Pre adr TX coupe 4ze1 turbo build (was project TC coupe)

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DR_GEM
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Pre adr TX coupe 4ze1 turbo build (was project TC coupe)

Post by DR_GEM »

Updated details as at 04/01/2015:

Project TC coupe came to a grinding halt due to various things meaning the shell was never completed. However I purchased 06EMY's unfinished "Tha Rotor Coupe" project just over 12 months ago with a view to dropping my running gear in.

Refer to Project Gallery thread for more details but essentially I decided to redo 95% of the bodywork on the car anyway, and change direction with the shell. Have spent over 100hours on bodywork for this thing since purchasing.

Below are details of how it will be. Please note whatever is listed has been done / purchased and I've marked the things that need to be done or yet to be bought. As you can see most of the stuff is here just waiting on the shell to put it all back together! :

BODY:

1975 pre adr TX coupe
Almost complete bare metal restoration (exception being roof, bonnet and guards - the bonnet and guards were new old stock)
TG front end conversion
Retaining TX tailights with TG ZZ/R jap bars front and rear (colour coded)
No more shaved handles, locks or filler caps. All gone back to factory chrome handles and locks
Smoothened engine bay
GT mirrors colour coded
Car currently sits in high fill awaiting panel shop instructions to bring it over for respray in similar black pearl (BMW black pearl previously but may change to a Subaru Obsidian Black Pearl will see what happens)


MOTOR:

4ze1
-120 thou bore
- Heavily ported head
- 95lb doube valve springs and moly retainers
- Stainless valves installed - 46mm inlet, 38mm exhaust
- APW swivel feet for greater adjustment
- Custom grind cam (sure cam) with 530 thou lift at the valve
- APM custom headgasket / sealing setup
- ARP 2000 series 12mm headstuds
- Crank was linished, cross drilled and nitrided
- Custom forged rods (custom rod ratio and floating pin size) with arp 625+ rod bolts
- ARP 625+ main bolts
- Ross forged lightweight pistons with short skirting
- Entire rotating mass was balanced and being blueprinted
- Flywheel had a bit of meat taken out of it for weight reduction and balanced
- Precision 6466 dual ball bearing billet CEA ported 4" inlet SP comp housing, t4 0.81 3.75" v band outlet turbine housing
- 4" v band dump pipe to 3.5" bottom half - flanged to 3" pipe to exit from under passenger front door (will be extended for street use)
- tial 44mm ewg flanged for venting at track and plumbed back for street
- Modified Rodeo fuel rail housing 4 x 1650cc bosch motorsport injectors to -8 AN speedflow fittings
- Sard adjustable FPR and gauge
- 2 x Bosch 044 fuel pumps, using in tank walbro 255 as lift pump to 5 litre surge tank. -6 feed and return (for now - may upgrade to -8 feed and return)
- Stainless 2.5" Hotside piping / 3" cold side
- Bored out VN 5.0L throttle body and tps - forward facing at an angle
- Custom Lee Thomas 5.2 litre swept volume sheetmetal plenum on modified rodeo bottom half runners (may be replacing with custom CPC one piece side feed runners and plenum with bell-mouthed runners if funds permit)
- Lee Thomas adjustable cam gear
- Lee Thomas CAS blanking plate
- Plazmaman pro-race 76 series FMIC 450x400x76 with plazmaman silicon joins and clamps
- Alloy radiator (yet to buy)
- 16 row oil cooler
- Davies Craig external electric water pump
- speedflow fittings throughout for cooling, fuel and oil fittings
- M&W pro 14 cdi box
- Will be controlled by Microtech LT10s with X4 and quad coils off CAS (may upgrade to haltech ps1000 funds permitting)

Drivetrain:
- 4 speed gem box for now (have two of these as well as an MUA 5 speed and also a trimatic ready to be built for when it gets serious)
- Remote shifter
- 6 puck sprung brass button clutch
- Custom pressure plate (1.2 ton)
- Modified Auto tailshaft
- Full spool gemi diff with 28 spline axles (commo disc conversion)



Aiming for initially 200rwkw on 98 for run in (will be running 4x 550cc rx7 injectors for this phase so as not to overfuel and also because the bosch 1650cc's will not idle at stoich on 98 fuel due to latency)

Then up the boost to 45psi and try crack 400rwkw and 1000nm of crank torque.

