Been quite busy buying parts over winter.
Decided to get cracking on fitting them over the last few weekends.As you've seen I've bought a new exhaust manifold from Racer X.
Probably not entirely necessary for my build but I decided that I'd go for it and get a turbo that will bolt straight to it rather than having to mess about with adaptor blocks, etc.The turbo I've bought is a Garrett GTX2867R.
I went for the Tial exhaust housing with the .63 A/R - The smaller of the two options to aid a super quick spool up. I doubt I'll see much of a power increase over the previous 322bhp
(at the hubs) last time I had it mapped, but that isn't really what I'm after. Peak boost was around 4.2k rpm so I'm trying to reduce this as much as possible. Hoping for somewhere close 3.6k, which should be an absolute blast!I also had Owen Developments fit the M-Spec upgrades to the turbo, to further increase it's efficiency and longevity.
This set-up also allows me to switch to an external wastegate, meaning I should hopefully eliminate my previous boost creep issues once remapped.
Decided to go with a Tial MV-S 38mm wastegate.Manifold and Turbo were test fitted and oil and coolant lines were made up to suit.
This involved quite a lot of trial an error with some of the fittings but I got there in the end. All lines are now complete using Torques fittings and firesleeve. No photos of the finished lines yet but I'll add some later on.Here's a couple of snaps of the test fitting, part way through making the lines
Also notice the new coolant filler neck in the 2nd photo.
I bought that, along with a coolant hardline delete hose from TCS motorsports over in America. All in aid of tidying the engine bay up a little. Still a ways to go with that but it's slowly getting less cluttered. Next up is having a new downpipe, intercooler hot pipe and screamer made up.
Found a lad reasonably local to me, who's work looks stunning so he's taking care of all that for me.He's going to pretty much remake my whole exhaust system, except for the KO racing back box.
Replacing all flanges with V-bands, fitting a 200 cell sports cat, new flexi, and brace. Should look awesome when it's all complete 
Also making an interchangeable screamer setup, where one will be open to atmosphere and one will route back into the downpipe, for when i'm fed up of being a hooligan
So the car was trailered up to him yesterday.
Easier said than done though."Ermm, your car's too low mate" 
Found a few planks of wood to go under the front wheels and we were away
Provisionally planned to pick it up next Friday.
I'll then be able to final fit everything.Also, almost forgot, I've had to relocate the oil filter and lose the oem oil cooler as the manifold fouls in that area.
More on that in the next update though as it's not complete yet.Only other change is a new steering wheel.
Nardi, deep corn, perforated leather, 330mm. Obviously haven't been able to use it yet, but it looks and feels quite nice 
More next week, hopefully
