Adam's Nova turbo wip

[makemadam]

This is my progress so far of my nova turbo build. Its been quite slow due to the overall cost mainly due to the fact ive kept upgrading the origional plan of almost every detail and due to shifting the location of the build for one reason or another. Hopefully gonna see 400 horses with a GT3071r.

The main thing i need to keep on top of is planning and organisation as i have the tendancy to switch tasks without finishing what i set out to do and have a load of half finished jobs all over the place, ending up in a mess!

The donor car... my converted ecotec calibra SE8



A very bare looking engine

The Newly purchased 1.2 Merit under 60K in good nik with minimal rust






Deburring block

Decided to get creative whilst waiting for bits and make a custom gauge pod nova/cally style!





Phhrrrrrr... new rods!


Cyl. head dissassembly




Picked up a nice newly honed and acid dipped block. There was such little wear there was no need to have it re-bored to achieve the 0.06 piston to bore clearance. The engine had only done 65,000KM!! (origionally from a calibra 4x4 import)



Etch primer to give a better painted finish

[makemadam]

More Parts



More Measuring, and recording, a must for any build


Crank polished and cleaned


TXB checked for condition before going up for sale






Poor quality pic showing the 5- angle valve seats (exhaust) from the pre-calibra conversion.


And more head work


re-condition pre-calibra




Some recent diy porting (unfinished)






A shot of the quality of the a Regal intercooler. There're internal fins the entire length. Imo one of the most efficient coolers out there. I so hope i can use this on the Nova, but ill need to at least have the exit cylinders on the side relocated facing rear


New clutch






Arp's all round + Glyco bearings




Taken during trial assembly


A change of pistons was needed when i decided to go for a gt3071r turbo. These are standard -13cc from the states. Ive now had them machined to -16cc by s/boyslim and still the total cost was well below £400.


Ignore my ring clip assembly method




Painted throttle body, another part now under scrutiny for an upgrade


Lighweight billet steel flywheel

[makemadam]

An interesting xe/let spcific mod (and results of it that are worth a look on the j-body forum) is drilling holes in the block to extend the water jacket to cover the full 360° around the top of the clylinder.


And more buld pics. New turbo




painting the comp. housing



Measuring piston/ deck height. These gauges are so sensitive, having a lever instead of the standard pin to measure distances less than a mm. Mine has a range of 0.8mm



Oil gallery grub screws removed for a final clean before the first trial assembly.


A present from my mam. A money-box to save for my car, she said! A hint maybe?

[dearing5]

**** me you've been busy, cant wait to see some more

[Pete_58]

Looks like a good ongoing build. That Calibra didnt look half bad, TBH!! Interesting block cooling mod, havent seen that before.

[Benn]

Nice work, Nova should be a beast.

[makemadam]

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Engine dropped out of nova, pikey style!
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The head had to come off to pull it under the front panel
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Making progress
[IMG][/IMG]

Bearings into rods. I got really paranoid after a couple of my glyco's were removed damaged with scratches on after a trial assembly of the crank. I thought they were getting contaminated with dirt so i wrapped them in cling film to be sure. Turns out there was a slight nik in on one of the crank journals. Doh!
[IMG][/IMG]
Damage
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[IMG][/IMG]
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Another few pics of oil squirter mod in progress and head porting.

[Rs1]

Awesome dude, another nova terrorissing the north east to watch out for then

[mikegray]

Nice work, you have certainly been busy!! That calibra looked smart.

Looking forward to the updates.

[makemadam]

Was a bit pi$$ed off today to say the least. I'd just used the ½ inch extension bar from the halfords 99 quid ratchet set to loosen the brake/ clutch pedal mount and the f00kin ball pin dropped out. I might not have been so f00ked off but two weeks previous to this the t55 torx bit from the same set snapped clean in two the first time i used it loosening the brake calipers. I only bought the set less than 3 months ago!! I know i should know better but i bought them because it seemed a fair deal for a portable 'all in one' ratchet set and would come in handy if working away from my cabinet. I mean FFS these are meant to be pro quality tools not something you get with a 'happy meal'. Its not as if its even mechanical like a ratchet mechanism or something, its just plain ****e quality material, so take heed and dont waste your cash.

