Stots Build Thread

[Stot]

Going to make up some stone guards for my rear wings so I made up some paper templates to test for size.



Cheers
Stot

[Stot]

About ready to turbo this thing. I found a brand new old stock genuine garrett SAAB 900 turbo the same as my testfit one for under £200 so cant really go wrong there.

I cut the flange off the old SAAB downpipe elbow and ill weld up a 2.25" elbow to it to mate up to the existing exhaust. Should be plenty big enough for the turbo according to the corky bell book the downpipe should be 10% bigger than the outlet of the turbo, which is 2".



Just waiting on oil feed and drain lines to turn up from HK and Ill have everything I need to get somewhere between 170hp and 200hp.

Cheers
Stot

[Stot]

I have machined the downpipe flange so that the pipe is an interference fit so welding the cast flange to the mild steel pipe should hold up OK hopefully.



It will likely be shorter than this but Ill leave enough pipe so that if it does crack I can weld a new flange on.

List of parts for the conversion now is

Megasquirt - Already in
LC-2 Wideband - Already in
Cleaned and flow matched 440cc injectors
2.25" intake pipework.
12" x 10" core intercooler.
Cast turbo manifold
Garrett TBO312 turbo
Turbo oil feed and drain pipes.

Should be pretty straight forward other than drilling the sump for the oil drain. Pipework is good for about 1.7 power ratio which should see me at 190ish with a nice quick spool so hopefully improve the low-mid range.

Cheers
Stot

[Stot]

Intercooler and merc rad just about fit in the nose with a fan pulling from behind.






Just put my air filter on if for now til I fab up a downpipe for the turbo.

Cheers
Stot

[Stot]

Slowly getting this turbo on. No light when I get home from work and a new baby are limiting my time but I managed to make some progress.

I cut relief cuts into my manifold as recommended on various miata sited to help reduce the likelyhood of it cracking. The idea is to allow it to expand over time.



I also had to mill the back edges of some of the bolt holes flat as the casting was fairly uneven on the lower ones but I got it all mounted up with new hardware.



The lower nuts and especially the middle nut was pretty impossible to get to so Im super glad I purchased a new Halfords tool kit a couple of weeks ago with ratchet ended spanners as they were the only things I could get in there!

Also got the turbo mounted up. Its been clocked to suit and I made up an adapter for a banjo oil line fitting for it.



On the 1.6 MX5 there is already a take off point for high pressure oil so an M10 x 1.5 banjo fits in there easy.

[Stot]

My downpipe looks ok, I have a 45* and another 90* to get out of the existing side panel hole.




Ill likely have to rehome my washer bottle.

Ill also likely make up a jig when its all done and get one made up in stainless when this one rots/falls apart.

Cheers
Stot

[Stot]

Dropped the sump to put the turbo return line in and decided to go for shortening the sump while I have it off as I already scraped it a few times.



I was going to cut the plate to fit this on my mill but its a bit too big for the table so Ill l be chopping and filing I guess.

Cheers
Stot

[CTWV50]

I'll have to buy a fitting then, I wish I had a lathe.

Originally Posted by Stot

Intercooler and merc rad just about fit in the nose with a fan pulling from behind.

What car is the rad and intercooler from? They look a neat solution.

190E?

"The Mercedes 190E radiator that many of the Haynes Roadster guys use has an oil cooler built in.

eBay Item

Its upside down in those ebay pictures, the red caps are on the oil filter in/out.

Cheers
Stot"

[Stot]

Originally Posted by CTWV50

I'll have to buy a fitting then, I wish I had a lathe.



What car is the rad and intercooler from? They look a neat solution.

190E?

"The Mercedes 190E radiator that many of the Haynes Roadster guys use has an oil cooler built in.

eBay Item

Its upside down in those ebay pictures, the red caps are on the oil filter in/out.

Cheers
Stot"

Yeah the rad is a 190E radiator. The core is exactly the same size as the intercooler. I have ducting in the nose too so that air cant go around the intercooler.

My temps still run at upto 110c. I have a full reroute in place and the fan switch is at the thermostat. In traffic the fan will come on and bring it back down to 102. It seems my fan switch actually comes on at 110 and off at 102 rather than 97/92 as its supposed to. Its new too.

Im going to try running the fan off the ECU for a while at a lower temp to see if that helps but It will probably just end up with the fan on permanently. If not ill try without the thermostat to see if it overcools then but really its when im going 70-80mph on the motorway im getting the most heat into the engine, its sitting at 4000 rpm so whenever you apply some throttle its into boost.

I think the radiator just isnt removing enough heat so I have a spare 190 radiator with a hole in it and Im thinking of sending that off to have an aluminium twin or tripple core copy made up if nothing else helps.

Cheers
Stot

[Badger]

Hmmm quite glad I didn't go for a 190E radiator now, though I'm not sure the Clio one I've got will be up to the job either!
Would it be possible to create a gap around the rear or sides of the bonnet to let the hot air out a bit more? Other than that is there any mileage in exhaust wrapping or coating the system?