ericks 1985 gsl turbo2 swap build, finally happening
 

Ok, this is my first build thread, I've been wanting to do one now for some time. But i just finally figured out how to install pictures on here. I picked up a 1985 gsl last summer off of craigslist, the guy said that the car has been sitting Since 2002 because it had a bad apex seal. The car is in great shape,and has no rust in the Wheel wells or any of the usual spots.I got the car home and it looked like some kind of animal shoot on all of the wiring under the hood.I fixed the wiring and actually got it running it has a very bad vacuum leak and I couldn't get it to idle.my original plan was to get it running good with the 12A,I wanted to keep it stock because it has air conditioning and it is very clean so I started fixing all of the little problems, one day I met up with a fellow forum member who gave me a box full of Nikki carbs, he showed me his turbo2 swapped fb, well that was it, the original plan went out the window. Thanks sean:nod:. Since then I've been collecting parts to do the swap, and reading everything on the forum that I could find on doing it. So Far I Welded IN A FC Fuel Pump Mounting Ring And SLOSH Cup That I made. Cleaned up and painted the engine, rebuilt the turbo , installed new 750 fuel injectors/all 4.and started on the wiring. As soon as the thread goes through, I will add more pictures.

Does anyone know what this front cover is from, it has a m22x1.5 plug.I looked everywhere, and can't seem to find out what it's from

That's a first gen front cover. It has the engine cradle mount holes on the front. That's a super clean job installing the turbo oil return line. Looks nice.

I know it's from a first Gen or older, it's a new cover, and that plug came installed. I never seen one with that plug installed

don't u love "bad influences"? i have one of those myself and that's how my build started too. good luck with your swap...mine is still a work in progress.

In the casting for the front cover there is a sealed hole there. I don't know of the purpose of the sealed hole. BUT it does make a PERFECT location to drill it out and tap it for an oil return line.

I am just going to use the OMP hole to return my oil. I'm kinda concerned about dumping HOT oil on the e-shaft, but I guess we'll see what happens. I also might put a diverter to keep the super heated oil from dumping on it, it is rather close to the front seal. The FC oil return has a diverter forcing the oil from the turbo return to the sump. Or I might do what everybody else does and drop it on the bottom of the front cover and I won't have to worry about such things. :scratch:

^^^
As you can see I have trouble making up my mind. :lol:

Looks like someone machined a nice threaded hole for your oil return line.

Thanks for the help with the cover, it has really been bothering me trying to figure out what it was from

My moog idler arm and racing beat mounting plate and solid motor mounts came today, I will be clear coating the mounting plate after work

Tonight I painted my water pump housing, installed pineapple racing cas cover, clear coated my racing beat mounting plate, and started making my turbo oil return line

Glad to see you're getting underway on this. If you need help let me know since I'm somewhat local :)

Thanks sean, I might have to take you up on that. I'm debating on swapping the sub frame also:icon_tup:

Finished making turbo oil return line, was actually really easy. Went to install it and have clearance issues, had to clock the turbo to get more clearance, did that and there's still not quite enough room to get the line on without lifting the turbo up a little bit, gonna have to grind a little off the base of the turbo, will be doing that after work

Some parts came today, I can't wait to install them

Ok, I finally got my oil return line finished, I ended up grinding down the base of the turbo and the manifold. When I went to install the m22x1.5-10an adapter into the front cover , I noticed that it was hitting the oil deflector plate for the oil pump chain. So I removed the oil pan, front pulley and noticed that the thermal pellet was stuck, I tried everything to get that damn thing out. I ended up drilling a hole in it and screwing my slide hammer into it, that got it out. When whoever owned it before did the pellet mod and installed the pulley, the washers got crushed, causing it to get stuck. After getting it out I installed the Atkins rotary thermal pellet. That's enough for one night.

Was having a problem with my phone yesterday, here's a picture of the turbo/manifold clearance issue that I solved

Ah, good to know that its not a first gen only clearance issue. I'm using the factory return line so I shouldn't have that issue. God knows I've got HELLA issues getting the carb manifold to fit under the turbo.

You said you didn't like the super heated turbo oil splashing the oil pump drive chain. I finally made my decision on how to return the oil and incorporated a diverter. I went in the OMP and taped it with a threaded pipe. In the front cover I cut the OMP shaft hole (I don't know what else to call it), and filled in the end of the hole where the gearing would meet with the timing drive gear with JB weld. This should force the oil down and towards the front Iron. As apposed to the eshaft and front cover seal.


Next time you need to pull that thermal pellet, there is a little hole in the E shaft where you can get a hook or pick in. Its right next to the oil pump drive sprocket. a little compressed air or a hook will encourage the pellet to come out.

