fiestaturbo.com

[jimmyesh]

wow, this is gonna be momumental !
plan to do any track days etc ?

Yeah, will do once I've run it in and it's proved its reliability on the road first.

i forgive you mate

will it be at any shows this year???

so i cann droooll over it

Ha yeah hopefully mate - I've been saying that since 2008! Aiming for Ford Fair in Aug - can't see any reason why not (except catastrophic mechanical failure! )

[jonboisescort]

with your attention to detail

i doubt you will have any problems

[Ruishy1]

would like to see what the extra torque is like compared to the equivalent ZT

[allinking]

would like to see what the extra torque is like compared to the equivalent ZT

Dont think i've seen a 2.3ZT but looking forward to seeing the power curve on this car

[jimmyesh]

IT RUNS!!!!!


After the progress made at the weekend, I thought it would be a crying shame not to chuck some oil in it and just see if it starts...

I must admit my heart was beating faster than normal when the ignition was turned on and my finger pressed the "engine start" switch, especially as the guys from work were all watching, no pressure then

It started up as if it had just been parked up for 5 minutes, literally one tiny push on the button and it was burning & turning. Doesn't sound like anything earth-shattering until you take a step back and consider the following;

1. The Engine is a Ford/Mazda Duratec.
2. The ECU is a Ford Focus RS (basically ZETEC 2.0 Turbo).
3. The Coil-on-plug idea was just a "hit and hope" but works amazingly well driven from the Ford ECU.
4. I haven't even set the fuel pressure yet.
5. It uses a Fiesta RS Turbo ISCV and still idles like a new car on this ECU.
6. It has Siemens "Deka" 630CC injectors.
7. This is the first engine I've ever built from scratch.

I still have to fill the coolant up and tighten the turbo exhaust-flange up properly, and it's smoking a bit when the throttle is blipped (I'm hoping that this is due to all the oil that I poured into the cylinders to keep it lubed while it's been sat ). I've only started it up twice today and only ran it for about 20-30 seconds each time, so it will probably burn cleaner once it's settled in...

The Focus RS Clocks look to be doing their stuff too - the rev-counter is working fine as are the battery, oil pressure lamps etc. Just the speedo and boost gauge left to check once it's mobile!

Happy days, I will video it tomorrow and post the vid in the evening about 6-ish...

[Minstral]

great news can't wait to see the vids of this beast

[allinking]

Well done mate looking forward to the vid

[Ratspeed]

Awesome news mate! I bet your fudgekin bouncing!

[Excursion]

Awesome! Great work

[jonboisescort]

well done mate

bet your well chuffed

[Turboboy67]

Excellant news Jim, bet your well chuffed

[Ruishy1]

awesome news mate, looking forward to the vid

[jimmyesh]

Cheers for the kind words guys

Still got a lot of work in front of me but will get some done this week. I'm fitting the driveshafts on Wednesday, bleeding the clutch & brakes this week too so hopefully it might even move at some point!

I'm glad that at last, it's moving away from being an "ornament on wheels" and is morphing into a useable, fast car.

It wasn't as loud as a I thought it would be either - there's a bit of noise where the turbo-flange is still not fully tightened but from the back there's just a nice, deep and purposeful burble from the FRST Mongoose The engine itself sounds really nice, no rattles or knocks, just really smooth & civilised.

Anyway, I'll stop waffling - vid up tomorrow!

[jayrs]

great news mate
i would of thought the smoke was oil in the bores etc.
mine smoked a little after i rebuilt ot, and it was just burning off the "new-ness" as i say, all the lube used while putting the engine together, so im sure yours will clear in no time.
20-30 seconds of running wouldnt be enough but after a few mins it would be ok i reckon.
look forward to the vid

will you be at fordfair with it? its hit and miss if i will attend this year, but if your cars gunna be there, that could well swing it for me mate, i wanna see this beast in the flesh

[Capri]

Bloody incredible news mate, FANTASTIC stuff! So glad to hear it's going after all your trials and tribulations with it! Good luck with the rest of the work

[moondustka]

Wow.. Truely amazing conversion. Congrats for the first run

[jimmyesh]

Here you go, as promised - two vids

First one is the best - hope they work





Had a few dramas since getting it running, nothing unexpected though Got an oil-leak on the bottom of the cam-chain cover (no big deal as I've got to take that off when I re-torque the head studs), got a small coolant-leak on the turbo coolant pipe.

As you can hear in the vid, the starter motor "stutters" a bit instead of just one continual turn - I think it might be either a slightly low battery or a suspect earth

The biggest worry is that it still seems to be smoking a bit - I've got a good idea that it's the turbo, as I saw some black drops getting spat out of the gap where the flange wasn't fully bolted home to the exhaust.. I'm hoping it's the turbo as if it's the engine, it's going to set me back a LONG way!

More work going on tomorrow evening - glass is half-full as they say, it runs and it runs well - That alone makes me extremely happy, despite any new problems that arise!

