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Hey Humble,
Still interested in that Eberspacher BN2 I've got? That'll provide some heat! |
oh yeah! might end up using that for my new project :)
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Couple of minor updates...
Forgot to post up the pedal set a while back. I do a tonne of left foot braking, and have always loved a larger middle pedal. I mounted these up a while back, but forgot to post some photos. The angle cut lets my size 12 shoe escape the gas pedal for those times when I need to heel-toe. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8324/8...aac1013a_c.jpg I also decided to man-up this week. I have no fear of anything mechanical, but tuning the carbs still makes me lose sleep. I guess its like my last frontier...I can get 'em running, and do some gross adjustments, but I set 'em up rich to avoid melting down the motor. Time to step up my game! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8465/8...a4a147f5_z.jpg ...course, fitting this into the bug is going to be interesting. Innovate's first instruction is "zip tie the LC-1 under the car..." um, no. That's not going to work. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8463/8...45050c58_c.jpg Oh hey, I think I'll install a gauge, shouldn't be too big a deal! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8047/8...9ce555f5_z.jpg The first 15min... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8464/8...43825cc6_z.jpg An hour later (not exaggerating), and the harness is through. Stupid foam. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8190/8...1295f28a_z.jpg Tucked up beside the carb, away from the rocks. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8332/8...80996929_z.jpg And, somehow, it would appear I forgot shots of the dash. Whoops. -Dave |
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Since Thing's and Iltis's are included in my search pattern, I would think a solid skid plate like that of an Iltis would be better for someone who has to endure more robust circumstances whereas the Thing accommodation would be plenty for someone like me. |
Back "in the day" the amateur rally enthusiast Peter Noad fitted a tow bar to his bug to act as a sump guard. It works pretty well and he drove over some tough terrain. My brother copied the trick on his (volkworld featured) rally bug and grounding out on rough farm tracks was no problem.
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Hi
If anyone is interested I have factory plans for the 181 style sump protectors for Type 1 & Type 4 motors. Steve |
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...In other news, now that I'm back from SEMA and mostly caught up I figured I would actually tackle the tuning of the bug. With the wideband hooked up I'm far less worried about blowing up the motor, so I poured a glass of wine, hooked up the laptop and pulled out the screwdrivers. I just getting started when something caught my eye, something I would have never caught without the Weber doors. Seems my 3/4 accelerator pump cover lost the pivot pin. Crap! Where am I going to get a replacement for that? Oh wait...what's that on the Colt? http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8...9d6a3101_z.jpg Spare, genuine, Weber parts! Fortunately Empi's Chinese suppliers are good 3D photocopiers, and the Weber pump cover popped right on without problems. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8343/8...fbd367e9_c.jpg With that, it was back to tuning. The way the carbs were originally setup up (by ear, and rich). I was running at 11.5:1 at idle, dropping to 10.5 under full load. In other words, very rich! With the Wideband I was able to set up the sitting idle at 13.5:1. The result of which means when I'm driving around town I'm seeing anywhere from 13.5-14.5 under partial throttle/loads, and then going to a 12:1 ratio under full load. WOW what a difference. I seriously should have done this months ago. It's crisp, any of the running issues or quirks are gone, and it's got significantly more power. Took a buddy out in the car (who's been in it lots) and after a single pull on the highway he was asking about what new parts I had put in the engine. Of course, now that I have a sweet Wideband setup, I need to figure out how to protect it from gravel... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8488/8...6f5dd664_z.jpg Vibrant Performance & DCI Heat Shielding to the rescue. Technically I'm not using the product as designed, and I will need to build something a little more robust down the road...but Totem rally (snow and ice) is this coming weekend and I needed a quick fix to last a few days. This material is rock solid with the curve, and even my ball peen hammer wasn't making a mark. That pretty much tells me it will be folded around the O2 sensor by the end of the weekend, but probably won't allow the sensor to be damaged :P http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8...e1808015_z.jpg I picked up enough of the material to protect the exhaust wrap on the muffler as well, but will wait until after the weekend to re-do the wrap. Snow tires should be here tomorrow, and I can finish packing the car for the event. I won't be racing this one (I'm event steward) but at least I will get out for some fun roads and winter sliding. -Dave |
Dave, I didn't know you went to SEMA!!! I was there Thurs and Fri, I wish I knew it would have been nice to meet! I'm from BC, but I only get there about every 4 years, so the chances are actually better of meeting up at SEMA then BC!
Jason |
Indeed!
