Christian's build in MA; US Exocet #148

[buildercg]

Finished insurance paperwork today. I hope to receive my insurance certificate tomorrow so that I can get registered and plates. In the meantime, I'm wrapping up emissions. I received parts today to connect my fuel tank vent to the charcoal canister. I have a removable plug to allow the vent to function when I need to put gas in the tank.

[buildercg]

Over the last couple of weeks as I finish up the car (at least until I start thinking about "more power"), I've started to think about adding a grill to protect the radiator from rocks and other debris. I started to make one out of 1" chicken wire, going so far as cutting a piece to size and painting it but I've discarded it as it's quite ugly.

Purusing the forums, I see that the UK cars have a few options which look great but I don't see any US cars with a grill and it doesn't appear that Exomotive offers one for the US bodywork. Has anyone in the US installed one? How much risk do I have running without one?

[papabear]

I have run these on other cars. Will put one on the exocet also.
Honeycomb Radiator Protector

They have several different sizes.

[buildercg]

Jun 15, 2017 0:54:52 GMT papabear said:

I have run these on other cars. Will put one on the exocet also.
Honeycomb Radiator Protector

They have several different sizes.

Thanks, I didn't know about these.

[papabear]

Jun 15, 2017 1:22:55 GMT buildercg said:

Jun 15, 2017 0:54:52 GMT papabear said:

Thanks, I didn't know about these.

You see them alot on dirt track cars. Speedway has a bunch of different sizes.

[gwnwar]

I would be using the Radiator/Grille Shaker shown in the same ad, not the honeycomb unit.. To let more air through.. You are not going to be doing only a 5 minuet race but long drives and traffic and stop go.. Mount to nose cone opening or back a couple of inches..

[papabear]

I have never had the honeycomb cause a issue with airflow on a engine running flat out for a lot longer than 5 minutes. It was just a suggestion your mileage may vary.

[buildercg]

Jun 14, 2017 23:51:08 GMT buildercg said:

Finished insurance paperwork today. I hope to receive my insurance certificate tomorrow so that I can get registered and plates. In the meantime, I'm wrapping up emissions. I received parts today to connect my fuel tank vent to the charcoal canister. I have a removable plug to allow the vent to function when I need to put gas in the tank.

Finally receive insurance docs today, however, I have them electronically and I'm missing the stamped RMV-1 form. That's coming in the mail, so I have to wait until next week before I can drive.

[einy]

Regarding radiator protection, I successfully ran grills in both my '90 and '99 Miatas that were made of stainless steel wire, with approx. 3/8" square openings. I think Moss sold them both to me. NEVER had even a hint of overheating despite very aggressive use of both cars.

[gwnwar]

That 3/8" square is a good size to use good air flow.. Get at any home store..

[buildercg]

Received my RMV1 form yesterday after work. Went to the RMV this afternoon and got my plates. Car has been out for a couple of short test drives resulting in about 5 miles if driving.

A couple of things I've noticed.
1. idle was fine (800-1000 rpm) when the car wasn't moving. the adjustment screw was set almost as low as it can go. however, when coming to a stop and disengaging the clutch, the car was consistently close to stalling. I've adjusted the idle up, which stopped the near stall, but now idle is around 1500-2000. thoughts?

2. the fastest i've gone is about 40mph. i noticed the car losing power when changing gears from 2nd to 3rd at around 3500-4000 rpm and again it seemed like the car was going to stall but after a moment the engine recovered.

3. i have a bad smell after the car was warmed up, which i found is from my powdercoated heat shield for the air intake touching the exhaust manifold. i bent it back a little and it seems better, though the powdercoating has melted a little. oh well.

4. the full windshield does a great job of keeping the wind off and rocks (already had a small one hit my leg) my face. i love it.

5. even at slow speeds the car feels fast.

6. the mirrors provide great rear visibility, much better than my daily driver.

it's a beautiful night and I'll probably be heading out again for another slow drive around town.

