rob4620

Nice work, I have just done the cage and floor paint and its not a fun job, get layers and layers of ally tape on any holes both sides of the shell then just paint it, as good as new.

Dill_typeR

Well got it running, took longer due to fitting new radiator, have to run only one fan to fit intercooler piping.
Was some oil burning once running, thought it was just spilt powers teering fluid. Took it for a run, still leaking out onto exhaust, looks like from behind cam cover - possible cam seal.

Checked rocker covers, and tweeked them a bit more. Mechanic has had to leave for a rally in scotland, so unless i get some help tomorrow I'm screwed i reckon.

May have a go, at taking pulleys off myself, in situ, will have to remove radiator 1st though.

How do you 'lock' cam shaft when tightening cam bolts?
Dill

dynamix

iTrader: (3)

Phil - is the oil leak central or to one side?

If it is central - it could be the front crank seal. Not a huge job and the new seal is only £5 iirc.

Dill_typeR

Thing is knowing what you're doing, and having the spares, by the time anything is diagnosed (if at all tomorrow) everywhere will be closed. Orders placed in the morning take until afternoon toarrive usually at the garage.
Think I may have to admit defeat this time

dynamix

iTrader: (3)

Gutted for you. Not a great weekend for Team Monkfish

Dill_typeR

JUst trying to find someone to help out, it appears a tiny bit of sealer around cam seals may have helped, didn't do that, doh. All speculation though until its inspected....

Jolly Green Monster

iTrader: (4)

did you use sealant on the end cam caps?

Simon

172sport

iTrader: (6)

As above, ive got some used but good seals you can have if desperate. Not ideal but could get you away.

just a thought.

stu

Dill_typeR

Thanks for the offers and advice guys.

Another problem was getting access to the car, realistically it had to be running properly by 6pm yesterday, it was running but with that leak and then mechanic had to go on pit crew in Scotland.

Extremely gutted to say the least, but on the brighter side, found the head gasket leak, also found out the cam belt tensioner was fecked and cam belt was dangerously loose.

It all has been very last minute not helped by work schedule too. I'm very gratefull for Pasty and the Wycombe lot for the work they've done and John at the garage for allowing to work in there all this week even though space and time was tight.

So I will try and get it all sorted for the next round at Knockhill.

Dill

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Gutted for you mate that you are not going to make it, but lets hope the time you have now will mean you come back stronger and faster than before

have a good time with pasty tomorrow and say hi to Duncan for me

Dill_typeR

Cheers Birthday Boy!

Wanted to get it on track just so Palmer could get some pics, the graphics do look awesome, i mean, real good IMO.

If I had a bit more know-how maybe could of had it sorted.
On the plus side, due to pasty/rich, head gasket was confirmed earl enough for major engine damage, and during strip, cam belt tensioner was found knackered and consequently loose cam belt. Mechanic was surprised it was still on it was that loose!

Who's coming to bonny Scotland then?

Dill

172sport

iTrader: (6)

Tbh your best being prepped 100%, I've just built a motor for my mates P1 took a long while but at least we know its right.

Stu.

Dill_typeR

Update for Round 2 looming.

Only a few days to go. Leak has been diagnosed and sorted. It turned out to be power steering oil leaking. But due to the fact I'd just partially rebuilt the engine, and the oil being same colour as engine oil and appearing from behind cam cover, and ran out of time thats why we thought it was an engine seal.

Everything else appears to be OK. Should be picking car up Thursday and apply the rest of the graphics, some people still haven't sent me theirs to go on at this late stage. Front wheel bearings are being replaced as a precaution, brake fluid change to Castrol SRF (thanks to Guy and Simon at opie http://www.opieoils.co.uk/).

So car is now more or less in the spec that I wanted for the rest of the season. Two more areas to upgrade now are an oil cooler set-up, and a fuel surge prevention set up, which will require a ECU map tweek.

I should get some pics up thurs night.

Cheers
Dill

gussy

iTrader: (2)

Glad you got it sorted Dill looks like its gonna be a busy month for you what with knockhill and then scoobyshootout I take it you are doing it this year?

Dill_typeR

I haven't entered yet Gus, maybe too late, I'll have to see if I'm working that weekend.

Dill_typeR

Got to garage (RASP) and vacuum bled brakes to get all the old fluid out then bled them with Castrol SRF, thanks to Opie Oils for that. Opie Oils

Took it out for a run to check brakes, thought the cops were coming for me, even though I was being good, luckily it was the dog section (its nice to know they have somewhere for the mingers to work!)

Started on my decals, the ones on the bonnet have more bubbles than a matey bubble bath (using the robot bottle). But they're all on, a couple of sponsors still haven't sent theirs, space is tight too, so left a bit on the rear 1/4's.

So a few pics.







Still never managed to get oil cooler ordered and on, but should have it sorted for Silverstone, Fuel surge will be prevented by running more fuel (and weight ) This will take a bit longer to solve,as the garage is busy, and the car needs to be there and perhaps a few parts manufacturing during install, as there appears to be no 'off the shelf kits'.

So its off to KH in a couple of hours, a long drive in a noisy car :roll:

Dill

ZEN Performance

Good luck mate, see you there!

Liz @ ZEN

Dill_typeR

Club Challenge Car#8
Team Monkfish Racing
Well back at work

And had a bit of time, still waiting for video to upload and still got 2 more to edit.

Had a day to prep my car, bled brakes with castrol SRF, and added remaining decals. I left later than planned on Friday, and it took about 5 1/2 hours to do the 324 long, noisy trip.



Arrived at hotel, had a few beers, and met up with Dunc, Mike (big power) and a couple of others (lee and Ren) and we we for food, just in time.
Up fairly early and had to take all my ket as I was in a different hotel on the Saturday night (booked late :roll: )

Whilst Dunc was on a SIDC track day, Ren and Lee investigated an oil leak I had and fixed it. It was leaking from turbo oil pressre feed ( i uses old washers on engine rebuild and wasn't that tight either)
I tweaked suspension, and got brews and bacon butties. Big thanks to the guys for their help :P

Had 3 1/2 hour sessions that afternoon and car ran well, with unofficial timing (Lee) clocking me at consistent 1.03's then 1.01's. I was happy with the car and though 1/2 to 1 second could be shaved off, although my target for the weekend was a 58dry/1.02wet. My best last year was a 1:00.495



Passed scrutineering and onto warm up, lots of traffic, was red flagged and restarted and posted my quickest on lap 9 (of 12), a 1:00.363, this turned out to be my fastest all day.

I made further adjustments to suspension, and out for practice session, and pushed harder but didn't seem to be able to find anymore time, although a bit could be found braking into the hairpin, its a trade off of locking up and into the gravel, very bumpy under braking. A 1:00.411, I was very concerned as 7 in my group (B) were sub 1 minute, and about the smae in group A. This session was hampered by about 7 laps under yellow flag on the back straight :x

I fiddled with suspension and went out for qualifying, with a fastest lap on lap 2 with 1:00.550 and was consistent for a few laps within 0.2 secs, but couldn't get anymore and tyres went off quickly, i was going to pit for a quick break, and let tyres recover but decided to stay out, but lap times were no better.

Vid of warm up session

So no quicker than last year and whats changed?
Air con removed and drivers OE seat.
Cage installed, 2 bucket seats, larger extinguisher, and running a full tank of fuel, perhaps I should have left suspension alone too?

I was initially gutted then, but looking at other cars times and power levels, and the fact the car is still driven to and from events, I'm happy it ran without issue all weekend, fuel consumption wasn't good though 83 miles (including 16 in transit) on saturday and 59 litres of fuel used I think.

shennan

i watched you up at knockhill mate and you can certainly throw that car about

i own a yellow type r also so i was cheering for you lol

Dill_typeR

Took it for a run to the garage today to give it a once over. They were chocca with lots of nice cars and some normal ones too.

Already checked levels before I left, and investigated the muck around the battery.
It appears that the drain plug from my oil breather catch can has gone so its just been breathing into my engine bay and making a mess.
I removed the battery and cleaned what I could up with brake cleaner, and re-installed the catch can, this time with an Earls union with a blank plug. I would have used a bolt but the thread is a strange type (JIC?)

Actually washed the car today, using my patented hosepipe and 1 bucket method, drying with a squeegy blade, slapped on a couple more decals.

Also checked gearbox linkage. Its missing a bush, and explains why it has developed a sloppy feel (like a ford orion gearbox).
So getting one on order to fit.

Annoyed the oil cooler kit hasn't arrived from driftworks yet as that was the main reason I went down.

Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow and I'll get it fitted with an oil change, hopefully I'll get some ramp space or it will be trickier, also need to swap tyres front to rear.

So just about ready for round 3 at Silverstone

Jolly Green Monster

iTrader: (4)

just to check.. the catch can does have a vent still?

Simon

Dill_typeR

Yes Simon,

Its just a generic D1 catch can, with all the vents from the engine T-pieced into the can at the top, then a separate vent tube (also from the top), and a drain plug in the bottom to empty the horrible mess.

It was the aluminium bolt in the bottom that has come off, so it was just venting straight through the can, out the bottom and collecting in front of the battery.

