Orkney - New Home To A TII!

Grieve · April 25, 2013, 08:22:48 PM

Well sods law has come into full effect, ordered my new brakes and all was well...then I get a phonecall to say that they only had one pair of rear discs left, and they were damaged so they were going to have to cast new ones for me. So that has scuppered my progress a bit. In the meantime...

I have just bought a boost controller - namely an Apexi AVCR Black - which has me pondering. I was thinking to just get a chipped ECU mapped for higher boost and an FMIC etc etc. Nothing too fancy. Will I need a fuel computer and wideband as well for this to work well? Just a thought considering we do not have decent fuel on these islands...:@. And whilst I\'m at it, anyone got a chipped ECU?!

TiddlesRX7 · April 26, 2013, 09:17:33 AM

The only trouble with using a chipped ecu would be that it\'ll be mapped for the higher octain fuels (V power etc). So if you can\'t get it on the island then the map will be wrong from the get go. When I ran a chipped one in my car it worked but it wasnt quite right for my cars set up. It didn\'t run smoothly somehow. Compare it to my Apexi that is mapped for my car and it is vastly different. It felt like I was driving a different car when I first had it mapped.

Ade

Grieve · April 26, 2013, 05:44:26 PM

Yes I see your point. My plan was to only have one big trip south for work at somepoint in the future - probably for a rebuild and map with a power fc. Hmm. Not sure what I will do now, a bit catch 22!

Grieve · June 16, 2013, 09:44:06 PM

Hello all. Got yet another update. Car is looking good! It is now lowered properly, I had to rebuild and paint my Panasports (never again) so have done that, put new discs, pads and braided lines all round, battery to boot, and shimmed the thermowax pellet. Only one problem persists however...it wont run! :@

So hoping someone could point me in the right direction. My brother is a mechanic, and he thinks it might need a rebuild

. Money I don\'t have at the moment! So, got some symptoms...

The car will turn over, but won\'t actually start - fires slightly but never runs and makes a funny popping noise.
It floods. Then, if we deflood it, it will rev to around 2000rpm but dies within 10 seconds and it still runs like a bag of s**t.
The spark seems very weak.
There is also really thick white smoke coming from the exhaust when cranking.

It has new leads and plugs on it, a new battery, fuel pump...I know Grinder has said the ECU might be worth changing, so might try that. But does that sound like it is maybe just needing to be rebuilt? Mileage is circa 70k. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

grinder · June 17, 2013, 07:41:59 AM

the fact that it will actually run for 10 seconds prob means the ECU is OK

does it run and then stop , or will it keep running ( albeit badly )

If it ran OK to start with , are you sure that you havent done something when you moved the battery and shimmed the thermowax ?

Grieve · June 17, 2013, 10:13:58 AM

Run is probably a bad word to use...it attempts to run. I think I\'ll maybe get a video of it, it is awful. Just thinking the seals have maybe gone with this plumes of white smoke? Well it hasn\'t ran in long enough, can\'t really think of anything that would affect the starting of it if you get me!

grinder · June 17, 2013, 06:38:41 PM

white smoke , im sure that\'s a sign of water seal failure ( dont take that as gospel !! )

Is it using water or wont it run long enough ??

Might be worth pulling the plugs , and turn it over 20-30 times by hand and see if you get anything out of the chambers

Also check the plugs , are they dry/wet/oily/watery

Whilst you are doing it - listen for even puff noises

Check to make sure you haven\'t moved anything when relocating stuff etc..

Start back at the basics

grinder · June 17, 2013, 06:42:23 PM

can you pull the fuel tube and put it in a jar to make sure you are getting enough fuel thru ??

Even check the voltage at the pump to make sure you are getting 12v all the time

Do you think its running long enough to empty the lines with fuel , then cutting out , then as it primes , it fills them , runs , empties them ... rinse and repeat

I dont want to sound out of line here , but I would have got it running first before moving the battery etc..

Still might be worth checking the ECU or doing a temp swap out ?

Grieve · June 17, 2013, 11:01:00 PM

Yeah, well my brother being a mechanic he\'s been through it all I\'m afraid. I mean everything, from putting the battery back to the front, to using it at the back, the injectors have been out and cleaned, put back in, fuel pump jumped for voltage, its flooding everytime it \'nearly\' runs, we\'ve checked the coil packs, the leads, made sure they are on the right way round...even checked the ECU for the cold soldered joints! And the CAS wire is ok, the timing isn\'t out, swapped a good few vacuum hoses since they were all brittle.

He\'s convinced its not sparking as it should be though, so I\'ve ordered (yet another) set of spark plugs just in case but...this white smoke isn\'t looking good. He\'s gonna pressure test the coolant side also, that will put to bed the theory on a rebuild I guess. But thanks for the input Grinder!

grinder · June 18, 2013, 07:28:11 AM

seems like your brother has covered the lot !!

Grieve · June 25, 2013, 10:52:51 PM

So it would appear the water seals have actually gone, its not some silly little fault. Plumes of white smoke with brand new plugs and still won\'t run. A new engine or rebuild, not sure yet. Need to have some money before I wonder things like that! So who is the main man for a rebuild then? Considering getting some sort of port done as well, but this isn\'t going to happen in a hurry - like I say, I need to save first. Probably sounds daft but I\'m guessing the engine can just sit dormant whilst I save money, I shouldn\'t have to drain it of fluids or that no?

Brett · June 25, 2013, 11:05:00 PM

If it\'s that bad I would expect to see the water level dropping over night?

Prof · June 26, 2013, 10:26:00 AM

Quote from: Grieve;859978So it would appear the water seals have actually gone, its not some silly little fault. Plumes of white smoke with brand new plugs and still won\'t run. A new engine or rebuild, not sure yet. Need to have some money before I wonder things like that! So who is the main man for a rebuild then? Considering getting some sort of port done as well, but this isn\'t going to happen in a hurry - like I say, I need to save first. Probably sounds daft but I\'m guessing the engine can just sit dormant whilst I save money, I shouldn\'t have to drain it of fluids or that no?

If it is waterseal failure, then water could be getting in contact with the machined surfaces on the irons - you\'ll probably want to strip the engine down and oil up the parts ready for when they can be rebuilt. I left one engine with water seal failure a bit too long and now the irons need lapping - so safe yourself some cash and pull it apart.

Grieve · June 28, 2013, 09:04:45 PM

Well I can\'t see what else it is going to be other than water seal failure I\'m afraid to say. Ah cheers Prof, was kinda\' thinking along that lines. Weighing up the choice between rebuilding it myself(probably more my brother to be honest lol), or pulling the engine apart and sending it south for a rebuild and a bit of porting...DIY can\'t be that difficult surely?!