4722 replies to this topic

[Ormes]

Bu99er. Give us a shout if you need a pair of hands Nev.

Yeah what he said.

[Nev]

Thanks for the kind words and offers for help guys, heart warming

[KurtVerbose]

Genuinely sorry to read this Nev. Interested to hear how the remapping goes when you get it sorted.

[Ormes]

Thanks for the kind words and offers for help guys, heart warming

We've got to try and beat the record for removing Nippers engine... How about a target of 4 hours for removal including the clam etc., with 3 pairs of hands?

[alanoo]

In conjunction with the fact that it is still smoking (due to high crankcase pressure) 

 

 

 

Am I reading here that they were dynoing an engine with (excessive ?) blow-by ? 

A bit risky when you spend some good amount of time at WOT, especially on a dyno...

 

Of course if it was a catastrophic failure you would most likerly be already aware of it, so let's hope there's nothing too bad

Edited by alanoo, 12 November 2013 - 10:14 PM.

[speedster]

 

Time for a new block? Taking what you've learnt and starting from fresh rather than a tired block? Build it how you want it from day one etc rather than trying to fix what you've got?

 

Yes, I think I might end up starting with a new block. However the current one does have waterway strengthing wedges and oil squirters, so perhaps I will risk re-boring it to 87mm if the crank and bores look ok. Until I open it up it's hard to know what to expect. The thumping could be a variety of things, top candidates IMO:

 

1. Rod big end bearing failure, possibly due to oil starvation.

2. Crank thrust bearing over-worn, causing crank to move laterally.

3. Lose crank timing gear wheel, not likely to make that kind of noise really at a guess.

4. Crank main bearing failure, not likely IMO as I've inspected them a couple of times and they looked great.

5. Lose con rod bolt or lose crank cap bolts.

6. Something else

 

The thing I am more concerned about is the high crank case pressures, this problem has dogged the engine for some time now and is irritating.

 

what did it pop at?

[siztenboots]

if you could source the oil squirters , then you could probably do the work yourself and for others.

[cnrandall]

I can upgrade blocks to LEH spec and supply squirters...

[cnrandall]

https://www.facebook...&type=3

 

[steveboyslim]

if you could source the oil squirters , then you could probably do the work yourself and for others.

BMW oil jets are used in Nev's engine. Fitting them correctly is not an easy job a milling machine will angle plate is needed. I can machine as many blocks as you want. Steve

[steveboyslim]

I can upgrade blocks to LEH spec and supply squirters...

I have found that not all zlet cylinder blocks can be machined to take the leh jets, not enough material to accept the thread for the oil jet banjo bolt. Steve

[steveboyslim]

That engine has given you some grief, what did Steve say as he built it, like you state its always had niggles? I had zacs engine off him which I was going to rebuild at some point if you want it let us know. Has the same work as yours to the block but std head setup Sure you will get it sorted nev, chin up sir DG

Zac's block was not the same spec as Nev's. I cannot explain the crank case pressure and smoke other that the rings did not bed in, oil grade has been changed which may not have helped with the running in period and the fuelling was not correct during this time, no smoke after the bores were 'de-glazed', only later. Nev observed his magnetic sump plug was covered in magnetic particles which leads me to guess that the problem could be crank wear on the rear thrust face leading to excess crankshaft end float, to the point that either the flywheel is hitting the back of the cylinder block/sump or one of the crank webs is hitting something in the block, the different grade of oil would not of helped this. The crank and main bearings were not removed or inspected when the Mahle pistons were replaced with forged Omega pistons as the cylinder bores were within limit barely 1/2 thou, this was agreed by Nev who wanted to keep the upgrade cost to a minimum. Steve

[Nev]

Budha says: "He who toils for an hour may find serenity for a minute".

 

This is what I have in my mind as I strip the engine out again. An hour of Budha's toil has got me thus far:

 

 

Looking at that makes me realise how mucky that poor little car is! Oh well, Budha also says "He who drives fast on country roads also has a mucky car" !

