JL Engineering's Renault 5 T2 engine build.

I have currently been building a nicely spec'd turbo 2 engine to power Tony Campbells beautifully executed competition/road car. Tony requested a nicely balanced engine that will be flexible, tractable but also have a decent chunk of power as it is destined for some competition motorsport events and Tony doesn't like to lose!

The low mileage engine was stripped and inspected. Apart from the obvious blow by, most likely caused from a life short journeys and limited use, the engine was in great condition. The block, crank, flywheel, pulley, rods and pistons were going to be reused so they were measured and then send off to the machineshop for any additional work and then lightened and balanced. Along with the rotating mass was a new AP twinplate clutch.





The T3 turbo required a rebuild so we decided to go for a larger billet compressor wheel, -34 actuator, 360 degree bearing new turbine and shaft and a larger .48 turbine housing which was flowed and polished.
Before



After



Some of the parts started turning up for the build. I used custom ductile steel liners from westwood, hybrid camshaft from Catcams, the followers were reground at newman cams, a vernier pulley from Catcams, new oil pump, sprocket and tensioner from 3S Developpments, all gaskets were OE Renault, Con rod bolts were replaced with ARP fasteners.

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Very nice John, going to be a great project Compressor - did you stick to the same tip height as the OE? Going to be fun when that is up and running, love to hear it. On the AP clutch, can you please send me the part number for the plates with the Renault spline, I need to get a couple - thank you.

Cheers,
Martin

Cheers Martin, tip height was 1mm larger. Yes should be an awesome car, its running on original k-jet with adjusted metering head 10% more fuel. They run quite rich anyway but it will be interesting to see how it all works out on the chassis dyno. I will try and find out the part number for the clutch plates. Are you building a 5 turbo motor too?

The block measured up to spec so I started with the prepping, first cleaning and chasing of all the threads, pulling the oil gallery plugs, relieving all the sharp casting lines and enlarging the pushrod galleries. The water gallery holes were also added and enlarged where they are usually obstructed. Cam bearings were good so we opted not to replace. The block was finally sent off to the degreasing tank before it was painted.

John what engine is that,
The top end does not look factory machined?
Looks like it was knocked up in someone's back yard.
I expect however ITs bullet proof.
Head just looks like a chunk of metal.

Dave

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John,

No, was going to use the same clutch setup on the boys, had the same on the bi-turbo in the 310.

That block looks very nice and rigid, I like the look of that, very purposeful and you will be able to do much with that. I think Ferry Development is still claiming the highest specific output fromthese engines, will be worth talking to them.

Cheers,
Martin

Dave- Its a Gordini crossflow head from the Turbo 2. The block is Turbo 2 also. Its the Cléon-Fonte engine, also known as the Sierra engine. Designed around the late 50's early 60's is in all the smaller 4 cylinder iron block, ali head Renaults- the basic block design is the same up to the Clio Williams! Certainly got their monies worth.

Martin- Yes I like the five main bearings and solid design, gives you confidence when running serious rpm!

Before I started it was important to have all the components ready to go. The custom ductile iron liners took a long time coming but were very nicely finished.




Lots of small modifications had to be made to run the new actuator.


Checking the liner protrusion before and after fitting the O-rings. All in spec which is good news.



Opening up and chamfering the main bearing gallery holes, the oil clearances measured and then double checked with Plastigauge.




Same deal with the rod bearings. The con rods have been match weighed end to end and balanced then small ends checked. I prefer to change out the rod bolts for ARP fasteners in every engine I build if possible. These are then checked for stretch rather than tightened up with a torque wrench.



Oil pump was stripped down and inspected. Looked very bad so new internals were fitted.





I deburred the oil filter sandwich plate and we decided to replace the oil cooler and hoses with a larger Setrab oil cooler and black braided lines using Aeroquip fittings. Tony also has aftermarket oil pressure and temperature gauges so I had to find the senders a home.

Cheers John,
Should be bullet proof then.
And yes that oil pump looks like it has seen some action.
Was the pressure good? Probably they don't build em like they used to.

Cheers Martin, tip height was 1mm larger. Yes should be an awesome car, its running on original k-jet with adjusted metering head 10% more fuel. They run quite rich anyway but it will be interesting to see how it all works out on the chassis dyno. I will try and find out the part number for the clutch plates.

Hi John, did you find the plate part numbers? I could do with ordering up now, cheers.

So which billet compressor did you opt for, I looked at the one recommended to me by John Wheeler, as outline here 2/3rds down:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5612&start=315 . Be very interesting to see how this performs; what T3 turbine trim are you matching it too?

Good to see some different hardware on here

Regards,
Martin

Hey Martin,

CP8300-A029, 0.92''x 21 spline, 3 paddle.

