FTO AUSTRALIA

I took the plenum to southside and he had a look and said it's a lot of work to redo and would be very expensive for them to do the work (and we're not talking a few hundred dollars here). He seems like an honest and nice guy and gave me numbers of a couple of guys that may be able to do it cheaper as they don't have much work on.

But he also said if the only reason i'm wanting it redoing is because of a leak (and I think it's the end tanks that I put on) he said the best option is to trace the leak and then fix that - hell of a lot cheaper and easier.
So i'm going to do that - fix the leak and then let him face the flange.

Cool I used to live there behind the caltex and hjs
But now I'm down Buso way

I've made a gasket for the plenum from 1mm gasket paper and bolted the plenum on again (already got a standard metal gasket plus a phenolic one) and it bolted up nice, tried smaller feeler gauges (0.04mm) and can't get them in so I think i'm ok at least just for this testing phase. (may get it properly faced later).

I've also cut the end tanks off the plenum/charge cooler as I thought that's where my leak was so I inspected inside them while I filled the air chambers with water - there was leaking but not air to water more air to air where my brazing wasn't good enough so i'm fairly confident that I won't get water leaking into the air chamber (and ultimately into the engine).
I've put the end tanks back on using chemi weld stuff and silicone (yes it's a right bodge job) and plastered it around all my external welds so I don't have vac/boost leaks. I've also got some rad stop leak which i'm going to use in the charger cooler core just in case and also made a removable plug with a tyre valve built in so I can pressure test it in my big sink and look for bubbles. But for now i'm not putting any water through it anyway and need to get this running!

Just got to adjust the brackets a little before refitting the charger and I think i'm good to go, another startup tomorrow hopefully.

Started it up this morning after more adjustments last night and the belt stayed on - hooray!
I can see though that the alignment still isn't perfect so very slight adjustment is required otherwise I will be putting undue load on the charger bearings and idler bearings (and probably alternator bearings since that's the drive).

Revs are better now (not at 6000rpm like they were the other day) but now idling at around 3500 and sort of surging so need to find the leak and figure out what the surging/hunting is about. Actually i'm wondering if it's purely because of the leak and when I fix that all will be ok as it's like the ecu is seeing more air from the stock map sensor (which it would do if revs are at 3K) but the TPS is saying throttle closed as it is acting a bit like a badly adjusted TPS even though this hasn't been touched.

Just had another look and there was a 6mm hole in the plenum - where i'd forgot to put one of the bypass valve bolts in! I'm hoping that'd be the cause of my vac leak - 6mm is plenty big enough I reckon.
I've now put the bolt in with some sealant around the threads and just waiting for that the cure before I restart it.

Yep I would say that would do it.

If you've ever taken off the brake booster vacuum hose and left it off for a while, you'd be surprised how high the revs can go.
Add to that the fuel smell from the extra burn and then the lumpy running of the engine with it.

So it wouldn't surprise me it's just a vac leak somewhere.

Revs now between 2500 and 3000 surging, damn bloody damn!
Take the TPS connector off and the revs rise slightly but no surging.
Anyone got any tips for finding the leak?
I haven't used any liquid gasket stuff yet and still have a visibly warped plenum flange remember, just used 1mm gasket paper + normal metal gasket + phenolic gasket as a temporary measure.
I don't mind getting the plenum faced but want to rule out other stuff first and yeah when I up the boost will defo need the plenum facing.

Get yourself an incense stick or something that can generate a steady stream of smoke and move it around until you see where it's being sucked in.

Shane001 wrote:Get yourself an incense stick or something that can generate a steady stream of smoke and move it around until you see where it's being sucked in.

Thanks Shane I will give that a go.

Idle is now at 2000rpm after using liquid gasket maker stuff but still not good enough.
On top of that I can feel a bit of suction on the inlet for the charge cooler and no way should air be getting in so that's something else to sort out.

At least you're getting there

The revs dropping is like a count down to the finish.

I know i'm so close to driving this thing (and getting a video up).
I've got colder plugs ordered and a boost gauge too.
Then it will be smaller pulley to up the boost and small rad and pump for the charge cooler (asuming I can stop the leak).

I've just pulled the charger off again to adjust the mountings for it again as I reckon it needed moving over another couple of mm - much happier with it now.
Onto finding and sealing that bloody vac leak.

Plenum back on, charger will be back on shortly and starting her up again later.
Anyone hazard a guess as to what the idle rpm will be? (hope it's lower than 2000)

1800 :p

lawl.

I'm going for 1700

2000 till warm then 1300

Very close vipfto and Astron but Technikhaus was spot on, revs were at about 1800 cold which isn't too bad really, didn't let it warm up as it's pretty late so will see properly tomorrow.
AFR at 11:1 by the way due mainly to being on cold start map while warming up, 275cc injectors and new IK24 plugs (well I hope that's why).
I'm hoping that when warmed up it will be much better, alignment looks much improved too.
If I can close the bonnet tomorrow I may go for a little drive (hell I may just whack some washers under the bonnet brackets for now).

Revs at 1500 after warm up :9
I don't have an air filter on at the moment, will they drop at all when I do or will it only be about 50rpm?
I have a loose wire on the TPS connector which I need to sort as i'm intermittantly getting engine management light on and error code 14.
I also don't like my jubilee clips on the charger outlet to plenum as there's so little space at the bottom the clips are overlapping which may be why revs are still a little high so I need to find a solution to this (some kind of narrower clips)

Here's a quick video, nothing much to see really and not impressive at all - apart from it not blowing up.
http://s248.beta.photobucket.com/user/R ... 1.mp4.html