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

[Escy]

In a previous example of why I can't have anything nice, while polishing the lights, the mop caught one, knocked it out of my vice and sent it flying onto the floor and chipped it. The carbon trim was to hide the damage. I have got another headlight so I could fit that now and remove the carbon trim but I like it.

Porsche used black headlight surrounds on the 997 Sport Classic so it's not a totally off piste modification but I appreciate it might be marmite.

[Escy]

I can get my shocks in and out without removing the driveshafts but I've got coilovers which are a shorter body. I'd remove the bolt that holds the wishbone to the bush on the coffin arm, slide that out of the way so the hub drops down, you'll probably need to undo the driveshaft bolt and knock it out the hub for a bit of extra movement but you shouldn't need to remove it from the gearbox end. Every time I've taken suspension off a Boxster, the rears are in far better condition than the front.

[Escy]

I bought some larger injectors. On a pull it's fine, it's not limited by the injectors for power which is why I thought I could get away with what I had but in real world driving, short sharp applications of the throttle adds extra fuel demands for the transient enrichment which is what's causing me the problems.

The new ones are Bosch EV14 730cc. The old ones were 550cc (ratings at 3 bar fuel pressure). The Audi engine uses a 4 bar regulator as standard so the old ones were more like 635cc. I've also bought a 3 bar regulator to go along with them. If I run them at 4 bar they'll be 840cc. That's more then I need and I like the idea being dropping the pressure, the benefits are probably negligible but in theory it will lower the temperature of the fuel in the tank (I was surprised how hot it gets), be easier to control by the ECU and I feel like less chance of springing a leak. On the other side, atomisation is probably better at 4 bar.

Aftermarket injectors designed for the engine are about £500-600 a set, I did some research and got these ones for £250 from a reputable place (they are lots of fakes), they are OEM fitment on some engines which is why they are available cheaper. They had the wrong plugs so aren't drop in, the old ones were the same but there was a plug in adaptor for them, they aren't available for these injectors, they use a Denso style plug so I need to cut the plugs and swap them over.

The brass bits are the compression fittings for the water/meth injection.

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The injectors came with the blue O-rings, from research I knew these were a slightly smaller diameter, I tried them in, think they'd have been fine but I don't want to take any chances when it comes to fuel so I went down to TPS to get some genuine ones. I think they are made of gold as they cost me £45.

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The injectors installed with the new plugs.

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The push fit nozzles.

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The compression fitting, they definately won't leak.

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The steering column cover was looking scabby, the interior parts have a rubberised coating on them and things mark easily. These interiors don't hold up that well if the car has some miles on it from what I've seen.

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It is the little things like that that make the difference.

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I still need to take it for a run and probably do a bit of work on the tune for the new injectors but that should the two issues I had on the last outing ticked off.

[Escy]

I guess that's what they are for. There's nothing under mine from the factory but when I fitted the Sony Headunit I put the mic there.

[Escy]

You may well have, I've been driving it when I get a chance.

I want to try and tidy it up a bit ready for the summer. The stone chip protection on the rear 1/4 was looking a bit manky. To remove it meant taking off the Porsche decal down the side which was looking a bit tired also. Whoever put it on didn't do the best job, you can see they put a bit of it over the plastic bit that's on the end of the sill (what's the name for it?). That bit also was not fitting great. There was also a dent on the sill you can see in this photo. All of this was like this when I bought the car and I've never got around to it until now.

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I did worry removing all the decals would be a nightmare job, I had visions of paint being pulled off the rear 1/4's. Thankfully it all went fine. I've applied the new stone chip protection, you can barely see it so I'm happy with that. I replaced the plastic bit on the end of the sill with another one, my old man helped me with the dent on the sill, luckily there was a rubber grommet right behind it so access was good.

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A picture of how it looks without the decals vs one with. I'm used to seeing it with the decals so I think it looks a bit naked without them, also silver is a bit boring so it breaks it up a bit.

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Looking on this website, there are a few options for decals. If I had a clever name for the car that hinted at the engine swap I could make a custom set. Nothing springs to mind and it might be really tacky? That said Porsche do use some fairly dubious decals from the factory like the ones on a GT3RS. I welcome opinions from others. PORSCHE in black again, something else or nothing?

https://www.designstuffonline.co.uk/vehicle_graphi...

[Escy]

I wasn't aware of that livery. That's not a bad shout, I found this on the rear spoiler.

