Aaron's Festiva Build Thread

[nitrofarm]

Is the eng mount under the battery? Cant even see it. Beautiful work-(I'm referring to tweaks eng bay pic)

[festyfreak39]

pretty gangster, excited to see how everything works out,

hopefully its just the turbo seals that are leaking,

have you ever done a compression/leakdown on the engine?

[Aaronbrook37]

A little more fun porting on my old spare turbo parts. Really enjoying the practice and the experience of porting stuff. Having gone through a lot of rolls and a couple hours of working with steel, I'm getting some confidence to tackle the eventual parts that will go on the car. No experience with aluminum yet but I'm prepared to work a little more slowly and with more cutting fluid and lubricant to prevent any major catastrophes. My hands could be better as they're a little shaky, and I'm going to need to make up a vice setup to hold down parts for me likely as well. If anybody really wanted these parts, I'd probably let them go for the cost of shipping with no guarantees as to their successful performance. I just did them as practice really.

[Aaronbrook37]

So I've ordered a few extra things and prepared the car for a little roadtrip to visit the great people at Sasquatch Racing & Development in Langley, BC. There, we have plenty of things to install. Here's the sheet of everything we've got going down next month:

1. Eclipse Stock BOV / Diverter Valve
2. Manual Boost Controller (Home Depot style)
3. Corksport Racing ECU
4. Wideband, Boost, EGT, Oil Pressure, Fuel Pressure Gauge (14point7.com)
5. Honda VX Rims and 185/60-13 Rims
6. Control Arms, Tie Rods, Swaybar Bushings, Control Arm Bushings
7. Kia Rio Strut Mounts

I also now have a spare intake manifold, cylinder head, exhaust manifold, and O2 housing in my possession for porting. Look for how-to's and plenty of pictures on that coming up!

[bravekozak]

Advanceddynamix, that is the cleanest engine I have ever seen a Festiva.
I won't even attempt to compete with that gem.

I did beat you with an AMC 401 V-8 in my Jeep. Everything was either chromed or polished including the master cylinder and power steering reservoir. I had a polished brass rad, chrome fan shroud, chromed brackets, polished alternator, chromed oil pan and polished fan blade. Even the battery was wrapped in chrome. There were four lights around the engine compartment and I cruised without the hood. Did I forget to mention the chromed horn?

Aaronbrook, I will be ordering some flanged metric titanium bolts from the UK in a couple of weeks.

[Aaronbrook37]

So I was able to extract both of the broken old bolts from the head and discard my in-five-pieces valve cover gasket. I then purchased an M6x1.0mm tap and re-threaded every single valve cover bolt hole. You'd be amazed at how damaged they all were and how much metal came out the bottom of the holes as I was threading. No wonder the thing was leaking so badly. I did them all twice and meticulously to ensure the threads were absolutely perfect. I then took a brand new Felpro valve cover gasket and some oil-resistant ultra-black RTV and installed those along with the valve cover itself. To top it off, brand new Grade 8.8 M6x1.0x45mm valve cover bolts torqued to 30-in-lbs factory spec with slightly trimmed ones in the center three holes. I finally can say I have an engine that doesn't leak oil from the valve cover any longer.

[Aaronbrook37]

So I had a little bit of an automotive disaster related to my valve cover gasket. The thing was ripped to shreds upon my latest install of it, though I have no idea why. Must have been a poor quality gasket or bad luck on my part when tightening up the bolts. It spewed out of the valve cover faster than the speed of light and melted one of the white caps and socket nuts on a spark plug. So that puppy is now stuck in the head, fortunately it doesn't have many miles on it. When tightening the bolts, I had two snap on me. This leaves me with a car that can't hold oil and a valve cover gasket in four, yes four, pieces. It made a huge mess of my engine bay that I didn't know about for 10 miles... which was enough for some serious gunky carnage.

