[powerwheels]

Nowadays anyone wishing to improve their vehicle engine performance have many options available to them. Some take the approach of modifying the engine using N/A as the basic platform where they spend hours on end to get the maximum power, while others prefer to use external aids such as Nitrous Oxide ( which we use extensively), or supercharging or turbocharging. Turbocharging & supercharging has been steadily growing in popularity even among OE manufacturers & the aftermarket companies in recent years.

The most recent turbo project undertaken by the Powerwheels team was that of a 1.33 L MPFI Esteem belonging to Mr. Jayant Venkatesh (otherwise called Ziggy on Team-Bhp). The overall aim of this project was to highlight high output in a small engine, low fuel consumption & yet be practical as a daily driver car.





Car engine compartment layout


The chosen turbo charger was the new Garrett dual ball bearing GTX2863R billet wheel turbo (coupled to a T 25 turbine housing with an internal wastegate set at 8 psi—an optional wastegate actuator set to 14psi was also purchased at the same time)) which is small in size but very big on power. Properly packaged a big output turbo can be made to really deliver high horsepower—only needs a little attention to the fine details.



Lightweight Original OMP Strada Seats (very comfortable!)


To begin with the engine itself had to be rebuilt to make a strong reliable foundation. The pistons used are the popular Teflon coated low compression Vitara hypereutectic pistons (76mm—also is a direct fit for the Baleno engine) which have proved to be plenty strong ( have been tested over 500HP) in other turbo applications. The boring & honing went through our strict engine building phase as is our practice with all engine builds that we do. The crankshaft bearings used are all race bearings coated with low friction coatings. The entire main bearing assembly was completely braced together with a girdle to strengthen the entire crankshaft assembly. The cylinder head was a fully flow bench developed/ radically ported from our earlier national record drag engines. The cam is an aggressive custom turbo grind (with a bit of idle miss built into it) for a limit of 8000rpm to match this new turbo.



TACH @ 8000 pic





Super High flow Turbo Akimoto air filter



The valve springs are normal heavy duty stuff good for use upto 9000rpm. The light flywheel is our own custom chrome moly billet steel flywheel which we had made earlier for our drag engines. The Intake manifold presently used is a low volume production Suzuki sport manifold which performs extremely well upto 8000rpm which is now very rare & difficult to obtain. The connecting rods are standard forged GT rods which are very strong even for heavy duty turbo use. So, the bottom end is built to take some heavy duty turbo use.


Aditya from Powerwheels along with the The Maroon Owl

Following the assembly, the engine was put through its much needed run in period of near 2500km.This is very compulsory for all our engine builds. All fabrication & layout work only began after the engine was completely run in.
The entire fabrication, layout, location of components etc were done by the Powerwheels team consisting of Aditya, Jameel, myself & Shabeer( our very famous guy who also does all the exhaust header fabrication for the past 25 years—we are all one & the same team) who did an exceptional job as always with a remarkable attention to detail. All the intercooler piping was done in SS & then thermal heat wrapped. Even the ram flow turbo exhaust manifold was custom fabricated in SS schedule 10 piping & then thermal heat wrapped to contain the heat in the engine compartment. Overall the entire layout was very professional in appearance & cosmetically very appealing.



Proud Owner of his self-tuned Turbocharged Esteem


The ECU of choice was the Race Dynamics 0601 unit which we already had with us & Karthik from RD( a really terrific guy once you know him) was extremely helpful to modify this ECU for turbo application. Along with this, the all important wideband gauge was all wired & the vehicle finally put on the road. Jayant who is himself a software guy went about the business of tuning the ECU in phases with help from his friends Siddharth Sinh Jhala & Pranay J Pandya as & when time permitted him to do so. With a few tuning inputs from the Powerwheels team the car was slowly coming to life & the performance was continuously improving.





As the performance improved the problem of the stock clutch unable to take the abuse surfaced, so until an appropriate clutch could be obtained, the car was being tested & tuned in small phases within the limits of the OE clutch. The engine was showing great promise & the turbo response was remarkable even with the low boost set for initial testing.




The ignition system is much needed for turbocharging any car,


The Intake manifold aids the turbocharged performance greatly.



