Project Scimitar MV6

[lozzzzzz]

Thanks pacman! its good to know someone is watching.

Got the dirty diesel done today, I hate HATE HATE doing bodywork on metal cars! the sill looks passable now though and the bushes are all good

I moped about for a couple of hours after that looking for bolts for the engine, eventually found them and put a few bits together on the back of the engine.

Made a little blanking plate for where the EGR would have gone into the inlet manifold



And put the engine breather and water crossover pipe thingy on


I did spend a lot of time with the wiring loom figuring out what goes where.
Hopefully I'll get the cam pulley (stretch) bolts tomorrow and start putting lots back together

Some advice please,
I've been looking into injector cleaning and it seems to be a good idea, especially if there is an inbalance, the engine will never make good power if one is injecting more that the others but.... £14 per injector OMG has anyone done this and found a difference?

More to come

[lozzzzzz]

A little update,

someone on the Scimitar forum had the genius idea of asking a jewellers to put the injectors in their ultaasonic tank hopefully that would be a lot cheaper

After a massive amount of looking into the clutch options, I've found that (hopefully) the vectra B 2.2 petrol clutch will fit although its 228mm as apposed to 238 of the original. Found a used one for £20 on the bay so I'll put that in with the original slave cylinder as a tester. If its good I'll fit a new one when the money allows along with a new slave.

I've also found some spacers for the flywheel bolts as the dual mass jobby is so much thicker than the lightweight one so the bolts bottom out in the crank. The spacers should arrive next week, so I'll get on and fit the flywheel, clutch and gearbox next week.

For now I've been looking and how all the hoses and stuff with fit around the engine. Next I'll start making calls to canems (the ECU folk) and make up my new reduced engien loom and bulkhead multi socket from the old motronic ECU plug.

Sorry there's no photo's for the first time ever (it won't happen again )

More to come.

[lozzzzzz]

Well the boring car another year of MOT so I can hopefully ignore that now.

I had an amazing weekend, I went to see an old uni friend and we made a jet engine, it was awesome we got it running last night, it scared the s*** out of me I'll put a video link up when I have one.


The non AC belt arrived in the post and fits a treat


Having looked at a few videos of injector testing, I rigged up all the gear and tested mine, with some measuring cylinders borrowed from work





Initially I ot a 2.5% immballance, but then I noticed that one of he cylinders was bend, (I think it got too close a Bunsen burner). So I filled them ahlf way ish and ran the test a few times, it looks like there is a about a 1.2% imballance. From reading some forums, it seems when folks send them off for cleaning injectors are often 3-6% off and come back about 0.5 - 1% off, so I'm happy mine will be fine as they are.

I got loads of spares and extras off an omega 2.5 in a scrap yard this weekend and some other cars. Here are the new breather tubes to suit the little breather thingy I made at the back of the engine.



Got the Timing tools in the post taday so I'll got finish putting hte engine together now

More to come

[WarrenG]

Well Done on all the effort, I'm quite a fan of these dating back to the early nineties when I briefly owned a SE5a, but perpetually disagreed with my mechannic (dad) on what type of restoration to do. I couldn't get enough time and when I could I was skint.

Yours is an inspiration and I wish I still had the time / folding stuff to revisit one of these wonderful machines.

Loving the MV6 idea, I had an omega 3.0 elite for the family barge for many years and it went like a train. In a scimitar it should be awsome!

keep 'em coming!

[lozzzzzz]

Thanks Warren, you can get a really nice one for a couple of grand you know, they really are stupidly cheap at the moment compared to other classics of their age.

Update.

I spent forever getting the cam timing right this afternoon, then I went to a friends house and borrowed a better spanner and the job was done

Then I looked at fitting all the hoses and stuff on the back of the engine, its getting really close to going in now but I'm waiting on another bl***y hub before he car is mobile again to move under the hoist. I'm really pleased with how well it all hugs the back of the engine, I'm hoping with the differernt sump and the modifications at the back that the bulkhead won't need too much fettling, time will tell. A photo then.


The clutch arrived in the post today, so I'm hoping to have an engine and gearbox all ready to go in by the end of tomorrow (then wait weeks for the hub). Then I'll get bock onto the wiring, I've had a crazy plan with that, watch this space.

More to come

[pacman1]

Good work mate, nice to see you are progressing steadily.
What's the score with the clutch, do you have a dual mass flywheel?
I have read you can get round this expensive nonsense by retro fitting a normal clutch & flywheel in many cars that have them.
Could you do this on your MV6 set up?

