Rod's build thread - new title - TSCi
Turbo Mini Forums

I guess, after nearly a year of being registered on the forum, I ought to post a build thread instead of just the random pictures and questions I've posted over the last year. Hopefully this will also give me an incentive to get on with it..... and let others realise why I have posted some random questions….

Specification:

Car
Steel shell, average rot to be repaired (nothing terminal) currently with integral steel front but slam section removable (to get engine in/out quicker) but may go flip front depending on how much the inner wings get in the way of everything.
Bulkhead box by Jason (milamber).
Solid mounted (4 bolt) front subframe, strengthened at tie rod brackets. Possibly also bolted to bulkhead. Standard rear subframe initially.
Fully adjustable suspension front and rear (ie, camber, castor, toe-in) but not for height (ie, no Hi-Los at present) using the earlier springs (cones). Spax adjustable dampers. The logic for keeping standard ride height is the appalling state of the roads in rural Suffolk.
Cooper "S" 7.5" discs at front, standard (spacer) drums at rear.
6" X 10" Mamba alloys with Yoko A008s (but may try the A032s). Arches, as narrow as I can get away with for the wheels (for the "sleeper" look as far as possible).

Engine/box
A+ block offset bored to 73mm (1360cc), Hypatech pistons dished to 14cc (hopefully I have got the measurements right so they won’t fail from my machining…).
Standard bottom end with earlier fully grooved shells, centre shell modified to increase oil flow to thrust washers. High capacity Powerflow oil pump.
MG Metro (N/A) cam timed with offset key. Duplex chain but retaining standard tensioner.
Head - yet to decide.... apart from knowing what chamber size I want, I haven't decided whether to do one myself or get one of the resident experts to do one for me !!! (I've done heads before myself but never a turbo one and Vizard isn't much help as he mainly talks N/A). CR to be either 8.0 or 8.3 : 1. BK450 gasket.
Standard metro T3 turbo (with the proper 0.24AR housing). May open out the manifold and exhaust elbow. 2" stainless downpipe and 2" Fletcher stainless single box system.
Lightened flywheel, single grey cover and AP plate. Modified backplate lugs to set spring and clamping force.
Standard A+ drop gears.
NOW, when I started writing this, I though this was probably my weakest link, and was thinking of fitting an additional oil feed to idler gear bearings (as I’ve read about elsewhere) but, thanks to another recent thread, I’m re-thinking this, and may do some other upgrade. But I WILL keep helical drop gears, I am even considering using the “A� ones instead of “A+�.
Box itself, choice of two. The first one I've already rebuilt - standard "A" gearset (not A+), MiniSpares X-pin diff, centre oil pickup and 2.95 CWP. The problem with this one is I could only get a DAM2886 casing at the time (4 bolt retainer) so although I've polished out all the casting imperfections in that area, it is another weak link. Second one, I finally got a 5626 casting so this is the one I'll modify for the idler gear, whatever that modification turns out to be…..
Again, standard "A" gearset, x-pin diff, centre pickup but this one with a 2.76 CWP.
Cooling – yet to be decided, probably front mounted radiator eventually.

Induction/Fuelling etc.
Intercooler from Mk3 Mondeo TDCi (similar size to the 2WD Cossie) through a 54mm throttle body into a custom made plenum with fuel injection on the runners as close as possible to the siamese ports. Megasquirt EMS, code to be decided. Obviously I'm watching the recent work Paul S and Jean have been doing on the "siamese" code but I have already incorporated a phase sensor into my hardware (optical sensor on a modified dizzy drive) to leave other options open. Wideband Lambda for closed loop control of fuelling. Fuel supply from standard tank (modified for return), high pressure pump and filter, adjustable rising rate regulator on injector fuel rail. Boost control by pulsed solenoid bleed valve. Ignition by coilpack fired direct from Megasquirt.

Timeline for development of this is that although I'm halfway through building the turbo unit, I will first install a standard N/A MG engine but with the Megasquirt injection/ignition system. If the siamese port problem has already been resolved by the likes of Paul, Jean and anyone else that would be great, if not, I become another "tester/developer". Once resolved I'll put the turbo engine in on the weaker gearbox and try 0.7bar boost (10psi) and if that doesn't melt the pistons I'll put the slightly stronger gearbox in and try 1bar (15psi)

That’s it so far, I’ll try and collate all the pictures I’ve posted at random in other threads and move the links here.

Oh, and if anyone has a better name for this build thread, let me know…

Edited by Rod S on 11th Aug, 2010.

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

I have to say, it's always a pleasure to read your posts as they are so well thought out and clear. Sorry bit of a random gushiness there but compared to the usual:

"hey gotr prblm wif me mini wontd run wot do i do yea thx"

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

Ah, this explains why I couldn't find a build thread when I searched to try and find out what you were up to . Isn't 8.3 CR a little low for 7 PSI? If your going to change gearbox before you jump up to 15 PSI couldn't you change or modify the head to get a suitable CR at the same time?

