Boing

The 325lb springs are much better.

Still far from soft.

Suspension has been totally changed in an effort to "calm" down the car :)

Raised the rear by removing the spring block but leaving it on the 2" down uprights holes.

Raised 1/2".

Front end raised a bit to match.

Camber at the back 3.8deg neg on each side (car aint a banana!)

Camber at front 1.4deg neg.

No toe angle at the front.

Adjusted rear toe angle to "more toe-in" setting was 1/32nd of an inch, made it 1 turn more toe-in on the rosejointed track arms.

Been trying to fine-tune the car a bit before more surgery. It got a bit "race" and without a 4cyl boat anchor at the front it's a different animal. I am now trying to find a good allround feel.

Pretty happy with the front-end now. Got alot less wheel movement transfering into chassis and tub movement on the new springs, probably got more grip with the 1.4neg camber over the more extreme levels before. Feels similar at lower steering angles but the lack of camber seems to have improved the grip deeper into the corner/steering angle, like mid corner when you often get understeer in the triumphs, especially 6cyl ones!

I was finding the rear-end a bit nervous with the extra power so I gave it more toe-in, which seems to have chilled it out a bit, especially lifting off and turning or braking and turning.

Best its been by a longshot. Went to extreme, just dawned on me oneday that my first spitfire was probably alot softer and more relaxed to drive.....Now there is no need for rock-hard springs cause it doesnt have an inbuilt handling /problem/imbalance with a 4cyl iron lump.

If the dampers had adjustment on the bump (AVO are just rebound, half the reason racers like 800lbs springs, cause they use shit dampers!) I reckon you run 250lbs springs. Problem is then running out of movement on the balljoint on the top wishbones at extreme bump. Ideally the top-wishbone mounting pivot needs moving upwards 1/2".

Either way a step forward.

Still enjoying occasional blats and not overly keen on taking it off the road yet!

Done.

Need a few fasteners to finish off but hardwork is done.

Happy with it.

Think it's cage time next. I've some interesting plans I drew up today. They are quite radical. A real move into a new level and should add ALOT of stiffness into the centre of the cabin and I can join this new stuff to the new suspension at the back...That's all I will say! ?I think I can bend the CDS with a hydraulic pipe bender would make my life much easier if I can go it alone.

Time to gather materials and take a break!

Annoyance Remedies

Bit sick of the dash reflecting on the windscreen so time to fix it. I've wanted to "sort" the dash anyway as I never really finished it.

Going for a simpe and sleek look.

Also neatens up the corners by the cage. Time to add a little vanity to the car.

Pretty easy work. Couple of bits of alloy, bit of drilling, sanding, cutting. The groups of 3 holes are there to let some warm air from the heater (thats not plumbed in yet) onto the window. Minimalist.

Made it in two parts cause that suited the piece of alloy I had to work with.


Trimmed up.


Aye.

Just fills over what was an ugly gap. Powder coating on the cage was crap tempted to whip it out and get it done properly once I have done some mods to it.

Kind of impartial looking, that was the idea, not styled as such.
Gotta stick a bit more leatherette on the remaining white bit infront of todays panels.

Quite happy with that...I got an urge to carpet the car again, some of that thin stretchy stuff that you stick on with 3m spray glue. Not to worried about every gram now....Plus it's easy to deal with compared to white paint...

Intend to "finish" off numerous areas of the car like this dash business. Some of the stuff is a bit scrappy still. Plus I actually enjoyed making those panels..Wasted 8hrs on it.

Some random wafflage

It's all still in one piece. Be good to take off the valances and give the engine bolts a tweak etc...I've really not even looked at it for months, or even bothered to recheck anything since I drove it first. It works...Thats the idea.

Yes its really bloody clean still isnt it. I like it clean...The aim would be to finish the car while its all still nice and shiney and mint...To get to a stage of a completed shiney monster. I hate tattytatt. Plus it helps to paint stuff well etc.

My new springs, bit smaller than the hi-tech stuff widely sold for these cars? :)

5" length, 2.25" and 325lbs. Under half the weight of the 9" springs of old, or current?!

Also picked up some bumpstop packers so I setup the max bump I want as these springs will allow some squidge.

Was going to fit these this morning but I decided I couldnt bothered.

Re suspension turret bracing the basic idea is to copy this idea below but a bit better made and welded.............

I can do this no issue on the driver side but the lower bar to the outrigger will have to wait till a 'zorst is sorted.
This will need something to link to on the inside.

Having been rubbernecking inside the car I can see a way to make this work.

I'll need to add a bar between the two sides of the dash just below the level of my dashboard.

This will run just over the gearbox tunnel and go behind the radio frame.

Obvious this means I can add some tangs to the new bar and bolt this to both the rollcage at either end and also to the radioframe via some tangs.

Radioframe is now quite a strong item being in one unit with a solid bolted alloy tunnel, this will really tie up the cabin.

Also works out well that the new bar will need a small kink at either end to allow it to pass behind the radioframe. Perfect cause I need to run two bars forward inside the car from this new bar to meet the new turret braces .

This bar it will be bolted to the bulkhead on the inside to sandwich the bulkhead between the two bar flanges.

The clever bit being I can join the bars inside the cabin to the new main lateral bar at the kink points rather than simply onto a straight bar that would flex a bit.

By putting the links onto a kink I get no flex and no real need to support this lateral bar to stop flex lengthways (a straight pole easy bends dunnit)...However it will be supported by bolting to the radioframe anyway at the middle of its length... the radioframe is solid mounted to the chassis and cannot flex back and forth as its supported by the tunnel...I reckon it's pretty solid and probably more solid than most of the original car!

