The ups and downs of a 2.7L Turbo

[cleanasse30]

Alrighty, quick update here. Been super busy lately working on the car so not much time for updates. Spent all of Saturday getting the engine ready to put in the car, and then dropped it in late that night.



I went with a TCD stage 2 clutch kit, and had him order the clutch masters 8 puck clutch disk which is supposed to be fairly streetable but also hold 450+ ftlbs iirc. I also had to rotate the oil filter housing to work with my manifold.



Engine in the car! took a bit longer than expected but good progress none the less.



Sunday I bolted up the manifold and my buddy and I started to make the downpipe fit my turbo and wastegate. Disclaimer, I haven't mig welded in over a year so the welds wont look pretty lol. Top weld is first time welding in a year, the bottom is after I got comfortable with it again.



Downpipe mated to the turbo and wastegate:









Monday night I hooked up all the engine electrical stuff, minus the wasted spark.



Tuesday I put the drive shaft back in the car, filled the rear diff and put the heat shields back on. Super exciting stuff, I know. No pics from that.

Yesterday my buddy helped me weld up the rest of the downpipe and mate it to the 3" exhaust I have. No pics from this as we finished late last night and I needed to hit the hay.

Things that are left before I'm done:
-re-install wasted spark
-oil pressure gauge
-Econometer boost gauge
-hook up oil feed and drain
-plumb wastegate
-install fuel pump
-install radiator
-fab intercooler mount
-install intercooler and piping
-adjust tune
-hope it doesn't blow up :devil:

I'm hoping to have the car running by saturday night so I can get the kinks worked out before my roadtrip down to CA at the end of August. Pacific Coast Highway here we come!

[IronFreak]

Probably a good thing you didn't get it... I spent $300 getting it fixed so it would fit properly cuz the seller didn't disclose the fact it didn't fit without "bending some of the studs" :rippedoff:

.........Who charged you $300 to fix that? was it just 2 runners?

[squidmaster]

Looks great so far! Subd :)

[cleanasse30]

Nice build, I wanted to buy that manifold and the guy never got back to me lol

Probably a good thing you didn't get it... I spent $300 getting it fixed so it would fit properly cuz the seller didn't disclose the fact it didn't fit without "bending some of the studs" :rippedoff:

[efficient]

Nice build, I wanted to buy that manifold and the guy never got back to me lol

[CorvallisBMW]

Good call on the brace. Especially if you include a rubber pad/isolator, that will really help reduce any vibration/fatigue.

EDC was amazeballs, it was my first time. I wish I could have been so many places at once, but since that's not possible I had to pick the select few. Arty and Dada Life at Circuit Grounds were awesome, and I actually thought Calvin Harris did an amazing set (I was expecting just a bunch of big room hits). DJ Jazzy Jeff was really good too. I wanted desperately to love Armin, but he performance seemed so-so.

[cleanasse30]

Looks like a nice oil pressure setup, just keep an eye on the tee for any cracks/fatigue. You essentially have a weight (sender) hanging off of a 4-5" arm (adapters) which will be susceptible to engine vibration and could possible crack/fail.

Yeah that's a good point, didn't think of that. I think I'll make a brace for the sender off one of the unused A/C mounting points once its all put together. I appreciate your oil pressure gauge guide, saved me a bunch of time picking stuff out! I also saw in your thread you went to EDC Vegas, I was there too! Such an epic experience, who were your favorites?

[CorvallisBMW]

Looks like a nice oil pressure setup, just keep an eye on the tee for any cracks/fatigue. You essentially have a weight (sender) hanging off of a 4-5" arm (adapters) which will be susceptible to engine vibration and could possible crack/fail.

[cleanasse30]

Couple updates from today. Finished up the paint on the manifold, I chose VHT flameproof flat black. I've never used this paint on a turbo manifold so I'll report back on its effectiveness and durability once the car runs:





I ordered and recieved fittings, VDO oil pressure guage and VDO oil pressure sender from Summit (super fast shipping!). The setup consists of a 12x1.5 to -4 AN male -> -4 AN female to 1/8" NPT male -> 1/8" NPT Tee female -> 1/8"NPT male to -4 AN male -> -4 AN oil feed line



I also re-torqued the ARP head studs today. Most of them had relaxed and needed about an eighth of a turn to click on the torque wrench.

