691 replies to this topic

[Retro_10s]

fantastic finish, it's great seeing everything being done so neatly and cleanly! The Optimise underlay looks really thick but really good, Do you think this will affect the fitting of the carpet at all? 

[alchall]

fantastic finish, it's great seeing everything being done so neatly and cleanly! The Optimise underlay looks really thick but really good, Do you think this will affect the fitting of the carpet at all? 

 

Thanks!

 

The underlay is actually only about 3mm thick, that said the backing on the carpets themselves is very thick but it's part of the design and it fits really nicely and looks great, it needs a bit of persuasion. to follow the profile of the tunnel on the front section, it sits up a bit to much in a triangular shape but a bit of weight on it over time is fixing that, and it wouldn't matter if it wasn't for the centre console I have being a tight fit.

[I hate Brian]

Just picked this build up again well done nice job of the headlining

[alchall]

Most of what I've been doing over the past few weeks has been what you might call fettling, just trying to get stuff right, for example my switches were a little loose and the panel not straight so I fixed that.

 

I also got a nice new wheel for Christmas so fitted it, since doing so I changed out the screws which fix the wheel to boss for some shallow cap head stainless screws rather than the frankly poor quality chrome slotted jobbies it came with which you see here...

 

 

Anyway, that aside I'm impressed, very nice quality and looks good in here!

 

The other thing I have done is fit the front screen, which you'll see below, having done the rear this was in some ways easier as I knew what I was doing but it took somewhat more energy to achieve!

 

But, that's not the interesting update I have, what is more interesting is that last weekend I finally dropped the engine in....

 

I took no risks in doing this, I enlisted help to keep it steady, I double checked the crane and oiled the screw that drops it so it operates smoothly and used some old quilts and towels to protect the car from any mistakes (turns out none were made but better safe than sorry).

 

Actually this went very smoothly, just getting the drive shafts to slot into place that was difficult, drivers side was a problem, I think because I have the engine lower maybe but I could not get the drive shaft at a low enough angle to slot onto the output shaft at the same time as getting the top ball joint low enough to fit into the top arm. In the end I used a ratchet strap to compress the suspension by a cm or so which was enough to do the job. I did not have the same problem on the passenger side, probably due to the longer drive shaft and therefore different angles.

 

Anyway here it is...

 

 

 

 

This weekend I'll be working my way around connecting everything up, watch this space for the next instalment! my worries now are..

 

1 - Will it start (that will be a little way off yet)

2 - Will the bonnet still fit, it was tight before it went to paint and my fear is that the fettling it went through plus some paint and the powder coat on the subframe could cause a problem, worst case scenario, I get the body shop to add a little hump to the thing and repaint it, but anyway that is for another day.

[Maccmike8]

wow.

[alchall]

So I was right, bonnet clearance is a problem again, very frustrating, I cannot sit the engine in the same position as I had it when I modded the bonnet with the car now more or less fully built up, main issues are exhaust drive shafts, exasperated by the engine also being lower, it also puts some strain on the engine mounts which makes me a little nervous.

 

I have made some further modification to the webbing so it's going to need a touch of paint to cover it up but it's not perfect and now the top most corner at the front of the cam cover just touches the underside of the bonnet. and in just a little further along it touches the webbing in such a way that I couldn't easily take little more out of it and I am loath to get the welder out again.

 

So just as I think I've stopped throwing money at this I decided to switch the cam cover to an SC low line, it's expensive but probably not so much more so than getting the bonnet to the body shop to modify and add a bulge and re-paint and I can sell on the parts that I switch out, this way I also keep the more "stealthy" look I was hoping for in the first place.

 

All of that said, the exhaust does not sit well even with the engine at it's natural angle, it hangs low in the middle, it appears the end of the headers and / or Y piece send the link pipe slightly downwards, having perused this forum and elsewhere it looks like a common issue with certain LCB's, which I am guessing SC used as a template for their headers.

 

Not fully fixed but here's how it sits...

 

 

Not terrible but risk of whacking the cat on speedhumps etc. I can make it marginally better by twisting the link pipe around so the bend goes slightly upwards rather than to the side around the linkage, but it's marginal...

 

 

From the front...

 

 

I think for now I live with it, once I get it running I'll look into getting a Y piece / link pipe fabricated that will alleviate the problem, and the more positive news is that it looks much better on it's wheels now, the weight of the engine drops it down and it's now sitting more or less at standard ride height, I had to tweak the hi-lo's a little and it's not perfect but the springs still need to settle anyway which I assume won't be complete until it's been on the road although I will need to fix the geometry to some extent before I get it on the road.