Standard turbine, we replaced it though as the original wouldn't balance up well enough. Going with a .48 over the .36 on the exhaust. Hopefully it will work well with the cam and headwork etc.

I would like to try out that compressor wheel, don't mind being a test mule. I'm building a turbo 2 based engine out of bits and bobs on the cheap for my R8. How much is the wheel?

Cheers,

John.

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Ok, thanks John.

Can you get me a price for the two plates? Are there other options in terms of the number of paddles, torque rating etc, I remember there were also the "solid" versions or more like a 360 plate with just a slit between sections?

Compressor, I would have to look it up again, I remember there were two versions with subtly different specs to make it confusing; I bought both to look at them. It was one of the more expensive billet wheels, over a ton or thereabouts...

So is that one a billet version of the standard wheel? What is the stardard compressor wheel on those things? Just interested..

Cheers,
Martin

Hey Martin, price is about £95 plus vat per disk. I get a trade discount if you do decide you want them so might save you a bit. They only do four paddle and three paddle in this disk thickness. I think you're thinking of the sintered disks in the solid format, they are only 2.5mm thick and for use with a different setup- more for dedicated track stuff rather than rally. That compressor wheel is a 60 trim and the standard is 45 if I remember correctly. I would be up for having a look at one of those wheels and maybe trying it out for my R8 engine.

Anyway, next on the R5 turbo engine build we made some cylinder head improvements. Firstly we got rid of the old valves and swapped them for some custom length and design stainless steel valves. The original exhaust valves are sodium filled and weigh so much more than the new ones. All this weight removed from the valvetrain is good news.



The head has been resurfaced, the valve guides K-lined, 3 angle valve seats cut, the combustion chambers cc matched, inlet and exhaust ports cleaned up and manifolds and gaskets match ported.




The valve spring pressures were measured and then adjusted to give a bit more pressure over the nose to work with the new, more aggressive cam profile. Making shims, measuring and matching the duel spring pressures took quite some time but will be worthwhile. Also weighed the steel retainers compared to the titanium retainers, lots of grams to save there!

Time for an recap, the engine is together and the car is looking great so I'll get this build thread up to date.
Pistons on rods and fitted to liners.



The Renault oil gallery plugs were a bad fit so I made some better fitting plugs which were sealed and staked in place.




Checking TDC.



Followers were resurfaced and polished then coated with Cam shield to aid the break in process before installing.



Custom billet camshaft with vernier pulley.



The camshaft comes with its own matched pinion to eliminate the common problem of premature wear of unmatched gears and camshafts.


The rockershafts were completely disassembled and then polished and deburred. After a thorough clean they were assembled for refitting.


I made this cylinder head/ head gasket locating tool too, its essential for a properly aligned gasket and head.


Timing the camshaft in and checking piston to valve clearances.



Baffled sump coated with Glyptal to aid oil drainage.


Coming together nicely.




After checking for coil bind, fitting more gaskets and seals etc the engine was beginning to take shape. We have a nice Garat tuned length exhaust manifold and freshly painted rocker cover to complete this part of the build.

Really neat John, nice build and great work . Combustion chamber looks like it will be ignition advance hungry to get it to really pull, but havihg said that this is a small bore and longer stroke unit isn't, do you know what sort of timing you are aiming at? I think this chamber was shared across a few builds, and similar to some Pug 8V heads, be worth knowing what people have run n/a. Interesting that they have created volume at the extremity of the chamber, and effectively eliminated squish. I guess and can't see from the photos, the inlet port likely has a fair bit of offset? Interesting to see the heritage... That exhaust manifold looks very business like, very nice

12 off Titanium spring retainers please

Clutch plates, yes will need, can you please let me know the depth of the basket you have, and I will check mine. So, as option you can't get the full disk (yes thin pads) with the Renault spline?

Cheers,
Martin

Cheers Martin. Yes the hemi combustion chamber doesn't promote squish but we will have a play with the timing on the dyno and see how we get on. You want 12 ti retainers for these duel springs? I cant remember the depth of the basket off hand and its installed now, I'll have a check. They didn't do this setup in conjunction with the full disk no.

So far Tony had installed the engine and at the weekend I drove over to his garage and we done all the necessary checks before checking for oil pressure and then firing the old girl up! Started pretty much on the button and we ran for 15 minutes to bed the cam in. It sounded sweet, no leaks or issues so next stop the dyno.

Here are some pictures of the car which is an absolute testament to Tony's determination and real hard work over the past year and a bit, with some massive ups and downs the car is now looking amazing and the attention to detail is great. This isn't just a stickered up competition wannabe it has had all the correct strengthening panels welded in- no stone was left unturned to make sure this a stunning car on and off the track.




Check out the video of the start up on my facebook page- facebook.com/jlengineeringuk