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Chris's Mkiv Basket Case restored to glory


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Those who have done the RBRR may recall the Badgers Holt stop and the big hill immediately after it. Apparently they were stuck behind a motor home there and had to flog up it in first gear on a warm day. It didn’t overheat but did get fairly warm as the fan switches in a little late.......

The misfire we’ve been chasing may also be relevant as it feels like a lack of fuel and occurs at fairly high load. It’s not the map as most of the time it’s fine. Fuel pressure regulator possibly...... It’s been resisting diagnosis by being intermittent.

Possibly both factors contributed, possibly there are others......

Head and block surfaces seem ok.

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Thats a pain. Melted a Spit piston once, just had the twin 40s tuned?. Institanious, no warning.

Looks like the opposite side of the gasket was getting hot. Pleased the engine is otherwise unscathed.

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Back together tonight and fired up first pull. Sounds happy enough. Ran it until the fan cut in.  Probably re-torque the head at the weekend when it’s done a few heat cycles.....

Fuel pressure regulator also swapped in the hope that the random misfire might go away.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Retorqued the head and reset the tappets.  Unusually I did seem to get significant extra compression of the gasket - certainly enough to change the tappet settings.  Anyhow, it's running ok mostly, although the misfire hasn't gone away.  Wasn't the fuel pressure regulator then.  We have another set of injectors to try (though I'm not that optimistic) though need a bit of time to do that as the "new" ones have a lower flow rate (which is good, the existing ones are quite-a-bit big).  In theory, amending the required fuel setting in MS with the new injector numbers should sort it, but when I've played the game before on other cars a degree of remapping has been needed.

Thing is, Sir has gone and got a job (good thing, especially in these times!) and it's not very local, so the car has suddenly become a critical component and needs to work.....

 

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Ah tricky :S I've found a multiple car situation is required to make sure there's always something available when you do your own maintenance (although it could be something to do with my choice in cars...).

You could test the injector theory by swapping them around the cylinders and seeing if the problem follows them. Same with plugs/leads etc.

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It's not like we really need another major project (though it seems like one of doesn't really see it as a major project..... something wrong with his calibration!!), but I'll just leave this here.....

P1020273s.jpg

P1020276s.jpg

All-alloy engine with RWD 5 speed gearbox (a matching couple).  Happened to come into stock at my favourite scrapyard at a fair price......  Looks like it might well fit without massive aggro, though inevitably there are one or two hurdles.

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3 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

What's it from? An MX5?

Nope..... something rather less sporty.  
 

As a 1300 (which is what we have here) it makes 84 bhp, though I reckon it wouldn’t take much to pick up a few more (exhaust manifold is plain nasty for example). However there are also 1500, 1600 and 1800 versions, some with vvt, giving 105 to 130 bhp.  Our ultimate goal is around 100 - 110 horses with decent torque spread and efficiency, but keeping it light to retain the “essence of Spitfire”.

Yes, I’m being deliberately vague about the donor..... but only as a gentle wind-up to get you all thinking :smile:

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