3Katz

Hi Guys, been a while! The old BA RTV has been going brilliantly - 740hp these days and in the process of a 4L80e conversion. As it it putting out some power and I've started running radials (and a transbraked 4L80) I'm a little concerned I may damage my factory locker M86 diff. I bought what was supposed to be a BA XR6 Turbo ute diff from a wrecker down South with the view of rebuilding it with a Trutrac and straight swap the diffs out so I can keep my factory locker diff unmolested. This is where the lid started to pop off the can of worms... Upon receiving the diff I pulled the back cover off and noticed it has 2.73 gears not the 3.45's I expected, so I assume it's a BFII diff with the ZF gearing? Secondly, although the measurement from flange to flange is the same (1505mm) the diff casing itself is 30mm to the right of where my RTV diff is, effectively the pinion is 30mm further to the right! I measured the center of the pinion in the ute to the chassis rails and the RTV pinion is exactly in the center of the car. If I were to install this replacement diff the center of the pinion would be 30mm to the right. Weird right? I have 2 questions - how is this so? And would it be a problem?

Yeah mate for sure, sounds like it could be the same issue as mine. My engine builder sized the bore as per CP instructions but I've heard quite a few stories now of the CPs being particularly noisy. We've measured the pistons and bore again to be sure and they're as per spec. Meh it's a sh*tty noise and sounds like a bucket of bolts but is certainly hanging together lol be interested to hear what you find 👍

Hi mate, Nope I never got to the bottom of it, we ended up putting it down to noisy pistons for lack of any other possible issues as everything has been checked. I've run Castrol Edge 10/60 and Edge 5/40 no noticeable difference between the 2. Yeah it's super hard to pin point let me know how you go with the cover removed... For what it's worth we built another one on the side as we were sure the issue would come to light on the dyno or track but it has never given any grief aside from the noise. And we're at 500kw with more to come next tuning session with some more gate spring. I'm just living with the noise, I've found once it's proper warmed up with some decent pulls the noise goes away - gotta be pistons right? Who fkn knows lol

A question for you guys who run or have run before they exploded BTRs at the track. My ute has recently been tuned to 450kw at the hubs and is only 1 second quicker than when I had 260kw. A quick run down: Built engine Plazzy cooler Garrett GTX3582 gen2 Built BTR (stock stall speed convertor) 345 gears ET Streets PCMTEC tune with antilag I can not beat 12.90, runs 12.90's all night. No matter my technique variation (handbrake/antilag activated/etc) I can't better that time. It seems to leave the line pretty hard then immediately bogs down until boost is back up then it's off and pulls hard once she's away and even the change into 3rd feels strong. No wheelspin, traction is not an issue. I'm doing 2.5 sec 60ft's and 112mph. I figure I need a higher stall convertor but I'm sure people run much faster than that with stock convertor. It's loads of fun and I'm looking forward to more practice and would really appreciate some tips, and thoughts as to what might be causing my 60ft times.

For those that tune their own cars they probably make their own kits. I certainly can't tune my own car so am after a kit that is easy to fit and will be easy for a PCMTEC tuner (whoever it may be) to work with. From what I have read PCMTEC will only offer support to the tuner if it's a Pirotta Performance flex fuel kit, is this still correct? I have a BA so will be utilising the boost sensor input. Incorporating an alcohol percentage gauge would be a nice feature to have.

General consensus seems to be the Ross and ATI balancers are possibly more effective than the Powerbond. I had one ready for the other engine anyway so worth a try.

Great thanks mate, I'm not sure why they've come loose this time I suspect I wasn't as liberal with the loctite last time it was out, never had a problem before. I've also removed the Powerbond balancer and installed a Ross which should hopefully help as well.

Well if that's what you would do I'll give it a go too. Save me muckn about with machining stuff and worst case pull the box again, 30min job these days. I'll have a chat with Mackielec when they're back from break and see what the scoop is. They look more like flywheel bolts they've recommended...

