RS Motorsport :: Classic Speed Restored

the car looks great but that pootoghrapher needs rooting for
those pics

I thought they gave an accurate impression of how fast we were going

This might explain the rough running we had the other night:



The gearbox top cover also has developed a pin hole which explains all the gearbox oil everywhere - I've ordered the Quaife top cover now but will look at mounting it a bit lower since it's been smacking the tunnel.


The Engine oil leak appears to be a seeping rear seal and then the oil breather line to the side of the block had turned to mush leaving a suspect trail of oil down the side of the engine and along the sump towards the rear:

The 'pin hole' is the vent and must remain open. Common problem that can be solved by a bit of brake line and some knead-it style putty. I connected the outlet back into the engine bay catch tank.

t9Vent.jpg (68.02 KiB) Viewed 15305 times

Cheers guys

Next question: Why would my box sudden start throwing oil out the top?

Oil level was last checked 6 months ago and has not been topped up/changed since start of season.

Great times from you at the last event on Thursday night Paul. Looks like you have all those niggles sorted out.

Ash

Hi Ash,

Thanks for your comments - that was my PB and just goes to show it's a competitive package once I get it to hang together. Still got a little ways to go to catch the AE86...

It seems very quiet on here at the moment so must be time for an update from me.

It’s been a very hectic few months with a new job, holidays and engine woes. Here’s an update:
Round 2 of McRae went well with a new PB, but the last two runs the car felt flat.

Due to a huge puddle of oil on the trailer I pulled the engine over the Xmas break and changed out the rear seal, sump seal etc. which seem help. I also got the extractors ceramic coated:


Round 3 ended with a DNF after run 2 with the temps reaching 110+

Which turned out to be a head gasket:


My mate had a bit of drama with his engine:


So we built this:

I then had a well-deserved holiday in Singapore 


And got back for the final round of the McRae sprint series with both escorts and fresh engines:



While I set another PB, unfortunately the new engine exploded in spectacular fashion (huge oil cloud).
Turned out it had detonated to death and finally broken #1 piston after blowing #4 headgasket:

Every chamber has this residue:


The head has now been cleaned up and pressure tested and I have just collected some fresh Mahle forged racing pistons ready for a rebuild. This time I’ll get the clearances right

After what seems like a 6 month hiatus I’ve now started back on the Duratec Mk1 build. The last two panels to be prep’d for paint were the front and rear. I had given them a first pass durung the Xmas break so threw a coat of white on them and crossed my fingers:


Naturally this was nowhere near close to being good enough and the top coat showed all sorts of blemishes. So I ended the Easter weekend with more bog work and a fresh coat of hi-build filler:


After a little more work I then re-applied the top coat with a much more pleasing result:


Then to try to keep the motivation going (and to help with the next job of wiring) I stuck a few goodies on:


So hopefully that's the end of the bodyworking and just requires a final top coat all over to finish.

So while I’ve been busy with various pintos I decided to dummy build the new Duratec today to check all the clearances. The block is second hand and has been honed and cleaned:


As per the reports on several UK build threads the block had several real rough casting dags inside so a light run around with the die-grinder and mini belt sander sorted those out:


The crank sits high in the block located with a cradle. The bearings don’t have the traditional tabs to locate so the shells need to be fitted to the block and then measured to ensure the placement within the cradle matches. The whole cradle then also floats and needs to be carefully aligned on the rear casting prior to being torqued into place:


As per the UK threads the ARP main bolt kit is about 1.5mm too long for the dry sump tray despite me cleaning all the threads and seating the studs completely home they will still require shortening:


Head Stud kit and cosworth MLS gasket:


Head fitted, cam chain, etc. I have had a keyway machined into the crank and am using doweled vernier style cam wheels to avoid the dramas with the OEM diamond washers:


And all sealed up:



A quick check of inlet cam clearances based on current location seems to indicate I have plenty of clearance, but I still need to dial the cams in and will then perform final checks against the supplied datasheets. But overall I’m happy with my first Duratec assembly.

painting one day engine the next you should have it running next week

Started on electrics:



Some signs of life after all these years:


I now have the indicators and sidelights working too.

What/who's electric kit you using there?
how do you find it, is it a complete rewire kit or power only.
where did you get it?

JP

Looks like KwikWire to me. They are scary at first but once you start picking off a few circuits it starts to make sense.

10 out of 10 Glenn - it's the kwikwire kit. I am splicing into the escort harness for the stalk switches - I also preserved the escort wiper wiring because I have no idea how the wiper motor and seating function works.

While I bought the complete kit (24 curcuits), only the light circuit will be utilised in its current form. Most other functions are either replaced by the ECU harness, or require different wiring to allow more discrete control - e.g. fuel pump, fan over-ride, etc. But the kit is good value for money and a great kick start.

I used a Kwik Wire 26 circuit kit (think I ended up with 4 or 5 circuits not used). It took me hours and hours to get the 2 speed wipers to work and park properly. My quest was made even harder as I chose to use EA Falcon steering column switches so I had to work out the internal wiring of that first.