122 Vega said:So when you say "ported and polished" you are staying within the rules right? One inch either side of the gasket, effectively just gasket matching? I kept seeing this, and I ran in DSP then FSP for several years and wasn't allowed anything more. I had to go reread the new rule book to see if things had changed for 2005.
What kind of struts did you get?
BTW thanks for the oil filter relocation pics, that was one of my next mods.
Britt
In FSP the intake manifolds are unlimited so I knocked off all the weird casting flaws and polished as much as I could reach. The head can be modified within an inch from the gasket surface like you said. I actually ported the gasket slightly bigger and then matched the manifold and head to that spec. Everything should still be within the rules. I started a thread for it somewhere, but I haven't updated it. I'll post the link when I get all the pictures in there.
The struts I got were the JDM Mazdaspeed Adjustable struts. They are the green ones that Corksport used to sell, but they are discontinued now. I got word from Tripoint that the people who tune their shocks can revalve mine for whatever I want to do for $200 in case I get into some crazy springrates. my rear springs are already making my MSP struts cry. Anything that upsets the car mid corner gets the rear end to start bouncing instead of just sliding. Hopefully these new struts will be a little better on the dampening. I don't need much. It's just not right enough now to be annoying.
The relocation kit went a lot smoother than I expected. I was thinking I was going to turn the car on and oil was going to be leaking from everywhere. Those Russell fittings are worth every penny.
here are a few pics. The first is the head that shows I didn't go over an inch into it. The second picture shows how much larger my port job is than stock and the last picture just shows how I trimed the gasket to make the openings bigger.