Stylussprinter's Stylus

[Graham]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

on the whole sounds like a good day

[Retromotorsport]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

Great write up... and quite a positives,

[Stylussprinter]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

Nothing to do with that ecu switch . After charging the battery I attempted a start with the switch '' on '' and bypassed ---- all I got was a '' click '' from the solenoid so the starter will be off soon.

[Stylussprinter]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

Have to give a very big plug to LUKEMOTORSPORT / WOSP of Aylesbury. My starting problem was the starter sleeve vibrating when not actually running (my car pulling 8000rpm)so wearing then projecting out from it's position ---- this stopped the connection being made when the starter switch was pressed. Luke repaired and updated it for me over 45 minutes plus parts ------------------------ charged me nothing , what a great guy and brilliant service.(The starter when bought , 3 years ago , was £130 so not much room for profit on a geared starter)
So off to Gurston yesterday for my first event since 2003 At that event I managed a 39.85sec's best. Yesterday after messing up the first practice , generally chickening out going through the HOLLOW and the KINK at the finish line achieving a 44sec's ------- I did the next practice at 39.02sec's then the best competition timed run was 38.79sec's with my last run at 39.2sec's .
Really happy with that and still got to bring the car home ready to assault Goodwood next Saturday.
I was running with specialist hillclimb cars at GURSTON --- RALT , MALLOCK , ETC , all on slicks and very light beasts. The class was 12 cars and I only managed 11th fastest , the winner doing a 35sec run.

[Stylussprinter]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

Goodwood --- a very bad day all round . Weather was crap , cars off at regular intervals , some with very expensive damage . Around 2-45pm a Caterham exiting the Chicane lost control and back ended itself into the end of the pitlane wall , folding the chassis up big time. It's lady driver was being attended to for best part of an hour behind a blanket screen but still not out of the car when an air ambulance landed on track . just hope she's a lot better than appearances looked . We left at 4-00pm having had gear/clutch problems (stuck in 5th through St Mary's) and couldn't select anything apart from ramming it in with a crunch ---- so didn't even practice completely.
An engine out job for me again to see what's what . (it was juddering before my run when trying to creep around the paddock in 1st , even with low rev's and care)

[exboyracer]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

Bugger, more problems

Hope the caterham driver is OK

[david_white]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

Bugger, more problems

Hope the caterham driver is OK

If it was the same Lady then according to the Sun today she sadly passed away due to the injuries from the accident. So sad, but Goodwood is a fairly hairy circuit in the dry, let alone the wet. RIP.

Sorry to bring bad news to the thread, hope you get the stylus all sorted for the next one and have a better result

[Stylussprinter]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

Yes , I heard of her death after contacting the organisers the next morning but said nothing as it wasn't public at that time . Feel so very sorry for her family , she was just 27yrs old --- quite horrible to have been there and leaves me feeling no enthusiasm for getting the car off the trailer and into the shed , so it's exactly where I left it when we got home.

[Stylussprinter]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

Haven't got the engine out yet but once I'd removed the flipfront then tried the clutch pedal , I noticed the gearstick move a touch. Looked in the cylinder -- it was only half full plus had gel type gunge around the edges , so got underneath to check the box rubber mount with a bar ------ the box moved a couple of mm's away from the bellhousing face . I'm assuming now that either the housing has cracked around a bolt or bolts have sheared and this misalignment has allowed the input shaft to put the box bearing/seal to a leaking position. Hence the oil leaks and juddering.
Today she's coming out so we'll see for sure .

[Stylussprinter]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

Engine's out , bellhousing's intact but there were '' NO '' bolts holding it to the box . How they came loose I just don't know --- I'm a bit heavy handed spanner wise as a rule plus they were threadlocked. Two bolts missing(out through the two holes in the ally housing I guess)and two bolts hanging around in the bottom --- one in front of the flywheel the other behind it . Flywheel's chewed up pretty badly too so it will have to be replaced. The clutch cylinder was half full and bits of gel type stuff in there and the actuator pipes weren't tight either , hence the hyd oil along with the box oil absolutely everywhere. The input shaft had no real play in it so not sure why the oil was leaking out but once I take the actuator apart to check it maybe it will be obvious .
Haven't removed the clutch yet but can't see any springs broken so it's possibly ok . Gearbox may need a rebuild .

Motorsport is going to be on the back burner for a while till funds can sort the repairs

[david_white]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

When i had my zetec in the escort i used to lose bolts from the bellhousing everytime the car saw a track. Didnt help that there arent as many bolts as on a xflow or especially a pinto with the RS2000 alloy sump. Gary might remeber but not sure how we solved it. Might have been modified to accept nuts in the end iirc. If you machine a little out of the bellhousing you can get nylocs or k nuts in so the bolts cant undo. Odd to lose ALL though

[Stylussprinter]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

It's early 2011 that I last had the the engine out but can't recall whether I put spring washers as well as threadlock on those four bolts , there weren't any floating around in the housing but I could see circular non oil covered marks around 3 of the bolt holes . I'm assuming the bolts only dropped out , or 3 of them anyway , at Goodwood but loose for both recent events.
David , I'm not sure what you mean't regarding convertion to nuts/nyloc/k nuts If studs were threadlocked into the gearbox then nuts used --- wouldn't those studs also vibrate out seeing as these bolts did somehow

[david_white]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

I had bolts going into the bellhousing as per normal but the two outer ones had nuts on the back with some off the ally ground off to give room for them. If you want to fit conventional bolts i can send you some M10 nordloc washers which come in pairs and are very hard to shake loose. These with capheads should stay put, you can even put some medium strength threadlock on as well to be absolutely sure.

[Stylussprinter]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

H'mmm , I'm still not sure we're talking about the same bolts so have attached a photo showing bell housing to box '' 4 bolts '' that dropped out .

[david_white]

Re: Stylussprinter's Stylus

Ah ok, i used to lose engine to box ones. You can still use the nordloc washers on the others though, they stop any vibration shaking the bolts lose. I would keep an eye on the engine to b/h bolts too still though.