Hi mate, any updates on the car?

 

Yes. So I had the car mapped again on Wednesday and fitted a new 4 bar MAP sensor at the same time to turn up the boost a little.
I used Bob Rawle for the mapping and was very impressed at his knowledge and skills; he's also a really nice guy to boot.

Findings:
- Ignition had not been set up. Bob advanced it by 7 degrees (I have no idea what this means other than extra power!)
- Boost cut off had been set at 2.8 bar. The standard MAP sensor only goes to 2.65 so there was actually no upper limit and a serious risk of over boosting!
- The idle control had not been set up correctly. It had been altered so the idle control valve wasn't activating (presumably the second time it was checked to stop the constant stalling)
- Cold start hadn't been set up either.
- The Toucan had been set up on a stack setting rather than using the Syvecs setting so some of the functions weren't working.

Results:
Bob spent 5 hours going over the car and also called and spoke with Tim (JTI) to make sure the Toucan is set up properly. The car drives faultlessly now, really smooth with progressive, controllable power. We have upped the boost to 1.75 bar now and, with the early spool up, it feels perfect for the road. There is a small issue with the launch control and anti lag systems at the moment due to some settings on the Toucan. We mapped them in on the day but I can't select them, Bob emailed me yesterday to say he will be discussing it with Tim again and hopefully it should be a quick fix. As soon as Bob sends through the Power graph I will upload it. I'm guessing the power will be around 450hp although I'm not really bothered about the actual figure as the car drives exactly as I wanted it too when I started the build.

Next steps:
Nothing till the new year! (I have an extension to pay for now!)
Small oil leak from the back of the engine. Could be the inspection hatch as the rear crank seal was replaced. I'll be running it down to SMD for them to check as it'll be a gearbox out job.
The engine is really noisy (sounds like a London taxi!). It is probably just piston slap but I'll be keeping an eye on it.
I'll be looking to do some minor restoration; front end spray, couple of small bubbles in the boot shut to take care of and an underseal before next winter.
Possibly some interior mods if the items come up at the right price; nice set of seats and some genome gauges would be good.
May change the wheels.... not decided on that yet though.
Nurbergring in April time

Happy to hear what you guys think I should do next....

 

Some pictures from the weekend.


Anyone know anywhere close to me where I can get this wheel re-trimmed?

 

Ive used royal steering wheels In the past but I wouldn't believe their lead times …….. a month late they did a fair job tho .

 

Dont know about local but royal steering wheels seem to be the people to go to for retrims. Quite a few people on here had them done by them.
http://royalsteeringwheels.com/

 

Thanks Lockheed and Jon, I'll give them a look. The wheel is detachable so I can send it off if needed but don't really want to be without the car for an extended period.
I had it priced up by a company here in Essex but he wanted £220 which is about the cost of a new wheel!

 

So I finally got round to getting some pictures of the breather/catch can. It's a bit awkward to get to but does the job.
After around 700 miles and 2 mapping sessions, I thought I should give it an empty. Because of the placement, it is difficult to get to the drainage bolt so I'll probably empty it from above next time by suctioning it out. My 5 year old son also managed to get hold of the drainage bolt while I wasn't looking and dropped it down drain! An hour later, after laying on my belly with my arm and a small bucket down the drain, the bolt was back in place. Don't you just love it when the kids help out.....










The contents so far. I'll be checking it every couple of months


Here's the new 4 bar MAP sensor, purchased from ICP. It's a simple bolt on jobbie but needs to be mapped in.

 

Adam if you want give it a proper clean out you can cut 2 slots just behind the bolts so the whole can will simply slide out which I did with mine , I fill it with petrol and slosh it around .
I also rinse the pipes out as well.

 

Thanks Lockheed, that’s sounds like a great idea. Have you got any pictures of yours? Would be good to see it. 👍
my fuel regulator is in a slightly unusual place so it kind of gets in the way a bit.

 

My regulator is in a similar position also my catch tank ill get some snaps in the morn.

 

So I just got the power graph back from Bob, 457hp and 415lbft! Very happy with that and the car has been transformed.

 

you must be very chuffed , I tried to get a snap of my air/oil separator today but it was pouring with rain and my phone wouldn't fit between the pipes and the photo I did manage to take didn't show what I wanted as the separator is so low down.

 

Yes, very happy with that. I originally set out to get over 450 hoping to push to 480 if lucky so I’m in that region. It wasn’t really about the numbers though, it was about the drivability on the road and that’s just about perfect now 👍
No worries with the photo, I don’t intend to do much work on it in this weather anyway. Thanks for trying though. 👍

 

Ive put a stone on top so folk can see.
This is just to show how far down it is and the fixing point is below tbh its a pain in the **** .

 

That’s a tasty looking bay you have there! 😍
your’s is in the same place as mine, not easy to get to.

 

Thanks Adam ive got the power bug for sure , ive got a couple of miss matched parts and im still trying . its running 496 /490 so the foz catches a few people out although I was out dragged by my mates supercharged civic the other day which was really annoying to say the least.

 

That's some serious power in a Foz!
What turbo are you running? Looks like its standard location still..

I'm fairly happy with the power for now. I'm looking forward to a couple of visits to santa pod and the ring next year. I'll see how I feel after that.

 

Im running the latest mdx321v although ive just bought the rcm rotated set up





every one loves a dog

 

That is a work of art!

