Big turbo build- take two

[DougLoBue]

50 minutes later and the head is off the car.

time to go to NYC for NYE. The piece of **** car will have to wait till monday.

[DeckManDubs]

I don't like that clacking noise ???

Lifters? Or AC perhaps?

[The_RoadWarrior]

Lifters? Or AC perhaps?

Sounds like deflated lifters since everything has been sitting for so long. An hydraulic tensioner could make that noise too and if all that checks out something is contacting in the cylinders (we all hope that's not the case ).

[DougLoBue]

When I ran it Friday the noise was gone. It was just lifters. During that video the AC wasn't connected actually.

[20v master]

Yeah, lifters are (scary) noisy til they pump up. Not for the faint of heart on a slow engine build.

[DougLoBue]

Back out there. Got head bolts and a new head gasket.

After pulling the head last week I decided to hunt down my electrical problems. I replaced a coil pack harness on this harness during my motor install and it seems that the ground for the oil level sensor runs to the main harness then back up to the coil pack harness.

I'd also suspect the Tach pulls signal from some line on this harness too. I've found the oil level sensor one. Next up is the tach and head/turbo re-install.

Nice to know three out of the four issues are on their way to being solved. Now I just need to find a WG center-ring I dropped on the subframe and the head gets reinstalled.

Did I mention it's 25 degrees out and I ran out of (double )

Also all of the silicone hoses I ordered came in. Might be able to install everything correctly this time.

[Tempes_TT]

How exciting dude! Find anyone to swap that lower grill yet?

GJ so far man. I like this. Gets me excited for mine! (even though its not going to be nearly as powerful! )

[DougLoBue]

Thanks and as long as you enjoy what you build- that's what matters. Nobody to swap the grille with yet, I'm just going to pick up an extra I think.

Pic right before the head goes on. Now without studs I can slide the whole assembly in and out all bolted together. I'm pretty excited about that!

With that said, it's 2am and time to quit. Real job time at 8, boo

[PLAYED TT]

Nice Doug. That harness should do the trick.

[l88m22vette]

Holy crap that housing looks huge in the pic, I didn't realize the scale

[DougLoBue]

Little status update:

Something is funky with my head. There are inserts that the head bolts sit on that are a different size than other 1.8T heads. When trying to use stock bolts my head decided it would shave down the threads on the top of the bolt. I just got my digital caliper back and plan on taking measurements & photos later.

Before figuring this out we went through a bunch of headaches: Swapping in three new headgaskets and two sets of OEM bolts (spending a couple hundred bucks)- I finally ordered new ARP studs.

Sidenote: ARP won't warranty their products unless you have the build number off the side of the box.

Entire car is back together as of last night (minus the battery). Tonight we should be firing it up for the second time. I have hopes that I have fixed the oil light issue and a couple of ideas on how to diagnose & fix the tach. - Bad cluster connection, missing ground loop like the oil light or bad cluster.

I oil'd the AC compressor on Big Phil's recommendation to fix the squealing and Ed fixed my intercooler pipe after I mangled it because I wasn't thinking. If all issues are fixed I just need to fix my ProSport Wideband gauge and that's it.

I'll update later.

[1.8 skeet skeet]

That thing is going to be a monster

[DeckManDubs]

Little status update:

Something is funky with my head. There are inserts that the head bolts sit on that are a different size than other 1.8T heads. When trying to use stock bolts my head decided it would shave down the threads on the top of the bolt. I just got my digital caliper back and plan on taking measurements & photos later.

Before figuring this out we went through a bunch of headaches: Swapping in three new headgaskets and two sets of OEM bolts (spending a couple hundred bucks)- I finally ordered new ARP studs.

Sidenote: ARP won't warranty their products unless you have the build number off the side of the box.

Entire car is back together as of last night (minus the battery). Tonight we should be firing it up for the second time. I have hopes that I have fixed the oil light issue and a couple of ideas on how to diagnose & fix the tach. - Bad cluster connection, missing ground loop like the oil light or bad cluster.

I oil'd the AC compressor on Big Phil's recommendation to fix the squealing and Ed fixed my intercooler pipe after I mangled it because I wasn't thinking. If all issues are fixed I just need to fix my ProSport Wideband gauge and that's it.

I'll update later.

Doug, your running an AEB head no? Some where in my brain it comes up that there is a difference in studs between AEB's and AMU's/BEA's. AMU bolts being larger

But good to hear you got it sorted. Only like four months or so till Lime Rock

[DougLoBue]

Doug, your running an AEB head no? Some where in my brain it comes up that there is a difference in studs between AEB's and AMU's/BEA's. AMU bolts being larger

You got that right. AEB head on my car. AEB was 11mm x 96mm & Small port is 10mm x 115mm IIRC.

