[trackday_prep] 309 Mi16 Trackcar

[Livelee 0]

I'm just undertaking an s16 transplant into my car so thought i'd post a thread up to show progress and ask questions should they arise.

 

I bought the car from Boombang in December 2005. It was already a capable track spec car. It was stripped, caged, mi16 with different inlet cam, quaife LSD, 1.6 gti box, koni suspension, rebuilt rear beam, harnesses and bucket seats, quick rack. I think that's most of it.

 

Since purchase i've done some track days and added the following mods: 307 HDi brakes, upper front strut brace, oil cooler, new temp and pressure gauges, 205 TD radiator, xu10 sump and petert oil pickup extension.

 

The head gasket has gone twice, the 1st time I replaced it but it's gone again so Ive decided to fit a new engine with some extras.

 

The 1st job was to find an s16 and I found a Citroen ZX on ebay for £300 within a day of deciding to start the project. The engine in the ZX sounds nice and hopefully it's going to provide a good base.

 

My plan is to rebuild the s16 with my 1.9mi crank and peterts stage 2 inlet cam. So far i've taken the crank out of the 1.9, bought a mappable MBE ecu (that was used on the 306 s16 challenge cars - 200bhp ) and bought a set of SAAB red injectors. The next job is to take the ZX engine out and send the cam to petert.

 

Hopefully this should give me a stronger and more powerful engine than Ive been running so far.

 

My last track day using the old engine:

 

 

And the head gasket going:

 

http://www.islandpcservices.co.uk/dan/bran...0207/blowup.wmv

 

There's probably some stuff i've forgotten but i'll keep this thread updated with the progress.

 

Dan

Edited March 24, 2007 by Livelee

[Livelee 0]

Wow, this thread generated a hot bed of debate and conversation

 

A couple of updates, the MBE ecu was locked so that's gone back for a refund. As luck would have it i'm good friends with a guy heavily involved with the VEMS ecu so i'll be using one of those now. The engine is out of the ZX and the cam is winging it's way to petert as we speak. The 1.9 crank is in good nick and at a machine shop havng a polish.

 

Some photos.

 

enging coming out of the 309:

http://www.islandpcservices.co.uk/dan/pug/engine/1.jpg

http://www.islandpcservices.co.uk/dan/pug/engine/2.jpg

http://www.islandpcservices.co.uk/dan/pug/engine/3.jpg

http://www.islandpcservices.co.uk/dan/pug/engine/4.jpg

http://www.islandpcservices.co.uk/dan/pug/engine/8.jpg

http://www.islandpcservices.co.uk/dan/pug/engine/9.jpg

http://www.islandpcservices.co.uk/dan/pug/engine/10.jpg

 

mess in my dads garage:

http://www.islandpcservices.co.uk/dan/pug/engine/garage2.jpg

http://www.islandpcservices.co.uk/dan/pug/...ne/s16crank.jpg

 

Next on the list is a complete clean of the new engine, paint it up and rebuild. Then sort out the wires for the ecu

[James_m 0]

Looks like it might be quite a weapon once its finished one thing to consider though.... linky The XU10's seem to suffer bore wear, which is not ideal if your going for bigger crank...(thinking about it, a mate stripped one that had done 60k, and that had a big lip at the top ) Just thought it post a little warning to prevent spending more money if its not going to work

[Batfink 201]

love the look of the car. Just needs bumper snot or paint and it will look fantastic. I'm a bit font of the 309 in black, the colour flatters the cars shape

[Livelee 0]

Looks like it might be quite a weapon once its finished one thing to consider though.... linky The XU10's seem to suffer bore wear, which is not ideal if your going for bigger crank...(thinking about it, a mate stripped one that had done 60k, and that had a big lip at the top ) Just thought it post a little warning to prevent spending more money if its not going to work

 

I'll get the bore checked out, if it can be cleaned up i'll do that, but if it needs boring then I guess i'll need some bigger pistons.

