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Another 5 or so hours on the car this weekend... thankfully the wife isn't getting too upset with me over it.
Managed to get a whole load more stuff removed, radiator, intercooler/pipework, the air dam that I'd made, inlet manifold, fuel rail and injectors. And then I started detaching the wiring harness from the engine. I'm now in a position where everything in the engine bay is now disconnected from the engine itself, what I need to do now is get underneath. I've never removed anything under there before so that'll be interesting. Hopefully I'll get chance to read a few guides this week about disconnecting the gearbox and my aim is to whip that and the engine out together.
All that and only one sheared bolt which re-tapped easily after drilling it out. It's starting to look very accessible for working on though, is it sad that I can't wait to scrub down some body work and rust proof it? OCD satisfaction? are we all weird?
Another job I've now added to the list is to get the injectors cleaned, I'm not sure they'll need it but whilst they're out it's one of those jobs I'd rather do and have peace of mind than omit and end up with a burnt piston later down the line.
I think that's it for now, all being well the engine is coming out next weekend, and from that point I should really be able to make some progress with the car.
I'd gotten to the point over the last few sessions on the car where I could get close to removing the engine and with the weather looking reasonable I cracked on...
After disconnecting everything, removing the engine actually turned out to be really easy. Having a load leveler for the crane really helped. Another job I've never done before so I'm pleased.
Then I removed the PAS rack, and subframe. The subframe turned out to be a massive **** to remove. The two rear bolts holding it in place were simple, the 4 main ones were absolute bar-stewards to get off. I was really concerned about shearing off the studs. But much PlusGas and thread cleaning etc etc eventually got them off and the subframe dropped off once I lowered the trolley jack that was supporting it.
Then browsing online the other night I noticed someone selling a 3.6 Type 2 Torsen so I made the trip over to collect it today, luckily only 20 miles away and for a good price. I'm hoping that should make the 6 speed feel nicer. Having a look at K-Miata's gearing calculator seems to suggest my top speed would be 185 mph with my tyre size and slightly raised RPM, that seems insane but fun lol.
It's basically also another part I need to strip down, clean and then paint.
If I get chance tomorrow as it's a bank holiday, then I'm gonna try and drop the rear subframe, detach the diff as that needs selling with the new one coming in and remove the rear bumper. Then I'm actually in a position to start scrubbing down the underside of the car. My plan is to use POR15 metal prep, then copious amounts of POR15 gloss black paint to coat the underside, probably also some seam sealer in areas.
I also really need to start getting things to the powder coaters. Especially things like the frame rails that will be bolted on underneath.
I got another few hours in yesterday giving me chance to take the rear bumper and panel off. Not sure how I'll remount it but I'll figure that out when I need to as I broke a load of the retaining clips (plastic things).
I also spent some time removing stuff off the engine that I took out. The Flyin Miata oil feed was one, I'm hoping that I can re-use this on the Borg Warner.
I also took apart the new Mk2 cam cover that I had delivered this week. I need to get two AN fittings welded onto the ports, which will be drilled out to 20mm or so, in order to vent both to a catch can. I imagine I'll also have the port on the inlet blanked off, I might cut the pipe off, drill it out and tap it, then seal a bolt in it.
Spent some more time on the car last night, seen as the weather was good I wanted to make the most of the ever shortening evenings.
I started by using my new 20mm metal cutting drill bit to enlarge the holes used by the oem PCV system. As I will be venting both to a vented catch can I wanted to make them significantly larger so that the crankcase can breathe easily. Now the holes are cut I can get the AN12 male fittings welded on. All I need to do is file down the slight ridge where the IN port was. There is also a small hole connecting two chambers inside the cam cover, again, if I am aiming to help it breathe better then this needed to be enlarged. The hole initially was 6mm and I drilled it out to 10.3mm. Sounds like a small amount, until you work out the area of the circle: 6mm hole -> 3mm radius -> 28.27mm2 area... 10.3mm hole -> 5.15mm radius -> 83.32mm2 area. Quite the improvement!
My aim initially was to get the diff out, I'd already removed the PPF bolts but couldn't budge the PPF itself from the diff so I figured I'd need to get the diff off with it in one, and then worry about that later. Once again, used plenty of PlusGas to free up all the nuts/bolts I was about to remove, experience has taught me this is invaluable to do! I ended up getting the diff off quite easily, I think it took maybe an hour with me not really rushing. Ended up using the jack as a support whilst I unbotled it, and then dropped it down onto some wood to slide it out from under the car.
