Phoenix from the flames - Porsche Boxster with an Audi 2.7T
Discussion
the loo is actually a good idea. Saves going through the house when youre covered in s
t which will keep missus happy. Id fit a big sink in it too to wash parts/hands and if youre really flush for space a shower cubicle. Nice to be able to clean up in peace and quiet before returning to household mayhem. Also good escape in the mornings if certain people take ages in the bathroom. lol.
t which will keep missus happy. Id fit a big sink in it too to wash parts/hands and if youre really flush for space a shower cubicle. Nice to be able to clean up in peace and quiet before returning to household mayhem. Also good escape in the mornings if certain people take ages in the bathroom. lol.Thanks guys. I can't wait to get stuck in. I'm unpacking boxes of all my garage stuff and i'm overwhelmed, i've got more shelf space than I know what to do with. I had everything dumped on the floor in a shed before. I'm sure it won't take long to fill them up. 
I have huge garage envy; what a find!Ha ha, i didn't spot it but you're right. I don't want to "fire" through any more projects.
MX6 said:
Loving the garage. I've got a pit in mine too and it's a godsend! That hole in the ground was probably the main reason I bought the garage, it also came with a 150 year old terrace cottage as well...
That was pretty much my thought process, I was looking for a garage, if it came with a house that was a bonus. Dewi-asl8m said:
That's around the corner from my mother in Penyrheol. I grew up around there and always remember seeing the garage door open and them fixing cars.
Yeah, that's the one Nunga said:
Jammez said:
Excellent garage - really felt for you on some of your pics where you were working outside. There will be no end to the projects you'll be able to fire through now!
No one else thought, “phrasing’?I have huge garage envy; what a find!
I've been busy working on the revised water to air charge cooling. This time I'm going to use the center radiator that comes standard on the Boxster S for the charge cooler system. This will keep things look factory.
I could have bought a Boxster S bumper which would have have the center trim panel but they are expensive so I just bought the trim and decided to cut the hole in my original bumper.
I used the back section of the center trim to mark out where I needed to cut.
I gave the grills and center trim a lick of gloss black.
The trim panel is the sort of thing where once you remove it the first time it doesn't clip together the same, it's like the melt the plastic mounting tabs into the rear section. I ended up having use Tiger Seal and clamps to hold it together.
Center radiator and shroud fitted.
Finished, I also added the proper number plate plinth as the plate didn't sit nice before.
I could have bought a Boxster S bumper which would have have the center trim panel but they are expensive so I just bought the trim and decided to cut the hole in my original bumper.
I used the back section of the center trim to mark out where I needed to cut.
I gave the grills and center trim a lick of gloss black.
The trim panel is the sort of thing where once you remove it the first time it doesn't clip together the same, it's like the melt the plastic mounting tabs into the rear section. I ended up having use Tiger Seal and clamps to hold it together.
Center radiator and shroud fitted.
Finished, I also added the proper number plate plinth as the plate didn't sit nice before.
I wanted the charge cooler system to not take up any space in the front or rear boots. That's easier said than done, there are some fundamentals of the system you need to work around, you need the header tank at the highest point in the system and the water pump at the lowest point. The system goes, tank -> pump -> radiator -> heat exchangers -> tank.
As the air-con has been removed it made my life easier when it came to routing the pipe work. I bought a 2 litre stainless steel beer growler to use as my header tank. Ideally it would have had a screw top rather than the swing top but it was only £15 and I thought I could make it work. To get it in where I wanted I needed to give the tank some mallet action to re-shape it at the bottom, I then welded in some fittings top and bottom. I had to cut the neck down and used some elastic bands to hold the cap down. The elastic bands don't look great but it works.
The pipe comes out of the header tank and snakes it's way down to the pump. I've made an effort to have the minimum amount of joins in the system as possible. I'm using PVC pipe, i'm not sure how I feel about it. On one hand having clear pipe work is very useful for seeing air locks but it's a nightmare to seal with hose clamps, you can have a tiny leak, tighten the clamp and suddenly have a huge leak.
I've gone for a Pierburg coolant pump, these are generally considered to be the best pumps for a charge cooler system, definately superior to the commonly used Bosch pump that comes standard on lots of cars. It's fitted behind the bumper, mounted just below the radiator. To save me running wires around the car i've wired it into the wiring used for the original fans (i'm no longer using them) and changed the fuse rating to suit.
I could of run the pipes inside the underbody panels but decided to have them exposed, my thinking being having air flow over them will help cool the water temperature, if they were inside the underbody panels they'd be getting hot from the engine coolant pipes that run inside them. The reason they are in an S shape rather than straight is the floor of the car has a depression there so it's best for clearance. I had to weld a few bolts to the floor of the car to hold the pipes up but that's the only physical modification on the whole system so i'm pleased with that. Heat exchangers removed to aid bleeding in the last but one photo.
