Dash has been finished, and includes a new battery switch for security and safety.
The car went to RS Tuning to have the Gizzmo boost controller setup. It was running a bit lean at high-end (needed a bigger fuel filter - now fitted)
so boost was set to around 15psi and the car made 262bhp (Flywheel).
Went for a run with out with my mate Matthew Morton
I really love the new colour, the pearl looks stunning in the sunshine.
Booked in on a last minute trackday at Teeside -
Need to get used to the new car a lot more; I'd nailed heel/toe in the zetec but the new pedal layout and engine means it drives a lot
differently to when it had the Zetec in it [still learning], and I need some new rubber. These PE2 tyres are great but they just can't deal with
the power I'm trying to put down. My semi-slicks get fitted this evening, hopefully that will make the car a bit easier to drive.
2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire
After my successful evening at Teeside I did a trackway on Sunday at Blyton park. The car performed brilliantly all day and I was still on the track
at 5pm when the chequered flag came out
A few photos below, videos to follow.
2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire
quote:Originally posted by Ben_Copeland
How much fuel did you get through?
55 litres, not sure how many laps I did but I had nearly 2 hours of 'on track' time. FYI, a stock hatch saxo next to me did 2hr15mins of
track time and did nearly 80 litres!!
Warren - hope you still like it
2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire
Me letting an S/C Ariel Atom past and thinking I could keep up! ha.
The same lap on-board the Ariel Atom
Me chasing a 250bhp K20 powered Lotus Cup Elise. Top owner and good fun. I was faster in the straights, he was quicker in the corners; damn those wide
tyres and race-prepped cars :-\
...and finally a spectator was looking to build a Locost so asked for a few laps as a passenger, I was more than happy to oblige.
With (my first) little one on the way at the end of May I've booked one last trackday before she arrives so I'm heading back over to
Blyton this Saturday for a final blast before parent-hood commences. With a great weather forecast I'm hoping to find the team to play with the
suspension and tyre pressures a bit more
2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire
Well, I've been chasing Ariel Atoms', again :-) and I actually 'kept up' with one this time -
I urgently need to upgrade the brakes, I was having major issues slowing down..
I think the speed the three of us come back this chap says it all though, such good fun (fast forward to 30 seconds!!)
Since that trackday in May a fair bit has happened -
The week after the trackday at Blyton my turbo let go in a big-way, thankfully nothing went engine side so it was a simple choice to decide what spec
to replace it with.
I took off the original turbo (surprisingly easy even though it's a tight fit) and took it to a local turbo place. Thankfully the shell of my
turbo was in good nick. This meant that I could get my original one repaired and then upgraded. I went for the option of having the turbine upgraded
with a billet aluminium version (should spool faster), 360 degree thrust bearing and staggered oil-seal.
The result looks lovely
I went out for a few drives with local kit car clubs -
Somewhere in Derbyshire
Squires Cafe, Sherburn
Then on 1st June 2015 I became a Dad, saying hello to my beautiful daughter Rowan Mae. Garage and car time was rightfully slim on the ground but over
the last few weeks I've started sorting a few niggles out.
I always suffered badly from heat-soak, to the point that on hard pulls in 4th gear the car would misfire. With a bit of headscratching and some
visits to the local silicone hose shop I sought to fit my air filter outside of the engine bay.
I replaced the cheap filter I had with an Apexi Mushroom filter. The performance difference from moving the filter is huge, I'd have never
thought it would have made that much difference. The noise outside is also increased
I went out for a drive on the moors to see how the noise sounded from the outside of the car...
[Edited on 17/8/15 by daveb666]
2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire
I've always had trouble slowing the car down at 3 figure speeds. Surprisingly, even though the car only weighs 600kg the Cortina brakes just
aren't enough to slow the car down adequately.
I've had my eyes open for some Wilwood 4 pots for a while and a suitable second-hand set came up for sale.
Grubby, but they'll look better all cleaned up
Before and after discs - 247mm solid to 285mm vented
I probably dont need vented discs so when these are done I may go for 285 solids as the discs alone weigh 9kg each, which isn't ideal for
un-sprung weight.
The setup was originally from an RS turbo, so I had to get the bore of the discs made bigger by just 0.2mm to fit over my hub.
Test fit onto a spare hub
Things are VERY VERY tight
A quick skim on the hub arms with a grinder I think before they get fitted. The kit came with Wilwood 'race pads', whatever they are.
They're about half-worn I'll stick them in for the moment to get the discs all scrubbed in and see how they perform. I'll go for
DS2500s or 1.11's in the New Year I think.
The setup will get fitted next week when my mate has some free time at his garage; the calipers will have a fixed copper pipe going to a fixing on the
back of my upright and unfortunately I don't have the tools for copper piping so need assistance with this.
