Front-Mid Engined Opel Manta A-Series Project

[young_un1]

I thought I'd post some pictures of my ongoing project. It's a Nissan CA18DET powered A - Series that should only weigh about 800kg's when it's done. Basically it started as a car that seemed a lot more sound than it actually was; but now, 6 months down the line, it's coming together and I cannot wait to get it out on the road! More pics will follow but the ones below give you an idea of the progress to date... Many thanks to Simon Peckham of Suffolk County Mantas for all his help.

This was the car when I picked it up...

Trust me, it looks a lot better in the pic than it was!

Within about 3 weeks it looked like this!

It's pretty stressful taking a 9" grinder to the front of your car!

The chassis required a fair bit of chopping and changing to get the engine as far back as I wanted. Just as well the rails were rotten as a pear and needed replacing and strengthening anyway!

The front pulley of the engine sits just behind the front crossmember so I'm hoping this will help improve the handling by bringing the weight to the centre of the car.

This was the first turbo we went for (a T28) but, in the pursuit of more power this changed for a T3 later on...


This was about two months ago...



Decided to keep it simple and light - two seats, a steering wheel and some floor mount pedals should do the trick. This car will be my daily driver but I'm happy to loose a few luxuries to keep the car light.




This is from about a month ago, just after the T3 was fitted;


I now have a car with no big holes in it but I'm sick of welding hehe



Am switching from 4 lights at the front to two, to make way for the intercooler. Also gone for some bigger American lights to move away from the Euro styling and look a bit more yank.

May even fit this to beef up the looks...


Rob came over to the workshop to have a chat with me about the VEMS and I was amazed by how powerful a piece of software it is! I can see many hours spent tuning over Winter. What power do you reckon I'll see with the following mods:

VEMS (obviously!)
T3 cosworth turbo (ported compressor housing & roller bearings)
Equal length primary exhaust manifold
New big end bearings with ARP studs
555cc injectors
uprated fuel pump & regulator
27 x 6 x 2.5 inch FMIC 2.25" in/outlets
!Very! Short, single (straight through) silenced, 3" exhaust system (exits through the front wing)

I also have a paddle clutch etc to cope with the increase in power as well as an 8 point roll cage and other chassis strengthening mods.

I suppose what I'm asking is; what boost am I likely to be able to run safely and hence, what power am I likely to get?

Anyways, if I've forgotten anything, I'm open to suggestions on the parts front and I've no doubt I'll be asking plenty questions when I get the VEMS unit in the car!

Cheers,
          Alan.

[cliffb75]

Hello Alan and Welcome   

Project is looking really good - some top sheet metal work going on there. Good choice of engine too 

From your spec I'd be wary of running much above 1.2bar or so, purely because with a fairly small IC and standard CR (8.5:1) you will be quite det limited at high load. That should see you in the mid 200's

But I'm guessing the turbo you have is similar to the GT30 family capable of about 45 lb/min of flow at 1.5bar - i.e. good for 400 to 450 hp?

So if you are prepared to spend a bit more on the engine then some wossner pistons will drop the CR to 8:1, which will allow you to go a bit madder on the boost. There is a CA running near 400hp on standard rods so you could risk it - personally I've gone for forged rods as well for the peace of mind.

You may have to suck it and see then with that intercooler - it looks a bit small for 400bhp to me, but you'll have to see what sort of temps you get as you push the boost up. For short periods it may be fine, and should help the response.

Have a look at my project http://www.sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=219069, which has a lot of parallel with yours, but more importantly have a trawl around the rest of the SXOC forum if you haven't already - lots of useful info just waiting to be found if you search for it.

Oh and get some pics of it up on there - I think it'll go down very well like mine and ekjim's CA powered Anglia.

Good luck with the build - look forward to seeing it progress 

[rob@vems.co.uk]

It was good to meet you on saturday Alan, I've little doubt that it will emerge in the same state as all the other cars I've seen from Suffolk County Mantas - perfectly crafted.

[young_un1]

Had a good bit of progress on the car this weekend - thanks to Simon for pitching in to move things on a bit. You can't see it in the pics but the engine bay and interior is now all seam-sealed and was looking really good when I left.
As you can see, my exhaust system is pretty short & unrestrictive!! There's probably no more than 3 feet of pipe for the exhaust gases to travel through and it may or may not have a silencer. We'll see; it depends how much the turbo silences it. Either way it should help release a few horses.

Also got some of the intercoller pipes very roughly mocked up.







