Another broken exhaust mount..?

[cisco]

Just drove the car a bit..

Now another gradually louder metal rattling noise, definately sounds like exhaust. Like something has once again come unstuck and is rubbing back and forth. You can make it worse when you gently race the engine at idle etc.

About to go and jack it up and see what's going on.

After this happened last week they replaced the mid-way mount with a super tough custom one, my guess would be that now the next mount towards the rear has come unstuck and snapped. Or something with the cat convertor.

But I would put my money on the other mount having let go.

Oh the joys of having a modified car. It literally NEVER ENDS. If I was back at the new job, I wouldn't really have time to go back and get this fixed. Glad it happened this week in a way.

ALSO: Lost almost all boost for some reason. All of the sudden the car is only making 4-5psi max. Felt really gutless. Just had a super quick inspection.. Wastegate circlip is still in place, air pipes seem reasonably ok at this stage.. Will be something simple, just feels like a massive air or wastegate leak or something, boost just not being built up.

 

[cisco]

Just checked everything out.

VERDICT: Cat convertor is destroyed. Its the guts inside the cat banging and rattling about. Had this once on my first micra.

I suspect the cause is because this bloody truck muffler sits out way too low, and I have scraped and banged it a couple of times already when going over bad speed humps. This is welded directly to the cat with a re-inforced plate of metal. So basically one of these impacts has probably shattered the cat completely.

FAAAARRRR***

Oh well. It can sit there for a while now. I'm sick of wasting more money on it. I'll try to be up and running for the meet, but if not, then just bad luck and bad timing.

When I can be bothered and decide I want to spend (waste) more money on the car, I will piss the truck muffler off because it gives stuff all ground clearance and that is not what you want. Probably the sole cause of the cat being destroyed.

Now I'm thinking that the lack of boost is probably because the guts inside the cat have moved around and are now mostly blocking the exhaust flow.. Highly possible. Because when I had the exhaust blocker plate installed, same symptoms, car just couldn't make decent boost.

Here we go again.

 

[CMF_White Knight]

Words fail me Cisco. Mate when Whitey goes up on the hoist next week I will take some pics of my exhaust system.There are some tricks of the trade to give you a very strong but flexible system over and above the ordinary.Starts with a slip joint follwed by a flex.coupling
But wait until I send you some pics.
Don't give up mate you are so close. You can pick up a cheap Dunnydore cat and a muffler also.
No doubt anything blocking the exhaust gas will impede performance.
Not an uncommon story about baffles letting go, blocking the exhaust and car will not start.
Hang in there mate.

 

[cisco]

Cheers for that. Yeah that would be tops.

Well this new exhaust place are legends really, just kind of bad circumstances of the muffler being too low really. Probably a bit of a case of that's something they had in stock that would suit, but its not quite perfect, i.e. not small and compact enough to give better clearance.

Yep, plan to get something like a VN commodore AC Delco cat off them, and rip that truck device out and perhaps slam in 2 smaller separate mufflers. Something like that should be the go.

In reality, its such a minor problem and quick thing to fix. Just that I can't spend any money on the car any more in these remaining days off. So I'll have to start the old ducking in and out of work lifestyle again to see all these things through before the meet.

Will make sure I have this fixed, along with the new intake pipe and sound deadening stuff. Really looking forward to this meet..

 

[cisco]

Well did a bit of a checkover on the car.

- Plugged up those gaping holes from where the seats bolted in. They are totally blocked off now with nice tidy grey duct tape smoothing over the tops so you can't see anything.

- Discovered the B-Crews engine damper had come completely undone, it was dangling by the mounts.. 100% my own fault, I had it almost undone to the point where it could easily pop out of 1 or 2 rows of thread. I pulled it apart and worked out how the adjustment on it all works, now its back on there adjust perfectly and very tight.

- Wiped clean the very small fuel or oil leak which seems to be showing up somewhere near the left-most runner. Will monitor where it seems to be coming out of first.. Doesn't smell like petrol. So hmm. Its nothing bad in any case. Could either reveal to be small leak out of the back of the cam cover gasket, or perhaps it is petrol coming out of that runner, but not smelling like petrol much. Hmm.

- Oil is still pissing out of underneath the turbo somewhere - slowly, but constantly - i.e. after every single drive. Its definately there, Ben just hasn't picked it up. I am getting the small drops all over the garage floor.

