Originally posted by bmwguru: We don't mind doing the custom welding of parts, but from here on we will be sticking to 3800 swaps only and possibly TDI swaps once our test car is complete. Dave
That's fine with me. I will be doing the actual swap myself. The intake is something I want to look like it rolled off the line, though, as it will be one of the most visible pieces on the car; and my welding skills may not be up to par with that yet. So I'd like to see some more detail on the welding of the throttle neck here, to see how good it really is, because it looks pretty good in the current pics. And if I decide to go that route with the intake, and you'd still be interested in doing it, when I get to that point, I might just send the intake up with some drawings of what I'd want, and have you do the cutting/welding, and powdercoat it for me. Thanks!
mptighe
APR 22, 03:34 PM
quote
Originally posted by ALLTRBO:
Thanks. There are a lot of updates to post now, gimme a little time until I have a chance to post them.
So, when are you going to get your car? It sounds like it's done, or is it having more stuff done to it?
ALLTRBO
APR 22, 04:28 PM
Okay,
Good news: It's coming home next Saturday! (Apr 30th)
Bad news: It'll be on a trailer.
I've really got to get back to work, details later.
mptighe
APR 22, 04:47 PM
quote
Originally posted by ALLTRBO:
Okay,
Good news: It's coming home next Saturday! (Apr 30th)
Bad news: It'll be on a trailer.
I've really got to get back to work, details later.
Well, I guess congratulations and condolences are both in order then. Keep us posted. Your car is definitely one of a kind.
ALLTRBO
APR 22, 07:05 PM
I'll keep this short for now, there are a lot more details but I've got a lot to take care of at the moment (It's been one helluva month).
What Dave originally thought was a lifter tick is apparently a valve tap, and he thinks the cause is a worn cam. I'm going to deal with it here whether it's a relatively easy fix or the whole shortblock needs replaced, I'm going to build one anyway. I really wanted to drive it home (since two years ago) but stuff happens. Other than that he says the engine runs a lot better now, my tune was fine (enough), the problem was a bad TPS. The tranny won't shift into first at all anymore, even at the linkage. It shifted through all the gears fine when it was here (at the linkage), so I don't know what happened.
At least this time it will move off of the trailer and stop under its own power. Bittersweet homecoming, but the project as a whole isn't even close to being done yet so it's not the end of the world. I have a lot of great things planned and in the works for the car, most of which I haven't mentioned yet. First priority is to get it running properly.
I'll cut anyone on here a great deal on one or both of my AWD turbo Talons, I still have them and I need the room. The Fiero will get all of the attention now. '96 TSi AWD, 11-second car on race gas and handles amazingly, tons of mods. Needs lots and lots of TLC. Great car to strip and turn into a racecar. '98 TSi AWD, nearly bone stock and in quite nice condition, but needs an engine because it has a rod knock. Beautiful car. I have a 30k mile 2.4l to upgrade to that I'll throw in if wanted. Shoot me an offer for either or both, whatever it is, the worst I'll say is no.
joshua riedl
APR 22, 07:42 PM
What was the solution with the failed lifter earlier in the thread? I ask because I tried the upgraded lifter springs in my 3900 and they didn't work out. Had to return to stock.
ALLTRBO
MAY 01, 04:02 PM
Joshua, the lifters were replaced with new stock replacements from Crower, or Crane, or Comp, I forget.
Now... oh boy, where to start. Stand by, this update is going to take a while to post.
ALLTRBO
MAY 01, 06:52 PM
So here's the rundown. I have my car back, and I have a lot of work ahead of me to get it going.
I'm going to try to post only facts here, accompanied by pics and videos where applicable.
Dave mentioned in his final update that he had decided to mount my alternator up high, and until it was already done, I had no idea and believed he had worked out the lower mount based on what little info I had. I'm not happy with it there, it causes several issues. Those aside, the lack of communication with me hasn't sat well and I have said as much to him. He has said that usually his only questions for customers are: automatic or manual? usage of vehicle? color scheme of engine? and how much money do they want to spend? That's fine, but I made it clear from the beginning that I wanted to have a full part in the design of this build and understood that not everything can go perfectly according to plan, but that compromises need to be discussed with me. That didn't happen this time (or some other times that I let go).
