aerobod - near CYYC

I was on the team that configured the WestJet 787s when working there until 2018, they have the pallet capacity with their daily LHR-YYC flights, a Caterham should just fit on to a PLA pallet, but I don’t know if your allowance would stretch to that size, as it has a capacity up to just over 3 tonnes 😀

I'm only about 7,000km and 7 time zones away from you, but if the Caterham can be shipped as luggage from LHR to YYC......😁

Sounds good Colin. I have created 2 pages now, the rolling road page and the monitoring page. the monitoring page will also determine the logging channels when not on the rolling road:

In terms of doing the springs with the head in place, after removing the cams (using a jig to hold the timing sprockets in place to preserve timing) and carefully labelling the bucket tappets for return to the same position, an adapter that screws into the spark plug hole and pressurises the cylinder with compressed air (to about 8 bar) can be used to keep the valves in place. Instead of a conventional ‘C’ clamp style spring compressor. A plate bolted to the cam bearing shell bolt holes with a bolt threaded into it to align with and compress the valve springs is then used. Keeping the piston at TDC and transmission in gear to stop engine rotation will stop the valves dropping in if the air pressure is less than required to stop the valve moving when the keepers are removed. Without using this technique or a modification of it (such as the piston at TDC and waxed string stuffed in the cylinder on top of the piston to keep the valves in place instead of compressed air), an engine out job will be likely be needed, as head removal without removing the timing case is likely difficult, then if it is removed timing has to be redone due to the crankshaft bolt being disturbed.

Checked all the sensor and loaded the latest software and my starting map into the ECU today. I made a number of modifications to the mapping: - Retarded all timing by 4 degrees across most of the ignition map from my R400D settings (Thanks Colin T & John C for input). - Set throttle limits at 0.30V for site 0.0 and 4.52V for site 15.0, scaling the other sites from the original SBD throttle mapping on the R400D to maintain the same mapping curve, which had a range of 1.35V to 4.75V. - Adjusted the coolant sensor mapping. It had been accurate in the 50C and up range, but never very good down below. I looked everywhere for the specific Ford sensor calibration, but couldn't find it. Instead, I used the exponential curve that all thermistors follow, and alterned the constants to fit the temperature points I knew to be good. It came out to R=0.000172*exp^(4750/T), where T is the temperature in Kelvin. This then translates to a voltage mapping of V=5*R/(R+1000) foir the 5V sensor supply voltage and 1000 ohm pull-up resistor in the MBE ECU. The mapping then becomes: Temperature (C) Resistance (Ω) Voltage (V) -30 52,431 4.91 -20 24,235 4.80 -10 11,879 4.61 0 6,135 4.30 10 3,319 3.84 20 1,873 3.26 30 1,098 2.62 40 665 2.00 50 416 1.47 60 268 1.06 70 177 0.75 80 119 0.53 90 82 0.38 100 58 0.27 110 42 0.20 120 30 0.15 I also fitted a new wideband sensor to the LC-1 system and calibrated it. I also ran into a problem where the battery voltage stared to fluctuate a lot, even though it was on a smart charger, with the ignition being on for a couple of hours. What seems to have happened is the battery has started to look tired (7 years old at the moment) or potentially a cell went bad during my calibration session. It would drop over 2V very quickly from 12.8V after being taken off the charger and the ignition switched on. I ended up spending 4 hours pulling all the fuses and relays and testing all circuits as far as possible. The ignition off state is at 0.15A draw and ignition on (including running lights) is at 3.4A, but no obvious issues with any of the circuits. I've put the battery on the "Repair" cycle the charger has. Will order a new battery this week if it won't hold a charge or give the correct voltage when under ignition load. I've created a spiffy new ECU data page for my rolling road session, with related functions ordered in groups:

We ran the Canadian Nationals autoslalom in 2015 where we needed ballast to stay above the minimum weight. Had a 25kg tool set in the boot strapped down with no ill effect with the car on slicks at maximum attack (at least my son had it flat out, winning the open class, I was somewhat slower). I would say higher than 25kg shouldn't be a problem, as long as the total payload isn't above the 300kg limit.

I saw that warning Jonathan, I think overall sticking with the current Ford OAT yellow should be fine. It seems that adding phosphate additives to the coolant is not just something Ford is doing, BMW changed it's longtime blue coolant to dark green about 3 years ago, which also saw phosphate additives as the main change. I have donated my spare 4 litres of 50/50 orange OAT to my son for his Fiesta ST200 track car. Interestingly I managed to squeeze in 6.5 litres of coolant into the Caterham to just reach the MAX mark on the reservoir, a lot more than the 5.1 litres listed in the owners manual for an S3 with heater. This is also cold without starting the engine, but elevating the reservoir, squeezing the main hoses to burp the air out and topping up the radiator via the bleed bolt. I was checking under the car to see if I had a leak 😁

Just replacing the coolant in my R400D, had exhausted my stock of the Ford orange OAT (WSS-M97B44-D/D2 spec) and went to buy more from the dealer. It seems that globally they have superceded it with yellow phosphated OAT (WSS-M97B57-A1/A2 spec, which shouldn’t be confused with the previous “gold” coolant to WSS-M97B51-A1 spec).

