Rotrex powered R32

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Discussion

Shadow R1

3,798 posts

175 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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Great work. smile

rossw46

1,293 posts

159 months

Monday 19th August 2013
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Top work, I admire your dedication !

chuntington101

5,733 posts

235 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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The SC kit looks like it belongs there! lol

Is the C38 the biggest blower they do? any plans on upgrading the rods and going twin blowers? smile

DSharp

270 posts

136 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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wow fabulous car. I was browsing here while looking forward to (hopefully) picking up a standard R32 this weekend, but you've made it seem a bit dull now spin

Loving the factory-look to the install

Blue32

Original Poster:

438 posts

168 months

Tuesday 20th August 2013
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chuntington101 said:
The SC kit looks like it belongs there! lol

Is the C38 the biggest blower they do? any plans on upgrading the rods and going twin blowers? smile
All the pipe work was custom built on the car to get the best fit, and to look as close to factory as possible.
The charger fitted is the C38-81, which was the biggest. Rotrex now make a C38-91/92 which is rated to 720hp.
The stock rods are supposedly ok to 500-550ftlb mine is in the mid 400s so should be fine, however they will get upgraded at some point in the future for safety.

Unfortunately there isn’t enough space for twin chargers.

DSharp said:
wow fabulous car. I was browsing here while looking forward to (hopefully) picking up a standard R32 this weekend, but you've made it seem a bit dull now spin

Loving the factory-look to the install
Thanks, the plan all along was to try and keep it looking as close to stock as possible. From the top it just looks like a cold air intake has been fittedwhistle
With the new setup in now have the option to put the lower grills back in to hide the boost pipes. This coupled with painting the IC black would make the car look completely standardevil

Blue32

Original Poster:

438 posts

168 months

Saturday 14th September 2013
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Last weekend I paid a visit to Surrery Rolling Road to find out what the car is making with the new C38.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LBCNcpy9g8&fea...
The RR result suggested we weren’t spinning the charger fast enough, as the goal is to get it to 500hp. So yesterday I went back to the Phrim to get the pulley changed from 80mm to 70mm to increase the boost by spinning the charger faster.
With the smaller pulley the boost went from 15psi to 18psi and comes in allot sooner so the car now pulls better from lower down in the rev range.
Unfortunately it hasn’t all gone to plan, as the car developed a misfire on cylinder 1 and MAF failed on the way home.

Today I tried to get to the bottom of the misfire by swapping the coil packs between cyls 1 & 2, on start up the car still sounded like it was still misfiring. Before I could check which cylinder it was, I noticed a sound, which sounded like water hitting a high-speed bladefrown

On removing the air filter and MAF I found this:

Yes that’s water sitting in the intake, that’ll be why the MAF has failed.

While I was stripping everything down (in the rain), I noticed water was running down the inner wing and pouring on the air filter.
After draining the water from the intake I decided to make a shield to stop the water from poring on the air filter.
Cardboard template


Aluminium cut & bent to shape

Fitted



Hopefully that should protect the air filter.

Once the MAF and misfire are fixed it will be back on the RR shooting for 500bounce

matt132

90 posts

127 months

Saturday 14th September 2013
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Fantastic bit of kit! Love it.

Flying machine

1,132 posts

175 months

Sunday 15th September 2013
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Really nice car there, you've started off the terrible process of me looking at my totally standard R32 through the kitchen window this morning and wondering, should I....

Couple of questions though, is it not possible to relocate the air intake to somewhere inside the engine bay as it seems that you've had recurring problems with its placement so low down close to the road.

Also, how intrusive is the fuel pump? I only ask as I had an upgraded fuel pump in an old MR2 turbo and found it really annoying! I also had methanol/water injection on the same car and found that to be of unknown value - what happens if you let the tank run dry?

Finally is insurance difficult with such heavy modification for an everyday car?

Blue32

Original Poster:

438 posts

168 months

Sunday 15th September 2013
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Flying machine said:
Really nice car there, you've started off the terrible process of me looking at my totally standard R32 through the kitchen window this morning and wondering, should I....

