JAE 2013
2013-09-12
Car drove there perfectly, pistons still half damp and has consumed 1/2 dipstick after 200m.
Arrived on a dry thursday at 3pm and saw Ralph, Iris & Joe who got there earlier, ralph scaring ppl with his quadcopter
Celina n Karl arrived followed by Harlen and Charlotte then Mik, James, Carrie, Louise, Chris, Gemma, both Andys, and many others.
tent popped up with help from celina. then saw toms car with chloe inside being pushed on stand, it overheated during the long entrance queue.
first day was alot of setting up, ooh ahhing at cars and catching up and meet new friends
no time for giving ppl lifts cos it was getting dark early so do it tomorrow.
the generator was broken so no power or lights, only had headlights from james celica and karls civic.
got talking with both andys all night till silly 5am
everyone was asleep but we got carried away still talking in the silent pitch black morning till before sunrise talking suspension setup n oil n turbos n pistons etc
was a productive night/morning cos we concluded that all the oil symptoms my forged piston has shown all the way could've been heat related.
the forged pistons have a high expansion rate and are meant to operate at high racing temps.
by running them just on the roads with a relatively cool stock 82C thermo, the pistons may not be getting hot enough to grow relative to the blocks own expansion and the poor clearances may be allowing tiny bit of oil to seep past the inner or outer side of the rings.
the next test would be to make it run hotter (partially block radiator or fitting a hotter thermo and/or taking her to the track) and see if the pistons dry up from the tighter clearances.
2013-09-13
Friday morning gave Charlotte a ride in the car as Celina insisted, did I spot a grin as I briefly boosted it on the slip road
Chris's injector plug wire had snapped so then gave him a lift, goes abit quiet when I boot it
prob just soaking in the sensations.
got few tools in maplin to repair his loom.
next gave Celina a lift who just couldn't wait like an excited kid lol along with Tom who knocked his head on my cam rig, oops soz tom
back at base we inspected toms motor. rad was dry, plugged plugs out and woah cyl1 was full of coolant from failed fire ring. other pistons are just damp. tis going nowhere but says he has breakdown recovery so prob best option. later on andy mentioned thoughts of swapping toms engine tomorrow, on wet grass with min tools and no crane, sounded mental and barely achievable but very difficult n dangerous within a day.
2013-09-14
next morning talked with glen that the original plan would be very risky.
getting a used 1.3 out of a scrap micra with little tools will take afew hours, working under the low car with no support would be insane, no containers for the old fluid, ripping the old engine out again few hrs, fitting the spare engine another few hours. doing it within a day with potential rain is crazy. also doesn't guarantee it'll work so could be a waste of money, time, stress and safety.
He suggested fixing the HG instead which is much easier n safer n cheaper, mentioned to tom and we did that.
I didn't have all the tools required so gathered resources. took the cover off to verify the required tool sizes n what needs buying from halfords.
tom had difficulty finding a micra HG from any local factors on a saturday, even chris had no success but maybe could try temp sealant as last resort.
gave louise, chloe n tom a lift to halfords to buy a headbolt tool, sealant and coolant followed by few supplies at tesco where we bumped into glen who mentioned stan had franks tel who might have a spare gasket.
phoned frank and he has one yay
but he's busy with charity and I'd have to drive there bout tea time.
guys hired another generator and got power now.
remove the head and omg what a mess.
the HG around cyl1 was totally perished so no metal epoxy was gonna fix that, and the coolant jacket had massive clumps of what appeared to be solidified radweld! this could be whats blocked the jacket, rad and more reason to advise ppl never to use it.
at this point there's quite a crowd building up from around the show and was told this was historically a first at jae, huh really? I'm thinking surely there'd be least some enthusiasts who'd least had to service/fix their cars at shows from a breakdown at some point so that was a
5pm time to drive to franks in birmingham which was a long 1hr drive. took stani along and farewelled everyone.
