Due to arrive soon

Started by 94touring, August 07, 2020, 01:46:39 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

94touring

Got the correct hockey stick installed into the nose cone to the transaxle today. I had to fabricate/cobble together one to get me back on the road after the transaxle debacle last year.  1st to 4th shifted great but reverse has always been temperamental.  So detached everything to move the transaxle and motor back 4-6 inches to get the nosecone off to make the swap.  Took all day and wasn't fun.  I flushed the gear oil while I was in there.  End result is 1st to 4th is still great and now I have a reverse that goes in gear and actually stays in gear!  Side by side of what I made compared to what it should have been. I had the profile pretty close.

94touring

Updates. Almost time for the yearly Colorado trip.  I've been testing a different fan and fan shroud with mixed results. The bad news was his plastic fan exploded. The good news is his shroud with the metal fan, in conjunction with a custom "velocity stack" I fabricated, works AMAZING!  I reduced head temps about 20 degrees on average in numerous back to back test. So that's super "cool".

The electric ignition unit with 3d programmable map I've been using for the past few years has given me fits. It has always had a level of occasional kickback on startup that drives me crazy. Some of the signal wires are also sensitive to placement and can cause odd spikes or ignition cuts.  Recently the ignition cuts have gotten worse and I simply can't resolve it. So tossing in the towel and bought a 123 Bluetooth programmable distributor.  I opted for the programmable unit as I can create the same curve I've been using, and also set when and how much vacuum advance is applied. This is a very nice feature because vacuum signal on twin idf 40 webers is pretty weak. That was a huge bonus to the other unit.  Till it arrives I tossed in the factory distributor. It pretty much sucks for ignition curve and I can really feel it in the seat. The pleasant part is the bus fires up just looking at the key in the ignition.  I am pretty pumped to have that with the 123 but get my ignition curve back to optimal for my build.  Has a cool interface from my phone too.

94touring

On my way to Colorado. Had a windshield blow out. Similar to an airplane in that it sounded like a shotgun.  I eventually took the whole thing out.  Too far into my drive to turn back. Will try to arrange a windshield in Estes. With the windows up it doesn't even blow my hat off!

MPlayle

That is how my one Mini windshield went out a few years ago - same style shatter pattern.  It was a single layer "toughened" glass.  I replaced it with a laminated.

Does your Brazilian bus use the same bay window as the German buses?


94touring

Yeah same glass.  Company is coming out Tuesday.

94touring

All set and back to having a windshield.  In some ways I'm happy it busted.  Two reasons, first I eliminated the safari front glass that leaked. Second, it has a tinted top which will be very nice.

94touring

Time for winter maintenance and odds and ends.  After many thousands of hard miles decided to pull the motor to pull heads and do inspections. Wanted to make sure exhaust seats weren't sinking into the heads, as I've had to adjust them a few times which was starting to get concerning. Turns out they're just fine.  Didn't want to be 2000 miles from home and eat a valve. The seats aren't cut the best so after talking with a couple VW gurus I'm sending them off to a guy to get better cuts.  Also I've been curious what they flow since there isn't any numbers provided for these, which are ported.  Another little project I'm doing is adding water injection, simply for head cooling (hopefully, we'll see) when I'm pulling all my gear on the trailer up hills in the summer. Since I'm naturally aspirated and not some 400hp v8, as well as 4 intake runners on twin idf 40 webers, getting the water volume correct is rather tricky.  I don't need much h20 and too much will make  choke and not run well.  So...I got to thinking how to do this. I can get 30cc injectors, run 1 each on each idf, mounted in the center to give 15cc to each runner. If it wants more I can bump it up to 45cc each side, but according to the H20 charts and my power output, 60cc total is all it should want. To get the mist to make it way into each runner I'm switching back to my wide mouth ram pipes.  I will bench test with the shop vac hooked up to see how well that idea works. It should but I also don't want water going down below and into my float bowls. Next tricky part is how to activate the system.  It's easy on a boosted system since it's activated off PSI readings. Naturally aspirated, particularly carbs, gives no real way to activate it.  But, I found an efi conversion kit for IDFs that has a mount for a TPS.  TPS's read between 0.75 and 5 volts typically. An ecu typically controls input voltage to the TPS with a 5v input. In order to get the 5v input I ordered a DC voltage reducer from 12/24v down to 5v.  The one pictured is one with a potimeter variable from 0-5v for testing purposes and also a solution to control the pump manually if I was unable to get a TPS working with the carbs.  So with all that in place the biggest component to control the pump is a voltage controller, which tells the pump when to activate. It has a start and stop point between 2 and 5 volts.  At a start of 2 volts the pump runs at a lower volume and as you increase throttle and the TPS opens to 5 volts, it ramps up to 100% pump and spray volume. Pretty slick.  I can adjust it accordingly and see what the engine likes best for a starting point once I do road testing.  Hopefully I actually see a decrease in head temps lol.