 

 

love the look of the car. Just needs bumper snot or paint and it will look fantastic. I'm a bit font of the 309 in black, the colour flatters the cars shape

Cheers. What's bumper snot? and what should I paint?

[number2301 1 1 Cars]

Bumper snot = bumper polish

 

Its green hence the snot name

 

I don't know how I missed this one first time round, looks a really interesting project as I want to do the whole big capacity XU10 thing in the future!

 

Is your S16 the one with oil squirters, the early one I think? I've seen those mentioned in the big block S16 threads but wasn't sure what the benefits were.

[Livelee 0]

Bumper snot = bumper polish

 

Its green hence the snot name

 

I don't know how I missed this one first time round, looks a really interesting project as I want to do the whole big capacity XU10 thing in the future!

 

Is your S16 the one with oil squirters, the early one I think? I've seen those mentioned in the big block S16 threads but wasn't sure what the benefits were.

 

Ahhh, yes the bumpers do need a clean up. Yes my engine does have the oil squirters. I've no idea what the benefits are either, but I know there are benefits so i'm happy

[Livelee 0]

Some more progress today. Spent £20 on GUNK at Halfords this morning and went to work. It really works well, combined with a Kartcher pressure washer the engine is looking like new :-)

 

The engine is completely stripped now. The bores look really good, hardly a lip at all top and bottom from the pistons. The inlet cam is in the post to peter.

 

Next job is to paint the block, get the crank back (find some money for a rebuild kit) and start rebuilding it.

Edited April 14, 2007 by Livelee

[Livelee 0]

Some more updates for this thread. Peters stage 2 cam is here. Before he sent it back he built it up for me to test valve clearance. I'm going to be using a #4 inlet pulley and Peter has made an offset key to get the timing perfect.

 

A friend of mine had some spare time and spare dremmels. The result:

 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c373/mar...0Head/Head4.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c373/mar...0Head/Head3.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c373/mar...0Head/Head2.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c373/mar...0Head/Head8.jpg

 

Should put the head back together this weekend.

[Baz 421]

Very nice! Looks like an excellent project, and different! I have a soft spot for 309s!

 

Should be a weapon when done!

[smckeown 1]

good luck with it sport, is it worth getting a paddle clutch on there to take the abuse while it's all off ?

[Livelee 0]

Cheers guys. Maybe on the clutch, i've not given it much thought. What's a standard one capable of handling?

[Baz 421]

More than enough, should be fine for your spec IMO.

[Livelee 0]

Lovely. Avoiding expense is the primary aim of this project ;-)

[Livelee 0]

Time for an update.

 

After the engine sitting on the shop floor of a local "specialist" garage for close to 6 months, with the exhaust cam going rusty and head face getting scratched I gave up and removed everything from him.

 

I took it all to Miles and he has it built. The head has been skimmed and the bore honed fine. He has had it all less than 2 weeks. :-)

 

I'm getting married tomorrow so wont be able to fit the engine for a couple of weeks, but after that hopefully the ECU fitting and mapping will go as swiftly and smoothly as the last few weeks and it should be ready for a trackday I have booked at Goodwood in November.

[BackStreetRacecars 3]

Nice project man, is the car strictly a track weapon?? I miss my 309's... think this may have pushed me far enuff to go hunt for another!!

[Livelee 0]

Back from Honeymoon* and collected the engine from Miles. The CC has come out at 2070 the CR should be around 11:1 and everything else looks great. I started to put all the extra bits on it today ready for putting it back in and making it run. My mate, the VEMS supplier, fitter and mapper popped over to check everything out and he says it all looks fine for a simple install. We should be running in a few weeks after he has made me a loom. He showed me him VEMS and the stuff it can do is great. Fingers x'd it's all going to go well and be fast.

 

Some random pics from today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Don't try and build a car over the same period of time that is running up to your wedding.

[Livelee 0]

The engine's back in. Just waiting on some parts from Miles, but we might be running at the weekend.

[Livelee 0]

Another update. It's all back together.