I saw your photos after my return. The WiFi at my hotel was absolutely terrible, so the trip ended up being all business. -Dave |
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Plans for the 181 style sump protector, Type 1 & Type 4 and it looks like the updated one for a 2 litre. These are from a VW publication called "Journeys under difficult conditions" It also has a protection plate for the jack point Steve http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...4.jpg~original http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...1.jpg~original http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...1.jpg~original |
Well, Totem Rally didn't exactly work out as planned. The event started out well enough...I had great drive up, and Saturday was a tonne of fun. The morning stages were mostly gravel due to warmer temperatures, but as we climbed up in elevation we got to see some colder temps and 'old snow'. The car started to feel 'right', and I was getting used to it on the slippery stuff which was a relief beyond reliefs.
See, I swapped from super-stiff sidewall summer performance tires to snow tires, and then immediately left on a five hour drive over the Duffy Lake road to the rally start. The Duffy is a mountain pass full of twisties and dangerous corners, which I pretty much know like the back of my hand and usually enjoy. The entire trip the car felt like it was trying to kill me. You'd turn the wheel, the car would turn in...followed by the sidewalls flexing and then it would REALLY turn in. Horribly unpredictable and near deadly before I wisely calmed down. But yes...by mid-day Saturday, I was back to getting along with the car on all surface types. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8198/8...760804e6_z.jpg Saturday afternoon was a blast. Mud, gravel, a bit of snow and then a "late on transit" night time blast through mud and ice with the odd fallen tree. Fun is seeing a downed tree, hitting the brakes and having to do the split-second determination of whether a) you lost all brakes on the car 'somewhere back there' or b) that's ice, not water and you have no grip. Oh yes! B. Quick, adapt! Alas, a stage later and the fun was over. The last two stages for the day were cancelled due to multiple road blockages. I came upon the rally group as they gathered at a bridge, and stopped the car. I left it idling as I got out and walked four cars down the row to get the latest update. A brief chat, and walking back to the car I noticed the air had a lot of exhaust vapor. Wait, "is that my car making all that smoke?" OH #$%!!!!!!!!! It is! We're talking blown-motor, can no longer see the cars parked around me smoke-show. I jumped in, oil-pressure light was on, and shut it off just as my brain registered the 0psi on the oil pressure gauge. Checked the oil tank, completely empty. Checked under the car, as best we could with flashlights, no major oil leaks that we could find...though the skid plate was coated. I filled the oil tank with the 5L extra I had and started the car. After about 20 seconds, the oil pressure light went out and 20psi popped up on the gauge. (this, for the record, is normal procedure when filling the system from dry). While the procedure determined the oil system was working, there was no diagnosing where all the oil disappeared to. Thus, I had sweep rope-tow me 40km to the highway, where we dumped the car. From there I had a 14 hour towing adventure with borrowed vehicles that still didn't get the car to my house. Sigh. I met the guys who owned this Mercedes about 10min before they offered to loan it to me for an overnight towing adventure...a bit nuts, but I wasn't going to complain! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8485/8...f63a740c_z.jpg Getting the car on and off the trailer, however, required some creative techniques. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8344/8...5e893e61_z.jpg That was two and half weeks ago, and finally last Friday I was able to pickup up the car and bring it home. Driven hard, and put away wet. Yeah, this cleanup was going to suck. It started with a $10 trip to the car wash, where I thought I had gotten most of it. Once it was on axle stands in my garage I realized how much more mud there was... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8348/8...f4b5912e_c.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8349/8...a70377ed_c.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8057/8...136b976b_c.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8059/8...d3ae299c_c.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8486/8...8ee2195c_z.jpg So, a second wash in my garage...and then the floor...and then I could start on tear down. Yeah...that's probably not a good sign: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8...c71fa3e5_c.jpg I'm seriously thinking of switching to track racing. This is just brutal :P http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8205/8...b1bafba4_c.jpg Now, I suppose at this point I should mention the magical beast which is my oil system. See, when the motor blew deep in the woods of Lac La Hache we found no oil in the tank, and added 5L. When I pulled the car off the trailer, however, the tank was overflowing onto the floorboards. The breather tanks were overflowing into the engine bay and the actual engine had half a dipstick worth in it. Now I have all the oil I was missing, PLUS the extra 5L! After some thought, it seemed pretty clear the scavenge stage of the oil pump must have failed and it was no longer removing oil from the engine. Once the system had pumped all the oil into the engine, there was none left to pull from the tank and thus zero oil pressure. The heads would have been stuffed full, and thus we get the massive smoke show. But here's the trick shot. The BugPack oil pump is 100% a-okay: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8069/8...2e448ef1_c.jpg So what happened? And why did 'it' fail, and then start working again (as evidenced by the pump emptying the engine and overflowing everything else)? So far I've managed to disassemble the entire engine and I've found no clues. The pistons and cylinders are perfect, the main bearings look like they're barely used. The rod bearings look like they've been run for about 20min, the cam bearings are basically new and the lifters and cam are also perfect. The pickup is tight, and clear. I still need to test the line from the pump to tank, but that's not a very likely failure point. It's a total mystery. At this stage I'm going to have to reassemble and simply not leave the car idling without being in the driver's seat. On the plus side, my heads are beginning to show the 65,000+ miles they have on them. The combustion chambers cleaned up nice, but when I pulled the valves for a cleaning I found two guides with lots of play and one guide broken (with bits missing) in the exhaust port. The heads are going to visit Darren at K-Roc heads for a much needed 'refurbish' while I continue to clean the mud and oil off of every component from the front bumper to the rear bumper. Track racing seems like it would be a whole lot cleaner... -Dave |
That mud is everywhere. Where do you even start to clean that all off?
