PollyMobiles Rebuild

[pollyp]

I'm monitoring my oil consumption at the moment Paul after tweaking the oil feed. I had quite a bit of oil flowing through the CHRA, which was contributing to a fair bit if windage.

I've got to pull the turbo as the oil return gasket is seeping from the CHRA and the link hose isn't flouro lined, which is a no-no. I've got a good 50mls in my drip tray, so that's something I'd like to rectify before I can get a meaningful figure on general consumption but it's nowhere near 1L per 260miles.

I'm gonna need to reapply alot more teflon tap to my oil return adapter to try stop this seeping leak. the garage floor yet again oily with drips from turbo.
I believe the 1L/260mile is mostly due to the forged piston engine rings/bores drinking oil.

during idle she no longer smokes oil but she does still smoke after long downhill coasting.

 

[pollyp]

new wideband sensor arrived from ebay, seller was so slow.

Neil Jackson with the white nismo March messaged me about teesside autodrome doing another evening trackday, of course I'll be up for it

so anyone in north east who'd fancy a ride, pop by the track next monday

 

[pollyp]

the side of the engine still stained with oil, notice the damp area coming from perhaps where that engine cover bolt threads through the head.

cleaned inside the cavity with carb cleaner, looks mostly intact although the bolt doesn't go all the way through and oil could've seeped past the threads?

so I fitted a longer bolt and filled the hole with body filler to make sure nothing leaks out

 

[Skinner_87]

Iv had oil passing through that threaded hole Paul. I filled the bottom 3mm or so with chemical metal and it's been dry since

 

[pollyp]

Iv had oil passing through that threaded hole Paul. I filled the bottom 3mm or so with chemical metal and it's been dry since

shweet, I'll see how it holds up

 

[pollyp]

ooh ooh, just browsing japday in youtube and found a trackside footage of my run at the 1st hairpin



0:26
1:28
2:47
4:03
5:22 caught up with yellow civic
6:09
7:10 nice remark

 

[pollyp]

added new onboard footage and Chris & Bens run to the Japday report

 

[pollyp]

to trace where the turbo oil drain is leaking, I attached the camera & light like this

it seems to be leaking between the blue fastening nut and the red hose socket core, maybe the cone seal ain't sealing properly? or the AN hose fitting ain't a good quality? maybe I also need to teflon tape the AN fitting threads?

btw Skinner the body filled cavity in the head has stopped the oil leak staining down the side.

 

[pollyp]

after watching how much the front engine mount flexes under load, I'm gonna weld up a solid front mount

 

[pollyp]

here's the standard front engine mount with a matt humphris PU bushing insert

I needed a 10mm steel tube as a bushing for the new mount (using separate metal bush incase I want to revert back to the original mount) and found the right dia from an old rear mount bracket

here's the old soft rubber cusion between the engine bracket and the plastic front mount coupler

cut the tube out the old rear mount to match the original bush.

rather than make a completely new offset mount bracket (which is alot of work) let's work smarter not harder and simply re-use the original engine bracket and make a solid steel tube coupler to replace the rubber/plastic coupler. so drilled some square tube to insert the bushes into.

spot welded the bushes in place, luv the MIG

one solid engine mount coupler

went for a test drive and although it's reduced alot of the engine movement for a sharper gear shift and engine response, alot of vibration & noise from the injectors & pistons are transferred through the bulkhead and sounds like an air chisel only during acceleration (for a moment I thought the engine had lost all fluids and started piston slapping)



ok so a solid mount ain't suitable. let's try re-use the original mount coupler with the solid polyurethane bush insert but replace the rubber bushing with a solid one.
I found an old 30mm rear caliper piston fits nicely in the hole and will fill up the gaps between the metal bushing with weld

all welded & grinded solid

hybrid solid engine mount coupler

that's much better. the engine & gearstick movement is still restrained but it no longer sounds like a jack hammer.

