BA XT mk2 Turbo Wagon Conversion

[TurboWagoon]

Alright, time to get back to my previous statement where I said the donor ute 'ran and drove ok and looked completely stock under the bonnet'.

 

Well it was completely stock under the bonnet, so that wan't a lie, but 'driving ok' was a slight overstatement.

 

It started fine from cold, didn't blow smoke and didn't idle too roughly. So that was a good start. However taking it for a drive proved a few issues which would later come back to bite me.

 

Firstly we noticed that one of the boost pipes had come loose. So we tightened that up and went for a quick spin. On the first proper foot to the floor takeoff it went ok for a few seconds but then the pipe blew off again and we just assumed that the clamp wasn't holding properly on the old oily pipes. When the pipe blew off it obviously dumped heaps of fuel into the system cause the smoke cloud out the back was pretty epic.

 

The engine bay was insanely greasy, we didn't have any tools on us and the route that we were driving was a one way loop with heaps of container trucks using it (we were near Port Botany) so we just drove back to the yard and left it at that.

 

However after I swapped the engine into the wagon I had the same issue. This time the pipe hadn't blown off so it turned out to be a more serious issue after all. More on that later.

 

The other issue I came across was a really crappy shift into second gear. Of course there's heaps of reasons why gears may not engage in an old T5 and I just assumed that it was either a crappy old clutch, lack of oil (or wrong oil) or maybe a synchro. The gearbox worked well in every other way and once it went into second it stayed there so I wasn't too worried about the overall condition of the gearbox.

 

Anyway, both of those issues would be the biggest pain in the arse once I'd done the swap.....More on that later.

 

At this time I rang a good mate who works at a local Ford dealership and asked him a few questions. Whist it had been a fairly long time since he'd worked on a BA turbo he gave me a few pointers and alerted me to a few issues that the ute had. Always good to know someone who can help out along the way and he proved to be good value when it came to showing me which bits to swap over etc and when it came to starting the car up he had the program that made it all run.

 

One of the things I was a bit worried about was a really horrible vibration. I was starting to suspect the worst cause it felt really bad just sitting in the car. However he pointed out that the turbo's were prone to melting the driver side engine mount. I couldn't get under the car too well but I assumed he was correct. Turns out he was, once we'd removed the engine the mount was completely in half. Looked like it had been that way for a loooooooonnnnngggggg time.

Edited 28/07/18 11:31 PM by TurboWagoon

[TurboWagoon]

Now is probs the best time to explain what I actually changed over. I've come across heaps of different ways to do the swap and they all seem to be a fair bit harder than the way I went.

 

Here's the parts list for the swap:

 

1. Engine (obviously)
2. Radiator (mine had the oil chamber for the 4sp auto)
3. Intercooler
4. Wiring Harness
5. ECU
6. BCM (this worked out well cause I ended up getting a 6 stacker, Yewwwww! Yes I'm probably the only person in the world who would get excited about this.)
7. Manual Pedal Box
8. T5 Manual gearbox
9. 3.46:1 LSD Diff
10. Two Piece Tailshaft (note this was one of only two parts that I had to get modified - aka shortened)
11. Exhaust (this was the other part I had to get modified)

Couple of extra random bit's I swapped, or am yet to swap:

 

1. A-pillar tweeters (these were pretty easy to install cause I had the dash out)
2. Sports steering wheel (I bought a leather one from a Fairmont a while back so I'm not sure whether I'll use the ute one just yet).
3. XR dash (I don't think I'll use this unless I can get the k's to match the wagon odo).

Oh and in addition to calling my mate from the local Ford dealership for advice, I used an online repair manual from this website. https://cardiagn.com/2003-ford-falcon-ba-service-repair-manual-pdf/ Absolutely recommend using it. Sometimes it can be a *beep* to find what you're after, but given some of the conflicting advice I've found on the net, it was good to refer to the manual to see which opinions were correct.

[TurboWagoon]

Just quickly I reckon doing the swap the way I did was the easiest way to do it primarily for the electrical side of things.

 

So the wiring harness from the ute only had a few extra wires and these were for the boost control stuff (boost sensors, wastegate actuator etc). I compared the wiring harness from the wagon to the ute and this was really the only difference. The wires ran from the ECU to the boosted bits, hence there was an extra plug on the turbo ECU. The only other difference in the wiring harness was for the fog lights (which the wagon doesn't have). This was confirmed by the engine bay fuse box which had an extra fuse for the fog lights.