Could you look to install some defelctors on the inside of the rear wings? Hope that the engine is fine once its back together, always a worry when it can't be diagnosed |
Yeah, it's been a week of cleaning stuff, and I'm still not all the way through it. On the plus side, I probably would have overheated a head shortly after the event without cleaning all the mud off :)
Dish duty at my house is a little different... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8060/8...2205a72c_c.jpg Broken valve guide, and the reason the heads are off getting some work done. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8489/8...8985d863_z.jpg -Dave |
Hi Dave,
yes...mud is your friend! :D The good thing is,now you see where improvements need to be made and what could be done to make things easier to clean for the future.Or switch to track racing :D Concerning your oil problem: A possible reason (that I am certain of) could be that your crankcase ventilation is not sufficient.On my old car,I´ve had a very similar problem before and I enlarged my crank case ventilation to an AN-16 and a larger breatherbox.After that no oil pressure problems and a decrease in oil temps also,but most important,no more oil leaks from the valve covers or elsewhere. Mark |
Heads are back. Main case is assembled, should have the motor ready to install before bed.
-Dave |
Engine is reassembled and ready to go in tomorrow after I get some help lifting it off the stand. I ended up getting the wrong exhaust gaskets for the muffler to pipes, so I'll probably be making a set of four tomorrow. Fun!
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8482/8...8e6750c3_z.jpg I re-wrapped the exhaust again, for the third time. Every time I hit gravel it tears the wrap and start little flaps of wrap hanging down from the muffler. Thus, this time I decided to do something about it. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8489/8...23b8bc2b_z.jpg The metal sheet is aluminum heat-shield from DCI Performance Products in Australia. Trimmed to fit, it should make a nice stone guard to keep the rocks from tearing up the heat wrap. ...and in place: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8204/8...97731416_z.jpg it's going to be a smoke-show for a while after start-up, the muffler has a nice coating of oil inside all of the internals. I tried to clean it out with some degreasers, but doesn't appear to have been too effective. So tomorrow I'll figure out gaskets, hopefully install the motor, and start cleaning the interior mess. Should fire the car back up on Wednesday if things go to plan. -Dave |
Hi Dave, stick with it, your doing well, but its making you work for your fun right enough, the only thing i can see from the pump pics, is the tank feed unions in the pump look very restrictive, at first i thought, easy one, 'spun gears', but i can see they are keyed, so its not that. the pump is having it easy pulling oil from the tank, then struggling to return it, that restrictive size on the return and a high tank position would just be enough to tip the balance, especialy if there are more add ons on the return line with similar sized fittings, 5/8" is the minimum, 3/4" wont hurt, if you run a filter screen on the pickup tube, check it has good clearance to the pick up tube base, i cut these angled to help scavanging, some early engine cases, and most brazil cases, use a too small pick up tube size for dry sump, i also like to run 8lts minimum oil tank vol' on race tracks, as its quite possible to have 3 or 4 ltr 'hidden' in the motor and up the rocker boxes etc with g and braking involved, and then you get tank surge. food for thought anyway.... best regards.