 

[pollyp]

tday I removed & assessed the leaking AN fittings and the lack of, or thin tiny marks only around the outer edge of the female tapered cone seals seems to show that the AN fittings have a slightly pointy cone angle than the JIC cone resulting in the leaks.

so since no local shops sell em, let's try make some DIY tapered copper washers to seal the fittings. cut some copper pipe

push it over this 3/8 extension to flare the end

dremel cut the end off

resulting in a rough tapered washer. tightening the fitting will crush mould the washer into shape

insert washer inside and wrapped the threads in teflon tape

wrapped the oil feed adapter with more tape

wrapped the sump oil drain threads and a dab of grease to hold the washer in place

all tightened up

the weather tday is insanely irratic. rain followed by blazing sun 5mins then monsoon 5min then clear then rain

went out when it briefly stopped raining and almost all of the leaks gone, there's only just a tiny smear of oil that seeps out.



ready for evening trackday tomorrow

 

[pollyp]

Teesside Autodrome - Evening trackday 23-05-2016

Arrived at the track 16:30 to sign-in, met up with Neil.
Last yr his nismo march broke down cos the dizzys finger notches that connects to the exhaust cam had broken off, no idea why cos there's no signs of the dizzy or cams causing any resistance.
Moved my kit into Neils truck.

17:00 Sight Lap
Went out behind Neils white nismo march for a 3 sight laps to warm up the tyres & brakes.



17:08 Run 1
15/20 front/rear damper
50/50 brake bias
95% fuel
2.10/2.7bar front/rear warm pressure

RR tyre was a low 2.35bar but my tools locked in Neils truck.



@ 03:06 rich smoke from hitting limiter
@ 06:57 rich smoke from hitting limiter
@ 07:47 rich afterfire from hitting limiter over an apex bump
@ 08:03 slippery understeer on outer corner of the hill s-bend

Times:
0:57
0:58
0:56 traffic
0:57 traffic
1:01 traffic
0:57 traffic
0:55
0:56
1:00 traffic
1:02 traffic
0:56 traffic
0:57 traffic
0:58 traffic

17:50 Run 2
15/20 front/rear damper
50/50 brake bias
75% fuel
2.00/2.7bar front/rear hot pressure
RR tyre still 2.35bars

the catchcan jar for the (engine cover breather - turbo inlet) had unscrewed off so I screwed it back on.



@ 02:12 clio running wide at hairpin
@ 03:20 clio tail gating
@ 04:50 lifting & locking the inside rear wheel
@ 07:20 non-courteous saxo driver
@ 11:38 correcting high rpm lift-off oversteer
@ 13:00 following a fast black puma
@ 17:50 non-courteous 206 driver
@ 18:20 same non-courteous saxo driver

Times:
0:59 traffic
0:56 traffic
0:58 traffic
0:55
0:58 traffic
1:04 traffic
1:00 traffic
0:57 traffic
0:55
0:55
0:55
0:57 traffic
0:57 traffic
0:55 traffic
0:57 traffic
0:55 traffic
0:57 traffic
0:56 traffic
0:59 traffic
0:57 traffic
0:58 traffic

18:38 Run 3
15/20 front/rear damper
50/50 brake bias
55% fuel
2.00/2.7bar front/rear hot pressure

Got my foot pump & corrected the RR tyre pressure.

also oddly noticed the coolant expansion tank is getting abit full and overspilling.
blipping throttle and it doesn't bubble or overheat so HG is fine. back at home I just purge out all the air and the fluid level just returns back to a stable Max. maybe the hot session & hot thermostat is just boiling abit of coolant?

@ 06:30 staying in 3rd through first few corners help stablise the exit
@ 08:26 correcting an oversteer
@ 08:27 bumping over the exit apex made it lose front grip, understeer and run wide onto the grass

Times:
0:56
0:55
0:55
0:55
0:54
0:55
0:54
0:53

19:17 Run 4
15/20 front/rear damper
50/50 brake bias
25% fuel
2.00/2.7bar front/rear hot pressure

Engine burnt up all it's oil so had to top up 500ml. hard to check oil levels when the whole paddock is full of slopes.



A very busy last session.
@ 07:30 following a big heavy powerful jaguar. it had good straight line power but sluggish braking & cornering

Times:
0:57 traffic
0:57 traffic
0:59 traffic
0:59 traffic
1:05 traffic
0:59 traffic
1:03 traffic
1:00 traffic
0:54
0:54

It's been a really good hot fun evening at the track.
I found that staying in 3rd gear at the first corner had gained 1-2sec.
Engine still drinks oil, smoking rich at WOT and maybe boiling some coolant but still working fine.

