49 replies to this topic

[tsi_tom]

Looking good bro.  I need some new lug nuts myself.

[GSRVR]

tsi_tom, on 14 January 2018 - 09:10 AM, said:

Looking good bro.  I need some new lug nuts myself.

Thanks dude. They are easily overlooked huh!

[GSRVR]

I was holding out for a major update but it's been a slow weekend, so here is a mini one instead.

A couple of weeks back I went & picked up the new manifold & radio panel from RaceCoatings, here is how they turned out:







Very happy with the results, nice & even coatings on both (powder coat on the panel, ceramic on the manifold) now I just need to put their ceramic coating to the test.

All I'm waiting on now are some new OEM self locking nuts to mount the manifold (none in stock in AU) so will have to import them. However I did manage to pick up the OEM washers that were still available & a pack of aftermarket M10 self locking nuts for the dump pipe.



I also picked up a blanking plug to replace the timing cover turbo oil drain hose nipple for the reroute to the oil pan. For reference, it's 1/2" NPT, which threads right in.





And also an adapter fitting for the oil pressure gauge which is 1/8" NPT to 1/8" BSPT, to be fitted in the side of the block where the capped port for pressure testing once resided, as seen on the right. Wasn't seized in thankfully.





Some more deliveries included this pair of blanking plugs which I had to order stateside, one for the thermostat housing in place of the old sensor for the A/C, 1/8" BSPT in size, & the larger 3/8" BSPT plug is to replace the thermovalve just below it.





Another from the same side of the world, are these custom alloy center caps from member spcebrd. They look even better in person, looking forward to getting them on!



While I wait for the new mounting hardware & turbo (Kinugawa 16G) to arrive, the old turbo & manifold have since been removed & oil also drained. Just a quick 'during' pic here before the old not-to-be-reused manifold came off. While I have the access, I'm also highly considering removing the steering box & sending it out for a rebuild, I know I'll regret it if I don't, just means I will likely miss the annual Hanging Rock car show again this year.



Keeping myself busy during the waiting game, another job that was screaming out to be done was removing the last of the A/C electrical components & rid of the relay tree, here is how it turned out before & after:





The ignitor box is still bolted down at the bottom however seeing as the top tab has no where to bolt to now I simply folded it over nice & tight & placed a foam strip between the box & panel to stop any movement. As for the relay wiring, I've taped it up & fed it through the opening to the inner guard. I'm now somewhat content with this area of the bay, it always bugged me how messy it was, just have to get the ignitor cover powder coated now & get my hands on a new OEM coil to keep with the theme.

Next job will be to get the radio panel reinstalled & run the wiring for the oil pressure gauge. More to come next week.

Edited by GSRVR, 28 January 2018 - 06:29 AM.

[GSRVR]

Fresh off holidays & it's straight back into attempting to get this in one piece again. Not long after the last update I installed the new manifold, all was good until one of the self locking nuts decided to pull an exhaust stud out. Far out do they have some bite when new! So a new batch of studs were ordered as well as a Helicoil kit. I didn't want to run the risk of pulling any more studs, so I opted to use Nord-Lock washers with titanium nuts instead this time around. All went well & everything is looking nice & fresh. The real test will be to see if the washers live up to their name & keep the nuts properly torqued in the time to come, this being the first time I've used them.

Had a small order turn up from Engine Machine Services & Mitsubishi to get the ball rolling, which including a new OEM manifold gasket, dump pipe mounting hardware & the now unused manifold hardware.



Nord-Lock washers & titanium nuts for the manifold.



New manifold mounted & fitting nicely.



The new 16G Kinugawa turbo. The braided line was later removed due to clearance issues with the oil filter.





There is a post buried in an old thread on here which points out that the wastegate actuator bracket interferes with the oil drain pipe, fast forward some years & this is still a problem that Kinugawa have still yet to rectify. No big deal for an affordable turbo upgrade, just not the best fun having to hack brand new parts to make them work as they should. As you can see in the photos the bracket & it's mounting bolt are completely in the way, which would require some 'shaving' or cutting to the bracket & possibly the use of a countersunk bolt head to gain some more space (unsure how pliable the stock pipe is either, not sure how keen I would be to find out) Alternatively, I'm sure a fabricator could weld a new pipe to the flange with the suitable angle if the thought of modifying new parts pains you like it does to me. I am draining mine back to the oil pan as mentioned so I had no choice but to bite the bullet, especially with the large AN-10 fitting, there was no way of making it fit. I could have made up my own kit with smaller fittings, however seeing the oil pan already has an AN-10 fitting in it as well I wanted to keep it simple & multiple adapters at a minimum.

I'll let the pics do the talking, but basically I had to cut off a substantial amount of the bracket then drill another hole to mount the 2nd bolt again to hold it all down securely. More work involved for an aftermarket drain pipe but still relevant for future reference.









And fitted. To my surprise I was able to retain the factory oil feed line as well, with no clearance issues to the turbo or manifold. However one of the coolant lines was now too short due to the size of the BOV blanking port, easy fix regardless with a new & longer hose ready to go on.



The revised drain pipe. Kinugawa braided line removed, while still retaining their flange fitting with an AN10 barbed adapter attached. The rubber line bypasses the oil filter (while still staying vertical & minimal angle) & can just be moved aside when replacing it.



