Big Uno's R26 Project / Engine Build

Had a plate made up this week that will fit in the rear footwell, the external pump, swirl pot and filter are going to be sat here so just measuring up how I want everything to sit.

For anyone wondering the plate is a little overkill being 4mm stainless will be finishing it before fitting also.

Sorry this has been a little slow going I have a lot going on with the car right now

 

Cheers mate!! Welcome to come over whenever!

 

You too mate, bring some overalls next time

 

Im only kidding mate, although if you want to help that would be appreciated need to start a garage the way its going

 

Finished off the plate to hold the fuel system components over the last couple of days, drilled and tapped holes to fit everything down securely.
Fixed to the car by 3 M8 rivnuts so wont be going anywhere
Finished it off in a enamel gloss black and fitted the parts.
Slight change of plumbing from the above posts, decided to run a fitting with a side outlet so that I can run a gauge for testing if needed.

 

Got the final casings painted up for the engine today, almost finished now



Got some more mechanicals to check over before the lump goes in, still waiting on the turbo so my attention is now all on the car and box, got some fairly bad play on the input shaft... so here we go again, gearbox rebuild number 1.... and only 1 hopefully

 

Been really busy over the last week and not had much time to make updates!

Refurbished both hubs, after taking them apart it was quite obvious the lower bearings between the hub and carrier where shot, they where lubed by rust dust
So replace the two lower bearings, removed as much of the surface rust as possible and repainted.
Also modified the lower bolts with the grease points to keep these bearings lubed.
Main wheel and top bearings seem to be in great shape so left them as they are.





Got quite a bit coming up, refurbing the calipers, lower arms, gearbox rebuild and hopefully some work tidying up the engine bay too! Still waiting on the turbo along with some other bits

 

Got my front calipers nearly finished, gone for yellow, I think it looks good with grey and black. Just need to get the pistons finished up and rebuilt.

 

So firstly apologies to anyone here following my thread, had a lot going on lately and not much time to post up progress! Anyway I have still been working on the car and got a load more done, unfortunately not many photos but will try to get it updated.

So I have had the engine bay in pieces, quite a lot of cleaning, checking what needs replacing, cleaning and cleaning...and painting... and gathering parts

I decided to remove the battery tray bracket, as I have no use for it with the battery in the cab thought it would be space better used for something else.

I have painted the chassis arms and a whole load of other stuff in the bay and arches. Just gone for a matte grey, similar to the bodywork colour, all looks a lot tidyer now. Sorry about the photo quality my camera is damaged and struggling in light. Will get some better photos soon when I get round to firing up the new phone!



I have almost complete new suspension, new lower arms to go on, track rods, drop links, torque links and a set of BC BR coilovers but ill get to that once the engines in.

The fuel system hasnt progressed massively, but it is not far off now.
I have built a panel to fit in the cab, this contains a new main fuse and isolator, along with the pump fuse and controls.
Happy to explain the panel in far more detail for anyone interested!
It might look a little over the top, but im not building the car for internal asthetics



Anyway the pump setup is almost ready to go in, will need plumbing and wiring which I will also show in more detail as I go.



The car is now pretty much fully stripped out as far as I want it internally.

If anybody want anything in detail just let me know! I am hoping to have the blower pretty soon, and once that arrives get the car up and running asap.

 

I noticed looking back almost all my attention has been on the front of the engine, so going to post up some more about the rear



So this afternoon some parts I have been waiting for arrived and the next installation has now begun.
Final checks on the exhaust valves and put the new manifold on!





Much more to follow shortly

 

Thanks I really appreciate that!

Hopefully it should be about to get a bit more interesting shortly too!

 

I was going to keep this quiet until I had it finished up but the manifold does give it away slightly... been busy starting to mock it all up and would be rude not to post it up.

But firstly I have to say the manifold is a seriously nice piece, worth the wait for me now I have it. Had to add a few more photos I took before fitting...







And probably the main question is probably what turbo?







