Good Luck mate, hope it goes well for you, you deserve a bit of good luck
OK a bit of an update on where the car is after two race meetings and a test day.
Brands qually was OK, the car ran faultlessly, it was the bloody weather that was the problem. The first race went OK for about ten minutes and then our old gremlin the turbo bolts came loose so we pulled off.
In fact what had actually happened was the thread had been pulled out of the Cast iron exhaust manifold. This was really starting to do our heads in. The waste gate studs were also bent, and the expansion and movement in the exhaust had virtually pushed the external waste gate off the manifold. It seemed like we had totally under estimated how much stainless steel expands and contracts when it gets hot, and remember we are only talking about a 5 inch length that joins the external waste gate back into the exhaust.
To be honest I think we needed this failure to fully understand what was going on. We couldn�t really do much for the following day, so we just helicoiled the exhaust manifold and bolted everything back up and we would simply have to hope for the best on the following day. In the end the exhaust and turbo stayed on, but in a bit of an over ambitious move round the outside of Kell into Paddock Hill bend, I ran out of talent and ended up in the gravel.
Once back at home we reviewed the data logger and were glad to see nothing had got too hot or anything and a complete spanner check of the car didn�t show up and other problems. We had a very slight bit of grease starting to ooze out of the wheel bearings, but nothing to worry about. I was chatting to Randy and mentioned this to him and he said he strips his bearings down and refills them with a very good quality high temp grease, so I thought if the issue gets any worse then that may be worth doing.
So how to get this bloody turbo to stay on, we had a few plans up our sleeve.
Firstly we decided to make a crane like tripod out of steel bolted to the rocker cover and the head, with a rose jointed link that would actually totally support the weight of the turbo, taking all of the strain off the turbo to manifold bolts.
Secondly we replaced the short 2� flexi section currently in the exhaust with an 8� flexi, to again allow a lot more movement.
Thirdly we put an expandable and contractible flexi section in the pipe that linked the waste gate to the exhaust. This would allow this section to both move and expand without putting strain on anything.
I replaced all of the studs and nuts with brand new OEM Audi items. We bolted it all back together and crossed our fingers.
The next time out was a test day at Donnington before the race weekend. The car ran all day without any problems at all. I got through about 160 litres of fuel and was glad to report that we didn�t have any problems at all. We did quite a lot of work on the suspension setup and I was happy with how it was handling. Best lap time of the day was a 1:51
Qually on a damp track saw me drop that time to a 1:49 (4th behind Randy, Walshy and Donnelly), with no problems on the car at all, I think I am just getting more and more used to it every time I get in it, as it is a totally different animal to the K series.
The first race saw the lap time drop again to a 1:46.9 and finish 4th overall after tussling with Donnelly for most of the race again the car had no problems, although the data logger showed the water temperature had gone up to 101 degrees and the oil had seen the best part of 130 degrees. Hmmm I thought, I have no real problem with the oil getting that hot, but I didn�t want the water running at that kind of temperature. It had slowly crept up and had only gone over 100 on the last lap, so again for the second race I just thought I would hope for the best as there wasn�t really any time to do anything anyway. I was just glad the turbo bolts were all still tight.
The second race was great, a real good scrap with Gav and Donnelly saw my lap time drop again to a 1:46.2, which was only 100th of a second off Walshy�s time, so I was chuffed that the car is competitive and I think the more practice I have in it will reap rewards.
However with about three laps to go I started to hear the exhaust getting loud again and the power started to drop off. It seems we hadn�t totally cured the turbo issue. The car finished and we got our second 4th overall and 3rd in class.
Three of the four turbo bolts had come really really loose and the 4th had come loose by about a turn. The waste gate had also come slightly loose, all the bolts needing about a quarter turn to nip them back up, but this just isn�t good enough, I spent the whole of the next day researching the problem and I now have three more solutions that I will be putting on the car before the next race. It seems that we had cured the movement problems, with our supporting of the turbos weight and our flexi sections, but now heat and vibration were our enemy, with the bolts simple getting really really hot, going slightly soft and then being rattled undone. The Donnington weekend showed that it took several hours of race conditions for this to happen, but happening it certainly was.
Firstly I have got my hands on some threadlock that will handle 1,000 degrees C.
Secondly I am going to use �Nord-Lock� washers on all of the bolts involved in the turbo and waste gate. I wont explain how they work as there website does a better job http://www.nord-lock.com/ for anyone that is interested. I spoke to there teckie guy and he assures me that they will do the job.
Thirdly I am using bolts that utilise �lock tabs�. Basically you tighten the bolt, then put a steel tab over the bolt that has a long tang that is then bent over the edge of what you are bolting together, basically making it impossible for the bolt to turn without this tang being bent out of the way. The Esprit turbo uses something of a similar principle from the factory. Plus the bolts I am using can comfortably handle the heat involved.