Sad news about Neils early departure home when I pitted back was that his bonnet pins wasn't locked in, so it flew open at speed and wrecking the windscreen & bonnet
Feel sorry for Neil but at least it only happened near the end of the day and he had alot of seat time with a good working march.

Packed up and returned home

 

[pollyp]

even after body filling that gap, it's still leaking oil. maybe from the top of the timing chain side cover?

lets assess the brakes & tyres after the trackday.

Front right tyre 3.25 / 2.75 / 2.25

Front left tyre 3.75 / 3.00 / 2.50

Rear left tyre 2.25 / 2.75 / 3.75

Rear right tyre 2.25 2.25 2.50

all the tyres wearing at a nice slow pace over the past 2yrs

but look at this rear right tyre shoulder. she suffers from so much body roll & uneven camber under hard cornering that the shoulder edge has worn prematurely down close to canvas.
this ain't safe and maybe caused the tyre to drop from 2.75 to 2.35bars whilst in storage for few weeks.
so before any more trackdays I'll need another expensive pair of semi slicks and fix that roll centre :/

Front right pads

Front left pads

Rear left pads

Rear right pads

Front predator pads wearing at a nice consistant pace potentially lasting upto 10k of daily & track use. will soon need replacing so ordered another set.
The standard rear pads hardly wears at all.

 

[SuperUno]

Get your rear tyres swapped, so the outer edge is on the inside and use them on the track only. Loads of miles left in it

 

[pollyp]

Get your rear tyres swapped, so the outer edge is on the inside and use them on the track only. Loads of miles left in it

imo not worth the extra £10 hassle of swapping tyres over and especially not worth risking a high speed blow out on track.
so I'm thinking to make use of the remaining middle portion of the bad tyre, they'll prob only be good for afew drag strip runs.

then I replace a pair of tyres (to keep the crossweight setup constant) and move the new pair to the front and carry on.

 

[pollyp]

just been looking back at my lap time history for teesside autodrome over the yrs and it's been a consistant improvement as myself & kasandra got faster

2011 = high 65-70sec as I rapidly learn about the new track with the turbo standard engine, major boost leak, paddle clutch & JUN flywheel, T1R road tyres.
2012 = consistantly 57-60sec with the turbo standard engine, 200mm clutch and heavy flywheel, T1R road tyres.
2015 = constant 55sec with the turbo forged piston engine, 200mm clutch & JUN flywheel, 595RSR semi slick.
2016 = low 54sec with turbo forged piston engine with 12psi, 200mm clutch & JUN flywheel, 595RSR semi slick.

 

[SuperUno]

Some people worry to much about perfect tyres... but its your money/your call...

Useful for me, I got a set of 5 race wets for £25 off a racer who thought there were knackered as there is a slight flat spot on one of them. One of many tyres i have collected in the last week now got 20 tyres hiding in the garage :grinning:

 

[pollyp]

Some people worry to much about perfect tyres... but its your money/your call...

Useful for me, I got a set of 5 race wets for £25 off a racer who thought there were knackered as there is a slight flat spot on one of them. One of many tyres i have collected in the last week now got 20 tyres hiding in the garage :grinning:

I really have to get rid of these old 2 sets of R888/BBS wheels sitting in the garage for yrs taking up space and probably age hardening alot.
I should resolve this camber issue before resuming.

 

[Huggy444]

What size are the bbs wheels Paul?

 

[pollyp]

What size are the bbs wheels Paul?

195 50 15 R888.
wheels I'm guessing 7"

https://www.micra.org.uk/threads/pollymobiles-rebuild.35251/page-63#post-530415
andy's got one of the yellow rim wheels but found it was buckled.

 

[Huggy444]

Ahhh no good for me, too big!
Otherwise I'd have just run them for trackdays etc

 

[Andy_S]

I think I've got the same problem with the oil as u Paul. I'm just gonna swap my engine with the auto engine as that runs perfectly and try and find this oil leak on the other engine


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[pollyp]

I think I've got the same problem with the oil as u Paul. I'm just gonna swap my engine with the auto engine as that runs perfectly and try and find this oil leak on the other engine


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mine is most probably non-fixable. one day will have to swap back to a standard auto block cos burning 1L oil per tank of fuel ain't economical.

