Promoting the Half-Bridgeport Turbo Setup
 

I've posted this thread on the NoPistons forum as well earlier this afternoon.

Cut/pasted from there:
My buddy Eric Ramirez and I shot some video on his digital camera last night for awhile. It'd been a long, long time since I had any running video of my car (well over 2 years) so I got a wild hair up my rear to go take some. The videos turned into a "let's prove to the world that half-bridgeported turbo setups actually work" since there's hardly any video of them out there as of yet. All we did was drive around for about 2hrs filming and taking pictures here and there. I believe we took about 5 minutes of video from several different types of perspectives: Outside, idling, at a streetlight, starting, low-end driving, etc. Even though the lighting sucks (probably the camera used, plus it was 10pm at night), these videos clearly prove that this is an efficacious and worthwhile setup as some of us have been saying for months.

The engine in my car is a Series 5 block w/ series 4 rotors (the originals in my 424hp motor from nearly 5 years ago), milled to 3mm using Rotary Aviation seals, solid corner seals, series 4 front counterweight, and Series 4 Racing Beat 17lb steel flywheel. To add insult to injury, the clutch I'm using is an ACT 6-puck UNSPRUNG disc w/ heavy pressure plate and new-ish hydraulics. Supposedly not streetable with both the BP and harsh clutch, right?

These videos have been modified from their originals to add more lighting, better vocal sound, higher quality, as well as smaller size. Comments and criticism always welcome. Right-click and Save As to download. Enjoy.

http://slammedblk7.cyberosity.com/bdc

Check out the smaller videos entitled "Video_x.wmv" and download them over the ones listed as "Picture x.mpg".

B

Linky no workie for me as of now. Possibly to many people? possibly something else?

Might be. Try this link: http://slammedblk7.cyberosity.com/bdc See if you get anything.

B

"Say it's hard to start a bridge port up ?"

:)

I have to give ya bump. I've ridden in a half bridged car with a GT40 and with a 60-1 and with both setups the car ran great. I never saw a problem with low end, or not being able to use the power band. From what I've seen of Brian's work it's incredible. Good job, and keep up the great work, the rotary communitty owes you a big thanks.

- Steiner

Well thank you Steiner ;)

B

Nice demo. Thank you.

So what was actually the upside? You proved the doubters wrong, except for reliability which nobody knows yet. What are your numbers over a street port with what set-up?

Thanks
CW

I have ridden in the same car as Steiner. I know that I'll be talking to BDC when it comes time to rebuild my TII. And from what I heard about BDC's visit to SC, it couldn't have gone any better than it did. You're tha man BDC!!

Zach

Nice, im going half bridge with my rebuild. What standlaone do you run?

I use a Haltech E6K with 720 primaries and 1680 secondaries. For now, I'm using the Supra Mk4 pump but plan on changing that around sometime. I'm not sure yet how I'll reconstruct the fuel system.

B

brian,

i suggest you take a careful look at the kenne bell boost a pump... it should solve any fuel delivery challenges w your pump. visit kenne bell's excellent site... lots of engineering.

regards,

howard coleman

next time get on dat shit! I wanna hear a half bridge scream! haha

sounds good B

yes I have spent many a weekend at BDC's house last year. He's Very knowledgable and does Immaculate Work. I was impressed to say the least.

And the HBP T66 car i rode in was absolutely insane.

The benefits of a half bridge over a streetport for the most part is power. The half bridge allows a considerably larger amount of air to enter the combustion chamber. Depending on the type of porting you get this will also effect when the air first enters the chamber and when the chamber is completely closed. The most common problems that people complain about is idle, low end power, and reliability. The 1/2 bridge car that I've ridden in had an idle around 1100 to 1300 but usually stayed around 11. This is not bad at all, it is easy to get the car rolling. As far as low end power loss, there is a loss but the mid to top end power that you gain is overpowering. With a 1/2 bridge you can also upgrade to a larger turbo than you could run effectively with a streetport. This increases the mid range and top end power incredibly. The other common problem is starting, because you have such a higher amount of airflow, people "complain" about it being hard to start. As evident in Brian's video this is obviously not a problem he is experiencing. In the car that I've ridden in as well it wasn't a problem. Unless you are running 100 % injector duty cycle at idle and start up, you really shouldn't have problem. A lot of how it is going to run is in the tunning, which goes the same for a streetport. With halfassed tuning no car is going to run well, or develop the power that it is capable of. So there is no difference between streetports and 1/2 bridgeports as far as that goes. You either pay to get it tuned well or you live with a half assed tune. Brian will definately be getting my business whenever I get around to getting my car running again.

