PollyMobiles Rebuild

[pollyp]

I'll pay a visit but I'm not on track

for obvious reasons

 

[pollyp]

Depends on cost, guessing it's £109 again? Not too bad if split with a mate, may well see you there

Will let you know

£140 open pit

 

[pollyp]

just looking at local trackdays, I may also have to consider my nearest track Croft on 8th july after japshow, it's just 30 miles away from me.

it maybe tad expensive up front at £180 all day but comparing the total costs:
blyton park / cadwell = £140-150 all day + £40 fuel driving there & back + £40 fuel on track = £220
croft = £180 all day + £10 fuel driving there & back + £40 fuel on track = £230

pretty much costs the same overall

 

[pollyp]

machinist said on monday they'll have my flywheel ready by the weekend, its friday and haven't been contacted so I rang em only to find they haven't even began yet cos they've been so busy
dear lawd, guy said is tues ok? ...fine it's better than nothing. how much, £100, ok.
doesn't leave me much time to reassemble & test run her before blyton.

 

[pollyp]

the hot vapours from the crankcase tend to warm up the whole can and reduce the amount of condensation so the catchcan will need to be located in a stream of cooling air to be effective.
previously locating em behind the LH headlight doesn't have much cool airflow, alot of hot air coming behind the rad

placing it ahead of the rad seems a nice place

can also remove the horn and place the catchcan here with alot of space, will need to heat shield the turbo too.

unplugging & cleaning up the horn wiring, found nissan had split 2 into 1 wires to run dual horns

gonna place the catchcan under here so drill out the old support bracket

trimmed the sides off

welded a square tube underneath to create a stiff base

created a mount for the catchcan and welded under the base

so the can is now here under cooling air

the hoses now comes from the crankcase, around the radiator for a gentle radius to prevent kinking, into the catchcan then back into the rocker cover

not much space or cooling for the other catchcan behind the headlight so decided to mount it ahead of the radiator so made a mount bracket and welded to the top panel

realised I could've just cut n bent some sheet steel but meh

and mounts like this

 

[l_jonez]

Installing some form of gauze/wire wool/ scouring pad will make a big difference to the amount of oil caught

 

[pollyp]

Installing some form of gauze/wire wool/ scouring pad will make a big difference to the amount of oil caught

thx I'll try that

 

[pollyp]

spare manifold gasket arrived to replace the old rusty one

painted the welded panel

this old mid beam is getting rusty n top bit is cracking, so simply replaced it with a stronger L-bar

figured out this is the best place for the horns

the latch handle was abit close to the catchcan so trimmed abit off

this pipe join where the hose from the catchcan returns to the turbo inlet is now at the wrong angle so I cut the elbow bend off

and welded the straight bit on

extended some of the pipe thats too short

now the hose route is fine. just have to extend the horn wiring and the front end is done

 

[MicraPRO]

Loving these daily updates Paul keep up the great work!

 

[SuperUno]

Agreed! - Your welder is getting a good work out too....

 

[Daniel_]

Hey pollyp, I'm digging the daily updates aswell!

I noticed you have some issues keeping the exhaust gas temps at bay. You drive the car HARD on all the events you attend. Have you considered running race fuel, or running a water/methanol injection system? I did both on my build, making a homemade water injection system has got to be one the best thing I've built, and it cost me less than 80£

I'm only running post intercooler injection (175ml/min injector), but I plan to expand to pre-turbo injection. Cooling the combustion would make warped flanges history

 

[pollyp]

Agreed! - Your welder is getting a good work out too....

getting better with the welder, especially after I added some exposed braided copper cables to the ground lead that I can wrap around the piece to guarantee a good ground and made it start more reliably

 

[pollyp]

Hey pollyp, I'm digging the daily updates aswell!

I noticed you have some issues keeping the exhaust gas temps at bay. You drive the car HARD on all the events you attend. Have you considered running race fuel, or running a water/methanol injection system? I did both on my build, making a homemade water injection system has got to be one the best thing I've built, and it cost me less than 80£

I'm only running post intercooler injection (175ml/min injector), but I plan to expand to pre-turbo injection. Cooling the combustion would make warped flanges history

cheers daniel.
I've not measured any EGT.
the warped turbo flange was mostly due to the thin gauge flange which was very prone to warping at high temps or whenever I had to weld cracks up.
now with a thicker 10mm flange it should be much stiffer.

ain't got the luxury of running race fuel, out the question. V-power does the job fine.

