Here is the "rarest" of my A-body cars! It's a pretty rare car indeed. It's a Century, 2-door coupe. As if that isn't uncommon enough, it is also a Diesel. And to add to it, it has an electronic instrument panel, and factory "turbine" alloy wheels!
(Picture courtesy Exira Auto Sales)
This all started with seeing another Car Domain page, where he has built up a 4.3L Turbo Diesel front-wheel drive car. From that point on, I wanted to do a similar project.
One of my buddies at a-body dot net told me about this car at a used car place in Iowa. I live in south Alabama, which is about 1000 miles from Exira, Iowa. But being the adventurous type - well - I made the long drive and got the car!
Here is the car, when I pulled up on the lot at the used car dealer.
In 3 days I left south Louisiana, made Exira, IA, and back home to Alabama. Right at 2000 miles round trip. Pulled the diesel car behind my 84 Century on a car dolly. The 3.8 SFI Turbo engine pulled it with ease.
Once the "rig" was home, I started working on the car.
The first repair was to take away the trashy cables and undersize battery. This car is equipped for a size 31-S commercial battery, so that is what went in there. Then I built a set of 2/0 cables with soldered-on cable ends. That eliminates the need to boost the battery every time to start the car!
The brakes are sticking, so that is the current project.
In the future, this car will be getting an engine rebuild, with addition of a VGT turbocharger system. The 4.3 diesel will be turned into a force to recon with!
From the factory, this car is equipped with a DIESEL ENGINE. What that means is, it will get nearly 40 miles per gallon, burning diesel fuel instead of gasoline.
For people who are not familiar with engines, this may help explain. Both gasoline and diesel engines are powered by expanding air. Burning fuel heats up the air trapped in the cylinders. The sudden burst of heat expands the air greatly. The engine captures the force of this expanding air and uses it power to drive the car.
A diesel engine uses hot air to light the fuel on fire, whereas a gasoline engine uses an electrical spark from spark plugs. There are numerous differences in the details of the fuel system and engine mechanical parts but that is the most basic difference!
The engine:
Without mouse nest under the injector pump:
The engine is mostly complete, and runs OK but not perfect. I don't care at this point because I am going to fully rebuild it and add a turbocharger system to it. As long as I have all the parts to work with, it will do!
One other neat feature of this car..
Digital instrument panel! I like the novel look, but I am not happy that there is no temperature gauge, voltmeter or oil pressure gauge.
Original engine specs:
85 HP @ 3200 RPM
165 Ft. Lbs @ 1600 RPM
When I get done upgrading the engine, it will be at least 200 HP.
The extra power will come from extra airflow to the engine. More air = more power, just as blowing on a fire makes it burn hotter. The extra air will be provided by a turbocharger / intercooler system, which is bringing in extra air, compressing and cooling it, and sending it into the engine.
To allow the engine to have extra power at a very wide range of speeds (not just at FULL THROTTLE but across the whole RPM range) I am going to use a VNT turbocharger.
VNT (variable geometry turbo) turbos have movable vanes in the housing that allow the turbo to work harder at low engine speeds, then the vanes open up and allow it to "breathe deep" at higher speeds without restricting the exhaust too badly.
VNT vanes halfway open:
VNT vanes full-open:
VNT vanes closed (not normal operation)
The little lever next to the turbine wheel moves the vanes:
Vane ring (called the "nozzle") sits around the turbine wheel:
The electronic actuator is quite large!!
Turbo will mount near this location. Exhaust downpipe will have to go down the front of the engine bay because there is no room at the rear of the engine. The diesel engine is quite large for this car!
More to come as the system fabrication goes on! Too many projects going on at once!
David
