Grahams81-Leon 4wd, Big Turbo - Back in the saddle :-)

grahams81

Active Member
Oct 14, 2010
1,165
6
County Durham
Thanks to Everyone for the comments and the positivity, i really appreciate it :cheers:

Well it's been a while since my last update, as you all know i've been threatening to scrap the project, well i'm not going to lie i nearly bid on a TT with a knackered engine a few weeks ago.
Most of this feeling about scrapping it came from the thought of IVA'ing the car and i kept looking at the shear amount of work i had left to do.
So i put the project on hold for a while.

Anyhow a few weeks ago i started working on it again and love is back :)
Unfortunately money is tight at the moment so i've been trying to progress the build without spending to much just before my holiday.

My friend who put a EZ30 6 cylinder in his impreza had loads of 3" pipe and bends left over from making his exhaust so i got all his left overs for nothing..... i did think about making a large 4" section directly after the turbo then reducing it down to 3.5" but as money is tight 3" will do for now and be ok for good hp.
Once i've got it on the road and fully tuned i can then try swapping parts out and seeing what can be improved on.

I've also been trying to work out coolant runs / wiring looms so after looking into detail about the coolant i found the connections for the heater matrix were going to be in the way of the down pipe.
After some research I've found some 90 degree OEM plastic connectors from various different models over the years so i've ordered some of them.... in the mean time i decided to try and give as much clearance to the Heater connections so angle the down pipe towards the engine.

Cut some pipes up to get it angled away from the matrix connections and used a normal 1.5R 3" bend for the main bend down, there is a section of mirror polished pipe in there that i'll rough up to match the rest once it's all welded up -

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Even with the downpipe angled away from the connections the space is still too tight to use the standard 45 degree connections.
Once i get the 90 tight connections it should be better but will still need a nice heat shield making up.

Next pipe (a 30 degree bend with one of the tails cut off) tacked into place to get the pipe somewhere near area where it gets complicated :lol:
And to think i was going to try and squeeze a 3.5" pipe through there :blink:

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Once i had the second bent pipe into the general area i could then work out the next couple of bends, had to cut and move the bend a few times to get it looking right... then i cut a tight radius bend in two right up the middle so i could bring the pipe though giving the most clearance to each side.

Bendy :)

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Fitted -

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Annnnndddd the welding gas then ran out so had to give up on the exhaust for a while.
Next i need to order a good quality stainless flexi and some 3" v-band sets.
I have a few silencers from my mates spare impreza systems but i think i'm gonna order some Magnaflow boxes offof good old Ebay as they look good quality.

Trying to keep the project moving forward a few weeks ago i ordered a load of silicon pipes / bends etc to work out the coolant paths. I already have a Forge coolant pipe set but it doesn't include all the pipes required so i've been looking at whats required, what i've got missing etc and how i'm going to work out the coolant paths with that big silly turbo in my engine bay.

Anyways i've managed to work out how i'm going to do it - by making stainless "hard pipes" to pass under the turbo / Manifold then up to the matrix connections.
I'm well aware of the need for adequate heat protection for the turbo and manifold so i'm going to order some heat wrap / heat sleeves and some aluminium sheeting up to make heat shields. I'll probably order some reflective adhesive tape stuff also.

Next job i decided to put the front cross member back onto the car to help with wiring / coolant paths etc.

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I then started making a list of all the changes i need to make to the wiring loom.... this is due to the BT conversion, SEM inlet manifold so throttle is on the other side as will be the boost pipes, N75 boost valve position, MAP sensor etc etc.
I also removed some of the EVAC / SAI wiring.

I replaced all the flexible conduit on the sensors that needed lengthening / adjusting position.

Also due to the turbo placement i needed to adjust the loom so the coil pack wiring so the wires were away from the turbo.

There is also a relay box mounted where my turbo is so i stripped it all down and removed what i could (SAI Power cables) and re-wrapped the loom / rerouted the relays into the plastic trunking to keep it all looking tidy -

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Relay box -

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Relays mounted into trunking and loom re-wrapped in fabric tape -

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Trunking cover cleaned up and installed -

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Part way through moving the loom for the coil packs and various other sensor movements -

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Still got to work out the G266 Oil Temperature / Level sensor wiring, as my INA shallow / baffled sump doesn't have place for one.....

That's it for now, thanks again for the continued support and i'll update again when i have something worth writing about.

