writ short: I'm now running 12.5psi of boost in the car. RWHP hit 271hp and torque was measured at 219lbf-ft. Assuming a 15% drivetrain loss, this equates to ~320hp and ~260lbf-ft of torque. If I assume 20% drivetrain losses, the numbers jump to 340hp and 275lbf-ft.

Said even more simply: the car is a beast. The only downside is I now need to run octane booster in the car, as we ran into a little detonation at 4500rpm. But that's a small price to pay for incredible performance.

More to come...