Very Nice Very Nice Indeed

I got all my intake tubing cut and welded this weekend. I was able to keep all bends relatively gentle, but man I am really getting sick of having to use this hack saw. Cutting a 4" cast aluminum elbow in half by hand (and all the other pieces) was a major PITA.

I was able to get the fitment between sections within about 1/8" which should make couplers blowing off almost impossible. To minimize number of couplers, I also cut off the end of the cast Rotary-Works elbow and had pipe welded to that. I'm tempted to use Wiggins clamps on the intercooler piping, but don't really dig the purple anodizing.

Next I'm going to grind the welds down, find somebody to put a bead on the ends and get the pieces powder coated wrinkle-black. BOV mount is going on the intercooler hot side.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1608.jpg

Tried to position the air filter perfectly for a cold air/ram air intake. This pic is from the front looking into the V of the V-mount with the bumper off.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1610.jpg

I do like the more gentle angle of the Rotary-works TB elbow as compared to the >90degree Greddy ones, but I don't think I'll be able to reuse the stock strut bar now without some custom mounts-- it sits pretty high. RCCAZ and dregg100 gave me a heads up Saturday that cutting off the air pump mount on the water pump housing would clean up some of the fuel rail plumbing later so I cut that piece off too with the hacksaw.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1614.jpg

Damn, that powdercoating looks fantastic. It really does. Gives me more motivation to redo mine.

The fitment on the intercooler piping is top notch, well done. I would suggest NOT grinding the beads down though. I did this with a few pipes that I had ceramic coated, and they cracked.... so now they need to be re-coated... damnit.

As for fitting the strut bar on, how much higher is all that sitting? I put washers under my strut bar mounts but I'm about to get some spacers made by waterjet to put on each side. Let me know how thick you need them and I'll have some made for you too. I personally wouldn't go so thick that you can't fit the nut fully onto the threads, but that's just my preference. I want at least 1 thread to show on the top side of the nut.

I agree with Brian, that wrinkle powdercoat finish is awesome! I might have to copy that if you don't mind HAHA.

My IC piping is set up the same way too, basically touching each other with the coupler there just to make a seal, but mine is more ghetto than yours haha.

I like your cold air intake too, makes me think I need to get a smaller IC so I can have room to fit my filter like that too, and possibly get less of a pressure drop at the same time.

I didn't know Rotary Works made a TB elbow, that's awesome!

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1610.jpg

Your setup looks great, but I don't see many vmounts where the intake is in the same compartment as the radiator and intercooler. Now this is my simple minded theory, but wont the turbo at full boost be taking away much of the cfm airflow that would be forced throught the intercooler and radiator?

No. Think about the surface area moving through the front bumper at a speed more than 10mph or 880ft/min.....

Heh, I never thought of that, but I hope so! That means it would also be reducing the extra aero drag I'm incurring by running the vmount. I'd prefer then to think about it as the turbo inlet sucking the car forward!

Thinking about the math though, I think its unrealistic. I think I remember reading once it takes around 2CFM of air at sealevel to make 1HP. If I go for 400HP, I need 800CFM of air. My bumper duct is probably (conservatively) about 3ft^2 area so at 30mph I'm "scooping up" up to about 8000 CFM of air.

where in the intake box you fab'd?

Jesse... are you planning to shroud that filter and the other open areas around the IC to force more air through the IC and radiator?

The intake box goes over the top of the air filter assembly to provide a better seal to the engine bay but has a open bottom for the air filter. The pics I sent previous were mockups I made out of foamboard. I'm using the foamboard mockup to layup some red kevlar/carbon fiber for the visible portions of the top of the airbox that will be riveted to the mostly invisible aluminum bottom/rear end of the airbox where I will have the 4" turbo-inlet pipe welded to it. The rear/bottom aluminum portion of the box will also be attached to a piano hinge and another piece of sheet aluminum to act as a air splitter and also to seal up the small gap between the IC and radiator.

Its kind of hard to explain, but I hope to get a lot of that done this next weekend.

Wow, thanks! But I don't think spacers will be enough here. I think I'm going to have a different mount built:

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1617.jpg

Getting a good wrinkle black seems very much dependent on the prep work and process. A friend did his engine bay in the same wrinkle black powder and it turned out with a lot different texture. I used a local powder coater, Glendale Powder Coating and they did some sort of industrial chemical wash that just turned out awesome.

Yes, definitely. I don't want any gaps. Here's a couple shots of the airbox in CAD to explain a bit more re: my previous post. I'd like to make a small duct to direct a bit of air from the V right to the turbo CHRA, but I'm not sure it would do enough to make wortwhile yet.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/untitled.jpg

Soooo like I said, No :rofl:

With a plasma cutter, a welder, and a some steel stock you could mod that mount to work just great. Had to do that with my greedy strut brace.... before I said eff it and built my own

Aint that the truth. For the do-it-yourself guys, clean it, bake it, sand it, clean it, and that usually does it for me.

