1992 Rover Coupe D16Z6 turbo project - finally running!

[jimbo200sx]

Now at some time earlier, the engine builder told me a story about how he'd built the head up, then looked in my box of bits and saw the springs and retainers. He told me he had to take it apart and build it again... He said all done now, just waiting for the bottom end to come back from machine shop.

Then about a month before I receive the engine, he posts this picture on his instagram



... and what's that at the top? oh yeah, my springs and retainers still wrapped up in their packaging.


He posted a couple more of the block also






He also took a pic of the honing. When I took it apart, I also took a pic, so here's a before and after:

[jimbo200sx]

At least it was getting close to me getting my engine back, so I picked up a cheap daily and commenced the strip down



I borrowed an engine crane from work. Turned out it was missing something important. Can you guess what it was?



Wheels off and hubnuts cracked. Fluids all drained too.



I enlisted the help of a couple of friends, one of who worked in a breakers yard for a good few years. We (he) whipped of all the plugs and hoses in no time. I unbolted the downpipe. The rad came out. A bit of research told me to lift the engine out angled down toward the gearbox end. We figured it'd be easier to drop the gearbox off first though. We screwed some spare castors to a sheet of ply i had out the back, and...

[jimbo200sx]

I realised there were still a few things left to do before I could fit the new engine.

I ordered a Tegiwa double core aluminium rad with fan. I started sizing up for the new radiator mounting points





Then I started reading up on engine mounts. As a dual purpose daily drive & track day car, I thought the poly ones would be a bit too much. Then I started to read about filling engine mounts with Poly. I got into it and found out about shore ratings of sealants. Turns out, the best stuff we can get in this country in a silicone gun tube has a shore rating of 70. The best stuff to use was supposedly 3m window weld with a shore rating of 85. It's the stuff they use to fit windscreens in the Nascar vehicles. I couldn't find any in the UK, so spent £30 ordering a tube from the states. I went to B&Q and grabbed a heavy duty silicone gun.

This is where things got messy. I had every intention of taking pics throughout, but this stuff was real goopy. Almost as if it was already set in the tube. The 'heavy duty' gun bent under the force of me using two hands to try and squeeze the stuff out. I ended up removing the plunger from the silicone gun and using it like a spoon to scoop the window weld out of the tube. It was already everywhere (I didn't use gloves, fully confident that proceedings would go without a hitch!). I just thought curse word it, and got stuck in with fingers. Big mistake. It was the worst thing I've ever tried to get off my hands









I'll be keeping an eye on them to check for any splits or cracks, but they are holding up very well so far. The D16A6 actually has an extra 4th engine mount at the front compared with the D16Z6, so this probably helps a lot. If I did buy a set of poly mounts, there would only be three.

[jimbo200sx]

The intercooler came next (although not neccesary for the N/A run in).

I measured up where it needed to sit and fabbed up some mounting brackets.



Welded them into place and gave them a couple of coats of black spray





Then I tried to refit the bumper... Oh dear! The intercooler was sitting just a little too low for the bumper to push over it, so i grabbed a white paint pen and roughly marked out what needed to be removed. A lot of cutting, refitting and removing ensued after which, I eventually got it to fit and made up a piece of mesh to sit around the FMIC. I fixed the mesh down using some body filler, and a few bricks to hold everything in place overnight. I quite like the results tbh.

[jimbo200sx]

The tyres on the BRM alloys were pretty much dead, so the standard 15's were put back on ready for MOT, and ready for the BRM's to be powdercoated.

I got a local aluminium welding specialist to weld in my AN-10 fittings onto the valve cover, which was also going to the powder coaters.





Another AN-10 fitting was welded into the sump ready for a turbo drain which I then resprayed





The starter got a lick of paint



The bolts were all attacked with a wire wheel on a bench grinder, then sprayed with bright cold galvanising paint



Then the gearbox needed a clean too



Tell tale white ring showing the LSD. I forgot to say earlier, when I picked the gearbox up from having this fitted, I was told it's one of the cleanest gearboxes he's ever opened up Bonus!



Quick coat of paint



Then I found a stubborn engine-to-box dowel. I tried everything before deciding I had to drill it out... (sorry, couldn't get the camera to focus on what I wanted it to)



With all of that sorted, I was as ready as I was ever going to be for the engine.

