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OliverSedlacek

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Blog Entries posted by OliverSedlacek

  1. OliverSedlacek

    Blow harder

    By OliverSedlacek,

    A perennial gripe of Seven ownership is a lack of creature comforts. I'm not looking for GT levels of luxury, but not taking the car out on a lovely summer day because of cockpit heat is not ideal. I made a custom heater/blower a while back and I'm trying to upgrade it with more powerful fans. I'll post more as the project progresses, but here's a photo of the frame with its new flap motorisation. The fans bolt either side and suck air from the footwells. From the main body the air is then either expelled through the bonnet if you want cooling (flap position as per photo) or blows through the heater matrix and comes out under the dash.
  2. OliverSedlacek

    Curves

    By OliverSedlacek,

    I realised yesterday that I hadn't yet posted up the dyno curves from my mapping session, so here they are! The wide power band is probably the best bonus.
  3. OliverSedlacek
    I've still got issues with the rear brakes, with the left hand side dragging and an ineffective handbrake. A lot of problems can be diagnosed with careful visual inspection, so that's what I did. I thought disk runout might affect the self-adjusting mechanism, so I checked it with a dial gauge. It measured 0.2mm max at the disk edge, and this seems to be caused by the hub face being slightly out of true.
    The handbrake return springs were bent, so I've ordered a new pair. It turns out that the modified levers stop the mechanisms from returning to their 'off' positions, so a little modification with a hacksaw is in the pipeline.
  5. OliverSedlacek

    Better bits

    By OliverSedlacek,

    One of the rare positive results this week is that my nice new forged steel conrods turned up from MaxSpeedingRods. Dealing with them was a bit troublesome because of the time zone difference and the fact that my emails to them weren't getting through, but they were very helpful. Unsurprisingly they weigh 100g less than the Ford cast iron standard items.
  6. OliverSedlacek

