It's rare that I go to a garage, I just didn't want to bite off more than I could chew with the headwork to be honest. I'm not afraid to get under the bonnet, I'm just wary as the car is my daily. It sits at about 106-108 all of the time, B roads etc etc. Motorways, up to 112. Water temp is spot on sitting in the middle and fan kicks in and goes off as it should when it goes much above this. New genuine sensors for water gauge and oil. All hoses seem ok and I've replaced the leaky flange that was on the side of the head. Thermostat seems to be working alright as the bottom hose gets upto temperature.
dude at piper told me that swapping used cams from one engine to another is a big no no as they wear with the caps (no shells like with crank). and yea i know he would say that but he seamed very clued up and was happy to go through spec of 2ndhand cam i was eyeing up and how best to fit it/run it in. put BIG emphasis on use of assembly paste and not letting car idle when you first start it up. whilst oil temps dont sound terminally high, the horse**** the garage gave you about cam-timing makes me wonder if theyd bothered lubing the cam prior to fitment.. and this might explain the temps. for sake of couple of hours work/15quid bottle of paste id be tempted to take it out, check condition of caps and reassemble with said paste
I've run 2nd hand cams in lots of cars without an issue. Mr Piper wants to sell more cams, and maybe is worried about the quality of their blanks (more of an old issue than a current one I think though).
Cheers for the replies and help. Mike - if it's running a bit lean do I need to adjust the mixture screw by the airbox/airflow meter? I'm guessing I need a CO tester for that
You really want to get it checked with a wideband AFR meter, or get it on a rolling road. I'm not sure if adjusting the idle mixture will make any difference at the top end. Increasing fuel pressure with a different FPR might be a better way to go.
Unfortunately, I can't afford a rolling road session. Sorry Mike, that's a foreign language to me With the FPR, are you saying to replace it or use an aftermarket one?
My tests with a std ECU shows these have very shocking AFR profiles during a WOT operation. Run very lean at the top end! Increase in pressure will not change the AFR profile but will enrich globally. Idle mixture by pass on AFM only affects idle or very low airflow.
AFR = Air:Fuel Ratio (mixture), but it's important to get it as close as you can all the way up the rev range, rather than just at idle for the MOT. Either of those things. An aftermarket adjustable one might be your best bet. As Toyotec says, it's not an exact fix, but it might be the best budget solution to get it running a bit richer at the top end. There MIGHT be another solution. This is something I've read but never tried. I've heard that if you squeeze the standard FPR in a vice (with sockets over the pipes to protect them), it will increase the fuel pressure from that FPR. I've been meaning to try it and use my pressure gauges to check if it's true, but I don't have a digifant car at the minute. I'd definitely only try it with a spare FPR to hand in case you burst it!! A rolling road session might seem like a lot of money, but if your engine isn't right it could cost you a lot more (add up your petrol costs over a few months, or what you just spent on the engine).
On my old BVH 2L 8v I fitted a Porsche FPR. this was a 3.5bar item instead of the usual 3bar VW fpr...A search might reveal a part number. Twas a straight swap Richened up the top end nicely & it gave strong power @ Stealth Not seen any other digi 8v motors give better at Stealth actually Testament to a good build by Alan White of Autotechnik in Southampton (Sadly NLT)
Yes. That preloads the FPR internal spring and carries up the rail pressure. You then can mess with the AFM to lean the mixture before max torque to help the calibrated lambda profile. Crude like hell but will help.
i have a very similar problem to this with my car, it runs alright with midrange pull, but nothing fantastic, i makred up my cam belt and replaced it to exactly what it was before, but when i was doing it i lined it up with the crank pully marking not the flywheel. The only problem with this is that the marks on the bottom of the engine didnt line up, it did look like it was a tooth or two out, but i thought that it wudn't run if it was wrong? And as for the popping, i put that down to a complete powerflow stainless system. If who ever did it before got the 6 degree mark wrong, would this put it two teeth out? I wudn't question this as much but the knob who did the cambelt last time, put a 10mm tensioner (eyelet) on the original 8mm stud out of the engine block! which might of coused the engine to be out of sync??
^^ if the cam timing was set with flywheel at 6deg btdc rather than tdc it will throw the notch on the cam pulley out by around half a tooth.. and if bottom pulley is worn that can add another half tooth (posts 80-88 on this thread explain). so certainly potential for a tooth out if using wrong flywheel mark but assuming the bottom pulley isnt worn you dont really need to worry if the bottom pulley marks are out.. your three reference points are flywheel tdc, cam pulley notch to head surface and rotor arm to mark on dizzy body. if those three are right all is good
The first time you do the timing belt on a car, it's safer to assume that it's wrong, and time it up to the factory marks. 'Same as before' just means you could be repeating the previous guy's mistakes, and it is very easy to get it wrong, because of the movement in the crank pulley when you tension the belt.
