...on a more positive note, I bought one of these today --->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...rauliclift.jpg

Wasn't planning on buying one just yet, but it came up on FleaBay, secondhand but unused (in fact the hydraulic pump was still boxed up and dry, no fluid ever filled), for significantly less than new price. Rude not to.

All part of the garage project - I'd been considering building a pit into the floor, but in the UK we need Building Consent to do it (red tape hassle), the water table is only about 1ft below the floor in this part of the country, and it worked out more expensive. Then, when you add in the potential safety risks (I have a young daughter) and the fact I really want the car "up" to work on suspension, a pit isn't the best answer in this case.

The plan for this, is to dig a recess into the garage floor, just a little deeper than the height of the unit so that I can cover it with panels/frame+chequerplate/whatever.

It lifts to a height where the bottom of the wheels are about 1m off the ground, can lift 2500kgs and is one of the hydraulic types (not one of the later pneumatic ones show above) and runs off of single phase 240v. Adjustable outriggers, with deep rubber pads (again, different from above), perfect for lifting under the aluminium floor of my Westfield.

So, chuffed with that little bit of perfect-timing! :D

Not collected it yet, but I have a feeling that my pondering about doing a suspension renovation will be decided now I have a new toy to play with.

Evening folks, am now back from NYC with toys in hand!

The intercooler arrived perfectly from TurboKraft up to the hotel where I was staying, and JESUS is it big! Huge thanks to Chris @ TK for taking the time to not only get the finish exactly as I was after, but also packing it up REALLY well for shipping. So good in fact, that it made no sense to use and re-pack into the new rigid suitcase I bought and took over to the US empty, we just re-packed it up again and checked it as additional luggage.

It was like Christmas morning in the hotel room when we arrived. Suffice to say, it's a really nice bit of kit, and when placed next to the stock unit, you can see the difference (although I don't think the pics do it justice):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A489DB1A1E.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A48FCB12EB.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A4948DF041.jpg

The mounting brackets that bolt onto the Carrera intake, then house the lugs on the back of the I/C to locate:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A5A2343802.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A5A6F46C2F.jpg

Along with the IC itself are some 90deg aluminium pipes so that I can fabricate the feed pipes with, along with take off boss for the I/C pressure sender (to be remotely mounted).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...C5A0A3855E.jpg

Also now have another set of 6 Denso CoP's, plus a new TurboKraft performance G50 gearbox tail mounting.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...C592FDC222.jpg

Lastly, the oil feed line for the turbo, and of course the quick-release clamps for the I/C supply/outlet pipes and the turbo compressor housing > exhaust silencer.

Now I'm back and have taken a few weeks off from the project, I have to say it's all looking a bit daunting again now. So much to do, loads of fabrication, more powdercoating to get done and thats before I even think about new oil lines and how I plumb in the water cooling circuit...hmmm.

Also a big thanks to John ("304065") over in NYC (hey John!), for his great hospitality on Sat night....a cracking evening out at the Hofbrau Munchen with me and my Brother, some great German bier and a good few hours chatting "car" :D. A lovely waitress there as well....pity I couldn't take her home in that empty suitcase ;)

Just a small update; finally got some order back in the garage this evening and have been mocking-up the I/C...fits nicely I reckon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...9A6C21035B.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...9A64EFF130.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...9B01315D21.jpg

Next job is to fabricate the turbo > IC pipe....going to be "interesting" with the slight offset (the conical tube will be shortened) --->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...95031AAF35.jpg

Front mount sits well, re-using the coil mounting bracket which I'll get re-plated. Will also use this to accommodate a clip for the turbo oil feed pipe -->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...9A53E30832.jpg

Looking great Spencer! Pure automotive art if you ask my humble opinion. Makes one appreciate the packaging challenges that Porsche faced in an effort to fit new components into a 40-year old chassis!

How will you fab the inlet pipes, I guess mock everything up and then have it welded?

Thanks John, you're too kind!

It certainly does make you stand back every so often, and think "where the heck did they even start?!?"

Yup, the plan with the I/C pipes is exactly that, cut them, then get my welder mate to come over one evening with a portable TIG welder, tack the various sections together whilst in-situ, then take them back to the shop for the "proper" welding....see below ;)

Cheers!
S

Intercooler pipework - fabrication time.....
 

A good days work today...after a week or so mulling-over how best to tackle the fabrication of the inlet/outlet pipes to the I/C, I took the plunge earlier and made that nervous first cut.

Some careful and unusually for me, "patient" (!) work, and now we have both sets of pipework cut to length ready for tack welding. Have to say, am rather pleased with my efforts...the angles are all good, it's nice and tight to the I/C and should weld up very nicely.

