Project Low Boost - Damn CA

Phinx · Post by **Phinx** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:08 pm

Hi Guys / Gals

I'm starting a new project,My aim is to build a Strong CA18DET at 0.55 bar or 8 Psi boost. I have been working on the project for some time but I have had some really bad news today. But that will follow in later installments.

First off before I start with my idea, I would like to thank Hennie, Vincent and Brenwin (Sokar) for there assistance both with tools and support.
Now down to the project to make impressive power at low boost levels we will have to build the motor very similar to a N/A motor air flow will be the key points on this motor
First off we have to look at the base:

S-13
CA18DET
Year: 1993
KM: 165-000 km

When I received that car the engine was in a sorry state, It was running very rich and on Mineral oil, These problems have been corrected and after a number of engine flush's I got the engine to a state I'm happy with but I have to remember the engine does have a pretty high mileage on it and compression tests don't look to great.
Now that we know the base we are starting with lets proceed to the list of goodies that will increase the power at such low boost levels my car is currently fitted with the basic's

3 inch Exhaust
FMIC
Boost Controller
Cold Air Induction.

These modifications are a good base to start off but we will need more in the department of efficiency and flow.
So this was the list of goodies I came up with:

Tubular Manifold (Increase Flow, lower reversion)
Better Turbo ( More efficient at boost levels)
Down-pipe ( Less back Pressure )
Throttle Body (Increase Air-flow into the intake at higher RPM'S / CA18DET 54mm / SR20DE 60mm)
Cam's ( With increased Lift and slightly longer duration)
Cold Air Intake ( Cooler Denser air)
A-FPR ( Increased Fueling for the increased flow)
Electronic Management ( I will have to look into altering the management but I haven't found a system I will trust yet.)
Oil Cooler ( Safety Equipment / Keep it cool)
Larger Radiator (Cooling)
BOV ( To keep that Turbo moving)

Well this is all fine and well but I need to make these modifications a reality

**** New Manifold/Turbo/Down-pipe ****

Last weekend I installed a Tubular manifold with a more efficient Turbo Charger and Down pipe. All these items where very good quality but there where a few issues, there was some small welding splatter stuck in the manifold that would have broken off over time and destroyed the turbo, the ABS unit needs to be relocated and brake line's moved this is a real pain in the butt also we needed to re-weld the exhaust to match the flange on the new down pipe.

I also Installed a Greedy Recirculation BOV it was a real mission finding flanges and getting it welded, I must thank Hennie for the great turbo and manifold also the technical help

Test fitting on Spare Motor

Installation pictures

New Turbo Charger

New Greedy Recirculation BOV

Final Install

Impressions:

Well in all honesty a huge loss in power, The car feels stronger off boost and on boost it pulls freely but the power feels down along with the 0-100 times.
Now I know I am using the "Butt Dyno" but there is a loss of power I have checked for boost leaks but there are none. The turbo suffers bad drop off from about 8 PSI to about 5 PSI at high RPM's and I am using an electronic boost controller. I am dumb struck on what to test for next.

I also noticed today that the manifold is leaking at the collector nothing major you cant even hear the leak I have attempted to patch this leak, Also another problem with these manifolds is the amount of heat coming off these manifolds even at Ideal.
There is still some testing that needs to be done and tuning, I honestly think the BOV might be leaking.

**** New Throttle Body ****

This weekend I swapped my " Umm" modified throttle body for a 60mm SR20DE unit. There is some major work needed to make the CA18DET TPS work on the SR20DET body these took about the whole day on Saturday. I still have to port the Intake manifold on the CA18DET the intake's hole size is about 57 mm.
The throttle body will complement cam's later on

Sorry About the "Great" picture

Impressions:

Throttle Response is great maybe a bit to great, There still needs to be porting done so final impression will come later

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:09 am

Hey Phinx... Can't really explain it, I can't comment much on that manifold either, since I never had mine in boost. But my car did have allot of low down power and negative boost did disappear quickly.

All I know I want to take that manifold and wack someone against the head with it. I know know that it's gonna cause me grieve in the future, because it WILL crack, but till then I'll live with it.

In your post I see you mention a new turbo, did you fit it before the manifold and it was running fine? Is your boost coming up strong? I had a turbo modified by Stallion Turbos (They aren't my fav guys) and the actuator didn't work too well, so I swapped back my old actuator and had made it adjustable.

Best of luck, we stand behind you all the way!

Phinx · Post by **Phinx** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:47 am

I swapped all three at the same time.

Turbo
Manifold
Down-pipe.

I had a flexi section installed in the exhaust to help stop the craking. Also it seems the turbo seals are smoking. Not Bad they don't even smoke on idle or boost just when hot and in Engine vacuum like when in traffic and coasting down, These things happen.

If i switch the boost controller off the turbo doesn't boost past 5 PSI the actuator is adjustable but I will adjust it later on.

The leak in the manifold at the collector cant be helped lets just hope it doesn't get bigger.

Gary57 · Post by **Gary57** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:02 am

Replace manifold with STD one and see what the difference is. When doing mods like this I would rather do them 1 at a time to see the difference each one made.

Phinx · Post by **Phinx** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:16 am

lol...

