BikeTuna's winter turbo build

It's mapped! Check out the powerrrr!!!!



Of course it's not mapped FFS! Did you think it was going to be that easy?

No. They fired it up and it spat oil again. I got a feeling I know what it is though, on putting it together I broke the oil restrictor bolt and replaced it, but I bet the new one has a faster flow rate than the one I made. I thought the new pump might have handles it but it hasn't. Either that or the oil pump isn't doing it's job properly...

Anyways, they are looking into I'd at the mo. Hopefully good news soon though!

 

You got talent keep the faith! We're all on tender hooks here waiting for this build to finish, I ain't slept for months now

 

I must have a dirty mind...

 

dodgy looking graph?

 

Quick update while the missus is watching BGT...

Bike is mechanically ready. Instead of (cheaply) fitting a few oil restrictor bolts they have done it properly and fitted an inline swage valve so the oil rate is now perfect.

So they stuck it on the dyno and it's pushing the magic 10psi, and then....


Pop.

Luckily, it wasn't the block! The airbox sealant gave way. So tank off yet again, cut all my lockwire out, resealed with about treble the tigerseal I used and rebuilt.

Next rolling road is for next week. They have some bigger paying jobs to tick off before they carrying mucking about with this amateur silliness, but will hopefully squeeze it in soon. Should be ready to go though.

 

sounds like you may will be fabricating an airbox in the near future if you plan to ride it regularly...

but great job

 

Bugger, I must be getting old, I just read the numbers

 

It's not going well.....

Third attempt at the dyno and an all new fault - a random rpm reading from the power commander.

On acceleration the rpm (x1000) reads 2, 3, 4, 11, 5, 6, 12, 18, etc. With the strange output from the pc3 it's impossible to map it. The risk is setting x amount of fuel at y rpm and it puts it in at the wrong time and detonates the engine.

Big CC haven't seen this either. They are asking dynojet for clues, but I can tell they 're not finding my bike funny anymore. 3 times on the block and it's still chucking it's toys out the pram.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

take out pc3, and tune it with TuneEcu, much better software

or go with standalone ecu which will be the best in right hands.

 

A mini update for those who have been holding their breath for this long and are still alive... you must have some serious deep diving skills!

It's not all been waiting though. The bike is still at Big CC, and I gave them an open window to put it on the back burner and crack on with other bikes while I went on holiday for 2 weeks.

Coming back and catching up with them has revealed more problems. It's the Power Commander this time. The RPM signal coming out of the thing is wrong, and they cannot map it because of it. It's looking like its a knackered unit.

The annoyance of it is that I swapped my arrow can for a used PC3 and Multifunction hub with a chap who may or may not have stiffed me with a faulty unit. (it's been ages since so I'm not following that up). Now that I don't need a multifunction hub with my setup I could have sold the Arrow and bought a new one.

Anyway, the PC3 is out of the bike and sent off to Dynojet for a firmware update to see if its salvageable. Worth a shot as I don't have the cash for another one, but annoyingly again I've spent more than the cost of a new one on failed mapping time alone. This is definitely a lesson in pay cheap = pay twice.

PC3 is expected back early next week, so I'll hopefully be finding out late next week.

I miss my bike.

 

keep the faith, it'll come right.

with benefit of the doubt, the pc might have been damaged during removal. i do hope it wasnt a known bad unit, but there are a lot of scummy sellers out there, to be sure.

cheap/twice was always going to be a consideration in the build, because you set out specifically to do it with a tight budget and do whatever you could yourself.

whether you had paid more upfront for the parts or not, some of the issues were still part of the learning curve and could not have been forseen or budgeted around, unless you had given the work to a professional to do in the first place, which massively defeats the object of what you wanted from the build.

you've done an awesome job to date mate

 

Got an ominous sounding message from BigCC on my voicemail yesterday... I called them back.

The PC3 was abe to be flashed with a newer firmware, which has allowed the introduction of noise filters to get a decent reading of the RPM signal, and the bike could be successfully mapped... and that's where the good news ends.

The turbo is running a perfect 8psi. Independantly checked from the airbox feed by test equipment as well as my on board sensor, it's boosting a charm. It's coming in earlier than expected too, at 4k rather than 6k. The fuelling is adjusted and we are getting a whopping 82bhp. over 20bhp less than standard.

The current suspicions is that the turbo is too small for the bike. The Turbo is putting out the boost, the engine combusts it and then fires it out the exhaust, but then the turbo hotside cannot evacuate quick enough, causing back pressure which is feeding back into the engine and bunging it up.

I'm heading down there on Saturday, going to pull the bike apart and see if theres anything that can be done. Theres 3 possible solutions at the mo, the first is to strip the whole thing, weld over the turbos internal wastegate and then fit an external wastegate that can hopefully bypass more gas, but with the fault being a theory theres no guarantee. The second is to change out the turbo, which means a new manifold and boost pipe. I could then also raise the turbo and eliminate the oil problems ive had by raising it over the sump - the most expensive option but the only real way to do it right. The third is to cut my losses and put it back to standard. Sadly, the third option is the only one I can afford.

So Saturday is a day of reckoning. If between now and then I can find a cheap workaround, or the fault is misdiagnosed and a solution is found on the day, the project will end and the bike will be going back to standard. I'll post up on Saturday and let you all know.

 

Oh no mate I really hope you find a way round it, I'd be totally gutted for you to have to put it back to standard after all the work you've put in.
Got my fingers and toes crossed for you.

 

Shit happens. Good luck either way

 

How much do you need? Forum crowd funding?!

 

Well, I said I'd post up.....

Got to BigCC about 10. A little gassing, checking out their phemonimal builds - a road legal stealth busa with 960bhp is having the cooling system plumbed in and they are having a day off paid work to do their own thing. I chose a good day to go!

My bike is sat on the rolling road ready to go. We don't though, we know there's issues. The main one being boost and bleed off. With some YouTube knowledge I remote test the wastegate with an airline and very quickly establish its fubar.

Sean has one lying around. I say 'how much' he says 'if it works its yours' so they carry on with the busa and away I went!



Remember when I had to cut off the wastegate arm and reverse it? Well, I had to do it again, back to how it was! I cut the arm off the wastegate, fit the new actuator with my original bracket (glad I kept it now) and then welded the arm back on.



Another airline test shows it fully working so the key is turned and away it goes... Aaaaaannnd?


Complete fail. 2 main issues, still can't regulator the oil correctly and its pouring with smoke, but we get few runs to establish some Base fuel lines but it's not having it. Got to about 105bhp but it's clearly choking on its own back pressure.



So it's come home. It's now sat out the back of my house dripping oil on my slabs. I've done the numbers and I cannot afford to put the £800 GT28/60 Sean is recommending, but with the current level of investment and the changes to the bike being extensive so far, I've come up with a plan.

Second best to the GT28/60 would be the T25. Kind of the same volumes but a slightly slower spool. More importantly the T25 is used on a fair few production cars, including the Saab 9-3 and the Rover 45, so that's probably my route now. I'll need to redo the man if I'll, make a new exhaust and modify the boost pipe so it's not an overnight thing, and I'll be sure to keep you all posted, but for now, it's game paused....

 

And for those who wanna hear it... Here it is.

The turbo seals are long popped, and you can see the cloud of smoke, but we pull a power run to see what it does knowing it's below the 10psi point with the new gate. This is a 6th gear roll on from 30 to 130 or so.

You can tell the map is all over the place as the power isn't linear, but it at least gives you all an idea on how close it all got.

 

A year of shame at a failed build.... I didn't think I'd ever be allowed back.

Ill just leave this here.

 

Ooo Finally!
Is it all done?