GasMan

Hi Geoff, Have sent you blatmail but will use this as a backup. Can you put me down for both Cadwell's. Matthew Biggart

Yes I'll add my for another fantastic day. Well done to Geoff Judith Martin and all the others who helped make this a great day. Just to top it off Steve & I blagged our way onto the 7.30 ferry from Liverpool so much better than hanging around till 02.15 in Heysham. See you at Cadwell. Matthew

The following Quote is from the SBD website Suzuki Hayabusa dry sump kit installation intructions "It is beneficial to use this dry sump system with a completely sealed engine breather, however this can ONLY be done if your particular engine creates a vacuum. In order to check this, a monometer needs to be connected to the engine breather and the crankcase pressure measured. With the engine running on either a Dyno, race track or similar and under full load a vacuum should be present at all rpm. Every engine varies, and as such it is vital to monitor the crankcase pressure in your particular engine before attempting to blank the breather, if the crankcase pressure is positive then the breather should under no circumstance be blanked or damage will occur! This is the responsibility of the customer, if you do not have the necessary equipment to carry out this task, then we recommend the engine is left breathing to the drysump tank, which in turn breathes through the catch tank to atmosphere." Hope this helps? Matthew

I use MOTUL 300V 10W40 Its a fully synthetic oil. The blurb says "Maximum Power & Protection (well it would say that) 4 stroke racing lubricant with double ester technology designed for "factory teams" Optimum shear resistance for long lasting engine and gearbox protection, excellent wet clutch performance" I have not had any clutch slip with this oil. Matt

Simon If you warm up thoroughly and have had the fan come in a couple of times the rad will be full of hot water and the thermostat open so for sprints and track days when you drive hard from the get go thats ok. the problem is low load driving with a rad of too great a size in conditions of low ambient temperature. Believe me on a hot day out on track you will be glad to have the big rad. Hope that makes sense. Matt

Hi guys thats the same rad as I use but you have to appreciate that this is oversized certainly in most circumstances. In my experiance you need to blank off quite a large area for normal road use especially in winter other wise the water temp is up and down like a whore's drawers. The engine gets warm with the thermostat closed, oversized rad full of cold water, thermostat opens and temp plummets, thermostat closes and hardly any heat gets into rad, cold air plummets rad temp at same time as engine warming up again. Vicious cycle. I have blanked off approx 50% of the rad. If you use clear perspex it doesn't show and it seems fine. At track days in summer remove blanking, warm engine until fan cuts in a couple of times then you know the rad is full of hat water and the oil is at the right temp then you can safely go out and give it beans and know the temp isn't going to plunge. I have to say not doing this earlier may have contributed to rod failure? Guess oil temp gauge would definitely help. Matt

Hi just changed to Mac after months of procrastination & very pleased. Just used bootcamp to partition and install windows XP as I need to use MS Access. I need to register XP within 30 days but cannot connect to the internet via my wireless router with XP I think the drivers are missing for the Mac hardware. Have any fellow blatchatters experienced this problem and have you, is there an easy solution? I don't particularly want or need to access the internet from XP other than to register my copy of XP. The rest of the time I will use the Mac to go on line. Any suggestions greatly received. Matthew

Hi there B-Runner, My rods gone at the bottom its all beginning to look like oil starvation. I'll have a good look at the scavenge pump too. Matthew

Hi Paul, I will pull the engine apart in due course. Yes it was modified but we kept the standard ecu and so were not pushing up the revs and I didn't bounce it off the rev limiter! I was well topped up with oil and it was very early in the day. Fully synthetic oil as recommended by the tuner. I may never know what happened may just be bad luck. Anyway its back to standard engine for now. 🙆🏻 Matthew

Hi Guys Thanks for the chat on the phone Matt. I have a spare engine which needs a mounting point welding on apart from that should be fine as a standard motor. Likewise it was good to meet you at Cadwell Alex. Looking forward to our next meeting. Hope you are getting more sleep! I have already had 2 offers of loan cars for Le Sept so I'll be there. Matthew

Having seen the high res pictures this car has to be a bargain. Matthew

Hi Matt, As you know my blade went pop at Cadwell threw a rod. Could this be oil starvation despite the dry sump and reservoir being well topped up? Bearing in mind I had hardly got going at Cadwell and had done less than half a dozen fast laps I think this unlikely? Can we discuss Blackbird reliability please as I believe there may be oil starvation reliability issues with these engines too. I thought the whole point of Dry sumping a BEC was to prevent oil starvation but I'm beginning to think this might not be the whole story. If any other blackbird gurus out there want to comment please help Matthew B

Thanks for the suggestions I have emailed them both and I'll see where it leads . I agree the tuned engines are very expensive I spent a small fortune on mine it was noticeably quicker than before but it went pop at Cadwell, threw a rod through the crankcase!!. It was tuned with reliability in mind so we kept to the standard rev limit. Not sure why it failed. Not sure I want to spend that sort of money again. Matthew

Preferably RRW and tuned got to be plenty about surely? Can anyone out there help Matthew

Hi Rob, Paul is a fully qualified auto engineer and will do all the spanner work himself so that will keep the costs down to purchase price of bits only. The K engine he has has all the dry sump bits but as you say the Duratec won't need dry sumping at 220 bhp state of tune. Personally I think he should go Duratec. Matt

Paul if you go duratec you wont have to worry about copld feet during winter blats!! Matthew

😬and . Well done Geoff and Judith, and of course all helpers and instructors. Thanks for a fantastic day. Hope to see the regulars at Cadwell next year. Matthew

Hi Rob or anyone out there who can put me in touch with Rob. Having seen the 2 fantastic cars (arrow bodied duratecs) Rob built in action at Cadwell in April, I was talking to a friend who might be interested in getting Rob to build him one. Hence the need to contact Rob. Thanks Matthew.

Talk to Steve Perks at SPC his add is in low flying. He built the rear axles for the "works" Blade engined cars. Matthew

Thanks for that, much appreciated. Matthew

Need to have spare bulbs for the Le Mans trip and don't have the car with me to look. Could someone let me know what bulbs I need? Thanks Matthew

Thanks for the suggestions. I did think about flat spots as I've had a couple of spins when doing trackdays, and there did appear to be improvement towards the end of my 270 mile trip possibly suggesting diminution of the flat spot with miles? I'll ask Ruff Seven who looks after my car if he thinks run out could be the problem or A frame alignment. Its definitely not bent wheels or bearings and not the reverser box. Matthew

All prop bolts checked prior to my trip. No problems there. Matthew

Just had a fantastic drive from Liverpool to Bounemouth. But I am puzzeled by a Vibration? Can anyone shed light on this. My Car is a disc braked Live axle Fireblade, with a full race cage (with the Curvey Loops) and carbon aeroscreen. Also 13" MB mag wheels with ACB10's. The vibration comes in at around 80MPH then lessens again as I go faster. It feels like a drumming. And I get the impression it is road surface dependant. Its definitely not from the front wheels as steering is perfect with no steering wheel shake. As my journey progressed I thought it was getting less? But it was still there. I also wondered if it could be due to turbulance from the Cage at that certain speed? Any Ideas? Matthew

Hi Mine are as follows Manufactured by Innovative, Model No: BP802512H 12V 0.2 A 80mm square. Hope that helps. Matthew