LCR Build Thread (Kennard)

[Ash-Kennard]

Day 10

I took the day off of work (Thursday and Friday (German Bank holidays so no worries there)) to get the project moving again after no progress last week as the Phirm were in Wales for the weekend.

Not too many photos today (Thursday) but huge steps in progress. It is starting to look like an engine again!

Stating with the bottom end with the pistons and rods dropped into place:



And bringing the head downstairs:



It was time to marry the two together (Till death do they part?):



Using these beauties:



Lubricating the threads and the heads of the bolts allowed a certain smooth motion for ease in torquing. Spark plugs in (cages bent so they sit 0.5mm from the ceramic):



Done.

Flip the engine over:



After more cleaning, it was time to fit all of the oil sprayers (no blockages confirmed) and the Journal bearings (lubricating the interaction surfaces that engage with the crank):



After realising that we were one new big end rod bearing down, we decided to refit the crank and work around it to fit the bearing when it arrives.



Covered to avoid debris and more cleaning.



I did also fit the new (baffled) sump and the end plate (after seal change) you can see on top of the microfibre cloth. But weirdly, no photo.

Also fitted the aux plate, alternator (new pulley), new water pump, thermostat housing, knock sensors and sized up the turbo. New fixings are required though as the Pro 4 manifold makes it impossible to use an Allen key...

Turned the engine back over, dropped the old cam cover on to protect from debris.

Plan for tomorrow is to fit the Cam belt, fit the new cam cover, attach the rods to the crank, attach the remaining aux components to the block, all other engine internals, sump on properly and clean the engine bay of the Leon ready for fitment! Might be tight on time so I am arriving at 8.30 and there is always Saturday if necessary.

Hurray, nearly engine!

I'll be sure to get more images tomorrow. Was busy today.

Cheers, Ash

 

[rainbird]

Nice one dude! Cam cover looks really decent - was considering doing mine wrinkle black but haven't made my mind up. Coming along great now though, very jealous

 

[Ash-Kennard]

Hello Luke, taking it's time, but its getting there!

Day 11

As promised:



Whilst waiting for a delivery some time was taken to clean the Leon. After 9 months of non movement and sap evacuating trees nearby, the paintwork looked like ****. This was also a good chance to give the engine bay a proper clean whilst access is easy.

Planned to use a jet washer in the engine bay, so waterproofing with tape and bags on the important areas and connectors had to be done. Ended up using a sponge and bucket, as the hose wouldn't reach the car lol.



























Not much else happened with the engine though this week. We were short of time.

Cheers

 

[Ash-Kennard]

Day 12

Some better pictures of the engine before all the Auxiliaries go on.









Removing the stock fuel pump ready for R8 fuel pump fitment!



Some corrosion on the connector, so will replace that. hoses came off quite easily, squeeze at the bottom and pull, but that electrical connector was a bitch.



Ring off (Hammer and screwdriver anticlockwise) eventually, lots of threads. Unit removed.





Drained and checked over for cracks, corrosion etc.





All sealed back up, nice and safe. Weird looking into a fuel fuel tank.



The most awkward nut and cut stud solution to actually fit the turbo properly, and some other closeups.

















Also, purchased some better seats for the Leon









Happy days. Cheers, Ash

 

[Ash-Kennard]

Day 13

So the point of today is to fit as many of the Auxiliary components as possible.

First challenge:

Fitting the oil pick up pipe.

Access to this banjo bolt was a bitch.



Lots of cutting and bending later and regular fitment and removal of the oil pickup pipe for sizing of the bracket to the turbo.









Done.

Random pic that I can't recall taking...



Removed from engine stand and seated on the sump. clutch, flywheel, gearbox fitted. Most of the Auxiliaries and hoses on.









Until Disaster!



****. ****edy **** **** ****.



The Badger V2.2 comes with a billet aluminium section on the intake side for the TIP. To mount the billet a tiny, tiny grub screw is used to prevent any pull off/rattle loose connection to the turbo. Because the turbo is ported (less than 0.3mm wall thickness) the grub screw just went straight through. DEVO.



Got a needle file and made the hole with a smoothed radii and removed all burr possible. Then tried a solution with O-rings , but the overall diameter was too much for the billet to fit on. Ended up finding a square section view seal that fitted perfectly in the width of the recess, had to cut and join the ends to get the length right. Billet still wouldn't fit, so I took a scalpel and trimmed the seal to match the OD of the inlet port. Something like this, but I forgot to get a photo before the billet was on. I liked this solution as the seal was better and the grub screw is now tightened onto a rubber and not cast surface hopefully the load is better distributed. Could have moved the grub screw on the billet, but I think the right choice was made.



Billet on:







TIP & Accessories on, including the 008P:





Real progress today! Some painful bits, but generally big steps.

Cheers, Ash

 

[Ash-Kennard]

Engine in Day!

Day 14

First up, Dog bone mount bushes:

Fully disassembled the old one and played about with the bits until they matched up.





Fitted with fairy and a vice.





Back in the vice for the other end.



Torqued up (60Nm) and out with the engine. Also, note the charge pipe is on. Annoyingly the hose that links the charge pipe and the turbo is split so another one had to be ordered (big tear), £128+VAT, for a pipe!



Front end off:











Car in:





Seat belt on, crane positioned, up we go!



Turbo exhaust eyeing up downpipe fitment.:







Voller taking her up:



Bottom view:





Down pipe fed in through the rear and up to the turbo as access was better this way.







Then some fun with a brand new turbo and a vapouriser (Tim's face through the sequence is entertaining):








So EPIC day today. very happy chappy.

Cheers, Ash

 

[rainbird]

Awesome news Ash, great to see it coming back together at long last. When do you expect to be in a position to turn the key and start running things in?

 

[Ash-Kennard]

Awesome news Ash, great to see it coming back together at long last. When do you expect to be in a position to turn the key and start running things in?

Cheers luke, sized up the exhaust today, it's gunna be sweet!

I'm thinking about 2 weeks until the key is turned. It's Tims birthday next Friday so I'm not sure what's going on with that yet.

Plan is:

Weld up the exhaust and fabricate a tail pipe (one I have is designed for the golf bumper) and find another copper bolt for the turbo /downpipe connection.
Fit the coil packs
For a piece of heat shield for the charge pipe.
Fit fuel rail and injectors.
New fuel pump in the housing. Some modification likely to be required.
Get a map to run in.
Fill up with oil and bleed the systems and then bed in.

Not sure what the timing plan is in terms of watermeth? Don't think it is necessary to fit before run in.

After bed in, there are some other little bits to finish off including some new seats and fixing the door seals once and for all. I'll also likely ditch the rear seats and touch up the bumpers.

Exciting times! Cheers, Ash

 

[rainbird]

Ah cool. My exhaust arrived yesterday and will also need the exit tweaking to suit the Leon so I feel your pain. Unlikely to fit it until I've got everything all ready to fit in one go over the course of a week or so in the summer (hopefully).

Looking forward to seeing it all back on the road (Y)

 

[matt_83]

Fantastic progress mate!

 

[Ash-Kennard]

Ah cool. My exhaust arrived yesterday and will also need the exit tweaking to suit the Leon so I feel your pain. Unlikely to fit it until I've got everything all ready to fit in one go over the course of a week or so in the summer (hopefully).

Looking forward to seeing it all back on the road (Y)

Haha. I bought my exhaust before the valve dropped lol.

What did you go for?

I cannot wait to fire her up.

Fantastic progress mate!

Cheers dude.

 

[_Tal_]

bad ass build!

 

[STERB5138]

Great thread! So much detail and photos, keep it up

 

[stevocupra]

nice work. its handy being able to get access to a ramp

 

[Ash-Kennard]

bad ass build!

I'm glad you like it.

