darrenjlobb's Adaptronic Managed Compound Blown Derv Bus Build

[darrenjlobb]

Time for another update, involving at long last some engine activities!!

But not before fitting a Satchshift kit that has been floating around in my workshop for far to long (amongst the pile of parts for this car!)  Have never been a fan of the stock transmission linkages with the short shift kit fitted, just always feels a bit broken / bodged.  

So decided to give this a whirl, as an "off the shelf item to plug and play".. Which I must admit, for most users, it is, and to be fair is a very well engineered kit, with all bases covered, will quite literally bolt straight into any 306 bar drilling a hole in the bulkhead and obviously removing the center console / hacking bottom off dash a tad. However I am fairly sure in my case its going to need some modification around the subframe area to clear my manifold and downpipes etc, but will run into these issues later on!! For now just fitted as OEM / anticipated, and will deal with modifications at a later date.

So first step was fitting the new pivot assembly to the subframe, which picks up on 100% stock bolt holes:




Then fitted the gearstick itself, and made a hole in the bulkhead (sorry don't seem to have many photos of this):




And then connected it all up to the front of the car with the supplied linkages. One thing I was pleased with here, is the main under car linkage sits around .5cm from the top of the tunnel which gives a tonne of clearance for exhaust vs stock shifter, 3 inch pipes are always "tight" in this area on the 306, so this is a nice bonus.




Threw the dash back in to clearance it, and all is sorted :




Then got carried away an dropped a set of S16 seats in it, starting to represent a drivable car again now! Or at least I can sit in it and make car noises and pretend it drives now?!



So with this complete, it was finally time to turn attention away from the car itself, and back to the engine, which was great news as we all know that is what I am about really and all this bodywork farcing has been quite a drag!

So set about dragging the block out the corner of the workshop where it has sat for considerable time....only to be reminded of how many parts I had robbed from it for other builds, leaving very little left!

The way I found it:




So stripped it bare again, dropped sump to inspect, put back together and cleaned it all up and fresh coat of paint applied. The short block never did anything over 1k miles on the MTDI anyway due to taking off the road with head problems. So was all as new still really.







For those that are new / that didn't read my previous MTDI build thread, the main reason I stripped this engine back down so quickly in the first place was due to problems with valve float, I was pretty much straight into issues when I started leaning on it , so I decided given the goals / long term aims with this motor / head combo, it was in my best interest  to get the head up to spec as best as I can now, while its apart. So I sent the head off to Marko at NPS heads in Finland, who is about the only person this side of America that I would trust to go anywhere near a diesel cylinder head, in particular, a DI unit.

So got the head stripped down, and sent off to Finland.



The first thing that Marko did was strap the head to the flow bench in stock trim, to give us some figures / base line to work with. At this point I have to say, I was quite surprised, and also very impressed with the flow figures as stock.

So it was time to let Marko start reaming out the head to aim for the best airflow we could achieve, It was the first head he had seen like it, so I took the time to slice up my old head here in the UK, and take lots of photos to give an idea of the meat available in various places in the head to try to avoid breaking through and writing off the cylinder head (brand new casting from PSA when i build it, so am trying to avoid this!!)







I should note at this point, we had a fairly lengthy discussion regarding the direction of the head / motor, and its fair to say the head as been ported past the "normal" point he would go on a street head, in short, we really are aiming for maximum airflow here, so slight risks have been taken to achieve this.

Next was to get the bare head back on the flow bench to re test it and look at gains (hopefully!)




At this point we both had a giggle. as the results far surpassed what either of us had expected, and had put a good 27% total airflow increase on the head, which all in, was giving me some very exciting airflow figures, very pleased with this to say the least!

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After a few more discussions regarding intended engine RPM / Powerband info, some final work was done to ensure optimum swirl for the given intentions. And the casting was complete, ready to go back together.



So in with new seals etc, all VR as normal :




Marko was keen to have a look at the camshaft situation, so dropped the stock shafts in from here in the UK and started to gauge them up / look at lift characteristics etc for realistic airflow:



Also at this point discovered some varying valve lift, which was obviously not right...and after some closer inspection discovered some of my rocker arms were rooted:



So will be replacing these as matter of course I think!


The head has now gone back together, with stiffer springs inlet and exhaust side, to keep the valves shut at more useable boost levels, and although the swirl is tight, the base runners should now be good to around 9000RPM before having a detrimental effect on swirl, this is vs around 4500RPM as per stock. With the stock camshafts, which I have decided to retain at the moment, we have figured peak power / flow to be in the 5000-7500rpm range, with swirl obviously coming into this more and more at the top end causing some choke effect.

Either way, I will let you do the Math, and see the "potential" power capabilities airwise now on the longblock...

So with the head back in the UK, it was time to do a final clean and inspection:






Then time to drop on the block and torque down, and finally make it an "engine" again!

As normal a VR MLS gasket used, and ARP head studs. A new set this time to allow me to use a full set (old ones from my XUD were to long as couldn't use the end two due to interfering with the camchain)

Studs in and gasket in place:



Head on:





And torqued to spec (our own!):




Due to the rocker damage as talked about before, I decided to replace all 16 rocker arms as a matter of course.... I also decided to replace the hydro lifters at this point. I had considered going solid a few times, but am yet to actually see one of these lifters fails, and given the range of other engines they are used in, at higher rpm / spring load, they should be fine, so am going to run with them unless / until they do course a problem, which hopefully they should not...


New parts:




Installed:




Shafts installed and assay lube applied:



And all covered up again!






Thanks for reading as always, video on the YouTube for those that enjoy as always.