My ongoing Turbobaja build

turbobaja · Post by **turbobaja** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:11 pm

Hello all, I spend a lot of time browsing the Forced Induction forum, so I guess this is the best place ot share some pics with you people. I've owned this '73 Bug since early '97, and this is the third time I've "built" it. My first car was a '66 Baja my dad built in the early 80's. I totalled the poor thing just a couple of months after getting my license @ 16

. Broken hearted, I bought a beat up '71 Karmann Ghia a few months later and spent a little over a year fixin it up to sell ( I wanted another Baja!), and just before graduation, I picked up my current addiction

. I'm almost 5 years into the third (and "final") build.....I think.

I've been working on some heater boxes lately. The cool/wet weather we get most of the year here makes for some foggy vision, I hope these do the job.

The engine in all these photos is my old 1776. I was using it for mocking up the exhaust when I realized my 2110 is going to be wider, I had to go ahead actually build the new engine to finish all the axhaust fab work correctly. I haven't taken any pics of the built engine yet, but here's some of the parts.

I chose the reaised deck, clearanced, etc. CB Alumi case. Very Nice.

Full credit to Darren @ DRD Racing Heads for these sweet 40x37.5 044s, should be good for 260-270 HP w/my setup

.

I'll try to keep posting pics on this thread as progress happens. This forum and the STF in general has been very helpful and inspiring for me and this project. Many thanks to all of you who take time to share your knowledge and experience with others here. I figured its about time I shared some of my build with everybody, since I've only been browsing for the last 5 or 6 years.

Karl
Auburn, Washington

Aircooled Kid · Post by **Aircooled Kid** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 1:00 pm

Karl,

That's one cool looking ride - I'll be following the progress on this one

Paul

Marty · Post by **Marty** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 1:06 pm

Nice work!

Billyisgr8 · Post by **Billyisgr8** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 10:34 pm

Good progress, I like your heater boxes. You have put in some hours thats forsure... What size turbo did you choose your 2110?

Kevin

sideshow · Post by **sideshow** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:57 am

That heater box design is crazy cool and I see some added ground clearance. What prompted that besides cold weather?

turbobaja · Post by **turbobaja** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:02 am

Thanks for the compliments, I really appreciate them.

The heaterbox idea was something I'd been thinking about ever since I took on this build. There are a couple of aftermarket "big bore" heaterbox setups, but none really for a turbo setup. Other than that, I just wanted to see if I could do it. The header is 16ga mild steel, so I used the same gauge for the rest of the parts too, hoping to avoid too much cracking. I'm going to have a CO alarm inside with me so I know if the header starts leaking into the heaterbox.

I got the turbo from a really helpful guy named Joe @ Arizona Tractor and Turbo. Pat Downs gave me his name/number to get input on my build. He set me up with a T3-T4 that he said many ACVW engine builders stand by. The exact specs I'm afraid I don't know, but I feel confident it will do what I need. What I was looking for was a GT series (BB) turbo, but I couldn't find any reason to spend the extra $$$. Once I heard the Ball Bearings aren't "servicable" my mind was made up.

I also wanted to get a set of LN Engineering Aluminum cylinders, but once again, couldn't find anyone to suggest they were really worth it. So I quit trying to over-engineer the damn thing so much and kept it simple.

I've got some more pics to get on here as soon as I get home from work.

It has been requested that I post this in the Off-Road forum as well, but I'm not quite sure how the do it. Do I just move the whole thing over there (how) or should I start a new thread? Some help would be greatly appreciated,

Karl
Auburn, Washington

1303wasserbug · Post by **1303wasserbug** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:23 am

thats cool as fu(k. some very nice work too.

turbobaja · Post by **turbobaja** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:37 pm

I've got the heaters fully welded now, here's what they look like installed

The two boxes are joined together with SS T-bolt clamps (boost hose clamp) similar to stock boxes. It was a little tricky making sure I had good access to all the hardware and they cleared the cyl heads. There are ribs (heat sinks) welded the length of the J-tubes along the bottom and I welded extra ribs near each exhaust port to try and transfer as much heat into the air stream as possible.

I was hoping to have time to wire wheel all the welds so they looked a little better, but I've been pretty sick the last few days. I'll give them a good cleaning before I have them Ceramic coated and be done with them. I was going to use header wrap, but there isn't enough clearance between the valve covers/cyl heads to fit.

I just need to finish up the linkage to the air valves and they will function from the stock heat control lever---simple.

I can't wait to make some HEAT!

Karl
Auburn, Washington

Billyisgr8 · Post by **Billyisgr8** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:17 pm

Way to go Karl, lots of work thats forsure. Nice design.

Kevin

James Buchan · Post by **James Buchan** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:07 pm

Loking good!!! I would make the suggestion of putting a sump on that engine, gotta feed it when you get on boost!!!

turbobaja · Post by **turbobaja** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 6:42 am

Hi James, I agree with you 100%. That is one of CBs 4gear dry sump pumps on there. I don't want to loose any ground clearance with a sump mounted below the case, so I chose to use a dry sump setup. The tank will be mounted on the firewall behind the rear seat and easily holds 8-10 qts of oil. A friend of mine is running this pump on a NA engine in his '58 ragtop and has been very happy with it. CB has been selling this pump for years, the cover sais "Claudes Buggies", but I've never seen or heard of anyone else using it. It has large gears to draw oil from the sump quickly and feed to filter - cooler - tank, and a smaller set of gears to draw from the tank and feed into the stock oil feed hole. The case is full flowed (couldn't buy it w/out) so I'm using the tapped hole in the case to feed the turbo.

If anyone has any experience w/this oil pump, good or bad, I'd like to hear about it. Short of it having an aluminum cover and not being o-ringed to the case, it seemed like a good pump to go with.

Karl

James Buchan · Post by **James Buchan** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 8:40 am

Awesome, I missed that on your picture.

turbobaja · Post by **turbobaja** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:14 pm

Been makin some progress lately. I got all the boost and intake pipes built, including blow-off valve that recircs. The Air/Air cooler is going to be housed inside a (small as possible) spoiler. There will be a dual fan Setrab oil cooler on the right side. Also built a breather box that drains back into both valve covers. The small tube shaped chamber is a vac/boost canister. Each intake port is going to have a 3/16" hard line running to the canister to give accurate intake manifold pres. readings. I put a .060" restrictor in the port for the vac/boost gauge, other port on top is for blow-off valve.

Heater boxes are all complete and fit nice. I'd like to give a lot of these pipes a black ceramic coating if possible to tone it down a bit. Its a little too shiny right now.

Odyknuck · Post by **Odyknuck** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:57 pm

Really nice work!

Steve Arndt · Post by **Steve Arndt** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:17 pm

Bad as$!!! You must have 200 hours in the plumbing!

You might considering using a Bus/Vanagon heat blower motor. Mount the blower inside the car, and blow clean air through the heater boxes back into the car. Recirculate the air to get it hotter and introduce the air into the heater system that has been no where near the engine to start with.

Very nice. I like the recirc blow off valve (important for off roading) and I like the heavy bracketing and exhausting of the waste gate.