Mmm meth injection would be nice to further cool the inlet air whether its sprayed in the inlet mani or to cool the IC. ain't essential at the mo but on a todo list
read an article bout it that uses a high pressure water pump off an expresso machine to atomise the water through a fine nozzle.
need more income first

 

[SuperUno]

Or use a washer pump system to spray water on to the IC?

 

[h701micra]

^ that's all I'd do for a budget build

 

[pollyp]

the finer the mist, the more efficient it'll cool the air or IC.

I've deleted my rear washer lines so could plumb that as the IC sprayer but tbh at the mo it ain't high priority on my todo list

 

[pollyp]

reinstalled new oil gallery plug washer. was gonna tighten it really hard but began to feel it get slack, stopped.
we are tightening a hard bronze screw against a soft Alu block so I tested what would happen if I overtighten this plug on a spare old engine...result is it shreds the Alu threads and becomes permenantly loose. eek ok I've tightened it as far as I should.

but I think in theory what's caused this oil leak could be from disturbing the plug in the first place and then I could've overtightened it when it was built, this weakens the clamp force and cause the copper washer to leak?

so the key lesson is Dont touch the original factory oil gallery plug!

yay the new dampers arrived. even though the order said BC BR, thankfully it's the BC V1 that's arrived and it's simply a pair of bare struts.

dunno what the numbers are but they're about the same values

also picked up the remachined flywheel for £100

it's been doweled in place so hard I had to pry it off, hole needs loosening abit

the surface is flat but look. normally the surface should be grinded flat so the cut grooves are perpendicular to the rotation but instead they simply just lathed the face and as a result it's left behind hardened spots across the face. not how I'd like it but fookitall, it's flat and it needs fitting for a trackday soon

 

[pollyp]

flywheel fitted, I marked it's relative position to the crank so that the angle of the PP would match the original flywheel and hopefully helps retain it's balance.

enlarged the dowel holes in the PP slightly with a 6mm drill till it just slips on.
clutch fitted

gearbox on, starter, selector and clutch cable

just fit the driveshafts n other little things tomorrow and she'll be ready for a test

 

[pollyp]

connected the horn wiring

all assembled

battery has 12.4v so just enough to prime & start her.

removed the HT leads and not impressed to find that spark plug hole #1 is filled with oil dunno if it leaking from where the tube meets the head or where its supposed to seal with the engine cover, but I have to fix it.
this oil has fallen into the chamber n plug tip so it's gonna smoke n misfire initially for afew sec.

plugs out, prime the oil while it's still jacked up and worryingly the flywheel seem to shake the car abit at cranking speed :/
sure hope it ain't badly unbalanced or we're in trouble.

jacked the car back down on all 4, reconnected leads, fuel primed, didn't have cameras at the time cos simply wanted to fire her up.
cranked her, slight struggle to get going on her own due to the oiled cyl1 so a helping of throttle reved her back into life and boy did she rev

cleared her throat, steering n body shakes abit at certain revs so think the flywheel is slightly unbalanced or I'm not used to it yet. really like how she revs into life when blipping ran till luke warm then shut off before clearing up.

now with a warm engine, can't wait to restart & take her for a drive



warm starting her with a clear throat, she fires up much faster now

clutch engagement, no problem. feels & behaves exactly the same as before.
changing gears is now a breeze cos I no longer have to wait ages for the revs to drop, release clutch as soon as I selected the gear and feels good when I heel & toe and it's already rev matched.

driving along, the vibrations not too bad. obviously not as silky smooth as with the original balanced 8kg flywheel but not bad. tis only just above idle when it resonates.
was worried the high rpm could shake it loose so gradually built the revs, vibration through steering increases but overall she's intact.
clutch handling the torque no prob.

back at home checking the catchcan and oh yea, placing the jar in the airstream definately makes it more effective.
the side thats facing the cool air feels much colder and has a heavy buildup of condensed milky oil vapour pooling at the bottom, even after a short run so I'm happy bout that.
the rear side which faces the radiation of the hot turbo or radiator is warmer and not much condensing there so I definately have to shield the cans from any heat sources.

looking under the gearbox after a short run, it's no longer oily after resealing that oil gallery plug hope it stays like that after a longer run.

