So it's been a little while since the last update, but I finally have some new information and pictures for everyone.
Shortly after the last update detailing our plans for the exhaust system, we discovered that there was more damage than we originally thought. While inspecting the exhaust manifolds, both were found to be cracked rather well. We're not exactly sure how this happened, my best guess is just that between the age of the metal coupled with the heat and stress from endurance racing was just too much for it. These cracks could also be the reason our under hood temps have been so high.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2011/01/31/crack.jpg
So this left us in a bit of a predicament. We could buy new OEM replacement manifolds for around $150 or we could try to find a used set from a junkyard. The junkyard route would be much cheaper, but removing the rear manifold from the engine with it still in the car is nigh impossible. We didn't like either of these because in the end we'd still have a very restrictive OEM setup, so we started looking around for a third option.
This is what we came up with.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2011/01/31/exhaust-new-1.jpg
Yeah I know before I talked about how we couldn't afford a set of headers, and that is still true. Typically a good set of headers for these cars cost between $500-$700, we didn't spend nearly that much on these. These were found on eBay for about $115 and are sold under several different brand names like X-Tune and Speed Daddy. They're cheap and probably Chinese made, but they will flow better than the OEM setup.
They feature 1.75 inch inlets as opposed to 1.5 on the stock manifold, and everything dumps into a 3 inch collector vs the 2.5 stock one. You can see how restrictive the factory setup is here.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2011/01/31/OEM.jpg
But that's not all that has happened in the last few weeks. The heads were cleaned up so they could be inspected and have a compression test run. After they checked out they were given a DIY port/polish. The exhaust ports on these engines measure a measly 1.25 inches, so they've been enlarged to 1.65.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2011/01/31/portingprogress.jpg
NOTE: The above photo was taken while the port/polish was still in progress.
https://pic.armedcats.net/q/qu/quiky/2011/01/31/0011.jpg
Next the supercharger was pulled apart for inspection and all we found inside was bad news.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2011/01/31/0007.jpg
Notice the scratches on the inside of the blower housing and the tips of the rotor lobes. Supposedly this supercharger had already been rebuilt before we bought the car, but I don't believe it. It looks to me like the needle bearings for the rotors wore out and allowed them to ?walk? around the case a bit and cause those scratches. You'll notice the left and right rotors are different colors, that's because one has had all the carbon build up cleaned off while the other has not. These days Eaton coats their rotors in teflon to prevent this from happening.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2011/01/31/0008.jpg
After it was cleaned up, all bearings and seals were replaced with new ones.
So that's where we currently stand, with a freshened up engine waiting to go back into the car and a clunky transmission waiting to come out.
https://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2011/01/31/0010.jpg