The silicon hose joining the conical section will be cut shorter, it's just plonked on to hold everything in place for the photo.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...51ADF53146.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...51B58443E1.jpg

And then the outlet pipes that feed the throttle body...clearly I can't hold both and take a picture, but you get the idea.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...51BA30BE9C.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...51BF73221D.jpg

Next job this weekend is to position the wastegates again, and fab the feed pipes for them...should be dead easy by comparison.

Was thinking about positioning of sensors the other day, looks like I may have to sacrifice the exhaust sensor mounts that have (so far) been used for my Zeitronix AFR/EGT monitor, and instead use them for the engine management....not decided on this yet, but if so, then I investigated a Windows tablet that I could use to run the MBE mapping s/w....Windows only, no Android or iOS port...and it just so happens that a mate of mine at work (complete gadget guy) had an almost brand spanking new Acer 10" tablet, running Win8 on beta..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...52C2F94533.jpg

...collected yesterday, with Windoze 7 re-installed. It's quite a nice bit of kit really...not the fastest, and definitely suffers from running a full-fat OS instead of a mobile optimised one, but *it's not bad* (and as a self-confessed Apple fanboy, I feel dirty saying that). Installed Easimap v6, and it seems to run very well. It has 2 x USB ports, so will interface via an MBE985 into the ECU's CAN bus loop, and from there I can buy something like this car mount and have a ricer special electronic dash!

Not intending it to be used all the time, but whilst running in the engine and for the first "xxxx" miles, it'll be very useful to see the same data that the MBE is seeing, in realtime, and be able to set alarms that I can't miss when driving. The MBE "dash" is fully customisable to place on there only the parameters I want to monitor, but being a fully fledged instance of the mapping application, I can in theory use this to tweak various settings rather than drag out a laptop and try and balance it on the passenger seat.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...52B5FBB9FA.jpg

SSD? Or wil the read/write head dig a chunk out of the platter when you get on the loud pedal? Not hard to convert to SSD.

Yup, it's got a 32GB SSD in there which I believe is also upgradeable to a 64GB item, plus it also has a SD/MM media slot....I've converted pretty much everything to SSD now, got a couple in my MacBook Pro...the price drop on solid state makes it a no brainer for *most* applications.

Steady progress....it all seems very pedestrian, but then again, this is the tricky fabrication part, with lots of "if's, but's and maybe's"...many mugs of tea and scratching head. I think Chris used the term "welcome to my world"...I can really see where the cost of a bespoke engine project comes, and believe me, worth every penny.

After spending far too many hours deliberating, I'm finally getting somewhere.

Thermostat housing now vapour blasted. Will test the thermostat insert, then re-assemble over the weekend:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...91F75FCD18.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...91FC8B93AC.jpg

Metric fittings for the fuel lines now bought from Think Automotive...what a helpful bunch. I'm sure the items can be bought cheaper elsewhere, but for the guidance and patience they give, it's a no-brainer to go there, all the pipes, turbo, waste gates, etc in hand, and get it nailed in one go.

New fuel lines (which they made up for me exactly to the same lengths as the original hoses), as part of the service. Very pleased with the subtle look with the black/gold fittings.:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...920151910A.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...92060441FF.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...920B7C328A.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...920FC79368.jpg

Still need to buy a few more fittings to plumb up to the filter and pump(s), but will do that once everything's in situ.

Water cooling circuit fittings bought for the turbo, along with new couplings for the main oil lines from thermostat -> oil cooler, plus some shiney new male/male adapters to go into the oil cooler.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...9AD3054416.jpg

A company over here call Pirtek specialise in industrial hydraulic hose manufacture and repair...went along to my local branch one lunchtime this week, and so happens the guy there's a car nut and more helpful than most. He has all the bits needed to replace the flexi sections that pass over the top of the front inner wheel arch down to the cooler.

We're also re-hosing the part rigid line from the aux oil scavenge pump that returns to the dry sump tank, once the pipe and barbed section have been re-plated. It's a perfectly neat way of plumbing this line in, no reason to go for the expensive option and make a custom hose that then needs fixing along its length.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...991F7DCB6A.jpg

Tomorrow evening, it's time for my welder pal to come over and tack the charge pipes to/from the I/C, whilst they're in place.

I've also made some of the parts to fabricate a turbo support frame in stainless. This will triangulate from the closest load bearing crank pulley cover bolt (M12 from memory), across to the two rear bolts on the T3 flange. Hopefully we'll get that welded up as well.