 

Since getting it back we have modified the exhaust. On the 1.9 I had a cut and rewelded exhaust manifold. On the 2.0 i'm using the standard manifold so the angle, not being cut, is different. The exhaust on the car is a 1 piece group N system. With some heating and bending of the downpipe and mid section it fits 100% perfectly. There's plenty of room round the bulkhead and the lambda needed for the ecu can be mounted in its new boss easily. I found a resonator from a Honda Integra exhaust lying around on the farm (one of my brothers must have discarded it at some point). This has been welded into the exhaust, hopefully it will reduce the noise a little. I always got kicked off at Bedford (86db drive by).

 

The MC sat on top of the engine, it was really tight on the old engine but the new engine being slightly taller meant they touched. I removed the MC, servo, peddles etc and the plate it is mounted on (that's good fun with the engine in LOL) and modified the plate to increase the angle the MC sits at. Combined with cutting away the back bolt on the cam belt cover the MC now sits a good 2" above the engine. Plenty of room.

 

I've fitted a 22mm MC, this should reduce some of the extra peddle travel that has been induced from the 307 callipers.

 

This week I picked up a 306-GTi-6 inlet, this has been fitted. Strangely a standard Lotus Elise air box fits perfectly into the space where my head light has been removed so I’m using one of those. I'm sure somebody probably sells a feed that you can fit into the headlight but I’ve not got one of those lying around.

 

Yesterday I refitted the 205TD radiator and made up oil filling pipes. I'm using the 1.9 filler tower and it's fitted on the front edge of the inlet manifold. I've blocked off a lot of pipes, I’ve never know a car need so many pipes. LOL.

 

The old loom has been completely removed, the engine bay looks lovely, clean and tidy.

 

The car was delivered yesterday to the electrician who is going to remove the dash, get rid of all the standard wire, install the ecu and make the car work. He'll get the lights working and dump anything heavy he finds under the dash (heater matrix for example).

 

Once that's all done we'll get a basic map in it so I can run the engine in, this will be done driving round the fields of the farm till I get bored. I've already plotted a 1.5m course but I estimate it's going to take a long time. I might fit a laptop into the car and watch LORT (extended) trilogy.

 

Not taken any photos for a while, here are 3 not very exciting ones:

 

Exhaust (in place)

 

A cut brake mounting plate being bent ready for welding. Note the jig we made to keep it all in place while it was under modification.

 

Random welding shot.

 

I think that's about it for now. I should be running very soon. Without the idiot I initially entrusted to build the engine this would have gone alot quicker, never mind you live and learn.

 

Oh, could this thread be moved into the projects forum so it stays in public view for more than a day? I know it might not be as exciting or ambitious as some of the threads in there but surely it's a above normal tinkering about with my car?

Edited October 28, 2007 by Livelee

[kyepan 291]

good pictures, interesting to see how you're doing things. hope it goes like stink

[VisaGTi16v 1]

lol I love the snail. I found one inside my rear wheel arch before and one on the rear strut itself!!! (coil overs on the rear of the Visa), no idea how they got there!!!

[Livelee 0]

It's running now. Nothing exciting yet till we get a base map in the ECU and run the engine in.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

I was wondering if there was any progress on this, keep up posted

[Livelee 0]

Yeah it's still plodding along. Not everybody has been as fast as you on this project Miles

 

The ECU guy is a radar programmer and has had ALOT of work to do at work over the last three months. There have been lots of little niggles as well that have been a pain in the arse. Oil pressure is 70psi on cold idle, that sound ok?

 

Hopefully it will be driving very soon. I can't complain too much as the ECU, all other parts, car rewire, dash removal, new fuse board and labour is only costing me £650. Bargain eh?

[Livelee 0]

Well it works :-)

 

Just doing the mapping and running in now. Had a good session on Saturday but a split water hose ended the day early.

 

More mapping this coming weekend.

 

Miles, how many Miles before I can take it to 7.5k?

 

Cheers

 

Dan