gundersen

Quoting Jonathan Kay: Does it happen: * Connected to a battery nowhere near the car * In the car but ignition off * In the car ignition on but engine not running? 1) Haven't tried that 2) No 3) No

I am trying to fit my Starcom, but I have run into a bit of a problem. No matter where I put it and how I route the wires to it, I get a VERY distinctive ticking noise. I don't think that the noise is the well known alternator whine, as it is perhaps 2-5hz at idle up to a whine when I go above 4k rpm. As a last resort, I tried connecting the power cable that came with the starcom directly to the battery and holding the unit outside the car...and the ticking was still there The only way I could make it less was if I made the starcom power leads exit the battery in the opposite direction of all the other battery leads, then the noise was barely audible. But as soon as the power leads where near any of the car wiring the ticking was back. Any ideas as to what could be the source of this ticking noise? I already use the resistor spark plugs...

Agreed, they are nice ECUs. But also cost way way way more than an Emerald or an Omex 😬

I think the golden rule here is to pick whatever your tuner is happy with. After all it is him that will have to work it. All the aftermarket ECUs can do pretty much the same, and all are more than capable of running our very simple setups. Lots of people on here run Emeralds, and if you have a EU2 car it will be very easy to install (plug-n-play). Personally I bought an Omex (as recommended by my tuner), and based on my talks with the Omex guys they seem very friendly and willing to help.

I switched to 8" rears, so can't help you much there I am afraid. But if I should hazard a guess, I would say that the 6" should interfere even less than the 8" so you should be fine. Go ahead, you will love the change...I know I did 😬

Lots of people have downscaled, so there is quite a bit on this in the archives I moved from 16" to 13", and had to remove a bit of the dedion ear, but that was about it. This was with standard caterham lightweight alloys, as the space is VERY tight ymmw with the Compomotive.

Hi Mankee, Thanks for the update. I ended at 185bhp@6729rpm with a setup similar to your mate, but without any modifications to the VVC head. So perhaps your friends head have been modified incorrectly? Did you/him play around with the timing of the verniers?

Congratulations on getting it all together and working 😬 What is the final spec of the engine? Only asking as you seem to have hit the sweet spot that I am aiming for.

80-90 degree is what I was seeing on my K with a standard 76 degree thermostat. I agree with Eugene, it is strange that your oil is that much cooler especially when you have a Laminova fittet. Plain wet sump, apollo or dry sump oil system?

What thermostat are you running? and can you verify that the gauge is showing the correct temperature? (IR thermometer, ECU water temp sensor etc.)

I am glad that this isn't quite as clear cut as it could seem 😬 I must confess that I also use no 3 (wait for oil pressure to drop to 4 bar), at that time the oil is about 50 degrees. How do you guys manage trackdays? The trackdays I attend is divided into 20 minute slots, so you drive for 20 minutes then have a 40 minute break, then repeat. If I where to drive miss daisy for 10 minutes+ I wouldn't get any action...so to speak

Perhaps if the engine warms up unevenly the head will have reached a different level of expansion compared to the bottom, thus allowing for exhaust gas to escape from the cylinder if pressed too hard? But that is just me guessing, indeed it would be very nice if somebody who actually knew something about it would enlighten us 😬

As the subject suggest, when is the engine ready to be really thoroughly used? The ease the debate on, a multiple choice list: 1) From the get go 2) When the water temp is hot (80-90 degrees), 5-10 minutes, 3 miles 3) When the oil pressure stabilises (on my k, its 4 bar), 10 minutes, 4 miles 4) When the oil is hot (80-90 degrees), 20 minutes, 10+ miles Items ordered in the sequence they happen when I drive.

I don't think the one I used is available in the UK, I bought it from a Scandinavian company called Biltema (think Halfords). Info in danish here.

My water temp reaches 90 on the way to work...and its only 3 miles As long as it doesn't overheat, quick warm up is a good thing.

I just replaced my dying Banner with a 19Ah gel battery and it works very well. It was a bit smaller and lighter than the Banner, and to top it all off a bit cheaper

Quoting pandjack: I presume 'both' refers to both inlet valves OR both exhauast valves (ie not both inlet valves AND exhaust valves) ?You presume wrong Either no. 1 or 4 cylinder will (or should) have both the inlet and the exhaust valves ever so slightly opened at TDC. It is this lift you are measuring when you do the timing.

Any chance you got a lambda readout along with the bhp and torque? That would help determine if the injectors are too small.

I have used the procedure on DVA's site three times now, and it works very well. The only difficult part is making a dial extension that will allow the dial feeler to rest comfortably on the valve follower, but with a little trial and error it usually works out. I used two analog dials as I found the digital dials to be a bit pricy. Ohhh, and remember to take out the spark plugs, otherwise you will need a proper strong arm to rotate the crank...don't ask me how I know

I fitted verniers to my 140bhp k-series, and while they didn't change the top end bhp, the made a noticeable difference in the midrange. The engine pulled better through the revs. Also the idle got more lumpy, but hey we can't win 'em all

I am very pleased So much so, that I got more than a couple of odd looks at the latest track day when I kept pointing out that my engine hadn't blown up yet... apparently the other guys took it for granted that their engines don't blow up. It made 204Nm @5359rpm, that is about 150 lb.ft. in you still use old money 😬 The torque curve is quite flat, so its very drivable.

Have you been snooping in my rolling road results? 😳 It made 185bhp @6729 rpm Ok, so it makes what could be expected from it, and since I am happy with how it generally runs I will declare the winters rebuild a success 😬

The setup: * Stock VVC engine and head with 160 pistons * Piper 285H solid cams * Verniers (timed as recommended on DVA's sites) * Jenvey 42mm throttlebodies * Bernhard Scouse airbox with piper filter * Powerspeed 4-2-1 exhaust * Fully tuneable ECU * Uprated injectors The engine runs smooth and pulls very nice, it even passes MOT emissions...but I am not sure that the horsepower is up to spec... So, what kind of power is to be expected from such a setup?

If we are talking about the exhaust gasket its a dry fit. And I can only guess, but I think that you are understanding SM25T correct in that the "middle" mount point is if you include the primaries as a mount point So that you have the primaries and two rubber "bobbin" mount points.

I ended up buying a "new" head from DVA which worked a whole lot better And apart from me busting the first head gasket (had to take the engine apart again to fit a new one ) and a loose liner, the assembly went ok. Just had my first test drive, and DAMN the seven drives a whole lot better than the Disco2 😬 The map is all over the place, so I have booked a time at the rolling road Wednesday. I hope it all stays together!