Great thread! So much detail and photos, keep it up

This is more like a logbook for me so I don't forget everything. Fortunately, I can be something for others to enjoy too.

nice work. its handy being able to get access to a ramp

Very. I only have a parking space in a shared car park at home. Of which I am not allowed to work on vehicles. I need to move! Be sweet to get a ramp some day. I guess it depends on how convincing I am for the Missus

 

[Ash-Kennard]

It Lives, It livesss

Day 15

As the engine was fitted in the car and I was at work all week. Tim decided to crack on and connect all the hoses up with the correct routing for me. Awesome.

He then found it hilarious to trick me. "Give me a hand pushing your car in" I'm there ready to push it and the engine only goes and starts! Sounded crazy loud just running through the DP. Apparently my face wasn't too pleased as he was watching me in the mirror. Bare in mind I thought he had pulled the key on a car with no engine oil by mistake. Funny ****er!

Either way, happy ****ing days, she runs!

First things, replace that cracked charge pipe silicone... £128 quid well spent. I think...





Then had a look at this! From a TTRS. Beautifully polished, but not good. The car came in running amazingly! Suspected root cause was an unbalanced flywheel. Crazy.





Back to the Leon.

Old exhaust off, new one laid next to it for comparison of geometry. Turns out this really doesn't tell you much! except the curves are similar and the lengths are similar.





Fitting it to the car to find out if direct fit means direct fit...

















Stupid place for a join...



Ignore the tailpipe for now. We know that it must move as this was designed for golf bumpers.





Crazy long tailpipe that came with the exhaust...



Generally, not so bad, but it was found that the down pipe was touching in multiple places at different angles, so the rest of the system can't really be checked until that is right.

That's it for today. Next week is *******ising a DP so the exhaust can be set up properly.

Cheers, Ash

 

[Ash-Kennard]

Fuelpump Fun, Downpipe Pain

Day 16

After last weeks successes, I suppose it is only fair that this week is a a bit of a shitter.

Firstly, the good part of the day.

I had initially bought an uprated inline (series) fuel pump for the required increase in fuel delivery. But Tim convinced me to ditch what I had bought and follow his advice on this one. His logic was that 2 fuel pumps in line are still restricted by the original. Also, it is an added complexity to go wrong. He convinced me that upgrading to one from a more powerful model was the way to go. In this case, it was an R8. Oooooo, that sold me immediately haha (child )

Fuel pump housing that was removed a few weeks ago is disassembled, not really any cleaning required.





New Fuel Pump pulled from it's casing.





Old casing of the new fuel pump.





Some fabrication required for the fitment here. But lets keep some mystery as ThePhirm had to develop this themselves.

All assembled with a cleaned top end. Corrosion in pin connectors all cleaned up. Female connection on the loom will be replaced as I snapped a click removing it and intermittent fuelling is not desirable for me!













And back in the car.



When the drivers door is opened, the fuel pump priming is VERY noticeable. Clearly way more powerful than stock.

Right, thats the positive part of the day done. Welcome to our world of hurt from the Relentless DP.

Starting point:

Touching on Bulkhead





Touching on tunnel



using the entirety of the hanging rail...



So I had previously contacted the Relentless supplier about the manifold geometry and I contacted him again when I suspected that the manifold being bad was the reason for the downpipe also being poor. I was informed that it is designed to work with FWD and 4WD, so it should be close to the tunnel to avoid a prop shaft (if required). When I told him it was touching, his advice was to shove the engine all the way over. **** THAT! That also would not address the Bulkhead touching. Not been impressed at all with this Relentless shite, if I had known in advance, I would have gone a different route.

As we were clearly not going to get anywhere with relentless, may *******isation commence!

Marked up for a first attempt, 10mm off and 10mm rotation.



Flange off





Cut made, tacked up, fitted, still no luck, too far the other way. Try again.



and again, and again, and again.

I eventually left it as Tim was with a customer and I am yet to weld anything. But each time it has been a tiny adjustment and no cigar.

Tony arrived in his rediculous powered TT. Really cool car IMO.







