SCCA EMod MGB GT V12 Build

Have you considered a Watts link with a chassis-mounted rocker instead of a Panhard bar?

GameboyRMH wrote: Have you considered a Watts link with a chassis-mounted rocker instead of a Panhard bar?

Yes, there is a whole discussion in the Mod Forum about the benefits of the various lateral links. Basically, in EM there's not enough to be gained from the extra weight of a Watts over a Panhard.

$hit got real today. I went to the salvage auction and bought a whole car just to get my hands on it's engine. It's a 2013 Buick Regal Turbo with the 2.0 turbocharged LHU Ecotec engine. The car has only 18,000 km (12,000 miles) and runs awesome. This engine is all aluminum and E85 compatible. The engine will easily get 400 hp and it fits in a 2' cube. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_3097_zpsoeqrp08p.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_3096_zpsefis0qy7.jpg.html][/URL]

How much if a fight will that engine put up... with regard to electronics?

OHSCrifle wrote: How much if a fight will that engine put up... with regard to electronics?

That is a great question. This engine is turbocharged, direct injected, drive-by-wire and flexi-fuel so it's going to tricky but fortunately the Ecotec engines are popular enough that companies have started up that help with all that. One company takes the wiring harness and simplifies it for use in a race car and another company builds from scratch and standalone wiring harness that just needs a power and ground hookup. I'm glad I bought a whole car so I should have all the sensors I need. It actually has a sensor for alcohol content in the fuel so it can adjust it's tune.

Wow neat!

loosecannon wrote:

OHSCrifle wrote: How much if a fight will that engine put up... with regard to electronics?

That is a great question. This engine is turbocharged, direct injected, drive-by-wire and flexi-fuel so it's going to tricky but fortunately the Ecotec engines are popular enough that companies have started up that help with all that. One company takes the wiring harness and simplifies it for use in a race car and another company builds from scratch and standalone wiring harness that just needs a power and ground hookup. I'm glad I bought a whole car so I should have all the sensors I need. It actually has a sensor for alcohol content in the fuel so it can adjust it's tune.

so … after building the project, do you haunt the junk yards for the same model car that has been wrecked and pull the motor from it and drop in in your donor car and have a DD that's in great shape ?

In reply to wbjones:

That is a great idea. I wonder how hard it would be to find another car like this that had a good engine, wiring harness, etc that wasn't listed as irrepairable by the insurance company?

what happens if you just pull an engine from a wrecked car … I'm sure there are some hoops you'd have to jump through to make your engineless car (the one you already have) whole again … then it wouldn't matter what the title of the left behind car said … would it ?

The Miata swap crowd has tamed the GM LFX V6. I believe that HP tuners also has a solution if not the same one.

Since Buick is just GM for old people I wonder if there are any commonalities that would aid your cause?

wbjones wrote: what happens if you just pull an engine from a wrecked car … I'm sure there are some hoops you'd have to jump through to make your engineless car (the one you already have) whole again … then it wouldn't matter what the title of the left behind car said … would it ?

I am pulling an engine from a wrecked car. The government has deemed this Buick as irrepariable, which means it's good for nothing but parts. Even though it has only front bumper, fender and lower control arm damage. It's because the car had major damage once before and was fixed. In my province, that can only happen to a car twice before it's permanently taken off the road. Now, if I found another 2013 Buick Regal Turbo that let's say had massive rear end damage, but not so much damage that it was "irrepairable", I could literally take the VIN off that car, attach to mine and I would have a really nice daily driver.

NOHOME wrote: The Miata swap crowd has tamed the GM LFX V6. I believe that HP tuners also has a solution if not the same one. Since Buick is just GM for old people I wonder if there are any commonalities that would aid your cause?

Between www.enginewiring.com and Trifecta, I have the problem completely covered. They will simplify my wiring harness and give me a tune that will get it to run

I have all the brackets welded to the new differential housing, now I want to paint it before bolting the center section and axles in. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_3092_zps70jkols4.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_3086_zpsac1d9hsj.jpg.html][/URL]

Sounds to me like the whole drive-by-wire aspect could actually save you a lot of throttle linkage fabbing time. I'm not a drive-by-wire fan but in your case, it could work for you.

