The Turbo BuildUp

Hey... I needed *something* to wrench on during the winter, didn't I?

I've discovered that the end result of a car project is merely the beginning, with the road that takes you there being the fun part. I've found myself toiling over thoughts of selling the yellow convertible for a new project, but alas, my 1982 Datsun 280Z 2+2 Chevy small block conversion was not (yet?) to be. So sleepless nights, endless ranting and raving, muttering about and cursing to the heavens.... here I go again.  


So it all starts here. If you've followed the adventure thus far, you'll remember my best time at Greenfield Dragway was a 15.66s run. For a 1.3L natural aspirated motor, and a car that weighs in at 820kg, that's not too shabby. That also is about as far as I can get without going with some sort of forced induction.


With my plans of rebuilding an older style Z series car now gone, and my appetite to wrench on something, why stick around with naturally aspirated? Sounds foolhardy and sensible all at the same time. That's *my* kind of project. 


So that's the why's down pat. The following page will serve as my how's, much like the previous installment. The deadline of Easter 2006 is set, plans are in motion, and a game plan forged. Should be an interesting winter.


~ Chris

August 2005


Step 1: Engine Rebuilding

The spare motor I received that was sitting in the corner of the garage will be getting the rebuild treatment. Exhaust ported out, combustion chambers cleaned up, block bored for the 75mm Vitara pistons to ensure lower compression.


8/30/2005 ~  Head removed, block getting disassembled. Decarbonizing is underway to clean it up. Oil pan has some stubborn bolts holding it in, nothing too out of the ordinary here really. 


8/31/2005 ~  Yummy carbon...

www.chrisross.name/images/100_7684.jpg

9/1/2005 ~  Oil pan removed (some bolts that rusted itself to 9mm were a little stubborn). Check out the oil screen assembly. 225,000 kms, what can you expect?


9/5/2005 ~  Bottom end torn down to the bare block, ready to be punched out and decked at the machine shop. Carbon still slowly being removed from the head. (Pics to follow).

9/6/2005 ~  All valves now removed from head. Still cleaning... (Pics to follow... miserable #$%@ camera eats batteries like nobody's business).

9/7/2005 ~  Lo and behold, there be aluminum in there afterall. 


10/2/2005 ~  Busy working out the direction of the project. Slowly getting parts ordered, wideband oxygen sensor, MegaSquirt programmable computer, Dodge SRT4 intercooler, the list continues. Looking at options for a fuel pump, oil cooler, etc. Plan to get the block cleaned up and take it to Armstrongs in the Annapolis Valley on Friday to finally get it punched out. Seems to me that I am my worst enemy when it comes to a project of this magnitude. I sit on the fencepost and second guess everything. C'est la vie. Updates after I get the block back.

10/15/2005 ~  Megasquirt is nearly completed. Innovate wide band oxygen sensor is in. Fuel pressure regulator should be in next week. 

10/18/2005 ~  Megasquirt is done, having some minor connection issues between the MAX232 serial IC and the MSII. Seems that the problem is the way the daughtercard sits in the 40 pin socket. It's very fussy right now. Firmware is loaded, now busy making the stimulator board. Block is back from Armstrongs too. In the middle of lapping the deck and head both. Soon time to start putting the engine back together. (Pics coming).

10/30/2005 ~  Decided to scrap the MS2 daughterboard for the original HC908 chip and run MegasquirtNSpark Extra. Compatible with *nix and this will hopefully cure my chip seating problem. Caaarlo from the msefi and teamswift forums has successfully decoded the stock distributor VR sensor for MSnSE so I'll be closely following in his footsteps. Heard back from Jess at Turbinetech.ca and he's ported the turbo to better the efficiency and quicken the spool up times. Greatly appreciated Jess, thanks again!


11/9/2005 ~  Blank MPUs came in, now I have to turn around and build a programmer to load in some boot code on them (for the MSnS-E). Turbo (TD04-13G), equal length manifold, steel braided oil and water lines, new SPEC clutch all came in yesterday. (Big thank you to Jess at TurbineTech!) Last week, got an outfitted fuel rail from a good friend (LP) in New Zealand. 

...should soon start putting this thing together!


