All removed many moons ago yes Nige. Crank and cam cover breathers T together and feed into a catch can, which then vents fumes to atmosphere under the car. Eddie suggested it would likely be turbo related, and he's probably right. It just seems odd how it's so sporadic and infrequent, and vanishes as quickly as it appears.
Hmmm cars I love cars not politics Not turbo savi yet but what's oil pressure like when it happens is there a build up and a bit of hot thin oil seeping through a tiny gap somewhere?
My money is also on the breather. U can also perform a test your self to replicate same occurrence, just momentarily block your breather on idle and see what happens Also some oil will have found its way into turbo compressor past the seals and then it will eventually get into your inlet manifold. Make sure breather is unblocked and clean your intake and you be fine Nick
Cheers Sambo, I tried blocking the breather for a few seconds, and the smoke did indeed get worse! I emptied and cleaned out the catch can and all the hoses, and went for a short drive and it was smoking like hell!, continuously when driving, it was embarrassing. Not sure if that's oil residue in the system or a continuation of the problem, I only did a few miles and it didn't seem to stop. I'm going to go out for a drive right now, see if it smokes from cold, and if the issue has died down or gotten worse. Eek. Fingers crossed.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm Now I'm really confused, but definitely leaning towards the breather suggestion. Yesterday, I tried blocking the breather for about 5 seconds. This made it smoke like hell. I went for a drive, smoke was pouring out, it was embarrassing! On boost, driving around, everywhere. Oil level hasnt noticeably dropped at all, There was absolutely zero smoke on cold start at all this morning, which leads me to think stems seals are fine. All looks bone dry down the back of the block. I'm still getting some engine bay smoke, but not as bad today. Almost like something burning off.I'm so confused, because yesterday it was pouring out of the tailpipe and LOADS from the bay. Today I've done about 15-16 miles, warmed up fully, full boost, pulling strong and no smoke on power at all. It's boosting at 20psi and feels 100% normal. The engine bay smoke started when it was hot, but really seems like something burning off, not a broken part. Hmmmm. Very confusing. I want to believe it was just a blocked breather, but I'm too paranoid. I think I'll be dropping the splitter again in the week and having a thorough check underneath. Blocked or partially blocked oil drain has been suggested, so I may whip that off too for a check. Bloody cars.
Another 100 miles on the car since the last post, I got up early on Saturday and Sunday morning just to take it for a drive whilst the roads were quiet and to see if this problem still exists. I've tried to replicate every type of driving, motorway cruising, slow around town, absolutely thrashing it down country roads, and I've not been able to get a hint of smoke from it at all. I think the first and most obvious thought was probably the right one - a partially blocked breather. When I blocked the breather totally for a few seconds, the smoke got REALLY bad. I think it's found the path of least resistance and made it's way into the inlet somehow, which would explain the horrendous smoke from the tailpipe on the short drive I did. Given I've done so many miles this weekend, i think I'll put that issue to bed now. it feels great, and it's actually been really nice exploring and finding new roads around the new house, so that's a bonus. Also amazing how quick it feels without a passenger in there too! can't wait to get started on the winter weight loss now! lol
