If you ever find yourself with nothing to do Sunday mornings well search no further. I insist locals and visitors to checkout a southern Las Vegas lot that gathers car enthusiasts alike.
Gear & Grinds
Beginning at 8:00am cars will flood the parking lot and quickly takeover the area. You’ll see various vendors popping their tents and setting tables full of car related merchandise.
From classic rods to luxurious super cars; bland doesn’t describe this cars & coffee. This event invites you to connect with the community, enjoy the ambience and support the local businesses representing their services at their pop up tents as well.
Besides hosting, the organizer for Gears & Grinds has several times dedicated these events for various donations to give back to the community, such as Christmas toy drives and pet/food supplies.
Gears & Grinds is held every 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month from 8:00am-11:00am at 8539 W Sunset Rd. Las Vegas NV 89113.
After a long night at work, I walk to my car just to see the big puddle of liquid coming from underneath it. It’s either a coolant leak which’ll lead to engine overheating or an oil leak with the potential to cause engine damage. Luckily it was only a coolant leak and I managed to make it home with no problems. Once I’m home I take a look around the engine and see that coolant is leaking from both braided lines. The water lines suffered from vibrations and heat wear. So it was time to get new lines for my bottom mount T28 BB turbo.
Research Context
After some research I came across some water lines made by Faction Motorsports here. After watching their Youtube video I found that their lines offer an organized look, along with added clearance around components around the engine bay. These lines reduce unnecessary length and add a layer of protection with their optional fire shielding.
Disassembling the turbo
This part varies on whether you’re doing this alone or have somebody to help you out. If you want to avoid the mess you’ll have to drain the coolant and oil from the block before removing any lines. You can still change the lines even without draining anything but expect heavy pouring. Start by removing all the intake piping, cooling piping, unplugging any hoses or connectors as well. Then remove the nuts off of the exhaust manifold followed by the 3 bolts holding the turbo housing up to the turbo elbow. You’ll also need to remove the oil drain hose underneath the turbo assembly going to the block.
I made sure to upgrade to an s14 water neck as it offers a water line port already made on it’s side. Once I added the lines I ran into a problem. One of the lines coming from the left side of the turbo had some clearance issues. The 90 degree fitting would hit and rub against the waste-gate.
In order to clear the waste-gate I changed the original fitting to a banjo bolt fitting which cleared it with no issues. As for the block side it will be slightly difficult if you’re by yourself. You will need to attach the right side of the turbo line and carefully lower the turbo assembly back in the engine bay while trying to attach the waterline to the block. You’ll get some resistance due to the stiffness of the water lines but try to be patient and find the sweet spot to prevent any cross threading. Don’t forget to put the oil drain hose back onto the block side as well. Test for any leaks and make sure everything is tightened up.
Summary
After your test drive things will loosen up due to the vibrations but that’ll give you the opportunity to re-tighten. You should also mark up bolts with a visible marker to track any changes. Unfortunately I did have to spend extra just to get one of the lines to clear the waste-gate but not anything too serious. Other than that the SR is running good and I’m happy with my purchase and the way the lines cleaned up the engine bay a bit too. I recommend taking a look at your setup and compare it to both mine and Faction Motorsport’s setup to see if you too will need to switch to a banjo bolt.
Beyond91 