Nice work, Rich. Glad to see you're keeping the market alive for the FM5s.

BTW, the " 'phenolic' thick white LIM/UIM gaskets 'phenolic' thick white LIM/UIM gaskets"
melt. Keep an eye on them. they get goey between the LIM/block and leak. Hopefully be better for you.

Tony

 

is that blanket designed to work only with the xcessive LIM or stock also?

 

theorie, PM sent about the photos!

 

both

 

Agree. I looked at the temp specs and the expected block temps exceed the rating for that material. I only used the phenolic gasket between LIM and UIM and stuck with the OEM metal at the LIM to block.
FWIW
Crispy

 

Tony and Chris,

good to know about the LIM gasket...... there are a few of these products floating around. Were the ones in question a white plastic kind of polymer or a brownish glass/paper/resin impregnated material?

 

I love the LIM. I really need to pick one up while I'm waiting. Plus the rotor shaped alt pulley.. classic. How is that rack going to work for you? I did that mod on my daily driver but I really didn't like it. Can I ask where you picked up the silver insulation on your coolant lines?

It all looks really great and motivating, please get some new videos at 30psi!

 

I was referring to the white plastic kind and the kind I used on my car.
FYI
Crispy

 

Could that LIM heat sheild/blanket be used with Factory TT's, without removing them to install?

 

yes i might have some. ill check tonight when i'm at home and i'll PM you if i find some...

i would love to know this answer as well. what do you think rich?

 

+1^ and would you have to take the turbos off or something to put it on?

 

I'd have to take a peak in my dad's engine bay or a customer's engine bay to see if it's an easy install with stock twins, my gut reaction is 'hell no'

The motor has around 175 miles on it right now and the vacuum continues to improve.

With 60 miles on the engine I checked compression for the hell of it......let the car get nice and hot first, cranking rpm normalized to 250:

Front rotor: 107/111/115
Rear rotor: 118/118/119

So not bad at all given new rotor housings, and supposedly these RA seals take a while to break in. I do know I've gained about 3 inches of vacuum at idle from the first start up til now.

Edit: this is the response I received from the company I bought my intake gaskets from----

"Hi Rich,

The sustained temp for our gasket is 500 degrees F. They are made from virgin grade PTFE.

Thanks,
Debbie"

 

virgin grade...that's my kinda gasket.

anyway i just checked some photos from my rebuild.

(see attached photos)

even with the Y pipe removed, it looks like you can't get down far enough without removing the turbos due to the water/oil lines. i think you might have to remove the turbos to get the blanket all the way down there.

i guess it will have to wait until the next time i take my turbos off...

 

Tom Tom Tom don't tell me you're running around with no heat shield on the twins...

 

dude the stock one crumbled to bits when i took it off!!!

lol yeah i know, i REALLY need one...i'm hoping the vented hood helps out until i can get one in there...

 

That sucks for us twin turbos

 

I will find out and let you guys know...

 

I took a bunch of pics tonight at the shop, will upload them tomorrow.

Another compression test, this time with about 240 miles on the engine (250 cranking rpm):

front rotor: 120/116/112
rear rotor: 121/120/120

I'm hoping the front will get a bit better by 500 miles but am pretty happy with the results so far all things considered

 

Holy crap, the best 30 minutes I spent in awhile. Reading this was like a good cable documentary, pictures included. Man you should have called the HD peeps and had them send someone over!

Do you have any pics of your grounding setup?

 

This is nearly the exact same setup me and my dad want to do on his FD when he returns from a business trip.

 

Some pics from last night.......my newly coated Racing Beat front sway bar reinforcement brace, a gift from my buddy G's third gen after I smoked him at Deal's Gap this past year .

Also a few shots of my new and improved 'B-2 Bomber---Stealth Horn Edition'

 

Drove the FD out to Monsen's place with Don Francis/DJF(NJ) riding shotgun to have a brainstorming session for the upcoming Carlisi memorial event.

Motor now has almost 400 miles on it, and the vacuum continues to improve. It's around -360 to -370 at 900 rpm.

Boost response with my new setup is *much* improved, with the same A-Spec 500R turbo kit.
Changes that may be helping:
*better quality ceramic coating on the manifold and downpipe
*zero exhaust leaks, before I had a pretty bad one off the block due to a stripping rotor housing stud
*different portwork and stronger/fresher engine

In 5th gear when I roll into the throttle at 3000 rpm I have 10 psi before 3200 rpm, this with the boost controller off and running off the wg spring.

I really recommend the Apexi' ATS to anyone looking to lessen exhaust noise but keep most of their power, it's amazing how quite the car is cruising on the highway despite the full 4 inch exhaust

 

Spent some time tonight knocking out all the small things to get the car ready for the upcoming Carlisi event this Saturday:

** 'installed' my new rotor shaped valve stem caps (courtesy of www.Rotary13B1.com)
** checked/topped off all fluids
** Fixed (for now) my funky idle problem. My Air Bleed Screw was completely closed, backing it off (opening it) 1/2 a turn worked wonders, I also richened it up a bit in the idle cells
** Completely charged the Optima battery with an optima-specific charger, volts at idle climbed from 13.2 to 13.8ish.
** Installed a different spring (white one) in my TiAL Q BOV, it was needed due to new engine pulling more vacuum than the old one. It was 'whistling' a bit at idle.
**The big project, I fabbed up a 'custom' Home Depot special intake heat shield. It's semi-temporary at this point, I'll see how it works out. I may send it out for ceramic coating as well. I'm pretty satisfied with it, it should prove to be functional and I was able to mount it with a pair of out-of-sight brackets.

 

Don't think I've ever seen an intake set-up quite like that on an FD. Nice work, Rich, how are your charge temps compared to before?

 

Also, what was the compression on your old motor prior to tear-down?