[race_prep] My 306 Race Car Build

[Spiky 37]

if ya conming to llandow let me know, i'll have a go at catching you..pmsl

 

it's getting there

 

awesome

Edited March 31, 2008 by Spiky

[Dixon 1]

It'll be a week day test day if I do mate, which you'll need a race licence for unfortunately.

 

Combe on the 18th isn't though!

[Sandy 191]

We got so close to mapping it yesterday. Sadly when filling the cooling system, a bad leak on the back of the block revealed itself. It could be a crack, it's hard to tell, but the engine coming back out and potentially needs to be rebuilt into another block. Not exactly what I had in mind. It's a grave disappointment after all the effort over the last few weeks, but hopefully I can turn it back around soon enough.

 

Here's the engine bay as it approached completion:

 

I want to express my gratitude to Alan and all my other customers for their patience and understanding. I'm very lucky in that respect!

[Powers 13]

Sorry to hear the rather annoying news. Fingers crossed it isnt a crack and good luck regardless.

[Sandy 191]

Well, what an emotional week!

 

Once I'd removed the engine from the car, it was clear to see that there was a neat 10-12mm hole in the block above the water pump housing. I had fitted the spacer that fits under that head bolt ok, but I must have run the bolt too far down the thread when I was whizzing the bolts up and down to polish the threads before the head went on. Terrible mistake, and god knows I paid for it! The hole was so neat, that Colin was quickly able to machine up a two piece plug that could clamp either side of the hole with a small bolt through it. With the aid of some high temp Epoxy to seal it, the repair was made and I crossed my fingers, prayed a bit (kind of) and gulped hard, hoping that the repair would work.

A couple more days to get it back in and working again took us up to yesterday, when I filled it up with coolant and waited for leaks that thankfully, didn't appear! Finally got to run the cams in properly and very pleased with how it was going, left it last night.

This morning Colin towed it down to the rollers at SRD for me and After waiting nervously for Mark to finish one of his stock car Pintos, I was able to strap the 306 into the rollers and get started. I started with 90mm trumpets and had the 40mm ones handy to try.

The map seemed to flow quite well on the lower speeds sites, remarkably vice free really and no crazy spikes of fuel or ignition were needed to make it work, which is always encouraging and usually a sign of a well matched set up. It took remarkably little advance to make best power which is also something that makes me feel positive, because it invariably means it's working efficiently.

As we worked through the full throttle sites and gradually built the revs up, the figures seemed to be very strong from around 3500rpm, I'd been worried before hand that the engine might need a chunk of revs to deliver good power, but it already appeared to be making stonking power (without analysing it at this stage). At 6000rpm, it was struggling to get traction on the rollers, so we had to crank down the straps much harder than normal to get a stable power reading (which increases the losses) and at 7000rpm it peaked at 182bhp at the wheels, which considering the extra loss, equates to about 215-218bhp at the flywheel. Working back through the figures revealed a remarkable peak torque of approximately 173lbft at 6000rpm (97lbft/litre, the best XU specific NA torque I've seen yet) I was expecting around 150-155 lbft realistically, so this came as a real shock. If I hadn't seen so many engines correlate so precisely in these rollers lately, I wouldn't have believed it, but it was there and repeatable! When I spoke to John Read (who's cam profiles and exhaust manifold geometry I used) about it later, he didn't seem overly surprised, he's seen similar results from his XEs and Duratecs before.

I was delighted with the torque, but couldn't help wondering if I'd overdone the tract length and was perhaps curbing the peak power slightly, so I swapped the trumpets over to the shorter ones to see.

Very low down, the shorter trumpets worked better, but from 4500 upwards it was losing around 20bhp at the wheels on every site and the fuelling had to be corrected by a corresponding amount, so at 6000rpm we decided it was a waste of time, it was potentially going to make more power at the top (possibly), but the loss of mid range would have made the car much harder to drive, in fact the results with the shorter trumpets were more like I was expecting the engine to give before I ran it!

