Phoenix from the flames - Porsche Boxster with an Audi 2.7T

[Escy]

It passed the MOT as I expected it would. I've done 1500 miles in it over the last year.

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I needed to drop the roof the access the engine and nothing was happening when I un-latched it, usually the windows drop. I confirmed with PIWIS that the switch was the fault. I removed the latch housing and on the back of the switch there was a broken solder joint. Nice easy repair.

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I took the car out for a drive with the crankcase breathers disconnected, the pressure stayed at ambient the whole time so a large vent to atmosphere breather system will work. The problem is it smells.

[Escy]

I occasionally get a boost pipe pop off, it cost me a turbo before, I also had one pop off on the dyno which wasted a load of time. When I was in the middle of nowhere filming the Pistonheads video one came off and it ruined the plans for the day. I had one come off the other night when testing some stuff. It doesn't matter how tight jubilee clips are done up, they eventually work loose until one pops off. Being mid engine it's not always easy to get them back on so I finally decided to sort it out.

I bought some Murray constant tension clamps. I've known about them for years, I don't know why I didn't just buy them ages ago, bit of a mental block I think. I've used one before on my blue Boxster when I couldn't keep the pipe on the throttle body connected and it did the trick. They are popular in Motorsport, used on works WRC cars and stuff like that. The ridges inside the clamp improve the seal, the spring on the outside allows for constant tension with heat cycles. If anyone want's to see their promo video to see it explained properly it's here.



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Edited by Escy on Thursday 27th January 20:00

[Escy]

I've been doing some testing on my breathers, to try and find out exactly what's happening and where the restrictions are. First up is a run with nothing connected at all. As expected the crankcase pressure (green line) stays at near enough ambient pressure during a pull so that's my baseline. The calibration on my crankcase sensor has ambient around 1030mbar before I start the engine. When the engine is warmed up, it's around 1037mbar at idle.

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I then re-connected the lines where I had all 3 breather hoses merged into one pipe but left it open to the atmosphere. This is were people on some 2.7t Facebook groups where saying I had a restriction. It turns out that's not the case. It looks like it goes up on the graph but it's due to the scaling, it's raised about 5mbar (0.07psi in old money) during a pull which is insignificant.

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I then connected the merged pipe into my catch can but didn't attach anything to the outlet port. This time it peaks at 1066 which is around 30mbar (0.4psi) up on my baseline. I don't know how accurate these numbers are, I placed my sensor in the middle of the V, the numbers might be different in the cylinder heads, but they are good for comparisons. I'm taking that jump in pressure to be a bottle neck to address.

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I removed the drain plug from the catch can to do a run with 2 outlets on it. I don't know why I didn't put anything under the catch can before taking the drain plug out. It had a lot more gunk in it than I expected. Mainly water.

Edited by Escy on Saturday 12th February 17:19

Edited by Escy on Saturday 12th February 17:23

[Escy]

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My run with the drain plug out was a step in the right direction. It was around the 1040mbar mark so up on atmosphere but hardly. Looking inside the can, there was a metal gauze under the outlet fitting which is where the restriction was.

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I decided to try connecting up the catch can drain to my exhaust venturi's which were basically redundant the way it was rigged it up. I re-connected the hoses to the top of the catch can (go to a T piece, one side goes into the inlet manifold, the other to my intake pre-turbo, with a check valve and PCV valve). This run was a pleasant surprise, it briefly peaks at 1050mbar so 0.2psi up on my warm idle figure. It also drops down during the pull to 1037mbar which is the about the warm idle figure. It looks very much like the exhaust venturis are working, they are pulling a vacuum on the catch can as it's bringing the pressure down as the revs are rising, I'd expect the pressure to increase. I had these venturis connected to the outlet of the can before (T'd into the pipes running to my intakes), then I was seeing pressures of 1070mbar which didn't drop as the revs increased.