    Mapping ... or not

    By OliverSedlacek,

    Today the car was traillered to Northampton Motorsport for mapping. As I hadn't managed to get the engine running, I was expecting a few teething problems and that's what we got.
    Troy at Northampton Motorsport is a real expert, so he quickly identified that poor coolant temperature calibration was causing a lack of cold running enrichment. Moments later the engine was running smoothly and we set it at 2000 RPM to bed in the cam. From there on it all went a bit downhill.
    Troy didn't think the engine sounded quite right, and neither did I. He guessed that the rockers were touching the rocker cover, and a quick inspection revealed that he was right. As it was clearly just the lightest of contacts, we decided to relieve the rocker cover. 15 minutes with the dremel and we were ready to try again.
    On the next run we ran for a bit longer, until we could see we had a significant coolant leak from the front of the engine. Again Troy quickly identified that the radiator cap was the wrong one, being too short to push down properly on its seal. This was particularly annoying as I had only fitted a new cap as a precaution and because the old one looked grubby. The leak also seemed to be from the thermostat housing gasket (also new). A bit more investigation suggested that the bolts were bottoming, so we sawed few millimeters off them. Surely with a bit of sealant that would do?
    The mis-matched coolant temperature sensor also needed addressing. The OMEX was maxing out at 60C, which was enough to get out of the enrichment zone, but we would get no warning of overheating. We decided to fit an OMEX sensor in the heater circuit as it wouldn't screw into the head. We were ready to go mapping. 
    The next run proved otherwise. Once hot, the coolant came out again, this time apparently from the top hose union to the thermostat housing. The cooling system seemed to be pressurising to the point that it was finding the weakest link, wherever that happened to be.
    We called it a day, packed up and went home.
  7. OliverSedlacek
    The tech support feedback from OMEX advised aiming for a gap between the VR sensor and the trigger wheel of 0.5mm, a fair bit less than what I had. Adjusting this clearance was achieved by removing the sensor bracket and adjusting it with a large vice and hammer. On the test rig (see photo) the ECU now reported the correct engine RPM, so a second attempt was made to start the engine. This produced some startlingly loud bangs from the exhaust, and investigations showed that the ignition timing was 180 degrees out. Swapping lead pairs on the coil pack quickly rectified this and the engine finally attempted to run!
    To say I'm pleased is a bit of an understatement. The real test will come when it goes for mapping, which is booked for the 16th December. The main thing I need to do before that is get the lambda boss replaced in the exhaust. It's completely rusted up, which is why it needs replacing. It's all starting to get quite exciting!
  9. OliverSedlacek
    Having got the car back with the corroded chassis tube repaired, it became obvious as we unloaded it that the back axle is leaking oil. I decided it had to come out so that I could get a good look at it. The rear suspension hasn't been apart for 15 years, so it was all a bit seized up. It serves me right for not slathering it all with Copperslip when I assembled it! I resorted to making some custom pullers to push the tubes out of the A frame bushes and the shock absorber lower bushes. The 'hit it with a bigger hammer' technique doesn't work that well with rubber bushes as they soak up somuch of the initial impact. Weilding a mallet in a constrained space had resulted in a bruised finger, so I took things methodically.
    Having got everyhting apart, extracting the axle is still quite tricky. Up till now the weight was being taken by a trolley jack, but with the help of my ever forgiving wife, we lifted it out (ever forgiving as earlier I had accidentally sprayed petrol over her).
    So the axle is now out, stripped of brake pipes and handbrake mechanism, and I've removed the worst of the gunge. There's also no sign of the oil leak, but maybe it will show up tomorrow.
    Is it time for an upgrade whilst it's out? LSD? Ratio change? It's 3.9:1 at the moment, which I find a bit short for road use, so I'm tempted to go for the more standard 3.6:1 ratio, assuming I can find one.
    Any advice?
  11. OliverSedlacek
    With the axle casing away to get new brackets welded on, I turned my attention to other suspension bits. The bushes were all well past their sell by date and Redline had provided replacements. As usual, they were completely stuck in place, specifically the A frame outer ones. Complete destruction was the only way to get them out.
  12. OliverSedlacek
    I might be going back over ground I've already covered, but now that the pistons have been machined for clearance for the bigger exhaust valves, it's time to have another go at the cam timing. I've always been troubled by the standard timing disk because when you turn the engine over on the pulley bolt, I worry that the bolt may drag the disk around. Not wanting to blame my tools, I've modified the disk by bolting it to the pulley using the attachment holes for the trigger wheel. I then cut the centre out of the disk so that I can still turn the engine over on the pulley bolt. Now there's no chance of the disk slipping!
    Checking the OEM timing mark reveals a 4 degree error (AKA manufacturing tolerance). Plenty of build manuals warn about OEM timing mark tolerances, and they are worth bearing in mind.
    Next up, measuring the cam timing.....
     
  15. OliverSedlacek
    The MOT has rolled round, which means dealing with unglamorous issues, specifically the handbrake. The RHS caliper handbrake mechanism hasn't been effective, so I took it off and gave it back to the chap who modified. He stripped it and gave it back shortly afterwards, pronouncing that it would be fine now. Putting my scepticism aside, I refitted it, bled the system and lo and below I do indeed have a working handbrake! It needs a bit more bleeding, but we are ready for the MOT.
  16. OliverSedlacek

    Just ticking over

    By OliverSedlacek,

    Another outstanding job is to engineer some form of idle control actuator. The OMEX ECU is currently set to use 'spark scatter' which is better than nothing, but I'm looking for something better.
    There are plenty of existing solutions out there, but once you weed out actuators that aren't suitable for throttle bodies it gets a bit harder. What I need is something that pulls on the throttle cable a few millimeters. Reliability and fail safe operation are right at the top of the list, which doesn't come easily if it involves levers, cams or gears.
    It may be unconventional, but I'm going to try using MuscleWires. They are wires made of shape memory alloy, and they contract when heated using an electric current. The numbers look good for producing 2-3mm of movement with up to 20N of force. I'll obviously post more as I go......
  17. OliverSedlacek

    Running on empty

    By OliverSedlacek,

    I've held off tackling some of the smaller jobs still on the 'to do' list, mostly because of a lack of time but also partly because I just want to drive the car.