 

By swapping the BCM in the dash means that the whole wiring system is from the ute. So in the end the whole electrical system that controls the motor believes that it's still in the ute, if that makes sense.

 

Because of this, my mate from Ford bought his laptop around with the program for the BA's and we had the car going within 10 minutes. The longest part of the job was coding the BCM to recognise my keys. I kept my dash and steering column etc, so therefore I kept my wagon keys. Once he had the keys coded we turned the key and it fired up straight away.

 

I've read a few blogs and forums about doing the electrical side of things and it seems that there are a few ways to do it, but they all seem to be properly painful. I'll post a bit more about the wiring stuff later.

[k31th]

Nice work on the write up and have the mate who could do the "Ford" specific stuff that most of us would have struggled through.

[TurboWagoon]

Well first thing is first. Cause I was swapping my rubbish old 4 speed slushmatic out for the T5 an extra pedal was needed. I have no idea whether you could install a new pedal box without removing the dash altogether, it could be possible but I think removing the dash was pretty easy, just a process really.

 

Getting the dash out is actually quite easy. The only problem is that you have to remove a whole heap of trim parts to get to it out. And for some stupid reason Ford decided to integrate the handbrake into the centre console, which I don't really understand cause the handbrake is bolted to the floor and the centre console is held in at enough points to firmly secure it. Anyway, the reason it's a bit painful is that you have to remove the drivers side seat to get to the handbrake bolts so that you can then remove the centre console.

 

So once all the plastic trim parts are removed and the centre console is out there are only something like 8 bolts holding the dash in. They're all pretty easy to get to apart from one which is at at the top of the dash underneath the windscreen. This bolt was a *beep* to get out so I didn't end up putting it back in. I've driven the car a fair bit now since the conversion and there are no rattles or anything so I would recommend leaving it out unless you really want it back in.

 

The electrical system needed to be unplugged but it was easy. Most of the major electrical plugs are in the drivers and passengers kick panels with the only other plugs running to the pedal box, the air con unit and the BCM. There is one sneaky plug on the transmission tunnel near the bolt under the BCM.

 

The pedal box is really easy to get out once the dash is removed. Just 2 wiring harness plugs, 2 nuts securing the box onto the body and 4 nuts securing the box onto the brake booster.

 

Oh and one thing I did right from the start was to label every single nut, screw, bolt, wiring harness plug, pipe, hose, everything. I just used some masking tape and wrote descriptions for each part. One of the best things to do is not only label the part but decribe where it is and which way it goes back on. This was pretty handy on the boost pipes and radiator pipes etc. It feels like overkill when you're taking stuff off but after a few months between removing stuff and putting it back on it was an absolute lifesaver. Believe it or not the only bolt I had left over after the whole conversion was the one I mentioned earlier that mounts the dash behind the windscreen. Apart from that I didn't have any leftover bolts or parts.

 

 

 

[JETURBO]

Love turbo wagons 

 

good write up mate 

[TurboWagoon]

Engine removal time.

 

Not too much to report here, but cutting the radiator support panel off the ute was a goer. We originally thought we'd remove the engine and gearbox in 1 piece so that's why cut the panel off. But we ended up separating them anyway so cutting the radiator panel wasn't really necessary in the end. But I would recommend removing the flywheel and the pulleys from the the engine. This makes it easier to remove and install the engine cause it means you can just drop the motor straight down rather than having to find the perfect angle and worry about the engine fouling on bits of engine bay.

 

The pics don't show it too well but the engine was freaking greasy. Probably took me about 15 cans of degreaser to get rid of most of it.

 

 

[TurboWagoon]

Cause the engine was out I took the opportunity to replace boring bits like pretty much every gasket and seal.

 

One thing I didn't change but wish I had, was the turbo actuator. Obviously it would have been super easy to change when I had it on the bench but being a total turbo noob I didn't know that this part was prone to failure and was the cause of my backfiring issue when I first took the ute for a test drive when I was buying it.