wheels definately need realigning after nudging the hub bolts cos steering is all over.

replace the rear struts & corner balance tomorrow

blyton park on sunday 28th now booked

 

[pollyp]

corrected the front camber.
removed the old rear dampers.
poking around n more weak rust crumbled out, urm yep her pants definately got a hole

disassembled & swapped he struts over

don't like how the forces of the damper goes through this loose fitting thin plate hole, it could punch through it

so added a snug fitting washer to distribute the load

reinstalled

now to shield the catchcan from heat.
not bother with an intricate manifold heat shield cover, time consuming and there's live exposed alternator terminals nearby that it could short.

to keep it simple, decided to just make some blanking plate in front of the mani just like on the original micra, it keeps radiant heat away from the catchcan and also divert the high pressure air to flow through the radiators/IC more effectively.

so we're gonna need some CAD

lower bit bolts to an existing bolt hole

and ziptied to the bumper to hole it steady

cut & bent a metal shield out of 1mm plate

the lower bit made it a pita to install past the PAS cooler & alternator and since the 1mm plate is stiff enough I simply cut it off

yet more lip edge touching the rad, since its not offering anymore stiffness, trimmed it off

rather than slowly drilling, tapping & bolting it to the top beam, just tack it on

then bolt it to the chassis below

shield & catch cans fitted ready for testing

with this lighter flywheel, the starter now sounds louder through the bulkhead like theres a hole in it.
also found that rather than cranking the engine for awhile till it appears to fire up like with the old 8kg flywheel, I simply click it 1/2sec and she then fires up instantly on her own, holding the key any longer simply makes a bad noise.

so lets go for a long cruise and see if the heat shield made any improvements.



yep, the blanking plate kept most of the infrared turbo heat away from the catchcan, the plate itself was still warm by the heat but not enough to affect the jar.
the cool air kept the jar very cold and as a result was evenly coated in condensed vapour.

the upside of blocking all the gaping holes going into the bay is more efficient cooling of the radiators & IC and catch cans.
the downside is all that radiator heat is dumped into the engine bay with no cooling air and warming everything up in the bay (god knows how hot it'll be on track) including the air inlet pipe, although the IC cools the boosted air anyway.
think I need to cut some slots in the plate to allow some cool air in at least.

shielded & cooled catchcan condensing nicely

all sides of the jar cool & condensing

gathered this after 60miles

need to try some stainless mesh in there next time.

corner balance tomorrow

 

[pollyp]

setup the scales for balancing.

all tyres set at 3 bars and measured the tread depths:
FR 3.25 3.25 3.5
RR 2.0 2.75 2.75
RL 2.5 2.5 2.75
FL 2.75 3.0 2.25
the RH tyres thicker than the left.

disconnected the swaybars,
then measured the scales & ride height:
FR 287.1kg / 10.5mm
RR 172.5kg / 10.3mm
RL 171.2kg / 10.1mm
FL 280.6kg / 10.1mm

checking with the app and yep it looks close enough yay no need to tweak the springs

now relevel the platform for alignment (wish I could combine the scales with the alignment plate one day)

with the rear wheel spacers, the rear track is now just 3.05mm narrower than the front.
the rear toe-in is -0.416deg
front wheels are 1.5deg camber and straightened to 0 toe.

drove down motorway and she still drifts to the left alot and have to hold steering 1deg right to head straight.
the wheels are dead straight but the RH tread is thicker than the left,
so I swapped left to right

she now drifts slightly right and holding the steering straight heads straight.
so it's the unequal tread depth that's definately causing the drift.
have to do all this again when I replace the tyres

 

[h701micra]

I'm 99% sure you don't run 3bars anymore?

 

[pollyp]

I'm 99% sure you don't run 3bars anymore?

yes I do on T1Rs

 

[h701micra]

I still think you're mad to do so

 

[SuperUno]

3bar i.e. 45psi?

 

[pollyp]

yep 3 bars max inflation pressure cos their construction is so floppy, running em at max bars is the only way to ensure even tread wear on public road and have enough stiffness to stop the sidewalls folding over on track as u see on my suspension vids.

 

[pollyp]

need to insert some cooling holes through the heatshield so cooling air can flow into the bay but still shield the catchcan from infrared.
drilling lotsa holes would be very time consuming, wears out my drill bits and the holes will let infrared leak onto the catchcan.
instead a better easier option is to simply cut series of vertical slots across the plate (leaving the other half cos wanna fully shield behind the catchcan)

then bend them into louvres

so at one angle the air can flow through the vent

whilst at the other angle from the catchcans pov it's shielded from infrared

painted and installed

fitted the hub caps back on cos the weak plastic alloy wheel caps definately won't stay on under track heat

since it may rain tomorrow morning, rather than driving down on T1R then swap to 595RSR in the rain,
instead I just fit the Federals on now and simply drive down ready for the track.
Mmm she looks quite stealthy, need to paint the rears black too

it reminds me of the interceptor

went for a drive and with these evenly worn Federals the steering is now straight n true and doesn't drift to one side, so the cars alignment is very sensitive to tiny differences in tread depth.

another thing I noticed bout the engine tday is after a long coast downhill in gear (high vacuum & injectors off), when I reapply throttle and she resumes combustion, I see a poof of oily smoke behind.
I think the inlet stem seals are leaking, even though they're relatively fresh, could be another cause of leaking/pooling oil into the chambers.

the louvred heatshield has worked a treat. the engine bay & inlet pipe is cool again and the catchcan has remained chilled and condensing nicely.

tried stuffing the catchcan with stainless mesh, did it work?
nope the mesh simply restricted & distrupted the gas flow making it flow in the path of least resistance, straight from the inlet to the outlet, so only a tiny bit condensed on the bit of mesh it hit.
better to let the vapour flow freely over the entire chilled glass walls to condense fully.

ready for blyton park tomorrow

 

[infinity]

What about a panel separating the glass into two chambers where the gas would flow in the top down to the bottom and then back up. More sirface area

 

[Low Rider]

3bar, crikey, that's a bit nuts.

I'm about to order some R888 or R888R for the turbo K11 depending on price.

 

[pollyp]

What about a panel separating the glass into two chambers where the gas would flow in the top down to the bottom and then back up. More sirface area

I've designed it so the vapours swirl in a cyclone and spends as much time along the cold glass walls to condense before collecting via the middle in a free-flowing route with minimal risk of sucking the oil fluid out the outlet as it fills up over time.

if the ports just point straight in and we place a straight baffle between it like this

the gas simply flows briefly straight down & up and out the port with no time to fully condense and most of the flow misses out on the available cold surface, so it won't collect much vapour.
another issue is when the fluid level begins to rise beyond the lower lip of the baffle plate, it creates a restriction (require more pressure to push the fluid level down below the baffle plate before any gas can leak past) and a potential risk of sucking all the collected fluid out the port.

 

[pollyp]

3bar, crikey, that's a bit nuts.

I'm about to order some R888 or R888R for the turbo K11 depending on price.

aye read alot of ppl complaining bout the T1Rs super soft sidewalls and this is the only way I found to resolve it.

I got two sets of old R888 on BBS alloys taking room in the back, bore too small so should really sell em or get em or get enlarged if I knew a cheap machinist.
these 595rsr do a fab job for now.

 

[frank]

a bit like the swirl flaps that turn my van into a 12 valve engine at low rpm paul

 

[SuperUno]

45psi is madness, I run 32psi front usually and that is a bit high so will probably run 31 in the future.

Agreed the Micra is odd in liking high front pressures. Most FWD rally cars run 26psi cold all round, but the Micra runs well on 32psi (will adjust to 31psi) my Rover 200 (old rally car) ran 26psi fine all round.

 

[wehey]

The wheels looks ace in black Paul

 

[pollyp]

45psi is madness, I run 32psi front usually and that is a bit high so will probably run 31 in the future.

Agreed the Micra is odd in liking high front pressures. Most FWD rally cars run 26psi cold all round, but the Micra runs well on 32psi (will adjust to 31psi) my Rover 200 (old rally car) ran 26psi fine all round.

Tyre construction is a big factor.
The federals are much stiffer so currently running 2/2.7bar front/rear with 15/30 f/r dampers to approach a nice balance, still testing & tuning the under steer out of it, hence tomorrow.

 

[pollyp]

The wheels looks ace in black Paul

Aye I'm pleased how badass it looks in matt black
Suits my preference as a sleeper.

