Hi,

So i have not really put up a thread of the car since i have had it, so i thought it might be time.

Ive owned the car for 18 months now, previous owner spending a pretty penny on the car, putting a stage 3 busa turbo engine in it, and for me this is where the refinement begins.

So a few photos from when i got it:





Then the fun started, first was the removal of the turbo for an engine oil leak, followed by the manifold coming loose whilst driving twice, and then blowing holes in the turbo gasket every 100 miles. so an upgrade to a cometic gasket and wire locking the bolts together solved this:




Next was the fact the car had no thermostats at all, probably good for on track, but useless for anything else. So a Mocal oilstat and thermostat bypass valve was installed:





I noticed thecae had no under tray, so the next modification was the installation of an aluminium flat floor:
Template in place:



And finished... note the cheeky external waste gate!!:



First track day at good wood, what a fast track too!:


Then the car was part of the Supercar Event held every year at Dunsfold, getting to fly round the track with the likes of LP640's and 599's where they cannot get away from you was certainly a worthwhile experience:





Unfortunatly that did not come without its problems, Turbo gasket failure to the end of the day meaning i was down on boost, then the flat shifter gear sensor packed in meaning it was time to use the clutch! eventful!
And to finish it off, a differential failure!

I don't have any photos of the modifications, but it came in the line of a 3J driveline LSD, i cannot recommend these highly enough! the flat shifter was repaired with a bit of soldering magic, they are quite expensive for what they are considering what is inside them.

Anyway, the end of the season arrived and it was time to put the car to bed and start the winter upgrades, i will let the pics do the talking:






Anyway, it ended up like this:



First primer coat:


Then the first big mod came, the introduction of the Tilton pedal box. 6.2:1 ratio with adjustable bias. Something this car needs based on the fact the braking on track became a real issue as my confidence grew in the car, ended up with glazed pads/discs and a pedal that felt like it was made of concrete. Needless to say I'm looking forward to this the most this year, Polymatrix A pads and braided hoses throughout will complete the job.

Skimmed and faced discs:


Trial fitting:





Then for the fabrication bits, a new front bulkhead and mounting points welded on:



New accelerator pedal:


And a fini:


Final paint finish, not bad for a roller job!




And then on to the second modification, my dash was way to cluttered, so time to get rid of it all and put in a race technology dash2:
Out with the old:


And in with the new:



Then its on to the engine, ive had a bad set of valve guides for some time, where the head was ported the bottom of the guide was worn away, this has make it weaker and more susceptible to moving, so its time to get that replaced whilst the engine is out:




And to finish off, re doing the wiring, which was absolutely appalling..... I'm still trying to get my head around the logic of this now!!:


So thats about where i am at the moment, i hope i can keep it updated.... but for now time to get it back on the road! Hoping for april..... we will see!

[Edited on 15/2/14 by jwhatley]

[Edited on 15/2/14 by jwhatley]

Wow,very nicely specced car

Surely with the air filter where it is there's a chance it will suck off a passengers shoe!!!!!!

[Edited on 15/2/14 by CosKev3]

Glad you've put this up John

I've lost half the photos olz, this only explains half of what I've been up to!

You wouldn't believe the comments about the air intake. Saying that it's actually good for 15c less intake temps! So there is some method behind the madness!

Bet the noise from the intake is awesome!!!!

Very nice john, I'm hoping for flames from mine too

Ben, you tart...don't understand why you would want flames !

Jeff you get flames too... You love it

[Edited on 15/2/14 by Ben_Copeland]

awesome

looks to be a fairly large turbo too!
does it handle the power well?

It's a garret GT30-76R turbo, so no not the smallest of turbos!

Power wise, I run Eboost2 so I have the flexibility of being able to turn the power down to 250bhp which is more than enough for the road.

On track when turned up it handles the power well, I run 10 inch rear wheels and coupled with the LSD it suprisingly puts it down pretty well, treat it with respect and you won't end up facing the wrong way!

Nice car looks very well put together but my fav Busa Turbo is Duncan's Dax.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJxAoYvssfY

Yes I've seen that video before, was inspiration for getting one!

That Dax it built solely for one purpose though, and it defiantly serves it's purpose! I believe it has launch control too?

It was many things off the Life ECU....including launch and traction control.

http://www.liferacing.com/?page_id=27

I think Duncan has a F88 in it. Of course when you have an ex-F1 turbo and Geoff Page maps/tweaks it then that helps as well.


[Edited on 16/2/14 by jeffw]

Hi.

What an awesome spec. Looks really well built.

The chassis looks a bit odd around the turbo? Does the engine become a stressed member and put the strength back?