Obligatory ramp pic



Voller enjoying providing a fantasy BBC blowy... Good guy, cupping the balls and everything!



What a frustrating day today was! That Down Pipe consumed most of the day. Fingers crossed it doesn't touch when Tim can tack it for me, but still no guarantees.

Cheers, Ash

 

[Ash-Kennard]

Tunnel Alignment

Day 17

Went to fit the headlights. Oh dear, a big dirty scratch! We will deal with this later.



Liking this engine bay so far





It turns out my final cut and position of the down pipe was again a failure. Fortunately for me, Tim found some time during the week to sort this out. He has basically bossed it. Took him more than half a day to make 5 different final cuts and joins to get the ******* to fit correctly. As you can see, so much better.









Great stuff!

Was looking at the Back box. Do we think this is GodsNow or GodSnow?



Either way, weird name.

Cutting out the decat ready for V band. Also means the exhaust can now run straight down the tunnel rather than having a pointless bend.



Matching to CAT geometry





V Bands on the CAT













Much better!







Next to look at the Cat back geometry, move some joins and remove a clash at the first curve.

Cheers, Ash

 

[Ash-Kennard]

Root cause defined

Day 18

So I went to Munich this week and got a call from Tim. He had cracked on with the exhaust and finish the build. He was then just about to go for the first test drive, but found that only the high speed fans work. I explained to him that they had only come on in high speed setting when the car is stationary. Turns out that the car had had a small front end at some point and had bend the radiators and killed the low speed fan, it had also bent the panel so much that it had rubbed through the AC pipe, no wonder it never worked! This is probably why the car overheated and dropped the valve in the first place. The cheeky ****er who only replaced the bumper bar and nothing else has basically caused this. Very frustrating. The decision was made to replace the lot.

Firstly, Tim had finished the exhaust tail pipe. I love it!





Join above rear beam removed and welded, giving more room for suspension to work and removing any potential knocking from this.





There was still a clash condition at the first curve after the Cat back. The trial solution was to keep cutting half way through the tube, pull and weld.









The worked ish, but looked **** and I thought it could be better/simpler/stonger. As we know, a small angle adjustment far away from the clash can have a huge influence. So the ~5 cuts made before were all removed and replaced by a straight pipe. Then a single adjustment after the first silencer made all the difference. We can now just play with the amount of overlap of the slip joint to fine tune the fitting

We clear with near full slip joint contact.





Win.





























Trackday silencer







New Radiators and fans...



The damaged parts we are replacing:











Stickers showing evidence of the only change after the front end collision...



Nice and straight yeah?













Something missing?





Old v.s. New





Fitted











Polished up headlights:





And had a look at times mint cosworth.





Very nice!

Cheers, Ash

 

[Ash-Kennard]

AC Fix

Day 19

So yeah, with all the bend Rad sections. This happened (i have cleaned it up at this point)



Tim tried to weld it up by building material up with the TIG. Unfortunately, the hose had other ideas and the connection dropped off from the heat killing the adhesive. We really didn't want to replace this hose as it was very expensive and might have meant removing the engine to fit a new one.



This was a ridiculously good tool for cutting hoses.







Once the weld had been made (off the car) and smoothed out, we tried to mastic and clamp it back into place. Unfortunately, every time you tightened the hose clamp, it would squeeze the metal part out of the hose. After a few attempts at this, and failing. We decided to try another method. It mad sense to use the flange on the metal part as a location point to pull it onto the hose when pulled tight with a cable.







I thought it was a good solution to the problem and I doubt it will ever fall off.

System was checked for leaks and gases successfully.

I have never owned a car with working aircon, so I wasn't sure I would care, but its actually pretty awesome.

I then spent the rest of the afternoon driving ~20 miles for the first oil change Pre MOT as we didn't want it idling for ages there. Hard acceleration everywhere, Max 4,000 RPM severely short shifting everygear. I was doing around 1,500 RPM through to 4,000 RPM, foot flat and skipping gears.

First change went well, and now it is off for an MOT.

Cheers, Ash