Arch

iTrader: (59)

Thanks Micky really appreciate that.



The mapping session went well just a wee water temp issue but hopefully that can be easily sorted. Massive thanks to Andy F for all the help with the start map and the help during mapping as well as general advice all the time we really are lucky to have him on our doorstep.

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Nearly there Arch!

Gussy I would definitely have a reverse scoop if more were being made.

gussy

iTrader: (2)

Justin I pm'd Frayz regarding getting another one made he said he had a lot on but might be willing to get another made was just waiting for the feedback off archie on the first one if we badger him enough he might be persuaded to get them made as there is a market out there for them

fpan

iTrader: (11)

Very nice car but the heat from the turbo will cook the water in the header tank, no?

Arch

iTrader: (59)

I am pretty sure there is enough air gap and is one of the things I will be watching during the shake down. The exhaust housing is also ceramic coated and will have a turbo blanket fitted so should be fine. Good spot tho

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Just looked at the pics and it looks like its sat on top of the exhaust housing, the pics are deceiving there is at least 6" probably more, between the bottom of the expansion tank and the exhaust housing.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Apologies in advance for a poor update and lack of decent pictures.
had a fair few very late nights in the garage getting ready for the first shake down which was the SIDC track day at Knockhill. The weather was crap and it got worse with the car refusing to rev over 4k. In the end abandoned the day and went home which was a massive blow. turned out to be an ECU setting which I didn't know about, harsh learning curve lol. Tried again on Tue evening this week and all went well. Car is seriously quick and even though it has only been partly set up boy does it go round corners, thanks Graeme. Thanks to Graeme and George for the support on Tue evening meant a lot.

The biggest surprise for me was how quickly it comes on boost and how quickly it revs. I hit the rev limiter a fair few times on the straight as I got caught out by how quickly it went through the revs. I have to admit the car is seriously quick and the engine and turbo combination certainly seem to work very well lol. Massive thanks to Graeme, Lee at Owen Developments and Simon at Chevron for specing an awesome turbo and also Alyn at ASP for the engine build. The car still needs a final v power map to get the boost higher and also an RMR map for the MSA sprints so more power still to be extracted. I have to say that the first run on the 1.8 bar map was a shock it was seriously quick, left knockhill with a massive grin. Still have a few niggles with slightly high water temps and slightly low oil temps but nothing serious.

couple of pics, one in the pit lane and one coming back into the pits. I still need to finalise the stickers for the car, make the rear diffuser and fit the front undertray. Not big jobs but less important than getting it out and tested. Also have a new rear brake set up coming which will help with the brake bias. I was surprised how quickly I got to rips with the pedal box, after a couple of laps I felt comfortable with it. Only issue is almost standing the tow car on its nose the first time I pressed the brakes on the way back lol

frayz

iTrader: (7)

Fantastic to see it out under its own power Arch. Congratulations.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Thanks mate did feel good

mickywrx

iTrader: (29)

I'll echo what Frayz has said, great to see it out under it's own power.

Take it that it was worth the wait?

Arch

iTrader: (59)

thanks Micky sure was, it is seriously quick was shocked by how responsive it is. Was driving with an open centre diff as I couldn't remember what setting I had used before and didnt have time to mess about with it so just turned it off lol

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Not a lot to update although I have been really busy tidying things up and changing a lot of the wiring in the car.

I have fitted a new set of rear brakes decided to upgrade them after a chat with Alyn at AS Performance, surprise surprise he had a set on the shelf in the tardis so ended buying a 4 pot AP rear kit and AP discs along with Pagid front and rear pads, even tho I was really only after new front pads lol but just couldn't resist. So all fitted and bled which was a right pain in the butt due to the hydraulic handbrake big thanks to Graeme and Alyn for advice with that.



May as well have a picture of the fronts and new (well one outing) PF Rotors.



Spent tonight making up a new panel to mount the dash and a few extra switches turned out not too bad. Did have to enlarge one of the mounting holes due a wee measuring error but once fitted will be fine.