 

[pollyp]

new brake pads arrived

and more LSD oil

not much debris on the gearbox plug which is good

gear oil is filthy with microscopic fine metal dust from the LSD

new clear engine oil and LSD oil now

 

[h701micra]

Paul. I had a watch of session 2 in my small amount of downtime
Jeez people need to learn to move over

Anyway the thing I noticed more than body roll was tyre fold. You were on the shoulders a lot
The only way to properly combat it would be to reduce the sidewall size

Have you checked your bumpsteer too?

 

[pollyp]

Paul. I had a watch of session 2 in my small amount of downtime
Jeez people need to learn to move over

Anyway the thing I noticed more than body roll was tyre fold. You were on the shoulders a lot
The only way to properly combat it would be to reduce the sidewall size

Have you checked your bumpsteer too?

aye as I mentioned on the phone, the saxo & peugeot drivers etiquet were quite rude, annoying and potentially dangerous. had to go wide some point to avoid collision.

the front tyres tend to fold under cos they're only at 2bars while the rears at 2.7bar and so they lost abit of stiffness. this tyre pressure bias was the only way I found that reduced the horrid understeer since it's quite front heavy 62/38% front/rear bias. and the awful roll center & body roll doesn't help.

I like the look, feel, comfort & cost of the 50% sidewall profile so gonna look at other ways to improve the handling.

not checked bump steer yet.

 

[pollyp]

another thing to improve is to stop this LH catch can from vibrating/swing around freely and shield it better from the hot radiator

so welded some reinforcement

further reinforcement welds

reinstalled the stiffened section

to easily shield the catchcan I simply cut some PVC pipe

and it just clips around the jar

the two catch cans no longer move around and working better

 

[pollyp]

whilst chatting to h701 I almost forgot to remember if my old turbo was returned and the surcharge refunded.
turbo ordered & delivered 3rd May
posted old turbo back 16th May
delivered to CGB motorsport 18th May
still no £60 refund on my credit card 7 working days later.
will need to check with them next week.

 

[h701micra]

aye as I mentioned on the phone, the saxo & peugeot drivers etiquet were quite rude, annoying and potentially dangerous. had to go wide some point to avoid collision.

the front tyres tend to fold under cos they're only at 2bars while the rears at 2.7bar and so they lost abit of stiffness. this tyre pressure bias was the only way I found that reduced the horrid understeer since it's quite front heavy 62/38% front/rear bias. and the awful roll center & body roll doesn't help.

I like the look, feel, comfort & cost of the 50% sidewall profile so gonna look at other ways to improve the handling.

not checked bump steer yet.

They were horrific, definitely driver training required

Definitely something to work at

Agree on the 50 profile they're much cheaper than a 45 and do alright

 

[pollyp]

one of the printed catch can hose end has snapped again, so I tried to print this piece flat on the print bed for inserting copper pipe ends into but the tube was poorly supported, not perfectly round and would crack the print apart slightly

when printing a large thick piece along the heated bed, it will always warp the edges, which is useless for sealing

so tried to split the model in 2

to retain the round hole

but once again the large flat surface warps up

redesigned to be slightly sturdier

each 3d printed layer is like a weak wood grain so any bending force on the hose ends will snap it

so I printed the catch can with a 10mm hole where I can then insert 10mm copper tube to reinforce it

also to further strengthen the plastic skin during smoothing, I first brush acetone over the rough surface to encourage the big gaps across each layer to blend, followed by the vapour treatment to finalise the smoothing

to check how the new catchcan's working, I setup the cam & lighting

even after a short 14 mile trip it seems fine collecting alot of water vapour from the crankcase, especially during cruise with high inlet vacuum following through the catchcan and high speed cold air chilling the glass jar.