Finally, spent a lot of time last night modifying the original oil drain tank ("ODA"...Chris... :p:D ). I have considered making one from scratch, and that's still a great Plan B, as I've got a fair amount of 3" ally tube left over that would be ideal....however...the OE part mounts so neatly in the corner of the crankcase, plus it hooks up directly to the aux pump scavenge line. However, the oil drain outlet from the turbo is in a different location. Some chopping, shortening and then re-brazing will address that, and I'm going to use a couple of -10AN weld on fittings, plus a female->female coupling, to hook the drain up. The outlet doesn't need to be -10AN, but the -8AN weld-on fitting is smaller that the OE drain tube diameter, -10AN is a nice neat size.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...9AD7C6F201.jpg

Looks rough now, but once brazed it'll go for powder coating. The breather outlet also interfered with the new turbo, so that needed removing and "attention" :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...9909865052.jpg

Quite a productive weekend.....also frustrating (!) but in the end, got quite a bit sorted.

• Wastegate feed pipes cut to length
• Turbo hanging bracket is now ready for welding
• Wastegate locations now marked up, ready for welding
• New fuel lines have been trial fitted (they fit perfectly) and the next batch of fittings now on the shopping list
• Positions of additional EGT sensors now finalised, ready for bosses to be welded
• Oil drain feed from turbo is now cut and repositioned
• New oil drain flange fabricated, ready for brazing on rigid pipe and -10AN weld-on fitting (then will be nickel plated)
• Other end of the oil drain (the tank end) cut to length and ready for the other -10AN weld-on fitting to be brazed on…all now a perfect fit when coupled with the -10AN female>female coupling

Unfortunately, we didn't get around to tack welding the charge pipes and tinware on Friday...we were both too busy, but that worked out for the best, as we can now also tack up the hanging bracket and wastegate feeds, hopefully one evening during this week.

Will post pics when it's all tacked, but really quite pleased with being able to cross off some items on the "To Do" list.

The definition of success is measureable progress toward a worthwhile goal!

For the vapour-blasted items, you may want to consider a sealer to block oxidation. I have had great success with a product called ZoopSeal, which bascially goes into the pores in the aluminum so corrosion cannot take hold. It is completely transparent and doesn't change the surface dimensions perceptibly, although you will want to avoid getting it in threaded holes.

ZoopSeal is no more evidently but there is an equivalent product called Shineseal which looks like the same thing. ShineSeal.com ::: Protect Your Products :::

Right, getting a few more jobs crossed off of the "To Do" list.

Small job; bracket to support the chimney breather pipe return is now made, and inlet manifold drilled/tapped:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...36892B9525.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...36840C1CD0.jpg

Moving on to the second phase of butchering the exhaust headers, the whole system was assembled so that positioning of each wastegate could be finalised.

Header for cyl 1-3 was first to be modified (God I love my new air sabre saw!), tidied up with the die grinder.

Wasn't too pleased to see rather untidy welds on the inside of the secondaries....the EGT boss was done by a 3rd party just after I bought the car, to hook up to the Zeitronix AFR. The swarf etc on the rest of the pipework, hmmmm, time to clean up, and rather glad I saw this before firing up the engine, would've made a mess of the turbine impeller.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...36962B51F9.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...369C41E99E.jpg

An hour or so later with the die grinder, and it's looking a whole lot tidier, along with smoothing the welds that join the secondaries to the T3 flange.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...56685D6A48.jpg

Then today, quick lunchtime visit to Fabweld in Deal to tack the wastegate necks in place, along with W/G QR flanges. Fingers crossed it's all in the right position and the W/G's don't foul any other part of the exhaust system. The RH one for cyl 4-6 is really tightly situated between the hot air duct and the silencer, but I was really keen to keep the neck as short as possible, with their position on the apex of the air flow, and the same distance from the merge collectors from primary>secondary. According to the Turbosmart documentation (even though I'm using Tial), my positioning is just about spot-on! ;) Pics to follow later this evening.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...567851E307.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...5673E766C9.jpg

Hey John!

Liking that Shineseal product, thanks....I never knew such stuff existed. I've just emailed them to investigate whether they have a UK disti. The amount of effort (and mileage) thats gone into this engine, I want it looking this nice for a very long time!

Cheers mate
S

:D:D:D

It all fits, bang-on the money, first time of asking. Chuffed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...DDE40A78-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...88DD1CA7D2.jpg

The LH unit, cyl 1-3--->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...6E3C64B697.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...6E4C15FB60.jpg

And the RH W/G...a lot tighter --->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...6E34A59B54.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...6E96673C31.jpg

And a couple of stubby screamer pipes out the back of these bad boys, nice!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...45DA8248-1.jpg

Not sure if I'm going to have them firing out the back underneath the bumper, or down to the ground. If out the back, then will probably have to wait until the engine's back in the car, to then measure the drop needed to clear the bumper.

Another job I've been meaning to do, was make a template of the GT35's turbine inlet flange, then overlay it onto the T3 of the manifold, to ensure that when I'm bolting everything together, it's alignment is such that the 2 x divided inputs are central.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...D5A63352-1.jpg

Once taped in place, I scribed the edges onto the manifold flange. I did think about dowling the flanges, but that's (probably?) a little OTT!

One thing I did notice, is that the inlet ports on the turbo are a fair amount smaller than those on the manifold.....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...6DE75AAC44.jpg

Chris/anyone....can the turbo's turbine housing be fettled with the die grinder, to remove the step that the exhaust gas would "see"? I'm guessing that Garrett would throw a wobbly with any future warranty claim!!

Is it advisable, or are those inlet sizes optimum for the feeding of gas into the twin scroll housing?

Cheers
S

What are those plugs on the top? Are those for the 02 sensors?

Are they perfectly vertical? I realize packaging is VERY tight there, do a pair of wideband sensors fit? They stick out quite a bit. I have also been warned that a vertical orientation can cause heatsoak of th sensors. Then again, they can't be pointing straight up nor horizontal either-- it seems that about a 45 degree angle is optimum, which looks impossible given space limitations.

Sure, take off that turbine housing and port-match it with a carbide grinder. Not a problem.

Future warranty claim... not much goes wrong with a thick cast turbine housing! Non-issue.

Hmm, yeah [cough/splutter], those bosses were for a pair of Lamdas, and I think there was a mismatch of meaning locally over here when I went through the first phase of header mods....Chris then phoned me after seeing the photos, and it became clear that actually, that's not the best position for them due to there being a back pressure on the exhaust flow, therefore an element of Boyles Law, therefore false AFR readings were likely.

So....I can either leave the bosses in place with a bung; which goes agains everything my OCD tells me and makes me twitch ever-so-slightly just thinking about it. Or, I can take them back up to H&S to be re-modified, probably lose another fortnight and cost a few £££'s to do it. But it'd look neater with those sections chopped out and replaced.

The ECU's Lamda sensor will now be installed into the short length of pipe between the turbo exit and the silencer, where the existing one is (which is connected to the Zetironix). I think I'm also going to install the 3rd EGT sensor there (again, for the Zeitronix)....for curiosity's sake, I can then compare temps either side of the turbo.

It'd be useful - and neater - to be able to take 2 feeds from a single sensor, one for the ECU, the other for the Zeitronix, but I know that the Lamda's are calibrated individually, so don't want to change the circuit LCR by piggybacking another electrical load onto it. Same with the thermocouples, I know they're v sensitive and must use K-Type wire, so one feed per sensor.

Thanks mate, I'll go and make a reverse template of the one I did earlier, and wield the die grinder tomorrow!...that mod will be worth at least another gazillion horsepower....Muh-ha-ha....

Turbo porting time....
 

Very happy with my second ever attempt at porting! Made a template of the T3 flange on the headers, then used it to mark-up the turbo --->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...758312321B.jpg

After some coarse roughing out with my mates carbide grinding bits, then some finishing off with some stones, I got it looking like this --->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...759316D31E.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...758C4572DE.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...75986AD86B.jpg

The ports do look a little "asymmetrical" (!) but they are an exact facsimile of the mating flange. I'm just wondering whether I could've been a little more aggressive with opening out the throats a little deeper into the housing? At least now there's no step in the air stream.

For those who are interested, the inside of a twin-scroll turbine housing --->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...75A3C12CD2.jpg

...and the turbine impeller, a very nice piece of engineering --->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...75AB48E5E9.jpg

Here's the cold side charge pipe tacked-up, now with hole cut ready for the dump valve (BOV) to be welded in place. Needed to do some more die grinding to open up the weld-on QR flange, looks to have been made for 2" or 2.5" charge pipes, not the 3" being used here.

Plan is to weld the BOV in place only once the two halves of the charge pipes are welded, so that any weld penetration can be ground smooth on the inside.

I'm debating which end of the cold charge pipe to mount the air temp sensor. It needs to be on the outside bend of a 90deg radius. The concern I have is the height clearance in the engine bay; if I put it just before the throttle body, I'm worried it may foul the top of the chassis, hence me outlining an approximate position on the exit from the I/C, where it sits lower.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...820EB34940.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...8216F5AE10.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...821C49DD75.jpg

We also got the turbo hanging bracket tacked the other evening. This had to be done with the turbo in-situ, rather than a stack of washers to simulate the flange thickness....the flange isn't parallel with the header flange, with slight tapering as you can see in the pics. Thankfully Lewis was just about able to get the TiG torch in there to tack.

