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!