Simo's Turbo re-build Progress (GMC pics & video - page 18...) - Page 6 - Saxperience

Barry123 · 5th April 2010, 00:37

enjoying the read (still) simo... good luck come engine firing!

Simo^p · 5th April 2010, 14:02

Decided not to go with the temporary fuel lines. I'm, never going to be happy with them cobbled together, so I've decided to remove the push-on connectors on the fuel rail and have them crimped onto some PTFE lined stainless braid hose. Problem being, the fab' shop are closed until tomorrow - damn bank holidays!

I've got everything measured up, so will have the new lines made tomorrow morning, ready for installing tomorrow night. Will sort some nice pipe blocks also to make the job look neat and tidy

The bits I'm now junking shown in attachments...

Simo^p · 6th April 2010, 20:20

Picked up the new fuel hoses this morning and fitted them this evening. Seem to match up nicely

I have some double hose separator clamps on order - will collect those tomorrow and finish the job off nicely

Pics below...

Ordered a bunch of stuff from Tweeks last night - battery cut-off, 3-way power block and a few other pieces, to get the battery re-location on the move! Still need to decide which type of battery and box to use...

The car is almost ready for starting now. Just need to fill the coolant system again. I still don't have a header tank, so may have to make-do for now. Or maybe I shall grab something cheap and nasty from a scrappy

Must remember to add oil! LOL.

The other thing I need to do is sort an ECU choice out, as I'm still unsure whether to tidy up the loom wiring (extra injectors, mf2, etc, etc) or leave it and ditch the loom. Need a little extra thinking time, Hmmm...

Quick look-back at my To-Do list from a week ago: -
Remove 5th/6th injectors
Remove FSE reg'
Re-pipe fuel lines
Re-paint engine bay
Fit new oil cooler & re-locate / re-pipe
Confirm standalone ECU
Confirm injector size x 4
Decide if using relief valve? Re-circ or atmospheric?
Source new air filter - 2.5" inlet.
Complete custom boost pipes
Install alloy rad'
Wire up Kenlow fan to original loom.
Sort header tank & pipe in.
~~Modify lower tray to mount intercooler and radiator forwards (but behind std bumper perimeter)~~
Re-locate battery inside car.
Decide how to isolate battery local and remote.
Strip interior from front of car.
Remove carpet & prep' for full re-paint to match rear.
Spk to safety devices regarding mating front cage to rear.
Confirm plans for bumpers & arches!?

raunchz · 6th April 2010, 20:25

Fuel lines look a great setup !!! Just lke an advanced oem setup as opposed to a completely different setup, like it a lot !!!

100% go standalone Ecu wise, the brand is going to upto your mapper which I presume is GMC !

Simo^p · 6th April 2010, 20:27

Definately going standalone - just need to decide which one, from my shortlist of 4 brands. lol. Not a very short shortlist is it

raunchz · 6th April 2010, 20:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simo

Definately going standalone - just need to decide which one, from my shortlist of 4 brands. lol. Not a very short shortlist is it

lol I guess your shortlist is :

OMEX
DTA
Emerald or KMS ?
Predator

?

IMO either of them will be spot on tbh - mappers choice, could get in on the OMEX groupbuy ATSpeed are doing at the mo ? £500 delivered is a bloody good price.

Worth thinking about resale value of the Ecu too ? Predator vs. say OMEX ?

Simo^p · 6th April 2010, 20:39

Yeah, thats pretty much my shortlist

Re-sale value is not on my thinking list, more so future support. I don't see me ever selling this car (although I hate it with a passion at times). GMC will be dealing with the engine/mapping yeah.

There are so many things to consider when you start looking at features, custom looms, etc. The PnP sounds like a good option to simplify wiring, but has other drawbacks for me. That said, the Predator is probably still at the top of my list so far...

raunchz · 6th April 2010, 20:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simo

Yeah, thats pretty much my shortlist

Re-sale value is not on my thinking list, more so future support. I don't see me ever selling this car (although I hate it with a passion at times). GMC will be dealing with the engine/mapping yeah.

There are so many things to consider when you start looking at features, custom looms, etc. The PnP sounds like a good option to simplify wiring, but has other drawbacks for me. That said, the Predator is probably still at the top of my list so far...

It's a hard one tbh mate - I think either way the Ecu will give good results.

If you forget resale, then pricewise the Predator wins hands down, plus it keeps the oem loom which is pretty robust when you think of how long they last/abuse they get on 100k+ cars.

IMO it all boils down to the features you want? Launch control? Flatshift etc.

I didn't need those features which is why the single plug Predator won hands down for me - all I wanted was an Ecu to control my engine that I could play around with and places could map it with little hassle.

jaybiss · 6th April 2010, 22:48

good stuff Simo.

looking forward to seeing this move once more and maybe pinch a passenger ride too

-Jason- · 6th April 2010, 22:59

Looking forward to seeing this this year

Graeme^p · 7th April 2010, 13:19

coming on nice now dude

see you have been very very busy with it

that list you put a few posts back seems to be getting ticked off pretty fast so im sure FCS could be done

Simo^p · 7th April 2010, 23:44

Another parcel of goodies arrived this evening. Should allow me to get the battery re-location on the move. Un-decided about where to mount the isolation switch. Original idea was to be in the engine bay, but the switch looks like its supposed to be dash mounted

What have others done?

Got the radiator plumbed in today and topped up with water. Really need to sort a temporary header tank out, as this is pretty much the only thing stopping me from firing the car up now!

