E5TUS - 2023: Some turbo tinkering & Hillclimbing
Turbo Mini Forums

Car threw some oil out the dipstick at Goodwood, I added a spring to it, but it still belched some out last weekend. Looking at my breather system, I used to run more lines to the catch tank, but when I was tidying up the engine bay last year, I amalgamated a couple of the lines into a single feed to tank. So really poor breathing at the moment.



Decided to separate them all out and add another to the dipstick blank for good measure. But looking after my son tomorrow before heading straight to Wiscombe, looks like something to fiddle with in-between runs!

The other turbo in the club had some more rolling road time at Slark's recently, and had done some runs with detonation cans, ended up pulling some timing out of the top end due to knock, so I'll be doing the same. Again, at this rate, at the event!

MG Car Club event at Wiscombe on Saturday. Good day weatherwise, but somehow completely different to the previous weekend, warmer morning but less sun so the track took a long time to dry out, and certain parts in the woods never did fully.

Managed another sub 50 practice, so at least some consistent time being lost. Decided to try late braking for the final hairpin. Old braking marker used to be the start of the sleepers on the right, recently it’s snuck to halfway up the sleepers, so thought I’d see what it was like being brave and waiting till the bitter end. Locked up and it all got a bit hairy, but managed to keep a cool head and turn in and she came round ok. Considering that was not an ideal line, very happy with 49.90. Launch was good and I was third quickest in practice.

First timed run went well, stonking launch 3.04 (I know the car has a sub three second launch in it, but I'm yet to find it) Good first split, but the change to third wasn’t ideal. I really attacked a couple of corners, waiting till later to brake, felt a quick run, a bit disappointed to see 48.58, but the consensus from the others was the same, less grip that previous events. There was only 0.24 of a second separating three of us from 2nd to 4th. All to play for.

Made some changes to the breather system in the paddock, separating rocker and transfer case breathers, will add the additional breather to the dizzy blank this week.

Dropped my guard on the second timed run and one of the R53 snuck into 4th, by 3 hundredths. I’d improved slightly on the morning time with 48.52. But felt my new approach to the major corners was killing too much speed and I was then off boost for the following section. Tried one more attempt at attacking the hill, improved further again, the afternoon’s launches were decent and consistent, but I was definitely losing time in the bottom sections. When I’d made the MegaJolt changes I had also knocked the limiter down, although I only hit it in the run to the first corner, it does feel like it’s stopping some progress before I start getting through the gears.

Managed to make the time up on the R53 in last run, taking back fourth spot, but painfully missing third position and a trophy by 4 hundredths of a second. 48.40.

Nice to have met with Carl S and have a natter in the paddock.

Shame not to have got back down to the 47's, but the only car's that did were on slicks, so I can accept it. It's a good improvement on the 50.12 I started the year with, and confidence in the car is there.

I’ve reviewed the footage and side by side from last week, braking late is costing me speed on the exit, waiting longer for the boost to help me back out. So smooth is key, braking earlier and carrying more speed through is quicker. If I had less lag, then there's time to be made with the late brake approach. Maybe time to consider a change from the T3..

Last weekend of competition for me this weekend. Another two events at Wiscombe Park, but I’ll not be taking the turbo.

Going to double drive my dad’s clubman. I’ve loaded/unloaded and moved it about for years, but apart from one drive round the block last year to see if the wheels were somewhere sensible to drive for alignment, I’ve never driven it properly.

This is a good opportunity at the end of the season for some “scientific” experimentation, we are looking at potential changes to his setup for next year, and thought a second opinion on current state would be useful.

For me, it’s a good chance to compare NA v Turbo on a hill that I’ve driven plenty of times this year. I imagine it’ll give a clear answer on how much difference having early power vs waiting for boost contrasts...

Good to chat with you mate. I took a load of photos that day as well, I'll stick them up here if you want, or I can email them to you if they're any good to you?

The weekend was interesting, my first time up the hill in an NA car, first time double driving and most importantly first time it wasn’t my car. As always, a fantastic variation of vehicles, this Bugatti was a gem.



I was pretty nervous about driving someone else’s car, and although I don’t ever set out to break my own car, the fact it isn’t yours is never too far from your thoughts.

Took the first run gentle, plenty of leeway on the corners and happy to reach the top in one piece. 55.37. First impressions were good, the car is a handful, without the lag of a turbo you have a new problem: all the power, all the time. Grip is obviously the limiting factor, and the launch was tricky. The next biggest difference is brakes, compared to my servo assisted 7.5 solid, the non-servo vented brakes are minimal. I’m familiar with the 13” setup and the Avon ACB’s, I know they need some warmth to become compliant, but staggering difference in handling to the 10”s I'm becoming used to.