There was a car show held locally so I took my green-bogey along.
It received some great interest, children, adults and elders all showed a good interest in the car. I also managed to fit my BeeR rev-limiter to make
bangs and flames...because I love bangs and flames
[Edited on 10/9/15 by daveb666]
2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire
Had huge huge issues getting the brakes fitted which has resulted in me replacing all the seals and pistons in the calipers, the brake pads, my pedal
box, brake fluid reservoir and master cylinders.
I'll document this up all later on this month probably.
I've also acquired a z32 AFM, stage 3 ECU and larger injectors which should take the car to 310bhp+ (hopefully!).
Really looking forward to the New Year.
2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire
I can honestly say that fitting these 4 pots has been the worst 'car-job' I've ever had.
Even after refurbishing the calipers the brakes still kept sticking on, so I decided to replace every thing in the braking system.
The original pedal box had been butchered to fit the hydraulic clutch (it was previously cable) so I called up OBP and ordered their 'eco'
pedal box
This came with 3 master cylinders; .7, .625 and .7
As my clutch was perfect, one of the .7's were sold on. The new .7 and .625 were fitted in place of the originals. I went to Clear Motorsport in
Preston to have the work done, as quite frankly I was at my wits end with it all.
It took ages to go through the system and get everything bled and by the time I was due to leave the heavens had opened. I had a small drive around
the workshop and everything seemed OK.
Then it was on to fitting some carbon vented side panels; the car never overheats but does get extremely hot under the bonnet as you'd expect. I
managed to stumble upon a Westfield carbon side panel for a bargain price. As a Yorkshireman, I'm keen to make the most of my money so cut it in
half so I could have a vent on each side
The car was a mess after all the cutting the grinding so needed a quick clean. Snowfoam to the rescue!
I then bought some road-tax and went for a drive....and the brakes stuck on. again
I went back home, ordered 2 more MC's (Wilwood this time) and dragged the car back up to Clear Motorsport. We replaced both MC's - it
turns out the ones OBP sent me were knackered. Absolutely rubbish!
The weather was kinder to me this time so I covered a few miles around the Clear Motorsport workshop - I didn't realise I'd bought
sintered pads - so now I get sparks from the disc under hard braking.
The finished brakes -
To get some miles on the car and I went out and gave it some abuse, including practicing '11s' - a new one for me; more practice
definitely needed.
I'm pleased to say the car is working great, and I'm looking forward to my first trackday of the year at Blyton on March 18th.
Other things; I needed some storage on my trailer for my ratchet straps. Old Ammo boxes (£18 from eBay) work brilliantly; metal and lockable!
2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire
Photo Archive
Building: MK Indy rebuilt now Mk2 Escort estate
posted on 12/4/16 at 03:02 PM
quote:Originally posted by daveb666
Then we move on to my new cycle wings. The cycle wings that came with the car were quite heavy and did not help in anyway to prevent stones/water
being fired up at me.
I was meant to be getting a set of carbon wings from a supplier on here in exchange for some commercial photography that I did for them - I did the
work but never received the wings (lesson learnt I guess) so had to find some more.
I contacted a composite supplier in Huddersfield and lucky for me, on the shelf, they had some carbon-kevlar wrap around arches! A price was agreed
upon and the arches were brought home.
I removed the old wings, re-bent the supports and mounted them with sickaflex and bolts to hopefully prevent them snapping off in the future.
All finished and fitted
Now, I know they're too low at the back. I have been out for a little drive but they didn't actually catch so I'll have to see how I
get on with them. I can't move them forward on the mounts due to the way I've had to cut a notch in the arch so worst-case means
I'll have to cut off the return at the bottom to give me an extra inch of clearance. We'll see how we get on.
Arches look really good Mate (excellent thread too) where did you get them, and were they mega expensive?
The arches came from a local composite manufacturer, unfortunately they're no longer trading
I went on my first trackday of the year and the car performed impeccably. The only fault the whole day was a boost hose popping off; for some reason
the car is now pulling 1.5bar (rather than the 1.18bar target of the Gizzmo controller), I guess the hose clamp couldn't take it.
I can honestly say nothing came past me all day, the car was absolutely flying.
The most interesting video from a spectator point of view is the compilation of slides, skills etc etc https://youtu.be/_7D8rbSrMsg
However, no car is ever fast enough, right?
So it was time to fit the stage 3 bits:
New injectors (left from an R33 skyline, right the original ca18det)
Swopping over the management chips from one ECU to the other:
Next on the list is to swop the AFM for a larger version from a Nissan 300zx. This should be completed this weekend and then we turn the key and off
we go. The chip should command around 300bhp (flywheel) but I'm never confident with off the shelf stuff so I've booked in for a proper
remap (ign and fuel tables) on May 9th where this is potential, assuming the engine can take it, to push past the 330bhp barrier.
