Getting closer. Having been working on a non running car for so long…I see the massive difference in excitement from completing a project and then just looking at it VS completing a project and being able to start it and drive it. So glad to be at the latter.
Ordering AN fittings isn’t as easy as you might think. I just made another order today and will have them Wednesday. Wednesday evening I should be able to start the car again. I’ll allow for Thursday early afternoon….guess it depends on how late I finish Wednesday evening bc I have no fans with how loud the car is. I’ll make very little (but some) effort to not start it if it’s near 9pm….lame. But whatever.
My AN hose making is advancing. Part of why I ordered more fittings. For instance the turbosmart one-way, returnless, oil pressure regulator can be added to my existing oil feed line with just a -4AN JIC straight female union fitting. It’s short and will add very little length. I can unscrew the Y fitting feed, add the oil regulator, add the female union and just simply reattach the Y. Shortest possibly length added, that will still give me a tiny clearance to my fan. I can make the connection in another way, with what I have, which would be instead of that short and sweet female union, it would have to be 2 female to hose straight fittings and a short run of hose, but then that will add let’s say…4 inches +/-. So what’s happening is my hose making is advancing to not just can I connect A-B? But how can I connect A-B with the shortest hose and least amount of connections? Not that I’m worried about AN threads, they are the Cat’s meow! No sealant or thread tape needed. And perhaps the desire for a shorter hose involves adding to an existing hose in order to avoid completely redoing it.
I drained my oil out, and I removed my oil return tank outlet to scavenger pump hose connection on the tank. Lots of oil in there so the turbos are draining very well. I opened the vent on that tank and it just came pouring out…much the same as draining your oil pan and forgetting to remove the oil cap…once you remove the oil cap it can flow. But just to see the difference and realize that the turbo oil return tank and pump system, is its own separate system as the turbo seals are now like the valve cover oil cap. That pump must have created so much vacuum in that sealed tank and plumbing…with extra extra hot oil without water cooling….just makes sense it pumped it back into the block and easily….easily overwhelmed the sealed/recirculating PCV system. Well that puppy is vented now. And I installed the Vibrant Performance one way check valve…even with the line not connected yet, installing that check valve the ball fell with gravity back to the base of the fitting and the line didn’t leak a drop hanging vertical. I’m pumped to have this tank vented now and that check valve in that critical spot, preventing oil reverse flowing with gravity back into the tank. Two major improvements.
This is a good read if anyone is taking a shit lol! I didn’t take pics of it but will add pics when I’m done the whole project. With those two suckers subdued, I went about deciding on how to plumb the water to the turbos. I ended up cutting each 3/8 pipe down and plugged the rear feeds as I’m not feeding and returning in the rear. Converted the pipes to -6AN and made sure to have them oriented in feed and return.

The bottom is feed the top is return. And finding out 100% it sure the H.E. L. L. Is. I drained the top portion of the radiator down maybe half a gallon. Basically the reservoir is empty. I knew I’d get some coolant out of those feed and return lines but once it was basically done dripping…well the return is up higher than the feed that did stop dripping entirely but that feed….is a feed for a reason, it’s definitely a little gravity fed and lowest on the intake, so after 3-4 hours it never completely stopped dripping. Would be bad to mix those up routing everything! Each feed and return line go to a -6AN Fragola T fitting. Luckily with these Garrett G25-550 turbos there are 2 water inlets and 2 water outlets on each cartridge. Which allowed me to use an inlet and outlet on the same side. On the bracket side it’s just not doable unless I did a -6AN male to female fitting and then used a -6AN male to male fitting to have it come straight out 3-4 inches and then add a 45 or 90.
To use both sides of each I wouldn’t be able to do 2 90’s bc one would block the other so I did a 90 inlet and 45 outlet. And you can see how specific ordering AN fittings can get…if I were to have paid close enough attention I should have ordered a -6AN female 90 to hose end fitting. My 90 is a -6AN female to female….so I had to use a -6AN male straight union. Then add a -6AN straight fitting to hose end. If that sounds confusing try ordering 30 fittings and then find you still need something or…you could have used less fittings if you understood in great detail all the connections.


They are starting to look like little Predators with dreads lol!
I also have an oil cap -10AN straight breather cap from
@Ecoboost_xsport leaving his build and becoming part of mine. Again there he’s sending me -10 O-ring straight fitting so the top is -10 male. You’d then need to add a -10 female to hose end 90….but then it’s tall coming off the oil cap. So part of my order is a -10 O-ring to 90 male fitting…from there it’ll be a straight -10 female to hose end fitting but the hose will be straight anyway so the straight fitting of no consequence to the line length. So there it’ll be shorter and more appealing to look at …a 90 right off the cap. This is a nice cap btw. John always got his hands on some trick shit no one else does.

So I’ll actually vent the front valve cover twice ….and I did end up buying 1 more of the front OEM crankcase vent tubes bc it’s straight through design 5/8 OD. And it’s funny bc I look at the 2 liter catch tanks and what’s up with the bottom ports? You glance and think…all the ports to vent all kinds of stuff but….whats the sense of the bottom ports bc you wouldn’t be able to fill the tank even past 1/4 full bc the fluid would raise above the ports???! So I’ll use the top ports. And the -20 cap with only a small 1/8 NPT? Another thing I went around searching for locally….youd think I was searching for some exotic alien metal….i finally found a 3/8 NPT tap…and in a different town a 37/64 drill bit. So im drilling and tapping the -20 catch tank caps to use a 3/8 NPT to -8AN fitting to my -8AN 50x50mm breather filters. 3/8- 8AN is straight through. Just from what I’ve learned so far…that 1/8 NPT makes 0 sense…with venting…just get it out. You could do -12 AN. Just an update and I’m excited to get all this installed and done and I’m confidently expecting one super happy and healthy car on the other end.