After switching back to the longer trumpets and trimming the detail, I was able to take the car out of the rollers and breathe a deep sigh of relief! Followed by the joy of telling Alan all was well (I'd kept quiet since "Black Tuesday").

Here are the results (estimated flywheel figures) in a crude plot, as per my usual:

 

I don't think i'll feel fully confident about the engine until I have proof it's reliable, but making the grunt so early on as it does, will certainly help by keeping the revs down! I look forward to hearing it and seeing it out there most of all.

 

I must thank Alan for his patience, understanding and perseverance, along with my other customers who have been equally brilliant. Most of all though I must thank the Sandy Brown Sympathy Network:

Colin Satchell (Still not entirely sure why he puts up with me), Mark Shillaber, Neil Shilling, Pete Willis, John "Readophile" Read, Anne, Atters, Edwins, Jimbo, and all.

[huckleberry 0]

Good job, sounds like he's going to have some fun with it. Hope it'll be reliable.

[Toddy 7]

Another Great result!

 

Now since you have an abundance of time on your hands can you quickly whip the head off and onto a 86mm GTI6 block so we can see what extra torque this would give...only joking

 

Thanks for sharing the info.

[Sandy 191]

Hahaha, cheers!

 

I had a brief blip up and down the lane last night before it went away, OMFG! Very responsive and grunty. I'm really pleased with it. It felt subjectively at least as quick as my 2.2 Honda 309 and they are similar weight.

[bobob 0]

Very nice! Brilliant engine, for a loverly car!

 

What was the final spec of the engine, if you don't mind me asking?

[Sandy 191]

(Draws breath...)

 

XU7J4 block (LFY) solid mounted in chassis

XU7J4 alloy sump

XU7J4 crank (81.4mm stroke) lightened and balanced

XU7J4 flywheel lightened and balanced

Genuine main bearings (graded to equal clearances)

Custom machined H-beam con rods (150.0mm long, 22mm pin) with ARP2000 bolts

ACL big end bearings

Revised oil pump gearing

Genuine belt rollers (steel type), cambelt and water pump

Custom 83.5mm pistons (JE Mi16 type extensively machined to get desired crown height and shape, valve cutouts)

Bored OE Mi16 liners to 83.5mm

XU7J4L4 head ported principally by Mark Shillaber, with final amendments to inlet port entry by me

Standard valve sizes

JRE (John Read) custom cam profiles on GTi6 inlet blanks

JRE double valve springs and retainers

Solid lifters with specially adapted shims (tricky installation with these retainers)

GTi6 OE adjustable pulleys

Maniflow custom 4-2-1 exhaust manifold to JRE primary/secondary/collector dimensions (cam specific)

Custom 2 box 2.25" exhaust by Colin Satchell

Custom inlet manifold by Colin Satchell to my design

Jenvey TB 45mm (118 long) bodies

45mm x 90mm long Jenvey trumpets

2 sets of 180cc injectors @ 3 bar, staged on duty (inner set only to about 150bhp, then inner and outer sets)

DTA E48 ECU on Custom loom by me, mapped by me.

 

That's about it.

Edited April 20, 2008 by sandy309

[swordfish210 20]

Cool

[danpug 1]

Nice result sandy! Not bad for a 1.8!! Nice torque as well.

Edited April 20, 2008 by danpug

[Dixon 1]

Went to pick it up on Sat after spending the morning at Combe for the action day and got home about 1:30am on Sunday, man that was a long day!

 

Took it out for a little blast up the lane outside Colins and holey friggin moley does it go, its an absolute animal!! And the sound is incredible, never been in anything like it.

 

Can't wait to get on a track with it!

Was planning on doing a test day at Llandow tomorrow, buuuut I had a bit of a set back yesterday afternoon. I managed to crush the top of my thumb in the windscreen wiper mechanism while trying to see if it worked clearly in the scuttle pannel. Powerfull little motor on that and Ouch did it hurt... up to the hospital, bandaged up and no driving for a bit ARSE!!

