What have you done to your car today?

Akagi · 15 Jul 2018 at 15:14

Diagro said:
Why did it take so long? I changed the front shocks, springs and top mounts on my MPS Friday evening. Took just under 3 hours.

Did the front and rears, and your car isn't getting on for 30 years old. Hit a few snags as you might expect. Notice the gas bottle and the angle grinder laying around...

Had to go and buy a couple of tools part way through as well. Was probably more like 7 hours because of having to go out, also having food etc. But still a long time.

Cookeh said:
4 hours front and rear shocks, springs and mounts on my 850. Why did it take so long indeed? Also, whats with the buckets?! Oh, and for 'new' struts they look very rusty?

The struts arent new, the shock inserts go inside the struts. The shocks and springs and top mounts are new. Buckets were to rest the brake calipers on so they weren't dangling by the brake pipes.

Cookeh · 15 Jul 2018 at 16:15

Aha, makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up. Buckets isn't a bad idea, I tend to just rest them on control arms but your method seems more stable!

Frozennova · 15 Jul 2018 at 16:23

Played musical ECUs

After swapping the engine back in April I had loose earth and the Megasquirt decided to stop communicating with anything, so asked about an ME221 I was promised which did the job.

While it's a decent bit of hardware, I still prefer MS. Found a couple burnt traces on the board (the important one being the ground for the serial port). Soldered jumper wires in to replace the burnt traces and ordered some potting compound to make sure they aren't going anywhere and it's as good as new

JRS · 15 Jul 2018 at 16:23

Filled the Landy up today. On the old twin-choke Weber carb even after jetting it down and trying really hard it never averaged much better than 9 mpg. On the new/old/rebuilt Zenith it did 15.6 mpg on the last tank. And that includes a lot of running on the driveway while tuning, and all the mileage being urban.

Reckon we'll make back the cost of the carb and fixings in short order. Especially if I can find a buyer for the Weber DCD.

Gaijin · 16 Jul 2018 at 12:27

Frozennova said:
Played musical ECUs

After swapping the engine back in April I had loose earth and the Megasquirt decided to stop communicating with anything, so asked about an ME221 I was promised which did the job.

While it's a decent bit of hardware, I still prefer MS. Found a couple burnt traces on the board (the important one being the ground for the serial port). Soldered jumper wires in to replace the burnt traces and ordered some potting compound to make sure they aren't going anywhere and it's as good as new

I'd be interested in hearing your opinion as a comparison - what are the pros and cons of each?

Have you swapped back to the MS?

Phemo · 16 Jul 2018 at 14:51

Well, I drove the car today for the first time after changing the split intercooler hose for a new silicone one. Much better - made 150 miles without throwing up any engine malfunction warnings, the thing feels a lot quicker and fuel economy is massively improved. As I said in a previous post, fuel economy isn't exactly a major priority or I would've bought a different car and I wouldn't have had it remapped, but 36mpg from a relatively modern diesel over 200 miles of motorway driving at legal speeds is not right. All seems to be good now though so that's a result. Also the battery didn't go flat and was still showing 12.65v after being sat idle for 3 days, so I must have left the boot open or something before for it to completely drain. Now I can leave the damn thing alone.

Frozennova · 16 Jul 2018 at 17:17

Gayjin said:
I'd be interested in hearing your opinion as a comparison - what are the pros and cons of each?

Have you swapped back to the MS?

Back to MS, more due to personal preference than anything else.

Pros/Cons there aren't a huge amount.

ME221: Easier to order, faster to arrive
Phone, email, ticket based support
Marginally better basemaps
General purpose tables ( Alllows you to control any output either on/off or PWM based on any combination of 1/2 inputs)

MS2 ( and MS3 to a degree as Reverant no longer produces any MS2 units):
MS2 Cheaper (MS3 same price maybe £50 more)
Support for Oil temp and pressure inputs - CELs on MS2, CELs and limp mode on MS3
MS3 has native USB, SD card logging, traction control
Subjective but better software

While support on the ME221 is better, I never needed any support with MS but there is plenty of information all over forums etc.

