CIH Turbo EFI by RallyBob

[RallyBob]

Well, I got the shortblock parts back from the machine shop today. The block got decked, honed, and washed. The crank was polished and washed, and the oil pan and timing cover got washed in the hot tank as well. The head is still awaiting new valves, which should arrive later this week or early next week. Once I have those, hopefully the head can be completed within a week or so.

I decided to make a custom engine stand that mounts the engine transversely by the engine mount holes rather than the normal front-to-rear mounting by the rear flange of the block. I could've just modified an existing stand, but decided to make one from scratch that was more compact, stable, and had polyurethane casters that will roll over debris more easily.

Bob

[GoinManta]

THe nly guy I know that can take the time to make a engine stand, and then have it look like a work of art. How much for one I want to just have it to admire...

If only I had the money and your time like Greg does.. lucky bastard

Charles

[samdog]

Hey Charles, you are right, I am a lucky bastard..... But more to the point this is not just a car, it is a piece of history in the making. I'm quite serious about this car making history....the amount of detail, thought, engineering and technology is incredible. I have been following this project very closely and I am truly amazed. This car will give credibility to opels in general.This Bob machine will handle beyond limits know to only a few, stop as if you hit a wall, and excellerate comparable to cars with a 9 to 1 horsepower to weight ratios{and I'm being conservative}. Put all this together and you get a car that can easily be driven around town or in traffic,,,,then the mad machine can be let loose and scare the crap out of you. All in all the amount of detail Mr Leger put in truly makes this one a piece of art. I know that I am paying for this but I consider it an honor to be the recipient of this piece of modern day art...Once again Thanks Bob

[GoinManta]

Yea yea.. but your taking all his damn time so he can't do any work for the rest of us poor bastards

[RallyBob]

Why do I get the feeling I won't get a chance to work on any of my own projects this summer???

[azopelnut]

Hey Bob are you going to Tacoma or the OMC Picnic this summer. It would be great to hear more about this "Opel for the Ages"... your work is unbelievable!

[GTJIM]

Originally Posted by RallyBob Why do I get the feeling I won't get a chance to work on any of my own projects this summer???

You had the perfect opourtunity, Bob - "The Doctor won't let me use my damaged had for three months" Then go do your own projects for a while!

This is written by someone who has just returned to work after surgery and FIVE WEEKS of recuprerating and being unable to get on with his own projects due to bruising the surgery site by hummping an Opel cylinder block around in the first week of "rest"

All OK now but work is taking up much of my time again too!

BTW: How's the hand?

[samdog]

Well Charles, maybe down the road a year or two you might get the chance to participate in a history making project.....but a word... start saving your $$$$$ now because having a custom car built isn't cheap..... And Mr Rally Bob, the red wagon will be right behind the turbo rocket

[RallyBob]

So many questions....

Jim, the hand is better, but not nearly up to full strength yet. Still can't bend the finger I cut fully yet, too much scar tissue. The crushed finger has some numbness at the end still, and the fingernail is looking pretty horrid these days. But no more pain anyway.

Paul, no plans to attend any shows this year, my only concrete plans are to attend next year's OMC meet.

Gregg, I get the feeling that the next project car will be the GT-4 Manta. Which happens to be your car too ironically....
Then of course the ITB car, the GT land speed racer, the red wagon, my Dad's turbo GT, the brown Ascona, my trailers, my tow rig, etc, etc.

Guess I won't be making any plans for the next decade.

[GoinManta]

I think everyone is planning on next years Opel Meet.. hmm.. no movement recently on the OMC Caravan post..

[GoinManta]

Originally Posted by RallyBob So many questions.... Jim, the hand is better, but not nearly up to full strength yet. Still can't bend the finger I cut fully yet, too much scar tissue. The crushed finger has some numbness at the end still, and the fingernail is looking pretty horrid these days. But no more pain anyway. Paul, no plans to attend any shows this year, my only concrete plans are to attend next year's OMC meet. Gregg, I get the feeling that the next project car will be the GT-4 Manta. Which happens to be your car too ironically.... Then of course the ITB car, the GT land speed racer, the red wagon, my Dad's turbo GT, the brown Ascona, my trailers, my tow rig, etc, etc. Guess I won't be making any plans for the next decade.

Apparently Greg, when I am old and Gray, I might get some of the masters time. But of course then he will be old and gray and tired of working on anything... Who knows maybe I will get lucky and he will still have a right hand to do some work with.

First thing is I need to get the cash to compete with your pocket book... Hmm.. MegaMillions up to 177 Million on Saturday...

[Washout]

Well, It sounds like we've all had a run of bad luck, I too have been recovering from a ruptured disk in my neck which required fusion. I've been off for nearly three months. With luck I'll be back to work next week.
My wife has watched me like a hawk during the recover phase to make sure I didn't break the recovery rules. Still I did manage to spend a little time tinkering on the GT. I rebult the steering column and power coated it, sealed up a leak under the distributer, built a set of Bob's shackles and installed them, rebuilt the windshield washer pump, just little stuff but it kept me sane while recovering.