As a double driver, I was first up the hill in an earlier batch, I like running front of pack, it gives me control of getting ready and car temperature etc. It also meant I got to watch the rest of the class in their batch, giving some good insight into launches and approach of first corner.

One of the mini’s didn’t make it up past bunny’s leap, rolled back to the first corner and we had a quick look under the bonnet, found the feed to coil had fallen off, annoying but simple fix. Next car up had an awful miss from the off, took 74 seconds to get to top, really struggling for any power. A bit of examination later, he found one of the rockers was broken.



Luckily one of the club had a spare set in their car, only because they’d had a rocker shaft snap the previous weekend at Shelsley!



A couple of odd breakages in quick succession. Anyways, with some team effort and piss taking, the car was back together before I had my first timed run. I relaxed into the second run, it helped that the track was drying nicely and tyres were building some confidence in the corners. Shame the brakes never came alive like the rubber did! Took a chunk off the launch, split and time, bringing the run down to 50.92, which I was very happy with. Dad meanwhile was sub 50 on practice run with 49.98 and first timed run down to 48.25. I had come with the goal of a 50 second run, but now fancied a 49.

Started raining at lunch, less than welcome, and a wet second run thwarted the chances of a 49. Everyone was 4 seconds slower, myself included. Back to 55, but kept the run clean. The launch was amazing though, the heavy rain started when I was queuing, but before the start line got soaked the existing rubber was still very sticky. I was gentle with throttle and avoided wheelspin, it shot off like a stabbed rat. First ever sub 3 second launch, pleasing despite an otherwise wet run.

Weather cleared out after that run and the grip was returning. This final run turned out to show the first disadvantage of double driving, I was on the hill about half an hour before the rest of the class, and the track was drying further for each competitor.

I got a 50.37, so 5 seconds down in the day, very happy for first drive in the car. Dad managed a 47.97, so I set low 49 as my goal for Sunday, aiming to be a bout a second off his pace. Weather permitting. Just got pipped by the Yaris GR, 50.03, been using his times as a benchmark for the year, usually a touch quicker than the 260hp 4WD turbo.

Had a great photo send over by Martin Balman (@devon_marv), check this puppy out, gives a nice feeling of motion on Castle Straight.



Sunday morning, bit foggy but nowhere near as damp as we’ve seen it during the year. The track was surprisingly compliant for first thing. Another decent launch, quicker again, and plenty of grip through the woods gave me a 50.71. Faster than one of the cars on slicks, but Dad snuck ahead on 50.12. Such was his distrust with a second sub 3 launch (he’s never got below 3) he even went and questioned the timing team!

My vague description of “I'm just feeding in power until it feel like it might spin” wasn’t getting me anywhere and a crowd of doubting piss takers joined the start line to “cheer” me on for the first timed run. Obviously, I cocked it up and span the tyres the whole way

I was red flagged before the Gate and sent to top paddock so as not to interfere with the batch order. My re-run was subsequently where my dad would normally run, and his run fell into another batch. A second chance at nailing the launch also ended in wheelspin, lots of it, slowest launch since first practice Saturday! But the rest of the run came together nicely and I’d arrived in the 49’s with 49.45. Having had a launch half a second better, I could see a potential 48… The endless search for more! However, given that Dad did a 48.81, I’d be asking to do same times as someone who knows the car inside out. Big ask, but I’d try anyway.

Second timed run and I’d got the hang of the batch order for Sunday (which oddly changed from Saturday?!). Couldn’t match the launch of the morning, but chipped away at the time, 49.11. 48 is on, I could taste it. Lots of improvements from the club across the afternoon, the hill was coming on nicely and some PB’s being set in multiple classes. Dad kept the pressure/motivation on with a 48.38.

Last run, ok launch, split was nearly identical to the previous run, but managed to keep power on in the esses and clean hairpin. 48.68. I was buzzing. Another nice part of being in a different running batch was hanging out in top paddock with a new group of cars and drivers. Some closely fought championship battles in their final event providing some fantastic entertainment. There is nothing more contagious than a driver celebrating a PB, class record or just decent clean run. As the time were falling in the afternoon, it was a party atmosphere during each batch, I had a ball. I also snuck back ahead of the Yaris GR, so pleased with that!

