What are the T's from your intake manifold from? Your intercooler is a closed system with no way for pressure to escape, so how do you account for the hot water expanding and contracting? How hard was the AEM system to tune? I am working on a very similar project, mine wouldn't be intercooled, but I was planning on using Megasquirt to tune it instead, but the AEM hardware is very competitively priced for my goals. Can you explain your PCV system more? Do you see a lot of oil getting blown out on turboed applications? How close can the turbo/hotside get to things before you start getting nervous?
I think your asking where the Ts are for the exhaust manifold are from? They are schedule 40 304L stainless plumbing fittings which are used in many different industries.
The intercooler system really has no need for an expansion tank. The system unless the pump fails or gets blocked will always maintain a temperature that is well below any boiling point. Any small expansion due to heat is easily accounted for in the lines themselves. I havn't calculated it out, but the expansion with this little of a volumn and little of a temperature change should be negligable.
The AEM is very easy to tune once you learn the features and understand how it operates. The part throttle and low load fuel tuning is the trickiest as you have to balance the Narrow band sensor output along with your fuel table so the factory ECU doesn't pull out the full your trying to add. Mega squirt IMO = a huge nightmare. Especially if your working with an OBD2 vehicle, it's better to have the factory ECU maintain control as much as possible (can bus systems, diagnostic features...ect). Don't get me wrong though. It can be very capable, but most people will find them selves trying to track down bugs most of the time instead of enjoying their new found power.
The PCV system with a boosted vehicle is almost obsolete. This is honestly one area that a lot of people try to make much more complicated than it needs to be. The system simply needs a means to evacuate any built up crank case pressure to the atmosphere. Unless there is extreme blow by, you shouldn't have any major oil build up. My can has just a little residue is all even after 1000+ miles.
As far as how close the components can get...thats really a tough question. In all honesty it really depends on what the component really is. Obviously the turbine of my turbo is very close to the factory fuel line, and other components. It was kind of a common sense decision to heat wrap these. The best thing to do is wrap what you can, and just keep an eye on things for the first couple times you drive it. You can pick up a infrared heat gauge for pretty cheap, and just look for signs that components are getting uncomfortably hot.
Tayln, I had a guy called "T-bone" who has a shop in California coat it for me. I can't remember what his shops called though. I'll see if I can dig up some receipts and get back too ya.
