Turbo 6.0 E39

[doktor b]

It was an awesome deal, had to buy it! The wife looked at me like I was nuts.

i know that look all too well.
it seems to be often followed by a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant or her favorite pizza place....

[unnatrl]

i know that look all too well. it seems to be often followed by a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant or her favorite pizza place....

I'm so glad it's not only me!!

[doktor b]

i know that look all too well.it seems to be often followed by a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant or her favorite pizza place....

I'm so glad it's not only me!!

the flip side to that is that i benefit from both purchases. (just don't tell her.)
and good food is a tremendous grease for the wheel bearings of marriage. when we have important decisions to make, we always take the legal pad to a restaurant and discuss the pros/cons over a meal. usually the Mexican place because it has the best chips & salsa and they don't get pi$$ed when we hang out for over an hour.

[unnatrl]

the flip side to that is that i benefit from both purchases. (just don't tell her.) and good food is a tremendous grease for the wheel bearings of marriage. when we have important decisions to make, we always take the legal pad to a restaurant and discuss the pros/cons over a meal. usually the Mexican place because it has the best chips & salsa and they don't get pi$$ed when we hang out for over an hour.

Agreed! We have camped out at a Mexican place eating chips and salsa with the obligatory margarita while going over flash cards for her paramedic test. I have no idea what 90% of the stuff meant, but she passed the test. It's about to start again for nursing. Love a smart woman!

[unnatrl]

Finally took the car out for a test drive. Initial impression is a much smoother running car. The exhaust has a different sound too. I like it better. It also makes 13lbs of boost. Nothing has been changed in regard to boost control. It was a quick 2-3 pull and let out in 3rd gear as the tune needs work. The idle settings are not as close as I had initially thought. With 4lbs more, the WOT tune will need work as well.

Edit:
Did some tuning today. The idle has improved a lot from where it started. It was making ~13.3 lbs boost. AFR's were still a solid 11.5:1 under boost. I think I've mentioned before that the car hooked well on 9-10 lbs. On 13 lbs with a little brake boost it effortlessly paints lines. They aren't little lines either. Holy hell is it fun!!

[unnatrl]

While swapping the intake, the stock steam line transfer tube really annoyed me. What an ugly pos.

Decided to go with an aftermarket setup made by ICT billet.

There was no provision for a line that would go to my E30 reservoir. A quick drill and tap took care of that. Here I used an 1/8" npt to -4an fitting and a 90* -4an pushlok fitting to the rubber hose.

In addition, the vacuum line on the drivers side intake was converted to a -6an adapter. It's a fuel rail adapter fitting (5/16") that was modified slightly. Since everything else is setup with the
-an fittings I had to continue the theme. The plan is to split the -6 into two -4 with a "y". At the -4 one side will go to the blow off valve and the other will go to a second -4 "y". Each side of the "y" will go to one wastegate. Time will tell if I like how this turns out.

[unnatrl]

After my last post, the "problem bug" bit me in the ass...

After driving around for a few days the car was running a little odd. It didn't seem to make as much power as it did before the cam/ intake swap. This was after the boost going up ~3lbs. The problem got much worse when the vacuum line was attached to the blow off valve. In addition to being down on power, the car was running hot.

A multitude of stupid things were going on. The BOV spring was too light causing the valve to open as soon as the gas pedal was barely touched. It stayed open when the car came up on boost. Needless to say, it ran like crap with all the pressure exiting the BOV. A stiffer spring seems to have solved this issue. Boost was low 13's before (no vacuum hooked up), now it's just shy of 14. It seems that the valve was being pushed open by boost (no vacuum) and was much worse with vacuum. Anyway, the vacuum line isn't hooked back up. We will see how this pans out.

The cooling problem was partially a parts failure and partially ignorance on my part. The first issue was the steam vent line that was just installed. The rubber line popped off of the barbed push-lok fitting. I used a rubber hose that was rated for fuel, it got very soft when the coolant came up to temp. Second, the back plate on the water pump had a leak. I could hear it and see bubbles coming out between the plate and the aluminum pump housing. Third, the self resetting breaker on the + side of the fan motor kept popping. This seemed to happen when the car was up to temp, it had no hope of ever cooling off.

The rubber hose was replaced with a different style- found at Summit Racing. This hose is good for 300* temps. I also used clamps made by Fragola designed specifically for the hose. So far, the problem is fixed.

The water pump was replaced with a GM remanufactured unit. The old one also had lateral play in the shaft. It was definitely time to replace it. Don't buy the inexpensive pumps, the one that came off had about 1,000 miles on it. High quality stuff from across the pond...

I made some assumptions about the fan motor being bad and bought another. It was replaced and the self resetting circuit breaker was removed. The fan comes on at 175* now, which is exactly where I have it set to come on.

One other small issue that need to be resolved was a poor weld on the hotside. Exhaust leaks are so annoying. It is gone now!

The successful test drive was a relief. I haven't driven the car in a few weeks, when I did it wasn't running correctly. That has changed. I felt like it was demanding respect last night. It's been a while since I've driven a car that scared me. :-)

Other stuff in the works:

-Boost activated cutout that will be installed prior to the mufflers.
- Finish the Acura TL projector upgrade
- Transgo HD2 kit for the 4L80
- Marine Bluetooth amplifier (mids/ tweets) & 4 channel amp for the factory subs spliced into the factory wiring. This is about 1/2 way done. More details and pics to come.
- A/C parts are being gathered. This may wait until spring time as it won't be necessary soon.

