So... this Turbo business. I thought it's about time I did some work in that area - up until now I've kind of felt like it was all hot air. You know, like "OMG I'M GONNA PUT A TURBO ON TEH ENJIN AN SH*T!"
Plus, I was totally sick of bodywork... so I thought I'd do something different.
^ I ordered a 180deg steel bend from eBay. I don't need 180deg, but it will allow me to get the curve that I want.
^ I'm keeping the original manifold (for now), so the down-pipe will now become an up-pipe to the turbo. I needed to get an idea of the sort of curve I needed, so I made a prototype using some coathanger wire threaded down some foam tubing. This made it roughly the right diameter and I could bend it to the shape I wanted and use it as a template.
^ Here's the sort of curve I need. In reality the bend will be more gradual than that but as long as the two ends of the curve finish in the same place, and the bend doesn't come outside of the total width of that mock-up curve, I should be OK and clear the alternator. (I hope that made sense... )
^ I offered up the pipe to the prototype and marked off where I needed the pipe to start and finish.
^ And cut it.
^ This is the original downpipe. I need this collar on my new up-pipe to connect to the manifold.
^ So I got the grinder out, removed it from its old home and welded it to the new pipe.
^ Here it is with the bracket that bolts onto the manifold.
^ A trial fitting showed the curve to be good and missing the alternator - it's still a tight squeeze though!!!
^ I had a pair of flanges made up for either side of the turbo by a local engineering place.
^ More pipe was tacked together to make the up-pipe finish where I needed it.
^ Here you can see that I came up against a problem - the original exhaust bore was 1.75in, and the turbo inlet is 2.5in. I didn't want to go too big too early, as I wanted to keep that gas flowing as fast as possible, so I decided to leave it small until the last inch or so, then go to 63.5mm at the turbo.
^ I cut vees in the pipe so that I could close it up to fit the rest of the up-pipe.
^ Before uniting flange and up-pipe I made absolutely sure I had the pipe in the right place - the flange needs to sit vertically (or as close as possible) so that the oil drain is at the bottom. It also needs to sit parallel to the engine so that it doesn't look wonky!
^ Once all the angles were right, I welded it up... forgetting to put the manifold collar on...
^ So I cut it again to put the collar on. Some swearing was involved here.
^ That's better. All tacked together and ready to weld up properly.
The CT26 is a heavy old turbo, and I really didn't want all that weight being supported by the up-pipe alone - that manifold to up-pipe fitting is a real PITA and is hard to get to seal properly, so I needed to take some load off it.
^ I made two support struts. One to the alternator bracket and one to the manifold stud. Excuse the welding - the welder has pretty much had it, and I'm not the neatest welder! It'll all be filed down and smartened up soon.
^ Couldn't resist bolting it up! It's supported nicely and doesn't seem to be putting too much load on the up-pipe. It all needs tidying and finishing but it's pretty much there.
I've also been doing some other bits and pieces...
^ Note to self: when you weld something up with new steel, don't leave it for days letting the fresh stuff rust up again. I had to grind all this back and paint it. Silly boy.
^ My speedo needle used to stick at zero sometimes. This was a real pain when I glanced at my speedo before going past a speed trap and I had nothing!
^ I picked up this clock (which goes to 140!) some time back. Good time to fit it I reckon. Not that I'll be going 140mph... but still. ;D
^ All fitted up.
^ This is the rev counter and boost gauge I'll be using. The counter is from an MG, and the boost gauge... WW2 I think. My bro picked it up for me about a year ago from a junk shop. I gave it a rebuild... works perfectly! It's a twin-needle one (presumably for two turbos!).
Slightly miffed that the PPC guys have one in their Roller... I've had this one ages! Never mind.
^ I started to strip the SU carb down too. I'm not going mad on it, just a few seals, gaskets and a good clean up. I want to know that the carb is right when it comes to firing the thing up as I think it's gonna take a bit of tweaking to get running and I don't want any doubts about things like carbs.
...and that's about where I'm at. Happy that the turbo is now part of the project rather than a load of talk. I still need to crack on with the bodywork but as long as it all gets done at some point, it'll be fine!
