My GTA Turbo Project

[Alpineandy]

It does look very nicely done!

thank Lee for his professionalism

Did he tell you to say that (or he'd thump you)!

[Alpineandy]

duplicate

I've still got marks

Well JV's car is with me to have the Renix ecu setup with his new build as above, and initially it didn't want to behave... I couldn't understand why I needed less and less fuelling compared his old map, when I was expecting the opposite given some extra flow and fresh engine...

So it was time to investigate.. plug colour indicated that it was in fact running lean, which was the opposite of what my wide band O2 sensor was telling me, and you can get pulled into believing the number... It seemed to calibrate in free air ok, speed of response is hard to compare over time. Looking deeper I found oil in the inlet, and so went back to the turbo... found the source of the oil and some other interesting things, noting this was a recently professionally (turbo specialists) rebuilt item...

The turbine is white - lean, the divider bridge in the collector is badly cracked and white, yet the rest of the collector is black, and the worst was the waste-gate housing that is cracked right to the outside world. Indeed, the most surprising thing for a unit supplied new to Jon, is it has a weld repaired turbine housing that has subsequently cracked and started degrading since... Quality!

Oil and silicone (coolant) contamination in exhaust is death to Lambda sensors and degrades them quickly, so likely my false readings are down to a now defunct sensor… So a word to the wise, before incurring costly mistakes - check before you put your probe in!

[stephendell]

Looks like a pretty shit turbo rebuild. I'd ask for my money back and some compensation for the wasted labour to fit and remove it again.

Do tell who it was and we can name and shame them on the forum

The Turbo was originally bought new from DG as a stage 2 ART upgrade. Whether that's what it ended up being after instillation is anyone's guess though! It was right at the beginning of my Alpine education and I cant find the specs to check, and never saw it off the car before it was fitted.

That failed a while back as the oil seals went. It was then sent off to Turbo Developments for a rebuild. It probably did c2-3k miles on the old car and another 1k or so on this project. Problem is the time, both cars have sat doing not a lot so although the miles are low the warranty (not that there was one) is long since gone.

Sadly I think it may be one of those "put it down to experience" moments. Bloody frustrating though

.

Well I have been rebuilding Jon's turbo assembly and upgrading it. For those of you looking to go larger turbo, then you can see some of the steps necessary. It takes a bit of work to do, and not a 5 minute job, and installation in the car can be frustrating given access issues, much much easier with the engine out. Note, you do need to be mindful of some of these aspects when you tackle it, as you will have fouls and other problems along the way if you do not take account from the start. This is especially important for those using the water cooled cores, as Jon is in this case.

So here we go, old collector as previous... boss flange, and most upgraded T3 turbine scroll housings are flat flange, plus gasket mount..



Replacement ported collector, needs to be machined for a flat flange mount turbine housing:



Now she gets it:







Housing comparison, despite what anybody says, genuine Garrett parts are superior in material, finish and quality, and they are worth the expense... you won't see one of these cracking up, Garrett on the left, Jon's original right... don't think that needed saying!



Now to fabricate the actuator bracket given the larger compressor cover mounting...







Turbo mount assembly needs modifying, and need to be mindful of the relative positions of the actuator and the oil and water rigid feed lines, otherwise the assembly may not even fit back to the engine, let alone get the rigid pipes to marry to their new locations (centre height etc)...



Now positioning up ready for the hot glue...











Finished sub-assembly... ok I have skipped to the end, but I think you get the gist



Then after a load more hours, back in the car and dressed back up...



Next instalment, the ecu...

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Well a bit of a gap... lol.. it's back for the ecu again after an intermission for ice creams, but this time should be on solid ground, and hopefully get her tuned up and running sweet this week.

Anyway, on a different topic just noticed this whilst sorting some other bits before it can hit the road again- doesn’t look right to me, the adjuster knob is crashing into the top wishbone arm, has anyone had this with their adjustables (this is on the rear)?



What make are these ones Jon?

GAZ all round.....

I have Gaz so will have a look tomorrow. Have they been mounted the wrong way round?

The original Gaz shocks hit we were advised to remove adjuster or get a different spacer to centralise.

They don't last anyway. I've already had to have mine refurbed.

.
Thanks Dave. How do you remove the knob? I presume the taper pin stays in the correct place and remains sealed?

Thanks,
Martin

If I remember correctly there is an Allen key, but I spoke to Gaz and they sent me metal spacers which centralised the shock correctly, negating the need to remove.

Update time:

As you may know my car has been off the road a while, as Martin has posted above he has been working his magic on the engine side of things. Well we now have MOT and Tax and although we've uncovered a miriad of problems along the way I'm glad to be able to say that once more she lives!!

I'll leave Martin to elaborate on the finer technical details but boy has he gone to town! The sheer amount of thought, planning and sheer hard work simply beggar belief.

There has been upgrade work to all aspects of the engine to add to ugrades previoulsy fitted such as fuel pump, chargecooler and exhaust. We now have bigger injectors, cams, head work and turbo upgrade and work as listed above.

So today we took it for a final tune up on the rolling road:



http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g340/f305upe/F53260D0-0238-440B-B5F2-07A9568A80C4-1041-0000009E50390003.mp4

There are simply too many stories to write here about the trials and tribulations of arriving today but to put it simply it was more than worth it!!!



Yep thats:

Engine bhp 353.4 (flywheel 346)
Wheel bhp 307.3
Engine torque 362.9 lbft
Wheel torque 329.9 lbft

Amazing!!!! You cannot believe the difference in drivability, power and sound. The car feels so much more nimble but also has a truly monster punch as the figures would suggest.

Having watched (and mostly got in the way) Martin work over the last few months I have learnt so much and cannot help but be amazed by what he has achieved. He truly deserves the recognition that these incredible figures will surely bring.

I'll look forward to learning how to drive this monster but in the meantime a big thanks to Martin for persevering with this project.

Mofo your an Alpine legend.

.
Well a bit of a gap... lol.. it's back for the ecu again after an intermission for ice creams, but this time should be on solid ground, and hopefully get her tuned up and running sweet this week.

Anyway, on a different topic just noticed this whilst sorting some other bits before it can hit the road again- doesn’t look right to me, the adjuster knob is crashing into the top wishbone arm, has anyone had this with their adjustables (this is on the rear)?



What make are these ones Jon?

GAZ, mine failed twice and DG got 2 seperate upgrades from GAZ for me.
Problem was due to the suspension ripping the rubber bushes apart.