So I have a plan anyway. It works out better this way as I can keep the supports from the turrets in-line through bulkhead and not kinked through pedals etc to meet the existing cage, if I had an angle change at the bulkhead this joint will just flex anyways.

I think I am aiming to stop the chassis flexing like a lengthways banana between the wheels and somewhere just behind the bulkhead, also stopping the rear of the turret/rear top wishbone pivot point squirming about.

The rear mount now takes all the force from braking effort / twist cause the front wishbone mount is braced via my beefy strut brace.

Also having tubes from the turret down to the outrigger is clearly essential to tie the lot together, although fun on my passenger side. I can do this job totally bar the passenger side which is good as I mentioned chopping the outrigger about.

I won't be making the front bars from anything as thick as those shown in the picture, total overkill I reckon as the lengths are very short, seen the tubes on a Caterham chassis? like pencils.

Yes it's adding some weight but I remember what a marked change it was just fitting the cage to the general stiffness with a few more bars here and there done with some thinking I am sure it'll be better prepared for 200HP.

Also one has to remember these chassis are all knackered by now anyway, gone like a piece of rubber after being work softened? :) for years, can use all the help they get. I reckon my chassis is arite through cause its not got a single plate welding on it and no corrosion.

This job might get my juices flowing again now sure I can be arsed with the suspension job yet.

Need to find someone to bend me some tube and get some materials.

Neighbours won't know whats hit em after 7months of quiet :)

Fear not DaveArseWide will be back in business soon, back and as bad ass as ever. Infact even more skilled cause I learnt alot stuff doing this car, didn't I.

Plus I have some "weapons" I have been sitting on I will have incorperate these into my projected schedule of events.

Plan of action.

Got some new springs today, 325lb 2.25" and 5" length.

Be interesting to see what suspension feels like again, torn between the 300 and 325....

I want to actually be able to feel that I have suspension :)

The car rides fine etc on decent surface just there is no movement at all, this means on rough wild roads its pretty nutty/nervous, great on a race-track way to wild to enjoy high speed gaunts on country lanes...I think it would be better served with a softer spring, also I cant get any feel for damper adjustments cause there is no suspension? :)

Well happy with the rose-jointed shock mounts etc, thats part of the reason I want soft springs, there is no "boing" in bushes etc so it's just razor sharp, spring and damper acting on any movement, I'd like to feel the wheel working on the road over yumps rather than at this time the energy often goes into ramping the car around as the energy isnt being disipated into a correctly weighed spring.

There has to be a point of harmony, it's not on my current 475lbs springs. Remember I lost alot of mass at the front. I remember 330lb being quite soft on my old spit, so they might be just ok on this.

I want to get on and make some turret braces next. Brace the turrets to the cage and to the outrigger and look at stiffening the chassis a little more at the front, say give myself a 10kilo budget. That would pretty much conclude any work at the front. I want to fine tune the ride and stiffen the thing up a bit, not sure if it needs stiffening but it can't be a bad thing. I have a strut brace now so that would in effect give me a chassis over the original chassis at the front.

Rather than putting tubes through the tub I can just link them on plates bolted to either side of the tub so the relevant sections car be removed. Also gives me the option to link 1 or more tubes to each plate etc. I don't intend to use really thick tubing but more smaller tubes!

Also I was looking how how to get a really nice exhaust on it.

Reckon I can modify the outrigger shortening it and supporting the body a bit differently on the outer-end. Looking at the rubber like construction of the outer end of the outrigger I can't see that adding any rigidity to the chassis/tub anyway, its made of rubber, the outer end is just a rest/location point. I think I can rebrace this from inside the footwell instead with stuff related to the turret bracing.

So by loosing the end of the outrigger back to the proper box section that the inner tub bolt goes to I have a nice slot that is adequete to take 4x 1.5" exhaust primaries.

Just where the out-rigger went they will converge into two secondary pipes of 1.75" and around 10" in length and I can run a 2.25" main pipe underneath the floorpan along the sill seam at the outside cooking the passenger to death.

This will actually hang down less than my exhaust can, so it's a good solution and gives me the ability to run a main pipe to the back. I need to have a gander at how the pipe will run from the footwell backwards/related to suspension ideas, so I will stew on it for a while.

Quite keen to make these jobs an immediate priority. Mainly just basic construction stuff bar the exhaust manifold. It just needs a good exhaust so bad!

So I might just focus my attention at finishing off some jobs at the front half of the car so atleast something is totally compete.

Bizarre happenings

I had a good blast back from Wales today.

Been making the odd minor adjustment to ignition maps still and jetting, oddly back on some older main jet/tube combos and finding then better with the perfected progression jetting. Fiddling with the cam timing and whatever, but really nothing more than the odd 2mins here and there once a week or so.

The car was loving the cold air today, it was just good.

I lowered the front a while ago, super slammed it. Doesn't work. The top wishbones need the inner pickups raising cause the balljoint is so articulated that it is almost out of travel. Eckk.

Top wishbone has so much rake on it. Plus it gave me 4deg of camber on the front lol...it's been interesting to drive.

So I decided i'd done bad and got inspired to handle a spanner for the first time since May.

I needed to remove the alloy spacers from behind the wishbones to get rid of some camber (before using the wishbones! extreme!), raised the front up, checked it all over, dismantled the hubs and had a gander at those, general once over.

Decided to have a crack with some "stock" ish settings and a decent travel allowance on the suspension.

Setup camber at a very gentle 1.2deg neg (car doesn't roll like it used to), setup tracking again to no toe in or out...