[Ruishy1]

marry me

[jayrs]

nice to see and hear it reunning mate, sounds like a normal frst too from what i hear this end, which would be good for un suspecting people,
them few leaks dont sound too bad, as you say it was expected, theres always something not 100%.
see what you mean about the smoke, its a bit more than i expected to see, but it looks white/grey in the video, if thats the case it more than likly is the turbo.
i forget now, was it new or used?

[jimmyesh]

nice to see and hear it reunning mate, sounds like a normal frst too from what i hear this end, which would be good for un suspecting people,
them few leaks dont sound too bad, as you say it was expected, theres always something not 100%.
see what you mean about the smoke, its a bit more than i expected to see, but it looks white/grey in the video, if thats the case it more than likly is the turbo.
i forget now, was it new or used?

Yeah the sound quality isn't up to much I'm afraid - it sounds a lot deeper and less tinny in real life.

I bought the turbo 2nd-hand on ebay about 18 months ago so it is a bit of an unknown quantity It had no play in the shaft etc but that's not to say the seals aren't shot...

There's no smoke or fumes coming out of the breathers so hopepfully it's not the engine... It did take a bit of coolant today so I'm hoping it's not the head-gasket If it is the head gasket I'm going to revert back to normal stretch-bolts as getting all the covers off and removing the cams just to re-torque the ARP studs is a real ball-ache!

The smoke in the vid near the turbo is where the flange wasn't fully tightened.

marry me

[allinking]

Looking good hows the keys working now did you file em down abit or are they still a pain

[jimmyesh]

Looking good hows the keys working now did you file em down abit or are they still a pain

That's the weird thing - the key that I left alone has gradually become just as easy to use in both the door locks and ignition barrell as my 18 yr-old original key - The one I did try to "finish" to make it less notchy in the locks is still just as difficult to use - It'll do as a spare though

What do you think of the smoke - turbo or engine?

[FRSJON]

well done jimmy great to see it and hear it running. my moneys on the turbo

[allinking]

Looking good hows the keys working now did you file em down abit or are they still a pain

That's the weird thing - the key that I left alone has gradually become just as easy to use in both the door locks and ignition barrell as my 18 yr-old original key - The one I did try to "finish" to make it less notchy in the locks is still just as difficult to use - It'll do as a spare though

What do you think of the smoke - turbo or engine?

Hard to tell but did you prime the turbo before it ran etc. I know the seals can perish just sitting dry as my first turbo did (sat for 3 years before I fitted and who knows how long before I bought it). I guess a way to tell would be to unbolt the turbo and see it the engine it self chucks out the smoke

[jimmyesh]

What do you think of the smoke - turbo or engine?

Hard to tell but did you prime the turbo before it ran etc. I know the seals can perish just sitting dry as my first turbo did (sat for 3 years before I fitted and who knows how long before I bought it). I guess a way to tell would be to unbolt the turbo and see it the engine it self chucks out the smoke

Fair one mate - could I not just disconnect the turbo oil-feed and put a 1/8 npt blanking-plug in the take-off, that would surely show if it was the turbo or engine? The only danger is the possibility of wrecking the turbo by running it dry of oil - running the engine at idle, off- load for a few seconds would be ok wouldn't it

[Ruishy1]

definately not ok mate, the bearings would be destroyed in seconds, as allinking said, take off the boost pipe and see if it still smokes

[jimmyesh]

definately not ok mate, the bearings would be destroyed in seconds, as allinking said, take off the boost pipe and see if it still smokes

Thought so mate I'll disconnect the boost pipe and try that tomorrow, although oil leaking into the exhaust housing would still cause smoke anyway wouldn't it?

[allinking]

definately not ok mate, the bearings would be destroyed in seconds, as allinking said, take off the boost pipe and see if it still smokes

Thought so mate I'll disconnect the boost pipe and try that tomorrow, although oil leaking into the exhaust housing would still cause smoke anyway wouldn't it?

I actually meant unbolting the turbo from the manifold if its wet with oil engine side then summin engine wise if its wet exhaust side of turbo then its turbo but depends if its easy to do as looked like not a lot of room in there

[jimmyesh]

I actually meant unbolting the turbo from the manifold if its wet with oil engine side then summin engine wise if its wet exhaust side of turbo then its turbo but depends if its easy to do as looked like not a lot of room in there

Yeah it's a bit tight in there! Ah well, needs must

[dangerousdave]

id say turbo, id prob of took the oil feed off too to check if it smokes lol but it does spool pretty quickl and may doi damage?? great porogres tho buddy, you taking it to FITP 2010?

[jonyb4]

fudgekin awsome its running mate, all that work and now your seeing evidence of it paying off

your bound to get teething problems mate, they'll work themselfs out

[fiend]

Are you sure the smoke is not condensation in the exhaust? As the car has been sitting for a long time.

