Rev 3 gts project.

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GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

After years of ownership I felt it was finally time to create a build thread to share where my projects been and hopefully the direction it's going.

Starting at the begin I purchased the car back in January 2010, incidentally I found the for sale ad saved in my favourites so shows what it started life as under my ownership.

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=127718

It was a totally different car to my previous vehicles (ek4 vti, starlet ep82 gt turbo being picks of the bunch) but thoroughly enjoyable and being only 20 when I purchased it was the only turbo'd rear wheel drive car I could affordable insure. It only began as a stepping stone to another car (evo vi
, s15 etc) but I couldn't imagine selling it, so inevitably I soon felt the urge for more power, and visually make it my own.

First off I purchased:

Ebc yellow pads all round
Drilled/ grooved discs
New front tyres
Seibon carbon bonnet.
Hks ssqv

The car as it stood:
Image

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I drove it at this point for about 18 months, saving money for the big spend, with the goal of a safe 400hp.

First purchases toward the rebuild was a gt3076r kit with spearco chargecooler off this forum. (The turbo ended up being shagged and it was an expensive lesson learnt). The rest of the kit eventually all got sold off individually as (under the advice of James at JDmodified) I decided the chargecooler was a bit excessive for my goals.

This didn't deter me, just made me realise purchasing brand new parts was the way to go on the larger/ more expensive items, regardless of potential savings by going second hand.

Eventually I purchased everything required for the engine rebuild and I booked it in at local garage on the Isle of Wight (specialises in rally cars/ rebuilds). Sadly it took far longer than initially quoted and at a greater cost but they say quality makes its own time (time being over a year just for the engine).
The engine spec:
CP 86.5mm 9.0:1 pistons
Eagle H beam rods
Cometic 1.4mm head gasket
Full toyota engine gasket set
Toyota hydraulic cambelt tensioner
Toyota water pump
Toyota oil pump
Hks 264 inlet and exhaust cams
Hks adjustable vernier pulleys
Arp main studs
Arp head studs
Clevite race bearings - thrust washers
Clevite 77 big end bearings
Clevite main bearing kit
NKG cold grade spark plugs

Whilst the engine was out I also had an act 4 puck 500lbft clutch, fidanza lightened flywheel and arp flywheel bolts installed.

Image
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Whilst the engine was getting built I had plenty of time to save for and buy the majority of the remaining bits.
I purchased a boot mounted fuel system off someone on here thinking it was relatively inexpensive so what could go wrong. Luckily I didn't have a repeat bad experience with second hand parts and it was all spot on.

It consisted of the follow:
Bosch 040 fuel pump
Custom swirl pot
Inline fuel filter
Tomie fpr
High pressure rubber injection hoses
Mounting plate

On receiving the fuel system I did notice the mounting plate was steel sheet which was heavy and would have required quite a few mounting positions to remove any possible deflection as there were no return flanges along any of the edges, so I decided to make up a thicker aluminium plate (after calculating weight implications, and deflection values) and made a minor saving in weight but with a far more substantial install.

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This was installed into the boot by mounting anchor nuts in the main beams. And once installed fit snug to one side of the boot and allowed me to retain the aerial.

I also purchased a set of Defi gauges (boost, water temp, oil temp and oil pressure) and the control unit.

I initially fabricated a passenger side dash mounted pod but upon reflection it positioned them too far out of my field of view to make quick checks possible whilst driving so an up coming project is to produce a centre console dash mount.

This is a picture of the first holder, this one subsequently cracked as I bonded it using structural adhesive rather than welding as I didn't want to have to dress out the distortion, the second attempt was welded but the finish wasn't as precise (as anticipated)

Image

Final list of items that got purchased were:
Sard 800cc injectors
Brand new Garrett gt3076r 0.63ar
Braided oil lines
Tial 46mm wastegate
Fujitsubo legalis r back box (off imoc)
AVT 26' x 7' x 2 ' aluminium radiator (for chargecooler system)
AVT 12v pump
TRD short shifter
Personal neo grinta steering wheel
Walbro 255lph intank fuel pump
Ko racing engine lid fan kit

The plan had been to run the engine in with stock fuelling, turbo etc but due to the time taken to rebuild the engine it ran out of mot and the fact it wouldn't idle I decided to take it straight to the guys at JDmodified to get the final items installed mapped and mot done all at the same time, then run it in.

Upon arrival they sorted the idle issue, which was caused by incorrectly dialled in cams (although installed to Hks specification the install data sheet does come with the line stating 'individual adjustment may be required to suit engine' or something similar) and a tps issue, they gave the engine a compression and leak test which proved the engine was healthy and ready for the next stage.

