1967 912 Type 4 Turbo Build

[Piledriver]

There is a huge thread here where a seasoned engine builder/tuner started off his journey into boostland on a stock 914 2L in pretty good shape...
That didn't last long, or at least the P&L didnt. Maybe it knocked once... (i'll go look for it)

If you are planning on running E85 you may find you want a bit more compression, that can be helped a bit by losing the head and base gaskets on the jugs. I personnally like Copperkote at those joints, have also used ultra copper RTV on the cylinder bases, but use a smear of rtv, no more.

Kennedy Engineering can make you anything you want re: clutch. Make sure you have them balanced.

[Cameron Henlin]

Cleaning my engine off before I get to wiring and assembling things since I have a lot of parts starting to show up. Boy is this engine dirty! I feel like someone must have caked grease and dirt into the cooling fins. Probably going to just hose the tins down in black rustoleum and reinstall them for now for the sake of speed but have to get all of the dang grease off first.


Also: decided to design a quick distributor block off in Fusion 360 since I didn't want water getting down into all the bits and pieces. I am probably going to run it permanently. I published it on thingiverse since I didn't see any free ones out there: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6326887

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[Piledriver]

Nice, and thanks for posting that cover up.

Some use the distributor port as a breather... The regular chimney works well with a pair or 3 woven SS pot scrubbers stuffed in (not steel wool, the woven ones have no loose bits)

[Cameron Henlin]

Spent the evening out in the shop doing some messing around with the Type 4 engine. Came up with a few items to share.

First: Does anyone have a good set of notes on exhaust manifold interchange for Type 4 engines? I haven't found any good info online. I got a good deal on a set of oval port bus manifolds thinking I could build something off of them, but they don't quite line up. I can get one set of studs to align but not the other, although the ports more or less appear that they want to line up. Do I specifically need 914 manifolds to build off of? I took a picture, you can kind of see that it wants to line up, but it's a little difficult to see that the studs don't really align

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Next: I have my intake manifold apart to clean and paint and someone took the time to weld off part off it and then completely clean it up and paint it on the outside. It's fine I guess but I'm struggling to understand why someone do that. EGR delete maybe? I snapped a pic here too

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Planning on starting to paint the tins tomorrow and get the engine all reassembled over the weekend. Should have everything I need to start wiring the EFI next week so want to be ready for that.

[Piledriver]

Heat exchangers: Switch them side to side if they are far off.
Sometimes they need ~36 ounces of persuasion to line up right, and a bit of work with the biggest file you can find...
bit of angle iron with wetordry sandpaper glued on works ok too for final leveling of the sealing surfaces (so you can hit both at once).

You should be making up a shorty header to feed a turbo. Find a pic of a water cooled vanagon exhaust for inspiration.
You don't want those HX as part of your exhaust if you want to make decent power.

[Cameron Henlin]

Couple of short updates here. It's been really cold here so painting my tins has been a bit slower than expected. I've been making good progress with an exhaust fabrication idea I have however so will probably be sharing some updates there when some final pieces show up later this week or early next.

I also just got off the phone with Kennedy engineering. For about $500 they were able to put together a 215mm clutch/pressure plate combo with a 6 puck disc and sprung center section, rated for 280ft/lbs. Should be great for this project so I'll be considering that issue solved for now.

[Cameron Henlin]

Short update, here is the engine as of today. It is nearly ready to test run and go in the car! Just a few small things and I think it will be at least scooting around my driveway.

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[Piledriver]

Looks great! Which turbos? Thinking you bolted the F-pipes to the turbos... may want to add a crossocer.

[Cameron Henlin]

These are just little guy turbos, GT1544s, mounted to reversed bus manifolds that I extended and added T1 flanges to. I am gonna to just run one per bank and combine the outputs before bringing them into a single 930 intercooler. Still only shooting for 200whp or so.

[Piledriver]

The crossover is to give them a steadier "push" from all 4 cylinders. It may work fine as you are trying.

[Cameron Henlin]

The crossover is to give them a steadier "push" from all 4 cylinders. It may work fine as you are trying.

Should be fine. Driving a GT1544 with 1.0L of displacement or so is well within spec

[Wally]

Looks great! I like the coil near plug solution.
Turbo’s hang very low, how did you adress drainage?

[Cameron Henlin]

Looks great! I like the coil near plug solution.
Turbo’s hang very low, how did you adress drainage?

Yes they sit below the pan. I am going to be running a small sump and a scavenging pump to push the oil back up to the top of the engine

[Piledriver]

The crossover is to give them a steadier "push" from all 4 cylinders. It may work fine as you are trying.

Should be fine. Driving a GT1544 with 1.0L of displacement or so is well within spec

My concern is the firing order, each side goes bang,bang then two inactive cycles. The crossover would let both turbos see all 4 exhaust pulses. Probably a non issue.

[panel]

I'm wondering if it'd be easier to swap one of the turbos around so the plumbing of the exhausts or intake(air cleaners) would be better/cleaner and simpler If the exhausts were inside you could link them together ?