It's been cold and snowy and progress has been utterly slow. The Ford intercooler wasn't a good idea. I used a Toyota intercooler instead. It was a tight fit, but it worked out fine.
Coolant was rerouted with a couple of 90° bends. Testdrive next week. Should be all good.
More pictures in the intercooler album.
I'll be installing an intercooler in Koen's car. Here's a testfit. It's very tight, but I think I can make it work.
One of the endtanks is pointing the wrong way, but that's easy enough to solve. I just hope there's room enough for the hose. It's awefully close to the fiberglass.
Cooling system will have to be modified as well since the gray aluminum tube interferes with the intercooler. I'll have to go under the frame, but as the airbox is in the way, I'll need to go around it. Seems like fun.
The turbo is generating a lot of heat, resulting in hot feet on long drives. Koen found some interesting self adhesive material to cover the footwell. This is some sort of glass cloth with aluminum on one side that you just cut to size and stick on. It's about 5mm thick and very sturdy so it should help against the heat. If he still gets hot feet, we'll have to cut a couple of holes in the tub.
Spent the last couple of days installing the differential. It's quite a bit larger than the old 1.6 diff.
When I removed the old one, I noticed there were no spacers in the buffers under the mounting points. These are required according to Westfield and yet they failed to install them in their own factory built car. Weird. I made new spacers because they are absolutely necessary. Without them, the diff gets squeezed against the suspension triangle, causing a lot of stress on the arms. Also, the rubber will get squeezed flat loosing its function. If the differential wasn't bolted to the chassis, this wouldn't be a problem, but with the chassis mount, there is no play at all, so tightening the arms would cause a lot of stress, possibly breaking them.
The bolts they used were only 10cm long. They were just barely long enough, probably because there were no spacers. With the spacers fitted, I needed 12cm long bolts (just like it says in the build manual).
As this is one of the first Mazda based cars they built, I think the spacers weren't available yet at the time. When I built my car, those spacers were missing in the kit also, just like they were in a couple of other builder's cars. Make sure you do not install the diff without those spacers. Luckely, it's very easy to make a set. When you install the differential, you need to replace a sleeve in it (provided in the kit). You'll notice that the old sleeve is the perfect diameter to make the spacers. Just cut a couple of pieces from it and you have the perfect spacers. I cut them to about 16mm long.
When I installed the diff, I also noticed that there was a 4mm gap between the diff and the mounting triangles. I didn't pay attention if the old diff has this as well, but since there were no spacers, I don't think so. Without the spacers, the diff would have been jammed against the mounting triangles. I choose not to close the gap by tightening the bolts as this would cause to much stress on the housing. Rather, I inserted 4mm plates (actually 2 x 2mm) between the differential and the mounting brackets to close the gap. Everything fits fine now.
The 1.8 has a thicker driveshaft with a different flange, so the old one can't be reused. About 30cm has to be taken out of it. I took the driveshaft away to be shortened and balanced. The only place that I know that does this is Alders in Neerpelt, that's a 140km / 2 hour drive unfortunately. It would have been easier to send it with the post, but I need it back by the end of the week, so I can't afford to loose any time. They promised me it would be ready on Friday. Just in time, as Koen needs the car back the Tuesday after.
I hope it'll clear the handbrake, as the old driveshaft had signs of touching it...
Removed the old diff today. Look at the difference in size between the 1.6 and 1.8 diff.
Removing the differential is quite the task. At first sight, it's just a matter of lifting it out of the car. Unfortunately, the mounting brackets interfere and will have to be removed first. Of course, the bolts through them can't be removed because of the gastank, so that has to come out as well.
To remove the halfshafts, the uprights need to be removed, so in the end, everything in the back has to come out, even the seatbelts as they are too close to the diff.
Koen dropped off his car today. The rear end has started to make some weird noises lately. The diff seems ok, but since he's driving the car up to France this summer, he prefers to have the stronger 1.8 diff installed. He's leaving in 10 days, so I have plenty of time to install it.
What a great day. The car is finished .