Front splitter and under tray now fitted, not the best pics but you get the idea. Will probably need to knock something up to extend the trailer ramps to get it onto the trailer.





I have a fair bit of wiring to finish that will get the Syvecs 10 I/O expander fitted which will get me a few more inputs, in the process of putting the ICV back in and wiring it up and also a few other bits. May not get the GPS Rx wired up as I haven't got the plug for it yet but once I get that its a half hour job. Now configuring it all is another matter. Big thanks to Tim H at JTI for his advice and also Mattybr5 for the help with some oddball bits I needed.

I am planning to do the remaining 5 rounds of SLS but having some issues at the minute getting the car in for a Dyno run to certify the power so at the minute its a 50/50 if it will happen. Got some help behind the scenes but a combination of my shifts and a busy Dyno is complicating things but fingers crossed.

frayz

iTrader: (7)

Great update Arch. She's looking good.

trails

iTrader: (41)

Car looks well Arch...but that garage floor; outstanding

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Thanks guys. Believe it or not the flooring was my Christmas present from the missus, Cosco garage floor lining its actually very very good.

mickywrx

iTrader: (29)

Another quality update. Liking the dash panel.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Well that's the SLS Entry for the double header on 23rd and 24th May complete and driver profile etc kindly done by Adam.
Car will be in Class B, no one in Class A so no point going into a class and having no one to race against so boost down a touch and second seat and some extra weight back in to meet the BHP per tonne limit. Some decent cars and drivers in this class so will be very very interesting especially since I have not driven competitively for 4 years and never at Knockhill but I am sure it will be a hoot.

mickywrx

iTrader: (29)

Just go out and enjoy it. And win, you have to win.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Thanks Micky lots of well speced cars and good drivers so will be good.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Well time for a wee update after a pretty dismal weekend at SLS with so many issues its hard not too laugh.

Build up to the event didn't go well with me misreading or more accurately not reading the smallest of small print in the blue book relating to list 1B tyres. This shows Dunlop CR311's in the list but there is a small paragraph at the end that says the tyres have to be e marked and only certain sizes are and mine are not. Massive thanks to Graeme Jeram for the loan of a set of his wheels and tyres as I could not get anything delivered in time for the event.

I also found out during last week that all cars in the same power class regardless of road cars/modified cars or sports libre score in the same group doh I didn't put my rear wing on as I thought the scoring was similar to the MSA sprints/Hills that I am used too - school boy error no.2. So wing will be on for the next event and I am sure it will help to load the rear of the car on the straights.

I had booked the SIDC track day on Sat morning to get a bit of practice and some seat time as I have only done one track night since I last drove competatively 4 years ago. Wow did it not go well, I think I managed to spin the car at almost every fast corner and once on a straight bizarre, one of the marshall even asked if I had forgot how to steer the car, cheeky F***** but it did make me laugh. I started to think it was either me or something seriously wrong with the car. Graeme, George and Bob came up towards the end of the track day and Graeme came out with me and he noticed the diff controller was intermittently switching on and off this was causing the car to be biased to the rear one minute then front then rear etc etc not a good scenario. Once back in the pits I managed to sort that fairly quickly so thought perfect all sorted for the event.

Next issue was one of the master cylinders starting to leak just before scrutineering, deep joy, managed to get that tightened and sorted just in time.

So the event got underway, anti clockwise on Saturday, I had never driven that way before so started of fairly gently in the first practice session but started to get some confidence and had a quicker attack half way through the session and promptly spun at Clark's wasn't even going that fast bizarre I thought but must be down to tyres so off I went again but the car really did not feel good and I was having massive problems stopping at the end of both straights. I was braking before the pit lane and still struggling to get round the hairpin. That was pretty much the state of play for the rest of the day, well that and a few more spins. I must admit I wasn't even interested in the times as I knew they were so far off the pace it was ridiculous. Not having driven for a few years, in a newly built car with a pedal box I didn't expect to be up with the front runners in the class but did expect to be in the middle of the pack somewhere not the runt of the litter lol.

