VP T16 turbo

[countrydude]

I had a bit of smoke blowing out today so I checked the turbo, which was fine, checked compression which was a tad high which is no big problem. I removed the turbo elbow expecting to see oil but nothing. In the end I had to look at my breather mods as this had only been happening since they were made. Since the picture on here I had plugged every breather into the can; 2 cam breathers and the front o series oil filler breather. On the top of the can I put the line going to the inlet to give vacuum. I kept wondering if that was enough as on the standard setup the 2nd cam breather is hooked directly up to the inlet so the breather uses 2 vacuum sources.

I have now plumbed the 2nd cam breather back in as standard into the inlet. This leaves one pipe on the can free so I'm thinking of leaving it venting to atmosphere. For now it seems fine. I went for a short drive and sat in traffic for a short while and had no repeat of smoke.

I was worried at first but the turbo is fine, compression higher than a standard engine, and when you want it to the engine is responsive with no flat spots. Hopefully my instinct is right and those few tweaks will stop the smoke. Covering the remaining pipe on the can on tickover there is a small amount of vacuum so it would seem fine. Just not enough to cover all 3 breathers from one 10mm pipe.

[countrydude]

My diesel estate has had a hgf repeat problem I've finally put down to dirty threads in the block not transferring the torque directly onto the head fully. So I've been forced into using the maestro as a workhorse in the short term.

In the past few weeks I've done some fairly major jobs to the engine as it was a bit messy, firstly new cam seals, then new cambelt covers front and back, with a good clean up just the make sure all now remains dry. I've just finished changing the water pump which is a simple job, but as I got into it I sheared 2 bolts. So I went to a spare front housing which again had similar issues! All is sorted now, just sometimes you go from a 1/2 hour job to an afternoon of work. I've also re welded the front sump to crossmember mount as it was taking a lot of punishment. When I looked at the welds they had not penetrated at all! So weld rewelded it, seam welding the sides and then v'd out top and bottom filling in the v's with weld to ensure a much stronger weld.

I'm off to get a quote soon for adding some cleaning up around the windscreen aperture as well as doing the wheel arch. Hopefully they won't add too much extra. I'm hoping to be around at the BL day in the maestro this year, not the first time I've said it I know but hopefully it will be looking good enough by then!
I'll try and add some pics tomorrow, when I'm woking the last thing I feel like doing is taking pics!

[countrydude]

had the windscreen removed as it cracked on monday, to reveal a lot of corrosion around the frame. I had suspected and saw some on the outer edges so I asked Autoglass to remove and replace on different days. I used a flap wheel 40 then 80 grit to get the metal back to base. I was very lucky in no welding was necessary. It was a bit touch and go in 1 place but so much was laft around it I decided filler in 1 part wasn't going to end the world. It wasn't in a critical place.





As you can see it is in a dusty barn, but there is quite a good wind break at the door so ideal for spraying. I managed to get a really good finish seeing as I had no heat. I made the mistake of mixing 2 different clearcoats which reacted, I reverted to the 1st but the damage had been done. Then a Phesant walked in to appreciate my hard work, and blew dust right across the orange peeling clearcoat. Ah, and me without a gun!

I have resigned to making he best of what is there, I should be able to polish some of it out and I may well have to redo some of it, at least I made a good job and started from clean metal, rust treatment, etch primer, then 3 coats of colour and 3-4 clearcoat. Hopefully I'll be able to blend it in as the colour match is ok, opporto red is a tricky one. I'll see as I may be able to get it good on another attempt. I plan to get a lexan glass sunroof fitted soonish so that will enable me to disguise some of the colour blend in the roof. I caught the corner of the wing with the grinder which was a great shame as that caused huge overspray which I fear will not come right.

Anyway I have designated this as a car that is driven, it will never be a show car. I do want it to be clean and solid and I may well get it to a good clean condition at some point, but there are limits!

While is is resting I changed a rear cylinder to reveal I need new rear brake shoes, and my new front pads arrived wich will be fitted soon.

[Mike Brock]

Interesting thread this one - i enjoyed reading it. The ultimate street sleeper - I thought it lost that status somewhat with those alloy wheels - lowered suspension etc? What bhp/torque are you currently running? - and your ultimate goal? I can understand why you went for the refinement of the T16 engine - but wouldn't the O-Series 8v be the better choice below 270bhp?

[countrydude]

the wheels gave me a better choice of tyres that eliminated wheelspin, with the 15's even in the dry I didn't hav enough traction. The suspension means on a lot of occasions I can just throw it into corners, roundabouts it eats them! So yes it has lost that ultimate sleeper edge without the standard look but it is still fooling a lot of people. I don't know what power it is running atm as I had to turn the boost down for the clutch to bed in properly. I was quite irritated that it took so long to bed in I have forgotten about it's extra capabilities for now! I'm running of actuator pressure which is 9-10psi
I'm not sure why you say the o series would be better for around 270bhp, I bought the engine very cheap and then Victor was selling his old pistons, so I rebuilt the block for them. It was a very cheap way of getting a 300bhp (or thereabouts) capable engine.
I'm not planning much more for the car, in the long term after market management, maybe next year, I'm aiming to shed as much weight as possible mid term. I'd like to get it t under 1000kgs I have the sunroof plan, replacement lexan windows (to order), a chap on triple m mentioned a fibre glass bonnet and tailgate. Get the windscreen back in sort term!
It made 279 on the rollers at 16psi, it feels like standard power really at 9-10psi. I'm using it for long journeys atm so I'm not going to wind the boost up. I'll get it back on super unleaded and get back to 16psi when it is back to weekend use only! It is a fun drive now, completly composed and quite rapid when it needs to be. At 16psi it is a different animal, leary and demands respect, you really need your wits about you when pressing on, it is electric!