Dad had already beaten me, but he was overheard stating he couldn’t let me finish that close to him on my first weekend in the car! He pulled out the stops and despite a less than ideal entry into Sawbench hairpin, he produced a 47.60.

Running two drivers in a single car was great, two heads checking tyres, fuel etc. I can see how issues develop with damage or incidents, but it also allows direct comparison, which provides so much more feedback.

The gearbox is past it’s prime, crunches into 2nd and 3rd either goes straight in or you fight it for ages. This became one of the dividing parts of our drives. Dad opted for keeping it in 2nd through the esses and not risking the shift to third, whereas I preferred the additional shift so the engine was happier. He revs it much higher in 2nd throughout the run, again, not my car so not my approach.

Here’s my final run. 48.68

https://youtu.be/SXWzlrIDl4g

and here’s the comparison between that run and dad’s quickest (47.60). You can see he makes ground as soon as we enter the woods and he’s carried more speed, but he loses some ground at Sawbench. Interesting to finally have a comparison in the same car.

https://youtu.be/yk3M2Fth0sM

I want to get him in my car next season to realise how bad his brakes are… Maybe he likes the placebo affect his pedal gives him, but I’d feel more confident with more efficient brakes.

So, Is NA or Turbo better? Depends, I prefer my car for handling and brakes, but cannot deny the brutality of instant power from the 1380 NA. With mine, by the time the power comes in, I’m already moving and it just adds to the acceleration. With the NA, it’s a far greater task to get it going nicely, but I could get used to it. I think I’ll merge the two, a modern turbo that will spool earlier will give me power sooner, without the out and out fight to pull away. I’d like to convince him to change the brakes, along with getting rid of some heavy stuff he’s unnecessarily carting around in the car.

Well done if you got through that lot!
Stu

Great write up. Don't know what pads you run but the carb metallic minispare jobs ( for original calipers) are fantastic from stone cold.

Evening people. Trust you are enjoying the damp British weather at it’s finest. Pulled the head yesterday.. Found some interesting stuff.. Well maybe not interesting, but certainly not what I was expecting.



Plenty of oil, not surprising given the smoke screen on startup and fouling of plugs at idle. Head gasket looked very near to giving out between 2 and 3.



On first inspection, some coking up and general wear. But then looking properly after a cuppa, fairly thrashed… 3 of the exhaust valve guides were broken. Two of them didn’t seat properly due to buildup and most had worn tops which seem to have broken through then hardened surface and started to mark up.













Some work to be done, ah well, seem to have caught it in time. Not sure when the guides broke, maybe before I owned it, I’ve never had any noticeable turbo ingestion. The work on these things never ends does it?!

Caught just on the right side of big problemo.

Tell us what valves you decide on.

I carried on removing the ancillaries from the engine bay. I need to repair the sump plug, want to fit a new primary seal and with the head off it’s most of the way there for coming out. I’ll also give the clutch a once over.

Turbo drain hose has had a bit of a prolapse and was breaking up. It’s served well, I’ve no reason to believe it wasn’t the original.



The oil cooler is way past it’s prime too and the unions are leaking a little. So I’m sat there looking at it, thinking “where the hell did it come from?” seem to remember it was off an old VW and put it on there years ago without really considering if I needed one. Given the road use on the car is at an absolute minimum and it probably spends more time in the paddock at idle warming up that the runs themselves, I’m wondering if I bother. Maybe just throw an oil temp gauge in and keep an eye next year. Longest run is 120 seconds and any road use it doesn’t get given much grief due to self-preservation.

The braided fuel hoses are pissing me off, without AN fittings, any push fit connections just stretch the braid over a few fitments. Was using the end caps to neaten it up and stop the braid puncturing my fingers, but they seem to shrink after a few heat cycles. I’ll probably rip the fuel lines off and go internal.

Keith Lowes sent me some decent shots from the September 5-Clubs meet at Wiscombe, bit of motivation to get a game plan together for the winter tinkering and get back out there next season.

Finally got around to uploading the photos! Sorry they're not my best...

Edited by Carl S on 7th Oct, 2021.

Thanks Carl, you may have been one of the last people to see the car working for some time...

Head is off being reconditioned. Although the guides were worn, that wasn’t where the oil was coming from. So onward we go…



Lump out. Split the engine and box. Clutch will be parked for now, it’s holding more torque than my torque wrench is able to measure, so over 161ftlb. But the diaphragm doesn’t look flat, so maybe able to reduce the disengagement force.



