PetenAli's WBX 2500 engine build

[silverbullet]

Think that you win the "travelled furthest to be there" award.

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[PetenAli]

Well - its all in there now. Picked the Syncro up from Aidan / Brian last Thursday and have now done about 1300km with first oil change at 530km after the drive back from Llanfyllin. Made a flying visit to Mendipidy so that Ian could see the results of his handiwork. I'm going to run it as much as possible in the next 10 days before we go to Spain and then change the oil again the day before we go.

The minute I drove it out of the workshop the difference was completely evident. There's loads of torque and smooth power delivery - just as Ian and I first discussed just over a year ago. Hills that used to have to be taken in second with foot flat to the floor are now taken in third on half throttle or less - and its still running in. With the transmission also sorted by Aidan its like having a new Westy. One marker of the improvement was Rich following us back to the camp site on Saturday in his EJ 25 powered Syncro and commenting on how we were shifting.

The timing was first set at 5 degrees BTDC but I've since had a play and 7.5 BTDC seems a better option - once we get back from our trip I'll sort out a good rolling road where they really know Digijet and then the fuel air mix can be adjusted if necessary as well as timing. At the moment its making just over 20MPG so it will be interesting to see if a rolling road set up will affect fuel economy as well - I guess it should do.

There's been a few snags (although nothing to do with Ian's engine building) - more to do with 30 year old ancillaries so for example we had to change the distributor as the Hall sender was playing up and refit some of the exhaust mountings which came loose in the quarry on Saturday.

Andy has made a very neat job of extending an old DJ loom so that the ECU is now mounted under the rear seat and there were various alterations such as moving the coil forward to accommodate the oil cooler. I'll put pics up of everything as soon as I get 5 minutes to take some.

Oil pressure is a steady 4 Bar at motorway speeds and 1 Bar at tickover. Oil temp is generally around the 95 C mark with Ian's custom designed oil cooler kicking in as and when necessary.

Its been quite a long slog to get everything sorted but its definitely worth it. And to top it all I've got my 025MOTORSPORT t shirt and stickers!

[silverbullet]

I have to say, the best way of summing it up is "performance without the drama"
A syncro Westy on oversize tyres that goes as least as well as a good 2.1 2wd Caravelle has to be a good thing.
I reckon that a bit of AFM tweaking will bring the mixture closer to optimum (my suspicion is that its safely rich atm) and the resultant rise in combustion pressures should give it some real punch.
I will do a bit of AFM flap preload testing asap using the Oetti as a baseline, the engine will obviously be pulling on it more than a DJ and that will mean more fuel being admitted as a result.
Roll on some old-school 80's efi tuning!

Sent from my ZX81 with 16k RAM expansion pack

[PetenAli]

In Segovia just NW of Madrid at the moment. Driven down today from Rob (GoldSyncro's) place near Santander. Excellent journey with motor pulling really strong. Those who know the area will know that it is a long pull to get up through the mountains south of Santander. We did it nearly all in 4th gear it with no stress and at no more than 95C oil temp and consistent 3.5 bar oil pressure. This engine is a revelation! I am still treating it very gently as well as it is still bedding in.

Before we left UK I went to talk to a local rolling road guy who I have used before. When we get back everything should be well run in and we will go for optimum performance. Generally however we are well pleased!

[lloydy]

Great!

[silverbullet]

I'll pin this here for reference

http://www.gomog.com/articles/EFIflap.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Syncrobaz]

Would that trick work on my mv Ian ? Recent mot showed .56 co

[silverbullet]

Half a percent CO? Sounds a bit low to me i.e. lean running from an air leak.
I would say only play with the AFM once all other possible causes have been eliminated.

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[Syncrobaz]

Will do, thanks. Any news on the 4 bolt cams ?

[Aidan]

mv will run 0.3 co, when i's A1 clean remember it's got lambda control and is supposed to be cleaner than the DJ

[silverbullet]

Ok so there may be something else going on with Baz' engine.
I think Pete's engine will benefit from AFM tweaking being as it's now got longer legs and bigger lungs*, which will be causing the flow meter to send a different signal to the ecu compared to a standard 2.1
It may even tolerate more ignition advance: the piston bowl is 49.5cc compared to a DJ's 35cc, so the combustion flame front will take longer to cross that volume at the start of the power stroke.

*The Miguel Indurain of waterboxers?

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