I would like to, but its alot of time and money I mean to get that manifold in and out now compared to my old set-up is a mission.
A new set of gaskets cost around 300 rand from nissan.

The log manifold will give quicker spool but less High RPM flow. I mean im just confused

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:34 pm

My money is on the turbo.

Phinx · Post by **Phinx** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:53 pm

looks like your are right...

The turbo is Smoking. Damn
Well these things happen. Might take her to the dyno day in april

The Calibrator · Post by **The Calibrator** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:39 pm

1: If you want the car to be strong on low boost then you need to raise the compression ratio especially if are fitting cams as they will lower the dynamic compression ratio even more.
1a: At that boost level you dont need to worry about the overlap NA cams will work better than what you are intending to use.

2: Your boost pipes have too many joins with silicone every join is a disruption and is working against everthing else you are trying to achieve.

3: The intake pipe into the turbo is acting as a pre heater and warming all your nice cold air up for you.

Sokar · Post by **Sokar** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:02 pm

I remember fitting the boost pipes, they have a couple of joins as the pipes are off a S14 and needed modification to fit.

Phinx read somwhere that a normal 90degree bend is equal to 4 meters (13 feet) of the same diameter pipe in a straight line.... Ouch

I know he still wants to re-do a few of the pipes/joins.

The Calibrator · Post by **The Calibrator** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 6:28 am

The joins into silicone hose are the real problem they cause massive turbulence

Phinx · Post by **Phinx** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:24 am

LOL

Yep there are a ton of silicon join.

I will look into that I know a good welder who can help me out when he has free time.

But I think the main calpret might be the Turbo, But to cover may bases I did a full comp test with motor warm yesterday

The reading are:

Cylinder 1 - 1100 Kpa
Cylinder 2 - 1100 Kpa
Cylinder 3 - 1000 Kpa
Cylinder 4 - 1000 Kpa

About the same across the board , "wet" tested and the Compression went up. So yep the ring are worn but it does have 160-000 KM.

I will rebuild at a later stage the plugs showed no sign's of oil. Just running damn rich also no signs of detonation. Installed new plugs gaped 1.1 mm.

it is using oil, Slight but its happening, checked base timing , I will check for codes today. Confirmed BOV is working all looks good.

I need a new Cone filter damn thing is F$%ked

ChemCool · Post by **ChemCool** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:55 pm

The intake pipe into the turbo is acting as a pre heater and warming all your nice cold air up for you.

Duane,
So help out here please. What are you telling us? That the intake pipe to turbo should be what type of material/medium? How correct to say the stock black rubber/plastic turbo intake on s13 is restrictive? Will alluminium do the job or not? Or is allimnium the problem which hots up all cold air intake?

Thanks

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:55 pm

Phinx wrote:LOL

Yep there are a ton of silicon join.
I will look into that I know a good welder who can help me out when he has free time.

But I think the main calpret might be the Turbo, But to cover may bases I did a full comp test with motor warm yesterday

The reading are:

Cylinder 1 - 1100 Kpa
Cylinder 2 - 1100 Kpa
Cylinder 3 - 1000 Kpa
Cylinder 4 - 1000 Kpa

About the same across the board , "wet" tested and the Compression went up. So yep the ring are worn but it does have 160-000 KM.

I will rebuild at a later stage the plugs showed no sign's of oil. Just running damn rich also no signs of detonation. Installed new plugs gaped 1.1 mm.

it is using oil, Slight but its happening, checked base timing , I will check for codes today. Confirmed BOV is working all looks good.

I need a new Cone filter damn thing is F$%ked

thats a good result though, so please dont feel down. after the first 3000 km's of my first engine build, i did a test and got as low as 650 on one cylinder, and nothing above 900 on the rest!!!! so i had it rebuilt again, basically as i had finished running it in.

have you thought about a V-mount? this will help plenty in your quest to reduce silicone butts, and bends in piping. a correctly matched intercooler v-mounted will require about 100mm of pipe between the cooler and the throttle body, in a straight line, and very little from the turbo to the cooler intake!!!!

but will require radiator mounting mods and bonnet mods too! might be too expensive, but a quest is a quest - is it not????

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:15 pm

Yeah to get a V mount done properly you'll need to have your IC custom built to fit nicely nothing of the shelf will work...

On the HI CP LOW BOOST thing... Before I ordered pistons I was SERIOUSLY thinking about it, but like Duane said, there is couple of other things to consider, which all involved additional costs that is why I keeping with my original plan 8.5:1 - GT2860RS at some stage

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:25 pm

Vlade wrote:Yeah to get a V mount done properly you'll need to have your IC custom built to fit nicely nothing of the shelf will work...

On the HI CP LOW BOOST thing... Before I ordered pistons I was SERIOUSLY thinking about it, but like Duane said, there is couple of other things to consider, which all involved additional costs that is why I keeping with my original plan 8.5:1 - GT2860RS at some stage

yeah i'm thinking a hi comp low boost thing definately requires a tiny little turbo, which as i am experiencing with my stock one, will run out of oomph at the higher RPM's.

i guess thats a sacrifice then - low down resposiveness versus top end ability.