985cc Turbocharged Nova Sprint Car

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Originally Posted by novarally

Ben,

The engine that's in the car is a completely standard Corsa SRi 1400cc. We just chucked that in and used it to fabricate the new engine mounts etc.

The 'real' engine is currently away being rebuilt, but it does use a standard exhaust manifold, which has been cut and had a turbo flange welded on. I can certainly get you a picture or two if that's useful?

I will get some better photos of the car and the new, spaceframed front end at the weekend, when I get a bit of daylight and spare time.

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Yeah some pictures would be great. I've been looking at converting a standard manifold myself. A few people that I've spoken to have said if you weld a mild steel turbo flange to the cast manifold it would crack once it gets hot. Have you had any problems with this? Any ideas whats been used to weld it?

cheers pal.

Im sure mike welded a cast t2-t3 adaptor to a spi manifold

Cant wait to see the pics of the updates

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Originally Posted by novarally

With very soft compound hillclimb slicks the last thing you want to be doing is ratchet strapping onto the tyres, as you end up distorting them.

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i'd have thought most people use a set of paddock wheels.

but i did see a bloke at a petrol station taking a benetton f1 (many years ago, near bicester) car to a show in germany & he had it tied down over its wheels.

You cannot weld cast without pre and post heating it. You will probably do a better job using an MMA welder with the appropriate rods too, for the effort it takes you may aswell have a tubular one made if your thinking of turboing a small block

sorry not meaning to high jack colins thread here.

burgo, I'm sure mike used a t2-t3 adaptor for his turbo build. he had some engineering work done to it so it bolted to the standard downpipe bolts. but his turbo sat very low down as the adaptors probably 4-5" deep.

jake I've been told by various people that welding it wouldn't work properly but colins obviously seems to work so i'm interested to know how his has been done.
I've thought of making a tubular manifold as ive got a spare 4 branch manifold here but could imagine profiling the 4 pipes into 1 and to a flange to be an absolute nightmare and funds don't really allow to have one made.

My brother on here dervy welded a different flange to his diesel manifold, that never cracked

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Originally Posted by _Jake

You cannot weld cast without pre and post heating it. You will probably do a better job using an MMA welder with the appropriate rods too, for the effort it takes you may aswell have a tubular one made if your thinking of turboing a small block

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A proper reply.
You need nickel rods for welding cast,sure ya can mig it,i mig'd my 205 gti cracked manifold,but don't expect it to last long.
Certainly not in competition conditions anyway!

Good to see you back on the South coast....

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Originally Posted by ben doodar

Yeah some pictures would be great. I've been looking at converting a standard manifold myself. A few people that I've spoken to have said if you weld a mild steel turbo flange to the cast manifold it would crack once it gets hot. Have you had any problems with this? Any ideas whats been used to weld it?

cheers pal.

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Photos to follow (probably at the weekend). I need to dig it out from storage.

Thinking about it, I now have a feeling that the adaptor for the turbo has been bolted on, rather than welded. But the photos will confirm this.

With reference to having a tubular manifold made, it isn't quite as simple as that, as tubular ones have a tendency to crack under the strain of the weight of a turbo, so need to be made from thicker gauge materials, and/or supplemented by a hanger/damper/crane of some sort, so the weight advantages aren't necessarily as great as you might hope.

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Originally Posted by Benn

Good to see you back on the South coast....

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Thank-you Benn. Nobody could be happier than me to be back.