Blown Shock

nomadtrash · Post by **nomadtrash** » Fri May 09, 2008 5:40 pm

I had some troubles at the Fort Worth National Tour. The car has been running fairly well over the past few weeks. When I got to the tour it started and warmed up just fine. When I got ready to put it in grid it wouldn't start. I finally got it going but it was so rich that it was blowing grey smoke and the wideband went off the rich end of the scale. I verified that it was holding fuel pressure so it wasn't a bad injector o-ring. I have a new laptop that wouldn't connect to the bikirom board because it didn't have the proper drivers installed. I ended up running it rich. Another disturbing event was a large puddle of oil that appeared under my rear shock just before the race. Needless to say the car ran and handled pretty bad. I got beat by nine seconds on the first day.

I brought the car home and fiddled with it. I installed a spare shock and changed the spring from 280 lbs to 110 lbs. I hooked my old laptop to the computer and found the issue. It was showing full load all the time. This caused it to run like it was pedal to the metal even at idle. I understand now why it ran funny. At idle it would barely run but in motion it ran like a drag car at full throttle. It was kind of like an on/off switch. I couldn't get the problem fixed so I ran it like that on Sunday too. With the new shock and new spring rate I closed the gap to 3 seconds. Now I'm trying to fix the computer. I am going to get the new version of the software installed on my laptop and hopefully I can get the ECU to start running correctly.

I am trying to sell a JWT computer that was used prior to the supercharger add on. With that money I will purchase a different type of programmable ECU for the race car. The new one will be a Calumsult daughterboard. It does not have all the bells and whistles that my current Bikirom daughterboard has, but it is deal reliable. I will be able to datalog, maptrace, and tune using other software and hardware. The Bikirom was nice because it did all of that on the daughterboard however it has software with bugs and possibly hardware/firmware issues.

My next modification is to figure out an overheating problem and install an oil cooler. My co-driver is an IT guy and is coming over tomorrow to get the new version of Bikisoft installed. I would be thrilled if that fixes the problem but will probally purchase the Calumsult anyway.

Later,

Post by **dbrick** » Fri May 30, 2008 12:25 am

Did you plumb the cooler yet? I found that the cooler adapter from a rover V8 bolts right to the U20 filter mount, perfect fit , big ports.
Don't know if your motor has a similar oil filter mount. Dead rover engines are a dime a dozen, so should be easy to find.

nomadtrash · Post by **nomadtrash** » Fri May 30, 2008 6:05 am

I didn't plumb the cooler yet. I had to replace the radiator so that took a lot of time and fabrication. I put in an aluminum Del Sol unit. I have left enough room on the right side of the new radiator to fit the oil cooler. It will go in there before the next event.

The Ford oil filter adaptor fits just fine. Most Fords have a PH8A filter which is large compared to the roadster one. You can get an aftermarket Ford sandwich adaptor which screws onto the roadster base and then the stock size roadster filter will screw onto it. You plumb the cooler lines into the sandwich adaptor.

I am using a remote filter adaptor which screws onto the block and has two ports. A remote filter mount is up front under the headlight. The cooler will be just around the corner from it in the grille opening.

A remote mounted oil filter has a dramatic cooling effect by itself.

My car still isn't running. I've still got computer problems.

Thanks,

Post by **dbrick** » Fri May 30, 2008 4:36 pm

How is the Del Sol radiator? worth it as a replacment for a stock 1600/2000?

nomadtrash · Post by **nomadtrash** » Fri May 30, 2008 4:52 pm

I'm not sure it will fit in the stock location. We might get some input from others that have tried it. I had to lean it back a bit to keep it from hitting the hood and the drag link. I haven't been able to run the car with the new radiator because the ECU freaked out. I think it will have pleanty of cooling capacity.

RC240z · Post by **RC240z** » Sat May 31, 2008 10:30 am

There was a Roadster at solvang this year with a Del Sol radiator, so it does fit in the stock location with the stock mounts.