Last night I took a chisel to the radiator fan mounts and found the rust was thicker than the metal. So it was out with the rotary wire brush and drill. 2 hours later and there is now a fine layer of rust covering the whole garage, my hair and clothes. There are two small holes in one of the fan brackets but the rest looks okay. I’ll finish them with a coat of engine black after a bit of fine sanding next week.
The weekend is all about making progress on the car. Graham rang me last night asking for a delivery date for the monocoque and first module parts. We agreed on the Tuesday 8th February and I will have to get a few extra hands to help, trestles built and garage cleared on the day. Oh and there’s the little issue of the outstanding payment.
Graham mentioned about changing the intercooler to a front mount which was something I was intending to do but cash is a little shorter than I would have liked at the moment so I’m thinking about it as this will be another £ 800+ notes on the project. Having said that it does look very nice.
I still have some unknown costs such as the shot blasting, paint job, powder coating etc. The other thought was to a baffled sump.
I still have some unknown costs such as the shot blasting, paint job, powder coating etc. The other thought was to a baffled sump.
Baffled Sump explanation:
The problem: Your average oil sump is like a big bowl collecting the oil from the engine. A suction head (receiver) from the oil pump is usually in the middle of the sump (Normally at the lowest point toward the rear of the sump). During normal driving (no hard cornering or G forces) everything works fine but when the car is driven hard on long corners e.g Castle Coombe and Snetterton circuits. A typical example would be Turn 12 at Snetterton.
Where there are prolonged G forces in the corners, and the engine is high revving, then the oil slides to the side of the sump which causes the receiver to come clear of oil. In short bursts in normal driving conditions this can be acceptable but under hard driving on prolonged corners, like doing laps on a circuit, it doesn’t take the engine long to suffer and, worse case, seize. As one Murtaya owner found out to his cost – one new engine required.
Where there are prolonged G forces in the corners, and the engine is high revving, then the oil slides to the side of the sump which causes the receiver to come clear of oil. In short bursts in normal driving conditions this can be acceptable but under hard driving on prolonged corners, like doing laps on a circuit, it doesn’t take the engine long to suffer and, worse case, seize. As one Murtaya owner found out to his cost – one new engine required.
The solution is a baffled sump. This modifies the sump with a system of plates directing more of the oil directly to the oil suction point and slows/restricts the oil from sliding to the side of the sump. The end result, in theory, is the oil receiver doesn’t clear the oil at any time.... just like in the golf (as the ad goes).
Note: The one on the right is a specially designed high capacity sump.
So this weekend was to get the wiring out and start dropping the fluids out of the car and clear the engine. I bought a couple of metres of clear ¾ inch pipe from an aquarium centre to act as a siphon hose. I removed the level and fuel pump plates on the top of the tank. One quick suck and the fuel started moving to the jerry can. Actually it was the second suck the first time I got a lung full of petrol fumes – not healthy.
From there I was able to disconnect the fuel lines to the engine and remove the fuel filter assembly. Next it was on to the air intake sensors. A few photos for good measure and then label them up electrically it wasn’t a problem each connector is unique however the pipes need labelling. Next is the intercooler, 2 bolts and 2 jubilee clips, not a problem. Now I can see and, more importantly, get access to the heater pipes. Release the two pipe fittings and presto the heater unit pulls free and at last I can get to the wiring harness.
Under the intercooler there are three connectors one to the Knock sensor on the exhaust and two that run back to the gear box somewhere. Labelled up I am then able to push them through the firewall into the cabin. Then it is on to the Engine bay fuse and relay unit. That disconnected the full harness can be removed. One side of the harness runs from the relay box on the near side around the front of the engine bay and passed the ABS unit and along the offside wing and into the cabin. The other side of the cable harness leaves the same point, the relay box and back down the near side wing into the cabin. Another “branch” of the cabling feeds the windscreen wipers, the air intake sensors, and offside injectors.
The last connection through the firewall was the alarm. The connector is too big to get through the firewall so I decided to chop the cable and deal with the problems later. That’s it all the cabling is released and I carried the whole harness into the garage.
Next job is the steering column. I jacked the car up on to axle stands and found the steering knuckle and unbolted the shaft and pulled out the steering column. Next the Exhaust, 2 bolts, four rubbers, job done. Unfortunately the exhaust had a hole in one of the silencer boxes. Not like they did much of a job. But it means there is no value parking it on Ebay. With the back end jacked up I unbolted the brake callipers and had a look at the ABS sensors, breaking my ¼ inch ratchet driver in the process. I think I need some rust penetrator release fluid. I decided to leave that for another day suspecting I might need so assistance with the brakes.
I removed the belts on the air-con compressor and the Power assisted steering pump and alternator and was about to remove the compressor when rain stopped play for the day. And that was the weekend done unfortunately.
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