And an overall look at both the new components, taking the chance while they still look new.



During that time I also had a new dump pipe made. I opted to have Torrence (DieHARDmitsu) fab one up for me. Which then also saves the local workshop having to mess around in my engine bay (no trustworthy shops around locally) V band also for easy removal. The bends in this one will allow me to retain the lower firewall/wheel well exhaust shield as well now & eliminate some heat from that area, more specifically, my feet! (old dump pipe was hard up against the firewall, made obviously for performance in mind).



Not long ago I also imported the factory under-car exhaust heat shields which were missing from mine thanks to Joe (pjmgar) for hooking my up with a set. This set was in the typical 30 year old heat-battered condition as expected, but were very straight & original (forgot to take pics of their 'before' state). Earlier this week I finally got around to dropping them off to be powder coated along with some other parts, carrying on with the satin black theme, here is how they turned out.





Only a few more things to tick off the list now, just need a good couple days off to come around to finish it.

Edited by GSRVR, 16 March 2018 - 05:56 AM.

[importwarrior]

Looks great!
would this have fit for the oil drain  option?

[GSRVR]

importwarrior, on 16 March 2018 - 05:47 AM, said:

Looks great!
would this have fit for the oil drain  option?

Thanks! And yeah, I reckon something like that would be the solution to save modifying the bracket. I do know that the actuator on this turbo is Kinugawa's upgraded billet type that comes standard on some, they also sell just a standard version as well however whether or not it mounts the same or if there is one available for this particular turbo I never looked that far after already spending enough money with them.

Edited by GSRVR, 16 March 2018 - 03:27 PM.

[mbruneaux]

Keep up the great work!

[GSRVR]

mbruneaux, on 20 March 2018 - 07:42 AM, said:

Keep up the great work!

Thanks for the words of encouragement mbruneaux!

[GSRVR]

Small update for the month.

Found a good fabricator an hour away from where I'm currently living in a suburb which I'll be moving to eventually to weld in the oil drain fitting to my original oil pan. The end result turned out nicely & as a bonus was also free of charge, safe to say I will be using them again for future work. I later rubbed the pan down again & gave it another fresh coat of paint with some dupli-color engine enamel in an aluminum finish which turned out better than I expected.



Fitting the pan this time around I thought I'd make it easier on myself, so I went ahead & cut the heads off of the original bolts to use as guides for the gasket. Despite having RTV already smeared on the block side to keep it in place, I've found with some of the pan gaskets that I've used before they are never a 100% perfect fit anyway, without a bit of stretching to meet up with the bolt holes, so having the studs in place on either side ensured no issues with alignment. The gasket of choice is a fel-pro.





New OEM pan bolts.



I didn't take an overall pic, but here you can see some of the finished result & a look at where the new oil drain now resides.



Raceworks 45 degree fitting & hose installed. The hose was cut a little longer so that it clears the oil filter.



New crush washer & drain bolt ready to be torqued to spec.



Old dipstick tube o-ring, well past it's use-by-date.



The new OEM o-ring to go on.



A new 45 degree silicone hose was also needed to join the intercooler pipe to the new turbo, due to the different positioning of the outlet on the Kinugawa. I was lucky enough to get away with this despite the tight fit on either end of the pipe (never sat 100% even on the stock turbo, thanks TEP!)





Closeup of the finished product. Very interested to see how it performs.



With that all said & done, the last job before turning the key again is sorting out the exhaust. The original down pipe fouled on the new manifold, so the whole system was scrapped, as it was going to be anyway. Bit of a bummer at the same time as I could have tested the car out to ensure it was 100% & transported it to have a new system made. So anyway I went ahead & imported a new 3" MK1 exhaust to at the very least get the car going again before I move house shortly. I was planning on using the other custom down pipe which I posted earlier, however as I mentioned I'd rather know if the car is running right first with these new changes/upgrades made rather than driving it down to the nearest trustworthy workshop (out of town) with an open dump pipe! So a bolt-on system it was then.



Unfortunately due to the location of the flex pipe, it also fouls on the custom chad manifold. I'd rather not have to dent it to fit, so this is where I'm currently up to at the moment. So while I wait to have the rear section of the exhaust come in the mail from MK1 to complete the system (separate order from the rest), I will remove & take the pipe to a local workshop to have the flex removed & replaced with some 3" piping which will then give about a fingers gap or more between it & the manifold. No idea if they will do it without having the car, however once I have the rear section to complete the system I'll be able to drive it at least (as the down pipe does fit, but hard up against the manifold) without worry from the authorities & travel out to a reputable fabricator that I can trust to leave the car with.



Other than that, I was able to finally complete the non-a/c conversion with the addition of the delete-duct from an 80's model Sigma, thanks to another Starion owner whom salvaged this one from a wreck for me. These are harder to come by than I first expected. More than likely due to every past owner opting for a/c to endure the hot Australian sun, at a guess! This is what the RHD version looks like, a little different from the LHD duct, which doesn't fit due to the angle of the blower motor outlet where it joins to.





I also fitted up the freshly coated exhaust shields with the old system gone & out of the way. The photos aren't the best, but gives an idea.







More progress to come before the months end.

[psu_Crash]

Looking great! I'd be concerned with the manifold/DP clearance too