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PollyMobiles Rebuild

Ebays mostly the cheapest option. Other than local b&q at arm ripping rates, nothing i searched in north east sells tubes and/or cheaper than ebay or online.

Can't wait to make this frame n see if it works
 
last square tube arrives. noticed the Do Not Bend label lol

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and the wash pump off amazon

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cutting all the tubes on my mitre saw with loads of noise n sparks n burnt wood smoke n dust

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tubes cut precisely

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and back aching work filing all the edges

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test fit like a glove. now carefully mark their welding positions and the diagonal 1/2 cuts off the ends of the frame to form the V feets

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use the mitre saw to make the first vertical cut so at least there's a flat surface to rest the other beam against

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finish the horizontal cut with a hacksaw

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fine tune the horizontal cut with the bench grinder till the tube sits square & snug on the edge..I later found that the mitre saw actually cut slightly off-angle so there' a slight gap, have to be careful it doesn't blow through during welding.

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tediously wirebrush every welding edge

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all ready to weld

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before welding, lets have afew practice runs with the scrap cut-offs. continuous bead is likely to blow so a short pulsing beads the way to go, especially at the end of the bars in pic2

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tacked n welded the frame up on a mirror glass to keep it flat & square

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welded the platform

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fits nicely

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now test the frame.
- place onto the scales,
- tap scales to turn on & zero itself with the frame weight,
- balance myself on the platform (fitting the platform top would help but I'll manage),
- the scales read 40.1kg, which should be 50% of my weight. I turn the frame 180deg to make sure the pivot is dead-centre n reads the same..yep 40.1kg again,
- leaving the frame alone so part of it's weight is still on the scales, I stand on the scales so 100% of my weight is on it and it reads 80.7kg, bang on near enough :cool:

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well that's one made, another 3 to go
 
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almost sick (stick :p) of weldin by now.
i'm tired from crouching all day,
gassed by the fumes
and these red leather weldin gloves are awful, after abit of welding they get scaldin hot n almost burn ya fingers (need to get better kevlar/TIG gloves perhaps),
and trying to get the weld pool from 2 halves to clump together for a smooth weld is random witchcraft at best.

but anyway, they're done

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just need to cut n tack the sheet panels on and its finished
 
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tacked the platform panel further and grinded the sides flat to clear the frame gap

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I wanna lift both front wheels up when weighing it but cos the thin boxy crossmember is quite weak I wanna try alliviate the stress by sticking a beam between the two vertical tow hooks on both sides of the crossmember.
so made this beam out of spare thick steel angle

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and position like this, but beam still bent abit

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so further strengthen

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to reduce the deflection abit

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placed a scale frame under a wheel as a quick unrealistic test to find if the weight is within the digital scales range.

with this wheel propped up much higher than the other wheels (more load), unloaded cabin weight and uneven platform, the scale read 172.8kg consistantly (within the max 200kg). doubled value to give actual weight of 345.6kg.

last time i weighed that corner fully loaded was 312kg on a level platform.

once i level out the platforms the readings will be lower.

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ruggle scale frames complete n stored

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starting this new fellowship funded company thing is gonna be very intense n drain all my energy so unsure if I'll have as much energy or time devoted to her. but one small step at a time now :)
 
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lets replace the weak washer pump.
soldered the new connector in

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fitted the pump

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now it jets immediately n powerfully :)

the issue of the rear jets briefly leaking abit down the back window whenever using the front jet is still there. does this happen to everyone?

...I matched the new plug wiring colours to the cars wiring but recall that the white outlet port of the pump (connected to the rear) isn't valved so fluid can flow freely out of it while the black outlet (connected to the fronts) is sprung valved shut.

what I think happens is it takes a milisec for the inside diverter valve to physically switch over when the fluid flows against it (use front washer), during that milisec when the pump was spinning, some pressure was allowed to seep past towards the rear washer and trickle down the screen until the valve closed.

I think I should actually reverse the wiring and plumbing so the valve is naturally open towards the front jets but the rears are sprung shut so they don't leak when using front jets. the front jets may trickle a tiny bit when using the rear jets but doesn't matter cos it'll just run along the bonnet rather than down the rear screen
 
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iirc there's one a way valve hidden in the boot lid up near the top left corner (standing at the rear of the car) you can see it through the grommet, though you need to disconnect the hose from the jet and pull it back through to actually clean it.