The lower triangulating crossbrace is just resting in place, it'll all get welded proper in a few days....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...985A4F7311.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...986183C641.jpg

The top engine mounting is deliberately drilled with a 12mm hole rather than M10 clearance, to allow for any alignment shuffling.

All coming along nicely now! :D

Ok, now have the next batch of plumbing fittings; should now be able to put items in place with the fittings screwed in, then work out how much hosing I need and where it'll route around the engine.

The bosses for mounting the following are all now made:

• wastegate and BOV take off's
• boost pressure sensor for the dashboard readout
• ECU MAF sensor
• fuel pressure reg & fuel damper
• air temperature sensor

...and have been tacked in place on the charge pipes and intake.

Spent a few more hours at the welding shop again this morning, and have beefed-up the mating face for the throttle body. I was a little concerned that after opening the throat out to match the eThottle, the width of the mating face at the bottom was only 4.5mm. I'm not running o-ring seals on this setup, so have made a flat silicon gasket (see previous post from a few months ago), but less than 5mm seemed too marginal to me.

So, we welded on an extension to this face --->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...D083C3F3FD.jpg

I've removed the feed that used to be used for the idle control valve, made an ally bung tapped with an M10x1 hole, and am re-purposing as the take off for the BOV. It's also now welded in place, the welds ground down and ready to be vapour blasted:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...D08D242DEA.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...D092AB78DE.jpg

I wanted to use aluminium -4AN fittings for the BOV, but the only ones in stock were blue anodised....which won't match anything in the bay, so, a quick dunk in some caustic soda and the blue die disappears.

Before:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...D02A50FCD8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...D062704BA0.jpg

After:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...D0708FDD8D.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...D07874D718.jpg

Tomorrows job will be to finally finish the rear tinware, drilling any additional holes for hoses to run through.

Also planning how to mount the various remotely mounted senders. Have got a cunning plan, re-using some of the original holes on the intake.

Not too much time in the garage today, but moving in the right direction still.

Wanted to get all the items re-mounted onto the engine, so that I can start planning the plumbing lines for vacuum lines and water cooling. Some of the items are being welded so obviously can't get them in place, but still able to get a good idea of the remaining space to run pipes through.

Also began installing some of the fittings I got the other day. For the Tial WG's, I'm using -4AN fittings rather than push on hoses. A little OTT, but hey, a few more £££'s at this stage...

The banjos for the -4 are different from the Tial ones (thinner), so the bolts can't be used as the cross drillings dont line up, but I noticed that the bolt drillings were way smaller than the Tial bolts, so I drilled these out, per pic. Tial bolt on the left, stock bolt in the middle and my drilled one on the right. Tial documentation says that 1/4" bore hose must be used for the lines; stock bolt holes were a lot smaller.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...9414FC9879.jpg

Also made up a bracket to mount the boost control solenoid. It still amazes me how long simple brackets take to make, but if you want them nice and square, with accurately drilled holes, then it takes a while....anyway, it was quite cathartic, and its now ready for vapour blasting to match the intake.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...94201F512D.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...94299971FE.jpg

Not sure if the adapters/vent are in the right ports, not checked with the info Chris sent me, they're just in there for the sake of it at the moment.

I suppose the sintered bronze cone is a muffler for when the boost valve vents?

Nice job removing the anodizing from those Army-Navy fittings! Clever.

Hi John, I think it's more of a filter than a muffler?

Yeah, that tip about removing the anodizing was told to me whilst in the shop getting a load of fittings last week. It wasn't quite as simple as the chap said...I'm sure he said to use warm water; I used tap hot water, not scalding by any stretch, then added the crystals to the water and hung the items in one at a time on a wire.

When I touched the container, it was bloody boiling! Some serious chemical reaction going on there (I never studied chemistry after 13yrs old!), and it left each item blackened, like it had charred. I tried all this on a test piece first, and was confident the blackening would come off....sure enough, it didn't put up too much resistance, some light scotch-brite cleaning and they're nice and plaaaaaiiiin.

Don't think I'd want to do this with swivel connectors though, any internal seals would probably be knackered.

Keep meaning to text you actually....will do in a moment...

Cheers
S

Midweek progress report....

More fittings - thinking about buying stock in Earls....

