XR4Ti build, possible future Rally car?

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dunhamr1

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john vanlandingham

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Thomas Kimsey
Those bolts are basically made out of diamond now. Surprised you were able to round the head out and not just spin the head off the bolt.

Try using a 6 point, 12 point for anything rusted or stuck is just asking for trouble. If it does work with a 6 point you can weld a nut or a socket onto it and try again. More penetrating oil, more heat, give it a few taps with a hammer.

What's harder than diamond? That's what the bolts are.. I killed a couple of end mills, TiNi coated end mills and only managed to flatten one of those bolt in a housing with 3 broken off.

Its fawkin Kryponite!

yeah as soon as I fire up wifey car

I shouldn't worry about these bolts being stuck because there's a cossie housing heading this way yes....?

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2016 05:38PM by john vanlandingham.

Yeah, there's a lot to do at this point so no real rush, just want to keep it fresh in your mind ;-)

I'd come by and say hello if I was going to be at Olympus, but driver decided not to go; schedule is pretty full as it is already.

UPDATE:

On a suggestion from someone from the Merkur Club of America forums (where I also posed the same question), I decided to give the bolts a whack while they were hot. To me this seems counterintuitive in terms of the thermal expansion, but I guess whatever gunk is all stuck together is weaker at higher temps.

Another thing that helped (as a "doh" moment) was to hit them "tighter" once before trying to back them out; three for three while hitting them hot.

Now on to trying to loosen the center from the housing, and we're in business!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2016 11:47PM by dunhamr1.

Had a friend come help work on the car today to prep to pull the engine out.

We disconnected the clutch cable (wood piece under pedal), took the power steering pump off the motor, and disconnected the speedo cable.

Fumbled with the speedo cable until we cleaned it off and could see the snap ring, lets just say it was well lubricated...

Test-fit some head bolts to use as the anchor to lift everything from, to see what it looked like. I'm concerned about how high they sit and the possibility of bending them while the motor and trans is tilted back to be able to get it out. I'll probably cleannnnn the threads as much as I can and run a tap in the block to make sure I can get them in so there's not as much offset.

A couple of questions about lifting from this location:
I'm pretty concerned about the bending, would it be better to use some shorter bolts instead? I don't want to screw up any of my head bolts.
Is the configuration shown in the picture viable?

Any suggestions are welcome, attempting this type of work for the first time...

Secondarily, is the bit of dry rot on the motor mount worthy of replacing them? They don't seem to be leaking any.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2016 12:04AM by dunhamr1.

Been a little while, been busy with almost back-to-back stage rally events. Finally had a bit of time to work on the Xratti.

Things that have been done since the last update:
-Engine and trans removed
-Engine and trans separated
-Clutch and flywheel removed
-Mock-up of various parts on the new block
-Cleanup of many gunky parts
-Turbine housing removed from turbo

Impact wrenches are a godsend, I need pick up one of those. Any recommendations on a battery electric brands/models?

Turbine housing has been giving me a bit of a fit, ended up taking it to a shop since I had beat my head against a wall so much that I was just done dealing with it. Evidently my last round of PB Blaster soaking did the trick, they said they got it off with a few taps of the hammer after adding some more PB. Didn't even use any heat, and they were done so quick they didn't even charge me for the job, score!

I'm on the clock now, as the motor needs to go in the car before I move at the end of the month. Was hoping to have the trans swapped onto the other block this week and do the install this weekend, but worn out clutch parts have stalled the re-assy. Ordering a good used clutch disk from a Merkur parts guy, and having the flywheel resurfaced to get rid of some glazing.

Looks like I'll be doing the engine/ trans install mid-week and boy is it HOT in Texas right now. Once all the parts get here it should go pretty quick, I'm not looking to try and install anything other than the motor mounts and trans mount. Picked up some T-bird mounts modified to fit a Merkur so I'm hoping I don't have too much trouble with those, it seems I may have to oversize a hole or make a small clearance adjustment somewhere.

Once the motor is mounted, it'll be shop clean-up and pack-up time for the impending move. Progress is good, it's been nice to actually get out and get some things done, despite the setbacks that have stalled progress. Pictures to follow.