[jayrs]

thats a fair point made above, but if it was condensation it would disperse to nothing not long after leaving the exhaut.
if the smoke smells oily then my money too is on the turbo.

you could do a compression test with all the plugs out to test the head gasket seal, but like jon, my money would be on the turbo, more as its unknown.

i would take charge pipes off and check for oil, as well as the down pipe, even the turbo exhauts elbow/exhaust housing and check for signs of oil, if there all bone dry then it could point to something else.

im guessing you got some high oil pressure? when i replaced the big ends in ym engine as a quick fix for a couple weeks, the oil pressure went up and the turbo started smoking near on right away, yet before it didnt smoke.
also, i had it puff out a cloud of whitey grey smoke once when i pulled the breather pot off while it was running, put it back on and within a min the smoke had stopped, never done it again after that even when i pulled the breather pot off
usless info for you i know as you have a different set up, but it might be worth checking your breather system over, prob wont find anything but you can rule it out of any poss problem

[jimmyesh]

thats a fair point made above, but if it was condensation it would disperse to nothing not long after leaving the exhaut.
if the smoke smells oily then my money too is on the turbo.

you could do a compression test with all the plugs out to test the head gasket seal, but like jon, my money would be on the turbo, more as its unknown.

i would take charge pipes off and check for oil, as well as the down pipe, even the turbo exhauts elbow/exhaust housing and check for signs of oil, if there all bone dry then it could point to something else.

im guessing you got some high oil pressure? when i replaced the big ends in ym engine as a quick fix for a couple weeks, the oil pressure went up and the turbo started smoking near on right away, yet before it didnt smoke.
also, i had it puff out a cloud of whitey grey smoke once when i pulled the breather pot off while it was running, put it back on and within a min the smoke had stopped, never done it again after that even when i pulled the breather pot off
usless info for you i know as you have a different set up, but it might be worth checking your breather system over, prob wont find anything but you can rule it out of any poss problem

Yeah the smoke smells oily mate and some black spots of oil were spat out from the gap between the turbo flange & downpipe when it wasn't fully tightened.
I'm not really running any breather setup yet so to speak - the standard PCV is mounted on the block (just like the Zetec ones) and the cam-cover breather is just venting to atmosphere right now as I've not got around to buying a breather/catch tank yet. There's no fuming or oil coming out of any of the breather outlets.

The big-end bearings are all brand-new and the engine had very low miles even before they were fitted, so I'd imagine it does have nice, high oil-pressure. I have read somewhere that it's a good idea to fit a pressure-limiting fitting in the oil-feed pipe to the turbo as the main oil-gallery pressure can be too high for most turbos - have you ever heard anything similar?

How much is the going rate to have a new set of oil seals fitted to a GT28 these days, or is it within the realms of DIY for a spanner-monkey like me? It didn't have any play in the shaft when I checked it before fitting and looked in very good condition (although the seller did state in his listing that he was upgrading to something for over 400BHP - so he might have wrung this one's neck first! )

I will get a compression tester and give it a once-over soon. Can't start it right now as the Focus throttle cable got burnt on the exhaust manifold and ended up sticking (luckily I pulled the Ign key out instantly as soon as I felt the pedal stick so no damage done! ) - there's why I need to pull my finger out and get the bulkhead area components all heatproofed and/or safely fastened away from the manifold/turbo and obviously get some heat-wrap on the manifold too.

Need to get another throttle cable from the scrappy ASAP

[jayrs]

nasty about the cable, lucky it didnt happen when driving

ive heard oil pressure can be too high for some turbos, ive never asked or been told it it effects all turbos, nor have i been told or asked about a pressure regulator for the turbo, i have been told fitting a pre filter can lower the pressure a little, but tbh i think thats bull$hit seeing as its justa single layer of fine mesh in there, but i cant prove that right or wrong.

wouldnt like to say on a price to have a GT28 rebuilt, i wouldnt waste your time doing it your self though, its poss, ive stripped and rebuilt a few turbos, mainly T2's, but the T2 is a pain and not many companies like them as they can still cause probs even after rebuilding (you get what ya pay for you know)
the main problem with stipping and rebuilding is the balancing of the shaft and compressor wheel, you can, if not done already, is mark the nut, wheel and shaft on the cold side and stip it and line it all back up when rebuilt, it should basicly be balanced again, if you had a engineers table and some knife edges you could balance it yourself, but thats precession engineering stuff and im guessing you wont have it or have access to it.
mind you even if you did, to be honest mate, its still not worth it, you could rebuild it and find its worse, dont last long, and had cost you a rebuild kit for jack.

some companies will inspect your turbo and give you a report as to whats up with it, if anything, and give you a rough idea of how it failed, that dont apply to you as it was used, but its worth ringing around, but you get what ya pay for, and, not saying you will, considering the project you have done, and done so well, it would be wrong to skimp on the turbo should you need it repaired.

as for the smoke, for it to smell oily, and you have black oil spots spitting out, then it does indeed sound like the turbo has $hit it self.
i would remove it and take the exhaust housing off and have a look, but i reckon its gone mate

thinking about it, if you contact turbo technics and talk to them about the engine spec etc, they could well recommend a hybride that would suit your engine better than what you have, dunno if thats a option or not for you, but worth bearing in mind though


http://turbotechnics.com/index.htm