 

Yes its made by Invidia for rcm then sold for £40 less than rcm from Alyn a.k.a As performance . its a no brainer if you know who to ask

 

good to know! 👍
so will you stay with the 321v or go for something bigger? The BW efr range look good! 😍

 

Adam is that both the head breathers & the crankcase breather plumbed into a vent to atmosphere can?

I was under the impression the system had to work under vacuum, hence it needed to still be plumbed into the intake? (Or not if this is the case )

Are the holes on the intake pipe just blanked off then & do you get the "oil slick" smell in the cabin?

 

Hi Kaosone,

The honest answer is that I have no idea, sorry.
My mechanic set it up so I will ask him when we next catch up.
Perhaps someone else on here may know though...
I don't get any nasty smells in the car.

 

Interesting, i take it the holes on the inlet pipe are just blanked off?

Thinking about it the Group N inlet pipe doesn’t have many of the ports the stock setup has so perhaps it’s designed to be run like that

 

Smart set up car,

 

I previously asked for a recommendation for the steering wheel to be refurbished.
I've spoken to a few places now and refurbishment seems comparable to buying a new wheel.
With that in mind, I decided to have a go at a little go at tidying it up myself.
The suede had gone 'flat' and hard in places and the wheel looked and felt past it's best. I remembered I had a suede brush lying around that came with a pair of shoes I bought years ago. I started off in a small inconspicuous spot and the fabric started to 'fluff up' again. It's not perfect but it's much better and only took around 90 minutes.
Here are the before and after pictures.

the brush

Before

Before

Before

After

After

After

 

Andy Forest says it's fine to vent to atmosphere: https://www.scoobynet.com/138077-cat...ed-them-2.html

Also I am contemplating fitting a threaded barb instead of the drain plug in mine so I can run an oil return line back to the sump (would mean not having to empty it & your son can throw the bung down the drain again). I know what comes out the can looks like **** but I am lead to believe that's condensation in the can mixing with the oily vapor.

 

Interesting read that. It's such a shame that we don't get any of those mappers commenting on here anymore, they have so much knowledge.
I have read about diverting the contents back to the sump. The only thing that would bother me about this going back into the engine is that there is water in the mix. I certainly don't claim to know much about the inner workings of a combustion engine but the idea of having water in the oil just sounds strange to me. I'm sure someone will probably jump on here and explain why it is perfectly okay though and I'm happy to be educated.

 

So it's been a while since I posted an update. The car hasn't been used that much through the winter months as I bought a little Clio 182 which I have been dailying. The Clio will primarily be used for track days but has also become my go to for short trips around town. Anyway, back to the scooby....

I pulled the cover off and connected the battery this weekend in preparation for the 170 mile round trip to see Bob Rawle on Monday. You may remember that there were some teething issues with the Toucan setup and we didn't get time to map in the anti-lag and launch control on my last visit. With some tweaks to the wiring and little Bob magic, it was all done and functioning perfectly in under an hour! For anyone who hasn't used Bob before, he is very direct and I could see he could easily upset people with a slightly delicate nature, however, he really knows his stuff when it comes to mapping and the car runs fantastically! I would definitely recommend him although you'll need to leave any ego at home.

I also mentioned previously about how noisy this engine is. I wasn't originally planning to do anything to the engine but what seemed like a good deal presented itself and I got the forged, 2.1 closed deck block from another member on here. I bought the engine in good faith (aka. on a wing and a prayer!) and it looks like that may have been my first mistake. I was told the engine had only covered 3000 road miles, although that seems highly unlikely now. In hindsight, I should have got Andy to rebuild it when he did the heads. After speaking with a few people, it sounds like there is considerable piston slap which is the cause of the 'clacking' sound, even when the engine is warm. I also spoke to another reputable engine builder and the general consensus is that the piston clearance is the issue. Now it could be that the engine was built this way (especially if it was designed for racing) but ultimately it will result in a shorter engine life, not to mention it sounds like a London taxi! The fact that the engine hasn't **** itself after 3 mapping sessions and some 2000 miles (with a fair amount of spirited driving) is probably a good thing, it does play on my mind though and it sounds awful when I pull up at a meet. So what to do?? I think I am going to have to go down the route of a rebuild at some point, although that will need to wait as I'm midway through an extension and have a new baby arriving in June. Am I risking doing irreversible damage by continuing to drive it like this? I do still have my original SCDB bottom end sitting in the garage if the worst happens, I certainly don't want to turn this one in to a coffee table just yet though.

To add to this, the gearbox has now started to crunch a little going into 4th. It's fine if driven sympathetically but will crunch when driving hard. Looks like this could be another expensive year.....


The new toy is surprisingly agile on the track!

 

So I had a bit of a mishap this week! While rushing to move the scooby out of the way of our over zealous scaffolders, I managed to nudge a lamppost!

I've damaged the bumper which has a split under the light so will need replacing (who knew it was so hard to find a decent one second-hand!) and I also cracked a light.





I'd been contemplating going back to standard on the rear lights for a while so this gave me the push. I definitely prefer this look.
I've had a look around for a rear bumper but no luck yet and the painter I'll be using has currently closed so I guess it'll be a little while before it get sorted.
As you can see, the cars are currently parked on the road while we are having some building work done and someone had already scraped the rear bumper before this, so waiting a little while isn't really bothering me.


looks a bit brighter now.