I now have (hopefully) all the fittings I need to plumb in the vacuum lines on the wastegates to the feed and the control solenoid. All using -4AN with a combination of banjo, straight, 90, 150, 45deg couplings.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A55524331D.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A4DEA6F957.jpg

I also now have the water connections to plumb the turbo and wastegates, along with some heat-proof sleeving, as two of these lines will run above the turbo and the silencers, between the 2 x WG's. I may also fabricate a shelf then stick some heat reflective cloth to the underside, that will fix in under the rear tinware section and above the turbo/silencer, effectively sandwiching/shielding the water pipes. I don't want to use a turbo blanket on the turbine, but some sort of heat shield would be good.

Next on the shopping list were the water couplings to interface the -4AN lines to the water pump, which is 19mm OD. Two choices here, so a hedge-play purchase.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A4D4089F55.jpg

Depending on how I run the water feed/return lines down the LH side of the car, i.e. if I run small diameter pipes, slightly larger than -4 ID, then I can potentially machine off the thread on the blue anodized fittings, and use a short piece of silicon hose to couple it with the pump. Alternatively, I can run 19mm ID pipe from front to back, meaning more water quantity and cooling ability. In which case, I'll get some hose swaged onto the steel couplings in the pic, and screw them onto the -4AN adapter.

Next, the hot side charge pipe from the turbo compressor to the IC inlet now has a bead rolled end...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A4BC4953A9.jpg

I've modified (shortened) an adapter to allow the M18 thread on the OE boost pressure sender to be coupled to a -3AN hose, for remote mounting on the sender "station". Also a small plug which is an interference fit for the last few mm...will loctite (retainer) that in place --->

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A4C8BA8DFD.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A4C2719355.jpg

Next, I machined a new oil thermostat cover; had to drill and use a reverse slide hammer to remove the old one. Could've repaired the old one I guess, but want to do it properly....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A4CEC5B252.jpg

The oil and fuel pressure senders....apparently completely linear throughout their operating range, and IIRC same as used in F1. The only ones that Steve @ SBD will entertain using, simply because they read consistently and reliably.

Finally, the fittings I'm planning to use to take the feed for the oil pressure sender. Instead of fitting the M10x1.0 screw bung into the top of the banjo bolt used for the turbo oil feed line, I'm piggy-backing a second (smaller) banjo, then feeding a -3AN line to the sender-station.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...954D89AE05.jpg

Fingers crossed, the welding should be finished tomorrow, maybe collect on Saturday morning. Some preparation to the items, then take them over for anodizing. Debating whether to sand the welds smooth, so they look like pre-formed "factory" pipes, or to leave the welds in place?...hmmm...decisions decisions....

FYI if you dip anodized parts into caustic soda, not only the color goes away, the anodized coat too. So your parts surfaces are now much softer and will oxidize after a while

If parts comme out black, just dip into 10% nitric acid and it will be clean at once

However, very nice project! Nice to follow up

Hi Roland, thank you!

Yes, I am considering getting these fitting re-anodised. I don't think it's too much of a problem that the anodizing has now disappeared, after all, there are plenty of aluminium items on the engine that aren't coated, but I've got to get a few other items plated in black, next week. So, I may just add these 4 parts to the list to be done at the same time.

Cheers
Spencer.

What kind of muffler is this Spenny?

BTW, VERY nice and clean build :-)

Hi Trond,

Thanks!

The whole exhaust system is a Hayward & Scott setup, with a 100cell cat built into that muffler; I have to run one, due to the age of the car. A lot of guys here in the UK remove cat converters from their systems, replace with a bypass pipe, and only refit when it comes to the annual MoT test. A common practise, but you're on rocky ground, especially as the UK insurance companies will wriggle out of ANY loophole they can in the event of a claim, so really not worth taking the risk IMHO..plus there's no space for a bypass "anything"! :D

The system is "ok"...it's got heat which I want to retain for a UK car, and after chatting it over with Chris, the primaries and secondaries appear to be the right kind of size for the type of build I'm doing. The primaries aren't equal length in the strictest sense, but they have been routed with some consideration to getting them there-or-thereabouts, before shrouding them in the exchangers. I've seen pics of some systems with very compact but completely unequal length primaries....these are a bit of a halfway house. I inherited them with the car, and after some investigation, discovered where they came from (no paperwork in the file). We'll see what they do on the dyno, but there's budget left for a new system!

Cheers
Spencer.

...an evening correctional...
 

Sometimes a step backwards is necessary....tonight was that night!

Thanks to Chris Carroll @ TurboKraft being eagle-eyed, he pointed out to me the other day that my alternator wiring wasn't *quite* right. It was probably ok, but not per factory manual.