I had always wanted a link g4 storm ecu which JDmodified ordered for me, along with fabricating a custom exhaust manifold, down pipe, screamer pipe and charge pipes to suit the turbo/ chargecooler installs (chargecooler core was a JDmodified supplied unit).

With the initial plan of using the huge spearco chargecooler core I had purchased originally the engine bay was laid out to position the core on the passenger side of the engine bay where the standard air filter is located, with this it made sense to mount the turbo to allow the air filter to be positioned in the now empty stock intercooler location. It was James at JDm who suggested the idea and it was an original idea I hadn't seen on an mr2 so happily supported the pursuit of testing limits etc.
It was proving uneconomical to install the huge core given the goals of my build and it was at this point the smaller JDm core was decided to be used.

The car was then mapped and mot'd. The result of this first (and currently only) mapping session was 382.9bhp (flywheel) and 300lbft this was at 1.2bar and without any adjustment of cam timing. It was decided to leave it at that and let me acclimatise to the car and finish running it in.

With the car back (autumn 2013) I was then frustrated by winter weather and didn't get too many miles on the clock until 2014 began, and then the what felt like months of rain through jan and feb meant drives were limited.

This just meant I got on with the little jobs I wanted to accomplish, which were to install:
blue integra dc5 recaros
steering wheel
Trd shirt shifter
Plumb in the Defi gauges
Heat wrap the back box pipes (shamefully an aesthetic's driven decision)
Heat wrap charge pipes (I found the engine ambient hot air was heating the pipes as they ran over the engine so hoped the wrap would create a Barrier to stop this heat soak)
Freshly polished rear lights (currently were tinted ones that came on the car)
Clear side lights (currently tinted that came with car)

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But then the weather brightened up and I've been out in it plenty in the last few months and love the way it pulls and the amount of traction it has (rear tyres are only 225's) , the sound with the reverse mounted turbo just behind your head is incredible, it's all turbo spool and screamer pipe as the legalis r is a very quite/ civilised back box.

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This brings the story up to present with my most recent modification being alacantra door cards and re conditioning some cusco strut braces. (Pics to follow)

The future plans going forward are to wide body/ arch it, I'm still undecided whether to go with ab flug arches or fabricate my own composite or metallic over fenders, get some wider wheels to suit (most likely some rota grid drifts or something similar), remove orange toblerone's and a remap to tweak and extract a few more hp.

Hope you've not got bored and drifted off by this point, all comments/ opinions to advise and help progress would be appreciated.
JD
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Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by JD »

Very nice, very thorough. I enjoyed reading that :thumleft:

2p: If you're going to put that much time, money, and effort into a car though, don't give it Rotas! Plenty of nice wheels on the used market + a refurb from Cardhore James.
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JAAASH
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Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by JAAASH »

Nice read. But where are the engine bay shots?? :lol:
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GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

JD wrote:Very nice, very thorough. I enjoyed reading that :thumleft:

2p: If you're going to put that much time, money, and effort into a car though, don't give it Rotas! Plenty of nice wheels on the used market + a refurb from Cardhore James.


Thanks.

I totally agree, and my ultimate wheel choice would be some te37 sl's 17 x 9.5 et12 on the rear and 17x9 et 22 on the front (closest to my desired fit they offer) as I intend the over fenders/ arches to be approx. 30mm wider than stock. But those wheels cost $750 each without tyres and before import postage etc.

The rotas are just the cheapest visual alternative I have found. But am totally open to suggestions, not much of a 'wheel connessuer' so am probably going from one extreme to the other without finding a middle man. I'm not necessarily going for that exact style either, just want those widths and a fair amount of dish and spoke camber for a more agressive look.
GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

simba90 wrote:Nice read. But where are the engine bay shots?? :lol:


Cheers, The engine bay is a sight for sore eyes at the moment. Needs more tidying up but I'll post a pick this weekend to hopefully show a comparison when I finally get round to sorting it out.
GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

Got out in the car loads this weekend thanks to the weather and took a pic of the engine bay whilst at it
Image

We're currently renting a place down an unmade road so the amount of dust is unstoppable, I wasted hours cleaning a few weeks ago and it's all been undone :(
GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

In terms of engine bay need to remake a more attractive heat shield.

What's people's opinions is containment of heat a better approach or effectively disipate heat aka heat sink style?
ashley
Posts: 7628
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 8:08 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by ashley »

Great looking car mate :thumleft:

My opinion- heat deflection is the way to go, heat sinking will ultimately keep heat in the engine bay and lead to engine heat soak :thumleft:

Was surprised you went with a walbro in tank fuel pump as well as an external pump- if the in tank pump is just lifting to a swirl pot, with no regulator, then the stock pump is more than up to the job. That said, you certainly won't ever run dry!! Enjoyed the write up- looking forwards to reading more 8)
gnzyza
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Location: Gloucester

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by gnzyza »

Nice car and enjoyed reading, bet it goes some now.
craig
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Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2004 3:44 am

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by craig »

Nice car mate, only things I would say is, to lose the Tom's scoop and align the headlight lids.

