4722 replies to this topic

[Mopeytitan]

that bird crap was awfully close to your head Nev

[Ormes]

Really good idea to use a vband or 3 bolt flange rather than sleve fit... as I have found, sleve fit are a total pain.

Like your flap (fnar) but my OCD can't cope with the 2 missing screws on your hinge... sort it out

 

...and yes, a foot to n/s and you would have eaten that bird sh1t

[Nev]

Really good idea to use a vband or 3 bolt flange rather than sleve fit... as I have found, sleve fit are a total pain. Like your flap (fnar) but my OCD can't cope with the 2 missing screws on your hinge... sort it out   ...and yes, a foot to n/s and you would have eaten that bird sh1t

You will be relieved to hear that the flap hinge has been fully screwed up, that pic was taken during the "development" (if I dare call it that) stage. I'll have to come round and take you for a spin on a wintery day and show you how effective it is, at serious leptonage the blast of hot air (probably around 40 degrees centigrade) makes the handbrake lever almost too hot to touch. The only down side is that with the flap wide open the noise from the engine bay is even more mental, you can distinctly hear that tinny/screaching sound of each exhaust pulse once the waste pipe is bleeding air from the manifold.

Edited by Nev, 20 October 2014 - 06:00 PM.

[Nev]

I went out in 8 degree temps the other night, was quite impressed with the Federal RSR's grip, I think I will be sticking with them instead of the Khumo V70s.

[Nev]

Had a bit of 8000 RPM fun with some motorbikes last week. Afterwards, when I parked up I discovered that one of my air filter panels had been sucked in and partially collapsed due to the vacuum. I've now modified my bird box air-box with some internal supporting struts to stop this happening again. However I think I need to move the air filter out of the boot as the air it is sucking is truly filthy (the pic is after just 2,100 miles since the panels were changed):



Nipper will get an oil and filter change today hopefully, a family friend who is 15 and a is local karting champ is keen to come round again and learn stuff, so I will send him grovelling under the car with an oil pan and filter wrentch !

Edited by Nev, 13 December 2014 - 10:13 AM.

[Ormes]

OMG that filter is disgusting! Very much hoping the collapse hasn't compromised anything. Glad Nipper is still doing you proud

[Arno]

It being dirty may well have triggered/acclerated the collapse as the pressure drop over the dirty filter(s) will be much greater than a clean one so it gets 'sucked down' more.

 

You could go the lorry/HGV route and fit a pressure differential meter/gauge between the in- and outside of the airbox and when it registers a certain Pa pressure drop it's time to replace the filter

 

Bye, Arno.

[Nev]

Yep, it is shockingly filthy, however inside the box is quite clean though. Fitting a cross filter magnehelic gauge would be overkill TBH, as I can visually see the filth every time I approach the car, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a 3 to 5 PSI drop across the filter at max revs. Anyway, I have ordered 4 new filters from eBay, that should keep me going till summer. I spent 1/2 hour with my apprentice (thank you Matt (hope your eardrums recover)) this morning working out if we can fit some sort of cold air feed to it from the ear or possibly from the engine boot lid mesh. Space is so tight in the engine bay and elsewhere, it seems virtually impossible to install 2 * 4" diameter pipes to feed the airbox. I guess alternatively, I could just change the air filters every 1000 miles instead of being lazy arse c*ntpuffin ! The oil and filter were changed today (2100 miles since last change), followed by a mild tootle round the lanes avoiding the Xmas shoppers

Edited by Nev, 13 December 2014 - 01:48 PM.

[Nev]

I put the new air filters in the other day and went round to visit MrApex to show off my new heater. I think I successfully turned the car into a sauna (at least 30 degrees C in the cabin) and made him squeal a bit on the greasy, damp, muddy, twisty roads around Cheddar.

Edited by Nev, 16 December 2014 - 11:01 AM.

[Gedi]

OMG that filter is disgusting! Very much hoping the collapse hasn't compromised anything. Glad Nipper is still doing you proud

 

Isn't there a second filter in the box which will have protected against the failure of the first one?

[slindborg]

Looks nice even filter loading though

[Nev]

Stuck a new pair of tyres on the front of the car today. Interestingly when I looked at the wheel balance weights they'd stuck on, they were quite different in location and placement. I am hoping that this will fix the slight wheel wobble I was getting at approx. 80 leptons.

 

Am also considering reducing my front negative camber. It's currently set to -0.5 degrees, but this will end up wearing the inside of these tyres again. I am tempted to stick another 1.0 mm shim in the fronts which would reduce the camber down to about -0.2 degrees. This would give me more contact patch and (I hope) better initial dig/turn in. At the moment I am finding that turn is good in the dry, but in damp/greasy conditions it could be better... Any comments/suggestions?

Edited by Nev, 17 January 2015 - 01:47 PM.

[turbotoaster]

im surprised to hear that 0.5 degrees on the front is wearing the inside of your tyre out, as I would imagine you use your car alot through the corners so will equally load the inner and outer part of the tyre, are you sure there is nothing else going on as alot of people run alot more camber than that and find even tyre usage(i runn 225s on the front and have 1.5degree front for the road and that seems to use all the of the tyre)

[Nev]

Hmm, that makes me think I should double check the camber again, as I now have flat tyre surface on the brand new tyres and this may affect how the car settles.

 

I do a reasonable amount of cornering, but ultimately it is a road car, so there is a lot more mild cornering and straights.

Edited by Nev, 17 January 2015 - 05:10 PM.

[Ormes]

Have you sneakily installed new uprights without telling us?

[Nev]

Have you sneakily installed new uprights without telling us?

  About 5 months ago when I did all the geo work and felt like I could afford to blow £1200 on 2 pieces of metal. There is a write up here under the Geometry title: https://sites.google...07---new-engine

Edited by Nev, 17 January 2015 - 07:54 PM.

[Ormes]

Cheers matey I will have a read

[Nev]

Went out for a test drive on the new tyres this afternoon, really greasy conditions, 3 degrees ambient, a few snow patches in the fields - not the most favourable traction! The front end felt really light for first 10 miles or so, but after a while I felt a bit more secure. On the plus side the car felt noticably less twitchy and the wheel vibration I was getting with the old tyres at approx. 80 leptons has gone

 

When I rolled back in to the garage I measure the front wheel camber. this has now reduced to just -0.3 degrees (due to the new tyres). I have to say I am still tempted to stick another shim in and reduce this down to 0 degrees.

 

Having barely driven the car for the last 2 months, it felt super alive and responsive (particularly after my asthmatic Fiat 500 car rental experience (sorry Alex!) whilst on holiday last week).

 

Roll on Spring and Summer.

Edited by Nev, 18 January 2015 - 03:22 PM.

[Exmantaa]

See you installed the race uprights with a 40mm raised spindles. Are you running that low a ride height on the road??

(And what about the rear uprights)

[Claws]

Boo at your 500 hating.