Michael Spreadbury's VG30ET project photos

VG30ET project photos. November 17, 1997

Please note that these photos are taken while the car is under construction and this is not the finished product. We will be painting and polishing the parts as much as possible after we prove if their design works like we intend it to.
If you have any questions or comments about the photographs, please don't hesitate to give me a call or drop me an e-mail (michaelspreadbury@attbi.com)

This shot shows the front of the car. You can see the modified front valance allowing more air to the front mounted Starion intercooler. The stock valance openings have been modified to allow as much fresh air to the intercooler as possible. The new edges match the stock 510 front valance outlines and have a stock appearing folded edge. To the right of the intercooler is the opening for the fresh air intake. When the front bumper is installed this hole almost disappears, but it still allows for cool, fresh air to enter the intake.

A closer shot of the Starion intercooler. The Starion core measures 16x10x3 inches and is one of the largest OEM intercoolers that I have found. The tubing feeding the intercooler is 2 1/4" 6061 aluminum with mandrel bends. As you can see the valance needs to be painted, and the bodywork finished. The inconsistent edge is an optical illusion; the red primer is breaking through the stock paint.

This shot clearly shows the width of the Starion intercooler. The intercooler sits behind the valance, and the radiator has been moved back three inches from where it originally sat. We wanted to keep the intercooler as low as possible so we would not block the radiator too much. With the radiator moved back, the sides of the radiator box have two holes to allow the intake and output tubes for the intercooler to enter and exit.

This shot shows the opening for the fresh air box. The box itself measures approximately 7x7x8" and has a large K&N air filter installed in it. The air filter is removable by removing the top of the box inside the engine compartment. When the front bumper is installed just the lower 3/4" is visible. The box is totally sealed except for the front opening (and a few holes to allow any water to escape.) Once moving, the trapped air has nowhere to go but into the intake. When the engine is running at WOT the amount of airflow into this box is amazing. If you hold your hand near the edge you can feel it being pulled into the air box. I held a piece of paper near the edge while the car was running at it sucked it into the box. We have decided to build a screen to prevent this from becoming a leaf trap!

The backside of the fresh air box. This is installed in the inner fender and has just enough room to allow for tire clearance. The box is flush with bottom of the valance. The shock reservoir has been relocated here to keep it away from the heat of the turbo charger.

Overall shot of the turbo side of the engine compartment. The upper intake tube dominates the engine compartment so I need to decide just how to finish it. I am not sure if I should polish it, anodize it, or powder coat it. Since we did use aluminum tubing everywhere possible, I don't want to hide it under powder coating. The HKS sequential blow off valve is attached to the intake pipe. In the lower left side of the photo you can see the rubber elbow that attaches to the air flow meter and the housing for the turbo itself. The headers are mild steel for now, we will replace them with stainless later.

This shows what a tight fit everything is on the driver's side of the engine compartment! You can see the upper intake tube, with the HKS SBOV, and the header below it. The tube with the orange hoses is the one that feeds the intercooler, and the silver one above it is the fresh air intake. Below all that is the motor mount that has to snake its way through all that tubing! Tight, tight, tight!

This shot shows the radiator box, electric fan, fresh air intake tubing, and the modified upper radiator filler neck. As you can see, the radiator has been moved back three inches from its former location. This allows the plumbing for the intercooler to go around the wide Volkswagen VR-6 radiator. The frame for the radiator box is just 3/8" tubing with aluminum sides. The top cover (which has not been made yet) will be made from aluminum or perhaps carbon fiber. It will be removable to allow the intercooler tubing to be removed. The upper filler neck was turned so it faced 90°. This allowed for a more conventional radiator hose. The lower radiator hose (black) is a hard line to cross the alternator belt without fear of it rubbing.

The passenger side headers. Since we did not want to rebuild the firewall, (the heater was already modified and worked great), we decided to run the crossover pipe in front of the engine, right before the steering rack. But that decision also created lots of work that had to be done so the header pipe would clear all the other parts that need to share the engine compartment. The alternator had to be moved up out of the way so the header pipe could slide underneath. The header pipe is wrapped from the collector all around to the other side to keep heat off of the alternator and alternator belt as much as possible. We will probably build heat shields for the alternator to extend its life as much as possible.

