Turbo oil feed and twin plate clutch.....

[Anonymous]

I am still building my 200ci cast iron xflow turbo motor. I've almost finished the shortblock. It's only taken 3 months. It's got ARP rod bolts, ACL Race Pistons 8.5cc dish, 450 thou lift cam only a few extra degrees duration than stock, hard exhaust valve seats, crane springs and retainers, redline 2barrel manifold, cast zorst manifold, Holset turbo (small TO4 equivalent, maybe a "s" trim equivalent), cut down truck intercooler 35mm thick 1metre wide 320mm deep (fits between the headlights, shame about the grille).

I have welded some baffles in the sump and some 100mm round pipe to the sides to increase the capacity, looks terrible, kept on leaking from tiny holes in my welding so I kept on adding more weld with my tiny MIG. I'm an office jockey not a welder. Turbo drainback is 1/2 inch internal at it's narrowest point.

I may run the motor without the turbo for a while because I havent got a wastegate. I spent that money on the single rail gearbox rebuild.

I have a few questions. My turbo was initally second hand but now reconditioned. It came with the copper or brass tube for the inlet of the turbo oil feed. its about a 8mm internal diameter. I was going to run off the oil sender/ pressure guage adapter thingy. When i have seen turbo installs the oil feed always looks smaller, more like steel brake line or thin flexible hose. If i use my big pipe am i going to lose too much oil pressure? It looks like the oil goes, pump, filter, lifters, cam then mains. Am I right?

Should i use brake line size pipe/hose instead?

I bought an oil cooler adapter which spins on between the block and the oil filter. Should I run a thin line from a t-piece there instead?

Clutch.

About 4 years ago i picked up a twin plate Ford V8 clutch. It looks barely used. Queanbeyan Engine Service (my excellent machinists, plastiguage doesn't lie) balanced my motor with this clutch on it. On getting the filthy bell housing cleaned up while the engine was at the shop i started to wonder if my assumption that it would fit inside the bellhousing was accurate. The motor is still on the stand so its too hard to mock up at this stage. Anyone put this clutch in a single rail bellhousing? I think I will at least have to change the pivot for the fork. The bell looks flatter at the top. If i have to clearance the cast iron bell what do I patch it with?

If nobody can answer the bell housing issue i understand. I will post a topic if it works without significant modification. The twin plate bolts to the exisitng 3 holes tapped to the 6 flywheel. Make sure you use Grade 8 bolts or better. My car is a wagon with twin lpg tanks, heavy, so I thought the big clutch would cope more reliably than the stock item.

Dom

 

[addo]

You might need to look for a humpback bell. Dig around for a (cable) Corty unit.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes they will fit. Some grinding of the internal bellhousing webs is required, as is machining the flywheel and also machining the floater plate to a thickness that when assembled allows the two drive plate hubs to almost touch. Also, the standard throwout lever will have to be heated and bent slightly to allow for the increased height of the clutch assembly ie correct pivot angles. Not sure on throwout bearing but is one of two;std 6 cyl fit or V8 std fit. It is also wise to have three single hole spacers machined up and mount the clutch on SIX grade 8 bolts (the pressure plate stamped cover has provisions for the extra 3 bolts when drilled.) P.S; the twin plate clutch pressure plate is the same as an ordinary 6 cylinder pressure plate. Cable operation can be used and operation, grip and durability is great. Keep revs below 6500 as for most twin plate clutches.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks rnb. Why does the floater plate need to be machined? I would rather not machine it because i had the motor balanced without it being machined.

 

[DYNOED250]

im guesing if the flater plates machined it will dedcreasue the over all size outwards way of the clutch assembly making it easier to fit in bel housing.... but just guesing.

 

[Anonymous]

I have already ground out the bellhousing. Took about 15 trial fits to get it right. I had to take out about 3-4mm out in places. I made a new pivot for the throw out fork. The 6 cyl thro out bearing is suitable. I'm not happy with the lack of support in the top flatter section of the bellhousing (the only part of that required grinding). I'm thinking of welding some support rods to the outside from the gearbox end to the engine end. I figure if just weld the 12mm rods (3 or 4) to each end of the housing it shoudn't distort too much. I have experimented with my mig on cast iron, it seems to penetrate things like old exhaust manifolds OK. Should i be using a stick welder with a special rod and flux for this kind of thing?

Dom

 

[Anonymous]

The floater plate needs to be machined to reduce the installed height of the clutch to make it fit inside the bellhousing.
I have had no problems with the block to engine support.
I would not weld the cast iron. It requires to be hot when welded and to be post heat treated. If not , the granular structure of the metal is seriously compromised. Some fords did have braces between the trans and the sump, but given the size of the average sump bolt, I would say that this is pretty sacrificial. Hope this helps with fitting the clutch.

PS; the rpm limit I mentioned before applies to diaphram clutches.

 

[Anonymous]

Turbo oil feed
don't use copper- it will eventually crack around the flare. Use a compression fitting if you have to.
take the oil feed from an adapter at the oil pressure sender. this is quite o.k.
3/8 o.d tube is what i have used for all turbo feeds. Don't go too small. the turbo has it's own restriction in the main housing and will generally use only 2-3 litres a minute. 250 oil pumps can more than cope with the added volume required. a high volume pump for a 250 is a waste of money as they have more than enough volume in standard form. good luck and keep that project going.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys. I've decided to get some hose for the high pressure turbo oil feed.

I've painted the car (thanks for your advice Addo), and the motor is off the stand out of the shed, under the carport ready to go into the car. I will pick up a new bellhousing tommorow and 2 more of those thin (2mm) stainless steel sandwich plates which will push the bellhousing out 4mm. Ive got the flywheel and twin plate on and have taken some measurements. The end of teh gearbox input shaft is about 8mm longer than it needs to be to go into the crank pilot bearing. The round bit at hte front of the box that isnt the input shaft which the clutch throw out bearing slides up and down on, is very close to the 2nd friction plate's splined hub.

The extra 4mm should cure the closeness of the friction plate hub and mean much less clearancing of the bellhousing.

I will still have to shorten the hydraulic clutch's slave cylinder rod as the clutch fork is a lot closer to the slave cylinder becuse of the height of the twin plate from the flywheel.

I splashed out and bought some ARP flywheel bolts.

I had the gearbox rebuilt (single rail), new layshaft, bearings, synchros, and 2nd hand 1st gear which had some blue/black marks on it. I also got them to tap out the extension housing for a steel nut instead of eth nylon one for the shifter. The whole lot was $850. The gearbox guy recommended i use a modern synthetic oil. It's a lot higher viscocity but looks very thin when you pour it. I will post the details of teh oil later. I will try it in the Coupe top loader too. It has a bit of bearing noise but changes nicely.

I have to get my LPG tanks tested before July and will have to get a leak test for teh rest of the car shortly after that (thats when rego is due). So I won't be putting teh turbo on for a few months. Dissapointing but I want the car to be well sorted before i try to get an engineers report.

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I need it, getting very cold in Canberra.

Dom