On 12th Nov, 2009 Paul S said:

I think Gary OS has taken over my role as the forum smart arse

Good idea Rod. Useful to have it all in one place.

Siamese Code wise, nothing like a bit of pressure LOL.

Let's hope Jean gets the code sorted soon.

I've not pushed so far as I have a major shell refurb going on at the moment.

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."

As the other have said sounds like a sensible well thought out build.

Any pictures of the car?

Be very interested to know how you get on with the drops, I've got mixed views on helical drops, might be worth converting them to a a central roller bearing, if that makes sense.

Good project.
From my experience and what I've read on this forum I'd suggest you to work on the cooling and not worry about melting pistons. If cooling is properly done nothing will happen at 15psi, especially with a well balanced MPi. I did that and it seems to work very well :



This makes water go up to cyl 4 before entering the head and going back to the pump.

Since it's been MPi I'm unable to make ping this engine (with a 998 head) while I could when it was carb.

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm

Thanks (or should that be thx..) for the comments.

My main PC keyboard has 104 keys, my laptop even has 85, and I speak english so I use them all. "txt spk" is for mobiles, not the internet - or maybe I'm just showing my age :)

Compression ratio... I've thought about this a lot. With decent intercooling, decent mapped ignition (easy with Megasquirt) and hopefully decent fuelling I could theoretically run higher than 8.0 or even 8.3 at 1bar boost and not do any damage and have better off-boost performance.

However, one of my other cars (daily drive at the moment) is a Cosworth - that has 8.0 : 1 from the factory with an original boost setting of 0.7bar

OK, Ford knew that as soon as it hit the streets, people would up the boost so put a suitable margin in - I run mine at 1.1bar - but I just don't find off-boost driveability an issue. I'm assuming that with 1360cc rather than 1275/1293, and a much lighter car, I'll also not find the low CR an issue.

I do like the idea of changing the CR when I change the gearbox and boost, so maybe I'll do a simple head by myself (just enlarge the chambers, no porting) for the first version (low boost) and set the CR a bit higher, and then get one of the resident experts to do me a proper head, fully ported etc., with lower CR for the higher boost once I have fuelling sorted.

Oh, the other reason for choosing low was the usual logic - you'll be tempted to wind the boost up too much, too soon, once it's running !!!

Code wise, I'm not in a great hurry (photos will show I'm still a very long way behind you Paul) and I have a few little ideas of my own...

Pictures below (and some links to earlier ones)

Drop gears - that was an interesting discussion on the other recent thread. I'm still unsure of what to do. Re-designing the whole bearing assembly to mimic the Timken SCs is a lot of work with a lot of unknowns. Throwing a high-tech bodge at it (Vespel) sounds cool but is mighty expensive (and untried). Maybe Dave's thoughts about just getting the lubrication right is the answer.

But I will use helicals - not just because they are theoretically stronger, but because I'm an old "boyracer", not a young one..... So I want a nice quiet, refined "sleeper".

Last, alpa - that is very interesting. I've seen plenty of threads on the total dry deck but that's the first time I've seen what I guess is an attempt to redistribute the flow without an external pipe - have you posted any more detail on this here (or anywhere else) - I'm still in a position where I could do some of this, but need to understand it better.

How did you decide which holes to block for example ???

Pictures,

The shell.



It looks a lot worse than it is, outer sills and one door step shot but inner sills are perfect. Other usual stuff but the panel under the windscreen is perfect.

This will sort it anyway....


Enine/box (no head yet)



Block not yet painted and camchain cover still being modified for VR pickup, this link http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=220230 shows the first one I did but it's now on the MG lump so I'm making another - I want easy changeability betwen the two engines.

And the inlet manifold/plenum/injection system...


Still a little bit of work to do on this !!!! This link shows the mockup
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=236430

But I still need a name

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

Plenty of folks in North Essex & Suffolk if you need any help Rod S.
Suggested it at MITP with miniwilliams about all meeting up at some point.

Cooling:
I described my car before I left to the US 3 months ago. Just search for my posts.
The idea is not new at all. It's a known problem of a lot of street engines: bad coolant distribution. Blocking coolant passages is a rather usual method on race engines.
As initially the flow design is bad in our A-series either you decide to make evolution, or revolution.
I went to evolution. I spoke with Mr Swift (son) 3 years ago and he confirmed me this is what they do. At that time I've tried to discuss about on minifinity and other forums but people does not seem to worry about cooling.
The choice of which hole to block is simple: you have to block around cyl 1-2 but still have to leave at least one hole near the pump to let air escape from the bottom. Air pockets are ALWAYS present in the engine, not only after the coolant change. The goal is to lower their volume. Of course I did not know if I left enough passages. Today I know it was enough. I believe I increased a bit passages around cyl 4.