Couple of questions though, is it not possible to relocate the air intake to somewhere inside the engine bay as it seems that you've had recurring problems with its placement so low down close to the road.

Also, how intrusive is the fuel pump? I only ask as I had an upgraded fuel pump in an old MR2 turbo and found it really annoying! I also had methanol/water injection on the same car and found that to be of unknown value - what happens if you let the tank run dry?

Finally is insurance difficult with such heavy modification for an everyday car?
Thanks, to be honest I think you will probably have more fun with the car in standard form, as now it’s a bit too quick. Sometimes I wish I’d left it standard, then I put my foot down and realise what a monster it has become

Options for re-locating the air filter are limited, as there isn’t much space. With the previous setup the air filter was resting on the under tray, this time there is 3-4 cm clearance. I’m hoping the shield I made will stop any water poring directly on the filter which is what I think happened whilst the car was parked overnight in the heavy rain.
I’ll probably try and get a cover made to go round the filter limit any direct splashes and spray.

The new fuel pump is only slightly louder than the original, I can only hear it when there is less than ½ tank of fuel.
I haven’t noticed a difference with/without the water and methanol either. It not really needed, as the car has been mapped to run without it so if it does run dry there are no problems. Also the supercharger doesn’t heat the air as much as a turbo might.

Insurance isn’t too bad considering what I have done; I’m paying £800, which includes breakdown cover and protected NCB.

MELLY-WRC

39 posts

186 months

Wednesday 18th September 2013
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Just read this from beginning to end. That's some dedication you've had to this particular car. The quality and quantity of equipment used in this build is a real credit to you and it completely shines through in every aspect of the finished product. With they way you carry on with the project tho I don't think the word finished is apt lol. Fingers x'd you get those last gremlins sorted and get her back on the R/R for the new 500+ figure you deserve.

Cheers,
Melly

Blue32

Original Poster:

438 posts

168 months

Wednesday 18th September 2013
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MELLY-WRC said:
Just read this from beginning to end. That's some dedication you've had to this particular car. The quality and quantity of equipment used in this build is a real credit to you and it completely shines through in every aspect of the finished product. With they way you carry on with the project tho I don't think the word finished is apt lol. Fingers x'd you get those last gremlins sorted and get her back on the R/R for the new 500+ figure you deserve.

Cheers,
Melly
Thanks Melly. It’s sort of become a hobby, everything has been done to try keep the car as reliable as possible as it is my daily driver.
Allot of the credit should go to the guys at The Phirm as they have done all the spanner work on the car.
If all goes to plan, the misfire and MAF will be fixed on Friday, I’ll see if Charlie can squeeze me in for a quick run on the rollers as everyone is desperate to see what it will do.

Thanks
Kieran.

Blue32

Original Poster:

438 posts

168 months

Thursday 19th September 2013
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This arrived today:

It's a forge supersize recirculating valve to replace the leaking valve. I think it might be a bit too bigwobblehehe

Blue32

Original Poster:

438 posts

168 months

Friday 20th September 2013
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Test fit of DV

6 coil packs and 1 MAF later it's done itwoohoo

I have now reached the limit of the current hardware, the injectors & MAF are maxed out and is running on the limit of the stock rods.
Towards the end of the run the AFR’s started leaning out hence the power drop at 6700-800rpm the rev limiter is set to 7200rpm. We are going to fit a 4.5bar fuel pressure regulator to keep the AFR’s in check at the limiter so it is safe to run on the RR and vmax etc..


Edited by Blue32 on Friday 20th September 20:53

SaucyBoy

1,865 posts

228 months

Friday 20th September 2013
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First time I've seen this thread. Fantastic work mate. Always loved the R32 and bet she feels proper lively with 500 ponies : )

Enjoy and stay safe mate ; )

Blue32

Original Poster:

438 posts

168 months

Saturday 5th October 2013
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To cure the lean running I fitted a new 4.5BAR Fuel Pressure Regulator 2 weeks ago


4 BAR (left) vs 4.5BAR(right)


Last weekend had another dyno run at a charity RR day

Nice lick of flames at lift off, camera didn’t catch them too well.