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This is how it currently is, just rigged it up with bits and pieces I had in the garage for a test. I might look to get a nicer fitting and a better hose to tidy it up as it sits a little low currently. I'm liking the idea of this set-up, the exhaust venturis do actually work so I didn't waste a time effort and money on them, also the water and oil collected in my catch can will now be spat out of the exhaust, which means it's maintenance free.

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I should have done these tests ages ago when I first thought I had an issue, pin point the issue rather than making wholesale changes then seeing what I end up with. Live and learn. I think I've got a good solution now. Over the next few months I'll fix all the oil leaks, hopefully that's it then. If it leaks again, that's it, going to ignore it as I'm not sure there is such a thing as a 2.7t without an oil leak anyway. It's a unicorn and anyone who says they do have one isn't looking hard enough.

[Escy]

Not sure why but I kept getting 403 forbidden when trying to post the last update all together.

[Escy]

ReformedPistonhead said:

Please keep posting, love the updates and your persistence. Great job.

Thank you, I will do. Posts like the last one are probably boring for most people, it's a bit geeky and I might not explain stuff that well but I find it useful as a reference to refer back to, like a blog.

mwstewart said:

Nice data-driven anlysis.

Thanks, I should have done it ages ago.

[Escy]

Thanks. The restriction was the brass fitting with a fine mesh on it that was on the underside of the outlet port. Using the drain port as an extra outlet port meant I can keep this catch can. It only works as it's draining into the exhaust, I couldn't feed it back into my intake. I've got a one way valve on the exhaust venturi's, I bought a massive thing rated for high temperatures with a low cracking pressure. Took me ages researching that. If anyone is interested, this is what I bought, it's doubled in price since 2017, now £95. VSCCRO30412 - https://www.flowtech.co.uk/category/section-7-valv...

From what I've seen there aren't many good catch can options on the market, most have small fittings, most have more inlets ports than outlet ports and the ports are typically the same size for inlet.

[Escy]

I've got traction control, I've been doing some tuning on that and it's working really well. Whilst I was testing the the catch can set-up, I had the car unexpectedly break traction at 80mph, that focuses the mind somewhat! The TC took care of it and there were no dramas. I can calibrate it to allow different amounts of slip based on the speed, so in the lower gears I allow a bit more slip. You've got an allowed slippage and a maximum slippage, when you hit the maximum it pulls the ignition timing. It will step out a bit if you provoke it but nothing crazy, if it's dark it lights the road up behind the car when the TC kicks in. I've also got 3 separate settings for TC on a dash switch so I can change things to suit the conditions. I can't see me ever switching it off completely on the road, it's had my back a few times.

[Escy]

I had a slightly binding brake on the passenger side, had noticed there was more brake dust on that wheel compared to the other. I took the pads out and levered them all back individually, one was tight. Took the caliper off and removed the piston for an inspection.

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The piston didn't look great, it had what looked like a split in it and even with the seal removed, it was tight in the bore so the piston was out of shape. Not sure what caused this.

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Getting another piston wasn't that easy. They are VAG calipers. TPS would only sell me a complete caliper at £670 plus VAT. Nothing available in the aftermarket which seems odd as they are fitted to loads of cars. Found one place that could supply a Brembo piston but they were £140 each which is a bit strong. I bought a complete caliper which looks like it came off an accident damaged RS3 for £140, now I've got some spares.

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The caliper wasn't too bad, other than the damaged pin and a counter weight that was snapped off (which my calipers don't have anyway) it looked serviceable.

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I swapped the piston and the brake was still binding a bit, there was another piston that was slightly tighter but barely. I took the piston out, couldn't see anything wrong, cleaned it up and put it back in. Still tight, turns out it was the seal, I don't know why, not damaged, nothing behind it but it was just tight. Put a seal in from my spare caliper and it was fine then. Took a while messing about but finally sorted.

I also had what I thought was a warped disc. I've got a spare set of discs so took it apart to swap it over. The salt has taken it's toll on these.