- Steiner

Im going to run a walboro, on my car. 680 primary, 1000 secondaries. However the standalones up in the air soon, hows the Haltech work? any bugs?

I've heard good and bad about the Haltech. Personally I never had any problems with mine, it worked fine for me. Some people have had problems, I don't know specifics off the top of my head.

- Steiner

What sort of hp is it putting out?

Sounds great by the way.

BDC....where'd ya go?

I'm still right here.

What's up?

B

My main experience in Haltech products is their E6K/E6X line. I have installed one E11v2, and I *really* liked it, bu t the same ECU in question wound up blowing some sort of protective internal circuit or something. I'm not sure if it's related to the heat problem some of them have been having a bit but who knows. I vote for using an E6K or E6X as they're time tested and proven.

B

That'll work just fine for a mid-sized T4 setup like a TO4E 57 or 60 trim.

B

ehh....I'm gonna be running an Eaton M-90...in a half bridge, its a lot of custom work, but i can't land a turbo engine for the life of me, so im re-designing the intake manifolds and all to fit the supercharger after the throttle body

Same here, mine was an E6X, but with a friend's new purchase hopefully I'll be able to see what a higher Haltech can do. I have heard of the E11's having overheating problems. I'm surprised Haltech hasn't done anything about it yet. But I have also heard good things about microtech and wolf, I just haven't had a chance to actually work on one, so don't really have a basis of comparison.

- Steiner

It sounds good. And ya i think bridge port are completely streetable. I had a half bridge, non turbo in my rotary truck, and i towed huge trailers and everything with it. I towed a double axle car hauler with a 4k pound volvo on it.

My T2 swapped 81 fb runs a light flywheel with an unsprung 4 puck disk and a race pressure plate, no issues there. as long as your not in bumper to bumper stop and go for more than an hour that works fine too. I was a little dissapointed, i wanted to here youi rip it through a couple gears! How much power? and what turbo?

CJG

Here is a clip of my BDC halfbridge.
Sorry for the size! I hear bigger is better?
http://www.idahorotary.com/bridgeport.mpg

Good Lord, Bruce.. 60mb mpg???? I'm downloading it now. I hope it's cool. :)

I'm still not sold on big, huge bridgeports. I think what you've got now works pretty well, but if you want to try a larger spec, let me know.

B

I agree, half bridge is the best for street use

By the way, I couldn't get the video clip to work.

B

Are you running Divx?

Took some better videos today. Give them a look, guys. Should be much brighter and easier to see.

http://bdc.cyberosity.com/videos/BrianDCain/Oct102004/

B

No sound. Which codec are you using?

How much would it cost to put together a complete motor like yours? The sound is amazing, throttle response looks sick, and you seem to have a great reputation on here. I'm looking for the motor itself, normally I guess you'd call it the shortblock?

I used Divx, worked fine

Which version?

Why do you keep dodging the how much hp question and just answer the ones that suit you? If you haven't had it on a dyno just say I haven't had it on a dyno.

I am just curious as I have a full bridge turbo set up and wonder why you didn't go that way.

I'm not dodging a thing. I haven't had mine on a dyno. I have to parts of the powerplant I still need setup.

B

Just a question for thought: How does a half-bridge compare to a semi pp in terms of power, reliability, powerband, and streetability? I am considering doing one of them when I rebuild my motor, but not sure which one yet.

Thanks,
Aaron

Smaller version. 6 MB.
http://www.idahorotary.com/bridgeport.wmv

thanks man

I have not drive a semi pp car, but I have a half bridge car and it is very addictive. I am currently running a very small single turbo, just a TO4E 50 trim, but it has a great powerband and the sound of it is just pure sex. Prepare to spend lots of timing tuning it, that's a given, but it's so worth it in the end.

half bridge idle
 

I recently rebuild my fd engine with new apex seals and new spring and a half bridge....the car was very hard to start and when it does start it idles at 3000+ rpm....if u drop the idle it will die and would be very hard to start back...i am running a pfc ecu...I drove it a few times like this but if I put some more miles on the engine would the idle level off with out cutting off? is this situation normal?

That does not sounds normal. You should start a new thread for your issue. This one is 10 years old.

You have low compression, nothing related to the port. The idle is also a huge vacuum leak, or poorly adjusted throttle. Once again, nothing related to your port.

Thanks...i guess i just have to put some more miles on it....

I would check the compression. You did face the small piece of the apex seals away from the bridge in the rear housing right?