My Winter Project

[Prof]

might have to get some 720\'s for mine - not sure if i will need them or not though

The 720\'s often come up on eBay for under £100 for a pair, I got my 800\'s from TPF Performance on eBay - they were under £100 new including shipping. They are a straight swap for the old 550\'s, and are not bored out units. It\'s easier to change the secondaries only, as you don\'t have to worry about idle and low RPM fueling changes, but it will run rich with bigger secondaries unless you can map it some how. Some of the ECU chips - like the later RTEC chips can be setup for bigger secondaries and allow you to run the stock ECU unit - check out the rx7club\'s ecu section
 

what fuel pump are you gonna run .. the 044 one ??

No - already running a Walboro\' unit - It flows better than the stock pump, and for less than 400 BHP this one is fine - if you go over 400 or change stock pressure by much, then this pump runs out of puff and you need to go for something like the Bosch or a Skyline pump - or I have seen someone using 2 of these in tandem ! :yes
 
I will be rewiring the pump, so it gets a better 12V flow and does not rely on the old weedy wiring to carry the suppy - just need to connect up the bits and move the fuel pump resisitor and relay to the boot.

[Prof]

Ok, time for some piccies as I have the car back from Rotechniks, and am now running it in. Not got the boost controller or wideband fitted yet, although one of the piccies below shows the bung where it will go. Also have to fit the Emanage in.
 
Once the run in is done, then the bigger intercooler and injectors go on, along with water injection and spray - plent of room in there now that the emissions stuff has gone. You can also see the new samco water hoses - still need to cut the top one for the rad thermostat switch. Also visible is the double belt pulley and smaller pully to allow the engine to run higher revs without stressing the water pump so much.

[grinder]

looking good matey

so i take it that the bigger turbo is on ??

[Prof]

Yep - you can just see the front compressor housing in the pics, it\'s a T04B 3" intake (not 2.5" like a stoker)  and stock pipe size out.  Wastegate is also ported to the maximum allowable, allowing significantly higher boost pressures to be controlled without overwhelming the tubby.  However the stock intercooler won\'t like to see more than 12 psi, so the ARC unit will allow much higher boost (~ 20 psi).
 
At the moment the wastegate control is fed directly off the compressor housing, so the turbo can only make spring boost - which is about 5-6 psi, this will be removed and replaced by the lines for the Greddy boost controller solenoid valve - which can sit near the shock tower to keep the pipe runs short  Without the air pump in the way this is a lot easier to get to now as well.

[antnicuk]

looking good Prof,  its nice to see a project that goes about things in a different way rather than the usual turbo\'s and Power FC

Wastegate is also ported to the maximum allowable, allowing significantly higher boost pressures to be controlled without overwhelming the tubby.

the bigger wastegate will allow the turbo to run lower boost and prevent boost spike, the higher the boost you run the smaller the wastegate you can use.  When running low boost more exhaust gases need to go through the wastegate to stop boost spikes

[Brett]

Its all looking good Prof
How many miles have you done now?

I used to put in 2 hours every night until the engine was run in

[Prof]

I forgot to check the speedo this morning, but a run to Dartford meet last night to pick up me sideskirts from Tony has helped put some mileage on it.
 
It\'s so frustrating keeping it below 4000 RPM !
 
Towards the end of the run in I will stick the boost controller on and set it for 9 PSI - should be similar to a stock setup then, and then I can see what the new tubby feels like.
 
I suspect the Gearbox mounts are going to get swapped back for rubbers, as the hard polythene ones are just too noisy in the Cabin
 
Suspension feels nice - it handles lakes of water on the motorway much better now, and round the twisties at the weekend it was looking good, only a shame it couldn\'t have been in a lower gear with more welly, but the feel is much better.
 
Watch this space for some new in dash projects....

[Prof]

ok - prompted by Stu to update the winter project thread !
 
So what\'s happening ?
 
Post rebuild mileage now at 500 ish - the run to Reading twice tomorrow will add another 80 miles onto that - and another 100 miles before the tunnel run so that\'s 700 ish.
 
Seriuosly tempted to fit the boost controller for the tunnel run and run it at 8psi - running the wastegate off the compressor output is just too little even at 4000 rpm
 
Must excercise patience  !! :spank
 
I\'ve been measuring up the tubing I need for the ARC intercooler - so this is getting ordered next week when I get paid - ready to go on after the 1000 mile checkup.  I will post pics of this later this evening !
 
