Exhaust Port relocation ideas.

[sen2two]

I started working on this last year with a set of rx8 housings i have. A different purpose than yours though.

Its pretty easy to talk about welding the coolant passages. But a different story to actually do the welding. (I am a welder) You would have to do TIG to get a clean weld that would be strong enough. And its almost impossible to get the TIG torch down in there close enough for good penetration. You can get a MIG gun in there and try to spray weld it, but you will not get good gas coverage. But this is cast aluminum, and even with billet aluminum with good gas coverage, spray/MIG welding will not be strong enough for this situation. And the heat needed to weld such a piece, will warp the housings.

So I'm looking for other ways now.

Another way that i wanted to try is similar to a PP on the intake. Press fit (extreme press fit) a sleeve for the exhaust. I have heard of a few people machining exhaust sleeves from aluminum and them working fine. I don't see how, as i would think that the aluminum would melt.

Then after a lot of searching, i found this...

http://jhbperformance.com/downloads/...racingmods.pdf

[NoDOHC]

Originally Posted by sen2two

I started working on this last year with a set of rx8 housings i have. A different purpose than yours though.

Its pretty easy to talk about welding the coolant passages. But a different story to actually do the welding. (I am a welder) You would have to do TIG to get a clean weld that would be strong enough. And its almost impossible to get the TIG torch down in there close enough for good penetration. You can get a MIG gun in there and try to spray weld it, but you will not get good gas coverage. But this is cast aluminum, and even with billet aluminum with good gas coverage, spray/MIG welding will not be strong enough for this situation. And the heat needed to weld such a piece, will warp the housings.

So I'm looking for other ways now.

Another way that i wanted to try is similar to a PP on the intake. Press fit (extreme press fit) a sleeve for the exhaust. I have heard of a few people machining exhaust sleeves from aluminum and them working fine. I don't see how, as i would think that the aluminum would melt.

Then after a lot of searching, i found this...

http://jhbperformance.com/downloads/...racingmods.pdf

I know that you are right, but this will be easier than the intake I think. I intend to lay a small piece of aluminum down in the end of the single passage that I will use for the port and TIG it fast. I think I can do it. I have Inconell rods and sheet, so I figured I would lengthen the exhaust sleeve and weld the holes on the side shut. This will give me isolation between the exhaust gasses and the aluminum. Really the aluminum plug should hold up fine to the 13 psi of coolant pressure that it must withstand. If the housing is too porous and I have leaks, I will use high temp RTV (its just coolant).

It is really neat that the article you found mentions that you should not open the port earlier for the same reason that I want to open it later.

I really want a set of junk RX8 housing to try this on, the good ones I have are too valuable to experiment with. After I perfect the procedure, then I use the good housings.