VRT LHD to RHD

[sharky_70 0]

hi guys

now i know that a rhd turbo kits form th EU or US wont work straight on a UK car, but what are the specific problems? i know that i can pretty much use an entire off the shelf kit bar the mani and downpipe, but can these be modified to fit a RHD car?

thanks

[mike 6]

dont think so i thnk youl need to fabricate new ones, speak to jim potter look at the VRT for less than a grand thread

[sharky_70 0]

believe me ive read through it a few times!

very frustrated as i back out of buying a rhd mani off here a few months back

[jims13 6]

ask kev haywire, but im sure that the brake resovior gets in the way , so you will either need to remote mount it or find another way round it. downpipe will also be usless.

[sharky_70 0]

so what solution are people running? ive read a lot about the rhd spa item not actually being spa and cracking, and that the one to go for is atp but they dont do rhd?

[sharky_70 0]

ok so ive just read this

http://www.vr6oc.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?244883

which answers half of the above

so, apart from either

a) running the spa mani and taking every precaution you can for it not to crack, which would be???

run the atp and do a remote resevoir

[sharky_70 0]

ok so whats the actual difference between LH and RH mani's and downpipes?

ive been looking at loads of US/EU and UK bays for comparison. i know on the uk cars the servo/MC etc is on the driver side so the intake could foul it, but i dont understand how the mani and downpipe can interfere as theyre on the other side

tell me im crackers

[Radostormvr6 2]

Theres only two problems when going Turbo, manifold & downpipe.

I went for ATP manifold, relocated the brake fluid reservoir and had a custom made down pipe

and 3'' exhaust system. Job done

you will also need to run short runner intake with ATP manifold.

[sharky_70 0]

well i was reading through a few old threads and mags last night and i found a few where guys were using ATP manifolds but from what i could see hadnt relocated the reservoir and one definately wasnt using a short runner. im not suggesting that any of you guys are wrong, as youve carried out the conversion and i havent.

i knew that i'd need to have a DP made up but i just want to know what the LH one actually fouls on and why it doesnt work.

thanks

[FishWick 21]

It depends how big the turbo intake is. If it's a 4" inlet, then you definitely have to relocate the brake fluid pot. Some turbos only have a 3" or 2.5" intake and you can get away with it.

You cannot use the stock intake with the ATP manifold. The turbo is smack bang in the way. Plenty of people modify the stock intakes to work though, or try and use the Kinetics manifold, which sits the turbo lower down.

That was the job of the SPA manifold, to mount it low enough to use the stock manifold and clear RHD steering racks, but the quality is absolutely abismal.

It's better to put a bit more work and money into it the first time round and do it properly - go ATP.

[sharky_70 0]

ok, in the 1st bit when you say intake you mean from filter to turbo? so filter, MAF housing and intake pipe. well i was going to try and duplicate as much of the Kinetic st.3 kits as possible which afaik uses the 3" MAF housing and intake.

with regards to your 2nd bit are you still refering to the intake or the inlet mani? so if i use the ATP turbo mani i have to go SRI?

if i was to use a lhd mani from the US would it be just a case of getting a custom DP made up?

really dont wanna go SRI if i can help it

[FishWick 21]

Yeah, the part of the turbo the intake pipe attachs to. Maybe RadostormVR6 would be good enough to attach some pics of his RHD ATP setup. Seeing those would answer all your questions :-)

I haven't personally seen an ATP setup using the stock inlet manifold. The turbo sits right where the throttle would go. You could move the throttle to the other side of the manifold , but I don't know how close it would then put that to Wastegate. Kinetics would work better, but apparently it won't work in RHD cars.

Why the reluctance to use an SRI?

