Project Turbo 914 begins..., (yes, I know you can't turbo a 914) Options

[ottox914]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/drunk.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

This will be fun to tune (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

The tune should be easier that you might think- I have the n/a maps of the SDS about 95% of where I want them. Adding the turbo mean adjusting just 2 maps- adding some lines to the fuel table for operating conditions when there is + manifold pressure, and adding some lines to the timing table to pull some timing when boost is present.

I really don't expect it to be THAT simple, but who knows, could be...

[nein14]

Is it running yet?

[rick 918-S]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[ottox914]

IT LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got the turbo and lines done last weekend, got the tail pipe made, modified, and mounted. Hit the key. Nothing. It would crank but not even sputter. Had a couple of gun-shoot back fires though. Battery seemed kinda low.

This week. Charged battery, tried to start. Same deal, lots of cranking, not even a sputter, letting off the key results in a huge **KA-BOOM**.

Today. Put a small electric fan/heater under the back trunk, let it run for 2-3 hrs to warm up the belly of the beast. Called SDS for some ideas on what to check. They as usual answered the phone promptly and were very helpful. In english. During normal hours when I was needing them. Nice. So we went thru some ideas of how to check the coil pac, thinking maybe that was it. I go back to the garage, look at the intercooler and piping to be removed to get to the coil.

OK, maybe I'll give it one more try before doing all that work. 2-3 seconds of crank, and it lights right off, no drama, no fuss. It was a little louder than I expected, but remember its in a large garage that will echo and amplify a bit. Shut it off, take a deep breath, and try again. Pops right off. Bad gas? Fowled plugs? To darn cold? Don't know, but I plan to haul in some fresh gas to add to whats in the tank, and will be checking the plugs also.

Whats left? Per usual, plenty. Get it to the dyno. Build a shroud and mount a puller fan below the intercooler. Take it all appart and get the I/C piped powder coated. High temp coat the exhaust. Add an O2 bung to the exhaust before getting to the dyno. And whatever else comes to mind.

Now the pics:

[ottox914]

A couple more pics:

Just need things to warm up and melt off for a proper test drive!

I'll add more after the dyno day, whenever that comes to pass. Hopefully winter will be over and done with sometime before july up here.

[iamchappy]

NICE ZORK!!!!!!!

[ottox914]

Added a couple more pics I took this weekend. Just had to get into the garage and start it again, just to listen to it... One of the design goals was to keep it as stealthy as possible. Here are a couple shots showing how little you really can see from the back.

[ottox914]

Couple more pics- I believe the clutch and speedo cables hang lower than any of the turbo related stuff. If you look closely at the wheel on the carpet cleaner being stored on the back wall, you can kind of see a little puff of smoke from the cold temps in the garage and the hot exhaust. IT LIVES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ottox914]

On the road with 914T.... I have been driving it for a couple weeks when the days are warm enough not to freeze at night in the car- with no heat. Initial results were promising but under-whelming. Boost gauge was showing 4 psi or so, and only at WOT in the upper rpms. BS'ing with some turbo guys, we thought it might be: a boost leak in the plumbing, or maybe the waste gate was opening a little early and the gauge was reading a little light, and everything was working as it should, I just needed some stones to crank up the boost a little.

I ordered and installed today one of these: www.boostvalve.com. I also moved the boost line to read pressure after the throttle plates, rather than at the turbo compressor outlet. This would serve to make the turbo spin a little harder to make the amount of boost requested, as if there were any leaks or pressure drops thru the intercooler, the turbo would have to boost beyond these things to make the desired pressure after the throttle plates.

BOOST!!!!! A solid 8psi. I'm still working on the tune. My plan to take the n/a tune and just tweek the high end- out the window. Tried that, but it just didn't work. I think hte turbo, even if its not making boost, is moving air enough to mess up the tune I thought I had nailed w/out the turbo. So I have started from scratch. I have wideband AFR's of around 14-15 at WOT, not as rich as I would want, but good enough to tip into the boost a bit and enjoy 3 yrs of planning and work.

The weather up here is supposed to suck for the next 4-5 days, so probably will not have any more fun rides. I'll try to get some pics of the last of the install tomorrow and add them to the thread. When we can get back on the road, I'll do a little video, and see if I can figure out how to post or host it or whatever.

Once I get the AFR's under control, its off to the dyno, and I'll be sure to post the before and after charts also. It's pretty weird to think that the rest of the work is to drive the darn thing, push buttons, and not to wait for some odd part then freeze in the shop to install it.

[iamchappy]

David, you need to richen that thing up to around 12.5 while your boosting.

[ottox914]

Thats about where I was n/a, pre-turbo, and that is what I'm shooting for now. AFR's varry between 12 and 14/15, so its not running lean across the whole rpm or boost range, just in a couple spots. I've got plenty of timing pulled to keep it all save while I get the AFR's in line, and look at how long this has all taken... I'm being cautious in getting into the boost during the testing/tuneing phase. Just need more warm weather and another tank of gas.

[Walter]

Any updates on how its running and maybe a dyno run yet?

I am curieus as now I know you can turbo an otherwise stock 914 2.0 to more than double its original power at 14,5 psi. Cool inlet temps is mandatory though.

[ottox914]

Much has gone on since the last update- intercooler and sucker fan, smaller turbo from a Mitzu 3000 GT, and now chasing boost leaks.