11/25/2005 ~  Big thanks to Brad J in Stonewall, Manitoba. He programmed 2 of my blank 908s and quickly sent them back. The remaining parts have drifted in, including an SRT4 intercooler, fuel pressure regulator, 450cc DSM injectors, fuel pump from a twin turbo Stealth and a Xenarc 700TSV 7" touchscreen.

11/28/2005 ~  Megasquirt ECU is now tested and fully functional. Thanks to Caaarlo for supplying the secrets to decoding the Swift distributor VR settings. 

12/13/2005 ~  Have been busy with porting the exhaust side of the head lately. Valves are all lapped and ready to go. Last week, I managed to send my flywheel to Stan's Pro Motorsports in Bridgewater to get resurfaced. Found a boost control solenoid from a Volvo 850 that I will be using with megasquirt for boost control, and also found the IAT and CLT sensors from a GM that need to be installed. Should have the valvetrain back into place later this week.  

1/15/2006 ~  A few more updates here lately. After winding down from Christmas and New Years, finally went ahead and finished up the priliminary wiring for the MegaSquirt ECU. It took some time, but it's figured out and it finally started up. So with that much done and out of the way, it's a matter of putting the other motor together now. Block and head is cleaned up, so the bottom end should be pieced together over this week. I have a few odds and ends to clean up, namely the oil pump, water pump, etc. as well as the oil pan to clean and braze on the oil return fitting. 

2/2/2006 ~  It's been a busy couple of weeks so far. Spring is quickly coming and I'm playing catchup here. Fresh motor is currently held up, awaiting the headbolt washers. The other motor is ready for removal, with only the axles and shifter linkage to unhook. Aside from the washers, need to transfer over the alternator, starter, covers, cams, etc. 

Valve cover is ready for a fresh coat of paint, and the oil pan has a new 45 degree JIC fitting welded to it, it's also ready for paint. Getting a custom male JIC fitting put on the turbo's oil return; I wasn't keen on just using hose clamps for this purpose. 

And then there's the transmission rebuild.... more on that later. (It'd be a good job for my faithful assistant pictured below... Sunny the Transmission Specialist)   

   

2/14/2006 ~  Wasted days and wasted nights... I swear, this is going to kill me before it gets done. Why do I torture myself so? Oh yes, now I remember... 190hp, 199ftlbs of torque. Or so says the Volvo 850 specs that this charger came off of. 

Motor is about 99% done, need to only get it off the stand and put on the rear main oil seal, housing, flywheel, clutch, etc. Haven't done anything with the transmission yet, hoping parts will be here by the end of the week. All new bearings and synchros, phantom grip style LSD, been thinking about a new stiffer plate that OCCRacing has developed. 

    

2/24/2006 ~  Slowly acquiring transmission parts; from local GM and other private supplliers. Have saved over $230 from using SGP from the dealer. See details here: Shop around kids... it pays.

Motor is almost done. Mocked up now on the bench, waiting for parts to be cleaned and painted. Getting short on time now, going to have to kick this project in high gear.

   

2/27/2006 ~  Transmission is torn down. Engagement teeth on 5th gear hub is worn, would suggest why it was popping out occasionally. Will be swapping this with the SOHC tranny I have disassembled. You can see the differences in the following pictures of the differential. Ring gear is the same width, but the spider gears are a lot bigger on the GT. 

While waiting for the last bearings to arrive, will be cleaning up the case and getting the other odds and ends tackled (including the LSD install). 

            

3/1/2006 ~  Have the final pieces of the puzzle for the rebuild. This includes both the input and countershaft main bearings, differential bearings, needle bearings for both shafts, new synchro rings all the way around and seals. Overkill? Perhaps. The way I see it, now I'll know what I have after everything is said and done. I have a sacrificial lamb (the 5 speed tranny) from the white GS that I'm 'experimenting' with, see if I can figure out the best approach for dismembering the shafts.

Here we see the input shaft dismantled. (The GS shaft did *not* survive). <shrugs> You win some, you lose some. Got the GT shaft back together shortly after 1am. I don't expect the countershaft to give me many problems now that I have the sleeve & hub design figured out. For those taking notes, it is best not to lose the synchronizer key while playing with those hubs. The GS shaft keys came in handy here.  

