While I have been waiting on the frame rail I've also been working on the engine. The first thing I did was install some lightweight pulleys which cost about $80 shipped on ebay:
I then took my CX Racing turbo kit out of the box to inspect the quality, as it's literally the cheapest turbo kit you can buy for the BRZ and I'm almost positive CX means "China Express" lol. But when you're on a budget, it is what it is... I spent $1999 on the turbo kit shipped which includes the intercooler kit, downpipe, and BOV.
The quality of the manifold and 3" pipes is very good in my opinion. The design is almost identical to the Greddy manifold and the weld quality is good, as well as the internal finishing on the runners. The bolts they give you for the kit however, are crap. They're grade 4.8, when most bolts on the engine are at least grade 8. I bought some grade 10.9 bolts from the auto parts store to assemble the kit.
First I installed the turbo manifold with the included gaskets (resemble stock) and noticed there seemed to be a small gap in the gasket in some areas. I went ahead and put some silicone exhaust gasket maker on both sides of the crush gasket and re-assembled it. This did the trick:
Next I installed the turbo and found the same small gap, so I applied the exhaust silicon to the side that didn't have the additional metal gasket and everything looked great. The oil feed line comes off the oil pressure sending unit (I believe) and I wrapped it where it comes to the turbo from the same direction as the intake piping:
Since the engine was out of the car I went ahead and removed the valve cover gaskets, replaced them, and also replaced the spark plugs with brand new iridium's from the dealer. The engine was so clean inside it looked brand new. After this I removed the oil pan and installed the oil drain fitting for the turbo line:
Here it is complete and ready to be re-installed into the car after I apply some header wrap and a turbo heat shield:
