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PollyMobiles Rebuild
- Thread starter pollyp
- Start date
h701micra
Deactivated Account
Paul you may have just made me extra skint
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pollyp
Club Member
ok I dunno what's going on with pollymobile II (I shall call her Kasandra or is it Cassandra? named after her reg KSG)
but kasandra seems to be playing nice to me tday.
although she still has a slight internal bleeding (damp pistons via rings) and kinda struggles to get up in the morning (coldstart), she hasn't been smoking at all no matter how long I idle her or push her. the worst I saw was just steam from the cooled exhaust after idling for so long.
I then uploaded the original remap for the forged turbo with the O2 now installed (slightly tweaked MAF graph near idle) and she runs AFR perfectly.
her compressions from 11.8 12.0 12.2 12.1 at 1610m
11.8 12.0 12.0 11.9 at 1639m
will see what she's like in the coming days but if she behaves and the wetness is internal, I may have to open her back up n stretch her rings to hopefully stop the bleeding (k that sounded naughty)
but kasandra seems to be playing nice to me tday.
although she still has a slight internal bleeding (damp pistons via rings) and kinda struggles to get up in the morning (coldstart), she hasn't been smoking at all no matter how long I idle her or push her. the worst I saw was just steam from the cooled exhaust after idling for so long.
I then uploaded the original remap for the forged turbo with the O2 now installed (slightly tweaked MAF graph near idle) and she runs AFR perfectly.
her compressions from 11.8 12.0 12.2 12.1 at 1610m
11.8 12.0 12.0 11.9 at 1639m
will see what she's like in the coming days but if she behaves and the wetness is internal, I may have to open her back up n stretch her rings to hopefully stop the bleeding (k that sounded naughty
)
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pollyp
Club Member
i might get one when i knock my tool bill down at work
Paul you may have just made me extra skint
just like any tools it's an investment and provides an extra capability that may save you time & effort if u know how to make best use of it, plus also fulfills ur curiosity of whats happening inside
plus also fulfills ur curiosity of whats happening inside
Oh dear my childish side is laughing so hard
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pollyp
Club Member
heya thx for the compliment
the MA10 main & bigend bearings are oversized 0.25mm
the upper shells with the central oil groove and 2 holes (think they're the same distance from both edges) matched my main oil feed holes. only mods required was cutting the locating notches and an extra hole in the front upper shell to feed the timing chain oiler.
lower main shells just need locating notches cutting.
info bout conrod bearings etc from other engines, best ask frank imo from his wealth of experience
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pollyp
Club Member
h701micra
Deactivated Account
But not entirelymainly for mechanical use
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pollyp
Club Member
yea
if I just cruise normally, all the pistons have a 10-40% dry center and damp outer part.
if I coast from high rev or prolong idle, pistons 1-2 are still 30% dry but pistons 3-4 become fully damp/wet
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pollyp
Club Member
thought twas time to realign the wheels cos the strut/hub been moved since I fitted the new engine, steering pulls to the left slightly and front tyres wearing abit.
first need some ballast to represent driver & passenger weight so popped to BQ and grabbed 6 25kg bags of soft building sand for £11 (it didn't say 25kg but asked the worker and he says 25kg, verified on my scales at home). problem with soft sand is water, so some bags on the back seat has dripped through, meh.
grabbed the laser jig n swivel plates and camber plumbline and this is roughly what happens. twas getting late so not much light
basic process was:
0:00 position the swivel plates & blocks on the floor
0:30 create a level platform using a simple water level and stacks of tiles
3:40 drive into garage
3:50 load some building sand onto the drivers seat to represent my weight
4:15 jack up car onto the 4 level platform blocks
5:30 adjust each tyre pressure till they have the same rim-floor distance
9:00 place laser jig on rear wheels, check the rear axle is centered and straight
10:30 check & adjust camber to be equal
11.45 swap laser jigs on to front wheels
11:55 adjust track rod ends till the wheels are straight
16:00 lower car and clean up
went for a test drive at 11pm and she's straight n true depending on the camber of the road
first need some ballast to represent driver & passenger weight so popped to BQ and grabbed 6 25kg bags of soft building sand for £11 (it didn't say 25kg but asked the worker and he says 25kg, verified on my scales at home). problem with soft sand is water, so some bags on the back seat has dripped through, meh.
grabbed the laser jig n swivel plates and camber plumbline and this is roughly what happens. twas getting late so not much light
basic process was:
0:00 position the swivel plates & blocks on the floor
0:30 create a level platform using a simple water level and stacks of tiles
3:40 drive into garage
3:50 load some building sand onto the drivers seat to represent my weight
4:15 jack up car onto the 4 level platform blocks
5:30 adjust each tyre pressure till they have the same rim-floor distance
9:00 place laser jig on rear wheels, check the rear axle is centered and straight
10:30 check & adjust camber to be equal
11.45 swap laser jigs on to front wheels
11:55 adjust track rod ends till the wheels are straight
16:00 lower car and clean up
went for a test drive at 11pm and she's straight n true depending on the camber of the road
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pollyp
Club Member
29th June
to find out why it's been struggling to start in the stone cold mornings I recorded the datalog to see what's going on.
