Damnation: The Cynos Project

Well...what an eventful Saturday that was, the plan was just to bring my CT9b core, swap on my old CT9a exhaust housing onto it, and be done, maybe do a few other things. So, I drive 120mi again to Bournemouth, set about removing the old CT9a core...and, it won't budge. After about an hour of cracking on it with a hammer, we gave up, removed it, then blasted it with a torch for a bit (the smoking from the turbo that ensued was hilarious...to think it was making that much smoke WITHOUT a direct flow of oil, and it just came apart, and in what stirling condition it was in [/sarcasm]



That's the oil left after having heated it for a good 5 minutes! Wonder how much life was left in that thing...Anyway, tried fitting my pristine exhaust section from my CT9a onto the CT9b, only to find that it wouldn't fit - the CT9b expeller is slightly bigger in diameter. Balls. So instead, we found a spare CT9a to put on as a temporary measure, and went ahead with putting that on. In the meantime, I also installed the passenger side seat Harnesses, as the stock seatbelt had seized in the clip. We also removed my steering wheel to center it, no more driving at straight ahead with hands at "10 past 8", woo! Finally, I also asked Harvey to fabricate me a mounting plate for the Apex-i Boost Solenoid, and after a lot of cursing and angry grinding, we had a rudimentary, but totally befitting of the car, mounting plate!

However, my glee was short-lived - set off from Bournemouth to go back home, and initially, I'm impressed, the boost came on much stronger and much quicker, but the intake sound was VERY loud, worryingly so....then, it also became apparent that the engine was vibrating VERY harshly at about 4250rpm, worryingly so! Then all of a sudden, about 30mi out, the car ceases to boost and the vibration is gone. Strange. Then I heard a sound akin to tools falling inside the car, but, nothing was falling, though I was getting people behind me flashing their lights. Huh? Then again, I hear another clanging on the floor of the car...So, I stop at the nearest service station, and as I pull in, another clanging sound. Hmmm. Stop, check under the hood, and, what do you know - two of the maifold-turbo bolts had come undone!! But not only that, the vacuum hose from actuator-turbi had also split! Hmmm, check the oil, and its at the e-marker. Hah...90mi to go to get home.

So, bought 2 liters of oil, filled up the car, and drove an increasingly tractor-sounding car back home, albeit, slowly. Turns out, I had loosened the manifold bolts when still in Bournemouth in order to...well, I can't remember now, but to fit something in place, and never did them up. Oh, and I didn't fit the downpipe brace bolts either. Negligence is a terrible thing! So anyway, fast forward to Sunday, and I just tightened up the bolts and braced the downpipe, whilst I was there though, I test fitted my air filter and figured, I could actually make it fit with some persuasive techniques! So, using a spare t-bolt clamp, and shoving an extra piece of silicone hosing around the silicone hose in order to apply more pressure to the hose (the hose and clamp were too big for the turbo inlet!), and tweaking something on the ABS pump out of the way, air filter back in place! It's also pretty nifty, as it fits right behind the headlight housing - remove the cover, and rudimentary cold air, feed...type, thing. Behold!




Also, was trying to find options of fitting the boost solenoid as it seems all the screw holes on the strut tower side are rusted and wouldn't allow for a bolt to screw in, then found a hole there, so, bolt through the wheelwell side, rubber grommet from the shifter assembly, a small nut, tighten, and I have a damped boost solenoid mounting!



So yeah, all seems good, for now, I even found some silicone vacuum hosing for the actuator, but its FAR too close to the manifold, which could prove an issue...otherwise, car feels much livelier, and quieter too! Oh, whilst in Bournemouth, took these pictures too:









Particularly like this one, with a bit of added saturation and contrast:



So yeah, that's it for this past weekend, hold on tight, because hopefully the next updates, are big updates :)