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Graham T

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Hungerford, Berks

On 4th Apr, 2021 robert said:
maybe a ratio divider arm for the vnt graham,so ,say 3mm movement of the servo equals 1mm of the vnt arm ? , or just extent the vnt arm ?


Yes Robert, I was considering extending the VNT arm, though I’d still need an expensive servo with high resolution to get 0.5deg increments. I have roughly calculated around 33deg of servo rotation with a 1:1 ratio between servo horn and VNT arm.

Still scratching my head on this.
how accurate does the vane movement actually have to be (considering the slop in the mechanism) and how fast do the vanes actually need to change?


The other option , I even be to investigate further an electronic linear actuator with positional feedback.

Edited by Graham T on 5th Apr, 2021.

’77 Clubman build thread
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=618189

Siamese 5 port EFI testing
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=611675


Rod S

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Rural Suffolk

Things may well have moved on since I looked at VNT but 6 or 7 years ago they were for deisel only.
The internal bits couldn't live with the temperatures of petrol exhaust.
I dismantled a GT1752V - a broken one on my old Mondeo TDCi just to see how they work.
Very crude.
That one used a vacuum actuator (controlled by two solenoid valves on the vacuum line) but later ones had an electric servo motor controlled direct by the ECU.
On the deisel engines their mode of operation seemed to be very much on/off, restrict gas flow at low RPM to increase pressure at the turbine so the boost came in at low RPM, then release the restriction at higher RPM.
But, like I said, it was an early 1752V so the newer ones may be a lot more sophisticated,

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???


Graham T

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On 5th Apr, 2021 Rod S said:
Things may well have moved on since I looked at VNT but 6 or 7 years ago they were for deisel only.
The internal bits couldn't live with the temperatures of petrol exhaust.


Yes, as I understood when reading up on VNT’s.

This thread covers what you are saying:

VNT or Twin Scroll
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.p...id=446826&fr=25

And one of your points in that thread

…it seems the average head gasket life on this forum is 1k miles. pistons maybe 2k miles, blocks not much longer when the head gasket fails and thrust bearings fail even quicker.

So 100k on a production diesel seems good - my VNT lasted 65K and that was on a Ford.

Can anyone destroy a VNT on a Mini before the rest of the engine ???

No evidence so far :) :) :)…


So I thought: well lets see how it goes. 😊


On 5th Apr, 2021 Rod S said:


I dismantled a GT1752V - a broken one on my old Mondeo TDCi just to see how they work.
Very crude.
That one used a vacuum actuator (controlled by two solenoid valves on the vacuum line) but later ones had an electric servo motor controlled direct by the ECU.
On the deisel engines their mode of operation seemed to be very much on/off, restrict gas flow at low RPM to increase pressure at the turbine so the boost came in at low RPM, then release the restriction at higher RPM.
But, like I said, it was an early 1752V so the newer ones may be a lot more sophisticated,


I split this new one to take a look at how it all works, and as you say “Very crude”.
That’s really why I made the comment/ posed the question about how accurate the control needs to actually be.








The little notch in the control ring above (at 12 and 1 o'clock) shows just how little VNT lever movement there is between fully open and fully closed vanes

So far I have
2 MAP sensors monitoring MAP and exhaust pre turbine back pressure.
An input in the form of a PWM signal is received from the normal boost controller output of the MS2.

The input PWM % is ranged according to the desired boost range – so for example 0% being 0 boost and 100% being 304Kpa (or whatever is set as the max boost in the variables of the controller program)

The Programming has the vanes closing up at tick over/ over run, so 0% PWM input, to increase gas velocity over the turbine wheel and so decrease spool time once the input PWM % increases.
I also have a routine in the program whilst Input PWM % remains at 0% to open the vanes slightly if exhaust pre turbine backpressure is too high with the vanes completely closed – again a variable which can be altered to set the acceptable pre turbine backpressure.
If the Input PWM is not at 0%, then the controller monitors the actual measured MAP and will open or close the vanes to get the actual MAP to match the target MAP calculated from the input PWM %. I have a “range” set here also to try to reduce any fluctuation caused by the controller missing its target (over or under) and trying to correct. So as long as the actual MAP is within X Kpa of the target, the controller will do nothing. _ I currently have this set to 3 Kpa.
A PID loop calculates the servo steps to move and there is a delay in the program to allow the vane position change to take effect, before sampling MAP again.
I have also added in a routine to constantly monitor the Pre turbine back pressure and if the pre turbine back pressure rises above MAP by a pre-defined ratio, then regardless of the target MAP, the controller will open the vanes in order to reduce pre turbine back pressure. My thought here is why choke the engine to make more boost which cannot be efficiently used?

