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Update for today: I was a dumbass and bent the compressor wheel from moving around the housing carelessly. I think I'll end up buying a new wheel or just wait and buy a genuine 2554 or 2560. Or maybe another chinacharger. I don't know for sure yet, and I still have a while to go before I can get to a point where I would make boost.
I also fitted the manifold to the head after making the holes slightly bigger. I still need to do a little grinding so the nuts will all fit. I'm happy with how it looks.
Skip the chinacharger and get a SR20 T25. I've gone through two chinachargers, and they've both been junky on different levels. You can pick up an extremely decent SR20 T25 for 250$-300$, and you'll be perfect for the future. I suggest going on zilvia.net and post a WTB post. I had a response within a day.
The SR20 turbos are garret journal bearings. You get OEM quality, at a chinacharger price.
Today I did a mini coolant reroute, mostly because I needed more room for the downpipe. I bought 2' of 5/8" heater hose, a 1' 5/8' copper coupling, and a few 15/16" spring clamps. In total, I spent about $15. I'm pleased with how it turned out. It should do a little to keep temps down until I start making boost. Now, I can finally start on the downpipe and exhaust. I really wish I made a bottom mount manifold because it would be a hell of a lot easier. Oh well.
I also bent back the blades per Braineack's advice.
I started on the downpipe today. I decided to make pie cuts because 1) there's no way a mandrel bend will fit in there, and 2) it'll give me a lot of practice welding thin gauge material, which I really need to get better with. I'm probably not going to calculate the exact angles I need and instead I'll make lots of pie cuts and use them for the complex angles I'll need.
Here's the first 90 I made. I ended up eyeballing the size of the middle pieces after I set the center line radius to 1" in the calculator and realized that wouldn't work after I started cutting. Also it doesn't quite reach 90 degrees - and I'm not exactly sure why.
Here's a quick comparison to a 90 with a 3" CLR from Summit. Much tighter as you can see. I did the math and my pie cut has a CLR of about 2.3".
Here's my second pie cut 90. Much better than before. This time I cut it correctly for a 2" CLR. I added one more middle section to make it smoother and a little more aesthetically pleasing.
Here's the new one compared to my first. Even tighter.
The smallest sections are a little thicker than a quarter inch, with the edges being a little under. After welding all these up I'm either going to be wayyy better at tigging small stuff or never want to see a tig torch again. Hopefully its the former.
It's some t25 chinacharger. I think they were mostly straight before but I guess it'll work if they're all straight after. Yeah the balance is probably off but it's better than when they were bent.