Some pics below of the Sat.














Sunday morning next and the clockwise circuit. The SLS was the whole day so the morning was a bit more relaxed so had more time to check the car over and make sure everything was ok. I was still apprehensive about the cars desire to pirouette at every opportunity and the fact I was struggling to stop it on the straights. So first practice started went out fairly cautiously warming the tyres up and built speed up as the session progressed but still felt really uncomfortable with the braking and had to brake very very early which was killing the times. At the end of the first practice the times were poor speed on the straight wasn't bad but I know I can increase this as I wasn't flat out but braking jesus it was awful. Even tho I am still getting used to the pedal box I still think given the brake set up I have I should be standing the car on its nose not struggling to stop.

Anyway the 1st practice session was finished and decided to get the car weighed to make sure it was at the weight I needed. I had added weight to get the car into the power to weight ratio and it was well within the weight I needed so at least something was right lol.

Didn't have time to do much before the 2nd Practice apart from tweak the tyre pressures to see if that helped in the corners. I was sitting in the holding area and the car just didn't sound right but convinced myself I was imagining it, with the helmet on and the fuel pumps and the other noises I thought no its fine. So off we went and I pulled out onto the circuit and opened it up and wow I was now driving a tractor not an impreza the car sounded like a diesel with knackered big ends. quick check of oil pressure, that was good, dipped the clutch oil pressure dropped to 2.8 bar so no oil pressure issues so its not big ends so gave it a rev and thought that sounds like an exhaust gas leak from the front either headers or uppipe so limped back into the paddock. Once parked up opened the bonnet and the exhaust wrap had been blown off in one section before the collector goes into the uppipe and you could see the wrap blowing with the exhaust gasses escaping so game over. So it was a case of car on the trailer and have a wander round.

Once home I got the car jacked up and this was what I found, not sure if the crack is obvious lol.





It was also time to sit down and analyse what had gone wrong. And it didn't take long to find out with some invaluable help from Steven Darley the problem has hopefully been found. This picture courtesy of John Stewart may help.

Can you see the issue? Answers on a postcard.

joe v3sti

iTrader: (8)

Up pipe nuts and bolts aren't all facing the same way ? Lol

joe v3sti

iTrader: (8)

Sounds like you've had quite a trying weekend arch, at least your working through the issues mate. Get some new headers ordered and get back out there.,
On the plus side mate the car looks great! I really like it

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Thanks Joe the headers are an easy fix just another expense that I could do without but that's Motorsport it's very unforgiving. The pictures are also helpful as they clearly show the front splitter is too high and there may well be a case for side skirts.

But that's not the main issue anyone else spot it ?

joe v3sti

iTrader: (8)

Eeerrm you had to tape the front windows up?

Joe

trails

iTrader: (41)

can't see the photos but it sounds like you have a bit of an baptism of fire for your return Arch

AbbasSTI

iTrader: (37)

Rear wheels locking up?
Great progress Arch and nearly there now

Ciaran

iTrader: (16)

Rear brake bias?

Shame it didn't work out but I suppose these things are to be expected

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Lol yeh definately wasn't what I had planned in my head.

Yip exactly right

Your right Ciaran this year was all about sorting the issues and there are many lol. And spot on with bias, the master cylinder in the pedal box is wrong size causing massive rear bias regardless what adjustments I made. Just hope it feels better once fixed.

mickywrx

iTrader: (29)

Every confidence you'll get there Archie.

Had to look twice before I noticed the crack in the headers, it was easily missed. Hard to tell from the pics, it looks like there is actually a piece of metal missing, rather than just a crack.

Arch

iTrader: (59)

Cheers Micky, the headers are still on but the pipe has separated probably moved at the slip joint making the gap bigger but probably scrap. May see if they can be welded as a spare set .

As usual Alyn has pulled the stops out and sourced the AP master cylinder I need, it arrived today and spent a good few hours fitting it, setting the pedal box up correctly and refitting it back into the car. Got a few connections still to connect up and bleed the brakes and hopefully that will solve the brake issues.