After this I realised I still had probably 2 hours of decent sunlight left so I figured whilst I was already messy I might as well try tackling the rear subframe too, as that was now the very last thing bolted to the underside of the car. Having not removed one before it was pretty obvious what needed doing, a few electrical tabs holding the harness in place and 4 nuts and 2 bolts. The wiring all removed easily, the two bolts came out fairly easy... but the 4 nuts took me the best part of 90 minutes of agonising breaker bar usage to get off. The worry was shearing the stud off, not sure what happens in that case? I cleaned the threads, I used PlusGas, I added copper slip to the threads to help lubricate. I twisted the nut forwards and backwards... In the end I had to get them off by like 1/3 turn at a time with the breaker bar. Lesson learnt? I need a bloody impact gun... Anyway I eventually got the thing off, and now there is nothing under the car other than the brake/fuel lines so I'm really pleased about that. I'm now in the position where I can start grinding off all the crud, treating the rust with POR15 metal prep, and then painting with POR15. I think I'm likely to go for gloss black.
I won't get any time on the car this weekend so I'm pleased with the progress I made last night, and I think the weekend after is my first anniversary so I'll also be busy then. If the weather stays good though, then I'll definitely be working on it when I get home. Can't wait to start painting it underneath, I think that'll all of a sudden really make it look good.
Having read some more information (from Savington somewhere on here!), it seems like blanking off the PCV side and breathing out of the passenger side port is the way to go with vented catch cans, otherwise quite a lot of oil can exit the PCV side at WOT. So it looks like I may be adjusting my catch can solution slightly.
In other news... I have some pictures of the build from Dan @ AK Automotive... I don't think I need to say anymore really.
There was a slight delay in getting the valve seats cut for the new valves but the head is now with Blink motorsport having the work carried out so all being well that should be back to Dan soon. I'm not sure whether it's worth looking into cams or not? I've seen some good number on here with stock cams so I'm thinking they might be unnecessary given that I'm going to be det limited on pump fuel. I think my intention will be to have the car mapped on 95RON and then run the car on 99RON for that extra safety margin.
My AN12 fittings for the cam cover, they are massive. Hopefully it should breathe really well I just need to figure out whether or not I should be pumping both ports to the catch can or one.
I'm also looking at getting the AN fittings horizontal on the cam cover so that the 90 degree connections don't stick up too much.
I also measured the size etc of the OEM cam cover bolts, and ordered some black socket cap bolts instead, with additional black washers. They look 100 x nicer than nasty old bolts.
And lastly... as the fuel lines had been disconnected a little residual fuel was dripping out ever so slowly, and whilst I was at work on Friday one of my neighbours took it upon himself to terrify the street saying my car was about to explode and burn everything down. He also then threw an entire builders bag of sand under the car... a week after I'd power washed the drive. I'm still awaiting to have a chat with him about it, as he's effectively trespassed and fly tipped on my property. And to top it off, under his van that he parks outside his house on the pavement is a MASS of stained black pavement from all the oil coming out of it.
Both sides of valve cover to the catch can. Be sure to enlarge the internal passages as well. You want large openings so the gasses slow down and the oil droplets fall out of suspension instead of being carried out of the VC.
Both sides of valve cover to the catch can. Be sure to enlarge the internal passages as well. You want large openings so the gasses slow down and the oil droplets fall out of suspension instead of being carried out of the VC.
Yep, I've done this. Hoping to get the fittings welded on soon.
I should also mention that I'm interested in running a gearbox cooler for this, anything to help prolong the duration of the gearbox until I figure out a gearbox solution.
I've seen the walk around that TSE gave on their car, where both gearbox and diff have seperate pumps and rads mounted in the rear of the car. I'm just curious, should these be on continuously? or should there be some kind of thermostatic switch for the pumps based on oil temp. I know when it comes to the engine that oil is best at a given temp (not too cold, not too hot). Does this also apply to gearbox and diff oil? or is the aim here to keep it as cool as possible all the time?
I'm going to measure the thread pitch and size of the gearbox holes and start ordering some parts for them, but I need to figure out the above and if it needs some kind of sensor being added? Would a small oil filter also be worthwhile? many questions!
That was Emilio @ Supermiata giving the walk around.
Unless this car is a trailered race car, I don't think a trans or diff cooler is justified. I've been told because you've got extra fluid sitting in the internals of the gearbox/diff, you want to run the pumps all the time. This is also justified by the fact that it doesn't take long for a race car to bring the fluid up to temp, and cool fluid isn't a problem.
There's no thermostat on these from the factory like your coolant system or an engine oil cooler, I don't think the cooler temps are as big of an issue as those two, beyond being thicker (technically slower) when cool.
That was Emilio @ Supermiata giving the walk around.
Yes, sorry, my bad.
My car is likely to be tracked, and I although I'm mechanically sympathetic I still give it some stick on the roads.
If I can help save gearboxes by adding £100 in cooling parts to the cost of then I don't see it as a big problem, maybe it would be worth me doing for others to see how long a 6spd lasts at 350-400whp with added cooling? I dunno.
I posted the part number in a thread in the race prep section to put a gm temp sensor in the diff and 6 speed. I would grab those and start measuring temps before jumping straight into coolers.
