Yet again, too long since the last update. I’ve just been moving forwards very slowly on many fronts so this is a sort of catching-up post.
I finished the oil cooler duct, as seen in the photo. I hope it’s going to have some effect, if it doesn’t I’ve got a couple of ideas as to how to persuade more air to do into it. It’s not particularly pretty though.
As you can see in the photo above, the car’s on the trailer. In fact, I was taking it to Daytuner to get the engine mapped. This was useful but not spectacular. What’s more, I’m not sure it was worthwhile going all the way to Harrogate nice though it is. I didn’t get time to go to Betty’s either…
One entertainment of the day was sitting watching the cat doing its stuff. It does make me wonder how long it can survive though:
As you can see, it’s all looking a bit hot on the overrrun.
One problem I’ve had with the car has been things getting very hot behind the seats. This doesn’t seem to be penetrating to me but it’s done a bit of damage to the odd plastic part. Hence, I’ve added a bit more exhaust wrap to try and keep the heat down. I’m less worried about the sidepod now so it should be OK.
I’ve moved the rear suspension damper top-mounts up a bit again so as to get the rear of the car down. At this rate one of my winter jobs is going to be a complete re-design of the rear suspension. I’ve had to do a bit of a bodge to try and support the modifications; I hope it doesn’t fall to bits!
There is another problem with the suspension though. Disappointingly, my lovely Delrin bearings have to be declared a bit of a failure. This is because the suspension is just not articulating properly. I think in most cases this is because the single degree of freedom that the bearings have is not matched with the suspension mounts being welded into the chassis in an exactly co-axial manner. That is, the two bearings in, say, the lower front wishbone are not exactly in line with each other.
Problem is, I’m running out of time to sort this before the Snetterton meeting. I may, yeuch, put metalastic bushes back in the wishbones… I think I’ve got time to remake the rear upper wishbones so I’m looking at a weekend of welding and painting…
despite the probles the car is looking good and sounds even better. keep up the hard work!
could you not fit polly bushes in the suspension. not sure of the sizes you need but i’m sure tyhey must be somthing to fit. do you know what the metalastic bushes are made for?
I did start out looking at poly bushes but, as I’ve done in the past, went off them due to the difficulty of getting the right size. If they were stiff enough for race use, anyway, the same problems would apply. So, it’s going to be rod ends and spherical bearings everywhere. I’ve finished making new top rear wishbones this evening. The rest can wait until after the next race. Can’t think why I didn’t do this originally. After all, I knew it worked… It also means I can get rid of JP’s oversized rod ends and use something smaller and lighter.
Tim,
Nice progress, I like the flames.
Wouldn’t advancing the ignition a little more on the over-run help eliminate/reduce the flames? in your case it is due to the lean mixture not burning as completely isn’t it (rather than residual HC in the silencer)?
Matt
I presume it’s because the mixture isn’t burnt properly, obviously not really an issue on the overrrun. However, we’re not allowed to change the timing so that’s not going to work. Really, there shouldn’t be any fuel there at all (most cars have overrun fuel cutoff these days). However, perhaps it would pick up a bit too slowly out of a slow corner…
T
Tim,
I forgot you can’t mess with timing for RGB.
I have played with fuel cut (megasquirt), but I couldn’t to get the power to come back in smoothly, which although not a real problem in a car would be pretty dangerous for a powerful motorcycle. I guess that is why Honda don’t do that.
Interesting to see whether you get the same effect on the track. I suspect that you don’t spend as much time at this RPM/TP combination in real life.