Xr6 turbo motor into RTV ute

[3Katz]

On ‎9‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 10:26 AM, rwatto66 said:

Hi everyone. Having a bit of trouble getting a ba xr6 turbo motor running after installing into a ba RTV ute.

 

The motor and ECU came out of an auto and has been installed into a manual.

I have reset the parameters in the ecu and the engine does start but only idles.

Does anyone know any tricks?

 

Hi, very nice looking ute.

I'm currently doing the same conversion but with the XR6T interior. My donor car is auto same as my ute. I have the wiring and cooler work done just getting ready to do the engine and trans swap. How did you get around the diff lock? Where did you take your vacuum from and were you able to utilise the dash switch at all?

Thanks

[bossmang]

this is so rad I love it

[RTVRally]

Hi I am doing the same swap... I have a BA RTV Rally ute and have just purchased a BA XR6 Turbo full car for the transplant... what are the pitfalls...? Does the altered steering rack in the RTV affect the exhaust manafold.... will the ecu and wiring loom work...?  I see on a previous comment that a remap was required due to manual swap to auto or the other way around... I am auto to auto... what about the ldiff locker, how was that resolved...?  Thanks any advice would be really appreciated.

[3Katz]

There aren't any pitfalls as such, I also did auto to auto swap but I had alot of trouble getting communication through the canbus system. The turbo PCM didn't seem to be accepted by the rest of the system so I actually used the RTV PCM and had the tuner flash it with the turbo info. In the end it turned out that I had a faulty ABS unit causing the communication problem (replaced with another faulty unit which is why it was so hard to figure out!). If I was to do it again I would definitely persevere with getting the turbo PCM to work as although the RTV PCM works I don't think it has the drivers to operate the boost solenoid properly causing over boost on occasion. You will need to swap out the engine bay wiring harness which runs from the driver's footwell to (and including) the fuse box and across the front of the car finishing up near the the PCM. This will give you the required connectors for turbo system sensors.

 

Steering rack no problem at all, I used a BF dump pipe as it's a much nicer unit than the BA twin exit cat but either should fit no problem. You won't be able to use much of the rest of the exhaust as the ute is quite different. I went twin 2.5" with straight through muffler and resonators.

The diff lock is easy as well, you have a vacuum tank under the l/h from guard, you just need to T into the BOV line and source your vacuum from there. Make sure you have the check valve fitted, it's the little blue valve on the vacuum line,  make sure it works correctly, my original one was leaking and would have allowed boost pressure into the vacuum tank. There are 2 vacuum solenoids mounted in front of the PCM, you'll only need 1 now as the other is for NA engine manifold shaft. Hook your remaining solenoid up to a manual switch, it's better than factory now as you can engage diff lock whenever and for however long you like. I used one of these switches but any switch will do.

T into BOV line

I ran the diff lock earth wire up to this LED near exh temp gauge so that I can tell once it's engaged. 

[3Katz]

If your'e going to all the effort to do the engine swap and the turbo interior is in good nic I would consider swapping that in as well. The black interior looks nicer than the RTV one I reckon.

I didn't realise I had slight boost control issues until I got mine tuned and I drove it sedately until I could confirm AFRs were safe. With it running rich for safety and only in 2nd gear to keep driveshaft speed down it tuned to 350hp. I now have a stronger tail shaft and an electronic boost controller so will be heading back for a touch up tune when I get a chance. I hid the boost controller in the console and have 2 boost levels - BG1 is gate pressure 7psi and BG2 is hooked up through this 'fishtail' switch and increases boost to 12.5psi. 

I hope to tighten up the tune and possibly increase the boost pressure if required to get around 400hp, all with a very stock looking engine bay and interior (besides gauges).

Good luck with the project! You won't regret it, Ford should have offered the RTV as a turbo I reckon. Let me know if there's anything I can help with or if you'd like some better detailed pics.

[3Katz]

I forgot to mention traction control. If you have a sedan the ABS unit has probably got traction control, your RTV ute won't. The turbo PCM will probably be expecting to see the sedans ABS unit. You may get some minor issues here. I didn't want traction control so I stuck with an RTV ABS unit and the tuner had to tell the the vehicle it was a non traction control car (the cluster displayed ABS and TC lights). If you were keen you could probably find some rear brake lines from a ute with TC and swap the ABS unit and the brake lines in. You would have to constantly switch TC off though which I would find annoying. It would be handy in the wet though.... An RTV with turbo AND traction control would be something different!

Edited 09/08/18 02:16 PM by 3Katz
Edit

[RTVRally]

3Katz.... you are sensational.... you have been a great help and no doubt I will be touching base with you over the next few weeks.  Thanks very much.  

[3Katz]

No worries, have fun

[3Katz]

How'd you go RTVRally? Any progress?

[RTVRally]

No, I haven't progressed as yet.... I have all the bits... just need the time.  Its been a bit tight and I can only see a couple of free weekends coming up, decided to hold off for daylight saving when I get those extra hours in the afternoon to do things.  

 

Thanks for following up.