[lozzzzzz]

The engine did have a 16kg dual mass flywheel on it. I did look briefly into alternative OEM flywheels, but when a full on lightweight version came up on ebay I couldn't help but buy it, and it shares the exact overall dimensions with the dual mass original but only weighs 5.6kg

The only difficulty was finding a clutch with springs cos the old dual mass one didn't need springs in the clutch. I've found one from a 2.2 petrol which is nearly the same but with springs, it is a bit of an experiment though, its 228mm dia where the omega one is 238mm, so I'll pop it in and see if it slips.

You can see the different flywheels here



And this is the original clutch


and here is the 2.2 228mm clutch I'll be trying


The light flywheel is much thinner where the 8 bolts go through so I've had to make up 16mm spacers to keep the same bolt grip length and thread engagement. but I could only find 11mm spacers so I bought a load and turned some of them down on the lathe you can see in these photos (one with flash one without)

[lozzzzzz]

An Update!

Been away visiting family for a three day weekend so did nothing over the weekend on the car. Started again today.

I did the obvious thing and called the company that supplied and have fitted many of these flywheels, they gave me a part number, I called vauxhall and it turns out to be a 25mm bolt giving 9mm grip length and 16mm thread engagement that was easy!

I got some fittings to take hoses off to the oil stat and cooler


but for now (and in an effort to get it running this sommer) I've simply put one hose accross to the other.


As far as the engine is concerned the wiring is all finished, it took quite a few phone calls to the ECU people (Canems) who were very helpful especially considering I haven't even bought their ECU yet (I promised I will). I've reused the motronic ECU connector from the omega and soldered all the wiring through that so now the engine electronics can be disconnected in one go with the exception of the large cable coming from the battery. I've butched the old ECU to make a bulkhead mounted socket that the engine will plug into. Although its been a massive amount of work, and there is still the bulkhead connector and car wiring to do, it should save a lot of time in the future, when changing bits over and getting the engine out for whatever reason.


I got a new spigot bearing so used the grease and hammer trick to get the old one out.


Then with the new spigot bearing in place bolted up the new flywheel with its 25mm bolts and no spacers




I had to make up a clutch alignment tool on the lathe (its pretty rough) and it took forever to get the clutch locating dowels out of the duel mass flywheel, but the clutch is now fitted



I'm STILLLLLLLLLLL WAITING for the last hub to be done so I went into town again today (hour round trip) to collect the old whobbly one so I can move the car about, I saw the box of bits I took in is still in exactly the same place I left it in the machin shop. I just want hubs with holes in the right places.

I'm pleased with todays progress though.

More to come

[lozzzzzz]

Had a good day today, put the gearbox on


Just trying the engine for size and where to position it. It sits nicely in there there is loads of room at the back of the engine when the front is about an inch from the crossmember, but its low at the mo.





The thing I'd overlooked when messing about at the back of the engine was the cluch hose, at the moment thats fouling on the bulkhead so I'm thinking of bending it, or cutting the a hole in the bulkhead. Hopefully I'll get round to mounting it tomorrow, but there is loads to consider first. On that note, I put the new handbrake cable on, then headed to the rear calipers to connect the cable up and remembered I've got to make up some more caliper mounts that are intrergral to the bearing retainers of the axle. Long story short, the old rear brake conversion used spacers behind the discs to space them out but with redrilling hte PCD I don't have spacers that fit so I'll do the job properly now

Then I went to the front and started removing all the dash to figure out what parts of the transmission tunnel need cutting.

More to come.

[lozzzzzz]

I'm hacked off with the pace of work today!!!

I've got 6 weeks off from work, and its evaporating quickly with little to show (last two day anyway). The bl**dy angle grinder gave up at about 5pm leaving me with loads of 3mm steel and a hack saw to make engine mounts with I got one done (I even measured twice) but it was still too short! So I need to make more tomorrow, what I really need now are brushes for an Bosch PWS600 angle grinder, There are plently on ebay but I need them now not in a week. Does B&Q sell them? screwfix? Anyone bought any before??

Heres a few piccies

I took the hose off and gently bent it in the vice this helped with clearance.


Here's the beginnings of a short engine mount


God I hope I get more done tomorrow

[lozzzzzz]

I had a really good day today, for the first time in a while. Here are the start of the engine mounts (take two)


I added the bits that were cut off fromt he omega


Took about 2 hours checking everything was perfectly lined up, this was a really iterative process, every time something was lined up, it would be out of line somewhere else, here's the jig thingy I used to line up the gearbox centrally.


Eventually got them welded in place



And Primed



Then I started on the gearbox mount, I reused the exhasut mount from the back of the gearbox to give the gearbox mount a bit more height and bring it forward a bit.