Mick


Cheers
Mick
Last edited by DR_GEM on Sun Jan 04, 2015 9:56 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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DR_GEM
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Post by DR_GEM »

Post Comments in Gemini Gallery HERE: http://www.ozgemini.com/forums/non-tech ... 932#318932
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Post by DR_GEM »

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DR_GEM
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Post by DR_GEM »

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DR_GEM
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Post by DR_GEM »

More pics to come tomorrow

As you can see above, car has been sandblasted (except the roof and thin sections of the doors)

car is now completely in high fill - will still be rubbed back for file finishing certain sections, but it was done to ensure no rust formed

boot replacement and radiator support will be happening this weekend - will get pics then
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DR_GEM
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Re: Project TC Coupe Drag Car

Post by DR_GEM »

It has been a very long time, but alas its update time (and change of thread title too! )

Unfortunately the tc coupe sat for a very long time after the last update a few years back. Work, time, and various family situations were the culprits.

During this time, certain sections of the shell began rusting, and alot of the hard work put into sandblasting, rubbing back and making it straight went down the toilet. I'm still pretty upset about it, but nothing I can do now.

In the meantime I've been playing with various other cars, including my previous daily driver 2004 Subaru Liberty GT, which now makes over 400awkw and has taken a s*#t load of time and money out of my life. Also learnt to tune during this journey I've been on with the subie so will be self tuning the gemi.

But the gemi has always been my true love, and something I wanted to finish for a long time.

I will fess up now as the one who purchased "Tha rotor coupe" from Todd just over 12 months ago, as detailed in this build thread:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=20810

Purchased as a rolling shell with diff and brakes, and a 10 point cage.

My reasons for purchasing were to have a shell that could accomodate my running gear and interior without too much fuss.

Unfortunately after a closer look there were various things that needed attention on the shell. This isn't a dig at Todd or Slimer as I'm sure they were well intentioned with the build. In their defence too, alot of the work had already been claimed to have been completed when Todd purchased.

Long and short, rust was found in various areas, alot of the areas that had been "shaved" had massive sink back or cracks in the bog, and certain sections of the paint were dry or showed crows' feet beneath the clear coat. Bootlid needed too much work. Doors also had too many layers of paint on them from past life and had cracks, crows feet, and a hell of alot of sink back in them.

So decision was made to start practically a complete bare metal rub back including replacement of both coupe doors and bootlid. Front bonnet and guards were retained as these were New items but unfortunately had developed rust too (albeit easily repaired as it was surface below the high fill which tells me it got some moisture before being high filled). With the exception of the roof, bonnet and beaver panel, shell was bare metaled and redone.

Also made the decision to get rid of most of the "shaved" areas for a more classic look. So locks and door handles are back and door popper kit gone. Fuel filler vents have also been replaced and the inner and outer skin for the fuel filler section replaced from the above tc donor coupe (really affected me chopping that coupe up :( - at least the bootlid, fuel vent, doors and some of the glass from that car will live on on this one )

Kept the "shaved" look on the front wiper vents (although all the plating wasnt welded solidly and required 5mm of bog to sit flat which was sinking, so we went back to bare, welded new plates on top (all the way around not just spot welds) and redid the bog work. We also rewelded the guards properly to avoid future cracking, as some of the welds had broken or were only tacked in and filled with bog.

After more than id say 100-120 hours put into the bodywork, the shell is now in high fill and awaiting final block back and respray as soon as panel shop opens up after Xmas break. Will be redoing it in black pearl although I may end up going to a Subaru black pearl instead of the BMW one that was previously on there.

I also needed to change crossmember, pedal box, clutch master, brake lines and handbrake setup from the donor car, as these had all been modified to suit the rotor setup or not completed.