Faffed about, started at 8pm, fuck me it's 4am :)

See I dented the underside of my exhaust can a bit at some point, probably the fking great piece of wood I drove over a while back.

Be interesting to see what the front is like now, I want to gather some more info before I take it apart this winter. I'd like to raise the rear a tad also and actually do the tracking this time...It's just too wild over bumps, crazy surfaces with 7deg of negative camber YES 7 DEGREES.

Had a gander at the brakes, great stuff! Discs are just lovely even look no ridges and smooth, pads evenly worn and looking nice, dust is quite low now, great brake kit, always dependable, good amount of feel, pads are not great but I with a set of 1144 or pagid they will be amazing!

That's all.

Hey, I have a blog...

I have some urges to work on the car but I am not acting on them atm, they are increasing. I've not felt at all creative or arsed to do anything since I quit smoking. However I have been "getting back into" making some stuff the last few weeks but not car related. Feeling a little more normal.

Spent some time this evening looking into what will be needed to remake the exhaust manifold into a longer primary 4-2-1.

Will redo this myself, I am quite confident it's an easy job.

I make my own collectors from tube with the correct convergence angle, around 15degrees the rest if just some angles and extending the existing primaries.

The rear-end needs a LSD so will need to make decision either subaru or ford diff.

Thats the winters jobs hopefully then I can get some track use from it next year and dial in the chassis.

After that it'll just need a decent set of ratios in the gear box and be good to pull the engine, slap in some forged pistons, fuel inject it.

Been using it as everyday transport for 4months :) It's done quite a few miles...

Amazingly i have not needed to put a spanner on it, only bothered to check the oil for the 2nd time the other day.

Had the odd fiddle with the ignition and jetting thats about it.

Want to see what the difference is with another exhaust before I do anything else decision wise.

Could use another caterham manifold was one on fleabay with the silencer this week but went for £175! I got my bare manifold for alot less than that last time. I'd rather not just chop mine as I spent time making it + cash. You never know it could be useful...

I could change the layout at the same time, ditching the sidepipe silencer and running the main pipe down the entire length of the sill instead, closer to it, then kinking around by the rear wheel and heading to a larger silencer under the boot, I can kind of design that into the manifold and use my current silencer.

While the sidepipe might look cool etc it's gonna get ripped off oneday....It makes great dust clouds though when your at 7000rpm and driving really close to a dusty verge :)

It needs the LSD so bad, you can't get the powerdown anywhere if your have any decent lateral load on the tyres.

Few thousand miles....

e


completed.....

Having got over the mammoth task of doing the engine swap, refinements, majority of engine tuning might be time explain my thoughts towards this monster I have created?!

It's been a good few weeks with the car. Why? Really I haven't "needed" to once open the bonnet to fix anything bar that clutch problem since mile one, which is good. However bar making very small adjustments to the carbs pump system I haven't felt the need to change anything for a few weeks. It's all held together, all worked as intended.

I've fiddled with tyre pressure, dampers, ride height but nothing fundemental.

Was a long slog to get the carbs where I wanted them, which wore me out a bit, hense I have been quiet on this blog building up some motive. I think it was hard mainly due to this funny short primary exhaust manifold.

I think its a bit crap low down and wakes up at 3800rpm or so. I have the ignition/fuel setup on the nose low down and it's flat on every setting...so.....

Ended up making some custom idle jet holders and custom emulsion tubes which I am currently happy with. This was to get the cross-over from circuit to circuit good. I mean good, I mean faultless. So good that I barely need the pump jets in the carbs.

Ecomony is good now, made some minor adjustments to the ignition map and I'd say the low-end is done. I'd like to get it on the rolling road now the fuelling is perfect all over to setup the ignition mapping from 3500rpm-redline.

I say the exhaust is bit mute/crap low down however with the weight of the car it's still got plenty of torque you can drive in 5th gear everywhere and it'll still be perform like the old engine through the gears?! Remembering that is just 1800cc! It's fine, it goes really nicely the top-end is excellent, and there is very much two sides to the car.

I just mean I could see some 20ft lb additions to the low-end. It's a bit flat but it drives faultlessly. I am actually pretty happy with the whole setup atm. Top-end power is good. I don't expect a change to 4-2-1 exhaust manifold would improve the top-end at all.

I really haven't felt the need to adjust the cam-timing or carbs jetting at all, I only modded the ignition map the other day as on 95RON fuel I heard some pinking labouring up a hill in 3rd.

I mentioned two sides to the car. I've got it so good low down, it's just like driving my BMW when pottering about, faultless silky smooth feel to the throttle, no rough areas, flat spots, jerking, hunting, pulsing, you'd need a ride in it to feel how nice it is. It's really nice to just go out and potter about in, happy in town, can drive it at 1200rpm in 5th gear and it picks up clean, drives itself along really nicely on closed throttle considering the fact the flywheel is so light.

The other side to the car is somewhere you don't stay in for long, as you pass legal speeds in a second or two or come on the next corner. It's a total animal when you keep it in the wide-open throttle location between 5000-7300rpm.

So I've got two worlds. I had this with the tuned 1300 but it was flat as a fart at the bottom.

I think now the engines pretty well setup that the whole effort was worth it, the car is really ballistic performance wise, not stupidly fast but there are loads of upgrades for finding another 30-60HP, but able to manage the power ok and and doesn't resemble a Triumph at all in performance, handling, poise and ride anymore.