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Thanks for the thoughts! Sorry I have neglected to reply to them. The current oil setup, including the fittings, was modeled after the Huebbe brother's setup. They've been stage rallying their car without oil issues for a few years now, which is why I figured it was the safest way to go. I have been looking into new fittings on the pump, however, as I think you're right...they do look pretty restrictive. Only the fittings on the pump are the steel industrial units, everything else is a proper aluminum -8AN fitting. The steel fittings on the pump are the same fittings the Huebbe's and I have used without problems (until now)...but at this stage I should be tweaking everything I can.
Upon reassembly I obviously measured everything, once again, but this time found one item which I had missed on previous builds. The magnetic drain plug was long enough to be touching the screen. While it *shouldn't* cause a problem, with heat I suppose it's possible that it could have reduced the opening gap for the pickup. Next time I have the engine apart I plan to cut the pickup on an angle to reduce the chances of a occurrence. For now I've tossed a washer in as a spacer. Sometimes the quick fix is just as good. The motor has been back together for two weeks, and I've put almost 2,500km on it. So far the engine has been trouble free, and I'm even letting it idle for short periods while I walk away. I guess you could say I'm testing my luck, but so far there hasn't been any problems. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8...4900512b_c.jpg A new issue, which is probably related, is that the Accusump stopped holding pressure. Now to be fair, I think this was an issue prior to the big failure...but I broke the gauge on the Accusump months ago and haven't fixed it. In order to swap out the gauge I needed to remove the Accusump, so I was simply waiting until an oil change with some time. Over the previous months I've noticed it was slowly leaking down pressure, like if I left the car for a week or more it wouldn't have the pressure to pre-oil. Without having the gauge on the unit I couldn't tell if it was the ball-valve leaking down, or an issue with the Accusump. Once installed with the new gauge, I quickly determined it was leaking down. Within a couple of days of use, it wasn't holding any pressure (or indeed building pressure when the engine was running). A few emails to Canton Racing and it was agreed the internal seals on the piston were probably in need of replacing. Considering I've been using it daily, not really surprised. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8494/8...1ab26a89_c.jpg The Accusump isn't designed for user-servicing. Canton requires that all units are sent back to the factory, except for a few teams who do refurbish their own. I was given the go-ahead, and a list of mistakes to avoid. But first, one has to create a key to get into the secret vault... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8057/8...96d6a3a0_c.jpg With that done, I popped open the Accusump and immediately found the problem. The first thing they check when rebuilding these units is scoring on the cylinders. If the cylinder is scored, the unit needs to be replaced...and I won the bad-luck lottery. Obviously the Accusump ate some hard particles at some point, which I suppose isn't surprising considering I've roasted a couple of motors with it. The score marks are also on "the bottom" of the cylinder with respects to how I had it mounted, so the particle(s) were probably settled on the bottom and then caught up in the seals. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8339/8...a5310a3c_c.jpg A few emails back and forth with Canton, and I'm going to need a new Cylinder. Since they don't sell refurbishment parts, that's going to be a challenge as I missed the production run for the year. Hmmmm. They're looking to see if they can find a cosmetic blemish unit, and in the meantime I've decided to clean up the scoring marks. While waiting for the correct sized O-rings, I figured I would try the closest-fit from the local industrial shop, just to see if I'm wasting my time. In went the O-rings, in went the Accusump and voila! Holding pressure...for a while. Interestingly it's now holding oil pressure, but not holding pressure on the air-side of the chamber. I suspect with the proper sized o-rings it will all work as planned. Might make it without a new cylinder after all! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8079/8...047cd0a7_z.jpg Also started on a new project for the car, I've been getting tired of 'bouncy tach', and tore apart a spare Stewart-Warner performance Tach to start playing around with sizes. It's going to take a bit of work to get it to fit/work in a 914 Tach housing, but i have some ideas on how to make it work. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8081/8...ec8b92e3_z.jpg I also spent some time tuning the gas heater this week. I was having some issues with it cutting out, or taking a long time to fire up. Through adjustments to the flame switch I think I've finally got it running close to factory spec. It now runs continuously without cutting out, which is great. I should be getting just a bit more heat out of it, but my fuel pump adjustment is maxed out. That's the Achilles heel with using a gas heater these days, the pumps aren't available new and everyone I have is just slightly under the factory spec for output. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8492/8...946c115b_c.jpg -Dave |
I have the same gas heater and was never able to get it dialed in perfectly.My problem was just the opposite though, it was always running way too rich and bellowing black smoke.My guess is the combustion chamber is corroded.I'm contemplating whether I should overhaul it or not. I will contact Eberspächer here in Germany and find out if there are parts available.I'll let you know what I find out.