"which means I could space the t/c back of the bolt heads" Should read: "space the t/c back OFF the bolt heads"

I have the BTR out again, I should install it with wingnuts this time... I have a Yella Terra flex plate and an unknown built 'heavy duty' Territory converter. The box has been in and out a few times for various reasons- this time because the crank bolts came loose on the dyno. When I pulled it out the first time (not for loose bolts) I noticed marks on the converter where it has been touching the crank bolts. When assembled there is 1mm clearance between the crank bolt heads and the tc. I am supposing that the converter swells under load sometimes enough to slightly touch the bolt heads. The problem I have is because the bolts have come loose I have decided to try a Mackielec retaining plate. This kit requires the use of a different ARP bolt (203-2802) which has a much taller head than the ARP bolt currently in use. A difference of 4mm - room I don't have. As there would probably be thousands of these kits on Yellaterra flexplates I'm guessing the difference I have is the t/c itself is slightly different. I've measured my t/c spacing or air gap at 3.5mm which is at the lower end of spec (3.2-4.8mm) so I can't space the converter back. I can't machine the crank side of the flexplate as that will affect ring gear to starter engagement. I could machine the area opposite where the bolt heads are but 4mm is a decent slice of a 8mm plate. I could maybe take some off the bolt side of the flexplate and some off the bolt heads themselves... Or I could look at a new converter which would be a shame as this one seems fine (I don't have a stock one to measure against for comparison). Or (just popped into my head) I could use a couple extra engine to trans sandwich plates which would push the trans back in relation to the t/c increasing the air gap which means I could space the t/c back of the bolt heads.... Crikey. I'll include some pics, interested to hear your thoughts guys.

Great vid, thanks mate 👍

I have a Yella Terra flex plate and BTR transmission. The converter I got with the transmission is an aftermarket one and I want to check it sits at the correct depth once assembled. Does anyone know the correct spacing for a BTR trans/tc?

No updates other than I haven't been able to find anything definitive. One bloke I was talking to that had the same thing happening on his built engine removed his pistons and had them coated to take up a bit of clearance and that seems to have fixed his noise issue. Mine goes in for a tune on the 12th noise and all so we'll see what happens...

Haha! I'll try to resist the temptation. Awesome, no worries. Thanks all, appreciate your help 👌

Excellent I'll play around with the setup and get it lined up better. I see.... this explains why we had trouble controlling boost. I had way too much preload on the arm, I won't say how much on a public forum lol. When you say 1/4 Aaron do you mean 1/4 of the hole on the rod end or 1/4 turn on the rod adjustment?

Thanks Aaron, that makes sense. By operate on an inset/outset method do you mean to try to bring the rod to more of a 90deg angle as per the below pic, or to have no sideways tension on the rod ie disconnected from the actuator arm it should freely pretty much line up by itself. Do you recommend touching up the port with a beveled edge rather than the flapper if it comes to that? Fortunately it han't done much work so any wear from me having it set up incorrectly will be minimal. Thanks again 👍

I bought this turbo (Garrett GTX3582 gen2) brand new with porting and a 39 flapper already done. It's probably done about 1000k and a few dyno sessions. I bought this model as I expected the lag to be not much worse than the stock GT3582. I was surprised to find out it was quite a bit laggier but just lived with it. Due to other issues I've pulled the turbo off and found that the flapper won't fully close 9 times out of 10. It jams open enough to fit your pinky finger in. This would be the lag issue, here's a pic of it jammed open (with 0 pressure in the actuator) What's my best option from here? Is there a larger flapper I could have done? Modify the height of the flapper arm? Give the leading edge of the flapper a touch with a stone? This is a pic with some air in the actuator to open the valve a little and this is the edge I was considering giving a bit of a touch up.... (just the flapper not the seat) Better ideas? Best option?

