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Project 1.8 Turbo (Turdbo)

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Crewz
Project 1.8 Turbo (Turdbo)

I'm back, after a long time not owning a Cruze. Bought a 2012 1.8 LS with manual trans in 2016. Got an itch for a turbo 4 cylinder project. Thought about going the Honda route, but 'Merica, uniqueness, and with these times, I thought "why not turbo what I have, my daily driver, and make it more fun? This will definitely be a BUDGET minded build. These **** kids are costing me about $1M a piece x 3.

I know what you're thinking... there's very few that have turbo'd a 1.8... which has been a big reason why I haven't moved forward sooner and the lack of aftermarket support. With a little research, and the help of some good friends, this is the plan I have laid out. Check it... and feel free to chime in if you could be of help to make this project come to life.


Stage 1? - Underlined Parts Purchased Aside from UniChip..
Ebay T04E v-band turbo - $117
Ebay oil feed and return lines - $32
Ebay K&N style air filter - $10
Ebay 3" MAF mount before the turbo - $26
Tial knock off BOV 35 psi.
Custom SS exhaust manifold to be fabricated
3/8 SS head flange - $24
1/4 T3/T4 flange - $25
Custom charge pipes / eBay intercooler / eBay fittings.
Aftermarket OBDII catalytic converter (car still needs to pass inspection)
The exhaust I may leave stock, or get something very mellow. I'm not sure I want to listen to a performance exhaust every drive. Maybe an exhaust valve to give me the open turbo exhaust sound when I feel like it?
Larger cc injectors, or an additional injector(s) before the throttle body mounted with an injector(s) bung.
UniChip 4 - $379 and Unichip 2.5 Bar MAP sensor - $65.
Upgrade fuel pump?
Tune.


I know the debate will be, the stock internals are weak. Yup... although I've seen the mass of the crank. I'm thinking it'll hold up to my goals. The stock pistons and rods should be fine to about 250hp... and if not, who cares? I can grab a 1.8l junkyard Ecotec engine for $300 and they're plentiful because they're not desirable. The block is cast iron, so I'm not worried there. Win!!!?

The drivetrain... I think the stock transmission will hold up fine the way I drive. Smooth shifts without dumping the clutch. If the axles break, I'll grade some up from your favorite neighborhood autocrats store with a lifetime warranty and be covered there... aside from time spent replacing axles.

My initial plan is / was to install the turbo, run the car on 5-8 pounds of boost, 93 octane, stock quiet exhaust with around 150whp. Pretty achievable and the car will be going Choo Choo... until I talked to a bored friend of mine with nothing to do this quarantine. That's when things got that much more interesting... He (Wayne) has access to a full automotive machine shop and dyno (a close friend of his). He races pro stock dragsters. We talked and his friend can get unmachined forged castings, and we're kicking around the idea of making A LOT of custom parts. This is the plan we came up with.


Stage 2 - No Parts Purchase Here...
Buy an additional 1.8, valve cover to pan, from the boneyard for $299.
Machine custom forged pistons for the stock 80.5mm bore. CR TBD based on hp goals.
Machine block for ARP studs.
Forged MaXpeeding connecting rods - $209 (more about this below)
Clevite bearings.
Create custom aluminum intake.
Throttle body... TBD
Create custom fuel rail.
Port & polish head.
Valve job.
Springs and Camshaft TBD. (more below)?
2200cc Bosch injectors - $81
Stage 3 Clutch
Walbro 450?


Research, oh the research...
Thus far what I've found out about the Chevy Cruze 1.8 is it's an Opel 2HO. The engine was developed by Opel (a subsidiary of General Motors). The Opel A18XER (manufactured since 2008) is the same 1.8l found in a Cruze, as well as the Opel Z18XER (manufactured since 2005). Well, as far as the internals go. I'm sure there are some slight emissions differences.

After Cruzin' (pun intended) around some of the Opel/Vauxhall forums, and the interwebs, I've found turbo kits across the pond for the Z18XE made by DBilas range from 190hp to 250hp with similar mods above.

Camshaft and springs. I'd have to cross reference whether the Z18XER stuff is a direct drop in for our Opel 2HO. Don't see why they wouldn't be, but again. Keeping things budget minded.

Connecting rods... the 1.6 version of the 1.8 made by Opel has the same size rods, from what research I've done. Luckily, good ol MaXpeeding rods makes a set of H-beam con rods with ARP 2000 bolts, rated 800-1000 hp. Not sure the quality of them, but from comparison videos I've seen side by side next to a set of $1k rods, they're just as good. Not too sure about that brass bushing? Any feed back on their rods is more than welcome. When what I read on the forums is correct about sizing, who knows. Maybe we can machine them to work...

