SharkyUK's Trophy - #165

SharkyUK · Oct 1, 2012

May 2012

Something very strange is going on with the old fuel economy at the moment... as some of you are aware, I'm having a few running issues whereby I'm getting hesitation under acceleration (i.e. the power delivery is stuttering). It's got better over the last few days but it's still a problem. I don't think it's serious but I do believe (having spoken to Marc recently) that the ITB's may be ready for balancing again. As a result, a synchrometer has been ordered and hopefully I'll be able to balance the ITB's myself in due course.

The strange thing is the fuel economy. I'm suddenly 5-6mpg better and I'm now in the mid-20's! Result... I think...

There's not much else to report at the moment - just a few bits and pieces to get done soon.

I've bought a selection of new fluids - oil, brake fluid and coolant.

I've also got some new brake pads and discs to get fitted (at the same time I'm getting the brake fluid refreshed). I have some 280mm Brembo High Carbon ventilated discs and Ferodo DS2500 sat ready to go.

I've also just received my new crash helmet. I decided to go for an open face design; nothing special but it's approved for trackday and race use and has fire resistant properties. It will certainly do me for the time being.

That's about it for now. Hopefully got a little something else coming along soon, too...

SharkyUK · Oct 1, 2012

June 2012

A few photos from the other weekend; my girlfriend and I deciding to take the Trophy for a little drive through our local forest. It seems rude not to with it only being 3 miles away...

What an absolutely beautiful place it is, too.

20120520_forest01 by SharkyUK, on Flickr

20120520_forest02 by SharkyUK, on Flickr

20120520_forest03 by SharkyUK, on Flickr

20120520_forest04 by SharkyUK, on Flickr

20120520_forest05 by SharkyUK, on Flickr

20120520_forest06 by SharkyUK, on Flickr

20120520_forest07 by SharkyUK, on Flickr

20120520_forest08 by SharkyUK, on Flickr

20120520_forest09 by SharkyUK, on Flickr

Perfect place to relax and have a BBQ...

SharkyUK · Oct 1, 2012

June 2012 - Small Update...

I recently attended a BurpSpeed organised trackday at Llandow and Dan kindly took a few photographs of me in my Trophy. Here they are...

It made a nice change to be caught on camera rather than the one taking the photos to be honest!

SharkyUK · Oct 1, 2012

September 2012

It's all been a bit quiet on the Trophy-front over recent months. Bad weather coupled with an extremely busy time in work means that I haven't had as much opportunity to get out in the T as I would have hoped. However, the miles are still adding up and 100,000 miles isn't all that far away now.

Last Friday night (the night before the Forge Motorsport Action Day at Castle Combe) I decided to replace my coil pack with a new unit and to replace my HT leads with some decent red 8.5mm Magnecor items. Ever since 'the incident' a few months back (where the engine got flooded following a downpour of rain and my bonnet being open) I've had recurring misfire issues. The spark plugs looked fine, the HT leads looked ok and the coil pack appeared to be ok, too. However, as these (leads and coil pack) had never been changed on the car I thought it wouldn't hurt to order new bits and to replace them.

As the ITB's were also filthy I decided to take those apart and to give them a bit of a clean, too. The filter itself (not pictured) was quite dirty and definitely benefited from a good clean. Sadly I had run out of the ITG dust-repelling filter spray so that's something I need to do shortly. The trumpets and back plate were also a bit dirty (although this was to be expected as I hadn't cleaned them for a couple of months).

Dirty trumpets...

Dirty butterflies...

Dirty backplate...

As can be seen in the pic above, there was a little bit of oil / residue on and around the trumpets but nothing serious. This seems to be due to the minor leak that I still have from the cam seals. At this moment in time it's not worth the time / expense getting them re-done so the plan is to wait until the next cam belt change.

Here's the engine bay with the trumpets and backplate ready for cleaning and with the old coil pack and leads removed.

An hour or two later and everything was back together and the ITB's were clean and gleaming. The only thing remaining was to fire up the ignition and to ensure that all was well. The first couple of attempts didn't go so well as the car turned over, popped a few times and then the engine died. Hmmm... Luckily it was an easy fix. A couple of the leads hadn't quite been fixed as firmly as needed so by simply undoing and refitting the connections, all was well when I next turned the engine over. Here's a pic showing the cleaned ITB's and the new leads and coil pack:

With everything back together I took the T out for a quick drive to ensure all was well. I wasn't expecting much of a difference to be honest so I was pleasantly surprised when the idle appeared to be a lot smoother and the acceleration noticeably stronger! This was probably due to the fact that there were no points of hesitation due to misfiring and the T happily pulled itself along at a healthy rate of knots. Happy days!

As mentioned above, the miles are adding up and I'm looking forward to the next cambelt change. Sure, it's not cheap but it means I can look forward to getting a few more bits done and to getting these bad boys installed! They've been sat on my desk for a month or two now. Just sat there, taunting me. I'm normally quite a patient guy but I really would like to get these in asap...

A tidy set of Schricks...

