I’m going to go ahead and call the intake manifold swap completed. There are still a few problems, of course, and some things left to be done, but the intake manifold is swapped and the car is running better than before. It’s getting in to boost sooner and with more force and it’s holding 15-16 psi easily. The fans seem to work okay, but I don’t think they’re as good as the previous ones and I’m a little bit concerned how the cooling system is going to hold up during competition in the heat of the summer. Time will tell.
With the OEM ECU removed from the car, I’ve started to trim down the wiring harnesses. I need to wait until I have the idle valve thing worked out before I can wrap up all the wires, but in the meantime, I’ve pulled some connectors and tightened things up a little bit.
With that cleaned up a little bit, I moved on to another small project. At some point, the bumper cover got a tear in it, near where I had cut for clearance around the intercooler.
I found an epoxy from Bondo at Advance that I thought I would try:
It smells a lot like JB Weld, but there’s a black and a clear part, plus it’s supposed to be flexible, which this spot will need. I went ahead and put a layer on last night and then clamped it. I totally forgot about the repair and drove it to work today with the clamp still on. Herpaderp! When I got home, I took the clamp off and added a little more of the epoxy to cover the spot that had the clamp previously:
Overall, I’m happy with it so far, but I won’t know how well it really works until I get the car into the dirt.
I got another update from AMR Engineering in regards to my suspension – Current estimated ship date is Monday April 3rd, so hopefully it doesn’t slip again.