My 4ze1 has been stripped down again and the following things being done at the moment:

- new custom headgasket setup from APM with arp2000 headstuds to handle 45psi boost I'm planning to run
- further cleanup of ports on the head as we found it wasn't balanced flow when we threw it on the flow bench (particularly exhaust side)
- rebalanced and blueprinted with new arp 625 rod bolts - all tolerances will be spot on to suit an upper rev limit of 8500rpm and 45psi boost
- new cam from sure cam - wont give away too much but it has massive lift at the valve and big duration
- swivel feet adjusters for clearance
- adjustable cam gear from Lee Thomas

Also purchased the following ready to install once engine assembled and body painted:

- precision 6466 t4 twin scroll dual ball bearing turbo (950hp turbo)
- Gemracing exh manifold (my old one was lost somewhere)
- tial 44mm ewg
- plazmaman pro-race series 1000hp intercooler
- bosch 1650cc injectors
- twin bosch 044's with 5lt surge tank and check valve etc
- speedflow fittings throughout for fuel, cooling and oil system
- gilmer drive
- m&w pro14 cdi box

Will be aiming for 400-420 rwkw on e85 once its all tuned.

Still have the microtech to run the above (which is still brand new) but now thinking of going the haltech ps1000 to support finer tuning resolution and antilag, two step, nos control, closed loop boost control, full time closed loop fueling, 4d timing maps etc etc.

Suspension is being worked through as we speak. Cage won't pass andra inspection so for now will leave it in and if / once the car runs the times to justify it, will get it chopped out and redone. One thing certain though I'm not touching chassis rails - will remain street class vehicle unless by some miracle I can find a way to make over 1000rwhp and run into the 7's one day. Also keen to run this as a circuit car for the time being not just drag so will need to keep that in mind.

Pictures will be up shortly of progress and work that was undertaken to get it to this stage.

Pushing hard to get this done but its coming together

Mick
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DR_GEM
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Re: Pre adr TX coupe 4ze1 turbo build (was project TC coupe)

Post by DR_GEM »

Been speaking to a couple of people regarding a built auto.

Seems there's no chance in hell a trimatic will handle more than 600hp atw (despite damo and maybe Darren proving otherwise). Biggest difference with my setup there is the extra 750cc of capacity which will create more torque down low and thus kill the box alot quicker

Seems I have to go down the path of a custom bellhousing to suit a C4 or Jatco 3 speed. Which equals more dollars (over $1000 for bellhousing) and custom Convertor ($1200)

Total box cost will therefore be $5500 or so plus custom tailshaft ($350-500) and mounts.

I guess the other alternative is a clutchless gforce or Jericho box - which will cost upwards of $8k so may as well stick to the auto.

Any pointers on bellhousing would be appreciated

Mick
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DR_GEM
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Re: Pre adr TX coupe 4ze1 turbo build (was project TC coupe)

Post by DR_GEM »

So I've hit a massive brick wall with the build.

Been speaking to an engineer to certify my build for a couple of months. This is to ensure legality and validity of driving the coupe on the street.

With the modification guidelines changing in 2011, I was of the understanding from reading the code that a tx coupe should be fine with a 2554cc engine, as limitation in cc's is tare weight x 2.75 for forced induction.

Guidelines also state that the tare weight when calculating needs to be taken from the HEAVIEST sedan version of that year and model number. So I've been using 932kg as the tare weight which is what I've seen in various places for 1975 tx gemini SL sedan. This wouldve allowed 2563cc engine to be turbocharged and engineered in nsw

Seems the RMS (roads authority) provides the matrix for engineers to use, and for tx gemini's its 860kg!!

Fkd if I know where they got 860kg from as the heaviest sedan in tx, but that's what it is.

So max capacity engine for forced induction in a tx gemi is 2365cc

In essence - I'm screwed. My engine combo will need to be rethought now. I even went to the trouble of asking if I destroked the engine down to 2350cc would that suffice? Answer was no as the oem capacity of the engine, as designated by the engine number, is what is used - irrespective of internal work.

This now leaves me in a precarious position - do I start again on the block with a 4zd1 and sell my current forged 4ze1 block?

Can't fit 94mm pistons in a 4zd1 block. Rods and crank will work but even if I could bore it out that far, the current forged pistons in the 4ze1 will stick out about 10mm from the block, which can't happen.

Need to make a decision now. One alternative is not to register it...