I hope to have the engine in car and mostly put together by the end of the weekend at the very least. It would be awesome if it ran though :devil:

[Regnar75]

cool man, im digging the gold

[cleanasse30]

Its been awhile. Upon cleaning the block, putting the oil pan on and getting ready to put the head on, I grew worried about the condition of the cylinder walls. The PO of the engine blew the head gasket right before I bought the engine. There was scoring on the cyl walls of the block, but I was dumb and still bought the engine because I didn't know any better. There are several scores on cyl 1,2,3,5 iirc and most catch the thumbnail. I don't have time nor want to deal with taking the bottom end apart to get machined so i just said fuck it and bought another 2.7L eta engine.

I spent the last couple weekends tearing it apart, cleaning it, replacing the oil seals and building the 2.7i engine. The engine picked up had around 170k miles on it and had some oil leaks.



I used a nylon wire wheel on a die grinder to get the carbon off the piston tops



After / Before



All cleaned up



This is a shot from last night, engine assembled and head torqued down. I tightened the ARP head studs in 3 stages (20#, 40#, 70#) with some copper assembly lube since I didn't have the ARP assy lube. I'm going to re-check the torque once the engine is put in the car just to be sure.



One more



Primed the turbo manifold before I left today. Plan is to have the engine in the car next weekend, then start putting the turbo stuff on. Maybe first start Sunday night if everything goes smoothly, buuuuut probably not knowing how car things go lol...

[cleanasse30]

Update from this past weekend:

Engine removed!



Token "me" powered picture:



Thought I'd pass on this pro tip my buddy suggested. It has helped me a TON in keeping my fasteners organized. When taking apart your engine/car, put fasteners in separate sandwhich baggies and label them with a sharpie!



Pic of the old engine internals, looks like its been burning some oil. My guess is valve seals since the compression was pretty solid across the board (165-180)



Dropping the turbo manifold I bought from SSR-125, which didn't fit on the head and he didn't mention that at all, off at the welder today to get fixed. The order from ECS was delayed twice, so all but one thing are shipping today via overnight. I will never order from ECS again, but progress is being made despite the delay in shipping.

I'll be on vacation for the next weekish. PARTY ON, GARTH! :drink:

[cleanasse30]

A wild clutch appears!



I also removed all the turbo stuff, disconnected the oil cooler and throttle cables, removed the radiator, cleaned up all the coolant I spilled all over the floor and picked up my friends engine crane. Hoping to have the engine out this weekend and the other engine built ready to go in!

[cleanasse30]

Small update from Sunday:

Started by finishing up the paint job on the engine block with a clear coat.





I drilled the hole in the intercooler pipe for the psh psh thingy. I went with a TurboSmart V-port Pro BOV because it's not too expensive, isn't too flashy and is from a reputable company imo.



Then my buddy tried out the new DupliColor rubber paint, similar to plasti dip, on his 240z front bumper........but he forgot to prep the surface and it turned out looking rather bad, not even a 30 footer lol



I also installed the new gasket for the rear diff cover and then installed the diff back in the car, pulled the drive shaft and drained the coolant.

Still waiting on the rest of the shipment from ECS, hoping to make some noticeable progress by the end of this coming weekend.

[cleanasse30]

I never liked ECS. Too expensive. Many of their kits use cheap parts. There are far better options offering better prices and service... and supporting folks who support us.

Yeah, I didn't realize they don't support the forums so I'll try to keep my orders to vendors on here going forward. Any suggestions for orders in the future?

EDIT: I just called ECS Tuning again and spoke with a supervisor and he said he would be able to overnight it to me when it ships on June 10th. So props to ECS for fixing the issue and expediting the shipping, but I'm still a little bummed the parts will be a week late.