[countrydude]

Windscreen is back in, Autoglass guy was v happy with the work I'd done and said that will seal back in no problems for at least 15 more years! They ordered in a trim, it ended up being for a rear screen! The guy then dug around in his van and pulled out a long strip of universal screen trim for agricultural vehicles and the like. We dropped the screen in as a test and I just thought as the car has been taken so far from standard anyway why worry? That and I could forsee a long wait for a genuine replacement being found from anywhere. The fitter is now a big fan of my car

[matthewsemple]

I could forsee a long wait for a genuine replacement being found from anywhere.

The seal from a Citroen BX will fit, is cheaper, better than the original and readily available. However, if what you have works then it's all good!

[Mike Brock]

it didn't occur to me until now your VP was originally a 1.6! I thought you changed it from an o series to T16 for some strange reason.

[matthewsemple]

it didn't occur to me until now your VP was originally a 1.6! I thought you changed it from an o series to T16 for some strange reason.

That would have been possible if it had been a Montego but all Maestro VPs had 1.6 engines (first R- then S-Series).

[Mike Brock]

yes all is clear Mathew i don't know why i didn't notice that fact. It must have been a shock for countrydude system jumping from one 1.6 engined car - then completely transforming into a 279bhp monster.

[countrydude]

It started out as a 9 psi t25 mini monster, so around 180 to what it is now, so it was a shock, just spread over a few phases!

[countrydude]

A quick pic of the cockpit! Gauges, top boost, 2nd row to the left is oil pressure, then fuel pressure.

Below those is oil temperature and coolant temperature.

Some may see so many afermarket gauges as a bit chav, ordinarily I'd agree, or rather before I had this car I'd have agreed. Now I see them all as necassary tools to diagnose potential issues or to confirm all is well. Knowing what temp your oil is becomes vital to the long life of your turbo, oil pressure is always worth knowing on any car! Hence the oil light on all cars being a remedial version of a pressure gauge.

I'm trying to get the Sunday off work for bl day so some of you can have a nose around the car, hopefully get to meet a few of you too!

[countrydude]

Just finished a stint of having to use the maestro for businesses, probably the most powerful delivery vehicle in London! As it is now a pleasure only vehicle it now sits with a full tank of v power and a boost gauge that reads 18psi from 3.2k onwards!

I did set it to actuator around 8-9psi to run the clutch in, then it began to grip so I tweaked it up to 12. Now I know it has bed in and no more business miles I can wind it up once more. As it made 280 at 16 I think it is fair to say I'm around the 300bhp mark now. It certainly feels faster than before.

Time for fitment of fresh ball joints tomorrow, then cornerweighting on tuesday. Then sadly it will probably come off the road for a while. Or I might just see how I feel about that as it comes to it. I could do with getting the rad removed and cleaned down and a bit of tlc, same with the intercooler, there is some oil consumption so maybe look at getting the turbo checked over, or the head? I have another head ready to go on with cams and 3 angle valve seats. That may be the winter project.

[countrydude]

Ok, following on from my last post, the turbo was passing oil, on stripping it down the turbine wheel was damaged and needed replacing, so that was a new wheel and shaft on top of a rebuild. I opted for a new unit, this is a gt28rs, not a ball bearing core, a journal bearing 360 degree bearing, it has a 9 blade turbine wheel over my older 11 blade unit. It uses the gt28rs compressor wheel. So the theory is the turbine should make the spool quicker, and the bigger comp wheel should flow more top end. Lets hope it works! Sadly the rain has been so much recently you can see the exhaust side rusting. I think an intense blast of heat should sort that
While I was taking parts off to be tested i went for the rad and intercooler too, both were past it and worse still the ti rad was not in stock so I've opted to go back to a maestro turbo rad. When we measured up old to new there is much more cooling on the new item anyway.

It is a cracking rad with great solid brass endcaps. Great quality, the fan has had a neat bracket made up so no crappy cords pulling through the fins.

New intercooler is possibly the best upgrade over the old item, offering twice the cooling it is a bit of a monster really! Luckily I was able to take it back, measure up and get the pipework tweaked to suite me, the brackets were extended also to give me easier fitting. If you don't already then make friends with someone who can aluminum weld


I haven't quite got everything sorted, I had to stop as the actuator on the turbo is in the wrong place, I cant find my forge actuator atm so I've had to give up for now! I'll find it tomorrow, too many places to look especially in the dark!

Sorry cba to rotate the pic, shows how the intercooler fills the whole front of the car. I suspect it could be a radtec unit made for the maestro. It has brackets that bolt onto the same pannel as the grill interlocks into.

I did my first helicoil today on the end manifold bolt so the head is staying on for the forseeable, I'll look at getting the cams and pulleys in over winter. Hopefully I'll get everything on and have a quick blast around before hiding the car away for winter.

[Jeff Turbo]

Excellent stuff Dude