Just my 2p. Enjoy.

:thumleft:
GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

ashley wrote:Great looking car mate :thumleft:

My opinion- heat deflection is the way to go, heat sinking will ultimately keep heat in the engine bay and lead to engine heat soak :thumleft:

Was surprised you went with a walbro in tank fuel pump as well as an external pump- if the in tank pump is just lifting to a swirl pot, with no regulator, then the stock pump is more than up to the job. That said, you certainly won't ever run dry!! Enjoyed the write up- looking forwards to reading more 8)


Cheers, I'll make up a new sheet metal heat shield then. Need to tie it into the bulkhead as the current one vibrates against the manifold once everything is hot.

In regards to fuel pumps I originally planned just running an intank which I purchased first, but after reading too much online convinced myself that with the goal of using it for track days a swirl pot was the way to go and with the walbro already bought figured chuck it in anyway.
GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

gnzyza wrote:Nice car and enjoyed reading, bet it goes some now.


Thanks, yeh it goes well enough (for now) just need to smooth things out and enjoy :)
GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

RedMR² wrote:Nice car mate, only things I would say is, to lose the Tom's scoop and align the headlight lids.

Just my 2p. Enjoy.

:thumleft:


Cheers, it is a bit shameful but I like the look of the toms scoop at least until I achieve my final visual dreams, but it is undoubtably a total waste of time in terms of performance given it's just feeding the top face of the chargecooler core.
Headlights definitely need aligning all I can see in the pictures is how the headlight ruins the front end. Will have to look into how they adjust and give them a tweak.
Magic Beans
Posts: 4789
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:01 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by Magic Beans »

Nice car and liking your approach :thumleft:

Interested to see how it all progresses :)
GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

Magic Beans wrote:Nice car and liking your approach :thumleft:

Interested to see how it all progresses :)


Thanks :thumleft:

A question for all with experience, what are opinions on raising the stock rev limit on a build like this? After driving more frequently I feel I'm wasting too much time changing gear when the car quite frankly would love to keep going.
GeorgeL
Posts: 767
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2011 4:17 pm
Location: Glasgow

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GeorgeL »

Real nice looking car you have there.. Had a sneaky read of this earlier at work but never got the chance to post. Great spec aswell! I bet it drives really nice on both road and for track...

With regards to the rev limit question.

What valve springs do you have in there?
GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

GeorgeL wrote:Real nice looking car you have there.. Had a sneaky read of this earlier at work but never got the chance to post. Great spec aswell! I bet it drives really nice on both road and for track...

With regards to the rev limit question.

What valve springs do you have in there?


Cheers, yeh it drives well just needs a few tweaks to get it spot on (in terms of engine) then can be taken on a track day or 2 :)

I left the stock valve springs in there under the advice of the engine builder, claiming cost etc didn't outlay enough benefit for what I wanted to achieve, another 1000rpm would be perfect in terms of driveability imo.
GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

Long time since my last post, life has been busy/ draining without trying to get stuck into the car.

I have however finally fabricated a new heat shield (pics to follow).

I have had a problem though. Was out for a drive the other week early morning so lights were on, it then started to spit with rain so I turned the wipers on. The result of doing this plus the fans, pumps, gauges etc meant the car eventually shut off due to loss of electricity.

The car since then has ran fine and the battery recharged on its own. This rules out an alternator issue and to me ultimately means one of two things (not being an electrics guru) the battery isn't large enough or the alternator can't keep up with the demand when everything electrical is on....
I would have thought battery capacity would be a preventative and not a fix of the issue though as it would just prolong the time until it drained?

Has anybody else experienced this or got a fix?

Cheers
Matt
markstevieandmads
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Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by markstevieandmads »

Id say battery not holding enough charge to keep it all going. I would replace battery first then alternator if that doesnt cure it.

Also redo the leads to the battery as these can crack and fail over time so could cause a problem under a large load.
GTMatt
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 5:26 pm

Re: Rev 3 gts project.

Post by GTMatt »

markstevieandmads wrote:Id say battery not holding enough charge to keep it all going. I would replace battery first then alternator if that doesnt cure it.

Also redo the leads to the battery as these can crack and fail over time so could cause a problem under a large load.


I suppose first thing to do is check the charge of the battery and the output of the alternator on idle, and if anything is reading wrong it's a starting point.

I'll check the leads to the battery when I'm next working on the car see if they're the cause.
Thanks
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