You can just see the set up here bottom right of picture....

Jolly Green Monster

iTrader: (4)

with you.. just see a few set up with no vents etc.. not good..

Simon

Dill_typeR

Round 3 - Silverstone

Arrived at the circuit around 5pm on Saturday to meet Dunc and his family.
We weren't allowed in the circuit to watch the track day unless we paid, so just stopped in the car park and chatted to a few other TA competitors and entourage.

Met Stu from big power at last and a few more but can't remember names

After unloading my car and stashing it in the garages it was off with famille Graham to the Jap restaurant for a meal with the Zen lot and a few off 22b.
This was the 1st meal I'd had since Monday night as I'd not been well (one way of weight loss I suppose). Meal was great, had a few beers then back to hotel for a swift 1/2 then to bed.

Up early and Ren (22b) was already there to pick up his tickets, and was helping out during the day.
Down to the track and swapped my wheels over as I envisaged a dry-ish day, and it was.

Hundreds of pics here....
TA Round 3 2008 - Silverstone/TA-fahey_RD3339

Out for warm up and there was alight drizzle, couldn't get the heat in the tyres and so pressures were low when we checked them afterwards.
Car was running OK but really bad understeer out of the complex, a really slow corner. Think this may have been a combination of, suspension, damp track, and tyre temp/pressure.
I posted a 1:13, 4th out of 17 in group B session, but knew I'd have to improve. My aim was a 1.08 for the day, this was based on my previous best of 1:12 in my car as standard (apart from springs, ARB, and DL's in Round 4 2006) and I reckoned a 1:06 to be the cut for the finals. I knew the top club cars would be pushing a minute though.

I spoke to John Felstead about my settings and he offered some advice, on what I could tell him. Suspension was altered, and out for practice.
This time car felt better, less understeer, but still slow through the complex. I got a 1:09.060, 5th out of 20 in this session, but the group A times were hitting 1:01, with several around the 1:03-1:05 times.

After checking tyres again, and altering suspension again I went out for qualifying. I managed to get to the front to get in some clean laps, trying to get some heat in the tyres on the out lap. I did a few laps and posted a 1:09.074, no lap timer in car so I didn't know what I'd been lapping. Then understeer from no where at Maggots, and some on the complex, next time around it appeared that the evo in front of me was leaking fluid, it later transpires that it wasn't but another evo had. There was fluid on the racing line on 2 of the corners meaning that my remaining laps were around 1 second slower.

My best splits (ie ideal lap) would have been a 1:08.500, so better still, but still not quick enough to qualify for finals

Overall that was 31st/39. There were 26 cars within 4 seconds of each other. With out the NA cars that put me 27th/30 in FI class.

I was pleased the car ran without issue again, but there is definitely more time to come from suspension set-up. Its very easy to get it wrong and can cost valuable seconds.

Thank you to Ren for helping out and all the Sox lot for coming down to watch too.

Video to follow.

Big thanks also to those that have sponsored and helped me out.

Road and Stage Performance
Opie Oils
3-cam.com
Roelands Race Rally

also

Carl Davey - cooling solutions
Dubstar
Japspeed
Cobra

Dill_typeR

New discs on



Heat cycled twice at different speeds as per instructions, brakes bled. and ready for round 4.

Dill_typeR

Well, just a short account of what went on, videos to follow.
Obviously the event is a lot bigger than me, this is just my account of the day.

Well done to all those that entered, and hats off to those with silverware. Bad luck to those that crashed and sustained damage, i was nearly one of them on a few occasions

Pics are 'stolen' from another thread so credit to the owner of those.

Also thanks to Stu, his bird, and his dad? (sorry crap with names) for coming along to support, and everyone else that spectated, hope we put on a show :P

Time Attack 2008

Round 4 – Oulton Park

I had 2 days off work for prep on my car and arrived home late Wednesday night. I arrived at RASP Thursday morning and replaced my front brake discs, this took a couple of hours and the guys bled my brakes. Then it was off for an MOT. On the way home I had to heat cycle the brakes 14 times at various speeds which I did on a private road, then after a complete cool down went out and did the same again.

Due to the garage being extremely busy I didn’t have chance to check wheel alignment and adjust camber settings as they were full of cars and prepping for a rally at the weekend. The oil cooler kit had arrived from an online supplier, but the pipes, appeared to be sub-standard so weren’t fitted.

I arrived at Oulton mid afternoon on Friday and had 3 sessions as a passenger to get an idea of the track layout. It was quite bumpy with a blind crest and drop offs at braking point. It’s sort of a mix between Knockhill and Cadwell Park. Scrutineering was carried out to avoid the rush in the morning.