Bad ass man, really bad ass. I wish I was passing through Phoenix not at 6am and had some time to swing by and check this bad ride out. Epic trip ver 2.0

You'll also want to watch your hood clearance closely. That strut bar comes pretty close to the underside of the hood. Not sure how much wiggle room there is for modifying the height significantly. If it were me I'd consider increasing the downward bend angle just out of the TB elbow (if possible). Just an FYI.

^Good point, hadn't thought of that. That is getting pretty high. I don't have a stock hood so I forget how low they sit. They do sit pretty low right? lol

"Massage" the supports? Can probably gain an easy 1/2"

I have a Shine FEED hood with no skeleton which should help a bit. I also did slightly angle cut the RW elbow down. If its still too high, there would be absolutely no way this elbow would work anywhere as unlike everybody else with this elbow, I at least don't have to fit a silicon coupler and hose clamp since I had the next sections of tubing welded on.

Some new pics on the airbox progress: The kevlar fibers in the carbon/kevlar are about impossible to cut cleanly. I got a $30 pair of special "razor blade sharp" scissors and they still can hardly cut this fabric. Pure carbon fiber is so much easier to work with than this carbon/kevlar.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1636.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1661.jpg
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1628.jpg

So, in looking at these two images, will your airbox butt up to the turbo inlet with the aluminum pipe running inside the airbox? Just trying to figure out what you have planned? Did you consider fabbing an airbox that starts at about your intercooler tube and runs forward to the front bumper support? Either way it's beautiful Jesse and an incredible job!!

Thanks!

Yep -- once I'm happy with the carbon/kevlar finish, I'll demold and cut off from the top so its only about 2.5" tall. I'm really only using the carbon/kevlar as the top "lid" -- the sides, rear and a small bottom piece will be aluminum. The air filter pipe will be fed through a 4" hole in the rear aluminum part of the box and welded. Only about 1" of pipe will be sticking out of the rear of the airbox and thats all I need as the turbo inlet is right there.

I originally planned on using the passenger oil cooler duct for cold air intake, but once I got the bumper off I didn't see an easy way to fit 4" piping there without some major cutting and modification of the body.

That whole radiator/Intercooler/airbox is a work of art. If it wasn't so functional, you could enter it in an art show or something.

So Jesse, where are your fender liners bro? Covering those in CF weave as well?? ;)

Don't MAKE me do mine!! :)

Jesse you should sell me another one of those air boxes! No...seriously

Damn Tim, that would look HOT!! But please, don't give him any other ideas, Jesse really needs to get this car done. :001_07:

Wonder if I could do that myself? I may need to try it.

I really like these nutsert thingies -- I needed to remount the relay box for the Vmount, so I cut off one plastic leg, bent the other metal bracket straight and mounted it upside down near the hood latch. Once I figured where to mount the thing, I drilled two small holes in the sheet metal and used a special rivet tool ($15 at harbor freight) to press in the two pictured threaded aluminum nuts.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1670.jpg

The other small detail needing taken care of because of the vmount was the power steering cooler. I got a $40 Derale cooler from Jegs, but the hose size and hose barb sizes are not a match for the stock barbs off the steering rack and fluid reservoir.

What I ended up doing to minimize fittings/adapters/couplers is cutting off the 10mm hard line on the rack near the drivers side and using a 10mm compression fitting on the end rated for about 4000psi coupled to a 1/4" NPT hose barb with the same size as the Derale cooler. From there I mounted the cooler on the Racing Beat sway bar brace with a couple more nutserts. The hose barb on the steering reservoir was also not the right size, so I drilled out the plastic barb, tapped the reservoir with 1/4" NPT and used some power steering fluid compatible resin to lock the metal hose barb fitting in the plastic reservoir.

I've seen some other RX7 Vmount kits with somewhat goofy hose routing for using an aftermarket power steering cooler. I'm probably being picky, but I don't like the idea of stock hardline off the rack going from drivers side to passenger side, brought back to the drivers side with rubber hose bent 180deg, then connected to a cooler with another 180deg AN fitting to change direction yet again. Meanwhile, the original outlet off the rack is pointing in the right direction only a few inches away from where the cooler is if you're willing to cut the line and use a $5 compression fitting.

Also, this other kit I saw was using aluminum AN fittings for the corrosive hydraulic fluid. Isn't that supposed to be trouble? I always thought aluminum and brake/hydraulic fluid is not good. The fittings I got from McMaster are stainless steel/galvanized steel designed for hydraulics and corrosive environments.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1681.jpg

OK we're pretty much on the same wavelength I think haha, because what you've just posted is what I've been looking to do with mine. First of all, where did you get those riv-nuts? I've been looking for those. I installed a bunch of them on our generators in Kuwait a few years ago when the bolt holes for the panels got messed up and I love those things. Second, I've been wanting to do a PS cooler like that but it's impossible to find one with inlet and outlet that match the hose size of the stock cooler line, which I see you've had problems with as well. I guess I'll have to just get the same cooler since I can't find one with the right size inlet/outlet and run it like you did. Do you have any pics of the hose going to the back of the PS reservoir? How did you work that?

