Gollum

Not "hard" by any stretch, but certainly needs to be well thought out and executed. And are we talking 800hp wheel or 800 crank? Because crank I think we have more than 1 member that are quite close to those numbers... Think about it this way, robello and MANY others can and have built 300hp NA L engines, some of which aren't even strokers. At that NA level, adding a good 22-25psi of boost should get you to around 800hp. You might say "wow, 25psi isn't even that high, and Big Phil has run that much and didn't get close to those power levels"... ...Well phil was also running an engine that would struggle to put 200 to the wheels without a turbo... I'm talking about building a serious engine with a serious head on it, with a matching intake and exhaust system. I'm talking about an engine that even without the turbo would put down MORE THAN DOUBLE the stock NA HP... The real challenge is the balancing act of how to build the bottom end for that kind of power. Obviously you need more meat on the piston than the 300hp NA engines do, but with every added gram for reliability is that much more mass to motivate, which might not be a big deal at 4,000rpm, but at 9,000??? Rotating weight and balance becomes EXTREMELY important. Past that you just need a head that will allow for a good torque peak above 5k and breathes well into the 8kRPM range. Add boost and DONE! The magic that eludes many is the ability to tune such a monster and keep it alive. Keeping the air temps down is very important, but there's many ways to solve that. And good luck getting it to make that power on pump gas. It probably means that he's only giving info to those that are what he deems "ready" to receive such information. The extensive post by howler shows how the original question was very vague and not to any type of a point. If you can ask specific questions that have specific answers he might be more apt to answer. At least, that's how I've understood Tony to be.

I don't like tuning with knock sensors. Tuning to the point that even a well calibrated sensor is detecting knock is a big NO-NO if you're trying to reach any kind of power limit. If you're only pushing a measly 100-140HP per liter then sure, mild knock shouldn't kill much, if anything, at all. You've had some good advice, but I'll second some and maybe add some details of my own. 1. It's ESSENTIAL in tuning any engine that you know EXACTLY what's going on FIRST. Check timing accuracy. Get your injector data as close as possible. Make DAMN sure that your ECU knows where the engine is at in rotation and that it's getting clean crank signal. Try to fix noise issues externally FIRST before adding noise filtration in the software. Make sure your coolant and inlet temps are verified by a secondary source before you ASSume they're accurate and tune to them. Sensor calibration is a BIG DEAL. 2. Timing should be conservative at first. Make sure you're pulling timing under boost. 3. Tune fuel tables BEFORE timing, and consider that just because you might make more power at 13.5:1 at peak HP doesn't mean you might not want to add some extra fuel as a knock agent so you can be more aggressive with the timing once you get to spark tuning. 4. Before tuning your spark/timing do testing at low RPM and low loads to verify what timing your engine actually likes. Run the engine down to 12:1 AFR @1,500 RPM and find out where peak torque shows up when adjusting timing. Then lean it out to 14:1 and do the same. You can now calculate, if you take the time to do so, where your peak power will be under just about any condition. The challenge here is to know where to leave power on the table for safety, because it's not just at peak HP. There's actually a lot of space before peak TQ and after peak HP that you might want to stay a bit conservative if you don't mind leaving some power out there in the name of safety. 5. Make sure that your BASIC tables are well tuned and that everything seems to be going well BEFORE getting into all your other adjustment factors like cold start, knock detection, wall wetting, etc. You don't want these transient adjustments effecting your base tune, otherwise you're likely to cause bigger problems with your tune down the road. 6. And in all this remember to go easy and take things in SMALL increments. Don't get the engine running and drive straight to the dyno shop. I'd personally spend at LEAST 50 driving hours tuning part throttle around town settings keeping it out of boost long before trying to get adventurous tuning WOT. Obviously this means you'll be going back and forth between fuel tuning and then timing tuning, but that's the nature of the beast if you want it to be thorough. Of course the exception to this is if you rent a load controlling dyno for a whole day and can then tune cell by cell, but I wouldn't recommend this for a first time tuner. I highly recommend "Engine Management: Advanced Tuning" by Greg Banish if you need some good reading material to get your head around the tuning process. It can be found on amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Engine-Management-Advanced-Greg-Banish/dp/1932494421 I've got several other books I own or have read and non of them are as clear cut and getting to the point without BS as this one. Lots of useful formulas and charts for quick reference. Oh, and you should only need around 14-15 PSI to reach your goals with that turbo. In fact even a MILD street ported head @ 15 PSI should be capable of damn near close, if not over, 375whp. Big Phil's results were low, and many have different reasons they speculate, and he also had surge issues, which again, many people will argue about why and what is the best way to avoid that situation. All that said, dig through the advice TonyD has given on this forum on the topic. He only works on compressors for a living....

