Trying to fall in love again

Trying to fall in love again

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Franky boy

Original Poster:

110 posts

163 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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Hi all, hope your enjoying the fine weather today.

I have been thinking of selling the Chimaera, I took it for a MOT yesterday which it passed, the weather was good so indulged myself in a bit of a spirited drive, and have been out again today, but!


There are 3 things that stop me using it more often, and the reason I only covered 500 miles between MOT's.


1 - When I bought the car, from the charming double act that lied through their teeth, the car wouldn't run after 100 miles and I had to get recovered on the way home, I know, this was the point I should have asked for my money back, but I thought it would be a simple thing so didn't.

It turned out that the ignition and charging system had really been messed about with, anyway, to cut a long story short, having replaced everything at least once the car now runs, and runs well on the open road, The issue is slow speed, traffic, manoeuvring etc. The car shunts so much it removes all the pleasure out of a drive.

2. The cabin gets uncomfortably hot, I have changed the heater valve but it has not made a difference, even the drivers side additional fan/vent seems to blow hot!

3, If I fall in love with it again, a power steering conversion is a must.

My main concern is number 1, so my question really is:

Will a standalone ECU cure the shunting issues, I am looking at megasquirt, I know there are potentially better brands but budget is an issue.

I would want to get rid of the MAF and hopefully the stepper motor. I am handy with a spanner and have a good understanding of wiring, so how difficult it is to go MS, I would get it mapped by a professional. Are there any other benefits of going MS?

As for 2, any suggestions, have I missed something?

And 3, any reports on the Corsa electric column, again how difficult etc.

Any comments, advice or recommendations really appreciated.

Cheers

Frank

Belle427

8,858 posts

232 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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I've just finished a Megasquirt conversion, I decided to do it as I had a few small but annoying issues with the standard set up.
Reliable spares were also an issue, I had 3 ignition module failures in one year.
If you have a good basic understanding of wiring, can solder and use a test lamp/Multimeter you will be fine.
I decided to have the loom custom made for me to make the job easier, this means a lot of it is plug and play but there will still be several connections to make.
You will also have to rewire some components yourself that are not included in the loom, such as alternator warning light, oil warning light.
I did find it frustrating as the instructions that came with the kit were supplied on a cd but I didn't find it very user friendly for the novice, my kit was also drip fed to me, I'd have preferred to get it all together.
I think by the time I'm finished I should be in it for around £1000 in total, that includes the mapping.
You should raise at least £400 by selling your old stuff if it's in good working order.
You will get rid of the old ECU, wiring, distributor, coil, and afm in the process and have a much more reliable system, with mappable fuel and spark.
Quite a time consuming job if done properly which is why some specialists charge what they do.

Franky boy

Original Poster:

110 posts

163 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
quotequote all
Hi, thanks for the info.

Has the MS cured the shunting or did you not suffer to badly, it seems that people suffer different degrees of it. I have also read that is a design issue not just mapping. Whatever it is its killing the joy of Chimaera ownership.

TheRainMaker

6,302 posts

241 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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My 500 does not shunt, it’s running standard ecu.

Andav469

957 posts

136 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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I had an Emerald ECU fitted by Joolz at Kits and Classics, a drive in drive out solution, the difference is night and day, creamy smooth, wish I had done it sooner.

Change the heater valve for a genuine one, it is a simple plastic barrel mechanism that shuts off the coolant flow to the matrix, if it is not shutting off the flow 100%, then you will get hit air through the vents.
The above is assuming that the cabling is adjusted correctly so that the valve shuts fully

Steve_D

13,737 posts

257 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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Before you do that try changing the vacuum feed to the dizzy. Disconnect from the top of the throttle body/plenum (blank the port) and connect to a tee piece fitted into the existing vacuum line from throttle body to stepper motor.

COG will be along shortly to explain in more detail....(make that a lot more detail)

Steve

TV8

3,118 posts

174 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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Is the heat coming from the heater? On my last car, I put a pattern part on and it split in a short period of time and then changed it for a genuine VW one. Both need to be set up to flow correctly as the range on the heater dial, at last on mine, didn’t allow it to open completely and the same would apply to closing!

As for the shunting, are you running extenders? If you are try the car without and keep the leads out of the way of the manifolds whilst testing.

phazed

21,844 posts

203 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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Regarding the heating. Go for a spin in the evening with your heater set on cold. If there isn’t any heat produced from the heater then it will be running fine as I suspect. Otherwise, the heat being produced is nothing more with the heat generated from the engine warming up the inner wings and transmitting heat through the transmission tunnel into the footwells as well as the air intake to the heater which travels through the nearside inner wing.
The slower the car moves in traffic, the warmer the cabin becomes and you can’t do a thing about it !

Classic Chim

12,424 posts

148 months

Saturday 24th August 2019
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Ecu change removes shunt caused by poor fuelling etc but if shunt has been present in the car sometime I’d suspect it’s now drive train slack to some extent.
I’ve had Ecu changed for a modern equivalent and new Dif. Shunt totally gone down to walking pace.



Belle427

8,858 posts

232 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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Franky boy said:
Hi, thanks for the info.