Not happy at the moment

Mick
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Re: Pre adr TX coupe 4ze1 turbo build (was project TC coupe)

Post by Jonno »

Ahh f*#k!!!
75 TX Coupe
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DR_GEM
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Re: Pre adr TX coupe 4ze1 turbo build (was project TC coupe)

Post by DR_GEM »

So after calming down a little, i went through the following options:

1. Sell the current shell and buy a TD coupe (over the 930kg requirement to run a turbo 4ze1)
2. Buy a 4zd1 block have it prepped to same standards as my 4ze1 - leave it as a 2.3 litre and try sell the 4ze1 block
3. Buy a 4zd1 block and use the 4ze1 crank, same rods out of my 4ze1 and get custom pistons made to suit the longer stroke. This would make it a 2.45 litre so would only be losing a bit of capacity from my current engine. With this I wouldn't be comfortable boring it out more than 2mm, taking bore to 91.3mm with a 95mm stroke. Probably won't rev as hard but will make more torque down low. Rod ratio would be 1.58:1 as opposed to 1.66 for the 4zd1. The higher the rod ratio the better (up to say 1.8) as cylinder wall loading is reduced with higher rod ratio.

Costs for the above are:

1. Over 5k changeover and lost time
2. Approx 1.5-2k
3. Approx 1.5k

I'm leaning toward option 3 - but maybe limiting the bore to 91mm to be safe given the big boost I plan on running and with a lower rod ratio its better safe than sorry.

What are people's thoughts? Would a 2.4 litre be good enough? Is it worth finding another shell etc for the extra 350cc of capacity I would gain by using my current engine?
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Re: Pre adr TX coupe 4ze1 turbo build (was project TC coupe)

Post by STRIP »

Option 4. Buy 2lt piazza motor, stamp numbers onto 2.6 and destroy 2.0, ssshhhh. No one (who would check) will ever know so long as the other numbers are not used. $25 for number punch kit.
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DR_GEM
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Re: Pre adr TX coupe 4ze1 turbo build (was project TC coupe)

Post by DR_GEM »

Thanks but not interested in going down that path. The engineer actually said please don't try any funny business with the block too (to which I was extremely offended and told him in no uncertain terms that it wasnt a consideration)

The large 4ze1 lettering on the side and back of the block would more than likely give it away also
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Re: Pre adr TX coupe 4ze1 turbo build (was project TC coupe)

Post by DR_GEM »

So I've sourced two 4zd1 running long blocks (one for spare as they're getting harder to find)

Now decision needs to be made whether to use the 4ze1 crank taking stroke to 95mm or keep the 90mm stroke of the 4zd1 crank?

Yes I know - no replacement for displacement but I don't want this to stop revving at 7000rpm as it would render my large 6466 turbo underutilized.

Seeking opinions on whether to stroke it (bore x stroke will go to 91mm x 95mm and end up with a 2.45 capacity. Or stick to the d1 crank and oversquare at 91mm bore 90mm stroke for a 2.3 litre capacity.

Rod ratios:
E1 crank: 1.58:1
D1 crank: 1.66:1

Rpm at which 5000feet per minute upper limit of piston speed is reached:

Stroker: 8000rpm
D1 crank: 8400rpm

This doesn't mean the engine will rev safely and freely to those limits, but they're the theoretical limits of the engine holding together while still making power.

Any advice welcome

Mick
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Re: Pre adr TX coupe 4ze1 turbo build (was project TC coupe)

Post by moley »

When I looked into going the 4z way every engineer I spoke to down here said no 4z turbos in any model. It's a ncop so the rules should all be the same, that's why I went back to the g series. I might have words to my engineer again soon and find out what the go is. Strip is not wrong tho, but a decent ais will realise that the engine code has been removed. Lots of wrx blokes used to remove the square ej25 plaque and bang them in early gc8s but our workshop was onto it. It all comes back on the engineer or the inspector and you get your licence suspended if you miss s*#t like that.
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Re: Pre adr TX coupe 4ze1 turbo build (was project TC coupe)

Post by DR_GEM »

I have thoroughly canvassed the rules and an LA3 conversion allows an engine up to 2.75 times the database weight of the vehicle to be used for forced induction. The weight used is the HEAVIEST sedan version of that year/model excluding weight of any optional extras like ac, tow bar etc.

So even if you have a coupe, wagon, panelvan etc, the standard applied is the heaviest sedan of your particular model.

The database of the nsw rms is clearly wrong / based on some weird tare weight as this is what they show:

Tx 860kg
Tc 894kg
Td 920kg
Te 940kg

So the te by rights can have a 2.6 turbo in nsw

Mick
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