The final push

It's the the 7th July and I've still not booked IVA....I think I'm ready but....but....but what!. I should just bloody book it and quit with the excuses.

A few general updates.

Rear view mirror, now installed, it needs to be high enough to get over the rear engine. This should do. I madeit from ally, and grafted on the puma mirror.

Also completed was some water proofing to the rear, in an attempt to shield some of the grime from the rear wheels.

More on the vct system

Here are a few additional graphs showing the operation of the vct system in just an on/off mode.

• Run 3 is with VVT on all the way
• Run 4 is with VVT off all the way
• Run 8 is with VVT on up to 5500 and off after, plus final tweaks on fuel and
  ignition.

What really stands out is the additional mid range that it fills, and clearly the cam is capable of making power high up the rev range (normally compramised with the mid and low down).

Will try and writ some more on this interesting subject when I get chance.

Engine set up - Does VCT work?

Friday was a big day for the Sylva J15. It was time to get the engine tuned and ready for IVA.

I have used Northampton Motorsports many times in the past, and find them nothing but perfectly professional, pleasant to deal with and talk to and most importantly...bloody good at their job. You also know that the power you end with is real and not just beefed up pub fodder.

We kicked of at around 12:30pm, and the engine was all over the place. It would not idle, and there was something not quite right...we ended up tracing the issue down to a TPS sensor not allowing one of the butterflies to close, and the bleed screws leaking. Once sorted, we had a good tick over, and the car was ready for mapping.

Now, this was always going to be an interesting one. There has been many, many threads about the function of the variable valve timing system on the st170 and puma 1.7 engine. The system used by ford is continuously variable, but the Omex 600 in the J15 will only do on/off control. The question really is, will this work?.

The answer is yes, and it worked very well. Troy at NMS, did some power runs with the VCT fully on, and with it fully off.

• With it on, the tick over and first 2000 rpm were compromised, but mid range looked good, with power trailing off beyond 6000rpm
• With it off, tick over was fine, but the mid range was low, but top end power looked good with the engine puling right up to 7200rpm.

So, with these two plots overlayed, it was very clear where to turn the vct on, and where to turn it off again. This is done via the alt function in Omex, and also you can specify the throttle load, so if your are cruising gently, you can have the vct off.

Anyway, what was the result of all of this. Headline figures were a stonking 155bhp, but decent torque in the mid. You can see the plot shows the kick at 5800rpm, where VCT is disengaged. The curve is smooth, and the engine is bog standard apart from the Throttle bodies, and exhaust. so up from the 125 hp of the puma by 30bhp. Very pleased...I took the car for a sneaky drive down the industrial estate and it felt suitably fast. The next step was the emissions ...and with the addition of the CAT, it sailed through without any further alterations to the fuel map. All in all, a great day out :-)

Wheel arch protection and lighting

Not a massive amount done of late, but at least the rear lights are now completed and working. If you have been reading the blog, then you will no I opted not to use the lights that came with the kit for no other reason than I found the LED autolamps all in one units to be a good fit with style and ethos of the car I'm building. The LED units mean the drilling and mounting is easier as they sit on the fibreglass rather than poking through it, it also means the rear of the lights are less exposed to the inner wheel arch environment.

The fog, reverse and number plate lights are also LED, and suitably bright as can be seen in the pic below.

Other additions to J15 include some font inner arches to at least 'try' to keep the inevitable road grime away from the rest of the car...quite how effective this will be remains to be seen. I actually made them from the same material they use for most production cars. It's a plastic which is bendy enough to go around corners, lined with some rubber finishing strip. It's simply bolted into the panels that close of the end of the sills. More of this stuff needs to be strategically deployed around the car, but all in good time.

 Last but not least for May 2014.....what car would not look complete without a huge black dot on the side!. Number to be decided.....might put my age when I finished the car!

Next step...wire font lights and rolling road.

Stripes

The stripes are done!. So basically, this is how the car will look (apart from perspex headlight covers). I think the three way stripe looks good. The application was 'fairly' straight forward once I actually figured out that the soapy water method of fixing was indeed the best way to do it.

Of course, this should have been the last job, but it's yet another distraction from the lights wiring :-)

Congratulations.......it's twins!.

This potentially could have been my most inspired moment of the entire build!

With the rear down and located, the exhaust tail was slightly off centre, not that noticeable but yet another one of those things that annoyed the hell out of me. The solution.........well, I could extend the tail section (pre the 90 degree bend) by an inch...hummm, yes......or, I could add another exhaust. Never one to take the easy route out, the twin exhaust (you get the post title now?) was what I decided to do. Another tail section and a 90 degree bend purchased, and some grovelling to the welder, and yes, we have a twin exhaust....and before you ask....yes, it works, it's not fake, we cut out a section in the other exhaust tail section so exhaust gas comes out of both pipes.

It's another one of those things that I think really suits the car....Very pleased

Another 'looks enhancing' item I've been pondering is the stripes. I toyed with a few ideas, but settled on either twin stripes, or one thick and two thin....I think I prefer the latter....decision made.

Arches are complete, light's still need doing, then off to the rollers for a tune up.

Moved under it's own steam

Yes, that's right...the J15 drove out of the garage under it's own puff. I meant to video it, but was so excited I forgot. That's not all that's been going on though. I've genuinely been doing allot of thinking / head scratching over the hinging of the rear clam. The decision was made some time ago to forward hinge, but there are so many variables such as; how do I secure the sides, where should the hinges go, how does the rear lock down, how is it going to fit around the exhaust, clear the wheels, etc, etc. best bet was just to bite the bullet, fit the hinges (bought from a local Chandler's) and get on with it.

So, here goes, the story thus far:

First off, the strength of the central tub where it spans the car behind the roll hopes is thin. Again, it's probably ok, but I wanted to be sure that the heavy rear clam would be held securely, so, I fabricated up some brackets with some M6 riv nuts.

 These were then bolted to the chassis, and the central tub dropped down on to them...it seems straight forward, but getting the height exactly right was a bit of a pig.

 Hinges attached...job done.

Moving onto the sides and rear securing......

Rather than add more catches, I opted to go for some locating lugs...Put simply, they pop in to the rear of sills, and stop the fibreglass springing out when the rear is closed.

Finally, the very rear.....This ended up working really well..using the existing bar that comes with the kit for the rear hinges (if you want to hinge the clam backwards), I simply added some protective plastic 22mm tubing, then made some cut outs in the fibre glass that act as a clip. you get a nice reassuring thud as it all closes.

Finally, to keep this lot down, some spring clips....

Moving on...all the rear lights are fitted (but not wired up yet). Again, I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I ditched the lights that came with the kit, and went for some e marked LED units. They are slightly smaller, but I think they look good with a bit of di-noc to form a surround. Number plate lights x 2 (also LED), and the fog and reverse lights fitted on some simply aluminium brackets....End result looks like this:

If you have been reading this blog, will know about my fight to use the image split rims I refurbished. To do this the arches needed extending. I had a few attempts of home made arches, but alas, could not get it right....So purchased some mini ones!. They are not quite finished yet as they do need tome cutting and bending, but you get the idea. The end result is exactly what I was after, an aggressive stance and an increased track, which should further help the handling...I think it looks rather good if I do say so myself.

Last pics....but it shows the access you get to the engine with the hinges where they are.

Until next time!..........