Mr Locust

Lotus engine for sale Curved cam cover sealing face which leaks

Ian, surprised to hear you had to still raise the nose of the car. Once the coolant pump is primed through the expansion tank shunt hose, it should purge the air through the heater/bypass circuit as soon as you start the engine. The problem with the standard setup is that the pump remains airlocked and cannot generate any head of coolant pressure. Once airlocks in the bypass and radiator circuits are purged, the air should find its way to the header tank so you may need to top up to achieve the correct coolant level. John, I suspect that keeping the header tank shunt hose anywhere on the original bottom hose (including the standard submarine position) will be a bit prone to airlocking during filling, even if you have removed the standard thermostat to fit the PRRT. This is due to the rather tortuous route it takes, and especially if it is a dry sump type bottom hose.

the standard FAQ one Have you got a link?

Out of curiosity, what PRRT coolant circuit did you follow?

As per my article, the whole point was to avoid the expense of either PRRT or remote thermostat housings and the required, significant re-jigging of the plumbing. That said, the key to the scheme is to effectively feed the water pump from the header tank 5/8" shunt connection irrespective of whether the thermostat is opened or closed. You need to feed the water pump under all conditions from first fill onwards. If your PRRT circuit doesn't bleed easily it may be due to airlocks or feeding the head tank shunt connection to the 'wrong' side of a closed thermostat. The water pump can only develop a pressure head if it is primed with water. If the pump impeller sits in an airlock it cannot pump coolant.

Glad to see some of you are finding the article useful.

In a recent, similar situation on a Lucas radiator fan motor, I tied the brushes back against the springs using light cotton thread and left the end of the thread hanging out. Then assembled the motor to the point where the brushes were over the commutator and cut/snapped the thread to restore the spring loading of the brushes. Worked for me.

Stone, Staffs

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlocust/8044489600/

Tom, you have identified the main problem. It has no lambda sensor. Measuring how rich it is running by the level of visible smoke is not ideal Even a basic narrow band sensor would give you more information to set up the part throttle/cruise areas of the map.

Graham, an additional benefit of the BS airbox setup is the reduced induction noise.

Low quality JPEGs now up on Flickr here. I think I got most competitors during the afternoon runs.

Can you explain the effect of declutching, which you originally observed? The drive/overrun torque of the proshaft is reacted by the engine mounts when a gear is selected and the clutch engaged.

Pete, can you give me first dibs please. Can you post a link to the amazon to confirm its the type I'm after. Thanks

Toe is relative angle between the wheels. The wheels need to be straight ahead so that you have half the toe angle between each wheel and the imaginary longitudinal centreline of the car. Far better to measure the rim face rather than the tyre. If you don't have access to a gauge set you can set up string lines and use a tape. here

The Excel has one of these OCD intermittent wiper modules where you have to pull the stalk to start then catch it again if you only want one wipe............

I only noticed the temp gauge acting like this in the last couple of months.... Does that mean it always did it and you never noticed or you always watched and it never did it before

The question is really to determine if the thermostat is responsive and regulating the coolant temperature properly. You are making a step change to engine speed, load (heat generation), coolant flow and air flow through the cooler - all at the same time. If the high load condition is maintained the temperature should stabilise back to normal provided the radiator is of adequate performance and thermostat isn't dead. I slightly modified the engine coolant circuit on my car but didn't go PRRT, details were submitted as an article for inclusion in LF a while back.

Does it drop and stay down if you sustain the high engine load/speed eg up a big hill?

Pic Remove the cam cover to drill. Gasket should be OK as it is a steel/rubber type. You may need to relieve the plastic cover on eu3 engines.

Mucho strange double post. Edited by - Mr Locust on 30 Jun 2012 21:19:32

Depends which type of Scouse airbox you have. If the older short one to fit 45mm trumpets then the cable is likely to foul and many are modified around the relief at the back. If the newer long one to fit 90mm trumpets then it should clear. Edited by - Mr Locust on 30 Jun 2012 21:24:26

Are the plugs wet after cranking? Is the fuel pump running?

What is the data sampling rate? What is the resolution and accuracy of the pressure transducer? I have not seen the data, but for example if the pressure is sampled at a frequency of 200mS and the pressure drops over 100mS between samples it will show as a step change in the data trace. Just trying to offer a constructive, hopefully credible explanation as to what could be happening to cause the symptom described. And that it could be a feature rather than a fault. In the real world, to aid diagnosis, as a test you could disconnect the vacuum pipe from the fuel pressure regulator, leave it vented and plug the pipe to the manifold. Then drive the car at the location of your choice and log the pressure. It should be more constant. I am not advocating this as a permanent modification to boost part throttle fuel injection pressure for class 2/3 competitors by the way Mr Scrutineer

good thought but I do not have that information. it happened when revs went from 6200 to 5700. Unless there is a seriously large uphill involved (where you would have to change down a gear), the information you stated tends to indicate that in dropping from 6200 to 5700rpm you have lifted off the throttle (unless you are in the habit of left foot braking with full throttle applied). If you lift off, the manifold pressure reduces (more vacuum). The design of the fuel pressure regulator is such that if the manifold pressure reduces, the measured fuel pressure reduces.