Craig's Xe track Nova (pb fixed to page 10)

[Benn]

Better than what?

The probs you had while mapping.
Looks great in the vids.. gonna watch the in a few.

[Will F]

Wat caused the failure mate? That's devestating! Can you get any compensation from the original builder etc?

[TallDave]

Sounds like the engine builder was off the Christmas card list then

You weren't by any chance bringing the car into Salisbury on the 10th December? Only I espied a neat white Nova being trailered down the A36 near Petersfinger around the middle of the day, first thought was it might be yours Craig?

Looking forward to reading the sorry tale soon! Nice to see the car still lives, I've missed the frequent updates...

[8valve-craig]

Yes that would have been me Dave. It was a miserable day and the Nova got absolutely plastered. I used to rent a unit down Petersfinger, but have since moved on so you probably saw me on the day the cars went over.

Not sure what caused the failure yet Will, there were a few different issues, both completely separate. Neither were catastrophic though so the pistons, head and 3 rods will go again.

I spent last Sunday taking the remains out. The head was already off as its been for crack testing at Ridgeway, so didn't take long.



Got the rest of it apart.



Then seeing as I'l be needing a new block and crank decided to strip another XE as a donor.



Block is getting bored on 7th Jan, rebuild parts can be ordered on Monday 5th. It's still not my main priority though so will be fixed when its fixed.

[Benn]

Can i ask, did a rod leave the block then?

[nova_niek]

Can i ask, did a rod leave the block then?

Block looks intact Benn. Seeing as the crank is dead it's probably an oil pump related issue. Did it end up with a spun big end bearing shell?

[Will F]

Glad it wasnt a complete catastrophe craig! Still a huge pain in the ass though.

have you seen the new Millington blocks on eBay?? Mmmmmm! Lol

[BRoadGhost]

Is that a forged crank that failed? Did something break or overheat?

[8valve-craig]

Yes Will, those MD blocks look dead nice, designed for a completely different build to mine and yours though without lopping 10mm off.

BRG, no it was a GM crank

Ok, so without wishing to intentionally ignore any questions I'l just state the facts from which you can draw you're own conclusions. Morning one on the rollers went fine, Mapping idle, running in and sorting out weeps, fan polarity etc. Morning two was a little more fraught, with a drop in pressure @ 5k immedietely after an oil and filter change had gotton up to temp. We shut it off and called it a day.

Later that week at home I ran it back up and found it to have good pressure, all be it not so hot, but then when idling the cambelt tensioner bolt failed. Caused a right racket, which sounded like contact so I took it to the guy who built it and had the head off for a look. All seemed well so reassembled with a new gasket, ran it up and down the road, came back, did a compression test and #4 was down.

That brings us to now, where its been stripped to find a spun #4 big end and a piston to head contact, #3 following closely behind but salvageable.

That's why its a little difficult to explain. 99% sure the #4 bearing turned on the rollers, which in the builders defence wasn't apparent when the head first came off, then our reassembly and further running has caused it to wear enough to enable the piston to hit the face. The tensioner bolt was just unfortunate and nobody's fault, it had more to do with the type of idler I had fitted.

I haven't stripped the pump yet, nor have I blown through the crank, but will do both. If I don't find anything obvious, which I'm not expecting to I'l start looking at the design of the oil tank and hose runs to determine whether the pump could have suffered cavitation or not.

The crank is scrap, one of the Arrow rods has had it.... that's it, so some might say lucky.

I don't feel very lucky though.

[BRoadGhost]

Did you run new main bearings, rods & bearings, pistons & rings, cams & followers for the first time on the rollers that morning?