so, the car has been running great. but it was time for a change. with the existing sidewinder turbo design, my minimum boost level was 17psi (with a 8psi wastegate spring). basically, that type of erratic boost control makes everything more difficult. the traction control had to make MASSIVE changes to attempt to gain traction and removing and adding so much timing so quickly could be the cause of the last blown head gasket. large timing changes over short durations in repeated action is death to a head gasket and all other components. fighting for traction becomes irritating, over-boosting becomes all too easy, and i could probably think of 5 other negative effects that this boost creep is causing. after speaking with my tuner, we drew up a new turbo setup design on a napkin (not joking) and i went home and tore the whole car apart to hopefully come up with a far more efficient design. a lot of time, design, and thoughts went into this new system. so read along, and you will be educated on everything that went down.
first i had to make a new manifold and this changed the turbo placement, wastegate system, oil feed, oil drain, downpipe, you get the idea. ultimately this design is FAR more efficient at controlling boost. bare with me here.
next i had to create a new downpipe. most noticeable here is this new downpipe does not do a 120 degree turn like the old manifold so obviously that aids in extracting the exhaust better than before. and next most noticeable is now i am recirculating the wastegate dump back into the downpipe. no more external dump screamer. although i love an external dump sound, mine was unbelievably loud and i was now interested in something quieter so i could hear some actual turbo spool. you will also see the old fuel pump laying on the bench. more on that later.
the intercooler got refined as well. i went with a much more compact end tank design, no longer use the diverter plate in the inlet, and doubled the thickness of the tanks. this baby is STRONG and is operating well past its rated horsepower range. no pictures of that, but figured i might add that info.
i began to worry that my radiator was not large enough to support this setup. after the last blown head gasket, i left no stone un-turned. i decided to kick the old radiator/fan setup for this one. this is a radiator for a 02-07 wrx/sti. i cut a few rows off of it, got a SPAL fan for it (night and day better than ebay/china fan), made a new shroud, and made my necessary modifications to make this big boy fit the rsx. mind you, this was done before the turbo setup got re-designed so you will notice in one of these pictures, it is still on a sidewinder manifold. however, its overkill. my coolant issues are a thing of the past.
i got sick of the skunk2 throttle body that i was using. it would constantly stick and hold my car at 2,000rpm when idling, the pedal action felt terrible, and i couldn't do anything about it. i disassembled, modified, and re-assembled that thing about a million times with no success. i decided a ktuned throttle body would best suit me. problem is, there is no adapter that will correctly adapt it to a PRB manifold. in the end, i had to make a custom spacer/adapter to adapt the ktuned throttle body to this skunk2 ultra street intake manifold. with the help of arlington machine (who did my head work) we teamed up and made it happen. he machined the spacer to the specs we discussed, and i welded it straight onto my skunk2 intake manifold. let me tell you, this throttle body is FAR better than the skunk2 counterpart. before you go thinking that they make adapters for this, they dont. i ordered several and rejected them. the o-ring on the ktuned manifold goes right over bolt holes onto all adapters, meaning there will be a leak. a perfectly flat surface is a MUST when using the skunk2 throttle body. so much so that i cant even put it in words. my suggestion is: SKIP THE SKUNK THROTTLE BODY AND GO KTUNED!!
found a good deal at an importer for type-R carpet, floor matts, and door cards. mate that with a new steeringwheel setup, so why not?
quick pause to whip up a 900hp intercooler for a friends car:
battery relocation for obvious reasons. i was attempting to move more weight to the front of the car in hopes for more traction. who knows if it helped, but sure opened up the bay!
i have not fully comitted to a dual pump for this car yet. first wanted to see what i can do on a single pump. so i went and bought the baddest in-tank pump that money can buy. the "hellcat" pump by Ti automotive. will be honest, we made more power with it versus the skunk2 320LPH pump but still not enough. soon i will do a double pump and REALLY lift up the boost.
here is a final product after i re-did the entire setup. you can obviously see it is heavily different than before. notice the new wastegate design and how effectively the exhaust can flow straight out of the manifold and through the wastegate. this bad boy holds 8psi through ALL gears no problem. now i can dial in the boost by gear far better and take some stress off the traction control so it too can do its job easier and more effective. the whole idea here is to maximize the efficiency of every component. the downpipe changed, the intercooler, the piping, the wastegate design, oil feed, oil drain, etc. this was a lot of work but netted unbelievable results.
before the tune date, whip up a new bumper for the daily f-150. this pig has 230,000 miles but simply wont give up. plan on long travel for this thing and a bigger engine down the road.
and lastly, what you're all here for: the results. i have not released a power level for this car to ANYBODY so i will not do so now. but i will show you what it makes on wastegate at 8psi.however, you know we didnt stop there. we ended the dyno session at 27psi and look at that cherry red manifold making power!! i will let it run through your thoughts on what it made at 27psi. you can get a ball-park idea of what a k20 with a 6266 at 27psi makes.
these are phenomenal results from a completely garage built rsx. every aspect of this car was made here in my garage, at home, in socal. nothing special here. just a man and his ambition. i hope my posts can help some of you get out there and learn to turn wrenches and learn to fabricate as you can see what these skills can produce.
wondering whats next? well, i was considering putting this setup into an MR2. but after seeing the prices of a clean MR2 and the required parts to make this happen, i decided not to. i am seeing some AWD rsx's hit the internet and i decided i will do an AWD conversion to this car. i really dont have any type of time frame on when this will happen but as you can see, i am a motivated builder. most importantly, this car needs a cage, so that will be coming in the near future.
you can also follow me on instagram to keep up with the car at a far better rate, but less documented: @ DylanRush