[Escy]

Thanks for the ideas. I've asked a company to mock up a design based on the Porsche + Audi in the style of the decals that were on it before. Will see if It looks good.

I needed to sort out the rust on the edge of the wings, it's a common issue. This is how they were, the other side was worse than this. I used a sanding disc on a grinder to get back to bare metal, then treated it with POR15, then rattle can to colour match and I applied some paint protection film over it to hopefully stop it happening again. It's not going to win me any concours events but it's also not going to be seen once the wheel is on so I'm happy with the result. I also gave the air jack a nice dusting of silver.

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The red part on my centre caps had faded. I bought replacements for them, you might be able to tell in the photo, they are different sizes. I didn't notice until after I'd already removed one. OZ racing don't sell these rings separately (I bought the others from Mountune who don't have the size I need). OZ want £50 each for the centre caps.

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I'm not spending £200 on them and if OZ won't sell them separately it looks like I'm out of options so now I'm thinking about ditching the centre caps, I liked the look of them but being fake centre locks didn't sit all that well with me. I've got a random BBS cap in it, just to give the idea of how they'd look. This this is how I'll end up going.

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I bought some carbon fibre air ducts. The weave is a bit iffy in places, I was going to return them but decided it's probably not worth the hassle. I think they look better than the silver ones, help break it up a bit and tie in with the rear spoiler.

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I was driving it a week ago and noticed smoke out of the side duct whilst I was at traffic lights. When I got home I opened up the engine cover and there was loads of smoke/steam coming out of the oil cap. This is a fully warmed up engine, I had been driving it (slowly) for an hour.

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The oil cap is supposed to have a pressure relief mechanism in it which had failed and was just open. I replaced it with the older style cap which just seals it. That amount of steam/smoke coming out of the crank case isn't good news. I immediately did a compression test expecting to discover I'd hurt the engine. Every cylinder was with 5psi of each other. No concerns there.

I had a look at my catch can and it had collected some water which is fairly normal. It drains into the exhaust so doesn't fill up. The oil on the dipstick looks good, I've not got any water in my oil. The oil cap doesn't have any mayo on it which I guess you'd expect if it's all steam. Now it's got a normal oil cap on it, you can feel it suck the cap down when you place it over the hole so the crankcase has a vacuum and isn't being pressurised. Smoke/steam comes out of the breathers on either cylinder head. It's left me with a bit of a head scratcher. I think I'm going to ditch the OEM style pressure limiting valve I've got that goes from the breather into the air intake and see if it improves things. It might also just need driving more and driving harder.

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[Escy]

The car has been running well, I made some changes to the breather set-up and it's no longer steamy from the oil cap. I went through a period of boost pipes popping off, methanol pipes coming off, injector duty cycle being too high on transitions, all small little things but it was getting frustrating. That's all sorted, not had any issues for a while other than the boost control could do with some work (which means occasional over boost warnings). I've been making some progress, it's not far off but there's room for improvement so I'm booked in for a few hours on the rolling road on Wednesday afternoon. I'm going to a different place this time, Indigo GT got rid of their dyno so I'm going to Got Boost in Bridgend.

The main aim will be get the boost control dialled in. I'm interested in the power figures. Last time it made 470bhp on super unleaded and 530bhp with the water/methanol. I was a bit disappointed with that. It turned out I had the VVT cam shaft adjusters on the wrong banks which meant they were moving the wrong way and I ended up with a stretched cambelt so the timing was off. I'd like to think it's going to do a bit more this time around.


I've replaced the centre lock style wheel caps with a more traditional style cap. I like it, although it feels like a temporary measure but if I can't buy replacement red rings from OZ it's probably going to be permanent.

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[Escy]

dobbo_ said:

Could you get some rings 3d printed by someone? I know there are sites that you can commission that sort of work and likely it would be much cheaper.

Good idea, I'll look into that.

therealsamdailly said:

Looks fantastic in that last picture. I like the clean look

Thanks, I'm really happy with it looks now. I'm still undecided on the go faster stripe down the side. The company I asked about making a custom decal said they'd knock something up and get back to me, that was while ago so I guess they can't be arsed. I did just order the same Porsche decal that I removed previously but that was 2 weeks ago. I do like it without anything but I'm used to how it was before. Not sure what to do but I'm happy either way.