Thanks for the tip, what kind of carb are you using, I'm thinking of putting a turbo on my 84 gs.I already have a turbo prepped weber

Nikki. I thought about Webber and other two barrel carbs, but Jeff had luck with his Nikki. Nikki was designed for the rotary. And I already had one (actually three). Seemed like the logical choice.

The only difficult part, so far, has been getting a manifold for the 13B to fit the Nikki. And getting said manifold behind the turbo.


How many 7's do you have?

I have 2, a 84 gs with a 12a half Bridgeport, and the red one in this thread, have you thought about making a spacer to move the turbo out from the manifold

:nod: One step ahead of ya.

I have a 5/8" thick flange for making a header pipe that I'm using like a spacer. I still had to trim down the edge of the cold side of the turbo to get the intake to clear. I'm using the 12A 84' intake manifold and an adaptor plate made from a 1/4" plate of steel. That extra thickness of the adaptor is somewhat of a problem, but I think I've got enough room for a little bit of heat shielding.


The cool thing about using the webber is that you can bolt the RB upper manifold to the turbo LIM. So you can use the turbo just like normal. I think you have enough room to run a hybrid turbo, but correct me if I'm wrong.


What year FC engine do you have there? Are you gonna keep the A/C?

I'm gonna try keeping the a/c from the FB

My oil return fitting is down on the front cover because I didn't want hot oil getting where Qingdao said. :) I also kept my OMP. And the oil return line I used was from an S4 with just an aluminum plate bolted on the end with a brass fitting and a short length of oil resistant 5/8" hose to connect to the fitting on the front cover. Seemed like the easiest way, and the result is far better than any AN setup I could have done. No need to clearance the turbo like you did.

My turbo spacer is 7/16" because I also used a 1/16" spacer (16 gauge sheet metal) between the engine and the manifold with a gasket on either side. This was to block off the thermal reactor ports in the old school rotor housings. This gives proper clearance but the manifold and turbo still needed to be ground down with an angle grinder. I could have probably done a 1/2" spacer but the FD studs I installed in the stock S5 manifold are only so long. Hmm, maybe in my next setup I'll use my 1/2" plate. It's only 1/16" thicker. I think there's enough stud for it.

Yes I had great success with a Nikki and a turbo. I finally solved the common secondary hiccup people complain about. It started out as a long 1.5 second delay when the secondaries would open in boost due to getting too much air froma leaking brake booster and not enough fuel to compensate, then down to a little hiccup like 1/8 to 1/4 second, then completely gone. :) If I can compensate for a leaky brake booster, then what is anyone elses excuse? The secret was in the secondary air bleeds that no one talks about for some reason. Well I just did lol. Make them small. That is all. :)

By the way Qingdao, j9fd3s and I finally figured out why 2bbl carbs and rotaries don't mix with boost. It is because there are only 2 barrels. It's as simple as that. This is why they never run all that well with boost. You are either too lean at high RPM in boost, but ok at low RPM in vacuum, or you're ok at high RPM in boost, but too rich at low RPM in vacuum. This is what PercentSevenC's blow through weber was like. You need 4bbls like a Nikki! He said if he wasn't living in Japan right now, he and I would be discussing his next build, and it would be with a boost prepped Nikki!

To kinda keep this thread on topic, I need to mention after the miserable weber blow through experience, he tried an FD long block with a MegaSquirt and it never ran right, so he's kinda done with EFI now, I guess. Or maybe he just wants to try something next that actually works.

Any pictures of your setup:icon_tup: .
When I get around to putting a turbo on my other car, I think I'm going to go with a boost prepped Nikki, and just sell the weber that I have, and the holley setup that's on it now

Here are some pics when I was test fitting turbo parts to a core engine. You can kind of see the angles of the oil return line. https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread...build-1072467/

Note the aluminum plate was slightly offset in the pics. I didn't notice until after the pictures were taken. Oh well. :) https://www.rx7club.com/attachments/...d-img_1334.jpg

Damn, I like your setup better, I guess that plug that was in my front cover was a good idea looks like I might be changing my setup, thank you jeff

Started labeling and disconnecting everything under the hood, battery is low on my phone. I will take some pictures when I get into work tomorrow:nod:

On a slightly less serious note, I started noticing rodent turds in my car, and couldn't find the culprit,.:scratch: . Lately I started noticing a dead animal smell near and in my 7. The last few days it's been getting worse, so today I removed the interior and pulled the rugs up, and found a dead mouse inside the body under the passenger side storage bin.now I have to let it air out.:bigthumb:

Today I got some more work done, I sprayed about 2 bottles of febreze in the car to get the dead mouse smell out:icon_tdow. Also I took the front bumper cover off and noticed that it was cracked, the good thing is I work at a body shop. I also took the front nose panel off to fit the oil cooler and intercooler, tomorrow I will be pulling the engine and transmission out. Also my fuel pressure gauge came today.

