WRX RA powered VW 1303 beetle cabrio with a bit of Porsche

WRX RA powered VW 1303 beetle cabrio with a bit of Porsche

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ricola

Original Poster:

468 posts

276 months

Friday 5th October 2012
quotequote all
Fingers crossed the pipe arrives today then!

130mph sounds good but there was a lot more in it and it felt strangled to get there. Observers did say it looked good at speed and then spitting fire on lift, to me that shows the spark was a problem..

If all goes to plan it will all be back together over the weekend.

trackdemon said:
I'd love to see the reactions from others sharing the track - not everyday you see a Beetle flying along at 130mph! biggrin Might be on for the shoot next week, will give you a shout to confirm & hopefully it'll work for you.

cheers,
Steve

bishbash

2,447 posts

196 months

Friday 5th October 2012
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Excellent build, not seen this one before.

Does anyone else get a bit weirdly depressed reading builds like this? lack of a garage (& to some extent time and funds) prevents me from even attempting anything, not that I'd have 1/10th of the skills needed.

Well done to you though, i have a soft spot for beetles, especially tastefully modded ones with big engines!

ricola

Original Poster:

468 posts

276 months

Saturday 6th October 2012
quotequote all
The parts arrived late yesterday afternoon so I got cracking...

New silicone pipe bought to replace the holed one, this should be good for much higher boost too.


Unfortunately after swapping the pipe and the turbo the oil filter seal blew dumping oil all over the garage floor. I tried another filter and the same thing happened. Googling is pointing towards the relief valve on the oil pump being jammed shut. Unless anyone has any other ideas?



Not looking good for a shoot next week Steve frown

SammyW

733 posts

219 months

Saturday 6th October 2012
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130mph in a Beetle sounds terrifying! 85 in my old 1302s used to scare me at times!

Bluebottle

3,498 posts

239 months

Saturday 6th October 2012
quotequote all
SammyW said:
130mph in a Beetle sounds terrifying! 85 in my old 1302s used to scare me at times!
My 1303S used to get really light in the front end at 90 plus, not very aerodynamic the v dub, but still hold a flame for my old cal look cool
Didn't have scooby boxer engines back then or I might still be playing with them. smile

trackdemon

12,149 posts

260 months

Saturday 6th October 2012
quotequote all
ricola said:
The parts arrived late yesterday afternoon so I got cracking...

New silicone pipe bought to replace the holed one, this should be good for much higher boost too.


Unfortunately after swapping the pipe and the turbo the oil filter seal blew dumping oil all over the garage floor. I tried another filter and the same thing happened. Googling is pointing towards the relief valve on the oil pump being jammed shut. Unless anyone has any other ideas?



Not looking good for a shoot next week Steve frown
frown Fingers crossed a solution comes soon! If not, no probs it'll get done when ready!

cheers,
Steve

ricola

Original Poster:

468 posts

276 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
I'm quietly confident now smile After fitting another oil pump the engine seems to run ok with normal oil pressure, albeit chucking out a lot of smoke from the oil it has in the intake! The old oil pump relief valve was jammed solid almost closed, even with the pump off the car I can't move it!

Changing the pump meant stripping the rear panels off the car as well as cambelt etc etc so now I have to refit and seal things back up. I'm also using the opportunity of it being up in the air to convert to newage coilpacks which will also help it run better on boost. I made new looms for them tonight as a change and will bypass the old ignitor as the new coilpacks have built in igniters..

trackdemon

12,149 posts

260 months

Tuesday 9th October 2012
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We can relax a bit, as I'd like to do it next week now if possible! Have emailed you wink

ricola

Original Poster:

468 posts

276 months

Monday 15th October 2012
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Time for an update...

The early optimism ended in disappointment, I went for a drive and it was gutless and the oil screen didn't improve. I got a compression tester and one of the cylinders showed no compression at all. There was nothing to do but pull the engine and get the head off to assess...



You can just about make out some damage to the top of the cylinder wall



and if you look carefully you can see that the ring is distorted, I'm assuming that the piston ring land has failed underneath...



So, after contemplating my options and considering where I want to be realistically with this car I've decided to rebuild it with a 2.5 sti bottom end. It's a semi-closed deck block but they are good for about 450bhp, I think that should be enough in a bug!! I was also considering a forged 2 or 2.1 stroker but for drivability the torque of a 2.5 wins for me. I'll upgrade the externals to allow greater power at a later date.

trackdemon

12,149 posts

260 months

Tuesday 16th October 2012
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Sorry to hear, but it'll be a rocketship when it's done! Every cloud...

mwstewart

7,554 posts

187 months

Tuesday 16th October 2012
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The engine has been detonating, so something is iffy with the fuel supply, or more likely, the calibration.

