My EZ30 build for real boost

[Taj]

Hey all

This project has already been a long time in the making but I wanted to start putting together some documentation now that I feel like I am making some good progress on things!

I would like to start off by referring you to the below thread - because this is where the Turbo life started for my car:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=35009

I bought this well-made DIY setup from Dave / 'vaccine' once he had had his fun with it and wanted to move it on. This happened in late 2018 for me.
With the motor completely unopened, mine made 285kW and later 298kW on the Pulse Racing dyno (E85), but suffered from head lift and coolant loss when on boost/full power only as the vast majority of our stock-engine turbo setups do at some point. It ran a best of 12.045 @ 120 at the dragstrip, with a MPH best of 122mph.

298kw dyno graph

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12045 drag strip

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I daily drove it for 4 years and 50,000km, with one head gasket change in the middle of this (it stayed good for about a year and a half before starting to lift the heads again).

Finally recently it let go, it snapped a rod and punched a hole in the block. I had already started to piece together components for an engine build, but now I am accelerating that process and would like to share.

Engine internals parts list:
- Closed deck EZ30 block, drilled for larger head studs
- Slightly modified heads - light porting (exhaust ports) and reshaping to combustion chambers
- Intake cams from U30 (post-facelift) heads - these have slightly higher lift
- Exhaust cams from Z30 (pre-facelift_ heads - higher lift again
- ARP 12mm 625+ head studs
- Pure Performance Motorsport I-beam conrods
- CP forged pistons (9.7:1 CR, 0.010" oversize)
- Kelford KVS30 valve springs
- Supertech nitrided stainless intake valves, inconel exhaust valves (std sizing), with custom bronze valve guides to suit
- ACL Race conrod bearings and King Racing and/or OEM main bearings
- Possum Bourne Motorsport oil pan baffle plate

internals

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block

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Now Dave's setup had remained just about unchanged this whole time. The water-to-air intercooler system worked great at the previous boost/power levels. But it wouldn't be up to the task once this new engine is up and running. I've begun to fabricate a more conventional front-mount setup using an Aeroflow 600x300x100mm intercooler:

intercooler piping 1

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intercooler

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I also decided to change from the Ford 1.06AR internal wastegate turbine housing to a 1.0AR dual v-band housing + external wastegate. I also made a new, 3.5" dump pipe that necks back down to 3" before joining the rest of the exhaust. This required I learn to TIG weld - it's not all the prettiest but I must say I am very pleased with the result for a first time fabrication and welding effort:

turbine housings

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up pipe

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ewg

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dump

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As of right now, the engine block is off being bored/honed to suit the CP pistons, and the heads are off to be reco'd and modified as per above.

Updates will come in later posts!
Some more pictures of stuff can be found on my instagram @taj.fwd911 - under the "EZ30 Build" highlight section.

[Taj]

The ECU setup will change too - previously it was all done on the standard MY07 ECU using EcuTek software.

Now it will be run by a Haltech Elite 2500 and surrounding components, like WB1 wideband controller, flex fuel sensor, with an IC7 dash etc.

Haltech's Plug-and-Play adapter harness is for the MY05 pre-facelift versions, which share the same physical plug shapes, but have a completely different wiring pinout. I had planned to de-pin and move around connections in Haltech's PnP harness to suit mine. This turned out to not be possible however, with some connections I'd require not physically existing across their PCB. So I made my own using the loom and Haltech ECU plugs off the original PnP setup - I found a PCB board with header plug on ebay, the shop is RusEFI.

pnp1

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pnp2

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pnp3

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The Haltech box even fits back over it with some minor cutting!

[Taj]

I thought this was pretty cool and worth highlighting.

It is still un-tested. But being a young hooligan I wanted things to be a little rowdy with a screamer pipe, however I didn't want this to be the case all the time.

I wanted the option of 'screamer pipe' or 'returned' wastegate outlet on the fly. And I wanted it to sound exactly like a screamer when in use - not like an electronic cutout valve further down the exhaust.

screamer1

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screamer2

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The upper 45mm Turbosmart wastegate is attached to the up-pipe before the turbo, and this is the one that does all the boost control work, and it will be controlled by a 3-port solenoid like usual.

The lower 40mm Turbosmart wastegate is attached to the outlet of that first one - and will have its own 3-port solenoid to either:
a) block manifold/boost pressure from reaching it, therefore allowing it to stay shut, and the wastegate system returns to the exhaust to travel through all the mufflers.
b) allow manifold/boost pressure to open it simultaneously to the upper main wastegate, letting all the noise out.