I'd positioned the exit from the rear cone at 12 o'clock, whereas it should be at 3 o'clock, pointing towards 4/5/6 cylinder bank. Bugger.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...3B667E98CC.jpg

I already had one side of the intake removed for another vapour blast, but decided to bite the bullet tonight and remove the other half of the intake, the shroud, other hardware, and to correct this.

.....And I am glad that I did....I owe Chris a rather large beer at some point.

I found the blue alternator charge wire wasn't bolted down. :eek: It was in place, but no washer or nut, and somehow had been overlooked. How annoying would that have been?!

Anyway, harness re-routed, rear cone re-positioned an everything now done up tight.

It got me thinking today...how many engine tuners, suppliers or "A N Other" industry professionals would have gone out of their way to keep tabs on a customers build thread, and then voluntarily emailed them with some advice and second opinions? Not many (any?)....Chris did/does. As said by more than one Pelicanite in the 930 forum, Chris is a stand-up guy, and often goes over-and-above.

Another few updates.

The turbo hanging bracket, now welded and cleaned up:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...3B70F29FB1.jpg

It really does look "wonky" but trust me, it was all tacked up in-situ...the turbine flange isn't parallel with the T3, so the bosses on the hanger look cocked...but it does work! :)

Came up with a cunning plan to mount the water pipes. On the tear down, I removed a stainless 2-part bracket that was bolted to the LH exhaust valve cover studs; it held a pipe, IIRC, but is surplus to needs now. I don't think it's a stock part, looks fabricated...by whom I've no idea, but I'll post a pic tomorrow. It'll be perfect to re-purpose it with a new right angle hanger, that will act as a fixture to mount a couple of bulkhead -4AN fittings, thus allowing the engine to be coupled to chassis hoses nice an neatly....very much like the fuel return on the Carrera intake, after it leaves the FPR and interfaces to the return hoses....a lot easier to explain with pictures :D

The -4 teflon water lines are almost plumbed in, first feeding into the turbo, then across to the furthest wastegate, then return across to the LH W/G before feeding back to the front mounted radiator.

The items I had out for welding are now back...very pleased with the work Lewis has done for me...so, now have the silencer with QR flange, the hot charge pipe with W/G take-off boss and the cold side charge pipe with BOV neck, ATS and dashboard boost sensor bosses.

Once everything is back together again, after tonights "corrective actions", it's time to make a sensor mounting bracket, then I can get it all anodized.

Not much of an update I suppose, suffice to say that we're back to the point where the engine looks "proper" again, everything mounted up (hopefully for the final time now) and ready for a little bit of a milestone event tomorrow.....the harness guy is driving over to have a look, take measurements and start with the CAD drawing! Very much looking forward to this, kind of represents that (as far as the engine build goes) I'm on the home straight....all sensor positions now decided (albeit not all mounted)....a few pics to keep you lot on the boil....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0382B3D964.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0387C65465.jpg

Note the arrows on the masking tape, on the charge pipes? OCD-gone-mad....directions I wanted the welding bead to go, so it matched the weld direction on the intercooler. I know, I know...I'll get my coat...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...038C88475C.jpg

I also bought a jam/preserve thermometer the other day to test the oil thermostat....it worked like a charm, opened up at the 83degsC, described on the underside. By the time I took the photo, the water temp had risen; fear not, I can read the scale on the thermometer :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...039704CB8D.jpg

More progress will happen over the weekend...stay tuned...

ECU Wiring Loom
 

Great days progress today. Simon from Silteck came over to have a look at the engine and make a mock loom.

I originally spoke to Simon over a year ago as part of the "will I, won't I?" decision making for this project, so it was good that he remembered our initial conversation when I called him last week.

We spent all afternoon discussing the routing, which things we're monitoring, what future items we need to cater for, connections, tapping into existing feeds, and so on.

First step was to make a mock loom onto the engine itself, something that apparently Simon doesn't actually get to do much these days, generally it's all done remotely, using clients dimensions, CAD drawings and email.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...8E6D677972.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...8E6845EC56.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...8E62F2CD0C.jpg

From this, Simon has now gone back to base to take accurate measurements from the mock-up, then translate into proper diagrams and a pinout plan.

I have to say, am genuinely excited about this....it's electrical work (and my dim-and-distant background was as an electronics engineer), but the ideas that Simon was bouncing about were great. He's worked on many exotic cars, including Formula 3, touring cars, hill climb and sprint single seaters. He's also far too aware of vibration issues these sort of cars present, and whilst standard copper wiring is generally fine for most installations, he felt that this build warranted better quality components. The materials he's planning on using are going to be very nice. Military spec connections, Raychem 22/24SWG wiring....lots of trade numberings being banded about (ie for heatshrink, boots, split-outs...I'll detail this in a later post, can't remember them at present!), so this isn't going to be a half-baked loom.