 

TBH, I've never been one for carbon bits and polishing shiny bits to a fine buff, owning a VX has been about visceral experiences, electrifying drives, experimentation, commitment (and lots of money and toil!).

 

I am tempted to ring up the "disassembly gnomes" (AKA: South West VX Posy) and see if they want to help this weekend

Edited by Nev, 15 November 2013 - 09:42 PM.

[VXT Tim]

The motivation is impressive Nev.

[Nev]

The motivation is impressive Nev.

 

Thanks Tim, yes it is hard to step into the garage on a cold evening after a day of work and start what will become 25+ hours of labour.

 

Still, we all know it's worth it - just for 1 of those special minutes when you blast up some road, the wind in your hair, the yellow sun beating down, the roar of BHP melting your earplugs and mullering some overpaid undereducated "supercar" owner

Edited by Nev, 15 November 2013 - 09:47 PM.

[Zoobeef]

"Man stood on toilet, high on pot"

[Nev]

"Man stood on toilet, high on pot"

 

Mark, please stop quoting Budha and come and help me take the flipping thing out! LOL

 

In return I will get my girlfriend (who's a swimming school manager) to invite her abundant and fertile 18 to 25 year old female staff over to sooth and pamper your aching body after a day of toil in my garage

 

One of them popped round the other evening and she was a "corker" (though I stayed in my study trying not to fart the house out after eating a man-curry!).

Edited by Nev, 15 November 2013 - 10:05 PM.

[CocoPops]

Outer edge of tyres rubbing?

[Nev]

Outer edge of tyres rubbing?

 

Yea, I also noticed that as I rolled the car about in the garage to line it up for disassembly. It's not due to rubbage, it's to do with camber on the rears and the fact that they are wide enough to notice the angle and pick-up of garage dust when not cornering, and also because they are designed to give "extra" grip when the car "leans over" under harder cornering.

 

You are the first to observe this point, brownie point . If you carry on like this with objective analysis/comments you might even get into my good books

 

The weak point of those v70 tyres is poor ability to cope with high speed though, they deform at high speed and wear VERY quickly in the centre line. My last pair had almost no tread in the centre line and about 3.5 mm on the outside edges (even though they were only inflated to 24 to 25 PSI (cold)) - as detected by Mbes2 at a RR session. My old R888s (approx. 5 sets) were slightly better for this issue, but they too have other problems IMHO. The big problem with modern tyres is that they "expect" only a certain rotational force to be exerted. Once you go above this, they deform outwards (due to centrifugal forces) at the weakest point (which is usually the centre line in my experience).

 

 

Edited by Nev, 15 November 2013 - 11:26 PM.

[leevx2.2]

Outer edge of tyres rubbing?

  Yea, I also noticed that as I rolled the car about in the garage to line it up for disassembly. It's not due to rubbage, it's to do with camber on the rears and the fact that they are wide enough to notice the angle and pick-up of garage dust when not cornering, and also because they are designed to give "extra" grip when the car "leans over" under harder cornering.   You are the first to observe this point, brownie point . If you carry on like this with objective analysis/comments you might even get into my good books   The weak point of those v70 tyres is poor ability to cope with high speed though, they deform at high speed and wear VERY quickly in the centre line. My last pair had almost no tread in the centre line and about 3.5 mm on the outside edges (even though they were only inflated to 24 to 25 PSI (cold)) - as detected by Mbes2 at a RR session. My old R888s (approx. 5 sets) were slightly better for this issue, but they too have other problems IMHO. The big problem with modern tyres is that they "expect" only a certain rotational force to be exerted. Once you go above this, they deform outwards (due to centrifugal forces) at the weakest point (which is usually the centre line in my experience).    

Not just me then I noticed this about the v70 tyres thought I had them over inflated ,but have tried different pressures in tyres but still the same :-(