[Taj]

The fuel system in the car currently consists of a Walbro / TI Automotive 525lph pump shoe-horned into a factory hanger assembly, with upgraded power supply wiring. The internal filter and regulator (facelift NA models incl EZ30) are deleted. The FPR is replaced with a Turbosmart FPR1200.

I have a Radium pump hanger on the way though for a bit more simplicity/serviceability/upgradeability in future.

I ran new fuel lines in -6 AN PTFE (feed and return).

The injectors have been ID1000's, but I am upgrading to Bosch 1650's.

525

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tophat

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-6

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fpr

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[Taj]

I've done a DIY job of balancing the rods and pistons to a 0.1g tolerance (at least according to my cheap scales). The rest of the rotating assembly will be balanced too.

rod jig

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rods

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pistons

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pistons2

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[nvmylh]

Awesome write up Taj!

What are you using for a fuel filter? I have been toying with the idea of adding a return line to my post-fl ez, and a normal FPR. I didn't think there was a spot on the stock hanger to add a return fitting though (working from memory there..). But good to see you have done it!

[Yowie]

Pretty awesome.

Great to see a deliberate, thought-through performance engine build (as opposed to my current unexpected rebuild with associated compromises).

[Taj]

Awesome write up Taj!

What are you using for a fuel filter? I have been toying with the idea of adding a return line to my post-fl ez, and a normal FPR. I didn't think there was a spot on the stock hanger to add a return fitting though (working from memory there..). But good to see you have done it!

Hey, thanks! There is a Raceworks 100micron stainless filter in the engine bay on the feed line. I hadn't mentioned, i grabbed a standard hanger from another Gen 4 with a returning fuel system!

The Radium hanger has just showed up yesterday. I'll me sure to take some pictures as that goes in too

[JezzaH6]

Nice write-up! Keen to see where you take this

The rods look thicc and I like the DIY balancing setup- I'll have to keep that in mind when I inevitably need an engine too!

[Taj]

Time for an update!

The next thing that I mentioned last time was the Radium fuel pump hanger. Again, I have a weird and unorthodox idea that just might work...
You may notice the hose barb coming out of the bottom, that isn't supposed to be there. This is a bulkhead fitting into the main 'bucket'

Radium assembly

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The inside of the bucket:

Radium bucket

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As most of you'd know, we have a saddle tank with a venturi or siphon jet to transfer fuel from the other side of the tank into the main side.

I didn't want to use an external surge tank because I wasn't able to come up with a location that would be practical and be non-intrusive for cargo space etc.
So I attached a secondary pump to the siphon pickup over on the other side of the tank, and this will pump fuel directly into the bucket of the Radium assembly.

In my mind, this turns the Radium assembly into essentially a fully filled surge tank, completely contained within the fuel tank.

Example:
When cornering left, fuel sloshes into the driver's side of the tank where the main pump is anyway - so no issue keeping the bucket full enough.
When cornering right, fuel sloshes into the other side, away from the main fuel pump - where my secondary pump will be sitting, pumping 340lph back into the Radium bucket and preventing starvation.

I'm yet to decide on the best way to control the secondary pump (via Haltech) - ideally I would only switch it on when plenty of fuel is likely to be on that side of the tank, reducing air bubbles etc. being pumped into the bucket.

I'll let you all know if it works!

Secondary pump secured to the siphon jet pipe:

Secondary pump

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The assembly ready to be dropped in. I ran a submersible, E85-rated hose to it from the secondary pump through the inside of the tank, to save drilling extra holes and adding extra fittings etc:

Radium with feed hose

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I'm quite happy with the aesthetics of the fuel plumbing and wiring

Radium installed

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Here is the power supply setup for the pumps. The secondary pump (340Lph) is supplied direct via battery with a normal 30A relay (top), and controlled by a Haltech stepper output. This pump will simply be switched on/off based on whatever conditions I decide upon.
The primary pump in the Radium hanger (525Lph) is supplied direct via battery with a 100A solid-state relay, so that I can have a go at PWM (pulse width modulation) control with the Haltech and see how that goes. That's basically controlling the pump via duty cycle like a boost solenoid, effectively allowing me to run the big 525 at lower outputs (e.g. 30% / 50% / 80% / 100%) based on engine load and fuel demand etc. Saves the full-tilt pump output returning heaps of unused fuel at idle and low loads.

Pump relays

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Excuse the extra ratty wiring that is to be removed, but here is part of the (in-progress) fuel system up in the engine bay. I ran -6 PTFE hoses throughout the length of the car for the feed and return. The feed exits the firewall into a Raceworks 100micron stainless inline filter, before travelling to a y-block, and into the fuel rails in a parallel style. After exiting the fuel rails, the hoses meet another y-block to return to a single hose. I chose to do this so I could keep the lines of equal length while they are split into two. The post-fuel-rail line then meets the Turbosmart fuel pressure regulator, and returns to the top of the Radium hanger via a flex-fuel sensor.

