Time Attack 2008 STi - new dyno figures !!

[Gee Wr1]

Glad everythings worked out in the end for you

Good luck with round 1 this weekend, hope you have a good day

Is there gonna be TV coverage this year like last year?

Looking forward to seeing the car on track in round 2 at Knockers

[dynamix]

yep - tv coverage on Motors TV channel 413 on Sky. 1 Hour slots this time rather than 30 mins so hopefully will at least get on the telly

I think they will be on 2 weeks after the event but will post up details when I have them

[WR 1mposter]

Will be looking out for that.

[dynamix]

Job for today...

Sump Off.... to baffle it to get rid of some of the oil blow through that I experienced at Donington.

I knew it was going to be a tricky job but it does seem that they put the bolt in the worst places to remove the sump with the engine in

Anyway, finally got it off the car thanks to the very kind loan of some workshop ramps, some extra tools and advice along the way from Jason.

Once the sump had been unstuck from the bottom of the engine, it required the headers to be removed. (Next time I will know to do this first ) and, because the oil pickup pipe is in the way of pulling the sump off I chose to remove this and found:



The pick up pipe was split - just enough to lower oil pressure at idle to below where I thought it should/could be but still okay - but could have been very dangerous if it decided to completely crack or fall off It is not the first time that I have heard that an 06 + one has cracked so maybe that was why I checked it, but I am really glad i did It may well be a design fault with them.

The car is still in bits at the moment while we get it welded up to seal the gap but will be back together tomorrow, along with the Cosworth baffle tray which I have decided to re-fit as I am sure that the split pick up was the reason that the pressure dropped - maybe by opening it up slightly more than normal with the plate on.

--- update from today ---

New Oil Pick up pipe order from Subaru and will arrive tomorrow at Welch's for me to fit and put everything back together

£23.84 + vat for the part

[dynamix]

The to do list at the start of today looked like:

1. rear support for front splitter
2. re-fit front tow hook
3. custom baffle sump
4. fit 888's

Today, with some expert help from Jason.... well, to be fair he made it all himself

we (:lol:) made:



from the side at the front:



A random shot up at the bottom of the engine:



Then to get the undertray and splitter rear support sorted. This is all done apart from drilling the holes on the chassis rail that I didnt want to do whilst the bottom of the engine was exposed for fear of swarf getting in there. 10 min job once all is put together.

Also arrived home to find the Toyo's had been delivered

If all goes to plan, tomorrow should see it all back together and complete.

But I have learnt that it never goes exactly to plan so will wait til it is finished to celebrate.

[WR 1mposter]

Do you ever work

[dynamix]

Do you ever work

between 6 am and 12pm today then from 6pm onwards so far ....

counts as an 8.5 hour day so far and still not through the thick of it

[WR 1mposter]

Do you ever work

between 6 am and 12pm today then from 6pm onwards so far ....

counts as an 8.5 hour day so far and still not through the thick of it

So admire your dedication to the cause

[dynamix]

Hopefully I can get it finished today

[dynamix]

Today's Progress .....

Dropped the tyres and wheel off to the fitters to have the 888's put on and will pick them up some time tomorrow and when I got back I had a lovely phone call this morning from Welch's in cambridge to say that the new pick up pipe had arrived !!

I finished some actual work and went down there and headed straight over to Jason's to begin the mind bending task of putting the sump and misc bits back on the car...

Arrived to jason's cheery face as usual and proceeded to clean up the sump and mating surfaces in order to start re-assembly.

This was going to be a git.

And it was

The cosworth tray necessitates the removal of the standard windage tray and because the rear stay of the pick up bolts on top of this I though it was wise to fit a shim of the same width as the old windage tray so that the reay stay was at the same height and subsequently not cause any undue pressure on the joint of the pick up pipe. Shim duly made to the exact thickness by Mr Fletcher and it was time to start putting bolts in.

The Cosworth Baffle tray was treated to a squirt of Threebond 1215 sealant around the edge and because the pick up pipe has to be attached through this I had to hold the Cosworth Tray in place with one hand and the pick up in the other. Also, because the engine hadnt been lifted it required the sump to be put on before the pick up pipe... hmm ok third hand to hold the sump away from the pick up so that I could bolt up the pick up bolts and then start putting the rest together. Foolishly I had forgot to put in the shim DOH ! So back apart and start again

Anyway, lots of jigling later and all was sealed and done up apart from the 4 rear bolts. No matter how I tried I could not locate the bolts properly so the engine had to be lifted up an inch of so anyway. then it was easy - next time I will know to do that first off rather than trying to take the easy option that turns out to be the hard one.

Bolted the manifold back on and everything else then to fill with oil and test whether the low oil pressure symptoms from the last time the baffle plate had been purely down to the pipe up pipe being split.