I welded up the exhaust and gave it a coat of 600° heat resistant paint. In the process, I managed to break the nozzle on the spray can, causing it to spew out all its paint. Yay.
I removed the flange from the stock header and used it to make a 2-piece downpipe. It might be possible to make the downpipe in one piece, but it would be a major pain in the behind to get it installed in the car.
The flange in the middle also allows for a bit of adjustment in getting it all aligned properly. It all needs to fit nicely in the existing hole in the body, so alignement is pretty critical.
A M18x1.5 nut was welded on for the O2 sensor btw.
Getting it all installed was quite challenging. As the studs in the turbo are now much longer, it was nearly impossible to slip the downpipe over them. I had to unbolt the engine mount and lift the engine a bit. Even then, it was a very thight fit. I couldn't lift the engine very far as the engine mount hit the steering shaft. Removing the mount entirely was not possible due to clearance problems.
It's hard to see from the pictures, but in the left picture, there's not enough room to slip the downpipe over the studs. In the right picture, the engine was lifted a bit creating just barely enough room to slip it over.
The 02 sensor sits perfectly vertical, just next to the steering shaft. Its imperative to install the O2 sensor as vertical as possible, so no condens water can sit in it. As with everything on this car, there was very little room to tighten it up. A 22mm wrench isn't very small either ...
The last job we did was raising the car with about 2cm, giving it a ground clearance of about 6.5 to 7cm. This should be enough in normal road use. My floor was grateful when I drove the car outside .
The final testdrive was a blast, to say the least. The turbo spools up very quickly and the raise in torque makes a night and day difference. In the lower gears, it makes a solid 5psi. In high gear - on the autobahn - it makes 6psi. I'm used to driving 250hp miatas, but I was still amazed at what 5psi does to a such a light car. I'm sure it's quicker than my 15psi miata was.
Koen was pleasantly surprised as well. He immediately commented that the car had much more torque and felt a lot peppier in low rpms. All this from only 35hp extra...
On a sidenote, the turbo really quieted down the exhaust. Before, it was nearly impossible to drive the car without ear plugs. Now, it's still loud, but pleasant. When Koen drove away, the car sounded just barely louder than any other car. No need for earplugs anymore.
Hmm, I wonder how long it will be before he asks me to install an intercooler and up the boost.
I figured since I bought the banjo bolts, there's no point in waiting for the studs either. I sourced 5 longer studs to replaces the ones that are in the kit.
In the picture fltr, the stock turbo studs, longer studs supplied in the kit (still too short) and the longer ones I bought. They were actually a bit too long for the bottom bolts so I had to cut a couple of mm off.
Begi hasn't yet shipped the coolant fittings, so I decided to buy some fittings locally. I used M14 banjo bolts for both coolant ports. Begi uses 90° angles, but I don't think there's room enough anyway. A banjo is the best solution here.
Tack welded the exhaust today. I reused the flange of the oem header so I could seperate the downpipe in 2 pieces. It might fit in one piece, but it would be very difficult to manipulate should it ever need to be removed. On saturday, it should be entirly welded.
Decided to go ahead and prepare the car for its first testrun. I started to fill the engine with coolant, but after a couple of seconds, I could hear it poor onto the floor. WTF? Take a look below, at the 'air duct' picture from 3-24-2009. See something out of the ordinary? Indeed, that heater return line isn't supposed to be lying on top of the cam cover, is it? Luckely, it's just a pop-in and all of 5 seconds later, all was well and the engine held it's water.
Begi hasn't shipped the missing parts yet, so I bypassed the turbo by looping the coolant hoses together. It's perfectly safe to run the car without watercooling the turbo, because there's still the oil to cool things down.
I had to modify to turbine outlet with a BFH and a torch to get it to fit, but it does fit. Hope to get the downpipe made in the next week or so.
When Koen drove his car into my garage, it banged with the oil pan on the floor, causing a piece to break off (from the floor, not the oil pan). As I haven't raised the ride height yet and I didn't want my floor f***ed up even further, I pushed the car outside by hand, just barely clearing the floor (actually, it still rubbed slightely).