[TipsyMcStagger]

A multitude of stupid things were going on. The BOV spring was too light causing the valve to open as soon as the gas pedal was barely touched...

...The cooling problem was partially a parts failure and partially ignorance on my part.

I wish I had your level of ignorance. Your car doesn't run well and you consistently figure out the cause. I'm admittedly clueless when it comes to turbos but diagnosing that BOV spring is quite impressive.

Glad to hear it's running well!

Tipsy

[unnatrl]

I wish I had your level of ignorance. Your car doesn't run well and you consistently figure out the cause. I'm admittedly clueless when it comes to turbos but diagnosing that BOV spring is quite impressive. Glad to hear it's running well! Tipsy

I appreciate the compliment! Most of what I know is due to having to figure stuff out on my own. It's a constant and often frustrating learning process. Paying someone to fix this kind of stuff would cause me to go broke in no time.

[MarionCohrs]

I can feel you man. I ended up with a mechanical man instead of doing by myself.

Thank you for the heads up! I tried installing it again today and had absolutely no luck.

Edit- after moving the splines one at a time the steering shaft slid on! I can't find a "keyed" or alignment spline, but it must exist. Thanks Schitzo!

[unnatrl]

High dollar stereo install here boys! ;-)
The Holley touchscreen is kind of cool too.



I've been working on little stuff here and there. Nothing major, but I did abandon the headlight projector upgrade. The one that was complete didn't do anything for light output in the real world. It actually had a very obvious and annoying cutoff line on the bottom side that could be seen on the road. I may revisit this at a later time, the stock xenon lights work fine for now. Both sides have new adjusters as well as smoked corner marker lenses. If all goes well, an aftermarket amplifier will be completely wired in place of the stock amp and interfaced with the Bluetooth amp (control head pictured above).

[get dustd]

Keep it up man eventually you will get it to the point where issues are few and far until you can just enjoy the car. I re read as much as I could today...I am trying to make decisions on accessory drive. Did you use the corvette spacing or F body?

[unnatrl]

Keep it up man eventually you will get it to the point where issues are few and far until you can just enjoy the car. I re read as much as I could today...I am trying to make decisions on accessory drive. Did you use the corvette spacing or F body?

I'm using the Corvette accessory spacing. The actual brackets are pretty much a custom setup to accommodate the R4 compressor and high mount alternator (no belt driven p/s).

[get dustd]

I am trying to hit the same turbo location but with an T4 s400x and truck manifolds. I am really trying to keep the factory power steering pump and AC. Do you think you might have been able to make it work with a remote power steering res? Have you had any belt issues with throwing them or slippage?

[unnatrl]

I am trying to hit the same turbo location but with an T4 s400x and truck manifolds. I am really trying to keep the factory power steering pump and AC. Do you think you might have been able to make it work with a remote power steering res? Have you had any belt issues with throwing them or slippage?

It will be iffy with a S400 based turbo. My first one was a T4 1.10 housing, the pulley was definitely in the way. If you went with a smaller footprint turbo it would be possible (turbonetics or precision style). I haven't had any problems with throwing the belt or slipping.

[CarbonGTI]

Amazing build, well done. Btw nice Brembo's.

[unnatrl]

I really hate days like this...
Broke # 8 piston and smashed the spark plug.

[TipsyMcStagger]

Broke # 8 piston and smashed the spark plug.

That. Sucks.

But, if there's anyone on this forum who can take a fairly major failure and turn it around in short order, it's you!

Looking forward to following along with the tear down.

Tipsy

[daniels635turbo]

And the post mortem?

[doktor b]

it's been a rough week for BF.c builds.
i ported right thru an intake port into the water jacket on one of my last two ports, one of the track builds i follow wrecked/totalled his car, and now this.
i may just focus on the yard this weekend at this rate.
on the bright side, stock LS bits are cheap. (i replaced my ruined head with a pair for $145 shipped)

also.

there is no glory without carnage.

[unnatrl]

Replacement piston and rod already bought and paid for. The head survived really well considering how much piston material is missing. It will get a little clean up and valves checked to make sure they aren't bent. I'm glad it wasn't a lot worse. This hole was only down about 35psi on a compression check, which seems surprising to me.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the encouragement!

[doktor b]

kinda a tough angle, but it looks like you dodged a huge bullet and the cylinder walls are still nice and clean.
i'm gonna go out on a limb and say this could have been much worse.

[unnatrl]

kinda a tough angle, but it looks like you dodged a huge bullet and the cylinder walls are still nice and clean. i'm gonna go out on a limb and say this could have been much worse.

You are correct. The cylinder looks perfect, I was really lucky. There is a bright side to this mess. :-)

[doktor b]

You are correct. The cylinder looks perfect, I was really lucky. There is a bright side to this mess. :-)

excellent. when i'm updating my thread on Sunday night with all the pics i intend to take of all the work i plan to do tomorrow and Sunday morning, i'll look for your update with burnouts.
deal?
deal.

[unnatrl]

excellent. when i'm updating my thread on Sunday night with all the pics i intend to take of all the work i plan to do tomorrow and Sunday morning, i'll look for your update with burnouts. deal? deal.

I would gladly take the challenge, but I have to wait for parts! I will be looking forward to updates that are moving other projects in the right direction.