Are you using a MAF or MAP sensor, or both? If you have a MAF sensor with the datalog we can look at exactly how much air was going in versus how much boost pressure there was and figure out EXACTLY where the turbo was on it's flow map. Knowing that will go a LONG way to figuring out why there's such an increase of heat per PSI increase all of the sudden. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this earlier, but that turbo can reach 50psi within it's PEAK efficiency range, meaning very little added heat to deal with in perspective to PSI level. If you really feel that there was no way possible that there was any error in the setup when dyno'd, then I'd think good and hard about an air to water intercooler, or some type of water/meth secondary injection. That would handle ANY heat issues as long as the system is in good working order and tuned to the current system.

Correction: 82-83 S130's have R&P. 79-81 have Recirculating Ball. I believe '81 turbos are the exception, and had the R&P a year before the NA models. And I should know, I converted my '81 over to R&P, and even did a write up here for it.

Bimmers are also whisper quiet going down the road compared to other vehicles from the same year/era. So it makes sense they have a lot of sound deadening.

90% of running issues can be solved by going through the FSM checks one by one. It takes organization, and patients, but can be done with just some basic tools. Most problems are related to a bad electrical connection somewhere, which is an easy fix, just takes time to diagnose. First time I went through the checks it took me about 2 hours really double checking everything since I wasn't completely sure what I was doing. Now I takes me about 30 minutes or less and I'm fairly confident in what I find. Even if it runs for 2 minutes, it's definitely "okay". Odds are it's running find until it warms up. Could be a bad coolant temp sensor, wiring to it, or it could be a myriad of things affected by engine temperature. When the engine is cold it's a bit more forgiving and likely to run since the ECU isn't so picky and basically running "on the safe side".

I didn't make my deadline, the head needed too much cleanup, and I don't exactly have anything resembling a parts cleaner. But after a week of soaking the deck surface in vinegar it came clean real easily tonight so all that's left for the head is just a good spray with a can of brake cleaner, along with some air down pressure, and then lube it all up before throwing it on. My intake still needs to be reassembled with all it's accessories. Part of me wants to take the time to get new vacuum lines along with coolant lines, and the other part of me just wants to put the damn thing together and get it running so I have time to sort out any problems before taking the car camping next weekend. I guess on one hand it all should be done anyways, but on the other hand I doubt it'll be running worse than it was and most of that stuff is easy enough to do with the intake in the car.

Word! Completely OEM 280ZX will LIVE most of it's freeway like from 2500-3500 RPM AS DESIGNED! My B16 crx would sit around 4000-4500 on the freeway, dipping in and out of vtec engagement. Sucker still get 35mpg being flogged on constantly and never once complained. Hell, even a V8 designed for it can live at those RPMs too!

It's not a pissing match. Your dyno is exactly on. The only thing that's not "on" is why on earth your inlet temps seem to have skyrocketed after 15psi.... Your dyno figures are exactly on par with everyone's for 15psi, that's what I'm saying... This whole thread is going around in circles because I don't think you really knew what you wanted to get out of it. Here's the summary: 1. The VGXXET heads suck, so don't expect them to flow well at higher RPM like the DET heads can with ease. 2. If you're wanting to stick to 15psi BOOST you're more than likely going to end up around 350whp give or take 5% depending on dyno and conditions 3. If you want to reach 400HP you're going to have to find a way to run more boost. There, that's the entire topic. My personal suggestion would be to look into other fuels, namely alcohol based fuels. I'm not sure what ethanol availability is like in Australia, but I'm sure methanol is available enough to make a secondary injection system that only comes on at certain boost criteria a financially viable option. I've seen, and work on, cars that were "maxed out" due to heat and detonation limits on pump gas gain a good 20% extra power availability when switching to E85, plus their turbos spooled sooner. The extra power comes from the fact that E85, and all alcohols, require HUGE amounts of heat to atomize, and thus REMOVE heat from the air and chamber. Your inlet temps will plummet if you can measure after the injection point, and you're ability to reduce knock will go through the roof. Alcohol doesn't foul plugs when going really rich like gasoline, which means you can run WAY down to around 6.5:1 (about 10:1 equivalent to petrol) and not even see a sign of spark fouling. This also makes for a VERY detonation resistant charge as the extra fuel is basically along for the ride as a cooling mechanism. The extra fuel is also a huge factor when spooling the turbo, as the exit gases are literally heavier. But from the sound of things, I wasn't sure you wanted advice like that. It sounded like you wanted to know how to make your ET heads flow like youre DET heads, and that just isn't going to happen. THAT'S why I brought up the electromotive engine, because even THEY didn't get their race only setup to flow like DET heads.