I had, but I’m skepticsl about remote optimization of timing without a tuned ear for pinking working directly with the engine. I feel that I can get the fuel mapping as accurate as they can, as I saw considerable improvements over the SBD R400 plenum map by doing my own on-road tuning when I originally bought the 9A4 from them. The people I’ve been talking to are fairly skilled tuners with plenty of high-horsepower European car tuning (one company also has done a number of Bonneville Speed Week Cars). On balance I was thinking it would probably double the rolling road cost by using SBD, but I don’t know if it would be any better result. The tuners I’m talking to have experience with lots of different ECUs and are not phased by an ECU they haven’t worked with before. There may be some MBE experience locally I haven’t found, as there are quite a few Radicals around at the local tracks that would also have an MBE ECU.

Lots of great info there Colin, thanks for that. I’ve talked to 2 rolling road operators so far. They will be learning the software and having to use me for a guide on many features. As I have a wideband system on my car, I’m going to do some prep adjustment at medium loads and 4 degrees of timing retard across the board as you suggest. The timing map is from the R400 map developed by SBD that I used on the engine before upgrade to the R500A spec, so if fairly safe. Both operators are BMW and Porsche tuning specialists, they both advised medium load running-in on the road if possible before a full load rolling road session if the fuel settings and timing are conservative, which should be the case after about 20km of logging (based on my R400 wideband logging and adjustment of the SBD maps on the road originally). I will hopefully pick one of the 2 operators next week, my current favourite downloaded Easimap while I was on the phone with him and I emailed him my current chip and template files. He promised to study the software on the weekend and tell me on Mon if he could do the tuning at a reasonable cost, but he would want to operate Easimap. The other operator said he would look to me to operate Easimap using my laptop and tell me what to change, with a CAD$250 setup fee and about 5 hours of rolling road time for a total of $1000 or so. I was planning to do an accurate alignment of the TPS on the weekend. I’ve currently got the throttle bodies set at 0.05mm open when against the throttle stop, as measured with a feeler gauge. The SBD alignment method is to wind the idle screw fully out (about 3 turns currently), rotate the TPS to read 0.25V, then wind the idle screw in until the TPS is set to 0.30V. The full throttle voltage will then be read and set for throttle site 15.0, before scaling the values at the other sites to give the 0.3V to Vmax range, but I will keep the current curve the same shape between the new limits. I’m also going to check other sensor values, load the latest template file and fit and re-calibrate a new wideband lambda sensor, too. i will need to get the initial startup 20min run at 2,500 to 3,000RPM (with no engine load) finished before throttle body fine tuning, as no idling or rev deviation is allowed during that period, based on Kent and Wossner instructions. The 2ms injector value at 1000RPM and site 0.0 is a scaled value from the old injectors on the R400, but it may be overridden by the idle target electronic control, in the old R400 incarnation it idled smoothly at 1000RPM +/-25RPM with 0.97 to 1.01 lambda. Your technique of switching off the ECU controlled idle to set the mechanical idle high should determine if this needs to be addressed.

As I prepare to start my hybrid R500 Duratec (I'm calling it an R500A - 'A' for Aerobod), I'm trying to finalise the basic fuel and ignition maps to get them as close as possible before the rolling road session and allow me to do the basic ring and cam initial running-in that the manufacturers have sopecific requirements for. With that in mind I have created these maps from an adaption of the original R400 maps and various other sources.and was wondering if anyone has any comparable maps they could share or comments on the values I have set, so that I can refine my initial maps as much as possible. These maps are for Bosch "Green" injectors, part #0-280-155-968 @ 431.1cc(310g)/min @ 3 bar, together with 48mm Jenveys with 90mm trumpets and R500 equivalent cams (Kent D-TEC35). Injector latency map: Throttle voltage to throttle site mapping: Primary fuel map: Primary ignition map:

I’ve seen a steady 60C at. -5C ambient in my R400D oil tank when heading to events on dark spring mornings, but not as low as 41C. With the new R500 equivalent engine build I’ve put in a 12% lower speed water pump pulley to reduce over cooling, besides the lower risk of cavitation.

Most digital multimeters have a current limit of 10A and an internal fuse that will blow over that value, though, so the meter has to be chosen carefully when it is connected inline with the load.

A good temp range is 70C to 130C with a synthetic oil.

