PollyMobiles Rebuild

pollyp · Nov 18, 2024

My Consult diagnostic cable made by old Blazt tends to annoyingly freeze the laptop at random whilst datalogging with NissanDataScan

I thought it was electrical interference but I noticed that simply nudging the cable will disrupt the signal & freeze the screen, so there must be a loose/bad connection?

The old cable connector loosed dirty inside, probably dirty terminals so I cleaned the pins

Here's all the terminals on my 1998 consult connector

& close look at the Blazt USB Nissan Consult control board

Now it can datalog without freezing.
Went for a datalog drive to compair the current setup with the old runs

Subjectively I think she feels faster but it might be increased NVH

Comparing all the 2nd gear 3k-7k rpm pulls along the same slip road on all my videos treating it like a dyno pull, the data says all my N/A setups have exactly the same acceleration

New 4-1 mani with big exhaust pulls the same as my old 421 header with slim exhaust, & the previous oem mani that's been enlarged to 2.25" & even when I stripped the lighter interior

But comparing the datalog also told me the MAF is reading lower/worn/dirty, the new TPS can read higher, new loom has less voltage drop.
Resulting in higher injector duty & period = richer AFR = little more power
But the heavier big exhaust, subwoofer, brakes & wheels might have counteracted the higher HP?

Today I took a long gentle 60mph cruise on a chilly day to finally test if the removed PAS & smooth 4-1 manifold helped reduce some drag loss?
Answer is nope, she did the same 44-46mpg as before

Guess I'll reinstall the power steering cos it doesn't affect mpg and parking with manual rack & LSD has been an absolute pain lol

pollyp · Nov 22, 2024

Brought a BiggRed service kit on ebay for rebuilding the rear calipers with fresh rubber & pistons for £37

pollyp · Nov 29, 2024

2024-11-22 Peugeot 307 MOT

The old peugeot failed it's MOT after the handbrake cable snapped, tie-rod boot split & worn left ball-joint

So immediately went to eurocarparts, replaced the handbrake cable which was really easy peasy

Replaced the left tie rod end

I didn't feel any excess play on both lower ball-joints

hmm maybe they meant the original inner control arm bushings, which does look perished? so after swearing at rusty, badly placed & odd-sized fasteners, I got the arms off

new bushings

pressed the old ones out

press new bushes on

both arms mended after 6 hrs

went for a retest BUT guy said I replaced the wrong part!
the ball-joint still has lots of play. wtf he showed me and it's a tiny amount.
ok I'll replace it, thankfully he didn't charge the £10 retest once he spotted this

upright removed

yeah that left ball joint was slightly worn & loose

thankfully it was a smooth process to replace

it finally passed its MOT

pollyp · Nov 29, 2024

2024-11-29 Compare Turbo WG Actuators

The Turbotechnic S116 & spare GT1549 turbo both use the same size WG actuator but have different port layout, I was wondering if they have the same spec & can be swapped?

So I hooked it to a pressure tester, apply incremental pressure & measure the travel

Answer is no they're both different.
The larger S116 turbo (rated upto 12.3psi) uses a softer spring, opening more per PSI
whereas the smaller GT1549 turbo uses a harder spring, opening less per PSI

Both actuators would be applied with 2mm preload, meaning the WG doesn't start to crack open until boost gets over 6psi.
at 12.3psi the S116 WG opens by 6mm while the GT1549 WG only opens by 2.5mm

In other news, I added this rubber cover over the gear stick joint to reduce some road noise & dust

Also currently designing the boost pipe layouts

pollyp · Nov 30, 2024

It feels like the LSD preload has gone down recently cos it wheel spins a little bit more in the cold season, doesn't chatter as much and I can spin the wheel by hand with little resistance BUT the ramp does still engage / lock during right turns.

It's been 4 mths since fitting the LSD so good time to change the oil & see if it gets better

(note: yup changing the oil made the LSD plates feel little more 'grippier' once again).

