Since I had to tear it apart, upgrading was a must but options were limited to use with my bottom mount ssac with a s14 t28. I didnt have the money for a new manifold and downpipe but I did have enough for a couple flanges so bottom mount t3 it is. Id seen it done before and there was plenty of room for what I needed, although fitting the wastegate somewhere was a pita.
Yes, that is a Bob the Builder toothbrush^. But what is more important is what i used it to clean up. I just trolled ebay for something used, cheap, not too worn out aaand t3 flanged 250-300 whp capable and ended up with this t3 super 60 with the .48 exh a/r. Turbonetics claims theyre good for 300-325 max up to 22 psi (seems scary), so yea its still on the small side but I was anxious and had to settle for something with my budget. No shaft play, but did look a little dirty/oily on the exhaust side but I was assured it was good and didnt smoke... but either it or my motor is starting to smoke now. I'm bettin on my stock 220,000 mi motor though since it does it at idle too.
I wish I would have taken more pics in the process, but basically I just really revamped my ebay mani. I cut between the runners and pounded more weld onto the existing joints. Then I cut the t2 flange off. This gave acess to the collector of the mani where I cut the hole for the new external gate. I ported out as much as I could in there, that stainless just seemed unbelievably tough. ThenI welded a very small extension just to get a good angle for the gate, and then finished with the new t3 flange. Prob not the best placement since my bmc is now kinda surrounded with heaters, but Im runnin out of room down there. The first pic shows my little heat shield that kind of cradles it now trying to cope with it.
And now after ALL of this my car is smokin like a biatch and I got some wicked rattles getting worse. i think its timing chain slack; it comes from that area and only does it at 2.5-3k anywhere else its silent, but like I said 220k with the last 20k or so boosted; so I'm impressed thus far to say the least. But I have recently acquired something to take care of all of this...
The goal is to get as much done before classes start since I will only have some weekends to spend with it after. So more to come...
Point being, if you don't know what you're doing then don't do it. Everything you mentioned that requires checking is right online. When I say something can be done, I don't mean to say any waterhead can rebuild something that spins at 300,000 rpm.