Tuning. I hear good things about UniChip. Finding a tuner around my parts, not easy to come by. Buying their software to tune it myself is around $650. At that point, Haltech might be a better option? Again, trying to keep this budget minded, but I'm sure the biggest expense maybe the management.

That's all I got for now... I may have missed something, but I need to get out from behind the computer. Thoughts welcome.

-Matt
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Crewz
Crower finally get back to me! The stock cam specs are:
Intake - 205º @ .050 and .393" lift.
Exhaust - 196º @ .050 and .353" lift.

Shane said they can grind in... .015" more lift and the following durations which he said should really wake them up.
Intake - 216º @ .050 and .408" lift.
Exhaust - 212º @ .050 and .368" lift.

Only issue is the exhaust camshaft arrived with one of the position sensor exciter broken off and they can't weld the tooth / notch back on because even if it's off by a thousandth, the timing would be off and it could throw a code.

Good news though, I found a new GM replacement exhaust camshaft which I'm having sent directly to them. Once that arrives, sometime next week, it'll be another 2 weeks turnaround time for them to grind the camshafts.

For those of you wondering, the cams on the 1.8 are flat tappet hydraulic camshafts. Kinda old school if you ask me, lol, but this is a platform that has worked for GM / Opel for decades now.

Progress!!!... slowly but surely.
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Crewz
I'm really happy with how this is turning out!
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Blasirl
That plate and standoffs are calling out for some powdercoat!
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Blasirl
I know you have already picked the turbo, but I just ran across this resource:

www.garrettmotion.com

Garrett Performance Turbo

How to choose a turbo starts with two main inputs. What is your target crank horsepower? What is your engine displacement? Every turbo has a range for
www.garrettmotion.com www.garrettmotion.com
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Crewz
Blasirl said:
That plate and standoffs are calling out for some powdercoat!
Click to expand...
I think so too! But part me also likes the look of the raw stainless... perhaps at least a clear coat. What color would you go with if you did? Red? Black?
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Crewz
Blasirl said:
I know you have already picked the turbo, but I just ran across this resource:

www.garrettmotion.com

Garrett Performance Turbo

How to choose a turbo starts with two main inputs. What is your target crank horsepower? What is your engine displacement? Every turbo has a range for
www.garrettmotion.com www.garrettmotion.com
Click to expand...
Very cool. Thanks for sharing! Very smart on Garrett's part. I went through and punched in, essentially what I'm trying to do at minimum. The GT2871r, and GT30 is what they recommended for the 1.8. I had actually considered getting the GT30 Maxpeedingrods variant, which they have a couple that I highly considered. These definitely would be a benefit through the horsepower and torque curve.

What made me pull the trigger on the bigger Maxpeedingrods GT3582 was it suits my hp goals, and lots of guys have run them on 1.6 and 1.8 platforms for years without issues, even without the coolant lines hooked up.

There's also a little bit of method to the madness. The M32 gearbox / manual trans is rated to 240 ft lbs. The GT3582 won't really kick in until the engine has passed it's peak torque curve. To keep the transmission and bottom end alive, I would like the power to come on after it's peak torque. Torque tends to be what kills motors, and not rpm and hp.

I've seen a particular car (Corsa) that made over 600hp to the flywheel in the Z18XE variant of the 2H0, and his crank came apart. With it being uncharted territory, I'm a little weary of pushing it past 500hp without it coming apart lol.
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Blasirl
Crewz said:
I think so too! But part me also likes the look of the raw stainless... perhaps at least a clear coat. What color would you go with if you did? Red? Black?
Click to expand...
Not really sure, but off the top of my head, you have red and black, maybe a bit of yellow to pop it.
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Crewz
Blasirl said:
Not really sure, but off the top of my head, you have red and black, maybe a bit of yellow to pop it.
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Sounds like a job for Photoshop to see what different colors would look like :)
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2
Hey man I know youre probably going a different route with water to air but I just got the A16LET intake installed. Had to drill and tap the head and will have to reroute some wiring near the throttle body, but turned out nicely and if my fab guy frees up, car should be under boost not too long for now.
289018
289020
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Blasirl
F18D4T said:
Hey man I know youre probably going a different route with water to air but I just got the A16LET intake installed.
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The what? Post a link.
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Crewz
F18D4T said:
Hey man I know youre probably going a different route with water to air but I just got the A16LET intake installed. Had to drill and tap the head and will have to reroute some wiring near the throttle body, but turned out nicely and if my fab guy frees up, car should be under boost not too long for now. View attachment 289018 View attachment 289020
Click to expand...
I've considered it! Just waiting for one of you guys to completely install one, lol. Let me know how the relocation of the throttle body goes and if there's any issues with bolting it up. Also, does the fuel rail install okay, etc...

Did you get any pictures of the ports? I know it's the A16LET is the same engine, different internals, but compared to the 1.8, do you see any choke points, or in other words, does it look like a better flowing manifold? What is the plan with the Variable Intake solenoid? Turn it off?

I was thinking air to water because of it being more of a straight shot, and keeping things more consistent. It get's 110º+ here in Houston and really makes the AIT's high, which kinda is no bueno for the air to air cooling. I'm not 100% set on it though.

Blasirl said:
The what? Post a link.

ebay.to

VAUXHALL CORSA ASTRA VXR 1.6T A16LET Z16LER 06> INLET INTAKE MANIFOLD 55555752 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for VAUXHALL CORSA ASTRA VXR 1.6T A16LET Z16LER 06> INLET INTAKE MANIFOLD 55555752 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
ebay.to
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:)
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Crewz
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Crewz said:
I've considered it! Just waiting for one of you guys to completely install one, lol. Let me know how the relocation of the throttle body goes and if there's any issues with bolting it up. Also, does the fuel rail install okay, etc...

Did you get any pictures of the ports? I know it's the A16LET is the same engine, different internals, but compared to the 1.8, do you see any choke points, or in other words, does it look like a better flowing manifold? What is the plan with the Variable Intake solenoid? Turn it off?

I was thinking air to water because of it being more of a straight shot, and keeping things more consistent. It get's 110º+ here in Houston and really makes the AIT's high, which kinda is no bueno for the air to air cooling. I'm not 100% set on it though.



:)
Click to expand...
I'll list the tricky stuff of the install first because its' probably the info you're after...

There is no MAP sensor port on this manifold as the A16LET has it located on the charge pipe I believe. There are 2 vacuum ports on the left hand side of the manifold which I just drilled out to suit the MAP sensor and tapped the hole for the bolt to hold it into place
289025


I had to use the A16LET throttle body as the F18D4 has an offset bolt spacing whereas the A16LET throttle/manifold are a square configuration. The A16LET throttle also does not have the stupid throttle body heater passages, which I have temporarily rerouted and will use for the turbo coolant feed/drain. I just opened the wiring harness plastic cover and separated the throttle wiring to made it exit the other side, no soldering and no wires snaking all over the place. I removed all the harness brackets etc. and the intake piping will nicely squeeze past :)
289026


I had to hack the cam bank 1 sensor which you cant really see because the throttle blocks it as it protrudes into where the throttle body would sit. I just carefully cut away the connector plastic with a dremel to expose the bare pins and bent them upwards then soldered them permanently to the wiring harness. I could have bought an A16LET cam position sensor as its' a right angled connector but I wanted to get it done so I could drive the car again lol.

The hardest and scariest part was drilling and tapping the head, I managed to do it whilst it was still in the engine aby/block but it would have been much much easier to do if the head was out of the engine bay. The middle 2 top bolt holes are very close to the water jacket (I found this out the hard way) and you may have to seal them with RTV if you go through as I did haha. I used 150mm M8x1.25 bolts to secure the intake for the long bolts and the stock ones for the 3 short holes.

I have a A16LET fuel rail on the way but it was pretty easy to make a bracket to attach the F18D4 fuel rail until I get it.

I didnt get any pictures of the ports but they have HEAPS of room for porting and it looks like it flows much better than the stock intake. I just turned off the variable intake runner DTCs by setting them to no error then making my VE tables all the same. This should make my tuning life much easier as I wont have to tune for open/closed separately. The brake vacuum line directly plugs into the manifold, evap I'll have to route to the intake when its done.
289027
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Crewz
Looks like a very clean install, and thank you for the write up!

The 1.6 and 1.4 do have the MAP port on the charge pipe, but looks like a really nice solution you came up with. Do you recall if the installed height of the injectors, as well as the bore of the injector seat is the same as the stock 1.8? Looks like the 1.6 intake has two ports for coolant? Which are capped off on your install? Only real difference I see between yours and mine is it came with a flex fuel sensor? Or do your vehicles come with that as a standard option?

Lastly, I see you have a hose going to a catch can for the PCV. Where is the other end going? Back into the throttle body? Is there a PCV port in the A16LET throttle body? Any size difference between the two throttle bodies? (please tell me the A16LET is larger lol)

I appreciate it!
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Crewz said:
Looks like a very clean install, and thank you for the write up!