Filled with oil, including pre-filling oil filter and removing crank sensor to crank it over a few times... and first time fired up - oil pressure was PERFECT !!! Thank fcuk for that because I really didnt want to take it out again And when warmed up it was bang on what I would expect. 6 bar on a fast idle

Whilst it was up on the ramp the last job was to drill the rear holes for the undertray... duly dispatched by Jason and bolted up (I will need to find an easier way of attaching at the rear though) and it was down off the ramp and FINISHED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cant believe it ... a day to spare

The drive home was fun and interesting to note a slightly heavier feel to the steering, perhaps the tray does something. It seemed to cope with some spirited driving over very bumpy fen roads so hopefully donington's lovely smooth tarmac will be good for it

Once again - Jason you are a star :notworthy:

[Gee Wr1]

How did you get on yesterday? Hope you enjoyed yourself

[WR 1mposter]

Com-on how did you get on ......

[SPIKE LIKE MIKE]

Still snowed in

[dynamix]

3-4 inches of snow this morning

Full report to follow

The day was not without incident

[WR1 Bro]

Looking forward to the update.

[dynamix]

First some thank yous (in no particular order) without whom I would not have been there at the weekend:

1. Mike, Jase and Mark at Area 52, for the work done in the run up and also for the support at the event
2. Gary at APT for helping to sort some of the boost issues pre event and for the information to wire in the AVCR
3. Paul at Zen for making it handle so well and for coming out of his way to try and rescue my old ECU last week
4. Peter Bugden(Budgie) for lending me an ECU
5. Simon Roe for dropping by for a few hours to get the car running
6. Alyn at ASP for great supply of parts and advice
7. Jason for letting me use his workshop and helping me to do the last few steps on the preparation
8 SwissTony for the Laptop that arrived at the circuit so that I can be back up and running with datalogging/mapping
9. Rachel and Annabelle for being understanding at being almost completely ignored for the last two weeks.

Anyway onto a report.....


Saturday ----------------
Having got everything sorted as far as I could before the event, we headed up to the Gilburn B&B in Shepshed on Saturday lunchtime to find a very warm welcome by Malcolm the owner. We were looked after so well and installed in a lovely clean room with comfy beds and good sized bathroom. Will definitely stay there again. Perfect

We headed up to the circuit and found Gary at APT to see his damaged car that he had put into the tyre wall that afternoon and to chat with the BigPower massive hoping to be there in time to see Bladey in the Final of the drifting. This wasnt to be but he can tell his own story lol.

Rob Barnes suggested that I might like to bring up the car for scruitneering that night so we headed back and I grabbed the car to get it through and get signed on for the morning meaning that we didnt have to get up quite so early. Duly passed and back to the hotel and try and scrub the tyres in on the way home

I had booked a table at a local indian restaurant that evening for a minimum of 15 but ended up being 25 of us in there - superb evening even though we were split into a couple o groups but a great way to pass the evening in some great company

Sunday ----------------
Woke up early - I knew I would hardly sleep - and opened the windows to find 3-4 inches of snow !! Not ideal for track action but it will certainly be interesting.

We had a lovely full english breakfast and plenty of coffee served up by malcolm at Gilburn and packed up and ready, headed up to the circuit for the day's fun.... gingerly on 888's

The track was wet and partly slushy but skies were clear so it was going to get better.

Duly briefed then out for the first warm up session .... jeeesh was it slippery !! Luckily i was prepared for it being that way so was making reasonable progress in 3rd place in the session with a 1.38 until it was stopped for 15 minutes due to a couple of accidents. They re-commenced the session and I headed out for a another lap at the end of it to see what the grip was like on a drying track. It was still patchy as hell and on that lap came out of the chicane onto the pit straight sideways in a mini Olly Clarke way then shot up to Redgate, turned in beautifully followed by the back of the car coming right round on me. Remembering Bladey's drift advice I decided it was manfoot time and gave it some driftign fully round the corner. Love it The session then ended - probably just as well as I was getting cocky. Ended up 8th.

1st Practice was on a dry track but for some weird reason they decided to combine the two groups of 30 cars into one and made it a free for all for 40 minutes to get on track. It was a nightmare getting any free space but in the end I completed only 1 full lap in a time of 1.27 as the IC hose came off and I lost power from the engine, pulling off onto the inside of Coppice to wait for recovery. This stopped the session but it did mean testing the new tow hook - which passed the test perfectly (cheers Jason) Mark, Mike and Jase were right on it when I got back to the pits and got me back out there once they had made some minor changes to the breathing system too and went out for the end of the session for an out and back in lap to test that it was all ok. It was

We had a lunchtime briefing prior to the qualifying session and whilst this was happening the snow started to chuck down ... hmmm

This was the time that it had to count. I checked the car over and headed out. The car felt great but traffic was appalling with everyone intent on getting there own fast laps so had a few laps ruined until I made some free space. The car started being very tali happy on the corners at this point and I was trying harder and harder to get a good time in the open slot that I had found, went very wide on the exit of Mcleans onto the grass but not quite in the gravel, the car was pointing straight up towards the next corner so I just kept it nailed bouncing my way over the grass and back onto the track to try again. The next last was ruined by fuel surge out of Coppice so decided it was not going to happen for me and whatever my best time that I had done would have to do. Oil pressure appeared low at this point.