 

[pollyp]

Max Plester sent me his gear selector linkage with pulsar short shifter from his March G# (with mid spoiler) for upgrading to ball bearing bushes.
When I recently drove his car at japfest, the gear stick was very sloppy and rattling.

first thing I noticed was the pulsar shifter had a huge amount of play everywhere. the ball joint is very worn and has upto 1mm of slack

the collar fits over the metal bush insert quite loosely

the original bushes towards the gearbox end ain't too bad, roughly bout 0.2mm of twisting play

dismantle the short shifter to assess the issues

here's the short shifters brass ball joint in a worn plastic outer casing with 1mm of visible play, which contributes to loose shifts & rattling.

the metal bush insert fits into the metal shifters hole with about 0.1mm of play. metal on loose metal won't help the vibrations.

then I found that the ball joint outer casing was actually cracked and could cause the loose fitment

popped the brass joint out for a clean

enlarged the crack with a dremel so I could tighten the fitment with a layer of tape

inserted back into the metal casing with some cellotape to squeeze the outer casing tighter and this has helped reduce the sloppy ball joint abit.

the metal shaft also fitted loosely into the brass ball joint with more slack, so wrapped more cellotape to remove any slack

I was almost close to suggesting Max to ditch the poorly made pulsar shifter and I just modify a spare standard shifter into what I'm using now.
This serviced short shifter has at least some more life restored into it.

ordered some flanged bearings online.

 

[h701micra]

Paul can you add more material to the base for sanding on the 3D parts?

 

[SuperUno]

Those short shifters are usually poor quality like that, that's why i ditched it (and because I selected 1st instead of 3rd on an event....!)

 

[pollyp]

Paul can you add more material to the base for sanding on the 3D parts?

Yeah

 

[MaxK11C]

Thanks Paul! Looking forward to trying it

 

[pollyp]

the flanged ball bearings from Simplybearings.co.uk arrived next day

to disassemble this universal joint, I grind this small rivet off to hopefully knock the pin out but as usual the pin was rusted onto the metal bush insert

since the plastic outer bushing will be removed and the inner bush machined, I'll just saw inbetween the flange & joint to separate it

the plastic outer bushing simply pops out

enlarge the holes to 19mm for the new bearings

making the middle insert bushing between the twwo flange bearings required abit of precision metalwork

completed joint

now for the gearstick, there's a 0.135mm gap to the bearing so I wrapped a layer of 0.12mm electrical tape to reduce the slack

another precision made insert

I needed a 0.65mm M8 washer inbetween the ball bearing and the bracket. closest thing was this M6 serrated lock washer but enlarging it to 8mm was very difficult

instead I got some 0.6mm MIG wire coiled around a drill bit

to make this thin washers for spacing the ball bearing inner race from the outer brackets

ball bearing gearstick and universal joint fitted, alot more snug

fitting those tiny thin washers between the bearings and the gearbox-side selector flange will be a very annoyingly fiddly job Max, so I attached a bag with afew spares.

 

[pollyp]

the clutch bite point has been feeling abit low, either the cable's stretched from the heavy PP or the cable bulkhead mounting needed spacing

also need to fix how the cable end slots into the bulkhead mount (currently wrapped this metal collar over some ducktape)

printed this adapter collar that fits snugly over the clutch cable end

and spaces it 15mm away from the bulkhead mount

so now I have an extra 15mm of adjustable thread to raise the bite point slightly further up (I previously had to tighten the adjuster all the way up the cable) and the clutch feels much better now

 

[pollyp]

yesterday I fancied a long drive to the lake districts. Also a good time to record the oil catch can over long distances.



interesting to note that the effectiveness of the catch can is very dependant on keeping the glass jar cold (high temperature difference = more effective condenser).

condenses more during:

• high speed 70mph air cooling
  
• cold overcast ambient air temp
• no sunlight heating up the glass
• light throttle/high vacuum
• especially when glass is chilled by rain

condenses less during:

• below 50mph, less air cooling
  
• warm sunny air temp
• direct sunlight
• under boost when PCV is closed and no vapour flows through catch can

Afew things to improve:

• better insulating hoses to prevent vapours condensing too early inside & blocking it
• more venting grills on the heatshield behind catchcan to allow air to flow through more easily
• shield catchcan from sunlight
• maybe add a water spray to further cool the catchcan for better condensation?

