1992 Rover Coupe D16Z6 turbo project - finally running!

[sausage]

Man you had some chancers and fools didnt you, I'd have been kicking off big time within 3 weeks if they'd tried playing me around like that, but then it's not so easy when they have your kit held to ransom. I think you should name names tbh.

Coming together now though.

[ChasR]

All I will say is that they are names that should know better.

TBH it seems rife in a few marques. In the case of my Stag I also got stung by a well known Triumph specialist. However, it does drive you to work on your cars more, but OTOH it would be nice to have a trustworthy garage, but also one that can complete the work well.

[jimbo200sx]

Cheers sausage.

If I had made this thread back then, when it was happening, I probably would have named and shamed. I'm passed being p1ssed about it now though. Just glad to be feeling excited about the car once again!


I couldn't agree more Chas. I've been unhappy with plenty of other work from quite a lot of different garages too. I guess I'm lucky at least that my latest mechanic is pretty good at what he does and only charges £30 per hour and £30 MOTs. Bonus!


Things are moving along though.
The engine is basically back together bar a silicone cap for the valve cover which has apparently been lost in the post (ordered 2 weeks ago) plus 2 hose clips because I miscalculated how many I needed.


A quote for a blow in on my bumper came in at £180, so forget that. I'll rattle can it at some point, or a mate has an airbrush. Might work for basecoat, but it'll still need lacquer.


The correct brake pads have come through too.
Brake setup will be Rover 600 Ti calipers, carriers and pads with MG ZR160 (or ZS180) discs.
The gap in the carrier where the brake disc sits is 27mm wide, designed for a 23mm thick disc. With the MG discs being 25mm thick it hasn't left me much clearance, plus the caliper may need shimming out from the hub, so I just dropped the carriers off to a machinist to have 2mm taken off either side.

There is a 23mm thick prelude disc which does fit and has the correct offset, but it's 5 x 114.4 stud and would need redrilling.

The MG ZR/ZS calipers can also be used without modification, but they carry a smaller pad.


The car is also booked in at the local powerflow to have the turbo back exhaust made up, plus they're going to drop my tank and fit the walbro for me and with those two things done, it's ready for first startup as a turbo. Closer and closer...

[ChasR]

I can ask Bubs what he'd want for literally throwing the paint on. Alternatively I can give you the no. of a place a Porsche specialist uses who will basically do what you want ; years ago he quoted me £300 for painting a car, but that was for basically throwing the paint on the car as it came in ; if the car is not masked up, tough! But you may have more luck with your local guy .

You're beginning to worry me now. You'll be overtaking me in the progress stakes and maybe more!

[jimbo200sx]

Don't worry for now Chas, time to get back on track with the mechanical side of things


The car is now at the local powerflow. The downpipe is already in place with flexi, but still needs the wastegate return plumbing in. I'd love a screamer pipe, but with plans to take it on track, I'd better not chance it. A sports cat and resonator will also be added, but I am getting them to supply me with a decat pipe. Not sure whether it'll get used yet. They're ready to fit the walbro also. They guy doing the job owns a 501whp zr, so for once I am happy to say the car is in safe hands I'll try to pop in tomorrow and get a couple of 'work in progress' pics.


Meanwhile, I've been keeping busy with the brakes.

The calipers are done. I needed an M12 x 1.25mm metric fine to clean out the caliper holes and an M10 x 1mm metric extra fine for the slider pins. Ordered in some high temp black paint too. The contact surfaces of the brake discs are masked off ready for paint and the holes for the slider pins cleaned out using a solvent based cleaner (ambersil LO30) and cue tips.








I took the calipers to work to get some compressed air on the case to pop the pistons out. Took out the square cut seals. It all looks to be in good condition, but I have the new seal kit ready to go. Just need a quick clean. Think I need a little dremel wire wheel to clean up where the seals sit.




Only thing stopping me really is the paint. It says to slowly bring it up to temperature after spraying to cure it properly. Not sure I want to put these brake parts in my oven tbh, so I'll have to wait until the car is on the road, so I can fit them and take it for a test drive straight after painting

[optimusprime]

^ ^
Using the oven .....
I've done that to get seized pistons out.

Going great till the Missus found out ..........

[skylinedave]

Pity you have bought everything m i have just found a bargain on ebay [ well at the moment] Perhaps you can pass it on to another Roverfile

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-D16-Gas-Flow-Port-and-Polish-Head-Wossner-Pistons-9161D050-forged-rods-/182097072949?hash=item2a65d4d335:g:jckAAOSw2GlXFBsQ

[mavesyn]

Lovely coupe...