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The new disc was still the same, had a warp. The wheel bearing had no play you could feel and felt fine but when I removed the disc from the hub and turned it slowly I could feel some roughness in one place. Must have been some play which made the disc feel warped. I decided I'd change both wheel bearings. This could have gone better, it's a time consuming job, you need various pullers, presses and a slide hammer, It wasn't made any easier by the fact I had 4 snapped bolts for the retaining plate on one side and 3 on the other side which I needed to drill out and tap new threads for.

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Good news is what felt like a warp before has now gone so it was worth it.

Edited by Escy on Saturday 26th February 00:45

[Escy]

In the last year I've spent £400 on wheel alignments and needed another one doing. The car is always in bits for one reason and another. I like doing stuff myself so started looking about for some second hand alignment gear. I was thinking I'd probably go for a laser system, like a Supertraker, they tend to be about £500-£750 used. I spotted a Hoffman Geoliner 480 advertised as spares or repairs on ebay, it had an issue with the computer, when the seller set it up for photos to sell it switched off and wouldn't come back on. I figured the computer was the easiest part of the system to repair/replace so chucked a bid in. Looks like nobody else was interested, I won it for £145 which I thought was a good buy. I picked up some used alignment plates/turntables for £200 from a local garage. So far so good, not had to sink much money into it.

The cabinet it came with was a bit on the large side, I managed to shoehorn it into a BMW X1.

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I also needed to shoehorn the cabinet into my garage, if you look closely at the side you can see my dodgy carpentry skills to make it fit. Everything fits inside the cabinet when I'm not using it. I just pull the screen out and plug it in when I want to use it.

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The computer powered up fine. I took it over to my mates and we copied the hard drive just in case it stopped working. It has turned off on me once in about 20 hours of use so it's a bit of a none issue. Probably needs a new power supply. Hoffman, John Bean and Snap-On all sell this same alignment equipment with just different branding, think it would have been top of the line back in it's day, probably in the 15-20k range. It's day was 2006 though! The guy I bought it off said he paid 3k for it 3 years ago. The software has all cars up to 2012. I could possibly update it but I'm not bothered.

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For anyone that knows, it's an 8 sensor CCD system. These are what the heads look like. For the fronts I need to use drop down brackets so the heads can see each other.

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I was going to buy a steering wheel clamp but looking at what was around, most looked like a glorified caulk gun so I thought I'd make my own from one, just cut it up and welded on a bit of steel rod to hold the steering wheel and put some foam on the base. It works a treat.

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This is the alignment I did. It took me ages to do, learning the system, correct order to do things. As I'm doing it on the floor I need to jack it up and rotate the wheels for it to learn the runout on the wheel, that's a pain in the arse. The equipment put up a bit of a fight, was initially using the batteries but they are a bit iffy so I ended up plugging it all in. One of the sensors seemed to randomly stop working for a while. It's not been straight forward.

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Those results look good. The problem is, every time I put the gear on, the values are way out from the previous time. Knowing exactly why is the question I need to solve. It could be the sensors are out of calibration (last done in 2013 according to the software), it could be operator error, maybe I'm not doing the run out correctly or something. One of the sensor heads seems to have some play on it's axis which I sorted out with an O-ring to put some pressure on it, that could be throwing things. One definite issue is the garage floor, it's not perfectly level. I went out for a drive after that alignment, it drove nicely. I put it back on the alignment gear and these were the readings on the front. It's saying the camber is 30 minutes off from before.

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I turned the car around and put it back in the garage the other way around. It's saying the camber is out 30 minutes on the other side. I'm putting that down to the floor. The toe is all over the place but the rear measurements were out also so that has an effect on it, I hadn't line it up or centred the steering wheel.

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That's where I'm at, I can't trust anything it says. I think the first thing I need to do is sort the floor out so it's all level so I can have a fighting chance. I could sink the alignment tables into the floor but that seems like hard work, I'll probably build steel ramps that mean I can roll the car on and off the turntables for the run out rather than jacking it up and rotating a wheel, I think that would improve things. So to sum it up, I'm probably pissing in the wind with it.