I've been out everyday in it for about a week "blatting" for an hour or so just enjoying what I have created without any need to stop and measuring something or adjust something, thats really nice. "Blat" is a caterham term for a drive :) Blatting means you can overtake any car you come across and spin your wheels alot and be bad.

The handling is just miles better, you turn in harder, later and sharper and there is none of that understeer and front-end wash, it's just on rails, really noticable in slow corners.

I think the effort put into the front suspension was very much worth it, it's a big step forward. Another level.

I drove a "tuned" spitfire the other day, with all the normal additions, being frank it was a terrible, vaige, wandering, rackish, yuck!

One thing that's really noticeable with my car is the fact everything is SO SO tight, you have no vaigeness anywhere, no wandering, it's just all put together well and working nicely. You'd need to drive it to understand.

The effort put into my car has really just moved it into another level. Have to get passenger seat in the car sometime so people could understand what I mean :)

I've given the car some pretty hard use I go out driving ~ I go out "driving"...Nothing appears to want to break atm.

Engine has used a little oil in 3000miles, about 1/4 of the measurement marker on the dipstick, barely anything. I don't really care about the engine, only the cylinder head, the engines are two to a penny.

Traction is quite poor now with the superlowered suspension setup I re-instated, back to 2006 level. Camber is massive on the back, gone is that unstable handling I mentioned and it's back on rails, but it's just a joke it spins wheels the now in 3rd if you hit a bump and can spin in the dry all the way through 2nd...

Its pretty easy to handle and control when it goes sideways, hard to compare it to before "balance" wise bar what I said about turning harder, sharper and faster and being less fissy...cause it was difficult to establish what the balance was bar on the track when you can go in superdeep and drive through the corner on the power, I admit I've not gone total nuts in the car cause your doing 120mph in the blink of an eye! I do know it's MUCH MUCH MUCH easier to drift cause of the pure power increase, you can spin the inside wheel at 100mph in a corner and go sideways, before on the 1300 that was all over by about 50mph.

I did get epic'ally sideways in 2nd the other night, kind of missed the fact it was a bit damp and mashed the pedal I ended up looking through the passenger window to look down the road with near full lock on :) Good to see my cat like reactions automatically scooped it up I drove the next 1/2 mile literally laughing my head off at how insanely out of control that was :) I am sure it was good show for the punters drinking in the Malvern Hills Hotel beer garden. Would be bad to have ended up inside the pub.

There are somethings the car needs;

It's crying out for a different gearbox, the stock type9 ratios are appauling when you start pushing serious power. 2nd gear is good for 62mph @ 7300rpm I think but it's just a joke, you can be at 20mph in 2nd and floor the throttle and your on the limiter in about 2seconds :) You might think 60mph is ok in 2nd, but it's not, you can't use 2nd around a hairpin really cause as soon as press the pedal on the exit your thrown up the tarmac so fast you need to shift gears. Would be really more useable with a TranX or Quaife box.

I've been using the rev limiter ALOT, it's not my style but the engine spins up so fast it's hard to understand whats going on :) Also it breaks traction alot and you can find yourself on the limiter.

I cycled past a wheelspin i did the otherday on the backlane, it was about 80metres along :)

1st gear is useless I've taken to pulling off in 2nd now.

Basically it needs a 1st good for 45-50mph and 2nd good for 75mph and 3rd good for 100mph or something.

The rearsuspension is actually ok, but it's not great as transmitting power over uneven surfaces and it tramps and dives alot. So it needs the roto-CV, coil over job doing, don't think it needs anything that fancy just needs setting up correctly, right dampers, springs and geo.

Passenger seat and a hood.

Very much in my good books atm. Turn-key use.

Hoping it gets me through the summer, I'll pull it apart over the winter and do all the above. It's quite brash I might add a few kilos of carpet / make my carpet set / trim it, make it a bit more refined. Got a few harmonics in the tub as the engine is near hard mounted and the seat belt bar has harmonic and rings at a certain rpm related to the exhaust, so could fill that with foam or something. Still got a fuel smell in the boot, can't trace it, no leaks, no damp spots, odd.

It's not a car you can exploit on the road, you'll get into serious trouble!

Waffle?

Bit quiet on the car front, can't get my head into it atm, non-smoking related shift in psychology?

Can't get interested in creating anything either?!

Concentrating on Poker playing atm.

Grossed about $1000 in 20days playing, at the lowest stakes, not all profit but most of it is. Not bad from a $50 deposit!

Almost scored another solid final table result last night, 22nd place from 3500 people. Ironically the A7 playing donkey who drew a 7 over my AQ won it...He's $1200 better off! Only brought in for $2.20!

Confidence is growing I can turn a solid living from Poker Tournament playing, but it won't be an overnight thing, but it could be, just waiting for another solid result to boost my bank roll over $1500 and I'll step up to bigger earning buyins.

Even a pro cant expect to win more than 1 in 100/150 tournaments really, finish in a max of 18-25 out of each 100 you enter. I've been holding a level bankroll between results. My $25 deposit has been pegged at $650 for the last week, I've not had any "big" results this week, but that's how it goes, no matter how good you are.

So spending my time on this atm.

Qualified though to all 5 of the Pokerstars $300,000 freeroll finals! Pretty good cause the qualifiers are rockhard.

You can make some massive cash in some of the tournaments, each sunday you can enter the $1,500,000 Sunday Million for $200 and win like $420,000 if you win, even a low finish in the 30's can earn you a "nice" years wage! That's a way off yet, I'd want a $20,000 bank roll to be doing $200 buyins.