Good thing they call this a testrun. I jumped (one can hardly jump into a Westfield, but you get the point) into the car, released handbrake and ... rolled down the driveway because the brakes weren't bleeded yet. Oopsy.
I decided to do a couple of careful runs down the street anyway. It's a deadend where I live and besides, the handbrake was properly functioning. I started the car and I immediately had a rock solid idle, only ... at 3000 rmp. WTF? Air leak? Loose hose? Nothing like that at all. Remember I moved the engine forward a while back? Well, this put tension on the throttle cable, causing the throttle to be partially open all the time. After adjusting the cable, it idled percfectly at 850rpm.
Now it finally was time to drive the car! I put it into 1st gear and ... find out it wouldn't engage. What had happened? Again, this was caused by moving the engine forward. The gearshifter had obviously moved forward as well and as a consequence, it no longer cleared the hole in the central tunnel. This meant I couldn't engage 1st, 3rd and 5th gear.
Hmm, the car was outside already so I decided to do a short testdrive in 2nd gear anyway. I drove very slow and didn't go into boost (no brakes, remember), but I call the first testdrive a succes. I did a couple of short pulls and man, did it feel good to hear that turbo whine again! A quick glance at the fuel pressure gauge showed that fuel pressure looks fine, idle is rock solid and there's no oil or coolant leaks.
After the testrun, I pushed the car back in the garage to bleed the brakes and enlarge the hole in the tunnel. This was actually quicker said than done. Ever tried to push a car on an uphill driveway, in the rain, with shoes that have zero grip and with a 2" ridge to overcome to get into the garage? I have. Please no laughs.
Enlarging the hole in the tunnel turned out to be not enough. I also had to cut a piece of the dashboard, where it meets the tunnel. So, out came the dashboard to chop off 1.2 inch!
Even before, the gearshifter just barely cleared the dash. The dash actually sat on top of the gearshift gaitor. There were already signs of wear on the gaitor because it touched the ridge of the dash. In this picture, you can still see the old location from the wear on the carpet.
Again a lot of work done, but driving the car is one step closer to finishing the project for Koen. It's been 5 weeks since Koen dropped of his car. I'm sure he's starting to feel as anxious as I am to get this thing on the road! Not long now Koen!
The air duct arrived from the UK. I ordered 2 ply silicone reinforced air duct. Much better than the cheap 1 ply air duct usually found on ebay.
Notice the heater return line laying on top of the valve cover. I cut a piece off the end so it wouldn't interfere with the downpipe. Also notice the rubber plug I used to close it off.
It all looks very tidy, even if I say so myself, haha.
I'm hoping to get the coolant fittings quickly. I'm eager to try things out!
Mustn't forget to refill all fluids btw! I had to drain the brake fluid (to rebend the brake lines), coolant and engine oil.
Probably not a bad idea to change the oil filter while I'm at it. Judging from the look of the oil, I wouldn't be surprised if Westfield didn't change it when they built the car. The fluids in this engine are all very filthy.
Another job done. Installed the Bipes ACU today. The Bipes is installed next to the stock ECU.
I lengthened the wires for the front and rear thermosensors. As they swapped places, they obviously were too short.
Also made an extra mounting point for the air filter. The way Westfield did it, it was a bit too loose.
Pretty much everything is done. Once I have the stuff form Begi, I can hook up the oil and water lines and we are good to do a small testdrive. I still have the exhaust to fabricate of course, but that's something I can't do at home. So, the car needs to be able to drive to get this done.
Finished the coolant reroute today. I managed to find a hose that is a just *perfect* for a reroute. I went to a big auto parts shop and asked them if I could look around their stock. They let me look through their entire stock of hoses and after a bit of searching I came up with a hose that looks as if it was made for a miata. I have no idea what car it was made for though (neither did they BTW).
Since there is no heater in a Westfield, the metal heater return line under the exhaust manifold must be blocked off. I found this Mazda part to be a perfect fit. Go and get one!
