[dewismotorsport]

Quick test start and soon found out the throttle body relocation wouldn't work as it would need a second throttle plate on the end of the charger still because when the throttle is shut it just pumps air out the BOV, I made it so it unbolted and the feed pipe was swapped from the charger end. May re visit this at a latter date but for now BOV has been removed.

Needed more camber on the front coilovers and wanted to do away with the camber bolts as I find they can slip under hard driving, die grinder'd the holes longer and removed the tabs.
Also weighed the car and corner weighted it, I literally can't get anymore weigh out of it so I need to run 290-295bhp to be top of my power to weight class of 240bhp per ton after race weight with me in it.






So in the need to up the power I've added a much smaller 2.7"pulley, plan with going that small is to get good power from low down with the opportunity to limit the revs if need be to get the required power figure I need. I have the option to run unto 8k now with the valve springs but current cams may not be perfect that high up but I have bought a over sized alternator pulley to prevent me destroying the alternator if I do go that high



So with this Covid-19 crap dragging on, mapping has been canceled twice so I've dug out the old corsa turbo 3" exhaust, so will get round to making a new system for the astra before it does get mapped as thats one less restriction, current one is 2.5"


So also with the boredom of this pandemic I've had a few ideas, first off was to buy a Saab B207R engine so I could use the head, and crank for my shelved forged engine. The Saab crank has the correct stroke for what my LSJ pistons need, just need to buy some LSJ steel rods and a Saab TTV flywheel I'm all sorted. Bought this 82K engine off eBay with the plan to take the crank and head off it, will port the head at a later date for the forge engine build


Then bored on eBay one night this Saab 9-3 2.0L turbo B207R came up and ending the following morning, last few seconds bid and it was mine for £400 runs and drives just has a judder below 2k rpm when warm. Plan for it is to use the full engine loom, coil pack, sensors and T8 ECU and use the T8 suite to self map it. Basically a cheaper version of OBD tuner as this software is free. Might not work but speaking to some people who have mapped these ecu's they seem to believe it will work fine. I'm happy being the test dummy as nothing ventured nothing gained.
The box of tricks allows me to talk to the ecu once I knock up a OBD adaptor lead. Will copy the standard map of the car and then see how kitballows me to change it on the running car before I break the car for bits.

 

[nova16sv]

wow, massive update there mate. youve been busy.

good job getting all the work done, and scoring a 2nd in the racing.

looks like youve turned this coupe into a bit of a beast

 

[dewismotorsport]

wow, massive update there mate. youve been busy.

good job getting all the work done, and scoring a 2nd in the racing.

looks like youve turned this coupe into a bit of a beast

Yeah quarantine has allowed me to finally catch up as works just been so busy I don’t get any free time anymore.
I’ve hopefully finally ironed out all the niggles and 2nd in class out of 73 teams is not to be sniffed at.
Car is finally getting it where I want it, just the power to sort and I’m in a great place for when the season finally starts

 

[Gordo]

Haven't tried it, but you may be able to use half of a serrated washer (the sort that resists loosening) on each side with the fine teeth against the strut and the larger ranps against the nut - the serrations may 'bit' into the metal enough to securely lock it.

 

[dewismotorsport]

Being bored often leads to more eBay purchases, so here we have yet another B207R engine this time fully complete, will just sit on this one until I decide what my future plans are.


Another purchase was a OBD Tuner Ecu, also known as Dutch software. This is basically a standard Ecu but with witch craft inside to allow you to self map it as you would a aftermarket Ecu so I can now make my own adjustments in future.


Car was booked pre lockdown to have the original Ecu mapped so not wanting to lose my money I decided to just get them to do the wide open throttle stuff done on the dyno and I’d do the rest at a later date.
Decided I wanted to run the new Ecu on a 2.5 bar Tmap sensor and run a wideband sensor into it via the spare egr feed so stripped my original loom back to find the wires I needed to make that happen.
Also dug another spare astra loom out to label up before modifying to run the same.
Managed to get hold of a quad battery from work to use as my old battery had given up the ghost



Annoyingly before dyno day my obd elm 327 had got lost in the mail so I couldn’t do a lot of the basic settings before getting there which was annoying so had to push it onto the rollers which is never ideal.
At the rollers and up and running the WOT runs were done and few issues arouse in that the intake tubing was strangling it, car ran 1psi more boost without it so will re design a new airbox set up and the car needs aftermarket cams as it made no more power after 6800rpm so new limit of 7800rpm isn’t needed yet.


