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Calvin Wan’s Drift FD3S Period Correct Refresh By Rotary Extreme
C.Wan FD3S Refresh – Update 23
With so many little things to do, I need to stay focused on the order of which things need to be done to optimize the time left to get the car ready for its first event. Things probably would have played out better if I did a more thorough inspection of parts and had them repaired beforehand instead of last minute before install. Well, let’s get on with the update.
01 – Night Light
02 – Carbon Fiber Fender Liners
03 – Coolant Overflow
04 – UIM Parts Swap
05 – Throttle Body
06 – Fast IAT Sensor Location
07 – Fast IAT Sensor Bung
08 – Carbon Fiber Liner Window Covers
09 – Exhaust Manifold Refresh
10 – Last Minute Clean-Up
01 – Night Light
Since I will be working on C.Wans car into the night I needed to get a light for the front of the car. Unfortunately, when the garage door is open it will cover any light fixture in front of the garage. I also need the car with the front facing out to give me more room to work in the engine bay. I bought a Home Depot Husky portable tripod light, and this thing is bright and lights up a fairly large area.
02 – Carbon Fiber (CF) Fender Liners
I am not sure if the CF fender liners are supposed to clear the red ***** on the pop-up lights but mine did not. On the right side I made a hole for the coolant reservoir, a notch for the harness, and a cut out to turn the pop motor **** by hand to a desired height. On the left side I cut out a notch for the harness and a larger hole to turn the motor **** and to clear the bottom of the battery fuse box. The kit came with hardware to use a nut and bolt on the lower tab of the fender liners, but I opted to install some rivnuts instead. This will make it easier to unscrew and pull the panel out a little to move the flap to get to the **** on the inside of the engine bay.
03 – Coolant Overflow
The coolant overflow tank had some type of gel on the inside from sitting so long and it had to be flushed out. I tried to clean it up as much as I could. I bolted it in place and routed the coolant hose out where the back of the fender liner meets the body. Later I would drill a hole in the fender liner to route the coolant hose under the pop-up light bracket.
04 – Upper Intake Manifold (UIM) Parts Swap
I was able to source a newer UIM without the casting for the Active Warm-up System (AWS). This helps with smoother airflow in the UIM. The parts I removed for the swap are the Idle Air Control valve (IAC), the double throttle block off plate, engine lift fitting, and throttle cable bracket. I cleaned the newer UIM with some an aluminum etching chemical "BONDERITE", and washed it with soap and water. The IAC was really clean and I installed it with a new gasket. I added the lift fitting with a new ground wire, bolted on the double throttle cover plate with some silicone sealant, and added the vacuum lines with zip ties on the UIM side to make the install easier. I test fit the UIM to make sure the vacuum lines were the correct length and to make sure everything fit underneath it. I am still waiting for some silicon vacuum caps to plug the unused lines.
05 – Throttle Body (TB)
With the UIM done it was time to prep the TB. I started with swapping the studs from the older UIM to the newer UIM for the TB. Next was to install the new dashpot on the TB. I noticed the jam-nut was missing so I found a nut and cut it in half. I aligned the dashpot so that the arm pushing the dashpot damper down a third of the way. Once the car is running I'll readjust if I have to. I bolted the TB to the UIM with a new gasket and test fit it on the engine to make sure everything cleared.
06 – Fast IAT Sensor Location
I went to install the IAT temp sensor in the Greddy elbow and then realized the mounting bracket for C.Wan's front strut tower bar dips down past the shock tower a little. I drilled a new lower hole for the IAT and then cut a small piece of aluminum and sanded it into a circle to plug the old hole. I welded the old plug and sanded down the surface to make it look new again.
07 – Fast IAT Sensor Bung
To make the sensor bung I used a hole saw to cut out an aluminum doughnut..lol. Then I drilled and tapped the center for the IAT threads. I used a debur tool to create an inner taper on the bung and a rubber oring on the IAT to create a nice seal. To align the IAT I screwed it fully into the bung and then held it against the Greddy elbow making sure the temp sensor airflow was not blocked by its protective cage, then I marked the bung orientation with a sharpie. To weld the bung I used a bolt to hold it in place. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn on the gas and the tungsten tip immediately rounded and left a mess for me. I had to re-sand everything and start again. I was unable to stack dimes but I did the next best thing which was to make it evenly flow and then sand it for a nice satin look. The sensor lined up nice for airflow and is at a good angle to clear everything.