As is the performance scene in Bangalore, word was out of this new performing esteem which as expected aroused the interest of other modded cars, mainly the various Honda citys that are so prevalent nowadays. Sooner or later an opportunity to test against other cars was inevitable. One by one all these Hondas ( including some hybrid B 16 City versions) who wished to challenge themselves against the esteem did their run ups in turn. Surprisingly even the Motor Rev super saloon Honda city which we were so instrumental in packaging together (more on this later) also showed up after its very successful performance in the last super saloon race in Dec 2011. The esteem stood its ground comfortably against all the competition. The super saloon Honda City did many back to back runs which was expected to contain the esteems performance (which was in the low 14;s in the ¼ mile at that time) but could not stand up to the esteems pace In spite of the slipping clutch & the small 13” JK tires. As we have always known through our years of tuning experience a turbo car is a turbo car & an n/a car is an n/a car & a properly setup esteem turbo engine will always outperform an n/a Honda City engine .. Many find that difficult to accept but the laws of physics always hold good. Obviously Jayant was completely thrilled that his self tuned low boost of 8 psi turbo performed so well & humbled the challenges of the mighty Hondas that presented themselves that day. For us it a testimony of the work that was put in, the reliability of the engine even after numerous quarter mile runs that night, no heating issue ,etc in spite of an OE slipping clutch. We were very happy for Ziggy to say the least.


Good braking is a big necessity for turbocharged engines


Subsequently there were some minor reruns later by other Hondas who made various changes to their setups in the hope of humbling this esteems performance for bragging rights. As expected the esteem always came out ahead.


Since then the esteem has progressively been improved & all the necessary upgrades by way of a new special race duty ceramic/ graphite clutch, an LSD, different gearing, a new ultra high flow air filter & 15 “ tires, a high output CD ignition system , a mini intercooler fan for additional intercooling was added, & a set of colder plugs have been installed. The entire GT Brembo disc brake system has also been bolted on. The car has since improved remarkably with these new additions & after Ziggy spent some time & remapped the ECU through his seat of the pants approach. He has now become very sensitive & proficient at this new approach in tuning without a dyno which at first he refused to believe could be done—something for him to be proud of. The car is still running the 8psi boost due to the fact that the baleno injectors have maxed out much earlier. Soon the new bigger injectors will be installed along with the new intake manifold sourced from the BMW Mini supercharger kit to raise the engine limit over the present 8000rpm limit.

A hotter cam change is also in order. Its presently still running on pump gas so there is still more power to be extracted & the project is far from complete. Presently the car with all these new component additions is in the low 13’s in the ¼ mile with no turbo lag & very linear power. Our target is to boost it upto 14psi first & further if Jayant will permit us. In the beginning of this project Jayant did not know what level of performance to expect—now he is convinced that Big little turbos can make BIG power. Our overall aim is to bring this esteem into the high 12’s as a daily drive street car.

That is why his Esteem is popularly called the “13 sec Maroon Owl” (due to the limited free time available to him only at night).



Others who are quite amazed at the cars performance humourously refer to it as the “Penniless Porsche” but we at Powerwheels simply call this “the Art of Intelligent Engineering”

Happy Tuning,
Raj Hingorani

[GTO]

Mindblowing, thanks for sharing! What a cleanly modified car. Got to appreciate this level of attention to detail.

Originally Posted by powerwheels

Mr. Jayant Venkatesh (otherwise called Ziggy on Team-Bhp).

It'll be great if we have comments on this thread from the owner too. How it's like to drive, live with etc.

yet be practical as a daily driver car.

So true. People modify cars all the time. But a car that can't work properly in city traffic is a bummer.

As is the performance scene in Bangalore, word was out of this new performing esteem which as expected aroused the interest of other modded cars, mainly the various Honda citys that are so prevalent nowadays.

As we have always known through our years of tuning experience a turbo car is a turbo car & an n/a car is an n/a car & a properly setup esteem turbo engine will always outperform an n/a Honda City engine

Just when I was thinking of keeping my Civic N/A .

Good braking is a big necessity for turbocharged engines

And especially so on an Esteem I'd say! The stock brakes suck.

[A.K.]

Great work, Raj.
I, personally, love turbo charged engines.

Most turbo engines have a Jekyll & Hyde personality.
Stomp your right foot down and they turn maniacal.

When I was car shopping a few years ago,
I picked up the 1.8L TSI petrol of the Skoda Superb
over the 2.4L n/a of the Honda Accord.

