Rogue Runners 2017 Day 1 - Bridlington Bound

As usual with SKCC tours there were some “issues”, the menfolk met successfully at Lakeside, topped up the tanks & said hello, but one of our number had a problem, a digital dash with a mind of it’s own, he decided to err on the side of caution & take it home to fix, promising to catch us up later.

So we pulled out onto the M25 with me leading. There were four lanes & an Audi RS4? (all look alike to me) in lane 3 doing 65, I moved into lane four floored it, & felt something odd under my foot, I lifted my foot off the throttle, throttle stayed down – not good. I turned the engine off & back on (no Idea why), then off again & pulled across into the hard shoulder Radioing my compatriots to carry on.

A mile covered, two cars down. I opened the bonnet & found the throttle return spring snapped – fortunately at one end, so a little work with pliers saw it elongated & re-fitted. I tidied up, got back in the car & set off in pursuit.

 But all was not well, the throttle seemed OK when driving but “notchy” at idle & the engine would vary idling speed at random. I caught up with the others & opened the bonnet again when we stopped for breakfast, the return spring was just catching a bolt head as it moved – easy fix.

After that we met up with our token female as arranged & made the lunch stop at lunch time.

The sky got darker & darker as we luncheoned & as we set off there were spots of rain in the air. It would probably come to nothing. What it in fact came to was a hail storm just as we reached the outskirts of town.

There were a couple of other downpours en-route, but as we passed over the Humber Bridge I lost sight of the cars behind me, arriving at the hotel a good ½ hour ahead of them.

 

So after a pint in the hotel & another couple over tea, I'm now very ready for my bed.

More On The Throttle Linkage

So here's the initial idea. The long angle replaces one on the TBs, it keeps them in line relative to one-another, but nothing more. The new one will do that, but will have three aircraft control rod ends / rose joints screwed to it. Through these runs a length of M6 studding, at a couple of locations this has a flat cut into it.
The yellow things mate with these flats much like a spanner so when the studding turns, they turn, the holes in the other end will have push rods (radio control car track control rods), two each, that will open the throttles. Using the track control rods means the action of each throttle will be individually adjustable.

At the back of the picture is a bracket which will bolt in place of the existing linkage bracket. The big hole will have a ball bearing for the studding to run in, a couple of pulleys, the mounting points for the twin cables & open & closed throttle stops & a return spring.

This is still all at an early stage of development, but it looks like it should work. 

Getting Quite Excited

It's been a while since I posted on here, so what's been happening? Well, not much really. The oil pipe noted in the last post is working - there was a slight weep from the banjo bolt, but a little extra torque seem to have fixed that.

Last week the clutch pedal got very stiff & looking round the engine bay I noticed there was an inch of free play in the cable, I assumed the locking nuts had backed off, but no, they were still tight. Can't explain that, but While looking for a cause I realised the clutch pedal was bending the steel floor of the pedal box. Last year I fitted a brace to stop this, then over last winter in my wisdom I decided it was no longer required - I was wrong, so I had to make a new one & fit it.

The big news though is that next Saturday is the start of the SKCCs "Rogue Runners" trip 2017 (Hurrah). This year's format is a little different as we'll be driving to the Scottish borders & staying in one hotel while going out on a number of loops, then heading into Wales & doing a loop there before returning to the south east.

This is what I'm "quite excited" about as the trips are always great fun.

But I have a dilemma, last year I had bold red "stripes" on the car (actually closer to Hot Rod "scallops") & in spite of the Ebay ad saying the vinyl I used was "guaranteed 7 year outdoor rated" a year later the are very definitely pink in spite of being in a garage for most of that time. I have a plan to re-produce them with paint, but not before next Saturday, so do I strip off the offending items, leaving the car bare? Maybe I'll see how much they upset me on the trip.

I've also started thinking about next winter's upgrades (every Spring I think the car's how I want it, by Summer I have other plans). This winter I'd like to make a "proper" throttle linkage. At the moment the Fury has the throttle linkage that came with the throttle bodies - straight off a Suzuki GSXR motorcycle - you would've thought that something like that couldn't be improved upon, but I guess to make is possible to fit a similar set up to one, two, three & four cylinder bikes, the TBs are all separate & each one drives the next from a linkage on No. 1.

This would work OK - though it's a git to adjust so all the butterflys open at the same time, but the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) is attached to No. 4 - as far from the linkage as it's possible to get, so any backlash in the system really messes with the settings coming off idle.

