pptom
Part of things
Posts: 475 
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May 22, 2019 19:07:42 GMT
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Beautiful car this, keep looking at them on ebay. do people get good results with green stuff? always seemed pretty poor when I tried them. Sorry, missed this. I wouldn't have dreamt of using them on any of my previous cars and certainly nowhere near any of my motorbikes, but i took a few things into account. The car is 50 years old and weighs half that of most modern cars, it will get properly driven, but not abused. And more importantly, lots of positive comments about them in the elan community, especially that they work well running without a servo. These are all people who've owned and driven for a long time and you've got to take that on board. |
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May 23, 2019 12:26:31 GMT
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Start or no start, loom wrapped or not, it looks a very tidy installation.  |
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May 23, 2019 15:25:55 GMT
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Congratulations on a brilliant job so far - really impressed with the ethos and approach to every facet of this. It's already a proper job but going to be utterly brilliant once finished.
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May 23, 2019 16:25:19 GMT
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looking very nice! Well done
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pptom
Part of things
Posts: 475
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After 2 failed starter motors i eventually received my repaired gear reduction starter back today which meant firing up time!
Took a bit of cranking but it burst into life. I quickly got it timed up and had a play with the carbs and its sounding fantastic.
Bit of mixed emotions though. There was a small weep of water and oil mix from the bellhousing / block join. The only thing i can think of is the rear core plug is leaking (was new and sealed with wellseal), pain in the .... as this is an engine out job although in reality its only about 4 hours turnaround, but i'll have to borrow a crane again. Neew rear crank seal, I expect if there is an oil leak too its from the sump seal as the flywheel is dry, possibly due to the angle of the car as i had the front jacked up at the time.
Also another very likely leak from the reconditioned radiator, which is as much of a pain as i'll have to send it off to the people who did the job. No idea what their turnaround time will be.
Also tried the wipers now the blades are fitted and they blew the fuse, worked fine with no blades 😒
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I would carefully check the heater hose and connections before you pull the engine out, this could drip down the back of the engine, I had problems sealing mine to the elbow on the thermostat housing.
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pptom
Part of things
Posts: 475
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Thanks Kevin, had another go today.
Started up and got to temp, found some hose leaks that weren't there yesterday, i swear! ended up with just one drip from the bellhousing, but think that was before i got to the extra leaks.
Still not happy with the rad so whipped it off and took it to Northampton Radiators (they didn't recore it) who pressure tested it while i waited and found no leaks, so thats another result and one less worry. I can really recommend them, didn't want paying, but i'll take a box of tea + some biscuits down next week. I have one fan on the rad and asked them for some speclail through cable ties so i could also fit my spare, they said steer well clear as they often have rads in for repair from them, also said with my core i won't need an extra fan.
Throttle cable had a little kink in it which was catching on the sheaf, so i picked up a pushbike inner cable for £4 on the way home which i'll fit tomorrow.
Upped the 10a fuse on the wipers to a 25 as it also runs the heater blower. It blew when i had the fan on full with the wipers, thats now working when the wipers are off the screen and fan on full, so fingers crossed.
Also the tacho wasn't working yesterday, i'd converted it to negative earth, but forgot to reverse the impulse loop, thats now fixed.
All in all a better day, still worried about the rear core plug inside the bell housing a little, but i'll monitor it.
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have you tried Serck in leicester for rads, seem really cheap for the quality
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At the risk of asking the obvious, have you got a Stainless Bike inner or a galvanised? For the sake of a £1, I would make sure it is Stainless.
