Quick update

Not a lot happening this week -

However spok with Vic - confirmed a few more measurements today - should know costs by next week.. possibility of aero grade pre-preg still on the cards if it's near to 'use-by' date

Paul on standby with new rear hatch - once size of cut out known then polycarb hatch will be made up

Dunc will prb phone Monday/Tuesday to arrange time to come down to do engine check etc.

Still waiting on injectors & c'cooler pump

Once car running - will switch over A032s for the racing mags & A008s ready for S'stone.

May cut some new larger end-peices for the wing out of the carbon left over.

New pic source - nice

The light at the end of the tunnel.. Stage4

Ultimately I want to follow in the tyre tracks of the uprated X180R SCCA racers out in US..

John Welch said: "Just got back from Road America (4 mile road course)
There is nothing like passing a big block Corvette on the front straight with a little 4 banger with a turbo.. at 147 MPH... Then running a 67 Camero down the front straight and out braking him into turn 1...

Took third in the class (best the team has ever finished so far) and they were faster than several cars in faster classes.

The engine currently in the car is a bit low on compression, so I can't wait until they get a fresh one in there and get the drivers reaction."

I can't wait for my Stage4 turbo neither...

Quick update (23/5).. merde!

Esprit no further forward due to my trip to Paris..

To-do's - as at 23/5

Check engine for detonation damage - compression test etc.
Reconnect ecu - check wiring, earth points etc
Replace chargecooler pump, empty and refill system
Fit new primary and secondary injectors from 5-0 Motorsport
Adjust fuel pressure reg to 4.2-4.3 bar
Fit IW77 Denso Iridium plugs (1 stage colder)Dunc to order
Remove plenum (again) and send to camcoat for coating
Fit new airbox once built and fitted - source new induction pipe until new induction ready
Mark off and cut rear hatch to fit new airbox
Switch to slicks - check brakes & front suspension for play whilst on jacks

Mexitowers on 9th June looks very unlikely and major work needs ot be dome to get car ready for S'stone. Darn pity about KH too as a 993 GT2 was coming out to play..!

Neither c'cooler pump or injectors have arrived form US and Dunc not yet booked to start work on car. Airbox looks weeks off.

merde!

Some more SIDC pics - empix

courtesy of http://empix.thatsyou.com/thumbnails.php?album=97

New ram-airbox design (F1 Carbon)

Vic @ F1 Carbon is helping to design an air box design around a custom oversize Subaru intercooler intake (45cm x 10cm) which will then feed into a tapered air box, which will in turn house a ram air cone filter. The scoop will be centrally roof mounted and made entirely of carbon.

Downsides will be the reduced visibility; but the rear hatch proved rear visibility would be severely restricted in any case. The final rear hatch will be cut to fit around the central feed.

The air box should ensure a strong constant air pressure which will rise at speed to feed the increased breathing required by the engine.

Front bumper modifications

Gary at

Has repainted the lower half of the front bumper wiht a black stone chip finish. H ei is also looking out lower splitter options as Duffus picture showed the front profile was still to high to the track. Of course have to be careful not to go too low or else it'll be ripped off at tracks like KH and Cadwell.

Eventually I'll ask Gaz to help make rear venturi section.

LOT Race Series - Esprit admitted?

Esprit may be admitted to LOT's new lowcost race series. This would be a great focus for the esprit and opens up sponsorship options. Depends on regs, getting Esprit readt and costs.


"The old gal would be more than welcome I'm sure...

We should have a lot more information up on the forums by the end of
next week.

We've been doing a lot of research into what members would like to see
and also how to get cars prepped sensibly. A team of existing elise
racers, ex-seloc bmw racers and a large number of members who have yet
to sit on a grid are putting things together.

At the moment we expect people to be able to get all the kit required to
race an Elise for about £1200-£1300 - most of which can be fitted by the
majority of members but for people like me who have no idea mechanically
garages should be able to offer an all in package of turn up and drive
the car out a day later for £2000 max. Some of that equipment will be
worthwhile having just for track days anyway - such as fire
extinguisher.