 

[72hump]

Your car is looking very smart. It funny with this type build, you think your getting somewhere, and then you always run into these little problem that seems to ruin your day.....but I always like solving the problems too! I sure if you take the exhaust to any custom exhaust company, they will quickly sort it. Out of curiosity, did you find the SC Y piece a larger diameter than your exhaust?

Cheers Paul.

[alchall]

Your car is looking very smart. It funny with this type build, you think your getting somewhere, and then you always run into these little problem that seems to ruin your day.....but I always like solving the problems too! I sure if you take the exhaust to any custom exhaust company, they will quickly sort it. Out of curiosity, did you find the SC Y piece a larger diameter than your exhaust?

Cheers Paul.

 

Hi Paul,

 

Thanks, I'm pleased with it, as you say these problems just make the process more interesting, I was hoping to keep the original cam cover as I prefer the aesthetics to the low line SC cover but I'm not really too bothered by this. Similar the exhaust, it's not so much of a problem it's not like it's dragging on the floor so it's something I can resolve after I get it running.

 

The exit of the Y piece is 2 inches, so likely will be too large. I did talk to SC about this as despite their build guide suggesting 2 inches being the optimal exhaust size I was not convinced, if I was going forced induction maybe it would make sense, but for my spec and from what I know it would be the wrong choice, anyway they agreed that for my build 1 3/4 inch is optimal so I've gone for an RC40 twin box and have a joiner that steps down from 2 to 1 3/4 inches, it was cheap enough from e-bay. I might try a 2 inch link pipe to the cat, it's possible that might help with the angle and I can get one for 40 quid, as it is I had to cut the link pipe I did get down as it was too long, clearly they're designed to join to the Y piece whereas my setup has the two sections butting up to each other with the step down joiner, I took about 15cm off to get it to fit.

 

Al.

[johnR]

Would a replacement bonnet web made of small diameter tube in a shape that avoids the head be a way forward?

[72hump]

Would a replacement bonnet web made of small diameter tube in a shape that avoids the head be a way forward?

Like this one!!



 image.jpeg   61.45K   2 downloads

[alchall]

Would a replacement bonnet web made of small diameter tube in a shape that avoids the head be a way forward?

 

 

 

Would a replacement bonnet web made of small diameter tube in a shape that avoids the head be a way forward?

Like this one!!



image.jpeg

 

 

I would also need a small hump as well if I did that as the front edge just touches the bonnet as well, I couldn't face messing around again with the bonnet at this stage   and I'd need it re-painting as well, anyway I have a low line cover coming from SC in a couple of weeks, should be the final part of the puzzle!!

Edited by alchall, 07 March 2021 - 11:31 AM.

[alchall]

Time for an update again, made some good steps forward despite a small setback, so I'll start with that....

 

I fitted the servo and torqued up the bracket where it mounts to the car, I only nipped these up as I knew I would have to loosen them to fit the servo, unfortunately in doing so one of the studs snapped, wasn't anywhere near torqued when it gave way so I presume it had been over tightened in the past.

 

 

I couldn't face digging the grinder and welder out and fitting new studs and I found a place on eBay selling what looked like good quality refurbished items, and I was right, it took a couple of days to arrive but very high quality, took some hours to take out the old and re-fit the new though!

 

I also fitted the rear quarter glass, once side went very well, the other isn't quite 100% but it seems secure, you can see here that the rubber is slightly proud of the frame in a couple of places at the front...

 

 

 

It has settled a bit and isn't quite as obvious now but it's still there, I think I can live with it, and looking at the old pictures of the car when I bought it I think this side was not right to begin with.

 

So both in...

 

 

 

I have the dash and centre console now fully fitted, everything seems to work as far as I can tell before it's moving!

 

 

And then two big arrivals at around the same time (and the last of the significant spending is now out of the way, assuming it all works of course!) ; 1) seats and door cards from Newton Commercial and 2) low line cam cover from SC.

 

First up the interior, I closed the holes in the doors with some plastic and tape to waterproof them, then door cards and the rest of the furniture fitted...

 

 

 

Need to sort the chrome trim on the door bins so it's better but otherwise I'm pleased with these.

 

Rear seat and quarter panels also fitted....

 

 

And finally the fronts...

 

 

 

Very pleased with this, the fronts are Newtons own Suffok GT's in leather, the centre is dark grey and the sides black, I had the door cards also in dark grey, they're actually slightly darker but they're vinyl. Ties in nicely now with the grey stitching on the dash.

 

And finally the cam cover, this was a little more involved than I thought as the studs on the caps for the cams all have to be replaced with bolts and the front two caps have uprights in the centre that have to be cut down, all to fit under the cover properly, the first picture here shows the new bolts in all but the front caps and the new front place fitted, you can see why the front ones need modification, the other studs were probably very close but may have been fine without replacements....