Mmmm, so photogenic!

SharkyUK · Oct 1, 2012

September 2012 - Minor Update

Nothing much to report apart from the fact that the Trophy flew through it's MOT today. There were a couple of minor issues but, thankfully, nothing too serious:

- Rear brake pads need changing
- Rear dampers need replacing as they have started to leak

I'll simply be ordering the standard OE RenaultSport pads for the rears and also looking to buy replacement rear Trophy Sachs as well. I was tempted to go for Koni's but I figure I absolutely love the way the T drives on the current set up and don't feel the need to change it.

It's an expensive month - insurance, tax, MOT and new parts. Still waiting for that lottery win...

SharkyUK · Oct 1, 2012

September 2012 - Update

Despite flying through the MOT the other week the inspector did notice a slight leak from the rear dampers. It wasn't bad enough to fail the MOT but definitely needed to keep an eye on it. Unfortunately the week between then and now has seen me travelling some significant miles with work and sure enough the dampers have pretty much given up. Whilst steady driving was fine I certainly wouldn't like to have pushed on too hard so it was time to get in some new items (along with rear brake pads which also needed replacing).

I had already received the brake pads a few days prior (standard rear Renault OEM's) so they were good to go but I needed to source some Sachs rear dampers pretty quickly. The ride was noticeably degrading and I have a trackday coming up on Wednesday! After a brief look around I contacted Mick at Diamond Motors to see if he could help me source new rear Sachs. And that he did. Within a few days of ordering them I had a shiny new set arrive at 7am this morning (a time I never knew existed on a Saturday).

All I need now is to get them fitted in time for Wednesday. Fingers crossed...

I'd like to say a big thanks to Mick at Diamond Motors (Long Eaton, Nottingham) for sorting out the Sachs. And at a good price, too. In fact, I can't thank Mick enough for the great service, communication and general chat we had on the phone. A top bloke and someone who I would happily recommend to sort out their Clio.

Oh - and a few pics from the trackday at Llandow last week! It was quite wet... AGAIN!

Cheers!

keith185 · Oct 2, 2012

Awesome. Perfect trophy

SharkyUK · Oct 2, 2012

keith185 said:
Awesome. Perfect trophy

Aw, shucks mate... LOL! Thanks for the kind words. I thought it was about time I updated the thread here as it had been quite a while. Plus, a lot has happened to the T over the last couple of years. The most important thing is she's still going strong but the handles are getting pinker...

SharkyUK · Dec 24, 2012

So here we go, then. This is what I've got planned for the Trophy in 2013...

The Plan:

To rebuild the engine with forged internals throughout whilst throwing in some fairly lairy cams and retaining the ITB's. In short, a forged, high-compression N/A engine build.

Estimated Completion Date:

Whenever it's ready. As most folks know the Trophy is a keeper so it doesn't matter how long it takes. I can't realistically put a completion date on it either as it's going to take a fair bit of saving for. However, some choice components *might* already have arrived or are coming very soon...

The Target Specification:

I guess this is the important bit really; i.e. what I'm aiming for in terms of specification. Firstly, I'm NOT chasing big power figures with this build as I don't want to go down that route (at least not with this car). Admittedly, for the same sort of cost, I could be driving around in a 300bhp+ forced induction Trophy but I think it's too much for what I want in this car and will totally ruin what it's about - i.e. the handling and the highly-strung N/A characteristics I enjoy. It's an extremely rewarding car to drive (when the chance to do so presents itself) and that is what I'm aiming to maintain. Driving pleasure / enjoyment whether I'm on the daily commute, a driving meet or on track.

Enough waffle. The aim is a high-compression N/A forged engine build circa 12.6:1 compression. Any more than that and you're really starting to get into the 'race car' realm (remembering this is to remain as my daily commuting weap- vehicle). It will go something like this (primary components):

- 2.0l 16v F4R engine rebuilt + re-bored to 83mm- Keeping the existing individual throttle bodies setup (KTR Jenvey-based direct-to-head)
- Wossner 83mm oversized forged pistons
- KTR forged conrods
- ARP conrod bolts
- New big end bearings and main bearings
- ACL Race Series "tanged" shells
- Supertech Inconel valves
- KTR uprated valve springs
- Schrick cams
- Uprated RS Megane injectors
- New oil pump
- Aircon delete (and belts, pulleys, etc.)

Obviously there will be other 'supporting' bits and pieces along the way but the main bulk is in the list above. As I said earlier there is no hurry, no set target date. I will be keeping this thread updated with progress made. I guess it all depends how impatient I become.

SharkyUK · Dec 24, 2012

My Trophy has now come of age. Sadly I couldn't catch the 100k shot as I was driving down the M1 so I got the next best thing.

steffdavies · Dec 30, 2012

Very impressive mate, really well done and an excellent read!!! I see on your avatar that you are from South Wales? I used to see a Trophy in Cardiff all the time when I lived there, not you was it by any chance? Keep up the good work mate!!! I will look forward to reading up on what you do next!!!

SharkyUK · Jan 2, 2013

steffdavies said:
Very impressive mate, really well done and an excellent read!!! I see on your avatar that you are from South Wales? I used to see a Trophy in Cardiff all the time when I lived there, not you was it by any chance? Keep up the good work mate!!! I will look forward to reading up on what you do next!!!

Cheers for the kind words, Steff. I'm glad you enjoyed the read.

I am indeed from the South Wales area but I hardly ever venture into Cardiff (despite only living just down the road). As a result I don't imagine it was my Trophy that you would have seen. I try to avoid built-up areas and much prefer a spirited drive through the countryside, mountains, valleys and so on!

In terms of how things are progressing, I'm just in the process of finalising the new engine spec (having already got a few parts in). Hopefully I can get the remainder of the finances together soon and actually make it happen in the next month or so.

RsMax · Jan 2, 2013

Great read. Keep her on the road.

Greetings from Germany

SharkyUK · Jan 3, 2013

RsMax said:
Great read. Keep her on the road.

Greetings from Germany

Thank you RsMax - guten tag!

marrow · Apr 3, 2013

It must be time for another update Sharky..........?

SharkyUK · Jan 4, 2014

marrow said:
It must be time for another update Sharky..........?

Yes, I think you are right...

Please note that the spec has changed a bit since my last updates and I don't (at the time of writing) yet have my car back! It should be back in a few weeks. I don't have many updates from last year due to it being in the BTM workshop but here goes...

SharkyUK · Jan 4, 2014

January 2013 - Monday 21st

So I got a call from Fred at BTM today explaining how he was checking a few things over on the car prior to taking out the engine in the near future. It would seem a few issues have been identified already. The first issue is something that should perhaps be a concern to others who are running a filter similar to the one shown below (this is a second-gen filter that comes supplied with the K-Tec DTH ITB kit). In a nutshell it is poor. Very, very poor. The truth be told it's not much of an improvement over the first (poor) design but this really takes the biscuit. I don't like bad-mouthing anyone (especially businesses that have been helpful in the past) but I think people should at least be aware of potential problems that can, in turn, lead to other problems. And problems that can end up costing a LOT of money to fix / put right.

So, here we have the filter as removed from my car a few hours ago. The important thing to note here is that this car and it's components has been looked after meticulously - including cleaning and spraying of the filter, etc. It's not degraded through lack of care, attention or abuse! You can clearly see that the foam has all but disintegrated away. This explains the large build up of black crap that I regularly see when cleaning the bodies.

Here's what a decent filter should look like.

And again, for comparison, here's my filter photographed from the opposite side.

And again, a decent filter for comparison.

I'm glad it's going and to be replaced by a decent item (in some shape or form).

With the filter removed they decided to run a routine compression test. I'd explained beforehand that the car was down on power and not running properly. It was when they tried to remove the spark plugs that the next issue became apparent. The plugs had been torqued up incorrectly! Speaking to Fred the plugs should be torqued to around 20NM and mine were... get this... 81NM! Ouch. That's almost enough torque to secure your wheels to your vehicle. Suffice to say, Fred had fun getting those out.

On to the compression test itself. It's not exactly healthy. I can't remember which cylinders produced which readings but suffice to say they ranged from 9-bar to just over 11-bar. Not good when really they should be 13+ bar. It will be interesting to see what state things are in when the engine comes out and it's pulled apart.

Incidentally, the need to fit a better filter does cause issues with DTH ITB kit. There is simply not enough room to fit one given the angle at which they are bolted together. I don't fancy having a cut taken out the bonnet so we're discussing a few options at the moment as to what to do next and where to go.

Thanks to BTM for the images and updates and more to come as and when I hear more..

SharkyUK · Jan 4, 2014

January 2013 - Wednesday 23rd

Just a quick one... I've just had word through that another issue has been found that certainly wouldn't have helped the car's performance over the last year or so. If you hadn't already guessed, Fred has found that the cam timing is out. *sigh* Without wanting to sound overly dramatic it really has left me more than a bit annoyed; especially considering the money that has been spent trying to resolve my problems and the amount of time I was without the car whilst it was being done. There's no point in getting angry and stressed - far worse things happen at sea - but, for me personally, the list of people I'd trust my car with shrinks by the day. Oh well, you have to laugh, eh? Onwards and upwards!

SharkyUK · Jan 4, 2014

Continuing the engine strip-down and a few more pics courtesy of Fred...

An unhealthy / poorly engine

SharkyUK · Jan 4, 2014

February 2013 - Friday 22nd

Only a minor update to confirm that the build is still ongoing and currently waiting on parts to be delivered (a few people have asked me how things are going). I've also been reliably informed that I'll no longer be needing my K-Tec DTH ITB's so they will be going up for sale very soon. I'm very much looking forward to getting the car back once it's ready, run-in and mapped.

I'm still really undecided whether or not to get a Quaiffe LSD fitted though. I've been given a little extra pocket money for doing the dishes this last couple of weeks so the temptation is strong. LOL!