He has said that the alternator wouldn't clear the exhaust logs while clearing everything else at the same time. If he had kept to my original design for the exhaust manifolds (shown earlier in this thread) there would have been more room down there. I'm not sure whether or not it would have been enough more, but definitely more. I specified in my original requirements document, that I sent before any work had started, that the alternator location needed to be mounted in the area of the stock alternator, that is, down low. I also drew up my exhaust manifold design and included pipe sizes long before he got that far. Because everything was specified in the beginning, the setup could have been mocked up and measured for clearance before fabrication started. I also specified that I did not want the decklid to be notched. On the turbo side we had both decided that there was no other way, but now both sides are notched and I didn't get any say in the matter. He did take off the cost of the failed low-mount alternator bracket attempts.
Here are the issues that I need to address with the alternator having been mounted up high: * I will need to reinforce the decklid as simply filling in the space in the notches won't provide additional strength, but it's been done. Struts would help, as when the decklid is closed they push rearward on the decklid and not upward like the factory torsion rods. It's when it is closed and thermally cycling that I'm concerned with, not when it's open. * The alternator will need to have another heat shield made either way, but there is a strong chance that it'll fail up there, because while it may not be as close to the manifold, heat rises and collects in that location because there isn't nearly as much airflow as there is at the bottom of the engine bay, and that's one of the reasons why the low-mount was a requirement of mine. These exhaust logs and the Y-pipe will glow bright red in certain conditions (even through the ceramic), they can get up to 1600 degrees or so. * The dogbone location worries me for this reason because it looks like from the pictures that it's much closer to that heat now. I don't know exactly what type of polyurethane Rodney uses for his dogbones, but typically it's only rated to withstand up to 250 degrees. It looks like the alternator wires will have the same problem (among a few other things). Dave did mount a heat shield above the rear bank log and that will help a bit, but I still need to make up more (I did plan on doing that anyway). * I've 'heard' that the middle of the trunk is not a good place to put a dogbone for reasons of structural integrity, but with all poly mounts I don't know that it'll be a problem (it isn't a torque-monster V8, afterall). * The other side of the dogbone has a bracket welded to the turbine support bracket. These two should be isolated from each other because the engine moves independently from the engine bay, but not from the turbo. It can cause the exhaust pipes to crack.
(All pics and video in this post are of the car exactly as I received it, just to clarify.)
As mentioned previously, Dave originally thought there was a lifter tick and that it would go away with some RPM's. It didn't, so he revised the diagnosis to a valve tap, and thinks the cam wiped a lobe or several, backing up the thought with the fact that the original timing chain was very worn. I don't think it has a bad cam, but it sounded like a possibility to me. I hadn't known this when the oil was put into the engine, but all current oils lack enough zinc to lubricate the flat-tappet cams in most older engines. This applies to full synthetics as well, they apparently still don't have the proper lubrication required. Some time in the last few year the EPA limited the use of zinc in oils, but you can get racing oil that still has the right formulation. This has been a cause of many flat-tappet cam failures in the last few years. However, I don't think the engine has run long enough for that to matter yet. I asked Dave to diagnose the tapping for me (if it didn't require tearing down the engine), and I asked if he was sure it couldn't have been the pushrod lengths. He checked the valve lash on the rear bank, and got varying results from .003" to .040". At that point I just asked him to tow it back home to me.
Obviously something is a bit off if they aren't all identical, but as I've tried to explain to Dave to no avail (he doesn't believe me), there should be NO valve lash in this engine. The hydraulic lifters take up all of the slack and should have a factory preload of about .070-085", that is, the pushrods should be pressed down into the lifter by about .075" while on the base circle of the cam, and the lifters' internal springs should press back keeping the pushrods pressed against the rockers, which in-turn press against the valves. At no point should there be any slack in the valvetrain. If Dave didn't take this into account when measuring the pushrod lengths, then the custom length pushrods are too short (and custom length pushrods aren't cheap), that would explain the clickity-clack of what sounds like just about every valve/lifter in there. Unfortunately you can't just adjust the rockers to take up the slack like you can in most other pushrod engines because these are pedestal-mounted rockers, meaning they're torqued down solid and non-adjustable.
Dave, Joey, and family kindly towed my car back for me at the cost of gas and tolls only, which is appreciated. I spent the better part of the weekend going over the car and coming up with a list of things I need to address, some of which I just went over, others of which I will follow up on in the next post...
ALLTRBO
MAY 01, 07:23 PM
The trans won't go into first as I said before, but all the other gears seem fine. Hopefully it will be a relatively simple fix once the cradle is out.
Here's something I'm sorely upset about. I thought it strange and worrisome when I didn't hear the distinct sound of the turbine through the exhaust, so I checked the turbo. I cannot say what caused my turbo to go bad, but when it left here nearly two years ago it spun just fine (very freely that is). There are several reasons that would cause it to drag, but the painful fact is that my never-used $850 turbo now needs a rebuild. Again, I'm not blaming anybody because there are a couple reasons it could have gone bad and I just don't know. I haven't checked the oil flow to the turbo yet, if it's restricted or non-existent than that would do it.
Sorry the video quality is less than ideal and you might not even be able to see the wheel when viewing on darker monitors. I had to use the mirror because of the location. What the video shows is that the compressor wheel is not moving at idle and starts to spin up a little when revved, but then stops abruptly when it settles back to idle. The thing should be spinning very steadily and easily at idle, and should never, ever, come to an abrupt stop. When spun with my fingers it should go and go and eventually come to a stop progressively. This is how it was when it left here (my wife concurs, I showed it to her and she thought it cool that it spins so precisely, even with just the protective oil). So at this point, I have a bad engine, a bad transmission, and a bad turbo. This is a real de-motivator, but it won't stop me because I'm more motivated than ever.
More coming...
[This message has been edited by ALLTRBO (edited 05-01-2011).]
ALLTRBO
MAY 01, 08:58 PM
Here are the rest of the pics that I took this weekend (to clarify again, the car is just as I had received it yesterday morning). Some are random, some show issues, none in a particular order. I'm too tired to try to sort through them. Most of the pics speak for themselves, but I'll explain a couple.
Here is the coilpack cover that Dave made. It is attached with two bolts to the firewall and nothing else. It flops up and down and the edge catches on the wiring loom and the vacuum hose:
I don't remember what this connector went to, but I imagine it isn't used anymore. The loom is actually single ended, it just doesn't look like it in the pic. The wire is not tied into the harness by about two feet, so it might supposed to go somewhere.
I think this is where the factory dogbone bracket was. You can't tell from the pic, but the edge that looks blunt is actually razor sharp, I cut myself on it. It's a good thing I wasn't putting my hand down there with my wrist exposed! The upper edge that's nearer in the pic is also pretty sharp.
The brand-new wastegate was supposed to come with its own matching fittings which are a much better design. When I saw that Dave had charged me for wastegate fittings I asked about these, and he said it didn't come with any. I said I wasn't worried about the $10, but he should ask the person he ordered the wastegate from what was up with that because I checked the Tial website and they still show them as being included (as were they with my Talon's identical WG several years back), when he didn't reply to that I forgot about it until now:
(Note the lock washer):
The muffler, which can be seen between the trunk wall and heat shield, has about 1/4" of clearance to the bottom of the trunk, and carpet is just on the other side of that thin sheetmetal. Instead of asking for the muffler to be as high and far forward as possible, I guess I should have asked for it to be as high and far forward as feasible. I didn't get a good pic of it, but the downpipe coming off of the turbo has about the same clearance to the trunk wall. That part will glow red when I push it, and there isn't even enough room to put a heat shield in between. A slightly sharper bend would have given that enough clearance to use a good heat shield.
Reverse view of the same thing (muffler clearance):
Using black wires for both hot and ground is a serious safety issue at my job, and I don't consider it any less serious here.
Bittersweet homecoming, but the project as a whole isn't even close to being done yet so it's not the end of the world. I have a lot of great things planned and in the works for the car, most of which I haven't mentioned yet. 