I have that all working using potentiometers as the MAP inputs and a pot directly connected to the servo to simulate boost change with servo movement, and a second Arduino simulating the PWM input.



But what I did not realise as previously stated was just how little movement there is on the VNT lever.
And obviously it’s all simulated, so might not work at all on the car.
Also am thinking about how to mount some sort of “safety” BOV to blow at 16PSI, just in case it all goes to sh!t…






Edited by Graham T on 5th Apr, 2021.

’77 Clubman build thread
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=618189

Siamese 5 port EFI testing
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=611675


e5tus

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You clever bastard, had to go over the last post twice to allow my few braincells to comprehend.

Great work on the roof and gutter, that's a lot of work, and looks like a very good result. A lesser man would have reached for the fuel and matches way before now!


Rod S

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Rural Suffolk

Well you did prove me right re. head gaskets....

For protecting a VNT against overboost I would definately do it on the exhaust side, not the compressor side.

If you bleed off excess air on the compressor side it will just allow all the excess exhaust gas to overspeed the turbine and destroy itself.

If you feel it needs protection, something like an external wastegate (ie, to over-ride the VNT control) ???

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???


Paul S

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Formerly Axel

Podland

Have you considered adapting a 12v IACV bi-polar stepper motor? They have a short travel that should suit.

You can get a suitable H-Bridge control board for the arduino, although you are probably already using one.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."


Graham T

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Hungerford, Berks

On 6th Apr, 2021 e5tus said:
You clever bastard, had to go over the last post twice to allow my few braincells to comprehend.




Only twice? I still keep re-reading it to make sure I have it right…

e5tus said:


Great work on the roof and gutter, that's a lot of work, and looks like a very good result. A lesser man would have reached for the fuel and matches way before now!





Thanks, it’s really taking shape now, except my new mask filters have still not arrive so the colour coat is still not done.
And it was a close thing, except it was a can of thinners that was close at hand, not a can of fuel. But I decided I like the garage too much to burn it down.



On 6th Apr, 2021 Rod S said:
Well you did prove me right re. head gaskets....



Ok, yes, very true. But luckily it was only a head gasket.


Rod S said:


For protecting a VNT against overboost I would definately do it on the exhaust side, not the compressor side.

If you bleed off excess air on the compressor side it will just allow all the excess exhaust gas to overspeed the turbine and destroy itself.

If you feel it needs protection, something like an external wastegate (ie, to over-ride the VNT control) ???


Good point Rod. Thanks.
As it happens I have a brand new external waste gate still sat in a box in the garage.
I just feel the protection for overboost would be a good thing to start with. I cannot be sure how the code will work on the car and I cannot be sure of the reliability of the servo (or electronics for that matter). If I have the code all wrong or the servo fails it could be at just the wrong time and end up with a bit more than head gasket failure…

’77 Clubman build thread
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=618189

Siamese 5 port EFI testing
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=611675


Graham T

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Hungerford, Berks



On 6th Apr, 2021 Paul S said:
Have you considered adapting a 12v IACV bi-polar stepper motor? They have a short travel that should suit.

You can get a suitable H-Bridge control board for the arduino, although you are probably already using one.


That's another good option Paul. Yes I have a handful of H-bridge control boards for the Variable length runners.
The only downside I can see to using an IACV is speed. I cannot remember how fast an IACV's linear movement is, but I do not recall it being that fast. Just thinking whether the speed at which the vanes can be move might affect the ability to tightly control the boost level, or even worse allow overshoot and cause spikes (oscillation??) as the controller is always playing catch up with the varying MAP.



Edited by Graham T on 6th Apr, 2021.

’77 Clubman build thread
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=618189

Siamese 5 port EFI testing
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=611675


Paul S

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Podland

The Peugeot/GM ones that I use move pretty quick. Less than a second for full travel at a guess. They will fire the pintle across a room if you operate them outside of the body.

My stash of spare steppers is buried somewhere under loads of junk, otherwise I would have a check.

I would be concerned with the load/power required and whether the spindle rotates.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."


jbelanger

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To get the best speed out of a stepper IACV, you will want to accelerate the step time for large movements. You'll need to characterize the stepper you're using for the shortest initial step time and the acceleration curve.