Short story- with the subi turbo, as seen in the pics so far, the boost started around 3k, got to 5psi somewhere between 3500 and 4k, topped out at 7 psi or so from there to redline. From 4k up, it was alot of fun. I thought the late boosting was due to the subie turbo being to big- yup, it came from a 2.0 motor, and thats what I had, but the subie is a motor that will spin to 7k and has 2x as many valves. So I re-did it all with a much smaller, 9B turbo from the 3000 GT. Performance was about the same. Huh? The smaller turbo should be boosting like crazy. Made an adapter to connect my compressor to the turbo inlet and pressurize the system. Found several boost leaks, and am chasing down a few more. I guess thats part of the fun of building you own system, rather than use a plug and play system with the bugs worked out of it.

So far as intake temps, with the subie and the 3000 GT turbo, with the cooling fan ON for the intercooler, I was seeing only a 15 degree rise from ambiant temps, and this with the turbos both boosting like crazy to show 7psi on the gauge with all the boost leaks.

In retrospect, doing this thru the factory plenum and throttle body would have been loads easier- no need to re-engineer the linkage and cable, much less intercooler piping, so less leaks, but hey, I had the ITB's on the car, and using them made room for the center mount intercooler, so, I guess like Edison and his quest for the electric light bulb, I need to just keep on thinking things thru and trying things out till its all good.

Work has been insane this summer. 50-60 hrs every week since october 07, not alot of time to put into the car. I have tomorrow off, and hope to track down the last of the boost leaks and add a bunch more pics and details to the thread.

[Walter]

Thanks for the update!
I used a suby turbo too (IHI VF34 from a WRX) and that started about as late (as of 3000 rpm) too, but I have 7psi at 3500 and 14.5 psi at 4000 and above (ecu controls boost). Must confess its in a bug, but engine block is totally stock 914 2.0 apart from the Scat single T1 valve springs and Ti retainers.
It put out 222 hp and 225 ft.lbs of torque on the dyno...so its IS possible!
Just trying to give you some motivation to carry on (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[ottox914]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTBMd6qFEek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_zCQhXJ-YI

Hope these links work. The first one should be a walk around of the car and project, the 2nd one is a little road trip. I'll see if I can get some more detail pics up to the thread later this week. If the links are bad, just surf utube for "914 turbo" and the 2 vids should come up for you. My user name there since I couldn't combine letters and #'s and use ottox914 is "minefourteen".

The tune is still a little rough, and as of yet I have not made it to the dyno, so I don't have any real #'s yet on what it puts out for HP and TQ. I could be a month or more before I can find/make the time for the 3 hr each way trip to a dyno, but I try to get out every night for a little bit to enjoy the car and work the SDS a little.

To drive the car is, ah, fun... The boost still starts later than I'd hoped for, don't know if any of the dyno guys will have a clue how to move that up a little, but because of that, it drives around town like any other NA 914, but mat the gas and it is just a smooth pull all the way to redline, not alot of noise and a huge push in the back just before you have to shift, like the little honda guys with turbos that are way to big... The tune right now is around 12-11 afr from 0 to 7psi or so, and 11-10 from there to max boost, which is around 10 psi. I've got alot of timing pulled to be sure not to melt anything, so to fine tune up the afr's across the boost range and put back some timing may sharpen up the throttle response as well. Not that the car is a dog right now, but always looking to make it better...

[arvcube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTBMd6qFEek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_zCQhXJ-YI

Hope these links work. The first one should be a walk around of the car and project, the 2nd one is a little road trip. I'll see if I can get some more detail pics up to the thread later this week. If the links are bad, just surf utube for "914 turbo" and the 2 vids should come up for you. My user name there since I couldn't combine letters and #'s and use ottox914 is "minefourteen".

The tune is still a little rough, and as of yet I have not made it to the dyno, so I don't have any real #'s yet on what it puts out for HP and TQ. I could be a month or more before I can find/make the time for the 3 hr each way trip to a dyno, but I try to get out every night for a little bit to enjoy the car and work the SDS a little.

To drive the car is, ah, fun... The boost still starts later than I'd hoped for, don't know if any of the dyno guys will have a clue how to move that up a little, but because of that, it drives around town like any other NA 914, but mat the gas and it is just a smooth pull all the way to redline, not alot of noise and a huge push in the back just before you have to shift, like the little honda guys with turbos that are way to big... The tune right now is around 12-11 afr from 0 to 7psi or so, and 11-10 from there to max boost, which is around 10 psi. I've got alot of timing pulled to be sure not to melt anything, so to fine tune up the afr's across the boost range and put back some timing may sharpen up the throttle response as well. Not that the car is a dog right now, but always looking to make it better...

Nice setup David. The engine sounds really solid when it revs. Looks like you've got plenty of fuel as depicted by your afr's. I'm thinking your retarded timing is contributing to the lag. I would also think that the header setup (long tubes) would as well.

[rick 918-S]

Nice work! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

[ottox914]

Long time w/no updates- busy summer- sorry guys.

Intercooler. There are pics of the IC installed, but here are a few of the fan. I found a fan that has a microscopic draw, I think it was like 2-3 amps, and moved 1000 cfm of air. My friend Steve the HVAC guy helped me make a plenum for under the IC to make things more efficient. The most temp rise I have seen during the heat of the day with around 98 degree air temps was a 30 degree rise in the intake temp. Now if you drive the car for a couple hrs, it will heat soak and rise a little more, but for the intended purpose, auto cross, I can expect to see 15-30 degree temp rise, thats not to bad considering the poor air flow of this location.

[ottox914]

Turbo- I noted that I had changed from the WRX 13G to a 3000GT 9B turbo. I guess 35 yr old 2 valve pushrod technology really doesn't flow as well as the 4 valve DOHC stuff we have in the newer cars. What I really needed to do was know exactally the flow rate of the heads of the 914 so I could compensate the formulas to determine the correct turbo sizing. Here are some pics of the difference in size of the WRX and 3000GT front turbo:

[ottox914]

Note the size difference of the turbo exhaust inlets and the compressor inlet: