I'm another broken record but i have to say. I love your ca. Subscribing to this thread. Good work! (Oh and in my opinion i think you should paint your hood and maybe leave the vents unpainted)

 

thanks

Working hard and there is finaly some decent progress.

Radiator brackets are done.
Radiator it self is completely closed up, and the first new hole for the pipes has been drilled.
Thermostat housing is being build atm.

This was pretty much trail and error.
Remember, I'm not a pro welder, this is my first time welding aluminum and most of it so far is also one of the more difficult welds.
One time the result is a very nice weld, the other time I completely **** it up.

It aint pretty, but it works. That's the main thing. 8-)

 

Awesome Build, Been lacking motivation to finish my car and seeing this build definitely helps.

 

New update, because we can.

Unfortunately progress isn't going as fast as I would like to. Hoping to make good progress in 2 full days somehow always backfires.

Radiator is comming close to completion. Need to weld on a drainplug and a bung for a temp. switch to switch on and off the cooling fan.

LIM is half covered in heat reflective tape. Not sure to do the other side aswell but we'll see.

And I've brought the downpipe, exhaust manifold and turbo exhaust housing away for ceramic coating. Unfortunataly I discovered that the BNR stage 4 exhaust housing was seriously cracked but it seems hard or even impossible to get another one so I brought it there anyway.

we'll see...

 

I'm the same way when welding aluminum. first time was with my radiator, it was every difficult but learned quickly from messing up lol. anyways the setup looks good! just out of curiosity, how did you apply the heat reflective tape? ? mine didn't stick that good and is peeling

 

A heat gun would be my guess.

Looking good man

 

After all the grinding I just used some brake cleaner, nothing else.

 

progress is slow, but we seem to be getting somewhere!

Working hard on the intercooler, and it's a big struggle. I soon found out that it wouldnt be like I would like it to be and very soon after I needed to make the compromise on how to build the tanks. This simply because I don't have the tools and knowledge to make an awesome round shaped tank.

The cold side is now at 75% were only the outlet pipe needs to be made.

In this state I first had to get the intercooler in a fixed position in the car to proceed. This because the hot side tank is just to complicated.

And then it was time to start with the hot side. I tried different things but would only turn into a big headache. Suddenly I came up with the idea to start with the side you can see on pic 2 and 3. And by looking at pic 2 and 3 you can also see that the shape of the tank is pretty complex.

It's not done yet but at the final pic you can see how it should be when it is.

I'm still considdering putting a divider plate in the hot side tank.















Another cool thing, I picked up my freshly Zircotec ceramic coated exhaust parts.

 

I'm not sure how i feel about this,

the effort to get the intercooler to fit and the custom work is really good.
But why?
you could have just about any other intercooler and it would have been easier...


Also have you checked the bonnet clearance with the RW intake tube, mine is tight to say the least!

 

If you think that this kind of tank design is good, you are wrong. It works, but it's the opposite of an optimal design.

And that's where it all starts. First plan was to get a front mount to use as v-mount, but that still isn't the best. So custom was the way to go.

And then it became a challenge for me to build my own. I wanted to make a tank as close to prefect as I could think of, But like I said, I soon found out that it was harder then I hoped and I still don't have a tank design that is as good as I wanted it to be. But still better then the picture above.


Can't remember I checked clearance, but if it's thight, it's good enough!

 

We're back, with good progress.


Intercooler is almost done, only need the last mounting points to be made.








Meanwhile i've been working on the steering rack as I removed the power steering.

Pulled it apart, removed all seals. Inputshaft as been taken appart, cleaned and welded together to eliminate the torsion. All has been cleaned and painted.












I'm also making a new cross member. I removed the others, but it's also there to be a suport for the most upper cross member, if you can call it that. And its also there to put a bracket on for the intercooler.
It's L-shaped, and already welded on a few bolts and some extra plates for stiffness.







The last major things are either ordered or already delivered.
Ordered all needed mazda oem stuff.
Found and bought a volkswagen temp switch for the cooling fans, and a bung is on its way.
Cooling fan arived today and I've got a nice package from Earls Performance









So, that's it for now, still a lot to do!