Not yet, it's got everyone stumped. Went back to the dyno and got all the low speed tuning done but have a wastegate issue to sort before getting stuck into it. Going to ignore the noise for now and see if anything develops

I forgot to mention the Atomic tensioner has been replaced with a factory one already. I have a low temp thermostat in as well - changing it too a higher temp one is a good idea which I'll try. I'm almost at the stage of taking it back to the tunner and just getting into it and seeing what develops. The problem is it's a real nice ute, and sounds like a bucket of sh#t so it's not as enjoyable to drive as it should be.

No I haven't found the problem unfortunately. I took it to a tuner and we put a set of chassis ears all over the engine and still couldn't determine exactly where the noise is coming from. We replaced the balancer, tightened the cam chain an extra click and no difference. The engines been pulled down twice and everything measures up fine. I've had a clevo before with noisy forgies and I certainly agree that's what it sounds like but on the clevo the rattle went away once they were up to temp. And they all made noise wheras with this, if it is piston slap it sounds like it is just one piston. And it doesn't go away/lessen when hot. Mate I'd be happy to send you a keg of goon, in fact I'd be happy to pay for your flight to and from Bundy, a motel stay and a rum factory tour for you to come and disgnose this lol.

I'm wanting to use a BA Turbo PCM in my conversion rather than the flashed BA NA PCM I'm currently using and hopefully find a tuner who can then use pcmtec to be able to do an E85 flex tune. I'm using a Turbo sedan BTR in an ABS but non traction control BA ute. I've tried using the Turbo PCM but it won't pick up vehicle speed. My question is - can I simply have the speed sourced switched in the PCM to transmission rather than ABS/wheel speed as the non ABS BTR cars must have had, or do the BTR's in these cars have different wiring and sensors on the gearbox? Long question, hope it makes sense.

Springs, retainers, valves, guides and seals all good. The lifters were new when engine assembled the first time but might replace them because I'm really scratching for a cause of this noise. I've heard of (limited) issues with Atomic tensioners, could this sound possibly be related to an issue with the timing gear? Sounds like it's more associated with a particular cylinder to me, whether it be top end or bottom, but I'm happy to consider anything at this stage. If no one nails it there's still a carton to whoever is the closest 🍻

Will do Puff, I'll report back on the valves and guides.

To answer your questions: The noise does increase in rhythm with the rpm. The noise is there when cold however it's quieter, it then reaches its peak volume quite quickly as it warms up. The noise is loud before reaching full operating temperature. The noise does seem to come and go to a point - if you increase the rpm it becomes harder to hear (gets quieter?) then returns noticeably at idle, especially when the idle flicks with the a/c compressor cutting in/out. I have run with accessory belt off and noise still there. No it definitely does not sound good lol. It's actually stripped down at the moment and I've realised I should have posted this question prior to pulling it out again! It makes such a racquet I thought it would be easily spotted.

If any of you guys would like to offer your opinion on what this noise could be it would be appreciated. Please read before calling "hello Rodney" lol. Engine is torn down again at the moment and nothing stands out. BA block Stock crank balanced HP Junkie main girdle Powerbond balancer ARP balancer bolt ARP main studs ACL main bearings Scat H beam rods ACL big end bearings CP pistons 9:1 compression ratio BA head ARP head studs Cometic head gasket Pep-pro stainless valves Pac valve springs Atomic FG billet cams Atomic timing chain and guide kit Atomic crank sprocket Boundary oil pump gears and backing plate Yellaterra flex plate ARP flex plate to crank bolts ARP flex plate to convertor bolts GTX3582 19psi This noise appeared not long after run in, engine was pulled down as far as head off and checking big ends and main caps. Nothing noted but replaced big end bearings just because and reassembled. Noise was still there so pulled the engine out again pistons are removed - little ends good, big end bearings still perfect, all clearances within spec, rings and lands fine. Lifters appear fine. No witness marks on anything. Noise sounds like it's coming from the lower end towards 5 and 6 rather than the head but very hard to tell. All flex plate and t/c bolts tight. Have run engine without convertor installed to isolate trans and noise still there. Any guesses? A carton to whoever gets it, funds transferred via PayPal lol