As the air-con has been removed it made my life easier when it came to routing the pipe work. I bought a 2 litre stainless steel beer growler to use as my header tank. Ideally it would have had a screw top rather than the swing top but it was only £15 and I thought I could make it work. To get it in where I wanted I needed to give the tank some mallet action to re-shape it at the bottom, I then welded in some fittings top and bottom. I had to cut the neck down and used some elastic bands to hold the cap down. The elastic bands don't look great but it works.
The pipe comes out of the header tank and snakes it's way down to the pump. I've made an effort to have the minimum amount of joins in the system as possible. I'm using PVC pipe, i'm not sure how I feel about it. On one hand having clear pipe work is very useful for seeing air locks but it's a nightmare to seal with hose clamps, you can have a tiny leak, tighten the clamp and suddenly have a huge leak.
I've gone for a Pierburg coolant pump, these are generally considered to be the best pumps for a charge cooler system, definately superior to the commonly used Bosch pump that comes standard on lots of cars. It's fitted behind the bumper, mounted just below the radiator. To save me running wires around the car i've wired it into the wiring used for the original fans (i'm no longer using them) and changed the fuse rating to suit.
I could of run the pipes inside the underbody panels but decided to have them exposed, my thinking being having air flow over them will help cool the water temperature, if they were inside the underbody panels they'd be getting hot from the engine coolant pipes that run inside them. The reason they are in an S shape rather than straight is the floor of the car has a depression there so it's best for clearance. I had to weld a few bolts to the floor of the car to hold the pipes up but that's the only physical modification on the whole system so i'm pleased with that. Heat exchangers removed to aid bleeding in the last but one photo.
Edited by Escy on Wednesday 5th September 00:19
Edited by Escy on Wednesday 5th September 00:21
I wasn't happy with the inlet pipe work, I cobbled it together with hoses I had and had to modify the big Y-pipe, it worked fine, the car drives very well but it takes up lots of space and I was left with the air filter not being in a great place. I wasn't happy with it.
I've now replaced that lot with 2 individual inlet pipes. I've got the air filters level with the bottom of the engine undertray so they shouldn't be drawing in as much hot engine bay air as before. They are the same height but It's a shame I couldn't have them both sitting at the same angle, i'd need to move an engine coolant hose over to make space, something I may do in the future. One thing I need to be aware of is flooded roads, it'll be a bit easy to hydrolock the engine with low air filters so I won't be take any chances.
Having the individual inlet pipes means I have had to ditch the airflow meter. I've basically swapped complex pipework for complex electronics. I want to keep the Audi ECU so I'm speaking to a tuner that knows how to convert the ECU to use speed density rather than the map sensor. He's disassembled the ecu with IDA and is patching in files from other ECU's. It's all a bit over my head but if it works out like i'm being told i'll be very happy. As i'll be going speed density i've made some changes to the engine bay, i've ditched the silver recirculating blow off valves for black vent to atmosphere ones (I don't know if they are seen as cool or tragic these days but the chav in me likes a bit of WWOOOOPPTTTSSSHH action ). The first photo is how the engine bay was. If you are playing spot the difference, i've relocated the crankcase breather hose (black with red pinstripes) to under the inlet manifold, this is then split with a T piece at the front of the engine and gets fed into the inlet pipes. I've now removed the N249 from the inlet manifold and all it's pipe work and the blue vacuum reservoir, this was used to open up the recirculating dump valves to improve throttle response by bypassing the turbo at low loads (the jury is out on if it actually makes much difference). The engine bay looks much tidier now I think and definately easier to work on with all the pipework changes.
I've now replaced that lot with 2 individual inlet pipes. I've got the air filters level with the bottom of the engine undertray so they shouldn't be drawing in as much hot engine bay air as before. They are the same height but It's a shame I couldn't have them both sitting at the same angle, i'd need to move an engine coolant hose over to make space, something I may do in the future. One thing I need to be aware of is flooded roads, it'll be a bit easy to hydrolock the engine with low air filters so I won't be take any chances.
Having the individual inlet pipes means I have had to ditch the airflow meter. I've basically swapped complex pipework for complex electronics. I want to keep the Audi ECU so I'm speaking to a tuner that knows how to convert the ECU to use speed density rather than the map sensor. He's disassembled the ecu with IDA and is patching in files from other ECU's. It's all a bit over my head but if it works out like i'm being told i'll be very happy. As i'll be going speed density i've made some changes to the engine bay, i've ditched the silver recirculating blow off valves for black vent to atmosphere ones (I don't know if they are seen as cool or tragic these days but the chav in me likes a bit of WWOOOOPPTTTSSSHH action
). The first photo is how the engine bay was. If you are playing spot the difference, i've relocated the crankcase breather hose (black with red pinstripes) to under the inlet manifold, this is then split with a T piece at the front of the engine and gets fed into the inlet pipes. I've now removed the N249 from the inlet manifold and all it's pipe work and the blue vacuum reservoir, this was used to open up the recirculating dump valves to improve throttle response by bypassing the turbo at low loads (the jury is out on if it actually makes much difference). The engine bay looks much tidier now I think and definately easier to work on with all the pipework changes. Edited by Escy on Wednesday 5th September 19:38
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