    I have had another crack at the fuel gauge having reworked my adapter circuit. A check with a multimeter showed that the sender was indicating a full tank even after 180 miles of driving. Clearly there was a problem in the tank, so it was out with the boot floor and off with the pump retaining nut. The top and bottom parts of the pump clearly weren't aligned properly, interfering with the movement of the sender.

    I don't know if there is a recommended technique for installing the pump, but the compression spring between the two parts makes it really hard as you are always fighting spontaneous dis-assembly. This time I looped a length of wire around the assembly to hold it together whilst I was inserting it into the tank. The wire came out easily when required and the sender is now indicating empty, as is the gauge.

    Here's hoping it's finally fixed!
     
  19. OliverSedlacek
    Fuel mapping doesn't look so difficult when you have a lambda sensor that tells you whether you are running rich or lean. All you need to do is run the engine at a fixed load and RPM and you can adjust the fuel until you get the exhaust reading you want. In practice, running at specific conditions is pretty difficult and making adjustments when the roads are full of potholes can be really frustrating.
    With those reservations in mind, today was really successful, with good results up to our self imposed limit of 3600 RPM. It's time to run the engine in and bed in the brakes!
  20. OliverSedlacek

    Let it roll

    By OliverSedlacek,

    I've reassembled the brakes with new Fiesta disks. They went on without much persuasion, which is encouraging.They came covered in paint which I scraped off the friction surfaces.
     
  21. OliverSedlacek
    I got my block back from Serdi who sleeved the damaged number 2 bore. They also honed all four bores, so the block is looking lovely again. I left the protective coating on for the photos, hence the yellowish colour. I've also got round to ordering replacement rings, so things should start moving again. I still need to source some dowels to locate the head as Burtons are out of them. It seems Ford never fitted them as standard, which explains why the gaskets never have clearance for them. It seems really penny pinching, and I'm not happy to leave them out.
  22. OliverSedlacek
    I've made a more permanent adaptor block for the coolant temperature sensor. It was held up over the Christmas break as I needed to procure an M12 by 1.5mm tap. That's the thread for the sensor itself, and it's in between M12 fine and M12 coarse.
  23. OliverSedlacek
    Having replaced the faulty injector, I connected the battery cables, put in some oil and tried starting the engine. No joy! The lithium battery spins the engine nicely, which is encouraging, but the ECU doesn't think it's turning at the minimum 50 RPM. OMEX suggests closing the gap between the VR sensor and the trigger wheel, and I'll check the polarity of the sensor connector wiring.
    It's limited progress I guess.
  24. OliverSedlacek
    ... it's a bit of a show stopper. With the fuel pump wired up, I've started testing for fuel and sparks in preparation for a first start. The engine has to turn quite fast before you the OMEX gives you any sparks, which may become a problem. I'll see what the minimum cranking speed is later. The bad news is that only three out of the four injectors are working. Suzuki want £148 for a new injector, which seems pretty steep, so I've bought a complete set of second hand throttle bodies off Ebay for £125.
    Replace faulty injector. Fill with oil. Replace top balljoints (boot splits were an MOT advisory) Get the ECU mapped! Refit boot floor and rollover bar. Finish the handbrake linkage, test and adjust.
  25. OliverSedlacek
    The Caterham had to take second place to emergency plumbing, so progress was not as good as hoped for. I did make a nipple for the throttle cable and solder it on, so today was the first time I got to try the accelerator pedal. It's a bit on the light side, so I'll try and source some stronger springs.
    Finish the handbrake linkage, test and adjust. Complete fuel pump wiring and fit filler cap. Refit boot floor and rollover bar. Screw down throttle plates and refit throttle bodies. Fill with oil and coolant. Replace top balljoints (boot splits were an MOT advisory) Get the ECU mapped!  
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