- Car
- 2003 FX35T
- Name
- Brad
Engine Bay
- Thread starter jumbosrule
- Start date
- Car
- 2003 FX35T
- Name
- Brad
Been a while since I posted to this thread but I did a little bit of easy cosmetic work today. I've been wanting a dress-up bolt kit, but the colors offered either don't go with my theme or just don't really stand out.
I decided to do my own dress up kit using the gold colored grade 8 metric bolts. Not everything has been swapped out, but most of the up-front visible hardware is done. Most of these bolts are M6-1,0. I went with a 10mm socket head for any structural bolts and a 8mm socket for mounting hardware. There were also about a half dozen M8-1,25 bolts
I only spent about $35 on the replacement hardware and I'm pretty pleased with the look. Subtle, but complete. Not quite as baller as the annodized capture washers and hex head bolts, but unique. The bolt grade is actually better quality than OEM, with regards to strength and resistance to corrosion.
I have a few more bolts to replace around the plenum and I was considering drilling out the existing rivets (last two photos above) just to replace them with matched hardware.
I decided to do my own dress up kit using the gold colored grade 8 metric bolts. Not everything has been swapped out, but most of the up-front visible hardware is done. Most of these bolts are M6-1,0. I went with a 10mm socket head for any structural bolts and a 8mm socket for mounting hardware. There were also about a half dozen M8-1,25 bolts
I only spent about $35 on the replacement hardware and I'm pretty pleased with the look. Subtle, but complete. Not quite as baller as the annodized capture washers and hex head bolts, but unique. The bolt grade is actually better quality than OEM, with regards to strength and resistance to corrosion.
I have a few more bolts to replace around the plenum and I was considering drilling out the existing rivets (last two photos above) just to replace them with matched hardware.
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Looks purdy. Is there a heat shield of some kind between your intake tube and the hot side of the snail?
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"LittleGagne"
Member
That's looks good
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- Car
- 2003 FX35T
- Name
- Brad
So the short answer is no. We did a ceramic coating on the hot side of the turbo. I could do a turbo blanket but I prefer the aesthetic the way it is.
I have been contemplating an air box, ducted from the driver's side fog light. Right now the cone filter is coming off that silicone 90 degree bend attached to the cold side of the turbo. The filter points straight down and comes very close to the intercooler entry piping.
This was something I put off till now because of the way the bumper had to be modified for the turbo installation. Now that we can see what we are working with, the plan will be to fabricate an enclosure for the intake filter that does not draw air from the bay. I think there is enough room to rotate the filter element 90 degrees, which would give more than enough clearance from the IC pipe and air box.
Nice. I'm sure PF can hook up something awesome. They've done a great job so far.
One thing on my long list of experimental mods that may work for you is to install a louvered panel into the splash pan (Do you still have a splash pan?) that would scoop fresh air from under the bumper up into the filter area. I've also kicked around the idea of doing something like THIS, but never came up with anything that I didn't think would look like hell.
- Car
- 2003 FX35T
- Name
- Brad
Do they still make stainless steel heat shields for the hot side? On my old car, the turbo was mounted high like where yours is, in fact it was almost in the same spot. Even w/ the coating, it was very hot and the intake pipe ran right next to it. I ended up getting a heat shield that bolted to the flange. It wasn't a blanket, just polished SS. It helped keep the area a bit cooler. Not as good as a blanket, but not ugly either. The shield was polished SS, so it looked nice.
- Car
- 2003 FX35T
- Name
- Brad
Look'n good!
I love turbo's... i've got a 60-1 on my eclipse
Have you thought about ceramic coating the L-shaped intercooler tube?
All of the charge piping is ceramic coated. The hot side of the turbo and the downpipe are both ceramic coated in black, but it's obviously not the same finish as the powdercoat. I wish I could get it darker but oh well.
Honestly about the only thing I really want to do inside the bay is tuck a couple of wires and maybe add some cleaner looking heat insulation for the AC lines.
- Car
- 2003 FX35T
- Name
- Brad