Plumbed in fire ext, roll bar, transponder, electric cut offs - people
may need harness if don't already have and there will be small things
such as rear towing eye.

We know we will only attract enough people to build a decent grid if we
can keep the series as safe as possible so one of the things that has
come over is people knowing who they are on the grid with and having
done t/days with them so all look after each other. We also have to find
ways of making even a std elise at least competitive against a 300 bhp
monster and have ideas being discussed at the moment. It's also got to
stay within tight budgets.

For circuits we expect to have 6 meets in 2007 with Brands, Snetterton,
Cadwell, Oulton, Silverstone plus one other obvious choices - we have
meetings next week which should be able to confirm some of these and
have already been offered a couple of meets at Brands this year - one we
may use as a dummy run.

More info in a week or so's time but I'll add you to the interested
list.

Hope this helps."

Regards
Paul Golding

SIDC Knockhill vid finally posted

Right click link here or visit through the main site.

Please feel free to post comments on what you think.

Car still nowhere running proprly but progress made.

http://www.lbmracing.com/videos/lbm_knockhill.wmv

Engine uncertainty...

Next fortnight will be a big one for the project depending on state of current engine and will have a knock-on effect to how much modding i can do over next 6-12 months and hwo much track time I can get in.

Garry Kemp wrote:

"Oil analysis can give you some insights; you have to send a sample away to a
lab to test for trace elements / contaminants. It will tell you if there is
fuel contamination from overfueling; if the bearings are worn there is often
lead / copper in the oil, if the bores are wearing you will find nickel /
silicone carbide from the bores, if the crank / cams are wearing you'll find
iron. However I suspect your engine has issues of a different kind - we know
it has been running lean so there won't necessarily be fuel contamination of
the oil - what oil sampling can't detect is damage in the combustion
chambers; which is what you engine may have.

If an engine was being done for you I would probably 10 dowel the head
and fit ARP studs; however I wonder if John Welsh has gone to that trouble -
probably not; so I may be being over cautious - maybe just the ARP studs
would be enough for around the 400-450hp mark. The other thing I would do
for you is to fit iron liners - the alloy liners are a bit marginal at high
boost - they don't break; but they "pant" on the combustion cycle - which
can pop the head gasket. "

The secrets of George Howard-Chapel's 'red' code

John Welch examined the binary code Dermot had sent him - the secrets of the George Howard-Chappel 'red race' code are finally unravelled. It's worth pointing out at this stage the S4S was even around. John wrote:

"As for code that is more than the S4s, you would really be suprised if you looked at the code you running and the S4s code. The ignition maps are actually not that different. The code you are running has a bit more advance in the ignition, I presume for a high octane fuel. It also is not using the secondarys.. why I don't know.. the secondarys are the greatest thing for getting more fuel at the top end.

As for over 1.25 BAR.. I'm still confused why everybody asks about this.. too much internet hype is my opinion. The 1.25 BAR cut off is VERY eaisly disabled. However, the ECM's boost control system is not very good. It's highly recommended to use a stand alone boost controller, they are far more accurate. Anyway.. aren't you running a 3 bar sensor? It looked like that in your logs that Dermot sent for me to analyse.. are you hitting a cut off? I would have thought that was disabled.. I'll check it over..."

Will make use of the Sport300 1.25 bar code John had - which should work fine.

WC Engineering.. the options are endless

Pending a full healthcheck of heads etc it's nice to stop a minute and think about the nice things, such as the turbo tuning potential of the car.

John Welch at WC Engineering got me thinking..



"The Sport 300 turbo is small.. We were using T04E46 trim compressors on the street turbos, which has almost 50% more flow than the SP300 turbo, I've got a customer with that turbo that just laid down a 385hp at the wheels on 92 octane pump fuel.

I don't have a peak CFM number on our "race" turbo setup, but that 441hp pull was made at only 18psi of boost, it's not always about high boost, but about clean boost and a good intercooler. Engine mods: 104 intake cam, larger intake valves, match ported head/manifolds, Adjustable pulleys, 370ccpm main injectors, 600ccpm secondarys, no cat, larger charge cooler, electric pump. Idles smooth and pulls like a freight train."

Ever expanding shopping list

Electric pump ordered from States - check
New injectors from US - check
New airbox - under design
Probably send c'cooler + plenum to camcoat to finish
Denso Iridium plugs - tbc

Must also remember to set fuel pressure to 4.2 bar

Next stop bankruptcy..!!!

New 5-0 Motorsport injectors on their way

New injectors have been ordered from Bruce at 5-0 Motorsport www.fiveomotorsport.com

$380 delivered for:

4 x primary Bosch Motorsport (low impedance) 380cc (5.5 bar max)
2 x 270cc Bosch (Ford SVO for the Cobra SVT-R) (6 bar max)

Excellent value - latest deisgn with good spray pattern - should liven throttle response. These match the specs from Garry and Dermot pretty closely. The primaries are slightly smaller than stock but the secondaries are a good deal larger for high boost application.

Unfortunately I forgot to pay the extra to have them flow matched ('blueprinted') but after having spoken to Bruce he assured me Bosch units were pretty well matched form outset with 1-2% max variance.

Note from Garry

"I would look for a standard 380cc injector; remember though the Lotus fuel
system runs at 3.8 bar; or in the case of the S300 4.2 bar - a lot of
injector flow is quoted at 3 bar; so check with the supplier what pressure
the injector is rated at. What you want is good atomization; RC engineering
offer some suitable for the Esprit, Bruce at Five-O may be able to help; he
supplies the new Bosch series 3 injector; which have great atomization but
they are high impedance; I think you need low impedance primaries and high
impedance secondaries. However, you may be able to run the higher impedance
ones; the Carlton injectors are definitely high impedance; Dermot may be
able to advise you if that will work OK. I know it is usually a problem to
go the other way; i.e. fitting low impedance into a system designed for a
High Impedance injector; but I have a feeling it is probably Ok the other
way around."

"You honestly just need stock size primaries; the car won't make significantly different power to a stock engine until the boost is well up. The secondary injectors don't trigger until 75% throttle opening and I think 0.75 bar of boost.

I did one that had an old style T3/T4: basically an S300 turbo. It illustrates the power and fuelling requirements quite well: it picked up about 180hp in 1200 rpm as the engine came on boost. So you can see it is really the secondary injectors that do all the work when the engine is producing high power.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the Esprit management system is a kind of half way house between batch fire and fully sequential; most modern engines are now fully sequential and they require much larger injectors than batch fire systems. You may see the current crop of Jap cars quoting huge injectors sizes; they need them because they are running fully sequential injection and as such need the higher capacity injector.

I would look for a standard 380cc injector; remember though the Lotus fuel system runs at 3.8 bar; or in the case of the S300 4.2 bar - a lot of injector flow is quoted at 3 bar; so check with the supplier what pressure the injector is rated at. What you want is good atomization; RC engineering offer some suitable for the Esprit, Bruce at Five O may be able to help; he supplies the new Bosch series 3 injector; which have great atomization but they are high impedance; I think you need low impedance primaries and high impedance secondaries. However, you may be able to run the higher impedance ones; the Carlton injectors are definitely high impedance; Dermot may be able to advise you if that will work OK. I know it is usually a problem to go the other way; i.e. fitting low impedance into a system designed for a High Impedance injector; but I have a feeling it is probably Ok the other way around. Dermot is probably best placed to advise you about secondary injector
sizes; I believe that stock is 190cc. I recently put together an engine that went to Turkey and was designed for 400hp; I think I used a 270cc secondary injector for that engine; but in all honesty until you get it on the dyno rollers it is a bit of guesswork."

We shall see..