Sounds like the right kind of deal. The Pallnet rail is named after a user here who sells fuel rails. Quite common in these circles. Defintely jump on it though, even if it's non-driveable and has to be towed. Will cost you less than $150 in gas, which is far less than the other car you were looking at. Most tow dollies shouldn't run more than $50 for a day too,

Just for the fun of it... 15 PSI + atmospheric = 29.7 PSI 18 PSI = atmospheric = 32.7 PSI 32.7 / 29,7 = 1.101010101 Your dyno @ 15psi 358 x 1.101010101 = 394.16 So like I GUESSED, and now just mathmatically showed, if you increased boost to 18 PSI like BLOZ UP's 390 dyno, you're be at 394, all other things being equal (basically meaning as long as you didn't detonate and have similarly equal timing relative to BMEP/IMEP. His dyno, along with others, is most likey NOT far off from yours...

I hate that "international" crap. Same BS that I've heard others say. If a dyno is configured correctly, which in many cases I admit they aren't, then the corrected SAE HP will be with a SMALL percentage of all of dynos. If you really want to dismiss all the dynos on the net of VG's making 400+hp because you have some inherent belief that some dynos are just always wrong then I pity you. EVERY example I've shared making your power levels were running closer, if not over, 20 PSI!!!! I'd venture to say that considering the PSI difference your dyno is EXACTLY on par with what all these other dyno's are showing! Yes a dyno is just a tool to tune with, like BLOZ UP says. I don't believe in getting in a pissing match on dyno numbers, because they're always relative. But that said, a dyno can show with a very small margin of error, what that car actually put down, at that instance, with that load, with that ambient temperature, corrected to sea level pressures. If you want to say "well my dyno is just honest and nobody else's is" then I'd say that's called ignorance. Instead of dismissing data, look for the missing link. I've already told you the missing link. You're not going to get there on 15psi with relatively stockish heads. I'd bet even the Electromotive "race only" and "unreliable" (what you seem to say) configuration probably would NOT have made 400whp at 15psi! Hell, BLOZ UP was running 18PSI when he put 390 to the wheels. That's about EXACTLY what you'd put down if you were running 18PSI judging by the dyno YOU PROVIDED.

Yes, it can. Even if it's in mediocre shape it'll do just fine for your needs. There have been guys making 400hp on OEM NA bottom ends. And the people that HAVE blown up a NA to turbo setup weren't running programmable EFI 90% of the time. Would I recommend running an un-tuned turbo EFI setup on a higher compression flat top setup? No, not a great idea. But if you've already got the megasquirt you can run virtually any setup you want an tune appropriately. First, try to limit soldering, and if you do solder anything make sure it's a "floating" wire, meaning it's not clamped down to anything that could vibrate. Solder joints don't like vibration, and an automotive application is full of that. So just keep that in mind if you choose to solder, that you want to make sure there's plenty of cushion around that prevents vibration. And second, don't but that, when for just a few bucks more you can get this: http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/839-megasquirt-wiring-harness-ms1-ms2-ms3-ready-p-477.html All the length you need to wire your engine from scratch and have continuous wires from ECU to Input/Output.

That question doesn't have a straight forward answer, but to put it simply I wouldn't recommend it. You CAN use the 76 ecu if you also use the 76 AFM, dizzy, and injectors... but you'd have to basically keep the motor out of boost if you wanted it to live very long. Find a L28ET that has EVERYTHING, and don't expect to pay more than $800 for it. Even that is HIGH. There's actually an entire turbo CAR in Reno right now for $900, and the damn thing runs and drives! The downside is that it's a '81, which means it doesn't have the dizzy you'd be looking for. I paid $200 for my last turbo engine, and the only thing missing was the wiring harness, ECU, and turbo. I got everything else. If I was willing to pay an extra $200 the guy would have let me take the whole thing, even whole car if I wanted it...

