Chris R's churbo shuttle

[chris r]

I put the flywheel on my flywheel lathe and gave it a quick tickle as there was a little bit of surface rust

Put it back on the engine and torqued it to spec. Those holes were super handy to shove a bolt through when torquing it up. Yes the bolts have surface rust but it's been sitting on a garden shed for about 3 years (hopefully the bores are fine) 

Finalised the turbo manifold design today too 

Fancy manifold with 11ty bends and stuff would look cooler but I need to be realistic with my lack of fabrication abilities and lack of space in the bay. Yes log manifolds don't flow as well but this isn't a max effort build and I'm not chasing every last percent of power. Hopefully it'll lift the turbo up a bit higher than with the bends so I'll get a but more clearance with the aircon compressor 

There's also the get it good enough to run vs get it really fancy and nice and still have a immobile car in another year's time.

I've ordered a couple of steampipe tees, hopefully they'll arrive at the end of the week. 

[chris r]

My adhd brain decided today is wiring day. I figured I would cheat a bit and to make my life a little easier with a newer factory loom and grabbed one off a EU civic, that's what I grabbed the rocker cover and coil on plug setup off initially. 

It's plenty long enough, I'll need to change every plug for the earlier sensors and remove a bunch of extra wires but it's a cheap enough starting point and will be heaps quicker (and cheaper) than starting from scratch 

[chris r]

Let there be spaghetti. Stripped the tape and conduit off the loom

Stripped back a bunch of automatic transmission related to keep them out of the way. 

Cut off and re terminated the map sensor and tps plugs 

Did the same for the injector plugs 

Then I remembered I've got low impedance injectors and need to run a resistor box. Fuck. Will sort that another day 

 

[chris r]

Was going to attempt to route the wiring under the manifold like before but the D17 loom has a nice bit of plastic for the injector wiring so I reused it. Chucked a connector on the mac valve for the boost control solenoid. Might try drill and tap the manifold and it can sit under the throttle body 

Swapped over the idle air control valve,it sits closer to the manifold as this one has a bigger plenum so the plug needed a trim

I'll need to figure out a air temp sensor as the original one screws into the manifold and new manifold doesn't have provision for that. I could be a rough cunt and epoxy the D17 sensor into the intake tubing but would prefer something a bit more refined than that 

[chris r]

Grabbed the manual steering subframe out of the hoard

Gave it a quick degrease and wipe to clean it up. Popped the old bushes out 

And put new ones back in. Red makes it go faster right? 

[chris r]

Grabbed a heater tap from pick a part this morning in my travels, no idea where my old one went. 

Only been 5 years since I ordered the manifold stuff 

Chucked all the manifold stuff in the sandblaster at work as it was going past 

Looks better now. I'll probably only use two of the bends but everything is clean now

Part of me wants to keep trying the bendy manifold but log will fit and be significantly quicker. And way less welding 

Had a chat with the tuner today and he mentioned something I forgot to check. Piston to valve clearance when it's on vtec. As the vitara pistons are slightly down in the bore compared to stock I'm hoping it'll be enough clearance to see with a borescope instead of pulling the head off again and claying it

[chris r]

I'd planned to start cleaning up brackets and swapping them over but then the courier arrived 

three hours instead of three days to get to a similar place as last time but with all four runners not just three. And dipstick clearance too 

I've gained a bit of height with the log compared to before so have more wiggle room 

[chris r]

I'll need the engine back in to figure out where the turbo can sit in relation to radiator and body stuff 

Have two options 

Hot side away from air-conditioning compressor but close to radiator, from memory could only squeeze a 2.5" dump. This might change with log 

Or I could have hot side close to air-conditioning compressor and have spaghetti boost piping 

Will go back to cleaning and trimming brackets 

[chris r]

Or I keep the positon I had dummied up before that just cleared everything (and clearance the ac bracket). Also found my dump flange so had a play around with that. 

2.5" will fit okay 

3" right off the turbo might be a bit too ambitious 

[chris r]

Factory baffled sump and crank girdle. What a performance machine /s

Turbo drain ideally wants to not be in the rod throw and above oil level 

Drew some marks on the sump as a guide. So about the only place it'll be able to go is in the corner

Girdle (and big end of the rods) needed clearancing to fit. 

I'll fill the sump with water to oil level and measure it/mark the drain 

[chris r]

Put 3 litres of water in the sump and it covered the top of baffles. Will try and get the drain as close to the top of the baffle as possible and it'll be good enough (hopefully) 

Flow? Nice bends? Never heard of them. It's fuckin ugly and I hate it but it's a option,and within my limited fabrication abilities 

 

[yoeddynz]

It wouldn't take you too much extra effort to cut an oval hole in the log and then add wings to outlet pipe to increase the flow into it like this... (excuse basic sketch) 

 

 

[chris r]

Tapped and installed a plug into the old charcoal canister port on the throttle body as I didn't want to pressurise the fuel tank.

