Spyder Build Thread

[mjannusch]

I have adjustable rods on my gates, so I can pull them tight and was thinking I’d weld a rib under the flat area to reduce flex.

[DCIV]

It wasn’t the tightness. It was the angle it then pulled the flapper.

Coop

[mjannusch]

I can get the angle good, and have stronger springs in my gates, so hopefully that will help. Probably should just rework my setup for external gates eventually.

[DCIV]

[quote=""mjannusch""]I can get the angle good, and have stronger springs in my gates, so hopefully that will help. Probably should just rework my setup for external gates eventually.[/quote]

Haven’t gotten to push my externals but so far I love them.


Coop

[mjannusch]

I figured I should get the motor in the car so that I can figure out what sort of clearance I have for external gates off the O2 housings. Tough to tell what sort of space there is around the brake booster and such.

[Jeff V.]

Not the best photos, but it's basically a steel ring that bolts to the original wastegate bosses. The wastegate then attaches to the ring via some nuts and bolts. The bolts are intentionally left long so that they just barely touch the compressor housing. This works as a brace against the movement of the wastegate.

[mjannusch]

I was thinking of cutting a piece of aluminum bar stock and having it go from the mounting hole by where the actuator now sits, straight up around to the outlet tube, put a pair of alternating 80 degree bends (or so) in it so that the top end of the bar would bolt to that hole on the side of the outlet tube. I think your design will be easier to make and work well. That's all hidden on the back turbo anyways, so it doesn't have to be fancy...

I'll post pics after I get it set up...

[TurboSinceBirth]

[quote=""mjannusch""]Man, this build is taking forever. Maybe that's because I haven't done any of the actual building in quite a while. The new job is taking up a lot of time, and frankly I'm just not super motivated to tackle the Spyder right now.

However, I did get a few more parts in:
A set of Bob's huge sidemount intercoolers
April made me a polished intake plenum and throttle body

I'm currently contemplating whether I should do the 3SX fuel bulkhead and a big Fuelab pump instead of trying to cram a couple Walbro 450s in the tank. Leaning strongly towards the Fuelab setup to simplify all that, and control the pump speed from the AEM.

Might have a chance to do some work on it over the next few weeks, we'll see... Still need to fabricate a wastegate relocator plate for the rear turbo. Using a J-pipe on the front turbo to connect down to the passenger side SMIC so I don't have to make 2 relocators.[/quote]

How much AWHP are you shooting for on E85? One Walbro 450 is good for about 630 and twins really aren’t that bad to fit in there. You can’t strap the second one in until the hangar is partway installed in the tank but it’s not that bad of a hassle. If you ran multiple pumps I would set one up to come on after a certain amount of boost. No need for that extra heat answer shouldn’t be that bad to tune.

[mjannusch]

[quote=""TurboSinceBirth""]How much AWHP are you shooting for on E85? One Walbro 450 is good for about 630 and twins really aren’t that bad to fit in there. You can’t strap the second one in until the hangar is partway installed in the tank but it’s not that bad of a hassle. If you ran multiple pumps I would set one up to come on after a certain amount of boost. No need for that extra heat answer shouldn’t be that bad to tune.[/quote]
I'm shooting for around somewhere in the 650 awhp range, but 630 would make me happy. That's still 90 more than before. 630 has to be right on the edge though for that pump - not sure how confident I'd be with that. I suppose it is something I could change easy enough later...

The other concern is that right now I have 1050cc injectors and it seems like I'd need to go bigger there as well to get to 650. Although the various calculators seem to be a bit low compared to reality based on previous builds. I figured if I need more, then I would have to bump up to a 1300cc sized injector, though 1700 is probably a better choice to not run them to the edge.

[TurboSinceBirth]

[quote=""mjannusch""]I'm shooting for around somewhere in the 650 awhp range, but 630 would make me happy. That's still 90 more than before. 630 has to be right on the edge though for that pump - not sure how confident I'd be with that. I suppose it is something I could change easy enough later...

The other concern is that right now I have 1050cc injectors and it seems like I'd need to go bigger there as well to get to 650. Although the various calculators seem to be a bit low compared to reality based on previous builds. I figured if I need more, then I would have to bump up to a 1300cc sized injector, though 1700 is probably a better choice to not run them to the edge.[/quote]

Probably so. It was about there Ray had to add a BAP and then he has made 707 with it. He’s still on PTE 1000cc injectors which is kind of surprising. I didn’t log IDCs when I was running my DW1000s at 32 psi. I’m sure you’ll be close with your injectors.

[mjannusch]

Got off my ass today and got some work done...

My new huge sidemount intercoolers look great. About 3x the thickness of stock intercoolers, and nice big tubing and endtanks. Should be good... And they'll let me properly fit all the '99 front end components like they are supposed to be (side winglets, fogs, ducts, etc.)

Tore into the trans. Upgrades: front LSD, 300M output shaft, Pampena-style bellhousing reinforcement, billet end case, billet shift forks, and carbon synchros. I got as far as removing the bellhousing and center case, and then discovered that my hex bits seem to have gone missing. Ordered up another set that should be here on Monday so I can get the end case off and continue work.

Made a Jeff-type wastegate support ring for the rear turbo. I just used a piece of aluminum plate, and cut it with a 5" diameter outer and 3" diameter inner ring. Jigsaw made reasonable work of it, though I used my drill press to swiss-cheese the inner ring and just connected the dots with the jigsaw. Band saw would've been better for the outer cut, but I didn't have a metal-cutting blade handy. Need to make a run to Home Depot to see what I can find for bolts to mount the wastegate to the plate.

I also have April's set of blingy awesomeness to add to the motor now as well. Polished plenum with red accents, and TB with FIAV blockoff.

[Jeff V.]

Looks nice.

[mjannusch]

It'd look better if I had a way to punch out circles, or a hole cutter big enough to do 5" and 3" diameters. But it should work!

[DCIV]

I used a hole saw when I did mine. Made for a clean cut. I just never got it to work right.


Coop

[Jeff V.]

You'll barely be able to see it once it's assembled.

[mjannusch]

Any words of wisdom to stripping down the trans shafts to install the carbon synchros? I did this quite a while back, but it has been so long I don't recall exactly what I did. Anything to be particularly careful about? I seem to remember something about a ball in one of the shafts that was tricky to get out or something.

I'm at the point of pressing the shafts out of the end-case, so hopefully I'll get to this over the next couple of days sometime.

To get the end-nut off the input shaft at the end-case, the manual has some special tools to hold the input end of the shafts together so they don't spread apart while locked. I just put the midcase and bellhousing back on with a few bolts and locked the shafts into two gears and it came off easy.

[Jeff V.]

I did this quite a while back, but it has been so long I don't recall exactly what I did.

Same here. The last one I did was when I was selling my car, and it couldn't get it to stay in reverse. I ended up swapping in an entirely different transmission.

[stealthee]

I hate transmissions sometimes. I went through hell getting mine all back together after I put bearings in it. I put stuff back together wrong twice causing all sorts of issues. I was so happy once I finally got it all back together. Now it is just sitting in my basement waiting to go back in the car. LOL

[mjannusch]

I found Forest Gump's thread on 3Si, so that should help a lot. I just have to remember to go slow and take lots of photos.

[stealthee]

When you take photos make sure to take note of perspective. I took some photos when I did my trans and I still effed up because the photo looked like the shaft was in one position, when it was actually in another.