Engine bay fuel components

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At the fuel rails - I cut open a spare one and the internal diameter seemed big enough to me so I decided to modify these ones instead of buying some pricey billet things from Outfront or Radium. The Bosch 1650cc injectors have quite a large opening where they meet the rail, so I decided to drill out the injector bosses a little. I enlarged them from ~5mm to ~8mm each, and of course chamfered and de-burred the insides and all that jazz.

Original size

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Enlarged

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I then lopped off both ends and welded on some stainless AN6 ends. Worth mentioning: The driver's 'front' one had to be cocked a bit toward the centre of the car so the AN hose end would not interfere with the AVCS solenoid.

AN6 fuel rail

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[Taj]

On the welding topic, I had one of my spare driver's valve covers modified. I added a 90º AN10 fitting for the turbo oil drain (to upsize from the AN8 i'd been using previously), an AN4 fitting for the Turbosmart OPR-40's return (this is an oil pressure regulator on the turbo oil feed line), and a breather port on the top since the only EZ30 breathers are both on the passengers valve cover. The breather also has a little baffle plate infront of it to stop the camshaft lobe directly throwing oil into it.

Valve cover

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Valve cover fittings

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I made a little backing plate for the Haltech Elite 2500 and all its surrounding components to mount to securely. I screwed down the ECU and CAN hub, and attached the IO expander and adapter loom box with strong velcro. I was also able to get the metal kick plate to fit back over it to keep it all protected from pesky passengers, should I ever make a friend.

ECU mounting

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Between other bits, on some late nights after work I managed to finish up the welding of the alloy intercooler piping and intake pipe.
I'm a complete newbie to TIG welding before I started doing the stainless on the exhaust side, and alloy on the intake side - so I am pretty chuffed with how it's all turned out. I'll be getting all the alloy piping powder coated in wrinkle black for a nice looking and durable finish.

engine bay

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Cold side piping

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Hot side piping

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Intake pipe

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600x300x100mm cooler

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Until next time! I hope to have the heads and case-halves back relatively soon and be ready to start engine assembly.
There are some VERY fancy things done to these so take a look when the time comes

[Yowie]

Awesome work. My respect for this type of thing has gone through the roof after getting through a nominally straightforward engine rebuild (with associated cost and stress).

[bigBADbenny]

Love it!
As mentioned it’s awesome to have all the info in one thread.
Especially when you’re trailblazing solutions

The welding looks awesome, you’re a natural!
Did the valve covers require pre heat or blind runs to purge out oil from the parent metal?

[Taj]

Love it!
As mentioned it’s awesome to have all the info in one thread.
Especially when you’re trailblazing solutions

The welding looks awesome, you’re a natural!
Did the valve covers require pre heat or blind runs to purge out oil from the parent metal?

Thanks mate!!

I won't lie - the only thing in the thread I DIDN'T weld was the valve cover fittings, haha.
One of the professionals at the workshop I'm working at did those bits.

I wasn't around while he was welding, but he did say the cast ally welded a lot nicer than most other cast pieces he's worked with.
I also sand blasted it quite a while prior to this so it was very clean to start with.

[Taj]

Been a bit quiet, but still chipping away.
I finished up all the extra wiring i needed to do in the engine bay, so I've pulled the broken motor out now, and stolen it's intake cams.
The broken motor was a facelift model (as is the car), and the base motor I've begun to build was a pre-facelift model.
The facelift model (stamped U30 on the heads) has slightly better intake cam specs, and the pre-facelift model (stamped Z30) had decently better exhaust cam specs. So now ive got the best combo as far as OEM EZ30 cams go.
Below is a pic of the specs as measured by Greg at ADS.

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I also pulled the box out and changed the factory open front diff to a helical LSD that came from a 2019 STI.

It's not all that difficult of a job but being my first time it turned into a bit of a saga and I ended up having the gearset in and out a couple times (not required if you do things properly the first time!!)

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Currently my clutch is back up with Jim Berry in QLD to be resurfaced and the clamp force of the pressure plate upped a little. When this comes back I send the crankshaft, flywheel and clutch assembly to be precision balanced.
The intercooler/intake piping is all with a powdercoater.
Still dont have the case halves or heads back - that may be an early-next-year thing but all good. They're just waiting for completion of some fancy coatings to the heads and pistons, and oring grooves cut into the decks of the case halves.

Gives me more time to clean old grease from the engine bay, add some heat protection to PS lines etc. and change some maintenance items easily like steering rack bushes.