Glenn14's Calibra Turbo

[glenn14]

Hi all, hopefully I get this right as its copied from my project on Vauxsport.

I brought the car back in May 2009 which took me quite a while to find a half decent one that was local to me.



After giving it a good clean inside and outside I then gave the car a good service. Also replacing the worn sparkplugs with Iridiums and worn HT leads with magnecor kv85.







Then replaced worn shocks and springs with bilstein shocks and eibach pro springs.





Whilst changing the fronts I noticed the top mounts in very poor condition, left new right old. Hard to tell in the pic but the old one had collapsed in.



Replaced the exhaust with a 3" system with sports cat and lmf divorced down pipe. By doing this it made the car drive so much smoother compared to the original. then once I got the car back I heat wrapped the down pipe to try and keep engine bay temps down.







After a while of doing the exhaust I started to get a really bad intermittent miss fire under boost which found out to be the old MAF to turbo pipe. So got a kit from TX Autosport which cured the problem.







Also changed the alloys that were on it as they had seen better days, found some mk5 astra 5 spoke replicas in 16" on e-bay for a good price so put them on with toyo proxes t1r tyres. replaced all rotten fuel lines with braided hose and fitted a SARD adjustable FPR. Also fitted stack wide band and boost gauges to A pillar to make sure everything is running healthy,

This is how she stands today



unfortunately the ram seal in the txb gave up in November 2010 which I then got a Qrew box of Chip that I still have not fitted but will be put on in May when it's back on the road and I can get it on our ramp at work. But in the mean time im going to strip out all sound deadening and all other unnecessary weight from the car, which im going to try and do at the week end. already removed all air con parts. other future plans include FMIC with 2.5" pipework, uprated fuel pump and EDS phase 3 chips.

Received a little box of goodies yesterday. New mocal 16 row oil cooler, unions and braided hose.



Old oil pipes and cooler, done well to last 17 years but time for new and upgraded parts.





new oil cooler fitted in place, had to modify the old aircon fan support with a little trim so the cooler would fit.



Then hose cut to size and plumbed in a nice simple and easy job to do on a Saturday afternoon.





Yeah I know there is not much you can do about the weight of a calibra mainly due to the 4x4 but just thought by getting rid of the easier none essential stuff it would help a little also gives me something to do whilst waiting and sourcing parts. Probably not to the same degree as tommygards as I will want to keep back seats etc for now but will take them out when I take it down 1/4mile which is my main intention for it.

Been sourcing parts over the last few weeks to get the car ready for EDS phase 3 chips, which I have now got and just need putting into the ecu.

First managed to get a half decent used EDS intercooler, which I have given it a quick clean and polish.







Now just needs fitting along with the 2.5" universal pipe kit and 3" top hat (not got picture yet) that I have now got as well.



Removed my injectors to give them a quick once over, had them ultra sonically cleaned and replaced both seals on each one. I never had a problem with them but thought it wouldn't hurt to do them as they are 17years old and have a few miles on them now.



Managed to get on with some work on the car over the weekend.

Put the injector rail/injectors back on then sized up/trial fitted intercooler and intercooler pipework.

First removed the bumper and crash bar. Then I cut the front panel so that I can move the power steering pipework behind it to make room for the intercooler.



Panel now trimmed and power steering pipework now sitting behind it.



Put crash bar back on temporary to mark up and drill holes for the brackets on the intercooler. Also trimmed crash bar bottom lip so intercooler sits better.





Temporary fitted the intercooler, trimmed the bumpers mouth so that the intercooler fits nice and snug behind it. Also drilled some holes behind number plate to allow extra cool air to go thru, mainly for when I am on the drag strip I can take the number plate off to give a little better air flow thru the car and I know its not a lot but every little helps.



Took bumper, crash bar and intercooler back off. Then I took the crash bar to work so that I can make the cuts a lot neater, gave it a good rub down and re painted left it at work over the weekend so that it can dry.

With crash bar at work I set about cutting and trial fitting the pipework started of with fitting the 3" top hat and working back from there.