 

[MicraPRO]

I run 36psi all round on my T1Rs

 

[pollyp]

just came back from blyton, and saying in advance that it's been a big success n car working a treat BUT most of the stupid cabin camera footage has been corrupted so I've lost all but one clip gutted. still got footage from the pedals & suspension though. damn, woulda been good to see the awsome hot afternoon clips going flat out.

 

[SirChris]

I run 36psi all round on my T1Rs

Yeezus...that's Hugh... That's hitting a good 42 odd when hot. Find the car skips a bit? What camber you running chum?

 

[SirChris]

I've designed it so the vapours swirl in a cyclone and spends as much time along the cold glass walls to condense before collecting via the middle in a free-flowing route with minimal risk of sucking the oil fluid out the outlet as it fills up over time.

View attachment 43180 View attachment 43183

if the ports just point straight in and we place a straight baffle between it like this

View attachment 43182

the gas simply flows briefly straight down & up and out the port with no time to fully condense and most of the flow misses out on the available cold surface, so it won't collect much vapour.
another issue is when the fluid level begins to rise beyond the lower lip of the baffle plate, it creates a restriction (require more pressure to push the fluid level down below the baffle plate before any gas can leak past) and a potential risk of sucking all the collected fluid out the port.

View attachment 43181 View attachment 43184

Clever ****er.

 

[SirChris]

just came back from blyton, and saying in advance that it's been a big success n car working a treat BUT most of the stupid cabin camera footage has been corrupted so I've lost all but one clip gutted. still got footage from the pedals & suspension though. damn, woulda been good to see the awsome hot afternoon clips going flat out.

Glad its going well. Shame I like watching ur vids

 

[MicraPRO]

Yeezus...that's Hugh... That's hitting a good 42 odd when hot. Find the car skips a bit? What camber you running chum?

Used to run 34 on my old uniroyal rainsports was always fine.
And the T1R responded well to 36 with full load so tested without weight and loved it even more.
Erm couldn't be too sure on camber bud need to get it tracked and lined up.

 

[SirChris]

Used to run 34 on my old uniroyal rainsports was always fine.
And the T1R responded well to 36 with full load so tested without weight and loved it even more.
Erm couldn't be too sure on camber bud need to get it tracked and lined up.

Well its all preference chap, suppose how often do they get warm enough.. Mine too tbh.

 

[MicraPRO]

Well its all preference chap, suppose how often do they get warm enough.. Mine too tbh.

Yeah that's true
Chewed through a front set of T1Rs in about a year rears are hardly worn so new front tyres laser line and new rear shocks for me I think.

 

[Antony]

Had a set of t1r's on the front of the mr2, lasted three sets of wheels and 25000 miles.

 

[l_jonez]

Ah

need to insert some cooling holes through the heatshield so cooling air can flow into the bay but still shield the catchcan from infrared.
drilling lotsa holes would be very time consuming, wears out my drill bits and the holes will let infrared leak onto the catchcan.
instead a better easier option is to simply cut series of vertical slots across the plate (leaving the other half cos wanna fully shield behind the catchcan)

View attachment 43171

then bend them into louvres

View attachment 43168

so at one angle the air can flow through the vent

View attachment 43170

whilst at the other angle from the catchcans pov it's shielded from infrared

View attachment 43169

painted and installed

View attachment 43174 View attachment 43175

fitted the hub caps back on cos the weak plastic alloy wheel caps definately won't stay on under track heat

View attachment 43178

since it may rain tomorrow morning, rather than driving down on T1R then swap to 595RSR in the rain,
instead I just fit the Federals on now and simply drive down ready for the track.
Mmm she looks quite stealthy, need to paint the rears black too

View attachment 43176 View attachment 43179 View attachment 43177

it reminds me of the interceptor

View attachment 43185

went for a drive and with these evenly worn Federals the steering is now straight n true and doesn't drift to one side, so the cars alignment is very sensitive to tiny differences in tread depth.

another thing I noticed bout the engine tday is after a long coast downhill in gear (high vacuum & injectors off), when I reapply throttle and she resumes combustion, I see a poof of oily smoke behind.
I think the inlet stem seals are leaking, even though they're relatively fresh, could be another cause of leaking/pooling oil into the chambers.

the louvred heatshield has worked a treat. the engine bay & inlet pipe is cool again and the catchcan has remained chilled and condensing nicely.

tried stuffing the catchcan with stainless mesh, did it work?
nope the mesh simply restricted & distrupted the gas flow making it flow in the path of least resistance, straight from the inlet to the outlet, so only a tiny bit condensed on the bit of mesh it hit.
better to let the vapour flow freely over the entire chilled glass walls to condense fully.

