Esprit Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Yeah... in the end, even if it ends up over 230 (doubtful), how are they gonna know/prove etc? If they want me to test it, it's easy to pull some timing out and make it runless powerful I expect to have fights because of the adjustable suspension and harnesses.... I'm fine because they're both OEM fitment, but that's kinda a rare case and not many inspectors know the rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R3spct Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I have seen a VTNZ fail a BRAND NEW (well, 1 year old) factory spec Aston Martin for having adjustable suspension, as the guy hit the lift button on the suspension so it did not foul on the rails they have on the pits there. You never know what a bunch of failed mechanics will do. I used to love taking my Fraser there, was funny watching some of the fat buggers trying to get in, most of the time i had to drive it for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esprit Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 On that topic, if anyone knows of any GC WOF agents in Auckland, let me know.... I'm not looking for dodgy stuff, just someone small who won't mind me taking my car through the WOF with them... I've seen people jack Lotuses in places that potentially write the chassis off... makes me cringe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KKtrips Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Greg Kent or Dr Diesel?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esprit Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Dr diesel is just around the corner from here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KKtrips Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Poifeck - Don Simon is the manager and Izzy is one of the techs.. should be a good foot in the door for ya.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esprit Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Aah, yes, that's good news... I'll definitely be heading their way then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esprit Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 A little more progress to add tonight. Took the car into work to make use of the flattest floor I've got available to me. With the help of two 20L drums of oil, a 20L tank of diesel, a 40L bag of gardener's potting mix and a couple of steel plates, I managed to get 82kg (my fully suited and helmeted weight) into the driver's seat and proportioned about right. with 20L of petrol in the tank, it represents the mid-laden track weight of the car, and the state I run it in at the track, and on the road. I then spent about 2 hours getting the ride heights set and it's now 100mm at the front and 110mm at the rear, just the way I want it. I didn't have corner scales with me so I'll probably do a more detailed setup at some point, but that'll do for now. I'll take it into an alignment place in the next few days to get the toe set, and to see what the camber's doing. From there I should be able to calculate what needs to happen with the camber shims to get things right and I can make those adjustments before getting the string-lines out to fine-tune the toe.... she should be all ready to get a WOF then... hopefully this weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esprit Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Well... I KNEW it was too fucking good to be true! The car's coming to bits again! F%^K!!!!!!!!!!! I've done a few short drives with the car (still not road legal) to work out some small bugs, and one thing I noticed is that the car had a bit of a rattle when turning left. It's a metallic rattle that increases with cornering load. Very hard to capture on camera, but here's a short clip here, you can hear it as I turn through the apex of the corner: It sounds like gears skipping against each other, and it only happens when turning left. It's fine when straight or turning right. Initially I thought it was the LSD just doing LSD-like things, buq the fine gents at Quaife confirmed that the diff should be silent. My second guess was that the new Powerlite starter pinion was fouling the ring gear when turning left. I swapped back to the old starter and the noise remained. I've checked EVERYTHING else, hubs, driveshafts, general engine bay, heatshields and there's nothing external I can find that is making the noise. The rattle doesn't seem to be happening in neutral, with the car jacked up on the left side and running so that rules out it being anything internal to the engine.... so that only leaves the gearbox. A bit of research on the standard Rover PG1 gearbox, I came across this little gem on Google: "Some gearboxes showed early problems but those should all have been repaired under warranty. A bunch of PG1 gearboxes had been assembled without the ball bearing and spring that locate the reverse idler gear. On left turns the idler gear can slide and catch on the top gear cog giving an horrible grinding noise. " Now, the Quaife QKE4R box shares the PG1 reverse arrangement, so I imagine that either something is broken inside the box here or it's been incorrectly assembled last time and the reverse idler gear is sliding across and fouling during left hand turns. On the PG1 box, this issue has been known and many owners just put up with it, it does no real damage and is barely noticeable in a normal car. In the Exige it's pretty intrusive, and given the vale of the gearbox, it's best to strip and rebuild the box..... especially since every time I turn left, the gearbox is essentially trying to find reverse