4722 replies to this topic

[Nev]

Startled a horse in a field with the "pops and bangs" map this morning, need to get rid of that ASAP as I come across quite a few horse riders on the roads.

 

Grip was bloody good this morning, the new smaller front wheels are really helping I think. Can't wait to put the correct sized tyres on, as the extra 5% sidewall flex will help another notch again I think.

 

 

 

Edited by Nev, 08 April 2018 - 09:24 AM.

[siztenboots]

nev , what sort of ignition timing do you run on very low load , that will be the issue , +10 should get rid of those overrun noises , also I assume you run fuel cut when coasting

[ditonics]

You have a map switch Nev Tit mode on Tit mode off Simple. 😁

[Nev]

Had a spurt of enthusiasm and took the front engine mount off after lunch, popped indoors, switched on some trance music (which makes my budgies go wild!), masked the part up and mixed and poured in some PU into the gaps of the OEM rubber mount. I had another fiddle with the old yellow PU mounts that I took off, I have to say these things are pretty damned firm and fit quite snugly. I'm really beginning to wonder if my mix (Shore A 70) is actually going to create a firmer engine mount... Once I refit the mount, I'll take it for a spin with a camera in the engine bay and compare the engine rocking motion to my old video, at least that way the process will be vaguely empirical. Hopefully fwd/backward motion will be down to 8 to 12mm though, fingers crossed.

Edited by Nev, 11 April 2018 - 02:03 PM.

[chris_uk]

Considering your car is a road car... wouldnt it be more suited to damped engine vibration?

[Nev]

I forgot to mention, whilst I was scrabbling under the car I took a look at the end of the 1" pipe from my new crank case oil separator. I've probably done about 400 miles since I installed it, so it's seen enough distance to know how well it has been working...

 

Though it had a bit of mild oil mist on the tip it was really quite "dry" (compared to my old setup) which shows my self draining offset swirl design (with brillo pads inside!) seems to work way better than the last one I made. I'm quite chuffed with that and would recommend that sort of design to anyone else who might need something similar.

Edited by Nev, 11 April 2018 - 03:55 PM.

[Nev]

You have a map switch Nev Tit mode on Tit mode off Simple. 😁

 

Sadly the switch doesn't toggle 2 maps, there is only 1 map in the ECU at any one time, the dash switch just opens the boost solonoid permanently such that the wastegate operates at base spring pressure. Hence the ignition + fuel maps are identical whether the switch is on or off.

Edited by Nev, 11 April 2018 - 04:38 PM.

[mbes2]

Do you run a custom ECU ?

[Nev]

Do you run a custom ECU ?

 

Yep, Adaptronic 440, put that in ages ago once I realised the CS map was (probably) the reason why my engine was getting bore washed and diluting the oil.

 

It's much the same as GeorgeBC's ECU which was a success. Then after I drove Zacs vx220 with 360 HP and Adaptronic in it, I realised how smooth it was and was instantly sold on the idea.

Edited by Nev, 11 April 2018 - 06:05 PM.

[ditonics]

I didn't realise the magic switch was a boost switch. Thought you had two maps, live n learn. Regarding the engine mounts I'm not sure why you didn't stick to the yellow inserts, they seemed to do their job pretty well to me.

[Nev]

I didn't realise the magic switch was a boost switch. Thought you had two maps, live n learn. Regarding the engine mounts I'm not sure why you didn't stick to the yellow inserts, they seemed to do their job pretty well to me.

 

With the yellow inserts in the engine was still moving around a lot (based on the video I took), which in turn was causing stress on my exhaust manifold bolts and causing them to stretch and then snap - part of the problem is also the heat too I think. Hence the desire to reduce the from engine rocking.

 

If the new PU I've put in isn't man enough, I will have to either buy some more (with a higher Shore number) or maybe just make some more solid inserts somehow.  

Edited by Nev, 11 April 2018 - 06:16 PM.

[Nev]

It must be spring, it seemed warm enough to have a bit of a scrub up. The wheels didn't lose their entire accumulation of iron deposits, but do look a lot better for an hours work.

 

Before:

 

 

 

 

 

After:

 

[CocoPops]

Any way to close th arch gap on the front? Or is that as is due to being built for your old front wheels? I assume the rubbing on inner arch was from old wheels too?

