In reply to Ian F :
I think we're doing 3-4 weeks between messages of "we have money!".
In reply to Ian F :
I think we're doing 3-4 weeks between messages of "we have money!".
I've ordered parts to hopefully turn one of my several T3s into a non-leaky turbo. Old turbo removed:
I decided to reseal the header since it has annoying tappy leak sounds- the internet's suggestion of "just a smear of copper RTV" wasn't cutting it so I cleaned it up and used permatex exhaust repair sealant, which was the only thing I could find that would survive on the RX7's exhaust flanges (claims to be good to 2000 deg F) so hopefully it's up to this task:
It's supposed to be cured by idling the engine, but I've had good luck curing it with a torch instead. It expands and turns into a concrete like substance:
Interesting, I've never thought to use that stuff on a mating surface. Does it come off alright if/when you need to take the manifold back off?
In reply to artur1808 :
It requires a wire wheel to take it off of the surfaces, but I like to use one for speed anyway even when a scraper would suffice.
Nice to see this moving along again! I recently picked up another Audi 80q that I'm considering a rally build on. Any suggestions for a noob to this area of Motorsports?
In reply to de80q :
I wouldn't build an Audi of any type, but you may be the exception if you fit all of the following:
-Have a huge spare parts inventory
-Can design and weld a good rally cage yourself
-Know how to solve or deal with every reliability problem that platform has
-Have a plan for getting decent suspension under it
Rally cars break stuff- if something is typically a problem on normal street cars, that should be a huge red flag for you when prepping that model for rally. You need to be able to bring spares of everything, which probably means you need a parts car or a good source. You want the car to be something you like working on, since you'll be doing it a lot, and relatively easy to work on, since sometimes you'll be doing it on the side of a road in the rain in the middle of the night while on the clock. All of these are reasons I wouldn't pick an Audi product, but given your name you might be different. Honestly, I wouldn't pick a Merkur again either!
This thread has a decent discussion for entry level rally stuff happening, or at least the ever present "build vs buy" decision.
Do you have any interest in motorcycles? I started with RallyMoto and it was an excellent introduction to the sport, largely because it is WAY cheaper and bikes are far more reliable in rally conditions so you spend your time learning how to navigate, manage your timecard, etc. instead of figuring out why your crappy car is overheating again.
Fortunately I know the chassis very well. I would more than likely stick with a NA engine over doing another turbo engine. I've had all kinds of little issues with my turbo swapped car. Breaking transmissions is the biggest issue I've had.
I'm not really into motorcycles anymore. I played a lot with them when I was younger, but my back no longer allows me to be on them for very long anymore. I'm sure my back won't be happy with sitting in a rally car either, but hey, looking for some more fun now.
Thanks for the link, I'll have to do some major reading in the near future. I purchased it as a parts car, but it's almost too nice to part out.
In reply to de80q :
The neat thing about that platform is that you might be able to try duplicating some stuff from the old factory Quattro rally cars, although I'm sure any actual parts for them are very expensive. I would think that the later Group A Quattros share more with your car than the more exciting Group B stuff, and would probably look very closely at what they decided to reinforce.
Turbo rebuild time! Many pictures, not many words- lots of cleaning and fiddly little parts. The mood you want to be in for rebuilding a turbo is one where playing a game of operation while assembling a model car would be fun.
The old bearings had definitely seen better days:
New:
Compressor shaft seal also wasn't great:
Reassembled:
New inlet fitting- stainless with fancy $$$ Loctite thread sealant:
New outlet fitting, milled from a solid chunk of aluminum, both mating surfaces cleaned to the point of insanity and all edges filed. Cummins drain flange gasket, nordlocks on the hardware:
All assembled back in the car:
I drove it and it spools nicely, doesn't leak externally BUT... I goobered up the compressor seal on assembly, it leaks under vacuum. New $12 seal ordered, you win this round turbocharger... 
good. get that thing done and come to NEFR! Don't waste time messing with Subarus ;)
I pulled a couple late-ish nights in the garage after work this week to get the new compressor seal in and reinstall the turbo- since gillis valve boost controllers and preloaded wastegates aren't an exact science, the boost also ended up at 21psi...
Initial reactions upon driving it:
-No more smoke screen, at least for now (have to drive it more but want to let it cool down and leak check everything again)
-*Hits gas*
-I need to turn the boost down, for two very good reasons: 1) the tank still has a bunch of old fuel from BRS in it which is probably degraded and causing a little knock at high rpm, and 2) my tire budget isn't big enough to have this much power on tap 
BUMP........trophies podiums Champaign showers?????
In reply to 759NRNG :
If only... let's get caught up.