[jimbo200sx]

That brings the story up to two days before Christmas 2013, when I was told the engine was finally ready for collection





I sent it over to the chap who fitted my LSD, and got him to build a loom up for me, as well as fit the Hondata S300 into my P28 ECU. He also supplied me with the correct OBD0 to OBD1 ECU conversion haness.

After that, the gearbox and engine mounts were all fitted. The one poking out from the cambelt cover didn't line up though. I had read about this and had anticipated it, but totally forgot until I was ready to go. Both cambelt covers and engine mount brackets were removed, then a small piece of the cover had to be cut away for the car's original bracket to fit the Z6.

I wheeled out the 3-legged engine crane and skateboard one more time, and the new engine dropped in a treat, all in one piece with the gearbox suspended a little lower as suggested by the internet.









Magnecor leads on (sort of - as well as i could get them on anyway )



Wiring up the big 3 with 20mm 4awg. Earths are all 50mm 0awg



Some hoses...



A used, tested distributor...



Radiator and mocal oil cooler. I borrowed the stud welder form work to fix the oil cooler down, and changed the amount of washers on each stud to adjust the angle before tightening it down





The intake manifold went on... just. I had to swap the bolt at the back holding the sensor on, for a dome head, no washers, just so I could slide the I'm onto the studs. Of course it didn't line up with the original I'm support bracket, so I had to make up another bracket to bridge the gap





The oil cooler hoses



It was about this time that I was getting seriously frustrated with the car and with some of the work I'd asked people to do on it.
There aren't really any more pictures until very recently. A lot of things continued to go wrong. The power steering pump was a good one. The mounting bracket and one of the bolts was at a slightly different angle. I ended up opening the hole out and grinding some off the bracket so that it seated flat. I had to custom make a power steering pipe and fittings.

Eventually, it was ready to start up, but I got completely stumped when it wouldn't start. After a few people stuck their nose under the bonnet, one chap finally got it - I was reading the cylinders the wrong way around. I was looking at it as 1-2-3-4, when really it should be 4-3-2-1. lol

I had already missed my deadline though. By the time I'd got it started up, the MOT had run out a week ago, so there was no chance to tweek the fuelling, it was straight off to MOT test. A few small adjustments with my laptop plugged into the ECU and we got it through the emissions. Everything else was totally fine - not bad for having been stood on axle stands for about a year.

The thing had a stubborn airlock and was leaking coolant from a couple of places too. The temp guage shot way up on the way home. After that I tried to solve the coolant issues and road tune the fuelling lightly, but it seemed as though everything changed each time i started the car; I could get it fuelling perfectly, leave it overnight, then the next day it'd be all over the shop again.

That's the state it was in when it attended Shelsey Walsh 2014.

Straight after RR gathering, I tried to book in with the guy who did my gearbox, but he didn't seem to want the car (some honda snobbery going on i think - the thought of having a rover in his workshop ). I booked it in at a local tuner (best tuner for a good few miles round this way, apparently) to get things finally sorted out! I was sick of it being one step forward and 2 steps back all the time.

Well that didn't really work out too well for me either.

He decided to make me wait 2.5 months just to book it in, then proceeded to leave it sat in a car park for 4.5 months. I think he did about 3 or 4 hours work in that time. More BS and excuses.

Eventually he pulled his thumb out. He got the head off and found that the guy who built the engine for me hadn't done the work he'd said he had. The engine builder had supplied me with another Z6 head (mine was scrap if you remember) and he fitted my titanium springs and retainers.

I had also asked him to do, and he charged me for, a skim, regrinding valve seats and new stem seals. None of this had been done!

The head was reworked by the latest tuner, and I finally ended up getting my car back with no coolant leaks and running properly... mostly. He has chipped a big chunk off my freshly powdercoated valve cover (where the rubber on the ignition leads seat), and the thing was curse word oil out from the sides of the VC too.

I refitted the valve cover with a bead of Hondabond all the way around which has solved most of the leakage. Dropped it in for another MOT, then took it back off the road; it's been sat on axle stands for another year now. It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I started working on it again.

[jimbo200sx]

So lets get up to date.

The wheels got powder coated in gunmetal along with the rocker cover. I sanded and polished up the letters on the VC



An AEM fuel rail and injector dynamics 725cc injectors



The SARD FPR



Intercooler is piped up





The Greddy Type S



AEM high flow fuel filter



Turbo off for rebuild



And the car as it is now, wheels refitted with Kuhmo KU39 Le Sport tyres. Swapped the side repeaters for smoked ones. 100w xenon bulbs got put in too.