[Escy]

30 minutes is 0.5 degrees

Mark-t said:

Is there a mounting bracket that could allow you to 'hang' the sensors over the tyre?
Lifting and lowering the car will be squiffing your figures as the suspension will settle at a different point each time and is only 'true' once its settled following a drive.

The unlevel floor will give you inaccuracies but at least if you use the exact same spots for your tyres every time, they should be consistent

I'm not happy with the raising and lowering of the car, it's a pain in the arse for a start and also adds the chance of variation. It is being lowered on plates that move and I'm bouncing the suspension but still liked to not settle 100%. If I have my alignment plates level with the floor, I can roll the car backwards to get the run out values.

Gtom said:

If you want to level up your garage floor, try this stuff

https://www.watco.co.uk/products/watco-flowtop

It’s self levelling compound, but it’s heavy duty and will take the weight of a forklift. I have used it on a job once and can confirm it’s absolutely rock solid.

You need to find the highest point in you garage floor, set a laser to a nominal measurement above that, say 100mm and then dip the rest of the floor with a tape to see how far out it is and then you can calculate how much watco you will need.

It’s not cheap stuff but it works well!

Thanks, I'll look into this.

[Escy]

I'm back by popular demand

I haven't done an update as I've been mega busy on other stuff but not really making any progress with the Boxster. It's pretty much been sat doing nothing for the last few months. I don't want to use it while the alignment is out and risk killing the tyres. It's not out that badly but it feels a bit squirmy at the back when I put my foot down. I've bought another wheel alignment rig, this one is Beissbarth, similar vintage to the other one (2007) but looks better designed. I'm going to use both and compare, then I'll keep the one I like best and sell the other.

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To solve my issue with the floor not being level, I've decided to make bases to sit my turn plates on. I'm going to make these so they are level and I'll bolt them to the floor every time I do an alignment. I've worked it all out in my head, just need to knock them up. I've started making them, hopefully finish them this weekend and get the alignment sorted finally. It's not really important so it's been at the back of the queue.

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My plan was to get some bodywork stuff done in the Spring. I damaged by rear bumper when I reversed into the kerb by my garage. I found a sport design rear bumper (which is the OEM bodykit) on ebay, managed to find the correct spoiler for it (went carbon fibre as next to no chance finding an OEM one). The missing piece is the corner lips for the front bumper, went aftermarket for these. Ordered them in the middle of January, from carwebshop. They don't answer the phone or reply to emails so I don't know what's going on. Spoke to another vendor who sells the same part and they said they have orders that are from months back. A bit annoying because by the time they show up I need to book it into a bodyshop which I assume I'll need to wait a while for also. I wanted it looking all sharp for the summer.

[Escy]

One comment that's cropped up throughout this thread is about my perseverance/enthusiasm. It's on the wane, starting to get the raving hump with it lately.

A few years back I posted up a picture of my Boxster with the 2.7t in a Facebook group for Porsche Engine Swaps. There was a chap that was not a fan of the Audi 2.7t bi-turbo and he didn't hold back in his criticism of the engine, it was along the lines of it's the most unreliable engine ever and a nightmare to service. He was listing all the weaknesses, oil leaks, timing chain tensioners, EGT sensors, engine out to replace turbos, front end off for a cambelt change, etc. He really hated the engine.

My counter argument was they are cheap and can make plenty of power, once you've been through all the jobs you are sorted. Great in theory but it's starting to piss me off, one thing after another. I don't know how much is bad luck, how much is incompetence on my part and how much is the engine making twice the power and living in an environment it wasn't designed for.

Last year I had a boost pipe pop off and it took out a cheap Chinese turbo. Parr for the course, you buy cheap, it's a risk. I was ok with it, an opportunity to pull the engine and go right through it. I stripped it down, replaced every gasket and seal in sight with genuine parts where they were available, spent a lot of money doing it.

My motivation comes from the fact I know how good it'll be when it's done. I love it, it punches well above it's weight in terms of performance to cost, I think it looks good, handles great, still as practical as a normal Boxster. It's got slightly more power than a GT4RS and over 100ft/lb more torque than one. The problem is, it's not finished and I'm starting to think it never will be. Whenever anyone asks me if it's done, the answer is I just need to fix some oil leaks and a bit of tuning and that's it, I've been saying that for over a year now.