Has the MS cured the shunting or did you not suffer to badly, it seems that people suffer different degrees of it. I have also read that is a design issue not just mapping. Whatever it is its killing the joy of Chimaera ownership.
Had very slight shunting low down but nothing excessive, I'm waiting for a mapping session so although the car is running well it's not perfect yet.
Have a read of the link below, very interesting stuff some of the guys on here are involved with.
If you ask nicely you may be able to get a chip burned for you for the cost of a few beers, or do it yourself if you buy the kit.
May cure some of your issues for little outlay if you have a removable chip in your ECU.
Going aftermarket would improve the ownership experience in my opinion, even if it is expensive.
http://www.remap-14cux.uk/

Classic Chim

12,424 posts

148 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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The shunting issue is something that generally starts from poor fuelling/ignition control at low revs so CUX related imo.
The problem for some of us is this has been going on a long time in our cars which can lead to worn engine/gearbox/Differential mounts let alone the internal components.
Prop and drive shaft uj’s -Cv’s take a bit of a hammering too.

Modern Ecu should remove the shunt zone from the engine end, it won’t change any other component that’s also worn so my advice would be get a good experienced mechanic, someone like Mat Smith to check the health of everything in the road train and all the joints mentioned above.

My experience was Ecu change removed shunt and is a joyous thing to experience such fine tuning etc.
Still had an annoying slackness that would show itself around 1400 revs but was minimal.
One way or another I then had to replace my Differential or have mine repaired. I opted for a new (old stock) Dif off Central TVR who had a number of them at the time.
Feeling rather fed up with my ever increasing TVR maintenance bill I was not happy to have to buy a diff, thank my stars Tvr friends helped me install it.

Holy blinking heck it’s only the best thing I could have done as it’s removed the shunt and rolls around roundabouts in 3 Rd gear 1000 revs onwards smooth as silk.

For me it’s a combination of factors, engine mounts is where I’d start and work from there.

I often joke about a slow speed test/race.....I believe I have one of the smoothest cars from idle, basically it’s fully taught and a joy to drive.
It now drives how I’d have expected a brand new one to feel.
Don’t under estimate the Difs role in this equation.



Edited by Classic Chim on Sunday 25th August 10:21

Franky boy

Original Poster:

110 posts

163 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
quotequote all
Thanks for all the info.

I have already changed the advance vacuum from the standard ported one, not sure if this has made a difference really, I have also disconnected the stepper motor when the engine was hot as recommended on a thread here.

How much does ignition timing help with shunting, I have set the timing using a strobe light to the info found here, cant remember the details.

I am interested in the re mapping of the chip, I'm not sure if my chip is removable, I have had the ecu opened to check for dampness, are they all removable? Where can you buy a spare chip to play with.

As far as cabin temps, heater valve replaced and closes correctly, I'm sure its heat soak, but so much of it!

Cheers

Frank

trev4

736 posts

161 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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Jools at kits and classics will remap the 14cux on his rolling road. I had mine done, it was well worth the trip from Essex.

Classic Chim

12,424 posts

148 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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Regarding ignition
Yes it can help.
One of the more obvious changes with a new Ecu is how you can pull off with barely a touch of throttle or move the car using idle alone.
I’m not sure how much can be done using the Cux and the original dizzy but Joolz works wonders with the Cux so he’s the man to ask.

baconsarney

11,990 posts

160 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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Frank, how’s general engine health? Wondering how your camshaft might be... is your car a 500? Have you had it on a rolling road or had compression test done?

Franky boy

Original Poster:

110 posts

163 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
quotequote all
The car is a 4.0 HC, I haven't checked compression or looked at the cam, but there is certainly no tappet noise so I assume the cams not to bad.

Essentially, is the fuelling an issue with the lucas ecu, if not, is it worth looking at ignition only ecu?

I'm in Cornwall, so everywhere is a long way to travel, lol

ianwayne

6,244 posts

267 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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The tappets / followers are hydraulic so a very worn cam won't necessarily be revealed by noisy tappets.

baconsarney

11,990 posts

160 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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frank, you probably know a bit about the HC but here's an extract from a thread by Rob Robertson from a few years back...

Lets start with the 4.0, 2 derivities the standard and the hc, the hc stands for high lift cam, the non hc is a standard range rover engine running 9.35-1 cr, all tvr did was fit a tvr 51 camshaft, fit double valve springs and machine the spring seats and cut the guides down to allow a slightly higer lift cam, thats it in a nut shell they obviously used there own ecu chips as in all other tvr cars, a genuine power output on a proper engine dyno is just over 200 hp.
The hc ran the same short engine again 9.35-1, however they upgraded to the tvr 435 cam which is basically a kent 214 with an extended lca to 116, they also came with pocketed pistons to allow for the londer duration cam, other than that same as the non hc, power was around 215hp.

I'd deffo get the cam checked before spending small fortunes on aftermarket ECU's... I'm running Megasquirt and coil packs but I also have a fairly lairy cam....

Just my two penneth............

Franky boy

Original Poster:

110 posts

163 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
quotequote all
Is the 435 cam used in the 4.0 HC the same cam as in the 4.3L? I can't seem to find any info re the HC cam.

I can have a look at the cam, shouldn't be to hard to remove the inlet and have a looksee, but would like to at least know where I can get a cam if required before I do.

Would a worn cam actually cause shunting in itself? I have read about the double valve springs being harder on the cam in the HC.

Cheers

Frank

lancelin

238 posts

120 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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It’s possible to remove a nasty shunt below 2k rpm with an aftermarket ecu and probably the 14cux but I’m not convinced it’s possible to make the car super smooth and a pleasure below 2k because of the camshaft lift and also the inlet manifold design. They all chug along a bit below 2k. These cars are open road blasters above 2k and really not much fun below. Some say, fitting a supercharger or turbo can improve things further - I’d like to try one sometime. TVR pushed the limits of the old rover v8 without much consideration for the low rpm drivability. Perhaps we need a VTEC rover V8. Anyone out there that can guarantee super smooth running at low rpm could be a very rich man or woman. Chimpongas is getting close.