Phoenix Tuning's New 6gc Convertible Project, Project Stuart Little - What did Dr. Tweak get me into? Options

[presure2]

Why are you using that piece of junk manifold?

damn, art, always the critic, huh? (agreed tho, take that POS off tweak..lol)

looks good tweak, are you planning on polishing those peices, or are you gonna leave them as is?

[Dr_Tweak]

Why are you using that piece of junk manifold?

Funny story, actually. (I was waiting for you to post something about that manifold).

As you very well know I personally can't stand "SSAutocrap" products. However, when I was putting the parts list together for Mouse I noticed that we were missing the factory downpipe. I was on ebay and noticed the ssautocrap downpipes for $35. I was like, man, I HATE to do this because I really don't care for ssautocrap, but $35? I can't even buy the parts to build a downpipe with for $35! So I bought it.

A few days later a box comes in the mail and I'm like, "oh, this must be the downpipe". I pick it up and I'm thinking, why is this so heavy? I open it up and they sent me not the downpipe, but their manifold. I thought about it for a few minutes and then I was like, you know, I can ship this back at my cost and wait around for a refund and THEN go and buy another downpipe. But for $35? I might as well just keep it and order a new downpipe. So that's what I did. Got the downpipe in and then I was thinking.... what am I going to do with this manifold? I could sell it or something but... might as well put it on I guess

So, yeah.

Manny, I'm personally a huge fan of brushed finish (everything in my house is brushed stainless steel) so I'm going to leave it, in fact if I feel like matching everything I would probably brush the manifold and downpipe Though if I end up putting my anodizing line together... who knows what will happen then

-Doc

This post has been edited by Dr_Tweak: Feb 15, 2009 - 9:43 AM

[lagos]

There is really nothing wrong with those downpipes. I've had one for a very long time without problems.
You just have to grind the flange down so that the wg doesn't hit it, use the support bracket, and make sure the flex section in your exhaust is placed directly at the pivot point between the engine and the firewall. If you do that, you should have no problems with it.

[Dr_Tweak]

I've had a similar experience.

-Doc

[trdproven]

josh - hurry up so i can get my rear tranny mount haha. good to see SOME progress though.

[Smaay]

i have nothing bad to say about the SSautochrome manifolds. i know the honds community has problems with them but i have one on my Supra and its been awesome! i did cut the T4 flange off and the wastegate flange and welded on a better T4 flange and teh Tial 44MM V-band flange. but other than that its been running perfect for me.

[Dr_Tweak]

Wait until you guys see how I'm setting up the intercooler. It's going to blow your mind.

-Doc

[Sinyk]

Say you did want to polish that valve cover to a mirror shine, what would you use tweak? My valve cover could be shinier.

[Dr_Tweak]

Progressively higher and higher grits of sandpaper, followed by aluminum metal polish and a lot of elbow grease

That's how we did this:

[Sinyk]

I was thinking of polishing up my valve cover, instead of painting it, and possibly the heat shield. I gave them a scrub in the fall and they did look better, but just not what I want.

Can the valve cover be chrome plated or is it better (more durable?) to polish it up?

[Dr_Tweak]

Chrome plating the valve cover would probably make it more durable and easier to clean, since chrome is harder than aluminum.

The heat shield is mild steel I think, so you'll want to chrome plate that rather than try polishing it. Though painting it normally does work pretty well.

-Doc

[Sinyk]

I feel enlightened. I guess I should start phoning around to see what the bill would be for chrome plating. Thanks tweak!

[lagos]

If your going to take the time to polish something up like that, you really need to shoot it with a few coats of clear coat after you are done. If you don't, all of your hard work with go to waste after a short while.

[Dr_Tweak]

Little bit of an interim update.

Wiring up the 3SGTE...



I've been coy about how I'm going to set up my intercooler. Although it's not finished, I decided to go ahead and get these pics out there. This is not how it's going to look complete, however. After taking a few careful measurements I realized that this setup isn't going to clear my hood because of the tubular manifold. So, I've pulled the stock manifold AND the turbine housing and sent them off to Jet-hot. When they come back, I'll put it back together and redo the intercooler so that it sits lower and at least has a better shot of clearing the hood. But at least you guys can check out how I decided to make the connections from turbo to intercooler to throttle body

First a pic of me showing off my big snap ring pliers















So enjoy the pics, and then forget what you saw because it'll look a little different soon LOL

-Doc

[Batman722]

oooo v-bands

put a shield from the mani to IC

[Dr_Tweak]

Hey, look what I got today





Update coming this weekend

-Doc

[presure2]

Hey, look what I got today





Update coming this weekend

-Doc

BLING!!
jet hot?
looks great!

[Dr_Tweak]

Yeap! Cost about $300.

I'm a Jet-Hot dealer now so when you guys have cars down here, let me know if you want to get it coated

-Doc

[Dr_Tweak]

[Dr_Tweak]

Alright fellas, check it out!





-12 AN fittings welded to the bottom of the intercooler:



-12 AN fittings





Finally got all of the welding done for the intercooler. Next up the engine is going into the car and once all that stuff is out of the way I'll be detailing the install of the intercooler lines and water pump Due to the lack of time that I have (made painfully apparent by the lack of updates), I've decided to have the boys at SCC do the physical engine install since the majority of the custom work is out of the way. That's going down this week, so we should be seeing some faster progress

-Doc