Also, don't forget to remove the slide bolt on the rear caliper nearest the bleed nipple to allow it to be tilted upwards for bleeding, (if not remove the caliper completely while the line is still attached, ensuring a block of wood or similar is used to stop the piston being ejected). You won't get an air-free bleed in the rear calipers if they are kept horizontal, the bleed nipple base has to be higher than any other fluid-containing area of the caliper.

The benefit of the dry sump tank oil temp is that you know that the oil is up to temperature and the oil that is being supplied to the main bearings and big ends is very close to the dry sump oil temp that is fed from the bottom of the tank where the sensor is located. Ideally two oil temp sensors would be used both the tank one and an additional sensor in the bottom of the dry sump at the finger filter.

Hi John, The characteristics of the thermistors used are similar across all the manufacturers, although the exact calibration will vary. The Bosch curve is similar with about a 1.5 scaling factor at higher temps compared with the Caerbont curve, but similar resistance at 40C - https://www.bosch-motorsport.com/content/downloads/Raceparts/en-GB/53687307119081483.html#/Tabs=53698955/

I’m of course forgetting the ECU temp sensor is not the same as the dash gauge temp sensor, so they will likely have a different calibration curve and resistance.

Hi John, my 2012 R400 has different coolant sensors for oil and water. The oil temp sensor is a Bosch type, the coolant temp sensor is a Ford type. The calibration voltage curve in my ECU at 10C shows 3.70/5.00V for the coolant and 3.96/5.00V for the oil sensor. The Bosch NTC sensor has a nominal 3,792 ohm resistance at 10C (which is probably within measurement and manufacturing tolerance for 4,500 ohms at 12C, my sensor would be 3,808 ohms if the calibration curve is accurate). This equates with a 1000 ohm pull-up resistor in the ECU to give 3.96V across the sensor. The Ford sensor would need a resistance of 2,846 ohms to provide 3.70V across it. Either I have a different Ford coolant sensor on my car or your sensor is somewhat high resistance. Did you measure sensor resistance directly at the sensor with the sensor wires disconnected?

I will test it with lots of high speed airstream this coming summer, John, then report back. Around 2500km of track use scheduled, hopefully at speeds up to around 185km/h with the new engine.

Gave the exhaust and headers a bit of a clean and repacked the silencer with 1.7m of Acousta-fil today, then fitted the system to the car. Assembly is now complete. Will bleed the clutch and do the annual brake bleed just before starting, when I swap to the sticker track tyres ready for a rolling road session. Need to get some more coolant and remember to get a container of fuel as I drained the tank last year. Waiting for a bit better weather over the next couple of weeks, once the snow from one of the snowiest Marchs melts.

Do you think it is stones from the front tyre that aren’t captured by the wings or just grit in the airflow hitting the leading edge of the filter that causes the ablation problem?

Today was the careful cutting of the hole in the bonnet for the air filter. Good Friday did turn out to be a good Friday 😀 The first task was to mask the filter and contact points where I was going to create a form to simulate the bonnet lines: Next I used some wire mesh held in position with a spirit level to form a profile of the bonnet around the air filter: I then used a plastic file folder as the template to lay over the mesh and gradually cut the hole in it to give about 5mm clearance to the filter, but using smooth curves as opposed to the exact profile of the filter that has bulges where the end pieces are joined to the main part of it. The template was then taped to the bonnet and the profile traced on to it: Dimensions were then re-checked and checked again, before bonnet was ready for cutting: A cutting wheel was used to pierce the aluminium. I thought about using it for the whole cut, but it was slow going: It was a lot faster using a hacksaw blade, only about 20 mins for the complete cut: The hole was then deburred with a file, ready for test fitting: As expected, a bit of adjustment was needed for about half of the circumference of the hole: Some plastic edging trim was added, including a short piece for the strengthening flange where it is close to the filter: I’m happy with the fit, it is pretty even around the periphery of the filter: Overall there is little room for putting the filter anywhere other than the position I used, perhaps 2 or 3mm leeway in moving it up or down by altering the vertical position of the holes in the filter backing plate:

I saw that thread about the filter wear, John. I’m trying to avoid running an airbox if possible, but depends on noise at the track, I have a 24 plate Supertrapp for the exhaust, so hopefully that is enough to stay below the limit (it was last year), without the intake pushing me over. If I do get wear like you experienced, I will probably end up treating it as an £80 consumable item, hopefully lasting a couple of years at least.

Hi Jonathan, The way I made it at the moment the bolts has to be at 90 degrees to the cable, as besides holding the clamping halves to the pedal shaft, it also holds them together. I would need a solid piece that goes over and is bolted to the tube, then a top bit that separates to hold the nipple with its own fastener. It would have to be longer than the current design to give space for the additional fastener, but would also risk interfering with the closed throttle stop bolt if too long.