turbo124.com

Bugger that-the guy thats doing the branch offered to do the boost pipes as well.So be it then.

outta curiosity, why did you decide to go with the standard plenum and run more piping instead of an aftermarket plenum, or the plenum with the intake at the front and less piping?

It kind of bothered me at first, But then after seeing the mile long pipes being used on alot of factory turbocars I decided it shouldn't be a problem.

Also there would be no room to go straight through anyway as my radiator is huge.

Engine looks terrific! Did you buff the cam box covers yourself? Do you just maintain them with Simichrome or something, or are they clearcoated?

Thanks,

John

The entire head was polished like this.. Some bonehead at the builder bead blasted it.. I had the cam covers at home so they were not bead blasted.

I mist coated with clearcoat.

Wow been a long time since an update...

Here is most of my work over this past winter..

The car will have an in car computer, I have a 7" lilliput touch screen installed, and below are screen shots of the software running on a p166 laptop..

Software is called road runner, and is using a modified media car skin, with extensive embedding of the megatune, megatweak, and Destinator3 "ported from palm os"..

What do you think?

one more of the on screen keyboard..

!!!!

Here is a nice in dash install of a lilliput touch screen.
as an example.. Mine is not done yet. now that the coding is done I can start the installation

Cool

First I limp to the side like my leg was broken
Shakin' and twitchin' kinda like I was smokin'
Crazy wack funky
People say ya look like M.C. Hammer on crack, Humpty
That's all right 'cause my body's in motion
It's supposed to look like a fit or a convulsion
Anyone can play this game
This is my dance, y'all, Humpty Hump's my name


but serisouly, looks good...

outta curiosity tho, where is it going to be mounted? i cant see it in the dash of a spider.... I'd love to do something like this myself though, I've already got a few rough ideas, but i'd still rather have just a radio sitting in the dash...

Im mounting the screen on its stand right in front of the shifter,, There is no console in my car "actually a bunch of electronics in its place" so the screen isnt gonna block anything. I'll have to look down at it a bit but that wont bother me. I have a custom carbon fiber dash, and have some extra room in the cockpit, this will be bolted to the C.F. tranny tunnel cover about 6" in front of the shifter. Should look cool with my new cobol blue guages, e.t.c. I'll try and get some pic's of it all lit up once i get this in place.

Update it runs!
Not great but it runs..
I'll post updates as I start to tune the enrichenment and ve tables.

Beautiful motor.

atm im building an 8V turbo myself, but im just going to modify the extractors into a turbo exhaust manifold.

y are is ur exhaust manifold sooo long? does this improve torque? or are the ones i have not good enough?

HEY do u really think that intercooler is goin to big enough to flow wat u want? Its thick but very small for the likes of wat it seems will be a powerfull boosted monster?

The intercooler should be more than sufficiant, I've actually downsized the pipes at the entrance and exit of the cooler from 2.5" to 2.25" to match my boost pipes.

The header is actually a clone of the Joe Serra turbo header from the eighties. the runners are supposed to improve low end torque, however this is somewhat offset by the cooling effect of the long runners, thats why I wrapped them in heat tape, "to try and keep the heat inside".


Also they have an incredible tone to them, the engine just sounds great, and the exhaust note has the header tone to it that I love so much.

I need new injectors, 2 of them are totally plugged, or burnt, im only getting fuel to 2 cylinders, this explains the poor running.

where can u find these joe serra turbo headers? or u have to custom make them?

anything in australia? and what if u go inbetween the stock size, and urs... do u get the best of both performance? low end torque and top end?

You know its funny, I had though that Joe Serra was long gone and out of buisness, But then I found an old add of his and sent him an email..

He still makes all the parts, from the old Serra turbo kits, as well as all of his performance parts, still available.

I'll try and dig up his email address for you,, I would have bought one from Joe but built my own as I was unable to find any data on the Serra Performance Connection..

I'll get back to you..

thank u.

also, how much power u wanting to run with ur motor?

i have a t3 atm as well.. but gonna change it to a bigger one.
i can only pump MAX 250hp at the wheels. its a turbo from the calais.

http://www.meccanicshop.com
Mechanix
The Meccanic Shop
1 Valhalla Place
Valhalla, NY 10595
914-328-7066

The website seems to be down, but was available as of last fall..

From what I have gathered the two son's of Joe Serra are running the shop, and still producing parts.

Joe was a huge player in the fiat/lancia tc performace world back in the eighties.

