Cerberus Project

[TitaniumTT]

Porting - take your time. You can always take more off. A little difficult to put it back.
Try to get the edges of the port a little more strait and soft
The runners you should finish off with some 220 grit rolls, and then the flapper. I haven't ported anything in YEARS some I'm sure someone whos done it more regularily could chime in.

Although next week I will be doing all my porting work sooooooooo.

[vex]

Well I ported the irons. Did an okay job. The ports are clean and for the most part are about as close to the markings of the template as I'm comfortable doing by carbide bit. I've beveled the edges to soften them out a little bit using a jewelers file. I don't think they're going to do any damage to any seals that pass by them. Whether it be side seals or corner seals.

I cleaned the rotors too by hand and I noticed something peculiar. One rotor has smooth faces, the other has a textured face. Did Mazda alter how they did rotors one year compared to another? I also removed all seals and springs from the rotors and prepped the seal locations for seals. All in all I think I'm just about ready to start rebuilding the engine. Lets see if I can actually put it all together without issues. Here's hopin'.

I also received in the mail today a package full of stainless steel flanges and a dump tube for the waste gate. I will probably watch my TIG welding friend make works of art out of them. A word on the flanges. They're not water jet cut or laser cut. They seem to be cast stainless steel and then put through a machining process. Although the thickness is .5" there is what seems to be a severe lack of symmetry on the 3 hole flanges. The V-band flanges however seem quite good on quality. The upper portion of the down pipe should be welded up as well tomorrow.

Speaking of welding it looks like tomorrow is going to be a very big welding day. I have the replacement cross member that will need to be welded up. The hood support that will be welded up as well, and to top it all off I have a hole in my oil pan for the oil return line from the turbo that's going to have a bung welded to it.

While this is all going on I plan on rebuilding the engine or at the very least getting it started. I'd love to have it completely assembled and ready to be installed with the oil pan and what not by the end of the night--though I won't be installing it until after I paint the engine bay... man, there's no rest for this project.

Pictures will for tomorrow will be forthcoming at some point I'm sure.

[vex]

well engine didn't get put back together because I just noticed these:




Both stationary bearings are shot. Already shot a PM to Atkins about replacing them with stock ones since the 3 window bearing is too expensive for me at the moment.

However we did get a lot of welding done:








That new cross member has replaced my bent to hell one and is sturdy enough to hold my full weight (175 lbs). I still have to cut some of it off to allow more breathing room for the oil cooler, but that location for the cross member supports the intercooler as well as the oil cooler. It's coming together.

[vex]

Well, tried my hand at welding for the first time today. I finally got the hang of Flux core mig welding by the time I had put so much pigeon crap on the piece that it looked like it had some major... Herpes....

We hit it with a flap disk for a few and then put some glaze on it and just went to town with the por15. I don't really care what the engine bay looks like so much as I want it protected. If I had as much time as I want I would have removed everything from the engine bay and just did it. Unfortunately I didn't, and as such I went ahead and just POR15 every thing. I will probably go back and touch it up a little bit on monday but for the most part the engine bay is done.

[TitaniumTT]

So should we start an official race to see who gets done first? Looks good so far.

Why the flux core? I HATE flux core welding. Even if I'm doing it outside, I shield as much breeze as I can with my body or hands, and crank the gas up. I can't stand flux core welding

[vex]

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

So should we start an official race to see who gets done first? Looks good so far.

Why the flux core? I HATE flux core welding. Even if I'm doing it outside, I shield as much breeze as I can with my body or hands, and crank the gas up. I can't stand flux core welding

First time welding. Went for what would be the easiest. I started getting the hang of it and actually doing decent welds by the end of it. I was trying to weld the really thin steel and well, it took me a little practice to figure out how to not burn through the steel. This was purely cosmetic and not structural so I thought it save to at least attempt it.

As for the race... Don't tempt me. Bad things happen when I race to finish something. I'm already perturbed in my time line of the engine bay. Some things are not perfect, but I'm having to make up time with doing a shoddy paint job (by that I mean in-ability to actually remove all clips and plastic pieces prior to paint, removal of the passenger harness, etc). Also my help put too much paint on per coat so it started running. I'm going to have to touch those up on monday or so. sigh...

