Grease Monkey

With the engineering done, I now have a few weeks in which to sort out the teething problems, which in my case means:

1. Oil leak from somewhere major
2. Oil from the gearbox breather
3. Cylinder number 3 running lean
4. Various loose nuts and bolts
5. License plate light

The first two tasks required the engine to be removed, so that was this weekend's task.

Removing the engine wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The task list is:
1. Remove exhaust
2. Remove throttle bodies
3. Remove fuel lines
4. Disconennect wiring from injectors, alternator, engine earth points, starter motor and crank sensor
5. Remove alternator
6. Remove belt tensioner and belt
7. Remove and drain radiator pipes
8. Detach clutch hose
9. Remove seats and belts
10. Remove centre console
11. Unbolt and remove drive shaft
12. Slightly lift the car with an engine hoist
13. Put a trolley under the engine
14. Remove engine mounts and gearbox mounts
15. Lift car up over engine and slide the engine out from underneath, making sure everything clears and nothing is still attached

Took about 3 hours all up - can take two once you know what you're doing, so I'll expect an improvement next time.

OK, so with the engine out, I then proceeded to remove the starter motor and bellhousing, then the clutch and clutch plate, in order to find the source of the leak. We removed the plate holding the main seal, and saw the problem...

There's a small lip around the main seal which closes up against the gearbox shaft to keep the oil from leaking. And I had it flipped inwards instead of outwards. That's it. I've pumped probably $100 worth of oil onto Frank's floor and the road because I had a seal in backwards. Idiot.

So we put it right, and then moved onto the gearbox.

I now have a new top plate on the gearbox, which has a baffle welded underneath the breather hose in order to stop the oil froth from bubbling up so easily. It will still allow expansion in the air as the gearbox heats up, but should stop the geyser of green oil. I also removed all of the gearbox oil and will replace it again, as I now had no idea how much was in there.

So, with the main seal fixed and the gearbox hopefully done, everything gets done in reverse. I did run out of time though, as I had to go home and cook dinner for 8 people. I dunno, modern man that I am - I can spend the day removing and reinstalling the entire drivetrain from my car, then be home in time to whip up a four course meal for 8 people.

Got nothing done on Sunday, of course. Except the dishes.

The Engineer Cometh

With the car now looking like a car, even if it has an unsightly oil leak, I can get the engineering done.

What happens is a bloke comes along with a knowledge of the ADR requirements for the construction of an Individually Constructed Vehicle (ICV) and a checklist, and he goes over the car looking for anything that might be in contravention. The interesting thing of course is that a lot of things on the checklist aren't really relevant. For example, doors must have a double latch system, but if you haven't got doors....Luckily there's an N/A box you can tick, which got a lot of use.

However, it all passed except for the fact that the license plate light doesn't work - either it's not earthed properly, or I forgot to put a bulb in. Actually, it's more likely the latter, as I don't remember buying one and putting it in. But really that's not such a big deal.

The paperwork will take around four weeks, at which point I can take it over the pits and get it signed off for rego. Then it's on with the plates and onto the road.

I just need to get this oil leak fixed....

Out, out damn oil spot

In an effort to isolate the oil leak, I've completely removed the Eurospeed oil plate that links the engine to the remote oil filter and oil cooler, and replaced it with the factory oil filter adaptor. Took it for a run, and it was still draining the engine of oil, so no joy there. It's looking even more likely that the main seal is leaking, so that's an engine out job.

Still, everyone else has had to take their engine out at some point, so why should I be any different?

While it's out, I'll be checking all the bolts I probably didn't do up tight enough, and well have a look at the gearbox to see if we can solve the oil coming out of the breather problem.

On the lean cylinder, I swapped the injectors from 2 and 3 around to see if thats the problem. The injector supply says they've sold 3000 and had 1 come back, so odds are it's not the injector. Actually, I now reckon I've got an air leak in the throttle bodies. Any leak after the butterfly would cause this sort of problem, and seeing as I put it together, I'd put money on me not getting it quite right before believing there's a problem with the injector.

So this weekend will be a case of getting the engine out and having a look before racing home and cooking dinner for the seven guests I have coming around.....

However, this won't stop the engineering process - hopefully this will get done this week, so the paperwork will go in to start the registration. I should have everything put back together before it goes over the pits, which is good because I don't think they'll register something that leaks this badly.

Independent Scientific Confirmation

Well, I've taken someone else out in the Birkin for a scientific assessment of the performance in a comparitive situation vis a vie the performance. And the verdict is it's faster than most. Which is good, 'cause I was worried.

OK, so it's not exactly scientific, but it's nice to have someone tell you that, depsite the dyno report which showed the output was the same as theirs, the reality is somewhat different.

In other news - the lean cylinder is back, and is colouring up the exhaust once more, so there's some work to do looking at the injector. In addition, if you take the air filter off, you can see the spark flash actually in the intake, which isn't good.

So I had better not overdo it - running the cylinder lean means its heating up unevenly, which can lead to cracking and detonation if I'm not careful. So until this is resolved, I'll be driving more conservatively....

I did fill it up with petrol the other day, and someone was taking photos while I was paying. They either liked the car, or were sending the photos off to the police to report me under the anti-hoon laws ;-)

Back from the Tuna

So, after all the hype and hyperbole of this blog, saying how my car will be super powerful and go really fast, it finally went onto a dyno. Expecting a call with a figure of 'Gee mate, it's bloody great. Rips 230bhp off at the flywheel, and tore the dyno out of the floor', I was a little non-plussed to get something a little different.