		This shot shows the front of the car. You can see the modified front valance allowing more air to the front mounted Starion intercooler. The stock valance openings have been modified to allow as much fresh air to the intercooler as possible. The new edges match the stock 510 front valance outlines and have a stock appearing folded edge. To the right of the intercooler is the opening for the fresh air intake. When the front bumper is installed this hole almost disappears, but it still allows for cool, fresh air to enter the intake.
		A closer shot of the Starion intercooler. The Starion core measures 16x10x3 inches and is one of the largest OEM intercoolers that I have found. The tubing feeding the intercooler is 2 1/4" 6061 aluminum with mandrel bends. As you can see the valance needs to be painted, and the bodywork finished. The inconsistent edge is an optical illusion; the red primer is breaking through the stock paint.
		This shot clearly shows the width of the Starion intercooler. The intercooler sits behind the valance, and the radiator has been moved back three inches from where it originally sat. We wanted to keep the intercooler as low as possible so we would not block the radiator too much. With the radiator moved back, the sides of the radiator box have two holes to allow the intake and output tubes for the intercooler to enter and exit.
		This shot shows the opening for the fresh air box. The box itself measures approximately 7x7x8" and has a large K&N air filter installed in it. The air filter is removable by removing the top of the box inside the engine compartment. When the front bumper is installed just the lower 3/4" is visible. The box is totally sealed except for the front opening (and a few holes to allow any water to escape.) Once moving, the trapped air has nowhere to go but into the intake. When the engine is running at WOT the amount of airflow into this box is amazing. If you hold your hand near the edge you can feel it being pulled into the air box. I held a piece of paper near the edge while the car was running at it sucked it into the box. We have decided to build a screen to prevent this from becoming a leaf trap!
		The backside of the fresh air box. This is installed in the inner fender and has just enough room to allow for tire clearance. The box is flush with bottom of the valance. The shock reservoir has been relocated here to keep it away from the heat of the turbo charger.
		Overall shot of the turbo side of the engine compartment. The upper intake tube dominates the engine compartment so I need to decide just how to finish it. I am not sure if I should polish it, anodize it, or powder coat it. Since we did use aluminum tubing everywhere possible, I don't want to hide it under powder coating. The HKS sequential blow off valve is attached to the intake pipe. In the lower left side of the photo you can see the rubber elbow that attaches to the air flow meter and the housing for the turbo itself. The headers are mild steel for now, we will replace them with stainless later.
		This shows what a tight fit everything is on the driver's side of the engine compartment! You can see the upper intake tube, with the HKS SBOV, and the header below it. The tube with the orange hoses is the one that feeds the intercooler, and the silver one above it is the fresh air intake. Below all that is the motor mount that has to snake its way through all that tubing! Tight, tight, tight!
		This shot shows the radiator box, electric fan, fresh air intake tubing, and the modified upper radiator filler neck. As you can see, the radiator has been moved back three inches from its former location. This allows the plumbing for the intercooler to go around the wide Volkswagen VR-6 radiator. The frame for the radiator box is just 3/8" tubing with aluminum sides. The top cover (which has not been made yet) will be made from aluminum or perhaps carbon fiber. It will be removable to allow the intercooler tubing to be removed. The upper filler neck was turned so it faced 90°. This allowed for a more conventional radiator hose. The lower radiator hose (black) is a hard line to cross the alternator belt without fear of it rubbing.
		The passenger side headers. Since we did not want to rebuild the firewall, (the heater was already modified and worked great), we decided to run the crossover pipe in front of the engine, right before the steering rack. But that decision also created lots of work that had to be done so the header pipe would clear all the other parts that need to share the engine compartment. The alternator had to be moved up out of the way so the header pipe could slide underneath. The header pipe is wrapped from the collector all around to the other side to keep heat off of the alternator and alternator belt as much as possible. We will probably build heat shields for the alternator to extend its life as much as possible.