Turbo Spooling

11th November 2007.
After a mournful start to the day and a number of interesting thoughts conjured up by the bishop of our church , whilst visiting with my daughter who is in Rainbows. I ventured back to the garage.

I noticed that the actuator valve was not closing entirely and remembered reading an article on the Internet which suggested winding back the actuator arm turnbuckle five turns to obtain the best boost with the Collins actuator and to ensure that the valve was clamped shut. I had not yet managed to acquire the silicon hose to connect the actuator to the compressor housing nor had I managed to buy the correct turbo housing brass tail which was a T piece allowing a boost gauge to be fitted.

Whilst in the garage I decided to see if the Turbo would spool up If I held the turbo inlet to the exhaust. I wanted to see if the turbine would spool up before I released the funds to build the stainless exhaust to turbo manifold as this was going to be fabricated by a company that could fabricate, weld and mill stainless.

I started the engine and held the turbo flange against the exhaust flume. At tick over nothing moved. I reved the engine and watched to see if the compressor turbine spun up. It spun up very easily. I quickly removed the turbo from the exhaust flow as I had not plumbed the oil feed or the oil return to keep the bearings lubricated.

This was a major part of the testing for the turbo as I was unsure that the RS Cosworth T3 could be driven by the 1641 lump. I had intentionally chosen a small compressor to allow it to spool up at low reves.

The next phase was to have the stainless exhaust union made to allow the turbo unit to be bolted to the exhaust.

I had purchased a T piece for the oil supply from the pressure gauge output although I would have to get taps and dies to re-thread this to 10mm 1.0mm pitch as I had bought a T piece with 1/8 bsp on each thread.

I also had just purchased a stainless exhaust from a cosworth 4x4 that i was intending to shorten an re-bend to create a screamer type pipe with a park arrestor on it. I would have to receive the exhaust before I new for sure what size pipework it used as I was not sure if it was 2" or 3" pipe.

Christmas was approaching at great speed and I was going to concerate on my family christmas for the next couple of weeks or months.

Hopefully some of the new parts I have ordered would turn up and the exhaust manfold would be made and delivered.