Few days later after the dyno my replacement reader finally turned up all be it with a snapped disc but after finding the drivers online I could finally get my own laptop linked up to the Ecu to do my own bits.


Took the car down to a mod test track and did some fuel learning runs and mapped them in, car runs so much smoother now and pulls like a train compared to old really rich map. You can put the Ecu into learn mode and drive it through the revs in closed loop and it stores the info, the cells go green once the Ecu has enough info for that box. Once saved all the blue cell’s are the ones I’ve changed, second is the finished (for now) ignition map.


Thought it would be rude not to take some pictures while I was down there as it was clean and shiny for a change.

 

[dewismotorsport]

Long overdue updated time!

So after the mapping session I ran the logs and realised I'd been maxing the 470cc injectors out


So decided to future proof myself a bit and got some new deka 660's and a 2.6" pulley.


Also got my hands on a ported Saab head thats had +1 inlet and exhaust valves, some stage 2 comp cams, timing ring and got a 6 rib bottom pulley.



Huge thanks to Joe at Max88 Performance for sourcing and supplying all the parts I need for the 2.0L B207R winter engine build.







Chopped up the Saab coil cover and modified it to fit the Z22SE coil pack, bit of trimming and spring stretching and it was done





Got the original supercharger back out and trimmed the snout to suit the smaller 2.6" pulley, trimmed all the excess lugs off it and gave it a fresh coat of paint and gear oil

 

[dewismotorsport]

Fitted the new larger (77mm) LS4 throttle body and made a cold air feed into the filter as the other wasn't performing as well as I hoped. Now draws some nice cold air from behind the cut out enlarged grill









Made a cold air feed for myself as when racing inside the car gets very hot, bought some 2" tube and a kit car vent that can be angled and closed if needed and ran it off the old cold air feed next to the brake duct. Works a treat with a nice bit of air coming in.




Restarted mapping and kept getting a throttle related fault codes P1514 and P1515, so I stripped the throttle body plug and replaced it as the clip had broke which wasn't securing it properly. Also re did the Tmap wires, shortening them and re wrapping.
Got rid of fault code P1514 but not the P1515, bit of research and turns out it can be from a air leak after the throttle body so at short notice Joe at Max88 Performance sent me a new charger gasket, also a timing ring fore the Saab lump so I can still run the OBD Tuner software and I stuck a new set of plugs in it.

 

[dewismotorsport]

Treated myself to a SPA oil pressure and oil temp gauge which has built in warnings, a new 4.9 sensor AEM UEGO Wideband and a AEM X series boost gauge which has a handy peak setting so I was able to do some runs and see how much boost I was getting. Peak boost was hitting 16.3 psi but I was still getting the fault issue on start up, idea and occasionally whilst driving. Found a possible leak on a intercooler pipe join which had maxed the clamp out so not making a full seal. Checked the spares box and typically of all the clamps I had, the were all the same size. With a track day the next day I made a temp fix.







Quick blast round the test track and belt decides to spit itself off and wrap round the snout before snapping, enough force to spin the pulley over and around (can see the marks don't line up) and crack the manifold.




Better to happen at work than at the track, whipped the car apart welded the inlet, sorted the pulley and put a new belt on and I was back in the game.

 

[dewismotorsport]

Early Morning drive up to Bedford on the 12th of October for the trackday, used the 3 sighting laps for a fuel learning session, came in and processed them and tweaked a bit more fuel out the top end.
Morning was eventful, had to pull over on the main straight when the bonnet started trying to lift as the bonnet pin was sat a tiny bit too high, adjusted that and was fine. Then got black flagged for noise, my exhaust has got a bit louder and I hadn't got the super trap on the end, they warned me and let me carry on once I'd put the super trap on and told me where the microphones were and to back off or short shift past them.
New belt then decided it dint like the high rpm's and would slip after 6000rpm so I just made do with what I could.
car was feeling quicker than it ever has, new final drive has transformed the car and its such fun to drive, making decent power lower down with 16.4psi of boost.
About 1530 the the bottom boost pipe off the manifold decided it no longer wanted to play and popped off, got the tow of shame back to the pits just as the heavens opened so I just loaded it and headed home to avoid the traffic.


















