Silk purse from a tatty pigs ear? UPDATE2: Light at the end?

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:23 pm

Playing last night in the rain in a big smooth carpark and the damn thing just understeers all over the place. Front springs and shox are quite new, front tyres are really old polish wheel barrow efforts though

The rear shocks are in a pretty poor state too but are still damping ok for the moment....

Post by **Shug** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:44 pm

Betcha it's toeing in like a Celebrity Come Dancer at the front....

The Polished tyres won't help mind. Whack 60psi in the rears and if it's still understeering, you have issues....

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:49 pm

Dip clutch, build revs, turn in sharp, pull handbrake, dump clutch, and enjoy

Remeber; handbrake is your yaw control device

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:07 am

more practice required!

I cut a hole in the centre section of the exhaust on Sunday night, with the intention of hard soldering the lambda boss in to it. Hole cut slowly but was a good fit for the Lambda boss, about 1.5" across, going too well.....

I then make the discovery that my gas torch, while being great for hard soldering thin plate, isn't up to proper work

Bit of bean tin and some copper wire it is then...

Got a man size gas torch last night (Uses MAPP gas?) 2 mins the whole lot is glowing orange! job done! Serves me right for trying to save money using cheap tools!

MS should be here today or tomorrow then I have Friday off to have a crack at getting it built! Still got to fit the senders for IAT and coolant temp but that is quite straight forward hacking and bashing, then it's time to drill into my head (!) I could swap them over but if I did that I'd need all the gaskets and stuff and I really can't afford them at the moment. I'm sure it will be fine

I'm going to make sure the valves are shut and lodge the vacuum hose in the port while I drill, it'll be fine.... probably.

TTFN
time for w*rk

Rich

Post by **Shug** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:40 am

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 5:43 pm

Git, it's only ali anyway, it'll be fine I'm sure....

Well the porker is refusing to start, must have heard my plans for it...

MS is up and running, MS was easy to build, the instructions are almost perfect! The stim on the other hand was a PITA! I saved a little cash by diy from the diagrams... not quite as successful as it should have been. Fixed it now but it refuses to work from 12v only form a 9v battery. Might be due to me not quite having the right components...

But it does work, now all I need is a load of wire and a couple of days serious bodging... Which isn't going to happen anytime soon as its her birthday tomorrow

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:08 pm

well IAT sender is fitted, lambda sender is fitted and works (Narrow band, I'm on a budget here!) I now have real time Lambda in the car (Well on the footwell of the pax seat at any rate) Coolant Temp sender and adapter should be here tomorrow, air filter is on order (Flea bay special), made up vacuum take off, cleaned spark plugs (Car now starts again, sooty plugs)

Still to do:
Swap engine head or drill out existing one (:shock: Swarf?!?) still like the idea of drilling in situ, much cheapness and quick.

Fit locked Dizzy
Fit Air filter (bolt on)
Chuck CIS into shed
Fit coolant temp sender (Should screw in)
Fit fuel rail (Bolt on, but I made it...)
Fit FPR (Bolt on, once I work out where)
Plumbing (Some)
Wiring (Lots and lots)
Pray.... (Bang)

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:37 am

Got coolant sender adapter now. I'm going to do the head swap as it is silly not to for the sake of £50...

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 9:50 pm

Well drove back from my parents with a gearbox that would not allow you to choose a gear until you were either moving, extremely angry, or extremely violent with it, oh and if you were stationary you could only select 2nd or above making traffic lights a "challenge"

I suspect it could be a combination of lack of gearbox oil (It's been piddling for a while) and a totally collapsed clutch release bearing

both of which have been on the to do list for a while now.

Ordered a head gasket set to fit the spare head too, so given a bit of decent weather (:roll: oh dear) I'll drop the 'box, fix the leak, replace the CRB (had a spare for about a month now!) drop the new head on, tune the EFI and make the national meet on 5th Aug... Or not.

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 9:59 am

Split the spare head last night.... Lotus and Rover need a lesson in free flowing heads...

Wow. The valve tracts are MAHOOSIVE, huge great bowls behind each valve, massive valves (OK its an 8v head

) smooth backed exhaust valves, flat backed inlet valves, virtually no flash or casting mismatch and bulletted valve guides. That'll be why no one botheres to port them, there is nothing to do! Also fitted with double valve springs, steel caps, and the exhaust valves have a roller bearing under the spring seat to promote valve rotation!

Problem is though that the tolerances are pretty large. Put a valve in the guide and it is allowed to rock by 1mm! Also the valve guides are just guides, there're pretty sloppy... might just be wear but I doubt it...

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:45 am

Well there is some bad news. The pilot bearing in the fly has dissapeared, so the noise I thought was just a noisy clutch release was the end of the propshaft and the bearing case making swarf.

Prop is scrap and the bearing case is too. Clutch is a bit thin but ok.

Don't really know what to do with it now. There is a torque tube and prop on e-bay but its in Notts and I have no way of getting it and I suspect courier might be pricey. Bearing case will be a porsche part and I doubt it'll be cheap too. May as well throw in a clutch and that is getting silly for a £500 car

Going to cash the tax and insurance then have a long hard think about its future

robin · Post by **robin** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 8:11 am

Oh dear. Can you not borrow a proper car from someone and drive over and pick up the replacement parts from a breaker ...

Cheers,
Robin

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:18 am

Might hire a van TBH. Its about 8' long and 40-50 kgs. There is a guy in the WIrral breaking one I have dropped him a line see if he will sell it for a sensible price.

If all else fails there is a free 924 in liverpool somewhere but I have nowhere to put it really. Could go to cadets I suppose....

Post by **Shug** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:42 am

Was hoping to hear stories of a stripped track biotch being made out of this... Persevere old bean, but don't be silly about sending dosh on it.

Best o British

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:44 am

Thanks for the encoragement!

Well, its not all bad news, I have a free propshaft to pick up from the midlands and only the bearing and clutch are knackered, the clutch has separated and all the rivets are loose, could apply a hammer but its pretty worn anyway.

So all in will cost about £150 (Thats including van hire and a bit of diesel) aftermarket clutch is about £70 and the bearing is £8 from Porsche (I was shocked too!) Bit of a pisser but better than the alternative of E-baying the bits and scrapyard for the shell

Turns out that Torx bits "hammered into 12 point tri-square (WTF?) socket head bolts which then snap off" are covered by halfrauds lifetime warranty!

: Glad halfrauds don't have a required IQ. It was well battered!

Fingers crossed!

Scottish Elises

Silk purse from a tatty pigs ear? UPDATE2: Light at the end?

UPDATE: Bad news....