Oh shit, better send the goodies I have been tripping over..
( I did finsih building 2 all prper rebuilt motors, installed them both--and then have been having a couple of weeks of wiring and connection fun making all the things that are spssed to woik woik..TAILLIGHTS!!! BLINKERS! FUSE! lotta cleaning, made some juspers to directly ground the bulb holders for the rear lights.. Now both cars everything that's spossed to work does)

(and started on the 4th car--don't ask about the 3rd)

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

No particular rush John, I still gotta move! If you know anyone headed down for Gorman Ridge Rally in Cali in August, I'll be there. Or to give to someone who's going down to Mendocino from PNW that could give it to someone to hold on to until Gorman. Saves having to ship, let me know.

Photo dump.

Now the move is complete! Work has been busy, so all of the Merkur parts sat packed up in the car until this weekend. I pulled everything out and started to get ready to attach the lower intake; I cleaned the surfaces and got the gasket out. I went to line it all up and..... one of the bolts didn't line up!

Now that the motor swap is complete, it's got an SVO block and head. The SVO head is not the same as the D-port that was on the Merkur, and used the in-line (rather than square) intake. Now any number of things could be done to make the square intake work (swap the Merkur head on, drill/tap the current head, run w/o that bolt, etc), however, I happen to have a complete in-line upper and lower intake. Easiest solution is to just use the SVO in-line intake, I'm not worried about the performance differences in the in-line vs square intake as I just want this thing to RUN.

I cleaned up the in-line intake, which I guess means I need to use that fuel rail... Should figure out which injectors I have, I read that with the LA2/3 computer (this has an LA3) that it'll run lean with the stock mustang injectors (green top). I'm pretty sure I've got a set of brown tops (stock on the Merkur) between the sets that I have.

On another note, I passed a Saab 900 Turbo at the junkyard (picking up VW mk2 parts for driver's rally car) on Saturday and it STILL had the turbo. Looks similar (at least the exhaust housing) to the T3, and there wasn't tooo much shaft play (no more than the one I have anyway). I spent about an hour and a half getting the bolts off, but one of them is located awkwardly and I couldn't get a wrench or a socket on it.. Mekur guys say grab the saab radiator with the dual fans, I'll make sure to do that next time. Second attempt will be with a BFH and hopefully a saw.

I had a thought about the saab turbo, and if I can get the housing off w/o breaking bolts, I may just put the stock exhaust housing on it and run the stock elbow and downpipe just to get it started.

The goal is to use the existing 3" exhaust system and modify it to work with the cossie housing (wink wink John), but it'll be a good amount of fab work to get that going. I just want to get this thing going.

The goal is to have all of the necessary parts assembled by the end of the year and then start troubleshooting things to get her running

P.S. Random thought, last time I was at the junkyard I was standing next to a BMW 7-series and the intake looked EXACTLY like the big VAM I have, and I vaguely remembered someone mentioning that some of the bimmer VAMs worked with the 2.3 lima motors. Double checked the P/n and snagged that up, score!

I gave up on the Saab turbo, but I did snag the radiator, with metal end tanks. Someone had already taken one of the fans, but I'm sure I could scrounge up another at some point when I pop this in with a Cossie 2WD intercooler I also picked up. I'm going to keep the stock radiator for the moment until I can get a baseline and get her running.



Many escapades with the cooling system followed, with the combination of a 1989 body (overflow on opposite side from every other year), 1985 hoses from a junkyard car, and 1987 radiator from an automatic car. Some fiddling about later and the cooling system was complete, albeit so far untested.



Crossover hose from the Saab, and a T added in the lower radiator hose for a fill from the driver's-side 1989 overflow, some fiddling with old hoses and tubes and the heater core is also connected, with the wet lower intake intact (not wanting to move a bunch of sensors at the moment).

From there, I acquired a Cossie housing for cheep cheep from a guy in canada who wanted to spread the love after getting it cheap in the first place. Much obliged sir, much obliged. Ran around doing errands one day and a shop that had copper locknuts in M10x1.5 with a 14mm hex ended up giving me 8 of them because I couldn't get in before they closed up for the day, Oh darn... My lucky day.