Mine has separate pumps for the front and back, but i'd assume the hosing would be the same.
 
the 11 IR thermometers from china ebay arrived. half of em had power (and a spare pair of batteries included) while the other half didn't (missing spare batteries)

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cos they didn't have batteries fitted. so had to grab the spare pair of batteries from the other packets

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and they all work now.
will eventually design the display enclosure and the sensor mounting modules

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carrying on with the front jacking cross beam, I rewelded it like this so the beam doesn't touch the chassis centre beam.
the L-bar couldn't support the 600kg front end so just bent n rested on the crossmember

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so tried a spare exhaust pipe that was much stiffer

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it lifted the front without bending up too far and touching the crossmember but was unstable, nudge could drop the car, and was starting to buckle from the stress

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tbh trying to jack up both front ends is too much faffing about.
so when weighing each corner one-by-one I'll now just jack up each corner from under the lower arm n lower onto the scales
 
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4 swivel mounts arrived. so i can mount the 4 cameras anywhere underneath like the sills to record the suspension & tyre movement on track

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ohh ffs crap

tonight driving home I was just overtaking a slow learner full puwer and then she lost abit of power and started to misfire like a subaru and running very rich 10-11afr, uh-ohh somethings broke again.



still develops boost but feels abit sluggish.
all leads/plugs connected intact, datascan reading all the sensors are normal.
disconnecting each ht leads obviously causes the engine to idle abit slower, except #3 is less affected.
all spark plugs look nice n brown n normal.
coolant & rad top doesn't bubble so the HG fire-rings still sealing.
all cylinders are wet, hard to tell if its oil or coolant (prob oil)
cyl 1, 2, 4 are reading bout 12bar but #3 is barely 3.2bar!!!!!!:eek:
the valves through the bore-scope looks intact n normal
no scoring on the bores.

abit puzzled where the oil can enter all 4 cyls and whats allowing #3 to lose all its compression?
valves intact n moving so can't be through there.
bores are fine, does a snapped ring or ringland show signs of damage to the bore?
piston tops fine, just abit steam cleaned from the wet oil/coolant.
burnt valve? most of what i could see in the scope looks fine.

any pointers?
 
my money would be on a burnt valve paul, i drove mine home on 4 busted ringlands (and half emptied the sump via the breather, mad blow-by) but the bores were still unmarked :)

cheers frank
ah crap tis the last thing i need. good thing i finished most of my business meetings last week. gonna have to insure my moms car to drive to work while i strip the head off my car the next few days in the cold.
 
you could listen for hissing with a pipe up the ports eh paul (hand turning with the other 3 plugs out)
my nistune runs closed loop on all but wot basically, you have been running open loop iirc, maybe cooked a valve ?
 
you could listen for hissing with a pipe up the ports eh paul (hand turning with the other 3 plugs out)
my nistune runs closed loop on all but wot basically, you have been running open loop iirc, maybe cooked a valve ?

i'll give that a go. either way, its prob guaranteed I'll have to pull the head off to inspect.
always kept an eye on afr and it's been running perfect mixture all round.
guess it was inevitable somethings gonna break again :p

are burnt valved repairable?
got the old spare engine, shall prob just swap the whole heads rather than a valve?
 
the seat should survive ok mate (with a sharp notch burnt into the valve), but i bought an engine with low compression on 1 cyl a while back, and found this inlet seat !

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I believe you can just swap out the valve so long as there's nothing extra damaged (from my limited knowledge on the subject). As you're chucking fuel out, i'd suspect something on the exhaust side of things as well. :)
 
the seat should survive ok mate (with a sharp notch burnt into the valve), but i bought an engine with low compression on 1 cyl a while back, and found this inlet seat !

View attachment 21833

i think i had one like that before mostly towards the edge where the valves closest to the cyl.

well just rang moms insurance and paid £28 for a month full comp etc so one less thing to panic bout.

think I'll just whip this broke head off, inspect, whip the head off the spare engine and whack it on with another genuine HG(which was meant for the forged engine). oh fun days eh
 
just before going to work, thought I'd turn the engine over by hand as frank suggested and u might be right bout the burnt valve cos 3 cyls behaved as normal (squidgy & firm resisting air compression with slight hissing past the valves) except for 1 (prob cyl #3) which didn't feel as firm and didn't hiss.

with limited time at home (due to work) will have to do my best braving the cold and begin whipping the head off
 
got a new rear main seal to fix the oil leak

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and a new genuine HG when i swap the heads over

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the spare alternator arrived

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looks in good condition

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take the back cover off

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the slip rings appear in ok condition

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the graphite bush unit is replaceable but tbh when the bushes are worn down, the slip rings are almost certainly worn deeply too and they're not replaceable

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an ok amount of bush left, inner bush is more worn than the outer for some reason

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wire brushed the pulley clean

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ok lets assess the old alternator

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removed the bush unit and heck it's proper worn down. bushing was sticking abit with dirt before i nudge n cleaned it, prob why the outer bush/ring wasn't making contact

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word of warning before anyone thinks of taking their only working alternator apart:
they are not servicable by an average diyer unless ya wanna break it, as I just found.

remember, I post all my findings here, especially if I've broken stuff (after making sure i have a spare replacement) so you don't have too hopefully :p

I removed all the nuts n screws visible n try to pull the casing apart but it was on solid.
hmm try to pry it apart gently with a flathead, still not having it.
hmmm grr all else fails = brute force lol (alternators well worn and no use to me and got a spare anyway)

hammer n chisel it apart, feel the bearing nudging off the casing bit by bit

oops the stator wires are actually crimped onto the back diode circuitry plastic thing and the brute force has uncrimped it

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meh, removed the diode circuitry

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remove rear casing off the bearing

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a plastic notched collar sits between the bearing and the casing

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eek the slip rings definately on its way out

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both bearings are push fitted onto the rotor shaft and casing, hence why it was difficult to pull apart

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front bearing retainer bracket

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well thats the old alternator investigated.
lesson here is if the alternator is faulty or well worn, there's no point in even thinking bout servicing it. chuck it away n get a replacement

next is to commence engine disassembly
 
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also just been thinking, after burning the valve and twas misfiring at home, when i checked datascan, the alternator had weakened further down to just 13v.
wondering could a bad alternator cause a leanout at full boost and cause the burnt valve?...googled it and then came across cases of alternators that can cause misfires.

now whenever I fit the turbo setup n plugs, she always kinda randomly misfires at idle but only when warm.
from coldstart, or when i fit a NA setup she doesn't misfire.

so maybe the weak alternator has been the main cause all along n lead to an unfortunate misfire/leanout damage?
 
i think the ecu has voltage correction built in paul, and will compensate, the dizzy circuit might suffer from spikes/variations tho eh
 
i think the ecu has voltage correction built in paul, and will compensate, the dizzy circuit might suffer from spikes/variations tho eh
even though its a new dizzy?
mixtures always been spot on till the valves burnt. maybe carbon buildup on the valve seats have compromised valve cooling during brief full boost and heat spike has burnt it?
it was also only the briefest of full boost during overtake compared to say a WOT trackday. so wondering why it failed at this point.

anyway all this is just guessing. lets whip the head off n get the real facts
 
drained all fluids

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gearbox oils also manky so will need renewing too

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turbo off

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endoscope in misfiring cyl3 exhaust see's abit of a dark (damp or holey?) spots

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but then cyl2 shows even more

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after taking the TB out I did notice alot of oil pool in the inlet manifold (could be why all cylinders are wet?)

checked cam clearances and they're all spot on (0.356mm exhaust and 0.276 - 0.305mm inlet)

cams are fine. removed the head and the pistons & bores are fine, just oily.
HG intact n fine.

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piston 1-4

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now the head

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cyl1 looks normal

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cyl2 ex abit sooty

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misfiring cyl3 ex abit paler/redder but no major signs of damage that can explain the loss of compression?

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cyl4 looks normal

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I'll prob need to delve deeper into the valves to check for any valve seat faults but upto now I can't figure the cause of the cyl3's misfire.

only evidence of why the pistons are wet is the manifold oil pool, prob coming from the pcv valve cos the turbo induction pipes are clean. the whole area around the sump's also damp with oil stain & road dirt.
prob shoulda done a wet compression test to test rings.

worst cause theory could maybe be cyl3 rings/ringland broken?
- cyl3 losing all compression & misfiring,
- massive blowby pushing crankcase oil vapours out the pcv valve (and maybe out the breather towards catchcan/turbo inlet),
- vapours sucked into the inlet mani n pooling at the bottom,
- oil vapours sucked into all cylinders, making em all wet and burning the oil vapours produce the smoky exhaust?

I really do not fancy pulling the sump & pistons off to check the rings tbh
 
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gearbox oils also manky so will need renewing too
If you do it can you take some pictures please? I'm about to do it too and never done it before. What gearbox oil are you planning to use? I'm thinking about this one:
http://www.motul.com/fr/en/products/144

Also, speaking of oil what do you think about the oil I've found on the bottom top part of the spark plug in my last blog update?
 