Fully protect your transmission and differential from the exhaust piping with heat shields. That is the best protection. They don't get terribly hot on their own. It's the red hot exhaust that kills them.
If shielding alone works in Florida heat at 280whp it should be fine in the UK. I agree with Lars on checking the temps first. I used a IR heat gun as the simple solution but it isn't as accurate.
I posted the part number in a thread in the race prep section to put a gm temp sensor in the diff and 6 speed. I would grab those and start measuring temps before jumping straight into coolers.
Originally Posted by sixshooter
Fully protect your transmission and differential from the exhaust piping with heat shields. That is the best protection. They don't get terribly hot on their own. It's the red hot exhaust that kills them.
If shielding alone works in Florida heat at 280whp it should be fine in the UK. I agree with Lars on checking the temps first. I used a IR heat gun as the simple solution but it isn't as accurate.
Both good suggestions... I'll have a look into both. I do need to get some new sensors and connect those up to MS so I can remove my stack gauges from the cabin (planning to run a Raspberry Pi dash), so I can add the other two oil temps when I do that.
In other news, I spent a couple of hours after work last night on the car, as everything has been removed from under there I wanted to start tackling the cleaning an prepping bit by bit. Out came the Karcher and the pretty aggressive spray head. Before and after pics...
I think it probably only took about 90 mins of effort to get around the whole underside, there was a god awful amount of crap that came off the car, a huge black puddle was running into a central point on my driveway which I had to clean up. Underneath looks 100x better now though, I can see where I need to strip down with a wire brush on the grinder then I can begin using POR15. Some have suggested that I should spray over the POR15 to give it an OEM look but I quite like the idea of gloss black paint anyway, I suppose red would look good too... hmm
Not a great deal of progress on the car recently. Been really busy with an actual social life for a change, and work.
In the mean time I've picked up a few tools, a Chicago Pneumatic impact gun and new air hose for the compressor. Really good robust tool, just wish I'd bought it before taking the car apart! Also managed to win myself a Devilbiss Gti Pro spray gun on eBay for a good price, only been used once so its immaculate, and to add to this I've bought an air pressure regulator that fixes to the gun itself.
And I guess a more exciting update... I traded in my Audi A6 2.0 Tdi for an Audi S5 Sportback.. it comes with quattro and a supercharged 3.0 V6. Now I can say already it's a thirsty car! by comparison to the diesel. But it's so god damn refined it's unbelievable. Very quiet, very smooth, and in sport mode pretty aggressive. I plan to keep it fairly standard as I like the way it looks, but I am considering an exhaust system, just because the OEM one is too quiet, and it's hiding a glorious V6 soundtrack.
Well not a great deal has happened over the last couple of months, I've been spending a lot of time working on my house to try and get the new kitchen in for Christmas... Not even had a flying lesson since July, no idea what's gonna happen when I get back in a plane.
On the plus side, the engine isn't far off final assembly now, I told the engine builder not to rush in any way given my lack of time on the car itself, but the head now has the larger valves cut in, stiffer valve springs, a light porting and light skim, fresh seals etc.
I'm hoping that getting the house done will free up a lot of space in my garage to get the car back in there and then I can start working on it through the winter. Not sure how I'm going to move a car that doesn't even have subframes though...
Hopefully I'll update this with some shiny engine pics in the next few weeks. One thing I do need to start doing is figuring out how the hell I wire in the dedicated fuel relay I got with the Walbro pump from Fab9, how I switch the wiring over from using the CAS to Cam/Crank sensors and how I wire in my COPs. I think I've seen some guides on the coils but nothing on the others.
That looks like a great idea! I did wonder if I could get some wheel based structure under it.
Thanks for the support, hopefully I'll have some more interesting pics to share soon. The weather is getting too poor here (and it's never normally great anyway) to be working on it outdoors. As long as it's put back together and painted in time for the summer I'll be happy.
First of all, I have been ludicrously busy, it turns out that working for Jaguar Land Rover demands a lot of time and effort, top that off with ground school at the flying school every Monday night and renovating my house it's been chaos.
In this time where I've been saving some money I've bought a DaveFab manifold - strictly speaking it's been ordered, I'm waiting on it being constructed still. I was really stuck between a Kraken kit or this, results on the same car didn't show a great deal of difference between the two, but I've built a full engine, I've bought a BW EFR 6758, so surely by this measure I should ***** out buy the tubular sexyness that is this:
On top of that, the cylinder head is almost complete, there's a mild skim left to do, it's had the valves cut and it's had some mild porting. Just awaiting final assembly. The engine builder reckons it'll be done by the end of next week. Although I'm still no rush to get it back... but it will be nice to look at I suppose.
With the house coming along I should be aiming to clear the garage of house crap and get the car back in there on some of those wooden dollys as above.
08-20-2018, 02:17 AM
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