[Edited on 15/4/16 by daveb666]
2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire
The image below shows the comparison between the standard ca18det afm and the z32 afm
As you can see the z32 is significantly larger, allowing greater airflow into the turbo. The Z32 has an 80mm centre as opposed to the 45mm centre of
the ca18det one!
After that, it was time to get the mapping done -
I chose to take the car to RS Tuning in Leeds; I've used them for years and Paul Murray (the mapper), really knows his stuff. He shows the same
passion and interest whether he's working on a £100k rs6 with 650bhp (the car running when I turned up LOL) to a cheapy home-made kitcar.
Paul ran the car up with the stage 3 chip fitted and it made just 10bhp over the previous figures. I then set about removing the ECU so that Paul
could install an emulator to carry out the live mapping. An hour later and we'd reached the magic 300bhp figure -
I asked how much additional boost I was running; None was the response! After a brief discussion it was agreed, due to my er, driving style, that it
would be safer to retain the original boost setting and stick with the current power rather than trying to chase figures and risk stressing an engine
of unknown age and specification.
As you can see from the graph above, peak power is between 6500-7000rpm so it drives almost like an N/A car - ideal in a 7-style motor.
On Sunday I made the most of the hot weather, and promptly broke down, 3 times!
Unfortunately the number of cars around Huddersfield ringroad meant I was stuck in a lot of start-stop traffic which my 20+year old ignition coils
didn't agree with. They kept over heating causing the car to cut out - time to upgrade this area of the car then!
I've ordered a VAG conversion harness and Audi r8 ignition coils - the coils (aside from being new) are longer meaning they don't have any
heat transfer from the cylinder head, and are known to perform well on high-power/race car situations so they should be fine for my little go-kart.
I have a few videos during the re-mapping and run out (including over 20 people stopping when I was broken down to see if I needed water/tools etc!) -
owning a kitcar really does help you make friends, ha.
2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire
So, although I'd upgraded the car to my target of 300bhp I'd also gained a new fault - the coils were overheating causing huge misfires
and eventually leaving me stranded in the middle of road junctions.
On with the upgrades then!
First up, fix the ropey looking accelerator cable that, at some point, was sure to leave me crying at the side of the road somewhere (more than normal
no doubt!)
Old One
New One
Ahh that's better, now I'll sleep easier.
Proper upgrade time;
CA18DET engines are, at their youngest, 19 years old. Spare parts are abit thin on the ground and any spare parts you can find are normally knackered.
You can still get CA18DET coils at the dealer but they are verrry expensive and will offer no real performance benefit.
There are various options in terms of upgrading CA18dET ignition coils; VAG, LS1 or aftermarket Bosch to name a few. As I'm no auto-electrician,
I went with option one - VAG coils; R8 coils to be precise
There is a chap on the Driftworks/SXOC/CA18 FB groups that offers an aftermarket plug-and-play loom for the CA engine, for use with R8 coils, the
quality is second to none.
Here it is alongside the R8 coils;
The R8 coils themselves also oooze quality; although in this instance I've gone for aftermarket NGK ones as they apparently last longer then the
R8 Bosch ones (Time will tell I guess?)
The R8 coils were from OpieOils and cost just £105 delivered.
Here you can see the R8 coil against the original CA18 coils -
You can see that the CA18 coils bolt to a metal rail on the CA cylinder head, the heat from the head rises up and heats up the coil; eventually this
causes a misfire as the coil breaksdown. The R8 coil is twice as high and aside from where it sits onto the plug has no direct contact with the head.
This alternate design, coupled with the 'newness' and quality of the R8 coils should hopefully fix any previous problems I had in this
regard.
Onto the fitting -
Before (yes, messy, needs a clean - built to be used not to be polished etc)
During
Rather than have the coils floating about, I drilled the original spark-plug cover and used that as a mounting template
Coils In
And Finished
Simply plug and play, turn the key solution.
I can't say they've improved anything as when I rolled the car out on to the drive yesterday the heavens opened
There's a video here of me testing the car before the coil started playing up, post 300 bhp remap -
2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire
Photo Archive
Building: It is an ex-Locost - it has gone to the IOW!
posted on 23/5/16 at 02:01 PM
quote:Originally posted by daveb666
There's a video here of me testing the car before the coil started playing up, post 300 bhp remap -
Looks like fun - but I would advise you to cover up the speedo before you play silly beggars through villages, etc. Or move your camera so the
instruments can't be seen. I could see your speedo well enough to make a fair guess of your speeds (I have an identical speedo).
The police have been known to look at on-line videos and issue summonses (or strongly-worded cautions, as a minimum).
Sorry to sound like a miserable old fart, but I'd hate to see you prosecuted for a little harmless playtime...