Due to the cooling issues, I have swapped the tegiwa 2-core rad for a mishimoto 3-core with a proper fan shroud. The Magnecor tat was also replaced with NGK ignition leads, which are 100x better




There we go, up to date. As it stands, this is what still needs doing:

• Get turbo back from CR turbos and refit
• A couple of small wiring jobs to do
• The walbro needs fitting
• Probably need to grind a bit more out of the front bumper where the IC pipe runs
• 3" stainless turbo back exhaust
• Dyno tune

There's 2.5 weeks until Pride of Longbridge, I don't think I'll quite make it. I was hoping the turbo would be back with me today

[79cord]

Plenty of headaches. Glad you haven't given up despite becoming fed-up & look forward to some progress now you have recovered your enthusiasm. Hope things haven't deteriorated too much with the delays, car must be much rarer now than when started!

[ChasR]

I was waiting for you to update this thread jimbo200sx.

It's good to see you finally got around to it. Fingers crossed that you can make it on time.

Have you managed to get in touch with CR to see how things are getting along? Fingers crossed it's not that bad .

[jimbo200sx]

Thanks for popping in cord and Chas.

The rust on the sills and arches is slowly getting worse and creeping through, but I'll deal with that later, after it's back, running on the road again. The front brakes are due to be upgraded to a 282mm setup with rover 600 turbo calipers and mintex 1144 pads to suit, plus mg zr160 front discs. Apparently i need to get 2mm machined out of the carriers to do this. I have a new set of mintex shoes for the rear drums too.

Suspension wise, plans are for full polybush underneath and some gaz gold coilovers.

I have just gotten off the phone with CR aka universal turbos. They have it, but the guy working on it booked a half day for easter weekend. How dare he! lol. I should hear from them on Tuesday.

[MaxN]

I had a black turbo for a short while back in 1996 I think it was.

Very quick car with massive amount of torque steer, but it was awesome fun.

It was a loaner from work between assigned company cars, for a month or so I actually considered cancelling whatever it was I had ordered and keep it, then someone drove into the back of it and by the time it was fixed, I already had my new car (Saab Cabrio). It was fun and you almost never see them - its great to see one being resurrected......

[jimbo200sx]

Just a minor update for the week.

The shaft in the turbo was shafted. It's cost a bit more than I was hoping, but it's sorted now and on its way back. I should get it Monday.


Meanwhile I've just been ordering hoses and hose clamps ready to bling the bay! (It may even encourage me to clean in there once everything else is shiny )

The 5/8" nitrile rubber stainless braideds arrived to replace the worn out (and incorrect 3/8") rubber ones. I took them to work to get the air blower through them and on they went the following night.

The new fuel filter was smaller too, so I cut and glued a strip of 6mm rubber to the bracket





That's all for the moment. Turbo final fitting coming soon!

[jimbo200sx]

A bit more done yesterday and today


I added a one way valve to the brake vacuum assist. I had read that a lot of servos come with one anyway, but one of the tuners mentioned it, so just to be safe:




I also got myself a silverline 40w soldering iron for £6 and got stuck in splicing the injector plugs into the loom. I'll get some conduit later on to tidy things up, but for now I've just wrapped it up in position with insulation tape.




Bored waiting for my turbo, I decided my Honda in disguise could go for a small JDM twist. I'd been looking at the front bumper and thinking how that big plastic number plate surround was hiding a nice smooth nose. I could have a square plate at he side instead, so off it came. Old number plate snapped in half and stuck together with some tape to see what I thought:




Some raised parts and holes (and 1 rusty screw!) were left behind, so out came the grinder. I bought a spare bumper from the scrappy on friday to keep in good condition too, seems as I've sort of butchered this one.




I then countersank all the holes slightly and gave it all a quick P180 sanding, inside and out. Cleaned with panel wipe:






A bit of Isopon bumper fill and a little hardener later






I thought I'd come and post while waiting for the filler to harden. Time for some sanding!

I'm not sure what to do about that ripple on top of the bumper. Maybe some quick grips and a heat gun? Not overly bothered tbh, because that part slots in between the crash bar and grill, so it will never be on show.

[jimbo200sx]

Well it needs another light skim of filler on a couple of the bits, but you get the idea...