Heading back to the pits the marshall commented on the oil smoke from under the bonnet of my car - hmmm not good. Into the garage and carefully opening the bonnet revealed the mess of oil under there which had shot out of the dipstick. It was literally everywhere and was all over tyres aswell - explaining the lack of grip and the lower oil pressure at the end of the session. I had checked the oil before the session and may not have put it back in correctly or there may have been some crankcase pressure that pushed it out. Either way, the end result was a ruined session and potential problems elsewhere. The engine sounded perfect though. I cleaned up as much as I could and after staring at the oiley bay for ages I eventually closed the bonnet and started to pack up for the day as the 1.24.159 was not quick enough to qualify for the final. I needed another 2 seconds off that at least. I am sure that both car and driver could have done that but that will remain as pure speculation.

We said our goodbye and headed home but when going out of the pits the smoke plume behind my car started to grow. Initially I dismissed it as oil on the exhausts and these heating up but it just seemed too much. Rachel was following me in the other car and couldnt even see me. I stopped and checked and sure enough it was coming out of the exhaust so I rang Mike and told him I was coming backs to the pits. By the time we arrived back there 5 minutes later, he had already arranged for recovery and storage overnight and for the car to be brought to their place the next day. Very impressive Initial diagnosis is that the turbo is the problem as the engine was smooth and quiet but until the turbo can be removed for inspection it is too early to say.

All we had to do was wait for the Chris the recovery man to pick it up in the now heavily falling snow. He arrived after about an hour or so and loaded up we waved goodbye to the car.

Heyho, its just the way it goes sometimes and I am just glad that so many positives had come out of the weekend. Sure the to do list is now slightly bigger but big steps are not without issues.

Bring on Knockhill - this time with the kinks ironed out of the car

[dynamix]

Photos of the day by Rachel and guest starring Annabelle modelling the BigPower Supporters T Shirt

[Gee Wr1]

Great write up Dunk

Sorry things didn't go to plan for you It's a shame after all your hard work, but motorsport can be like that at times unfortunately

Its good your taking some positives from it though Weather sounded terrible not really conditions for trying to push hard!

Hope there's nothing to big wrong with the car, do you think your of over the grass would have contributed to the problem?

Lol'd at you "got to test out your new tow eye"

Well fingers crossed the car will be sorted & all set for Knockers next month, lets hope for better weather there this year after last years washout

[dynamix]

I think that the dipstick being not properly pushed in was right from the beginning of the qualifying session and progressively got worse giving me less and less grip the more I pushed. Bleeding slippery with oiley tyres - I just hope I didnt cause too many problems for those following me.

A retaining spring like the EVO system will be fitted for the next round.

The turbo going seems to be as a result of the oil loss, hopefully it hasnt caused Big End problems but precautionary checks are being done this week.

[Gee Wr1]

Hopefully there's no big end damage as you mentioned the engine was still running smoothly & quietly, i've heard a couple of scoobs at knockhill with the big ends go & the knocking from them certianly isn't smooth or quiet.

I was in a hurry one morning & was topping up the oil in the van, got to the job & thought i'd check it again to see if i'd topped it up enough once it had been sitting for a while & discovered i'd left the oil cap of when rushing DOH! Luckily very little oil more just a fine spray of oil had come out & jammily the oil cap was still in the engine bay it had been held there between the header tank & the sound deadening under the bonnet, i count myself VERY lucky on that occasion.

[WR 1mposter]

Bad luck Dunc !

Better luck next time

But so I believe there were a few others who had problems aswell....

[SPIKE LIKE MIKE]

Dunc nice report,

I saw Terry B was there with his monster...how did he go?

What sort of power is that pushing now?

[SPIKE LIKE MIKE]

[dynamix]

Cheers Spike

Found some more:







http://forums.sidc.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=114153

[dynamix]

As the roll cage is in now (see sep thread)

The next job on the list was moving the catch can to a high and central position.

This involved all new breather pipes and locating the tank up new the bulkhead. I am pleased with the result and should cure one of the issues from Donington. Will take some piccies later.

[dynamix]

catch can now moved to a high and central position:







Excuse the poor quality pics but you get the idea

All IC clamps changed aswell for hi torque version now bar two smaller ID ones.

[Gee Wr1]

How's the car coming along Dunk? Have you got the hitches sorted out ready for Knockhill?

[dynamix]

Coming along nicely...

The todo list was:

1. Roll Cage - done
2. Move catch can - done
3. Mapping - booked for 7th May
4. Fit fuel swirl pot - booked for 7th May
5. some weight saving.... done
6. oil cooler - arriving shortly but may wait til after Knockhill for fitting
7. some tidy up work - done

Its running sweet as anything at the moment apart from a couple of electrical gremlins resulting from an engine bay covered in oil. I will sort them out somehow

[Houdini]

Sounds really good, Dunk. I keep a keen interest in how you're getting on. Good luck with the next steps

[POESY]

Looking good dunc.

Recognise that Mocom racing scoob - his workshop is across the road from my house - see it around alot.