CG13 gearbox takes 3L of oil.

oil mostly ok but hazy with debris

usual debris on the plug, may have grinded a gear recently

also replaced the wrong size regular manifold bolts with correct length stainless bolts

pollyp · Dec 3, 2024

2024-12-03 Service Peugeot 307 & Binding Caliper

The Peugeots rear caliper has been binding for the past few yrs, so I'll try refresh the old rubbers.
Brake line is seized on, so I'll just leave it attached & strip the caliper apart.

Yeah the piston seal has definately gone old, hard & had to peel it out the cylinder

easy enough to remove this handbrake mech so I'll have access to wirebrush the grooves clean

Also cleaned the piston mechanism

note: it was a little dirty/rusty within the self-adjuster plunger hole, so I cleaned it off plus cleared the 1.6mm oiling hole at the tip of the piston for oilng the dust boot

Rebuilt caliper now fully releasing/retracting the piston when foot or hand brake released, doesn't drag anymore

The battery has been struggling recently.
It holds 12.6v fine outside the car when I trickle charge it.
When left overnight with car locked, it struggles to start with just 12-12.3v
When running, it only gets 13.58v with a 60mV drop from alternator to battery +ve.

I think the alternator is worn out, unable to fully charge the battery upto 14v

Changed the oil filter after 12 mths

pollyp · Dec 6, 2024

2024-12-06 Rebuild Rear Brake Calipers

Time to overhaul the rear calipers because the dust boot was slightly torn

Ahh, this thin plate I welded over the damper top cup has now rusted away

It was just cheap thin untreated sheet steel, plus there were gaps at the sides where moisture could've seeped through and rusted inside out.
Another thing to repair soon

The rest of the arch (which was rusted treated, zinc primed, coated with epoxy primer and finally polyurethane topcoat since 2yrs ago) is still solid with no signs of rust coming through, so the tough coating is working

I should paint the same stuff under the sills & front arch when I repair it soon.

Both calipers removed

Note the damaged dust boot at the bottom where my pliers slipped when retracting the pistons

Both pistons are still ok & smooth

Managed to collect two sets of repair kits over the years for the rear Micra calipers & GTIR front calipers

Both kits from Brake-Caliper-Solutions and Bigg-Red feature very similar seals

The Bigg-Red kit came with additional new hollow-pistons & seals for the piston-plunger

The main difference between the kits is the handbrake swing-arm seal.
Big-Red has a thick tapered head similar to OEM whereas BrakeCaliperSolutions uses a shallow flat profile seal, which may not seal as good.

Left caliper stripped apart

Right caliper stripped apart

I spotted the left caliper handbrake-plunger (sits within the piston) has some rough pitting spots on the flat bearing surface,
which could cause the tiny thrust bearing to jam & affect how smoothly the handbrake mechanism self-adjusts.

Easy enough to machine smooth on lathe

The biggest issue is how badly corroded/pitted the drivers handbrake swingarm shaft is

That definately won't provide a good smooth seal to keep dirt out & may require welding/machining

Replacing the whole caliper just for that swing arm ain't worth it.

Checking clearances of the lathe, the big swing arm will foul the tool holder and using a parting tool with extremely long stick-out ain't gonna work

Marked the angle of the shaft relative to the swing-arm

Decided to machine the back-side of the shaft thinner

So that the shaft can be separated from the swing arm

Giving the lathe tool enough space to machine the shaft down to smooth clean steel

Next task is to weld a fresh layer steel onto the shaft, machine it down to a smooth dimension & attach it onto the swing arm

pollyp · Dec 7, 2024

Added some welds using the lathe.

Cardboard shield keeps spatter off the jaws.
It span abit too quickly so the weld wasn't consistant but after adding few mm it was easy enough to machine down to size

Machined down to 15.95mm with a fresh groove for the seal

Welded onto the swing arm

Shaft is now nice & smooth

Cleaned the bores

Right caliper uses a brass insert for the handbrake shaft

Whereas the left caliper uses a teflon insert

ps: the groove for the rubber seal to sit within is 2mm...

