Here a little backroads testing . Sorry I didn't want to push it too hard for obvious reasons but I still hit 115mph on the strait away.. gotta live wismexico !

 

Glad to see you're back. What turbo is it? Got a link to it?

 

Sorry been so long. I've had alot going on and many things done to the car. But as it is , I'm about to order a rebuilt cylinder head and port it and install that along with the SWEET header !
my valve stem seals are bad and the car has begun exhibiting the tell tale signs of it.
I'm also doing new wp , aluminum coolant pipe and thermostat housing , new hardware and a tad thinner hg for a little bump in compression. It still is a mls hg.
So if anyone will be interested in my square port jcw style manifold speak now because it will be up for sale in under a month. it IS THE BEST flowing , best turbo spooling one made too btw... shoot me an offer.. o yea I habe a pic of mine from when I did my turbo install.
I also said screw selling my alta ic , it would be dunb to ditch such an essential, awesome part knowing i cant replace it unless with something lesser performing. So lol i cleaned it up really well..

 

Glad to see you’re still modding!

The welds on that tubular manifold look pretty bad… Might want to try and port match to the head and whatever turbo you bolt up that thing.

 

welds aren't the most beautiful but they're good.. no pitting or burn throughs , the flange is already port matched to the gasket so i will need to also port the cylinder head to match. I will port the intake side too for when I get the sidewinder intake manifold.

 

And btw , my compression test was 160-165 on every cylinder with a cheapo harborfreight one that my buddy did say read low so i wonder if they actual numbers are on an accurate gauge.. so I feel comfortable throwing a little money to fix this sucka..

 

I'm very busy and also very sad so I'm gonna just upload pics of my progress and all ove done.. I'm halfway done doing a new cylinder head and I PORTED it too ! I also lost my best friend, I came home and she didn't sleep with me at night ( 1st time in 11years ) and I immediately knew something was wrong , long story short she was just much much older than i assumed when I adopted her but my beautiful baby girl just didn't wanna do another winter so she went to heaven instead. There was nothing wrong with her other than her heart n kidneys were just shutting down from age and when a cats heart stsrts dropping , thats kinda how they'll die off at old age , kinda nature's way of trying to limit suffering..
anyway, r.i.p Moana, you were my BEST friend and companion !!!!

 

Update video showing everything in more detail ..

 

Cars up n running now.. it took forever to bleed the cooling system. Then it was taking forever to get up to operating temperature and only would once the car wasn't moving. But I bled it more and the last part of the test drive it seemed to get upto temp correctly. So I will check it again tomorrow..
it DID pick up some power in the midrange and topend too and it runs crisp AF. SO soon as u get my core charge back or sell another r53 ported sc setup, then I get the sidewinder intake manifold and go custom tune to tie everything in.
I expected it would have gained more than it did but I know it will only gain so much without tuning when it comes to the ported head and the upgraded exhaust manifold..
I DID back off my wastegate too so that might have a little play in it too but it was binding up kinda befor but I think that was because the rod was bent ( that was my bad )..

 

 

Sorry to hear about your cat, mine is in a similar boat where I don't really know how old he is. An incredibly difficult thing to deal with.

 

Junits15 thank you for you condolences..
I finally allllllllmost got the car done n running all correct. The new oem style thermostat I put on when I did the cylinder head was stuck open amd the car wouldn't get above 145'F amd then after a few drive cycles once I turned off the ignition I would get a tstat code amd unless I reset the ecu , the cooling fans would stay running..
so I ordered another one , tested it , it was junk too.. then on accident I stumbled upon an aluminum one with the CORRECT sensors so it wouldn't require any splicing. So i ordered that one and wouldn't ya know it , it works !
also while I had everything apart I ordered an upgraded wastegate actuator because the rod on the one on my turbo even fully bottomed out I felt the turbo still could kick in boost sooner so the turbosmart allows for more adjustment amd its suppose to have a broader boost curve..so I only let it get upto temp to test the tstat housing so I will test drive it tomorrow now that I got ALL this stuff done.. I didn't romp on it during past few test drives because it wasn't getting upto temp amd I was nervous it had an air bubble amd was reading just the air temp and I was scared of blowing an hg or something..but thxfully everything is ok..
so if all is well , once I get my core charge back I'm ordering the upgraded sidewinder intake manifold and then Lou has some tuning to do..
​​​​​I'aaaaand if you gotta replace yours , i suggest cutting this tab off your intake manifold, youll have much better access and view of the coolant pipe lock pin.
BTW I'm also looking into running a watercooled intercooler IF I can delete alot of piping.. if I can run a ic core 1/6 the size , better flowing and less oc piping , that'll definitely open up some power too.. I can't watch to see how a new PORYED head and tubular exhaust manifold respond v the jcw setup..
I will lyk guys know..
Sorry pics and videos sucked lately, my phones broke AGAIN but my new one come tomorrotomor JUST IN TIME !!
eat your hearts out!!!

