Saturday 28 July 2012

Screen wash upgrade

For a long while, my friends dad wanted to make something for my car. He's a welder and was keen to help out with either the exhaust, roll bars or anything.

So as the plastic washer bottle was one of the things I didn't like the look of, I drew something up to match the coolant tank.

I was really impressed with what he made!
A curved mounting bracket is a must, as unlike the coolant tank bracket, this doesn't rely on the big hoses to hold it in place along with 2 screws and would wobble on a flat bracket by its self.

One problem was how to see the fluid level? Most places only stocked the black or grey plastic type. But I tracked down some plated swivel push fittings that take normal washer hose through my local hydraulics supplier.

When I drew you the tank, I requested thick wall sides as I was going to tap a thread in there but want sure which side. Only downside is the tank is a bit on the heavy side...
Drilled and tapped the 5mm stainless slowly and carefully not to brake the tap in there! 1/8 BSP I think.

On first fit, there isn't much hose there for a good visual level check, hmmm.....

This way looks quite sleek
I had to get GD to tweak the bracket a bit as my friends dad was unable to final fit due to ill health.

As the filler cap is the same as any rad cap, I had to remove the bottom sealing rubber to allow air in through the overflow tube during use.

All fitted and looks the bollox!
 Polished filler caps are from Summit Racing.

Wednesday 25 July 2012

GD suspension Visit & ECU Mapping

Its quite a feeling when you think, so many components in bits, boxes, nuts n bolts, wires and hoses went out their door and now I'm taking them all back in one piece!
Or it could be considered outsourced labour, lol

The drive up was timed great, lovely hot weather and clear roads. Took me 3 hours with a fill up stop. Shame about the 06:30 alarm call for the locals.

I had kept the suspension soft to help bed it all in since the track day so was ready for their final setup. (part of the deal with the Euro chassis).
I had to turn traction controll off as it wasn't quite right yet and cutting in too soon... Job for a rainy day.

Andy and Meena were very complimentary on the finish I had achieved, which was nice to hear coming from them.
Using his trusty gauges he set everything to where he wanted to see it. He was very methodical and old school in setting everything up. He explained to me how very few garages set up the geometry correctly. Along the lines of not referencing the rear toe and ignoring cambers. They rely too heavily on expensive machines.
So after spending a fair bit of time adjusting things he took it for a test drive.  His comment of "Oooh, its nice and loud" put a smile on my face.
We went through some bendy roads and he gave it a good throw about (he knows those roads too well!) and was very happy about how it drove and how the steering and brakes performed. He did point out a slight dead spot in the steering that he thinks could be fixed by double checking all the Steering UJ's but its so minimal I can live with it for now while the sun is out. So all in all a GD seal of approval and thumbs up was given..... Some GD badges! lol.

I opted for the cut stainless ones. 

He does have some newer style ones that also replace the side 427 badges with (Gardner Douglas 427), but I love the look of the chrome Ford 427 ones too much.

Now that was done, I headed off to Shaun who was only 45 min's away to get the EFI mapping finalised.

On the Way I stopped off for a bite to eat and grabbed a sarnie and fuelled up. While I sat in the shade of a tree, A chap made a special effort to drive into the car park, pull up where I was parked and get some equipment out..... :) hehehe.
 Sorry if this was you, I should have made the effort to at least open the bonnet but I was laying on the shady grass bloody knackered from a late finish the night before and a 06:30 start with a 3 hour drive.

So I got to Shaun and we started with a few drives to see what was what. I mentioned about a misfire at about 4500rpm under full load. Initially he changed the map areas as we drove and did a few drives with different loads and speeds to get the majority dialled in. Then came the big pulls and he noticed the bit I mentioned. So we did a data-log and found I had some interference noise as revs increased. At 4500rpm, the ECU data spiked to 5700rpm telling it more fuel was needed causing it to bog down for a split second. This was ironed out with a few highly technical phone calls to Phil and after a few more tweaks with noise filter setting we ironed it out. Turned out to be from the VR sensor in my HEI distributor. It now pulls like a missile all the way!

The aftermath of a 400miles round trip! :-D


Have to say, it was a comfortable 400 miles, no aches or pains when I got home. Ear plugs are a must though, The wind noise alone can do enough damage over that duration.