gear! Not the sort of thing I want happening on a track at speed! This means it has to come out.... with the engine... which means removing the engine cover.... and the rear bodywork.... which means removing the seats and the interior..... which, right now, is the world's biggest piss-off! To day I'm annoyed or disappointed right now is an understatement of the century. Most of the last fortnight's work in getting the body reattached is now for nothing and will have to be undone and re-done again. On the plus side, I managed to finish up the front compartment and get the battery isolator mounted in place, which looks perfect.... but in the light of today's development, it doesn't really matter any more does it? Anyone want to make me an offer for the car before I torch it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyteler Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Swaps for Cedric? Bit of cunt, but cars are cunts. These things happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My name is Russell Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 OH NO!!!! Smash the guy who supplied you the box in the cunt and ask for a refund. Doing things 2nd time always seems quicker? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuel Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 bugger! reminds me of a time I was supplied a supposed good 2nd hand transmission from a wrecker for a previous car of mine, the replacement transmission turned out to be faulty also so I pulled it out again and returned it back to the wreckers for a replacement (at this point I should note that the car was two hours drive away from this wreckers). The replacement transmission ended up being the same transmission but just cleaned up a bit and supposedly fixed, tested and working.. so back into the car this transmission went, only for it to not work again. I ended up returning the transmission again and got my cash back and some for their fuck up, and bought another transmission which worked fine straight away. By the time I had put the transmission in for the 3rd time I had got it down to 30 mins instead of the 3 hours it took me the first time round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esprit Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 The transmission's not really the issue here. I'm sure that when I've stripped the trans, I can fix the idler with scrappy parts (or even cannibalise parts from my spare PG1 gearbox if I REALLY need to)... it's just that with the 6-speed box, it needs to come out with the engine complete (the 5-speed can be twisted and drop out the bottom). To get the engine out, the rear clam needs to come off (about an afternoon's work for two people in itself)... to get the rear clam off, the seats and the interior need to be removed..... so just getting the thing to a stage where I can take it to bits is a good day's work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mixmasterlex Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 shitty luck. the gearbox must be the only thing left on the car that wasn't completely rebuilt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esprit Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 The gearbox was a used, rebuilt unit I bought from the UK. I suspect it was opened before it was sold to me and it's been reassembled incorrectly as it won't have been making these noises when it came out of the racer it was in. Not an intentional mistake by the seller I'll wager, but one that's going to cost me arms, legs and other appendages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mixmasterlex Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hope you can get something out of them in that case... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esprit Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Well the guy I bought it off is a pretty respected name in Lotus circles and I know him personally.... if it turns out he sold me a pup, I'm sure the damage to his reputation would be worth a fair bit to him, given that I'm also pretty fondly thought of in Lotus circles. The latest news is that I've confirmed that the noise is coming from inside the gearbox, it cannot be anything else.... so out it comes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R3spct Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Oh thats a shame mate. Do you have any pics of the case of the 6 speed? Im curious to see if its a simliar box to the 6 speed box in the p12 primera. I had one of these in my NXR coupe, and will be doing a deal to get it back soon, i put a helical lsd in it, and Quafe shows one on their site that looks identical to the one i got thru nissan. I suspect this box is made by a 3rd party company, and is spec'd with bell housings to suit the car its going into. Do you have a helper, or prefer to do things slow and steady by yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullitt Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Theres more photos on page 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R3spct Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Ok, well thats pretty clear that they are not related. I know the Nissan 6 speed is the same family as one Hyundai and Mazda use, as well as a few other brands, the gear sets are said to be interchangable. The box im getting is a close ratio 6 speed, which is great for NA, but my car is turbo, but 600hp capable and a decent helical lsd is worth it, just will be a lot of 2nd-4th-6th off the lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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