I'm hoping to actually start the original fabrication process for the turbo manifold and exhaust on monday. I'm still waiting to hear back from ATP about the exchange of goods I sent in. I also have to figure out a way to enlarge the y-pipe piece to accept a 3-in pipe instead of a 2.5in. It's a little late to send it back and get an exchange to a 3-in to 2 2.5-in y-pipe, so I'm thinking I may reduce the entrance pipe and cut a transition piece to actually be welded in place of the original pipe.

If it all goes well, and I'm able to get the services of a welder as well as all the materials I need; I hope to be finished by the end of the week. I doubt that will happen though. We shall see.

[WE3RX7]

Get some pics up of the bay when you can, I'm eager to see it!

I think this is the year of the FC. I'm glad there are good FC guys in this group... should make for a fun ROTM next year though

[vex]

Originally Posted by WE3RX7

Get some pics up of the bay when you can, I'm eager to see it!

I think this is the year of the FC. I'm glad there are good FC guys in this group... should make for a fun ROTM next year though

I'll do what I can. My camera sucks balls though and the bay looks like ass (runs, drips, etc everywhere).

As for the ROTM, i highly doubt I'd even be a competitor. Too many mismatched body panels.

[vex]

Got to go to the garage today for about 20 minutes. I was able to do a little work, but nothing extreme. I was able to verify that the larger adapter for Vband will work with my turbo but requires slight modification to the mounting holes (I'll snap a picture of it next time i'm out there). I also was able to verify that the V-Band ebay specials I picked up are not exactly the correct size for the internal (they're a little under). I figure I may either bevel or remove enough material to make either a smooth transition or a straight shot through. But there's a good 1/4" reduction (total, about 1/8" all round). Granted it would make the exhaust flow turbulent I just don't feel like throwing in more unknowns right after the turbo.

I also have No Limit Industries working on my fuel rails and hope to see those in the not too distant future. Didn't have time to fix up the engine anymore or set end shaft play--I however was able to identify 1 O-ring I didn't see before. It was for the CAS. Go figure. I still need to figure out some of the other O-rings and I'll ask about them when I post the picture.

Well, with out further delay here's some pictures that were requested:

What's the Oring next to the CAS one? And what about all those little ones? I imagine the two larger ones are for the oil pedestal. I know the nylon one is for the front cover. hmmm.....

New oil pan. Check out the new oil return flange that's been welded on there.


Engine bay after paint. It's quite the contrast to what it once was.


Here's my first welding experience after it's been painted over. What do you think? Pretty trashy huh? Yeah, that's what I think too.

[Max777]

Umm, as far as the orings, the oval one is the OMP, then there is the CAS one is the thick big one. The two larger ones look odd, they seem a little thin to be the filter pedistal, and I have no clue about the small ones.

What do the seals for the long tension bolts look like? Is it possible that the small orings go where the dowels are? I vaugely remember finding orings in that area when I dis-assembled my old S5 13B n/a.

PS: I'm still a newb at this, i hope others can give more info.

[vex]

Already installed the Dowel o-rings as well as the tension bolt ones, so I'm not too sure about those little ones either. I haven't taken off the OMP so that's probably why I didn't see an o-ring of the similar type.

[WE3RX7]

Max was right - the oval one is for your OMP. The smaller ones do look like dowel o-rings, but if you've got all those in place - I'm not entirely sure off hand, it'll take me a min to think about it (maybe on the front cover where the tension bolts go through, I'm not sure).

The other orings may go to the oil pick up tube in your pan. I believe there is one o-ring there at least.

I haven't pulled apart an NA engine in a while either.... although, they shouldn't be much different.

[Max777]

No, the oil pickup tube uses a gasket.

[vex]

After much consideration I have decided to change the way I'm going with this project. I've been able to locate a nice LS9 for not at all that much and have decided that I'm just going to go ahead and drop that motor in instead of my triangle powered monstrosity. I still plan on being done within the next two weeks or so, but we'll see. Anyways here's a few pictures:














APRIL FOOLS!

[WE3RX7]

seriously, i would have killed you, lol....