 

Beautiful!

 

Update time!

Cross member finished. New added features. It can now hold the wiring harness, horn's oil lines (with extra mounts) and it will support the front of the intercooler.









Intake manifold is now covered as much as possible with the DEI golf reflective tape that was left on the roll I bought







Fitted the hood locks.






And after that it was time for the new oil cooling setup. Again, top quality from Earl's Performance.

 

Sprint to the finish.

Lots of things happend. Radiator was leaking and couldnt be repaird. Bought a new one, cut off the modified radiator tank en welded it on the new one.

-exhaust is back on the car
-new coolant line for the turbo
-intake placed back on
-repaird the throttlebody adapter cable
-modified the throttlecable
-splitter mountings redone
-oil filling neck modified
-coolant overflow tank mounted


I just finnished making a new tow hook as the stock mounting position is behind the new oil cooler.
Made mounting positions for the cooling fan
Now I am working hard on making radiator / intercooler ducting. The one on top of the IC isn't really nice, but it works. Might make it a winter project to make one out of carbon.


12th of august is the day the car will get mapped. Ordered Bosch 1680 and Bosch 550cc injectors to replace the injector setup I have right now (725/1000).


It won't be easy, but the last week just started.

 

 

 

I'm very impressed with your progress. Especially your attention to intercooler end tank orientation and duct work. It's definitely something that catches my attention with other members builds. I'd love to see some hard data that shows the gain in efficiency. Are you doing all the work yourself? Specifically the aluminum welding? It's inspiring for us garage/backyard mechanics. Whats with you enthusiasts from the Netherlands("Furb") or Europe in general? You definitely seem to have more patience and attention to detail than the rest. Keep up the good work.

 

Thanks man

I'm doing (almost) everything my self. Borrowed a tig welder which I also used to make my exhaust system. First time welding aluminum so its not very pretty but it will do the job. It was more difficult to make all the weird shapes.

About the end tank orientation, I dont think I can get any data that can show if its better or not. But it's different and I like that. I will rebuild the upper intercooler duct sooner or later. Carbon maybe?

Furb is building the hottest and finest RX4 in europe.

 

Very impressive build, the ducting looks great! What kind of differences are you seeing in the temps after all the work?

 

Cruising at 140km/h
-coolant at 85 celcius
-intake air not lower then outside temperature (at that day between 27-33 celcius)

oil tempreture was at 120 celcius in the oil pan with cold oil coolers. Why? I don't know. Replaced the thermostat, and there is oil in the coolers / lines so I dont really know at the moment.

Later this month I will take it to the track to see what it does.


extra pictures by the way

 

I like.

 

That looks menacing!

Thanks again for those measurements, I installed them and they look great!

 

skip the oil thermostat, the warm running rotary will heat it up anyway, and what oil coolers is that? maybe they need to be bigger(but hey you said they was cold so...).
Anyway the company that build my 20b pointed out very hard that oil thermostats can be both problematic (irregular preassure and temperature) and fatal(if they break), i know many ppl that have had problems with them especially when useing FD oil pressure (8bar ish)

 

I'm going to test it at the track next week to see what it does. If it doesn't work I'll have to remove the T-stat and see what it does that way.


Anyway, since to day i've got my blow-off back on the car.

 

Been a while, and not much to say.

I'm not going to do a lot on the car from now on, unless I get a big bag of money.

I am trying to get into racing and as you might know, that's expensive. So I've had an expensive year and decided to put it on hold for a while.


I will try to drive the car as much as I can, and i've got a few small things I will do to the car.

-Found out that it might be a good idea to get a bumpsteer kit. I am noticing this a lot since I removed power steering.
-oil thermostat will be removed. Did a few test laps at the track and its not doing what I want it to do
-Thinking about racingbeat pullies to get the waterpump rpm's down a bit
-and I want it back on a dyno to see what it makes, solve a few minor dead spots and have general second look at the map.

Besides that I hope to do a few track days next year and try to get the car set up the way I want it. It has to much understeer at the moment so it would be my next educational challenge xD



So if there is an update, i'll put it up here right away