With a 6 hour endurance race at Silverstone GP on the 24th of October I got back and stripped the front end off again, I've decided to re make all the boost pipes and make them all one size, so ordered a 2.5" intercooler kit so I will cut the 3"pipes off the intercooler and make new ends. Also ordered a 15mm shorter belt and will add the 6 rib bottom pulley to allow more belt grip.

 

[dewismotorsport]

Few other bits I've been doing on the side:

Got a CAD file drawn up to make some thermal gaskets out of nylon and got them cut on the new machine at work.



Finally got round to buying a helmet hook, instead of balancing it on the dash


Replaced a seized electrical cut off cable


Weighed the car on the wet wheels and with minimal fuel to give me a better after race weight



Also cleaned all the paint off the new head as it was dual colour and really not to my taste

 

[nova16sv]

that raised shifter box is decent.
i bet that makes the car way better to drive.

good luck on saturday mate.
hope the Z22 holds together, for the 6 hour race

 

[dewismotorsport]

that raised shifter box is decent.
i bet that makes the car way better to drive.

good luck on saturday mate.
hope the Z22 holds together, for the 6 hour race

The shifter box works well as it’s right next to the steering wheel so really easy and quick gear changes if required.

cheers

 

[dewismotorsport]

Been lazy with the updates so will bring it up to date now:

Once back at the workshop after the track day I made a start on stripping the car down ready to sort the boost pipe issue.
You can see the pipe has popped off at the bottom of the manifold so a re design was long over due.
Also changed the bottom pulley over two the 6 rib to aid with more belt grip, had to modify the crank pulley holding tool as the pulley lugs are thicker.





Bought a 2.5" intercooler kit so I could cut and shut the pipes as it worked out cheaper than buying them individually, wanted the intake to only have two silicones so less chance of boost leaks.
Removed the old 3" end pipes from the intercooler and welded the 2.5"pipes on and ran a bead od weld round the edge, made all the pipes fit nice and snug with one a 10mm gap between two when mounted, that prevents the tubes being sucked flat when the throttle is closed but still allows some flex.
While I was at its I got busy with the thermal heat tape, as the inlet will be getting warm air blown on it via the radiator so if this helps by even 1 degree C then its worth it. A pain to make look pretty on the bends but its hidden so I'm not that fussed.








Race day at Silverstone GP circuit for the 6 hour team endurance race, car sporting its new sponsorship stickers from Joe at Max88 Performance who has been a huge help in supplying various engine, supercharger and gearbox parts for the build.




Still been having the P1514 and P1515 so evening before the race stripped the loom back for the throttle body wires as it seems the fault links to that, I re placed all the old soldered joints and continuity checked all the wires which were fine, was out of time so just had to hope for the best.


Went out for testing and I kept getting the random fault where the traction control light pops on and cars goes into a strange limp mode where it runs very lean, have to flick ignition off and on again and all is fine, problem is in the mean time you lose the electric power steering, brake servo as the car gets turned off so after so very ropey moments on track doing that I decided it just wasn't worth risking the car so had to retire it from the race. Luckily we had the works 206 gti 140 there so I still got to race, but meant our team lost the fastest car so really messed up our handy cap which the race is based on to make it even between all the teams.

 

[dewismotorsport]

Once back at the workshop I plugged the snap on in to try to find out more, fault was still leaning towards throttle body so I tried to rule out the pins being pushed out the back of the plug when pushing it on, was no different. tried a different pedal on it also. I did notice the pedal no longer sat in the middle so opened it up and reset it, also rotated it to remove the pedal dead spot thats just a case of rotating the casing once the screws are loosened, that made the pedal more responsive but still didn't cure my issue.











Finally accepted I needed vents to let the high pressure and heat from under the bonnet, this style will allow the hot air to be pulled out the engine by while moving as the air flows over them. Really didn't want to fit vents but was willing to to lower the bay and inlet temps.
marked them up and attacked them with the grinder. once happy with the fit gave them a spray up.
Also fitted new bonnet pins, old button ones worked fine but had a few issues with one releasing a few times at Bedford and once at Silverstone so I'd lost my confidence in them, maybe was due to cars extra speed and improved air flow into the bonnet area that caused it but either way I wanted something I could just fit and forget.

 

[dewismotorsport]

Decided to make a new engine loom in the hope to rule out any further electrical issues. Stripped front end off and some spare looms for there wires as the super charger loom is modified from standard and I wanted to make it custom to my bay and future mods.
Stripped a good low mileage astra loom down ready to be modded, old loom was from a vectra b which the biggest issue was most of the wires were a different colour so after some head scratching I sussed it out and re wired it all. Added in the coil pack cut off for the race electrical cut off and the Wideband feed were also put on a connector for ease of real in future. Loom taped it all back up and re fitted.
While the manifold was off in also changed the inlet and supercharger gaskets as air leaks can also cause them fault codes.







Started up and I no longer get the fault on every start which is a good sign, test drove it and all was fine, doing hard pulls in 1st and 2nd to the limiter it's fine but when doing hard pulls in 3rd I randomly get the P1514 code again, so as a precaution I've ordered a new Tmap sensor to rule the sensor itself out. It does need more fuel learns as it's still very rich at WOT so maybe thats not helping.

Also made some small bump stops for the rear dampers as they have a few times bottomed out on bumps around work, the original cut down chassis mounted one's were too short so they have been binned

 

[nova16sv]

shame you had to retire her from the race. i bet thats annoying.

electronics eh... supposed to make the car work better, and always bloody responsible, for it going wrong.

hope your new loom solves those issues, and you can get back out, bigger and better next time

 

[dewismotorsport]

shame you had to retire her from the race. i bet thats annoying.

electronics eh... supposed to make the car work better, and always bloody responsible, for it going wrong.

hope your new loom solves those issues, and you can get back out, bigger and better next time

Yes was very frustrating as when she works it’s a lot more responsive and pulls harder.

had a track day booked for the 30th of Jan at Silverstone national circuit but that’s been canceled so now booked in for the 28th of February at Anglesey coastal circuit but I won’t hold my breath as I imagine that will get canceled too the way things are going.

 

[dewismotorsport]

Been tinkering again recently and trying to improve the car ready for race season.
Took her down to the test track in Bovington to do some more mapping to lean her off, good few hours tinkering before the dreaded fault codes popped back up more and more regular.




Decided to build myself a 3" exhaust from a mix of my old corsa exhaust and some new bends, tube and a silencer.
First job was to see if this gold heat wrap tape makes much difference, after a good clean of the tunnel and de grease it went on, stuck better in some areas than others, its not a fan of the textured bits so much so we see how long it lasts. I've done this as car doesn't run any heat shields as they were corroded around the bolts so I removed them. Downside to this is once the exhaust is hot the tunnel heats up and after race you can't put your hand on the tunnel at all its so hot. So the tape and heat wrap are to prevent that and prevent heat soak into my fuel lines that run along the tunnel inside.


Old heat wrap removed from the old downpipes and its safe to say its been hot at times.


All finished and wrapped up, ignore the zip ties they were just temporary until the rest of the metal ties turned up




I've gone for centre exit mainly for future aero plans. I've made it as snug up into the tunnel as possible and has plenty of space over the rear beam. Removed the remaining part of un needed bracketed and made some new rear hangers and all using poly bush hangers which make it very stiff and doesn't move about like the old one did.





The tail pipe is actually a V band fitting which should I ever need it will allow me to put my Super trap on, this a removable silencer/flame suppressor so could be handy as some of the really strict tracks




Other jobs on the list were to fit and over haul the wiper motor and linkage, I've repaired the motor before so just bought a new one this time, re lubed all the joints and link arms, so loverly and free moving now.
Larger battery positive and neatened up some of the under dash wiring.
Also made a new bracket for the rear toe links as previous bracket had slipped a couple of times on track so this is now the way to go, welded it on so won't ever move again.

 

[nova16sv]

real tidy job on that exhaust mate. looks professional.
good idea welding the bracket, for the links too, they'll be solid now.

how did your new wiring loom work out. did it fix the electrical gremlins you were getting ?

 

[dewismotorsport]

real tidy job on that exhaust mate. looks professional.
good idea welding the bracket, for the links too, they'll be solid now.

how did your new wiring loom work out. did it fix the electrical gremlins you were getting ?

Cheers mate, it’s a nice fit so I’m happy with it and it’s so much quieter now.
Still not got to the bottom of it, happens far less now but still occasionally so I will keep going through things till I find the cause