keithyboys been a busy chap
Discussion
Busy weekend . . . changed the front discs and pads and rear pads on the T5 then moved onto tinkering with the real car! New front pads on the V8S (Mintex M1144 – fast road/occasional track use) courtesy of Mike at Austec, let’s see if these inspire more confidence that those on there previously. Changed the stone chipped driving lamp for a spare used one I had in the garage and finally replaced the rear shocks/springs with the ride height and rebound damping adjustable Spax units and OE replacement springs I’ve had sitting on the workbench for weeks. A right b*stard to fit on the offside given that the inner wing was so close to the top mount making access to the nut & washer almost impossible when refitting – ended up using a crow bar 
to hold the inner wing “inwards” slightly for better access otherwise I would’ve had to cut an access point into the GRP behind the carpet. Strange that although I measured the ride height from the top of the wheel arch 90 degrees downwards to the floor and tried to set it at 70 cm, there’s still just under a 1cm difference in the measurement between both sides even with the height collars set equally on each side, although the car sits correctly when checked with a spirit level. Anyhow, after setting the rebound damping to 14 clicks (half the 28 total) off we go for a test drive. Some “spirited” driving around a roundabout had the car riding like it’s on rails - a mate with me in the car said he was waiting for the back end to go - but it felt fine to me. Accelerating off the roundabout fairly quickly 
to the next roundabout, in the rear view I spotted twin blues about ¼ mile behind me with cars in between us on the dual carriageway. He finally pulls alongside whilst we’re waiting at the lights and tells me to pull over further down the road. Out I jump to greet him as he’s leaving his Volvo and he asks if I’m in any particular hurry to get somewhere – “No” I reply – he says that he saw me leaving the roundabout earlier and heard me accelerating hard up the dual carriageway. I’m not going to ticket you he said and added that the car’s so loud that he could hear me caning it up the road. He said that after negotiating the roundabout to try and follow me “WHOOSH - you were gone” 
. He then added “Great car by the way” and winked advising me to bare in mind that the exhaust note can give away your manner of driving!!
Finally, into Austec today for a brief rolling road session to check on the fuelling as a Chim behind me a week or so back, at a TVRCC meet, had told me I was intermittently spitting flames out the exhausts! No ones ever commented before, so Paul had it on the rollers for a quick look see. A minor fault with an idle sensor (which explains an ongoing problem which I though was the stepper) which needs to be rectified at some stage but otherwise only the hydrocarbons were clearly variable (alternating between 260-350 ppm) indicating possible injector blockage. Mixture settings were possibly a little lean and we finished off with a power run. 234 bhp at 5240 rpm with 266 lbft torque at 4000 rpm. A real improvement since the last r/r session at Austec's last summer open day (soon after the engine rebuild) when it ran 215 bhp at 5450 rpm and 240 lbft at 4200 rpm - both are up around 10%; looks like the engine's loosened up nicely then Next job is to have the injectors hydrostatically cleaned and have it properly mapped to suit!
>>> Edited by keithyboy on Wednesday 14th April 00:30
to hold the inner wing “inwards” slightly for better access otherwise I would’ve had to cut an access point into the GRP behind the carpet. Strange that although I measured the ride height from the top of the wheel arch 90 degrees downwards to the floor and tried to set it at 70 cm, there’s still just under a 1cm difference in the measurement between both sides even with the height collars set equally on each side, although the car sits correctly when checked with a spirit level. Anyhow, after setting the rebound damping to 14 clicks (half the 28 total) off we go for a test drive. Some “spirited” driving around a roundabout had the car riding like it’s on rails - a mate with me in the car said he was waiting for the back end to go - but it felt fine to me. Accelerating off the roundabout fairly quickly to the next roundabout, in the rear view I spotted twin blues about ¼ mile behind me with cars in between us on the dual carriageway. He finally pulls alongside whilst we’re waiting at the lights and tells me to pull over further down the road. Out I jump to greet him as he’s leaving his Volvo and he asks if I’m in any particular hurry to get somewhere – “No” I reply – he says that he saw me leaving the roundabout earlier and heard me accelerating hard up the dual carriageway. I’m not going to ticket you he said and added that the car’s so loud that he could hear me caning it up the road. He said that after negotiating the roundabout to try and follow me “WHOOSH - you were gone” . He then added “Great car by the way” and winked advising me to bare in mind that the exhaust note can give away your manner of driving!! Finally, into Austec today for a brief rolling road session to check on the fuelling as a Chim behind me a week or so back, at a TVRCC meet, had told me I was intermittently spitting flames out the exhausts!
No ones ever commented before, so Paul had it on the rollers for a quick look see. A minor fault with an idle sensor (which explains an ongoing problem which I though was the stepper) which needs to be rectified at some stage but otherwise only the hydrocarbons were clearly variable (alternating between 260-350 ppm) indicating possible injector blockage. Mixture settings were possibly a little lean and we finished off with a power run. 234 bhp at 5240 rpm with 266 lbft torque at 4000 rpm. A real improvement since the last r/r session at Austec's last summer open day (soon after the engine rebuild) when it ran 215 bhp at 5450 rpm and 240 lbft at 4200 rpm - both are up around 10%; looks like the engine's loosened up nicely then Next job is to have the injectors hydrostatically cleaned and have it properly mapped to suit! >>> Edited by keithyboy on Wednesday 14th April 00:30
Keith.
Have you tried putting any additives in the fuel for injector cleaning...?
I have been pretty well advised that the injectors used in TVR's very rarely need full cleaning. Putting a double mixture of injector cleaner in the fuel for a couple of fills will also give a reasonable improvement.
Failing that - I have been advised that filling the fuel filter with cleaner and running the car will do as much as full cleaning, smokes like a ba$tard, but costs about 10 quid rather than 18 pound per injector.
I'm bound to be shot down for these comments but IMHO these come from a very reliable source.
Dave
Have you tried putting any additives in the fuel for injector cleaning...?
I have been pretty well advised that the injectors used in TVR's very rarely need full cleaning. Putting a double mixture of injector cleaner in the fuel for a couple of fills will also give a reasonable improvement.
Failing that - I have been advised that filling the fuel filter with cleaner and running the car will do as much as full cleaning, smokes like a ba$tard, but costs about 10 quid rather than 18 pound per injector.
I'm bound to be shot down for these comments but IMHO these come from a very reliable source.
Dave
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