[DML] The Resurrection of Vixen Continues... (Pt. I)

["Dave Stragand" <dave.stragand@xxxx>]

Hi All,

It's been quite a while since my last update. Very little has happened
in the past six weeks. In fact, I didn't even go in the garage between
the Super Bowl and March 4th due to several business trips for work. It
was kind of hard to get "back on the horse", so to speak. After a
month, it took me a while to even see where the horse had wandered.
But, once I got working again I fell back in the groove pretty quickly.
I'm at a full gallop again.

Soooo... on March 4th, I visited the previous owner to pick up a brand
new dual-turbo kit. I'm working on the turbos now... I have the
non-emissions version. I don't know how old they are, but they've never
been used. They were all packed in newspaper. No date on the paper,
was there was a special on "Campaign '88". I stripped the light coat of
black paint off of the manifolds and the exhaust pipes, then redid them
with 4 coats of high-temp black. I baked them in my oven for 2 hours at
550 to cure them. Smells BAD in my house now. Glad I'm single
sometimes... =)

I may redo the exhaust pipes. If things work right, I may be able to
put a pair of SuperTrapp mufflers on there... in stainless, naturally.
Maybe black stainless... I also want to add an "H" pipe to equalize
pressure between the cylinder banks. Oh, and these are the older
version. There are no pressure sensors, no catalytic converters, and no
provision to mount the O2 sensor. I'll be having that welded in
shortly. I'll be able to bypass the emissions requirements with a
classic plate in PA, though, so I should be okay. (By the way, does
anyone have a set of the older instruction sheets for the non-emissions
dual turbos that they might be able to copy for me?)

I noticed a -huge- restriction on the turbo intake manifold where it
mates with the stock throttle body. I redesigned the head end a bit.
I'm documenting the steps well for the web site. It was an easy change
with, of all things, a bit of muffler pipe and some grinding. Total of
only about 5 hours of work, and should be quite an improvement in
airflow. I'll post the details later.