I was feeling quite confident about tomorrows dyno trip so the car decided to cut me down to size. While I was topping up the water/methanol mixture I decided to remove the cap from the charge cooler to see the level. The system stays under pressure (not sure if this is ideal or not?), as the pressure released I noticed a coolant leak started on one of the charge coolers. With the cap on it's a slow dribble, with the cap off it's shooting out. It's got a tiny pin hole. The jubilee clamp on a power steering line had been touching and had worn through it.



I needed a quick fix. I used some leak sealer designed for central heating that I had in the cupboard. Looking at the temperature ranges and pressures it should be up to the job. It did stop the leak. I then put some rubber hose over it and a jubilee clamp to apply some pressure where the hole is and also protect it from rubbing. I've not run the charge cooler pump to pressurise the system as I wanted to leave it as long as possible to cure fully. I'll find out tomorrow if this repair holds up. I expect it'll be fine.

[Escy]

Yes, once the pump runs the system builds up pressure and there's no vent so the pressure stays in the system. I log water temperature before and after the charge coolers, they put around 25c into into the coolant during a pull so they work reasonably well. If I get a chance, on the dyno today I'll remove the cap for a run and see if there is a difference in IAT's and coolant temp.

Edited by Escy on Wednesday 31st May 08:03

[Escy]

I ruined one while removing it, it's only after that I realised the replacement ones are the wrong size.

[Escy]

The dyno proved to be a disappointment yet again. There's a pattern, high aspirations, crushed. The car is mechanically where it needs to be, it performed fine, I probably knocked out 50 runs no problems and I thought the cooling setup at the dyno wasn't great so it did well in that regard.

I thought I wouldn't need that long on the dyno as it isn't far away, I severely under estimated that. The first run the car span the tyres, I've got a few maps so we started off on the lower boost ones and worked up. This proved to be a mistake (my fault), we made some good progress but wasted too much time on stuff that ultimately isn't that important. What I really wanted for the dyno day was to get my boost control perfected and then turn it up to see what it'll make. Should have got straight into it.

As it's an ECU they aren't familiar with I thought I'd be advising them with the software which is how it was when I went to Indigo GT. He did all the tuning, I helped him navigate around the various menus. This time, I did everything myself with some input here and there.

When I showed a log of the PID control loop for the boost solenoid and asked for an opinion on it I was left with the impression they didn't have a clue what I was asking them. I'd expect that with the sort of place chucking re-map files on cars but they seem to specialise in tuning race cars.

The runs were plagued by seemingly random ignition cuts, we'd make a pull, it'd be fine, then we'd make another pull with a slight change to something unrelated (like fuelling) and it'd have the ignition cut. It got to the point where we were going backwards, taking boost and timing out of it. By the end of the day it got to the point where he just wanted 2 clean runs back to back so he could send me on my way.

When I got home and the pressure was off, I looked through all the variables on the log, the cause was a shift cut for flat foot shifting. That was a bit of a facepalm moment, something so simple to switch off caused hours wasted. I might have thought a professional tuner might have picked something like that up but it felt like it was a bit all on me to come up with the answers. I think he must have been resting his foot on the clutch.

They thought it made good power and were happy with it, I wasn't. It made 414bhp at the wheels, with the correction it's 537bhp at the flywheel. The graph looks a bit odd right at the top end, they just wanted it off the dyno at this point, it was nearly 6pm so it's fair enough. It made 440bhp at the wheels about an hour before and I was still short of boost I planned to run and we hadn't looked at the ignition timing. It'll be in the ball park for what I expect eventually (high 500's). The torque is well down on what it made last time it was on the dyno, it did 530bhp and 540ft/lb last time (with the timing all over the place due to a slack cambelt).



The proof is in the driving and I was left disappointed there also. The way the boost comes in more gradual, it really shows on the street and not in a good way, I'm used to punch in the guts torque low down, and I love that. I sure it's probably faster now than it was before I came in but feels slower if that makes any sense, it's all top end power now. It feels very smooth, the way the power comes in. Some might prefer it, it's definitely easier on the engine and gearbox and probably easier to drive. It might be a nice map for track use as it feels quite progressive but it's not what I used to.

So to sum up, I feel like I ended up worse off than when I arrived. The £500 it cost me seems a waste of money but I gained some knowledge, like I've seen what AFR's the engine really likes from the way it picked up power on the dyno runs and I've built up some more confidence in what I'm doing.

From here on in, I'm going to tune it myself all on the road, a mate has offered to drive it so hopefully I'll make some decent progress compared to being on my own where I need to stop to see the logs and make changes, that takes ages. I'm looking forward to it.