 

Working on it's gonna be a bit more of a struggle too, but I'll get there. There's still 2 weeks.

 

Left to do is:

 

Washer bottle - Mount internally, wire and plumb in.

Fire extinguisher - Plumb in and fit extra pull cord

Buy and fit fuel filler cap

Secure the internal lines - Fuel, brakes, pull cords & wiring

Mount ECU

Water change

Clamp battery down

Fit and wire in transponder

Buy new switch for elec window and mount on door

Buy and fit door cards

Make back plate for air filter and attach to trumpets

Fit and modify scuttle pannel

Bolt check everything

Put 2nd subframe bolts back in

Roll arches

buy and fit non-return fuel breather filter

Wire in horn

Paint bumper, side strip and wing mirrors

Wire in heated screen

Cut out door, boot and bonnet skins

Finish cutting and tidying dash

Paint brackets and re-paint floor

Move temperature sender to new position

Fit gromets in bulkhead and blank off all holes

 

That about what I can think of, I'm sure there's probably more though :?

 

Sorry, not got many pics. Bit of an early end to the day yesterday.

 

Fuel tank:

 

Zorst:

 

Flight control panel:

 

Custom MooG-Spec induction box/tray:

(Cheers Atters!)

 

Dash by night:

 

 

Oops:

I wont post the gory ones though.

[taylorspug 7]

Did you at least figure out if the wiper motor worked freely, or was crushing your finger all for nothing?!

[Sandy 191]

He girlfriend flicked the switch apparently!

[Dixon 1]

Hi, sorry for the long gap to an update. Last few months have been well busy!

 

Managed to keep my fingers out of where they shouldn't be and got most of the list done before the first trackday and race weekend

 

Did a track day at Combe on the Friday before my first race 2 days later which went well, was great to be back out on track again after 9 months since the last.

 

Engine performed really well, nice and grunty. But had a few problems setting the suspension up.

First session I spent very sideways a lot, the back end was really loose so had a bit of opposite lock through Quarry, Esses, Old paddock and Camp!

Came in from that one and put some harder front springs on and clicked the rear dampers up a bit to try and stop the bouncing and rolling.

Just as I was going out for my next session it absolutely hammered down, all was going ok and the tweeks had definately helped but about 4 laps in the back end stepped out going round folly (100mph ish!) - which turned in to going sideways - then backwards. Never had a go at reversing that quick before! lol. Managed to scrub some speed off and keep it on the tarmac and then spun it back round. That flicked the windscreen wiper up though so couldn't see anything and had to come in.

 

Did a bit more work on the rear and went out for a couple more, still very tail happy but ran out of time and bits to try. So still needs more testing after Monday's race to try a few different setups.

Anyway, I recorded the last 2 sessions (unfortunately didn't have the camera in for the exciting ones).

Here they are, not too quick laps though as can get a lot more from the brakes when I get more used to them and couldn't carry much speed through the quicker corners.

Came in early on the second vid as I was running out of fuel as you can see from the starvation in the corners.

 

Vid one - Here

 

Vid two - Here

 

 

We put the big problem of it switching ends down to the fact it might have been jacking down on to the bump stops in the longer corners so cut them down a bit before the race and just tried to take it steady.

 

Race day went by without any problems and stayed in one piece. Qualified 17th and finished 17th.

Was only doing 26's on the trackday and 25's on race day.

Nowhere near what it or I can do but which bodes well for when the rear's sorted which I'll hopefully have a look at asap.

 

The next race was only a couple of weeks after and due to being very busy at work didn’t manage to do any testing, so just the spring rate a little on the rear and raised the ride height up about 5mm. This should hopefully keep it off the bump stops (fingers crossed)

Although that did mean the car was stiffer which didn't bode well for the rain on race day.

