Turned out that due to the limited space on the back of my car I had to mount the anti roll bar beam quite close to the underside of the car to avoid the transverse exhaust, this meant the drop links were not long enough. I sent a text to MK and the next day he had made me up some bespoke ones and they should be with me this week (thurs). Happy with that.

Looking forward to sailing in the arb and then softening the springs again to make a supple road car. Already it is bonkers on roundabouts being so short and light, you can just lean on the front end. May need to get it on a wet handling track to explore a bit more.

 

good to hear you're still working to improve it.
(also looks stunning in the lasts pics...)

not such a shame for the renault. you can keep the money and find something better, if you feel so. wise choice being open minded and not stubborn on just a car model.

still keeping an eye on this one ...
keep us posted mate...

 

Thanks Roos,


Found an interesting area to improve today and potentially could have been terminal.


I reversed the car out of the garage and parked in front of the house, turned off the engine and went to get my daughters school bags. We got back in and turned the starter to get it started and just got a clicking as if the battery was flat...then noticed smoke! I assumed this was a knackered starter motor and I have a spare. So left the car there.


At lunch I rocked the car whilst in gear and tried again whilst my mate watched...he said that smoke and sparks were NOT coming from the starter but higher up on the engine.


SO, I got him to crank whilst I watched...scarily the braided fuel line ws sparking against the boost pressure sensor on the Hart inlet and was burning the braiding and smelt of fuel....I will need to strip it but think at the moment that the braiding has chafed against the live on the starter and now the fuel line braiding has become live on cranking....


All will come off and I will order the billet fuel rail I have been planning to fit for ages and make neat new runs under the car with solid fuel lines and new connectors.

 

Just stripped it all out and it was as expected, the steel braided fuel line has rubbed an area about the size of a pea on the big live feed to the starter motor, the insulation has literally pin pricked through to the copper live wire and earthed itself where the fuel line touched on the inlet...scary but I can now put protective covers on the lives and replace all the fuel lines as I planned to one day anyway.....all in the name of development work eh?

In 4 yrs I have not quite done 1000 miles in the car yet!

 

Bloody hell mate. Near miss that. Glad it's not gone up

 

Me too...silly little problem that I just couldn't pre-empt, the fuel supply has been like it since the early 90's but something has obviously shifted and began to rub....lucky escape so will re-fit it out to avoid.

 

yes, that's quite an interesting area for an improvement...
it could've smoked it to the ground. glad it didn't do nothing.

keep us posted...

 

Wow, lucky escape.
And good for you, now you can do more tinkering lol.

 

I used Teflon braided nylon lined hose on all of my fuel system, think I was around 1k for everything so can work out costly

 

Thanks, I am looking at the teflon now. Think it will be worth it

 

My hole fuel system is done in the teflon stuff I found it easy to use and did the job well

 

Rear Shox are off the car now and sending off to jonfoc at Leda to design some new ones....mine were spax "hot rod" bespoke ones but are from 1992 so must be past their best and were way too stiff anyway.

Rear bladed anti roll bar is on, I took off the springs to make sure the drop links didn't touch the rear drive shaft under full articulation, they come within 7mm but that's at their worst.

 

Mark Walker is doing a good job of lots of update pics on my fuel rail, cam trigger and a few other bits, car is off the road waiting.

Got my TT roadster to play with.


Fuel rail pic to show where stack fuel pressure sender will go. This will be black with Cosworth in red. This is Marks engine, not mine.



Gave the TT a quick wash so begin the deep clean as it is minging in places.

 

OMG Toby that was a close one I just glad there is a happy ending to this story

 

Fuel rail will be back next week with a few other neat bits, then I can finish the fuel lines and get driving again.

 

Ffs Toby that was close with the fuel line. Glad you noticed it mate

 

I do feel lucky that it didn't go up, it could have taken other cars, my garage, tools and office with it. I will spend a lot of time making sure it cannot happen again.

 

New fuel rail ready to ship to me, Mark MK is teasing me with the WRC breathers I think. He is also shipping me a blank for the dizzy and my cam cover machined for a cam position sensor.

 

Ive a WRC breather fitted and its so much neater under the bonnet, and obviously perfect for big BHP

 

I'm off up there today Toby. I'll send you more pictures of the things you should have

 

Yeah, I will get a Wrc breather just to make it neat under there.

2 jobs now doing my head in. 1) when the starter motor wire bared against the fuel line the car would just click on the starter solenoid but not turn over, I assumed this was just battery drain from the closed circuit. Now I have the new fuel rail on and all back together but the starter would just click....I have 12v on the volt dial. Took off the starter and bench tested it on a battery, solenoid throws out and motor spins. Also tried fitting a brand new starter I bough a while back, does the same thing, I wonder if there is an issue with a relay or something having been fried? Next test is to use a slave battery and wire directly to the starter Earth, exciter plus and main plus and see if that turns it over...cannot think what else it will be, will do a fuse check too.

2) I have a nice billet fuel rail and billet jenvey fuel pressure reg but haven't a clue what pressure to set it to so I couldn't drive it if I wanted to, will need to check my stack dash has reliable fuel pressure reading and then speak to Mark Shead. I might trailer it over to him, get it set and tweak the map for the new exhaust, intercooler and hart inlet.

 

Multimeters can be very deceiving 12v on a meter looks good put a 12v bulb across the battery see if its bright to test it under load. Really you need a good old drop tester. You tested to see if you have 12v on the starter trigger wire

 

Not yet, thanks for the tip...that's a really good idea. I am going to charge the battery fully and then check it all, the car has sat for a few weeks so needs a good charge anyway.

 

Yeah charge it then see if it starts if it don't put the meter on it and see what it says then get someone to turn it over and see what it drops too. Always better to test under load

 

Thanks, I will give it a go and report back.

 

Toby check your earth wire witch bolts to the block as that can fail and give this same result

 

Thanks Ian, will do

 

Mark has made these proper upstands for my coils, this is my spare rocker cover, will<br/>Send to spray station to be done in red



These screw in to head and the coils bolt in to these.



Cam sensor and breather moved

 

Cam position sensor, blanking plug to remove distributor. All done and super speedy

 

Honda K20 coils go straight in no mods, albeit i went for the little billet brackets to put in nicer position at Ł30

What coils are yours?

 

Think mine are Yaris, no mods just saves long bolts n spacers which many use

 

Nice update Toby. I'm going cop on mine, Yaris coils too. I might get Mark to do his thing on my cam cover

 

Makes a nicer job, mine came loose when I just had spacers.

 

Have you got the part number of the Honda K20 coils by any chance? They are a Denso coil aren't they?

 

[QUOTE=Caddyshack;6740579]

Mark has made these proper upstands for my coils, this is my spare rocker cover, will<br/>Send to spray station to be done in red

I like those upstands, that does look like a really tidy installation. Only problem for me is the Yaris coils with the plug connector angled upwards, I think it brings the wiring/coil too close to the wiper motor on my focus install. Have you got the part number of the Yaris coil, I'll have to have another look at them, and talk to MK to see if he'll sell the upstands separately!

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-X-Honda-...oAAOSwZLhY2rm-

They sell the mounting blocks too

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-K20-...IAAOSw3v5YrKLv

 

Toby
Are those yaris coils long enough to fit on the plugs.

 

That's where I bought mine

 

Yeah make sure you get the correct Yaris coils if you use them as some are too short to reach the plug cap

The short ones in your pic will not reach the plug if your not milling down the cam cover turrets!

Also I don't recommend using any pattern part coils only genuine

The upstands are a nice touch although I've never had an issue with mine with spacers for the last 3 years but I still wouldn't mind a set of those