I've ordered a new gasket that will be in tomorrow, and I set off to Home Depot to find a remedy for the 25 year old bolts that are simply too weak and old (or their installer [yes, me] too stupid) to hold properly. I need a torque wrench. M6x45mm length with a coarse thread is the winning ticket... or at least as close as I could get. Picked up a dozen so I can replace all of them and have some consistency. Different shorter heads unfortunately, but they'll have to do. Cheaper than whatever Mazda wants me to pay for them, that's for sure. My nearest wrecking yard is an hour drive away, so this made more sense.



I've also been doing some thinking about supplying my airbox with a fresher, colder bit of air by means of a 3" hole saw and some dryer hose routed underneath the car or into the bumper, but I'm still trying to think of a clean way to do it. I've already got a K&N filter in the stock box, which is why I'm probably not going to bother converting to a cone filter and an aftermarket metal/plastic box at least for the moment. I don't remember what application it came from, but Sasquatch had it lying around and it conveniently fit. Any ideas for an aftermarket DIY cold air feed (a la hardware store) would be much appreciated! On the same front, I've been thinking about adding some shrouding between my intercooler/radiator and bumper to increase airflow while driving and prevent heatsoak... but that project has yet to leave the terminal and head for the runway.

[Twistiva]

[QUOTE=Advancedynamix....[QUOTE]

:salute: drool :salute: drool :salute: drool

Need I say more?.....

[festyfreak39]

In for the glory: ohyouwantboost?: Let me play you the song of my people.

[Aaronbrook37]

Actually im a moron, you already have it disconnected hahahahhahaha mybad. i just took a second look.

Aha! That's what I suspected haha. I'm pretty positive it's a blown turbo seal... but that's okay, I'm going to be spicing up the turbo anyway sometime soon. Working on procuring a second O2 Housing for the VJ11 and I have a ported compressor housing. Might port out a turbine housing too just for maximum excellence. We shall see! Once this puppy's running 16psi, I really want to scare the crap out of my tires and clutch with power.

[festyfreak39]

Thanks mate! Much appreciated. "The hose that connects the intake manifold to the intake pipe"... I'm not sure which one you're talking about exactly. Maybe a more detailed picture of your B6T would be of some utility with some MS Paint arrows or something haha. I'll take a look for it outside today.

Actually im a moron, you already have it disconnected hahahahhahaha mybad. i just took a second look.

[Aaronbrook37]

awesome porting job!!!!

also maybe just try this out of pure curiosity this worked for me when i had issues with my old miata, the hose that connects the intake manifold to the intake pipe, try removing that and putting a breather for now, or routing it to the catch can and venting both to atmosphere

Thanks mate! Much appreciated. "The hose that connects the intake manifold to the intake pipe"... I'm not sure which one you're talking about exactly. Maybe a more detailed picture of your B6T would be of some utility with some MS Paint arrows or something haha. I'll take a look for it outside today.

[Aaronbrook37]

Ported and polished VJ11 turbo compressor. This one's probably going to end up on my car. I did both the inlet and outlet. From what I hear, porting a turbo won't net you any additional peak power, but it can significantly improve boost response by easing air restriction into and out of the turbo. A bigger snail is a quicker snail.

[festyfreak39]

awesome porting job!!!!

also maybe just try this out of pure curiosity this worked for me when i had issues with my old miata, the hose that connects the intake manifold to the intake pipe, try removing that and putting a breather for now, or routing it to the catch can and venting both to atmosphere

[Aaronbrook37]

Got some great practice porting and polishing my old VJ14 turbo's O2 housing. An hour or so of work, but a fair bit of fun to be honest. I'm going to be doing a spare exhaust manifold, VJ11 O2 housing, intake manifold, and possibly cylinder head as well all myself. This was just to learn what it's like working with carbide bits, sanding rocks, and my new electrical die grinder. I'm going to get some flapper wheels to get a mirror finish on it, and hot tank it with all of my other parts once they're shipped and labored upon. Hopefully I can sell this one off or donate it to someone with a stock turbo B6T looking for a little extra airflow. I'm obviously no expert on porting, but it's definitely a job everyone should try out!