PC Pete

Hi - just seen Grahams post which reminded me to do likewise. I bought the same Warrior jack last week. I works a treat and they were a good company to deal with. Hadn't thought about putting it in the boot - it would be rather a tight squeeze I suspect. (I tow my 7 to trackdays so hopefully it will go in the other car OK.) Now all I need is my car to start (it won't despite trying everything) pass the IVA and get a set of number plates! Thanks for all of the input on this topic.

Hi Now feed up with my cheap Halfords trolley jack and ready to buy a low profile one such as the Clarke one I see advertised. Any shared advice / experience with this or any other low profile jack would be gratefully received. Thanks in anticipation

Thanks again Tim. I'll have a think around that - not sure how to check it mind you. It will have to wait now - work calls! Many thanks again Peter

Hi Tim thanks for your time. Haven't yet "seen' a spark - had to stop work on it a while ago. Will have a look see later in the week. I hope the compression is good - it's a brand new engine! thanks again Peter

Finally got my R400 kit finished so start up day was planned for today - many attempts but no success in getting the engine to fire... Situation - 20 liters of fuel in the tank good oil pressure on cranking engine turns over no problem. fuel pump can be heard working. all electrics work ok. Took off fuel line connection at the injector rail and got a fine mist of fuel so pressure in the pipe. (did this without turning over the engine - just residual pressure from the previous attempts.) Crank sensor connected. Fuel cut off switch working - tried a spare also. Got the very occasional small splutter but nothing serious. Tried squirting neat fuel (very small amount) into the air intake - got a small puff of smoke from the exhaust. Tried all this over the space of a couple of hours, allowing time for the starter to cool and to recharge battery. Checked all electrical connections with engine wiring loom to chassis loom ( the big fat plug) - looks ok. Likewise the plug to the ECU. So - any ideas? Have you experienced this situation before? Likely culprits? Injectors not being "switched on" as it were? No spark? (have had two of the plugs out and they look ok - no evidence of them having lit any fuel.) Bad ECU? My third build in 6 years - and this has been the worst - I should not have been surprised about today! Many thanks in advance.. Sent from my iPad

I think the answer is "wave it around a bit under the dash" ! On the basis that maybe the car and the transponder need to "mate" for the first time I did just that.... and it worked ; starter kicked in with a very loud thunk! Thanks for taking the time to reply.

well - got the connections to solenoid sorted and the lights heater etc seem to work ok. However the starter doesn't want to kick in at all - no clicks, no buzz, no nothing. It's got keyless ignition and the transponder is in the car. Will charge the battery overnight but if anyone has any thoughts I'd be grateful to hear from you. Thanks Peter

Hi John Many thanks for taking the time to respond. You are of course quite right. Got hold of a picture from Derek H at CC this morning - and that is exactly what I had done wrong. My next problem? Having got the right wires on the right terminals I have now managed to partially strip the thread on the positive terminal of the solenoid!!! Argh!

Thanks Jonathan and M25 Traveller If I wasn't dressed inappropriately, I'd get back under the car and have another look! From memory however there are no separate solenoid and starter motor terminals - all the connections go on the solenoid terminals - 3 of them, one with a black lead attached, the next (smaller) one has a solid link to the third terminal (same size as the one the black cable is on), which is where I connected the thick red battery cable. Unless I'm missing something here. Saw that bit in the manual Jonathan but like many parts of the manual it is vague - it doesn't say which terminal! Thinking about this however, is it correct that the positive feed from the alternator should be connected to the same terminal (on the solenoid) as the (permanently live) battery lead? The engine 'unit' was delivered with the solenoid/starter motor already in place with some cabling already connected. Maybe the connection from the alternator to the solenoid / starter is the one that was already in place. Thanks again for taking the time ..... Peter

Hi Stationary M25 Traveller ah - so which terminal should the battery positive lead go to? There are two terminals on the solenoid - one already has (had) a black lead on it when it was supplied and the other one had nothing connected to it. I connected the positive battery lead direct to this empty terminal along with two brown wires that came from the chassis loom terminated with ring terminals. Thanks for your response. Peter

Hi Jonathan thanks for the quick response. The positive battery lead goes straight to the terminal on the solenoid. Connections between the solenoid and the starter motor seem to me to be permanently made - there is a third terminal on the solenoid (positive terminal) connected by means of a solid link. There is no switch between the battery lead and the solenoid. I guess it may be a faulty starter / solenoid component 'cos the starter does not (thankfully) engage with the flywheel. Or maybe there is not enough juice in the battery to throw the cog on the starter onto the flywheel. (If that's how it's meant to work). I'm also beginning to wonder if there is an earth problem somewhere regarding the behavior of the dials. The car does not have a windscreen or wipers and looking at other posts on this forum there seems to be a bolt that holds on the wiper motor which is a key earthing point. Or maybe I just don't understand how it all works!! Peter

So, after way too long on this, my third build, I'm close to start up day. (Standard out of the box R400 delivered last December). Having got the front end electrics connected - headlights and indicator and horns - and connected up the rest of the electrics from engine to chassis loom, I touched the positive lead to the battery (negative lead already connected). The starter motor immediately runs, thankfully not connecting to the flywheel since I have yet to put in any oil. It just spins and gets warm to the touch. Also I see that the speedo is sitting at 140mph permanently and the other dials have their needles pointing down at 6 o'clock. The headlights, indicators and horns work . Anyone had this problem? thanks in advance for any thoughts or experiences on this. Peter

Many thanks for all of the posts on this one. Looks like I'll be giving Dave at Premier a call. Appreciate you all taking the time to share your thoughts on this one.

Many thanks for your responses. Think I'll give Dave at Premier a call - looks like hey know what they are about. Nurdy question but 3M offer 2 products - Scotchguard and Ventureshield - Does anyone know the difference? Have had a quick look at their website but I'm none the wiser. Thanks again.

Keen to keep the new build looking good when it finally takes to the road I'm thinking of having some of that clear film stuff applied to the rear wings and possibly the nose cone. Have looked at Ventureshield by 3M which looks pretty good. I don't trust myself to fit it so will probably get it done by a pro somewhere. Any experience of using this anyone? Thanks

Many thanks for your help on this one - much appreciated. I'll have a think then see what MVC have in stock. Given that the missing bits arrived yesterday I may just get around to finishing off the front suspension today....... thus successfully put off doing the diff..... again! Note to self - must use the forum more often. thanks again.

Hello My first time on this forum so this is probably a question that has been answered before - apologies. Am now into my third build - and R400 and about to start fitting the (LSD) diff - ugh! It is, I hope, the latest BMW diff with latest carrier having read some of the posts from last year re the BMW diff carrier. Just contemplating the best oil to use. Mainly track use in mind. And while I'm at it - any thoughts on best gearbox oil? Many thanks in advance PC Pete