Those squeeky bushings were bothering me and the silicone spray didn't help, so I thought to try using the small amount of this "Prothane" grease that came with the Racing Beat sway bars.



Moral of story-- don't use the grease that comes with the SuperPro bushings.

I love this build. Just goes to show you what a little planning and research can do for a project.

If you ever run short of that grease, you can order it from summit, or, call Energy Suspension and mention that you have a few of their bushings, give them some part numbers, that you need more grease, and they'll send it to you ;)

Well, since Jesse has been too busy working on the car, thought I would post some progress pictures. Jesse has taken the week off from work and we flew his Dad out for the week and they have been extremely busy on the car.

before:
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_0462.jpg

now: test fitting the turbo
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_0471.jpg

The cute little baby turbos are out and the rats nest is all over the ground. The garage is in a state of a somewhat organized chaos. I have a front bumper in my office, the living room couches are covered with body parts and you can not even walk into the spare bedroom since that has become the parts storage room. Hope this project does not take too long.
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_0469.jpg

They are working on taking out the wire harness. All the wires that were under the UIM sound extremely crispy when you move them. Good thing that is being replaced.

Well, time for me to get to work. Need to wake up the boys, feed them and kick them back into the garage :)

You are SOooo funny. "Cute little baby turbos." Such a girlie comment ;) As far as getting your house back anytime soon, let's see... Jill has been asking me that same question now for (hmmmm....) at least a couple of years now, but we're gettng closer. Tell Jesse (and his Dad) good luck with the build. Take a break and stop down to Intense for the show today (12/13) 11 am to 4 pm. Funny how when you start digging into these engines (FDs), you find out just how crispy everything has become.

:lol: sounds about the same from when i did my diff bushings

Great project, coming along nicely!

AZRR manifold was completed this week.

Equal length runners, schedule 40 pipe, beautiful welds and nice gradual bends. Only negative is this thing is heavy, but at least its extremely sturdy-- should hold up to being header wrapped better that way.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build001.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...build002-1.jpg

Pics of powder coated Xcessive LIM with fuel rail/injectors.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build011.jpg

I JB-welded the injector adapter sleeves since I couldn't think of any reason to ever take them out and it'd just be another rubber o-ring to eventually age and fail.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build012.jpg

Looks like a streetorstrip made that turbo manifold. Nice lower intake manifold!

NO streetorstrip is not someone we would ever do business with again. This manifold is done in house by our fabricator.

Happy day for me, our Nardi Deep Corn steering wheel came in today. I spent months searching for a Mazda Speed Miata steering wheel with no luck. So, we decided to go with the Nardi since it has the red stitching and it looks much more modern than the stock wheel.

It is slowly coming all together. :)

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build063.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...x7build064.jpg

mind posting a link as to where you got that beauty from?

Why thank you, I also think it is beautiful :).

I had done quite a lot of research to find the best pricing. I knew I wanted to go with the NRG parts so this combo deal was the way to go.

http://www.weaksauceparts.com/store/home.php?cat=1930

I built the brackets for the new oil cooler and fan today. Went with a Setrab 25 row and SPAL 7.5" low profile fan. I used a 5$ strip of aluminum from Ace hardware, a hacksaw, and a hand riveter. It would have been nice to have a bending brake, but I was able to bend by hand using a vice as long as the bend was perpedicular to the strip.

I'm only going with a single oil cooler for now as I want to minimize plumbing and potential failure points/leaks. Plus, I'd like to keep the other side of the bumper open for a potential cold air intake if I can find a way to get a duct from there to the engine bay.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_0601.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_0603.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_0605.jpg

hey Joff,

Aluminum, as well as steel has a grain structure just like wood. You want to be sure to bend perpendicular to the grain. You can picture wood if you bend parallel to the grain, metal will also tend to fracture. Bar stock has grains running longitudinally so it looks correct in you picture.