Winter Strip Down and Rebuild (Done and Dusted)

[Mikie711]

Might as well start this somewhere so the beginning seemed a good place. As some of you know I am building a new engine for next year and it will be incorporated into this thread. But that is only part of what I have planned for the car. First Job on the list was to get the old engine out and prep the car for a motorsport oil cooler that sits under the radiator in the front of the car and for fitting the wheel sensors and wiring for the Xoombox data logger, traction and launch controller, which was made and supplied by David Loomes.
First job was to remove the front and rear clams, having down the front one a few times now that was off in under 1/2 hour. The rear was a bit more of a challenge as it has the molded in boot box. This meant that the exhaust back box had to come off first as it is hung from the floor of the boot. After that it's just a case of hunting down all the bolts that secure it to the chassis.
With them out of the way, getting the gearbox out is a lot easier. POP the drive shafts drop out the starter and bobs your uncle. And with the help of a mate the engine followed without any drama. I have a couple of old front hub bolts, so I reassembled the rear wishbones and used the bolts to keep the hub bearings together (just a precaution) dropped it back onto it's wheels and pushed it outside. Once out I set about it with my power washer to get rid of all the road grime. The photo's show the before and after being washed down.

























As you can see the old girl scrubs up quite well. I am now waiting for hose and fittings, electrical connectors and wiring and wheel sensors to arrive so I can get the hose and wire run. Before that I need to drop out the fuel tank as that is where the wiring is run to get through the car. Probably do that tomorrow.

One thing I could do with some help with is the new engine is based on a VVC lump and means I can run twin coil packs as opposed to distributor and single coil pack. This I would like to do as it means I don't need to fit a spigot in the end of the inlet cam. It also means I should, depending if there is a lobe on the new cams, be able to get cam position for the emerald so it knows if it's on a compression stroke or not for sequential fuel injection. I have both the original and a rover VVC loom for the engine bay and was planning on stripping down the rover one and grafting the necessary wiring into the old loom. Can't just use it as there are 2 ECU type plugs a opposed to the single plug I have now. It has also not got the rear lights etc wired into it. If anybody has done this or knows what is involved then any advice would be appreciated.

More to follow.............a lot more


Mike

[Rich H]

Those rear wishbone mounts look rubbish Don't think I have ever paid them any attention before! and your heat shield looked like mine did

Electrical stuff?
Paging Dr Robin.... Dr Robin please report to this thread

[Mikie711]

Yep, think the heat shield has seen better days, bit small for my manifold anyway.

Some of the engine parts I have amassed recently.

[robin]

Assuming you're going to use an Emerald or something else that plugs into the standard 36-way MEMS plug, you can transplant the contacts out of the 2x MEMS connectors fitted to the VVC loom into the housing of the 1x MEMS connector off your old loom - the pins are the same in both housings.

You'll need to shuggle a few about anyway when fitting the emerald if you want anything other than dizzy drive and batch injection, so really no more or less work this way.

That way you should be able to make one loom out of your old loom plus spliced in bits of the ROVer VVC engine loom (most of it, I suppose).

The lights shouldn't be part of the engine loom - the engine loom connects to the MEMS/Emerald/... and the three inter-harness connectors mounted on the ECU plate - if you split those three connectors and undo the earth studs, you should be able to separate the engine loom from the rest of the car.

I would keep the original loom intact where relevant and then fold in those cables/connectors from the Rover VVC loom that you need to pinch.

BTW, the EU2/EU3 VVC cam position sensor is different from the EU3 non-VVC cam position sensor in terms of engine position, sensor type and connector, so the VVC loom doesn't actually have the right connector for that anyway - that said, I think it's one of those Junior Timer type of connectors, so possibly available on the open market, possibly not ...

Cheers,
Robin

[robin]

Hmm. In your picture I spot the VVC blanking plates, so you're using an ex-VVC head with new cams? I'm not convinced the exhaust cam will have the CPS lobe on it, but even if it does, you'll need to find a way of fitting the sensor as the EU3 non-VVC cam cover (which is what this would normally fit) won't fit a VVC head, I suspect. I don't think the emerald can be persuaded to do engine-phase detection with the proper VVC sensor - although it can do VVC stuff ... so maybe you could pretend to have a VVC mech fitted, just to bluff it into using the sensor data for engine-phase determination ... that's one to ask Emerald!

Cheers,
Robin

[Mikie711]

On the subject of wiring components, the best place I have found for getting a sorts of connectors etc for cars is http://www.polevolt.co.uk/. Their catalogue is full of all the stuff you need but can never find, great service as well.

On the wiring front, I think your right in as much as combining the 2 looms will be the easiest way forward. Taking the extra bits out of the VVC loom and swapping the ECU plug pins is no bother, I have loads of spare pins I got from Emerald when fitting the wide band lambda. Just going to take some thinking about................

Assuming the cam has a position lobe on it the sensor signal should be easy enough to pick up as it is only a proximity sensor as far as I am a ware, very similar to the crank position sensor. Should just need to work out what it;s seeing and when. BTW the sensor fits in the cam bearing ladder not the cam cover.