Pulled the oil pump, should have checked this over the years, ignorant I know, but never seen a reason to question its condition. It’s seen some action, on the list it goes…





Given cylinders 2 and 3 were the oily buggers, I pulled 2, then went home and had a beer.







I’ll pull the others later this week when I can face returning to the garage.

Hello all, I was a bit dejected last week, only because I’d not been planning to have the engine apart. Once I picked up all the toys I’d thrown from my pram, I got the rest of the engine apart, and it’s not too bad. Waiting on a bore mic to confirm bore is within tolerance and I’ll go again with 1275 and the standard pistons.

I’ve been very proud that the bottom end is stock and I’ve not had it apart, which was obviously only going to be for a finite time. But the big end bearings were in decent condition and crank is a minter. Which is good to know.



Don’t need to measure the rings to know they are worn! But quite impressed with the state of the pistons given age and use in recent years.

Bores are polished up, but no lip top or bottom by feel. Mic turned up today, so will acquaint myself with use and grab some measurements this week. Assume top, middle and bottom at both 0deg and 90deg to the crank?

Only discernible marks are on Cylinder 4, assume this is due to heat as I’ve had a blank not bypass on and no heater. This will potentially be rectified if I go GT17 and I can use as part of the turbo plumbing.



Spoke to Dave at Performance Unlimited about Total Seal rings. Available with both a traditional second ring or gapless, but the old cast iron top ring isn’t available, but they can make up a kit with a ductile iron top ring, apparently stronger? So if the bores are good to go, I’ll bang a set in.

It all explains the excess crankcase pressure and oiling up of plugs etc, so all progress.

Afternoon all, earlier in the year we sold an MGB GT engine and overdrive gearbox to a fellow racer. He has a MG Magnette with a 1500 currently and fancied the bigger engine and overdrive. Anyway, this started a conversation about an engine that was kicking about in his garage and was now in the way. When he bought his hillclimber in 2017 it was a 998 turbo, but he has subsequently replaced it with an NA 1380 motor.



The engine and car were the TT2 of Wil and Ben fame, quite an influential car for me. John had a big hit earlier in the year (see page 9), once again showing the calibre of the build, it’s had a pretty hard career. The car was rebuilt for the next event and John ran it for the year, but come the end of the season he decided to retire from competing. Now, at this time I was convinced GT17 was the route for my car and the TT2 engine had what I needed, or just run the whole 998 lump. This puts me back into class 8, not 8a as the multiplier for the 998T is equivalent to 1383cc.

We were engaged in discussions on the engine, then I stupidly double drove my dad’s 1380 NA and liked it. Then a silly idea pops in my head.. Enter some serious negotiations... Not with John, but my wife.



Intention is to run the car as is (asides from the ergonomic changes like fitting a seat and steering wheel position) and see where we go from there.

I’ll get the 998T into mine for the time being, so I have a backup vehicle.

As long as I won’t be chased with torches and pitchforks, I’ll keep the changes and next season’s results on here. I’ll make sure I post turbo related shenanigans too, but hopefully you’ll make an allowance as it’s still rocking the OG TM stickers

Nice! Good to see it’s still around.

Phil.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

I think you may have a problem!!

Thanks for all of the updates, it’s a good read.

Given the recent purchase, my wife wanted a weekend away. Didn’t really have grounds to refuse! So was looking after my son and didn’t get much done on the cars.

First job on TT2 was to adjust for the height difference between John and us. Luckily there were rearward mounting points from Wil’s original layout, but one had been ground down for clearance. The current seat is an old Cobra Imola II and it’s a shame my ass doesn’t fit it, because it is light, 4.9kg, my go-to seat OMP first r (as it fits me well without being huge) is 8.8kg.

I think I’ve found enough width and leg room in the existing mounts, just need to remake the bars and one mount. Just need to find some time to pull the seat from my turbo and throw it in to check.



Otherwise, spent some time across a few evenings removing the old decals, majority of the paint is pretty good considering and the roof was only painted a few years ago.



Worse part, which I thought I could live with, but now I don’t think I can, is the bonnet. As with most single skin bonnets, it’s not a great fit and flexs about, in transit more than usage. And has micro fractures all over. It’s also the wrong colour, so would like to sort that.




Reached out to Wil and he provided me the paint details, BMW Hell Rot, so can also get some paint for a few touch up’s inside once the seat location is sorted.

Progress has been a bit slow, I lost most of one weekend hunting a squirrel that had taken up residence in my loft. Took hours and hours to find the entry point, sneaky little buggers can get through a tiny gap.