Oh and I decided to ditch the dual valve springs and go with an upgraded single spring.  The duals have a ton of pressure I just don't need for my cam and my engine redline.  Makes it a pain turning the motor over when I'm adjusting valves every oil change too. The duals in there make 340 lbs at full lift and the HD singles I have in the shop are rated at 200 lbs, which with my 1.25 rockers could be pushing it. I got some rated for 230 lbs and the thin spring shims to attain more pressure at my full valve lift, yet not binding the springs.  The 200s were probably fine but at least I'll have peace of mind the 230s with shims will keep valves from floating.

MiniDave

Wow, the springs I used on Mini engines were rated at 200, and we rev those a whole lot more than you do a VW motor.....
Complete failure at retirement - but getting better!

1972 Mini Racing Green
1972 Mini ST hotrod
2017 Audi Allroad - Glacier White - His
2018 Audi Allroad - Floret Silver - Hers

94touring

#683
Yeah I don't know why the VW crowd uses such high spring pressures.  The cam profiles, push rod and valve keeper weights perhaps.  From the vast amount of reading I've done, my cam profile is considered good for single HD springs. But when you add in the 1.25 rockers somw people say go with dual springs.  But others say no issues with single.  So I went with the slightly stiffer singles with the shims. 

Today's work involved making a "drip shield" as I'm calling it for this h20 injection.  If it was a turbo I'd just run 4 nozzles to each barrel on my twin idf40 webbers, but since this is naturally aspirated I can only run the smallest nozzle dead center between the ram pipes on each webber assembly without flooding it out with water given the power output of the motor.  So... since the float bowl is directly below and I don't want water in that, I have this shield in place to collect any droplets and direct them to the ram pipe mouth.  Most of the mist should get sucked in with the engine running anyway.  Did a test on the bench with it spraying a larger nozzle than what I'm using for a full minute and no water drops below.  Everything made it to the intake like it's supposed to. I did need to add a gasket under the ram pipes and a rubber seal on the threaded rods that go through the drip shield to completely keep water from below.

94touring

While things are out decided to replace the battery. I miss the days a battery was 60-80 bucks. A couple times this year this battery couldn't get the starter going, it is almost 5 years old now.  Probably doesn't help with higher compression and those 340lb springs!  Old battery is still good enough to keep on a trickle charger in the shop to run my winch and for other various projects that pop up. Have another dead battery out of something taking up space that can be used for the core exchange.  Anyways, going from 590 cold cranking amps to 800 and a much higher 20 hour AH rating. Exciting stuff lol

MiniDave

Exciting prices too! Jeez louise...
Complete failure at retirement - but getting better!

1972 Mini Racing Green
1972 Mini ST hotrod
2017 Audi Allroad - Glacier White - His
2018 Audi Allroad - Floret Silver - Hers

94touring

$213 and that's after $36 in discounts!

MiniDave

I'm scared to see what the battery for one of these Allroads will cost - it's freakin huge cause they have the start/stop tech.

Edit: Checking the web, aftermarket suppliers range from $365 - 407. Good news tho, the silver 2018 has a sticker that says it was replaced in Feb 2024!
Complete failure at retirement - but getting better!

1972 Mini Racing Green
1972 Mini ST hotrod
2017 Audi Allroad - Glacier White - His
2018 Audi Allroad - Floret Silver - Hers

cstudep

Batteries are getting ridiculously expensive for sure, I need to replace the battery on my dump trailer and it's around $400. I will probably just replace it with a much smaller one, I just won't get as many dump cycles out of it before it dies.

Red Riley

I don't know if it's the same everywhere, but I've been going to Batteries Plus for a while now. They have lifetime replacement on car batteries. The guy told me just to bring the battery in before the warranty date and they hand me a new one no questions asked. Pretty good deal, I'd say.

94touring

Quote from: Red Riley on January 10, 2025, 06:50:24 AMI don't know if it's the same everywhere, but I've been going to Batteries Plus for a while now. They have lifetime replacement on car batteries. The guy told me just to bring the battery in before the warranty date and they hand me a new one no questions asked. Pretty good deal, I'd say.

That's where I got this one. Bought the last 2 there.  I need to remember this.

Mudhen

We just had the battery replaced in our 2020 Evoque - ouch.  Looking at the entire circuit board sitting on top of it and not having a way to register it I had it done at a local indy shop.  $800.  More than the last r53 we bought!