I'm sick to death of oil leaks, I've put the cause down to crankcase pressure and I'm confident I've solved that now. To re-cap I connected the drain port of the catch can to my exhaust venturis, I'd rigged it up temporary in the last photos, this is done properly with AN fittings.

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So now it's a case of fix the oil leaks and that should be it (it's the hope that kills you). I fitted a pair of new cam cover gaskets as this was the highest point I could see that was leaking.

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This didn't go well, turns out the metal part inside the seal on the old passenger side one came out and got left on the bolt so when I put the new one on, oil pissed out of it, all over the exhaust, oil everywhere and loads of smoke. I cleaned it all up and re-fitted the seal, it's still leaking. It seems once they get oil on them, that's it. One time use. I'm starting to get sick of it, I think I've been through about 8 sets of these seals over the past couple of years, that's 400-500 in cam cover seals alone. I've seen loads of these engines and they've all leaked oil from the cam covers, they are a poor design, just 6 bolts around the sides.

I also seem to have oil leaks elsewhere on the engine, possibly cam shaft seals which means cam belt off again. Since the last time the car was on the dyno, that cambelt has been on and off 4 times, that's less than a year and probably sub 500 miles, you can see why I'm starting to have enough. If I strip it all down and replace anything leaking, I have no faith it's going to stay sealed. I know what I've doing, I don't have these issues with other engines. I've bought a leak down tester to see how healthy the engine is, I'll post the results when I do it. If there is an engine issue, I have no appetite to do anything about it.

I went on a test drive today, a boost pipe popped off, by the time I got home I had smoke bellowing out of the drivers side air vent which I assumed to be oil leaking onto the exhaust manifold, which it is. On further inspection it also turns out my alternator has let the magic out.

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It looks like there could have been flames, there's burnt wiring. Guess I got lucky it seemed to happen right near my house. There were no signs, it was still outputting good voltage. I guess it's just expired from old age, I can file that in the bad luck category along with my one year old power steering pump that's done hardly any mileage that's pissing oil out. It's one thing after the other.

I'm at a bit of a crossroads with it, I need the garage for other stuff, I can't spend all my time working on it. If I don't sort it all out now, I think it gets mothballed for the next couple of months and the summers gone but I've not really got the time or desire...

Talking about time, I wasted a load building these bases for doing a wheel alignment.

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Tried out the new alignment rig I bought, this is the rear

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This is the front, ignore the red, I want -2 degrees camber.
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Edited by Escy on Sunday 22 May 22:30

[Escy]

Then I put the other alignment kit on it and got completely different results

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The plan was to go to Kwikfit and get a free alignment check and see what system is closer. I already know the answer is going to be they are both miles out. I thought it was a cool thing to have but it's just been a waste of time and money (just the steel to make those bases was £280). I bet I'll end up paying for an alignment anyway which is what I should have done in the first place.

[Escy]

I've just ordered that sealant, thanks for the recommendation. The reason I initially decided to get some alignment equipment is because the Boxster doesn't seem to stay in one piece very long. Last year I paid for 3 alignments at £100 a pop and it needed another one. I should maybe have gone for a string kit rather than a computerised system that's a bit tired. Those string kits seem really expensive for what they are though. https://www.tegiwaimports.com/ti-motorsport-billet...

I could of course just be getting a bit hung up on numbers unnecessarily, it drives fine at the moment. It might be a case that they are just a lot more accurate then you'd get measuring with a string and ruler, it's hard to tighten up the bolts without moving the numbers from where you want. If I took the car to various Kwikfit branches and got an alignment check, they all use the same equipment and ramps, I bet I'd get different readings on them all. Probably not by much but small differences. Then plan is get it checked compared to a calibrated system and see where I'm at.