ECU switch cont.

Dermot opened up the ecu. The memcal has a chip in it labelled "GH-C, Red Race Chip". He sucessfully downloaded the binary contents of the chip to his laptop. He then sent the binary code to John Welch in the US. They have been discussing what this code could be doing, JW should be able to tell us what exactly G H-C was trying to achieve with this map.

Dermot has put the Sport 300 code back in place. He checked this chip and it is still good.

ECU on its way back - now electrical testing will ensue.

So.. v8 conversion anyone?

Almost certainly the failing chargecooler combined with hot temps forced the engine lead at higher loads.. the dodgey ecu chip then also failed to trigger the secondary injectors. We'll juts have to see.

Will inpsect bores, most likely inspect head or at least under rocker cover and also test compression etc. If she passes on all of those then will continue to run if we get the a/f running okay then do deeper inspections after S'stone.

I have an option on another engine which is good for 400bhp but at £5K I'd rather run what I have as the spec is similar/ That or send my engine for a rebuild at a cost of approx £3K.. was hoping to run existing engine for couple of years then splash out on a steel 600bhp engine with 2.6 crank etc.

Also had an option on a quaife sequential for 3K so that'd be down the river if engine if shot..

Might be easier to have a V8 shoved in...

Worst case scenario?

Msg from Garry Kemp - Engine builder -following Freescan analysis from Dermot..

"I am sorry to say I think your engine may have suffered quite a bit of damage from the detonation; 1000 incidences of detonation is very serious. High speed det - which it looks like it is (Dermot has ID'd 6000rpm as a particularly lean area), is horendously damaging to engines. The inside of your combustion chambers and the tops of piston will almost certainly be damaged - the alloy will quite likely be eaten away. To be honest I am surprised it has held together. The big end bearings also typically get wiped out due to the shock loadings of the detonation - which the oil film just can't withstand.

High engine temps and a lean condition are a dangerous combination and it appears that yours has been functioning like that for some time; to make it worse it's been driven hard at the same time. The non-functioning chargecooler will have elevated the inlet temps; the fact you only had partial throttle opening may have prevented the secondary injectors triggering, which may have caused the lean condition and the high exhaust gas temps.

I suspect there may be some problems with the engine; these are likely ones:

The high cylinder temps will have taken their toll on the exhaust valves and valve seats; I suspect errosion of the valve-seat faces. Above about 800 degrees the valve and valve seat start to weld themselves together,when the valve opens they start to pull pieces out of each other. This then reduces the heat transfer from the valve into the seat - about 70% of the heat in the exhaust valve is transmitted to the engine coolant through the valve seat. So the next problem is the exhaust valve starts to run even hotter - this creates two further problems: above 8-900 degrees the creep strength of the steel in the valve reduces dramatically and the chances of the valve head falling off becomes very real. The other problem is that the very hot exhaust valve tends to become a source of secondary ignition; so the incidences of detonation become more frequent.

High speed detonation will probably be occuring near the exhaust valve due to the high valve temperature - so I suspect the pistons will be getting eaten away near the exhaust side - probably down the side near the top ring groove. The head may also be getting eaten away very close to the head gasket fire ring; again probably near the exhaust side. The alloy around the exhaust valve seats also tends to get eaten away; ultimately they can fall out - triggering the end.

The little end and big end bearings also tend to take a beating; so while they may still be intact I suspect they will have suffered accelerated wear as a consequence of the detonation.

I wish I could give you better news, but I would suggest not driving the car until the chargecooler and ECM issues are resolved. I would also see if you can get a bore scope into the chambers soon; or whip the head off and see how it looks in there. If your engine lets go at high revs it could lock up and spit you off the track; it has to be worth checking out before you drive the car again."

bu**er !!!

Another good source for the ecu

The Lotus manual has become my reading buddy (not through choice but neccessity).

This is another good source

http://www.espritfactfile.com/ECM.html

Switching chips and memcal

This is the culprit - may try to run Sport300 1.25 bar chip next..

