no turbo whistle anymore
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi all,

I've put a Metro Turbo engine in my Mini Van (see "Van Progress"). Upon the first few start/rev attempts I could hear the turbo whistle, but now that the built's complete I can't anymore; the shaft is ok; there's no play and I've got 60psi of oil pressure going there. I'ts not generating any pressure, although you can see the exhaust side spooling up when revving the engine (I took the elbow off). What's going on? The air intake side is rather cramped, could it be a simple lack of air coming in?

thanks,

Arnoud

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

Drive it up the road under load and see if it makes boost then. Revving it up under no load never makes any boost pressure.

ok, thanks; I'll try that first. I was just afraid to ruin something when it gets really hot and it's not working properly.

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

i guess that when you first ran it up it didnt have things like air filter on?

if so you'll probably find that the air filter has killed the noise that you heard.

as Tom says, give a drive under load otherwise you wont know.

I just took it for a brief drive; no boost whatsoever. I even checked the boost gauge and that's fine. Mixture's weird too: at idle I set it at 3% CO; but when I rev it the mixture drops to .2%. I'll stick another needle in first, but still puzzled about the turbo.

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

What needle have you got in ? If it's stock the needle should be BDD.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

With the din the exhaust makes you’ll be hard pushed to pick it out.

Best advice go gentle so the boost builds calmly that’s your best chance of haring the whistle.

Own the day

I ha a BDD in there; now a BDC. No change, even after I removed the air intake duct. It would rev when standing still, but die immediately. Since I ha no choice but to dreive it home (5miles) I decided to see how things went with the plenum removed: that's a vast improvement: it's quick enough in N/A form for the trip tomorrow, so I stuck a K&N cone to the carb and leave the turbo for now. I do hear it whistle when I drive it hard, but it seems to stick at lower revs so the carb gets starved of air or something. There's no way I get above 20mph with the plenum in place. I think this is a dead turbo, although I'm still puzzled as to how that happened. On a positive not: I got an MOT on it today, so the rest is good enough.

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

Is the wastegate actuator still connected to the wastegate?

even a dead/siezed turbo wouldnt hinder performance that drastically i wouldnt have thought?

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Yes it is. I assume it pushes the rod out under pressure? That's how I adjusted it anyway. I stuck a finger down both inlet and exhaust side and there's no play between the impellers, nor is there any play on the shaft. I'm not too experienced with turbo's, but it feels as if it could spin freely no problem. At least with good oil pressure going there I can hopefully drive it to France tonight before I take the whole thing apart again. Running it in N/A form doesn't appear to be a problem right now.

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

Your balance pipe is leaking when you boost up if this item leaks you end up forceing fuel back down the jet. Thats why its running ok with no boost added into the equation.

Own the day

Own the day

I've been thinking of fuel starvation myself, but thought the regulator might be toast or something (seeing that the engine works fine in N/A mode I think it's ok after all, or the carb would flood). BTW I hooked that up how I thought would be right; the drawing in Haynes is horrible and they seem to miss one connection (the bottom one) completely.
Please excuse the stupid question, but which one's the balance pipe? There was a sort of bleed valve on the line coming from the waste gate actuator, but since that was broken I just blocked the hose. There's another hose with valve (an connector) coming from the carb: what do I do with that?

tnx,

Arnoud

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

Some good pics on Phil's site i believe turbo-mini.com

Own the day

This is also known as the "Part-throttle lean off pipe"

In the 13's at last!.. Just

Never Knew that:)

Own the day

And it's also made of a special grade of shiny rubber that is designed to brake up and split as soon as you look at it sideways.

Knew that

Own the day

I assume you have adjusted the wastegate pre-load to increase the boost? Apologies if I am stating the obvious, but did you wind it the right way?

Thanks for the pic:) that line is in place and as far as I can see it still has the original clamps on it.
I almost made it to my destination in France in N/A mode (taking it real easy), but after 900kms out of 1350 the radiator decided to spring a leak, so I had to leave it, collect on Monday. Just so you know; it's illegal in France to tow a car using a rope, God knows why but they fined me 45 euros for doing so.
Anyway, when I get it here I'll connect the fuel pump straight to the carb, just to see what happens. The (Bosch) pump can handle a 5.3 litre V12 with 12.5:1 CR and FI @ 6.5k RPM, so should be able to handle this? The turbo sounds fine on the motorway, so fuel starvation is the likeliest culprit for now.

greetings from rainy France

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

cant tow on a rope?

thats hartsh!

how about on aa tow pole?

you can use a pole, but certainly never on the autoroute; on countrylanes you can't exceed 20km/h. Since we were still 400km from where I wanted to be we abandoned that idea. I'll arrange for a trailer this Monday instead.

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up