CR and still cooling.
You can not compare a Cos crossflow head with the tractor A-series design. CR alone means nothing. It's here to compensate the cam timing and VE. A-series VE is very bad, so we have to increase the CR to compensate for that. Modern not VVT engines run 8:1. Because they have good VE, good cooling and good engine efficiency (so less wasted energy which heats the head). And they can be easily pushed to 1.5 bars boost without any internal change (except the head gasket).
The other aspect is the cooling, again. Look at the Mazda MX-5 engine. Cast iron bottom, 9.5:1, strong crank, regular pistons/rods. These originally NA 1.6/1.8 engines can be reliably boosted up to 250hp without any internal change at all. Why ? I think because of a cast iron very strong bottom (like on A-series) and a good cooling design: the water exits the head on the opposite side on the water pump. It's not the best, but good. Despite the fact these engines are far from being perfectly designed.
Putting all that together I think (and cars on this forum prove that) that 9:1 is good for regular boosts. 8:1 would probably be more like 7.5:1 on well designed engines that can run high boosts.
I still believe the pockets are the big weakness of A-series. Knock often starts on edges or in cavities, the pockets create both. That's why I didn't want to use a 12H head.

Edited by alpa on 18th Oct, 2008.

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm

Jason/Shane - good idea, although I don't have the right vehicle at the moment..... Where actually is everyone in East Anglia though ??? Shane (Lowestoft) is easy, I'm 25 miles SW of there, Joe (mini13) is one road away from where I used to live but who else ???

Alpa, I like what you're saying, I'll search out your posts and think some more.

Meanwhile, I modified another timing cover today for the VR sensor (the first one I did is on the MG N/A lump)



Quick spray and oven bake (Wifey out shopping) and now the engine is complete ecxcept for a head (and water pump).



I'll fill it with oil tommorow, block the head feed hole and prime it and pump some oil around.

And, most importantly, as soon as it's out of the engine stand, the block will need to be painted.... red.

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

Lifting engine (etc.) out of engine frame,



Then, after 20 turns backwards, backfilling oil down the link pipe, 58 turns forward and...



Nice, a few more turns than I usually need but it's been apart a long time.



Colour's perfect, now to sort out a head.....

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

I'm in Braintree.
With the cooling topic, my block has the front water ways reduced. I assume to get better flow on the turbo side of the block.

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm

names...
turbosleeper
'obr'mini
a series turbojection project
rodneys racer
black and tan the hide off it
no txt we are british build


um thats me worn out now.
nice project rod ,really interesting ,thank you .

regards robert

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

da bad boi build init!!

Just a quickie! I noticed the Halfords filter. I read an article a couple of years back on varying oil filter qualities. It was around the time that everyone was going on about needing to use dealer parts for servicing to keep warranties etc. Someone on one of the opel forums cut open various makes to look inside and I remember the Halfords one was very poor inside (only because I was using them at the time) I duly cut one open myself and it was quite shocking. I havent used them since. I now use Unipart ones or Mann. I just thought I would point it out as I know everyone has different thoughts on this type of thing.

A valid point lockfast..... I've read lots of bad things about them recently so won't be using it for the running version of the engine - I had a couple lying around the garage from my son's Mini so decided to use it to flush the system through and get it first running - then change the oil and filter for decent stuff, the oil in there at the moment (just for the build/flush) is Co-Op's cheapest 20/50.

Ironically, my (dead) Mondeo has probably proven your point - TDCi deisel with an excessive 12,500 miles between oil/filter changes and Ford's main agent were temporarily out of stock of the filter so I bought a Hellfraud's.... these are open filters, not in a canister so you can see the area of the filter medium.

Hellfraud's had a simple straight zigzag pattern, but when I took the genuine Ford one out it had the zigzag in two planes (if that makes sense) giving at least twice the surface area.
I thought it a bit strange so decided to change the oil/filter early next time....

Bearings in the turbo failed 6k miles later, so I never got to put a decent filter in......

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

There are two important points about filters: their filtering quality, and their flow capacity before internal bypass opens. You can guestimate the filtering quality by visual inspection, but can never know when it will open the bypass and thus stop filtering. That's why I never buy aftermarket filters for my Maserati. Purflux filters are very good as well.

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm

Alpa do you mean the bypass on the top of the filter housing?

No real progress today, just been clearing up the garage and getting out all my spare heads to decide the way forwards.

Thread name now decided, thanks for the other suggestions but, although corny, this is most appropriate....

A few months ago I had accidentally deleted my bookmark to the Megasquirt site so just typed "megasquirt.com" into the URL bar...

I was shocked, truely shocked....
Fortunately minisquirt.com does nothing !!!

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

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

off to try megasquirt.com!!!

Edited by lockfast on 20th Oct, 2008.

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm