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Holset and 2.4lh? Some early car turbo swap questions

bugjam1999

Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2015
Hi all,

A few questions about a swapping a turbo engine into a 1978 245, currently powered by a carb fed B21A.

Background ? I turbo swapped my car (1988 240, originally k-jet) back in 2015. I swapped in 2.4lh and have stuck with the original 13c turbo with the boost turned up. Late last year a friend bought a 1978 245 and quickly moved from ?I think I?ll keep it vaguely stock? to ?I?m definitely going to turbo it?. So far so good ? he bought a B230FK, an M90, a Volvo top entry and exit intercooler and a 2.4lh loom from a late 240.

Then, entering stage left with a flourish ? scope creep. Stripping the turbo down revealed that the wastegate seat was all but burnt away and the turbo was definitely not usable as is. During a search for a 13c/15G/16T something else popped up online ? a Holset HX35 on a custom exhaust manifold with oil feed and drain lines and complete exhaust (guy breaking his project car). Messages were exchanged and the setup bought. Leading on from the turbo purchase an NPR intercooler, IPD turbo cam and adjustable pulley, a 531 head, and a 012 MAF were also bought.

For now, the 530 head with t cam is staying on the engine as the 531 will be worked on a bit before install. We?ve made a start and swapped in a walbro pump with a later sender and run a new feed line.

I understand the majority of how to turboswap a 240 having done it myself before, but there are a few questions about this swap that have exceeded the limits of my knowledge ? comments welcomed on the points below:

1.) Speedo drive ? the early dash is cable driven and there?s no interest in swapping to the later style dash. I?ve seen threads on taking an early instrument cluster apart and transplanting in a later speedo behind the original speedo face, then swapping in a later rear axle to provide the signal required which could be done? but that?s a fair amount of work. Has anyone used a GPS to speedo drive emulator such as the one below to drive a speedo?

https://www.classicautoinnovations.com/classic

2.) 2.4lh and Holset? I don?t know, but my suspicion is that the collection of parts above and 2.4LH aren?t going to play very nicely together. Does anyone have experience with 2.4lh and a similar engine spec? All guidance on the management side of things gratefully received ? the guy who had this turbo before had a megasquirt setup, but he sold that separately.

3.) Related to the point above, the 012 MAF is far smaller than the inlet for the turbo ? I?ve seen threads with people making their own 3inch maf using the insides of a 016, could the insides of the 012 be used in a 4inch pipe as part of running the above engine using 2.4lh?

All comments gratefully received,

Cheers
 
2/3. I ran my LH 2.4 car with a holset to a 12.01 @ 114mph 1/4 mile time. Custom exhaust and intake manifold, buy still with the AMM there. Get. A 4-3" coupler adapter and bam AMM sits in front of the turbo. Either way I would recommend if going for the ceiling on LH you get an ostrich and custom tune it. I was running 75lb injectors and e85 at the time and I still had a ton of overhead for fueling at 25psi of boost.
 
Great- that?s reassuring. My friend isn?t keen on a whole new management system and associated cost if he can help it, having got a little carried away with the parts list above.

Easy enough to buy a connector that will connect the maf to the turbo, but will that pose a restriction to airflow as it?s a far smaller diameter? Or am I overthinking it?

He also has a wasted spark setup.

Will definitely be investing in an ostrich- I?ve read through the thread on tuning 2.4 a few times.

Cheers
 
Great- that?s reassuring. My friend isn?t keen on a whole new management system and associated cost if he can help it, having got a little carried away with the parts list above.

Easy enough to buy a connector that will connect the maf to the turbo, but will that pose a restriction to airflow as it?s a far smaller diameter? Or am I overthinking it?

He also has a wasted spark setup.

Will definitely be investing in an ostrich- I?ve read through the thread on tuning 2.4 a few times.

Cheers
While it is a restriction it really is not that bad, if you still have the stock intake manifold that is just as bad.

If you need some guidance on tuning with the ostrich let me know and I can help out a bit.
 
Ok, all sounding good so far thank you.

Yes- original intake manifold, I think that?s quite far down the upgrade list.

Tuning advice- great! Thanks, we?ll almost certainly be in touch about that when the time comes.

Next hurdle-

4. Any comment on a recirculating blow off valve? The manifold etc doesn?t have anything currently- I?m not sure what the previous guy had set up. Perhaps something on a piece of intercooler pipework? Advice welcomed.

5. Adjustable fuel pressure regulator- necessary?

Cheers
 
No need for an adjustable FPR.
Definitely want a bypass valve on there. I have had solid luck with a Forge 007 on mine, on the Holset and the Garrett on the car now.
 
Ok thanks- we?ll see about where to weld a recirculating valve in, then take a deep breath and get on with the swap...
 
I've been reading through a ton of old turbo posts recently and it seems that the general consensus is that LH2.4 is good to around 300hp maybe higher with a good setup. So yeah LH is pretty damn robust! Consider getting a chip as an alternative to Ostrich, though I think Ostrich is the way to go!
 
Oh it?s already chipped, I neglected to mention that. Chipped ecu and ezk with a daughter board which is also chipped.

I think we?ll be an ostrich as well...

I can?t find anything on people using a cable drive emulator, think we might end up swapping the axle :eek:
 
Ok- recirculating valve is the last piece of the puzzle... well, one of the last big pieces anyway.

I think I?ve seen a thread saying that 2.4lh will play nicely with a blow off valve, but my friend doesn?t want to take that route and is keen on a recirculating valve. Any advice on what to buy and how to plumb it would be greatly appreciated- as we understand it the ideal location would be from just before the throttle body and to the pipe between the maf and the turbo, but that requires crossing the engine bay of course. Our assumption is the second best location is from just before the intercooler to the pipe between the maf and turbo, but please enlighten us if we?re off track.

Thanks for the suggestions of a forge 007 above- do they come in different sizes? If so, what size recirculating valve will we need?

Cheers
 
The 007 is one size, just pick a color. It's the same size as the Porsche one Robert mentioned. I have had the same 007 on 2 different Holsets and my Garrett, been extremely happy with it. No fuss, tunable, and it just works. :)
 
#!1: A buddy of mine decided to redo his 1968 1800 and got a set of aftermarket gauges. His speedo is entirely GPS based. I know that it was an easier mod on a 1800 (all gauges just mount onto the face of the dash), but I figured that I'd mention that in case you wanted to consider a stand alone speedo either separate, or Frankensteined into your cluster.

https://www.summitracing.com/search/part-type/speedometer-gauges
 
I?m still on LH 2.4, with a Holset 11cm hx52, 16v forged conversion. Pulls without missing a beat up to 6800 with chips. It?ll do for now👍
 
Hi all,

Thanks again for the help so far. We have made progress! It was sunny so we did this:




And then after a number of cups of tea and a bit of swearing, we got to this:



So far so good. After putting the slam panel and some other bodywork back on we experimented with fitting the NPR intercooler, but the merged header has moved the turbo too far forwards for that to work. So a mid entry/exit intercooler to fit in front of the radiator, under the slam panel has been purchased - the same as many many others I've seen on turbobricks.

We're still really short on space in front of the turbo though, given that we have to fit in a reducer from the turbo to the size of the MAF, but before the MAF there needs to be a tee for the recirculation valve, then the MAF, then the airfilter.... as well as pipework from the turbo outlet to the intercooler that connects to the recirculation valve before disappearing though the sheetmetal to the side of the radiator.

A request then - if anyone has any pics of a similar arrangement, they'd be much appreciated for a bit of inspiration. We're ditching the massive windscreen washer reservoir and putting a smaller one on the other side of the engine bay, and we've got a coolant expansion tank from a 740 turbo which is much smaller so that'll free up a bit of space to help.

All comments, pics etc. appreciated.

Cheers

A couple more general shots - note the maf is sitting loosely on the merged header in the second pic, ie where the turbo should be.


 
To use the cable speedo with LH2.4, see this thread for what I did: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=342812

Needs some soldering skills, a cable speedo with the cruise control pickup, and the PCB from a 86+ non-abs electronic speedo, but works fine for me and was much easier than swapping differential and hacking a later speedo into the cable speedo cluster.
 
That’s a great plan, like the idea, however the swap includes an M90 so no speedo drive..... it’s looking like a later rear axle swop with speedo sensor and a later speedo massaged into the cluster.
 
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