So, my plan is to use radio control car parts to make a linkage that drives each TB individually & which will be fully adjustable, so they'll open together. Wish me luck!
 

Knowing When To Stop

Looking round the engine bay for leaks after I fitted the sump baffles, I noticed some oil on the bellypan some way from the engine. It turned out the hose supplying the remote oil pressure sender & oil light switch was perished. “Ah” I thought “that’s an 8mm hose that is”. I was just about to go in the house & order a new one when I thought I go about this the right way & measure the pipe first. So I slackened the clamp, pulled the hose back a little & measured to pipe with callipers – 6mm.

 

OK – Maybe I remembered it wrong.

 

I ordered 6mm hose.

 

When it arrived it looked far too small - & indeed it was – there was a kink in the pipe where I’d measured it.

 

I should’ve stopped, gone inside, ordered 8mm hose & put the car back together. Instead I thought “I could convert the fittings to 6mm if I could find some 6mm pipe”. Well what I found was 5mm pipe, but thought it’d be OK & modified the fittings by cutting off the 8mm tails & soldering in the 5mm pipe, I put the 6mm hose on did up the clamps (a lot) & started the engine.

Oil gushed from the sender end. I took it apart, cleaned it & re-soldered it, next time I started the engine it was fine.

 

The following day I wanted to take the fury to my dad’s, I set off, but after 8 miles or so (appropriately enough in Effingham), the oil light came on under acceleration & the oil pressure gauge dropped, I pulled into a petrol station, opened the bonnet & there was a pool of oil under the engine end of the hose. I bought another litre of oil (£12!!) from the garage tightened the engine end clamp & nursed the car home, keeping the revs as low as possible, even switching the engine off to roll down hill (having no power assistance on brakes or steering helps in these situations).

 

So now I’m waiting for the 6mm hose fittings to arrive so I can re-modify the system again & make the car serviceable again (sigh).

BAFFLED!

So, took the car to the hill up to Newlands Corner (Trodds lane?) sat idling long enough for the oil to find it's own level, then floored it in 1st, 2nd & 3rd.

IT WORKS!

Not so much as a flicker from the oil light. No leaks when I got home either, apart from a possible weep from the pipe that supplies the oil pressure sender, I'd not touched that in the sump works, but the hose is rather large for the fitting - new hose on order.

I shan't have to be so careful with the throttle on the next blatt.

Celebratory madeira cake & custard for me! Hurrah!

Baffling

Right, definitely positively the last upgrade for this "down" season.

As reported elsewhere, the Fury's oil light comes on under hard acceleration, it used to only happen after the car had been idling "nose up" on a hill, but seems to be getting more frequent - or maybe I'm just looking for it more often. Anyway, the sump is a cast one from bought from Westfield, it is baffled, but the baffle consists of a horizontal deck, with two down plates, which reach neither to the sides, nor to the bottom. They don't stop the oil moving the wrong way, they just inconvenience it a little.

 

Initially I thought I'd just make the baffles a better fit, then I thought about replacing it completely.

I bought a couple of "oil surge control valves" - stupidly expensive rubber flaps - & made a baffle plate with them in. It was riveted to angle brackets with sealed pop rivets, so the ball cant escape into the sump, then drilled through the brackets from the outside (Eeek!). I made gaskets for all three bracket positions, put copper washers both sides of the joint AND wet assembled the M4 bolts, so hopefully they won't leak.

 

It's cranked like that to avoid the drain plug which is naturally in just the wrong place.

The new deck is essentially the same as the old one, but has a "gutter" bent into it to encourage the oil to run forwards to where the pick-up pipe is & the dipstick hole is flanged down, so the dipstick should always find it's way through, which it didn't before

 

Then I bolted the sump back up & went in for my tea.

Will it work? I've no idea, but I plan to find out tomorrow.

A Good Hour's Work

With Mrs Blatter away touring Europe with Daughter-the-younger, I started the day cleaning the kitchen, then painted round the new tiles in the bathroom, then at about 10:00 decided I’d earnt an hour on the car, so a few things got done:-

Changed the exhaust manifold gasket

Fire extinguisher mounted in the boot & carpet cut round it.

Off side engine mount lowered

Top of trans tunnel removed & washers that had been cutting the gear stick boot trimmed back. Top re-fitted

Throttle pedal return spring made & fitted

Airbox taken apart & all the edges stiffened

 

Strangely, after this “hour’s work” it was getting dark, so I went in.