[Nev]

Any way to close th arch gap on the front? Or is that as is due to being built for your old front wheels? I assume the rubbing on inner arch was from old wheels too?

 

Yea, both the front and rear arch gaps are huge. These clams were made for 19" wheels and modified wishbones, hence why my wheels look so lost in the arches.

 

For the rears I am hoping to get some 4cm raised hubs, so I can raise the wheels another 3 CM into the arch, that will fix them.

 

For the fronts, the current wheels have too small tyre (only 40% profile when the wheel should have 45%), but the long term solution is to add a 15mm rim of g/f to the circumference of the arch. Might do it in the summer if I'm still unemployed or possibly might build a modified hardtop with scoop for the air feed to turbo.

 

 

 

Edited by Nev, 16 April 2018 - 05:24 PM.

[Nev]

Finally got round to taking a close up video of the engine rocking whilst accelerating (now that I have stiffened both the front and rear engine mount). I've looked at the video, and taking a measurement off the jubilee clip width and range of movement I'd say the engine is now only rocking about 8mm.

 

The video shows a pull to 3500 RPM in 1st gear, 4500 RPM in 2nd gear and 7000 RPM in 3rd gear, using the low torque map. My old original video (with just the yellow inserts in the front + rear mounts) was showing a movement of around 22mm.

 

Hopefully this will give anyone else with the same notion an idea of what this cheap mod does. If I had my time again, I'd probably used Shore 90 hardness as a little bit less movement would be preferable (in my case as the premise was to alleviate manifold bolt stress). Anyway it's a success (22mm reduced to 8mm), cost me £25 and increased my learning on the matter.

 

Edited by Nev, 16 April 2018 - 07:09 PM.

[Nev]

It was warm enough to work in the garage in a T-shirt this afternoon, so no excuses for me!

 

Took the old cam cover off and cleaned up the head gasket mating line and put the new cover + gasket on (without silicone this time). I had a quick look at the old gasket and it had become hard, so no wonder it was leaking. This is almost certainly due to heat as it's only about 3 years old, so with this in mind I've made a bit more of a heat shield out of old Nimbus I had lying around, though I think I might have to replace the gasket again in a couple of years as the sheer oil + engine heat is also contributing to it's demise.

 

It was nice to look down at Nipper's sexy bits again, particularly as it's just so easy to do these sorts of jobs now. Check out those monster cam lobes, 11mm of lift on the inlet side and the sharp/sudden profile for the mechanical lifters. I had a quick look for any scoring or wear and the whole thing looked brand new after some 40,000 miles (thank fook!).

 

 

The sexy bits:

 

 

Old + new comparison:

 

 

Installing the new gasket into the new cam cover:

 

 

Final Installation:

 

Edited by Nev, 18 April 2018 - 02:22 PM.

[Nev]

Just been for a test drive to the fuel station and back. A quick inspection showed no oil leaks at all and I also nipped up the cam cover bolts.

 

Next job is to replace some of the OEM small bore water pipes as they seem to be effervescing and on their last legs, again due to heat fatigue no doubt (see bottom of last pic).

Edited by Nev, 18 April 2018 - 03:22 PM.

[siztenboots]

the header tank pipes look bad like you say

[Nev]

Went into the garage to measure up the bore of the "effervescing" pipe: 8mm. Had a dig around in one of my spares box and hey presto, out with the old pipe and in with a new one. If I remember correctly it was some of the scrap pipe that came off Jimmy Whites old car, from when we worked on it yonks ago.

 

Phew, if I carry on fixing bugs at this rate I'm likely to go up in a puff of smoke!

 

Edited by Nev, 18 April 2018 - 05:24 PM.

[Ormes]

Went into the garage to measure up the bore of the "effervescing" pipe: 8mm. Had a dig around in one of my spares box and hey presto, out with the old pipe and in with a new one. If I remember correctly it was some of the scrap pipe that came off Jimmy Whites old car, from when we worked on it yonks ago.

 

Phew, if I carry on fixing bugs at this rate I'm likely to go up in a puff of smoke!

 

 

If you fix all the bugs you'll pass the smoke test