HALFORDS PROFESSIONAL STEER CLEAR


To put this into perspective i have an extension bar the same size that was bought in the late 1960's by my late grandad, a maintainance engineer in the shipyards. 50 years on and it still gets regular use, often with an impact gun, and theres not the smallest glint of cracks or damage. Its made by 'King Dick' (hehe), a company that makes (or used to) various engineering tools.

[SteveM]

You can get them replaced for free if they're halfrauds professional

[Benn]

Dude what have you do with the std gear box? Theres a bit i want off it..(will buy)

[makemadam]

Yeah, am gonna go in and try to get replacements at the weekend. I seem to have kept every other reciept apart from that one. I paid cash and didnt use my trade card as it would have cost more (being a reduced item or summat). so im hoping for a bit of old goodwill!

Benn, sorry buddy scrapman took the lot last week or you could of had it for the price it cost to post.

[Benn]

bollocks. Cheers anyway.

[makemadam]

i've just been sorting out my new lock up this weekend. Its still nothing massive but with just about enough space to work. Plus its got a separate small office where I can assemble the engine without worrying to much about muck and debris from the main area.


Engine assembly area to be


Began some work on the chassis at the weekend. Uncovered some rust under front arches on both sides that i will cut out and weld up. I decided to make a start on this but as I now have my engine back from the machine shop, I'll be diverting most of my attention to the assembly and build-up.









I dont think anything needs replacing although the arches have seen better days i was going to just patch them up and seam weld the whole chassis.



Interior Gutted


Few of my rotating parts being balanced












Engine bits are now home. Block and head flat for Cometic gasket, bronze guides installed, big intake valve seats full rotating assembly balanced etc etc. At the cost of a severely upset bank balance!!
All done now though.




Pistons, having been milled to -16cc

[dearing5]

nice work mate

[mikegray]

Very nice. Good luck with the build.

[jonshepherd]

Looking good mate, just out of interest, what's that type of clutch disc called? The smaller surface areas give a more fierce bite right?

[rc]

looks very good mate, will be keeping an eye on this build!

[Mark_F]

I take it you finished the oil squirters but didn't post the pic of it? Build looks very impressive so far.

Just looked back through the pics, the finished one is before the unfinished.

[makemadam]

Originally Posted by jonshepherd

Looking good mate, just out of interest, what's that type of clutch disc called? The smaller surface areas give a more fierce bite right?

Jon, clutches with this type of friction plate are called paddle clutches. I've also heard them refered to as a puk type clutch. And yes it does produce a tougher bite but as its going to be mainly for road use ive opted for 5 'paddles and a sprung centre plate which ensures a smoother engagement and some degree of drivability compared to lets say a 4 paddle with an unsprung centre.

Originally Posted by Mark_F

I take it you finished the oil squirters but didn't post the pic of it? Build looks very impressive so far.

Just looked back through the pics, the finished one is before the unfinished.

Yeah, i know. i only started the thread recently to posted the back log of photos in a bit of a random syle.
To confuse people further the squirter is also installed before grinding the channel for the oil flow... that wasn't the end of the world though.

[Adam]

nice work what injectors and management u gonna use?

[makemadam]

Thanks Adam,
Cant say what injectors i'm going to use yet as i'll have determine some figures nearer the time to calculate the fuel requirements, and guage the injector size accordingly.

Management wise is a difficult one. Im currently researching into this as it such a broad subject i'd like to get some more 'in depth' knowledge of it before choosing which system i opt for. So far, for this particular build the Omex 6 or 7 hundred seem interesting but aftermarket systems dont come cheap and should i decide to move on to a higher build spec in the future, lets say a 800bhp rb26det with extra bells and whisles, I dont want to be stuck with a system thats mediocre in comparison. So it might be worth bitting the bullet for something like an L8 'pro' that i could take with me. Id like to learn more about the various functions and working parameters of some of the systems out there and understand how they differ from those of the factory motronic to gain some perspective

[makemadam]

Been at the garage today arranging everything in order and putting up some shelving. I got round to making a start on the engine. I popped the valves out and gave the head a good clean ready for assembly and attached the block to the stand only to realise that i'm short of my main caps and ARP stud kit. Bastard! the machine shop musn't have gave them back to me and i didn't even notice till now!

I'll have to go down there tomorrow morning and find out whats happened, then i'll post up some more pics tomorrow evening of the progress.

[Steve!]

gotta get me a piece of this