great read!

 

OOoh ooh more info ....what have you been up to recently then?

 

TBH, I've just been driving the car and enjoying it so I'll wait until winter to do the deed. I've realised that chassis is more important now as the power will see me past 99% of cars on a track day (not including the Ring ). More grip is what I need...

 

Update! I took the car to the Zen RR day recently and it just managed 340 odd BHP. The car wouldn't hold any more than 1.2bar and therefore was running very rich (off the scale) in the mid range. Paul had a quick look at the pipes looking for any that were loose but there wa nothing obvious. The next thing was to look at the TMIC as these can split. I didn't have time to remove it but thanks for the offers of help on the day (JF). The STI TMIC can just about handle 1.4bar and mine was at that level, so it's an obvious area to look at.

It's now removed and it looks intact. I'll pressure test it just in case. I've checked all the other pipes and the are sound. The actuator was rated at 1 bar but if I'd gone for the 1.2 bar version I'd have suspected that wasn't being controlled. Hopefully TD supplied the 1 bar version...

I've no idea how long the car has been like this but it has been rather thirsty on track and I've done a few!

 

I forgot to mention that I picked up an Alloy Facelift bonnet from Ebay recently, so now the slippery slope to weight loss has begun. On the list is a small battery, steering wheel and seats.

Although I'll remove the tar pads on the floor and air bags, the car will still remain streetable as I will panel off the boot and replace the carpet. I may lose the rear door locks and rear electric windows too... All the seat belts except the drivers side will go to.

 

no passengers on track then?

just in process of stripping out 90% of mine..

Simon

 

I have 4 point harness for driver and passenger but I'll leave the 3 point in for the driver for roadwork when I'm on my own (most of the time). The 3 point is easier of course but the passenger can always use the 4 point suppose.

Also, I'll be getting some larger injectors and a swirl pot, using the OE pump as the lift and the Walbro as the pressure pump. I'm not sure how to power the extra pump yet though? Can it be in parrallel or separate supply and relay etc?

 

cool.. I read it as you were only going to have the drivers

relay and use the in tank pump as the relay trigger.. how I did mine anyway

Simon

 

You mean you feed both pumps from the relay in parallel and use the old in tank pump supply to operate the relay?

Power steering reservoir removed tonight and was very straight forward. Any recommendations for the best fluid to refill it or will any PS fluid do?

 

no.. keep original as it is.. and use the in tank pump power to trigger relay for the new.. just run a thick wire fused at battery to new pump (I used stereo amp wiring)

Simon

 

Castrol TQ Dexron III Automatic Transmission Fluid is the stuff to use

 

Thanks Tim. My project has laster almost as long as yours has!

For anyone that wants to do the Remote Reservoir mod:
34431FE010 Power Steering Adapter
34611FE010 Steering Reservoir lower supply hose
34630AE001 Reservoir Tank
34633AE001 Power Steering reservoir mounting bracket
(thanks Steven)

This will allow the hard OE inlets from the STi8/Spec C to be fitted. It could be a tad lighter too than the alloy tank as the new one is plastic but you have to consider the extra pipe and bracket

 

We're just about to hit 11 years since I first ordered the car, and guess what, it's off the road, again

Since it was registered on the 12th September 1998 it has been off the road for 5 years and 5 months all through my own doing

 

What an awesome thread, Floyd, I doff my cap to you sir!

quick question, where did you get the AP brakes from?

 

Tim, my car has spent the vast majority of it's life in the garage and only coming out for the odd w/e blast, Ring trips and trackdays. It's only done 45k!

Thanks DJ. The AP's came through a mate who did a trade deal so not a lot of help to you I'm afraid. There is a shop in Leighton Buzzard that may do a deal for you though? The best mod for brake upgrades by far IMO.

I had to order the steering reservoir lower supply hose today as I didn't have it. £35+vat! Gulp. I was so shocked that I forgot to ask for a discount...

 

True, I did get to use mine daily until September 2001 and 90k miles, since then it's done all of 8k on the original engine and 500 miles on the new engine before I found the head gasket problem in November

 

Tim, I've sorry to say that I've not kept up with progress on your car and the last I'd seen was that it was finally back on the road.

 

Check the project thread over on 22b, I made an error of judgement when I decided to tear down the engine to fit forged pistons and elected to reuse the unfired gaskets...they failed

 

I tested the TMIC today. I thought "how can I really test it in the most complicated way possible"? Lol
I bunged up the entries/exits and added the gas connection:

I then thought I'd use Helium as that would stress the joints further:

Then, when it held 1.4 bar without loss I decided to sniff the joints:

Conclusion? It does not leak! Bugger. That means it is losing boost elsewhere as I've already checked all the other boost pipes. Next stop is the actuator and finally the wastegate that I modified (welded on a stop) to make sure the penny/dogbone was fully covering the bleed holes...

 

Wow, that is thorough.

It would be worth checking at least the AFR on the road, it wouldn't be the first it was thrown out by being on a dyno. Also check things like fuel rails sealing into manifold (have you had them off at all?) and other things around the manifold. Dumpvalve and hoses also worth a cursory check (you never know).

 

Awesome read. Bump so i can find it when i get back home

 

I've never had the fuel rails off Paul so I can't imagine that there will be a leak there (I hope). I'll check the DV and the wastegate, which I need to take off anyway.

Cheers

 

If you had access to those toys you'd use them too

Just like me chucking things in X-ray systems, or using Eddy Currents/UT to find flaws

 

What about the standard dump valve? Maybe that's leaking off the boost.

I'm not convinced mine (my00) holds well, I bought an adaptor from harvey so I could run a reversed 97/98 dump valve.. yet to try it.

 

Update. The car is back together and the new PS reservoir seems to work. It took a bit of gurgling before it went quiet but we'll see when I take it on the road. The small pipe did not fit so I used some 8.5mm fuel hose instead. No idea if this will work with Dexron?

The Sti8 inlet is on and it fits perfectly. The Spec C inlet didn't want to go on so the decision was made. I did find that my K&N panel filter was quite clogged with dust and flies. I've changed it for a new one and cleaned the old one as a spare.

I've checked the DV and that seems OK. While the inlet manifold was off I've removed the carbon canister pipes, purge solenoid and had a general tidy. I noticed that some fuel hoses were chaffing in places I couldn't see and I've sorted those, so it's a warning to others who have parralleled their fuel rails.

I'll put some pictures up later as I've improved the heat shield mods.

 

it will unfortunatly decay the fuel hose and leak after a while..

Simon

 

Bugger! Not a huge problem though as it's easy to replace, relatively! So I need special power steering type hose then. That's not something the local motorfactors have...

 

Hydraulic hose suppliers like Pirtek in Wymbush will be able to supply you with the correct hose Floyd, they'll probably be open Saturday morning

 

I took the car for a run tonight as I've gone back to the standard air scoopc(and the car needed a test drive)! The temps rose +6C above ambient on average so it's OK so far. Hopefully less drag too. The boost is steady at around 20PSI so it seems OK. I haven't calibrated my AFR in a while so I didn't bother checking that.

 

It looked a bit busy here so I decided to remove the carbon canister and some of the pipes:

This just left the fuel pipe:

Here's the PS adapter and the STi8 inlet Pipe:

The new reservoir and a bracket I made as the new OE one didn't fit where I wanted it to go: