Not the best news i could have hoped for but Vince has been so helpful (he even offered me a lift to the train station so i could get back to london!) I was tempted to trailer the car back to london and do the work myself but tbh, i've never actually messed with the internals of the engine before so at least with stealth swapping the engine i know its going to be spot on. He's going to shorten the conrods on the new one to lower the c/r whearas before, turbo technics had skimmed the piston crowns ( ) so it should be stronger than before. I've just got to wait about 3 to 4 weeks now as they're off for the first two weeks of july and have a few conversions after that then i should be able to pick it up
I'd heard about TT doing both, and having probs with both - either rebushing the wee ends (though Vince may be boring the big ends) or skimming the pistons. TBH skimming the pistons is the last thing I would want to do on a n/a engine converted to forced induction - getting a bit too close to the ring lands, I would think?
Vince will be machining the small ends to lower the c/r. Apparently TT used to skim the crowns by about 0.5mm and machine the small ends 1mm. Considering the full 1.5 can be taken off the small ends i don't really know why they would do this. Turbo + Weakened pistons =
Nasy news! I fitted 2 G60 gaskets and ARP stud kit to mine (equivilent of dropping piston top 1.5mm) and it`s held up fine for a year or more (1 bar of boost).
I'm starting to consider trying to get hold of some S2 forged pistons. Am i right to believe that these would lower the c/r to 8:5:1? If so is this appropriate?
I'd assume the 20vt pistons would be a direct swap when using the matching rods(incase the small end is different), and yes, the S3 and TT pistons are forged and come inthe standard size to fit you block. Or, you can use a thicker, metal/fibre gasket that will drop the CR by a point, couple this with 0.5mm off the crown and your onto a winner. I looked into altering the rods in the past. can be done, but is a fiddly job and everything will have to be set perfectly so that the offset bush is in precisly the right place. I know that the machine shop Stealth use are very good to be fair. So what was the outcome of the knock?? Have they found the reason??
Yep going the S2 pistons route now so the engine should be good for a lot more than what i'm throwing at it for the time being.
Sorry to hear about the engine, glad to see youve not been disheartend though, when theyre running right theyre great fun Engine bay looks really nice now ! Any pics of the outside ? Keep up the good work ! Mart
Thanks mate! I love it when things go wrong because it means i can swap them for new better bits! As for the outside: Not a great photo but when i get some decent wheels (pretty soon) i'll post some more up.
Apart from changing the wheels asap and tidying up the bodywork here and there i want to keep the bodywork pretty much standard. I'm loving the 5 door shopping trolley stealth look at the moment
Looking at the picture, just wanted to know how the injectors stay in place without getting blown out as such!! lol
The branches on the lower inlet manifold has been machined flat with the injector housings then drilled and tapped onto it. Got back from holiday today so i'll have the car back by thursday
Right, time for a little update me thinks. Picked the car up from Stealth a couple of weeks ago and have been doing the painfull procedure of running it in. I've done about 400 miles in it so far but i've gotta do 500 to 1000 miles before taking it back for the final setup. After the engine came apart Vince found that one of the big end bearings had gone and had dug into the crank: Also the crankshaft end had also worn where it had been metal filled and machined flat (rubbish photo, woops): Previously the car was running 9psi on second stage boost. It should be running about 12-13 psi now its been turned up so together with the extra fueling i should see a nice healthy gain. Apart from that it's a lot smoother and i got up to 35.5mpg on the motorway the other day!!
Ouch, i bet that big end must have sounded like cloth tearing, lol. Glad it's running again though, what kind of power are you expecting? PS how's the dog?
Hot stuff mate! how I envy you!!! Really want to do mine but not as brave! but after seeing the your before and after shots, my courage is coming back!
Thanks mate! Where abouts in London are you? I've pretty much run the car in now so its booked in at Stealth for a final setup on the 4th october. Vince didnt wack the boost up so its still running 9psi which should be about 190bhp but that still feels pretty brisk! I'm not too sure how much power the extra 4psi would give. Oh yeah and Bundles, my little doggie's still as mad as ever! Hows your monster?
Just a little update because i'm bored It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and i've finally got round to fitting the bits i got. 13 row oil cooler without the thermostat since i've heard a number of times that they arn't that great. Before i put it on the temps were reaching 116 without even ragging it too much. Now they stay between about 96-102 if i really give it some It fits quite well in the bumper Also got a nice little carbon battery cover Thats about it. Just started my full time job after finishing uni so next its brakes, suspension and tidying up the bodywork ready for next years shows
