Red Devil mkII - The Journey Continues

[seangti]

Some progress on things. The turbo has arrived and looks the goods. Have also ordered new turbo bolts and gaskets. Will get to fitting over the next week or two.






Also picked up the shagged turbo on Tuesday. The exhaust side of the turbo has been well cooked. Though unfortunately still none the wiser as to the real cause. I wanted to rebuild and support locally, even at a higher price, but it'd be madness to get it rebuilt and do nothing different and expect a different outcome. If i can't find the root cause, it's just throwing money down the drain. Oh well, here's some pics. The oil has hardened (carbonised), and metal turned white, really quite interesting to see. Albeit disheartening.












That's the exhaust side housing.

[seangti]

Some progress over the week as I fit the ftg turbo. It's been mostly smooth sailing. I'd bought new gaskets and turbo bolts and Gavin has provided me washers to replace everything. Only 2 set backs so far. The turbo bolts that were in there were not VW ones which I thought they were, they were longer by about 10mm. The bolts that came out were actually a bit bent (from heat I guess), though the one towards the front of the car must have been put into before the manifold when back on, as I had the get an angle grinder to cut to remove the bolt as it was stuck against the engine block.

The turbo is now bolted up, all lines connected though now stalled at connecting the turbo to the dump pipe. Standard turbo has studs on the exhaust side, the ftg doesn't... Dang. So will need to source some bolts to connect down pipe to the turbo. I'm also needing to source a new banjo bolt for the oil line. It's got nothing to do with the ftg turbo, the previous turbo required restricting the oil flow, so 3 of the 4 holes were welded. As this is a journal bearing turbo, it needs the usual/non-restricted oil flow. Autobarn had a banjo bolt, but only had 2 holes of similar/smaller diameter to the standard one. I'm not sure that'd allow sufficient oil flow.



Standard turbo with studs:



Beyond this, it's just re-installing the intercooler piping and intake I think. Unfortunately with the hold up for banjo bolt and dump pipe bolts it's going to be a next weekend job to finish

Shout out to Gav as my motivational speaker, big thanks mate.

[h100vw]

Well done Sean. You can buy studs for the turbo on their own. I have seen them in Supercheap. Not named as turbo bolts but I used them as a repair part after one got stripped.

That original banjo would drill pretty easily, as the weld is mild steel.

Gavin

[seangti]

Excellent Re the studs. I don't know much about how they work so will research that. Guessing a high temp glue will also be needed.

I'll take the drill to the banjo and see what mess I make

I got trucking along quite smoothly today, few hours at a time to manage my levels of patience, lol.

[Machine]

Nice one, Shorne. If you want help next weekend, let me know.

[seangti]

Nice one, Shorne. If you want help next weekend, let me know.

Thanks mannequin, would be good to catch up for a beer to.

[seangti]

Turbo is on, nothing is leaking and it drives fine. Only driven around with the N75 disconnected, so about 5psi boost, but all good for now.

All in the all, the turbo swap is a straight forward process, just a time consuming one, probably took me at least twice as long as should have. The biggest PITA was fitting the exhaust to turbo. I think the issue was largely contributed to with the UR front lower brace.

Now to up the boost and hold on.

[Machine]

Nice one. So does this mean you'll be time attacking next weekend?

[seangti]

Nice one. So does this mean you'll be time attacking next weekend?

Haha, tempting. I've got to get it logged first to see if any of the tune needs adjusting. I think I'll have to pass on participating next weekend, will get some k's on it first before I run it that hard. I'm planning to come up and watch.

[seangti]

250km done since fitting the turbo and it's all smiles. I've reconnected the N75 and it's boosting to 19psi. I've learnt lots from doing it myself and still learning more. The car doesn't boost quite as rapid as it did before, which is a good thing as it's a bit more controllable from wheel spin - though that's only a twitch away. I've got full boost at about 3200rpm which I think is similar to before, it's just a bit more progressive as it comes on. This could be/probably is due to the wastegate actuator not being wound up quite as tight as it was before. Either way, I feel it's better for me.

I have ordered VCDS Lite activation codes so I can log it to see what's going on, hoping the access code turns up tonight. Also really hoping it doesn't need a retune. If the logging shows it's all safe, I'll try get some performance figures again in the coming weeks. I don't feel there's much between the two turbo's. Some of the nuances I won't know till I'm on the track as you can't replicate that driving style on the street.

Before the turbo swap, I also installed QFM A1RM brake pads in the front. Wow, these are awesome, so much braking power. Almost put myself through the windscreen a few times earlier in the week. Drove my silver car last night and almost ran through a stop sign... The brake set-up is awesome.

Things to do:
- soften off the rear sway bar to it's softest setting (from hardest). In the wet this week, it feels a little too dancey. It's been fun on the track, though I think the tendency to wiggle the rear may be holding back my confidence to commit. Easy way to find out.
- replace the rear muffler with something quieter, lol.
- drive the damn thing like it's meant to be driven