Spenser's Street FD
- Thread starter spenser8797
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2022
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- 66
Yep it is... Haltech on a pnp adaptor with a sub-harness for lambda, boost solenoid & pressure + temp sensors, coils also on a pnp kit from the factory igniter. What confuses me is why we're seeing extra issues now, issues we didn't see (or at least I didn't know about) before it blew up. But right now it's not worth the troubleshooting time on what is a pretty old bundle of mess!
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2022
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- 66
I'm a very happy boy right now...
So yep the car got over to Phil at XDR and he began his work. He found some fairly questionable stuff and decided to get the dash out to sort everything out...
Messy stuff:
Now the engine loom has been redone, lots ot junk deleted from in the car, I've got extra provisions in case I want to run a dash or upgrade ECU, fuel pump rewired, WMI now controlled by the ECU, repaired damaged wires from under the arch and tidied a few bits up. My BTI display is in, and he's already tinkered and configured one of the CAN outputs for boost control!
Proof of life below! We are very nearly there, it's effectively ready for an MOT now. So that's the plan, get a ticket on it, get it back to Stu/ Jay for a bit of a road tune for running in and then I can collect - buzzing!
So yep the car got over to Phil at XDR and he began his work. He found some fairly questionable stuff and decided to get the dash out to sort everything out...
Messy stuff:
Now the engine loom has been redone, lots ot junk deleted from in the car, I've got extra provisions in case I want to run a dash or upgrade ECU, fuel pump rewired, WMI now controlled by the ECU, repaired damaged wires from under the arch and tidied a few bits up. My BTI display is in, and he's already tinkered and configured one of the CAN outputs for boost control!
Proof of life below! We are very nearly there, it's effectively ready for an MOT now. So that's the plan, get a ticket on it, get it back to Stu/ Jay for a bit of a road tune for running in and then I can collect - buzzing!
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2022
- Messages
- 66
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2022
- Messages
- 66
The journey continues!
Phil finished the car (polished too!) and got it recovered back to Stu last week, who then worked with Jay to get the thing mapped for running in. All happy - car was making 10 psi and I have a 5k limit in place. They spent quite a bit of time getting the tune nice! I collected it on Saturday... First impressions - jesus the brap feels amazing. I don't know what I was expecting to feel, but it in/ around the car feels similar to an aggressively-cammed V8 chopping away! Driveability wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had in mind, my clutch probably helps there, there's definitely a buck to drive around but it didn't annoy me - which is good! Genuinely mega happy with the work from XDR & Rotor Torque! Great quality work, great progress & I was kept updated (which is massive for me!).
What happened next was interesting... I planned to drive up to Loughborough to see some family and put some miles on the car. However, after about 40 miles, I saw a puff of smoke and thought I could smell brakes... Carried on for a min, then decided to get off the motorway, at which point I noticed my brake light was on, and I was honestly thinking maybe I've got a stuck calliper, handbrake stuck on or whatever - then the pedal went very soft and I thought oh god, fluid problems... Saw a fair amount of smoke front right, looked under and saw fire! Ran for my extinguisher & put out what I saw from underneath. Stu mentioned he noticed my bonnet cable had melted and I might need to use pliers to open, but luckily it opened no issues! I think there was a small flame on the DP/ near my blanket as I remember caking it in powder, but honestly it's a panic blur now
. At first I thought my blanket caught alight, as I'd heard that was possible. I ran out of powder so started cooling things down with the water had, things were pretty damn hot... Once the adrenaline left I realised the heat caused the brake fluid reservoir to dump fluid...
It does make me wonder why this didn't happen on the setup before though. Stu did mention it was running hotter and that he'd recommend a lower temp stat, I was seeing 95 degrees in traffic, which is more than I saw on the old setup. But my collection journey was fairly intense, warm ish day, fair amount of traffic, then a bit of M25 stop-start where I imagine the temps around the turbo kept climbing. The master cylinder was also new - maybe poorer quality? Possibly a combination of stuff going against me...
Next steps
Got the car recovered to Stu who is going to give the bay a clean, sort the master mess, change the stat, sort the bonnet cable & add some more heat management. My task is to sort the bonnet, which is where I'm stuck. There aren't a lot of vented bonnets that I like the look of, and I don't have the money right now for the one I like. So I'm planning to grab a standard bonnet and think of a duct/ vent solution that doesn't make me feel sick, is functional & is reasonably rainproof... FDs aye!!
Phil finished the car (polished too!) and got it recovered back to Stu last week, who then worked with Jay to get the thing mapped for running in. All happy - car was making 10 psi and I have a 5k limit in place. They spent quite a bit of time getting the tune nice! I collected it on Saturday... First impressions - jesus the brap feels amazing. I don't know what I was expecting to feel, but it in/ around the car feels similar to an aggressively-cammed V8 chopping away! Driveability wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had in mind, my clutch probably helps there, there's definitely a buck to drive around but it didn't annoy me - which is good! Genuinely mega happy with the work from XDR & Rotor Torque! Great quality work, great progress & I was kept updated (which is massive for me!).
