ZXTDVNT20 Volcane

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mrbump
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ZXTDVNT20 Volcane

Post by mrbump »

Though some people on here might be interested in my little zx project!

It is a 1993 Citroen ZX Turbo Diesel Volcane 1905cc. The main points of note are the VNT20 turbo from the v6 diesel passat/a6 etc engine, front mounted intercooler, ported and polished head, modified injector pump adjusted to 1.07mm advance and the na camshaft. The engine was completely rebuilt, pump and injectors reconditioned and has been up and running now for aroung 4000miles without any issues. It runs at just under 20psi max boost (2500rpm) and picks up from 2000rpm (10psi).

Of course the beauty of the VNT means that I can move the start of boost point and also the ramp and max settings on the turbo itself and
through the use of a bleed valve (whilst avoiding
surge!). I have also modified the governor in the pump to allow full fuel to 4500rpm (redlining at 5000rpm). 0-60 is just over 8 sec (gtech figures) and I would expect around 140 hp on the dyno. The car
returned 48.9mpg on normal derv in the last 1300 miles which included a lot of acceleration and generally driving like a tit.

The next improvements planned are a 12mm plunger and larger nozzles, straight through exhaust (that doesnt thrum on the motorway!), lift pump and water/methanol injection. Also I am considering a fuel heating
system to run more than the 50% veg oil currently!

Other modifications include 16v front shockers, 266mm (berlingo hdi) front brakes, saxo vtr alloys and yokohama 195/50/14 tyres, originally 405 engine with alloy sump, xantia manifold, 405 td rad (much bigger),
audi tt ic, 3mm thick 1.25" bore into 46mm bore stainless exhaust manifold (smoothed to a shine inside), stainless downpipe with flexi onto new standard exhaust (manifold and downpipe have high temp coating, header wrap, more coating and lagged with aluminium covered heat mat), cold air feed, solid engine mounts, boost and egt guages and a rather excellent(!) looking astra gte bonnet scoop to suck
some hot air away from the turbo!

The car drives very well with no visible smoke, showing that boost is in abundance, but I can still blacken the front of any tailgaters with a stomp on the pedal below 1500rpm!! Compressor effeciency in in the order of 75-79% above 3000rpm but is in surge above 5psi before 1800rpm so settings are quite within this at the moment. There is inevitably a small
2-3psi overshoot with the boost operated VNT (usually actived by a vacuum bleed system) which is not that noticeable. The higher rpm performance is really incredible due to the reduced restriction through the
much larger turbo. Pump still has some fuel to give as max screw is not 'maxxed' and boost pin has been nowhere near my dremel (yet). The turbo will be good to about 30psi where I think my tuning of this
particular engine will stop as it also my daily driver.

All the work was completed in my garage (1.5 hrs away form my house in Edinburgh) with no more than hand tools and took bloody ages!!
Especially the very long exhaust manifold. Well worth it in the end for price but seeing as it was a one-man-on-his-weekends-and-holidays-project it did take me nearly a year to complete on and off. Dont know if
its got anything to do with the extra power, or that it sat for a while, but (one or both) front wheel bearings have become very noisy in the last 500 miles so i'm off to do that this weekend, then maybe to the rollers with it!


Some pics of the installation:


[img=http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/8383/dsc00071bk0.th.jpg]

[img=http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/3005/dsc00064ob1.th.jpg]

[img=http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/2536/dsc00065gc4.th.jpg]

[img=http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/9177/dsc00067vr2.th.jpg]

[img=http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/8641/dsc00068be3.th.jpg]

[img=http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/1917/dsc00069zp5.th.jpg]

[img=http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/6009/dsc00077nj4.th.jpg]

[img=http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/8650/20092005009bs9.th.jpg]

[img=http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/4508/20092005010ob6.th.jpg]
Citroen ZXTD Volcane VNTGE (Gasket Eater)
KP
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Post by KP »

Have you had her on a rolling road yet at all to see how she compares to standard??

Interesting location for the turbo, have you thought about heat wrap for it as i bet it gets very hot in that location?

Was there not enough space in the standard mounting point at all??
8304
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Post by 8304 »

that looks like a really good project!

ive tweaked boost and fueling but havnt changed any parts and mine goes well so yours should be really impressive!!

the only thing id worry about is the head gasket - mine went with my comparativly minor mods. i ended up putting a steel laminated gasket on mine which looks really tough compared to the old one.

keep us posted. 8)
Zxtd Aura converted from 1.8i Petrol - Lowered, 20psi boost extra fuel - weeeeeee!

