B125AHM

[andydclements]

The leak could easily result in loss of pressurised gasses from the turbo to the atmosphere thus loosing boost rather than the wastegate actuation pipe which isn't loosing gasses.

Andy

[simonf]

A sucessful evening last night! Water pump on, that the main thing. Buddsy is going to source a turbo pipe elbow from a mate of his! Just waiting for a new spiggot bearing and i can start the put back!

I don't know what to think about my lack of boost! All i can tell you is that before i took the engine out it boosted just fine. If it were down to a dodgy diaphram or week spring i would have expected a gradule lack off boost. Granted last time i drove the car it was running like a pig, i have on more than one occassion wondered if the lack of a good spark may cause a lack of boost, in which case i am trying to find a fix that isn't there. The spring looks fairly new to be fair and i can't see any week spots or even any corrosion.

I will keep marching on until if find the fault!

Cheers

Simonf

[910Esprit]

Andy, Obviously any leak is undesireable, but I'm sceptical that leaking threads (unless they are effectively disconnected) could account for a significant loss of boost, At max boost the turbo is generating a huge volume of air that would struggle to get through a small leak point in any quantity. Presumably you will always get a similar type of leakage via the (unsealed/unlubricated) valve stem/guide (mine has noticeable wear of the valve stem), but that does not apparently affect its operation?

cheers

[simonf]

The elbow joint was very loose Steve! Please don't tell me that i need to dig deeper - i can't see the top of the hole as it is!

My hope is that the lack of boost is down to:-

A)Car running like poo! bad spark

combined with

B)Wastegate valve nuts not secure

combined with

C)Turbo to wastegate pipe elbow loose

culminating in

Lack of boost!

[simonf]

On investigating we found out what was causing the grawnching noise from the clutch - the new spiggot bearing (that i forgot to grease) was completely shot! the bearing casing had deteriorated and at least one of the needles had fallen out and was cutting a groove into the primary shaft of the gearbox!! So replaced it with a new bearing (that i remembered to grease up!) and replaced the gearbox.

Buddsy popped round with the new brass elbow from the turbo - i fitted it and its as snug as a bug in a rug!!

All that is left to do now is:-

Replace nearside brake calliper

Put on turbo and wastegate

Replace the exhaust

Put on the drive shafts

Re-instate the ignition system

Put in the boot floor

Replace the engine bay surround

Reconnect the induction system

MOT the car and test!

Hopefully it will be boosting to 0.75 and drive like a dream (well maybe in my dreams!)

[910Esprit]

And dont forget to fit the spigot bearing flush with the end of the crankshaft and to place the nylatron washer on the input shaft.....

[andydclements]

Bearing in, new washer on (old one was 2/3 the thickness due to wear).

And the clutch alignment tool did it's job, I was able to pick the gearbox up and slide it in quite easily with just the jack at the rear on the sum plug area to help it slide over the chassis tubes.

[910Esprit]

'I was able to pick the gearbox up' - You're obviously stronger than me!

Sounds like Simon has been very lucky - must have only been a few miles away from a definitely f***** input shaft and possibly crank.... Now back to the misfire? Please humour me by upping the fuel pressure a tad.

cheers Steve

[simonf]

Simon have you sent off your old water pump to SJ yet? I hoping he might be back soon.

Buddsy

Packaged up and ready to be sent! I was going to wait until they were back so they knew who the pump was from when it arrived on their door step - is that ok? or do you want me to send it now? I am happy either way but was just thinking if they are not there when it is delivered it may get taken to a post office sorting office and sit there a while being bashed about until someone from Sj;s can be bothered to pick it up (which if they anywhere near as busy as me could be a while!) Let me know chap and i will sought!

'I was able to pick the gearbox up' - You're obviously stronger than me!

Sounds like Simon has been very lucky - must have only been a few miles away from a definitely f***** input shaft and possibly crank.... Now back to the misfire? Please humour me by upping the fuel pressure a tad.

cheers Steve

Steve, i am guessing that i would up the pressure by adjusting fuel pressure regulator by the carbs. Is it unwind for more or wind in for more pressure? and how much winding should one do?

Cheers guys

[simonf]

F*CK, F*CK, F*CK and F*CK AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Just about finished putting the car back together, all i had to do was put the boot floor in and wire up the ignition system when i noticed that i had forgotten to put the tail pipe on - not too much bother you would think, you would be wrong! You see i had used exhaust sealant on the turbo-exhaust flange and to get enough movement on the main silencer to slip the tail pipe on you have to undo that very flange! desparate not to break the good seal i had created, i thought i would get creative with this problem. The reason you have to undo the flange is to give the silencer enough play to drop it from the gearbox back plate. I tried dropping the back plate from the gearbox (and thus dropping the silencer) which worked well enough to get the tail pipe on, but then i couldn't get the back plate back on with the exhaust still on! So undo the exhaust, put the back plate on and then put the silencer back, simple - no not simple because i couldn't get enought play to get the exhaust silencer back onto the back plate!

Only one thing for it, you are going have to break the seal on the turbo flange! Once i had done that i could then get the silencer back on - once i had done that all i needed to do was tighten up the aerolight nuts on the flange and we are there! Wrong - because as i was tightening it up i managed to snap another turbo stud!!!!!!

So i had to strip it all back again and drop it off to buddsy again for him to drill it out for me again!!! and i am seriously loosing my temper with this car! It seems determined to stay broken in my garage.

[andydclements]

Do you ever get the feeling you've been somewhere before or done something before?

