jgra1 blog

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 21 Mar 2009, 22:25

just back, 20 miles of twisties... cramp, aching neck! had a break half way lol

still relatively warm out there, about 10C

front end feels a bit vauge but otherwise what a laugh.. and damn its quick.. no effort in any gear is 100 very quickly :O but lots of torque thanks to the V4

Jim I always wanted a kettle. something seriously wrong with a triple, 2-stroke 750!!

I got as far as a GT500, which was just odd and great at the same time

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 21 Mar 2009, 23:08

Wow.. Nothing like a nice bike ride on a clear evening. Bliss

jgra1 wrote: I got as far as a GT500, which was just odd and great at the same time

I had one of those

Remember how lethel the front disc brake was in the wet

I also had the earlier version of the GT500, the T500 and that had the far superior twin leading shoe drum front brake 8)

Two-stroke triples are magical. So beautifully smoooooooooth and the sound they make 8)

I'm going all dewy-eyed here

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 28 Mar 2009, 21:01

John and his Dad, Dennis, have been visiting today to instruct me in the gentle art of delivering V6 engines from the comfort of their engine bays.

Dennis brought his smokey Pug and for a bit of relaxation after V6 removal games (read in my Brief Encounter Blog), I had a look-see.

When Dennis rolled up, both John and I commented on how as sweet as a nut the Pug sounded. Too sweet actually as it was too quiet with no sign of any diesel knock whatsoever. Dennis commented that it ran like a clock on the journey down from Northumberland

He must have a lot of faith an John and I's work as it was only a few weeks since our epic engine transplant on this car

It was definitely a tad on the retarded side as a snap accelleration test (as performed for the MOT) produced a belch of rich, black smoke even when it was hot.

I reset the pump timing so that diesel knock was just audible on idle but disappeared as soon as the engine was revved. This was on the second attempt as on the first I over-cooked it and really had it knocking. Timing is VERY critical on a mechanical Bosch fuelled 1.9TD.

I also found the central feed line to the glowplugs was not making very good contact and the line was a touch loose. That's now sorted

Timing adjusted, no more smoke on a snap accelleration test and on a very quick test drive, the car flies

I do like a 306 1.9TD. They're brilliant little cars and nothing more than a grown-up 205.

Just one little job left for the morning (the car is staying with me tonight so I can see how it is first-thing) and that's to make the glowplug post-heating work properly. Because time precluded us wiring it up properly whan John and I worked on it in Northumberland, this was left for another time. Uopshot is, post-heating is currently very short as the controller thinks the engine is revving hard from word go due to the microswitch not being wired. That I'll sort out in the morning and then all should be hopefully good...

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 29 Mar 2009, 08:46

I started watching the Australian F1 this morning but found it a bit tedious so I went off to check the Pug.

Still, good to see a Brawn GP 1 -2

I wired the post-heat microswitch and arranged for cold-advance when the glowplugs were on.

Result?

A perfect cold-start with no smoke, just a puff on start-up and then clear.

Job done. Wirining tidied. post-heat operation fully tested and car now ready for it's run back to Northumberland this evening...

Back to the V6....

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 29 Mar 2009, 22:03

great stuff Jim!!

i am back, after a very late decision on Friday night to drive to Peterborough!
then onto jims, oxford then the reverse
500 miles all told, and what a way to do it, in a V6 auto

the best figures I managed were 80ish on crusie (about 76 according to sat nav) and around 32mpgs..

Great to help with the engine removal Jim, and many thanks for the 306 work!

my keyoard btteries are flat so i am using the onscreen keyboard and its hell

Unread post by **myglaren** » 29 Mar 2009, 22:17

What OS John?

Try voice control (if you have a mike built in or one you can plug in).

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 30 Mar 2009, 11:44

hi Steve, win 2k

I will try VC though at some point

The keyboard is a wireless thing, it's pretty light on batteries and I charged them up over night.. all ok now for another month.

try clicking one letter after another using 'on screen keyboard' it is very irritating ..

Unread post by **myglaren** » 30 Mar 2009, 17:31

jgra1 wrote:hi Steve, win 2k

I will try VC though at some point

The keyboard is a wireless thing, it's pretty light on batteries and I charged them up over night.. all ok now for another month.

try clicking one letter after another using 'on screen keyboard' it is very irritating ..

Never tried it but can well imagine

Don't know if W2K comes with voice control. I'm fairly sure XP Pro does, as does Vista. Never tried it on any of them.

I don't talk on the phone if I can help it, damned if I am talking to a machine without a very good reason.

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 13 Apr 2009, 01:38

little to report really

....

all vehicles are hanging together .. but need attention..

the 406 has some major handling defects..
A bad ride on rough roads, direction 'anywhere'... the wheel is almost wrenched from hands.. the shocks, although dry, I think are not doing their job. The tracking could be out (rear and front), the variable power steering is not varying (i.e. staying on full assistance) unless the speedo cuts in (once a day after going beyond 70, it usually stays on then)
There is a hub flange wobble from from nearside..there are some subframe alilgnment checks I want to do..
the whole issue makea a nice car a bit embarrasing really..sometimes it feels like nasty version of scuttle-shake...
finally , the rack 'vibrates' at car park speeds, and the PS pump whines excessively

to be fair, these have all become (were always) apparant in the few hundred miles I have driven since engine replacement in December..

