Omega Owners Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Please check the Forum Guidelines at the top of the Newbie section

Show Posts

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.

Messages - Kevin Wood

35026
General Discussion Area / Re: Just desserts?
« on: 23 April 2007, 10:11:32 »
Speaking of just desserts one evening last winter I had to go to a meeting after work and left about 10 PM. It had previously snowed and just as the snow was melting there was a frost and it all turned to ice.

I slipped over whilst walking to my car in the car park so mental note to drive very carefully!

I was driving along a dual carriageway that had been gritted reasonably well but it was slippy in places so I stuck to 30-40 MPH. BMW 3 series again (uncanny, that) passed me at 80+. Thought he was being stupid.

Half a mile later I notice a distinct line across the road surface and a bit of a sheen thereafter. Tried a little sway on the the steering wheel. No change of direction whatsoever. Dabbed the brakes. Instant lockup. I let the car coast down to a safe speed (in these conditions sub-10MPH. There was no grip whatsoever). Round the next corner I spotted a single hazard light flashing by the side of the road. It was Mr. 3 Series who had been playing pinball using the barriers each side of the road as flippers. Not a single panel on his car wasn't completely knackered.

I did the good samaritan thing and stopped to see if he was OK. He quite rudely (i thought) told me he was on the phone to a recovery company and didn't need any help. I got back into my car. Couldn't resist a parting "Drive carefully" as I left though.  [smiley=evil.gif]

There was a double decker bus in the convoy of vehicles creeping back home after this incident. Even he was sliding all over the place.

I have often wondered if the gritter lorry just ran out of salt or whether the fact that the gritting stopped exactly on the Surrey / Hampshire county boundary is significant?

Kevin

35027
General Discussion Area / Re: Ug wants an Omega?
« on: 23 April 2007, 15:49:37 »
Me h8 walking
me buy omega..


35028
General Discussion Area / Re: Catch 22
« on: 22 April 2007, 14:28:10 »
... but what you will get on here is plenty of advice as to what you should look for and what common problems exist.

Kevin

35029
General Discussion Area / Re: Where's the magic gone?
« on: 23 April 2007, 00:03:44 »
The magic's still there. The tools have just changed a little.

I have experienced the same in reverse.

7 Years ago I built a Westfield and used an off-the-shelf mapped ignition unit but with carbs supplying the fuel. It never ran that well on the carbs. It was thirsty and whilst it went like the clappers on a wide open throttle it ran like a dog under light load.

I did a bit of reading up on what makes engines work and found out how to make changes to the setup. The problem was, unless you've got a drawer full of chokes, jets, emulsion tubes and a "feel" for what each one would do for the characteristics of the engine it's still guesswork, and expensive at that, given the price of these items. I had a little play, took it for a quite expensive rolling road session and improved running in the end at the expense of greater fuel consumption.  >:(

About 4 years ago I came across some guys who started an internet project developing their own ignition and fuel injection ECU http://www.megasquirt.info

I decided that carbs were too much hassle and fuel injection was the way forward. I replaced the carbs with individual throttle bodies, built the ECU myself. I read every line of code in the (open source) firmware for the ECU and found out exactly how it works.

I also got myself a wideband lambda sensor and built a controller for it from a kit. This screws into the exhaust in the same way as a conventional Lambda sensor but it will tell you the air / fuel ratio that the engine is running at continuously on a gauge on the dashboard.

No one had put one of these setups on a Zetec engine before so I had a guess at fuel and ignition maps and set off up the road. I managed to limp to the local petrol station to fill it with fuel and within 30 miles of driving (logging what was going on on a laptop, stopping, adjusting the map, setting off again..) I had it running better than it ever had on carbs.

It's now much quicker at full throttle, much more flexible at low revs. There is no "knack" to starting it, just turn the key. It did 120 miles absolutely maximum to a (small) tank of fuel and it now does 165. The injection system is so much more open to tinkering than the carbs ever were (in my opinion, anyway).

The point being, you can still have a feel for what an engine needs, play with different ignition advance, fuelling, etc. In fact, it's easier than ever because instead of a drawer full of carb parts, you just need a laptop on the passenger seat.

I grant that this is not as easy on an Omega as on a simple kit car because the engine management is integrated with so many other systems on the car and access to the internals is very restricted, but it is possible to tinker in the way you describe and work magic. You just need the right project vehicle to play with!

Kevin

35030
General Discussion Area / Re: 0 - 60 time?
« on: 24 March 2007, 21:41:35 »
Quote
You still need a good place to use them though.

True. I do technically have access to an airfield but I don't think they'd be too amenable to an OOF 0-60 party.
 
I did Vmax the Westfield on the runway one night though  :-[
 
Kevin

35031
General Discussion Area / Re: 0 - 60 time?
« on: 24 March 2007, 17:00:28 »
I think a mate of mine has got one of these:

http://www.race-technology.com/ap22_4_620.html

.. which might be fun to try sometime.

Kevin

35032
General Discussion Area / Re: Your careing dealer?
« on: 22 April 2007, 14:26:12 »
I figure I never tend to sell cars until they're pretty much worthless so I service all 3 cars myself and use some of the cash I've saved to treat myself to some new tools every now and then  ;)

Last time I took a car to a dealer (a Renault in this case :-X ) I got home and thought I'd have a little look under the bonnet to see if there was any evidence of them doing the requested work. Turns out the evidence was all over the engine bay. They hadn't bothered to push the dipstick fully home and it had hosed down the engine bay with oil  >:(

Kevin



35033
General Discussion Area / Re: I'm Worried - VERY worried
« on: 20 April 2007, 23:13:10 »
At the end of the day 3 simple rules will ensure that it goes OK:

If you need to turn the cams on their own make sure the crankshaft is turned off the TDC position (back to 60 degrees before on a V6)

Turn the engine 2 turns and make sure the marks all line up again at TDC. Repeat as necessary. Start again as necessary. Once you've turned it through 2 turns and it all lines up you're good to go.

Before you put it all back together ensure that the tensioner bolts and all other fasteners under the cam cover have been correctly torqued and that the spring tensioner is set correctly.

Kevin



35034
General Discussion Area / Re: I'm Worried - VERY worried
« on: 20 April 2007, 22:56:36 »
I know what you're saying. It's not nice when a job snowballs into something bigger than you expected, especially if it takes you outside your "comfort zone" but I've also lobbed things back together when I had a gut feeling that something wasn't right and that leaves a feeling of dread too.

At least if you know you've been thorough you can (eventually) put it all together knowing it's not going to come back to haunt you.

Kevin

35035
General Discussion Area / Re: I'm Worried - VERY worried
« on: 20 April 2007, 21:44:35 »
I'd suggest if it was running rough it's more likely to be because of the cam timing being all over the place than the oil cooler / radiator issues.

Having done the work to get to the cam belt I would at least make sure the cam timing is OK and the belt correctly tensioned before putting it back together.

Kevin

35036
General Discussion Area / Re: Project TB2 - Update 8
« on: 22 April 2007, 00:42:58 »
Quote
Quote
Gave it a good 100mph blast, temp rose to just under 100, but quickly came back down.

Blimey....i didnt think tractors went that fast  :o

 :o

He meant kph of course, Officer!  :-X

 ;)

35037
General Discussion Area / Re: Kevin Wood - Appreciation Thread!
« on: 22 April 2007, 00:51:08 »
Quote
Quote
a classical concert inspired by Queen.

Kevin
Oh dear  ::)

I know.. The folks were going to it and it seemed like a good idea. It was good - but I'd rather have seen the real thing. Kinda missed the boat on that score.

Kevin

35038
General Discussion Area / Re: Kevin Wood - Appreciation Thread!
« on: 22 April 2007, 00:36:04 »
No problem at all. Was a pleasure to be of assistance. Just gutted I wasn't there to hear it fire up!

Just made the concert. Realised half way home that the Westie was on vapours (the joys of a 27 litre fuel tank) but too late to turn back for fuel. Set a new record of 168 miles to a tank and made it. Took SWMBO's MX-5 to the concert. Arrived with that also on vapours  >:(

Concert was very good. Not my normal thing - a classical concert inspired by Queen.

Kevin

35039
General Discussion Area / Re: Chasing Trains
« on: 22 April 2007, 00:55:08 »
Quote
I was absolutely hammering between Gretton & Gotherington and trains have a 25mph limit ::)

My garden backs onto the Watercress line and occasionally they move stock onto the main line at unpopular hours in the night. Judging by the noise they make at 3 AM the 25 MPH limit goes out the window then.  :o

Kevin



35040
General Discussion Area / Re: Congrats Mr Wood
« on: 20 April 2007, 23:57:20 »
Just checked and my post count here is already half what it is on the Westfield Sports Car Club boardroom. I've been here 3 months and I've been lurking there for years!

That speaks volumes about this place I'm sure.

Kevin

Page created in 0.036 seconds with 16 queries.