Make sure you have the map checked before driving the replacement engine in anger.

ricola

Original Poster:

468 posts

276 months

Tuesday 16th October 2012
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It was a generic map and agree in my limited knowledge that detonation is the most likely cause of the failure. API are very local to me so I'll probably go for an ESL with them doing me a safe map.

Don1

15,936 posts

207 months

Tuesday 16th October 2012
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Sorry to hear about it, but a nice man-maths way to get a silly motor in there! biggrin

ricola

Original Poster:

468 posts

276 months

Friday 19th October 2012
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Hmm, even man maths is struggling with this one!!

The sti bottom end I've bought looks to be good but I'm still going to split the block to check things over. It is a V9 with nitrided crank, sti forged rods and I will be fitting supertech pistons honed to fit. The early RA heads will be a bit limiting so to futureproof the bottom end I'll be fitting V4 sti heads with solid lifters from APIs stock with API head studs. They will be doing the measuring etc and I'll do the assembling.. By the end the longblock should be good for about 450bhp which is probably more than I'll go to. I'll upgrade my turbo to td05-20g spec, maybe with a billet wheel. Some upgrading of the fuel rail and finally an ESL ECU and remap (probably by Bob Rawle).

ricola

Original Poster:

468 posts

276 months

Saturday 27th October 2012
quotequote all
With the old block unusable in its state I decided to bring the final plan forwards... So, with a bit of hunting I found a 'rebuilt' 2.5l STI shortblock on ebay.

Final build will consist of 2.5 sti upgraded with forged pistons, V3/V4 sti heads which I will rebuild, upgrade one of my turbos to td05-20g, new bigger injectors, new oil modine, sump baffle plate and probably some other supporting mods being topped off with a remap on an ESL daughterboard, probably by Bob Rawle when he visits API.



The shortblock as I received it. With some thought I decided that I will always feel uneasy about the stock pistons as they haven't got a very good reputation. After a chat with David at API (well respeced Impreza engine builders only 5 miles away from my house!) I decided to go with some forged pistons. Supertechs have a good reputation for not being rattly like most and API have experience of them so that's the way I have gone. The stock rods are good for 450bhp ish as they are the latest spec ones. My goal is a good 400bhp.



Time to split the block as the cylinders needed honing to fit the pistons. It would also give me a good opportunity to inspect the 'rebuild'.



The big end bearings were supposedly new! I've replaced them with ACL bearings





Main bearing clearances checked with plastigage, they are all good, as are the bearings. Luckily this is the better nitrided crank too..



Block halves back from API after being honed, they have been done to 3.8thou piston clearance.



Here's the first supertech piston, I've gapped the rings to specs..

I'm quite enjoying this engine building lark, this is my first attempt!!

ricola

Original Poster:

468 posts

276 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
Block ready to go back together with new seals, note tape on rod little ends to avoid the risk of scratching the bores on assembly.


All torqued and sealed up..


first piston going in...


all pistons in, you have to make sure they are all orientated correctly as well as positioning the piston ring gaps too


V4 STI cylinder heads stripped for refresh. All valves cleaned up, re-lapped in to the heads and then ready for first lash measurement. These heads use under-bucket solid shims which come in various different thicknesses and you change shims to get the correct clearances.


I knocked off any sharp edges in the combustion chamber to help avoid detonation, this can sometimes be an issue when fitting 2l heads on a 2.5 block due to the slight cylinder diameter mismatch


You can see one of the shims sitting on top of a valve.


Lots of measuring!


and measuring, then swapping shims


Ready to go on the engine!


ARP head studs fitted to give better head gasket clamping under boost


Back to a longblock! I had to fit the cambelt and re-check the valve clearances as the cam loading can change things. Luckily only one shim needed swapping after assembly.


V3/4 cam covers were cleaned up and treated to some VHT wrinkle paint, note one on left hadn't had any heat applied ot get the wrinkle effect started yet.


Coolant manifold needs modifying to clear the central 2.5l breather pipe.


Now I just have to decide what turbo and injectors to go with!

trackdemon

12,149 posts

260 months

Saturday 17th November 2012
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That's some impressive progress! Looks like it's moving along faster than expected?

ricola

Original Poster:

468 posts

276 months

Saturday 17th November 2012
quotequote all
Yes, it's coming on nicely, have to save some pennies for a new turbo though, I'm probably going to go with a scooby clinic SC46 now which is a garret ball bearing type and seems to give very good power at low boost levels which will make the most of my chargecooler system (might have to upgrade at some point). I'm also taking the opportunity to improve the sump and fuel tank baffling over the christmas break.

RichyBoy

3,739 posts

216 months

Monday 19th November 2012
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Love to see this chasing 911s.

ricola

Original Poster:

468 posts

276 months

Monday 19th November 2012
quotequote all
Who will be chasing who is more the question!