Didn't get to break the engine in on the rollers
I was booked in for 3pm yesterday for a break-in and power run but the day before I was having some issues with it spluttering under load, idled fine but not under load, checked all I could but found nowt, thankfully got some help from The Matt and he said check the throttle position sensor, checked it and it was off, after some kerfuffle I got to it and adjusted it and it was idling fine, took it out for a spin and under load it seemed alot better but still not perfect, I figured if I can nurse it to the rollers the next day then they can sort it out!
So yesterday morning I thought I'd finish off the interior (really critical for a rolling road tune!)
And decided it was time to tackle the air filter, it was sitting right up at the inlet manifold practically touching the underside of the bonnet and there is waaaaay tooooo much heat up there so picked up some heat wrap and some bigg-ass hoseage and plumbed it up
Ran a duct pipe to it which is not so discreet from the front!
11am and all going fine, I'm not booked in till 3 and it takes about 45mins to get there, all going sweet, happy days! I've done all I can so time to take the car for a quick spin and see how it is.........it was worse than the day before
I can't even get out of 1st
tried a couple more things but no luck, checked TPS and its still on 0.50v and re-calibrated the throttle pedal on the laptop after and still nowt.....
12 noon call up the tuners "I'm having problems getting to you" he says do what you can and keep me informed your not in till 3"
Start it up and on listening to the engine I can hear what seems like the exhaust leaking at the Y piece, place hand and yeah its leaking, try nipping up the clamp and snap.......clamps gone, oh great I really need this right now, thank you
Jump on bike and go hunting for an exhaust clamp, get one and get back and fit it and start it up.......leak has gone yeeeeaaahhh!
Leak has gone but still bogs down under load
its now 3pm call up tuners "I'm still struggling here" he says "we've still got one on the rollers from earlier and its taking longer than we thought so keep trying and let me know how you get on" now I'm stuck, I aint got a frickin' scooby what it could be and can't even think straight, for some reason I'm staring at the boot lid at this point and start thinking fuel?
Pop off the fuel filter and theres still fuel in there so point it at the bin and blow into it, it comes out but not as flowing as I thought it would be? luckily I've still got my old fuel filter here I used on the b16 (from a 3.0 v6 laguna) so I top that up and blow through it and it spouts out quickly? The filter I was currently using was from halfords for an audi, so back on bike to motor factors and pick up a filter for an audi rs6, get back install it and it starts up fine, take it out for a spin an guess what? running smooth as under load, great but now its 4.30pm
so zip it upto tuners, literally threw all my tools and gear and got there about 5.30, great, expect this bad boy noble who was booked in for 6pm is already on the rollers.....
Spoke with the tuners and he said "you never called me to say you was on your way otherwise we would've waited?" he had a point, I was rushing around and was glad to get the mini moving I forgot to call them, either way I'm here now, I asked "any chance I can put my bigger injectors on whilst you mess around with that thing?" he says no problems, if you hang about we'll get you on after just to make sure they are running fine, sorted
I was still running the b16 injectors (240cc) which for run-in is fine, but I had some RC (370cc) which I wanted in there so in the car park I change the injectors over in a whizz and as I'd never seen a noble up close and personal I thought I have to have a gander, turns out the owner used to have a z-cars hayabusa lump in his previous car (which was not a mini)
Guess how much his road tax is on his 2.5ltr v6 twin turbo 165mph road car? £180, guess how much I paid for road tax last week on my little ickle mini? £220
Moral of the story, if you want cheaper road tax than a mini, but a noble!
Anyway, had to get the obligatory footage, he was getting a stage 2 expecting 340hp
351hp with 333 ft lbs, oh yes mummy! and he's going to Le Mans next week aswell
Noble finishes on the rollers at 10pm then my turn, I turned round and said "No breaking-in, no power runs and just map it upto 5k revs only so I can finish off running the engine in" I had a gut feeling and as I have a history with rolling roads I thought I'd play it safe as my day was not going well so far....
One big problem I had before the rollers is these dam engine mounts, poly filled? yeah right. I've changed the engine position four times in the last two days and still no luck, these mounts are toilet and the guy who done them is already banned from the forum (another forum) for shoddy work, yep I agree
Anyway, the best I can do is to get the diff 10mm from the steering rack but now the clutch slave hits the front bar on start up, other problem is having it that far away means it sometimes doesn't go into or pops out of 4th as I've got a short shifter and the engine is sitting a bit too far away...
You can see here on the rollers how much the engine moves, oh and that noise near the end was the result of the shoddy engine mounts - alternator pulley was clipping the bodywork even though there is a generous amount shaved away from there...
Managed to shift the bodywork a bit so it clears but still needs attention my end, this one again just shows how much the engine moves off throttle, what you can't hear is all the banging/knocking on the other side where the rad is sitting close to the wing
This one is just for my own personal satisfaction, just incase this car don't make it to Le Mans next week I can still hear the off throttle LMP1 car pops but in a mini sort of way
Was fun driving back, people can't make heads or tails of it - my job is done
Car has been mapped to 6k, I said I'm changing at 5k anyway as its still run-in miles, he said aslong as your nuts n bolts hold up you'll get there, I said do you know who your saying that too...
Car runs sweet now, but still 50/50 on taking it, still got a few things to do so we'll see, but I did get my ticket come through so make that 90/10
I'm not gonna apologise for the long useless post, I've had a complete 'mare with this when I didn't need it, also I got in from the tuners at 1am this morning and was due in work at 7am then back on the car after work, I am really happy at this point, and I need to take it out on someone, you happen to be in the way
Next job - sleep
