233 replies to this topic

[soldave]

Back in February I bought my 2nd early Evo, a 1995 Evo III with more issues that your average Japanese woman. Picked the car up for $500 and I thought it was just a blown headgasket, but as is often the case, as I got deeper into it I found more and more problems. Took about 4 months of work to get it fired up, on the road and marginally waterproof.

From this:


To this:



Once I got it running right I was pleased with it, but I like my boost and drag racing. And I'm also very aware I have a 2nd and 3rd prize trophy from drag racing events here in Okinawa, and really need a 1st to go with it. So I thought maybe I'd upgrade the turbo to something a little bigger. And then my plans got a little crazy and out of control.

So the engine I got hold of was one with about 1000 miles on it and had this spec:
-Mahle pistons
-Scat rods
-Eagle 4340 crank
-fully ported head by Motorworx Engineering
-stainless valves, FP springs and retainers
-removed balance shafts
-FP2 cams
-Fully rebuild

Plus a few other goodies:
Holset HX-40, full twin-scroll, T4 17cm turbine housing
JM Fabrications top-mount manifold
OS Giken twinplate clutch
Treadstone intercooler & custom piping
Custom downpipe
Custom exhaust
VW Scirocco radiator
Walbro 255
Blitz SBC iD boost controller
Integral knock warning setup
ECMLink

And all the trimmings. Before I can even think about putting my foot on the gas in anger though, I've got a big long build ahead of me.

Two half-days of work are done and we're well and truly getting stuck into it. First up was pulling the engine and everything around it so we can start putting new things in. The exhaust was getting changed from my whatever-it's-called (left) to a one-piece setup on the right. Much straighter, less resonators and much better flow/noise.


Next up was getting the old engine up and out. No big problems with that and we got it all disconnected and pulled in a few hours.




Now my car has lost its lope in the past couple of weeks and seemed to be stuttering when I put my foot down sometimes. Think I found 2 possible culprits. First off, the connected going to the cam angle sensor has one pin pretty much broken. Could have been that it wasn't making a consistent connection with the CAS which would definitely throw things out. And then I came across this when I was taking the piping off the intercooler to pull it.



Yes, that is just the intercooler piping rusted off the rubber coupler. There was a tiny bit of the piping still inside the coupler but even before I started yanking it I could feel a big crack/hole going about halfway around. Says something that I was still making just under stock boost level even with that much of a leak.

[soldave]

Next up was a bit of porting work. We wanted to lower the oil pressure a bit as at full boost and higher rpms we were hitting close to 100psi on the engine before, so we set about porting the oil filter housing around the hole next to the oil check valve. This is how it looks normally:


A drill and a couple of carbide bits and the hole was looking a little bigger.


And then after some cleaning up it was ready to be bolted back onto the engine. Should make for much better oil flow and some lower pressures.


I'm also going to be using a bored out throttle body so the intake manifold needed to be ported a little to make a completely smooth transition for the airflow. Again, we started by marking it up.


A bit of porting later and we have this:

[soldave]

That leads us today, where the plot got a hell of a lot thicker. One of the centrepieces of my build came in today, in the forum of a JM Fabrications top-mount manifold. I don't want to go into how much it cost as it will just depress me! I'd rather just look at the pictures as it's a thing of beauty, especially the porting that was done to maximise airflow.





And if you think it looks good like that, you should see it when it's on the engine.



So today we test fitted the manifold on the engine, and put my new forged engine (with twinplate OS Giken clutch) into the car. And here's where it got interesting. First off, I'm gonna be using a Holset HX40 with T4 17cm turbine housing as my turbo. Now I'm still waiting for this thing to get to me in the mail, but I'm a little anxious about whether it's going to fit on the manifold. It should, as it's crazy to think a company with the reputation as JM Fabrications would offer a T4 turbo flange without the sizing to fit a full size T4 turbo, but it's gonna be damn close to hitting one of the primary runners on the manifold. And the next concern is one of the wastegates, namely the one that is emerging just next to the turbo flange. Now again, I'm hoping they made provision for large turbos but it is going to be very close fitting a wastegate with the turbo the size that's going on mine. Not going to know that for sure until my turbo comes in or I can borrow a Holset HX40 from someone to test fit.




And the next issue is, of course, going to be clearance. I have currently got a VW Scirocco radiator from Spectre which I'm afraid of breathing on too heavily incase it breaks! Putting it in the car though, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to have anything thicker due to size restrictions. My fans are already going to have to be pusher fans at the front (there is space between the manifold and the front of the car at the moment, but bear in mind I have a 3" exhaust downpipe to get down there too somehow, and some crazy mods are going to have to be done to the front end to get it working. Of course, I'm gonna do something I'll regret and pull the a/c from the car to have any chance of it all fitting.

The top of the thermostat housing is going to have to be modified to fit around the turbo of course, and we've been mulling over the idea of going for a straight pipe without a thermostat if needs be. As well as fitting things, cooling is going to be a big issue. I know running without a thermostat will mean I need much longer to get up to operating temperatures, but I'm wondering if without one, it would give me more coolant flow than running with one. Or whether the velocity increase from the slight restriction that a thermostat causes will pretty much negate that. I'm gonna need a wing and a prayer with cooling (and probably a custom aluminium radiator down the line) so every little thing helps. Radiator tricks, some ghetto scoops from below bringing air into the engine bay etc are all probably gonna be used.

