Longlife......and a long day

[davidjt]

Just back from a slog up M20/M25 to Carshalton; 'Mike the Pipe's' old 'shop, now part of 'Longlife Exhausts'. Seems a professional custom job, BUT ripped off on the cost, which really pisses me off.
The (expensive) quote 'from the down-pipe' doesn't include a ten inch horizontal section from the 'Stiffy' to the crossmember: so that's an extra £50. Unless of course I want a 2" restriction slap in the middle of the system. Having taken a day off work, and with a timetable to keep to, I reluctantly gave in.

Coming home, first impressions are better breathing, but a lot noisier, which I guess I'll get used to.
Then the gearchange starts feeling slightly clunky.......new cables in need of adjustment?
Ten miles further on the speedometer packs up. Oh merde! - the gearbox oil filler?????
Then the engine warning light comes on.......
Guages all reading OK, so trickle to the nearest exit, pissing off the slow lane in the process, stop, no visible leaks; no obvious overheating; start car: engine light comes on; engine light goes off. Scratch head. Drive home. Carefully. ]
Arrive a nervous wreck.

Think about answering that ad for a 944 turbo, but it doesn't really have the character, does it?

[Monty]

Oops

I know u`ve had a the quaife fitted, so the gearbox has been out. Might be one of the clips holding the gear cable to the bracket has come lose and on the speedo, i just hope for u`r sake that it`s not the speedo drive gear thats has come off U did fit a new one?

Check the code for engine light?

[stevo]

the cel might be over boost, did you port the wastegate or have you fitted the chip?

[davidjt]

Well, the good news is that SW thinks the cables simply need adjusting, the warning light was just a blip while the management system acclimatised to the new pipe (but he'll check the code) and the speedo shouldn't be serious; he reckons there was a new gear in the Quaife already.

So, hopefully, bigger injectors on Friday, + mapping go ahead as planned.
Wonder if the new boost guage will arrive in time?

Thanks for the support: next time, I'll unwind by typing it all out, and then just delete it. Now that I've simmered down, I may just drop a hint to Longlife on why business is so slack.......

[Nige]

Improperly fitted or broken speedo cable will give the dodgy speedo and a CEL as the drive at the speedo end also operates the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS). I would expect the 2 to be related. Sounds to me as though when fitting your Quaife they managed to mess up the cable adjustment and refitting the speedo drive into the gearbox. Worth looking to see what's holding the speedo drive into the gearbox in my recent experience it was just the O ring, so no surprise it came out, giving the dodgy speedo and CEL you describe.

[davidjt]

Thanks, Nige; I'll find out tomorrow. I think it may be overboosting, since a (tentative) bootful brought the light back on this morning. It's going to be interesting, as it was the slight turbo-lag (and the fact that it's supposed to be on restricted boost) which lulled me for a second, and then wham!

Just hoping I don't finish up having to use an external wastegate; I know it makes sense, but this project has 'crept' too far already.

Assuming I make it to Donny with the engine in one piece, I may try to take up one of the Elanscan offers, to push the learning curve some more.

[davidjt]

In case anyone else is interested, the gearbox is coming off again!
Obviously, when the quaife went in, someone didn't put it all together properly, and the net result is chewed-up plastic in the gearbox; I hope we don't fall out when the bill arrives - suspect he's smart enough not to actually itemise the second atttempt, but to make it up elsewhere.

SJ's are supplying a new drive gear, but say that it's impossible to know what else may be damaged intil the box has been dropped, so looks like it's off the road for at least another week.

At this rate, the car will be worth about half what I've spent on it.

WHY DO WE DO THIS????

[Monty]

Sorry to hear of u`r troubles, i had a feeling it was the Plastic speedo drive. Expecting to get my box back before the end of the month and hope it doesn`t do the same. Being plastic, hopefully it`s done no damage

Glad i haven`t gone for the turbo upgrade at this point (mine u i`ve spent to much as it is ) as it looked like a pain in the ass and a wee bit complicated for my little head. I`m hoping to do something similar to Sy and change the compressor wheel and hopefully do what costas did and use a chip + MBC and fuel regulator, but i`m still learning alot from u guys.

Keep us up to date on u`r project

[davidjt]

At the moment, all attempts to run with more boost are producing too much lag, i.e. zilch below 4000+ rpm.

I'm a bit long in the tooth to go roaring round the village like a boy racer, so today's favoured solution is to chuck the hybrid away and start again!

Tomorrow - who knows?