You might also need to characterize the rest period when changing direction (especially if you really push on the shortest step time) and a minimum number of steps before moving.

http://www.jbperf.com/


Graham T

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Thanks Paul and Jean.

I have a new Servo on the way which should allow finer control of movement, so I will persevere with the servo route for now and look at other options if it becomes necessary.
I like the idea of the IACV, but being totally honest, what Jean has described with the stepper motor control goes a little over my head at the moment…

’77 Clubman build thread
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=618189

Siamese 5 port EFI testing
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=611675


Paul S

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The software that we use for control of our CNC converted milling machine uses ramp profiles for the stepper motor drives as Jean describes. However, that involves movement of relatively heavy machine beds, vices and workpieces to within fractions of thousanths of an inch.

I'm pretty sure that that degree of control is not necessary in this application. We are looking for a few steps of movement at a time under a modulating control regime. Biggest step change will be a sudden closure of the throttle when the vanes will need to close up to slow the turbine. However, the sudden drop in exhaust gas pressure at the same time will probably have more of an impact, allowing for a slower opening of the vanes.

I still have the new Chinese GT1749V for my lads 998

Edited by Paul S on 7th Apr, 2021.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."


Graham T

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Hungerford, Berks

On 7th Apr, 2021 Paul S said:

…Biggest step change will be a sudden closure of the throttle when the vanes will need to open up to slow the turbine. However, the sudden drop in exhaust gas pressure at the same time will probably have more of an impact, allowing for a slower opening of the vanes…


Not being argumentative here, just trying to understand better before I break something on the car…


A sudden throttle closure would predominately indicate a gear change?
In which case I am thinking we want to keep turbine speed up ready for the next plant of the foot on the throttle, in a hope to build boost back up as soon as possible. This would mean closing the vanes, rather than opening them.
As you point out a sharp throttle closure would reduce exhaust gas flow pretty quickly and also the sudden vacuum in the plenum would aid the DV to open to waste any “excess” boost still being produced by the compressor, hence keeping everything in balance and not destroying the turbo.

Then when the throttle opens again, the vanes are already closed up, keeping exhaust gas velocity high over the turbine and aiding spool?

At least thats the logic I was working on - which you have just totally blown out of the water *frown*

Edited to add missing sentence: This would mean closing the vanes, rather than opening them.

Edited by Graham T on 8th Apr, 2021.

’77 Clubman build thread
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=618189

Siamese 5 port EFI testing
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=611675


Paul S

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Agree on the gear change going up the gears. How about when you need to brake or go down the gears?

Edit: Actually thinking about the transient conditions with a conventional turbo with a waste gate, when the throttle is closed, the waste gate slams shut sending all gas flow through the turbine. No issues with that so I don't actually see a problem if the servo or stepper takes a little longer to close.

Edited by Paul S on 7th Apr, 2021.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."


theoneeyedlizard

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Great stuff. I really loved the VNT on Joe’s car (about a decade ago).

In the 13's at last!.. Just


Graham T

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Hungerford, Berks




On 7th Apr, 2021 Paul S said:
Agree on the gear change going up the gears. How about when you need to brake or go down the gears?

Edit: Actually thinking about the transient conditions with a conventional turbo with a waste gate, when the throttle is closed, the waste gate slams shut sending all gas flow through the turbine. No issues with that so I don't actually see a problem if the servo or stepper takes a little longer to close.




Thanks Paul, that helps to clear it up a little in my mind.





On 8th Apr, 2021 theoneeyedlizard said:
Great stuff. I really loved the VNT on Joe’s car (about a decade ago).



Yeah, Actually I have to give Joe big thanks for taking the time to talk through his experience of the VNT with me and give me some guidance and ideas.

’77 Clubman build thread
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=618189

Siamese 5 port EFI testing
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=611675


robert

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uranus

throttle shut = negligible gas flow . ?

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM


Graham T

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Hungerford, Berks

It feels like that last few weeks I have made very little progress.

Basically I spent a long time double checking and amending my order for the subframes, running gear and brakes before ordering.
so I now have everything thing I need to build up new front and rear subframes – barring at this point the shock absorbers.

I had to make a decision on wheels and ended up with these:





These were the only 12” x 5 that I could find that I liked and with a close to “standard” offset. So these are ET 31.

I don’t mind the look of them apart from the fact that to me it looks like they ran out of coating to finish the ring around the rim. Originally I was going to strip them back and lacquer with a satin black, but in the end decided against it.

