Car is almost fully prepped for the summer. Have changed the oil filter. Before I refill the engine with oil, I want to remove the sump and check the sump baffle.
Have also resprayed my rear diffuser as it had picked up some stone chips over the last few years. Doing a few other cosmetic jobs while the sun is still shining and I can't drive the car.
Discovered a cracked engine mount but, have got this fixed and have added an additional brace to another mounting point on the R1 engine just in case. Going to stick my Contour HD camera under the bonnet and take some footage whilst driving to see just how much the engine moves about. I can't see it moving far though.
Today I finally got round to taking the sump off and checking the baffle. I've just glad I did it now. Having removed all the bolts, it was difficult to remove. The gasket had set like glue. I tapped it off with a rubber hammer and removed the sump. As I did so, the tulip just dropped off. It has obviously been rattling around a bit. I could see that the baffle was cracked in several places.
The missing bits of metal must have been through the filter and got stuck there at some point. The oil pickup has a mesh filter that would stop anything big.
With the baffle removed I could take a look inside and everything looked clean and in good condition. This is the view after I'd cleaned off all the old gasket. It's a long job!
This is the old baffle, as supplied by All Bikes. When it came through the post, I wasn't that impressed with the design and construction. The metal was extremely thin in places and it hasn't survived the last 7000 miles of my driving. The red arrows show where it has failed. It was flapping around a bit.
Fortunately, a few years back someone on the forums offered a bulk deal discount on a new baffle and I've had this one in storage for over two years now. It's a much simpler and stronger design.
The most time consuming part of the whole job was removing the old gasket which had come away in a million pieces and left bits stuck all around the seal. I'd also stashed a new gasket away, with this job in mind.
Checked the sump over and cleaned it up. No signs of any wear or damage. Well on the inside anyway :-)
This is the new baffle fitted. The sharp eyed will have spotted one hole missing from this new baffle that was in the old one. There is no large hole for the oil level sensor in this new one.
To get round the above issue, I've cut down the oil level sensor so that it fits without requiring a hole in the baffle. It is now basically just acting as a plug. I've taken this approach because it is not used on my car and I've never got round to wiring it up.
Another job done today, was to refit the rear diffuser. I've repainted this. As well as improving the looks of the car at the back it acts as a support for the rear bodywork and stops a lot of flexing that would occur otherwise.
Finally ready to drive! Torqued up the sump and filled up with oil. From completely empty it's almost exactly 4 litres. Got a short test drive in to check oil pressure and for any leaks, then took the car out for a longer test run. As you can see from the short video clip below, the car is going well :-)
Re-aligned the steering wheel. Changing the camber slightly also moved this off-centre by a few degrees, as you can see in the above video. For small adjustments like this, the column has to be rotated at the rack end. This means disconnection at the other end too, to get it off the rack splines.
Wow! We have had some cracking weather in the last few weeks. Some brilliant drives and today's in particular was just awesome. The car is going fantastically well and feels sublime on the rural Suffolk roads. Handling, acceleration and braking are just totally addictive.
Came across this electric Sylva R1ot project today. Never considered owning two kitcars before but, this might just tempt me. I love the idea of the J15 and electric power would compliment a BEC perfectly.
The video below shows the moment captured on video. Whilst accelerating hard, a chassis rail snaps. It can't really be heard over the engine noise (not much can!) in this video clip but, I heard a really loud band and felt it go right through the car. Hence my immediate easing off on the throttle and cautious next 2 miles home. My initial thoughts were that the gearbox had died. It sounded very close though and I just knew the had propshaft moved and one of the speedo magnets had hit the sensor. I was right in this respect.
As you can see from the next entry, my Fury is off the road for a while, whilst I get a slightly bigger issue resolved.
today. Never considered owning two kitcars before but, this might just tempt me. I love the idea of the J15 and electric power would compliment a BEC perfectly.