Next race was in practically monsoon weather, was more a case of survival! Which I managed thankfully.

 

 

Which brings me up to this weekend just gone, I booked Monday off work and got up to Llandow for some proper testing.

 

The testing went really well, I had a brilliant day and gained a lot more confidence and knowledge about the car.

 

Hopefully that's the dry setup pretty much nailed with perhaps just a little tweaking over the year to hone it in to Combe (tyre pressures etc) and tyre choice too.

 

Just hoping for a dry next race!! I can't wait

 

Here's some clips from the day anyway:

 

A couple of drive by clips, gotta love the induction bark! Getting used to those brakes more too by the looks of it.

Clicky

 

 

I only recorded 2 runs in the car, so here is Video 1:

Clicky

 

And the second was the last session of the day so was just having a bit of a play.

Being a little more aggressive with the steering and throttle to see what the oversteer was like etc and some left foot braking, was great fun and didn't want to come in!! lol

Clicky

 

There were only 2 of us there so was well quiet, I always had the track totally to myself! (Did 74 laps in total!)

 

Hope you enjoy them.

 

 

And a couple of pics from the first race:

 

 

 

[daza4 24]

Glad to see swordfish stuffing his face rather than watching what you were doing on the track!!!!

 

Looks good Alan.

 

See you next race. I also hope it is dry as I spent all the time under a gazzebo freezing cold and wet through.

[Sandy 191]

Swordfish ate the last of my biscuits, on camera, shameless!

 

I had a go in it at Llandow on Monday and really enjoyed it. Like Alan says, the engine is grunty as hell with no low down vices, almost entirely opposite to what you'd expect a 1.8 to be like! The brakes are firm (no servo) and take some getting used to but clearly work very well. The chassis is superb, impeccably balanced and stable, it inspires heaps of confidence and feels very linear and easy to exploit, I'm sure once the confidence builds up, Alan will be very quick! I wasn't too sure about the tyres (Khumo), I couldn't really gauge what they were doing very well, I usually have a similar gripe with Toyos. I drove the red 1.4 16v hillclimber 205 almost immediately before though (also testing there), on Avon slicks, which feel entirely different!

 

A great day though, just packing up at the end with smiles on our faces and no issues was very pleasing!

[welshpug 1,662]

I'm liking the (Colin Satchell?) gear linkage/stick system, I saw one briefly on a red 205 sprint car at Abingdon, looks like they work very well.

[Batfink 201]

you seemed to have to do lots of arm crossing on the chicane. Standard steering rack?

Edited June 18, 2008 by Batfink

[taylorspug 7]

Car looks and sounds fantastic. So did the raising of the rear spring rate and ride height stop the skittish rear end?

[Sandy 191]

It's a PAS rack without the PAS, I thought it was fine! But it depends how you use the steering/throttle/brakes to turn the car in.

 

I can't give too much away, but basically more pre-load in the bars and less in the coils, with a slight raise in ride height sorted it. It was hitting the bump stops before, mostly I think due to the jacking down effect of over-damping. The spring rates are more progressive effectively, as it is now.

Edited June 19, 2008 by Sandy

[bobob 0]

I do admire builds like this. Wish I had the skills and dedication to do it!

 

Loverly car! you should be proud!

[jonnie205 1]

i would go for a xsara vts rack, they are a quicker rack than the gti6 one, makes a good differnece and ideal for track work

[Dixon 1]

Thanks bobob.

 

Jonnie, I quite like the rack on there as it is. The car is tuned to Castle Combe and there is nowhere near as much arm movement required for there. The odd fun days like Llandow or sprints I'll just wrap my arms around it a bit, they're long enough! lol

I have to keep the standard rack for regs anyway, although the gearing can be changed.

 

Really looking forward to the RS day at Combe in 2 weeks, have got an all day track pass so we'll see how good it really is fingers crossed.

Couple of bits to do and some new tyres before then though.