On Friday, I had a day off, so I took a trip down to see Gareth at Ace engineering who kindly let me use his scales After a nightmare getting the car up the slope into the workshop, we then struggled to get it up onto Gareth's 'weighing ramps' again due to the splitter! Haha So, this a pre diet weigh in. Tyre idea being to weigh it now at the start, then weigh it again when I'm done stripping bits out. I wanted an accurate and repeatable fuel state for the weigh in, simply guessing 'half a tank' or similar wasn't going to be accurate enough. I decided the most accurate way to get a repeatable level was from a full tank. I filled up at a station close to Gareth's (8 miles) with the pump handle dead vertical, to the first click. I then drove steadily to Gareth's to weigh it I realise the fuel useage on those 8 miles could vary, but at 20mpg it'd use 1.3kg of fuel, and at 35mpg it'd use 0.75kg of fuel, so we're talking less than a kilo of discrepancy with economy at extreme ends of the scale. I'm way over thinking this I realise, but why not lol So, 54L of fuel plus a few L the filler neck, I'm assuming 54L at weigh in. Petrol has an SG of 0.737kg/L, so 54L of fuel will be 39.8kg. For the sake of this, let's call it 40kg for each weigh in. Right, to the weigh in, meth tank full. Fuel tank full, no driver: 1197kg. Minus the 40kg of fuel, puts the car in at 1157kg. And the wheel weights: Given that it was setup in the Pets at Home car park with a tape measure, to have the wheel weighs within 5kg side to side is a miracle. It was 1130kg 2 years ago, before the bigger seats, 6 point harnesses, plumbed in fire ext, splitter, wing, bigger brakes, meth, and a few other bits, so I'm actually pretty happy with the result. With me in, the cross isn't quite so great: But interestingly, due to the corner weights being slightly out, my weight goes to the front left, not the front right as you'd imagine. So it's currently sitting 'up' on the front left and rear right. I'll re-do the ride height set with dad sat in the drivers seat at some point and that'll be close enough for now. Having done the weigh in, drunk lots of incredibly nice coffee, and out the world to rights, I blasted home 65 miles without venturing onto a single boring main road. A272 the whole way across from Billingshurst to west neon, then an even more obscure route back to home, thoroughly enjoyable! All in all, a good day out, and I've got plenty of ideas to ensure that next time it comes in at 1140 or less with the full tank. Target for the car without fuel is <1100kg
Good stuff. It makes obese hell of a difference getting weight out if the car and setting it up right.
A little update, feels like ages since I've done anything on the car, even though it was only a week ago when I went to Ace to weigh it. as we know, I bought a set of Hard-Brakes titanium pad shims, to act as a thermal barrier to stop heat transfer into the brake fluid. Ti is around twice as good as stainless steel for this application, so my 0.5mm ti shims are around as effective as 1mm of stainless. as I had the shims to hand, and some stainless strip, I decided to double up and make some stainless shims too After a few minutes on the grinder: And cleaned up with the flap wheel: Purely for interest, I decided to measure and weigh the 2 types of shims: First up, the Ti shims, 0.5mm thick: And the stainless shims, 1mm thick: A single Ti shim weighed just 16g, so being double the thickness, you'd expect the stainless to be around double the weight.... However, the beauty of Ti is pretty obvious here. A single stainless shim is 57g, so getting on for double the weight per unit volume! Total weight added by the shims was 293g, hardly the end of the world if it solves my issues! Next up was a delivery from Opie Oils: And that completes what is hopefully the remedy to my long brake pedal issues: I got all set up to go: And the bloody Eezibleed broke! One quick trip to halfords for a new one: and we were off. I fitted the shims up front first, seen here overlaid onto a pad; And in the caliper: I then hooked up the Eezibleed, and bled all 4 corners and the master cylinder until the blue was gone and replaced with golden Motul fluid. With that done, I hooked up the laptop,and cycled the abs pump a few times: Then bled all 4 corners again, Cycled the ABS pump AGAIN, and finally bled all 4 corners one last time, and the master cylinder again. Probably a bit over the top on the bleeding procedure, but I REALLY want this to work. Last job was to clean up the calipers before putting the wheels back on; And thus concludes todays jobs. fingers crossed all will be good when I get to test it at Goodwood in a few weeks time!
Why don't you use aluminium instead of ss the Ti is going to take the piston force so aluminium won't be getting hammered by the pots ?
