"Throw the switch, Igor!!"
Once the engine and tranny were in place, we wired the starter and established oil pressure: 80 lbs @ cranking speed. Seems like a lot; perhaps a function of the 3mm oil pump return-spring shimming (he said hopefully).
The engine was assembled from there. Radiator/cooling components; headers/exhaust; induction; coil array and all the associated wiring and harnesses -- though left 'unloomed' for now; clutch slave...
Next, fuel pressure/line integrity check... oops, fuel-rail leak at number 5 injector, which turned out to be a torn o-ring. Re-pressurize... another rail leak, from a threaded plug whose purpose is to block an errant injector hole. Rethread hole (quarter-inch pipe this time). Success.
Work linkage details for a few hours; connect sensor leads; hold our breath... won't start. Oh, that's right, the MSD was disconnected during final ECU wiring activity. Click... R-r-r-r-r... Vroom... Uh-oh... several quarts of oil have been deposited on the garage floor! Clean up the royal mess. What!? The oil filter seal has been blown out! The filter wobbles when threaded off and onto the remote head... H-m-m-m, faulty endplate. New filter, more oil, try again. Same result!?! Long discussion with President of RNL Ltd results in removing oil cooler from system and third attempt at warm-up. Oil stays in engine this time, but my mechanical pressure gauge is pegged (estimate 130psi).
Okay, a five-day trip to the USGP now 'interferes' with further progress, but the aforementioned President is my travel partner and he helps me define a plan of attack during the trip. I also contact Interprep Tuning while I am in Indiana, and they say it sounds like the oil-pressure bypass valve is stuck in its pump bore. Within hours of returning from the scene of Ferrari crushing those upstart French cars, I have the car apart and the offending pump on the workbench; discovering that, indeed, the valve is stuck (cause TBD). Pump #2 is shimmed 1.5mm and installed. (Also, the rear crank seal I forgot to install when I attached the flywheel intitially [doh!] is now where it belongs.)
Attempt #4 meets with roaring success -- interestingly, just as the neighborhood 4th-of-July fireworks extravaganza is coming to a close. After it is warmed-up, several hard jabs on the throttle fill the neighborhood with [what else?] a joyful noise... Whoa Momma! My 20-year-old gearhead daughter proclaims, "Dad, it sounds so beautiful, it makes me cry."
In the aftermath of the celebrations, another couple of leaks are spotted, the worst of which is from the front crank seal. With the KL in its new fore and aft orientation (and, having eschewed the continued use of timing belt covers) repairs to the front of the mill are delightfully easy. Replacing the offending (torn) seal was a half-hour job.
We had hoped to debut the car on the weekend of July 8/9, but, the ECU programming did not proceed as expected. Dave of Davesport, the Autronic E/M retailer, came to our place the following weekend. In the meanwhile, endless, varying details were addressed: a crankcase-vapor catch tank, finicky power windows, brake-booster vacuum schemes, a cooling fan switch, suspension alignment, hours of body-part fitting...
Yesterday, in preparation for Dave's arrival, we ran the engine -- trying
to establish a reliable idle and no-load baseline. Another leak has shown
itself. It appears that in modifying the Miata CAS, we have compromised the
0-ring seal that keeps valvetrain oil from escaping. However, I did take the
opportunity to drive the car for the first time -- a loop of the cul-de-sac
-- and can report at least this much: the thing catches revs in a hurry.
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A couple of months have come and gone, and there is much to report. We
finally hooked up with Dave and straightened out a few problems (missing
sensor ground, leaking high-tension leads in #2 coil, and a software setting
that is 'correct', yet results in the injectors shutting down), although no
actually tuning was accomplished. Then, finally, our
first event. And, after months of slaving away in the garage, during the most spectacular summer we've had in 20 years... it rained.
The car ran surprisingly well at that Boeing Autosports Club practice,
and the poor off-idle performance we noticed on the street wasn't too much
of an issue at 'battle speed.' Chased down a couple of small oil leaks and
worked more details during the following week. Also, I did seat-of-the-pants
fuel tuning in preparation for the next weekend's event: Puget Sound
Miata Club -- the appropriate venue for full public disclosure.
Naturally, the car was a big hit at the Miata event -- lots of photos,
questions, etc. Fun stuff. But, it actually didn't feel as strong as the
weekend prior. Hmmm. The next Friday, our 4th attempt to get the car on a
chassis dyno proved successful, by both making the appointment and in the
level of power we were able to generate. First pass revealed abysmal
air/fuel ratios and comcomitant power: 130 paltry hp. Ninety minutes and 10
pulls later we had settled in at 180hp @7k rpm. Yeah, baby! Torque level was
modest -- 140-150, but it held from 3-6.5k rpm. Time for event #3: Bremerton
Raceway (fast).
The Bremerton report -- Good: cooling system; and engine
throttle response and power. Bad: brakes (what brakes?); and unignorable oil
leak from rear of engine. Summary (to quote Jill): we are mad at the car.
Will be taking a couple of weeks off to rest and prepare to pull the engine
again.
*********************************
Rather than just pull the engine again, we put the car on jackstands, thoroughly cleaned the affected areas and observed oil-accumulation during engine operation. As a result, we decided to reseal the CAS and mod a little 'diaper' for the main leak, which was coming from the rear oilpan rail. This worked fine at the final two outings of the year.
The Trip to Eugene -- Ostensibly, this adventure would have afforded us a relatively casual two days of seat-time and tuning. The brakes, which had been acting up (tail-happy), became a lethal disfunction on the small Eugene site: the rears were seen to be locking up and the car spun a couple of times, including an excursion into the marbles that ended with me backing over a curb into the bordering chainlink fence. Amazingly, the only damage was the chainlink's scoring of the trunklid paint. Thus endeth the Oregon roadtrip.
The final event was a Boeing Club practice, where I was able to run the car hard, putting in 5 runs in 15 minutes. Prior to, I had inspected and re-bled the brakes, verified the ABS sensor wiring integrity (the ABS light has not come on, although it works in ignition-ON mode), and turned the bias valve to 'minimum rear' effect. Nonetheless, after a flurry of 40-second runs, the rear rotors were blue from heat, smoke issuing from the pads; while the right front rotor was barely too hot to touch. Mystifying. Since then I have replaced the front calipers with freshly rebuilt units, but have yet had the opportunity to test.
Another data point I garnered was that the new airbox is costing me noticeable amounts of power. The next dyno day will quantify it, but, in any case, as designed it is a 'no-go.'
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So far this off-season I have been working on induction mechanical details, front-spindle replacement/bumpsteer adjustments, and beginning the 'full-race' shortblock.
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January, 2007. Because the developing and tuning severely undercuts our main activity -- competitively autocrossing -- we have separated the project from the racing by adding a 'competition' car to the stable. So, an '06 Lotus Exige now shares the garage with the Kliata. This will further postpone progress on the project, but, will also allow me to proceed at a natural pace. This will mean more deliberation on next steps and, hypothetically, will minimize rework/redesign.
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