The AFR’s are not shown, however they were checked during the run, this time all was fine so the new FPR has done the trick.

Anyone travelling past j9 on the anticlockwise M25 around 6pm yesterday might have spotted me sitting on the hard shoulder. Unfortunately the car ran out of electricity. So today after testing and determining the alternator was at fault I started stripping the front down to get it out.

The offending item, VW don’t make it easy to get

More bits removed for access


After removing:
Supercharger intake pipe, DV, MAF & engine breather,
Charcoal canister,
Screen wash reservoir,
Radiator fans + fan fix mod resistors (did this to get some extra clearance).
I finally got the alternator out


Now have to wait until Tuesday for the new one to be delivered. On the plus side it will give me an opportunity the tidy the wiring as the loom tape is peeling off. Also need clean everything up, as with the first supercharger install, I had to use lots of belt grip which has left a sticky residue over everything.

Blue32

Original Poster:

438 posts

168 months

Wednesday 9th October 2013
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While waiting for the alternator I cleaned up the chassis leg which is normally covered by the screen wash reservoir.


That’s better (sad, I know but it was bothering mehehe)


I noticed where the screen wash reservoir was sitting it had rubbed some paint away

So I masked it up and gave it a couple of coats with a touch up spray


I also replaced the tatty badge on the intake manifold

Nice shiny new badge


I picked up the new alternator yesterday, only to discover A: it didn’t come with a pulley

And B: a special tool is required to remove pulley from the old alternator as it has a double spline, one to lock the shaft, the second to unscrew the pulley.


So after a trip back to the dealer to get the pulley swapped it was ready to refit.


Alternator back in position


Working


Whilst putting everything back together, I think I found what caused the alternator to fail. One of the cooling fans has burnt out, I had already fixed the fans a couple of years ago as the low speed had failed. Now the high speed has burnt out as wellfrown.

To be continued……


Blue32

Original Poster:

438 posts

168 months

Saturday 19th October 2013
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I took the car to Vmax Quicksilver today, only got 4 runs in as on the 4th run the car started shedding weightfrown. The plastic under tray from the front ripped off at 160mph, only noticed when I spotted it in the rear view mirror.

All the fixings have been torn out of the bumper and both wheel arch liners are damaged.

The track was slightly shorter this time, so I was having to lift off before the timing beams as the wasn’t enough space to slow down, so didn’t my previous best of 171mphfrown

Anyway hear are a couple of videos
GopPro mounted on front grill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdZiHxu3uS8&fea...
Exhaust sound (think this is my favouritecloud9)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InNwpUTlgsU&fea...

VidalBaboon

9,074 posts

214 months

Sunday 20th October 2013
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That noise! lick the first thing that came to mind was the opening scene of Cannonball run!

Dift

1,620 posts

226 months

Sunday 20th October 2013
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It might be worth putting a filter sock over the filter also (especially with winter on the horizon). Cheap, and stops water wetting the filter due to its hydrophobic nature.

http://www.knfilters.com/search/wrap.aspx

I used one on my Focus RS which had a large filter in a similar position.

For £20 it's a no brainer IMHO.

Blue32

Original Poster:

438 posts

168 months

Sunday 20th October 2013
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Dift said:
It might be worth putting a filter sock over the filter also (especially with winter on the horizon). Cheap, and stops water wetting the filter due to its hydrophobic nature.

http://www.knfilters.com/search/wrap.aspx

I used one on my Focus RS which had a large filter in a similar position.

For £20 it's a no brainer IMHO.
One of those was fitted at the time. So far with all the heavy rain we have had over the last coupe of days, the shield I made seams to have helped.

Couple more videos from Vmax
First run as seen from start line http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxD95zCo_Uc

The run where the undertray departed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7DUwVFakro&fea...