What happened next was interesting... I planned to drive up to Loughborough to see some family and put some miles on the car. However, after about 40 miles, I saw a puff of smoke and thought I could smell brakes... Carried on for a min, then decided to get off the motorway, at which point I noticed my brake light was on, and I was honestly thinking maybe I've got a stuck calliper, handbrake stuck on or whatever - then the pedal went very soft and I thought oh god, fluid problems... Saw a fair amount of smoke front right, looked under and saw fire! Ran for my extinguisher & put out what I saw from underneath. Stu mentioned he noticed my bonnet cable had melted and I might need to use pliers to open, but luckily it opened no issues! I think there was a small flame on the DP/ near my blanket as I remember caking it in powder, but honestly it's a panic blur now
. At first I thought my blanket caught alight, as I'd heard that was possible. I ran out of powder so started cooling things down with the water had, things were pretty damn hot... Once the adrenaline left I realised the heat caused the brake fluid reservoir to dump fluid...It does make me wonder why this didn't happen on the setup before though. Stu did mention it was running hotter and that he'd recommend a lower temp stat, I was seeing 95 degrees in traffic, which is more than I saw on the old setup. But my collection journey was fairly intense, warm ish day, fair amount of traffic, then a bit of M25 stop-start where I imagine the temps around the turbo kept climbing. The master cylinder was also new - maybe poorer quality? Possibly a combination of stuff going against me...
Next steps
Got the car recovered to Stu who is going to give the bay a clean, sort the master mess, change the stat, sort the bonnet cable & add some more heat management. My task is to sort the bonnet, which is where I'm stuck. There aren't a lot of vented bonnets that I like the look of, and I don't have the money right now for the one I like. So I'm planning to grab a standard bonnet and think of a duct/ vent solution that doesn't make me feel sick, is functional & is reasonably rainproof... FDs aye!!
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2022
- Messages
- 66
Cheers guys, not ideal but I'm glad I was able to catch it!
I'm collecting a standard bonnet tomorrow after work... I've found a centre vent that I don't hate, planning to position it to help exhaust the hot fan air out. Then near the back, either a single NACA duct aimed at the turbo area, or with a matching one on the other side. Similar to what's on an R34 GTR V Spec II. Hopefully that'll be enough!
Basically a bit of a combination of all 3 pics below. In my head, I'd like this to cost under £750 - which I think is doable. There are cheaper GRP bonnets out there, but I don't like them unfortunately!
I'm collecting a standard bonnet tomorrow after work... I've found a centre vent that I don't hate, planning to position it to help exhaust the hot fan air out. Then near the back, either a single NACA duct aimed at the turbo area, or with a matching one on the other side. Similar to what's on an R34 GTR V Spec II. Hopefully that'll be enough!
Basically a bit of a combination of all 3 pics below. In my head, I'd like this to cost under £750 - which I think is doable. There are cheaper GRP bonnets out there, but I don't like them unfortunately!
Can you get an old school coach builder to put in a pair of louvres into a standard bonnet.
Example website.
sportscarmetalworks.com
Oem+
On early impreza they also had a turbo chimney. Basically a stack on top of the turbo with a small scoop on the bonnet to direct air onto the turbo.
Example website.
Bonnet Louvres -
Metal Mickey at Sports Car Metal Works has been louvring panels and bonnets since 1968 when he first louvred helicopter panels. He can usually louvre a bonnet on a next service and has louvred all types of vehicles e.g. Jaguar MKI & II, MK10, S-Types, XJS, Mini, MGA and MGB. We can make you a…...
sportscarmetalworks.com
Oem+
On early impreza they also had a turbo chimney. Basically a stack on top of the turbo with a small scoop on the bonnet to direct air onto the turbo.
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2022
- Messages
- 66
Can you get an old school coach builder to put in a pair of louvres into a standard bonnet.
Example website.
Bonnet Louvres -
Metal Mickey at Sports Car Metal Works has been louvring panels and bonnets since 1968 when he first louvred helicopter panels. He can usually louvre a bonnet on a next service and has louvred all types of vehicles e.g. Jaguar MKI & II, MK10, S-Types, XJS, Mini, MGA and MGB. We can make you a…...
Oem+
On early impreza they also had a turbo chimney. Basically a stack on top of the turbo with a small scoop on the bonnet to direct air onto the turbo.
Yep definitely a body shop job, this is way beyond me! I actually found a nice company that does ABS inserts like those on mean eye imprezas (ABS Motorsport, remembered them from my classic mini days) - but I like the look of naca ducts more. Then yeah the centre vent I've found should look nice - probably a little more aggressive than OEM+ but should work with the style of car I'm going for
Got the bonnet from a nice chap over in Hampshire, used to own a cool dragon performance-built FD.
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- Feb 28, 2022
- Messages
- 66
Sure isWow that's some metal flakehopefully the fire hasn't caused any major damage, good job you had a fire extinguisher with you.
fingers crossed & yep I keep one in each car as a just in case but never thought I'd have to use!!
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- Jan 7, 2018
- Messages
- 2,582
You might just find the thermostat is knackered, rather than needing a low temp one.
I had temperature issues, changed mine and it was rock steady then at 86 on cruise, would go up on boost them come back down.
However I dont see how that would have caused the fire, must be something wrong to cause everything to get that hot.
You could also do water injection.
You must have an undertray?
Im sure Stu will see you right anyway
I had temperature issues, changed mine and it was rock steady then at 86 on cruise, would go up on boost them come back down.
However I dont see how that would have caused the fire, must be something wrong to cause everything to get that hot.
You could also do water injection.
You must have an undertray?
Im sure Stu will see you right anyway
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- Feb 28, 2022
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Yep potentially & yes you're right, unlikely for it to get that hot without something being wrong... Turns out it was my clutch master that was new and not brake, so it may well have been knackered seals causing the fluid dump...
Currently running wmi, although it probably won't activate much where it's currently being driven, I do have an undertray too.
We're just waiting for a couple of bits to turn up and Stu will be on it again. He's also going to whack an EGT in the downpipe and double check the map, AFRs were sensible but doesn't harm to check!
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2022
- Messages
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The position hasn't changed from the pre-blow up setup to my knowledge... It's always been that sort of distance - it is definitely close but didn't cause a problem before at least (as in I hadn't ever felt fluid getting too hot through the pedal)!