Qualified in the Top10 from 416 players and got free entry to the Sunday $250,000 tournament earlier, costs me 0.77cents to qualify :) Field was 26000 players, I finished 819th after getting knocked out on a coin flip when my AQ was beaten by AJ (JJ). I was short stacked anyway, I had to take a gamble. I made two errors playing too conservative, I could have tripled up twice I reckon I could have run on much further. I am still learning all the time I have a solid conservative, calculated game atm, I am trying to introduce more advanced plays and risk stratergies as needed without corrupting my solid game and maths use on each hand.

Sadly only $67 prize :) Top prize was $27000.

I think I am going to sell off my carbs and a few parts, get some Jenvey 42mm DTH (direct to head) throttle bodies, fuel inject the car using Emerald ECU, make the exhaust a 4-2-1. Whenever I get motivated anyways. After doing about 3000miles in it I know what it wants...I need to get all the remaining parts together for the back-end also. Pretty happy with the car, had a storming run along the road from Ledbury to Ross-on-Wye and back the other night, totally flat put. Happy with the front-end,suspension.

Not much!

Got a few more jets and filled out my jetbox a bit more.
Useful addition to the dash, a 12V fag lighter outlet, like a fag lighter but without the lighter bit. Means I can charge and power stuff!
Lowered the front about 1/2".

Not driven it since the last blog entry. Just waiting for an excuse for a decent journey to go on / do some decent logging of a few jet changes. Also need to relocate my speedo's pickup, it's a bit random, I was going to check via GPS. 3000rpm in 4th should be 50mph.

Matrix Mode

Another useful logging method in which can display average AFR readings in each cell versus MAP and RPM, some have min of 10 logs per cell and other have up t0 600 or more, so a good average is made.

Image above is more open road slow cruise, hense leaner low down than the image below, but below is a different idle jet setup. The image below has some slow town work and some fast acceleration between, so more green rich readings lower down as slow speed acceleration was dominating and use of the pump jet, lots of pulling off junctions and using idle to 2500 to accelerate. Idle is best at 12.7-12.9 so this dominates at slow speed, once constantly rolling as above it leans off.

Found 7850.1 and 55 idle is now better than my 7850.9/58...I couldnt use 7850.1/55 before as the 5 tube was too delayed...I will testing my hunch as per the other two postings made once my 150 correctors arrive!

So it's important to take readings in context. You'd say it was too rich in the 2nd image, but when your not accelerating its ok as per the first one! or similar, can't be the same as the jetting is different!

Car has been giving me some postive payback lately. I like to make steps forward, clear improvements and developments. Its coming together nicely but the package needs polish in some areas. The rear suspension is miles better now it's lowered, even if the straight line traction is slightly impeeded by the extreme camber, or made the extra power?

Engine is running nicely, nice and smooth at the top you can batter the limiter in 2nd, 3rd and 4th and it feels happy. Cam timing is working well yet I am sure I can squeeze something more from it, but I want to work on this cross jetting before another stab.

Its a pleasure to drive like a granddad just pottering at 1000-2500 rpm...Runs nicely down there, will drive and pickup from 1000rpm in 5th, can slot it into 5th at 25mph, its quiet and smooth. Seems to be doing good gas mileage, excellent when really pottering. Good thing is, once the jetting is done it can only improve more when the ignition gets sorted! I don't think its far out though I worked on it some already.

Tuning detail

This is the about the last area requiring tuning. Marked in white dots. The image at the bottom of this post has red dots, these are showing the exact area of concern, this is just a couple of seconds of logging.

I gave the pump rods 4 turns of enrichment from where they were but have yet to test this, I didn't use the car today. The pump adjustment was related to another issue, not the one I will ramble about here.

Above shows a small issue.

This was climbing a gradual hill in 4th gear, the engine was not gaining rpm, as shown, actually just loosing rpm or just static speed. Torque is ok so I am not into the throttle too far. The MAP reading is not accurate, it is different to the reading in the ECU, it reads too high. I have two MAP sensors connected, the one connected to this software needs calibrating to match the ECU output. I don't need to do this atm. I will do this to finalise the ignition though I need to get logs on the MAP to work out the final load sites.

Anyway. I have pinpointed this area to a certain location on the throttle, rpm range.

It's when you should be accelerating (in the carbs mind) but you are not gaining rpm, lightish load, you are very gradually and slowly opening the throttle from a cruising or level situation, so the pumpjet is not active.

Basically I have a small gap between the idle/progression and main jet. This graph shows this perfectly on a creeping acceleration. This effects other areas but the effect is hard to see or less obvious.

So my current jetting is;

58idle jet
7850.9 idle holder (quite weak)
142 main jet
7 emulsion tube
155 air corrector

I need to very slightly enrich the 7850.9 idle holder at the top of it's range by filling in 1 of the 6 small air holes I think, I don't want a richer idle jet as the mix is good elsewhere and the airholes in the holder effect the top of the holders rpm range more than the bottom.

Also firstly test dropping the air corrector on the main jet stack to 150 and then use a 140 main jet. This will fire up the mains a tiny bit earlier using a smaller corrector, earlier in the throttle position/rpm.

I then hope that the high-end mix and the rest of the mixture on main jet stays as it was.

I will have dropped the main jet size and moved the main jet stack operation down slighly in the rpm range while taking the progression/idle upwards to meet it.

I will firstly test the 150 corrector using 140 and 142 main jet's and examine around 10mins of data on each rather than messing with the idle jet, as I have a nice setting on this...

Thats the great thing about logging this stuff, it's all there to examine, you just need to sit calmly and remember the drive and how the data relates to your feeling.