[jimbo200sx]

Thanks,

I did end up using the oven in the end


Sorry I've not updated for a bit. Things went a little downhill as I got let down yet again by another tuner, who decided to send me an automated cancellation e-mail 2 days before the booking and wouldn't answer the phone there-after. Lost my deposit on the transport I'd booked too!

Eventually, I ended up at RDT's website. I've heard and read some very positive reviews of Will, so... 4th time lucky?

It certainly seems so thus far. For a very decent price for an hour, which ended up being a bit longer with a couple of breaks, Will took command of my laptop remotely and got stuck in. It quickly became clear from chatting on the phone and watching him work the Hondata software, that he was way above anyone else I have spoken to so far. This guy really knows his stuff!

So I now have a properly setup basemap, although it is still too far off to safely drive for my liking and Will tended to agree. It's booked in at RDT's dyno on the 2nd next month. I'm currently searching for a reasonably priced transportation quote.

The valve cover is leaking quite badly now, and upon reseaching again, I found I'd hondabonded the wrong side of the gasket. There is a channel around the outside edge of the cover where the 'hump' shaped rubber gasket sits in. This is what needs RTV; I mistakenly did inbetween the gasket and head last time - this only needs doing at the 4 90-degree corners, either side of the camshaft, both ends.

Other than that I need to fit the decat on.

The brakes are ready to be fitted but I probably won't bother until the engine is all setup and running as it should be.


I did respray the wiper arms but I was too hasty and got a finger print on one, plus I totally forgot the rear one! I'll try and get some pictures of the exhaust and brakes up but I'm buying a CRX VTi this weekend, and that's for another thread...

[ChasR]

It's good to hear Will is sorting you out. Fingers crossed all will be well. I thought he was going to talk you through it, not remotely setup your car through an RDP (remote desktop connection I take is what he did?).

You know my thoughts on the rocker gasket ; replace it. I know it's new but once they have been squashed too much they almost never seal up again properly. Why people overtighten rocker covers is beyond me ; you remember how little it took to actually nip it up to 10Nm!

So you are getting the white CRX in the end? .

[jimbo200sx]

Yes, that's right. I downloaded a program called team speak. Gave Will the passcode and off he went. I thought I'd be taking data logs and e-mailing them to him, lol.

A new rocker gasket is on it's way to the local Honda dealer as I type and the del sol is mine! Thread soon...

Transport to doncaster is also sorted.

[jimbo200sx]

It's finally done!

A huge thank you to Will at RDT, who I couldn't recommend more. Fantastic guy with heaps of knoweledge.


Road-worthy once more and even on low boost, goes like stink!








Making 218 horse power at the hubs @ 9 psi with 177ft/lb torque. 17 psi should easily see my goal of 300 to the wheels.

I'm told that everything went like clockwork with one exception... One of my CV boots decided to split and spray grease everywhere! lol.


Also, as promised, the brakes and exhaust shots I forgot to post up













Once the CV boot is sorted out, I think it's time for a run up Shakespeare Raceway. IIRC, running the original standard engine got me down the 1/4 mile in just under 17 seconds. Might be just a touch quicker this time...

[ChasR]

Good to see a respectable result.

Forget the spin down Shakespeare Raceway you need to take me out in the beast!

[dan]

Good stuff Jimbo

Look forward to seeing you out and about

[spark68]

Thats mint a lot of work gone into that

[logicaluk]

Nice car, looks like it was well worth the pain and aggro in the end

[79cord]

Opps missed the earlier update. Congratulations!

[madwrx]

fantastic lovely bit of kit-had a t series 420 gsi turbo up to 2005 -surprised many a bmw driver in it lol-might suggest wrapping as much of that manifold and downpipe as possible - the heat from yhem will cook everything in sight-adds a lot of heat into the engine bay too-just more heat for the oil and cooling to deal with.

[ChasR]

The gutting thing is that this thing can keep up with my M3 on a rolling start! Gutted is not the word...

[tr3v0r]

Hi there, Ive just bought myself a Rover Coupe 216 tahiti blue - identical to yours... I sold on my K series 216 for this as i love the colour....
Now I am a K Series lover - with 8 other MG Rovers in my stable I wont rule out a good VVC, but this D series looks very tunable and I would love to try.
So only some lovely questions - do you still have the car, and do you mind if we exchange details - I would love to chat about the upgrade if you have the time.
I would love to know more about the ECU upgrade, did it work / start and run before the ECU change / upgrade.
What ECU did you run with in the end?
Is it possible to exchange the base map, to get the car running so I can drive it to a local tuner to dyno tune my car afterwards?

I have a ton of questions for ya - including some details / link to some of the parts - like the wide band sensor choice etc.

Many thanks and hope to chat soon....
PS I can't wait to get mine ( sills are gone, but its sills / mot and then tear it all apart again and rebuild with turbo.... )

T.