High Compression Turbo D16A6. Take 2.

93celicaGT2 wrote: Question: Why the block guard? I have an extra D-series one lying around that i haven't used because i don't really trust them, on the pretense that they're not the same exact metal as the block/sleeves, so they don't have the same expansion/contraction properties. I could very well be wrong, i just can't get my head around why they would make much difference.

Because I couldn't afford full sleeving. I know some people don't like block guards. I've never used one, so my opinion could still change, but I like them. They keep the cylinder of the open deck from being able to shift. Is it likely? No. Could it happen? Yes. So there is a potential upside, with little downside. The downside you always hear about is overheating, and I could see that with some of them. The Golden Eagle has a lot of space for water to pass though. Also, I installed it 1/4" deep, so that there is a nice volume of water above it and no tendency for it to block the head gasket flow.

I hear you on the expansion / contraction concerns, but there are two reasons I'm not really concerned.
1. The block is aluminum. While it is true that cast and extruded aluminum expand at different rates, they are closer to each other than either is to cast iron, which is what the liners are. In other words, the liners should seperate before the block to block guard interface has any issues.
2. It is relatively low temp there. This is the water jacket. It should never see more than ~250 degrees.

Autolex wrote: do you have a link somewhere to the original build?

Not really. The setup was kind of an evolution over the course of many years, along with a few years of collecting dust thrown in. I've posted the occasional update online from time to time, but there isn't a cohesive build thread.

DILYSI Dave wrote:

93celicaGT2 wrote: Question: Why the block guard? I have an extra D-series one lying around that i haven't used because i don't really trust them, on the pretense that they're not the same exact metal as the block/sleeves, so they don't have the same expansion/contraction properties. I could very well be wrong, i just can't get my head around why they would make much difference.

Because I couldn't afford full sleeving. I know some people don't like block guards. I've never used one, so my opinion could still change, but I like them. They keep the cylinder of the open deck from being able to shift. Is it likely? No. Could it happen? Yes. So there is a potential upside, with little downside. The downside you always hear about is overheating, and I could see that with some of them. The Golden Eagle has a lot of space for water to pass though. Also, I installed it 1/4" deep, so that there is a nice volume of water above it and no tendency for it to block the head gasket flow. I hear you on the expansion / contraction concerns, but there are two reasons I'm not really concerned. 1. The block is aluminum. While it is true that cast and extruded aluminum expand at different rates, they are closer to each other than either is to cast iron, which is what the liners are. In other words, the liners should seperate before the block to block guard interface has any issues. 2. It is relatively low temp there. This is the water jacket. It should never see more than ~250 degrees.

Gotcha. Yeah, i have the Golden Eagle unit, too, just nothing to put it in anymore. I was going to throw it in if i went turbo, but ended up getting rid of the car. Love your build, and i'm sure the block guard definitely won't hurt.

Ever looked into DefCon? If it's a dedicated autox car, i would imagine that would be a possibility. A popular mod out here (not that i think it's the best idea) among B-series turbos is to DefCon a stock LS block and boost the hell out of it for a season, and just get another one the following season, wash, rinse, repeat as necessary.

If i had a car that i wanted to build on a budget and wouldn't be seeing a ton of miles, i'd just go that route.

This is an awesome thread.

Are you talking block posting, as originally popularised by Endyn?

http://www.muller.net/sonny/crx/engine/posted.html http://www.theoldone.com/components/Posts/endyn_block_post_kits.htm

Head installed, torqued. Timing belt on.

The crank pulley tool I made. Used it while turning the engine over to set the valve lash.

Engine mount, Timing cover on. I really need to buy a new timing cover. I always get irritated at how ugly this one is at this point in the build.

Engine is almost ready to go in the car. 30 minutes away maybe. I cleaned out the oil pan to make sure no bearing bits remained, and it's about impossible to dry. So I've got a fan aimed at it and I'll let it air out until tomorrow night. Then, pan goes on, valvetrain gets smothered in oil, valve cover goes back on and it comes off the hoist. Add flywheel and new clutch and then it goes back in the car. I should be running tomorrow night.

You're making me miss my 89 Si.

Taiden wrote: You're making me miss my 89 Si.

Great cars.

I hope to see it at Sunday's event

Patrick

I'm interested to see how this comes out. I've been wanting to turbo my 4age 20v with 10.5/1, but am a little gun-shy (and don't have the combined funds for the MS and turbo).

Gotsol wrote: I hope to see it at Sunday's event Patrick

You will. It cranked at around 3:00 this morning. I still have some buttoning up to do, and of course the break-in, but it cranked on the first try.

DILYSI Dave wrote: it cranked on the first try.

Possibly a better feeling than your first time

Congrats sir on a job well done

Engine sealed up - Valve cover and oil pan in place.

Clutchmaster flywheel as it came out of the car:

After 5 minutes with 120 grit on an orbital sander. I've resurfaced numerous flywheels this way and it works great as long as there are no gouges. Gives the flywheel enough tooth to break in the new clutch disk.

XTD 6 puck clutch off of ebay. It was damn cheap, but I've heard good things. Here's hoping they are true. The OE clutch had not given up the ghost yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Engine bolted in. Nothing hooked up.

Everything hooked up, but the damn Koyo Radiator wouldn't sit right. Nevertheless, this was the state it was in during the initial startup. Cranked on the first turn, no leaks, no ugly noises, and good oil pressure. Props to Bill Bounds for helping me get it dropped in and cranked Tuesday night.

