Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

34666

General Discussion Area / Re: Cam swop

« on: 06 July 2007, 22:22:34 »

Okay to drop  cams straight onto old lifters?

The consensus is that this is Ok provided they are both in good condition.

If you have any lifters which are a little noisy or take a while to quieten after startup this is a good opportunity to get them out and clean them. There's a howto for this on this site.

Expect the lifters to be noisy on initial startup after the cam change as they pump up and adjust to the new cam profile. Drive it gently until they quieten, which can take a while.

Kevin

34667

General Discussion Area / Re: Cam swop

« on: 06 July 2007, 21:14:51 »

Bear in mind you will need to change the cam cover gaskets and will need some sealant for those, It's advisable to change the camshaft oil seals and the cam belt will have to come off so if it's anywhere due a change it may as well be done, including the tensioner pulleys. Ditto the aux. belt and water pump. It's a good time to do the spark plugs too, if they are ready for a change!

You'll need a cam belt locking kit.

It's not a difficult job but you need to set aside planty of time and be fairly methodical about how you work in terms of getting the cams timed correctly, not mixing up the cam bearing caps and avoiding valve to piston contact while you're assembling it again.

Kevin

34668

General Discussion Area / Re: RONNIE IN HOSPITAL

« on: 05 July 2007, 19:58:26 »

BUILD A rather CAR PARK!!!!!

... Then charge so much for it that nobody can 'kin well afford to park there so they park in the local housing estate, like where my brother lives.  

Anyway, parking trivia aside I hope you're OK.

Kevin

34669

General Discussion Area / Re: VXR Track Day - Report

« on: 06 July 2007, 23:55:13 »

No. I'm not "VXR enough"  

Actually, my Linux box has the wrong version of flash on it and I can't be @rsed to upgrade it!

Maybe on Monday when I'm back in the land of Micro$oft...

Kevin

34670

General Discussion Area / Re: VXR Track Day - Report

« on: 06 July 2007, 20:20:33 »

Is this an annual event and how do you participate?

http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/microsite/vxrtrackday/vxr_trackday.html

Shame they've sold out. I'd have signed up for the Thruxton one by now  

Kevin

34671

General Discussion Area / Re: VXR Track Day - Report

« on: 06 July 2007, 10:43:22 »

.. and another

Just to echo what Allan has said, it was a good well organized day, with no
pushy marketing, just a bag of goodies at the end.

Astra and Corsa, superb fun, one of the Astra's was very laggy, but the
other was lively and very responsive. I drove both Astra and Corsa twice
each.

Vectra/Vectra estate - no difference, very quick in a straight line and very
good around the corners, upto a point, at about 95% if all felt very
understeery and imprecise, just as the ESP cut in.

Meriva/Zafira - yes both VXR models, Meriva is a def Q car, nearly as quick
as the Corsa. The Zafira was as quick as the Astra, bit less agile but the
extra weight showed as the brakes were on the edge after two laps, very
smelly!!

VXR8 - noise, noise noise...acceleration, great brakes, nice
steering....crap clunky gearchange not what you expect on a rear
driver....superb fun though.

The off track entertainment. Food, remote control cars, video games was all
first rate.

As for the autotesting........

Yes I did break an Astra, but it was just the gear linkage < I think> and
Allan beat me by 4 hundredths of a sec.....but his handbrake parking was
hilarious, not only did he miss the gap, but he parked his car on top of the
inflatable car, pulling the air hose out which led to a total deflation of
said car...his second attempt was nearly as bad :-)

34672

General Discussion Area / VXR Track Day - Report

« on: 06 July 2007, 10:33:28 »

Thought someone might be interested in the following report from a mate of mine who went...

Kevin

Mike James, Gav and myself attended the VXR day today at Donington Park and it
was a blast.

We were in a group of about 30 and there were about the same number of cars
available so as you completed one session you just strolled over to another
car and jumped in.

The Corsa, Astra & Vectra were stunning but personnally I did not like the V8
particularly. In all we had 1 1/2 hours on the track and did about 15-20 laps
in total. The VXR package IMHO is very good. Oh we also had a lap with one of
their competition drivers hjust to see what they could really do!!

We then moved on to the "Driving Excitement" arena to do a short agility
section and a handbrake turn in a gap between an inflatable car and some
boxes.

Pleased to say the Se7ners held their end up with Mike & I coming runners up
on the agility and Gav managing to totally knacker the gearbox on one of the
Astra's!!!!

In all it was very well organised and well worth the money so many thanks to
whoever put us on to it.

34673

General Discussion Area / Re: Ebay auction, am I MAD?

« on: 05 July 2007, 19:42:02 »

So if I offer TD the money, it could be mine

Are you looking for another head-off project car?  

Kevin

34674

General Discussion Area / Re: Ruddy MX-5 coil pack

« on: 06 July 2007, 13:23:18 »

Sorry! It must have been the shock. Most posts I sign.

At least once.

Kevin

34675

General Discussion Area / Re: Ruddy MX-5 coil pack

« on: 06 July 2007, 11:48:33 »

Or new for an equaly stupid amount.....
 
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Coil-pack-Mazda-MX-5-1-8-mk1-Eunos-MX5-93-95-4-pin_W0QQite mZ150138975711QQihZ005QQcategoryZ52640QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem
 

That looks right, but mine has 3 pins and they're 4 pin.

God knows why there so pricey.....

Well, I was surprised when testing with an AVO that the lowest resistance I saw was about 30 ohms - duff one was completely open circuit. That was "one-way too" so there's clearly some semiconductor device in there. Maybe an integrated coil driver because the actual coil primary I'd expect to be an ohm or two DC resistance?

Anyway, got a new one coming next working day for less now. Still expensive though.

Guess I'll be driving the Westie in the rain while SWMBO gets the MV6 'til then!

heres hoping there at least easier to access for you...

Easier, true, but still on the back of the head up against the bulkhead. There was one b'stard bolt that took some doing...  

Kevin

34676

General Discussion Area / Re: Ruddy MX-5 coil pack

« on: 06 July 2007, 10:19:25 »

Thanks, RolandL.

I saw them but they're not exactly the same, although it's difficult to tell from those piccies. 48 quid for one from a scrap car is a bit steep too, I thought, but then if they're 209 quid new some would pay that, no doubt!

Anyway, found a much cheaper, but still steep, one online. No local motor factors list them and Mazda dealers can't get one until Monday so a next day delivery job online is about as good as I'm going to get.

Cheers,

Kevin

34677

General Discussion Area / Re: Ruddy MX-5 coil pack

« on: 06 July 2007, 10:05:09 »

OMG! Mazda want 209.00 for a replacement. For a coil pack!

Don't think so, somehow...

34678

General Discussion Area / Ruddy MX-5 coil pack

« on: 06 July 2007, 09:18:27 »

SWMBO comes home last night in a very ropey sounding MX-5 complete with eggy smells from the cat and all sorts "That's running as rough as a bear's @rse" thinks I.

"There's something not quite right with my car"

Bit of an understatement. It's running on 2 cylinders. Anyway, a bit of detective work later and it's got a knackered coil pack  

So, time to phone round the motor factors.

Kevin

34679

General Discussion Area / Re: chips

« on: 14 June 2007, 16:10:40 »

However, I suspect that at that price, it is simply an illegal copy of a performace chip...

True... It's easy to copy them and practically impossible to copy protect them so I wouldn't be surprised. Rich pickings too. Beg / borrow / steal one legit chip, copy it onto blank chips for a quid or two a go and sell on e-bay.  

Given that you're replacing the firmware in the ECU itself and ALL settings it's absolutely critical that you get the correct chip for your engine and for the exact variant of ECU you have. All the more reason to go to someone reputable.

Kevin

34680

General Discussion Area / Re: chips

« on: 14 June 2007, 13:08:04 »

If it's not a resistor to the CTS, What is it then? How does it attach, and how does it function?

It's an EPROM to replace the one in the ECU itself. In other words, the chip that contains the firmware that carries out all ECU functionality in addition to the maps that tell the ECU how much fuel and ignition advance the engine needs at given combinations of speed and load.

Basically, someone has hacked the factory ECU and found the locations of the above in the code, and has made some changes to it to enhance the performance.


Kevin