Fwiw, the EM Jeep lives down here and I'm pretty sure he uses Trifecta. Seems to have a lot of headaches.

loosecannon wrote:

wbjones wrote: what happens if you just pull an engine from a wrecked car … I'm sure there are some hoops you'd have to jump through to make your engineless car (the one you already have) whole again … then it wouldn't matter what the title of the left behind car said … would it ?

I am pulling an engine from a wrecked car. The government has deemed this Buick as irrepariable, which means it's good for nothing but parts. Even though it has only front bumper, fender and lower control arm damage. It's because the car had major damage once before and was fixed. In my province, that can only happen to a car twice before it's permanently taken off the road. Now, if I found another 2013 Buick Regal Turbo that let's say had massive rear end damage, but not so much damage that it was "irrepairable", I could literally take the VIN off that car, attach to mine and I would have a really nice daily driver.

NOHOME wrote: The Miata swap crowd has tamed the GM LFX V6. I believe that HP tuners also has a solution if not the same one. Since Buick is just GM for old people I wonder if there are any commonalities that would aid your cause?

Between www.enginewiring.com and Trifecta, I have the problem completely covered. They will simplify my wiring harness and give me a tune that will get it to run

gotcha … the pic didn't look wrecked … hence my suggestions … keep up the good work

DILYSI Dave wrote: Fwiw, the EM Jeep lives down here and I'm pretty sure he uses Trifecta. Seems to have a lot of headaches.

Trifecta seems to be THE tune for my Sonic … (I haven't done it … keeping the car OEM)… but FWIW, on the Sonic forum there don't seem to be many complaints

Jerry From LA wrote: Sounds to me like the whole drive-by-wire aspect could actually save you a lot of throttle linkage fabbing time. I'm not a drive-by-wire fan but in your case, it could work for you.

There's nothing wrong with e-throttle, other than the fact they're often programmed to artificially sabotage throttle response, which has given the whole technology a bad name.

yeah … if throttle by wire would emulate throttle by cable then there would be lots less pushback

I'm not even a little worried about throttle by wire, it will make pedal placement easier and the throttle curve can be tuned to my liking. It could be linear or increasing with application or start quick and slow down with throttle application

When welding the brackets on the rear axle, do you worry about the heat bending the tube? What do you do to mitigate this?

In reply to NOHOME:

No, the short side is considerably beefed up and when I bolt the axles in, they point directly at each other so I expect that the tube is pretty straight

Here's a full spec sheet on the engine I have: http://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/gm-engines/lhu/

I took a Porsche 911 front torsion bar and made an anti-sway bar out of it. It's 18.8 mm with two identical splined ends, is cheap and the Porsche end caps can be welded to pieces of flat bar to form the end bars. Not only that, but if it proves to be not stiff enough, I can simply swap out the bar for any of the aftermarket bars that come in 20mm, 21mm, 22mm or 23mm-and in solid or hollow. Anyways, I welded mounts to the rear frame and now I just have to weld mounts to the differential housing. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_3174_zpsntullyg7.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/loosecannon/media/MGB-GT/IMG_3176_zps3jfm5hxf.jpg.html][/URL]

In reply to loosecannon:

For those of us who are playing along at home, what is the overall length of the torsion bar and what approximate year/model did it come off of?

That's an absolutely brilliant idea and I will be stealing it from you...

Awesome work as usual!

Burrito wrote: In reply to loosecannon: For those of us who are playing along at home, what is the overall length of the torsion bar and what approximate year/model did it come off of? That's an absolutely brilliant idea and I will be stealing it from you...

Thanks, I had these bars hanging around from my 1980 911SC and they are perfect. The bars are 24" long, 18.8mm thick and about 1" of splines at either end (effective bar length 22"). With an arm with 6" of effective length, you would have 200 lbs of force per inch of bar movement. All 911/912 from 1965 to 1989 used the same 18.8mm front bar. The rear ones changed over the years. The torsion bar adjustment levers can be found on EBay all day long for $50 and the bars are $75.