08 – Carbon Fiber Liner Window Covers
I'm a little disappointed in myself for the size of the pop-up motor holes in the CF fender liners, but I needed them to be big enough to turn the ***** with your fingers. Once again I feel like I was able to MacGyver my way out of this. I happen to have a roll of carbon fiber, so I decided to make some movable covers/flaps for the holes. I used the Gorilla tape version of the flex tape to place on one side of the carbon fiber and then I wrapped all 4 edges with the flex tape as well. Next, I riveted the flaps to covers the holes while trying to hide the rivets under the front body harness. When the CF fender liners are bolted back in place the pop-up light motors apply pressure to the flaps to hold the bottom section in place. Overall, I think it was a good outcome. C.Wan did stop by to see it and gave me a thumbs up, Thanks C.Wan!
09 – Exhaust Manifold Refresh
The exhaust manifold to engine flange looked like burnt toast. It was crusty and flakey to the touch. The gaskets also showed signs of blow-by. I think what happened is when the flange was decked last time due to warpage, so much material was removed that it allowed the nut to hit the shoulder on the engine studs. When I test fit the exhaust manifold, I saw a fair amount of the shoulder protruding through the hole. Even with the gasket installed, I don’t think the nut was able to compress everything properly. It looks like everything was snugged before, but the evidence shows that there was a minuscule gap somehow. Anyways the engine side flange and wastegate flange were taken to a belt sander to clean them up. I will have to change the belt to a finer grit and go over it again. A few hairline cracks were found, some near the turbo side flange but the main one was where the two runners meet going towards the turbo side flange. This hairline crack was going all the way through. The fabricator drilled holes at both ends of the crack to stop it and put a nice beefy weld on top. On the inside, all the areas were cleaned up and touched up as well. The manifold is thin stainless steel and has been through many heat cycles. The main runner section was not fiberglass wrapped so maybe it had a bigger swing with temps. The fiberglass wrap will retain heat and this also will slow temperature swings so I will do my best to wrap the full manifold evenly.
10 – Last Minute Clean-Up
Time was up for this weekend and I just wanted to do a little clean-up and get an idea of what was needed for the next weekend. I took the wire wheel to the TB to clean off the oxidation and it brightened right up like the UIM. It looks like I will have to go over the UIM/TB combo again to get the finish uniform. I scuffed the Greddy elbow with 0000 stainless steel wool to get the desired satin look. There are a few light scratches I will need to wet sand out and go over it again with the 0000 ss wool. I cleaned the CF fender liners and verified the IAT is positioned correctly.
Hopefully this next weekend will be a productive one.
I love this build. Every single thing you do on it seems like it would feel super rewarding. I love that the chassis is stich welded too
Thank you Sir!!
It is a really cool build originally done by Henry Chung, I'm just refreshing what he did.
Henry and Calvin did the stich welding, he said it took foreevvveerr since you have to grind each stich level.
Your right about it being rewarding, I just try my best to restore everything back to how it was, with a few updates to make it easier to tune.
I dont like how I cut the CF covers so I bought another set to do a better.
The next update should be cool, I worked on some heat shielding. for the LIM and Turbo.
Calvin Wan’s Drift FD3S Period Correct Refresh By Rotary Extreme
C.Wan FD3S Refresh – Update 24
Disclaimer: I am not a professional welder, fabricator, or restoration expert.
I am a hobbyist who just tries the best he can!
With that being said, I hope you guys like the updates as they are pushed out. I try to explain and show what I do so it can help the less experienced guys. And it's important that if you do something wrong, take notes and understand the mistake so you can do your best not to repeat it. This past weekend was busy and I took 238 pics, since FB only allows 80 pics per post upload, I had to choose the most important ones. I would say I'm 1/2 way to getting this car done, but there is still so much to do!!!