Hopefully Dermot will switch round for me

All I need to do now is hunt the elusive MAP sensor

ECU removal

Removing ecu tonight to send to Dermot to scan.

removal guide here

http://www.espritfactfile.com/Memcal.html

Also found 2 loose brown wires.. doh! and looks like I need a special tool to reconnect.. of course reconnect to where.. wil have to try and guess based on wrire length/shape. Tho they did have black tape at the ends as if they had been blanked off...??

Next steps..

With Dunc's help from Hypertech www.hypertech-scotland.co.uk

1.inspect the pistons/bores with an endoscope through the plug holes - don't need to take head off (also worth compression testing as you say).

2. Drain c'cooler system and remove mechanical pump - check liquid for sludge

3. Purchase electric c'cooler pump and blank off where mechanical pump used to be

4. Remove ecu and replace chip and memcal with spare Sport 300 chip (1.25 bar) from John Hazzard

5. Replace throttle position sensor (TPS)

6. Set throttle position to 100% on Freescan

7. Switch primary injectors if neccessary

8. Refill c'cooler system

9. Move inlet temp sensor from outside of c'cooler to inlet

10. Set up car on Falkland rollers - check knock through Freescan and check a/f through wide band lambda.

11. Replace boost solenoid valve and check connections

12. Cross all fingers

Alternative is to retain chip and sensor, sort c'cooler and boost solenoid etc and recheck knock and a/f on rollers before replacing chip

The full horror of KH Freescan log

Data file from KH revealed some tales of gore..!!!

Ugly details below.. Look away.. look away...

*************************************************************

1. inlet air temp were very high, actually they reached 90 deg C that is as high as I have ever seen, you have basically no chargecooler.

2. massive engine detonation problems, the knock sensor
detected about 1000 knocks in your log file. The ECU attempted to
save your engine fro holing a piston by applying the maximum spark
retard of 4 deg, it also probably cut the boost.

3. no evidence that your ECU has control of your boost, the
wastegate boost solenoid is all over the place, meaning no control.

4. The secondary injectors are NOT being triggered.

5. There is no long temp fuel trim, the BLM values are locked down so the ECU is not learning the best fuel setup.

6. engine is getting dangerously lean at the top end. The O2 voltage is nearly at crossover at 6000rpm which means that is close to A/F 14.7. At this A/F your will have massive EGR values and will be about to melt pistons !!!

7. weird MAP output, the idle value is wrong but it might be 3bar, it might not if so you are getting about 0.7 bar boost, which makes sense if the ECU has no control.

8. The TPS has some play in it, not bad but might need attention later, least of you worries at the moment.

9. IAC values are all over the place but that is also the least of your worries

The ECU is permanently in open loop mode. This means that all adaptive
tuning and feedback has been disabled. Basicaly the ECU is ignoring
all its sensors !!!! must have been deliberate in the ECU code but surely only for testing.

Knockhill pics - SIDC 29/4

Awesome day organised by John Stewart @ SIDC

Awesome pictures from the SIDC track day - courtesy of www.quantum-capture.co.uk

Some pics - vid to follow

Post KH - Freescan data log

Now the fun begins.. picking apart the Freescan log to check the car is runnging properly - my first observations being:

MAT very high - chargecooler not working properly? she felt very quick initially and then lost power as temps rose which were regained after she cooled down. Charegcoole rtemps appeared to cool down off-load but slowly.

She's still running a bit lean (up to 13.5) on partial load and 12.9 on 100% load but O2 looks a lot better.

Wastegate set to maximum 1.2bar but is hitting 100% duty cycle so may need to be adjusted.

Not sure if secondary injectors even working. Fuelling a bit over 3.6 bar. Was only 97 RON fuel so may have to put better stuff in next time. I have BP Ultimate in her now.

MAP max'd at 1.79 so she may stil have a boost leak.. may be due to high intake temps and ecu retarding ignition..