just bought some new bonnet pins, will the spending ever end!

 

Why?
Greater weight, air turbulance, and more to remember before a blast.

There is always the nagging doubt ''Did I do both of them up?''

I know cause i have them on my old 911.

Graham.

Done the brakes yet?
Hope to get my eb@y scoop soon.
Has that Prodrive exhaust past the MoT yet.???????

Graham

 

because the old bonnet pins look like ****, all rusted up

brakes are waiting for some tyres to be put on the rims that will clear them, on the exhaust front, no it won't pass because the QR slip joints leak like a bugger

 

i'd almost forgot how much a PITA it was to remove headers when the heatshields are bonded together with oxidised metal just the uppipe to get off now, will leave that till saturday i think, die grinder will be picked up today but i've only just ordered the wrap so i expect, knowing my luck, that it'll turn up on monday

just need a refresher course on how to port headers now

 

Just read this and AndyF's response to you 'ported headers' thread.
I did mine while the heads were being done mid last year.
I did the 'soot-line' method and bleded the step as evenly and for as long a length as the grinder would reach (about 100mm).

Put it all back on and noticed no difference...That's why I fitted the Gruppe S headers.

Seeing as the mod is so cheap it is worth it though.
Andy's comments were interesting about lag!

Keep at it.
My scoop was nearly on the door step today, maybe tomorrow now.

Graham

 

did a load of reading up last night on it, think im just going to port match plus maybe a slight reversion step (would appear that that's more important on NA cars and not turbos) so nothing as radical as porting back to soot lines, what im after is the least disturbance to the flow

 

got the uppipe off today, looks like somone's had a go at the nuts before and rounded 2 of the off already so a few hours later and it was off along with the turbo while i was at it

as you can see i think i might gain a bit with the porting, the welding is almost laughable





not as bad but will flow alot better with it removed




the heads and headers seem pretty well match so will just flow them the best i can without opening them out too much, might have a go at the turbo if im feeling brave

 

That's basically what I did Kev. I took a load of pictures to. I'd already had one attempt at it a few years ago but thought I need to do it a little more thoroughly this time.

F

 

also, weighed the individual part of the headers before & after i removed the bosses and flashes etc.

right collector (battery side) before: 2.8kg after 2.2kg

left collector (uppipe side) before: 5.5kg after 4.4kg

cross pipe weighed 1kg & uppipe 2.4kg, but i've not removed anything from them yet, not decided if im going to wrap the uppipe or leave it as it is, the top heat shield has lost it's welds holding it in place so might rattle in time knowing my luck

 

i'd give my weights a pinch of salt as it changed everytime i weighed them but i would of thought i lost at least half a kilo on each collector


F, i couldn't believe how bad that uppipe was, even worse than the one on my Legacy i did a few years back, and from a hand built STi

 

My uppipe wasn't that bad:

I took the inner sleeve back and blended the outer to the gasket ring:

F

 

Compared to tube headers the stock pipes are like the Alps inside.
Mismatch/size changes, no part-to-part location etc and they weigh a lot too.

The tube headers have none of this lot, and are about 60% of the weight.
Good value for £350?

Admire the dedication to the die grinder. Our ballistic works one sent my hands and arms numb after 10 mins.....

Graham.

 

Graham, I invested in a Bosch jobbie and it's very smooth and torquey. It's a pleasure to use and eats the metal but I do need some new Carbides burrs soon...

F

 

spent most of the afternoon on the headers, managed to remove all the welding from the cross pipe & up pipe, then flowed and match the ports on the 2 collectors, the IDs on all the mating parts was spot on everytime but when the gasket was offered up you could see a slight misalignment which would interupt the flow somewhat, bit of porting later and the openings where centralised in the gaskets, all in all i reckon i should see an improved gas flow over what i had before

pics turned out crap today so i'll have to redo them


up pipe inlet


up pipe outlet, note the lack of unsightly welds pictures don't do it justice, looks alot better in the flash, not half as rough looking as that does


all VHT'd ready for wrapping

 

Flash looking and slightly 'ghostly' too.
Will be interesting to see how you go on with this mod.
In the Impreza world, it is hard sometimes to judge does a product sold actually make a difference or is it just a 'fashion icon' for a while.

ie

Modified cast system verses snazzy stainless tube headers.(£400 please)
or
Front strut brace verses non at all

I have had to remove my brace, and the car has gone faster on a race meeting. Never noticed any difference at all from before when it was on the car. Placebo?

Graham.

 

Kev, my headers looked beter in the flesh than the photos would have you believe as well. Why the VHT - to stop rust? Why wrap and not use standard heat shields? Not critisism, just curious

Graham, IIRC Steven Done was the only chap who did a project on here, which detailed increases after each mod. He showed how much he got from header change and inlet seperately. Check his home site out.

F

 

i ditched the heat shields to save some weight & rattles and the wrap should keep the heat in better, left the HS on the up pipe because the last time i wrapped an up pipe it split, might of been a coincidence though, might change my mind if i have some wrap left over. why spray them? felt like it

i'll have no idea if this will make a difference or not, done so many mods since i last drove it i'm pretty confident that these headers will be an improvement over standard and not that far off tubulars, i tried to keep the bores as small as possible where the gaskets met and not port out to the gaskets rings as i couldn't see the point of increasing the volume as that would have a negative effect on gas flow, we shall see

 

i'm looking forward to seeing my final total of what i've spent, think you/i might be surprised

 

headers wrapped, bought the think auto stuff, might be 3mm thick but it's like wrapping a jumper around the headers, far too wooly much prefer the DEI stuff

now got my tyres to put on the rays so should have them on for the weekend aslong as the wheel straightening was successful

 

Have you bashed the calcuator yet?

F

 

nope, i actually can't remember what i've paid for half the stuff i know the inlet manifold, TB & fuel rails cost me a fiver off of ebay

 

manifold is all sprayed up now, managed to finish off the DP with some i had left over so thats all sprayed now aswell, just leaves a bit of tinkering with the turbo and i can put it back together tyres are hopefully being done this saturday, might even be brave and fit the calipers this weekend if the wheels are ok

 

I haven't wrapped my turbo yet - it's on the ever growing list of tidying jobs...

Good stuff.
F

 

Coming together nicely Kev!

 

im in two minds if to wrap my turbo or heat shield it, seems to be some conjecture that it's not always a good thing


and i intend to be ready for next Friday Simon

 

I know you'll be read for next Friday..

Call me if it runs like a dog once all back together and we can try a things to enable you to get here, or I'll come to you.

Simon

 

it drove around the block just fine last time, idle seemed ok, i should have the lambdalink fitted this weekend just to keep an eye on things, lambda boss on the DP was cross threaded i've just about rescued the thread

 

steve beaties turbo has been sent to andy f for a refurb as it cracked, he had his wrapped and is now convinced that it was not such a good idea

 

Glad it ran fine though..

 

that was before i took the manifold, turbo & IC off everything's back on apart from the DP, as i found out too late yesterday that i hadn't got a bolt to block the lambda boss