Bob, I'm really enjoying this thread, I'm dying to figure out how to put fuel injection and a turbo on the GT and still keep the stock hood. I have to echo the others here as workmanship of the level you are at is rare indeed!

[opelwasp]

would it be possible to cut and shorten the runners for the 75 FI to clear the gt hood?

[Gary]

Made a slight change to the thread title.

[GTJIM]

Originally Posted by opelwasp would it be possible to cut and shorten the runners for the 75 FI to clear the gt hood?

The 1975 runners are OK and will fit as will the 2.0 litre ones. It is the FI from the later 2.2 and 2.4 motors which are the problem when attached to the 2.2 or 2.4 head as those heads have inlet ports positioned higher up on the cylinder head thus lifting the FI runners too high. It is basically a cylinder head problem rather than a runner problem.

[RallyBob]

The 2.2 head/EFI intake will fit under the hood of a GT, but the 2.4 EFI intake is substantially larger and won't fit.

Bob

[opelwasp]

let me clarify, ive always been told that the 75 FI intake manifold would not fit under the stock hood of a GT(too tall), using a 1.9L block and head. can say, 2" be cutout of the middle of the runners and rewelded together to shorten them, thereby lowering the overall height of the FI manifold.

[oldopelguy]

Whoever told you that was incorrect. The EFI manifold will fit in the GT and not hit the hood. It will, however, hit the firewall and the cold-start injector will be a reall PITA to work on, both of which are relativly small problems that can be worked around.

[RallyBob]

Got a bright 'Opel yellow' coat of paint on my custom engine stand, and bolted the block to it. The block was decked and honed, then hot-tanked. The hot-tanking is a crude washing method for getting the majority of stuff off, but for final assembly I'll be wire-wheeling the outside completely for better paint adhesion, then scrubbing the block down with hot water and dishwasher detergent. Solvents merely dissolve oils and spread them around without really touching dirt at all, while hot water and detergent floats the oils and dirt from the pores of the cast iron. I have a bunch of rifle brushes for cleaning all the gallerys, and a soft bristled brush for the bores. After cleaning it's rinsed off with a hose, and then quickly air dried. The bores rust quickly enough however, and a quick spray with WD-40 will slow that process. Once everything else is dried 100%, clean lint-free white rags are used with ATF to wipe the bores down, and remove all final traces of dirt. It takes about a dozen rags to get all the honing particulate out of the crosshatching in the cylinders with the ATF. There should eventually only be a reddish-pink color to the rags from the ATF, and absolutely no grey or black dirt on the rags. Yea, I know, boring stuff.....

[nobody]

No not boring at all, that is the kind of things I look for on this site. By the way I like the stand, I've always hated not being able to get to the flywheel end with mine, that's one of the reasons I seldom use it. Next time I see it I'll probably be making a copy of yours, opel motors are all it's around for anyway.

[RallyBob]

Also tinkered with the oil pan a bit, mostly clean-up work. There was a ton of old flaking paint still left on it, and some cork gasket on the rails, so I used a wire wheel to remove all of that stuff. Once it was clean, it became apparent that there were a lot of dents, so I hammered them all out, and decided to add an extra skin to the bottom of the pan for a bit of reinforcement. I still need to weld in a couple of oil pan baffles, and the steel tubes for the turbo oil drain and for the custom oil vapor recovery system I built. Finally it'll get a coat of POR-15 for rust protection, then a layer of POR-15 gloss black topcoat.

[RallyBob]

Finally got the valves from Manley for the head on this turbo project engine. I've already dropped them off at the machine shop with the hopes they'll be able to finish the head in the next week or so.

For reference, I'm using 1.85" intake valves (cut down from 1.94" valves), and 1.5" exhaust valves. Note the undercut stem area, both for greater airflow at low valve lift and for less weight.

Part numbers for you 'do-it-yourselfers' out there....

[RallyBob]

Just another part number for those of you collecting parts/bits to build their own turbo system. I like NGK plugs for any performance Opel engine, I've had great luck with them (can't say the same thing for all brands).

Worth noting is that NGK runs their heat ranges in the opposite direction of Bosch, so you want to be careful choosing your plugs!

I'm running one heat range colder than stock for this turbo engine. No problem lighting off colder plugs with the Compufire ignition however....
You won't want to run stock heat range plugs with any turbo engine producing much over 6-8 psi boost, or you're asking for trouble.

Bob

[namba209]

I'm curious Bob, did you or the machinist mark the valve stems before cutting them down at the valve seated position at the valve guide or were they marked at the fully open position at the valve guide? I understand there would be more sealing/bearing area at the valve closed position, but better flow at the valve open position. Just a curious mind at work here.

Ron

[GTJIM]

Having the relief extend up into the guide a short distance. about the diameter of the guide bore in length, not only helps a wee bit when the intake valve is off the seat but a short ring of carbon forms on the exhaust valve which "wears" to form a seal and heat dam inside the end of the guide.
A similar effect can be obtained with unrelieved valves simply by counter-boring the exhaust guides. The sealing ring is known as a "carbon breaker"
in the old British motorcycle circles and was once quite popular to reduce the amount of oil that migrated down exhaust guides - especially ali-bronze guides which need lubrication.