Scorpius's NB8B Franken SP Project

[Scorpius2501]

Thanks for the replies, I'm going to make it as stock as possible for this years registration. But after I get the turbo installed, getting it passing the RWC sounds incredibly daunting...

[Scorpius2501]

Spent the night taking off the front bumper so that I can tint the headlight housing and change the bulbs to Phillips WhiteVisions. Been contemplating that this might be a good occasion to install the intercooler while the bumper is off, even though the turbo isn't on yet.

[speed]

Great to see another SE thread.
Even better watching Nevyn72 and Lokiel play fight [GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

[Scorpius2501]

Took the stock headlights and put them in the oven for 10 mins at 100 degrees C to soften up the sealant and pry them apart. Being in the middle of winter and a cold house by the time I pried one side open the other side has cooled and the adhesive has hardened again, so then had to put them back in the oven for another 10 mins.

Once I had the housing out I masked off the indicator and the headlight "rim" as I wanted to keep them reflective and shiny. Then I gave them a light coat of VHT Nite shades, and put them back together. Here's the final result:



Since I've already got the front bumper off I though I might as well give installing the intercooler a try now. I wanted the stealth look so I cleaned it and painted it matte black.

[joshuam]

Good idea with the spray tint - much easier than prepping and painting. By the sounds of it I think you could have disassembled the light assembly a tad more to make it easier for yourself, but the end result is good

[Scorpius2501]

Spray the intercooler matte black for the stealth looks.



Then came across the first major cock block of the day:



Looks like the power steering fluid does a big loop to the front of the engine bay and then gets routed all the way back to the pump. Well those solid lines are in the way in what would have been a good space for the intercooler. I did some research on how other turbo kits get around this problem, and it looks like the Begi guys simply get rid of it like so:



So it looks like I have to close the loop further inside the engine bay, right as it leaves the reservoir.




At the moment I'm still trying to figure out how & what I need to do this so please feel free to chime in if you have had experience with this before.

[Apu]

The red area acts as a cooling loop. The option is to get a small inline cooler and re-route the hardline section...or remove power steering completely - I've done that and it's not really a big deal.

If you must have power steering, an alternative is to use an electric power steering pump of an older model car - it's a simple / dumb system, just power it up and it pumps. Quite a few of the Honda guys use the pump off an MR2 but the Holden Astra unit will also fit, and is typically half the price.

[Scorpius2501]

I finally managed to bend the Power Steering cooling loop out of the way. But now it seems the condenser has a pipe fitting that is in the way.

I dont know if its better to mod the condenser piping or mod the condenser bracket to make the clearance so that the FMIC can fit?

[NitroDann]

The intercooler is about twice as big as it needs to be, fit a smaller one.

[mr bender]

Nar,
just make it hang down below the front.( gets more airflow that way)

[Scorpius2501]

The intercooler is about twice as big as it needs to be, fit a smaller one.

Yeah I've given up on this huge black thing, looks like the condenser needs to go out if I'm to have any chance of fitting it in, and in this climate I'm not willing to sacrifice the air con even if I have the option of putting the roof down.

I'm going to source a smaller FMIC, and DIY some brackets.

Dann do you have any presence in Sydney? will have to use your services soon.

[bear2230]

I have this type of PWR INTERCOOLER 400X196X68 2.5 AERO in Snowie and it fits really well. Mania supplied for around $350

[Scorpius2501]

I just got a CX Racing one, measures 180x700x65, it think it should be fine, i measured everything up and the main thing was the thickness of the IC that was the limiting factor.

[Scorpius2501]

I took the stock radiator out in to put in the bigger Flyin Miata radiator in. With the radiator out, I noticed that there's now heaps of free space so I thought I might as we do the 100k service while I'm in there.



So I went to Mania to get the 100k kit, comes with everything I need including the waterpump and either Genuine Mazda gaskets or pulleys and hardware.



Last night I changed the oil and filter, after work today I'm going to get some fresh fluids needed for the rest of the service.

[Scorpius2501]

Off comes the valve cover, revealing the naked cams.



It was pretty filthy with caked on dust and casting marks so I decided to give it a good scrub and prep the surface, figured I'd paint it since its out anyway.