(Like everything else in the engine bay, I painted the reservoir black:)
http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1682.jpg

The rivet nuts, as well as the nutsert rivet tool, I got at Harbor Freight.

Here's my parts list from McMaster-Carr if you want to duplicate:
5350K34 - 2x - Zinc-plated steel Barbed Hose Fitting - 5/16" hose, 1/4" male NPT
5269K313 - Metric Steel Compression Tube fitting - 10mm tube, 1/4" male NPT
4464K212 - Stainless Steel 1/4" NPT coupler

The Derale cooler I got came with hose and had the 11/32" hose barbs ends.

Absolutely impeccable attention to detail. It should be a beauty once you're finished.

Thanks for the info! I had no idea you could get the riv-nuts at Harbor Freight lol. I love that place!

So do I!

Here it is, $16.99:

http://www.harborfreight.com/45-piec...-kit-1210.html

Thanks! I just spent about $70 there the other night getting everything needed to spec an engine for rebuild lol.

Argh..... too much detail, you'll never finish the build!! :). Damn perfectionists. Rasing the bar once again. Looks like I might have to get busy soon.... ;).

Looking GREAT Jesse!

(joff accidentally posting with my wife's login)

I may consider that, but definitely after I finish the rest of this. I would need to tweak my process since it took a ridiculous amount of time doing the CF/Kevlar demold. Basically I had to destroy the foamboard mold by chipping it out with a flathead screwdriver. For some reason my parting wax didn't work well on the foamboard.

Ha Ha Tim! I just can't help myself. Check this out -- its my V-mount air splitter and because I had so much carbon fiber fabric laying around, I thought might as well use that and create it uber-lightweight. Its a non-visible piece, so I sort of slopped it together. Theres a few resin drips
running down the piece and its been really difficult for me to just accept leaving it alone.

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/DSC02378.jpg

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/DSC02377.jpg

Who's your carbon fiber supplier? I would like to try making some items myself...namely the carbon fiber airbox. You have me eying the same Rotary Works v-mount now for myself...although I just bought an SMIC.. argh!

I'm sure you heard by now that I sold my 8 for an FD? It's a tight fit for me! I sure miss Arizona as well, but Colorado has been treating me well.

I did hear you've got an FD now -- thats great! Too bad though about no more 8 -- I hope it went to good owner. That was a nice car too.

I get all my carbon fiber/kevlar/fiberglass/resin supplies from US Composites (uscomposites.com). Theres also tapplastics.com

any good reading material on how to learn fiberglass / CF? I know just enough to get my self in trouble. I would like to read up before I try making an intercooler duct

I bought this book a couple years ago:

http://www.amazon.com/Fiberglass-Oth...dp_ob_title_bk

Also, I found a couple online forums that are good to lurk on and read the stickies:

www.fiberglassforums.com and www.racingcomposites.net

Expect a lot of trial and error-- theres lots of little details you only find out about when you try things. I've thrown a lot of failures away. It can be very time consuming.

The very porous nature of the foamboard probably sucked up some of the mold release wax or the resin itself. I've had good luck covering it with wax paper or tin foil. Wax paper seems to work better as it doesn't want to crinkle as much.

Ain't that the truth!

The foamboard had a glossy paper side which is what I applied the mold release wax to. I have some other stuff I probably should have used called "PVA" which is basically a thinner version of elmers glue that can be shot out of a spray gun. When it dries it ends up like a protective garbage bag around the part that peels off like skin on a bad sunburn. Its really awesome, I don't know why I didn't use it.

I got the aluminum bottom piece of my airbox back from the welder today. He only tacked the 4" piping in because I was afraid things may not line up right but it seems to all fit perfectly:

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1697.jpg

I also had him weld in a section of aluminum tube I rolled some 1/8" NPT threads on both sides as a water/meth injection nozzle coupler:

http://i660.photobucket.com/albums/u...f/IMG_1698.jpg

How do you feel about the quality of the Rotary Works v-mount Jesse? You have me eying it now...looks pretty slick, especially if I can fit a sealed and ducted airbox on the passenger side like you're doing.

My either idea would be to do the opposite and move the intercooler all the way to the passenger side so I could fit my full size group 57 Optima in the stock location. Would that work dimension wise?

Just checking in. Hey Lynn and Jesse.... no posts in almost a month? C'mon. Let's see the latest progress!!!

Yeah, do you have any pics of the fuse/relay box bolted to the front crossmember? I need some ideas, I already have the riv-nut kit LOL.