heinzboehmer's 2002 Topaz 6MT Coupe

[bigjae46]

The nozzle has been working hard and looks like it died a good death. RIP

V2 of the mold. Lots of learning from V1 and this one came out much better. Still had to tear up the 3D printed part. Need to figure out how to eject parts from the cavity. The threaded inserts are in stock and enroute to me to make the CF part.


Maybe I missed it but is the E86 part number 51717026274? Looks like they are $180 each now. I think this might be a good opportunity to do my first carbon tube project.

[heinzboehmer]

Maybe I missed it but is the E86 part number 51717026274? Looks like they are $180 each now. I think this might be a good opportunity to do my first carbon tube project.

That's the one! They were around that price when I started this project as well. Fortunately, they came on every single E85 and E86, so they're not hard to find on eBay (this is how I got mine) or at a junkyard.

[heinzboehmer]

Finally some progress!

Printed out V2 of the firewall plug and its corresponding gaskets. Here are both parts assembled:




The surface finish on the gaskets isn't amazing because of the complicated geometry, but it's more than good enough. If I had a dual extruder machine, printing these out would have been so much easier.

Here it is installed on the car:



Super happy with the fit of these parts, everything lines up great, even the hole for the plastic trim piece by the brake booster:



Here's how the gaskets seal against the braces. Again, super happy with how that worked out:




Now just need to finish up the CAD for the modified cabin air filter housing, get all the parts painted and I'll be able to call this project complete!

[Bry5on]

Nice work man!

[bigjae46]

Outstanding!!!

[heinzboehmer]

Nice work man!

Outstanding!!!

Thanks! Feels good to be wrapping up this project

[Mike RT4]

Thanks! Feels good to be wrapping up this project

And on to the next LOL . #neverfinished

[heinzboehmer]

And on to the next LOL . #neverfinished

Ha, this is one project that I really want to finish 100%. Unfortunately, I've had basically no time to work on it lately. Hoping I can sit down and wrap it up in the coming weeks.

[heinzboehmer]

Did something I should have done when I finished printing and assembling my modified firewall plug. I weighed it.

Stock: 1618 g
Mine: 436 g

Came in a little higher than my estimates. Guess the extra walls from the splits, adhesive, gaskets, magnets, etc. all do add up.

Still saving 2.6 lbs over the stock part with no downsides, so not complaining!

[YoitsTmac]

For such a substantial reduction, this is more a result of the material more than anything, right?

[heinzboehmer]

For such a substantial reduction, this is more a result of the material more than anything, right?

I suspect most of the weight loss comes from the manufacturing method. It's essentially hollow on the inside, whereas the stock one is solid.

Edit: Actually, we can work this out. Let's see.

CAD says the part has a volume of 702.913 cm3 and we know stock weighs 1618 g (ish, I think I took everything off of it, but I can't remember). That gives us a density of ~2.30 g/cm3 for the UP-GF material used in the stock part.

The datasheet for the PET-CF I printed mine out of says it's got a density of 1.29 g/cm3. Had I printed it fully solid, it would have weighed 907 g. The last 500 g or so (the geometry is slightly different for mine and it has all the extra gaskets and hardware, so not apples to apples) of savings come from the hollow interior.

Looks like I was wrong and a lot of the delta is in the material. Very cool.

[George Hill]

Pretty sure it won’t 😜

Are you planning on running the PETG part? Curious how it'll hold up to engine bay temps.

5 weeks later, numerous 100* days and plenty of driving in that temp, the PETG plug is holding up great. No visible degradation at all. I'm putting it back in. 😎

Does the center tab look perpendicular to the mating surface behind it? It's possible that the print warped a bit.

If it is perpendicular (and you have the time), could you measure the parallel distance between the two highlighted faces? Would be nice if you could grab that measurement from both the printed and stock parts.



CAD says the center tab should be 2 mm lower than the side tabs. That looks reasonable to me based on pictures and the scan, but it's possible that I got that measurement wrong.

It is not in the same plane or lower, its just a smidge higher compared to the other tabs, but that could be how I split the part. Also all the tabs are a are open just a bit more than 90*, but probably less than 95* with the center tab being the most. I think its close enough that it could just be something that happened during my print and not necessarily the file so I wouldn't change the CAD model based off of this one experience.

[Obioban]

PERG softens starting at140° and warps at ~175°. Hard to believe that’s not going to be an issue in an engine bay….

[George Hill]

🤷♂️ so far so good.

This adapter is also PETG and been on this dedicated race car for 4.5yrs/3400 miles.

[heinzboehmer]

It is not in the same plane or lower, its just a smidge higher compared to the other tabs, but that could be how I split the part. Also all the tabs are a are open just a bit more than 90*, but probably less than 95* with the center tab being the most.

Yeah, absolutely nothing is square on this part. It made the CAD really annoying to get right. Makes sense because of the injection molding process and how all the parts fit together, but man, it was a struggle.

5 weeks later, numerous 100* days and plenty of driving in that temp, the PETG plug is holding up great. No visible degradation at all. I'm putting it back in. 😎

Hell yeah! Really appreciate the testing and feedback. Did you notice any increase in intake noise? My car is significantly louder in the interior with the 3D printed part.

PERG softens starting at140° and warps at ~175°. Hard to believe that’s not going to be an issue in an engine bay….

I've been monitoring the temps that the firewall gets to and surprisingly, I haven't seen it go higher than 80 C. Didn't go above that even at a track day in the 90s, right after a couple fast laps with no cool down.