The 1.6 and 1.4 do have the MAP port on the charge pipe, but looks like a really nice solution you came up with. Do you recall if the installed height of the injectors, as well as the bore of the injector seat is the same as the stock 1.8? Looks like the 1.6 intake has two ports for coolant? Which are capped off on your install? Only real difference I see between yours and mine is it came with a flex fuel sensor? Or do your vehicles come with that as a standard option?

Lastly, I see you have a hose going to a catch can for the PCV. Where is the other end going? Back into the throttle body? Is there a PCV port in the A16LET throttle body? Any size difference between the two throttle bodies? (please tell me the A16LET is larger lol)

I appreciate it!
Click to expand...
As far as I can tell both use Siemens Deka injectors and they sit exactly the same in the manifolds. The fuel rail I bought comes with the injectors so I'll compare them with my stock injectors to confirm that theyre the same dimensions.

Theyre definitely not coolant ports haha, they would feed straight into the intake ports! One of them is for PCV, which has a one way valve in the pipe also teeing to the airbox I think, the other I have no idea what its' used for. Currently the outlet of the catch can is just vented to atmosphere but I plan on routing it to the intake once thats all done. Venting to atmosphere resulted in heaps of water/condensation buildup in my can so I wouldnt suggest doing that long term. I'm routing it to the airbox as it will only ever be in vacuum, anywhere that sees boost will require those 1 way valves which I dont want to do for simplicity's' sake.

Mine didnt come with a flex sensor, thats another mod I had previously completed. I have the E78 ECU, which allows you to pin and simply turn it on in the tune definitely something I would recommend you do! Its' quite easy providing your ECU supports it.

The throttle body does not have a PCV port, or any other ports for that matter which is quite handy as its' a tight fit. I think they're both the same size 63mm/2.5".
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Crewz
F18D4T said:
As far as I can tell both use Siemens Deka injectors and they sit exactly the same in the manifolds. The fuel rail I bought comes with the injectors so I'll compare them with my stock injectors to confirm that theyre the same dimensions.

Theyre definitely not coolant ports haha, they would feed straight into the intake ports! One of them is for PCV, which has a one way valve in the pipe also teeing to the airbox I think, the other I have no idea what its' used for. Currently the outlet of the catch can is just vented to atmosphere but I plan on routing it to the intake once thats all done. Venting to atmosphere resulted in heaps of water/condensation buildup in my can so I wouldnt suggest doing that long term. I'm routing it to the airbox as it will only ever be in vacuum, anywhere that sees boost will require those 1 way valves which I dont want to do for simplicity's' sake.

Mine didnt come with a flex sensor, thats another mod I had previously completed. I have the E78 ECU, which allows you to pin and simply turn it on in the tune definitely something I would recommend you do! Its' quite easy providing your ECU supports it.

The throttle body does not have a PCV port, or any other ports for that matter which is quite handy as its' a tight fit. I think they're both the same size 63mm/2.5".
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Cool! It would be interesting to see and know what it would take to interchange wise.

LOL, that's would be no good. Wont run on coolant haha. Be sure to install a one way check valve so you're not boosting the case. That was an issue I didn't foresee happening because I figured the PCV would close shut under positive pressure, that's not the case. It just regulates the amount of flow depending on the amount of vacuum being pulled.

Nice! Off the top of my head, I can't recall the ECU mine has, but 78 sounds familiar. I has all the settings for flex fuel, minus the actual hardware. It's my understanding that they made the 12+ Cruzes E85 capable but only made that available for certain countries. I plan to solely run the car on e85 cause My compression ratio will still be in the 10.5:1 range to produce more power under boost. Plenty of pumps around Houston with corn.

Nice. Good to know. I've been doing some research and it looks like a lot of GM throttle bodies in the 60-65mm range flow around 450-550 cfm, depending on the size of the shaft of the throttle body being a restriction. So we should be good for up to 600hp before it because a restriction.
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Crewz
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Crewz
Fix the front bumper while I'm waiting on parts... What do you guys think of the fresh new look?
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Blasirl
Crewz said:
Fix the front bumper while I'm waiting on parts... What do you guys think of the fresh new look?
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For those of you who are afraid of painting / bodywork etc...
Painted to Match, Front Bumper Cover Fascia for 2011-2014 RS

EDIT: Try this instead:

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Blasirl
Crewz said:
Fix the front bumper while I'm waiting on parts... What do you guys think of the fresh new look?
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Your air compressor sounds like it is playing the spoons...
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