Temporary rested intercooler to help line up the pipework.







All pipework lined up.





Now all the pipework is cut to size I just have to wait till tomorrow to get the crash bar back from work so that I can fine position pipework before tidying ends and bead rolling the ends as well.

[glenn14]

Finally got the intercooler pipes all done, all ends beaded and now all on the car.











Nice tight squeeze between gearbox, distributor, ignition coil and ABS pump but does just fit without hitting them.



Also replace the actuator for a stronger spring one.





Moved my FPR to a better location







Also put ECU back in the car with the EDS phase 3 chips, ordered car tax and hope to get it up and running this week so I can get it into our workshop on Saturday to change engine oil, gear oil and finally fit the qrew transfer box that I have. Be nice to have 4x4 again.

got a couple more bits today,

lambda sensor and fuel/ignition relay from Vauxhall world parts.



an accumulator bulb off e-bay, thanks to tommyguards for the part number of what to order at a good price.



also got intake temp sensor which I have fitted this evening, tidied up the interior a bit where I have had stuff apart put dash back in. I have put the 8k rev side of the clocks from a cable speedo on to my electric speedo, hope to get it running tomorrow evening and to see if it works or not. not got pcs of it at this time but will get them up soon as I can.

Few pictures of when I fitted the txb, sump gasket and conrod bolts.

one txb removed and one sump off. Took me ages to get the sump off as I think over the 17years that it has probably been on there it has bonded itself to the block.



One old txb and old baffle plate.



One sump removed with old conrod bolts still on.



All new parts to go on,
Arp conrod bolts
qrew txb and new oil
accumulator bulb
lambda sensor
8v sump gasket and shorter bolts
and a cup of coffee to keep me going.



new conrod bolts all fitted and torqued up, also new 8v sump gasket and shorter bolts all fitted.





TXb all fitted into place, nice tight squeeze between sub frame and sump.





Changed all the oils new txb, gear and engine oil + filter. put the new accumulator bulb on and put pipe work back to how it should be. Got car up and running but was running lumpy traced back to no1 injector possibly being the fault so ordered some new vxr injectors, which I have fitted today.



old injectors and rail out.



New vxr injectors removed from there rail and put on my rail.



fired it up and now runs really nice, set fuel pressure to 3bar and taken for a drive whilst checking air/fuel ratio seems to be all good. on cruising sits about 14.7-15.2 and then on full throttle immediately goes down to about 10.2 is that a bit too rich?

Got back checked for leaks found only one, which was one of the pipes on top of accumulator has a slight leak so will get a new o ring seal tomorrow and hopefully that will cure it. Then put fuse 19 back in to set up the 4x4 to get that working again and then wire in the 4x4 switch that I have.

Well had a great weekend at PVS 2013 and getting some really good times on the Saturday.







Timing slip, Dewis I am sure your time against me is the third from the bottom on the bottom picture and was actually one of my slower 60ft times.





Only video I managed to get of the Calibra shame its not the 13.53 but still a quick 13.6

http://youtu.be/oMJ1B6bke5Q

[glenn14]

Been busy the last couple of weeks doing little bits and pieces to the calibra.
Fitted K26 hybrid turbo with billet compressor wheel thanks to Kris at KRS Turbos



First I gave the inlet a quick port and polish to help the turbo breath a bit better.





Before fitting the manifold to the turbo I gave it a quick clean and a treatment to some heat paint, I also thought while I had the turbo in bits it would be a good idea to fit my EGT. so drilled and tapped the hole in the manifold.



Turbo all fitted up ready to go back on the car, this is the point where I realised the wastegate arm was not allowing the valve to seat properly and I managed to get it into a position where I thought would sit right.



Turbo all fitted, primed and ready to go.



Also decided to lose some weight off the car by removing the sound crap on the floor, front and back.

















While trying to save weight and tidying the wings up at the same time I went for a pair of Lenk fibre glass wings.
Old wing removed.



Lenk wings all painted ready to go on.