[hiscot]

i see you already have your main bits mike your ve been busy
mike can you not run ingition as batch via the emerald ?
regarding cables and fuel tank most folk just thread them along the t cable . into the cab and you dont require the tank off fpr that, however i dont like the cables too close to the manifold, so i thread mine along the inside the sills, takes time but do able and as your going to remove the coin trays and thread the cooler pipes along anyhow

[Mikie711]

I could do that but I want to locate the data logger behind the seats, the simplest and shortest cable run is to follow the existing wiring. Plenty time and it isn't as big a job as it sounds with the engine out of the way.
The ignition isn't going to be a problem, the emerald is more than capable of handling twin coils, it's the sequential injection that will be the poser. If all else fails I will revert to original but would like to at least try and get it to work as I know it is possible. Means you can trim individual cylinders although how you figure that out is beyond me !!. One for Ricky me thinks, I does how eve give greater control for the LC and TC I got from David.
Just ordered 4 Proximity sensors from RS, should be here tomorrow and my wiring should arrive today. Away to chase Mr Andrews for my cams so I can get them down to Rog before I go away, hopefully get the head back next time home which will mean I can get the valve clearance sorted and the engine balanced.
Once thats done it's off to the rolling road to get run in and mapped.
On that subject been looking at the best way to run it in, some say take it easy and some say run it hard but limit RPM. Think the run it hard way sounds better, load the engine on the Dyno up to say 3000 and let it coast down itself, repeat a few times to bed in the rings. Any thoughts ?.
Still waiting for oil cooler hoses and fittings to arrive, probably be Monday now for them, need to order in line thermostat as well.
It's only money !!!!!!!!!!!!

Jobs to do:
Install Data logger and associated wiring, shift lights and sensors.
Build engine
Re-fit quick shifter
Plumb in oil cooler
Figure out engine wiring
Re-plumb fuel system (remove charcoal canister)
Move bullet cam
Send front clam for paint.

Things to get:
In line thermostat
PRRT
Fuel hose and jic 6 fittings
Gearbox type B seals
Fuel pressure regulator
Switches and LED's for data logger
New tyres (soft compound Kumo V70's)
Engine machined and balanced
Head from Rog
Cams from Dave (then send to Rog)

Looking at all that, April doesn't seem that far away
So much for a quite winter, kinda glad I bought a heater for the garage

Edit: Robin, have noticed that the cam cover is also got a cam sensor mount on it, as the cover was bought separately and didn't come with the engine it looks like I've got a choice of positions. I have a Piper 285 VVC replacement cam that has the reluctor ring on it and it lines up with the hole in the bearing ladder I have so hoping that I will be able to use this. Not sure if it is just the new software for the Emerald that has it but there is a setting for a cam position sensor in additional maps tab, probably because of it's ability to handle VVC engines now. Going to give it a go anyway and see if it works.

Edit Edit: Somebody asked which cam belt, it's a piper competition one for the manual tensioner. Figured it would be about the best, at least it's branded so should be decent quality.....I hope.

[Shug]

Superb thread. Will read with interest. Plenty of shots of the engine going together please!

WRT running in, you'll get as many opinions on that as you can deal with. IMO, if you've decided to run it in hard, then just do it - you'll have people with opinions either way.

[hiscot]

mike what choice oil cooler pipes have you gone for ?
i believe threading along the sills is a nightmare so i was going to use the heater pipes and fit a heated windscreen later on but as i also have to thread the charge cooler pipes i might as well thread both
it will be intresting to find out how easy / hard a job it turns out to be, extra post on this please

[tuscan_thunder]

Running in: when first starting the engine, I have heard of some heating the oil before pouring it into the car, then firing up. (I presume so the oil is already warm and in its best condition?)

Something to consider or pure BS?

[Mikie711]

Bob, Will do. I plan on following the Lotus instructions in the motorsport supplement. Along the driverside inner sill. Don't expect it to be easy, but my car has the holes already cut in the crash structure but not in the A pillar which is a bit odd . Cooler is already fitted just waiting for the hose to arrive which by the way is Aeroquip blue 1/2" Push fits.

[campbell]

Mikie.

This thread does exactly what it says on the tin.

It really is a rebuild isn't it!!

Full respect young man and as Shug says, keep the pics n tips coming. Would you like your own subforum for this


Campbell
(can just about change the brakes on his own faction)

[Mikie711]

OK a few more bits and pieces arrived today.



New 1444 cams, springs, shims and caps. Need to box these up again and send them to Rog with the followers. Things are starting to come together, if I can just convince him to get my head done for the end of November

[Mikie711]

Just so everybody who's watching this knows I am away offshore tomorrow for 3 weeks so there wont be much going on. I will however resurrect this thread when I get back.
I have spoken with Rog regarding the head and sent him all the bits he needs and have been promised a November delivery .
Wheel sensors arrived from RS so will crack on with them and the oil cooler install when I get back (sorry Bob, hoses are not coming till tomorrow now). Few other things added to thelist of jobs such as oil pressure and temp gauges and possibly a AFR readout. Don't know if the last one is worth doing yet. Should have a bunch more stuff to do when I get home as I tend to order stuff I need when I'm away so it's there when I get home.