Plus, I was totally sick of bodywork... so I thought I'd do something different.
^ I ordered a 180deg steel bend from eBay. I don't need 180deg, but it will allow me to get the curve that I want.
^ I'm keeping the original manifold (for now), so the down-pipe will now become an up-pipe to the turbo. I needed to get an idea of the sort of curve I needed, so I made a prototype using some coathanger wire threaded down some foam tubing. This made it roughly the right diameter and I could bend it to the shape I wanted and use it as a template.
^ Here's the sort of curve I need. In reality the bend will be more gradual than that but as long as the two ends of the curve finish in the same place, and the bend doesn't come outside of the total width of that mock-up curve, I should be OK and clear the alternator. (I hope that made sense... )
^ I offered up the pipe to the prototype and marked off where I needed the pipe to start and finish.
^ And cut it.
^ This is the original downpipe. I need this collar on my new up-pipe to connect to the manifold.
^ So I got the grinder out, removed it from its old home and welded it to the new pipe.
^ Here it is with the bracket that bolts onto the manifold.
^ A trial fitting showed the curve to be good and missing the alternator - it's still a tight squeeze though!!!
^ I had a pair of flanges made up for either side of the turbo by a local engineering place.
^ More pipe was tacked together to make the up-pipe finish where I needed it.
^ Here you can see that I came up against a problem - the original exhaust bore was 1.75in, and the turbo inlet is 2.5in. I didn't want to go too big too early, as I wanted to keep that gas flowing as fast as possible, so I decided to leave it small until the last inch or so, then go to 63.5mm at the turbo.
^ I cut vees in the pipe so that I could close it up to fit the rest of the up-pipe.
^ Before uniting flange and up-pipe I made absolutely sure I had the pipe in the right place - the flange needs to sit vertically (or as close as possible) so that the oil drain is at the bottom. It also needs to sit parallel to the engine so that it doesn't look wonky!
^ Once all the angles were right, I welded it up... forgetting to put the manifold collar on...
^ So I cut it again to put the collar on. Some swearing was involved here.
^ That's better. All tacked together and ready to weld up properly.
The CT26 is a heavy old turbo, and I really didn't want all that weight being supported by the up-pipe alone - that manifold to up-pipe fitting is a real PITA and is hard to get to seal properly, so I needed to take some load off it.
^ I made two support struts. One to the alternator bracket and one to the manifold stud. Excuse the welding - the welder has pretty much had it, and I'm not the neatest welder! It'll all be filed down and smartened up soon.
^ Couldn't resist bolting it up! It's supported nicely and doesn't seem to be putting too much load on the up-pipe. It all needs tidying and finishing but it's pretty much there.
I've also been doing some other bits and pieces...
^ Note to self: when you weld something up with new steel, don't leave it for days letting the fresh stuff rust up again. I had to grind all this back and paint it. Silly boy.
^ My speedo needle used to stick at zero sometimes. This was a real pain when I glanced at my speedo before going past a speed trap and I had nothing!
^ I picked up this clock (which goes to 140!) some time back. Good time to fit it I reckon. Not that I'll be going 140mph... but still. ;D
^ All fitted up.
^ This is the rev counter and boost gauge I'll be using. The counter is from an MG, and the boost gauge... WW2 I think. My bro picked it up for me about a year ago from a junk shop. I gave it a rebuild... works perfectly! It's a twin-needle one (presumably for two turbos!).
Slightly miffed that the PPC guys have one in their Roller... I've had this one ages! Never mind.
^ I started to strip the SU carb down too. I'm not going mad on it, just a few seals, gaskets and a good clean up. I want to know that the carb is right when it comes to firing the thing up as I think it's gonna take a bit of tweaking to get running and I don't want any doubts about things like carbs.
...and that's about where I'm at. Happy that the turbo is now part of the project rather than a load of talk. I still need to crack on with the bodywork but as long as it all gets done at some point, it'll be fine!
) so I persevered by using stuff to insulate my hands from the steel (I was determined...). But then it died in a load of noise, sparks and smoke when my bro went to use it.