Fingers crossed all of this will see the end of this now annoying problem.
The water temp in the second race had crept up again, so I have decided to revamp the cooling circuit a bit. The car currently has a modded version of the standard road car setup, which is designed to get the engine to warm up quickly and obviously it gets a much harder life in my car than in a road car, plus it is now obviously enclosed in the back, rather than being in the front.
So what I have done is remove the recirculation plumbing that runs from where the hot water exits the head back to the water pump. Obviously when the engine is hot any water passing along this pipe and back into the engine is uncooled and isn�t helping things, so now all of the water that enters the engine will have passed through the radiator and therefore been cooled, rather than a good proportion of the water entering the engine simply being red hot after just leaving the engine. As I use an oil / water oil cooler, and the oil temp is a parallel line when plotted against the water temp, I am sure that if I bring the water temp down the oil will follow.
A further spanner check of the whole car, showed no other issues at all, so we are pretty chuffed at where we are, with the relatively small amount of development that we have managed to do.
Fingers crossed for A1GP weekend at Brands!!!
Hi Sean
It has been one of the highlights of this forum following the development of your race car from the beginning and now on to Audi power. It really seems to be coming together - driving -wise too.
Really holding thumbs for you for a win at A1GP weekend.
Best of luck Sean. You seem like you deserve some good luck for a change.
Cheers Guys.
I feel I am getting there with it now, I was chuffed with my two 3rd in class’s at Donnington, especially as my lap time was so close to Walshy’s by the end of the weekend.
Just fingers crossed I have cured the turbo issue this time. If the turbo stays on then Brands next weekend should be good!!!
Just fingers crossed I have cured the turbo issue this time. If the turbo stays on then Brands next weekend should be good!!!
Well if it doesn’t, you could get Burt to nick one off Team Cuckhoo Clock’s A1 GP Car
Thought I would do another update for those that are interested.
So Brands A1GP weekend didn�t go well, we had a water hose split on the first lap of qually, 10 minutes to fix, but meant we had to qualify with the Heritage touring cars and were on the back of the grid for our race.
The first race went OK, the car ran well for about the first 15 minutes, then the water and oil temps started to rise and by the end of the race the water was about 107 and the oil about 130. After the race we checked the turbo and the bolts had come loose, so we changed the gaskets and bolts again and hoped for the best for the second race.
Second race I stayed out for about 15 minutes as the temps were high again and I could hear the exhaust starting to blow again, so i called it a day.
Time for some serious head scratching, although I was starting to think that the exhaust manifold that we were using was to restrictive for the power we were running and was getting that hot, that the bolts were stretching and it was not letting the gasses get out of the head and therefore heating the head up. So all in all not a great weekend for the car.
Next round was Spa and I had changed the manifold in case the original had warped, we were trying some new fasteners and the car had been mapped again with no problems so off we went to Spa feeling quite confident.
Qually went well, I was right on Walshy�s tail going up the hill from Eau Rouge, so the car deffo had the pace and we qualified 3rd behind Walshy and Donnelly. However the water temps were high again, mind you with ambient air temps in the very high 20�s, low 30�s I put a bit of it down to that.
The races did not go well, had a good start getting past Donnelly and was right on Walshy�s tail for the first two laps I would say, then a misfire started that dropped me back into Donnelly�s clutches, it slowly got worse until after a lap it was on three cylinders. I limped back to the pits, the guys had a quick look and saw a Coil pack plug had come off! DOH!!! So two seconds later I was back out, but by then I was well down the field and finished 28th. Lol.
Back in the pits we checked the car over and the bloody turbo had come loose and blown the gasket out AGAIN!!!, we bodged it as best as we could, but it only lasted about ten minutes of the second race before I parked it, totally pissed off!!
Back from Belgium, enough was enough, I decided to have a proper exhaust manifold made that used V-band clamps to hold the turbo to the manifold. The design of these basically means they can�t come apart, I would also use a v band waste gate which would also be a bigger diameter. Thanks goes to Chris Randell who introduced me to Chris Tullett who had the car in for a week and made me the sexiest exhaust I had ever seen. I decided to push the boat out and have the manifold made from Inconel as it was stronger and didn�t expand / contract as much as stainless. I also decided to have everything that was in the engine bay ceramic coated to keep the heat down.
I had ordered the new vband exhaust housing from the US and it took a week or so to come, but as soon as I had it all Chris had the car in to make the exhaust. With an extra week being needed for the ceramic coating, it meant i missed the next race at Oulton, but I got the car back together the week after. The exhaust housing I had got was the smallest one in the range (I had used the middle sized one before on the old manifold) as this was all that was available at the time, so back I went to Dave Walkers.