Mate came around and leant a hand, since I was out of useful brain he drilled and tapped the fuel rail to suit the pressure regulator. That's in now which is nice. 

Spent hours cursing past me for not being organised and leaving shit everywhere. I've lost the steel weld in an10 fitting in the mess. But have found three awd sumps and 4 spare oil pick-ups... 

Realised the sump I spent half a hour cleaning was dented and would be touching the oil pickup. 

Luckily I had a spare in stock so grabbed that took a wild guess and sent it with a hole saw. Quick tickle with the flappy disk and I'll buy a new fitting tomorrow and weld it in. Hopefully find a cap at the same time as it'll be a decent sized oil leak without it. 

Sump has to be done now as it's a major to do it in the car, transfer case has to come off and I'm not keen to repeat that adventure. 

The marks on the right are from wrestling the gearbox off/on a old motor 

To focus on what I have achieved instead of dwelling on the to do list. 

Engine and gearbag out 

Subframe re bushed and rack installed 

Fuel pressure reg mounted. 

Throttle body sealed

4 bar map sensor and tps reinstalled onto intake manifold. 

Flywheel torqued up 

Log tacked together 

An fuel line schenanagins found and in one box together.

Turbo oil feed line schenanagins also found and in one box. 

Found the woodfruf key so crank pulley can go on 

Heater tap sourced and installed 

Half progress stuff. 

Loom started and plugs swapped. 

Sump drilled 

Ac compressor bracket half cleaned 

 

 

[chris r]

2 minutes ago, yoeddynz said:

It wouldn't take you too much extra effort to cut an oval hole in the log and then add wings to outlet pipe to increase the flow into it like this... (excuse basic sketch) 

 

 

heh

That's a good point, the turbo sits at a stupid angle the way I had it mocked up before so I'll hold off until I get the engine back in and can work out clearances with the radiator, body, front engine mount, front crossmember, and aircon compressor 

If I could mount the flange to the log that'd be less ugly than the vertical section. 

Or I just cover the ugly with a big heat shield 

[chris r]

Solved the ugly manifold problem 

[chris r]

Forgot I had another intake manifold in the hoard so in the spirit of being a rough cunt and making progress it donated a flange for the air intake sensor 

Will give it a file /trim it up so it looks less like its been hacksawed off a manifold, will attempt to braze it onto the intake pipe once I get that figured out 

[fletch]

Got any left over tee's? Cut one in half and cut it into your log as the turbo feed. Will be low profile and have some flow improvement 

[chris r]

@Raizermentioned that too, I'd still need a expander (or order a bigger tee) as I've got 35 nb or 1.25" tubing with 42mm od so I'd need to try and fill the gaps or make a flange with just a 35mm hole 

And my fucked up angle the turbo is currently sitting at makes it more difficult 

[chris r]

Bought a new steel an fitting and a cap this morning. Welded it in, unsurprisingly it leaked, welded it again and it leaked again 

Spent ages with the grinder and re welded it and third time lucky. Yes a tig would have been the correct tool for the job but mig is all I have 

Old subframe out and manual steering subframe in 

Gave the aircon and alternator bracket a clean. Cleaned the ac compressor as well. Not perfect but atleast it looks like it's made from aluminium now not oil 

So turns out that the bracket for the heater tap is different between injected and carb EF and the carb bracket I got at pick a part hits the fuel filter. So for now I'll have cold aircon but no heat... 

Fitted the water outlet to the head. Swapped the thermostat into the new motor as I don't have a new one on hand for some reason and installed the sump. 

The list is getting smaller but as is always the case stuff gets added to it along the way 

[chris r]

Got hangry at it before. Walked away and had a couple of hours away from it. 

Came back and tackled some small wins, the an drain fitting I turned up properly 10 years ago actually fits with the correct o ring (need to odder another one and make a retainer plate for it). Swapped the oil pressure switch over. 

Found the woodruff key I'd ordered and installed the crank pulley 

Fucked off the subframe and old block out of the way and took the engine off the engine stand for the first time in probably over 10 years

Installed the clutch. That looks like it's going to be fun. (pedal is heavy too so I'll have to reinforce the pedal box again as they are common to crack with a stock clutch). Can also see the new thermostat housing 

Seeing as the engine was dangling I attempted to mate it to the trans on the ground. Quickly remembered that's almost impossible by myself so swung the engine into the bay on its own. 

Then came the safety squints part