either way works. using a hydraulic expander would probably be the easiest

 

Unless someone has a jig already set-up, it would probably be best done on the actual car, when assembly is complete, so that it lines up properly. Its far easier to remove the exhaust section after the downpipe, than the actual downpipe itself. You are modifying the bottleneck on the greddy so I would assemble everything then when you are finished and its running, you could take it to a local muffler shop and cut out the narrowed part and replace it with a fresh section of 2.75 inch pipe and a flange. Done.
Just my 2 cents Glen.
Keep moving forward....

 

^ Thanks Randy you can just call me Gio (Short for Giovanni) ^_^

Planning on putting some Green loctite so the header nuts do not come out again if that was the case.

Waiting on Westpak to chime in on the Pathfinder mod cause he had the same issue I'm having where the Cam sensor (Revup) and Water temp sensor are right on top of each other and I cannot get the both connectors on at the same time.

 

I had the exact same problem, and they do actually fit, they are just butted up against each other. I think the cam sensor goes in first, the the water temp next. The only solution would be if you want to plug the water temp port in the path finder mod and drill and tap an alternate position. But I would rather weld in a bung. The piping is relatively thin and probably prone to leaks without the proper bung welded in place.

 

ya they do fit. i just used a washer to get the water temp sensor to clock correctly. had to try a few different thickness.

from another thread about loctites.....
"red is usually thread locker, its melting point is like 750. green is usualy sleeve retainer. its melting point is over 1200 degrees. i wouldnt recommend the green on threads. with the green you will have to heat it up to turn the nut, if you have to take it off again. i would put the red on the stud about where the nut would be tight for 4 or so threads, and tigheten it, let sit overnight before starting engine. another thing, are the nuts self locking. nut and bolt companies recommend replacing locking nuts every time you take them off. they lose some of the self locking properties."

although, the corvette forum says this
"Use anti-seize compound on the collector bolts and the header bolts, if you have aluminum heads this is a must. Do not use Loctite, it breaks down at 450F and is useless.
"

so who really knows. Either way, red is prefered over green

 

I bought some 3in flanges and had my buddy cut the 2.5 off and he slide some short 3in pipe over the 2.75, welded it into position, smoothed off the 3-2.75 transition and welded on the 3in flanges. 3in flanges suck though, they leak like it's their job so I'll be doing v-bands for all my exhaust flanges soon....

 

I installed the Forge wastegates for APS TT Kit from Forged Performance and for some reason I got some play on one of the turbo wastegate flap. the arm is tight and its as short as it can be without me bending the arm slightly to create more tension on it.

Here is a crappy video I took today.

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I'm installing the motor tomorrow and wanted to get some suggestions
to alleviate the problem before I drop the motor back in.

 

Very nice. Whats the ETA?

 

I'm dropping in the motor today (Taking a day off work) and doing as much as I can, whatever I don't finish I will finish at home after work so hopefully have it fired up by the weekend.

I'm shopping around for a bodyshop also, I kicked my old bodyshop to the curb after them having the car for 1.5yrs and the car is still not even close to being complete.

I guess either I'm going to have to cut the actuator arm shorter (Hopefully the thread don't get screwed up) or bend it.

 

Update:

Well dropped the motor in on Wednesday.
Thursday modified the rad support for the Koyo R core.
Started up the car found a few kinks.

Kink #1 AIT sensor wires had come undone (planning on soldering and heat shrink once I have the wires routed the way I want)

Kink #2 Power steering hard line broke (Doh!! I tried being as careful as I could and still managed to break it, I made a new hard line which is working perfect)

Kink #3 Cyl 6 misfire (Found out the coil pack harness while it was plugged in but not all the way)

well those issues have all been sorted I still have to properly bleed the coolant and I don't have a bleeder valve since it was removed when the APS kit was install. I had the front jacked up today and tried bleeding the coolant with the heat on and it was blowing hot air and some antifreeze spilled out from the rad (I'm guessing air in the system made the coolant overflow). I'm seeing my temp readings go up to 250deg before I shut it down while I was bleeding the car.

I bled the clutch when I had the car on the lift but the pedal still feels mushy and I have to start the car in gear after pumping the pedal a bit. I hope it's not a slave cyl issue because it was working fine before.

One thing I noticed strange was that with the stock motor I used to read -9.5psi @ idle on my gauge now its reading between -8.5 and -9.0. Would the cams ( JWT S7R ) cause a drop in vacuum?

 

good to here its finally getting done, did you steal it back or it the body work done

 

I had to steal it back. going through the motions of putting in the paper work with DMV and BBB against the bodyshop in the meantime I'm sorting out the mechanical work myself and trying to source a new shop to finish the body

 

Looking good GIO! i hope you get the engine components sorted out and a new paint shop inline.

I know how frustrating this whole process can be.

 

cams will cause a drop in pressure. mine idled at 22mmhg stock block and with ported heads and cams it's down to 13/14mmhg at idle.

The coolant, you need a spill free funnel! No way i'll ever bleed this car again without it. It's pretty close to impossible to get our cars bled all the way. When coolant spills out it will just suck more air back in when it cools. You need the spill free to keep the coolant level at the highest point. Even with the front end jacked up the radiator is still not the highest point and you also created a nice place in the heads for air to get trapped. Coolant exits the heads towards the rear, so coolant will go back there but air will go towards the front and be stuck. 20$ at napa for a spill free funnel. amazon.com has them too.

about the clutch, It took me 2 hours of continious bleeding to get it right. Ours is htat much of a PITA. It's not your slave or master....it's the bleeding. if you pressure bleed it from the slave cylinder up to the master cylinder it will go faster. There is a video of that on here in one of hte clutch bleeding threads. Basically you force the clutch fluid up into the bleed nipple and it pushes the air up and out of the lines.

 

^ Thanks Binder for that hint I found a nice video on youtube very instructional.
I have all those tools already at my disposal so it should make it easy if it is as easy as the video shows

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I ordered the Lisle Spill Free funnel already from tooltopia, hopefully i will get it before the weekend

 

Figured I give a update and ask some questions at the same time.
The car has been running great no overheating and I fixed the wastegate issue by putting a spacer/washer where the wastegate mounts so it could create the proper preload.


Took the car for a spin and I can't tell if it's compressor surge or if this is the way the BOV is suppose to sound now.

Here is a video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKHJuwqNtyo


Let me know if i need to adjust the APS BOV preload or is the APS BOV support higher boost than what it comes out of the box

 

Can't really hear it very well, but the APS BOV has more of a flutter to it unless you are boosting hard and shifting quickly. If that is what you are hearing

 

Thanks Cass it is more of a fluttering sound.
I looked up some vids on Compressor surge and that is not what I'm getting.

Still on engine break in so I'm not passing 30-50% throttle and 4k RPM.
Just covering all the bases before I put it on the Dyno on the 27th

 

Awesome build man. I've heard about your project for a while now. Hope to see it in person one day.

 

Took the car to get tuned for wastegate psi only.





Is it me or are the turbo's running out of steam?

550 TQ
518 WHP

WHP still increasing at 6600RPM