After the cossie housing arrived, modifications could start on the exhaust. Plan A was to try and use the existing downpipe, hack off the bracket the previous owner had installed, and flare the end for the cossie flange.

(first cut flange photo)

Notice anything that's about to happen...? Yeah, I forgot the flange before I flared the end. Talking with John, every time he mentioned the flare for the cossie housing it was followed by a stern admonishment to NOT forget to put the flange on first. Doh! Ah well, metal is malleable and I bent it in far enough to get the flange over, and re-bent it all out.

Unfortunately, this had the turbo sitting too far forward and too high to connect to the exhaust manifold. Plan B was initiated, and I set about replacing the last 90 degree elbow with a short-radius version.

First step was to remove the exhaust system from the body to have access for the next cuts. The way it was hung in the car, the system hit the diff and could not come off the only exhaust hanger. To get it out, I hacksawed the hanger and lifted the car up high enough to clear the downpipe.

The last elbow was cut off, and then a loaned pipe expander from the exhaust shop was utilized to expand the end enough to fit the new elbow. New elbow was cut down to needed dimensions and the first test fit showed that it was about 3" too high in the car for the turbo location. Out of the car again, 3" cut off the downpipe, and another expansion later, everything lined up! I flared the end (and didn't have to worry about the flange, there was no O2 sensor to capture the flange yet) and had a sucessful test-fit in the car.

I was helping a buddy beat some bodywork back into place on his MkII Golf rally car that he rolled at NEFR this year, and borrowed his welder to add the O2 sensor bung to my new elbow. Step drill made quick work of the hole, and after a zap with a wire wheel to clean up the area, he set up the welder and I went to work. Needless to say, this is the second time I've welded - ever - so it's not pretty but thank god it's not structural. Please forgive my ugly ugly welds.



Notice something? Something missing perhaps? Yup. The flange. Fuck. Every time I looked at the elbow before welding the O2 Sensor bung, I muttered to myself, "don't forget the flange, don't forget the flange." Well, it didn't work! I forgot it again, and ended up bending the flare back in enough to get the flange over and re-form it on the housing later. 3rd time's a charm? Hopefully there won't be a third time...



Next is figuring out the wastegate attachment and all the vacuum routing and it should just be an nuts and bolts and plug wires together and cross my fingers that all the sensors and wiring is still good. Running by Springtime is very achievable

Updates coming. Spoiler Alert: The engine runs!
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158479468155463&id=675780462

Well there's a radiator, but no fan. I scavenged a fan off of the Saab 900 radiator I picked up before, and made some tabs to hold it down. I used a bit of aluminum bar stock, with a hole at each end.

Small bolt and a nut on both ends, one to hold it to the fan, and another in a match-drilled hole in the flange off the radiator.




It fits ok, but does take up some space as it's quite thick.



After referencing the shop manual, and asking questions of folks here and on the MCA Facebook group, I determined which plug was used for the radiator fan, and cut it off to splice in the Saab fan connector into the wiring with some 10 Ga wire. I know the wire type isn't the best, and that solder would likely be a better solution than regular crimp connectors, or at least heat-shrink crimps, but I'm learning as I go here. I may go back and update this wiring in the future (update in general, but likely to add a second fan as well).

The Identified fan plug


Plug and harness ready. I spend a lot of time with a battery verifying which direction the fan turned before doing the final crimp on the wires.






After the wires were crimped, each had individually wrapped electrical tape, along with some tape to keep the wires together, and zip-ties to keep the wires from getting into the belts.

Next I'll move on to connecting the cossie exhaust housing to the turbo and verify the clocking, and test fit with the exhaust manifold.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2017 08:56PM by dunhamr1.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No solder.

Non-insulated butt connectors, staking pliers, and adhesive lined heat shrink. The pliers and heat shrink available at HF! Butt connectors from Del City/Mouser/digikey.

Any reason a good solder joint isn't as good? (Newbie here, hearing opinions on both sides of the asile).

I'll take a look at those pliers and heat shrink, always useful, and even better with adhesive