Well chuffed, my nova just passed its first MOT with the new engine in.

Emissions were:
CO
Allowed: 3.5
Actual: 0.18

MC
allowed: 1200
Actual: 60


Thats the lowest HC ive ever seen on a LET engine, so I reckon its looking good in terms of the run in procedure being finished and everything still in good order and no oil being burned etc.


Next job now is to get it onto autronic SM4 engine management and then I can map it on low boost (10psi and about 280-300bhp) and then I can start to sort the suspension properly once I get it on track to see how it handles, for now im airing on the side of caution with loads of rear toe in to try and keep it stable as its collecting some toe out under compression and I dont want it going past 0 degrees when that happens.


Fingers crossed my first outing is 29th December at Donnington if I can get it all done in time.


Picture of it for anyone who hasnt seen it:

 

Nice one.

Be good to see it in anger at Donny.

 

I knew you had it chip, heard speak of it, but not seen a pic till now!

Looks rude

I'll be at donny on 29th with my mate in a saff, will have to pop over and say hello!

 

fookin hell!!

is that twin engined or just rear engined??

like that a lot m8.

 

Not sure it will quite be "in anger" yet, the suspension is all a bit of an unknown at the moment, so although im out on track its just for a few tentative laps in novice rather than to properly give it death, we're taking the astra too, so have that to abuse anyway, lol

Nice one mate, always good to put a face to a name

Just rear engined mate.

 

Was chuffed when you rang on Friday to say it had passed

looking forward to seeing it out on Donnington and maybe getting a passenger ride

 

Helen, assuming I manage to get it there, Id be quite offended if you dont come out in it as passenger for a session

 

Nice work matey

 

Fucking hell chip, not seen pic's of that before. Looks mad, what's it like handling wise being mid engine on such a short wheel base. Looks like fun!

 

sweet. be a handfull that!!

 

Yeah will make myself known Chip

All being well i'll be with mark in a caged up ALS saff

Whats the rear suspension setup on it? And front for that matter? Have you done a resto thread?

 

Fun it definately is, this is it on the old engine and suspension setup.






The new suspension setup I havent driven it on in anger yet, but it feels a bit better than before from my intial gentle use, its still picking up more toe out under compression that I want though (about 3 degrees on full suspension travel, although hopefully i'll have an anti roll bar on it by donno which will limit the travel a bit), so I need to redesign it to eliminate some of that I suspect, for now as a temporary measure Ive dialled in excess static toe in to keep it stable and it feels ok so far, looks ridiculous now though as the shape of the rear arches always made it looked toe'd in anyway even when it wasnt, so now it actually is toe'd in a couple of degrees too, it looks positively like its got its legs crossed

 

In that case i will be first in the que

 

Rear setup is calibra bottom arms, with adaptor plates I made to fit the balljoints from Mark4 astra front struts, which ive got a coilover setup to suit, and then using rose jointed tie bars to set the toe.

Not really got any decent pictures of the setup, im lousy at remembering to take pictures, I'll get some at some point, never really done a proper resto thread either, as again I tend to forget the camera once the spanners are out.

 

Love it !!

 

If you are first in the que, you will miss your first session in your car, you'll have to come out later in the day when Dave takes your car out

 

Lambda value would obviously be ok, so that would have passed the CAT emmisions as well. haha. Good work, most XE's with Cats on don't manage that.

 

Yeah my mate said it would probably have passed a cat test, he was gobsmacked, lol

 

Oh yeah we are int he same group Will be first in the que in the afternoon then

 

sounds a plan helen, if its still running by then

 

Chip, what was the idle like ...?

 

Noisey on that exhuast

Seemed fine other than that though.

Why?

 

When you do a conversion like this does the car have to go for an inspection or tests

 

I think if you did the same these days you would need an SVA, but mine has been mid engined for over a decade now and so just has an MOT each year as normal.

 

Noisy, really can think why ...lol

Just wondered as the emissions are very low considering no cat is fitted.