01 – Upper Intake Manifold (UIM) Installed
02 – Exhaust Manifold
03 – Bits and Pieces
04 – Clean Turbo
05 – Turbo Oil Return
06 – Lower Intake Manifold (LIM) Heatshield
07 – Downpipe Saga
08 – Clean Wastegate
09 – Boost Solenoid and Wastegate Installed
10 – Install Downpipe
11 – Full Exhaust
12 – Wideband Sensor
13 – Turbo Heatshield Apart
14 – Turbo Heatshield Restored
01 – Upper Intake Manifold (UIM) Installed
I received the silicone vacuum caps that I was waiting for, installed them on the UIM, and prepped it to be installed on the car. I gathered the LIM to UIM gasket, the TB to Elbow O-ring gasket, high temp oil resistant blue ETFE zipties, and the chrome acorn nuts. I placed the UIM onto the engine with the new gasket and made sure all the harness wires underneath were free and not pinched. I connected the silicon hoses for the MAP sensor, boost sensors, gas vapor purge solenoid, the PCV to the oil filler neck, and secured them all with EFTE zipties. Next, I tightened the UIM to LIM ACORN nuts first and then the last bolt that holds the end of the UIM near the TB to a support bracket. To hold the TB O-ring in place I coated it with some silicon grease, put the Greddy elbow on, put the gas purge filter on the bottom studs, and bolted it down. Last, I installed the brake booster vacuum hoses on the UIM and the brake booster.
02 – Exhaust Manifold
What a near miss! I try my best to inspect everything during the refresh process to fix whatever I can. I’m thankful I caught what could have been a huge exhaust leak. While test fitting the exhaust manifold to the engine, I noticed a large part of the studs shoulder protruding through the hole past the surface of the flange. This will cause the nut to tighten on the shoulder and not be able to apply enough torque to the flange to compress the exhaust gasket to create a good seal. I did not measure the difference between the studs on the old engine and the new one, but this manifold was warped and leveled out, so I know some material has been removed. I was going to use some thick washers I had but C.Wan asked me if they were high temp, I realized, no, they were not so I ordered up some ARP specific exhaust washers. Now that I have everything I need to install the exhaust manifold, I started by wrapping it with titanium wrap and securing the wrap with metal cable ties. The thought is the wrap will retain the heat and help prevent rapid heat cycles which causes welds to crack. Next, I put the new metal diamond exhaust gaskets on the studs of the engine and placed the exhaust manifold in place. To cover the shoulder of the stud I used ARP specific exhaust manifold washers. I tightened the 4 nuts down in a crisscross pattern at different toque levels making sure it seated evenly.
03 – Bits and Pieces and TB Cable Brackets
I was cleaning things up around the car which included installing a cable clamp to hold the fan relay connector pigtail, cleaning the paint from the threaded hole on the firewall and attached the engine to firewall ground, installed a heatshield over the male to female EGT connector, and put Kapton tape over unused ABS connectors and secured the harness. The TB cable was also missing both brackets and the clip where it wraps around the outside of the UIM. I found the TB cable clips at JP3 Motorsports and replica SS brackets from Banzai Racing. There was a small section near the outside bracket, where the metal sheath was showing so I wrapped it with some silicone tape. I cleaned all the overspray off the TB cable as well. With everything installed the TB cable is properly secured and looks clean.
04 – Clean Turbo
The turbo was covered with oily dust and needed a cleaning. I took the compressor housing off so I could clean it without getting dirty water and debris inside the turbo. I also cleaned the hardware as well. I left the oil feed and return lines on since those seals looked good with no seepage.
05 – Turbo Oil Return
The turbo oil return line was in good shape since it had heat shielding and the hose itself was a silicone hose. I squeezed the hose to make sure there were no cracks and deemed it safe to reuse. Those hose clears the OMP connector wires by a hair. I had to shimmy the fiberglass wrap past the connector to get it around the oil return line. I used the fiberglass heat wrap that had Velcro stitching, except I removed the Velcro and secured it in place with metal cable ties. The outer cables ties are tight on the metal pipes with the inner ones loosely fitted around the silicon hose.