 

 

And here it is ready for belt tensioning and re-timing, that's a couple of hours work and a bit fiddly although not difficult once I got my head back around it...

 

 

Here's how it looks, the cover is just placed on for now, SC missed out the gaskets that fill the half moon cutouts at the rear of the head so couldn't complete it, but I used the time I had left yesterday to fit the radiator, another fiddly job, and I still have to fit the bottom hose and complete plumbing to the heater but it's looking good now and very close to completion!

 

 

Oh and the bonnet now fits

 

 

 

[johnR]

looking great inside and out - really like those seats!

[alchall]

OK so I have a massive milestone completed today!!

 

Before I get to that I have sorted all the fluid, bled the clutch and brakes and found a couple of issues, first was simple, I had managed to not fully tighten a union on one of the rear brake pipes so sprung a leak there which I had to fix, then the more serious issue was a leak from the brake limiter valve which I could not fix, clearly one of the threads was shot as I could not tighten it enough to stop the leak so I had to replace it, another 100 quid spent and one less original part but it wasn't quite as fiddly to replace as I imagined, I was able to do it without removing the servo (the flexible lines helped).

 

Anyway, that isn't particularly interesting, but the fact that I got it started is!

 

First up I turned it over with injectors disconnected, HT leads off and fuel pump fuse removed, after settling my nerves and plucking up the courage I turned the key, and I was very happy to see oil pressure build very quickly, so that was the first part of this milestone passed, I had not expected it to be quite that straightforward.

 

Next up setting the throttle position sensor in the ECU so it knows where 0% and 100% are, this was simple, I then checked that the crank was syncing, and it was so with this I thought I was ready to rock and roll.

 

Everything connected up again, some more courage required as even more nerves were building but off we go, start attempt 1 - FAILED. It turned freely and tried to fire, open the throttle and I get some flames through the intake and it then struggled. I could also see the stark plugs were black and wet with fuel and I can see some fuel on the top of the pistons so I'm guessing at the very least it's over fuelled, but it is trying to fire.

 

Time for a think, first up the injectors, I replaced the stock 150cc with new Bosch 480cc units and I recall reading in the manual for the ECU a paragraph that dealt with changing injectors, some simple maths required to change the pulse width duration as the base map was set up for the stock injectors. Still will not start up but there's clearly less fuel now.

 

Then I got to thinking it's a problem with the firing order, no clear instructions in the build guide for the order for connecting the HT leads to the coil and I see conflicting info on the web when trying to find out, being bank holiday weekend I thought it unlikely I'd get a reply from SC if I tried them , a couple of different configurations later and still no joy, but I think I worked out which is correct.

 

So I slept on it and came back to it this morning, I had a thought that perhaps I'm getting too little air in at zero throttle, so I adjusted the throttle so it was slightly more open at zero, I also noticed that the throttle on cylinder 4 was sightly more open than the others so I adjusted this. I used a very thin piece of paper to ensure I had just enough gap between the edge of the butterflies and the inside of the throttle bodies to grab the paper lightly but not so much that it wouldn't slide out. I also reset the HT leads to what I thought was correct.

 

So back into the car, re-checked TPS calibration, needed a little tweak, less nerves now having attempted a start a few times so I was less hesitant to turn the key, and to my massive surprise SUCCESS, it fired up! it was a little rough, especially at idle, I had not started my video so went back to set the phone up and started it again, and here is the evidence...

 

 

I've run it a little longer to see how it goes, it's definitely a bit rough at idle, but not so bad with the application of a little throttle, it also seems to rev freely, as it warms up it gets more lumpy at idle and struggles a bit at times requiring a touch of throttle to prevent it stopping, oil pressure is maintained and no leaks so far so I'm very relieved!

 

 

BUT, I'm not sure what to do, I'll get in touch with SC, they may have a base map that is better suited, they supplied the injectors and told me they are what they generally fit to their own builds so hopefully they have a better map. I'm not sure if it's; a fueling problem, the throttle needing a little tweak (either more open or closed at zero), idle speed needing a tweak or maybe ignition timing. Some of this I can see how to adjust, others not so much but where to start??

 

One thing I have noticed is that RPM reported by the ECU do not match the rev counter, I think the ECU is likely more accurate, rev counter suggests 500RPM at idle, ECU around 1000, it would surely stall at 500.

Edited by alchall, 03 May 2021 - 01:25 PM.

[sonscar]

If it runs the ECU has to be right,there may be a setting to adjust the tach.480 cc injectors are good for 500bhp or thereabouts.Have fun,nice build,Steve..