You could certainly get MS running on your current engine and swap it over. In fact, that's an ideal way to do it, it's just that most people want power NOW, and aren't willing to go through the growing pains of learning how to tune when the HP rewards are very minimal. Wiring difference between the two will be non-existent. Meaning if you have a NA running megasquirt, there's ZERO work to be done on the hardware end of things to convert over to turbo. ALL changes will happen on the software end. One of the larger obstacles in getting MS installed for people is figuring out a way to send trigger info to megasquirt. ALL EFI systems need a way to figure out engine speed. The stock EFI just uses signal from the coil, like the tach, and that works if the spark is being handled by a distributor running mechanical and/or vacuum advance. If you want your ECU to control spark as well (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, and just about REQUIRED for force induction and even the factory L28ET had ECU controlled spark) then you need a way to tell WHERE the crank is, not just how fast it's going. There's two common ways people achieve this. 1. Put a wheel on the crankshaft. which can look like this: Or maybe this: Either way they accomplish the same goal. There's teeth that a VR sensor can "see" magnetically, and there's a missing tooth so the ECU can sync to the actual position relative to TDC. This method requires not just mounting the wheel, but mounting the sensor too. The big pro to this method is that once synced it's EXACT with NO SLOP as you're reading the crank itself. The big con is that you can't run full sequential ignition or fuel. But that's not exactly necessary and MANY MANY MANY OEM factory setups use batch injection along with wasted spark, same as you'd be running using this trigger setup. The second common way is to use a '82-'83 turbo distributor (which has an optical CAS inside of it) and to mate it with this trigger wheel: Which can be bought here: http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/54-mm-optical-trigger-wheel-for-nissan-l28et-or-vg30e-p-497.html The big upside to that is that it's pretty much a drop in affair, and you can now run sequential everything if you have hardware that supports it (MS2 doesn't support sequential injection on a 6 cylinder, and can be a bit of trouble getting sequential spark imo, and you're better off just running waste spark to keep your output count down). This is a great option if you want to spend the extra bucks to go with a MS3X setup (which will add a good $300+ to your budget, if not more). Overall it's just a damn simple way to go, and many people like that, even for a batch fire/wasted spark setup. The huge downside is that the timing won't be AS SOLID as the crank arrangement. On the upside it should be more solid than using a trigger wheel directly on the crank, because the distributor shaft is directly connected to the crank via a GEAR instead of a CHAIN like the cam. But no matter what in the end the shaft can still vibrate, shift slightly from accel to decel, and people HAVE see distributor shafts jump a gear! Granted those cases have been extreme, but I'm just throwing it out there. The other possibility is to do the simply dizzy option initially, and the add a crank signal down the road for stability, and just use the dizzy signal for cam sync up. BUT that all requires you FINDING a turbo dizzy. If you get one with your turbo motor: Personally, for your application I'd go with a MS2 box with the dizzy with NO trigger wheel (just using the stock CAS signal as it comes out of the dizzy wiring), as well documented in the FAQs here on the site. All you need to get going is a turbo dizzy, Intake Air Temp Sensor, a MS2 box, some wiring, fuses, and relays and a wideband and you're pretty much ready to rock. Also, on a side note: If you get a WHOLE L28ET with EFI and everything, and you plan on going megasquirt asap, I'd consider getting the engine running on a engine stand, or even on a crate, with the existing wiring, and then sell the WHOLE THING to someone to recoupe costs. I've see guys sell complete EFI setups for about $500 in some cases. That's some good change to go towards injectors, fuel rail, megasquirt, etc. The key is to show that it's in WORKING ORDER and ready to go with no modifications. People like that.

Ray's an anomaly nice guy. Guy wouldn't take money for not just a CAT, but freakin cutting up old parts to make reducers to put on my existing pipes so I could bolt in the larger CAT. Got him to let me take his Fam out to ice cream at least. Ray also understands the market and what he can get for some stuff. He knows that people are willing to pay for "turn key" parts and has made decent money at it. Ray also finds the best deals himself, and thus still makes money when he sells a head for $100 to someone like you Leon. All in all, ray is one heck of a stand up guy. I bought my first turbo donor from him back when I was.... 16? Maybe 17.