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I assume you've tried dropping the fuel flow through the fuel pump adjustment? If you find you need parts let me know, I have another five or six on the shelf and would be ready to split one down for parts.
----- http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8353/8...77d175ba_z.jpg Back to the beetle! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8217/8...49ddcd46_z.jpg We've had a fantastic December in the area as far as snow is concerned, which has been fun for the bug and I. Learning the switch from All-Wheel-Drive to RWD has been, uh, interesting...but I've got the hang of it for the most part. I have stuffed good at least once, but following a few snowstorms I'm feeling pretty comfortable up into mid-fourth gear. Now I need to transfer it to more slippery surfaces, as I've got 20 days to ice racing! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8083/8...2287e98f_c.jpg Started playing around with the tachometer project, its going to be a little more involved then I anticipated. I need to work out how to remove 3/4" in depth from the Stewart Warner tach internals before moving forward. I think I've figured out how to attach a face-dial, and the Porsche needle will simply need to be drilled out to fit the SW motor. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8082/8...84614cc1_z.jpg On the one hand, my motor will definitely be rust free. On the other hand, an oil leak is never appreciated. Turns out the pressure switch was leaking through and out the electrical connection. Rather annoying, as with the Christmas rush it took a couple of days to figure out that simply tightening things up back there wasn't solving the issue! Finally stopped to run the engine while I watched, and the issue was quickly determined (and solved). ...and, yeah. I guess I should include this here too. This was a pretty good Christmas present to get from Stephan Szantai! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8354/8...9ecda64d_z.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8077/8...e7c44e72_z.jpg -Dave |
Congratulations on the magazine article! Yes,I´ve tried adjusting the fuel flow and was able to reduce the smoke quite a bit,but never down to to an acceptable level.My guess is the combustion chamber is dirty or rusted or something is clogged.I´ll know once I have time to take it apart.
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Everyone who builds a nice car would love to see it featured in a magazine. Most don't get to see it happen. I was very happy when my car was featured in Hot VW way back in July 07. Congratulation. You worked very hard for that.
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Congratulations, you deserve the magazine article!!
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Thanks guys! I'm stoked.
------------ Well, it's back to other projects! I was invited to check out a driver training center just North of Whistler, and so popped the car up on axle stands Thursday to give it a "pre-event" check. I was anticipating an issue with the rear wheel bearings on the right-side, and I wasn't "disappointed". The metal washer between the disc and bearing spacer had cut into the seal, destroying the first lip. Dirt then destroyed the second lip and the outer bearing had water/dirt ingested. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8493/8...df6b3bf8_c.jpg Normally the job is annoying, but not too difficult. Public Service Tip: if you weld all new lower shock mounts onto your control arms, confirm that you can still remove the axle stub before assembling the car for the final time. Oops. Once I pulled the shock out I was able to get *just* enough room to cut away the required material. A mere 5mm was all I needed. With the stub axle free, the job was as per any other Volkswagen. Greasy but easy. Alas, we had incredible amounts of snow in the last few days, and the skid pad plowing went much slower then anticipated. Event postponed...but I'll get out there soon enough. The Pre-event check also determined that the mud simply never stops. Geesh. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8352/8...1ac32e68_z.jpg Back to the tach project. Started with a lot of measuring, and some basic drawings / concepts to figure out the direction I was going to go. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8233/8...f24a61e4_c.jpg In order to get the drawings perfect I'm using a combination of Rhino3D, and then exporting it to Adobe Illustrator before finally exporting it to my vinyl cutter. The three steps opens a lot of room for file error, so test cuts are required. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8082/8...52ec21c6_c.jpg Once the file was sorted out, various stages of 'look' for the tach dial. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8098/8...4fe94225_c.jpg The new tach will have the turn signal indicator where I can see it, as well as the high-beam indicator and an oil-cooler fan indicator so I can see when the fan is on (either tripped by the thermostat or by my override switch) http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8506/8...c8ab309c_z.jpg After modifying the internals of the Stewart Warner Tach, and then determining that my original plan of mounting it all inside the Porsche housing wasn't going to work, it was off to the Lathe! Unfortunately, this is where the project sits for the next little while. A slight 'lathe accident' means I'm on the hunt for a new 914 tach housing :P http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8503/8...793a00e8_z.jpg -Dave |
Ouch! It's amazing how fast a project turns junk after a lathe "incident"!