Got the seat out of my car and ordered up the box section for new seat mounts. The imola II was actually 5kg and the First R was 8.8kg as advertised. I don’t want to get fixated on a target weight, as I know where that leads. There’s a couple of little jobs that will shed a little mass, nothing major but things I spotted when doing mine. Hoping to offset the extra weight of the new seat.

Made new rails with a thicker wall box section this time as both bars got bent in the last crash, which added to the additional weight into the car. Extra weight totalled 4.1kg, but necessary for us to fit in the car comfortably. With the seat in and steering wheel position adjusted and a smaller wheel, the fit is great. The gearstick was moved back in the car previously, and it couldn’t be in a better position. Very happy with the feel of all the controls when seated.



I’ve taken out the boost gauge and mount and tidied up some pipework. All the old seat mounts came out when making the new seat rails. This gave a kilo savings and tidied up a few odd ends nicely. I removed the quarter panel sound deadening, along with some other redundant brackets and faff I found a kilo or so.

Other than reinstating the fire extinguisher (which will add some weight, but I’d rather have it), think it’s just moving the Anderson connector for the battery to the passenger side and some fresh roll cage padding for the inside jobs.

Moved onto the front end, wanted to get a couple of removal and refits under my belt and fiddle with any of the mounts/fixings before I was trying to do it in a field between runs for whatever reason.



Surprised that not all the fixings for the front were captive, will have a think on that, losing nuts and washers in the paddock is an absolute bastard when you’re against the clock. Asides from a bit of a trim of some areas, I’m just going to have a tidy up but not much more for now. It’s a pretty heavy front end, but had a number of reinforcement and repairs over the years and has stood up well to the abuse.



In the engine bay there was some random bits and bobs, again nothing major, will swap out the 1.5l catch tank (1.3kg!) for a 1l lightweight one I’ve got kicking about, just need to mod the inlet sizes. So far I’m up to 3.6kg lost, so with the front trimmed and catch tank, should be in profit for mass (excluding the fire extinguisher addition). I need to get all the wheels cleaned up and checked over, then get the Force wheels and slicks on to sit it on the scales.

Is it too late to say Happy New Year? Well, the thought is there.

Finished the tidy up of the front end, added some floating anchor nuts on the a-panel joint to save dropping fixings when I take it off in the future.



Whilst my wife was away for a couple of days, I borrowed the oven to do a bit of baking at christmas.





Had a couple of jobs on odd cars recently, just did a gearbox change on an Austin Healy Sprite which will generate some funds to throw a hi-torque starter and small alternator on this. That’s it for the engine bay at the moment. Meant we could finally get the pics done for the new competition passport.



Had the visit from our eligibility scrutineer last weekend. A couple of points were noted, silly little things like a mechanical fixing on the OMEX box that was held on by sticky pads and some reflective heat protection between fuel tank and exhaust tunnel.

As the extinguisher wasn’t fitted, it was advised to go one way or another, he didn’t like the Bowden cables and plumbing present without an actual bottle fitted. As we didn’t have the bottle serviced and in date, we removed the associated gubbins, another half kilo.. Takes the loss to 5.2kg, so all that fannying around in reality has saved a kilo after the seat additions!

Drastic measures were required... I’ve stopped being such a greedy bastard and I’ve found a stone already, another one should shift reasonably easy too, it’s cheaper than lightweight car parts!

Competition passport application was submitted and should be with us soon.

For my turbo, I now have the head back, just no engine to bolt it to!





I was offered some Omega forged 18cc pistons by a local engine builder, with a flush block it would be 8:1. Chamber is 25cc after the head was skimmed, got to run the numbers on the various options and formulate a game plan.

Been back in the office a bit, the 3D printer was just sat there, wanting to be used for car part development! Been buggering about with various things, but the weak link is my modelling ability. So far I'm sticking to the easy bits, it’s amazing how much you can save. On my car I have the round breather on the timing cover. Use of a 11mm fat fan spacer pushes it into the rad, I’ve always used 2 of the 4mm spacers. I printed an 8mm spacer, it’s 6% of the weight of the original parts, in reality it’s bugger all, but cumulatively on a load of bits and pieces, it’s surprising how much they add up. On my turbo, still with a steel front end, it’s mostly just proof of concept stuff, but it’s a fun use of the technology.

Best wishes!
In my mind you are always welkom to wish someone the best...

Your Christmas bakings look jummy
Very nice result!
What product did you use?

Dazed and Confused....

Great to see the old TT2 is still going! Back on the track soon hopefully :)