[Escy]

All the Audi S/RS specialist tuners will only have knowledge on the OEM ECU. It's rare for people to put them on standalones. There's nothing fancy with the engine and there's no specific issues with anything, it's all working like it should.

GotBoost is a dodgy name but their workshop was full of race cars, mainly Ginetta's so I was reasonably confident they know what they are doing. They seemed nice enough and he put a shift in, we finished at 6pm. I don't want it to come across like I'm knocking them. I think maybe they were a bit less involved as I said the car was pretty much there. As they didn't know the ECU and I was only expecting to be a couple of hours they took a back seat, letting me run the show (which I didn't expect). Crossed wires maybe.

Where it went wrong is we needed to identify the cause of the ignition cut there and then. We kept getting overboost fault codes which was a bit of red herring, the boost would be fine so it wasn't making sense. It turns out the overboost protection is actually a fuel cut not an ignition cut so it was definately not that. It's looking a bit like we've ended up tuning around him occasionally resting his foot on the clutch. It's obviously too sensitive so I'm going to make changes there.

If everything is set-up and working fine all standalones are pretty easy to tune. I think what separates the best from the rest is fault finding which comes from hard earned experience. Stuff unexpected always happens on a dyno, you're only going to find out who really knows their onions when a problem appears. I thought Anthony at Indigo GT was really good in this regard, shame they sold their dyno as they are only around the corner from me.

I took a photo of the log showing the (at the time) unidentified ignition cut to Baldur (who makes the ECU). He replied saying shift cut limiter, he knew instantly which I guess is down to how it looks on the graph compared to other ignition cuts. I questioned how come it was the a shift cut when the log didn't show the clutch pedal had been pressed, the answer is because the ECU samples the the clutch pedal switch at 1000hz, the ECU records the log at 50hz so just isn't fast enough to pick it up. Baldur is the guy I really need tuning it. He recently came to the UK to tune some cars, wish I'd know at the time.

So from here on in the next best thing is to do it myself, if there's any issues that come up, Baldur always helps and I'm not on the clock getting stressed out. I don't think there will be any problems and I'm looking forward to it. I've done all the other stuff on the car myself.

Edited by Escy on Thursday 1st June 22:48

[Escy]

I won't be holding the engine in individual cells and tuning them on the fly. I'll make a pull to the redline then make changes based on the data in the logs. Then another pull to verify the changes. This is how it's been done at both the dyno's. I think there's too much heat build up on both the engine and the dyno to hold back an engine that's making decent power.

[Escy]

mattdavies said:

I hope you wont be put off putting the car on the dyno again, especially those that can make the car work. when you put more load on the car you will expose the weaknesses sooner and therefore have a more reliable road car

I am put off going back to a dyno, purely financial. Over the course of this project (it's been going years and years) I've spent about £1500 on dyno time and feel like I've never had anything to show for it. It's not their fault, it's been things going wrong on the car (although this last time I'm not so sure), that's all ironed out at this point. My time spent at Indigo GT was useful as I picked up a lot of knowledge by watching and asking questions. We also moved the whole thing forward quite far, I've got a good base to build on and that was all sorted out while I was there last. It's s shame they sold their dyno.

I can do the same thing on the road as I can on a dyno and it's not costing me £125 an hour. It takes ages on my own but I've got a mate happy to drive that will speed everything up. My main issue with road tuning is you want to be doing it in 4th gear which means you need to be hitting spicey speeds.

In some aspects the road is better than a dyno, I've had in the past boost control does one thing on a dyno and another on the road, it depends on how it's loaded. What I'll lose out on is the instant feedback of seeing the difference changes make. It might get to a point where adding boost and ignition timing see's no benefit in power, on a dyno you'd know instantly and take it back out. I'm not going to be too greedy, it feels rapid as it is.

The aim now is to get it all dialled in on the road, to the point where I'm 100% happy, there is nothing left to do then I'll just go back to a dyno where you get a few runs for a set amount and I'll just get some figures.

Durability wise I think I've done the hard yards now, it's all behaving like it should and putting up with a regular hammering.

toby-w8jtf said:

For a build like this I'd strongly suggest speaking with Rick @ Unicorn Motor Developments in Stockport who now specialises in Porsche tuning. He has a vast knowledge of the 2.7TT and wont shy away from tuning projects with engine conversions.