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pptom
Part of things
Posts: 475
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Jun 15, 2019 12:23:06 GMT
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Yes, stainless cable. Been an action packed couple of days. Got tyres yesterday and, despite the rain, decided to try and dodge the showers and go for a spin. First trip was 'ok' sort of, it didn't catch fire or crash. Though i did blow an overloaded fuse and break down, luckily had packed a spare. Other observations were that the steering was dodgy and possible clutch issues, meaning its sometimes difficult to get any gear when stationary. Brakes are still bedding in, but will be fine with no servo. Also, as i had a work bonus yesterday i treated it to a nodiz kit, hopefully fitting next week. Onto this morning and i first set the tyre pressures properly! 26 front 30 rear which seem a bit low, but its by the book. Then did the front and rear toe using fishing line. Front was massively toed in, rear was out, now both toed in as per factory (barring errors in my high tech kit. Also upped the blown fuse again to 30 from 25 and worked on the idle as i think this is why its struggling to get in gear, got a throttle return spring on order, but i've rigged a temp one up for now. Re-blead and adjusted the clutch just in case. Re-checked the timing again, haven't heard any pinking, but the webers and k&n make a fair din. Off out for another drive, the steering feels much better, gear selection is getting better, but still sime work to do, done about 50 miles now, excuse the dirty car!   Plus a bonus flir shot.  |
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Jun 15, 2019 15:58:57 GMT
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Looking great, clutch might also need adjusting now it has bedded in, Tyre pressures look a bit high, my literature says 20 psi front and 24 rear which seems ridiculously low by modern standerds but seems to work.
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pptom
Part of things
Posts: 475
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Jun 15, 2019 16:40:54 GMT
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Thanks Kev, i'll keep adjusting it until clutch and flywheel are bedded in i think, though a bit of heel and toe helps.
Just done another 30 miles this afternoon, running great although the heavens opened on my way back. At least i have something to do tomorrow - fixing leaks!
Moved the audi when i got home, clutch and steering are so light in comparison, i almost headbutted the windscreen when i applied the brakes!
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pptom
Part of things
Posts: 475
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Jun 23, 2019 15:38:59 GMT
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Man its been a frustrating few days.
Got a bonus last week at work, so thought I'd splash out on a Nodiz system with a ready made loom instead of the boring old reliable distributor and points - can you tell where this is going? . Had a couple of days off this week, so spent thurs prepping - fitting the various sensors / brackets / loom, then Friday was ready to plug in the unit and reap the benefits. It started and ran ok, but not every time, seems like there is a crank sensor signal problem - the nodiz doesn't pick it up every time I try to start the engine - if it doesn't detect that signal, it doesn't send the fire command to the coilpack. Crank sensor was brand new, set perfectly with the trigger wheel, when it did run the engine was fine.
Swapped numerous messages with Motorsport Electronics on Friday and eventually managed to get through on the phone after exhausting every option, they kindly agreed to send me a replacement unit out, overnight, to be delivered on Saturday, which was fantastic.
Eager, I got it at 2pm yesterday, plugged in and at the first time of cranking i got nothing, second try it fired into life and I went for a test drive. was all going well until i stopped to check the car over - went to fire it up and seems the unit had died again! - tried starting the car about 10 times until it eventually started working and managed to get home.
Next option was a new crank sensor - even though the prev one was new, genuine ford and was giving the correct readings on a multimeter, picked one up this morning from eurocarparts and, to cut a long story sort, thats not the problem.
Ended up junking the whole lot and re-fitting my dizzy, which took about an hour and a half as its a carbs off job. The car started just by me looking at the key and runs like a champ.
I've kept the nodiz connected to the crank sensor and its the same story - sometimes it displays engine revs (through the app), sometimes it doesn't. they key thing is that when it works it works until the engine is shut off, when it doesn't, no amount of driving or engine revs will bring it to life - although it will very briefly flash up the correct engine speed.
Feel like I've just wasted 4 days of my life and about £300 on sensors / new leads / coilpack etc. Sent Motorsport Electronics an e.mail - hopefully they'll reply tomorrow, seems very odd if 2 Nodiz units have the same error, though the only other thing I've not changed is the loom, but I can't see that as the issue.
On a positive note - during the odd occasion the nodiz was working I could crosscheck the crank speed with the tacho - turns out that my running in max revs of 5k is actually only showing as about 3.2k - so tacho needs calibrating. the plus side is that I now have another 2k revs to play with and its certainly livened things up!
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briang
Part of things
Posts: 83
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Jun 23, 2019 21:11:25 GMT
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Looking good, just needs a set of trim rings to brighten up the wheels.
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pptom
Part of things
Posts: 475
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Just an update and the ignition frustration continued. What started with the Nodiz was them sending me out replacements and the offer of them having a look if i drove down (which i couldn't) ended up with me opening a case on ebay and them refunding me several days after it was returned to the seller after they withdrew all communication. Not a happy experience overall.