All in all, a good weekend...

[cliffb75]

Looking good. That engine bay is going to look great when its painted. Poor little CA looks lost though - plenty of space for an RB conversion later 

That exhaust will certainly help from the point of view of improving turbine efficiency.

But do bear in mind that most tracks have noise limits now, so if you plan on doing any trackdays it will be worth making provision to fit additional silencing when required.

For the road and drag racing that pipe should be cool though. Can't wait to hear it 

[young_un1]

Apologies for the lack of posts. Here's an update:

The fully mocked up engine bay:





The interior:


The rather large brakes:


The new paddle clutch:


And finally, the engine bay painted and the engine back in:



Many Thanks to Simon Peckham of Suffolk County Mantas for all that he's done:) We're hoping to have it fired up by the end of the month!

[young_un1]

Been a while since there was an update for this but, trust me, it's come a long way.

Been sorting out the calibration etc of the VEMS today. I encountered a few problems:

Currently I don't appear to be getting any kind of spark... I have looked at the wiring and everything's fine. The input to the S13's power transistor unit is registering about 0.5V on each of the supplies from the ECU. There doesn't appear to be anything reaching the coils however. Is it just impossible to measure the supply using a standard multimeter as it's such a quick pulse? I have power reaching the coils from the ignition source but alas, no spark. Is there any way to check if my coil packs have ceased to function?!
Does anyone have any other suggestions? My earth is good too. Hmm....
I'll get some pics on soon.

Cheers guys,
                 Alan.

[young_un1]

Also, should the megatune display show an rpm value when cranking as mine is at zero just now...

[hilly]

Also, should the megatune display show an rpm value when cranking as mine is at zero just now...

Yes it should, that will be why there is no spark, VEMS doesn't think the engine is turning.

Hilly

[young_un1]

Hmmm, that's worrying...
Any ideas why it wouldn't be registering? I assume it's going to be a primary trigger issue, whether it be wiring or setup?

[rob@vems.co.uk]

First things first lets check that the CAS has:
Continuity to ground on PinA (which has a solid black wire)
PinB is getting +12v (next to PinA with a black wire with white stripe)

The crank signals are:
Primary trigger PinC (Green and Black wire) to VEMS EC36 Pin27
Secondary trigger PinD (Green and Yellow wire) to VEMS EC36 pin13

These can be tested if you put a DVM between the Wire between PinC and ground (PinA) you can turn the engine by hand and you should see the voltage go high, then low as the slot passes the optical sensor.

[young_un1]

ok, been messing about with it and turns out there was a bad earth on the CAS but I sorted that and it still wasn't sparking.

Not 100% as it was fluctuating a bit but i think the +ve supply was only about 5v (it was fluttering around that area) Not sure why though to be honest...the wiring all seems fine in relation to the diagrams...

Just tried the pin c to ground combo but its totally dark now so it'll have to be a morning job. Maybe i should invest in a torch?!

Checked the manufacturers recommendations regarding the resistances of the coil and they were all high (maybe as a result of damp ingress?) they were all the same value of 11ohms rather than the 0.6 ohm recommended.They're currently drying out under some heat.

Checked the transistor according to the manual and there was a total lack of any continuity so I assume that there may be damp in that too, so it's drying. We'll have to see if it's screwed or not.

[young_un1]

Had a try at just giving the cam angle sensor a 12v feed straight from the battery, then cranked it over, looking for a spark or a reading on the megatune tacho indicator...no joy sadly... ah well, tomorrow's a new day...
I must be missing something.

[rob@vems.co.uk]

Have you checked the pulses from the CAS?  If you disconnect the EC36 plug from the VEMS and put your DVM between Pin 26 and Pin27 you should see the voltage fluctuate, if your DVM has a pulse counter then that should give a reading as the engine turns.

To experiment, go to Settings->Secondary trigger / Cam Sync settings
And put 2 in the box titled TODO! Should be 0x02 when disabled.  Click Burn To ECU then close.

Check for any cranking signal.

If theres still none, swap the pins, its easy enough to get the pin13 and pin 27 connections round the wrong way - I did when I wired up my S14.

[young_un1]

Aha, success! Got a nice spark sorted out...phew!

I'm currently trying to ascertain whether the injectors are working though. They don't appear to be making any clicks or noise at all. I've attached an old injector to the connection to be able to look at them outwith the confines of the engine and there doesn't appear to be a whole lot going on. Should I get a notable voltage across the pins of the connection?