850 replies to this topic

[Steve220]

Bit of an update.  Had a chat with SC - they weren't helpful.  Contacted SCS and got their updated cable for the ecu, much happier! Car booked in for the 18th for mapping

 

Went to Bingley with the forum, really good day and not too sunburnt after!

 

 

 

 

 

Finally got the SC subframe bolts installed, a comparison to old and new!

 

 

Ordered and installed some new DSN parts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a gratuitous photo at work!  I'm having this as a print made by the flying club :)

 

[Junior Mini]

That's been nicked for my new desktop picture 

Thanks Steve.

[GraemeC]

How does those subframe bolts work if the shoulder is so much longer (or at least it looks to be)?

[Steve220]

How does those subframe bolts work if the shoulder is so much longer (or at least it looks to be)?

The shoulder doesn't bottom out on the subframe. You can see how far the threads go in on the standard bolt by the lip of copper grease :)

Edited by Steve220, 04 June 2019 - 10:17 PM.

[GraemeC]

The shoulder should bottom out - that’s what these bolts are designed to do. Gives just the right a,pint of compression on the bushes (same as with the rear trunnions pins and the front tie rods).
The copper slip doesn’t reach the end of the thread as the first part of the subframe has a clearance bore - the female thread starts further down the hole.

[Steve220]

The shoulder should bottom out - that’s what these bolts are designed to do. Gives just the right a,pint of compression on the bushes (same as with the rear trunnions pins and the front tie rods).
The copper slip doesn’t reach the end of the thread as the first part of the subframe has a clearance bore - the female thread starts further down the hole.

Ah right, take it up with SC then. I'm solid mounted and they work fine for me.

[Chris.Williams]

Hey Steve, to save me searching through your build, did you use a genuine Garrett gt1752 or an eBay equivalent?
And what has been your experience either way?
Cheers
Chris

[Steve220]

Yeh, genuine garrett. I was lucky too as the one I bought had recently been re-cored! Spools very well!

[Anthony30]

Yeh, genuine garrett. I was lucky too as the one I bought had recently been re-cored! Spools very well!

The Ebay turbos must be made of cheese. £150 ish, and still making a profit?  

[burchy35]

I ran a Chinese 1752 for a couple of years with ok power (172) with no bother at all. I may of been lucky but it surprised me how it lasted taking the punishment of the track.

[Steve220]

I ran a Chinese 1752 for a couple of years with ok power (172) with no bother at all. I may of been lucky but it surprised me how it lasted taking the punishment of the track.

They're not bad units, some of the quality is surprisingly good! I got mine for £90, but was stoked when I saw it had been reconditioned!

[Steve220]

A lot of you will know what happened to my car from either the other forum or instagram. Basically, the mapping session didn't conclude how I'd have liked, despite telling the mapper that it needs to be slightly richer than normal to compensate for the outer cylinders running leaner. It did make 150bhp & 146lbft of torque at 13psi on 95ron fuel though!

 

 

 

 

Aaaanyway. After a long morning of runs and refining, I noticed puffs of white smoke appearing from under the rear of the car after a pull. Spoke to Ben and he immediately shut off the engine. After stopping the fan and looking around for a bit, we couldn't see any leaks and checked all fluid levels. All good, so started it back up, white smoke billowed out the breathers (not good). A compression test revealed:

 

1 80psi

2 175psi

3 170psi

4 175psi

 

Not good. Ben said head gasket, I said piston, he said potential stuck valve, I said piston. We got into a debate of knock/fuelling and he said everything was where it should have been and was running rich top end. Anyway, I drove the car home with white smoke pouring out the engine bay everytime i had to stop, parked her in the garage and left her until the next day to pull the engine and found the following

 

 

Lean on the outers, anyone?

 

 

Cylinder 1 marks

 

 

Cylinder 3 grazing over the top of the gudgeon pin

 

 

Absolutely no signs of det/knock on the tops of the pistons (just lots of carbon), on the cylinder head or on the bores. Full strip down began.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cylinder 1 exhaust valve

 

 

 

Pistons came out... and no surprises here! 

Piston 1 with 2 broken ringlands on one side

 

 

 

Piston 3 with one broken ringland

 

 

Ringland piece removed

 

 

 

The outcome is slightly serendipitous. At the end of this year I was intending on building a V2.0 engine anyway, so this just gave me chance to do it now. I was on the phone to MED for most of the morning talking through piston options, sending them pics of pistons etc, and who they trusted to complete the build (they wouldn't do it as they only did race engines  ) I eventually went for Southam Mini & Metro Centre to do the engineering and bottom end build with the following spec:

 

Block bored to +0.040 - 1310cc

MED cast pistons with 10cc dish

Block to 11 stud

MED centre strap and ARP bolts

Matched A+ rods with ARP bolts

Polished crank

New ACL bearings all round

MED 1.3 roller rockers

 

They are also taking into account that it is a turbo engine, so the tolerances will be suited.

 

Whilst it was off, I also took the gearbox to John at Guessworks to investigate an issue with 2nd gear... and also as a late addition - a Quaife ATB diff from Swiftune

 

I also did a large gasket and seal purchase from Rimmer Bros

 

 

Got an insulating spacer for the inlet manifold (bored out to 50mm)

 

 

And the great guys at Forge Motorsport took pitty on me and I got a turbo blanket

 

 

Before it got comfortable in its new jacket, the turbo was stripped and is off to Telford Turbo's tomorrow morning for a bit of their magic!

 

 

So the conclusion to this. I'm not angry that the mapping wasn't right and the pistons let go, just frustrated. I did trust Ben to do a good job but I got every other reason of what it was rather than admit it was detination that killed off 2 pistons. I'm going back to Chris at EFi Parts for the next mapping session. My lessons from this - find a mapper that knows A series engines well, use super unleaded (98+ron) and do plenty of research before parting with your money; in ALL aspects of modification. The power I achieved during the mapping was almost exactly what I was after, I just need longevity now!

 

Hopefully I will get the engine and gearbox back at the end of next week.

 

[REVVIT]

Sorry to here about your engine issue I've personally experienced rolling road dilemmas in the past with so called specialists..On a more important note i personally know the guys at southam you are in safe hands 

[alex-95]

Shame about the problems you've had, especially an engine build so soon. As you say it's so frustrating.  What was wrong with your second gear? When are you hoping to have it back on the road? IMM?

[Steve220]

Shame about the problems you've had, especially an engine build so soon. As you say it's so frustrating.  What was wrong with your second gear? When are you hoping to have it back on the road? IMM?

 

Second gear pops out occasionally on over run, John is looking into it. I'm hoping to have the car back together before the 18th as it is due to be at RIAT for the RAF Mini Club! As long as i can get the engine and gearbox a week tomorrow, i should be able to get it together and running! Cleaning won't take long as it's ceramic coated.