View attachment 43172
View attachment 43173

ready for blyton park tomorrow

Ah I should have explained better, you don't p

need to insert some cooling holes through the heatshield so cooling air can flow into the bay but still shield the catchcan from infrared.
drilling lotsa holes would be very time consuming, wears out my drill bits and the holes will let infrared leak onto the catchcan.
instead a better easier option is to simply cut series of vertical slots across the plate (leaving the other half cos wanna fully shield behind the catchcan)

View attachment 43171

then bend them into louvres

View attachment 43168

so at one angle the air can flow through the vent

View attachment 43170

whilst at the other angle from the catchcans pov it's shielded from infrared

View attachment 43169

painted and installed

View attachment 43174 View attachment 43175

fitted the hub caps back on cos the weak plastic alloy wheel caps definately won't stay on under track heat

View attachment 43178

since it may rain tomorrow morning, rather than driving down on T1R then swap to 595RSR in the rain,
instead I just fit the Federals on now and simply drive down ready for the track.
Mmm she looks quite stealthy, need to paint the rears black too

View attachment 43176 View attachment 43179 View attachment 43177

it reminds me of the interceptor

View attachment 43185

went for a drive and with these evenly worn Federals the steering is now straight n true and doesn't drift to one side, so the cars alignment is very sensitive to tiny differences in tread depth.

another thing I noticed bout the engine tday is after a long coast downhill in gear (high vacuum & injectors off), when I reapply throttle and she resumes combustion, I see a poof of oily smoke behind.
I think the inlet stem seals are leaking, even though they're relatively fresh, could be another cause of leaking/pooling oil into the chambers.

the louvred heatshield has worked a treat. the engine bay & inlet pipe is cool again and the catchcan has remained chilled and condensing nicely.

tried stuffing the catchcan with stainless mesh, did it work?
nope the mesh simply restricted & distrupted the gas flow making it flow in the path of least resistance, straight from the inlet to the outlet, so only a tiny bit condensed on the bit of mesh it hit.
better to let the vapour flow freely over the entire chilled glass walls to condense fully.

View attachment 43172
View attachment 43173

ready for blyton park tomorrow

Ah I should have explained better, you don't pack it.
What you need is the mesh just before the outlet. This will allow the vapour to flow around as normal then catch any thing that remains on the mesh as it leaves.
If you look at mine.....


The port on the side is the inlet, if you could see inside I welded rods across the can which hold the mesh just below the outlet.
This way it has to go through the mesh tho leave, there's not a huge amount in there and it provides no noticeable restriction whilst creating a much bigger surface area.

 

[pollyp]

Glad its going well. Shame I like watching ur vids

there's still vids of other cam angles and there's just one footage of a good run from the cabin pov but just a shame the cabin shots on the other runs r lost since the cabin view shows the most context.

this is first time I tried to power the cameras with a usb charger to reduce battery use/cost but I found that these cams r annoyingly sensitive to any power cuts and immediately shut off and corrupt the clip I wish they would automatically stop & save the clip before the battery runs below 2% or before any power cuts or rec in a format that doesn't ruin the whole file if it was suddenly disrupted. gonna rely on loadsa batteries from now on.

just finished uploading.

 

[infinity]

Try and force open the file with vlc media player. Usually can play pieced\corrupted files

 

[pollyp]

Yeah that's true
Chewed through a front set of T1Rs in about a year rears are hardly worn so new front tyres laser line and new rear shocks for me I think.

how soon they wear out & distribution of wear will depend on
toe,
camber,
tyre pressure,
suspension balance,
corner speed,
distance,
power & braking performance,
street or track abuse,
road conditions
and driving style.

looking at my records, the T1R on mine running the turbo are also lasting bout a year using em daily going to work with occasional long hard trackdays and rotating around the tyre sets.

 

[pollyp]

Try and force open the file with vlc media player. Usually can play pieced\corrupted files

nope, when power is cut off on these cameras, the corrupted file becomes an empty 0kb