 

[pollyp]

I wasn't happy with using the thin MIG wire as a washer on Max's bearing shifter cos I found it would get trapped in the threads and very difficult to remove the bolt.
I tried enlarging an M6 thin washer but was impossible.
so instead of drilling a smaller washer, what if I just grind off abit of the flanged bearing so I can use a larger M8 washer.

grinded 0.05mm off but it's getting close to the retaining clip for the metal shield and I don't have any M8 washer below 1mm thick.

the only washers that's thin & small enough are M6 washers, so decided to use M6 nut & bolts.
since it won't be spinning and only has to clamp together it's fine.

for the gear stick, I used a thick flattened lock washer.

posted to Max now.

 

[pollyp]

wanted to remake the satnav mount and rather than rely on suction cups, which tend to fall off the windscreen, just keep it simple and mount it directly on the dash.

the nut is stuck inside the dash like this

while the removable mount above screws down into the nut

satnav slots in place

 

[BigScottyUK]

How are you routing the power cable for your sat nav?

 

[pollyp]

How are you routing the power cable for your sat nav?

the 90deg usb head just goes under the satnav and to the cig plug

 

[pollyp]

cut some more vents in the heat shield behind the catchcan

and abit of paint

wrapped the crankcase breather hose in insulation to try keep it warm

 

[BigScottyUK]

the 90deg usb head just goes under the satnav and to the cig plug

Aw I thought you were going to show us some ingenious internal power cable through the dash.

I don't like dangly cables to cig lighter socket


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[pollyp]

Aw I thought you were going to show us some ingenious internal power cable through the dash.

I don't like dangly cables to cig lighter socket


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the satnav is only used occasionally during long trips so I have no requirement to integrate it.

 

[pollyp]

after opening up that catch can heat shield and a long trip down to london, I noticed that neither of em have captured as much vapour as before.
maybe they're being heated too much by the hot turbo & radiator and preventing any cooling, even though they're in a small stream or cool air.

so I'm thinking of relocating them back to this cool left side of the bay behind the headlight and away from the stream of hot air coming from the radiator.

the fuse box needs to shift over abit to make room

after some thought on how to mount it, I made this bracket

clamped the glass catchcan jars onto it

and plumbed it up

setup a camera to rec how its working. the left jar plumbs between the engine cover and air filter and the right jar plumbs between the crankcase and PCV.

few things I noticed.

• Initially when both jars are stone cold, they appear to condense the oil vapours fine. The crankcase-PCV jar begins to mist up once I drive.
• Both jars working better for longer periods by keeping them away from heat sources.
• The hot vapours from the crankcase seems to be slowly heating up the crankcase-PCV catchcan jar. With insufficient air cooling, the glass just gets warmer till there's no enough temperature difference to condense any vapours.

I'll need to form some sort of heat shield between the radiator and catchcans and make it scoop some cool air towards them.

 

[pollyp]

before making the heat shield, this radiator fan relay was in the way so I wanted to relocate it further along

got abit carried away with unwrapping the loom

moved the relay

rough heatshield test with card

after a cruise, I think it's helped keep the jars cool and condensing better

 

[h701micra]

Considered making a "coolbox" Paul?

 

[pollyp]

Considered making a "coolbox" Paul?

Aye.
A one piece steel enclosure would be hard to check levels and service.
A full box enclosure in a tight curvy area is a pita to construct.
Maybe a clear perspex split enclosure to allow easy checking and service while keeping the warm air away?

I just need a simple divider to keep radiator & engine heat away from the cans and allow fresh air to keep it cool.

 

[h701micra]

Aye.
A one piece steel enclosure would be hard to check levels and service.
A full box enclosure in a tight curvy area is a pita to construct.
Maybe a clear perspex split enclosure to allow easy checking and service while keeping the warm air away?

I just need a simple divider to keep radiator & engine heat away from the cans and allow fresh air to keep it cool.

Steel and perspex would act more of an insulator. I'd use aluminium

The sides are fairly simple and you wouldn't want to fully seal it to allow air to flow out as long as there's a good ducted supply in you'll be fine
Inspection again is simple too. The lid on mine slides into a smaller channel and held down one side with r-clips on some 8mm stainless bolts with a hole through them
Add some sticky back foam more to prevent rattling than a seal and bingo

I'll share a drawing of mine with you as it's easier than trying to describe it