I know when I was taking this data shown in the image the engine was struggling when it got to 15.4AFR under load, this is fine at light cruise, but not when you are in a mild acceleration phase or bringing load onto the engine. Certainly 16.4 is way too lean.

I looked at the screen of the laptop at exactly this point cause the engine just started to hunt and faulter. I know it doesn't like 15:4+ under any real loading...

I had this happening just 3 times or so in two log sessions of 5mins each, but the underlying overlap issue is there all the time, just not enough to cause a faulter or hunt, just a touch marginal.

If I can sort this problem there will be a good torque increase in slow transitions in this rpm window, or this throttle position location, it's not related just to rpm but also TPS...It's a very small window like two-three hundred rpm and 5% on the throttle spindle opening.

If I just push the throttle a little harder the main jets come on as soon as the MAP reading hits 89 and the problem is gone I see this on a few logs, also the pump jet activates on firmer pedal usage.

The issue is on creeping slow throttle opening between 84 and 89MAP in the rpm range of 3000-3200 or so.

I know that on the 160 air corrector the main jet overlap on the same idle/idle holder is too late, this issue is present all the time, hense I am using a 155 :)

Using a 145 main and the 160 corrector, the main jet mixture once it's working is basically what I have on the 142-7-155, same all over, just a but late, so the 140-7-150 should keep the same mix and make it happen a tiny bit earlier!!

If not enough I will doctor the idle holders. I'd rather bring the main in earlier to be honest as it livens up the "drive", the active and eager main encourages you to gun the engine :)

Dropping the main jet size may not be bad thing if I can bring it in earlier as in some other areas I have a touch too much fuel just over this area I am trying to fix, the air corrector acts in two ways, effecting the start point of the main jet and the high end, the smaller corrector won't enrich the main jet much at lower rpm (where my issue is)....So maybe this is the "perfect" setting!?

So there is science to my suggestions.

You can see the same thing going on two blocks to the right of the dots, I just open the throttle the MAP goes up two-three points, a tiny bit, not enough to get any pump jet and AFR jumps from 13.6 which is ideal for the situation and hits 15.4, had I just opened the throttle a tiny bit more it would have stayed at 13.6 or enriched to 13.2 or so.

The area just before the red dots (to the left) is when I levelled the throttle to a cruise, the area in the reddots is when I just feathered it back on, so this area needs minor enrichment as I increase load. This not an area to use the pump jet really, too slow on the pedal, I have stiff pump springs to keep them quiet here!...I look at the pump jet as the last resort, this is a challenge for jetting!

This is really minor stuff now, just cleaning out the final few annoyancies.

I was delibrately feathering the TPS here to get this exact info!

General stuff

Been alot of wideband logging when using the car. Also cam timing trials.

I have pretty much found the sweet spot on the exhaust cam. I don't know what lift this relates to but it's simply using the vernier marks and swinging it slightly either way and assessing the engine's performance.

I know that advancing the exhaust cam, or giving it less lift at TDC, less overlap doesn't work at all at the top end, the engine is a dog, but it it does drive better at very low rpm and low throttle opening...I swang this around enough to know where is good or within 3deg at the crank anyway, I can percieve any changes by feel below this level. I have something to go on when I decide to get the car on the rollers and setup the ignition anyway...

I know advancing the inlet cam doesn't work from where I timed it. The top-end goes, as you might expect. Advancing the inlet cam means the opposite of the exhaust, more advance means it opens the valve earlier, more lift at TDC. This means also that the valve closes earlier, so top-end power is reduced as the fuel isn't "rammed in" at high rpm and you loose the ability to "ram" fuel and air in via the speed of the inlet flow, that last "cram" of gas into the cylinder. I have yet to conclude my tests here. I am currently running 3deg @ the crank more than I timed the cam at.

I do feel I have a good setting atm, a good spread or torque and power.

This was complemented on a private test track last night. I took the car to 7200rpm in 4th which is about 122mph I think, on my 3.89 diff. I didn't bother to hit 5th and carry on :) Car was still pulling pretty hard when the rev limiter took over it was accelerating well at this speed and should max out in 5th gear I think, somewhere around 150mph?

It's the best its been at the top-end, the mixture is also faultless from 5900-7300 holding a constant WOT mix of 12.7 air to fuel ratio. I have a funny mild lean out from 5400-5900 where the mixture goes to 13.3, which is ok but a tad lean for peak power. I have this mixture issue on all jetting and cam timings...I could use a stack of different trumpets to test, I could be getting some stand-off or flow pulse issues here?!

I also find that the cam timing has some effects on the overlap from carb circuit to circuit. I had it near perfect but it seems to be flowing a tad more with the current cam timing and needs some very minor adjustments. I am very close to cracking the jetting. However first I want to conclude my cam timing experiments so as to have a firmer idea of any jets I need to acquire. So it's balancing alot of factors.

I have tested lots of jets. I have increased the gas mileage alot by changing my jetting dramatically from where it was before I fitted the logging equipment.

Plenty has gone on, but I can be bothered to relay it cause most of it was not worthwhile. This is a totally unknown setup, unknown head, cams, exhaust, inlet manifold, carbs, etc. So I have to do the job of a major manufactoring company to get the results I want!

Lowered the rear-end back down to "dog with an itchy arse setting"...Tracking was all screwed after I raised it 1inch from where the tracking was setup! Rears been a bit nervous, also adjusted my old SPAX dampers on the back using a hammer.

This is the 2J1 wideband unit. Must say it's been faultess in a few hours of testing, good bit of kit! You can log of alot of data from it, EGT, MAP, TPS, RPM, VOLTS, Fuel pressure etc and log all this in software.