Thoroughly miffed with that and my assumption that the nodiz software was at fault i happened upon an Omex 600 for a fair bit more cash. Although this does also open up a future injection mod. After the initial calibration this ECU didn't work, seriously doubting my wiring skills now.
Ended up sending it to omex for testing and to my releif it was declared broken and they sent me another.
Just received today and plugged it in tonight and hey presto, it only works!
Been for a drive and its 'kin marvellous, i've only scratched the surface of what it can do so far, but i now have an accurate temp display which confirms the dash gauge over reads by 40deg, rev limiter tested, auto idle set which constantly chases idle speed with ignition timing to keep it at the set amount, even when the engine is cold it keeps a steady speed.
3d inition mapping working perfectly.
Booked in for a rolling road session in a couple of weeks for final carb and ignition setup, can't wait.
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pptom
Part of things
Posts: 475
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Also sorted an annoying clutch problem this weekend. It wasn't properly disengaging meaning first, second and reverse were difficult to get. I thought the friction plate was either sticking on the spline or the flywheel or as it was a heavy duty clutch i didn't have enough travel in the pedal.
Happily it turns out the opposite was true, it actually requires minimal travel, so i assume the fingers of the pressure plate were going too far through their stroke and pushing the friction plate back into the flywheel. Done a few adjustments and made a pedal stop and its sorted, although the change between on and off requires only a very small movement on the pedal, i'll change the master cylinder in the winter for a smaller one so can have the stroke more normal and have the bonus of a lighter pedal.
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excellent progress, I do love to see the potential of old engines unlocked with a modern ecu.
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Fantastic progress - I am full of envy!
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Are there any further updates on this please?
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pptom
Part of things
Posts: 475
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Yep, been slack.
Done about 800 miles since the rebuild, still tweaking and doing some less important bits.
Asked for cash for my birthday, so that went towards a carpet set which has finished off the interior nicely.
Couple of issues though. Firstly it was smoking a bit. I put this down to having it running at idle too long possibly polishing the bores while i was chasing water leaks before i got the engine ran in. Then, after about 400 miles i did a compression test and found cyl 4 was about 15% down. Remember, the block was kind of on the verge of a rebore, which would have needed liners and i decided to roll the dice and just hone and re-ring due to costs.
i went for a rolling road session at Northampton Motorsports and discovered my carbs running the recommended jetting for the cams were too rich, after some tweaking it finally made 118bhp, which isn't bad i suppose, but both me and the experienced tuner were expecting 130. For some reason it should have taken bigger jetting but didn't like it and just kept running rich.
I had an oil leak from the back of the block, poss crank main seal (engine out job)
Also an oil leak coming through the propshaft UJ, i only discovered after researching this that it was probably missing a welch plug from the yoke and thus gearbox oil could escape up the gearbox output shaft (again, much easier with the engine out)
Putting all of this together and declaring winter i bit the bullet the engine came out 2 weeks ago. Block is with the machine shop for liners, i have some new omega pistons to go in. Prop yoke is bunged up as it should be and i've done a more thorough inspection of the sealing surface on the rear of the crank and found some previous water damage. Looks like many years ago, while it was in storage, the core plug above has leaked onto the crank and caused some pitting. I've brought a sleeve repair called a speedi sleeve which is very thin and slips over to give a perfect surface again.
On inspection the bottom end is all good so can re-use the bearings etc, inlet cam is good but the exhaust has score marks on the journals for some reason which i've not yet found. Perhaps a blocked oilway? Exhaust cam timed perfectly, inlet was 2 deg out. Valve clearances had closed a couple of thou, but only at the front of the engine, tapering to correct clearance at the rear? Perhaps the cam chain was too tight?
Hoping for a leak free, smoke free engine when i'm done, but as i need another exhaust cam I'm sorely tempted to go for a slightly more lift profile pair, trouble is they're hard to justify financially as they also need a bespoke spring pack. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for some standard cams as they can be reprofiled for £90 each as opposed to spending £250 each on some new ones.
On a positive note, all this does give me something interesting to do over winter.
The rest of the car has been really good, suspension, brakes, electrics have all been spot on and i haven't found any cracks in the bodywork yet!
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