I'm not spending any more money going to anyone at this point. It's interesting though, I'm in a Whatsapp group where his reputation isn't great. I'm sure it's the same for them all, some people have good experiences and love them, others have bad experiences. Sometimes it'll be down to errors made by the tuner, other times it won't be their fault and they are blamed for things by people who might not fully understand stuff.

[Escy]

I can imagine my neighbours would love me having a dyno.

Since the dyno day I changed the fuel pressure regulator back to the 4 bar version as I hit the 96% injector duty cycle limit once on the way back from the dyno. The injectors now flow at 844cc/min. I re-wired the clutch switch, there are 2, I swapped it to the other switch which is activated sooner on the pedal travel, before the clutch wire was linked to the starter relay (so you put your foot on the clutch before starting it), now it is on it's wire.

Tonight was the planned night for the tuning, the car got a hammering as you'd expect, not a single issue. My mate was driving, we got all the maps sorted out, I've got all my meaty torque back. It took a tank of fuel and about 3 hours. A few more changes to make, on gear changes I get a bit of a boost spike that gives me knock, on the lower boost settings the knock is in areas of the map which have the knock have no knock if I'm going through these cells on a higher boost setting during a pull. So I don't want to pull timing. I need to get that sorted but as a work around I just flat foot shift it, no knock then, just bangs and flames. Other than that the boost control is spot on.

I've got a map that's 2800mbar (26psi) on super unleaded, it pulls really well but the IAT's are 75c, the charge coolers can't keep up. I'm going to drop that boost down a bit to see if it improves things. The big boy map with the methanol is 3000mbar (29psi), the IAT's are 30c for the majority of the run peaking at 40c which is pretty impressive, I could maybe increase the flow rate on the methanol at the top end to bring the 40c down to 30c. The EGT's are also 100c lower with methanol, it's a game changer in my car. The difference is huge. It's definately making more power now than it was on the dyno. I'm really happy, problem free now and I can use it properly.

[Escy]

I know you were. I'd love one though.

[Escy]

Since the car is pretty much finished I've been using it it a bit lately. I went to a local car meet on Wednesday (Lisvane Car Club), I forgot to take photos but there was lots of nice stuff. This morning I went to Queen Square breakfast meet in Bristol. It was Porsche themed so we all got decent parking spots. It was a good meet, never been before. Lots of people have read this thread and come and talk to me which is really nice.

[Escy]

I thought I had sorted out any issues with boost pipes coming off after I started using the Murray constant tension hose clamps. I've easily had over a hundred pulls (road and dyno) without any issues at all. As I've been tuning it the boost has risen slightly but only talking a couple of psi but it seems to have been enough to give me issues.

I've had the boost pipe going from the turbo to the charge cooler pop off once, since that's happened it's now happening all the time. Every time I drive it it seems to pop off, I get maybe 4-5 pulls before it does it. It seems odd how it's been fine for ages, pops off once then suddenly becomes a major issue.

There's obviously a weakness there now but I'm not sure what. The charge cooler is bolted to the engine, there is no movement in it. I've got a lip welded onto the charge cooler. The hose itself looks fine, no signs of damage. The clamp looks fine. I guess I'll just change the clamp and hose. The last time I fitted the pipe back on I sprayed contact adhesive on the charge cooler end and inside of the silicone hose, thinking it would make the difference. It didn't. That's what the yellow on the charge cooler is (not oil, there is a bit of oil residue but not much).



A couple of photos, I'm still on the fence about putting the Porsche side stripes back on.

[Escy]

ridds said:

Weld bead isn't tall enough, space behind the bead is too small, uneven height allows oil to seep through due to imperfect clamping.

Quick fix, a narrower clamp fully on the other side of the bead. Fully clean all oil from everywhere.

Long fix, extend pipe, increase bead height, wider clamp back on fully behind the bead.

Thanks, I did wonder if the clamp was too wide but It was fine for ages. I'll try a narrower clamp and see how I get on as a temporary measure.

MDifficult said:

The only other thought.. what’s the heat resistance of the contact adhesive? Could it be melting once you get up to temp, turning the adhesive into a lubricant?

As always, I marvel at your ingenuity so I’m certain you’ll get this sorted - good luck

Possibly but I only tried the contact adhesive once.

HM-2 said:

I was going to suggest a Wiggins Clamp

I'd love something like these. The boost pipes aren't easily accessible so a permanent solution like this would be good. I'm tempted to buy a tig welder so I can do aluminium.