coolant at 17C, throttle and timing and AAC remain static but you can see that during cranking the injectors spike up to 30ms (during winter that could prob flood it).
immediately after cranking, it begins at 11ms and revs from 800, too rich.
gradually it reduces down towards 2.2ms and revs rise to the normal 1400 fast idle as it burns better and AFR leans from 12.0 to 14.6
morning smoke also reduced.
went for a long cruise. cylinders still only 10% dry n compressions good
next test is to see if oil is getting past the inlet stem seals via vacuum. so I cruised at 50-60mph with throttle 1/2 open to keep manifold pressure above 0PSI and maintain speed by turning the IGN on/off to pulse & glide.
cylinders still looks the same so it's definately not caused by the stem seals.
was running low on fuel so cruised back to the garage
after few hrs of cooling, I began to test a few enrichment levels. though the engine was still at luke warm 25C so wasn't entirely accurate.
first at 0:00 I tried setting the whole graph at zero enrichment but needed abit of throttle help so abit too low.
then 1:25 I edited the original enrichment to be slightly less and although it was a 40C warm start it seemed fine. won't know till the next morning.
7:00 was tweaking the acceleration enrichment but made no difference.
to find out why it's been struggling to start in the stone cold mornings I recorded the datalog to see what's going on.
coolant at 17C, throttle and timing and AAC remain static but you can see that during cranking the injectors spike up to 30ms (during winter that could prob flood it).
immediately after cranking, it begins at 11ms and revs from 800, too rich.
gradually it reduces down towards 2.2ms and revs rise to the normal 1400 fast idle as it burns better and AFR leans from 12.0 to 14.6
morning smoke also reduced.
went for a long cruise. cylinders still only 10% dry n compressions good
next test is to see if oil is getting past the inlet stem seals via vacuum. so I cruised at 50-60mph with throttle 1/2 open to keep manifold pressure above 0PSI and maintain speed by turning the IGN on/off to pulse & glide.
cylinders still looks the same so it's definately not caused by the stem seals.
was running low on fuel so cruised back to the garage
after few hrs of cooling, I began to test a few enrichment levels. though the engine was still at luke warm 25C so wasn't entirely accurate.
first at 0:00 I tried setting the whole graph at zero enrichment but needed abit of throttle help so abit too low.
then 1:25 I edited the original enrichment to be slightly less and although it was a 40C warm start it seemed fine. won't know till the next morning.
7:00 was tweaking the acceleration enrichment but made no difference.
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pollyp
Club Member
next cold morning I tested the edited cold enrichment at 17C and with the injectors now cranking at 22ms instead of 30ms and starting at 7.5ms instead of 11ms it cold starts alot better and begins cold idle from 1000 till 1300rpm. could reduce enrichment abit further next time
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pollyp
Club Member
oh yea, the cranking enrichment was lowered abit further and this morning it cold cranked/started n reved to 1300rpm no prob
now lets order another new HG n prep for ripping the engine out to stretch those oil rings, recheck all clearances, fill with last batch of 20w50 mineral and if all goes well and pistons become dry then we'll switch over to normal 10w40 semi
now lets order another new HG n prep for ripping the engine out to stretch those oil rings, recheck all clearances, fill with last batch of 20w50 mineral and if all goes well and pistons become dry then we'll switch over to normal 10w40 semi
Enuo
Glorified Electrician
Thread Hijack in 3....2.....1....
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pollyp
Club Member
just like life and science and everything, it's a continuous incremental progression.
some are more aware of stuff and the required actions now while others choose to be ignorant and deal with the issue later
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pollyp
Club Member
whens that..sept
assuming this last engine step goes fine and the engine'll pass emissions, then yeah.
well I have to cos its JAE. jee its that time of the year already.
whether I finish my todo list ready for a trackday is another issue, being a perfectionist
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pollyp
Club Member
on top of that, seeing as my car is sort of experimental and as long as we are always curious and have the drive, then potential development is never ending cos we'll always find and resolve weaknesses and push the boundary.
Enuo
Glorified Electrician
Thats why I love this forum, you rarely see experimental and tinkering on this level on vag etc forums. Inspirational stuff.
h701micra
Deactivated Account
Couldn't agree more.... imagine the vag boys if I told em I was putting subaru gear in a polo/golf
Enuo
Glorified Electrician
Couldn't agree more.... imagine the vag boys if I told em I was putting subaru gear in a polo/golf
Engine mods? That you, like, manufacture yourself? You mean it's not bolt on? Why would you bother?
Said every VAG owner and no Micra owner ever.
h701micra
Deactivated Account
COZ CHOO CHOO
1000% agree
And polly is one of our prime examples
With cars like ours, almost everything is bespoke. Also serves to highlights the ignorance of the 'built not bought' fad...
h701micra
Deactivated Account
Micras and their owners plus the RR guys are the only worthy people of the "built not bought" title.
