Fkn sweet...I still love this car....and I love what you're doing Pat I've just bought a set of those endless ccx (actually a newer model - MX 72) for the rx7....how amazing are they? Those gauge should look good. My advice now would be what I always wanted to put in it....a race seat and harness!!

Perhaps having the discs machined would fix the shudder

HALTECH E8 AFTERMARKET ECU

Received the ECU in August 2008 from the US but haven’t got round to fitting it yet. Came with plug and play wiring loom and IAT and 3 Bar MAP sensor included. Still having problems with high boost so not much point having it fitted/tuned until I sort this out.

Fitted these gauges late last year, well worth the trouble.

I got the gauges from a place in Melbourne, access auto I think it was. They were doing an offer but they still weren't cheap, probably around $700 for the four. They are made by STRI with titanium cases, very nice movement and no need for controller like for the defi gauges.

quote:

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Originally posted by dez

Nice, do you still have the Defi boost gauge for sale?

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sorry darius has first dibs on it followed by silvastreak. if neither buy its yours

Thought it was about time I wrote something about plans for my MR2.

After a fair bit of deliberation I decided that a water to air intercooler (IC) set up was the way to go on my MR2, irrespective of the power I intended to make. The car is currently fitted with a Berk Tech intercooler but on those really hot days I needed something that can give that feeling you get when driving on a cold day. Without knowing anybody with similar running on their MR2, I figured the main advantage would be the more efficient transfer of heat to water during boost conditions and speedier recovery of inlet temperatures, particularly after a boost event. That combined with less pressure drop through the IC and less length and restrictions to hot and cold pipes, would potentially mean a turbo that doesn’t have to work as hard combined with improved throttle response. That’s my expectation anyways....

The drawbacks such as weight and complexity didn’t really factor in to the equation. I had considerable weight savings already as the heavy CAT and downpipe had been removed along with the A/C system. As far as I was concerned, the complexity and weight is far outweighed by the cooling benefits.

With that in mind I did a fair bit of shopping around to see what best suited my budget and goals. To be honest all the vendors I contacted were useless in responding and providing information. With no confidence in these people, I decided to bite the bullet and buy an ebay kit, buying only the IC and radiator to act as a heat exchanger (HE). The IC I opted for was sized for 600bhp, plenty I thought. The HE I surmised would need to maximise surface area with minimum width for dissipation of heat. The one I procured measures 600 x 300 x 25mm thick.

With the order made, it was time to figure out what diameter piping I needed to act as a conduit for water between IC and HE. With the use of a spreadsheet and knowing the duty of my chosen pump, I worked out the hydraulic losses throughout the system due to restrictions i.e. bends. My greatest concern was the pumping head available from such a small pump suitable for cramped spaces. With a pump maximum flow of 115 litres per minute at around 6 meters of static lift, I knew the restrictions would quickly reduce the pumping head and corresponding flow.

However, contrary to the logic above, I figured restrictions in some cases were a good thing, depending where they were located. I wanted to create a condition whereby the velocity of the water is increased as it enters the IC and HE. The advantage of this increase in velocity being the realisation of turbulent flow conditions resulting in more water in contact with the surfaces it is exchanging heat (or cold) with. These locations would be at the entry to the IC and HE.

It quickly dawned on me after many hydraulic iterations and pipework routing options that no less than 25mm internal diameter piping was going to be the way to go. I hadn’t anticipated this. 25mm doesn’t sound like much until you relate that to the undercarriage of the car, bend radii start to get large and routing options and ground clearance become an issue.

I even considered putting it in the boot but after sizing everything, including the additional fans I would need, I wasn’t willing to sacrifice all that space.

25mm diameter pipework feeding into the 13mm inlet diameters to IC and HE meant the turbulent conditions I was trying to achieve would be realised.

Being satisfied that everything would piece together fine, I started to experiment with the fittings using cheapo plastic stuff for the short term.



I fitted everything in place with a view to revisiting the set up once my engine work and tuning is done. Although solid, the front setup is not ideal and will over time deteriorate due to vibrations so I will attend to this by cushioning and restraining the HE in place combined with some tastier fittings and pipework. However, I need to immediately alter the pipework that returns underneath the front of the car. Although in line with the sway bar supports, Im not willing to take the risk. I reckon returning the pipework through the side beneath the headlight area should do the trick.

The car is now at IDB in Richmond have some engine work done to it. I will finish off the temporary W2A setup when this is done and have it tuned on a dyno. Due to this, I envisage heat soak will not be an issue. I will probably fit a pressure gauge to the system to verify if my hydraulic calculations are correct as there were many assumptions made.