Carl's ST Rocket Build

[Froggy]

Great news! And great little story too!

[carlostheoptimistic]

Just rang DVLA, my Rocket now has a registration number assigned! They told me what it is over the phone, the log book is in the post and a local sign maker is making me up some 'show plates' which I can pick up tomorrow  I just need the rain to stop now

[sandancer73]

Excellent, well done.

[Froggy]

What details did you use to contact DVLA? i have used a third party to do all my paperwork and he said that they wont deal with the general public to get reg over the phone. How long has it taken from posting to dvla to get your reg? Sunny today mate so bet you will be out having a blast!
Wayne.

[carlostheoptimistic]

Yeah, not much lunch eaten today cause I was out driving in my lunch break! For DVLA I rang the general number (0300 790 6802) you then have to choose options so I think I chose the options for 'waiting for a V5 log book'. I rang a week after sending the forms off and was told that it took 10 working days, so 2 weeks, so I rang 2 weeks and a day from sending them and was told that it had all been processed the day before. The guys said that the log book was in the post and after doing a quick ID check, 'please confirm full name and address' he told me the Reg number, I didn't even ask for it, he obviously knew I want to know

[carlostheoptimistic]

Well for the last month I have been finding out what it means to be a Rocket owner on the road, and all I can say is that the smiles just keep getting bigger , the car has been running great and I have done a couple of tweeks.

I fitted the screen



I've fitted a new steering wheel


and the latest edition is a new exhaust


The only thing is, is that the old one was very quiet (kind of) and this thing is loud! very loud and it crackles and pops on lift off overrun and when engine braking. I think it sounds just like it should , but the wife thinks that the neighbours will not be impressed. On the face of it, it is pretty loud so i might have to have a think about it, one thought is to fit an adjustable butterfly valve thingy in the link pipe from the manifold to the rear Y piece. The idea being that when closed (partly?) the restriction would quieten it down and then open it up fully when out on the open road. Any thoughts on how effective it would be? looking at something like this;
 
I'm running a standard ST170 ECU, I wonder if I could run a 2nd IMRC unit to open it automatically at high revs?

[airforceone]

I like those seats, how snug are they in the car. Did you have to alter the
tunnel to get them to fit..

And how much were they...

[carlostheoptimistic]

They are pretty snug, in the car and around your arse, they took a bit of getting in but I didn't have to alter the tunnel or anything. The only thing I'd say is that the shoulder bolster (the bit that sticks out at shoulder level) is hard against the chassis rail that goes from the side rail up to the roll bar so the seat wouldn't go any further back, which is ok for me as I'm only about 5' 8" but anyone taller might struggle, unless you have an older chassis without this rail on it. They are Corbeau Clubsport seats and are £300 for a pair and come with side brackets and runners

www.corbeau-seats.com/motorsports-seats/ClubSport

[airforceone]

I'll take a look at those.

I have an older version of the Rocket that doesn't have those side bars
so shouldn't be a problem.

Cheers

[carlostheoptimistic]

Well, I had planned on a track day yesterday, I had booked the day off work and everything. Then before I booked the track I thought I best check how loud this new exhaust was, so I borrowed a sound meter from work (not calibrated but a decent one to give me a good idea) and did a check as they would at the track. The meter read somewhere around 108dB!! and that was with the baffles in, which is too close for comfort to the 105dB limit for the track and well over the legal limit for the road. So the old exhaust has gone back on.

I need to modify the new one to quieten it down. Has anyone ever used anything like a Suppertrapp? Check out the link below, they are American and fit on the end of the exhaust, they make silencers but also do ones that can be retro fitted to stuff. The universal stuff looks a bit ugly so I was thinking of getting some of the disc elements that they use and making something to fit the end cans I have.

Or should I look at better removable baffles cause the ones I have don't seem to do much?


www.supertrapp.com/product_sections/cat.asp?CatID=27

[carlostheoptimistic]

Not posted in a while, been busy in the house (extension and new kitchen should keep the wife happy for a while ) and any spare time with good weather was spent out in the Rocket. I managed a track day at Blyton Park mid Oct. which was great fun, it was a last minute organised (booked the night before!) thing so I ended up there on my own with no back up which meant I ended up driving more conservatively on the track then I maybe wanted to as I knew the Rocket had to get me home afterwards and Blyton is about as far away as I have been in it up to now, but that said I would deffo do it again

I have just sorn'd the Rocket now so she is off the road for winter, I've done almost 1400 smile filled miles since August but in the last month she has hardly been out of the garage. I've been thinking of a list of things to do during the winter and come up with the following for now;

1. Change the Aux belt as it squealed like a banshee on start up when the engine is hot, I don't think that it is tight enough and the tensioner is at full travel so a slightly shorter belt is needed.
2. While changing the belt have a look at the additional pulley bracket from RTR, cause as other people have pointed out, they flex as the engine is rev'd, someone had a video of this posted but I can find it, anyway I looked at mine while I rev'd the engine and mine flexed so it needs some strengthening.
3. Change the fuel pump. I've had a couple of occasions where I have been for a long drive (coming back from Blyton Park was one time) all has been fine cruising on the motorway and then I have turned off on to B roads and I have trouble getting the engine to pull hard above a few thousand rpm. A light right foot and gradual increase in revs is ok but if you boot it and go for hard acceleration the engine bogs down and if you keep your foot down you start to 'kangaroo' along is bursts of acceleration and bogging down. Now this has only ever happened a couple of times and both times I had been on the motorway for a longish (45mins to 1hr) and then turned off, I have had less than half a tank of fuel and it's only under hard acceleration, lot of searching on the internet has left me with the thought that the fuel pump is on the way out and is getting hot in a partial tank of fuel. Any advise is more than welcome.
4. New wheels and tyres. The wheels I have on have a few dings and the tyres (Uniroyal rain tyres) are not the best suited to this sort of car.
5. Remove the engine cover. This is a maybe, I'm not sure if to or not. Some guys have done it and it looks good but they have nicer engines then I have, but I could tidy it up a bit. Then there is the legality of it, is it allowed? anyone know?

It's a bit more of a maintenance list than a mods list, a bit boring really. Anyone else thinking of winter mods?

[BobN]

Hi

I had the same problem regarding what I thought was the fuel pump. Same symptoms as you too. It actually turned out that the fuel pipe connection to the fuel filter was loose and therefore seeped fuel under hard acceleration. Tightened it and problem solved. Check yours just in case.

My winter mods is re wrap centre tunnel and get rid of centre console maybe and mount gauges on bonnet cover that way my knees won't keep knocking it. Might be neater too.

[carlostheoptimistic]

Cheers BobN I'll check that as well.

[Stiggy]

re belt tensioner bracket, they were designed to clamp up against the head and should not flex but check the one you have is 8mm thick.
Some were made incorrectly as they positioned the additional pulley too close to the non grooved one below it and if the belt flapped a little it would rub on the back of itself and (famous quote from Deliverance) "squeal like a piggy".

[carlostheoptimistic]

Do I have an incorrect one then? as I had to space is off the head to create some distance to the water pump pulley and also if it was clamped directly to the head it would have partly covered the bolt hole for the manifold, see below.