They sent me a catalog by mail, it was the same one that I used to have back in the eighties, like looking back in time...

I have no idea about the potential of my engine, It has a t3/t4 hybrid, nothing huge tho, I really wanted it to be driveable.

I have a source on some 24lb injectors for the l-jet.
http://www.oldebottles.com/italiancarspage5.htm

Odd website but he has brand new oversized injectors for the fiat, and they are only $315 us dollars per set.

I think 250hp is alot for such a small car, I would be worried about the drivetrain if mine produced more than that.

Have you looked at the phantom grip L.S.D. ?

im converting to a 131 gearbox, and a 132 diff

the phantom lsd.. yes i wrote it down, but havent had a chance to search it. what is it?

i got quoted for a guy in sydney to convert my diff to lsd.... $1800 to $2500

phantom grip is a device that installs between the spider gears in your diff,
it acts as a locker when the power is applied, and automatically disengages during cornering.. I've heard both good and bad about them..
I have one but havn't tried it yet.

STF: surely its cheaper to have an aussie market rwd lsd chopped and mounted? i seem to recall someone in adelaide saying a vn (ish) commodore LSD cost 1100 to get into his 124...

another benefit would be the wider range of aftermarket parts/ratio's to choose from

ur right, i can put another brand of diff in, e:g a hilux, though i want to keep my car as italian as possible, dont want to convert it to 1000 diff pieces around the globe.. i dont want it to be a frankenfiat

the other reason is because i know these parts can handle alot of power.. if not.. then i would consider a jap diff or gearbox

as jap as i would like to go will be the turbo, BOV, and other minor components..

From what I hear they are called Phantom Grip for a reason...you never really know the grip is there...

I have heard both good and bad about the phantom grip,
Alot of has to do with the installation and setup of the diff.
and the spring set used.

that's cool each person gets to decide how original and/or pure they want to have their car.. its why building your own is so much fun!

I put in the new 24# injectors and she fired right up and idled very smoothly for about a minute, then it started to burn the oil and stalled.
Clean the plugs and it happens again the same.

My engine keeps fouling spark plugs with the oil left over from the build, Anyone got a suggestion on how best to clear this out?

The car is now running quite well, Megasquirt was upgraded to msns_extra code and has a 12x12 fuel table now.

The car starts right up and idles great.

Fuel injection cant be beat for good starts.

Ive actually seen 5 psi of boost with the car in nuetral about half rev.

The engine has a unique sound with the header,turbo,2 - 1/2" exhaust.
"my neighbor's hate me!"

I'll be moving on to break lines, next.

Blocking out the body , and paint "candy red" to follow and be completed by fall.

My goal is to spend all winter doing the final assembly of the completed restoration.

Here is the trunk.

Here is the rear window etching i did with a fiat sticker and a sand blaster.

pics from a few weeks ago outside. "my spot putty is showing"

some custom sub enclosure's for the back seat area.
Allways wanted to try a set of these things..
Its a plywood base, a wooden ring, wrapped in a fleece blanket, dround in a gallon of epoxy resin, bondo'd smooth,,

You get it right!

very nice, most people bugger them up first attempt!

what woofers are those? what is the volume of the enclosures? (or is it a case of "this is all that will fit"?)

Definetly a case of what will fit.. Volume is about twice that of the woffer itself..

The subs are Electrovoice Force 12's.. "no wattage rating"

They are really for large PA systems and can handle many hundreds of watts.

I just love the back of these subs so mounting them this way just looks better, the sound is the same either way you mount them.

Jim

with enclosures that small, inverting them is worth it when you consider the extra volume the enclosure ends up with.. and yeah either way, just wire it out of phase so its doing the same thing and no dramas.

force 12's... sweet.

EV used a variation of those in the 'manifold' PA system back in the 80's... The manifold PA was the first one where the speaker backs were exposed, and the speakers fired into four tuned chambers...



They would tear your head off at 50 feet...

(the only semi-affordable thing that sounded better back them was Turbosound)

Finally the car is parked in the paint booth!
A the product of 5 years work will be visable soon.
I cant wait to start the final assembly.

Its going to be a Kandy job.. Red over silvery pearl.

here are some early pics of the paint..

No wetsanding or buffing has been done yet.

A bit of extra orange peel as I added extra clear for color sanding.

This color loks different every time you look at it.

started to color sand and buff.. Im happy with the paint.. Done in a three car garage.. Sanding for dust removal is constant.. So why not color sand the clear..