I was going to call and find out how things were going, possibly glad I didn't, you probably wouldn't have stopped swearing by then.

[910Esprit]

Yeah I know - sometimes it feels like a conspricy!

From memory (or educated guesswork) I reckon anticlockwise will increase pressure & clockwise reduce. I would treat yourself to something similar to this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CRYPTON-VACUUM-PRESS...86.c0.m14.l1318

with just a simple Tee piece and short length of extra pipe you can accurately check all kinds of stuff (including your fuel pressure) - check with engine running.

I also have a simple manual vacuum pump (designed for removing marine oil via a dipstick tube). That also allows me to check the effectivness of the vacuum pipes using this type of gauge (I.e can each pipe hold a vacuum after sucking out some air).

keep on plugging away...

cheers Steve

[simonf]

Nice work on the turbo studs mate! Any quicker and it would be a 'while you wait service' Honestly Buddsy i have had to wait longer for a hair cut!!

Cheers mate

Simonf

[simonf]

At last the finishing line is in sight! I managed to get teh turbo on (without sheering any more studs!) the exhaust is on, all that is left to do is to put the drive shafts back on, wire up the ignition system and put the engine surround and induction system back together! I reckon i will have her fired up tomorrow evening!

[andydclements]

About time too.

What have you been doing over the last few months since you pulled the engine? Breaking bits?

I'm tempted to pop round just to see it start and move under its own power, but I may be fitting / working out how to fit the Elise seats.

[simonf]

Kill 2 birds with one stone! come over and see me start the car whilst working on putting your seats in, in my dry and light garage! I will clear some space for you if you want to do it round mine?

[simonf]

UP AND RUNNING!

at long last B125AHM final fired up into life! I didn't have a chance to test drive as i didn't finish until late last night 9and it was p155ing down! All i have left to do is:-

Put the asbestos shield back into the rear nearside wheel arch

Put the rear nearside wheel back on

and i am good to go!!

No leaks on the exhaust either! The exhaust has a different note because of it (it now sounds like a burbling boat at idle - but i like it)

I am truly hoping this is the end of my woes for quite some time!

[Bibs]

Congrats, get the bubbly out and leave the car alone before anything else happens!

[Bibs]

Chapman owned 'Moonraker Boats', it was his other passion alongside motor racing!

[Bibs]

:lol Haha, probably! It was the boat building where VARI was initially used I'm sure.

[andydclements]

Simon, use some of the aluminium foil tape I've got and coat the heat sheild, it will be more effective than it is now, probably more like it was supposed to be 20+ years ago.

I was going to pop round, but decided the weather was just awful and driving , even short distances, is just not worth it.

[simonf]

B125AHM udpate

Taken her out for a test drive and the grawnching noise has been cured! She is also driving much, much, much better but.... still not getting full boost! Admittedly i haven't upped the fuel presure yet and that is next on the to do list. I am still getting a splutter but this seems much more like fuel related and i would suggest that our initial diagnosis may still turn out to be the right one... Jets. It seems to splutter most when you floor it which leads me to think that one or more of the main jets may be blocked/worn, i will keep soldiering on with it until she purrs like a pussycat and goes like a cheetah!

Simonf

[simonf]

I had a word with Chris (chief mechanic at STR racing team) and he said it would be worth swapping the vacuum pipes (the ones that connect to the the black powder coated pipe that runs behind the carbs and enters the inlet manifold by way of rubber pipe-don't know what its called so please feel free to enlighten me!) as it is common for people to get them round the wrong way which can result in the petrol being crushed by the pressure (what ever that meens?) \So when i got home from work i tried it. What i did notice is that one of the hoses was split at the end, so i cut it down, swapped them over and took the car for a spin.

No sooner had i pulled out of the drive, then the tail pipe fell off! Bugger i thought, last time i had to put it back on it resulted in a sheered off turbo stud as i had to undo the whole exhaust system to get the tail pipe on - determined that i wasn't going to do that again i had a stroke of genius! Take the rear valance off, put the tail pipe on, then replace the valance! Simple yes? No the valance is held on by those ridiculous rivnuts and every single one of them just turned round without undoing!!!

I contemplated taking the exhaust apart again, then though try one more time to get the tail pipe on. The problem with the tail pipe is that you can't get enough angle on it to connect properly with the end tube of the silencer. Using a rubber mallet i managed to get the tail pipe to connect properly and i didn't even damage it!

Getting the feeling that the car no longer wants to punish me! Just got to sought out the carbs/fuel pressure/jetting issue and i am home and dry!

[andydclements]

LMAO.

[simonf]

Latest update!

I have taken my jets out of the carbs and blown them out! I have also up'd the fuel pressure and i have to say that the car is running quite nicely! I can't give you an exact prognosis as i was too lazy to do up all of the bolts to the plenum cover and as a result i was not getting much in the way of boost at all! I could hear the pressure escaping - so not too worried!

Some of my symptoms seem to have been cured though! At idle the car would run steadily and then hicup for just a second then run fine again for a few minute and then do it again and it was quite cyclic. It doesn't seem to be doing that anymore! When pulling off from say a T junction i would slip the clutch just slightly to avoid a low revs splutter! That seems to have been cured too!

The car does rev fairly freely but still won't rev past 6000rpm without a fight! I have a feeling that this may be caused by Buddsy's georgious carb trumpets - i have a feeling that they are either restricting air flow at the higher rev band or they are causing ressonance, i am going to change them back and see what the result is!

Gradually getting there!

Si