06 – Lower Intake Manifold (LIM) Heatshield
I wanted to make a LIM heatshield for 2 reasons. 1. Because it will help with temps and 2. because FC Tweak software has an option to select if you do have a LIM heatshield. I had a sheet of SS and I cut and bent it to fit by bolting at the flange of the UIM to LIM and the bottom half is bent to follow the curve of the LIM with a notch at the bottom to clear the EGT probe. I made a template from paper for the top and put that template on top of the preformed aluminum and fiberglass heatshield. I traced out both pieces together on the SS sheet and cut it out. I used my HF sheet metal bender to shape. The DEI form a shield is very durable and I only needed to secure the edges. I chose metal cable ties for longevity.
07 – Downpipe Saga
Oh Man, this damn downpipe. I took the old fiberglass wrap off and noticed the chewed up section was where it was rubbing on the wastegate cooling fins. I re-wrapped the downpipe with high temp titanium wrap and used metal cable ties to hold everything tightly in place. I installed the downpipe to make sure I had clearance between the WG cooling fins and the wrap and then tightened the V-Band on the turbo to dowpipe flange to hold the downpipe in place (don't forget to tap the v-band while tightening it in place!). So after I had the complete exhaust bolted in place, I went to remove the bolt from the exhaust bung on the downpipe for the AEM WB sensor. It was not moving at all, and I realized, what if they welded it in place?. So, before I took the downpipe off I grabbed the bung from the AEM wideband kit and outlined where I wanted it to be. I took the downpipe off and confirmed the bolts in the 2 exhaust bungs were indeed welded in place. I cut the lower metal cable ties and un-wrapped the area I needed to weld the new bung at. I used a hole-saw to cut the hole, sanded the area clean, welded the new bung in place, and re-wrapped the lower section. Since this includes the rework of the downpipe, the next section for cleaning the wasgate was already done and installed to test fit the downpipe. But for simplicity, I'm writing in this order so I do not have to write about the downpipe sage in multiple sections.
08 – Clean Wastegate
The A'PEXi Wastegate - wow! This is a beefy wastegate that is water cooled and has been a solid performer. Now it's time for its inspection and refresh. First thing I noticed all the metal flakes that were falling out the dump tube, so I google it and it make perfect sense!
"Scale, hammerscale or mill scale, formed when hot iron reacts with oxygen in the air.
It is an iron oxide (mixture of oxygen and iron), similar to rust but different. There are several iron oxides of which rust is one, scale is actually a mixture of several. The iron-oxygen reaction takes place a bit differently due to the high temperatures at play."
The fiberglass did its job on the coolant lines and the braided lines are still in good condition. The vacuum lines have a different story. The vacuum line on the bottom of the wastegate was still intact but the one on top was missing the fiberglass heat wrap and it looks like the downpipe started to melt the rubber hose. I thought the hose was dirty but when I went to clean it, it felt like RTV stuck in the SS braid, so yeah, it's getting replace. The inside of the relief valve area of the wastegate was covered in scale. I was worried about the valve steam rubbing the valve seal so I decided to take the top of the wastegate housing with the spring off to check the valve movement and if it's sticking. I took everything apart and inspected the silicon diaphragm which looked great with no signs of wear. Next I sprayed the inside the relief area coating the valve stem and moving it back and forth. I could tell there was just a tiny bit of build-up but it quickly cleaned itself from moving the valve up and down in its full range of motion a few times. When the valve was pushed up, it easily falls back down with gravity. Another thing I notice was both -4AN male flare fittings had nicks, specifically the one on top of the wastegate had a really bad nick. I removed the damaged fittings and ordered 2x 4AN male flare to 1/4 NPT, and 2x 4AN 150 degree fittings. It's really hard to find everything in blue/red anodized combo so I got the black anodized pieces instead. I re-assembled the wastegate making sure the spring, spring top cap, and adjusting bolt were all lined up together. Before I took the top cap off I measure the top of the adjustment bolt to the top of the locking nut and it was 18.15mm, so I made sure to measure the same distance when putting it all back together. There is a rubber O-ring that sits under the locking nut and the top of the spring housing. The O-ring was in really good condition and still rounded so it was re-used, maybe it was silicon or viton?. I bolted the wastegate dump tube back on and put new DEI fiberglass heat shielding on the wastegate coolant lines. I will have to deal with the vacuum lines later but I need to get this thing installed so I can move on to other task that are dependent on it.