   

3/20/2006 ~  Well, it's been awhile since I updated here. Transmission is together now with Tony's LSD block & new bearings the entire way around. Cut the header pipe off of the flex union, bolted the tranny to the motor and dropped the entire works in. Amazingly, the rear mount went in without too much trouble (which is surprising). Motor mounts all torqued up and it's looking like it's coming together nicely.

Next up, axle installation. Then the 3 jobs I'm dreading the most: intercooler install & plumbing the intake, getting the electrical cleaned up, and finally the exhaust (2.5" piping).    

   

3/21/2006 ~  Getting to be crunch time. I've got to start putting in some crazy hours to get this done by mid April.... heeeeere we go:     

          

4/4/2006 ~  Wiring in the engine bay is about done; now to tackle the mess of wires under the passenger side dash. Intake filter is now in, and the cooler, shown here mocked up in reverse, will have the end tanks replaced with something a little different. Axles went in without too much drama, then I found I need to replace the wheel bearings again. Should be here later in the week. Exhaust is sort of figured out. I have all the bits and pieces to start welding it in at least. Intake track from the cooler to the throttle body needs to be figured out, but waiting on the cooler to be modified. Remote oil filter is in as well. Innovate wide band oxygen sensor is installed, calibrated and playing nicely with the Megasquirt. 

So I dropped in new Mobil 1 synthetic oil, filled the tranny with fresh GM Syncromesh, filled the rad, and charged the battery. Held my breath and turned the key, et voila! Sparked to life! It idled for a moment, turned it off, and did a victory dance at 2am! The end is in sight.... about 2 weeks out from being on the road maybe?     

    

4/17/2006 ~  Well, the Easter deadline has come and gone, and no, the project isn't quite done. No big surprise there, but man, I am so close to getting it done. The intercooler is back, modified, re-modified, mounted, and finally in. The entire front clip is back in place. Fuel pressure regulator is now in, 45psi is set when the pump is on. Speaking of which, the pump is now swapped out. Had to do that chore before finalizing the exhaust piping. And speaking of which, the downpipe is in, cat welding in, and I'm about 2 or 3 hours from getting everything straight and hooking up to the muffler. The remaining items are: finish exhaust, charge piping from cooler to throttle body, and leaving the best till last, wheel bearings.

And then the old man comes to me on Sunday and explains out this device called a Joe cell. Fairly interesting stuff... now need to figure out how to set the base timing to 80 degrees. :-)

 

4/23/2006 ~  Good news and bad news and terrible news time. Good news is that the exhaust is finished up as well as the intake pipe all bent, painted, and IAT sensor mounted. Bad news is that I have clutch issues which are being worked out. Terrible news is that I have to yank the entire motor/tranny assembly out of the engine bay to get at it. Will be sometime in May before things get changed, swapped, sorted out and corrected. (May tackle those wheel bearings in the meantime, maybe clean up the garage some :-P)

12/12/2006 ~  Last update for this page...

The issues with the clutch were addressed without any problem, a huge thanks to Jess for looking after it. The car ran beautifully, broke in the motor without any problems, then hooked up the wastegate. Got a steady 6 psi, so I'm not sure if it was a problem with the exhaust or if I just needed to crank up the boost with a MBC of some sort.

In any event, I suffered a terrible blow sometime during the summer. Things were running awesome, then I started to chase it a little bit. By the end of the day, I managed to destroy the transmission. Driving in 5th, cruising along fine and dandy, I punched it and brought on the boost. 5th gear doesn't like this I gather, and it popped out and would not go back in without a lot of strain.

I believe the Doors said it best: This is the end, my friend..... I was pretty bummed out, and put everything in storage. I was determined to part out everything and move on up to a Datsun 240z.

Because of a bad knee, I had my 3rd surgery in October. Patella re-alignment surgery. It's not too fun. I was laid up for Oct/Nov and finally thought long and hard about the current situation.

The thing is, the convertible is awesome.... I loved driving with the roof down, wind in the hair, etc. Only problem is that it's a 2 seater, and the kids fight about who is going with Daddy for a drive. So it's onwards and upwards, time for a 4 seater hardtop. And the adventure continues here.