Jason |
Yep, thin walled items don't stand a chance! :D
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"Hmmm, this is so thin I can't really clamp it super-tight without deforming it. Ah well, lets try anyways"
...surprisingly made it about 4min before I was jumping back to avoid the housing flying off the chuck. Okay, not my smartest move. -Dave |
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Well, rather long since an update. Whoops. Canton Racing and I had been talking about refurbishing my 1-quart Accusump, and after trying a few of their suggestions we determined the damage was too extensive. Lucky for me, however, as Canon Racing loved the build and sent me a little care package:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8519/8...7be335db_z.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8382/8...af63fb56_c.jpg Inside was a 2-Quart Accusump, and Canon Racing Products oil filter. Part of the issue with my original Accusump could have been attributed to less-then-ideal filtering, and this new oil filter cuts down to 8-microns. I'm pretty stocked to add this into the oil system. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8232/8...f8e55109_c.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8109/8...3faf15b4_c.jpg Installed and working like a charm. I'm back to pre-oiling before each startup, which I feel much better about. You may have noticed the paper towel stuffed down beside the heating pipe...had a bit of 'fun' while swapping out the Accusumps. I was undoing the AN fitting on the old sump, sure that the line was depressurized since the gauge said zero. But just as I'm doing the last 1/4 turn my brain asks "what if there is no pressure on the air side, and the piston is all the way against the case?" BOOM! The line released and about 1/2 quart of oil went EVERYWHERE. My jeans were ruined, but only because I worked frantically to clean off the headliner, windows, back of the driver's seat, floor, door cards and everything else. Did I mention I was going to a work Christmas Party (we do ours in Jan) and thought "oh I'll just do a quick swap before I leave."? Oops. I also got fed up with people who think they're funny at Gas stations, and decided to add a touch of clarity to the roof logo on the car. No more questions or jokes regarding a certain 30's-40's German political party. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8238/8...510cd787_z.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8524/8...008c3857_z.jpg …and then I got a few weeks of trouble free driving before the car started spitting a popping a bit on idle during warmup. I figured I had a bit of tuning to do, but had a couple of busy days at work which included trips back and forth to Whistler. This coincided with my wide band 02 sensor taking a dive, so it was hard to say whether or not I was experiencing a major issue. On day two, I noted a bubble in the paint on the apron upon arriving in Whistler. Doh. Limped it home, cleaned the jets in the carb, checked the timing and then fired it up. Within seconds the apron on the left side was noticeably hotter then the right. Pulled the apron off, and there's your problem!! No wonder the wideband was showing impossibly lean settings at idle! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8530/8...4b71b05c_z.jpg The emergency exhaust gaskets I got on the last engine install were apparently really short-life units! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8512/8...db332295_c.jpg I knew getting gaskets to fit the Vintage Speed exhaust in my hometown wasn't going to happen. And while AVRparts.com had a set on the shelf, that means they would have a system they couldn't sell until replacements came in. Time to find a better option! http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn..../GS16024-2.jpg http://catalog.remflex.com/v/vspfile...words_web2.jpg I've read a lot about Remflex gasket material, it's 100% graphite material, and is often used successfully for pitted and warped header flanges. Could be awesome in this application, as the Vintage Speed flanges are pretty long and narrow, making them challenging to seal if you're not careful. The Remflex is 1/8" thick, and crushes down to 1/16" (but seals long before that apparently). I traced out the flange, and cut out gaskets using a hobby knife and punch for the bolt holes. So far, so good! If the gaskets aren't the reason I pull the exhaust next, they'll definitely be a success. -Dave |
The gasket material looks good, interested to hear the results on it.
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Whew, long time no post! Funny how that happens when I'm out enjoying and using the car, vs. building it.