It looks smart but man all those wires noooooooo lol scary what charge cooler is that ? Looks a bit like a pace type ;-)

Ditch the gasket between the manifold and turbo, Make sure both surfaces are dead flat and you will have no issues if the bolts stay tight. This method has now really become the norm.

What an awesome car.....

You seem to have a number of radiators. Is the one on the top an oil cooler? If so, what's to the front at the bottom?

Probably a cooler for the water in the air to water charge cooler.

quote:

---

Originally posted by rdodger
Hi.

What an awesome spec. Looks really well built.

The chassis looks a bit odd around the turbo? Does the engine become a stressed member and put the strength back?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by fimi7
You seem to have a number of radiators. Is the one on the top an oil cooler? If so, what's to the front at the bottom?

---

So a little update.

Dash is coming together, cut all the switches in to the dash, Shame i can't get them all in black but ill be looking out for them when they finally become available.

And yes i know, the headlight switches are in upside down!





Run in the front brake hoses, still have the rear to do:





And had a go with the wiring for the dash. Once i got my head round the flasher relay!




The wiring is no tidier at the moment. Hoping that when ive got it all connected up to the dash then i can look to reduce the extra wire and make it back in to a tidy looking loom.

Still a lot to do.......

[Edited on 22/2/14 by jwhatley]

Lovely looking car, And for that You may have a twin soon!

Bit of an update, Quite a bit going on.

Removed the diff, had it rebuilt and ever since its had a small oil leak. Didnt take any photos but basically someone fitted one of the drive shaft oil seals on the piss.... Lesson learnt, if you want something doing properly then do it yourself and save a lot of money!

So after being told it will be easier to buy a new head then change the valve guides i took it upon myself to prove them wrong.
The head had been ported and the guides had been ground away, so firstly i had to get them back straight so they can be driven out square. Head Disassembled:



Put a 9mm drill bit on to a valve cutter and created a 9mm drill bit with a 5mm pilot to guide me in central. Then popped it in a drill and counter bored the guides. Worked perfectly, don't have a photo of it but this was a great way of doing this without a milling machine or any technical tools!

Then it was a case of popping the head in an oven, and knocking them out.... And Voila, no damage and all 16 guides removed:



So now I'm waiting for my APE guides coming from the states, should be here tomorrow so i can install them and rebuild the engine.

Meanwhile, Dash wiring was finished:




And plugged it all in, and surprisingly it all worked, still have to program the dash up to the sensors and ECU interface, but currently its talking which is a good start.




Waiting on my new steering column to arrive, so can't finish the front end rebuild and dash fit until that turns up. So popped the steering rack back on, gave the front hubs a new coat of paint. Then fitted the suspension and finished off my brake hoses.





Just received my front wishbones back from powder coating too, so will rebuild that when i can refit my side panels.
Hoping to have the engine rebuilt this week, but we will see.... need my guides to turn up!!

I want it back on the road for april, Still a lot to do but more than achievable!

[Edited on 10/3/14 by jwhatley]

So we have some more slow progress, been on holiday so not really had much of a chance to do much.

Progress with the head, just waiting for shims for the tappets now and I'm good to rebuild the head, will be here thurs, so engine in and running by friday evening!

A few pics of the head work ive been carrying out:

Heated the head on a hot plate, surprised how well this worked, worked out the thermostat settings to give an even heat of 150c through the whole head, took about a hour or so to get fully heated.



I am installing APE valve guides, running 2.5 thou interference fit. So had to freeze them in liquid nitrogen which brought them down to a 0.5 trout interference, which meant the slid in with the aid of an air hammer quite nicely.



APE claim you only need to hone these guides, but they were too tight for my liking after quite a bit of honing, so a quick ream with a 5mm reamer got the clearness just right, finished off with a quick hone for a better finish.



Couldn't get the valves them lapped in perfectly so decided to re cut all the seats to ensure a good seal, then re lapped them all in with some fine paste.





On to the milling machine for a minor skim to get the surface finish restored, took of 0.005"




Then rebuilt the head, and checked cam lash. Just waiting for a few shims and them i can put it back on.






After its all rebuilt, its up to daytuner for a few mapping tweaks, with its first MOT due this year i need to make sure i have an MOT safe map, plus two others for the different exhaust setups i run... 96db with 2 cans or 101 with 1 can.

Once the engine is back in the car then i can really get on with it. First track day booked at silverstone on the 26th may.... should be easily done for that.

Awesome progress on this mate - keep up the great work! It always amazes me when people take a great car and have the foresight to make it even greater :-)

So its been a while since the last update. Im very close to getting back on the road, Tax and Insurance on 1st may should be easy.

Whilst waiting for the cam shims to turn up i decided to finish off the dash fit, quite happy with how it tuned out.








Engine was built back up after setting the cam lash and put back in to the car.









