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1989 505 Turbo Restoration


Jayden M

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I came across another 89 turbo and could not resist purchasing it. I believe it was last driven 19 years ago, but I have experience with this sort of thing, so I decided to save it. It was parked because of an exhaust leak at the manifold, and one of the studs broke off inside the head. Also a tree busted the windshield. First up was getting running. This was incredibly easy... replaced the ignition relay and Tachymetric relay and this thing is idling alright... after 19 years! That was lucky

Next up I wanted a instrument cluster that worked so I took apart all of my 505 Turbo clusters and built 2 perfect ones. One for Blackie and one for this car. Turns out of have the yellow LED engine light and Anti-lock light on.

This car has 150,000 miles, so I was skeptical about the entire cracked head issue we know these cars have... but while running and warming up there are no smoke or bubbles in the reservoir. This one is definitely a survivor.

It needs an alternator and the brake pedal stays pushed down whenever I press on it?? Not sure what causes that

Some long term plans I have for this car is I plan to manual swap it, and potentially run a Danielson Camshaft + Head.Danielson

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Does anyone have experience with removing the Turbo+Manifold setup on the N9TEA engine? Did you have to remove the engine mount? I have nearly gotten the turbo+manifold out, but just cannot figure out what it is stuck on. I just reeeeealy hope I do not need to remove the engine mount.

 

- Jayden

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Jeyden, you've come a long way in your mechanical and electrical knowledge. I see you are using the PC power supply with the green and black wire jump as a power supply for testing the instrument panel. About the turbo, try taking off the bolt on the top of the mount then lifting -tilting the engine to make more space to take it off, be careful where you place the jack use a piece of wood and look not to over stretch any hoses or cables.

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On 4/8/2023 at 3:35 PM, Goce said:

tilting the engine to make more space to take it off,

Thanks Goce! Literally 10mm of tilt on the engine and the turbo/exhaust assembly came out no problem. My guess is the engine mount itself is a bit old and weak and the engine is sitting a tad lower than usual.

Now that the exhaust is off I see something that might be very bad. There is alot of oil buildup inside and around the exhaust ports in the manifold and in the head. This car did have a bit of smoke after warming up (blue misty smoke indicating burning oil). The more I ran the car the less smoke it put out so I was not terribly worried, but this does not look good. Could this mean the piston rings are bad and allowing oil into the combustion chamber?

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There is not enough space between the head and body to put a drill to get the broken studs out, and I do not feel like taking off the head. Do you guys think it would be foolish to install the exhaust manifold with 2 broken off studs? (Top left and top right stud)

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8 hours ago, Jayden M said:

There is not enough space between the head and body to put a drill to get the broken studs out, and I do not feel like taking off the head. Do you guys think it would be foolish to install the exhaust manifold with 2 broken off studs? (Top left and top right stud)

I wouldn't say foolish, but it will probably leak. My Xn6 has a similar problem, (one broken stud, one stripped stud) except I didn't want to take the manifold off nor the head so I just put some exhaust paste on. Works quite well so far.

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8 hours ago, Goce said:

he bolts don't look rusty, so they will come out easy, but the trick is to grip them. I've had good luck with welding, if you feel expanding your skills buy a welder probably mig welder and try your luck.

The issue here is the studs that broke broke off a good ways into the threads of the head. I wont be able to get in there with a welder

 

26 minutes ago, SRDT said:

You have one port with no oil so it should be coming from the piston rings or from the valve seals. That plus the broken studs could be a good reason to remove the head.

Yes it could also be oil leaking down from changing the oil. The previous owner left the exhaust nuts lose, and I spilled some oil while changing the oil, it likely could have gone in there.

How I stand now is I think I will put it all back together with 2 missing studs... no harm done if it does not leak. If it does leak then I will pull the engine out and fix it as well as put a 5sp in place of the automatic. Even though this seems to be the only properly working automatic transmission I have left. I know its likely for it to leak, but I do not need to be taking apart another engine when I have a project im doing that with already. Fingers crossed

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  • 2 months later...

I have been driving the vehicle a bit and the exhaust seems to be doing alright. There is a bit of exhaust leaking while its very cold, but a few minutes of running and the leak is gone... good enough for me. I have adjusted the TPS, timing, and set boost 11-12 PSI (I will be doing many more tweaks later on, dont worry). The car feels great I really want to get this one on the road again.

The only thing left to do is have the windshield replaced.... and after calling literally dozens of companies I realized I would have to put it in myself. Does anyone here gone through putting a windshield in?

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While waiting for the windshield to arrive I have been driving the car around. It actually drives nicely now that I can see where I am going.

I have an issue with the waterpump/alternator belt getting lose. After just an hour or so of driving the belt becomes lose and will start squealing. I have tried new belts, old belts, tightening the alternator bolts just a little, properly torquing them down, and slightly over tightening the bolts - but still the belt will come lose. I have the power steering belt off if that matters.

Any ideas?

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I think i'v found the issue which was the Alternator. Somehow it was having some insane load that was actually shredding down belts causing them to fall into the groove of pulleys farther (making them become loose). It put out around 14 Volts when the car was cold, but I only recently checked voltage after warmed up and it was Sub 12 Volts. Why would the battery light on the dash not be on.. but thats an issue for another day. 

I spare alternator seems to have fixed the issue as I have been able to drive for the longest i'v driven so far. Definitely going to race Blackie vs Blue once this car is road legal. 😏

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