A few days after installing the Remflex gasket material, I was heading over the Duffy Lake road on my way to The Thunderbird Rally. I was almost past the point of no return when I smell alerted me to a problem. Yup, burned out number 4 again...and this time it was the Remflex that was 100% gone. Clearly my issues were bigger then just the gasket material. I checked my watch, and was a little over 40min away from the closest town...and it was 4:40pm on a Friday night. Not good! I hammered down the road, and into a tire shop and general repair shop to peruse their gasket selection. I found a few that were close enough, and then hit the local snowmobile shop for a roll of header wrap. A parking lot backwoods repair was done, and I was on my way. Since I'll forget to update it later, it turns out the issue was not the gasket materials, but that I had overtightened the flange when I last had the motor out and they were no longer mating flat. With the pressure localized on the ends, the gasket would blow out in the middle every time. I have since repaired it and enjoy leak free driving without issues... For Thunderbird, I was serving the role of "Chief Steward", which is to say that if there were any protests, or issues with the rally I was the guy who would make the final call one way or the other. This also allowed me to checkpoint the rally, and run the whole route without competing. I figured after the last event having a few more 'shakedown' events on the car wouldn't hurt. And, as it would turn out, I was 100% correct. The next morning I was heading off to my first checkpoint, on regularity (stage) one, without a co-driver. I was probably...okay, I was definitely...going too quick. What can I say, I was having fun in the light dusting of snow and loose gravel. I came around a right-hander and saw three yumps which were definitely far too large for the speed I was going. With little time to react I opted for ensuring I didn't end up in the ditch or a tree, car be damned. Coming down off the first one, I was landing on the second. The rear went clean through to the bump-stops, and then I was hitting the third. Instantly I knew there was an issue, but kept the car pointed in the right direction and slowed down until I could pull off safely. Crawling under the car I was met with a rather interesting sight, which I'll admit took me a few seconds to figure out: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8517/8...431d2c88_c.jpg The observant amongst you might notice that something is missing. I could see the shock body, I could see the spring. I could see the lower spring perch but oddly enough there was no shock shaft joining the upper and lower halves of the assembly! Now, a normal person would probably look at this and think "call a trailer", but rally people have never been accused of being normal. I could see from the way the shock body was wedged, and how much movement it has without a spring, that there was very little risk of losing the spring out of the assembly. The embarrassment of not making the finish of another event was too much to consider, so I jumped in and began to figure out the new handling characteristics. By the end of day one I was getting pretty comfortable with the car, and I had pushed it enough to know that I wasn't going to be at any real risk of losing the spring. I could take it easier on the gravel sections, and go with a much heavier foot in the snowy sections. By the end of the event, I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Sure, I had heavily damaged my car (who knows what else went with the shock), but it held together and I had figured it out enough to have a tonne of fun driving it. I drove home over the Duffy, which was snowy by this point, and I found that special bond you hope to build with a car. That moment where you can't wipe the smile off your face, that point where enjoyment and experience outweighs the build, the cost, the headaches and everything else. That spot where the car I imagined on paper was finally materializing in experience. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8391/8...652283bf_c.jpg Of course, one still has to fix the damage. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8252/8...d0991631_c.jpg Upon teardown of the rear suspension the first thing I noticed was there was no longer any bump stop attached to the trailing arm. My best guess, based on the experience is that I lost the bump stop on the first big hit, which then allowed for the shock to bottom out completely. The shocks haft snapped off right at the lower eyelet, at the beginning of the threads which are a stress-riser. Initially I was concerned that the shock was getting a side-load under full compression, but the missing bump stop (and cycling it through without a spring), points to a simple bottom out failure. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8090/8...af2aacbb_c.jpg Both the upper and lower hardware had the faintest of bends in the bolts (visible only when rolled on glass), so they were replaced. The load travelled through the Kafer bar to the right-hand side, where the upper bar mount snapped clean off at the weld. Needless to say, it had to be a big hit! While technically the QA1 shocks are rebuildable, and all parts are replaceable, for time sake I picked up another unit and installed it. The Kafer brace was removed, a new stronger mount welded up, and replaced. Sorry, no photos as I was trying to get the car running for work the next day! The upper shock body received some damage from leaning against the body all weekend. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8516/8...d1037af4_c.jpg More updates coming, but I think this one is probably long enough… -Dave |
I call this next shot "why I will never POR15 new metal again"...
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8100/8...1e40be71_z.jpg It literally just peeled off the bottom of the floorboards, iphone included in the sweeping up for scale: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8370/8...4a2de2b9_z.jpg Interestingly enough, any of the "old metal" (spine, torsion bar housings, etc.) which was prepped the same way is fine...can't take the POR15 off with a chisel. So, I let the bare pans 'season' for a day or two and then repainted them. We'll see how this holds up... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8528/8...9932654b_c.jpg -Dave |
I found that too, POR just doesn't stick to clean metal or if the metal is too smooth, I also had issues with metal that had been prepped with a wire wheel in an angle grinder..
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Its made to use on rusty metal. There's a chemical reaction that happens.
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Which, normally I would agree with you, but their metal etch is supposed to solve that problem!
