Performance mods - next step - a bit long winded

Got the '86 GLHT out of storage for some up coming summer drives. Well a couple of months away. Thought about building a JCW mini but man they seem unreliable and expensive to maintain. Any Mini owners here with any insight? Grabbed the Omni to get the Mini thing out of my system. The GLH sure is fun.
Newly built T1 block with T2 rods, forged pistons, running log manifold with spearco intercooler, TU60 turbo in a T1 housing, 2.5" exhaust with a 2.5" dump with electric cutout exiting before rear wheel, FWD stage 3 computer. Runs about 13 - 14 lbs of boost. A555 transmission, autometer wideband and boost gauge. Im looking for advice on the next set of upgrades. I would like to keep it a log setup but willing to change If all the parts were readily available as a package from someone. My thoughts are - trying an air to water intercooler in place of the spearco, maybe more efficient, add a devils own meth system,
maybe try a 50hp nitrous setup. I also keep reading about going to a 3 bar map if running above 15lbs of boost. Can I install a 3bar in place of the 2 bar on my logic module? Looking forward to hearing how you guys think I should proceed. The car gets at most a couple of thousand km's put on in a summer.

Thank You
Jon

What are your goals with the car?

Do not just add a 3 bar map without changing to a 3 bar computer. They must be changed together otherwise you will run lean.

3" exhaust is an inexpensive upgrade that provides a great return on investment.

Chris-TU

Jon,
My Spearco log manifold GLHT is still considered quick and used to run with the big dogs. Mine has ran at least 106 MPH since 1988 and has run a best of 111 MPH. There are a lot of TII cars that still don't run that fast. The Spearco intercooler kit they made for the log manifold cars came in a 3.0 and 3.5" thick core. The 3.5" core is efficient to at least 290 HP. So the intercooler is not a problem until you are deep in the 12's (in an Omni). My advice is run more boost, esp. now that you no longer have that fragile 525. That was my biggest nemesis. I've run as high as 24+ pounds of boost on mine using 2 bar and stage II DC computer. Motor always lived, can't say the same for the 525's:(. Just make sure you have enough fuel! You have a wide band, so what are you waiting for? (lol) Meth kit would be good, & good insurance too when running 2 bar cal. Ported head, ported exhaust manifold, bigger throttle body, bigger injectors, more boost (did I mention that yet?):evil:
If your running bigger turbo, what did you do with the 90° cast turbo inlet? I hope you changed or modified that. I made mine using mandrel bent tubing instead of that crummy cast 90°. Seemed to make a noticeable difference.
I have always resisted ripping out my Spearco intercooled system because it is now quite nostalgic. Every time I tell my buddies that I'm going to put my Masi motor in the GLHT, they all say don't do it. They're probably at least a couple hundred TII GLHT's around, but only maybe a handful with that rare Spearco kit installed. Spearco didn't sell many at all because they priced them not at all competitively against the Turbo-Auto kit (DC/MP kit) that came out about the same time. The Spearco kit was about twice the cost of the Turbo-Auto kit, and history has proved it was a much better performing kit. So very few cars have the kit you have. I would think twice about replacing it if I were you.
If you decide to get into the Mini's, LMK if your gonna sell you GLHT. I want another silver GLHT.
Todd

I think the biggest limiting factor of draw-thru log setup is the calibration. No, you can not use a 3 bar map sensor with a stock computer and I am not aware of anywhere you can get a custom 3 bar computer for a draw-thru system.

Is E85 available?

I had a highly modified 2005 MINI S. It handled like my GLH and had the same amount of rattles.


The throttle body on the draw through system is a giant bottleneck. The largest one that was made (read: custom made) was a 46mm and these are hard to find. The log intake is the next restriction. Boost over 12 PSI begins to stack in the intake unless you increase intake volume by adding an intercooler. Even at that, running a big turbo and a custom 3 bar MAP / cal does you little good. The turbo will be trying to stay spooled up as boost bressure is backing up against it, slowing it down.
I had a TI Spearco GLH like Todd described. I ran a stage II FWD computer and made about 200 HP at 13.5 PSI.

My current GLH has the DC intercooler and is running on a DC stage II computer making about the same boost. No dyno yet, but it feels about the same as the Spearco car did. This GLH also has forged internals, TII rods etc. Both cars had the stock TI turbo. Both cars start to lose power over 14.5 PSI. Probably due to poor airflow characteristics of the TI draw through design and lack of intake volume.

Did you do any porting on your engine? A ported exhaust manifold and some head work will go a long way toward increased performance. You can also port the water pump housing and oil pump gallery for decreased power loss due to drag. I also did some porting and smoothing on the TI turbo intake elbow. Anything to eliminate some restrictions.