I had some issues with ME221:-

Overboost protection when triggered wouldn't re-enabled spark until ignition was cycled ( Fine if you set it to cut fuel only, likely a beta firmware issue)

I found their closed loop fuel control, auto tune and the Long Term trim feature to be less accurate and stable compared to the Autotune in MS. LTT would be killer if it worked as well as I'd like as you wouldn't even need a laptop connected to correct fuel tables.

Closed loop boost control wasn't as accurate as MS (Admittedly I'm expecting a lot more than most people with the way I taper additional boost in past 5500rpm) but it flat out ignored the inital duty table ( possibly beta firmware related) which meant it would either not maintain boost targets, wildly overshoot on spool or osciallate horribly.

For 99% of people I'd recommend the ME221, they aren't going to be worried about any of the things I didn't like as they're going to fit it, load a basemap and drive to a tuner. If I was building another from scratch I'd stick with MS

Gaijin · 17 Jul 2018 at 08:44

Thanks for that Phil - good to know.

Armageus · 17 Jul 2018 at 09:06

Looked at Ford etis for something this morning and now have a Field Service Action listed:

Outstanding Field Service Actions
18S07 - CROSS CAR LINE CLUTCH BURST.

Will give it a day or two and see if the service department rings me, if not will chase them and see what it involves

andy_mk3 · 17 Jul 2018 at 21:38

Armageus said:
Looked at Ford etis for something this morning and now have a Field Service Action listed:

Will give it a day or two and see if the service department rings me, if not will chase them and see what it involves

This literally came out today I think. It basically involves a PCM update which will put a warning light on the dash if it detects the clutch being slipped for a period of time, and will cut power. Also involves testing the clutch for slip, if it fails then new clutch.

andy_mk3 · 17 Jul 2018 at 21:46

I have no idea when I last gave an update on my car, it's been long though! Past few weeks I've been working on it every night after work to get it ready for a car show just gone. I literally got it MOT'd on Friday and got to the show for 7pm on Friday, definitely cutting it fine!

I still have a ton of things to finish off, but it is at least on the road!

For anyone that doesn't know, it's a B204 Saab engine with a GTX2867R turbo, plus a ton of other mods. Currently on running in miles, once they're done can start upping the boost, should be in excess of 400bhp once sorted.

Armageus · 17 Jul 2018 at 23:02

andy_mk3 said:
This literally came out today I think. It basically involves a PCM update which will put a warning light on the dash if it detects the clutch being slipped for a period of time, and will cut power. Also involves testing the clutch for slip, if it fails then new clutch.

Nice...

Reading up on it a bit more suggests that prolonged "slippage" can cause the clutch plate to explode, penetrating housing and causing fluid leak (which can then potentially ignite).

Ecoboost Nightmare facebook page doesn't make for great reading either

andy_mk3 · 17 Jul 2018 at 23:17

Armageus said:
Nice...

Reading up on it a bit more suggests that prolonged "slippage" can cause the clutch plate to explode, penetrating housing and causing fluid leak (which can then potentially ignite).

Ecoboost Nightmare facebook page doesn't make for great reading either

I think it's only likely to be an issue with poor driving. Although we've got a few customers on their 3rd or 4th clutch, each time they come out absolutely obliterated with no drive left at all, but never seen one explode!

I'll see what else I can find out on this recall, but the jist I got was a precaution to stop people riding the clutch rather than a fault that can occur at any time.

Jonnycoupe · 17 Jul 2018 at 23:34

Just changed the oil. Nice easy undertray to remove in typical honda fashion.

Akagi · 18 Jul 2018 at 00:17

Closed up the panel gap between my wing and my door, now have a panel gap too big in two other places. I cannot figure out where the millimetres are going to come from!

Armageus · 18 Jul 2018 at 06:48

Acme said:
Closed up the panel gap between my wing and my door, now have a panel gap too big in two other places. I cannot figure out where the millimetres are going to come from!

Something bent?

Akagi · 18 Jul 2018 at 17:04

Armageus said:
Something bent?

Im not sure. The wings might be slightly bent but they look fine. I guess the brackets on the back might be bent.

Someone's helping me with it on Sunday.

GhostWKD · 18 Jul 2018 at 20:17

Its come out of its hiding hole

Akagi · 18 Jul 2018 at 21:11

Oooh its back together then!

Armageus · 18 Jul 2018 at 21:12

Can't help but feel it's missing something