 

Cars running great... it's down for the season now though.
I also swapped rims from the clubman because the clubman thiugh the tires were new also SUUUUUCKED in the snow. So now my jcw is rocking Thunder wheels lolol..
I'm replacing front tierods , lower ball joints, f&r swaybar bushings and i lowered the car about 1in in the front and 1.5in in the rear too and i think it looks much better now..
i am going to start saving up for the aftermarket intake manifold now ,unfortunately I haven't sold **** Ina while so it's slowed down the build..
Btw FK!!!! drooping or even lowing the subframe to do the swaybar bushings lolol remove your tierods and just wedge the front clamclamp up and slide out and new bushing in. BAM.

 

Car after being lowered some more , still had the old rim and tire setup on it though..

 

Little test run...

 

New speakers AGAIN , these handle more watts and go louder. So yea..
Since chasing the passenger side clunk I've replaced swaybar bushings ( without lowering subframe) , inner and outer tierods , outer balljoints and passenger side hub. Clunk still there.. so I'm replacing the rear control arm bushings now WITHOUT lowering the subframe. I cut them out and I will use a bolt and washer to pull into the polly bushings , I will get new control arms too since they come with the inner balljoints already in them then , I will have replaced everything up front now since putting on the coilovers 6months ago.
I also got am nm module to see if or thr ib4 is better for more power but ille test that once I get this suspension all figured out and dialed in..
o yea , lol I used boards to do my alignment and got it perfect after doing the tierods.

 

Sweeeeeet. Just waiting for the new control arms to get here because they already have the inner bushings pressed in them. I also got new THICKER endlinks too.i will order and replace the driver side hub too because that's literally the only thing in front suspension/steering that I haven't replaced yet..I also have, well not yet but lol I can tell it's one of my presents under the tree but I also got rear adjustable control arms. So when I replace those I will give the rear swingarm bushings a good check over and replace anything back there that's might need it.
I DONT want and WONT upgrade the rear swaybar ,imo that only hurts these cars cornering ability because it cuts down if not fully eliminates over steer and I LIKE oversteer because I know how to handle it and use it to my advantage. Atleast for now I do , that may change once I actually get this car on Road America and do some actual high speed track runs..
but here's progress, I got the rear polyurethane control arm bushings in and the trick worked well.. didn't have to touch the subframe..

 

Got the control arms in.. so everything upmftomt minus 1x hub is new now... I also installed 3x rear adjustable control arms and set some camber in the wheels.. my oil cooler also arrived AAAAAAAND I found and bought an aluminum intake manifold too !!! So plenty mods coming. I'm ALSO getting a new windshield and next month I will be getting a cae/coolerworx style shifter too !!! O yea , I put on better ignition coils too AND set the NM module to high.. hollSHIT it rips !! Definitely Definitely more power than the jb+.

 

I'm halfway through installing the silicone coolant hoses and auxiliary oil cooler.. though the car literally just started to leak oil enough to drip onto the ground below it. The engine and transmission were COATED. Hollyshit !!! Pita cleanup.
instead of brakecleaner I found intake valve cleaner works 10x better at softening the caked on oil so it can be easier to clean up.
when i went to remove the turbo cooling pump ,i literally breathed on it and it broke , the plastic was SO brittle i cant believe it hasnt broken yet.
you ALSO don't need to remove your downpipe amd heatshielding ect , just remove a few bolts off the heatshield and bend it out if the way , then you get access to the 3x oil filter housing bolts.
unfortunately the oil cooler radiator is like 2x the size than i expected so either i need to section out the crashbar and bumper or just get a smaller cooler.
I've had no problems fitting the coolant hoses either. Not bad of a kit especially for 45$ shipped lolol. They fit better than the ecs hoses i installed on my buddies. I haven't had to trim or stretch a hose or anything. The ONLY thing though is some of the plastic fitting that go around the hoses to hold them in certain places 50% are fitting so I'm swapping those out for a zip tie clip.
here's progress pics !

 

Thx God I went out to look things over because I noticed that the oil cooler plate had TWO ports ( oil temp/pressure) so i put a plug in it.. that could have been a HUGE disaster !!
progress has slowed because I got covid AND the flu , I've been miserable but I couldn't sit in bed any longer do I went and put in 2x hours on the car.
I got the lines all run for the oil cooler and routed , I got on the rest of the silicone coolant hoses, 1x of the new turbo cooler lines and the new turbo cooler pump AND I sectioned out the crashbar so the cooler should fit behind it well enough now.
so I'm gonna probably rest another few days and then I will trim the lines to length and finish up.

 

**** this ****ing pos oilcooler..going back to stock.. plate fit like **** , cooler can't fit anywhere... fuuuuuuuck that..
just gonna send this ******** back to fleabay..
What a pos setup..
I pieced my own together on my last r58 and it was 10x better and 1/4 the price...
don't waste your time with these pre-made garbage *** kits..

 

 

Nice Job !

 

 

thx you...
Im hoping to test start it tomorrow. I did after the oil cooler to make sure it had no leaks. But this manifold involved alot more custom work than I'd expected..