I have also fitted a set of aero latches, thanks to Rich J Williams, a set of piper vernier pulleys, thanks to Flatout and a XE inlet camshaft.

With that all done I took it to Santa pod to see what improved times I could get, which all went wrong had major running fault all day only managed a best of 14.0 due to a lot of boost leak. What I thought got the wastegate seating right was wrong so now after a repair kit to get it back up to boost again.

[glenn14]

I have sorted out more bits over the winter but not got round to putting them up yet

[Allys Cally]

looking good

[D-Man]

Nice one mate!

While trying to save weight and tidying the wings up at the same time I went for a pair of Lenk fibre glass wings.

How much lighter are lenk wings?

[bodgetastic]

Great thread Glen, looking forward to a few runs this year, its certainly a quick cally.

Will we be seeing you on the Club stand at PVS?

[glenn14]

D-man i think from memory the wings were at least half the weight of the originals.

bodgetastic im hoping to have a few runs beginning of may to get everything set up properly again, will definitely be at pvs but i am organising to go with vauxsport again, sorry! But will pop over for a chat with you lot during the day!

[glenn14]

Over the winter period I sent the manifold off so that the wastegate penny valve can be replaced, while I was waiting for it to come back I set about sourcing a CAT so I could try and get thru the emissions easier.

one new 3" 200cell CAT that I can remove easier for mot needs.



Also made up a de-cat pipe as well.



all welded up.



Got manifold back all repaired now hopefully it will run full boost again with out any problems. Heat painted back up and put the compressor side back on.





all bolted back on to the car, changed oil and filter then took for an MOT. Passed with no problems best I have every seen the emissions on this car.



Now to get turbo set up properly so will be off to Santa Pod on the 4th May to get it spot on.

Also over the winter period I have removed some more weight off the car, removed sun roof mechanism and bonded the original plate on. Roof lining gone rear trim panels and some unnecessary wiring.

[craigyboy]

Keep up the good work mate,plenty of good work going on
and plenty of pics

[KERR_SE9]

Was good seeing this and meeting you, I'll give you a bter go next year I promise, was useless at getting off the lughts quick enough, Crail is so much slower by comparison:-

http://www.crailraceway.co.uk/showdrag. ... 2014-04-27

There's a wee link to crail from a few TV at the end of april, all 14secs ish apart from a 15 odds missing the lights, so should have been 14 dead or very low 14s at Pod

[glenn14]

Good meeting you as well mate, what times did you get at pod in the end? Them 60fts at crail look quite slow would have thought 2 dead is achievable!

I'll give you a bter go next year I promise

yeah sure mate, in going to give it a full refresh for next year so hopefully running better and looking better. Also hope to come to more shows with you guys as well.

[glenn14]

Been a while since I updated this.

Not much progress over the winter only just started working on it now, passed mot the other day and taxed so that's another year on the road!

Hopefully get time during the week to sort out a slight running problem, which I think might be the inlet manifold gasket.

More to follow soon!

[glenn14]

Been trying to sort out a running problem that I have had for a very long time now where on light throttle it runs lean and stutters from about 1000rpm-2500rpm. Near enough all the sensors are new so that's eliminated them, so put it down to an air leak of some kind. Even though I couldn't hear or see an air leak I decided to replace the inlet manifold gasket and so I started stripping it all down.



One inlet manifold removed but couldn't see any damage to it to my disappointment



But while I was in the area and made it easier to do I replaced the 3 way water hose as a precaution.



While I was moving the tank vent valve out the way and out of the intake side, I trimmed the hard pipe to reveal what looked like parts of the carbon canister breaking up and blocking the pipe.



Seemed wrong not to give the manifold a quick paint while it was off to tidy it up a bit.

[glenn14]

But still have not fixed the running fault looked back to when this all first started happening and have now come to the conclusion that this all started when I done the intercooler and pipework. So I now have a brand new intercooler on its way, which should turn up in the next week and hopefully get that plumbed in not long after.

Fingers crossed that cures it!