The honda VFR**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff] has had battery issues for a while now..(new batt last year) I finally got around to measuring across the battery terminals with a digital multimeter (I was wondering why the headlights dimmed with revs)
12.7 engine off
approx 11.7 cranking
13 at 1K
13.5 2K
13.8 3K
11.7 ish at 5K
and from then on, the becomes unstable and never exceeds 12 ...
I get the feeling the battery only charges when I am at idle or in towns.. (never)
the VFR**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff] 800Fi had a well documented problem with the Reg/Rec unit.. and cooling/airflow for it... some people used PC processor fans bolted to it, to keep it cool.. think I have the 'bug' now..I have my eye on a second hand unit on ebay...

On a brighter note

I brought an old PDA loaded with tomtom europe 6, and have soft luggage for the bike (stopping to read a map after overtaking 30 cars is a pain

) , I want to make this the year of some decent bike rides into France and beyond.. mounting a PDA, and fitting 2 waterproof cig lighter sockets are next on the list..

the chevy camper van.. still waiting to repair woodwork and to paint the roof in silver flat-roof sealant paint, and also cover some outside seams in lead-flashing tape (seems to be tar with a silver coating, very sticky and cheap!)
the silver colour should keep some of the intense heat away in the summer months
Also, I am a bit fed up with coldstart issues.. I may pull the carb apart again and bush the throttle shafts and double check a rebuild I did a year (4 miles) ago! ... hindsight..

The Xantia.. a smoking noisy mess, when starting these days... (I drove a 306 Lucas TD earlier, and it's like flickig a switch.. turn the key and its at x revs and thats that, very clean and quick)
The xantia also knocks a bit more than I would like, possibly an injector misbehaving a bit.... otherwise fine, on barrels of used cooking oil

The suspension often drops to minimum at the rear, on start up.. I have been noticing this getting worse for a while, and I still hold that it makes starting the car more difficult.... once pumped back to normal, car is happier idleing...
Thinking a bit more about a spare fuel tank for the car.. for a long journey somewere

This afternoon I was in the second stage of a 306 Lucas- Bosch fuel pump change...(and an alternator migration)
not as easy as I was hoping...
The donor car is an old 306 bosch TD with a brand new alternator, used by my ex-landlady. I got her a Lucas-driven 306, a bit newer, and it was always my job to make the newer car 'WVO friendly'
The bosch pump, alternator and injectors came off the older car in about an hour, nothing dropped and no cuts or bruises..

the 1995 car has a different alternator (mountings) to the 1997 car... so it did not get swapped, rather put on the shelf for a rainy day..

the worst thing though, was the lucas pump has a different sprocket to a bosch one (internal di of shaft quite a few mm smaller!)... a pump change in-situ means a cambelt off and sprokect change! add a few hours to mess about with engine mounts, cam covers, starters out.. my arms are cut to ribbons from reaching down the front back and sides of the engine! at the time of writing, 1 hour to remove a bosch, the same to remove a lucas, about 30 mins to remove the two alternators, and about 2 hours to mess about with cambelt!...
also the lucas woodruff is about 75% thickness of the bosch.,

tomorrow, injectors swapped, wiring and pipes sorted, and hopefully will have a quite tidy bosched 306 1997

moral.. dont underestimate a lucas/bosch swap on any TD... its a 10 hour job with a donor car, by my reckoning..
John

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 13 Apr 2009, 07:50

John,

If you're after a CPU heatsink/fan or 2, im almost sure that I've got a few waiting for some use. I'll have a look a bit later and take some photos and measurements

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 13 Apr 2009, 10:04

thanks Kev

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 15 Apr 2009, 00:19

well....

a job that began very well thursday night, and has deteriorated sun, got better again monday, and is at that point now when all that could go wrong has.

is still not working

I am doing a favour to someone, at the cost of hundreds of jobs for myself, but I really owe it to make this 306 a WVO car..

20 hours in now.. and the pump is on the lucas car, and all is finished.. but it black-smokes like a coal chimney..

Jim and I have had many hours on the phone, I have changed the timing about 60 times now , but it wont get better..

I did neglect to fit new fire washers (hold my hand up) but have done that now, and despite the fact the car runs much better, it's still undriveable...

The intercooler was all perfect with the lucas pump, the airfilter and turbo have been disabled for testing and no difference... black smoke on any acceleration, also on heavy throttle loads...

The injectors are all we can think to change or check now.. the bosch car seemed quite happy when it was running the last two years...

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 15 Apr 2009, 11:35

quite useful..

http://www.difflock.com/diesel/troubleshooting.shtml

http://www.dieselbob.co.uk/tips.shtml

http://www.uniteddiesel.co.uk/diesel-engine-smoke.php

http://www.aa1car.com/library/diesel.htm

(quote from last one, quite interesting)

Another quick check is to use an ohmmeter that reads tenths of ohms to measure the resistance of the glow plugs while the engine is running. The resistance of the plug goes up with temperature, so if one or two cylinders read low, you've found the problem. For example, if a glow plug normally reads 1.8 to 3.4 ohms on a hot, running engine, a reading of 1.2 to 1.3 ohms on a glow plug would tell you that cylinder isn't producing any heat.

KP · Unread post by KP » 16 Apr 2009, 09:24

Its something like £10 per injector or suchlike thses days to have them cleaned out and a few quid more for re-nozzling them isn't it? get that done and use some bosch Duraterm glowplugs.

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 16 Apr 2009, 10:36

may look into injector refurb, Will.... I have a spare set at home, so may try those in her car one at a time, to see if I can get rid of the black chimney at the back of the car ...

Glowplugs are all ok.. I just wanted to use them as a measure of cylinder temperature...

I tried to find the restance of mine , while my xantia was running ,but it didn't prove conclusive really.. I think I will test a loose plug, cold and hot, and see what resistance it offers, to give me a datum... can anyone guess the temp a glow plug reaches, compared to the temp inside a hot cylinder?

Rain on the way