 

Initially I thought that the backfiring under boost was just due to dodgy boost pipes slipping off. When I took the ute for a test drive it blew a boost pipe off and I just assumed that it was because the engine was so greasy and the clamps just couldn't hold it on. Turns out that the reason the pipe was blowing off was because the turbo actuator was ruined and it was overboosting big time.

 

There are some good posts on this issue which give some good advice, but really the best way to test whether the actuator is ruined is to remove the hose that goes from the turbo wastegate solenoid (which I also replaced cause apparently they are prone to blocking up) and blowing into it. If you can blow air through the pipe and into the actuator then it's screwed cause the diaphragm is ruined.

 

Ultimately I didn't know all this until after the engine swap was complete and I took it for the first test drive. Once it backfired I knew there was something up. After I did some research and discovered that the actuator was flogged out I bought a new Turbosmart actuator. This (and the new solenoid) fixed the problem perfectly.

 

Only thing was that when I bout the actuator it wasn't sold with a 5psi spring so I had to buy the 7psi version and buy a 5psi spring separately. Basically cause the factory boost is about 3psi then the 5psi spring is required for a stock turbo car, unless you tune the engine and port the vent flap, otherwise you'll get boost spiking again on a factory setup. However I just checked the Turbosmart website and it looks like you can now buy the 5psi version off the shelf which is pretty cool.

 

So the reason why replacing the actuator was a pain in the neck after the engine was reinstalled was cause the thing is truly buried. So to remove and replace it I had to remove the driver side engine mount and jack the engine up. Proper *beep* of a job especially considering it could have been done it on the bench in about 5 minutes flat when the engine was out.

 

 

http://www.turbosmart.com/product/iwg-ford-xr6

 

http://www.turbosmartdirect.com/Product-Categories/Ford-Actuators/IWG75-Ford-XR6-Actuator-5PSI_2.html

 

https://www.ebay.com.au/p/Genuine-Ford-BA-BF-FG-Mk2-Falcon-SX-SY-Territory-Turbo-Wastegate-Solenoid/1946470282?iid=221833362489&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20161027085944%26meid%3D22e7e5f924164cd3a66084a70195abc1%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D5%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D252134306102%26itm%3D221833362489&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1

 

 

 

Above photo showing location of the actuator (I.e. not easy to get to). Oh and this is how the engine went back in. No pulleys, no harmonic balancer, no flywheel, nothing. This made slotting the engine back in a piece of piss. And cause the radiator was out, bolting all the bits back on to the front of the engine was easy too.

[TurboWagoon]

List of bits I replaced while the engine was out:

 

Inlet Collector Manifold Gasket

Inlet Manifold Gasket

Exhaust Manifold Gasket

Turbo Gasket Kit

Rocker Cover Gasket Kit

Timing Cover Gasket Kit

Engine Mounts (Turbo Specific ones which come with the funky straps around them).

Rubber Air Intake Crossover Studs

Rocker Cover Vent Hose (as the ute one was ruined)

Iridium Spark Plugs

Ignition Coils

Sump Gasket

Water Pump (comes with Gasket)

Exhaust Manifold Stud Nuts

Turbo Stud Nuts

Accessory Drive Belt

Heater Hose with T-Piece (non-turbo cars don't have this t-piece for some reason)

 

Bits I replace after the engine was installed but which I'd replaced whilst it was out:

 

Turbo Wastegate Solenoid

Turbosmart 5 PSI Wastegate Actuator

Turbo to Intercooler boost pipe

Welch Plugs

The turbo to intercooler boost pipe was an easy thing to replace even after the engine was installed. Basically the  240,000k's had ruined the boost pipe and made it super brittle so it needed replacing. Not sure how a small piece of molded rubber can cost so much but it set me back about $300 bucks for a new pipe.

The welch plugs on the other hand were a total pain in the rectum. I would recommend changing these for anyone doing an engine swap. I learnt the hard way that they can go at any time and start leaking. There were no signs of leakage from the welch plugs when the engine was out but after about 1000k's after the engine swap the rear most plug on the turbo side started leaking in a big way. To fix it involved removing the turbo, manifold, basically everything on the drivers side. Not fun at all...... So I got my local mechanic to do it cause I couldn't have been bothered.

[Sacer_Turbo_Actuator]

Excellent! Looking forward to see your more updates.