Because aluminium conducts/transmits heats far easier than stainless steel. Prawn wants to avoid heat transfer from pads to pistons as much as feasibly possible hence using stainless and titanium.
as above Mike Aluminium in this case is infact the enemy we're trying to get away from! I think Lewis has summed it up pretty nicely. To put some figures to it, here's an idea of the thermal properties of a few materials, these values are are for the coefficient of thermal conductivity: Aluminium: 220 Mild steel: 80 Stainless steel: 16 Titanium: 7 Wood: 0.2 so, that gives you a rough idea of what we're trying to achieve. The Ti acts as a thermal barrier to stop heat transfer across the pads and into the pistons, and then the fluid, which has been causing my issue. In an ideal world, a thicker Ti shim would be best, but you just can't fit in thick shims with a new pad. and stainless is pretty effective too, and I had it available, hence the thicker second set of stainless shims to double up on thermal protection. Who knows if it'll work! Time will tell
Great read this thread some inspiring stuff on here. Been watching your videos daily to give me some inspiration on getting my agu k03s remapped at badger5. Have a few quick questions if you don't mind. 1 where did you get your rubber handbrake cover I can not find anything similar lol. 2. What suspension do you use and last but not least is it worth getting an s3 intank pump before the stage 3 map or won't it make much difference as mine seems to starve for fuel when boost kicks in sometimes since the k03s. N75 unplugged smells rich but vcds comes up all fine no problems even when running but still backfires. When it doesn't the pick up is a lot better than the k03 running 10 psi with n75 in and 8psi with it unplugged.... Sorry for the essay pal keep up the good work on the car.
Hi mate, thanks for the kind words the handbrake cover on mine was actually a MTB handlebar grip that came free with MBUK about 10 years ago! Search for handlebar grip on ebay and pick one you like the look of, they're all a generic size, and fit perfectly over the handbrake lever and are really comfy to use. Suspension wise I'm using KW V3 coilovers, adjustable solid top mounts, Neuspeed ARB's, with all LCR type running gear up front (Wishbones, hubs, steering rack etc) and of course all poly bushed. Fuel pumps - if it's the stock in tank from an AGU age'd car, it'll almost certainly be near the end of it's life and will probably struggle when you get the car mapped. The S3 in tank isn't a straight forward solution as it has a second pick up you need to block off to use in an A3. For a direct drop in solution, either a second hand LCR pump for around 60-70 will be perfect, or for peace of mind, Bill does a direct plug and play Sytec Motorsport in tank pump for about 90 that'd be perfect and have loads of headroom. I run one of Bills Sytec pumps in tank to feed my inline pump. Went to the Pistonheads Pub Club meet at the West Meon Hut last night. Lovely roads for the drive there and back, and good company Good night out!
Ahhh ok great stuff bit of a novice but from all the threads I'm reading I've picked loads up fairly easy learn once you've processed it all lol. I'll grab a sytec this week do u recommend an inline aswell or not as I'm only going for a stage 2 custom whatever torque that gets me I'm happy with I don't mind for bhp figures. Tt rack has been ordered aswell as steering not as good as my escort mk4 zetec which is surprising. Are there any meets on a weekly/ monthly basis that I can attend to meet some faces to all these familiar names I know lol? Cheers mate.
Sorry to be a f**k**g nuisance what short shift are you using or did you use for your 02j box apparently you can't buy them anywhere and nothing fits did you have to custom make it? Apologies again Lol Ben
http://s1382.photobucket.com/user/m...ds/1406817520530_zpsea6d36d5.jpg.html?filters[user]=141006522&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1
Not a nuisance at all mate. 02J short shifts are REEEEAALLLY easy. If it's early early 02J then they run an 02A type shifter, so you'd need a short shift for a mk3 ABF type lump. Later 02J are dead easy though, there are load of 5 speed short shift kits available, there's also the stock 5 spd TT shift arm which is shorter throw, or you can just cut the weight off and drill a new pivot yourself like I do. I've never bought a quick shift before, just re-drilled and threaded the stock arms to shorten the throw. A few more pics have surfaced from the Pistonheads meet on Tuesday:
