Very upgraded LPG Scimitar MV6 build

[loz]

Oooops, 40x34mm

[loz]

Yeah a productive morning on the lathe.

To recap, I've fitted a PAS rack to the car for its quick ratio but don't want the Assistance so I've got loads of feel. Thing is I might change my mind so I'm retaining the original pump, and butchering another one to make a free wheel pulley so that the belt still takes the correct path over all the pulleys.

The cir-clip thingy wasn't coming out at all, so I got the dye grinder out and hacked away till I could pull the pump apart.


Interesting internals, I think its called a vein (sp?) type pump but its got little paddles thats ride round an odd shaped bore. Anyway thats all on the bin



I pressed the solid bearing out and started making an arrangement to get the new pulley mounted.



Checked all the dimensions out to make sure it'll be in the same possition as the original


Ground the hell out of the casing to lose a bit of weight, but hopefully not too much strength


Made a few more bits on the lathe and its all done Starting from the left, there are the big washers that clamp the bearing in the pulley centre. There is the spacer that goes between them (still in the bearing), obviously this is a little too small to allow the washers to clamp down on the bearing. Then there's the T shaped thingy that goes into the PAS Pump casing, and again is slighty too short to allow the washer and nut to clamp down on the casing.


Used an old pinto head bolt to hold the whole thing together. And voila:


Might be just a bit more to come before my holiday draws to a close.

[owelly]

Well done matey. Its these little jobs that take all the time but make all the difference.
'Vane pump' btw.

[loz]

Thanks Owelly,

All done and back on, there are a whole load of parts that can go back on to pretty much finish the car forward of the A pillar, but they're all waiting on the new CPS to arrive. I think this is a good place to be before work starts again: easy weekend progress to keep the project ticking over week by week.

For now heres a pic of the new item installed with no bulky tank circulating oil, you can't see any wobbling due to out of alignment


Thanks all for following.

[Relentless Rob]

Funny you should mention the Ecotec pelum looking a bit pants earlier. Last night in the pub we were discussing what Alfa Romeo 156's had GM engines.

Would the tarty bits from the Alfa 156 V6 fit the Ecotec and tidy up your engine bay (as well as possibly improve the intake side of things)?

[loz]

Thats a great suggestion Rob, the alfa V6 engines do look very tidy. Is it the same base engine? I can't seem to find one with similar looking cam covers?

[Relentless Rob]

Neither myself or any of the people in the pub discussing it know for certain but a chap with an Omega is looking into it. I'll report back as soon as we find out (next time I go to the pub).



The 156, SAAB, and Vectra/Omega V6 head gaskets look very similar. If the Alfa cam' covers fit the Vauxhall block I can't see why it wouldn't work.

[Relentless Rob]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/vauxhall-mv6- ... 8625341574

I saw this and thought of you.

Still no news on the Ecotec/Alfa V6 hybrid. Haven't been to the pub for a while.

[loz]

Hi folks, I've had a little go in the garage today, misserably slow progress this morning, just cleaning up all the s**t that my brother has left in his despirate attempt to get his capri road worthy, I found so many broked tools, anyway!

This afternoon, I spent several hours chasing the CPS/ECU issue that prevents the engine from running properly and from starting sometimes. I've tried everything and reached the point that most aftermarket customers eventually reach: I think might be one of the very few unlucky ones where the ECU might perhaps be at fault....... but probably not

Then I set about making another water hose. I've previous made the radiator top hose from aluminium with a screw type car tyre valve T-peice. But it was always very slightly leaked, not at the valve as you'd expect but as the connection with the rubber radiator hose. the ali hose is slightly oval'd so the jubilee clamp didn't squeeze it tight enough, you can just see in the photo, whitness marks.



I got some SS tube instead so I could weld a T-piece on.


And now the hose is neatly (ish) tied to the top of the fan cowling.


Then I changed both top ball joint rubbers that had already perished and cracked through even though the car hasn't even left the garage (ebay quality)


More to come

[owelly]

As you have no bead on your s/s tube to stop the hoses from blowing off, drill some holes and put pop rivets in. The clip will still seal as intended and the heads of the rivets will stop the hose from wriggling loose.
HTH.

[Relentless Rob]

Can you do a run of weld around the pipe to act as beading? By the time you frap the edging away it would look like a bead anyway.

[loz]

I really hadn't even considered doing a bead, but now you mention it all OEM stuff has it. There are so many things I'd need to take off now though There are pipes buried all over the place.

I'll probably do it when the engine is finally running and regained the will to live (well to work on the car as a decent pace).

I think I'll weld the SS bits and rivet the ali pipes.

[loz]

I had a cheaky little evening session on the car this evening. I'm by no means down in the dumps, I'm far too busy with work to be, but in terms of the project, it has reached a new low!

I'm been fighting with this running problem for months now. I've been emailing the very helpful folk at Canems for ages, suggestions have been going back and forth to no avail, to the point where the ECU was connected only to power, earth (straight to battery) and the brand new CPS, nothing else, there could be no earthing issues, it didn't even involve the car at all.

David at Canems eventually threw in the towel and admitted it was a bit odd, so suggested sending it back for testing. I got it back in the post today there is nothing wrong with it, its been running a real engine for a length of time, I'm so gutted, I was really hoping there would be something wrong with it

So I fitted it, with nothing else at all connected as before and it seemed to work the first 20 ish starts of the engine (just turning over on the starter), so I started connecting sensors and then... back to its old tricks! Took all the sensors back off again, right back to how I started again and the fault is still there.

So once again, I tried a mirriad of different things, there is so little interferrence its unbelieveable, nothing that could possible make (electrical) noise is on, (accept the starter) nothing that could posssibly pick up any electrical noise is connected to the ECU, even the alternator is fully disconected, not even turning (belt is off). Its so annoying.



SO....

Back to the other plan, I'll get right on the Omega forum again and study the difference between the 2.5 and 3.0 CPS and see if the 2.5 will end up any closer to the trigger wheel, its got to be worth a try, its made by a different manufacturer apparently so could well make a stronger signal.

Here's a little reminder of how the car looks (yep exactly the same for now) taken with my new SLR (retail therapy helps)


More to come

[Renrut]

Seems to be a bit of the story missing. I don't know a lot about ECUs but I do know a LOT about interference issues. Firstly do you KNOW its interference or is it something else like a sensor wired backwards or some other wiring swapped or confused?

Can you describe the fault a bit better, someone may have seen something like it before?

Is the battery good and nicely charged up? If the voltage is dipping I can't see an ECU liking that.

Aren't some of the sensor connections supposed to be screened? Remember for a screen to work properly it should be connected to earth/ground at BOTH ends, but a minimum of 1 end should be okish in a relatively quiet environment.

[owelly]

You may know a lot about interference but screening/sheilding should be earthed/grounded at ONE end to ensure there can't be any current running through it due to any potential difference between the ends of the sheilding.