[sharky_70 0]

down to cost i guess. and also want to try and keep the install looking as minimal as possible. as an ends to this i guess the SPA or kinetics mani would be a good option also as the turbo would be nicely out of the way.

ive just spent some time looking through a few more builds and i can kind of work out what you mean about the ATP now. the turbo comes directly off the back of it so the intake would sit a lot higher also, where as the SPA etc is slung more below so obv the intake will also be lower.

ok getting a bit further with it in my head now! starting to make more sense of it.

so what precautions could i take to help reduce the risk of cracking the SPA item (like ive seen happen to you a few weeks back)? turbo support against the block? i guess down to heat too.

[FishWick 21]

Yeah I understand your reasons. I felt the same way initially, but it was just impossible to use the stock inlet manifold with the charge cooler I wanted to use, plus I wanted the boost pipework to be as short as possible.

Yep, the SPA manifold puts the turbo in a really nice position for using the stock inlet. I'm not sure there's much you can do to prevent cracking to be honest.

On SPA's website, they claim their manifolds are guaranteed for life, so it might be an idea to buy one direct from them to get a warranty and if it cracks, you can claim the associated costs back from them.

I have a feeling the 2 I had were dodgy ones and no one has proven me wrong yet, so you might be OK with a genuine manifold from SPA.

[sharky_70 0]

yeah prob best bet. seen so many over here and in EU for less than £200 and it does make you think about how good they can be for the money

ok, so onto the next bit of my initial Q...!

what is it that the LHD downpipe fouls on? steering rack or something? can it not be chopped and rewelded to fix?

[Radostormvr6 2]

[img]

Just for you

[Radostormvr6 2]

Heres another, im using GT3076R Turbo on ATP manifold

img]

[sharky_70 0]

cool i see EXACTLY what you mean now! about the fluid pot and the inlet mani. ok, on to sourcing a reliable SPA item then...

so, what about the downpipe? what is it about the lhd type that doesnt fit? where does it foul etc?

[FishWick 21]

I know the ATP LHD downpipe runs a bit too close to the gear shift cables and it needs shortening, but other than that, it doesn't foul anything.

If anything, the LHD downpipe should work better for us as the yanks have more stuff on the gearbox side of the car than we do.

But to be honest mate, I would get a custom one made because every c ar is different. Even the LHD cars need LHD specific downpipes modifying slightly, so it's best to just make one that fits from scratch.

Not as hard as it sounds. Jetex sell all the bends and straights you need and flex bellows etc. If you have a look in my DIY turbo guide, you can see how I made the downpipe.

I did the cutting and shaping and a mate welded it up for me.

You can easily sink £1000 into custom exhausts, turbo to tip at professional shop, but it's not necessary.....

[FishWick 21]

How about this setup - http://www.atpturbo.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ATP-VVW-177&Category_Code=AUDIVW-DP

You could use the stock intake with that and the downpipe looks like it would work in RHD applications. Hard to say until you try fitting it!

[sharky_70 0]

cool, ok. well for what i want to achieve at this stage i may even start with a lhd item as a templete and get it modified to suit

cheers for all the advice and info. i'll def look through your DIY again, mustve been a few bits i missed 1st time around

[Radostormvr6 2]

How about this setup - http://www.atpturbo.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ATP-VVW-177&Category_Code=AUDIVW-DP

You could use the stock intake with that and the downpipe looks like it would work in RHD applications. Hard to say until you try fitting it!

Only problem with the turbo this way is the air filter and your turbo outlet will have to go down under the sump.

its a long route back to the throttle body

[sharky_70 0]

so the turbo is fitted upside down?

can the turbo not be clocked to compensate this, so the outlet goes over the top? could always re position the MAF, filter etc so its on the other side. been planning to chuck the battery in the boot and junk the header and washer anyway

[sharky_70 0]

just read the info on that page again and it says for use with the ATO mani, so if its fitted like in their pic then the turbo wouldnt foul the fluid pot and should be out of the way of the TB if used with the original inlet mani? or am i looking at it all wrong?!

[FishWick 21]

Yep, that's exactly why I suggested it. I figured if you wanted to use the stock inlet, you'd be going down the front mount intercooler route.

It would work very well imo......providing it clears everything. I think it would personally, but I'm not paying $300 to find out :-)