Dico's project

[rip]

Someone once gave me something to think about...

"Lotus spent millions of pounds and years of testing when they made that car. And you go and cock it all up with a few quids worth of extras". I didn't quite agree, but they've got a point!

Watertight roof
Superb front brakes
Steel-cylindered rear calipers
A nice strong roll structure

Some understandable compromises which made the car a reality.

[Dico]

All did appear to be going well after the headgasket change, so long as I keep the boost down below 1.1 bar. Anything much above this and it cuts out completely (with no engine lights) and will only start if I unplug the 3 bar map sensor for a while. However it did cut out on me the other day whilst poodling around in 2nd gear at 5mph. Again, only by unpluging the map sensor for a short while could I get it to start.
Anyway, I'll leave well alone for the time being. Elanscans needed at some point.

Next problem I have is a leaking rear brake caliper. Only been on a couple of months and covered less than 2000 miles. We were hoping to fix this at home (thanks for the seals Bob), but after removing and inspecting it yesterday found it was leaking in two places.
Ah well, time to sample Hi-Specs legendary cr@p aftersales service.

[rip]

Elanscans needed at some point.

How far are you from Huddersfield? I'll be there on Saturday 28th.

[Dico]

Thanks for the offer Rippers but I've a feeling I still wont have any brakes on that date.
About 30 minutes tops btw. Maybe quicker still with no brakes?

[ailwyn]

Dico,

Where is the leak on your caliper(s)? Is it the seal between the body and handbrake mechanism?

Ta

A.

[Dico]

Yes Ailwyn. And Roy from Hi Spec guessed it was before I even had chance to tell him, and proceeded to tell me it was a rar occurance... Mentioned something about there being a technique to applying the handbrake

It also appeared to be leaking from one of the pistons.

Posted it 1st class yesterday.

Btw, just the one caliper. I think...


edited due to cr@p spelling

[rip]

Roy from Hi Spec guessed it was before I even had chance to tell him, and proceeded to tell me it was a rare occurance...

Mentioned something about there being a technique to applying the handbrake

Apart from pressing the button & pulling the lever?

[Jackonicko]

Someone (if only I still had braincells and memory) was talking about this at Abingdon t'other day.

Think it was Alan C who has Hi-Specs front and back.

Apparently they don't take kindly to pulling on the handbrake when pressure is being applied on the brake pedal. You need to smoothly be releasing one as you apply the other?

A f*cking joke? Completely unacceptable? Rendering the back brakes unfit for purpose?

Yep, that's what I thought, too. But Alan C was quite earnest about it.

[Alan_C]

I was told by Hi Spec that when applying the handbrake I mustn't do so with full foot pressure on the footbrake, I should ease off. Doing so could "nip" (Hi Spec's word) the handbrake piston seals causing them to leak. They said I should have got an instruction manual on how to operate them, but I didn't. I must admit, I'm not that impressed with the handbrake on the Hi Specs; they're hydraulic (actually illegal to use on a UK road car, against construction & use regulations), but that aside, they don't work that well, I need to pull the handbrake lever on really hard in order to get the handbrake to hold the car. They initially failed the MOT on lack of effiency. Nothing wrong with my setup, properly bled, pads and discs worn in, brand new handbrake cables. I ended up having to modify the pivot on the handbrake lever in order to get more force into the cables to operate the caliper levers at a higher force. And they still only just got through the MOT at 17% efficiency, the pass is 16%. I queried with Bob and he refered me back to Hi Spec, they made them, not him. Anyone else with Hi Spec rears have a low effiency handbrake?

[RayD]

Are there any pictures of the mechanism available?


Ray

[Dico]

Mine too scraped through the MOT with 17% efficiency, with an advisory.
No pics I'm afraid as I'm currently bladdered.

[ailwyn]

Mine has sat off the road without MOT as I can't get the handbrake right, takes two hands to lift the handbrake three clicks and then it just about holds the car... I had both my gold calipers start weeping on the seal so I swapped to my black ones but have no faith at all that they won't start to leak too

[Alan_C]

So that's 3 of us not happy with the handbrake mechanism, this is starting to paint a picture...... I also can't find any information on the Hi Spec website for the Ultralite 2 HB caliper. I'm now thinking that this http://www.hispecbrake.co.uk/calipers/sva_spot.htm would be a better handbrake option, but need to figure how to mount it. Bob - any thoughts?

[RayD]

Paul,

From what’s been said it would be better put the original callipers ones back on – get a full refund from HiSpec and wait until they sort out the design. Asking for enough to cover labour charges might help the process along.

While we automatically apply the handbrake without having to think, I’m pretty sure most people do it with their foot on the brake. If it damages the seals each time or causes hydraulic fluid to leak it's unacceptable as Jon says.

Instantly guessing what the problem is with a “a rare occurrence” is a good trick.

HiSpec need asking if the handbrake leverage problem is simply a leverage problem or another design fault. If it's relying on a certain amount of remote leverage they ought to be able to say what the requirement is.

Ray

[Steve A]

Sounds like we need a new thread,something along the lines of "The Hi spec rear calliper leaking and poor hand brake performance problems"
This is not what I wanted to read having ordered a set of rears this is after suffering from all the standard calliper issue's.
Oh well I thought there a bit pricey but at least I'll have some decent rear callipers
As far as not being able to apply the hand brake with your foot on the brake, that's a complete joke, what if you live on a hill side ?
Imagine selling your car and saying to the buyer oh and by the way mate "you can't etc ", he'd run a mile ! I know I would

[Dave Eds]

Thankyou Steve for giving Dico his thread back!

Steve's new brake thread here - please use it!

[rip]

Scan of the beast...taken earlier today.
Dico was unsure that the O2 sensor was working. Looks ok to me: Bouncing up & down around a target value while off-boost, then levelling out while on-boost is exactly what I would expect.
Boost seems to max out at around 0.7bar. It was definitely way more than that. I guess this is the ECU being fooled into thinking there is less boost than the true value. I remember reading somewhere that this is how the 3bar MAP sensor works??

[saska]

Scan of the beast...taken earlier today.
Dico was unsure that the O2 sensor was working. Looks ok to me: Bouncing up & down around a target value while off-boost, then levelling out while on-boost is exactly what I would expect.

I'd agree the O2 sensor is definitely showing up in both voltage and the integrator.

Boost seems to max out at around 0.7bar. It was definitely way more than that. I guess this is the ECU being fooled into thinking there is less boost than the true value. I remember reading somewhere that this is how the 3bar MAP sensor works??

The initial barometer reading (ignition on) is just slightly under 0.70Bar so probably ~0.30Bar low of actual baro reading.
If you then add the 0.30Bar to the MAP and boost readings it would appear the max boost during the run is ~1.05
Other comments on the scan:
1. There are 18 knock events -- I'd think only 8 are significant as the last 10 appear to be at ignition off. If you map the Elanscan with Time on X-Axis and Boost on left Y-Axis and Knock Counter on right Y-Axis you can see the knock events occur with the onset of high boost (add ~0.30 bar to the boost). You can also map the knock events against RPM and see they occur over 4000 RPM
2. At 3 of the above they were serious enough that spark retard was applied.
3. 4000 wastegate overboost events are recorded though they may be historical as none were recorded during the ES run
4. Spark advance seems to be much lower than 16 degrees at idle -- between 4-10 at the end of the scan @ 975 - 1000 rpm

[Dico]

Thanks Rips and Tony.

I've no idea what to do with that info, if anything at all. Some of it sounds quite serious tho

[GeoffSmith]

Looks like you're retarded Silver.