This was something I did while I had it apart. I have come to hate the banjo bolt on the fuel filter. Gotta get on it with an open end, which there isn't enough room for, and then fight it. As I never use the bleed port, I first welded it shut, then ground the top flat. Then I took a flange nut from my hardware box and welded it to the top of the banjo bolt. Now I can get on it with a socket. :)

2 hours of grinding, cussing, and sawzalling later, and the radiator finally fit. The koyo piece is pretty, well made, and by all accounts cools great. But it doesn't fit out of the box. Apparently they just ship the JDM one here rather than do a new application for USDM cars, and the bracketry isn't the same. Nevertheless, I got it to work. Thank god for the SM fitment rule though.

Limited real estate in there, but everything is getting along OK. I hada half width radiator in there before, and the heat coming off of the turbo wasn't a concern. With the 2" thick full width, they do now live in the same neighborhood. I'll probably fab up a heat shield at some point.

Just another view.

Is that a diamond plate hood scoop to feed the intercooler air?

thatsnowinnebago wrote: Is that a diamond plate hood scoop to feed the intercooler air?

Yes. Yes it is.

Sweeeeet. Love the "rare JDM banjo bolt delete option." Nice work, buddy.

when i visit, and i will visit since i'm just up I-85 a few hours, i'm totally gonna dry-hump that diamond plate hood scoop.

AngryCorvair wrote: when i visit, and i will visit since i'm just up I-85 a few hours, i'm totally gonna dry-hump that diamond plate hood scoop.

Just know that you'll be the meat in a Dave / Civic sandwich.

Is that a DSM intercooler? I' had been thinking of an arrangement like that for my civic.

xci_ed6 wrote: Is that a DSM intercooler? I' had been thinking of an arrangement like that for my civic.

It started as a DSM intercooler. I flipped one tank and reconfigured the outlets on both tanks.

160 miles accumulated. Call it an accelerated break in. It's racing tomorrow, so I went with the speedy break-in theory. No boost, not over 3500RPM in the first 50 miles. Light boost, 4500 to 100 miles. Full boost, 5500 to 125 miles. Full boost, 6500 to 150 miles. At 150 miles I cut it loose. Did an all out pull in the back lot where I work. It made me giggle. First gear was of course nothing but smoke. I dropped the clutch hard on the 1-2 shift and the tires lit back up. Rather than feather it, I wanted to see what they would do. It spun the tires (street tires) through the entire gear, up to ~60, when I shifted to third and it chirped them pretty impressively. Then I got on the brakes so as to not run out of parking lot. I went and paced it and the 2nd gear tire spin was over 100' long.

Also, Blood Mountain was fun even though I was limited to 4500 at that point. I passed a few crotch rockets. Stopped at the store on top of the mountain to take a piss and when I came out there were a half-dozen dudes in leathers around my car. Tons of questions. That was cool.

A nearly flawless break-in drive. I say nearly flawless because in the last 5 miles of the drive, it died. Electrical. I see the dash lights dimming, then it starts misfiring, then I'm dead. I rolled for nearly a mile before I had to stop. Called my wife and she brought me the jump box. Cranked instantly and drove with it hooked up the rest of the way home. I suspected I threw the alternator belt during the all out run, but nope - it was there. In hindsight, I think I know what happened. One of the low beams is out. Combined with EF's having E36 M3ty lighting in the first place, the light output sucked. No big deal when I was in areas with lots of street lights. As soon as I got in the sticks though, I couldn't see for E36 M3. So I flicked on the brights. It died within 5 minutes of that. I think that the little lawn tractor battery just couldn't keep up with the bright lights. I've got it hooked up to the battery charger now. Hopefully, in the morning it will crank right up and I'll consider it problem solved.

Oh yeah - and this damn radiator cools like a motherberkeleyer. The only time the car would get up to temp was sitting still for 5 minutes. Get moving and within a minute the temp is back down to between 100 and 125. I'm actually wondering if I'm going to have to block off airflow to keep the temperature high enough. We'll see.

DILYSI Dave wrote: this damn radiator cools like a motherberkeleyer. The only time the car would get up to temp was sitting still for 5 minutes. Get moving and within a minute the temp is back down to between 100 and 125. I'm actually wondering if I'm going to have to block off airflow to keep the temperature high enough. We'll see.

stupid dumb racing radiators...

I am sure I speak for all of us here when I say thats a truly inspiring build/1st run story and we all need to start sourcing aging FWD 4 bangers and DIY turbo setups

UPDATE:

A buddy invited me to a car show he was putting on today. I wasn't much interested until he mentioned free dyno runs. I've been curious whether the first motor was on its way out when I dynoed it this spring, so I figured this would be a chance to see if the new motor is doing the same, or better. No tuning, but a decent chance to see how it compared for free.

Apparently it was already on the way out.

202HP / 186 ft-lbs. This is 27HP and 14 ft-lbs more than what the old motor did. Didn't get to study it much, but torque curve looked about the same as before - just higher.

At least some of that could be attributed to your oil flow fix, and the little bit you removed off the deck. Im guessing at least a portion of those gains are also attributed to lighter rotating bits...i.e are the new rods much lighter than the old ones? Didnt you add some new lighter shoes/meats to that civic, or am I just remembering wrong?

Anyway, man I am super pumped to hear shes still running like a champ.Congrats!!!

true hot rodding