So when I tried fitting the Bigg-Red seal (left) it wouldn't sit properly cos the lower lip was too thick at 3.2mm
The flatter seal from BrakeCaliperSolutions (right) sat properly in the groove cos it was 2.0mm

Both calipers fully rebuilt

Installed, bled and working very smoothly with no binding at all

Can't be bothered to fix this minor rust hole while a storm is blasting here

Ducktape it for now lol

pollyp · Dec 11, 2024

2024-12-11 Peugeot 307 Check Alternator

The old peugeot has been struggling to hold enough battery voltage left over few days to crank the car, the battery only receives upto 13.5v when running.

Thinking maybe the alternator diode is wearing out, I began taking it out to check it.
Damn peugeot placing their bolts in such awquid tight spots facing the exhaust making access very difficult

Eventually managed to wriggle the 4 bolts out

Need to remove this little cover to access the regulator

Nice of peugeot to tigerseal the area

Peeled the tigerseal off to unbolt just the terminals

Couldn't risk peeling the tigerseal off the regulator & slip-ring cover cos it was risky, running out of daylight, so I reassembled with the cleaned up bits.

Now upon further testing, the alternator +ve to alternator casing actually does output the proper 14v (so it's working fine).
But the battery terminals only receive 13.58v with no load,
13.0v with high load,
0.06v drop from alternator +ve to battery +ve
and a massive 0.50v drop from alternator casing to battery -ve

So I think the grounding cable between the engine block and the battery -ve is to blame for the poor voltage, probably corroded from the rain dripping off the windscreen onto the battery area

pollyp · Dec 12, 2024

2024-12-12 Solved Peugeot Charging Issue

For the past few yrs the peugeot's been struggling to fully charge/hold power over few days.
Alternator was fine, outputting 14v but battery only receives 12.3-13.5v
Battery also holding charge fine for days once trickle charged & unplugged.

Positive lead has a normal 60mV drop
Negative lead has a huge 600mV drop, which might be the main fault caused by bad earth.

So I removed the -ve battery lead

It grounds the battery -ve to the gearbox casing & chassis earth circled, both of which are badly corroded

Wirebrushed all oxide off, greased all bolts, reassembled.

And now the battery receives a full 14.10v

Drops to 12.95v when literally all electronics are at max load,
+ve lead has 60mV drop
-ve lead has 6mV drop

Fixed

ps: even though I've fixed the 14V charging issue & it cranks strongly, once I stopped the engine it still struggles to hold enough charge going from 12.4 down to 12.10v overnight

guess something still drains it or the battery's dying

pollyp · Dec 14, 2024

2024-12-13 Fix Exhaust Drone with J-Pipe

My custom 2.25" exhaust system was often quite loud & boomy for years but ever since I fitted the new equal-length manifold the exhaust had a very noticeable, loud & annoying drone when cruising at 3.1k rpm

I read this page about calculating & making a 1/4 wavelength J-pipe resonator

https://strikeengine.com/helmholtz-resonator-calculator-exhaust-j-pipe-length/

Few years ago I did try making a J-pipe with no success but this time I'll have more data for better results.

https://micra.org.uk/threads/pollymobiles-rebuild.35251/post-767679

I downloaded the mobile app "Spectroid" which allows me to analyse the spectrum of exhaust sounds & identify the loudest resonating frequencies causing this drone while driving.
Combined with onboard video & datalogging

The results are fascinating

The system resonates loudly at 52hz, 104hz, 208hz (basically every 52hz increment) especially when engine reaches 1560rpm, 3120rpm & 6150rpm

Footage shows that at the same 3120rpm point, increasing TPS & engine load produces more exhaust gas pressure which makes it resonate louder at approx 208hz

At 6150rpm which is at twice the previous resonating rpm, it hits the same resonating freq of 52/104/208hz but since the engine is now producing it's maximum pressure/load, it produces the loudest drone

After some calculations, I figured the J-pipe needed to be approx 433mm long.
Modelled some rough pie-cuts I'll be making out of a spare 1.75" pipe I had in the garage to plumb into my decat pipe & sits next to the mid-pipe silencer.

pollyp · Dec 16, 2024

2024-12-15 Making an Adjustable Exhaust J-Pipe

Refined the design to fit within the existing de-cat pipe with a support bar & clear the large mid-pipe resonator