Some more parts came

This is what comes out of the engine compartment after sitting in someones yard Since 2002. or should I say, from the radiator forward. Disgusting:nod:

What diameter is that downpipe?


I wanted to run 2.5 all the way, but I'm having trouble finding a 2.5" downpipe. I've been told (Jeff) to use 3"s, but I'm obstinate. :lol:

That looks close to 3, but tapered down where it bolts to the rest of the exhaust.

It's 3 inch , but at the bottom flange it's a little more than 2.5 inch

I decided to take a break from pulling the engine and transmission, and am tired of seeing all of the body dust all over my car and decided to play with the buffer.
Who says that you can't polish a turd.not bad for 30 year old paint

creepy.

Had a chance to finally work on the car, got the driveshaft, and transmission unbolted.while working under the hood, I noticed that the entire engine compartment is coated in what appears to be some kind of wax.I scraped it with my fingernail , and it feels like wax. Does anyone know what this is, or has anyone seen this before. This is my third fb, and the first one that I had with this on it.:scratch:

I haven't had that on any of mine, but I've seen other ones that did. It's some kind of protective wax coating they sprayed on some back in the day. Not sure if it was some kind of dealer thing or what - it's pretty random

It's been brought up on here before and can be a real pain to remove. Guess it did it's job though, doesn't look like theres any rust there :)

Thanks for the info sean:icon_tup:.finally got the engine and transmission out. Also removed the exhaust, and all of the heat shields underneath the carand sprayed everything down with degrees er and started to scrub every thing down. After scrubbing everything, I sprayed it with more degreaser, gonna let it sit overnight. Tomorrow I will rinse everything off.then all of the real work can begin. :nod:

Going from a beehive to a FMOC... Got the coolant pipe for that or going the plug route?

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...038928fc15.jpg


Sanded the gas tank to clean it up and paint, I put down a coat of etch primer and found several pin holes, this one whole area is pitted pretty bad. Debating whether or not to patch it

Good luck with the fuel tank. A previous owner had a new one installed. I lucked out on that one. It was the ONLY half way decent thing done to it before I got it.

Looking forward to seeing more of your progress!

Thank you, you got lucky with that one.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...d8531db6a5.jpg



Notice the little white spots with the rust poking through, there was more than I thought


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...8c95b484cb.jpg


Here is a view from inside the tank, most of the rust and white residue is from when I cleaned it out with purple power


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...f54ba3c473.jpg


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...4beecd7cdb.jpg


Patch tacked in


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...2027bea134.jpg


Patch fully welded, time to grind my welds and give it the por treatment. Sorry about the bubblegum welds, my tip is messed up

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...c38167e075.jpg


Grinder all of the welds , just to be safe, I wiped panel bond around the outside of the patch, tomorrow after the panel bond is dry, I can finally do the por 15 treatment
:icon_tup:

Northern tool sells a pretty cool 18 gallon Al fuel cell for a boat. I think its baffled (a boat tank should be). $300 I might end up taking that route with my turbo car.

The SA tank I have is pretty rough but not as bad as yours was.

I was thinking of going with a fuel cell, but i really want to keep it original, one good thing is that tank was an extra one I had laying around, it just sucks that I didn't find out how bad exactly until after I Welded in the fc pump mounting ring and went to paint it:wallbash:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...87a25c8212.jpg



https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...2c384cf6ad.jpg


I also started the shifter mod, I drilled the hole 30mm shorter, and I shortened the fluid tube and welded it back together. Tomorrow I'll finish it up

:biggrin:

Yeah, sometimes you find the worst when you dig into things.

When you go to prep the tank for Kreem or POR15 use electrolysis to eat away at the rust in the tank. Its VERY difficult to remove a liner when it starts peeling off, and Acetone (a main ingredient in most fuel system cleaners) will eat the hell out of tank liners.

Fill the tank with salt water or baking soda water and charge the tank. Use some sacrificial metal (coat hangers) and put them in the tank through the fill port. The rust will be drawn to the sacrificial metal and away from the tank.

Like this....


This was a tank lining prep job I did on a 67' CD50.

That's awesome, how much current do you have to use , and how long does it take, I would like to finish it up today or tomorrow

12 volts at 1.5 amps is all I've ever done; use a trickle charger. Takes a day or so. Depends on how much rust you have, but when its done the tank will be bare ass metal. Do run your etching acid through the tank and prep it normal like. The electrolysis will leave some kind of scum behind so its gotta be washed out after, and the prep chemicals will take care of it.

Awesome, thank you:D