If you do it can you take some pictures please? I'm about to do it too and never done it before. What gearbox oil are you planning to use? I'm thinking about this one:
http://www.motul.com/fr/en/products/144

Also, speaking of oil what do you think about the oil I've found on the bottom top part of the spark plug in my last blog update?

pretty straight forward.
drain gear oil via the 1/2" square drain plug at the bottom of the gearbox.
remove airbox to access the speedo cable at the back of the gearbox.
unscrew the speedo cable screwcap from the speedo gear module by finger (may need a big spanner if its stuck).
unscrew the 10mm bolt n pull out the speedo gear.
stick a long tube & funnel down into the speedo hole n fill with gear oil.
check the level by sticking the engine dipstick down the speedo hole till the level is at max.
reinstall the speedo gear, cable and airbox.

my gripper lsd requires special oil, Morris Lodexol XFS 80w/140 oil

http://www.morrislubricants.co.uk/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=68
 
if cyl3 valves do leak then hopefully I can just swap the heads and hope it works.
or if its just carbon buildup on cyl3 valves, maybe i could just re-lap it clean?

but if the valves seal fine, then the leak could only be via the rings.
at which case I suppose I should just chuck the engine out n focus towards finishing the forged engine (which requires ring gapping, need to buy £60 gapper tool, and long bedding in)
 
irrespective of the valves, thats a hell of a lot of oil around tho eh paul ! did you have a catchcan ? because a broken ringland would have filled that rather than the mani surely ?
 
yeah the amount of oil vapour entering all the cylinders to get all the pistons oily does seem abit excessive. but dunno if that was over a long period or if its only suddenly after the misfire issue. the cyl were all dry last time i tested compression awhile ago last yr.

i just checked my catchcan and tis dry.

ok even with a headache I didn't have the patience and soldiered on to test the valves :p

upon removing the inlet mani, I was surprised to see some of the nuts had vibrated off loose :/ no wonder i heard the other day a metal nut "clanking" onto the exhaust/chassis as i drove along the motorway. must remember to locktight all the nut/bolts solid cos this car vibrates itself to bits lol

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although the gasket sealed fine

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so carb cleanered & dried the head & filled the ports with water

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inlet valves all fine. #3-4 inlet valves has very very slight leak

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filled the exhaust side and A-ha ur right frank. all the other exhausts are fine but the misfiring #3 exhausts leaked badly. suppose tomorrow I could remove the valves n inspect the leaking valves further but cba tbh

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wondering if I should just swap heads cos i think the inlet stem seals on this current head is also getting bad (smokes only after prolonged downhill coasting) and the seals on the spare head might be better but may have different cam clearances? tis a gamble

or a better solution is to just replace all the stem seals as I'm suppose to and lap all the valves if the valve seat on cyl3 wasn't too damaged and maintain the cam clearances
 
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stock cams usually swap within tolerance no probs paul, and i binned those 2 awkward nuts under the mani years ago (and that damn bracket too) and you need nyloc.s with that thermal spacer really eh
good luck mate :)
 
just removed cyl3 exhaust valves and it kinda looks ok. seat is still there but just pitted/spotted with carbon. the brown rust staining is where the water leaked past during leak testing last night.

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light bouncing off the seating face

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the valves are also intact

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took a video for a closer look



when I have time I'll prob try cleaning the carbon off n lap the valves to see if the pitting can be removed
 
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new set of stem seals £8.50 from ebay

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and another 5L or morris lsd gearbox oil. prices shot up from £69 to £92 delivered now :/

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with abit more time away from work, I removed all the valves

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scraped and sanded the valves clean of carbon

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all the valve lips were fine

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one of the cyl3 inlet valves was abit tricky to remove off the head cos it was catching/bind against the guides. soon found it actually had a slight nick, filed it down smooth
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after scraping & wire brushing all the exhaust ports free of carbon, i photoed and marked the surface area of each valve seat.
most of the valve sealing seat areas appear pretty consistant, cyl2 valves has the largest surface area for some reason, although the very outer edge of the valve hole where the lip of the valves sit varies abit, prob a minor thing.

up to now it seems it was just a tiny bit of trapped carbon on cyl3 exhaust valve seats which caused such a major misfire n compression loss but thankfully minimal damage

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reinserted valves to be lapped tomorrow

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tis abit concerning that I've yet to find out why all the cylinders were oily cos i'm not sure a leaky exhaust valve is the cause...

Hmm actually while removing the valves, I did remove and compare an old stem seal with a new one and I think the old ones have hardened to the size of the valve stems = loose fit.
Whereas the hole size of the new seals is much tighter. So maybe old leaky inlet valve stem seals are the cause of all the wet cylinders?
 
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