There have been some big changes since I last updated my project...
...Expensive changes...
... But, as promised, great value for money changes!
Last year I had a big setback - a big expensive setback. The knock sensor on the car developed a fault. It still registered knock (meaning no error was flagged by the ECU, hence I never knew about it), but now it registered knock that didn't exist. Meaning that during a dyno power run it decided there was det going on, the ECU drastically retarded the ignition - just at the point where the ignition was already at it's most retarded and the combustion chamber temperature sky-rocketed (though, interestingly, not the EGT, All resulting in an impressive 'BANG' as the head gasket's no.4 fire ring blew out of the block and this happened to the pistons. Ironic, an engine safety device destroyed my engine
Engine buildWossner pistons are evidently tough cookies; stock Coupe pistons would have fallen apart and wrecked the block under the same circumstances:
I fitted a new set of forged pistons and carried on. Voodoo Tuning keeps me very busy these days so it took me months in between tuning customers cars to work out what was causing the problem with my Coupe.
I finally nailed it but I wasn't happy with it. Bore No.3 was still just within spec. but the piston still slapped when cold . So early this year I decided to buy ANOTHER new set of pistons (yeah that's 3 sets of forged pistons), oversized. Drop the whole engine and build it bigger, better - and more expensive. Afterall, it's only even more money I don't have lol.
Engine out:
Bores bored out and honed, deck face skimmed flat for head gasket.
Washed block
Had some spare time at one point waiting for something-or-other, so I used it to paint the block. Aah pretty!
Gearbox was caked in grease
Degreased 'box
Most people, when rebuilding an Fiat/Lancia engine fit a Spesso 1.9mm racing head gasket because, well, that's everyone else does! There's nothing wrong with that, Spesso racing gaskets are well proven. But time moves on and technology improves, plus I don't like to follow the herd just for the sake of following. So I decided to try a multi-layer steel (MLS) gasket. This seem to be becoming the industry standard in oe cars (Jap cars have been using them for years) and they're also becoming very popular in the high-performance tuning world too.
Another feature of MLS gaskets - and one very important to me - is that they come in a relatively large range of thicknesses; Cometic do something like 5 or 6 thicknesses. This meant I could actually choose a gasket to give me a compression ratio and squish height of my choosing; Compression ratio affects off-boost performance, so I like to keep it close to stock 8:1 as possible. Squish height is crucial for det resistance; widening the squish height can decrease an engine's resistance to detonation. Definitely not a good thing...
However, you can't just slap on an MLS gasket and go, The block and head mating faces have to be machined completely flat and to a roughness level smoother than what you could get away with when fitting a conventianal fibre gasket.
To work out squish height and compression ratio, you need to measure the volume of the piston dish and the volume of the combustion chamber by "cc'ing".
You also need to measure the deck height - the height the piston stick out of the block. All this measuring is VERY time consuming, but it's gotta be done if you wanna do it right.
Oh and before some eagle-eyed so-and-so points out that I should be measuing deck height along the gudgeon pin centre-line, I just put the dial gauge in that position to take a picture!
Then you can select the right head gasket. In this case 1.6mm
Steel H-beam conrods
Spot what's wrong with this pistons and win...
...absolutely nothing!
Old main bearings were surprisingly worn after 3 years.
So replaced with new. I also polished the crank journals. I didn't take any photos, but I used a similar method to the one in this photo:
I had removed the aircon radiator a long time ago. Now that the engine was out it was a good oppotunity to remove the pump and the rest of the aircon apparatus. Afterall, with England's lousy weather I can count the number of times I've needed aircon on two fingers! I haven't gotten round to weighing the aircon stuff but it must weigh around 10kg.
On the 16VT the aircon pump is belt driven from the crank and in turn the PAS pump is belt driven from the aircon pump. So you can't just remove the aircon. Fortunately it turns out that Fiat cleverly made the pump mounting bracket in such a way that the same bracket could be used for aircon and non-aircon 16VTs. So all I had to do was move the PAS pump to the correct mounting point and space out the pulley.
washers to space out the pulley (taped together for ease of fitting)
The engine mount rubbers were cracked. I wanted to replace the mounts but it seems it's impossible to get them - even from Fiat. So I tried filling them with PU body adhesive. I didn't fill the mounts right up because I still wanted some give. Don't know how well this will work long-term but it's worth trying since there's no alternative.
A couple of people had recommended to me that a good way to increase clamping load on the clutch is to machine down the flywheel where it mounts the clutch. So I got this done.
So a month later and the engine is back under the bonnet. Time to tune...
TuningTurbo
My old home-built T3/T04E turbo had proved itself tough and very capable. I had gone all the way from 220 bhp @ 0.8 bar. to 320 bhp @ 1.3 bar with this turbo. I had upgraded the turbo several times: 44-trim T04E comp, 360 deg thrust bearing and staggered-gap oil seal, .63 a/r hot-side, finally external wastegate.
Now it was time for a change. Turbonetics T3/T04E, 50 trim comp, .63 a/r hot side, st.3 wheel (Turbonetics wheel stages are different specs to Garrett wheel stages, nonetheless st.3 is bigger that st.1). I couldn't afford anything fancy like a billet comp wheel or ball bearing CHRA, but at least the turbine is Turbonetics' modern 'F1' wheel. Stll, awesome turbo. Spools fast and hard and makes big power.
Turbonetics comp vs Garrett comp
Turbonetics st.3 wheel vs Garrett st.1 Note the 3" V-band adaptor on the T.netics.
I previously had a Demon Motorsport 38mm external wastegate. Definitely one of the better makes (there's some real cheap shite out there), but still not quite good enough: After 1 year it developed a leak at the hosetail. So I bought a new one. Unfortunately this one had an incurable leak through the diaghragm.
So I finally sacked it off. Shame because I really like the unique adjustable spring-rate design. I replaced it with this:
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Certainly looks better quality. I also like the fact it comes with everything - even the full range of springs - other brands make you buy springs and fittings seperately. It certainly works brilliantly - even with no boost control at all. Time will tell how well it lasts
Cams
Anyone who followed my previous project thread will know I've been running a Tipo 16V 5-door inlet cam for some time. On stock cam timing this cam setup wasn't so hot, good torque but limited to 280 bhp @ 5500 rpm. However it was okay when the cams were timed correctly; On the old turbo I made 320 bhp @ 6200 rpm. The limiting factor was the stock 16VT exhaust cam. It's little more than a bumpy stick and it limited how far I could swing the cams. So out went the exhaust cam and in went the 16VT inlet cam in it's place, with a slot machined in the end to drive the cam phase sensor. The 16VT inlet cam has much more lift and duration than the 16VT exhaust. This allowed my to run the lobe seperation (the spread between cam lobes) I wanted in order to make good torque AND power.
Intercooler
The old front-mount was very good and fitted nicely behind the bumper, but effiency began to drop by 320 bhp. So I bought an aftermarket Mitsubishi Evo I/C from a Coupe owner up the road from me. Man, these things do NOT fit easily!
The easiest thing to do would have been to hack everything out the back of the bumper, but I wanted it to look as subtle as possible. So I spent hours cutting away the bumper bit-by-bit until the I/C fitted - just!
It's important to listen to old-skool D&B whilst building fast cars:
VIDEO Fuel Pump
Now the engine was working at peak performance, it was showing the limitation in the fuel system. I already had a 255 lph fuel pump and direct power feed, but it wasn't enough. I supplimented the pump with a second 255lph pump running in parallel, but it still wasn't enough. Two 255 lph pumps should flow enough liquid to dowse a house fire. So why wasn't it flowing enough fuel?
Time to look at the rest of the fuel system. I replaced the replaced the 6mm fuel pipe with 8mm fuel hose (plus fitted a fuel filter with hose tails instead of unions, for ease of fitting). 6mm to 8mm might not seem much but it represents a 56% increase in volume. I also replaced the plastic concertina hose in the fuel pump hanger with 8mm hose. Lo behold it worked - significantly improved fuel flow. Seems the stock fuel system is terribly restrictive.
I'm sure the 20VTs must have exactly the same fuel system. I'm interested to know if anyone else running around 400 bhp has found the fuel system to be restrictive. Let me know.
[will ad a pic of the fuel tank-to-hose adaptor]
Time to hit the dyno... The result: 403 bhp and 385 lbs ft.
The spec in full:
*Wossner forged 84.4mm pistons
*Forged conrods
*1.6mm MLS head gasket. Chosen for 8.0 CR and <1mm squish height
*Tipo 16V 5-door inlet cam, Coupe 16VT inlet cam (on exhaust)
*Voodoo Tuning adjustable cam pulleys
*uprated head bolts
*Tubular exhaust manifold
*Turbonetics T3/T04E 50-trim comp, st. 3 wheel, journal bearing
*Precision Turbo 39mm external wastegate
*screamer pipe
*3" downpipe custom-made (by me!)
*2.5" decat
*2.5" stainless mandel-bend exhaust system
*Siemens Deka 660cc fuel injectors
*Dual 255 lph fuel pumps
*8mm i'd fuel hose
*adjustable FPR @ 4 bar
*CG Motorsport 6-paddle clutch
*lightened + balanced flywheel, modified for extra clutch clamping force
*Weber Marelli 3 bar MAP sensor
*Stock Weber Marelli P8 ECU
*Voodoo Tuning Live map (Obviously!)
If I'm not mistaken this makes my Coupe the most powerful 16VT on the stock Weber Marelli ECU in the UK
It's not all about peak figures on the dyno though. On the road, off-boost performance is great; crisp acceleration even from low revs and tractable off idle. the old school turbo reaches full boost at 5000 rpm, but starts making boost from 3500 rpm. Then there's full throttle... Absolute beast. Torque steer? Put it this way, you don't floor it whilst holding the wheel one-handed - unless you REALLY like ditches.
My wife hates it when I floor it!
CLICK 25 psi + loose boost hose = fail. The scraping sound near the end is the undertray dragging on the ground after the boost hose blew it off the car
CLICK 30 mins later, That's better!
CLICK I won't lie; owning one of the UK's most powerful 16VTs that I built and tuned myself is a nice feeling
However this definitely isn't the most important thing for me - far from it. The important thing for me is the huge amount of knowledge and experience I've gained over the years.
This experience has allowed me to give help and advice to other people with their own projects. It's also nice to hear from people that reading my project thread has helped them with their own projects.
Not to mention, I've been able to develop new products from doing this project.
Voodoo Tuning (VT) T34 turbo upgrade
VT adjustable cam pulleys
VT downpipes
I've been able to use the skills gained from tuning my own Coupe for tuning customer's car's, not just Coupe's but other makes like Alfas and even Ford Cosworths.
Most of all it's allowed me to carry on doing what I love, making cars go faster!
Like I said, owning a fast car isn't the important thing for me. The thing I'd love to do next is build and tune an even more powerful engine for someone else. So who's up for it?
. Actually it wasn’t the plastic end tanks – The diesel lorries it came from runs much more boost than the average petrol car – it was actually my ‘clever’ outlet mod. I think with 15 mins of hard running the thermoplastic tank softened enough to make the Quick Steel loose its grip.
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