Now I've gone and done it! I was going to leave the respray until next year, but it might have to come sooner now. We'll see...

[79cord]

Thinking that will look great, but agree it was a good idea to get yourself a spare before they get to scarce.

[ChasR]

Good to see you are pushing along hard with this. Fingers are crossed that you can make POL .

[Bibbles]

I love these and didn't realise how much I love the Coupe shape until I owned my Astra Coupe. Looking forward to many more updates but epic work so far.

[jimbo200sx]

You're right there Cord. I think the going rate for these early pre-facelift 'flat top' bumpers is about £100 and there aren't too many about now. I got lucky and found one at a local-ish breakers. Don't think the guys there realised the difference, so I got it for a fair bit less than that


No chance of POL Chas, so this is the second year running it hasn't attended. It's the 10th anniversary too I may get it back together by next weekend, but that still leaves the powerflow exhaust and dyno tune.


Thanks Bibbles. Shouldn't be too much longer now.


Not much really put together this week, but it has been like christmas.

The turbo, of course came back and was promtly slapped onto the manifold. There were a couple of sensors fitted into the turbo that were unwanted, so after removing those I was left with an M8 fine hole and an M12 fine hole. I just got the bolts to fill those in the post today



Here you can just make out the two holes



And plugged. Also ordered some new stainless bolts and washers for the feed and drain flanges. The feed flange incorporates a restrictor (1.6mm hole). My feed line is a 1/4". `I've heard you can run 3/16" line without a restrictor, but this should work just fine.



My numberplate came along with new stainless screws and washers for refitting the bumper, a load of hose clamps, a couple of hose reducers and 2 aluminium weld-on 1/4" nipples to go on the chage pipe up by the BOV somewhere (for connecting the BOV and wastegate)



My discs and pads also came through, but I ordered the wrong pads Muppet! Trying to get hold of the company I got them from is near impossible. As far as I can tell there's multiple businesses running out of the same address. No phone numbers and no replies to e-mail so far. I spent about an hour tracking this address and finally found an ebay account. I sent a message there and hopefully I'll get through to someone who can help.

Forgive the state of the bolts; everything will be cleaned up and refurbed before re-assembly




I'm hoping for some good weather tomorrow and I'll get this turbo back on! A message from my mystery brake pad seller would be nice too...

[jimbo200sx]

Coming along very well now.

The manifold and turbo are back in the bay which is beginning to look finished now



Oil drain and feed are connected



The cold side compressor housing had to be first dropped into the engine bay seperately. Then once the mani and turbo were on, I could refit the front housing onto the turbo and into the silicone FMIC pipe. It's a snug fit... Everything made to measure. I hope that's the last time it needs to come apart!

There is also a bracket on the turbo; not sure if this is for a brace. I will look in to using this and making up a bracket for the front crossmember, possibly using a dampener. If it'll help stop me from cracking the manifold if I hit a pot-hole, then it's a must. Drove past one about 2 inches deep today



The turbo intake pipe going through the wing needed a bit of fettling to get the angle correct, then went on after lining the hole with some edging strip. Both jubilee clips are on there now too



I need to get a bit more edging strip for the second hole



K&N fitted. There's 5-10mm of clearance between the filter and side of the bumper.



The bumper slotted back on but I still need to fit the corner splitters. I will change that dreadful looking IC pipe for two and another silicone joiner. I underestimated how much the bumper swept back at the corners. I need to get it tight as possible to the crossmember. At least my new numberplate will mostly hide it

And finally, BACK ON THE GROUND!!! This is the first time it's been sat on it's front wheels for a good while. It will settle after a while, but still need to get those coilovers sorted







Got the Tial wastegate, a few boost pipes and a walbro to sort out now before exhaust and tune.

[ChasR]

It's good to see you are making progress . Nice to see it complete as well, well, ish.

About the boost pipes I thought I'd check mine . On both my 944 Turbo and RS Turbo they are fed off the manifold vacuum, with the 944 being the OEM fitment (the RST never came with a dump valve from the factory); I think Tial say to install them that way as well. I don't know about the Mondeo Turbos but they use a bypass valve arrangement (think of a recirculation valve within the turbo).

Both however had the wastegate done off the IC/turbo end, with the pipe coming off the IC pipe IIRC on the 944 and off the compressor housing on the RST .