Scruffythefirst

Sounds about right to me. I;ve just taken the dash out of dinkus' C and it looks like a pig to get it all out in one piece. I will manage it tho. Hoses can be replaced for a few quid from a hydraulic or aircon specialist. I havent looked into it yet but it looks as though the pipes may not go through the bulkhead intact.

Check the plugs, most garages just chuck any old plug in and don't bother gap them properly. Would explain possible problems at certain revs.

Oakington airfield just north of cambridge, might not be big enough and the surface is quite rough / loose but its good fun.

I'll just point out that it most likely should have had an sva to be registered properly in this country. The rules have now changed a bit too so if it hasn't been registered properly you may need to find another one of the same model and year to crash.

You can get stainless / metal cable ties anyway. Probably poping and banging cos you've introduced an air leak somewhere by raising the back and stressing a joint somewhere - probably the downpipe / cat joint.

The only way to accurately measure crank bhp from a rolling road (wheel dyno) is to do a proper coastdown test. One you've done this you can calculate the power at the flywheel which is more accurate than the at the wheels figure because you eliminate the effect of the dyno and setup. This means the only way to compare between different rolling roads is to do a proper coast down test on each with the same car. Just adding or subtracting 20% is meaningless Did you know you can affect the reading of a rolling road just by putting extra weight over the driven wheels.

Are all the connections tight and not weeping?

ARP rod bolts would be a wise choice if you like using all the rev range. In any engine.

Digi Lag is what exactly? Sounds like marketing hype to me.

Now you see, on a proper car you could have driven a real screwdriver through it then used a birmingham one to finish the job

I can fix that for you, got plent of angle grinder blades.....

Mental note - Must finish car and turn boost up.

Looking good. Might want to chrome that diff tho :shock: :D :D

You can definately sleve an Iron block, as cossies sometimes have it done. However, the cyl walls on the vr are thin as it is, so there may not be enough room. Are the rest of the 2.8's dimensions the same as the 2.9? If so a second hand 2.8 block should only be £200 max i would have thought. And then you just take it to a machine shop and get them to bore it to the exact tollerance for your existing pistons - you'd then end up with a brand new engine that will last another 200k

WOT = Wide open throttle Maybe, I don't know enough about the VR6. Best bet would be to ask a good machine shop. It may end up costing more than a replacement second hand block / engine. Possible, but i wouldn't bank on it. If its only the oil control ring thats bad then yes you could have ok bores. However, the chances of breaking 2 oil control rings on the two cylinders that are known for bore wear is low. There is no way of knowing the state of the bores without measuring them accurately. You may have good compression and still need a rebore althought its unlikely. A rebore isn't a problem untill you have to take so much out you need oversize pistons....

My mums BMW had the infamout Nikasil problem and was using a litre of oil every 250 miles. Still drove fine and idled reasonably well. A compression test is easy to do yourself and should show low readings on 1 and 6. Important thing with compression test is that you do it at WOT and when the engine is hot. Theres no way to know how much the bore has worn without taking the head off / engine out. It seems pretty silly to spend the money on the clutch and chains, not to metion the effort to stick a knackered engine back in. You may get away with just a rehone and new rings - certainly on 2-5 i would have thought. I'm not sure if 1 and 6 can be sleeved or if it'd be cheaper than new pistons / block.

I'm putting 245/45 x 16 on my 9's at the back, but then its not a C so I don't know what sort of clearance issues you'll have. I would say 205's on 8's are a bit stretched too but probably within spec of the tyres. I'd go for the proxies personally, but others will have different views, my tyres had proxies in 245/45 16 when i last looked.

If its working right then once you start taking an engine of that millage apart you're going to have to do all of it really as it'd be crazy to put old bits back in. However, as you need the chains and clutch done I'd take the engine out, and strip it. You'll then need to budget for a full gasket set, new rings, full set of bottom end shells, plastiguage (you'll also need a set of verniers to measure the crank journals), clutch and timing chains as a minimum. Your also going to need a light head skim and block reface and a rehone if the bores are in good condition. If the bores are out of spec you'll need a rebore and new pistons / new block / second hand block. If the crank journals are looking worn you'll need a polish or regrind and possibly oversize shells - a good machine shop should be able to advise here. Depending on the state of the cams you may need new ones and new folowers. Valves should clean up but it'd be wise to replace any that look pitted, especialy exhaust valves. You should ideally have the machine shop recut or replace the valve seats depending on condition. I'd budget £150-£300 for machining plus the costs of parts. If the bores are really shot (and it sounds like they may be - excessive oil usage) then it may be cheaper to get a second hand low millage engine and put that in. If you take the head off you should be able to get an idea of the state of the bores as if they are badly worn there will be a thick ridge around the top of the cylinder - scrape the carbon off first. However, if theres no rush then you can take the engine out, strip it and then decide what to do.

For god sake get a proper car - you need a westy with a vx16v on TB's or a Cossie turbo Dax Rush. Whats with all this poncy jap rubbish, if you have to have something sensible then get a TVR

I thought they had to use frozen ones so they left the cannon in one piece - the fresh ones just turned to flying paste as soon as they left the barrel at the speeds required for the test.

Me neither :roll: Theres also a project out there called Dash7 which IIRC is PIC based. Definately the best way to do DAC and low level processing which is all you need for simple ECU's and dataloggers / displays.

Don't see why not - got a roof and the yank v8's are bomb proof. Bit thirsty though.

Got to be an ultima.... What can I say, I have a thing for very quick cars and I'm afraid there isn't a lot out there thats quick enough for under £60k (that isn't a kit car)

They're pretty good about returning broken ones too. Not the most accurate torque wrenches in the world but close enough to build an engine with....

Er, highbury hoses :mrgreen: Try here