[Escy]

The alignment isn't my biggest concern, I'm getting the hump with the constant stream of issues. I can count on one hand how many good drives I've had in it and looking back every one of those have been plagued by issues. I feel like I'm working through problems and the car is developing as I go but I'm getting sick of it. Within the last year and last 1000 miles I've had the power steering pump twice, alternator, cam chain tensioners, constant oil leaks, issues with the rear suspension cannisters, knock control problem on the ECU, car randomly not starting occasionally, driveshafts leaking grease on the pressed joins, sticking brake caliper piston, failed water temperature sensor, blown turbo and probably a load more things I've forgotten.

I haven't got time to constantly be fixing it but on the other hand, if I don't fix it, it'll be a driveway ornament all summer.

The wheel alignment stuff is an interesting side quest but in retrospect was a ridiculous use of my time when I should have just spent 100 on another alignment. I might get rid of the computerised systems and get a string kit but that'll be in the future.

[Escy]

Thank you. I am really proud of it, it's probably the only reason it's still here and I'm plugging away as the effort to reward ratio isn't where it needs to be at the moment.

I'm putting a few days into it, hopefully I can get it all sorted. First thing was to to a leak down test, just to confirm the engine is alright, otherwise I've been fighting a losing battle. The results were the same on all cylinders, no issues there thankfully.

I've replaced the burnt out alternator, fingers crossed that's a one off issue.

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I have removed the cambelt again and taken off all the covers to look for oil leaks. Part of my issue might be I'm no good at diagnosing the source of the leaks, it spreads everywhere, I'm looking for the highest point that's wet always ends up being the cam covers but one side is definately sealed at the moment and that side of the engine is still leaking oil so it's coming from somewhere else. The cambelt cover makes it look like it's coming from the camshaft seal but the seal itself is dry. I've decided the best plan is to clean everything up, put the cambelt back on without the covers fitted and run the engine and see exactly where it's leaking from. It's a pain in the arse to do but has to be my best shot at finding them (I think there are a few)

I'm changing the power steering pump whilst it's all apart, I wouldn't want to do this job with the cambelt in place as it would cover it in oil.

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[Escy]

I did consider it initially, lots of people with Porsche engine swaps do it, they use electric-hydraulic setups but they always end up fitted right in the middle of the front boot. I've tried really hard to cleverly package things, hiding stuff like the meth tank and charge cooler tank away, I've managed to not use up any luggage space which I think is good going when it's such a small car. When I did my original Boxster I ended up filling the boot with the charge cooler stuff.

There is a chance it's a swap related issue killing them. I'm running an overdrive pulley (Boxster one rather than the larger Audi one) purely due to space. There's a pressure bypass so it shouldn't be an issue, another thing could be they are running hotter than designed for, my engine bay is cramped with no airflow over the front of the engine. The first one had a bearing go but it had done 100k miles, the second one has no issue with the pump itself, it looks like it's leaking from the press fit inlet barb. If this replacement pump I've just fitted doesn't last long either, I'll definately look into an electric-hydraulic set-up.

[Escy]

Yazza54 said:

Any scope for using a full electric power steering assembly? A lot of Vauxhall's have a motor on the steering column that provides the assistance, suppose it depends whether you have the space to engineer it to fit but they are cheap and would totally remove any need for steering hydraulics and pump on the engine.

I've seen everyone uses a Corsa one on older cars. It would fit in more with my hiding everything away ethos. As it currently is, the steering is perfect, nicely weighted, doesn't feel overly assisted. When Porsche went EPAS on the newer cars everyone complained about it, I can only assume me knocking up a DIY version will be a downgrade in terms of driving.

I've already replaced the pump so I'll see how I get on with it. Got no time for modifications, barely got the time to replace like for like.

[Escy]

TurboRob said:

Four axle stands, some string and a tape/rule/vernier of your choice is all you need for measuring the tracking. Then a bit of basic trig. It takes 10mins to setup once familiar with the process, and 10mins to measure.

I found the axle stands and string to be a pain last time I tried. It's currently driving nicely so it's not too far off. I'll just take it somewhere so I don't waste any more time pissing about.