C160SFG - 1986 Series 3

[KiwiDave]

Very nice Ian. I would title that photo ... A Day in the Life

[ian65]

it's starting to look doubtful that this car will make the RRG this year......I've used it as a daily for the last few weeks and over the last week, it's started to smoke. At first I just caught the occasional whiff of burning oil and the odd bit of blue smoke out of the exhaust but over the last couple of days it's started to kick out quite a bit of blue smoke, particularly at idle or on the over-run.

I suppose if I leave it in my garage until the RRG, possibly it might get there and back ...... Not looking good though

[ian65]

ok, there's something pretty terminal going on here.... the car is burning loads of oil and isn't going to make the RetroRides Gathering or anywhere else in this condition.
I've spoken to Dean ( Adams dad) and also Keith and we all seem to agree that the most likely suspects for my woes are the turbo oil seals....... if not though, then it's the engine itself which will spell the end of the line for this particular engine.
Dean comp tested the engine for me and it's very low......5.4, 6.0, 5.1 on the front rotor and 5.7, 5.3, 5.2 on the rear rotor...... i always knew that it would be a short lived thrash with this engine as it had done over 90,000 miles and had then stood unused for 20 years. so to bung a turbo on it was never going to prolong its lifespan. I've put 5000 miles on it and ragged it around for most of those so it hasn't done too bad. Despite the low compression figures, it still starts on the button hot or cold and pulls really well, the low comp probably compensated for to a degree by the turbo boost.

In order to find out if it's the turbo seals or the engine, Keith has kindly lent me a spare turbo off his Elford setup which I'm going to swap for mine to see if it cures the burning oil issue.... if it does, I can run this turbo to the RRG whilst I rebuild my own.

I've hit a bit of a snag though.... I've bought some T3 gaskets and new silicone couplers to do the swap....



but I'm really struggling to find one of these outlet/downpipe gaskets in the UK in this size...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Turbo-Gasket- ... 5421653bde

surely there must be somehwere in the UK that can supply this pretty quickly.... has anyone got any suppliers or contacts and can point me in the right direction please?

.

[TOOL]

www.turborebuild.co.uk are supposed to be good and have the right bits to rebuild FCs.

Worth a call.

[ian65]

thanks Tool, I'll give them a shout tomorrow.
Took the turbo off this afternoon...



in addition to burning oil, I was also hearing a chattering noise under heavy boost which I thought might have been the compressor wheel rubbing on the compressor housing..... examination of the turbo shows this to be the case..... the play in the turbo is immense.....

cold side...



and hot side...



so it's looking like it's the turbo oil seals that have gone which isn't such a disaster as the engine letting go.

.

[myatt1972]

Bloody hell thats some serious play Don't do that to mine

[ian65]

made a bit of progress tonight regarding this turbo swap.... I've had a bit of a struggle over the last few nights trying to get my old turbo off..... 30+ years of heat cyles have basically welded the nuts to the studs holding the turbo to the manifold.... I ended up snapping one and having to cut another one off..... managed to get the one broken stud out but the other wouldn't budge...



I was worried about cracking the manifold if I put too much pressure on it but in the end I ground some flats onto the broken stud, gripped it in the vice, got some heat on it and twisted the manifold... fortunately the stud eventually let go and I managed to wind it out.

Put some new studs in, gave the manifold and turbo a light dusting of VHT paint and installed the turbo onto the manifold...





a bit of exhaust paste...



and the turbo and manifold are fitted to the engine...



Carb and connections tomorrow evening and then we'll see if my turbo was the problem or the engine...... give the amount of play in my turbo, my money is on the turbo seals

[kenwhiteside]

Hi Ian,

I got a turbo outlet gasket from www.Himni-Racing.com while not local it arrived in about a week.

(x1) T3 GT 4 Bolt Exhaust Downpipe Discharge Gasket - 2.50": $9.25
(Model: HRGA012)

They will sent usps for cheap if you ask, shipping on the website is expensive.

That play looks much more than just seals to me... I had my turbo rebuilt by www.turbodynamics.co.uk they did a good job an turned it around quickly. Cant comment on durability as havent run the car yet but it looks good and they have good reviews!

Tim

[kenwhiteside]

Oh and forgot to mention I struggled to find any suppliers of replacement turbines or compressor wheels so if they are poked you will need to have the unit machined out for a larger set.

[ian65]

finished installing Keiths turbo onto my car tonight...



took it for a test drive for a few miles and behold..............no more smoke

a pic of it running....



and a video...



so my smoking engine problem is diagnosed.... it was the turbo seals...... time for a turbo rebuild but the good news is that this car can now go to the RRG before I return Keiths turbo to him......... happy days


.