I took a break from the forum for a while, but I guess this bump is as good a reason as any to make my return. The car was running great at 18psi, and we had ordered some tires for Black River Stages- things were pretty good. Then, ironically immediately after replacing the head gaskets on our Subaru, I started seeing bubbles in the coolant, and the car began running hot. So, I pulled the head off:
I also pulled the head off the car's original engine, and discovered the reason for the horrible ticking noise we had from that top end:
Interestingly enough, both heads seemed flat and devoid of cracks (they are known for cracking near the exhaust valves, as well as warping. Great job Ford, somehow making ultra heavy iron heads that still fail faster than aluminum ones) so I put it back together with a new head gasket and the same head that was on the engine since that one already had the roller cam in it. I drove it, and it still made bubbly coolant and did this after just 20 miles:
Yes, that is an EXTERNAL head gasket failure- it pushed out the driver's side of the block next to cylinder #1, and you can hear compression through it. The engine actually runs surprisingly well like this
To add insult to injury, Black River Stages has been canceled for this year. The plan now is to pull this head, get a rebuilt one with a roller cam, piece together all the worst head parts I have as the core return for said rebuilt head, and have my remaining ones magnafluxed for cracks since I suspect that's where my coolant issue is coming from. I also have to check the block surface for flatness, which means I should check my straight edge as well since I thought it was flat before.
Then, once it's all back together, I should retard the ignition timing a bit more since I think detonation is responsible for my now partially-externalized head gasket.
Thanks for the update , sorry for the setback. No sooner had I bumped this, I found another thread of yours contemplating life (home ownership) versus FUN ( Merkur). whatever you choose ,don't be a stranger you writing style regarding mechanical frustration is very entertaining. 
In reply to 759NRNG :
This car will rally again, and I'll be better about updating this thread. I'm extremely bad at coming to terms with longer time scales for things, which is tough for stuff like houses and rally cars that can have long periods between moments of interest or progress- so I'm trying to find little bits of fun where I can so that the longer term stuff doesn't feel like such a drag. I think in a perfect world for me, every rally would be approximately Dakar length (so I can stay in GO mode for as long as possible), and I'd have about two weeks downtime between each one, but since that's not possible, I'm going to try to ride my mountain bike more, get on track on two wheels occasionally, and maybe hit the occasional hillclimb while I learn to relax a little and not be RIGHT NOW GO GO GO on every aspect of the rally car... because that's not something my time or budget constraints allow right now, and I need to be ok with it.
Which head gasket did you use, the 8993 or 1035?
Cometic also has a MLS one but I believe everything has to be machined perfectly flat
In reply to GPz11 :
It was originally a 1035, which I replaced with an 8993, leading to the failure you see here. The original engine had an 8993 in it, which survived a number of rallies without giving up, so I think something is berkeleyey with this head.
Yup, I'd agree, time for it to visit the machine shop for a check up.
In reply to GPz11 :
I have three heads, let's make a list:
1- Currently installed on engine. Roller cam, adjustable timing, leaks compression into coolant, kills head gaskets.
2- Previous engine's. Stock cam, wiped lobe, bad bearings.
3- Spare. A little rusty, straight, no cam.
I'm thinking I should order a rebuilt head ($500 online with a lifetime warranty, requires core) and send them head #1 w/ #2's cam and lifters as a core return. Then #'s 2 and 3 can go to a shop, who can take as long as they want to magnaflux them and hopefully give me a good one back. The reason I lean towards ordering online is that my experience with shops lately has been less than stellar, and lifetime warranty should mean I can get an exchange or two out of them before they go "what the berkeley are you doing with this engine?"
Get ahold of this guy, he's well versed in 2.3's. The go to guy on Turboford
Ugh!
Kudos for pushing through the setbacks you’ve had with the car. It sounds like you have the right approach to dealing with them though!
This was the first I heard about BRS being cancelled. That is a disappointment.
Funny, driving home from work today I was just thinking "haven't heard from Chris in a while, wonder if he's moved on from rally to some other form of extreme adventure that requires less fixing stuff" lol. And then I get home and find this thread up top...
Does suck about BRS (though we did NEFR instead anyhow), but the upside is that supposedly it'll be back next year as a two-day event, which would make it way more worth the trip (and it's already worth the trip!).
In reply to irish44j :
I ran BRS as a two-day twice on the bike and it was amazing (fond memories of riding through pitch black, driving rain and being blown off course), so I'm excited for it to be back in that format next year- still a shame it's not on for this year though. I just hope it doesn't go the way of Rally WV and disappear.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:In reply to irish44j :
I ran BRS as a two-day twice on the bike and it was amazing (fond memories of riding through pitch black, driving rain and being blown off course), so I'm excited for it to be back in that format next year- still a shame it's not on for this year though. I just hope it doesn't go the way of Rally WV and disappear.not
Speaking to some people at NEFR, it seems that there is still a good bit of work being done quietly to re-establish Rally VW, or something similar in that general area. One of the main sticking points is that Snowshoe has basically said that they definitely will not allow it on their roads (which was part of teh original) as the probably make way more money from people using those roads in the summer these days, now that the resort has expanded so much.
Also the guy who was putting together the original effort had a health issue and had to lay off the rally planning stuff for a while. So we'll see what happens.....
Off with the head (again), Sara and I got it from fully assembled to clean and on the bench in about 2 hours flat:
The gasket had a bad time:
I need to really measure the block surface- my straight edge is not straight enough, and seems to have a high point about 2/3 of the way across so I'm waiting on a new one. I'm really hoping the block is flat enough, because the finish looks good and I'd rather not take it all apart.
In other news, I "accidentally" won an eBay auction for what is now my 4th MR2... it matches Chief very well:
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