So Ive gone with the new late 2017 / 2018 Garrett G25-550, 0.7 A/R, externally wastegated as you can see from the manifold. Will post up more info about the wastegate as I get to that as its a topic of its own.

Should be really interesting to see what power this will make with my set up, have only seen one graph so far and the results where very impressive!

Some more in depth info on the turbo including a compressor map here for anyone interested;
https://www.turbobygarrett.com/turbobygarrett/turbochargers/g-series-g25-550

 

What it makes will be interesting!

Got the turbo fitted today, spent quite a lot of time adjusting things so that everything sits right, torqued everything up on the turbo, painted the oil and water fittings, primed the turbo, double checked the housing alignment.
Unfortunately the centre is not square as its not possible to fit everything square on this turbo with the water fittings I have, its sat probably sonewhere between 5 and 10 degrees off so most importantly wont be a problem for the oil return.
Just waiting on some heat sleeving to arrive now for the oil feed, may also add a clamp to secure the oil feed and stop any chance of it being able to touch the manifold.

So just the wastegate to fit next and shes ready!





So the wastegate Ill be using is the Turbosmart comp-gate 40, its the gen5, the top housing is adjustable on this model, it can be watercooled although I probably wont be using that, its a really nice piece shame its will be hidden away behind the engine
I will post some more up soon when I fit this. Unfortunately I dont have any imperial hex keys at home and they are needed.

 

No its still in for now, think in the very bad photo its pushed over by the left brake line, although I would like to remove it too! Need to have a look into that at the engine end.

 

Putting the finishing touches on the gearbox this afternoon, including a crash test that ill get to further down

Apologies again I did not really document the box work very well as I just didnt have time.
Once it was stripped I found the input bearing to be in a fairly bad way, so sourced new bearings.
The box build is now complete, input bearing, all 3 cluster end bearings, and both differential bearings changed. New input seal, new output seals, and the cap at the back end.
I was intending on rebuilding it myself however after chatting with the local Renault specialist, they made a offer to build it back up for me, and at a very very good price, so I let them do the work and I just supplied the parts

As for the crash test, I managed to drop the whole box after going ar** over t** carrying it and got my foot caught on a cardboard box luckily no damage internally so it seems, but unfortunately it broke the linkage bracket.

Call me sad for painting a box but thought as every other part of the engine has now been painted might aswell carry on. So it is now the same graphite grey I have been using everywhere else.

Finished up the short shift mod today also, just leathered the thread with a hammer and chisel on the bottom of the new ball joint just to ensure it cant unwind, gave it a quick coat of paint and fitted it.

 

Got the wastegate fitted, realigned the housing to suit the lines and keep them away from the manifold and downpipe, retorqued it up and inserted the fittings, manual states its advisory to use 567 on the npt fittings. Im using the 14psi spring only, so will allow for that as a minimum crack off pressure, and let me run more than I need with the boost controller so no need for doubling or trippling springs.



After a bit of messing around setting the downpipe angle the wastegate is now fitted
Im running the pressure line up the rear of the block, trying to keep it tidy. Will probably use a hose for the breather too just to help stop any dust or debris getting into the gate.

 

Thanks mate!!

Been busy today, now trying to get the fuel system sorted as soon as possible.
Decided on the location for the regulator after messing around with with a few different brackets.
As luck would have it the stock original turbo to rocker cover bracket seems to be the perfect fit!

So once again after some messing around and trying different set ups I am now happy with the regulator position.
I will be keeping both fuel lines running in the original position, leaving the engine between the manifold and cam cover, the regualtor is fairly out the way of everything there and it allows me really easy access to the regulator itself too.
Fitted some of the ancillary hose kit as you will see behind, I have cut it slightly and ran it the other way around the oil filler cap to give me a little more room on the other side, and I will explain why I need it soon.
The oil cap does still come off easily too, looks quite restricted in the photos but its not so bad from above.
I know the Torques advert on the firesleeve might not be to everyones taste

Will probably order some more bling bling shiney fittings for the bracket etc... might aswell carry on with them now.

@Korky let me know what you think!?

 

Thanks I really appreciate that!
To be honest I would love to have more space that has been my biggest challenge, and if I had more funds I am sure I could also do a whole lot more too!
Would also love to be able to do this type of work full time professionally, but I dont think this type of work is easy to get into?

 

Now that was something I will be getting to soon, but very well spotted! I have changed the way the boost lines run completely as they are not able to run nicely where they did OE, the Garrett sits over around an inch across and has no curving exhaust like the OE turbo does, I did try running lines as they "should" be, but it looked messy and rubbed on coilpack 2 very badly.

Thanks mate, yes you are completely right I have been looking at watercooling the gate since the original post where I mentioned I would not.
I am a little unsure how I want to configure it, was thinking to run the cooling lines directly from water drain to wasregate and back to system from wastegate. I had also considered making a small standalone cooling system for it.

Have not seen much information from anyone running this turbo yet, there is not much info online either.

 

@Korky forgot to add, the regulator housing is from Saxon motorsport, very well made cant fault it at all. Happy to take some better photos for you if you want to see more of it.
www.saxon-motorsport.co.uk

 

Wired up the pump this afternoon and just putting the finishes on the panel I posted up before.

Fitted the bulkhead fittings for the last time and the swirl pot system is now ready to be linked to them.

The panel is nearly done, everything just needs straightening up.
Isolator and main fuse are for the main power, I wanted a fuse as close to the battery as possible as since I relocated it behind the passenger seat the run is now quite long between the battery and fuse, if anything was to happen to the cable inbetween it could be potentially dangerous and as I was building a small panel for the pump anyway I put them together.
It is naughty really to have the breaker before the fuse, and on the live side also, but it is for emergency only, I have a disconnect on the negative so use that for any reason I want the power off before turning the live breaker to avoid it arcing and wearing the switch internally.

Anyway the power to the Bosch pump is quite simple, just a normally open relay switched by the OE pump live.
The Bosch should sit at around 20-22amp draw, so is fused at 30A prior to the relay.

May look at changing this later but for now it is fine, its not my electrical work at its finest but you wouldnt believe the time gone into it now!
As its switched by the OE pump this means under any circumstance where the OE pump is switched off by the control module (like during a shunt) it will also kill the power to the Bosch.

So lets see how long I can put up with the irritating droning noise of the 044 in the cab

 

I will post up my boost pipe setup once its fitted, its quite simple but gets around the problem, literally
Going to cut the rest of the pipes once the engines in as no doubt I can get it looking good on the stand and when it goes in and all gets connected it wont line up

Got the fuel lines fitted now, another pic to show them, just moved the breather over to the spare clip run, tight but it fits. Need to have a jumble around at the front now and make the breather cross over the fuel lines nicely, probably have to bend the pipe a bit.

 

Thanks mate

 

Got my "custom" starter motor heat shield finished today, took a little bit of work with a hammer and grinding discs but got there in the end. Its just the OE one that in no way fitted after mounting the turbo kit, checked the starter motor fits in the gap now, it does again
Just hope everything lines up ok when the starter is on the box and fitted!

I have also decided to take the advice from @Sokol and run the water cooling available on the wastegate, was planning to just wrap the manifold and downpipe, but it seems stupid to rush and not run the cooling for the sake of a few fittings.
Anyway the few bits I need should be here over the next couple of days and I will post up the progress on that too.

I have been concerned about the distance between the wastegate housing and downpipe, its also very close to one of the headers too.
Will also be running a turbo blanket also so will need to see if I can get the engine bay temperatures tested after fitting out of interest would be good to test a stock car too and check the differences.



Also what I think / hope is the final crucial parts I will be needing arrived today.
Not seen very much conversation about them really, so thought I would at least post the photo of them.

These are Siemens Deka 80lb / 875cc injectors, a step up from the much more common 630cc. Nothing special externally but they will allow me to further use the potential of the G25.