Sooo. Bit of a long post and it may seem like not alot has happened but I've seemingly done summat every day...
Managed to sneak over to work last Saturday afternoon and pick it up. Whilst I was there I turned the oil pressure protection back on the laptop and kept fingers crossed that the proper oil being back in it would sort the job.
Backed back out into the sunshine which was nice. Left the laptop running to do another data log on the way home and set off (the long way home)!
Set off home. All behaving. Sunshine out. This is why we do what we do..
Much to my surprise whilst on my way home I came across an enthusiastically driven nearly new golf R (on my closed private road).. and much to the suprise of said golf R owner this mucky, old, odd looking is200 absolutely destroyed it. Like not even in the same timezone 😂😂 (just to be clear it was from a roll of roughly 40mph, I think the 4wd would have had me off the line)..
Happy with that got nearly home and as I came into village it went into its little overtemp limp mode (3k limit if temp goes up too much). Ideal 😭 managed to get rest of way home (less than a mile) with a combination of coasting and switching it off. Quick check of laptop confirmed it. CLT is coolant temperature. Oh cock!
Left it to cool til Sunday, no obvious external leaks. No mayo in oil cap. Very odd. Refilled the cooling system before venturing out Monday morning to get it back to work. Set off early and went the long way. And after some spirited driving it got hot again (anyone sensing deja vu)..
Started digging into it. With nothing obviously a miss.. and this is what I found. (This could be far fetched but here goes)..
The heater matrix I fitted a while back was used. Fittings on them to the pipes to the engine bay are a one time use crimp type affair (that are naff). And I noticed the carpet was damp next to the matrix and the windows had been misting up. The taste test confirmed the damp carpet was indeed coolant.. if coolant can leak out under pressure. Then in my head air can get back in as it cools .
Second thing my extra little expansion bottle I fitted to try an remedy the old engines problems (it's only 300ml capacity too). It has a feed into the bottom of it, and 2 feeds near the very top..
The bottom feed comes from rads overflow pipe and the top two feeds come from the water bridges between the cylinders. It's also mounted at the highest point so any air ends up there (as it should)..
My theory was with coolant loss from the matrix plus any it pushed out of the small bottle once it got warm. This Then left the top two feeds out of the water sat in air. Coolant cools, level drops and the top pipes can draw air back into the system. More air in system gets hotter quicker, pushes more out the bottle and gets increasingly worse!
Top feeds are less than an inch from the cap. Which seems less than ideal thinking about it.
To remedy this (bearing in mind I don't want to cook the new engine and Dyno is coming). Decided easiest option was to bypass the matrix and link the pipes on the engine for now. And remove the extra coolant bottle and go back to the old setup of 1.3bar rad cap, and a overflow bottle that is purely that. Just 1 overflow from the rad to a non pressurised bottle. For ease til it's confirmed I've just plugged the pipes that used to go to the expansion bottle (although I did leave em open to help bleed it).. this set up had worked fine on engine 1 before it's exit.
You will bleed up 😂 !! Well pleased to report it appears to have worked. I've used the car to commute all week including some very enthusiastic driving and so far so good!
Bit strange plugging laptop in every day before you start but the logs are all info! Hottest I've managed to get it is high 80s low 90s and that includes everything from being stuck in traffic to ringing it's neck on "private roads".. all with no coolant loss. Downside is I've no heating and the windows aren't clearing great..(just what you need when it will happily light the tyres up in 5th at 70mph)..
So with that potential disaster averted could move on with stuff.. (il address the matrix issue later but I've got a plan, is200 matrix is 130 quid and uses the naff crimp fittings, I want summat I can attach with hose and jubilees)..
Next job, set of fresh plugs with the gap set for boost. After some research and asking around various people. General consensus seems to be 0.028-0.032" for low boost (up to 15psi).. since that's where I'm aiming for roughly went for 0.028" as the starting point.. not exactly a big job but time consuming since there's 8 to gap, 8 coil packs to remove, inlet piping off etc etc.
Job done! Has it made any difference. Well if anything it "seems" to idle nicer. But that could be placebo and it's all in my head. But regardless it can go to Dyno with new plugs in and know that shouldn't be an issue.
Although the data logs all looks fine regarding afr can't beat the old way of checking plugs when there out. And to me they don't look too bad at all (maybe a touch leen)
Job done. I'd say it's "ready" for Dyno. Holding coolant, starting everytime, oil level exactly where I left it. Happy days!
Carried on using it for work til today. Il be honest I'm glad I don't "have" to use it to commute. Because the rate it drinks super plus is alarming to say the least! Il not say what I've spent on fuel this last week (granted I've not exactly been babying it) but the fuel cost may soon overtake the conversion costs haha!
I knew today was likely to be quiet at work and I still need summat to keep my mind occupied (hence typing this up now). So chucked a load of my "detailing" stuff in along with my mates borrowed machine polisher and had a go. Now let's not pretend it's perfect, cus it's not. It's 23 year old J paint that's been neglected for most of its life and had various grinding and welding done around it last 18 month whilst it was filthy.. I'm also definitely an amateur when it comes to stuff like this but I like to get stuck in and have a go.
For anyone who may be interested in what I did it consisted of:
-jet washed with tfr to remove the dirt
-fallout remover applied/left to soak
-jet washed fallout remover off
-washed with wash mit an 2 buckets
-clayed front to back top to bottom
-washed with mit then dried
-machine polished with meguiars Ultimate compound and a medium pad
-washed again and dried 🙈
-finished with Poorboy's black hole glaze
Not going to lie it took me most of the day. Needs a wax on top but forgot it. So tomorrow il wipe down to get any dust off (left it at work indoors tonight) then get some wax on it to seal job off. Wheels just got a clean with the same car shampoo and an old sponge but the ceramic coating I used all that time back seems to be doing its job.
Paint feels lovely now. And since we like pics not my waffle. Here's some progress shots
So how does it look. Well id say roughly 1000% better. Don't get me wrong I'm not a detailer but I've had a go. And I don't think we can argue with that shine/reflection (there not scratches it's reflection of phone lines)
And an attempt at a decent picture... Or ten 😂
That's where I'm up to.. I may bring it home for the weekend tomorrow. Or I may leave it at work as not to tempt fate this close to Dyno time and save the 50 quid used in fuel and put it towards mapping cost next week!
Anyways. More soon hopefully.
Cheers
