Thursday 21 October 2010

This is the 360!

Quick post to show what it is I'm trying to build the car for. If you're quick you can see me standing in the pit lane, but there's loads of pics of the racewear.co.uk racing with Team Mont Blanc MG Montego :-)



Progress at the moment? Slow, gradually stripping the interior. BUT - the door opens and shuts properly now! Amazing what a difference that makes to it being a viable car. Had a few thoughts on re-fuelling system, need to run them past a scrutineer before going too far.

It's been slow, been spending time working on Alex's kart as well. Hoping he can test that next week, preparatory to first race meeting in early December. Fingers crossed!

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Injecting a bit of excitement

Next milestone...running on 4 cylinders!

I left the car sounding definitely 3-ish, thought it was a plug lead. Hit eBay - replacement coil 99p :-) replacement dizzy with new cap and leads (leads alone range from £40 - £80 on fleabay) just £5.00 :-) Just to be on the safe side I've bought another one for a mighty £14.99.

Quiet at work today, so I take a POETS. Change leads, coil, cap. New plugs (bit of a bummer, had to pay full price for those at the local motor factors), jump in full of anticipation......nothing. Battery dud. Blast. Seems like the alternator isn't alternating. Disappointment. Stick it on charge and have a cup of tea.

Finally it turns over and drags itself into life...3 cylinders. Blast again! Realise I've left a lead off (prat), switch off, refit lead, wait for battery to charge. 3 cylinders. Bugger. Actually it must have been running on two previously, it definitely sounds better than it did before I fixed the electrics.

More tea. Haynes manual. There's a good spark, there's good compression, it must be fuel. Wow, it's easy to test an injector, they're only a push-fit. Hang on, why mess around with testing, what's that big boxy thing with pipey bits coming off it that was in the boot? A spare injection unit with injectors.

11mm spanner, swap the pipes, push the injector in the hole, turn the key...3 cylinders...wait...no FOUR! IT'S RUNNING ON FOUR! Woo-hoo!

Remember this date. Wednesday 6th October 2010 - Project 160 is definitely up-and-running. Next stop the 360! Well, perhaps not next stop, but we're definitely closer.