Gave it a bit more strength, I was really prowd of this welding and the shape of the structure



The I tried bolting it in place and found what yo've probably noticed already, I welded it on the wrong way. It seems I've got to do everything twice
So here is the gearbox mount (take two)


From looking at Nath's photos (over and over again) it seems my engine is about 2-3 inches further forward. Obviously this isn't a good thing, but its means I have more room to play with when trying to make the tubular manifold and I didn't want to cut the bulkhead about, that looked like a lot of work. I'm happy with where the engine is height wise though, there is an inch of clearance under the bonnet and the sump sticks out below the chassis rails no more than 2 inches.

I started on the gearlever assembly it turns out for my installation I can use the holes provided and simply cut the excess.



I really hope tomorrow is as good as today was

[lozzzzzz]

I started off today puting the engine back in with the newly painted gearbox mount, and extending the clutch hose. I initially tried brake line as I thought this is what another scimitar MV6 owner had used but it seemed far to small in diameter so I stole some of the 6mm LPG copper line from the omega this fits a treat and I went and got some nut and bolt type jubilee clips to make sure they don't slide off.


Then I started thinking about mounting the gear lever assembly properly, I cut the suround off the omega to recycle it


After doing the usual 3 hours measuring and staring it, I was happy nothing would foul and it was suitably mounted, it also seems to come up in a great position, I couldn't resist putting the seat in and trying it out


I spend a while each day just looking at the car (don't judge, you're all guilty of doing it) this was the best view today


So next thing was to fibreglass the surround in. I found to things to hold it in place


Then started building up the fibre filler underneith it and eventually stuck it in place


Then the large gap needed filling, I put some ali sheet in a plastic bag and put it in the right place under where I wanted the fibreglass to go, you can jsut see the bag slicking out above the garage lamp under the glass fibre sheet.


Did a couple of layers, removed the ali and peeled the bag off and this is where I got to.


I'll give it lots more strenght tomorrow and finish and paint it hopefully then with any luck put the engine in for the last time.

More to come

[lozzzzzz]

Got some more done on the transmission tunnel this morning, I filled in around the metal surround and and fibregalssed over where thehandbrake goes, so I can cut a tighter fitting hole so stop engine gasses getting in so much.



This is where the dog sits and watches, he seems to love boots of cars, he jumps in to random strangers boots sometimes


I even fibre filled the underside to smooth it off and give it more strength


Here it is as it is now, hand brake hole recut and smoothed ready for some garage floor paint


More to come

[lozzzzzz]

I'm well chuffed with this afternoons work, once again its not going at break neck speeds.

I guess its not to everyones taste, most would probably prefere and interior of some sort , but its ecxactly what I wanted (last two photos)

Cleaned up and put the heat shields back on, and painted a few scratches round the engine bay


Painted the new transmission tunnel,


Then put the engine back in for, hopefully, the last time, its all bolted in tight now, here's a piccy looking up at the gear lever assembly from below with it all in place


And above, you can see there is a lower gromitt and an upper one (wrapped around the gear knob)


I painted the surround thing black and bolted it down the gaiter clipped in place, this is all usually tucked away under the leather gaiter in the omega, but I like its functional look.



Might try and get the fuel lines put in properly tonight and clamp down all the pumps and filters.

More to come

[lozzzzzz]

Went to the garage after diner and got side tracked, the fuel lines still aren't done, but the clutch reservoir is

I got this of an old civic in the most amazing scrap yard in the country, with all the other stuff I got it must have cost about £1 instead of £15 for the ones on ebay.


The bracket was so rusty I threw it and welded a spring type hose clamp to a 2mm SS sheet. Drilled some holes and painted it, then rivetted it to the bulkhead just above the clutch master. I'm really pleased with how it looks, just need a smaller diameter clamp for the reservoir end of the delivery hose, as you can see in the photos.




I'll try again with the fuel lines and pumps and stuff tomorrow.

[lozzzzzz]

Made some good progress today too, although there is a little less to see perhaps, there was a lot of head scrathing over electrics, but I think I've got it all planned out now.

Drilled (and teasdaled) the holes for the fuel lines into the engine bay.


I used another set of heat sheilding stolen from the omega in the scrap yard to help stop scuffing and as the exhaust is below.


Then popped the filter on. There are three filters, one pre injectors, one pre high pressure pump and one between the fuel tank and the low pressure pumps.

Pretty chuffed with how they look in the engine bay

The fuel lines go up through the drivers sill and across to the swirl pot area. They're not clamped in place yet as I've still got to do the roll bar



All the fuel line is 8mm ID but the inlet to the high pressure pump is 15mm, so I had to make up a reducer to plmb it in. This is the end of a bit of SS that I use as a jack handle. Its the only SS bar I've got so its gradually getting harder and harder to jack up cars I drilled down the centre then cut it off.