I first thought you had mapped it like that just to get it through the MOT but you havent got the SM4 on it yet so I would assume everything is just working spot on.

 

I'm guessing your using cally front hubs with tie bars to set to where the standard track rods would be?

Your rose joints must be angled downwards from car to hub carrier, can't you just make them level to sort the problem?

Edit, surely you've thought of this and there something from stopping you doing the above

 

Looking wicked Chip, what is the power output on that spec ?

What times were you getting on old spec ?

 

Leaning out the map doesn't lower the HC and CO level's by all that much. Infact if you go above 1.1 lambda on a normal cat test thats a fail as well.

 

No its on mark4 astra front struts and steering knuckles.

The rose jointed arms go from this to the wishbone, but that has the effect of adding toe out, as the outer edge stays parellel but the inner edge moves in an arc.
I knew this would result in some toe change, but its more than I expected s will need revision I think but until Ive driven it and tried it, I dont want to go making changes yet, as I dont actually *know* what settings and changes I want until ive seen how it reacts.


Its not that simple as the outer balljoint is at a different height to the bottom ball joint and to mount an equal length setup at the same height would have me mounting it somewhere I cant realistically get a mount to as the engine is in the way.

Yeah, lol

 

Yeah still on standard management at the moment mate.

Drives ok while you are accelerating or at cruise but cant handle the dump valve when you back off which is why I need it onto the autronic for donno.
Although I think a recirc valve might be a good work around, so may try that first as obviously its a bit late in the day now to start messing around with new management as the only time im goign to get to work on it really is over xmas when if I need any parts nowhere will be open.

 

awesome chip, look forward to seeing it at Donno

 

Right, i see, can't you change the height at the hub end?
Possibly put the ball joint on the top rather than the bottom, or make a simple adapter to twist it through 90 degree's and mount the rose joint the opposite way at the end of the hub carrier. (a picture would save a thousand words here). This would also reduce any toe-change as the hub carrier would essentially be longer as well.

 

It needs dropping down not going up, and there is a wheel in the way stopping me from doing that anymore than I have already done (ive already trying to space it downwards to get it nearer to the bottom balljoint height), likewise the wheel is stopping me from lengthening it.
This is also why I swapped from the previous calibra setup to the mark 4 astra setup, cause the arms are a lot lower.


I'll get some pictures when Im next near the car (im working away from home in london till next weekend and the car is in somerset)

 

Looks like you have run it in well.

I have two words for you though if you are going to use it in anger...

TURBO and HANGER.

 

Doug, yeah, im aware I still need to sort something in that respect before running big boost properly or I risk cracking the manifold.

Still trying to decide what to do though, as there is sadly very little options in terms of where to mount anything to the engine itself as you are aware

Any suggestions?

 

Cause ye, at that end needs to go down, unless it had the steering rack on the front like an old landrover, or you'd put the hubs on the opposite sides. Another possible option?

 

In the past i've used longer studs in the head so i can bolt a bracket on after the manifold flange is on and upto the turbo.

 

RickyLee53, Ive found a couple of pictures, showing it mocked up where it would go on the wishbone



(its in double sheer now!)

And this is the outer end:




(its on coilovers now but the bottom hub carrier is still the same

 

If I do that, I will pick up toe in instead, which I dont want either more than I dont want toe out (becuase I want some static toe in to keep it stable in a straight line, and I dont want to pick up more when I launch on the quarter, would prefer a little toe out to cancel the static toe in to give maximum grip when it squats)

Trouble is of course, there is a difference between what I want on track, what I want on the strip, and what I want on the road.

For track and road, collecting a little toe in woud be fine.

 

Right, i missed the bit earlier where you said it's onto the bottom wishbone.

Can't you mount it to the car somehow, obviously your going to need the "trackrod" as parreller to the floor as possible at half compression to utilise the "dead zone".

Please ignore my impressive paint skills. (my pictures need a thousand words to compliement them)

But if you welded some kind of plate arrangement like this, with a couple of possible holes for setup changes.