Suspension put back together and then rolled the car outside to clean the garage out! it gets quite a mess after 5 months!





Then it was time to modify the plenum, because the boost pipes can't get to the charge cooler due to the addition of the pedal box. So we moved the inlet pipe, and used the existing inlet pipe as the BOV mounting point. All in all turned out like it was made to fit, which is always a bonus!














And finished the steering column




And, she starts and Runs! very happy with that!

So a nice update, car is back on the road now and all seems to be good.

A few pics just before taking it on on its maiden voyage to good wood on sunday.






Now for the good bit. After searching for a reputable mapping company who are coherent with turbo busa's i was directed by jack at holeshot to Advanced Mortorsport and Engineering, based in silverstone next to TTS performance, who had done a few of jacks bikes and cars.

Dan was great, id recommend him to anyone. They use hub dynos which are far more accurate and safe than a normal rolling road. Plus you don't kill tyres

All on the dyno ready to go:





Initial baseline figures or 454Bhp/263ftlb at target boost. This was running slightly lean though as the injectors were at full duty, so we decided to back it off A - to save the engine and B - Why do i need 450bhp??

This is what happens when theres too much boost:



Baseline torque curve:



And after mapping, making a bracket to hold the inlet manifold in place:




And with my boost controller settings:



All in all, 413bhp and 243lbft is more than enough.

Now i just have to ask myself the question..... do i put bigger injectors in it??......

Bigger injectors are the way to go if you want more, but I'd also consider a parachute! !!!

What injectors are you running already? I've got 700cc injectors at 3.5Bar fuel pressure if that helps.

Yeah I know that I need to increase injector size to get more power..... But I'm already In the 700-800bhp/tonne area so why do I need to stress the engine anymore? There standard busa injectors which have 8 injectors but in the bike they only use 4 at a time. Obviously in this application I'm using all 8 at the same time.

Still over 100bhp per cylinder, and 3.2bhp per cc, which is pretty impressive.

Jeff, looked as your power curve, pretty linear. I do like the rotrex chargers. TTS are next door to where I had it mapped.

Jack uses the same injectors on his bikes up to 550 and I'm sure holding the records he does it would be safe to follow his judgement to save unnecessary money spending..

The gt30-76 will boost up to that power figure too.

John

[Edited on 6/5/14 by jwhatley]

So i haven't updated this in a while. Been enjoying the car for that its meant to do.

Heres a few snaps from Brands Hatch on thursday, plus a little video:

http://youtu.be/4WkkZjC-jpo








[Edited on 2/8/14 by jwhatley]

Still looks great!

Have you put in a section of 45 degree tube between your throttle bodies and the block so the plenum then fits under the bonnet? Did you get the tube already bent and if so, where from? I'd like to do something similar so I can fit an airbox under the bonnet on my car, as I dislike the look of bonnets with massive holes cut in them...

Hi, yep it's just a normal ally 45 degree bend which has been cut to size and the ends flared.

You can get them from all sorts of places, there not specific in any way.

Going well!
Lol at your first passenger praying!
Never seen passengers be forced back into there seat that much in a seven type car before.

looks fast!

your gears seem very short, you barely get on the power before your shifting again, is this the case 'in real life' or is the video lying a bit?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matt21
looks fast!

your gears seem very short, you barely get on the power before your shifting again, is this the case 'in real life' or is the video lying a bit?

---

looks fun, is it a case of too much power so you cant use it?

as a standard in bec can lap that quick,

looked like a good day with some nice cars to play with,

nice acceleration

Heck, I'm still learning this car. This is really the first year I've been able to use it to its potential due to sorting the issues the previous owner left to address. Looking back at the videos and forever the critic, I'm braking far too early and not carrying enough speed through the corners, plus this was the first time at brands with it. So much to learn! there's loads more time in it!

The power can be put down, slicks 9 inch wide rear tyres and LSD. Not going to get much more grip than that.

Fair enough,

If you ever need a new LSD 338 with a higher torque on the LSD so can take the power I know of one,

It was also used in a 500bhp busa turbo spec engine car, works a treat,

Still should be fun leaning the car and it looks very nice,

Cheers

I've already got a 3.14,

A 338 would be a lot slower!

No problem just thought id throw it out there, most busa run 314 as 6th is not the best ratio, so should be good for 140+ then.

Best of luck

140+ is only theoretically achievable, Ive not actually seen it before.

I have a 10500 rev limit and with the 3.14 and busa box i will only hit 133mph, i run a 245 55 13 rear wheel too.

The only way you would hit those speeds is with a quaife box and radical 5/6th ratios.

Thanks on the LSD offer but my 3J was custom built for me to cope with the power and torque i already have.



[Edited on 2/8/14 by jwhatley]