Cut afew pie-cuts to make the 1.75" 1.25D smooth bend

Welded the bend

& trimmed the end to fit the 2.25" exhaust pipe

Since I dunno the exact exhaust gas temperature within the J-pipe, which would vary the required pipe length to target 208hz ranging from 400mm to 443mm, welding a solid end cap only to find out it's the wrong length & need cutting/welding would be a PITA

So I decided to make a temporary adjustable end cap by machining a pair of round chamfered pistons

By tightening a long bolt, this squeezes an O-ring inbetween the chamfered pistons which wedges & locks the end cap inside the J-pipe

I can tune the J-pipe by simply sliding the plunger in/out to vary the chamber length,
tighten the bolt to squeeze the O-ring & lock the plunger in place,
test with the Spectroid app if the droning noise has gone,
readjust if needed,
once I found the optimum position I simply cut the pipe to the required length & weld a permenant end cap

Recorded a video explaining the J-pipe

pollyp · Tuesday at 7:15 PM

2024-12-16 Fitting & Tuning Adjustable J-Pipe

Marked & cut the hole on the de-cat pipe

J-pipe welded on

Just enough weld penetration so that the bends are still smooth inside

Installed ready to tune

Marked the plunger positions so it's easier to measure length

To tune the J-pipe, first I drove for few miles to warm up the exhaust system and cruising at 70mph with the wrong setting the droning is definately less than before.

After a long cruise, the front of the J-pipe attached to the main exhaust pipe gets a warm 30-50C while the rear end stays at an ambient 20C, so the chamber doesn't really get that hot.

Once warmed up, the 1st test is to change the resonator length from 380-450mm, free-rev in neutral upto 3800rpm and note the measurements for each setting.

Revving under no-load doesn't create as much gas-flow therefore droning but it's interesting to see that as the J-pipe gets longer, the major frequency peak of 124hz corresponding to the engines rpm / firing frequency which is (3800rpm * 2 pulse per rev)/60 = 126hz remains the same amplitude but the other frequencies above/below gets slightly quieter

Next test is tuning the J-pipe to target the 208hz drone when cruising at 3120rpm.

at 0:00 - 2:10 while accelerating & allowing the steering to flick the other way quickly, the ignition randomly cuts, jerking the car, I can hear the IGN relay clicking on/off & blinking the EML during each judder?

It doesn't happen at all during normal driving elsewhere, only happens during this testing session.
Wondering if this is a bad IGN switch or the same bad wiring/connection within the Nistune ECU I had years ago?

at 2:10 - 3:50 I adjust the J-pipe from 380-450mm,
go for a consistant 3rd gear WOT pull from 2-5k rpm so the engine creates max exhaust pressure & droning,
measure & compare the frequency graphs for each setting.

As the pipe gets longer you can see it begins to target/dampen the lower frequencies but going too long at 450mm it starts allowing the 208hz drone through.

The optimum length seems to be 390mm with the lowest/quietest overall dB.
And now cruising down the motorway it definately doesn't drone anymore

I also recorded what it sounds like between having the Powerflow silencer, resonater & J-pipe, giving the usual muffled note vs a straight-pipe (by removing the J-pipe end cap) and holy crap she sounds brutally different, naughty, raspy & chavvy lol

Gave me a cheeky surprised smile

pollyp · Thursday at 2:02 AM

Marked where to cut the pipe

Made an end cap

Welded

The droning is not as severe as before but there's still a little hint of that 208hz resonance, maybe cos the end-cap wasn't cut perfectly square (affecting how the sound reflects back) or maybe it was slightly off the optimum length?

pollyp · Saturday at 12:47 AM

2024-12-20 Stainless Fuel Filler Pipe

Been wanting to replace the factory mild-steel fuel filler pipe with a stainless version cos they all eventually rust from being exposed in the wheel arch, leading to rust in the fuel tank, clogging the filters & pump, & leaking fuel.

Began stripping apart a spare pipe to measure up

Gonna re-use this screw thread & cap

This device inside the pipe only allows unleaded fuel nozzle to be inserted,
helps reduce splashing back while filling,
the sprung flap helps stop fuel gushing out if the car was inverted,
& the breather port at the side allows the tank to freely vent out/equalise pressure while filling up.