T5 Powered Vortex Kit Car

[t5 pete]

the new ones please eddy

[p fandango]

I'll weigh the new crank tomorrow and put pics up of both, it's a brand new crank i've got too

thanks, & YOUCH

[EddyP]

the new ones please eddy

I think it's 243668, it's the only number cast inside them. AE is stamped there, and 0.4 is on the crown, so it's the Oversize 1 set i'm using. I can check on Vadis for you if you want?

[t5 pete]

Thats brilliant thank you i will be ordering a set in the next week or 2 and its always nice to know part numbers before i go in lol

[EddyP]

More progress:

When inspecting the rods, I noticing that one of the little end bearings and turned slightly, so I pressed it out, then got some high temp loctite, warmed the rod up, froze the bearing, and put it back in.
Induction warming the rod up


Next I dropped a load of bits off to be shot blasted as I want to repaint them all and make them look like new:







Then I went to see a man in a shed to balance the engine components, people like really are golden, barn on a farm, loads of kit and some beautiful bits being engineered there, the man himself, immense skill and all the bits to do everything, he even let me stay with him during the process and explained how it all worked, 3 hours there and the bargain price of £80!!

First off the pistons, rings, clip and pins are weighed:



Some material was taken out of the back of the piston skirt until each set of components had an equal mass:



Then the rods are weighed using the special fixture:



Again a bit of material was taken off the relevant end of the rod until they're all equal, this was done by just linishing the small end.
Once the little ends all weigh the same, the rods were weighed normally, and material was taken off the big end until they had an equal mass again.



Once all of this is done, through some calculations the weight on the journal of the crank can be found, this is then replicated with some bob weights, which are clamped to the journals of the crank, and the crank goes onto this machine:





Stupidly I didn't take any pics of the crank all bob weighted up, basically the machine tells you which end is out of balance and at what angle, you then add or remove mass to make it true, then repeat the process again with the flywheel, again with the clutch pressure plate, and again with the crank pulley.
Each item has a bit of mass taken out of it until it all balances up. Then the most important step is to mark it all up, so when you take it apart you know where to put everything back again.

[stribo]

That's some serious work, should give some really good power figures once it's all built.

[claymore]

Nice, informative writeup Ed

[T5frankie]

how did i miss this thread, awesome mate, well done, how much does the car weigh altogether?

[EddyP]

Car weighs in at 1200kg.
If I really wanted to I could make it lighter and loose the zircon, stereo install, electric seats etc... but i'd rather just give it more power and keep the creature comforts

I'm hoping for 350bhp when it's back together, it did 333 with compression down on one cylinder. I've gone for a later crank that's lighter and the later pistons i'm using are also lighter, so it might be a bit more revy now too.

[T5frankie]

Car weighs in at 1200kg.
If I really wanted to I could make it lighter and loose the zircon, stereo install, electric seats etc... but i'd rather just give it more power and keep the creature comforts

I'm hoping for 350bhp when it's back together, it did 333 with compression down on one cylinder. I've gone for a later crank that's lighter and the later pistons i'm using are also lighter, so it might be a bit more revy now too.

you're on the limits of a 19t pretty much already at where you are now

[EddyP]

I'm going to try a billet wheel in the 19T, if I get bored with that i'll just have to get a GT3071, there is someone who's selling one at the moment and it's pretty tempting! need someone to buy my old Emerald ECU first though.....

[T5frankie]

I'm going to try a billet wheel in the 19T, if I get bored with that i'll just have to get a GT3071, there is someone who's selling one at the moment and it's pretty tempting! need someone to buy my old Emerald ECU first though.....

i think with a car looking as nice as that it needs to be alot quicker than a t5, so stick a big garrett on there for 450bhp

[EddyP]

On a rather brisk drive last year from Santa Pod to Silverstone with a load of Vipers, I didn't have too much trouble keeping up, and that was only with 300bhp

[T5frankie]

how does it handle?

[EddyP]

Pretty well, although i'm still working on the setup. It's got double wishbones at the front, and a De Dion rear axle, which is a sort of semi independent suspension.
The main issue i've had handling wise is bottoming it out, I like it a bit lower than it should be, so i'm playing with spring rates to try and help with that, it's a lot better now than it was a couple of years ago.
I also did a mod to the steering last year which transformed the feel of the car, also managed to get rid of the bump steer.

There's no shortage of traction, i've yet to properly light it up, but I do treat it with respect, too much time and money has gone into it to treat it like a Volvo

[EddyP]

Thought it was about time there was an update:

Started off with my nicely painted block:



Then spent even more money with TMS Volvo:



New shells in, with some assembly lube on them:



Later, 3.7kg lighter crank, brand new too!



Lower deck going on, and torquing up:



Assembly of the rods and pistons:



Bit of tape to stop the rods scratching the bores on their way down:



Squeeze my ring



More assembly lube on the big end:



Repeat 4 times and you get:



New head gasket:



Head on

[EddyP]

Now to dress the engine:













Also decided to repaint the inlet manifold, first off I blasted it clean, then primered it:



Then painted it and baked it:



Having to do some interior bits on the car now, it's due to be at a show on the first weekend in May and it's not even trimmed yet, so picked up my seats today, they're Recaro sport lines, had them retrimmed in leather and alcantara:

[claymore]

What happened Ed?

[EddyP]

Don't post that, it's embarrassing

Most of it was my error, never having been on a 1/4 mile before didn't realise quite how little traction there would be, only did two runs, this was the first, the second run was much better as I had a slight feel for it, but even then there was no grip, not helped by it being a soaking wet freezing cold day. Once there was grip it did fly, just they didn't show that bit on film, I can dig out the times somewhere and it does show it has potential once I could launch it better.

Hey ho, we can't all be the Stig from day 1.

[stribo]

Great work mate, hopefully I'll get to see the car in the 'flesh' one day. Loving the seat colour choice.