Soooo... it begins
A BHE lump from a TT
6 speed manual box from an R32
Timing chain kit...
HGP cheap (relatively) copy turbo inlet manifold... which is actually rough as a rough thing...
Turbo exhaust manifold... (70 quid from Ali Express)...
LuK Clutch and DMF...
So... first job the inlet manifold... the VR 24v inlet mani market is a little sparse... and they tend to be stupidly expensive or not so expensive... so I went not so expensive... and bought a lemon!...
The casting was the roughest thing I have seen in a very long time which isn't really a big issue as I can spend a little time refinishing it... the biggest problem however was that it was still full of casting sand!...
I tried power washing it out, followed by using the hot power wash and lastly the aqua blast... only the aqua blast unit made any inroads and only then at the bits I could manage to point the nozzle at...
Soooooo... taped up round the plenum....
...and cut in half
As you can see... thre is still sand stuck to the inside... this would not have had a very good ending...
The flat lump on the plenum made for a decent place to fit the MAP sensor (which also has an IAT sensor built in so less holes to drill)...
The OE ECU for the R32/TT VR6 doesn't have MAP and IAT is measured in the MAF... the OE management is also narrowband... as I am using Ignitron I am using speed density like before so MAF less and a MAP sensor in the inlet plenum after the throttle body..
The casting is nice and thick here so didn't need to add weld or a boss to make sure the o-ring seal worked... the MAP sensor I am using this time is a 3bar one rather than a 4bar one as I don't intend to run much more than 1bar of boost plus the 3bar reads down to around 14kpa vs the 27kpa the 4bar does... as I am not running cams my vacuum should be a little lower overall...
The inlet mani also has a nasty step on three of the ports... so I blended those in a bit while I was at it...
After a few rounds of blasting in the Aqua Blast unit all the sand was finally removed... nice bit of irony using media to remove 'media'...
The rough state of the casting was also apparent on the inside as well as the outside....
...so did a little work on that too... not going for the best finish in the world as tbh that takes forever for little to no gain but tickled it enough to smooth things out a bit better
...I think this may present a small boost leak though...
The casting is rather thick... which of course is a good thing... but to get decent penetration (fnarrr) I chamfered the edges ready for welding...
Next job was to pull the injectors... wanted to test them to know the exact flow ready for adding to the map calibration...
They were a bit mucky so cleaned them up a bit... the o-rings are a little hard too so could do with replacing...
Once the inlet is done I want to get it powder coated so decided to take the cam cover off too so I could get that done at the same time...
Hummmm... not the worst I have ever seen but still....
Cam cover was aso a little tarnished but again have seen plenty of 20v's worse than this...
A trip round the cleaning stations later and...
...the top needs a slightly higher pressure and a bit more work to clean up nicely but it will be blasted prior to powder coating anyway so not really too worried about it..
The nice thing about the VR cam cover is the PCV separator unit is plastic and removable... this means I didn't have to worry about the media getting places it shouldn't and of course being plastic it would need to be removed for the powder coat process anyway...
After a little research on oil feeds for the turbo it seems that you can tap out of the oil filter housing where this blanking cap is...
The thread should be 10x1 so I can keep the factory oil pressure switch where it is as space looks very tight for a T piece there due to the plastic coolant pipe running above it and fit my oil pressure sender and T piece in the capped area using a 10x1 banjo for the oil feed line to the turbo...
Need to check to size of the hole etc to ensure there is enough flow but as I am using a ball bearing turbo the oil flow should be fine...
A lot of people reuse the R32's 75mm throttle body but it is a very bulky item and room is very tight... as I still have my 70mm TB from the 20v I decided to use that instead... its already proven at decent power levels on my 20v so I will reuse it on the VRt...
I have worked out the wiring I need to do to get the engine running... I just need the smaller ecu plug part of the loom from the TT which I have access to... I then need to add MAP, IAT and N75 wiring in to this plug and configure Ignitrons inputs/outputs accordingly as the ignition/injector mappings are different to the 20v..
I can retain the larger plug loom of the 1.8t which will give me EGT and wideband lambda...
I need to buzz all the wires through first though once the engine is in to double check the pinning and that I have configured Ignitron correctly... will post the mappings up once I know they are right and of course I am working with Brian as usual to get this type of conversion documented correctly
My plan at the moment is to get the engine in and running as NA... the turbo conversion will happen later..
The main reason for this is time (the lack of it)... getting the engine in and running is relatively easy as its more or less a bolt in job... the issue with doing the rest of the turbo conversion is mainly to do with fabrication... this inevitably takes time and typically requires ramp time... this is something I can't really expect Bill to give me at a whim and he is very very busy.... so...
After seeing the state of the head I have decided to take the head off, clean it or get it cleaned and refurb it... I will replace the exhaust guides and valves for either Mk5 VR stainless or supertech's (more likely as they are inconel)... I will most likely get the head face resurfaced and then use an 8.9:1 head spacer gasket... I will of course replace the stem seals and re-lap the valves in...
I have a new timing chain kit to fit and will clean the sump and oil pump plus replace the oil pump drive shaft as these have been reported to fail occasionally...
I will run the std exhaust manifolds and downpipe but use just the one lambda... this will just need something knocked up to join it to my existing exhaust system and can be done quickly and easily... however...
...as the state of the bottom end is currently unknown then that could change of course... I will be checking the bores once the head is off... if it all looks good then I will do compression and leak down tests once the engine is back together...
I am told the engine was running fine before it was taken out of the car and the reason for parting out was that the DGS's mechatronic unit was goosed...
I don't plan to run big boost so cylinder pressures should be loads lower than the 32psi I was running on the 20v... mapping wise the plan is for a less aggressive delivery and get boost rising with revs... this should help reliability and give the car a nice drive while still feeling powerful... and of course sounding awesome
Next thing on the list is the gearbox... I will be sorting the forks out like I did in my 20v box...
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When ready to turbo the car I just plan to replace the big end shells with Mk5 VR sputter bearings and use ARP bolts on the std rods... I realise the irony in that the reason I am at this point is due to rod failure but... at this time I really don't want to disturb the pistons/rings in the bores