I'm sure this one's a hoot to drive.
For safety sake you gotta get the brakes done soon.

[Omtoatom]

Jaw-dropping stuff Raj. A truly clean job as well with mind-boggling attention to detail.

Would you mind sharing overall damages?

Originally Posted by powerwheels

The esteem stood its ground comfortably against all the competition. The super saloon Honda City did many back to back runs which was expected to contain the esteems performance (which was in the low 14;s in the ¼ mile at that time) but could not stand up to the esteems pace In spite of the slipping clutch & the small 13” JK tires. As we have always known through our years of tuning experience a turbo car is a turbo car & an n/a car is an n/a car & a properly setup esteem turbo engine will always outperform an n/a Honda City engine .. Many find that difficult to accept but the laws of physics always hold good. Obviously Jayant was completely thrilled that his self tuned low boost of 8 psi turbo performed so well & humbled the challenges of the mighty Hondas that presented themselves that day. For us it a testimony of the work that was put in, the reliability of the engine even after numerous quarter mile runs that night, no heating issue ,etc in spite of an OE slipping clutch. We were very happy for Ziggy to say the least.

Found that tidbit quite fascinating. That the Esteem brushed aside challenges from those Hondas is a solid testament to your experience, hard work and design principles.

Kudos!

[mayankjha1806]

Looks very interesting, and mouthwatering indeed. The mods are clean (both interior around the engine bay area and exterior) and do not look too jazzed up. More interesting for me as i have a 2005 Baleno @ 72K Kms. In a years time either it needs a new lease of life or needs to go.

How much did the whole thing cost?, could this be done on a Baleno as well? Kindly PM me your number.

[kutlee]

Neatly done job. Especially the manifold and plumbing. Why is the bulge on the silicon coupler? You can paint those clamps holding the oil cooler. The bonnet scoop looks big and gives aggressive look which is nice. Some YouTube runs will be cool. What type of welding runs on the manifold? Congrats on the sleeper.

[Ford5]

Raj are you still in Jaymahal? I would like to see the esteem. If and when it's at your garage. Very neat build. Any ideas how many Hp's this engine is pulling?

[hillram]

Hearty congratulations on such a brilliant modification job. Every thing fits like a glove !!! Maybe you should color the air scoop on the bonnet with the body colour, so that it integrates well into the car.

[CaliforniaKnight]

Congratulations on an Esteem build,Something not found common these days.
Nice to read that the G13B can still stand out from the newer craze of Hondas.
I am sure this build was on an MPFI variant of the Esteem.How easy is it to do the same on a Carbureted engine?

[nitrous]

Originally Posted by powerwheels

Soon the new bigger injectors will be installed along with the new intake manifold sourced from the BMW Mini supercharger kit to raise the engine limit over the present 8000rpm limit.

Consider Subaru Impreza injectors as well.

Love the project except for ETs being thrown about. 13 seconds is too optimistic.
Can we have ET slips from proper drag racing test equipment?

[1self]

Great job guys! I have some questions though. What compression ratio are you running? What fuel? How is the off-boost performance if this is a daily driven car? Where is the intercooler/aftercooler, or are you running methanol injection?

[vkarulkar]

Great Job.
I remember BG talking to me about this esteem.
Does this Owl is runing stock suspension?

Note from the Team-BHP Support team: Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting an entire long message inconveniences our mobile users.

[Carb]

Hey people, awesome work done there mate. Your talent and dedication is much appreciated mate

Couple of questions though..

1. Upon installing the turbocharger, the engine temperature is bound to shoot up real soon. Could you please let us know what alterations you have done to the cooling systems to keep the heat low?

2. Could you please put up the performance stats of the monster??

Thanks a ton fellas. Keep the spirit of modders going.

[speedmunster]

A very good mod job indeed. How about some dyno figures now? I really like the fact that on the outside the esteem looks like a sleeper.

Just imagine the look on the faces of the crowd at the traffic stop-lights.

[TurboGuru]

Turbocharger with Gasoline: Lethal combination , if you know how to tame the Dragon
just a query on the fuel, is it regular Petrol or a high rating octane one ?
I do see a hood, is it for cooling the air before it is burnt ? or you are using liquid cooling ?
some detailed pictire of the real estate under the hood would be appreciated ?