The doors have been built up, installed the electric window mechanisms to make sure I did not have to cut the inner skin about – which I did.
And also made a pair of central locking mechanisms. The cheapest (and only when I come to think of it) units I could find were around £105 for the pair, so I made these for about £30.




So the doors are now stripped back out and ready for finishing.


All major filling work is completed and I have coated the metal that was bared during flatting with another layer of epoxy primer. Next step I guess will be a guide coat and see what I have to sort out.

In the meantime, I have wrap the shell in a large tarpaulin to protect it from dust and over spray and spent what feels like an age clean down all the parts I am going to reuse from the original car.





And got a coat of Epoxy primer on them yesterday.




I’m now waiting on a delivery of 2k satin black to add the finish coat.
But while I await that, I still have the new parts that I want to paint (including the new front and rear subframes) to strip clean and prime.

’77 Clubman build thread
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=618189

Siamese 5 port EFI testing
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=611675


steve1275

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Those wheels are perfect as they are *Clapping*

'Where does the engine go?'


e5tus

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Dorset

Fantastic up-cycling of excess decking for the spray rack. I'll show this to my wife to bolster my argument for keeping my collection of scraps in the shed!


Graham T

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Hungerford, Berks

Well, 1 year and 1 month later I have finally managed to feel well enough to get back in the garage. (crap year!!)
I had last week off and got back into working on the mini.

All the parts in the above photo which were in epoxy primer, plus other parts I had not started working on are now fully painted in various colours and bubble wrapped in storge until needed.








I have also managed to strip the paint off the petrol tank, epoxy prime




and finish in satin black



Just have to spray the filler neck with the matt black that the rest of the external fittings will be finished in.
Also, I’m probably going to get some por15 fuel tank sealer. Its pretty rusty inside and Frost do a kit to clean, convert the rust and seal.




Started on the boot lid and got that painted up so far as a filler primer…





…but I’m struggling with my new spray gun and so the finish coat is not going so well, especially after getting what I thought was a reasonably good finish (pre-clear coat)



only to find shrinkage marks in 2 places where I had filled small dents.



More work to do here and a lot of playing with the spray gun.




New front subframe stripped down to bare metal



And coated with epoxy primer also.



This will get a finish coat of satin black once I get the chance.
Then I have the rear subframe to do similar to.



Before I get back into preparing and paint the shell, the plan is to get all the black stuff complete and barring the rear subframe, I think now all I have left is the door furniture /external fittings such as door handles, weather strips etc to “de-chrome”.



The plan is to give them a coat or 2 of matt black epoxy lacquer.

I was actually starting to prep the rear lamp bodies when I noticed the fact that they were cracked up.



Had I bothered to look at them when I stripped the car down, I would not have gone to the expense of buying all new lenses, seals and screws – which are now going to be wasted if I ned to buy full new units.




So that’s about it for now. No progress at all for a long, long time, but please with what I achieved last week.
Only the disaster with the gear lever housing left me feeling a bit flat.
I was trying to punch the roll pin out of the extension rod and it just did not want to move hence more force on the hammer was used, which apparently the housing did not like, so now a big chunk missing ☹



’77 Clubman build thread
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=618189

Siamese 5 port EFI testing
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=611675


robert

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uranus

well yay on the progress , and pooh on the housing !

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM


shane

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So glad to see some progress Graham, hopefully you manage to keep it up.

Shane


Graham T

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Hungerford, Berks

On 7th Jun, 2022 robert said:
well yay on the progress , and pooh on the housing !


Yes, Oh pooh – or slightly stronger.
But I have sourced another.



On 7th Jun, 2022 shane said:
So glad to see some progress Graham, hopefully you manage to keep it up.

Shane


Cheers Shane, I am a year behind schedule now which is annoying, but flat out back at it now.







Only a small update for today.

Managed to get the front subframe in colour now, so that can hide out of the way for a short while







First attempt on painting the door furniture went slightly wrong. I am not sure why, but apparently I bought satin black. Sold as 40° Matt black.

I don’t like it.
So I have ordered another kit, this time 2° matt. The only place I could find that sells matt black epoxy lacquer is in France, it has been shipped but I am now waiting on it clearing customs.





And finally, some nice glossy green bits…













’77 Clubman build thread
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=618189

Siamese 5 port EFI testing
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=611675


e5tus

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Dorset

Looking great Graham. Annoying about the Matt/Satin mixup, colours are so personal it can really make a difference.

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