Finished the shifter. Works great, though it needs a spring (like in the OEM shifter that center’s the shifter laterally, on centerline between 3rd – 4th gear. Need to figure how what type of spring to use and what strength.
With input from various Honda forums, turbo placement is settling down. I finally weighed it, expecting something like 25 lbs or so but was surprised it’s only 14 lbs. I think the heavy weight expectation’s due to holding it up for long periods of time during mockup… no complaints. Regarding the exhaust, received two 1.5″ flex joints for the wastegates. I’m not sure whether to use heavy-but-cheap 304 stainless weld-els or light-but-expensive 321. If the turbo was to go right near the exhaust manifold I’d use weld-els, but the further away it gets, the more concern there is about the weight of the manifold. It’s not trivial since the weld-el manifold would weigh 3X as much… but 321 costs about 5X as much.)
Other odds and ends: Regarding the big sheet of steel picked up last week, there is a potentially much easier way for fixturing the arms. Research is going on behind the scenes to see if it’s doable and if so I’ll describe in more detail later. Received the remote dual oil filter assembly but it’s uncertain where that’s going just yet.