1974 13b-re Nova
#327
Damn 80 hr/week job, that's what! But.........got the Haltech back and got it working. Ended up being a loose ground bolt on the terminal strip (Yup, I'm a confirmed *******). Rear seat is in the upholstry shop. I'd be pulling the engine to send it to Alan this weekend if I wasn't going to be at ******* work!
#329
Eats, Sleeps, Dreams Rotary
iTrader: (1)
Damn 80 hr/week job, that's what! But.........got the Haltech back and got it working. Ended up being a loose ground bolt on the terminal strip (Yup, I'm a confirmed *******). Rear seat is in the upholstry shop. I'd be pulling the engine to send it to Alan this weekend if I wasn't going to be at ******* work!
#330
True. But, it's just very frustrating working 80 hrs a week, spending 6 months away from your wife and 2 year old kid, losing money because you can't go to your second job...........all while getting paid for 40 hrs. But you're right. I'm very happy to have a job.
#333
Stayed really late at work yesterday so I could have today off. Did an I/O check on the Haltech and everything is good to go. Also got the engine pulled. Next thing is to make a list of hardware and gaskets I'll need to reinstall the engine, send the engine to Alan, ceramic coat the turbine housing, and powdercoat a bunch of stuff. Starting to get excited!
#336
I'm thinking the aluminum parts of the engine painted cast aluminum, and the irons painted dark grey. The intake manifold and turbo compressor housing powdercoated cast aluminum with the throttle body dark grey. The lettering on the manifold will be brushed. The turbo piping will probable be brushed with a clear powdercoat finish to keep it clean. Basically how it looks now, but clean. All fasteners (with the exception of a very few) will be stainless socket head cap screws.
I've been back and forth on this, so I'm open to suggestions.
I've been back and forth on this, so I'm open to suggestions.
#337
Paranoia got the best of me again. Saw some videos of a 3 rotor making 1000+ horsepower on the dyno on streetfire.net. The manifold was damn near glowing white! I'm planning on running a lot of boost on this thing so I started worrying about the exhaust manifold cracking. I originally wanted to ceramic coat the exhaust manifold, but then decided against it after having to fix some cracks in a ceramic coated dragster header. It was a pain in the *** to clean and weld. I figured if the manifold wasn't ceramic coated, it would be easier to repair if it did crack.
But damnit, I really want to ceramic coat it. So.......I added some gussets to the engine flange and walked a cap pass around every weld. So now, every tube weld has a root pass and a cap. I am also welding the inside of the wastegate flanges. Just a couple more to go. It is taking a while because I am having to make flange backing plates to keep the manifold flange and turbo flange from warping. Walking the cup puts substantially more heat into the metal than just dabbing.
I need the engine to reattach the manifold brace once I am done welding. All the heat into the pipes moved the turbo flange about 1/8" closer to the engine. After this is done, the engine is headed Alan's way.
But damnit, I really want to ceramic coat it. So.......I added some gussets to the engine flange and walked a cap pass around every weld. So now, every tube weld has a root pass and a cap. I am also welding the inside of the wastegate flanges. Just a couple more to go. It is taking a while because I am having to make flange backing plates to keep the manifold flange and turbo flange from warping. Walking the cup puts substantially more heat into the metal than just dabbing.
I need the engine to reattach the manifold brace once I am done welding. All the heat into the pipes moved the turbo flange about 1/8" closer to the engine. After this is done, the engine is headed Alan's way.
#340
Ran into a problem. I took the manifold to the machine shop to have them machine the flange to get it perfectly straight. Long story short, They turned the flange into a cheese wedge. No worries though. I didn't really like the look of the gussets anyway. Had to do some manifold surgery, and here are the results...... I got the flange from Sean at A-spec based on a tip from Alan. It is a beautiful piece! Not at all what I expected. Well worth the cost over an ebay or Racing Beat flange.
#346
You are correct on the scratchs, they are from walking the cup. You can also see them on the top of the weld on the backside of the base flange. The base flange was a double pass. If it's not one continuous walk like I had to do on the base flange to keep it from warping so much, I'll always do a a second pass and overlap my starts and stops just to make it look as perfect as possible. However, the turbo flange was a single pass because I was afraid to add another pass of heat to it. The runner flanges are double pass, once for a root pass (dabs in this case) and once for the cap. One or two of the runner flanges were tripple pass to pretty them up a little because they were so awkward to get to. I should have ran the cap pass before I joined the two tubes together. It would have been much easier and quicker.