I found a good solution for the coolant reroute. I moved the hose for the ISC (Idle Speed Control) from the intake to the rear of the engine. The green arrow is where the ISC normally gets water. I moved the water line to the capped nipple on the back of the head (blue arrow). I reused the cap to block off the front nipple. By doing this, there's always a bit of flow over the thermostat. This is important when it's closed. Normally I'd install a fitting for a heater back there, but since there's no heater, the ISC takes over that function.
The rear heater outlet cover gets moved to the front. The heater hose fitting is cut and blocked off with an oil drain plug. I drilled with 12mm (should be 12.5 but it's close enough)and tapped M14x1.5.
The 2 temp sensors swap places. All that needs to be done is to lengthen the wires.
The turbo water lines will go to the normal locations: one hose to the thermostat house and the other one to the mixing bowl.
The manifold and turbo have arrived this weekend. I tried to fit them only to find out that there still wasn't enough clearance with the frame. I decided to move the engine 1/2 inch forward to gain some clearance. More than 1/2 inch was not possible because the driveshaft would slide too far out of the transmission. There now is enough clearance between turbo and frame, but the downpipe still hits the frame. It will have to be modified to fit.
While I was installing the turbo, I noticed that the turbine outlet studs are too short. Begi supplies longer ones in the kit, but even those were to short. I installed one, but it's clearly too short. There's no way to get a washer and nut on it.
Turns out that the water line connectors on the turbo were missing as well. Hopefully, Begi will supply the missing parts quickly!
Again, you'll notice that the downpipe still hits the frame. In fact, I couldn't tighten the manifold nuts because that would put the downpipe under stress.
Notice the metal heater return line. There used to be a hose running to the heater oulet cover, but since that cover is gone ... the line must be capped. This turned out to be very easy. Next to the oil filter, there is a big rubber cap on an unused water port. It happens to be the same size as the heater return line. Just order one of those rubber caps and put it on the return line.
Since I'm rather stuck with the turbo at the moment, I started doing the coolant reroute. Basically, the thermostat gets moved from the front to the back of the engine. The heater outlet cover is no longer necessary. To make sure there's enough flow over the thermostat when it's closed, I'll be taking water for the turbo before the thermostat. Very conveniently, there's an unused nipple next to the heater outlet cover (just to the right of the green sensor). Originally (in the Mazda 323), this nipple was used just for that purpose, providing enough flow over the thermostat so it 'sees' the correct temperature.
I removed the thermostat cover in the front and moved it to the back of the engine. I also moved the sensor with it. The green sensor will be moved as well. I haven't decided yet where to move it.
For my own reference: the gray sensor is M14x1.5, the green one is M12x1.5 en the 1.6 thermoswitch at the front is M16x1.5. It activates at 96-97°C but the one I tested was 98°C.
The engine oil feed is M10x1.5 and the coolant feed is M12x1.25.
The easiest way would be to just swap front and rear covers, sensors included. But it would be neater if I just removed the entire thermostat assembly and put a freeze plug in it. We'll see once I'm there.
Notice how close the gray connector comes to the frame in the previous picture. There's only a couple of mm of play, so I decided to shorten the thermostat cover a bit. This gave me the required clearance. The thermostat cover has a groove with an O-ring in it. By chopping the top off, the O-ring obviously no longer fits and is squeezed flat when the sensor is tightened. A bit of loctite 577 pipe thread sealant fixed that problem for once and for all.
For future reference: for the rear outlet, should you want a thermostat cover without the threaded hole for the thermoswitch, just get one from a Protege / Kia Sephia. Same orientation as the 1.6, but without the hole. They are slightly larger though (35mm versus 32mm).
Kia Thermostat housing cover Part # 0K24715172A
Mazda Protege Part # B6BF15172
It seems as though the engine has had a long life. Although there was fresh coolant in it, there was already a lot of crud in the coolant reservoir. I'm guessing Westfield didn't flush the engine when they put it in the car.
The engine is probably fine, they are known to be strong and last for ever.
Still, I think it's a good idea to at least get a fresh thermostat ...
I'm still waiting for the manifold and turbo to return from the metalworker.