If I were to sell a P90 I'd ask for $300 and feel great if/when I actually got it, but times are changing I guess. I bought an ENTIRE ENGINE L28ET about 4 years ago. The only thing I didn't get was the wiring harness, ECU, AFM, and the turbo. I spent $200 on it. I recouped most of my cost selling the bottom end, and still have a spare set of injectors, a spare P90, a spare turbo intake, etc. What cracks me up is how many people say "oh well you can't find deals like that anymore"... Ummm, you can. Here's a whole freakin car you can DRIVE HOME for under $1,000 which it seems some think is a "reasonable" price for just a pulled L28ET engine http://reno.craigslist.org/cto/4015618174.html

Quoted for truth. The end. I'm betting the head got a tad hot at some point in it's life, and the following lack of head retorquing lead to the current condition. There's a good reason Nissan put the retorquing in the FSM... All good info.

ctc gave great advice, and much along the lines of what I'd suggest as well. Being able to revert back might sound like a good idea, and that's totally doable, as long as you do it right. But honestly the L28ET swap is so easy very few ever get hung up on the actual swap itself. If people get hung up it's because they can't get it running right for some very simple reason that they fail to find. Like ctc said, #1 just throw a L28ET in there AS-IS. If you want rebuild experience, rebuild your NA engine after the turbo engine is running well. If you start messing with the turbo engine before installing it, chances are that much greater that there will be complications with the swap. I'd even advise to leave the stock fuel rail on, simply to NOT PULL ANYTHING OFF before sticking the engine in. Once the engine is in, swapping the rail is only an afternoon's job and easily performed with the engine in the car. This way you know it worked BEFORE, AFTER you install something. Take this route on EVERYTHING, even the EGR if you're going to remove it. And to ctc's #2 point, megasquirt is HIGHLY recommended. If you get a '81 donor, check your timing religiously, and be very careful with the motor. The '81 CAS on the crank is extremely prone to failure but it doesn't fail by not working, but instead giving erratic readings. Those erratic readings lead to erratic timing which leads to engine damage. Here's a break down of what it takes to do a nicely implemented MS conversion that removes many "issues" with the stock nissan systems: MS2 - Assembled unit $450 Wiring Harness Premade and labeled (just saves you tons of time is all) - $70 Relay Board (can totally skip that if you've added your own relays for the turbo swap, just makes things convenient) - $100 - If you go with the relay board you skip the wiring harness and get a relay cable ($80) and a labeled wire bundle ($46) instead. Personally I'd go without the relay board for a ground up install like in L28ET Trigger wheel on crank $50 (includes costs to mount it) Coil Pack $100 (could vary greatly depending on what you choose to go with and your parts source, can get them for next to free on craigslist if you search long enough) Wideband $210 (NEEDED to tune anything. If you have a friend with one he can lend you the cost just becomes a $10 bung to weld on) And then you'll just have misc costs on top of that, like IAT sensor, maybe a throttle out of a KA for it's easier to use TPS, etc. All said, a $1,000 budget can certainly get it done if you're careful, and you'll have QUALITY spark control along with fully programmable fuel, something that all L28ET engines I've seen desperately need. No, as for power, you're right, not much is needed. A 100% bone stock L28ET might put around 175 to the wheels just raising boost to around 9-10 psi on an otherwise completely stock setup. The same exact setup adding the megasquirt should net you probably a good 25+ hp at peak, and tons of power under the curve where you can really dial things in. Add an intercooler and you can now max out the stock turbo which will get you close to the limits of the stock injectors, which puts you around 250whp. But with megasquirt already handy you can easily swap injectors, and even find a cheap T3/T4 someone has lying around and now you've got all the pieces you need to put 300 to the wheels. At that point you're going to start MAJORLY exceeding certain systems on the car like, brakes, transmission, tires, etc Also keep in mind that it only takes around 225-250 to the wheels to be keeping up with most anything off a factory show room, even a ZO6 vette. The biggest investment you can make on any engine is a programmable EFI system. In the long run it's a SMALL COST compared to not doing it. I know someone that went through THREE turbo longblocks before figuring out it was his '81 CAS killing his engines...That's a lot of time, money, and headache. Save yourself all that by having a system in which you KNOW what's going on and can thus FIX problems that can destroy your engine.

Even if it's 100% straight, clean, non-corroded, with new valves, fresh cuts on the seats, so on and so forth then that's not a bad a deal! Their price on the MN47 is $760 though... not sure that's SUCH a stellar deal...