[buildercg]

I got another short, 5 mile drive in and once again got the car up to about 40. I tried to push the car a little hard when accelerating from 30-40 and the car at first didn't want to go and then went. I've also noticed that the car is having problems consistently when changing gears when the RPM is around 3500-4000. It's like the car loses power as I come out of gear and switch to the higher gear, making me wait to engage the next higher gear while the engine settles down (it overrevs [might be driver error; I haven't been driving stick for the last 2 years] and then sputters, then recovers). There seems to be a somewhat similar, though less pronounced, issue while downshifting. I haven't really gone above 4000 rpm yet.

I'm wondering if it's fuel starvation, though I should have at least 3 gallons in the tank and I have foam to stop sloshing. 

I've got a little finishing work to do on the fuel lines and my fuel sender seems to have stopped working, so I'm going to take a good look to ensure that the fuel pickup is as low as possible and ensure that there's as much as gas I think there is.

For now, I'm not taking the car far from home, just in case I need my wife to come pick me up while I figure out these issues.

Idle is still higher than it should be (I haven't touched it again) but it was closer to 1500 rpm on this drive (the car was still warm from the earlier driving).

Other than these issues, which I'm sure will be figured out shortly, the car is a blast! 

[buildercg]

A little more research makes me think it might also be a vacuum leak. I'll check my lines as well.

[gwnwar]

With the Ten and Grd. jumped in the Dia box set hot idle speed to 850.. Check the dash pot on the throttle body.. It is designed to ease the throttle off when coming to a stop.. With finger push the dash pot rod in it should go in slowly and come out quickly when finger removed. If it works OK there is an adjustment screw to set it. it should start to slow the throttle closed around 2500 rpms
and dropping to what your idle was set to..
How much slack is in the throttle cable looking for 1>3mm..
4000 rpms?? you need to push down on the go pedal more.. Redline is 7200 rpms.. there is a built in fuel cut off around 7200 rpms.
At 40 mph what gear are you in I hope 2nd and still pulling..
Cruise at 40 in 3rd or 4th but down shift to speed up faster..
What is your timing set at?? OEM is 10deg can go to 14degs. for better low end pull.. You have to jump the Ten and Grd to set that too.
Check ground to fuel send.. Maybe foam has jammed the sender arm..
Might want to carry a couple of gals. of fuel in a can while you test drive around just in case..
Don't be afraid to rev the engine it was built to..

[buildercg]

Jun 21, 2017 13:58:34 GMT gwnwar said:

With the Ten and Grd. jumped in the Dia box set hot idle speed to 850.. Check the dash pot on the throttle body.. It is designed to ease the throttle off when coming to a stop.. With finger push the dash pot rod in it should go in slowly and come out quickly when finger removed. If it works OK there is an adjustment screw to set it. it should start to slow the throttle closed around 2500 rpms
and dropping to what your idle was set to..
How much slack is in the throttle cable looking for 1>3mm..
4000 rpms?? you need to push down on the go pedal more.. Redline is 7200 rpms.. there is a built in fuel cut off around 7200 rpms.
At 40 mph what gear are you in I hope 2nd and still pulling..
Cruise at 40 in 3rd or 4th but down shift to speed up faster..
What is your timing set at?? OEM is 10deg can go to 14degs. for better low end pull.. You have to jump the Ten and Grd to set that too.
Check ground to fuel send.. Maybe foam has jammed the sender arm..
Might want to carry a couple of gals. of fuel in a can while you test drive around just in case..
Don't be afraid to rev the engine it was built to..

I think the earlier idle issue is related to the larger problem with power loss over 3500rpm so I will adjust idle back down.
I'll be working on the engine tonight and try this out.
I don't know the timing angle. The donor was running great before the project and I have not touched timing.
There's no slack at all right now in throttle line, but I had 1 or 2mm before I adjusted it last night. I will adjust back tonight before more testing.
Did not know about dash pot. I will check once I figure out what part that is. Is there a picture i can look at which identifies it and the adjustment screw?
I'm pretty sure fuel sender arm is stuck either because of the float filling up with gas or rubbing against the metal box I built to support it. It will be a PITA to check but it should be easy to fix.
Car gets to 40 in 2nd but is very sluggish due to the issue I'm having.