- Put some tiny dobs of bluetack in on the thin plastic tabs on my front tweeters. They have been becoming more and more loose to the point where they would eventually rotate off the tabs on the mounts and almost dangle off the doors by their cables. The tiniest dob of bluetack has made the tabs ultra stuck on. That's fixed that.

- air intake pipe still looks like a piece of ****, can't wait to replace it. I'm getting:
- 1x 90deg 2.5" silicon bend
- 2x 45deg 2.5" silicon bend
- 2 straight sections of 2.5" alloy pipe with lugs on the ends for the hose clamps to bite onto. That will all be a perfect fitment.

- Cat convertor destroyed complete with muffler that is too low and will be replaced.

- The coolant still seems to be bubbling up a bit after driving the car. Its been spitting coolant out inside the engine bay out of the overflow tank. I.e. getting too hot or something. Hrmm. There is definately no oil or gunky crap in the overflow tank and engine is driving perfectly. It can't be the head gasket. it is after-all O-ringed with a metal gasket. I don't know. Wondering if simply this radiator might not be big enough with the heat of the big bb turbo spooling up and using the same oil aswell. Not sure.. Weird! Will keep an eye on it. Temperature gauge always reads perfectly normal - sits just under halfway at all times.

 

[CMF_evade]

ahh cisco i feel for you.

haha this is rediculous..reminds me of my car with all these little issues that wont piss off.

my gearshift is still rattling like CRAZY. I just don't have any time to do anything cause of work atm, and it also being so bloody cold and sun goes down really early now..

my exhaust is perfect though. no rattles anywhere with that

stupid oil leaks.

 

[cisco]

Ok I've updated the Blue Monster web page with my final central oustanding list of issues to resolve on the car:

http://www.micra.com.au/blue-monster.php#outstanding

I will just keep this updated from now rather than retyping them into the forums all the time.

Oh my goodness, there are 17 of them.

 

[cisco]

Ok adjusted brake pedal. That's sweet as now.

So items down to 16. Then I realised I needed that new shifter gaitor surround thing (see other thread), so we're back up to 17 outstanding. heh.

 

[CMF_White Knight]

Whitey used to loose some coolant. Replaced the thermostat.Is yours in good nick and working 100% ??

 

[cisco]

Hmm good question... Not sure to be honest.

What's the best way to test it?

Feel the top thick rubber pipe and it should be pulsating or something??

My fan definately kicks in and out correctly. Temp gauge always sits just below halfway.. Any other way to tell? Cheers.

 

[cisco]

Thanks for the phone call White Knight. Some good advice..

The more I think about it, you're dead right and I'm very suspicious about the thermostat.

http://www.ehow.com/tips_7683.html

No rubbish whatsoever in the overflow tank. Engine perfect.

Almost certain points towards the thermostat. Going to replace regardless and order the $15 one that Alex just got from Repco.

Bloody thing. Cheers.

 

[CMF_evade]

Cisco is your Microtech controlling when the radiator fan comes on and off?

my ecu controls that so I can jump into it and set what temp to be off, come on, go off again when temp reaches below this value etc,

my temp gauge has been pretty sensitive since i replaced it with a new sensor on the engine..

on a cold night it will be about 1/4, where normal days it will be just below half way..but i can definately see it move up and move down.

 

[cisco]

No idea mate. Not sure. I don't think it is though.. Hmm.

 

[CMF_Yom]

aaron WROTE:

"
on a cold night it will be about 1/4, where normal days it will be just below half way..but i can definately see it move up and move down.

Thats what AlexB's did before he changed the thermostat. Yours could be open a bit just like alex's causing those cold nights to make the cooling system work too efficiently.

 

[CMF_Yom]

Get yeself one of these cisco

http://www.gccorp.com.au/automotive/product_info.php?cPath=25_79&products_id=165

Expensive, but you'll never have a problem with emissions again. And as you can see, ideal for motorsport applications because they don't break up inside.

 

[cisco]

Yeah it looks awesome. But $440. Man screw that.

Can probably pick up a perfect VN commodore cat for $80.

 

[cisco]

Allright. Ordered a black silicon 90deg 2.5" bend that I need to fix up the intake with. Should arrive Tuesday.

Then when I get to the exhaust place to replace the cat convertor and install a smaller muffler, I'll get them to make a single piece of alloy intake pipe with 2-3 mandrel bends in it, and that will complete the fixing up of the intake pipework.

So that's almost 2 things removed from the outstanding list today. Way to go.