Oh I know it all comes from the same place, for the most part. But I also grew up surrounded by refineries. Down in Richmond is the Chevron refinery. In Martinez is Shell. In Benicia is the Valero refinery, Conoco Phillips was just about in my backyard in Rodeo. I still drive by the Tesoro refinery in Concord almost weekly. Yes, 90% of what all those refineries put out is identical. But they also all have to pass their own octane rating tests, and they all use slightly different approaches when it comes to their octane additives, as well as detergents. I've often felt that the reason I don't like Shell gas must be the detergents they use, since they sell to many other lower tier stations that I've never seen issues with. I've also considered that it could be their winter blend that I have issues with, as I've never paid close enough attention to see what time of the year I've seen issues. Who knows, maybe it is all in my head. But when your paranoia gets validated enough times you really start to believe it.

My L28ET project is currently mostly non-existent. The S30 it's in has been garage bound for about 2 years now while I deal with more important aspects of life. The good news is that I'll be starting a megasquirt install soon and should at least have the car back on the road again. I'm going to be a LONG ways off from my final goal of course, but the EFI is the first step in a long road. At the end of the day, fuel and spark control will make or break any project, which is why it's the very first thing I'm focusing on. Once I've got the spark system how I want it long term, and have done a few important fuel upgrades I'll be moving towards manifold fabrication. Once I've got manifolds I'll be converting over to a dual fuel setup with E85 and pump gas. Once That's all been tuned at relatively conservative levels I'll be starting on building a head that will eventually just go on a junkyard shortblock while I tune on the new head. It's a LONG road, especially when you know you'll be doing majority of the work yourself. But it's called a hobby for a reason right? Here's a thread that's now 5 years old going through my process of how I wanted to build my intake. I've been working on it recently as you'll see in the last page, and I think I'm getting a lot closer to how I really want to build it. I'm sure once I get further along I'll start a genuine project thread though, mostly just to bring all the pieces of information to one spot, as I have threads spread all over and will continue to make piece specific threads for certain things.

Ewww... your car likes shell gas? Almost every car I've ever had didn't like shell. It either ping, made noticeably less power, or got significantly less MPG. My brother's '93 Cobra would hardly run on it. My B16A1 would feel terrible on it. The wife's Accord loses at least 2 MPG on it. And on and on. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I've resorted to only buying their gas if absolutely necessary. The only reason I know the Accord doesn't like it is because on a road trip someone else was buying the gas and sure enough, consistent MPG before that thank, and the tanks after, but THAT tank was noticeably down...

All of the above I totally agree with. I personally hope to reach my L28ET goals with only 18psi, but if required I'll just add a bit more boost to get there, as long as my intake temps are manageable. I was only using the Eletromotive engine as an example because they used stock head castings, and I find it interesting that even THEY had high RPM flow restrictions that caused the head to peak it's torque early. What's really interesting to me is that I've never seen someone overcome that characteristic for the VGxxE heads, yet it's certainly not just because of valve count. There's plenty of 2 valve head engines that make upwards of 95% volumetric efficiency and are able to make peak torque at 6k and beyond.

So I've finally broken down and decided just to throw my P90 on the motor and get the thing running again. I'm not sure how I feel about this still, but in the long run I don't even want to be running a P90 on my turbo build anyways, so why should I be heartbroken over a few $$$ I might get if I ever actually let the damn thing go to a new home. ( <-- see Tony, that's how you get rid of crap ) So now as of tonight the block surface and pistons are clean and the threads are all cleaned up thanks to some time with a tap. I also threw the manifold gasket on the head and the exhaust manifold and guess what??? No grinding required! The stock NA manifold (this year at least) is well oversized compared to the P90 head exhaust ports and should be fine as-is. This is also completely ignoring the fact that the exhaust manifold overall lines up like children getting ready to go back to their classroom. I'm positive it's just warping, but it's amazing just how much these things warp over the years. Really makes be consider the value of even the cheap header options. Left to do: Wrap up my intake de-webbing and cleanup Make a new EGR tube Do a quick checkup of P90 Reassemble Here's a picture of what's I'm now dubbing "the most confused intake on a L engine" And it'll match my freshly wire brushed valve cover that's now been cleared for good measure: Now hopefully I can get it all back together before this weekend. If I have time I'll do a compression test to try to bring this thread full circle as it's now become a little mini project thread.