Circuit Map:
http://www.motorsportvision.co.uk/im...cuit-large.pdf

Met up with a few other competitors in the Crown Hotel and had tea. Up early and got to the track for 8am. The heavens opened, and as promised, lots of rain descended. I was pleased with this as this would slow everyone but particularly hamper the high horse power cars.

Out on track it was treacherous with standing water, rivers in places, and very slippery; not the best conditions for semi slick road tyres. I have had a few extra lateral grooves cut into them by Cuddy@RASP, but these conditions warranted full on wet tyres.

I set a rough base set up for the suspension and increased tyre pressures, although there are no exact pressures given for the control Toyo tyre.

I tip-toed around the track, and could get traction in parts, aqua-planing in others, understeering a lot in corners. I was only at half throttle down the straights due to being held back by the immense spray from other cars. 1st lap around and the session was red flagged so it was back to the pits, the clock ticking down on our 30 min session.

Once the obstruction had been cleared it was back out again. I dropped back a bit to try and get a clear lap in, but kept catching up with the pack in front, and due to the lack of visibility, not helped by a misted-up windscreen, couldn’t overtake the slower cars holding me back.



I returned to the pits with the warm up session over, annoyed that we only got 4 to 5 laps in due to incidents. I was told I was top of group B warm up but didn’t believe it as I was going very carefully, and could have gone a fair but quicker without traffic. With a time of 2:00.152 I was quickest in group B and 4th overall which I was pleased with.

I decided not to alter the suspension settings as the track was starting to dry and attributed all the handling problems I had down to the wet conditions. The track started to dry and had a dry line in places for group A practice so I lowered the tyre pressures all round, then it was out turn in group B, again the heavens opened, but managed to push on a bit more this time.

Again an incident on the 1st lap saw us sitting in the pit lane for about 20 minutes. Total laps covered this session were 7-8 by all in group B, without incident we would have been doing 15+. I span twice this session. Once holding a drift out of Lodge, the track falls away, I lost control and span quickly towards the grass, luckily stopping before hitting the Armco. After a quick check in the pit lane by the stewards I was back out again.

On the same lap I locked up going into Island hairpin, overshot and went sideways, coming to rest just before the temporary barriers that were in place. After that I kept locking the rear up on every down shift and, braking was extremely difficult going into the hairpin. I also managed some sideways action around Old Hall Corner. My brakes went off a bit (Spongy) which is a bit concerning and must get this addressed.

This session a bit better with 1:55.986 on lap 4 out of 7, which was 6th in group B and 19th overall, the drier track favouring the group A session, although I was still quicker than some of the ‘big guns’.

And so to the qualifying session, weather was still changing. I decided to take a gamble and go for my standard cut 888 tyres and set the pressures for a dry track. Showers were still occurring but the track had all but dried out with some damp patches into and out of Druids.

So with only 11 practice laps in on a wet circuit it was ‘go’ for the qualifying. I got a fair few laps in, held up a few times despite having headlights on. Then fuel surge out of Island hairpin with just under ½ tank, I had to come in to refuel, taking up precious time. I finished the session with a time of 1:41.829; the cut for the top 15 was around a 1:38.



I stayed to watch the finals with the ‘club’ winning time of a 1:32, and the pro class 1:25, 2 seconds quicker than the BTCC last year.
I've still a few issues to sort, oil cooler for longevity and stability of oil temperatures. Fuel surge kit to be added, but the car needs to be in the garage for a period of time to fit this properly. This will also reduce the load carrying capacity and the car may need to be trailored from now on. This wasn’t possible due to work commitments and not being able to drop off a hire car if used. There is still quite a bit of weight to strip but funds do not allow this presently.

More pictures and video to follow.

Cheers

Dill
Team Monkfish Racing
‘Don’t Die Wondering’

dynamix

iTrader: (3)

This was were I went off Phil - you did well to avoid the armco if it was as wet as when I crashed.

Well done on yet another reliable performance.

Dill_typeR

I was lucky, I ended up spinning onto the grass on the inside of the track. Would have been ok with out the drop off in the track. Think thats what unsettled it and span me.

Dill

Dill_typeR

I was lucky, I ended up spinning onto the grass on the inside of the track. Would have been ok with out the drop off in the track. Think thats what unsettled it and span me.

Dill

Dill_typeR

I never bothered with the camera in the wet which is a shame as I'd have recorded a nice spin and a good lock up into Island Hairpin.

Club Challenge

Group B Qualifying, before I got fuel surge and had to return to the pits to refuel.

YouTube - Time Attack 2008 - Rd 4 Oulton Park