Finally getting around to these upgrades after renting some sweet shop space from a buddy.


I gave the R-manifold and the turbo housing some basic port matching and improved transitions, and I've just sent out the rotating assembly of the TD04HL-19T to get balanced with the new billet compressor wheel.







Once back I'll rebuilt turbo and install with the r-mani and a custom 3" downpipe.



No plans as of yet to reflash ECU since I'm not changing boost levels - ME7 should be able to compensate for the improved flow from turbo and exhaust improvements for now - will need to research again who to go with for a new tune later. Any suggestions?

Rabin

What size is that garage? Looks awesome. I can't offer anything much on ME7 but I'd just try things first before going the tune route. I'd get that manifold and hot side ceramic coated.

28x40 I believe. I'd classify it as a 'Manctuary'. In floor heat, 50" LED, surround sound, wifi. I get access to all his tools as well so no need to move stuff over. My buddy that owns the garage is building something simialr to your 122, except it's a Datsun 510. 240SX IRS and front suspension, 300TTZX rear diff, with an RB25DET and 5sp manual. I'll post details later. Other vehicle is another buddy's - 49' Merc M100 truck with a 454 BBC. My 86' 505 turbo diesel is occupying my spot while I get stuff done to do the install on the v70r once all parts are ready to go on.

In the garage now to clean up casting marks and bead blast the mani and hot side - powdercoater in town says he has a high temp coating I'm going to take it in tomorrow for.

Did some research and it looks like JWZ Tuning or Hilton Tuning are the places to go now. I'll see what it's like as is though, and then consider a tune if the dollar ever gets any better, or if ME7 can't cope.

Rabin

Dropped the exhaust manifold and hotside off at Phantom Coatings today with both daughters in tow. Kerry was great and both pieces are being coated in a high temp coating good to over 2000F - so should be fine. Daughters picked a cool titanium colour for both.

Original plan was to just paint with VHT and call it done since I also got the matching R-mani heat shields - but Craig said he'd get them coated so then I had to do it right so Craig wouldn't think less of me.. (Kidding of course!) I really couldn't NOT get them coated as Kerry figured it's be $45 each to blast and coat each part - hell of a deal I thought.

Should have pictures next week - rotating assembly should be back next week. High heat coatings get done once a month and that's happening next week so I'm hoping I'll be able to get everything installed next week.

Now to work on the custom DP I picked up. Cut the warped v-band out of it, and will replace with a flex unit. Not a big fan of the steel braided flex parts - was hoping to source a stainless bellows instead...

Rabin

Long overdue update:

Rebuilt the turbo myself, but I totally forgot that the center section of the smaller td04 turbos had different center sections than the 19T used on my car, so the 13T I got from Sol to rebuild wasn't exactly the best spare turbo. This was discovered when I was tightened the new 19T compressor wheel and the damn thing jammed up.

Google reminded me of the issue (58mm VS the 56mm exducer), but thankfully my buddy Phil was in his shop and he was able to chuck up the center section in his lathe and he clearanced the compressor wheel for me. (Took a return trip to get it perfect - but it's good now.)



Some quick comparison of the manifold exit improvements:


And the exhaust housing changes:


Should have taken more pictures, but it's all together now with the stock DP as I need to do some fixes / improvements to a custom DP I bought before I can install that.

Was really hoping the improved flow would be a marked improvement even running the stock tune, and was mildly impressed that the new turbo was blowing spark out immediately over the stock turbo - But when the new plugs went in the car was essentially the same. Boost seems to build faster and more linear - but ultimately the car is just as quick as it was before all the work! Only odd thing so far is that on part throttle as boost builds there's a very slight "eerie" howl that is annoying me, and the standard turbo whistle is gone... Pretty sure it's just an odd harmonic either in the exhaust or intake - but I've checked every mechanical possibility and nothing seems wrong.

While researching to see if the 11 blade has any odd harmonics I discovered the 11 blade wheels are virtually silent, but I couldn't find any mention about any sort of "eerie" howl from anyone - still perplexed by that one.

I've also done a bunch more reading on ME7, and while I knew it was designed around torque requests - I assumed that at some point in the equation that boost would be taken into consideration - I was wrong. Torque requests are independent of boost, so while all the improvements have the potential to flow and be more efficient, the ECU is making the same torque requests as it was before so nothing has changed. I did notice that fuel economy has never been as good on the 1400KM trip we did following the upgrades, so I was very tempted to just leave it as is...

But that wouldn't address the problems: On the trip it started throwing the rear O2 heater CEL. I also knew that once the modified DP is installed it'll throw a catalytic converter code due to the race cat. Didn't want to spend $180 USD on a new O2 only to run it out of the exhaust flow hoping it'd work - The proper way to deal with it is with a custom tune, so started researching how to proceed. (Yes - this was the slippery slope I was trying to avoid...)

Decided to go with Hilton Tuning based on all the rave reviews, and that I can flash the ECU myself via my DiCE cable. This is where my "While I'm at it..." kicked in: Went with stage 2 with torque limiting in 1st and 2nd, the rear O2, and the catalytic converter delete.

Hoping to get the DP completed this weekend, and if all goes well I'll try to get it installed. (Depends on how well I can weld in the stainless v-band connection mated to the stock 2.5" exhaust). Once that's done the tune will go in and I'll be able to see if all the work was worth it.

Rabin

Great looking port work, Rabin!