Then gotta decide whether to ship the car off to GMC, or hold it back for another week or so, to strip the interior properly and re-paint, etc. Realistically, considering the delays I'm going to have on parts, I cant see this being ready for FCS, but not giving up just yet

Simo

Simo^p · 8th April 2010, 20:30

Spoke to my pipe fab' man today - he'd not got around to finishing my boost pipes, which is just aswell, as I'd moved the intercooler, etc

Have agreed they will be ready for tomorrow evening though, ready for starting of the engine this weekend.

Pinched the pipes back and have re-measured up, so they can be fab'd tomorrow. Still un-decided about whether to plumb in a dump valve (not used one for years), but thought might be a good thing at the higher boost I will be running. I'll have a stab welded on, just incase.

Hopefully I wont change my mind on the pipe routing AFTER they are made. LOL. The battery re-location is leaving lots of space for an over-sized filter.

adzvtr · 9th April 2010, 00:13

nicework m8, looking good now,

Simo^p · 9th April 2010, 23:58

I snook out of work today to visit a scrapyard

Picked up a nice little header tank off a Volvo 'thing', for use as a temporary tank. Got it plumbed in - just need to fire the engine up and bleed now!

Re-filled the oil and cranked the engine a few times with the fuel isolated, to try and flirt some oil around. After I'd done that, my battery was dead. Stupid thing! Its been on charge for days, but it wont charge properly until the alternator puts a decent voltage into it. So, its on charge overnight for another try tomorrow morning!

Collected my main boost pipe also this afternoon. It fits!

I need to polish it and make it look nice, but Im pretty sure it's going to do the job nicely. Note the 5th & 6th injectors are now removed

I had a saddle welded onto the underneath, effectively to double skin a small section. This means I can drill/tap more robustly for temp/boost sensors, if I choose to re-wire my SPA sensors.

Fingers crossed it starts tomorrow and the oil/water/fuel/boost pipes don't leak, too much

Once the engine has proven to run, I plan to rip the ECU loom apart and remove the sig-con, mf2, Dastek, etc, etc... Should be fun

rapid86 · 10th April 2010, 00:00

Good luck for the first start, hope all the hard work pays off cant wait to see this car going

Simo^p · 10th April 2010, 18:18

Well, the restart of the engine didn't quite go to plan...

Started the day with a delay, as my battery still hadn;t charged. A cell must be dead or something. My pal at the local motor factors rescued me though, by giving me a 2nd hand battery free of charge

With the new battery connected up, the car fired! I quickly began to get the coolant topped up, etc to bleed the system. After a few moments, the new exhaust wrap started to smoke, which is normal. After a few more moments though, I noticed a bit of smoke coming from the turbo centre housing.

It looks like oil is escaping slowly from the exhaust housing oil seal?

I had two theories of what could be causing this... a knackered oil seal, or oil backing up if it cant get out of the return quickly enough?

The turbo is new, although has been in storage for a few years, so a knackered seal seems a bit odd. I have re-orientated the housing though, but I seem to recall this was the compressor side? The outlet is a decent size and has been properly made so that seems a little odd too?

To test one theory I decided to remove the oil return line and bleed the outlet into a bottle, with the engine running. After doing this for a few moments, the oil leak / smoke returned at the centre housing, exhaust side... so I dont think its an oil outlet problem? Looks like an oil seal issue?!?! Any more opinions?

I'm not sure whether to rip the turbo off and have it overhauled, or just package the car up, for the strip down at GMC. Not the best outcome for startup day

On a plus side - I've always wondered how much oil flows through a turbo and now I know

Couple of pics and a video clip of the turbo oil outlet test.

Please let me hear your thoughts as to whats wrong.

video clip >> http://www.saxperience.com/stuff/turbo_oil.wmv

Simo^p · 11th April 2010, 11:10

Got a last theory to try before ripping the turbo off. As a few weeks ago I needed to re-adjust the orientation of the turbo, whilst it was still on the car, I had to slacken the exhaust housing centre bolts. With the turbo still clamped to the downpipe, there may have been stresses caused by the downpipe pulling the housing off axis.

If this is true (my downpipe is pretty damn tight), this may have caused the seals not to seat properly.

Failing this, I'll have to have the blower overhauled. LOL.

Lets see what today brings...

sprint_gti · 11th April 2010, 12:48

hi simo.
i see its all goin well.. i hope to have mine on the road for fcs..

have you thought about external wastegate and a screamer pipe...

Simo^p · 11th April 2010, 15:04

Turbo ripped off... plenty of water came out of the turbo coolant pipes, so that discounts a cooling problem also.

I've decided to have one attempt at fixing this before I send it to a turbo clinic. It could easily be a mis-alignment problem. So, off we go into un-chartered territory (for me) again

After releasing the exhaust housing, there was a lot of oil on the sealing faces. The leak must have been fairly substantial internally. I've cleaned up the mating faces and disconnected the actuator rod, so there are no pulling forces anywhere.

I then pressed the central housing back into the exhaust housing and rotated a few times to make sure all felt good. There were no notchy bits or anything, so fingers crossed. Whilst rotating though, I could see how easily it would be to mis-align if worked on on the car (as I did). Even the actuator link rod being connected pulls it out of alignment when not tightened down.

So fingers crossed... Im gonna put it back on and try it. If it still leaks then, it must be an internal seal... that's territory I'm not venturing into

Simo