Also got fed up tinkering with my special gauge, so I have just put it back together as an A/F gauge - all be it with custom blue to red LEDs for a unique look !  Vid\'s to follow on another thread...
 
Lots of electrical work to do on the car, and all the plumbing for the water systems.
 
Also new to the project :
 
Custom centre dash display and electically adjustable suspension
 
So there we have it - anyone going to the old school meet will see the current state of play - might just have got the Wideband A/F done by then !

[grinder]

good man !!

kepp up the good work ( and the pics and vids )

[Prof]

Well the vid turned out to be pants - need to find a better video camera
 
Here are some stills showing Greddy compression tube, some silicon hose which is almost the right dimensions, but the diameter on the intercooler side is 3mm to big - so need to make up another hose piece.
 
Also shown is the ARC intercooler - about 50% larger area than stock, deeper, and with higher flow rate (lower pressure drop) than stock unit.

[Prof]

Ok, I was tempted to fit the boost controller for the tunnel run !
 
Bloody thing would not stick under the steering wheel to the left, the supplied double sided sticky pad wasn\'t all that sticky.  Really wanted to mount it here, as it\'s out of the way, and can\'t be tampered with by the passenger whilst driving - that rotary control is too tempting !
 
Finally hit on the idea of screwing through the lid of it and then reassembling the box onto the lid - a bit fiddly
 
End result doesn\'t look to bad - piccies tonight / later today -  might use the camera phone !
 
For tunnel run I kept the figures safe, as the car had still not done the 1000 miles run in, and I didn\'t want lot\'s of boost on - set the thing up for 10% duty, 10% gain and start boost of 0 psi - warning / limit set for 9.5 psi.  With these numbers I was getting a good 6.5 psi of boost and it holds flat.
 
Now the tunnel run helped pile on the miles, so I was able to see how this thing behaved over 4000/4500 rpm over the last couple of days - boost holds flat to over 5500 rpm - so time to dial in a little more.  Checked the peak boost - 10.2 was the most it\'s been too (must have been momentary, as the mechanical boost gauge never seems to show anything that high).
 
Changed the duty to 15% this morning, and start boost is now set to 3 - I left the gain alone for now - not messing with that until I know if it\'s spiking.  Now it\'s boosting to about 9 psi - but haven\'t been beyond 5700 rpm to see if it holds.   Also it\'s not noticeably faster to bring on boost and the peak value is still the same, so I haven\'t been over 10.2 with these settings either - which is good news. It does mean the start boost is probably still too low - will experiment with changing that and checking for spikes - see if I can\'t get the boost to come on a little quicker. Need to experiment a bit, but I want to get the car boosting to a level that\'s consistent with the capabilites of the ECU in the car - the piggy back and bigger injectors are not on yet, so the boost sould not be going over 10 psi for safety.
 
It does mean that the car now feels very similar to how it did before the rebuild
 
Had a little play with a Celica on the way in - he won, as I wasn\'t prepared to give it full on WOT yet until I know that\'s safe ! :spank
 
Have to order some more hose pieces to get that intercooler on - and some braided fuel lines whilst I\'ve got the intercooler and UIM off the car to replace the secondary injectors.
 
Next jobs
 
[LIST=1]

• Wideband lambda
• Greddy eManage Ultimate
• Dyno time
• Larger secondaries
• Intercooler and throttle inlet
• Water Injection

So it\'s getting there.

[Brett]

Have you considered mounting it where the drivers speaker grill is?

Otherwise, looks like you\'re on target for a few serious ponies

[Prof]

Have you considered mounting it where the drivers speaker grill is?
 
Otherwise, looks like you\'re on target for a few serious ponies

Yeh - I did consider that, but that place might be reserved for adjustable suspension - depends on how easy that will be to implement in terms of stepper motors fitting on top of the front shock towers.

[Brett]

How clearance is there from the strut top to the bonnet?

[Prof]

How clearance is there from the strut top to the bonnet?

Good question - something similar to what I want to do was actually done on the American model  - can\'t remember if that was GXL or GTU, but they used 4 small stepper motors to adjust the shock stiffness from a switch in the cab.  I want to take that a stage further and allow independant adjustment of front / rear shock pairs from a rotary encoder - similar to the tein unit that retails for around £200-300.
 
From memory - their units sat \'in\' the top of the shock seat - on a small ali bracket.  I believe I even have some of the wiring loom still in place on my TII - the control box was in the back of the car.  There might be as much as an inch of space available, the top of the shock adjuster would be attached by a brass coupler to the stepper shaft.