bad luck, there are always set backs with upgrade work like this

Yeah, and fortunately the exhaust manifold has been literally the only mistake so far!

I almost finished re-assembling the fuse box just then.

Oh and my clutch arrived today aswell, which is the last of the major parts!

***2013 EDIT: The A2W intercooler setup is changing completely from what is shown here!* **
 
The A2W intercooler setup is starting to take shape (keep in mind that the engine is only temporarily back in the engine bay, suspended by a chain on one side, and I still have to paint the cam cover and clean the throttle body and intake plenum etc):

Looks nice!!

How are you thinking of cleaning up the intake manifold. Ours has the same weathered look. Trying to decide between cleanup or polish (only the top part you can see).

Cheers

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Originally posted by artymr2

Looks nice!!

How are you thinking of cleaning up the intake manifold. Ours has the same weathered look. Trying to decide between cleanup or polish (only the top part you can see).

Cheers

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I'm not sure yet. My mech put the plenum through a special machine (I don't know what it's called, but I think it spins around and 'washes' parts with degreaser etc), and that hardly cleaned it at all. We are going to try sand blasting it and if that doesn't work I don't know lol. It would be awesome if it could have the polished look. Actually, tonight was the first time that I had considered the possibility of painting the plenum and throttle body black, hmmm.

Dont know if you realise you can put the IC Under the ilet manifold and bolt it to the engine .
Remember the engine will rock



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I think bead blasting leaves a nice finish to the aluminium, sort of a clean new look without looking OTT. A guy bead blasted his alloy wheels to prep for paint, but it looked so good he just clear coated the bead blasted finish instead.

I was thinking going crinkle red on the manifold, but might be too much red (want to do the rocker cover crinkle red outsides, polished alloy middle) and also too much work!!

Re monitoring inlet/outlet temps of the IC, I am pretty sure autospeed did an article on a device that displays the temp difference between 2 probes, would be perfect for your application here.

Cheers

quote:

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Originally posted by artymr2

I think bead blasting leaves a nice finish to the aluminium, sort of a clean new look without looking OTT. A guy bead blasted his alloy wheels to prep for paint, but it looked so good he just clear coated the bead blasted finish instead.

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Yeah I've seen plenums that have been sand blasted then clear coated, and they look really nice, so that's probably what I will do.

quote:

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Originally posted by artymr2

Re monitoring inlet/outlet temps of the IC, I am pretty sure autospeed did an article on a device that displays the temp difference between 2 probes, would be perfect for your application here.

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The onboard logging in my ECU will do more than just display two temperature numbers...it will be able to log them so a graph can be drawn in excel etc, which is the best way to visualise stuff like that.

Now, time for me to re-open a can of worms here. At the monthly meet tonight I heard conflicting views about TVIS and whether it should be retained in a car like mine, which should be putting out 260+ kW ATW when it is completed.

The debate is, whether to retain the TVIS and change the switching point to a more suitable RPM using my aftermarket ECU,

OR

Replace the whole TVIS setup with a phenolic spacer (which also insulates the intake plenum from the head to keep the air temps down): http://www.atsracing.net/phenolicspacer.htm

Some people have said that they have never seen a TVIS-equipped 3SGTE put out more than 220kW or so, even with big turbos (I need convincing to believe that the restriction of the TVIS shaft is that extreme). Others have said that they still have the TVIS fitted and they have roughly the same amount of power that I'm aiming for. I would like to keep the TVIS, but I need to be sure before the engine goes back into the car permanently such that access to the TVIS becomes difficult.

To put things into perspective, with hypothetical numbers, consider these 2 scenarios:
A) 280kW peak power
B) 260kW with 5% more torque down low compared to 'A'

^I would prefer scenario B.

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Yeah I've seen plenums that have been sand blasted then clear coated, and they look really nice, so that's probably what I will do.

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The HPC coatings also look unreal IMO, not fully bling like chrome but very classy, and it insulates. Just look at MANDALAYs bits for inspiration!!

quote:

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The onboard logging in my ECU will do more than just display two temperature numbers...it will be able to log them so a graph can be drawn in excel etc, which is the best way to visualise stuff like that.

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wow, thats pretty cool. Will be interesting to see all the data from a run or track outing etc.

Cheers