The plan is to also use two bulkhead connectors to interface the engine loom with the section running through the seat back, down to the ECU (under the LH passenger seat). Not only will using multiple smaller connectors be cheaper than using a single 120 pin unit, but it also splits the current loadings. A third section will then go forward from the seat to other items like the potentiometers for TC and Boost, fuel pump activation, oil cooler fan, shift light (maybe). The eGas throttle pedal will be coming directly off the main loom and straight into the ECU; a very sensitive item so the fewer connections the better.

There's some "homework" for me to do, investigating where we'll be taking feeds from for a couple of the bits we need, but relatively simple with a mug of tea and a book of wiring schematics.

Time to start making my "sensor station"...look carefully at the middle photo, the rubber mountings on the intake....

Ach ja, the sensors will be mounted on rubber vibration isolators, so they actually last!

Looks great. I have made lots of wiring harnesses, they take a very long time and require careful planning and forethought to come out right. When they are complete they are AWESOME!

Cereals are great....
 

I'm sure even McLaren use cereal packets to make mock-up brackets on their cars...well...maybe not now, but I'm sure they once did!

Have been working on the sensor station bracket today.

On here I'm mounting:

• Barometric pressure sensor
• MAF sensor
• Oil pressure sender
• Fuel pressure sender
• Boost pressure sender (to dashboard instrument, that usually mounts directly into the back of the stock intercooler)
• Boost control solenoid

I needed to have a rethink on the original location I'd planned on using, on the front side of the intake; with the -4AN fittings, and the 1/8thNPT fitting screwed in place, it fouled the underside of the intercooler. Dammit. Nevermind, no harm as the hoses weren't yet cut for the vacuum feeds. I can now use these mounting bosses on the intake for holding the p-clips and t-pieces.

So, after much playing about with different combinations of straight/90/150deg fittings on the BCS, I think I've finally decided on what-goes-where. Have also got to bear in mind the space required for the harness and plugs to plug into each sensor.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...59D66C5C97.jpg

I've also thought of a way to mount the boost sensor for the dash; a quick bit of parting-off on the adapter, then bunged with Loctite 648. I then drilled out the 90deg NPT thread, and re-tapped it with 7/16 20tpi (UNF) which is what's used for -4AN. Then some shortening of a -4 > -4 bulkhead fitting and a re-use of the useless blue o-rings that come in the standard gasket pack (usually used for case through bolts) to seal the fitting.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...5A2B06AEFF.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...5A374C525F.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...5A3DA0E5C0.jpg

Then it can mount in the same way as the fuel/oil pressure senders, with a 90deg fitting above that runs to the cold-side charge pipe. When mounted horizontally, the end of the sender runs tight to the intake, but 5mm of clearance should be fine.

The finished bracket will be made out of plate ally that I happen to have, then welded up, machined and then anodised black to match the other fittings on the intake.

Yeah likewise John, over the years have modified, repaired and made completely new looms for many cars, but felt very much like an amateur when chatting through the "tricks of the trade" with Simon yesterday...stuff like including service loops for some of the sub-circuits, facilitating diagnostics or future repairs...for the money it's costing, I wouldn't even attempt to try and do it myself! :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...59D66C5C97.jpg

Spencer,

That is a lot of joints, I observe. Not a criticism in the slightest.

The BCS, which looks like a Mac 35 Series solenoid, appears to have 1/8" NPT ports.

So you come out of that with a 1/8" NPT to -4AN male/male.
Then a -4AN female/female?
Then a -4AN tee.
On one leg of the tee, a -4AN 90 elbow.
On the other leg, a straight -4AN.

That is five joints before you get to business.

Could you come out with a 1/8 NPT tee to a pair of -4AN and save two joints per branch?

http://static.speedwaymotors.com/RS/...R_155ffbbf.jpg

I have assembled many Aeroquip joints, cut a lot of hose and pierced my fingers with the braid many times along with spending $,$$$ on inventory of fittings and overnight shipping in the fab phase! I'm right there with you!

I guess the EBC is a single dual outlet valve, one line comes in from the impeller side, one line goes to the wastegate, and then when the valve closes the pressure vents through the bronze muffler. On the inlet, you have one line from the turbo and one line to the dash gauge? Or am I reading this wrong?

I see why you are using teflon/braided-- not only the pressure but the temps. What should charge intake temp be on the hot side of the IC, like 300 degrees?

I find this stuff fascinating, was looking up Turbocharger trim maps the other evening and have ordered a copy of Bell's book on the subject.

Looking good!