Built isnt bolting on parts... because those parts are.. wait for it... bought
What about the guys on retro rides, they're worthy of bnb
h701micra
Deactivated Account
I'll happily fall into 'bought' due to being an alleged chequebook tuner because I employ the experience of others, (engine builder to name but one). Doesn't take away the fact that it was built of nothing but 100% custom items and was painstakingly put together from the crank up. Not just a hommage of stuff bolted together in the hope it will work.
But anyway, I am really spoiling Paul's thread with this political BS
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pollyp
Club Member
I think you can relate the car industry with the food industry.
think my cars under a bit of everything there
- some just purchase ready made meals (buy stock new cars from dealers)
- some will purchase a ready meal, follow another chefs recommended "recipe" to enhance it (the looks or flavour), buy the packets of ingredients (ie sauces, toppings, salt, vinegar) and follow the instructions (ready to bolt on mods to existing car)
- some will cook from scratch, follow a chefs "recipe", buy the packets of ingredients and follow the instructions (kit cars)
- some will experiment making their own recipe combo with existing ingredients (adapting/swapping parts from other cars to fit, kinda like how the manufacturers engineers try to figure how to fit their suppliers parts together in a neat puzzle)
- some will really experiment with making their own home-made ingredients and recipe from scratch (custom made one-offs)
think my cars under a bit of everything there
SirChris
Educated Bodger
If you love it who cares eh? I wouldn't mind buying it already done.. You get to enjoy it that way without the effort haha. I wish I had the money to send it away to be done. In the future I will probably do just that. I work all week why would I want to go mad all weekend. Plus you are paying people who know what they are doing and have experiance. My attempts will not be to the same standard ..one would hope.
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pollyp
Club Member
ok won't be taking the forged engine out this week cos the spare car is in use.
so in this hot day lets assess the broken stock engine.
first had to clear up the messy garage, once I begin "clean mode" its hard to stop
so garage is now organised again, uncover the stock engine
head off. one clean barely used HG intact
cyl 1-4
the misfiring cyl 3 is oddly drier
HG surfaces are fine
head is ok
cyl 1 & 4 looks normal
one of cyl2 exhaust valve is sooty
but both cyl3 exhaust valves are sooty from the misfire
removed pistons. notice the lack of any soot along the skirts so the rings are very good and there's no blowby deposits
bores look fine, nothing looked obvious.
so looking closer at the troubling piston 3 and from the sudden discolouration along the ringland we spot potential cracks
remove the rings
and holymoly pieces of ringlands drop out. yup there's our problem
so I have another spare engine for parts. whats the recommended steps to fixing cyl 3?
so in this hot day lets assess the broken stock engine.
first had to clear up the messy garage, once I begin "clean mode" its hard to stop
so garage is now organised again, uncover the stock engine
head off. one clean barely used HG intact
cyl 1-4
the misfiring cyl 3 is oddly drier
HG surfaces are fine
head is ok
cyl 1 & 4 looks normal
one of cyl2 exhaust valve is sooty
but both cyl3 exhaust valves are sooty from the misfire
removed pistons. notice the lack of any soot along the skirts so the rings are very good and there's no blowby deposits
bores look fine, nothing looked obvious.
so looking closer at the troubling piston 3 and from the sudden discolouration along the ringland we spot potential cracks
remove the rings
and holymoly pieces of ringlands drop out. yup there's our problem
so I have another spare engine for parts. whats the recommended steps to fixing cyl 3?
- swap over only the spare piston/rod and reuse the rings & bigend shells from the broken piston
- swap over the spare piston/rod/rings and reuse the original bigend shells
- just swap over the whole spare piston/rod/ring/shells assembly
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pollyp
Club Member
yes twas mapped on dyno at 10psi and been running for few years through few trackdays n roadtrips.
for some reason back in feb it prob detonated while overtaking
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pollyp
Club Member
I'd vote option one. All the bearings and shells are already bedded in to the block
If you use new ones... you'll be bedding in one piston.... surely that's not right
I agree.
k will rip out piston #3 out the spare engine and fit it with the old rings n shells back into this stock engine
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pollyp
Club Member
was attempting to clean the car tday in the blazing heat.
first the wheels. all cleaned with wd40. normal car wash just smears the slightly oily residue about.
I thought the front left tyre was always losing 0.6bars each day and found why. another friggin nail
fixed with a small screw and sealant. don't think I'll take it to tyre place and risk getting charged if this fix works.
cba to wash the body now cos its too clammy, do it tomorrow.
first the wheels. all cleaned with wd40. normal car wash just smears the slightly oily residue about.
I thought the front left tyre was always losing 0.6bars each day and found why. another friggin nail
fixed with a small screw and sealant. don't think I'll take it to tyre place and risk getting charged if this fix works.
cba to wash the body now cos its too clammy, do it tomorrow.
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pollyp
Club Member
its too hot for me. I try to wash the car in the shade/near sunset then just go out for a drive to clear the wipers and dry the brake discs so they don't rust.
given up chamoising and waxing these days tbh cos too much time n effort for little return cos its only gonna get dirty again.
given up chamoising and waxing these days tbh cos too much time n effort for little return cos its only gonna get dirty again.
SirChris
Educated Bodger
Protects against rust mate. Paint fade develops to worse things.