1hr through blinding sun n traffic we got to frank.
what a legend he is
fab enthusiastic fella, told us bout the victor reinz HG that the dealers repackage as £70 when they're actually sub £15-30!
then he dangled his car keys at me like a donkey carrot pointing at his white micra, huh what?
oh what me drive your turbo car?
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mind was thinking am I allowed/covered, what if? and before mentally answering thought ah fookit
sit in, seat was fixed so had to adapted position like when I once drove the oversized-kart ariel atom. what a privilege to experience such extreme experimental beast from the skunkworks of frankville
cold start instantly, oil pressure take few millisec to build like on mine, blip throttle to get feel and gosh its so sensitive n weighty n responsive like it has alot of power reserve off a bigger motorbike engine. clutch was light n vague bite but just had to modulate and adjust technique for now. brakes far from throttle and spongier so can't heel toe. no PAS so needs more effort than usual
squeezed out the driveway onto the roads for a short blast. with the static seat, sensitive throttle and vague clutch its such a different feeling driving interface, almost scary from the unknown as I first approach the roundbout in heavy traffic thinking "please don't crash don't crash!".
enter the open straight in 3rd, open the tap and phwoa what is this thing, it's insane! lol short throttle gives sensation of huge potential, then the boost gradually builds n pushes like my 160ftlb. face is like
change to 4th and there's hardly any woosh from the bov which is what I'd want on mine. 4kg flywheel drops instant for a snap shift and quickly reached 40mph limit.
approach next roundbout, brake, blip shift down and wtf as fast as I blip the pedal, the ultralight crank instantly revs up like a semi-auto supercar, faster than I can blink
I'm super impressed by that responsiveness and made more
returned back at franks, stalled once but ecstatic
what a day to remember, it's like between my turbos torquey drivability with the super response of the atom. makes my car feel like a ship liner afterwards lol.
super thanks to frank for the opportunity.
drove back 1hr to jae by 7pm and twas dark. flood lights on toms bay all setup like a tv show and a big crowd greeting from such a loving community, really special support
advised by lovely carrie to eat first before resuming.
Mik being the theatrical type guy a-ha's the crowd and announces my entry like a star lol
we then concluded how this was abit like mighty mods where mik was moog and I was asian marty
twas a surprising and unusual feeling to be center of a crowd attention which was nice n distracting but I had an engine to fix in short time so while enjoying the support, remain focused n calm n do what I normally do at home.
was about to fit the head but had to stop n cut out lights cos of the fireworks, which was awesome in the perfect clear sky
everyone applaude n honk horn, hazards, rev cold engines to death, me n louise walk down the stands for her first time to observe such special occasion, then andy removed his manifold to make even more noise but got told off by park rozzys, woopsy.
lights back on, back to work. head on n torqued, cams, chain and cover on, everything hooked, primed oil n coolant, start and she fires up on all cyls yay. big blowby from the cyl2 exhaust gasket I missed, bled rad but she kept bubbling n dropping level and smoke out the back. think the heads warped n unable to fully hold the gasket, bumma.
we're tired so lets pack up n bed n get it recovered home, poor chloe looked really exhausted facedown on the steering wheel with duvet :/
2013-09-15
up early to pack up cos frank said big rain coming by 10am. all day packing n cleaning up the stand n guys returning home. tom arranged rac van but soon found barclay only supplied a 10mile recovery, he's 120m away, couldn't upgrade his account so ended up paying a full £280
the cars able to barely run but with big ploom of smoke and having to stop every 5-10miles to fully fill the coolant plus the last few single lane A-roads don't have any lay bys, it'd be inconvenient, slow and hazardous. getting it trailered was the only wise choice but hurts the wallet. cash can be regained but his and chloes safety cannot and is not worth risk of going macho for. was a sad part but least they're safe.
all packed n ready, had a quick go in andys racecar k10 with fun hydraulic handbrake, then he had a whizz round only to be told again by guards
what is it with em picky bouncers, cant have a bit of fun far away from anyone in a clear field. first was me last yr and now andy. meh
farewells to carrie, louise, james and away we go back home in 4 slow hrs to a soft bed and hot shower n back to hectic work the next day