Good stuff Rabin, you and Ahmad are going to have some deadly cars.

Thanks guys!

Porting: Goal was to port match to head ports and turbo outlet on the R-mani and they turned out better than expected. Used a scope and the head ports are damn near perfect. Manifold to exhaust housing was also really nice.

Dropped off the DP at another friend of friend: Unreal home shop! Machinist by trade and a BIG car guy. He's building a mid engine S10: SBC mated to an Audi 6sp manual in a custom cradle build around a Corvette C5 rear suspension. I'll try to get pics later.

He's going to tig the DP together with the new flex, and the V-band on. Can't wait to see it done, and even more excited to get it installed.

Rabin

Pictures of the completed downpipe:





New flex that replaced a v-band connection that was warped when the PO welded it:



And the new v-band connection to the stock exhaust:



Plan is likely to just clean it up quick and use VHT exhaust paint on it.

In the first pic you can just see our 06V70R - it's getting the ABS module and pump rebuilt by Xemodex (Sent Monday and delivered today). I also have an all new suspension ready to go in, but the struts actually look pretty good with no leaking found. Plan now is to disassemble to check / replace mounts, and once apart I can evaluate the struts to see if they need replacing or if I should run them longer. (Car feels fine, but starting to "clunk" over bumps.)

Rabin

Small update since the wife's 06VR hogged the garage for the last month+ with front bevel gear issues. Fully sorted now though with rebushed LCA's, front sway bar links, and a rebuilt ABS pump and control unit.

In the meantime the 00VR got a new Behr heater fan motor, painted the 3" DP with high heat VHT, and I was finally able to pull the ECU file off and send it to Hilton Tuning. Once the Stage 2 file is ready I'll install the DP and attach it to the stock cat back.

Only other thing I wanted to add was that my initial impression on the billet compressor wheel was a little luke warm, and what I read blamed it on the torque request design of the ECU which was a big reason I decided to go with the tune. (That and getting the rear O2 and catalytic converter code delete.)

Since the install however- the ECU has been relearning the new boost characteristics of the billet wheel and HOLY CRAP does the car fly even on the stock ECU. Boost comes on much sooner and it pulls much more linearly... If it wasn't for a dead rear O2 CEL and me already having the 3" DP with race cat - I'd be perfectly happy with it stock and it was a fantastic upgrade on it's own. And yes - still has an eerie howl at part throttle - just getting used to it.

That said - Stage 2 with torque delimiting removed should make this car just plain silly. If there's ever a chance to do a CVC dyno day in Calgary - I'd sure be tempted to make the drive down. Ahmad's car will be a MONSTER, but I'm curious how close my R would be with the comparably light mods.

Rabin

Dyno days...boy that's been a long time. Hard to dyno most of the junk on the forum right now as it's not exactly together for most. Not that I made it up to any, but good times were always had.

So this magical compressor wheel is on what turbo again? Is this on the 19T? Not that I'm looking, just interested. My turbo lags quite a bit and Matt was mumbling about it at the autocross last summer and it was freaking me out. I don't recall the "issue" that Dr. Turbo was hearing, but maybe he recalls?

Eek! What did I do now?

(No notification again... Sorry for delay)

Billet wheel is the 11 blade Kungawa billet wheel without the tapered vanes. Apparently there's also a 9 blade turbine wheel that is supposed to be another improvement. I have the stock 19T that I'll likely upgrade to billet as well - maybe use it on my Peugeot if I can find a suitable exhaust housing.

DP project when from what I thought was going to be a couple hours turned into three very long days! Ended up cutting up the used downpipe I had, and essentially rebuilt the whole damn thing under car to ensure fitment. First time I've ever built a downpipe or done any exhaust work, but turned out ok. (Better than jobber muffler shops anyway.)

Started with this:


And ended up with this:





With the new downpipe the "eerie" turbo howl is gone - must have been a wierd harmonic in the downpipe as the turbo whistles under the same partial load, but it sounds proper now. There's also a very pleasant and noticable turbo whistle out the exhaust, and outside the car when driving in a parkade for instance.

New stage 2 tune is in as well, but had some teething issues with the Front O2 throwing a faulty signal code, and the LTFT would eventually throw a CEL "upper limit" which would then put the car into a pig rich limp home mode.

Got a new flash from the tuner and it's seems better now. Will test some more and datalog a bit more before I start doing the 3rd gear 2000-6000 pulls he wants. Did a couple short ones and heard detonation and confirmed the ECU pulled timing - sent those in to make sure all is good.

Butt dyno says the 00VR is pretty much as fast as the 06VR now, but too close to call really.

Rabin

Nice work on the downpipe, Rabin. Exhaust work can be fun.

Thanks Matt!

Lesson learned (again) that I really should have just bought mandrels and done it myself from the start - but I didn't realize how bad the DP fit until it was installed and fully tightened. (Like less than an 1/8" clearance to the center driveshaft). It was also poorly routed...

Cutting it up allowed me to route it much better, and I got a 3" section of pipe to extend the 3" section as far back as I could before going back to 2.5" which I had already had v-bands for.

Step looks harsh, but the view inside the pipe looked like a nozzle entrance which I thought still had the potential to flow pretty well.

Exaust tone is spot on, and the improved flow difference is very noticeable - so it's worth it in the end.

Got v4 of the tune last night so I'll try to flash it today and do a bit more datalogging to make sure its good.

Rabin