Rovertech 2.0

Hi
I'm proud to announce the arrival of my new born baby - the 621R.
It was run for the first time in 5 months today - and seems to be doing fine.
I had a few hiccups on the way today:
1. Battery completely buggered, so had to buy a new one - OUCH!
2. I'd damaged an o-ring that goes on the fuel feed pipe (without realising obviously), meaning a small petrol leak. Of course this didn't show up till I was priming the car with the coil lead off the coil... Fire anybody?? I didn't shat myself much then!! Luckily I had loads of water around me to top up the expansion tank

So, after replacing the o-ring, she fired and ran no probs!
Only small issue so far appears to be a VERY low tickover. About 600-700rpm.
I'll look into that soon....

Cheers!

ooo nice one mate

I am still eagerly awaiting hearing mine fire up again, its been almost 2 months now.

Mine is 221

Glad yours is all ok, just gotta run it all in now then

Well done Grant, just been looking at your new spec, very impressive.... what sort bhp are you expecting ?......... anyway look forward to seeing it in action sometime next year also just noticed you've moved up north, hope you have settled in ok and wish you and everyone at Rovertech a Very Happy Chistmas and a good 2004

rgds Martyn

You have pleasure of the running in now grant? hehehe.

Im glad for you tho mate the things finealy going. I no what its like to be with out one.

J

Thanks guys.
Gonna take it for a drive in a couple of hours - just need to bolt the bumper back on properly!
It's been hell without it to be honest, and even worse because the car has been in Somerset, and I've been in Durham!!
Oh well, should be able to take it back up North in January...

Mart, I'm hoping for 300ish BHP, but we shall see. To be honest, I'll be happy with 250+ reliable bhp than a risky 300.

When you fired it up i hope that before you droped the plugs in that you cranked it on the started to get oil pressure and ideally that you had the cam covers off to ensure you could see the oil comming out of the oil ways?

Then when you had done that and refitted the covers that when you started the engine you reved it at about 3K to ensure the rings bed into the bores, the worst thing you can do on a fresh engine is leave it to tick over.

HTH

Hugh

Hugh Phillips wrote:When you fired it up i hope that before you droped the plugs in that you cranked it on the started to get oil pressure and ideally that you had the cam covers off to ensure you could see the oil comming out of the oil ways?

Then when you had done that and refitted the covers that when you started the engine you reved it at about 3K to ensure the rings bed into the bores, the worst thing you can do on a fresh engine is leave it to tick over.

HTH

Hugh

Hi Hugh.
You read all sorts of contradictory info about running in engines don't you?
I turned it over without the plugs, yeah.
Then refitted them and started her.
Then held 2k-3k for 10mins.
Will go out and bed the rings in later when the traffic clears... Then I can start cracking the miles on...

Spot on mate, good to hear its up and running.

congrats mate

allan wrote:well done grant. look forward to some results soon

What clutch are you/ will you be running?

Cheers.
Clutch is AP cover and plate, but will be replaced when I do the box with a Helix Rally spec cover, sticking with the AP plate.

Nice one Grant!

Race then? I've always wanted to see the rear of your car!

Nice one mate - glad to see the new baby tonite, seems like ages when it was on the road - (well it was)

Big thumbs up!

lol i was going to say congrats to the new baby

so i will anyway, congrats on your new baby (car not child), lmao

Had a nice drive tonight and clocked up about 16 miles now - only 984 to go!
Feels nice and strong, even though I can't boost it!
That turbo is mental - really wants to spin - really struggling to stop it boosting!

good news grant!

so when you are running an enging in... what revs are you meant to shift at?

hehe i had better remember that advice then about starting an engine!!

so far my spec is:

acralite forged pistons, standard rods, polished head, polished crank, nice strong big end casings, bored out to 85mm, klinger head gasket, all new head set, new radiator.

on the order list is new hybrid T28 (from USA), large intercooler (dont know where from yet), Unichip, uprated injectors, piper 275cams

What ya reckon?? hehe i cant wait for it to be done. oh yea, also got a new custom backbox for my exhaust and new discs and pads up front. Been an expensive month!

Grant620 wrote:Hi
I'm proud to announce the arrival of my new born baby - the 621R.

LOL! Feels good though doesn't it!

Was it the o-ring at the feed end of the injector rail you mangled? They're a PITA to push into place and prone to 'pinching' off a section of the ring; 'bin there, done that.

984 miles? You must have the patience of a saint to resist the temptation to just boot it. If you get bored just 'giss a shout and I'll run it in carefully for you; honest!

Wouldn't worry about the low tickover until the engine has run for a while. When I ran in the landie engine (carby/clockwork dissy) I had to turn the idle speed down from 1500 to 800 THREE times in the first 500 miles. Set it to 800rpm and as lean as can be before it stops running smoothly and 100-150 miles later the idle speed had crept back up to 1500rpm; I'd expect your motor to loosen up a lot too.

Only once the engine is as loose as it was before (or needs the same throttle opening to maintain steady idle) will the adjustment of that screw and locknut on the throttle body for the stepper be 'correct'. If it still doesn't play ball after 500 miles then the dealers have a little black box to 'read' the position of the stepper motor. 10 mins twiddling the screw and locknut based on that stepper index reading (if that - a guy on the 800 list did it for owt on our 820 and it took 2 minutes in the taking a leak rain in a carpark for him!) will sort out the idle. (if you're still on MEMS that is, can't remember now that I think about it!)

"so when you are running an enging in... what revs are you meant to shift at?"

'Shift up at 3000rpm and do no more than 50mph' is the sort of thing a garage or dealer might tell you; its geared towards people with zero common sense though, more to stop you crashing the car that you're not used to than running in the engine...

A variety of rpms would be my answer. Follow a 1.1 with 4 passengers for the first 50 miles, then follow a 1.1 with no passengers for the next 100 miles, then follow a 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, 2.5 then by the end fo the 1000 miles ragging the arse off of it. (or imagine the car in front is one of the above) but each time accelerate abuot as fast as they would using the gears to do it with minimal throttle.

Or pick your favourite a/b-road and pretend there's eggs in the boot, driving 'normal fast' acceleration wise but constantly accelerating/braking/accelerating/braking so the engine is always doing something different. Turn around at the other end and do it again but silghtly quicker; repeat until done.

Hand over a wad of cash and your car to a rolling road that knows what they're doing and come back 10 hours later to a perfectly run in car. Might not even take 10 hours on a rolling road, I think JE take 6-8 hours with their V8s from freshly built to ready to race, can do it quicker/more controllably on a dyno.

Do what you like, doesn't really matter; so long as you don't do 1000 miles sitting on the motorway with the cruise control engaged or use full revs and full power after the first 10 mins. Others might have better suggestions?

The person who is doing mine told me to:

1. Drive around gently not going over 70mph and keeping the boost low or off completely for the first 500 miles.

2. For the next 200 miles give it some right foot and use all the revs and throttle

3. for the remaining 300 miles drive gently again.

With a new engine my biggest concern is the cold starts, no oil pressure and tight fitting internals at the wrong levels of expansion. I think as long as your sensible and dont overload or over rev, and keep oil pressure and temperature up all should be fine. 4 strokes are tough motors at the end of the day.



J

I'm being thick - what's a 621R??

D'oh! Just worked it out - 2.1. Call me quick!! Well not literally. Oh you know what I mean!

Congrats on the car - anything over 250BHp has got to be great!! I'm used to a lot less than that.

lol at least it only took you two mins to work out mate

Congrats Grant, look forward to seeing it

Iain

Well done grant shouldnt be too hard to not thrash it in this weather, dont want to stack it cos of ice after 3days, well done.
Paul, By low boost do you mean like std, or even lower thean std, say 10punds?or like 5pounds?

I mean with all the boost controller turned off.

So this usually reads 6/7psi

So i cant use the std bmv at 11.7psi?

umm i dont know what u can use i just know that my BMV is not plumbed in. So it just uses the actuator setting.

Marko,Tomcat wrote:So i cant use the std bmv at 11.7psi?

Just don't press the loud pedal so hard.

Its not very complicated

Lol, i wouldnt in this weather anyway but ok ta

Nice one Grant, should go well when run in.
When running mine in I slackened the throttle cable to maximum freeplay this still gives plenty of throttle when you need it but stops you from loading the engine up with to much boost when a Subaru or something pulls up next to you at the lights.
Its worth changing the oil and filter after first few miles, there is always a bit of swarf or something still floating about in the engine after a total rebuild no matter how thorough its cleaned before rebuilding then again at 500 or so miles.

Jim

Nice one Grant .. Hope all goes well for ya

Merry Christmas !!

Cheers Andy!
Merry Xmas to all of you horrible lot!
Bah, humbug, and all that.

Nice one Grant

Nothing quite like the satisfaction of running in an engine that you have just built yourself.
Its not too hard to resist - though I bet you hear the dump valve a couple of times before you are supposed to!

My cabriolet is being rebuilt right now - and will be back on the road in January albeit with the original D16 to start with.


Hope to see you and the 621 during the coming year

Mark

Nice work Grant.
I'll have to pop down and see it some time soon.
Can I have a go if I let you have a play on my 350LC