So I assume the block can take the longer bolt but the issue with my head appeared to be with the fitting in the head inserts. Tony at FFE stuck my bolts through a bare AEB head and the worked fine- so that's why I think my head is weird, I have zero luck or I'm retarded. No comments Noah

Only like four months or so till Lime Rock

Phil was telling me about the Lime Rock track day and I'm all in. Going to have to get a monster tune by then and some track skills.

[20v master]

All blocks besides AEB accept 10mm bolts. AEB's take 11mm's. The head doesn't care which you use, only the block, aka I run an AEB on my AWP block with standard OEM 10mm bolts.

[DougLoBue]

All blocks besides AEB accept 10mm bolts. AEB's take 11mm's. The head doesn't care which you use, only the block, aka I run an AEB on my AWP block with standard OEM 10mm bolts.

This isn't a great picture but this is what was happening. The bolt threads into the block just fine only after the head sheers the threads off the top of the bolt and then it fits perfectly. After removing the head and dropping a bolt with the thread VS. a bolt that had the threads sheered off- the sheered bolt drops down that much further. On the AEB head @ FFE they both dropped through equally.

Weird no?

[DougLoBue]

Okay. She runs!

Alternator squeal is all gone
Valvetrain noise is normal again
Oil light & tach still don't work
Wideband gauge/sensor still obviously have issues
The base tune is pretty spot on. Low idle. Dead on AFR with low correction
Clutch doesn't chatter like crazy at idle (yet maybe)



The car is cooling down now after a heat cycle. Preparing for ARP re-torque procedure to 80 ft/lbs. Dash and cluster are already out to be swapped for trouble shooting. Regardless if I figure that out or not I'll probably take it around the block a few times tonight.

[bklnstunt718]

hey man! thing looks awesome!!!! nice and clean!!!

thanks for helping out on the phone the other day.. it was a bad connection to the alternator... turned out i spend 300bucks on a new one that i didnt even need

[DougLoBue]

Not a problem Jaymo!

Re-torqued head studs- didn't snap any
Swapped clusters- I don't have any wiring issues, I purchased a bad used cluster

Put 6 gentle miles on the car - I couldn't be happier.

Oh and I have to mention. Eurodyne > Unitronic any day of the week.

I come to a stop and my car doesn't rev-hunt, bog down or stall. Acceleration out of boost is smooth. I cannot comment further as of now but so far I'm impressed.

[PLAYED TT]

Success!

[DeckManDubs]

Oh and I have to mention. Eurodyne > Unitronic any day of the week.

[DougLoBue]

Max & me start tuning Saturday. Last night drove the car and logged it- it goes off the charts lean as soon as it enters boost. Maestro log reads 58.something AFR after the 02 correction maxes out.

Ignition upgrades part 1:

[20v master]

it goes off the charts lean as soon as it enters boost. Maestro log reads 58.something AFR after the 02 correction maxes out.

I thought Maestro was the shiz?

[DougLoBue]

I thought Maestro was the shiz?

I believe it is, but it needs tuning to get there. Out of the box it had a terrific idle and out of boost AFR's around 14-17 under load.

[DougLoBue]

Issues: accessory belt falls off and rides outside of tensioner. Brand new tensioner and belt didn't help- anyone ever seen this before??

Good news: Car is fully together and the tuning process has begun. Short of engine covers, catch can and new valve cover & coilpack adapters.

[PLAYED TT]

Its falling off

[Audiguy84]

use a straight edge and find out what pulley is not lined up with the others, suspect that one of them is off.

[DougLoBue]

use a straight edge and find out what pulley is not lined up with the others, suspect that one of them is off.

That's what I'm going to try tonight- I just cannot figure out which pulley would be off... Also I cannot recall if that coolant bolt bracket goes on the inside of the bolts or the outside.

[Audiguy84]

its hard to tell in the pics but is the alternator straight?

[DougLoBue]

Pretty certain it is- it's bolted in all the way.

[DeckManDubs]

Doug are you using an ABA block?

[DougLoBue]

Doug are you using an ABA block?

Negative captain.

AWP block
AEB head

stock pulleys & accessories from my AMU setup including crank pulley.

[DeckManDubs]

Negative captain.

AWP block
AEB head

stock pulleys & accessories from my AMU setup including crank pulley.

It seems like your tensioner is sitting in ~.125-.250" towards the block. Do you have your old one to compare to?

[DougLoBue]

The tensioner issue turned out to be my mistake...

There is a small bracket for the hard water pipe to bolt to. I had it between the tensioner and the Acc. bracket, it belonged on the outside of the tensioner. Opps!

I think I need a new wideband sensor for both my gauge and possibly the car as well even though it only has about 3 weeks of use on it. For whatever reason Maestro gets stuck reading lead 4.0 Lambra on my logs most of the time and since my WB gauge sensor isn't working I'm totally blind.

[DeckManDubs]

The tensioner issue turned out to be my mistake...

There is a small bracket for the hard water pipe to bolt to. I had it between the tensioner and the Acc. bracket, it belonged on the outside of the tensioner. Opps!

Glad you got it sorted