09 – Boost Solenoid and Wastegate Installed
I installed the A'PEXi Boost solenoid assembly, plugged in the solenoid, and put new heat shielding on the vacuum line that goes down under the A'PEXi Reservoir tank (not pictured). I installed the A'PEXi wastegate with the dump tube and routed the coolant lines up and away.
10 – Install Downpipe
Now with the wastegate installed I can install the downpipe at the right angle to prevent it from hitting the wastegate cooling fins. I installed the downpipe (again) and loosely secured it with the V-Band so the pipe could be rotated. I crawled under the car and rotated the downpipe so the it cleared the wastegate cooling fins and that it was pointing the right direction. Then I fully seated the V-Band by taping the flanges with a small hammer while tightening the nut.
11 – Full Exhaust
With the downpipe installed I can line up the rest of the exhaust. I put the A'PEXi-GT titanium muffler on first, then with the new hardware that came with the midpipe I bolted the midpipe to that to the muffler section. I went to line up the midepipe to downpipe and I had a huge gap. I loosened the adjustable hanger assembly on the A'PEXi-GT exhaust and moved the muffler forward and rotated it a tad to get all the flanges to line up. I lined up and fully seated the midpipe to down pipe flange first, then lined up and fully seated the midpipe to muffler last since I had the most adjust-ability there. With the exhaust fully installed, I finished up by tightening the muffler hanger.
12 – Wideband Sensor
I fed the O2 sensor through the shifter hole and down the side of the PPF. I disconnected the connector and screwed the O2 sensor in place and then reconnected the O2 sensor connector. I wish the O2 sensor side was longer so I could get the connector inside the car, but it's ok because I was able to properly secure it witch some cable clamps to the back of the transmission.
13 – Turbo Heatshield Apart
The Turbo heatshield was originally made within the A'PEXi R&D division and C.Wan wanted to preserve it as much as possible. It looked like a section was cut out, a bracket was cut off in the top middle, and a new bracket was welded to hold it to the shock tower area. The safety wire did its job because when I cut the safety wire, the reflect-a-cool came right off because the adhesive was burned up underneath. I drilled out the top bracket, cut off the other welded on bracket going to the shock tower, and cut off the wall the turbo made a small hole in from hitting it whenever the engine would move during shifting and clutch kicks. I also needed to cut a small section in front of the heatshield to safely clear the turbo oil feed line. Before the heatshield was pushed back at an angle to clear, but now I will align the heatshield to be straight and re-build it in that orientation. I put the heatshield back on so I could measure the new panels and bracket that needs to be added.
14 – Turbo Heatshield Restored
After several hours of cutting pieces and re-welded gapped sections I finally finished the shield. I was unable to lay lines of dimes due to my welding skills but I was able to flow everything nicely for a secure weld. For the bracket going from the heatshield to the strut tower, I copied the original design of the back bracket where its welded through 2 holes and then sanded flush making it look like it's just sitting on top. The heatshield will see a lot of heat and vibration so I wanted to make sure what I did would hold up to that. The heatshield bolts to the firewall and to the shock tower and acts like a 45 degree bracket assembly. That alone will flex the heatshield a minuet amount. The transmission brace should help with the movement of the engine and hopefully the turbine housing will not be hitting the shield and the side frame. I drilled new holes for the safety wire in the new panels and installed a new sheet of reflect-a-cool. I talked to C.Wan about using metal cable ties in place of safety wife but when I tried to visualize it, I couldn't do it. it didn't seem cool and original like the tedious work of spending hours of installing safety wire. Honestly, It looks really cool with the safety wire and you can focus more on the shield without the cables ties being a distraction.
OK time to get to work, I lost 1/2 day writing this report and it's raining outside damnit.
pictures
01 – Upper Intake Manifold (UIM) Installed
02 – Exhaust Manifold
Last edited by rotaryextreme; Mar 28, 2025 at 02:55 PM.