I will pickup the next caterham manifold I see on ebay and keep this for the future with an eye to making a 4-2-1 manifold and back to back test them sometime.

I have the logging kit running RPM, Manifold Pressure and Fuel Ratio, this is useful to see exactly where the throttle is and what the mixture is doing. I could use getting the Speed sensor on there also as load and rpm don't always tell you the right picture as more speed = more load!

Reasonably happy with the general performance atm. I made an error in trying to do some logging the other night when it was damp on the road :) I couldn't get any traction over 4800rpm in 3rd, just solid wheelspin to redline....I also had some wheelspin in 4th at 6000rpm...Interesting...2nd was just useless, basically just sit on the spot wheelspinning! It spins the wheels in 2nd at 6000rpm in the dry anyway.

I've been testing quite alot of stuff on a relaxed schedule. I had a persistant pump jet issue and tried 3 types of mechanisms and sorted that...I refuse to use a rolling road to setup the mixture and fuel, so this must be completed by logging and road testing as this translates into the right "feel" for the engine.

Above shows the software I have been using to log AFR, MAP and RPM.

You end up with something like that above...

You can then zoom it. Above shows a moderate acceleration in 4th gear, the MAP reading is high so this indicates an open throttle position in the first 2/3rds of the image. The ideal mixture for peak torque is around 13.2...Here shows I have around 13.2-13.1 during mild acceleration, so perfect. The MAP reading then lowers to 70 as I lift off and start crusing, closing the throttle a bit, the mixture goes to around 14.8-15.0...perfect!

Stoic or perfect combustion is 14.7 (where all fuel and all air is comsumed) and ideal cruise on this engine appears to be 15:1 or so to around 4000rpm. I have some leaner areas in a certain throttle location I will work on, but this is generally how things are at this rpm range.

The image above shows a WOT power-run in 4th. You can see my leanout in the 5700 range. The mixture from there up redline is perfect @ 12.5-12.8. The mixture before the leanout is fine too if you do a long 4th gear run from 3500-7300. I'm not that concerned 13.5 is ok, safe, if it was 14+ I'd be worried.

So I've been busy messing around with this useful info trying to get that best carburettor mix!

I want to sort the rear-end out when the engine is done, cause I will want to go and track the car.

I want to soften the front, down to 330-350lbs springs, it's too hard : 450lbs with an 87kilo engine! Need to sort a hood for it too...

Once that is done the car will be about finished. I'll be looking to sort a better gearbox and some more HP at some point, but no priority atm I want to polish the package first. I'd like to increase the rev limit now from 7300 as the top-end is better but the pistons might give up.

I've no idea how much power it's making. I've not much interest either...It goes fast but you get used to how fast things go don't you :) It's got a few horses anyway cause it was pulling nicely when it hit the limiter in 4th!

I've still not had to put a spanner on any of the work I did and the clutch slave job was perfect!

It's been giving me some decent payback last couple of weeks. However my batteries are still a bit drained. It's better now the engine tuning is coming together and I've got the equipment in to accurately read the dynamics, plus having done quite a few miles in it and nothing appears to be falling apart or suspect. That clutch job pissed me off.

I'd like to move forward from engine fiddling ASAP and start gathering the bits for developing some other areas and just snagging a few bits and sorting a few rattles etc. It was a nice break while I was recalibrating my brain to nicotine free.

I had a gander at the full drama's of the job ~ 2006-2009 on this blog earlier, what a load of work! Christ.

I can feel the "fasting" on working on the car has kindled some motivation I've not made anything or fabricated anything for 2 months, since the clutch job? I think I'll keep it cool for bit longer and work on some easy improvements to keep me hungry. Psychology is important in these big jobs!

Well....

Been a lack of blogging.

No real reason, just been having a quiet period of doing other stuff.

I heard a rumour my car was smashed up, probably started by someone .........We wont go there?!

Well, was fine the other day and unless something fell onto it in the garage? Doubt it.

Well the clutch release fix was top banana. Clutch is 10x lighter can almost push it with your little finger, lightest clutch I have ever had, really smooth, no noise and works really really well. Nice long and progressive bite.

Car has done about 1300miles so far, believe it or not, used it for 2weeks everyday, no problems.

Probably more miles than most of those folks who say my car never leaves the garage :) When it leaves the garage it gets a pounding!

It's currently sat calm while I battle with quiting the fags and getting into shape. Been in a diet of exercise and healthy living. 1month without any smoking. Been pretty easy actually, but had to keep myself to myself and avoid the garage and change my routine. No cars and No Blogging.




I sold my LC-1 Wideband cause I actually sold it for more than I brought it for! So I just waiting to pickup another wideband Lambda unit and finish off the tuning of the engine. To be totally frank I can't seem to crack the jetting, well the last little bit, so I'll have to resort to using technology, I kind of gave up and then quit the fags, thats was a month ago and I've not been near it since. I'd like to get the carbs as good as possible before I make any final judgements on the setup.

I could just about flog the carbs and bits like inlet manifold, fuel pump and stuff and straight swap them to go fuel injected on some jenvey DTH bodies using an Emerald ECU...but first I want to just get the carbs nailed.

I had this sick idea about fitting all the VVC stuff back on, the whole lot and using the stock ECU and plenum...Dunno...like to fiddle, I do like to make sure that i've maxed out what I have got first. Not much work, the wiring would take 10x as long as the cam swap etc.

Top-end could be "bigger" over 6600rpm the cam's might be a bit mild...could use some 285's really...I await my final adjustments first could be a bit rich or lean. Need to test some bigger carb chokes too...Again need a wideband first.