The swirl pot is now painted, I think it looks slightly less bad in black and now bolted in and nearly plumbed in. Just need to connect the lines that go forward and clamp the high pressure pump down, I'm thinking so spinge or something will help keep the noise down a bit.

All the front section of the loom was pulled through into the passenger foot well and exposed, there are few things I'm getting rid off, like the brake pad wear wires, and just trying to neaten it up. Its tricky trying to find power to run all the new things I need to run. eg, the ECU needs a feed, the injectors need a feed, the coil needs a feed, the pumps all need a decent feed. I'm also trying to reuse unwanted bits of loom for the LPG gear, so it all goes through one fat bit of loom instead of having loose wires everywhere. Long story short, its taking a while to plan ahead.


These cables are helping though with big fuses (stolen from the omega)


I found this accident waiting to happen while going through the wiring, all the insulation was hard and cracked there is loads of wire exposed. I strongly recommend everyone look at this section on their cars, the wires that go to the started and reverse light switch, its an easy fix.


I also started looking at the coolant plumbing so had the radiator back, I think I know what to do with it all now, but I need an expansion tank and don't fancy using the bulky omega one.

The engine will get its cold air from two pipes that will run straight forward from the inlet manifold to the cowling above the radiator, I'll cut two massive holes and put some cone shaped (boyracer) filters in, hidden away safely above and infront of the radiator.


Might get some done tomorrow morning, otherwise more to come on tuesday

[pacman1]

Absolutely amazing! My goodness, what a labour of love, only to be sustained with boundless enthusiasm!

I know exactly what you mean about staring at a job, I'm just the same. I spend ages looking at the best way to do something, knowing that it will save time in the end by getting the task square in my head.

Did I read right, you aren't going to bother much with the interior?

[lozzzzzz]

Thanks Pacman Yeah the interior was binned a couple of years back in favour of "adding lightness" I shaved off well over 50kg, which equates to a 5% increase in acceleration and a slight inpovement in economy too.

I know that doesn't sound appealing to a lot of people, but what I'm after is a driving machine that can be used every day, so the heater is staying, the mk2 MR2 seats are confortable, the bucket seat will be kept in the garage for track days, there will be a usb head unit fitted with a cheap pair of speakers, but other than that all the sound deadening and trim parts are gone. All the original dash will still be there with all the switch gear and heater controls, thats just out for wiring at the moment.

When it was on the raod before, it did help to wear ear defenders on the motorway, that got some looks but that was mainly due to the noisy (read worn out) gearbox thats now gone.

I forgot to add the photo of the swirl pot and pumps even though I wrote about it, below the photo of the lathe. So here the swirl pot arrangement

[lozzzzzz]

The Scimitar has so far got the better of me today.

I started off "harvesting parts and connectors from the omega, this went pretty well, I found loads of relays I could use and the fuse box, which is the reason for digging into the omega in the first place. I thought long and hard about how to wire the new ecu in and concluded I should use things that are now redundant due to the essex going, like the coil feed, the fan feed (thats on a relay under the bonnet now), the auxilary lights as Iwon't need them now, etc. But I didn't want the engine running through that crusty old fuse box. All good in theory.
The omega now


Some of the bits I got out


And the mess that is the scimitar wiring at present


I've only done one connection and thats all it took to figure out that the soldering iron just isn't man enough for the thicker wires, so I'll have to get a 60 watt beasty tomorrow if I can find one.

So I moved onto the plumbing instead, thinking this would be easy. After a little research it seems ali or SS expansion tanks are really expensive so I'll be sticking with the omega one. All the LPG and car heater hose connections are on the engiens right side, leaving just one pipe of the left, the hot coolant from the engine to the radiator, so I cut some pips and got this to fit nicely (on the right in the photo)


But I'm questioning whether this will work now and I would really appriciate some input, what are your thoughts on the following.

The coolant goes in the top of the radiator and out the bottom, and on this engine there is no filler cap at the engine outlet like the essex. So will the radiator fill up with all the air in the system?

Either it will all push through with the coolant and end up in the expansion tank (the highest point)

Or

It will collect in the radiator meaning only half of the radiator will be doing any cooling.

Reasuringly, the radiator in the omega is the same arrangement with the only difference being that there seems to be a bleed scree in the top of the radiator. So I guess once all the air is out it should stay that way, but will it come out eventually without the bleed screw in the radiator???

[lozzzzzz]

CORRECTION, the omega radiator has a tiny hose that goes the the top of the radiator (the the downstream end tank) to the expansion tank, its not a bleed screw at all, my bad. I guess this means I won't get away with it like it is