TimZ

Isn't there a restrictor that needs to be removed somwhere? Can't remember if it's in the block or the head. I thought that if this restrictor wasn't removed, you wouldn't get enough pressure to the spraybar to adequately oil the cam.

I guess I'd have to agree, old boy...

Just got these pieces back - all mods done by SpeedShopThagard... Here's how SFP SHOULD have done their header in the first place (stainless slip joints): A few pics of my new custom muffler - 4" oval inlet and 2.25" round inlet (for the wastegate) to two 3" oval outlets! If you look closely you can see that the perforated tubing on the inside does an x-pipe style crossover in the middle - very well executed.

I was just going to post on this. I've beeen testing at the Volvo Arizona Proving Grounds (Ford owns Volvo) for the last couple of weeks and this car was there for testing and tuning. Turns out a friend of mine was involved as a "sponsor" on Ford's side. Very nicely done car, and it's really cool that they are going to use it as a driver training vehicle instead of just making a show car out of it.

bump... So were there any suggestions as to which oils are suitable for our engines?

That looks really good - you'll want to put a bead on either end for hose retention (assuming you'll be clamping a hose to either end)

Me niether. Generally you don't want to coat the inside of the turbine housing. I'm guessing if the inside of yours is coated, it's probably only the first inch or two from the inlet flange. I wouldn't worry too much about removing that.

ATI makes a single groove damper, too... http://www.atiperformanceproducts.com/products/dampers/charts/damnissan.htm

A little more progress... Got the turbine housing heat shield back from Advanced Thermal Products the other day - turned out really nice...

Just a guess but I'd say that's what the phone number is for. The GForce setup that I (and a few others now) have involved a fair amount of fabrication - most of the stuff I saw on the webpage was for kits.

Find another machinist?

First question - are you sure you topped it off with the correct fluid (i.e., the kind recommended by Volvo)?

Yes, you'll need to balance that, but as Clifton just mentinoed, you zero balance the crank/rods/pistons and then zero balance the flywheel seperately. You DO NOT want to balance them as a unit - specifically to avoid the scenario where you have to rebalance the crank whenever you change the flywheel (or the clutch for that matter).

...so the L-series is not internally balanced? When did that happen?

i.e., broken ring land I guess my point was that there is virtually no way that you'll get to the point where you are breaking cranks/rods/rod bolts/etc., without the ring lands going first. If anybody claims otherwise, then they are either very, very lucky, or mistaken.

RING LANDS!!! Come on guys - you're telling me you'd expect to break a crank or rod bolt before breaking a ring land on the stock cast pistons? I'm willing to bet money that 99% of the failed stock block turbo motors involved ring lands giving way.

Modified the compressor outlet this weekend - I was able to use 4" radius of curvature mandrel bent tubing to point the outlet forward - much better than the usual elbow... It ended up matching the existing curvature of the compressor housing quite nicely...

Exactly. My main concern is that the heater, along with the thermostat (in our case it's basically a variable orifice water valve) will add a pretty large amount of restriction in the path, so in addition to the cooling that takes place in the heater core, there will be considerably less water routed back to the inlet with the heater in the loop. A piece 5/8" host in it's place will add almost no flow resistance, and no cooling whatsoever, so the two situations are not equivalent.

I guess I'm not seeing this... If you add the hose "loop", you aren't routing extra cold water anywhere - you are bypassing coolant from the point where it enters the head right back to the pump inlet.

Well, I wasn't going to, but now that you mention it... The header is made from 0.125" thick mild steel tubing, and there are plenty of studs holding the thing to the head, so I wouldn't think it would be that big of an issue. The stress cracks on the welds appear to be from the header expanding lengthwise, not so much from the weight of the turbo. One thing I'm worried about with a brace would be over-constraining the movement of the turbo as the header heats and cools. As the header heats up and expands, the brace would not, which might end up putting more stress on the header than the weight of the turbo in the first place. I'm gonna think on this a bit more, though...

The intake is triple 45mm TWMs on a Mikuni manifold. The exhaust is the infamous South Florida Performance header. (do a search) Joel - yes, I had to move the turbine inlet flange around a bit, but not too much. Looks like I'm going to be modding it a bit more, as a couple of the welds have cracked from heat stress (SFP didn't do too good a job of designing for heat expansion). I'm going to try welding in a couple of expansion joints, and maybe sectioning the header flange.