All I can say is OH My God, this turbo and manifold are awesome, the car had made about 370BHP originally with this small exhaust housing on the old exhaust manifold, i then went to the larger one and we made about 420BHP on the old manifold, but with the new manifold, the small exhaust housing maxed out Dave�s rolling road (350bhp at the wheels) at only 6,500rpm. Dave reckons peak power is now around 425 � 430bhp at max revs (7,800rpm)
The next step was to do a track day, so off i went the day before going to Snetterton to Donnington for a track day. I hammered the car round all day with no issues at all and the best thing was the water and oil temps were as they should be!! Water saw a peak of 86 and the oil about 99, I was over the moon! Everything stayed tight as well which was another win!!!
The Snetterton weekend was a warm one and as I hadn�t had time to go to TDi to get an official power run, I decided to run the car at full power in �Class D�, thinking that if it lasts this it will last anything. The car ran absolutely spot on in qually, I absolutely hammered it for the 20 mins and the water temp saw a high of 90 and the oil 107, so I was over the moon. The turbo also stayed put, i was ecstatic, I had finally fixed the only real problem we have had with this conversion.
Chris Tullett had said that my original ATP exhaust manifold was probably the worst flowing manifold he had ever seen, and it was true, the only design criteria had been packaging with the manifold designed to be run in a VW Golf where the turbo is on the back between the engine and the bulkhead. My new manifold flowed infinitely better, so the heat was getting out of the engine. The engine spooled up a lot better than before and hung in to give a half decent amount of power!!
I had only qualified 8th, due to a distinct lack of knowledge and talant compared to the other guys and the fact that this car is now an absolute animal to drive, the corners come up too bloody quickly!! I missed sooo many braking points it was unreal. I am at the start of a steep learning curve again with the car, as you cant throw it round the track like you could before. For some perspective, I was doing a GPS 158mph at the end of the back straight!!
Had my best start ever in the race, going from 8th to 2nd by the 1st bend, but ended up 3rd at the end after Chris headlam guessed which way the back markers were going to go and I didn�t. Lol
Again temps were all good.
Unfortunately I had lost the alternator belt and further investigation showed that the 4 bolts that hold the alternator pulley onto the crank pulley had sheared off!!! That put an end to our day as the alternator pulley looked bent and we didn�t want to risk bolting a damaged pulley back on.
So that brings us up to date. I know only two outings with no problems aren�t enough to prove the car, but I really feel like we have turned a corner now and I�m looking forward to a trouble free 2nd half to the season. Obviously when it is running a �LOT� legal amount of power it will only be easier on the car, so fingers crossed!!!
Brilliant write up, mate, glad to hear that things are on the up & up for you (& Burt, of course!)
Another great read. So glad it’s going well for you. Must have cost a fortune!
This makes me want to stand on the pit wall/by your garage and scream GO MAN, GO!
Well done Sean! This thread sums up what having an exige means to me.
Now back to Rob and Martin for my non VHPD quest!
you got that new gear linkage on yet? if so how did it fit? im going to start fitting mine this week.
"I had ordered the new vband exhaust housing from the US and it took a week or so to come, but as soon as I had it all Chris had the car in to make the exhaust. With an extra week being needed for the ceramic coating, it meant i missed the next race at Oulton, but I got the car back together the week after. The exhaust housing I had got was the smallest one in the range (I had used the middle sized one before on the old manifold) as this was all that was available at the time, so back I went to Dave Walkers.
All I can say is OH My God, this turbo and manifold are awesome, the car had made about 370BHP originally with this small exhaust housing on the old exhaust manifold, i then went to the larger one and we made about 420BHP on the old manifold, but with the new manifold, the small exhaust housing maxed out Dave�s rolling road (350bhp at the wheels) at only 6,500rpm. Dave reckons peak power is now around 425 � 430bhp at max revs (7,800rpm)"
I have a 1.8T engine with the ATP manifold and a GT2871R turbo. I had exactly the same issue with the bolts. This engine is in my track day VW New beetle. I finally welded the turbo and the manifold. I don’t know if it will be enough with a hard use but I will see. The power of the engine is 400bhp at 1,6bar with my FMIC (probably less when it will be in my exige S1).
I will swap this engine soon (I will remove the VHPD engine from the engine bay next WE as I have just sold it).
I assume that the small exhaust housing you are talking ab out is with the T25 flange. Where did you buy in the US the new turbo exhaust housing and exhaust manifold with the V-band?
Good luck
"I assume that the small exhaust housing you are talking about is with the T25 flange. Where did you buy in the US the new turbo exhaust housing and exhaust manifold with the V-band?
Good luck
No mate it has doesn’t have a T25 flange, or any flange for that matter it has a “V-Band” where it connects to the exhaust manifold.
Bought direct from Tial.