TitaniumTT/Speed1 Junkyard turbo 'Vert here we go DGRR fire build

[TitaniumTT]

One more year, one more build thread.... I will not be continuing on with the FC coupe right now. Back in November @ a PCA event I missed a shift @ 143 mph down the front straight and over-revved the hell out of the engine. The rotor touched the plate, gouged it, broke a corner seal, dented the rotor and warped a few apex seals. It's going to be a while until that engine is back up and running and there are some other things I want to do to the car as well before she gets back into action.... namely repaint a efw panels, go through the interior a bit, and add WI controlled through the MoTeC.... sooooooo since I've had this car for almost 2 years and haven't really touched it, I figure I'd get this done before DGRR which is in exactly 63 days! 63 days to build an entire car, break it in, shake her down, tune and drive her down to DGRR.... this is why it's a fire build.

A brief history of the car... I bought it almost 2 yrs ago for $800 with about $2000 worth of parts. The original intent of the PO was a turbo swap because he blew 2 coolant seals... although he only knew about the 1. He was an IT guy and in my experience, no offense to the IT guys reading this, they seem to think that because they deal with computers and cutting edge technology all day long that they can tackle anything. This guy got the mani's off before he realized he was in over his head. The car sat for 3 years before I picked it up almost 2 yrs ago. It was garage kept it's entire life until I got it. Although it was a daily and the harsh NE winters did take it's toll on the body and the top. Soooooooo yeah... she ain't in the greates shape but that's ok, we'll bring her back.

My original intent in rebuilding the car was to rebuild the n/a engine and it would be a b-day gift for my mother. I actually bought it on my mothers b-day. When I hauled the engine out I realized that it would cost a fortune to rebuild that engine. Both plates lost coolant seals... which was fine because the rotors were basically steamcleaned for me (and they are going to be donated to my coupe... yup, S4 n/a 9.4:1 rotors in a boosted engine... should be fun) but the rest of the engine was WORN THE HELL OUT. It needed every new seal imagineable. So I started looking for donor engines. Then of course I started thinking, I'm never going to find a good used n/a engine, so I'll start looking for some turbo engines last year and I found 1. Exactly 1 year to the day after I bought the car, I bought the engine.... also on my mothers b-day. The engine sat for MONTHS until I finally enlisted the help of Kyle (seen in the pics later) to run back to CT with me to get my blown coupe engine, the 'vert engine, and the 'vert.

The plan was, break down my coupe engine and get that thing sorted. She still started and ran fine, and aside from a little lope @ idle, made great power... could roast 3 gears to redline with the TC off. We all thought it was a broken side seal, flattened Apex seal springs, sticking corner seal... something, not what it actually was. So after seeing that carnage I looked to the 'vert as the car I would be bringing to DGRR.... oh shit we all thought.

It's a little dark out so I can't get pic's of the car... but the day it arrived @ the shop we were looking in the parking lot at cars that needed to be moved. Dave is saying, "move this, move that, put that one here, bring that one in, tourch that one, fuck that one..... WHO'S FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT 'VERT IS THAT?!?!?!!?"
He turn's to me because I had mentioned bringing the car up and he says, "Is that yours? What a fucking lump. Did you pull that out of a junkyard last week?" Henceforth the car was lovingly titled Junkyard 'vert. I've got boxes of parts, totes full of shit, and a few bins in the Engine room all titles Brian T Speed1 Junkyard 'Vert Everytime he makes a comment it just gives me more motivation to get her done and done right.

The TitaniumTT/Speed1 title comes from well, the fine gents here have offered thier help when they can to make this project happen. Mostly it will be Kyle (ridiculously talented body guy) and Chris (badass engine builder) helping me out when they're not too tired... and they're both younger than me... fucking kittens, both of them

Sooooo true to form... I'm waiting until I don't think I have enough time left to start a project that can't be finished just to make sure that I can make back some dividends in RedBull stock... although I have found the Starbucks energy drinks to be a little more energyifying.....

The engine I bought was used. It was sold to me as this badass monster port grandmaster cryo'ed sick ass engine. It was nothing like that. it was a totally sotck port, stock apex seal, stock bearing'ed STOCK STOCK STOCK engine. I couldn't be happier. This is a car for my mother. I want good street manners, I want a solid idle. A stock clutch is going in with a stock flyheel. Stock gears and a stock turbo. The engine management will be handled by a Haltech PS2000 (yes, two thousand) and heat exchanging will come from a fluidyne rad, FD twin oil coolers, and a W2A intercooler based of the stock TMIC. It's going to be tricky becuase I already have an Atihun hood so clearance might become an issue.

I've collected everything I need, except for of course the 2 years a project like this would normally take, so holly shit, lets get to work!!!

After I tore the engine down I cleaned most of the parts and inspected everything. The housings looked good, not great, but good, typical wear along the edges. The plates were in damn fine shape, except for the lime green paint that's on them, and the rotors looked great. This engine was supposed to have 7-8k on it.... if it did, whoever built it shouldn't have re-used the main bearings, and whoever tuned it needs to step away from the dyno... so damn rich it was retarded. You'll see a few pics of my rotors in there. They have 2x the mileage on them and 1/4 of the carbon buildup.... 'nuff said.

I'll be updating this thread daily with times spent and what's been done.

Tonight we got the housings and the front cover cleaned up and painted. I also broke the rotors down so I can clean all the seals and the rotors themselves. I wanted to spend some time tonight stripping off some of the nasty ass lime green paint but got on the phone with the girlfriend for 75 minutes so that didn't happen... oh well.... what can you do. Plan is still to get this engine built Sunday, get the car in the shop on Friday night and start tearing into the wiring on Monday. I know FC wiring DAMN well so it shouldn't be that hard at all to get that done and out of the way. Wiring the Haltech will probably consume about 20+ hours though... and yes, I sense a great deal of all nighters, sleeping on the couch, and dragging my as into work late some mornings.... the price of a rotary, what can I say.... on to the pics....

Steels... started preping the rear iron by getting that nasty paint off and pulling out the nipples for the heatercore and the TB.... I have my standard plans for those





Our badass painter helping me out doing painting type things... he actually left me to spray the parts myself. I guess after doing that Vielside car from start to finish he figures his time is too precious for a hosuing Just kidding Kyle, love ya man.



Housings painted. We taped them up so you couldn't see my supersecret black magic stock ports



Front iron all set.



Bins full of parts... the coupe engine is actually disasssembled and underneath those pigs... I'm sad about that engine.