We're prepping the Frankenmiata for an attempted double-enduro. That's a 14-hour LeMons race in Phoenix and a full 24-hour ChumpCar race at Streets of Willow on consecutuve weekends (Jan 23-24 and Jan 30-31). Back to back, baby!

The FrankenMIata's turbo is directly in front of the driver and this has been causing some angst among our shorter drivers. I finally decided to do something about it today.

We have an adaptor pipe between the manifold and turbo now. This was done to allow us to swap manifolds when they cracked. We just assumed that because the stock manifolds crack in normal use, they'd certainly crack when turbocharged.

Turns out they don't crack! Running with no hood, bumper or fenders, with the turbo up in the airflow, stuff stays a lot cooler than it would in a hooded car... So, time to get rid of the adaptor.

We have an elaborate network of brackets supporting the turbo, all of which relies on two little tabs welded to the turbo flange. Both had cracked and were about to fall off. It's a good thing we'll be re-designing the brackets with the new turbo position...

I cut the adator about 3/4" below the turbo flange, then cut the flange off the end of the stock manifold, leaving me with this:

Then I traced a line about 1/4" below the intersection of the two parts and used that to line the manifold up in the chop saw.

The end result looks pretty convincing!

It took two cuts to reach this point (I alwas cut short, just in case...), and the manifold side was an oval, vs. the rouded rectangle of the flange side. I took a hammer to the flange side and tapped it into a more oval shape, eventually getting it within the wall thickness of being perfect. Close enough for a Lemon!

Its tacked in place now and I'm mocking up the intercooler plumbing (no changes, just had to switch the position of the red elbow hose), brackets and downpipe before I weld anything for real/

This is going to be much easier to see around!

This is a 24Hours of LeMons car, so budget is the #1 concern. A 323GT(X) manifold is unlikely to be free. Using the manifold you already have is free!

All the reasons behind this madness can be found here:

Made the front bracket today.



This one was simpler in some ways. Since there's room for bolts, I didn't have to tap it. The diagonal brace was tricky, though. I had to make it small enough and position it just right to leave wrench access, let the breather hose pass through, and leave room for the O2 sensor, and, of course, I had to make it from whatever I could find on the floor. As it sits, there is actually enough wrench access to install the turbo bolts with an electric impact!

Finally, the side brace...



The old brace was A-shaped, with a brace going to each of the main support braces. This put the oil filler cap in the middle of the bracket and made it a little tough to top off the oil during pit stops. The new brace just supports the rear bracket. The front bracket moved back far enough that a brace would go straight across the oil cap. No bueno.

The next challenge is putting the downpipe back together.



This was originally all one piece. I'm thinking of putting a flange here when it goes back together, though, to maker servicing easier. As it is, the downpipe has to slide back off the studs on the turbine housing, and that requires diving under the car to unbolt the downpipe support bracket at the bellhousing.

-Dave

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