The comment from the tuner was that, overall, it seemed a little disappointing. He kept saying things like it felt that there was a restriction somewhere - perhaps the throttle bodies are too small (they're 48's, so no). Perhaps the standard cams aren't up to much (oh, wait, they're 220bhp raceline cams, not standard). Perhaps the cam timing is off (nope, done by a guy who builds motorcycle engines - finer tolerances on a Ducatti than a Ford lump). So really no idea as to why it pulled the figures it did.

So, to be blunt, the dyno showed a paltry 106kw at the rear wheels. This translates to around 180bhp from the engine. Given all the fruit that's been thrown at it, there's either a serious problem with the engine, or a problem with the dyno.

As it turns out, it may be the dyno. One of the other Birkins just went in with a stage-3 CNC milled high compression head, cylinders bored out plus forged pistons and rods, which should have sent the power skyrocketing. Instead, they showed a 5kw loss. The guy at the shop also said his RX-7 seemed to have lost 20bhp somewhere, and a few other cars are showing lower than expected results, so my guess is that something has gone a little wonky with the dyno. Mind you, being at least 40bhp down is a little more than just a small issue. But I'd rather believe that than believe I just spent that much money on an engine that does just 25% above the standard Ford Focus.

The ultimate test will be on how it now drives. The tuner has worked the power and torque curves to be nice and smooth, so as long as the whole lot just moves up a few inches on the page, then it should all be fine.

I'll either challenge some of the other Birkins to a drag race (under controlled conditions with trained professional drivers, of course), or use my new toy, the Performance Box from Racelogic, which has a power estimation calculation based on weight and 0-100 times. Obviously the calculator is a little hit and miss (lots of driver, tyre and other factors), but if with my poor driving and cooked tyres it tells me I have anything like 180bhp, I'll know its much higher ;-)

Or, I'll drive it for 6 months and think it's great, then someone clever will say 'hang on, this looks wrong', make a tweak, and uncover another 40bhp for me. That would be nice.

So, not ready to scrap the whole thing just yet. But would have liked a little bit more certainty around what it is I've actually got.

New clutch, same old oil leak

This weekend was a little limited in progress, but I now have a clutch pedal that at least disengages the clutch at the start of the pedal movement rather than requiring me to put it all the way to the floor. So whilst everyone else is using a 5/8" master cylinder, I'm all the way up to a 1 1/8". There's certainly a lot of weight behind the pedal now, but the bite is a lot more noticeable.

What I did notice was that, on fast changes, there's a definite shove in the back when you take your foot off the clutch - I'll have to work on smoothing that out to save the drivetrain and my kidneys.

The mystery oil leak is still there. I suspect its from the take-off plate, however the oil only leaks when under pressure, so it won't leak while sitting still. I just need someone to volunteer to strap themselves under the car whilst I drive around in order to find it. Or we could just put it up on the hoist....

However, the car is drivable still. So took it out for a few laps around the place. I'm starting to understand its driving characteristics, including the significant understeer that happens when you feed in progressive power through a corner. Put in too much and it'll shift to powersliding oversteer, which was demonstrated to me by Frank at the end of the cul-de-sac. I think I shall look for somewhere with no curbs in sight before I start really throwing it around like that ;-)

I'm also quite suprised at how loose the end really is. Given the sticky tyres and IRS, the thought was that getting it loose would be a problem. I think the power developed by the engine has resolved that issue ;-) I can still slip and slide like a live axle, I just have to boot it harder. More noise, more smoke, and more consequences of getting it wrong, I suppose. I tried one or two fast launches, and had the rear wheels slipping in first and second, and third might have been a possibility but for a stop sign.

I think its fair to say the car has a lot of power at the moment, and it is still running off a standard Zetec engine map. This week its up at Race Torque Engineering for tuning - they have a guy who does Motec tuning, and he'll hopefully pull a few more horses out from under the bonnet.

So, next weekend it should be 95% tuned - I'll also be taking it to the track with the tuner (along with a few other guys) and we'll get the final adjustments made with real data from the Motec under track conditions.

Shakedown issues

Too the car out for a longer run - 80k out to the Mundaring Weir and back, so some nice twisty country roads. Still driving it conservatively, as it's all pretty new, and I don't know how it reacts at the edge (or even where the edge is). But took it past 5000rpm, and it screams along nicely ;-)

As with any build like this, there are always going to be little niggling problems. Luckily, in comparison to some of the other builds I know, mine are pretty minor.

First, there's an oil leak from the side of the engine where the remote oil filter lines attach. To be honest, I'm not 100% sure of where the oil is coming from really, but it's around there somewhere. So it's all come off, been re-sealed and re-attached. I need to take it out for another run, but hopefully that's fixed it.

The other is the clutch pedal, which is still too long. Even with the 7/8" bore, the pedal throw is still down to the floor before the clutch disengages, so we're getting a 1 1/8" to see if that improves things, and we'll move up from there. But as I'm the only person with an AP Racing clutch, I'm the guinea pig on this one.

I also had to redo the steering rack, as the steering wheel slowly got out of alignment after a drive. OK, that's not a good thing, as the steering rack is kinda important in the whole "pointing in the right direction" role of the front wheels, but no harm done.

So, I just have to fit the new clutch master, and then it's off for engineering and registration.