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Post by Stewart(oily) »

Very impressive, looks nice and neat too, its interesting to see the turbo up there instead of hiding away behind the engine, makes my modest fuelling increase and 15 psi look tame :)
Stewart
BXs since 1993 built 1.9 TZD turbo, got a S2 Xantia estate, brilliant car! 2013, Xantia HDI LX 110 2000 new car with 122,000, l C2 HDI Rusty rocket, C3 Picasso HDI new to me.
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mrbump
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Post by mrbump »

Hi,

Yes the turbo is far too big for the standard location! I was going to modify the standard manifold to tilt it downwards but it actually doesnt fit around the back of the engine at all!! The current position is a damn sight better than having the turbo directly below the intake manifold with no cooling air, and of course this larger turbo doesnt get so hot as the smaller one. The filter is very close to the top hose on the rad which gets hot, and when sitting in traffic the inlet temps are very high. This however is a good thing because hot air actually aids fuel economy at light loads. When moving above 35mph, there is enough cold air from the foglight to keep the turbo inlet at ambient, and the heat from the turbo is sucked out the vent. The rad itself has a small alu plate covering the top corner so that it blocks the airflow through the fins onto the filter. I have to admit though that I could have mounted the turbo closer to the bulkhead on the other side of the gearbox mount, giving more space for a cold air feed, although this would have been a very tight spot with the downpipe taking a very tight bend twice before getting to the exhaust tunnel. My current setup gives a good long straight out of the turbine before any bends to aid flow. Of course the slightly longer manifold means slightly more lag , but its not that bad at all. May make a hard pipe down to behind the foglight and position the filter there in the future to allow for a bigger cone filter.

I will eventually wrap the turbine itself, but dont want to spend £100 on the proper turbo blanket kits. Its not too bad anyway as I thought that the whole area would end up singed from the heat but you can actually put your hand on the inside of the bonnet (about 1.5" from turbine housing) after a hard run and its only warm, not hot.

Headgasket was changed 12000 miles ago and is fine. I searched alot of gaskets and desided to go with a reinforced laminate gasket with shields on every hole (made by a german company who I cant remember) as i think these gaskets will take a bit more heat/warpage than the metal ones, which I have had probs with. If it goes again I will stud and o ring the block and get a quality metal gasket, not one of the crappy FAI ones which I have had problems with before. Temps get a little higher but only after you have been going hard and then slow right down. Will go up to 90 and stay there (my fan switch is currently buggered :shock: ) so I have rigged up a switch on the dash to put on both fans at slow speed which I can turn on and instantly works! (pins 1+3 on the rad fan switch if you are interested!).

Will keep you posted as soon as I've had it on the rollers!

Cheers
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matt
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Post by matt »

Nice one!Very impressed :D

How long do you think the engine will last with that turbo?

Watch out for the "ban modified cars" brigade :shock:
Last edited by matt on 29 Sep 2006, 18:45, edited 1 time in total.
92 205 1.9 GTI(MODIFIED,SORRY )
1996 VOLVO 850 2.5 5CYL 10V
1999 EXPERT VAN TD - WHITE !
No more car's thanks!
philhoward

Post by philhoward »

matt wrote: What out for the "ban modified cars" brigade :shock:
I think we might be safe with this one..it seems an extremely well engineered upgrade, and most definately NOT a Max Power special!

Sentiments echoed - well done!
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Post by Kowalski »

philhoward wrote:
matt wrote: What out for the "ban modified cars" brigade :shock:
I think we might be safe with this one..it seems an extremely well engineered upgrade, and most definately NOT a Max Power special!

Sentiments echoed - well done!
In some ways it is, but in other ways it isn't....

Where are your cambelt covers? The covers are there to stop foreign objects (e.g. small stones) getting onto the toothed pulleys and displacing the timing belt.

What I like about this car, is that it looks fairly standard from the outside, is the bonnet vent the only visible modification?
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Post by KP »

The wheels are from a Saxo VTR iirc but the vent would certainly be needed to attain airflow over the filter and turbo to keep the inlet air temps as low as possible.
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mrbump
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Post by mrbump »

Yes only modifications are the vent (which is a neccesary evil) and a towbar. Also has been debadged. Anyone who thinks this kind of thing is remotely connected to anything ever seen in the like of max power has not been paying attention!

Kowalski - When was the last time you saw or heard of a cambelt becoming 'displaced' by a foriegn object? In my days I have never seen it. I have however seen cambelts and all the pulleys and head/block covered in dusty crappy solid oil deposits from leaking camshaft seals that no-one saw because the cover was in place on almost every xud engine that I have changed the belt on!!

Thanks for the positive comments though guys!
Citroen ZXTD Volcane VNTGE (Gasket Eater)
8304
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Post by 8304 »

Hi

i want to put a front mount intercooler on my zx too, i got hold of a xantia one thinking i would be able to make some brackets to move my rad backwards to accomodate it but it turned out my rad was too wide and the inlet and outlet wouldnt reach round each side of the rad.

what vehicle does you intercooler come from??? or is a custom made one??

i found an intercooler out the breakers that i might be able to use but the inlet and outlet are at funny angles.

the top mount intercooler looks more like an interheater to me!! it musnt do much so i think a front mount will help....

cheers!!!
Zxtd Aura converted from 1.8i Petrol - Lowered, 20psi boost extra fuel - weeeeeee!

MK2 Cortina 1600e

Honda Acty Romahome - 545cc!! - (the "beast")
KP
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Post by KP »

Search on ebay for ones from ANEW Digital and see which one would suit you best with some decent silicone hosing :)
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Post by Village »

The intercooler is from an Audi TT
French car free zone....
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Post by Village »

Mr B,

Just seen your car in Practical Performance Car mag, good work fella!!
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Post by shezads »

Keep us updated - also any power figuares for the car?
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