I drilled and tapped the sump for the oil drain line today. I'll be doing the coolant reroute next. I need some parts for that which are special order (like the Jackson Racing spacer), but I'm figuring out a way to do without the spacer.
I installed the boost gauge today. It's located right in the middle of the dash, illuminated and everything :).
The fpr was installed under the coolant reservoir. It used to be an ugly piece of metal with a crappy bracket, but not now. The new fpr is a beautiful piece of artwork, with a handy mounting plate instead of the old bracket.
A restrictor was put into the vacuum line, as well as a one way valve in the output to prevent a vacuum leak when cruising (no boost).
I also prepared the oil drain flange for the turbo. Permatex on the threads is a must, it WILL leak if you ommit this.
Started tearing everything apart. The front brake line and wiring loom had to be moved. They ran on the inside of the frame rail, right where the turbo goes. I relocated them to the underside of the frame rail. I forgot to take a 'before' picture, only after.
I also installed the oil feed barb. The early engines very convenient have an oil port located just under the manifold. There's even a water source, but I won't be using that. I'll be tapping into the front waterline to the thermostat housing. Ha, I just thought of something ... as I'll be doing a coolant reroute as well, the front waterline will be gone. I'll better tap into something else!
Nowadays, Begi supplies 10mm studs for the manifold instead of the older 8mm studs. When I tried to fit the turbo to the manifold, I discovered that the holes in the turbo flange were still for 8mm. After drilling them out to 10mm, I found that the studs were not threaded 100% perpendicular in the manifold. Nothing a rasp couldn't resolve.
When I had the manfold installed, I found that there wasn't enough room to install the turbo on it. I decided to remove the manifold, bolt the turbo to it and reinstall the entire assembly in the car. Whoopsy daisy! This turbo is bigger than I anticipated. Again, there was too little space to install the assembly. To make it slide over the studs, the engine needs to be lifted. But of course, to lift the engine, the steering shaft had to be loosened, as it runs over the engine mount. A bit later, the manifold neatly slid over the studs, with 1mm of space between the turbine and the frame. Also notice how close the turbo studs are located to the frame. Hmm. It will be very difficult to install a downpipe this way.
First idea was to move the entire engine 1cm to the right to make more room. Unfortunately, the transmission runs very very close to the frame on that side. Moving the engine would couse the transmission to hit the frame.
I could also reposition the angled frame rail to make more room, but Koen and I decided that we'd prefer to keep our hands from the frame if possible.
The only option left was to mill a couple of mm from all sides of the flanges. I took the parts to a local shop and if all goes well, I should have them back in 2 days.
Koen dropped off the turbo kit today. As with all Begi kits, they are very well packed and everything seems to be there. I wouldn't expect any different, as opposed to some UK company who's name shall remain nameless, cough.
I started by replacing the cam cover and front main seal. The camshaft seals had already been replaced, but for some odd reason, they failed to replace the front main seal. It was leaking so bad that the entire bottom of the car was dripping in oil. Even the inside of the body was covered in oil. While I was taking everything apart, I noticed that the crank bolt was rather loose. Luckely no damage at all.
Also, the cam cover had been removed, but the seal wasn't replaced, which caused some small leaks all around. This will be replaced as well.
While I was at it, I already removed some stock parts like the airfilter box, crossover tube and exhaust manifold.
A fellow Westfield owner, Koen, dropped of his car today to install a turbo. This is a '90 1.6 that will receive a Begi S kit. This is a standard non-intercooled kit which should deliver about 35hp extra. No big numbers here, but the good thing about a Begi kit is that it's perfectly upgradeable to an extra 100hp and more. This requires an IC and a good engine management of course.
For now, the stock ecu will be used with an auxilary fuel pressure regulator to up the fuel pressure. I'm guessing the wastegate is set at about 5-6psi.
Pictures in the 1.6 Turbo install album.
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- it makes 6psi. I'm used to driving 250hp miatas, but I was still amazed at what 5psi does to a such a light car. I'm sure it's quicker than my 15psi miata was.
