Originally Posted by ~~joycey~~
Of course it leaks oil its a red topI have to agree with you but it seems to leak more than your average redtop!
Of course it leaks oil its a red top
Better bring this topic up to speed
After the rolling road setup it was all systems go for trackday prep. Had a Cadwell Park booked for 30th May along with a few mates including Iain on here.
First up was to address the super heavy brake pedal. Research showed me that redrilling the pivot point 20mm higher gave a better pedal ratio when using a bias pedal box. So off it came, drilled and refitted. Just sitting in the car and pressing the pedal it felt loads better. But more on that later!
Next up was to take the kink out the exhaust where it goes round the shifter housing, because it was knocking on the tunnel which was annoying! So with me having the cav internal shifter I opted for straightening it. Wasn't that simple, but with some technical drawings on cardboard I got there in the end!
All painted up with VHT paint and some new Mikalor style clamps
And fitted
Massive thanks to Iain for the help with the exhaust. Wouldn't have managed on my own, not enough hands!
With all my prep done I was ready for Cadwell.
Went the night before and camped over with Iain, Karl and Andy, and then the rest joined us in the morning to setup our pit area!
After we were all setup and signed on I got the car warmed up and took it for noise testing. The limit was 105db, the nova made 105db
Took the car out on sighting laps and instantly was not impressed with the brake pedal. It had gone from feeling like trying to push a brick wall to treading on a sponge. Although the brakes worked they gave a very vague feeling indeed, and I had no confidence to push with them. So the pedal was re-adjusted to the standard pivot, and again this gave different results again!? The pedal became sightly harder but not as it was originally which seemed odd. Also had to pump the pedal before you got a proper bite, was like I had major knock back on the pads. So I deffo need to look into the brakes.
My dad also took the car out and whilst he was driving we heard a massive klonk from the steering as he turned into the right hander for the mountain, annoyingly only a few feet passed the track exit! So we took a very steady drive back to the pits. After investigation the pre-load nut had lost a bit of tension and come slightly loose causing the rack to jump a tooth and lock out at a certain point. Got this sorted and gave it a test run around the pits and all was good so got back out there after lunch!
also on Lunch break Iain kindly lent me his 200lb rear springs to see what difference it made over my 150's. So got them fitted and the difference was really noticeable. So stiffening the rear and lowering the car more are part of my future plans.
All in all engine wise it never missed a beat even in the almost 30 degree heat
Power delivery is awesome and always there when needed throughout the rev range. Following Iain highlighted the need for a diff though as his cornering speed was massively different. If I tried to match it I just lit up one wheel and began to understeer and had to back off to get the grip back.
Still got some oil leak issues aswell so further investigation is needed into that. Thinking its just sump though as the rest of the engine at the top end was bone dry all day. Finally as I was taking the slicks off at the end of the day I noticed a strange clonking noise when rotating the front wheels. Basically the diff bearings have given up
Didn't take any pics on the day, but found this on the trackday organisers website.
No probs with the help. Snap of yours with Coxy's Radical, which me and Ian were consistently beating throughout the day. Honest.
Exhaust wise, I'd taken this along just incase you needed it, I think it reduced the noise on mine slightly although its a bit of a shonky fit! Yours has a fair way to come down to suit 98dB.
Managed to get hold of a replacement sump to try, but I'm unsure at the minute whether it will be ok or not. Wouldn't mind a bit of feedback and others opinions on it...
Sump bung thread looks as if it's been re-threaded/helicoiled, Do you think this would be up to the job, or be point of concern for leakyness? Does look as if it's been done well, but suppose the only proof will be trying it and see.
The other thing I'm slightly more concerned about is the number of fine looking cracks all over the inside of the sump. They feel quite rough and scored to the touch
However... On the reverse side of this area there is no signs of the same cracks/imperfections.
The mating face looks good and looks to be level with the metal rule test. I thought about giving it a rub down with some wet an dry, or having it bead blasted, or would you leave as it is?
Does anyone else's sump have a similar look to this? As said after opinions on whether to use it or not, or look for another as I really want to sort these oil leaks and not have to continue chasing them after spending more money.
In theory I should have got photo's first, but you live and learn
Any opinions would be greatly appreciated on what I should do
Cheers
Ian
Few more pic's of overall condition
id say it was all good. helicoils are stronger than ally so its probably replaced someones attempt at tightening to stop a leak / not using a new crush washer.
the inside isnt an issue mate and lets face it, not likely to leak as much as the current one eh?
As Karl said its good to go! The lines (cracks) inside are just casting marks, they all have them. You could clean up the mateing face up abit by looks of things but nothing to rough as to not remove the good stuff
The helicoil looks good, as long as its not loose and is straight... Try with a new washer to torque it up to 55Nm and if it doesnt pull itself out, get it fitted
What brake setup are you using?
Old XE track car
http://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74272
Bias Pedal box with:
Front Master Cylinder: 5/8
Rear Master Cylinder: 3/4
Complete braided lines throughout with ATE Super racing Blue DOT 4 fluid.
Front Brakes:
Unknown 284mm Vented & Drilled Discs
Astra 256 Callipers spaced out with bigger v6 pads EBC red stuff carbon ceramic pads
Rear Brakes:
Standard Drums
This is a pic of my balance bar set biased to the front as far as I can go. However I have just set this now with the in-car adjuster as I noticed it was set pretty even and probably explains why there didn't seem to be any form of aggressive bite. Never adjusted this at the track as I had messed with the pedal ratios and didn't want to do too many things and loose track of where I was with it all. Think I need to give this setting ago as it seems to have stiffened the pedal feel up abit again. But without driving it I obviously can't gauge it properly.
Front Master Cylinder on the right
The reason I can't get any more front bias is because the pushrod on the master cylinder has been cut down (Not by me) So there are not enough threads. I'm thinking I could swap the pushrods over or get a longer one for the front and adjust accordingly
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