Downpipe flange is finished. I'll ship it out Monday, let me know how it fits.






I put a little counterbore on the back to help center the downpipe.

wow that is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship right there. I'd put it in a display case and marvel at it for years lol.

randy. holy **** dude. amazing job, thats a REALLY nice piece.

i really hope that works, cuz it sure looks good.

Dang!!! do you have a mini machine shop in your garage or what? that's beautiful!

>
OH SH!T !! you're awesome!!

I hope it fits. that would get me motivated to get Manny motivated to finish my manifold

Thanks guys.

I did get the flange, it does not fit perfect, there is a gap between where the flange sits on the housing, but thats ok. I thought it might be ok and Manny says it will be just fine and for some strange reason I trust what Manny tells me so...










I also took the exhaust housing off my turbo so Manny can ceramic coat it with my manifold.






I bought exhaust piping. 304 stainless 2 J-bends with 6"x12" legs and a 2" straight length just in case

Techline ceramic coating? just did some of that last night myself.
that flange is nice looking. now i know who i need to talk to if i need anything machined thats really awesome.

Thanks John.
Steff there has to be a gap. If the 2 bolt faces touch it will not seal.
The gap is a little larger than I would like but it should seal fine. The
conversation we had on the phone I told you it wasn't going to fit perfect
and I wanted to check the gap at this point. I was sending it to be
test fitted to make sure the gap was about what I thought it would be.
Without knowing the exact angle or depth of the taper on the turbo, I
basicly guessed on those 2 dimensions.

This post has been edited by 97lestyousay: Apr 19, 2008 - 9:15 AM

randy that is really close for not knowing though nice work

wow great work on the swap, I am really interested in what your final results are going to be since I have never seen a 7a engine this properly built. This really pushes me to doing a 3sgte swap in my car though since it looks like its less complicated.

I got my wideband back today!! I had sent it out for analysis and/or repair. It looks like they just sent me a new one. Thats good because it means I'm not crazy and there really was something wrong with my unit.

I also got my exhaust piping yesterday. Working on finding a place that does aluminum beading before I buy the intake piping.

Wow my 7AFTE project was going to cost 3 grand with installation and everything, and I thought it was too much for so little hp so i gave up on it. Your 6 grand in just parts, I wanna see how yours is gonna turn out. Think you'll hit the 200hp mark?

>
My parts list includes the free installation

I would say just under 200 to the wheels. but I'm ok with that, I was aware of it before I started this crazy project.

Ohh ok, free tuning too? Thats about $3-400 if not more itself? Yeah your gonna go thru alot of rubber with 200whp. What else is left, you have all the parts now? Just waiting to install or...?

This post has been edited by mikecelica: Apr 24, 2008 - 9:10 PM

well if I am not mistaken of between the the 4a, and 3sgte the 7a is the engine that will create the most torque. At 9 psi it has 190hp and 180tq compared to the 3sgte 200hp to 140tq. It looks like you are getting close to what the 3s swap would cost but you might be better off with the 7a since the fun factor might be higher... if it all goes well that is.

Good luck

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yes. This is all a learning process for me, if I wasn't going to do all this myself with the help of Manny (my turbo advisor ) I wouldn't be doing it at all. I think the tuning part will be a learning process for both of us though, but that's ok.

Just need to make sure I can have aluminum piping properly beaded before I go an buy it. Then I just need the intake piping, couplers, clamps, some vacuum hose, and I need Manny to take me to get some nice v-bands for the exhaust.

Then I need to wait until I switch the heads since the one on my car now is leaking coolant slowly into cyl 4 for some reason. (see my engine rebuild thread about that issue)

>
thanks. I appreciate the encouragement. My hopes with this project wasn't really to make it fast but to make the car fun to drive.

There is someone I am trying to work with that owns a 298hp 7afe turbo engine running on the stock rods with 4agze pistons. His car is amazing and its running 12 seconds in the quarter mile and sounds very good too. I am going to build this setup and hopefully with his help. I just recently found this on the web I will post my progress on my thread.

This is something i hope i can do in the future once i get the money..... I'm really impressed and i think someone likes Prodigy......

I am thinking of alternate head gasket options to lower my compression.

so... If I am not mistaken the 4A-GE head gasket is thicker. Can it be used on a 7A-FE? Where else can I get a thicker head gasket for the 7A? What are the other option besides a thicker head gasket to lower the compression ratio?

so after Manny's suggestion of oversized valves I postponed my original plan to find out more before making a decision. I've been e-mailing Shaun from MCS Motorsports about my options in rebuilding the head with them.

Local Shop Stock Rebuild - $450 no shipping necessary
includes inspection, cleaning, stock valve job, valve seals

MCS Stock Rebuild - $650 + shipping
includes inspection, cleaning, stock valve job

MCS Stage I Port - $750 including return shipping
includes stock rebuild items plus minor porting

MCS Stage II Port - $950 including return shipping
includes stock rebuild items plus a little more porting

MCS Stage III Port and Polish - $1750 including shipping
includes stock rebuild plus stage III port and polish, custom Ferrea 1mm oversized competition plus valves

MCS Stage III 7AFE Head - $2680 including shipping
includes MCS Stage III Port & Polish - Street, Ferrea 1mm OS Comp. Plus valves (custom MCS specs), Web Custom Grind Cams (custom specs), HKS valvesprings, Stock OEM retainers, keepers, and valve seals.


I'm still tempted to just go with the local shop due to price but I do like the fact that even with the stock rebuild MCS will be more performance oriented... but is it worth the extra $200? would the minor porting be worth the extra $400? this is my dilemma...

didn't you already rebuild the engine?

yes but I need to replace the head because of a small coolant leak into cyl 4. see my rebuild thread about that issue.

>
forget it steff.
prices were a bunch cheaper for the stage III P&P when i inquired about it with shawn for the 5s.
unless your wanting to drop the 1800$, just have it rebuilt locally.
shawn wont really do anything more than the local place will do on a stock rebuild.

>

Nope. I don't think you would notice any performance difference at all.

Didn't you already replace your valve seals? Why not just have a local machine shop deck the head without rebuilding it? It would save you a lot of money.

Agreed, shave it and get the thicker 4age head gasket.

This one http://www.2kracing.com/Product/7362.html

This post has been edited by 97lestyousay: May 4, 2008 - 11:17 AM

you can't find anybody to port and polish it locally? a friend mine just had the head of his 240sx rebuilt at a local shop for like $150, plus the cost of a couple of valves. and he had it slightly ported and polished at another shop for about $150.

Oh, I guess I should mention that he got discounts at both shops, the first because they give discounts to America's tire employee's, and the second because he knew someboyd that worked there.

This post has been edited by 6strngs: May 4, 2008 - 12:38 PM

>
I'm sending out my spare head, the one from my original motor, the one with 196,000 miles on it. I'm kind of using the one I already rebuilt. And the only thing that will get swapped over from the head that's in the car right now is the cams and the shims. The only other things left anyway are some gaskets and the valve seals and I can get the valve seals for free anyway.

this thread has inspired me to boost my st instead of swapping it :

I dropped the head off yesterday at the machine shop. A friend of someone who used to work with me is doing it, $240. It should be done in about a week at most.


Oh and today marks two straight weeks that my wideband has been re-installed and working!! That's the longest yet. Innovate sent me a new controller, I wired in a relay so it gets consistent power all the time, and we extended the wires and ran them across the firewall and mounted the wideband controller in the passenger fender instead of on top of the radiator where it used to be.