Ah well, I just 'seasoned' the pans by letting them get a bit of rust scale on them. Not mirror smooth (as you can see in the photos) but will hold now. |
Yes, the etch "metal ready" or new name "prep and ready" is made to prep surface before coatings are applied, but the POR-15 was originally made to react with rusty metal, and I never had luck with it sticking to "good" metal. I did the same thing you did 10 years ago ;)
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Whew...it's been a while since I've updated, and unfortunately not a lot of photos. I've been distracted, but we'll get to that.
The car was essentially trouble free all of March and April, until two weeks before the Hagerty Spring Thaw. I clogged a jet on the way home from Whistler one day, and despite cleaning it out had some serious tuning issues coming back from a parts run (which is about 2hrs each way for me). The tailpipes were showing lean, the wide-band was showing lean, but the plugs looked good. WTF? I hadn't changed any jets...just cleaned them. I worked on some tuning off and on, but was getting very strange results. I'd change the main jets, but the idle mixture would change. I'd move up three jet sizes (in steps) and the first two would show logical changes while the third would blow the wide-band off the scale in some strange way. This was all happening in the final week before the Spring Thaw. My business partner and I were working long hours to make sure everything goes off perfectly at the event. I'd get an hour or two for tuning, get no results, and have to get back to pre-organizing duties. It was incredibly frustrating. Finally I decided to go all the way back to the beginning. Well, actually the car decided for me when it blew out an exhaust gasket (again). The car went up on axle stands, and I made plans to adjust the valves, set the timing, start with a set of base jets (by the math), fix the exhaust gaskets and try again. The heads had been fully reworked in November by Darren (K-Roc Heads), so I was really confused why every single valve was tight. I was exhausted, so when I popped on the 3/4 valve cover, removed the paper towel on the heater box and was met with a piece of valve spring… http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8403/8...0a0ed7f2_c.jpg Really? http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8534/8...d218943d_o.jpg Darren and I chatted, and we both realized that I have almost 80,000 miles on this set of springs. More then double what either of us would have suspected. While they were fine in November, clearly that wasn't the case anymore. Thankfully Darren had put dual-springs into my heads many years ago, so when the outer spring failed, He offered me his on-car replacement tool, and had a full set of dual valve springs ready for me…two hours away. Good thing too: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8536/8...a45f3e2d_c.jpg While driving to get the valve springs, I realized my valve adjustment issue. In my stress of organizing and lack of sleep, I had neglected to consider that I have chromoly pushrods and thus adjust to loose-zero, not .006"! Whoops. With springs and exhaust gaskets installed, valves adjusted and timing reset, I cleaned the carbs…finding mud in the choke area which isn't used by the Empi HPMX version. Mud eh? Hmmm. Don't let anyone tell you I'm easy on equipment. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8113/8...743513cd_z.jpg Well, with that cleaned out I started tuning for lean-best-idle…and still had exhaust popping. Soon a hairline 2" crack was spotted, and off came the apron & exhaust. It would seem that at some point an impact resulted in a crack on the muffler at the #2 inlet (actually on the little pipe sticking out of the muffler to the flange. The resulting movement probably attributed to the gasket failure issues I was having earlier this season. It was 11pm, but my buddy Scott still took it home, welded it up, and brought it back. Killer service, and help from a buddy who leaves for work at 6am. It was too late to tune, but not too late to get a good night sleep. Amazing how easy the tuning is when there aren't a bazillion other problems causing weird results! Within two hours I had lean-best-idle, idle jets set, mains sorted and the airs figured out. My AFR numbers were spot on everywhere except for a lean condition when cruising at 3000-3200rpm. While I knew Darren and Geoff were going bat-**** crazy with all my calls and texts regarding tuning, I was at a loss. The RPM range said it should be mains, but changing them didn't help and made other things worse. Maybe a combination of Airs and Mains? changing didn't seem to get the results I needed. A final text sent to Darren (with crossed fingers) and a suggestion came back "go one up on the idle jets". I did, and what you know. Running fantastic for the Spring Thaw…with 20 hours to spare! -Dave |
cool story and great dedication - i love reading your posts!
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oh - and those springs are crazy! could have been a whole lot worse!
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Darren said to me while I was picking up the new springs "best thing about dual valve springs? If you break a spring, the inner spring usually holds the valve so you don't destroy the engine." THANK GOODNESS he had upgraded my heads to dual springs many years ago. Geesh.
-Dave |
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