Cheers,

Graham.
 

tom t

Active Member
Feb 12, 2011
365
1
Good stuff bud! I'm not going to lie I was starting to get a bit worried lo! Keep it going bud.
 

Linnard1990

Active Member
Jun 2, 2015
3
0
Bicester, Oxfordshire.
Hi Graham,

Our computer system at work has been down for the past 3 days, so rather than be productive and do things off my own back like a good employee I started looking for build threads.

I am extremely please I came across this thread, it is by far the most in depth thread I have seen and the fact you have done what seems like 99% of the work yourself I am extremely impressed.

This has taken you years to do and when I started reading the thread I assumed it had been finished a long time ago but decided to plough through it anyway. so I get to page 70something and its still going on and were now at the end of 2014/ start of 2015!

anyway, my reason for the comment is to say that A) thank you very much for sharing such an incredible build with all of us, whether you are a professional fabricator, engine builder, suspension designer, pattern maker, off-shore oil driller or a simple office jockey with a passion for cars like me no doubt everyone will be extremely entertained by this thread. I can see how much fun you have had with this project and how much stress it must have caused you at the same time.

The car looks and sounds like it is going to be an absolute animal and I would love to see this in the metal one day. Please keep on with this car though, I understand you hav your own things to worry about like family and a young child and money and security but really, none of these things matter in life if you have a cool car that makes nice noises.

joking, obviously, but seriously man thanks so much for sharing this incredible build, if there is anything I can do personally to help if you are ever in the Oxfordshire (Bicester) area then let me know. I have actually learned a fair bit from your thread too.

I must say it is very odd starting to read a buid thread on a Monday when the OP was back in 2010 or something like that, and then finishing reading it on the Wednesday in 2015.......mental!

Do you have any form of update if you have done some more work or if you have any new plans for the car with a TT shell or something like that?
 

Pimped up vario

Cordy Cruizer
Nov 20, 2009
1,291
0
Belfast N Ireland
Your thread is mentally epic, you and tuffty bloke are as bad as each other and thank goodness for it. :D I've read tuffty's but need to revise it again and to be honest I've only read the bit in yours were you put the four wheel drive rear tub and subframe into the car whilst it was on the drive way. Very impressed. I was thinking of doing the same with my cordoba but to tell you the truth it handles ropey enough as it is without me chopping it up :D. I'll just leave the brave work to you and go and buy a Quattro instead. Keep up the good work and I'll do a catch up when I get a chance.
 

grahams81

Active Member
Oct 14, 2010
1,165
6
County Durham
Thanks for the kind comments guys, really appreciate all the support :)


And no more silly thoughts of ditching the project

Been away on holiday for the last fortnight so not much happening lately.... i did do a little more wiring work before i went away.

Finished off the passenger side wiring loom, all re-located / re-wrapped, still got to make some clamps / supports.

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Hopefully i'll do a few hours at some point at the weekend :D
 
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VT86

Leon 1.8 "CupraR" 4x4
Mar 22, 2012
325
68
Helsinki, Finland
This is so awesome project. Would be so nice to upgrade my car for this level also. Pity that I have to keep mine as daily, and this kind engine mods will not pass MOT in Finland :(

Keep up your fantastic work.
 

iDont Smoke

Active Member
May 24, 2014
83
0
Beverley, East Yorkshire.
Wow, just read all the progress on this, took me two full days to plough through it, felt like a project in it self, trying to fit in a a quick read here and there between jobs at work.

I must saw I honestly wish I had half the skill, dedication, talent, and I guess pure madness to do a project like this.

Love reading all the engineering that went into it and actually learned a fair bit.

I was gutted when I read you was giving in a couple of pages ago, like reading a book and the main character dies haha! But so relieved your carrying on, you've come so far and put so much effort into it.

Once finished its going to be massive credit to your skills and you will have a serious bit of kit. Would love to see it up close one day.

Well done to you and can't wait to see the progress to getting it on the road.

Sam.
 
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malco

Active Member
Aug 24, 2015
18
0
I'm in love with that turbo setup, very well done mate.

what sort of power you aiming to make?
 

cupraslayer

I want more bhp
Feb 8, 2008
1,543
0
northampton
Like many others I thought this thread had died a death . Just seeing a update on here has once again gave me hope as well as many others that this beast may still get on the road .
I know its easy for me to say, but keep your chin up and keep at it Graham . All the hard work will be worth it in the end . Would hope to see your beauty one day , so until then stop reading these replies and get picking up those spanners :)

Well done !!
 
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