Done alot of messing the cam timing also inlet was good, exhaust needed adjustment as it was unknown....joy of open vernier pullies; i was doing road side adjustments in under 2mins per adjustment!

I made a few videos of it driving...

Oh and rear damper is dead, buggered to replace it atm, I want to ditch the entire rear-end, so awaiting the motive on that, diff's had it too, leaking and the entire lot needs sorting....

It works, I'm relieved at that, the next stages will happen whenever I feel like it...

Kind of glad to be out of the Triumph Engine lark...I built 4 stages/4x 1300 engines from 2001-2006 before the final one in 2006, each more powerful than the previous, I had my fill....I maxed out that cast iron stuff...People still often comment I built one engine, blew it up and fitted something else....That's nonsense.

The previous engine to the grey one of 2006 was the best, cause it lasted AGES took a total beating using the car EVERYDAY doing 250-300miles a week... with motorway trips at 6500-7000rpm in top for 2hrs each way. That engine was great had more torque and only slightly less top-end than the grey one, was easier to tune and ran smoother...The +60 overbore was a mistake on the grey one I reckon, +40 MAX is best. The TH5 and TH7 were crap cams, the previous engines FastRoad89 was much better.

That Grey engine pushed the valves, pistons and everything past what had been a reliable system for me...Basically the extra power and rev's pushed those stock valves past what had been a totally reliable setup...I had been using those types of valves for 4 previous builds, well before I frequented any forums.

The next engine needed to be STEEL and full of expensive parts, to make it reliable, either that or step backwards and detune it...whats the use in going backwards? Sideways or Forwards, but never backwards!

Don't forget, I was messing with those Triumph engines WELL before I setup this blog...I have owned this car for 9 years! I was doing ALOT of miles in it for 4 years. Enough to bash up a set of big-ends every 12months, there's only so much cast iron stuff you can take, and core stock gets worse and harder to find each year.

Not alot of blogging going on.

Cause ive been updating on the forum instead.

So car was all fine. Fettling it, the release bearing still making a noise and whatever.

So it had to come apart.

Which is a pain the arse. In no rush I've just done the odd hour here and there.

Decided to bin the expensive Burton Co-Axial Clutch slave cause it was crap and the bearing is not utilised correctly on this application, it needs to be sprung and running in constant mesh on the clutch cover and there is no spring mech on the Burton thing. Also no dust seals, you live and learn.

Making the adaptor plate was pretty easy.
So to fit a Ford Co-Axial Hydraulic slave from a Mondeo I needed to knock up an adaptor plate. It's shown above and below in some early stages of lathing.
This allows me to bolt the new unit (£35) old stock to the existing gearbox nose mounting adaptor.
The adaptor on the rear needed skimming down by 14.5mm. It was 25.35mm thick.

To leave it 10.85mm thick.

The new plate and the old plate (after skimming) plus the compressed new slave = 75.89mm thick.

The old slave and adaptor plate was 77.89mm in fitted condition and in mesh on the clutch fingers.

The old slave was 2mm "out" when static, so I measured the compressed length of the new slave (fully compressed) and made the system 2mm shorter, so giving 2mm of slack before the bearing and hydraulic slave are beached.

2mm to account for any endfloat, flex on the crank and also wear on the clutch plate causing the fingers to move out on the clutch cover.
Compressed below.
Fully open, the unit is sprung to keep the slave in mesh on the clutch fingers.
Old unit below.
Completed adaptors shown below.
Main adaptor plate made from a lump of alloy.
Unit roughly fitted.
Bleed hole with enough room to get an 8mm socket on it and fit a cap.
Test fit, perfect. 2mm of slack and around 16mm of throw left.
Have to check for "over throw" on the hydraulics/master cylinder next as I don't want to pop the piston out. Will use a 5/8" master cylinder this time. I had more then enough throw before and the piston size is the same on the slave. The clutch was heavy and like a switch anyway.

Just need some hydraulic adaptors and slap it back to together then.

Car goes like shit stink.

Some bloke in a new Golf GTi tried to jump me the other day. I was slowing to wait for a car to pull off the road on the left. I slowed to low rpm in 2nd and the car turned off. Some joker in the GTi pulled out after the car had turned off and started to overtake me?

Anyway. I just decked it in 2nd by which time he was almost a car length ahead and had a real jump on me all screaming and geared up, anyway the Beast just oblitered him, it hit 4000rpm, went nuts and sailed back past the GTi like it was standing still or was a 1000cc mini or something. I remember all the shift lights going off and hitting the limiter in 2nd (7300 atm), by which time he was about 40yards behind, by the time I lifted off at 7000 in 3rd he was about 80metres behind :)

It doesn't mind reving anyway, 7300 is pretty conservative I think, it was still wanting to go!

Showed him.

Road Legal.

Bar waiting for the V5 or talking to the DVLA about TAX she's legal. MOT'ed!
Can't knock it! It all works, it drives nicely, nothing I would change immediately after doing the other few small tweaks I mentioned before. Few miles of running in to do, then tune it.

Yet to take it over 3500rpm more than once or 60mph...Drives nicely at low speed, good manners, nice in town/traffic, good easy cruising in 5th at 1500rpm...Did move the throttle downward to about 1/2 throttle in 2nd earlier, needs jetting at the top-end, but it moved pretty sharpish from 3000-4500rpm.
Finished off remaining hardware for the other spitfire this afternoon, I'll have another bash at that one this weekend/later in the week...Should see most of it done with another marathon.