Well, finally I can posts some updates! First the not-so-good news; the 9A engine had a Kolbenschmidt oilpump in it, which now has play as something went through. That sucks, I bought it new and it was 1000 km old... and now they are not being produced anymore. 12 of the 16 valves didn't shut completely. O there was leakage when running the engine and according to the motor builder that should have been noticeable. Thing I went to the dyno last year and this year and no performance change was measured, so that was "low power" all along. The splines from the adjustable cam pulley was also not there.... Anyway, the 9A head is cleaned and the cams from the ABF engine are fitted, valves are ground in ( ?) again so the head is good again. Then the good news: I picked up the ABF today! As mentioned in a different topic I bought an ABF engine a few weeks ago and directly dropped it off at the motor builder. The engine is opened up and overhauled completely. It was looking good, except for the pistons which had some slight wear (225k km). Other pistons have come in, the engine is cleaned, etc. The Catcams from the 9A are placed with a new adjustable pulley. As the KS oil pump is bound to fail, the original ABF pump is checked, cleaned and mounted. The KS will give some more pressure but in the end the ABF pump will suffice for my setup. I just ordered some parts I still needed (gaskets and such) and can now start to rebuild the engine and place it in the car again 18th of August I am headed to the tuner to adjust the KMS mapping for this engine!
Ran into the first issue already. The support for the alternator is not fitting with the side cover of the belt. So another custom alternator support needs to be made/changed to fit. Furthermore the inlet manifold and ITB's are on and I wanted to fit the gearbox today.
Meanwhile, the mounting for the alternator is made new and fitted. So the second issue now comes in; the adjustment of the alternator is now not-fitting. The current (also custom made) adjustment-bar is straight, and hits a bulge on the alternator, so the screw doesn't fit. I cut a V out of it and today it will be welded back together, but with an angle of 20°, so it 'll fit Adjustment bar in CAD New backplate for the alternator support.
Yes it is! The mounting was easier than expect, although it took a little time to get it aligned correctly. The front cross member was not a real issue this time. I've put the engine on additional wooden blocks on the trolley, so I had more room to place the front cross member. I mounted the drive shafts, gearbox connections, throttle cable, oil filter, cooler and coolant hoses etc. When filling the coolant I suddenly heard a strange noise, indicating everything I was pouring in on top was coming out on the bottom. The leak was between the water pump and engine itself, strange... So I took off the alternator and pump and found the seal to be half fitted, and damaged by mounting the water pump over it. So I fished the old one out of the trash and cleaned it, then placed it back. Then I checked if the crank sensor was giving a signal to the KMS, but it didn't. Not strange, as the new sensor is inductive and the other one was a hall sensor. Apart from setting the software, I also needed to change the pin in the plug. When trying to pull out the plug, I pulled the wire out from the connector itself... and I don't have a pliers to fix it. So now I have to get hold of a pliers and then I can try to start it up!
Yesterday I had the pliers, and connected the wire to the correct input on the KMS. Still, no luck! I started measuring the cables and the other wire, which should be connected to the sensor ground, was not connected. I opened up the cable to see where the issue was and found the cable from the sensor connected to the 12V! Which is also logical, as the hall sensors need a voltage to work. I disconnected the cable from the 12V line and connected it to the sensor ground and then it finally gave a signal! I prepared everything to start the engine and then it fired up almost directly! Now time to build the rest of the front together, Friday it's off to KMS to adjust the map to the engine.
So, back from the tuner/dyno. We've ran in the engine a bit before going at it full throttle. Output power isn't all too bad. Ambient temperature was 24 °C, a bit high for direct comparison to the previous engine (8°C and 16 °C). First setup with the airbox and shorter (45mm) airhorns mounted, for Zolder, Zandvoort, Assen etc. With the rev limiter at 7200 rpm (like the 9A engine had) we came to 188 hp, that's a +8 hp at 8°C more ambient temp. Then the airbox was removed and slightly longer trumpets of 60 mm were mounted, as on Spa and Meppen the dB limit is way higher. With the limiter on 7200 we came at 196 hp. Then we moved the limiter to 7500 rpm as the torque was still increasing and that came to a nice 201 hp! [youtube]
Just a few days left before we go to Spa, so I'm working on the car almost every day now. I tidied up the engine bay, put a wrench on all bolts and nuts to see if they were getting loose after the dyno, placed the Pipercross filter and painted the rear calipers and brackets black. The front ones were done earlier this year when they were overhauled. The Yellowstuff pads are placed on the rears as well and I'm now ready to bleed it but it's a two man job. Next up after that is tidiying the interior and wash it before we go.
I'll post a story later On the way home now, I booked a campsite for 2 nights around the track day. Car held well!
Just taken off the wheels to clean them, a lot of brake dust faded the shiny orange alloys. The rears had the most brake dust, courtesy of the new EBC Yellowstuff pads, which worked well as I had to adjust the rears to less brake several times after some fishtailing rear end on hard braking. I already noticed some play on the front bearings, which is strange as they are replaced earlier this year, and now I noticed the nuts of the axle loosening on both sides. I've torqued them to over the specified 230Nm, but apparently it is not enough? Should I just take the air-powered power tool and give it all?
During the inspection after Spa I found a leakage on the fuel accumulator. It was always a bit sweaty but now there were some drops on the floor. How to fix it, before I start taking it apart and possibly be breaking stuff? Most likely the O-ring N90262802 is the failing part? http://ci.catcar.info/vag_2017_12/110/110069000.png
I hope it's just the O ring, but those steel screws rust over time, expand and crack the plastic housing which is suddenly a bigger problem than just replacing the O ring. Clean it up and look more closely would be a good start.