A hell of a lot to do, even though we've pulled one engine and got the new one in. Gonna be a pretty impressive project though when it's all said and done, providing it all fits and keeps cool.

[EV0300]

nice looking car that front bumper is interesting. almost a 6 style? is it posssible to get more like that?
also that is the craziest looking manifold ive ever seen...

[soldave]

I was going to go for the Shearer forward facing manifold but would have had more problems finding a radiator to fit than I already have. This is the manifold meant for the VR4, as it gives a little more clearance at the front compared to the DSM one.

The front bumper is a HKS Kansai one. Very rare to get hold of these days in any sort of condition.

[D3bb4]

that is freaking awesome

[soldave]

It might be, although I've just had an awful thought...

[evo-gsr]

Looks unreal Dave!! Love that front bar and manifold!!
One suggestion but? With your idea of running with no thermostat...from my knowledge you need one in there, to ensure water/coolant gets high enough within the motor to flow to the upper regions, if not, you may end up with head gasket problems??? Thats what I have been told anyways...

[DOUGMO]

Looking awesome Dave, is it going to be stripped out? full drag spec?

[Dean]

Beast mode engaged. Awesome!

[TRQ-STR]

Car is coming along very nicely mate, I’ll be watching this space!


Without a thermostat the change in temperature is huge, you should reconsider pulling it out. I did this once and on cold nights my temps would go from 65deg at cruise to 100 at WOT. I realised the issue as my heater was shitty and quickly reinstalled a thermostat, now the change in temp is approx 10 - 15deg

Edited by trq-str, 04 November 2011 - 11:26 PM.

[Qik-1.8]

wow looking good mate nice work

[robevo]

nice find there, now the fun bit starts

[Ian91]

It might be, although I've just had an awful thought...

Sounds like it will be an awesome drive when done... What was your awful thought tho haha?

[soldave]

Looking awesome Dave, is it going to be stripped out? full drag spec?

No, just to add to the complexity. It's gonna stay with carpet and full interior. Might have a cage in just for safety's sake, and am thinking of doing something a little different and special with that, when the time comes. Would be a lot easier to rip things out like power steering and other stuff I won't need for drag, but I want it to remain something of a possible daily driver.

Without a thermostat the change in temperature is huge, you should reconsider pulling it out. I did this once and on cold nights my temps would go from 65deg at cruise to 100 at WOT. I realised the issue as my heater was shitty and quickly reinstalled a thermostat, now the change in temp is approx 10 - 15deg

Thanks for the info about that. Will keep it in mind

Sounds like it will be an awesome drive when done... What was your awful thought tho haha?

It was that the HX40 housing is bigger than an S-housing and wouldn't fit. Contacted the turbo supplier and JM Fabrications and all say that it's gonna be damn tight, but everything should just about fit.

A few car friends of mine went out last night and got pulled over at a police checkpoint where they were doing car inspections. One got hit for their exhaust and not sure about the others. My exhaust is gonna use one of the Apexi silencers to quieten it down, but might also add a kill switch in the cockpit for if anything like that ever happens. They can't check the exhaust sound if the car suddenly won't start at all after it dies when I pull over. Also, might get the locking aerocatch hood pins... those keys can be so easy to misplace when you're a little flustered

[DOUGMO]

Or just do what I used to do in my car many years ago.

Cut the original bonnet cable but leave it installed.
Then add a new cable to the passenger side that is connected and works.
If the cops ask you to pop the bonnet pull the cut cable and pretend you just broke it....damn officer

[soldave]

Haha, nice one! I'm gonna need some hood pins/aerocatches anyway though as the stock lock is going to have to go (no room)

[soldave]

A little more work on the car yesterday, although still no turbo in sight. Damn postal service...

Anyway, I got some stock gaskets and little things in so I could bolt up the throttle body to intake manifold, and then intake manifold to engine. So yesterday spent a few hours bolting things back on and putting plugs back in where I could. Not so exciting, but got a fair amount done.

We also managed to do some cutting into the front of the car, to make way for the intercooler to mount first, and then to do a bit of measuring with regards to radiators and clearances. First a bit of cutting...


And then test fitting.


As you can see, clearances are at a minimum.




I'd love to have the fans on the backside as pullers but it's not possible. We need them on the front for clearances for the vertical front braces that we're going to make to try and strengthen the front end a little. So pushers they have to be. With a 3" exhaust going down just in front of the exhaust manifold, it gives us a little room to play with the radiator, but not much. At the moment the radiator is 1.25" thick and 24" long. We could just about manage a 1.75" thick, 26" long, 12.5" high radiator but anything more than that doesn't give us enough room. If the intercoooler moved forward (like some might think of doing) then too much would have to be cut out of the front bumper. Going to have to look for custom options for the radiator in time, but I'll see how this one goes for now.

The front crossmember has also taken an impressive hit too at some point! Will take pics later but we are thinking of 3 options with it (going from cheapest up)
1. Leave it as it is.
2. Weld a plate over the front and top of the crossmember.
3. Get a whole new crossmember made and welded in.

Will have to think about that one as it's even more expense.

[EV0300]

that intercooler is intruiging. very different from anything ive ever seen.

[evo-gsr]

Seeing the grinder in action like that- definitely shows you mean business . This should be a very interesting build.