As there's now a project diary section (thanks Chris) I thought I'd document my car. And so should you
DISCLAIMER My se7en contains a diesel engine - gasp, the horror etc. If you wouldn't fit a diesel in a kit car, then I'd
recommend not fitting a diesel in a kit car
END DISCLAIMER
Here's where it all started back in 2004. I rented a barn from an old chap. The rent was something daft like £20 a month.
Engine and gearbox fitted:
Passed SVA in 2006
Fast forward to 2012 and I started to do an engine swap. XUD9TE, mechanical injection diesel:
This happened pretty quickly. A gearbox from an LDV pilot bolted on, and wiring is as simple as it gets
I then got everything lashed up - temp fuel lines, coolant hoses, rad, intercooler etc (MR2 intercooler)
After everything worked, I got it all sorted and passed MOT
Then came the first drive
It was great fun, tyres were cheap and old so traction was limited. When the boost kicks in it's hilarious.
Then I went to the last Newark kit car show:
I got the flathead screwdriver out and upped the power a bit, and modified the governor for higher revs. This made it better all round, but I was
still at a moderate power level. Probably around 120bhp. I hit a cooling wall, my radiator was in a poor position and wasn't getting enough air
flow. I decided to rethink the whole thing, fit a bigger rad, bigger intercooler. But before that, a bigger turbo and a supercharger were glued on.
I also I found one of these at the scrapyard:
They share engine ancestry, so the intake plenum fits (RWD) and so does the cylinder head. So on they went:
Now I'm getting around to fitting a new intercooler:
A bigger radiator will be fitted soon, then I can start to up the power a little.
I've only ever seen one derv powered kit car,it was some sort of MEV with a focus TD lump going around curborough,he ended up sideways quite a
lot due to the torque
A short write up of a Scotland roadtrip from August. What better way to test your car just after MOT and 4 years off the road than 1000 miles in a
week?
We set off at about half 9. We pushed back departure 24 hours due to a couple of issues that needed sorting - leak off pipes, oil breather, installing
a battery isolator and fitting a 12v + USB socket (proved to be very handy). The morning we left @ half 9:
An hour later in a layby off the A1:
The front right brake was binding slighty. Nothing major, and it was freed off in no time.
Co-op @ Balloch. The first of many 'Irn Bru Extra'
On the way up to Fort William
We took a 12v VHS player. Film Night was a regular campsite feature
Great roads
Old machinery at the roadside
The view from Applecross towards Skye
Applecross campsite
Ready for the return over Applecross pass
Top of Applecross pass "][/a]
What a great trip. The only real mechanical issue was the gear selector housing shearing off. A local garage in Lochcarron helped me out and welded it
back up. Otherwise it was disappointingly faultless. I had my photo taken on the motorways and dozens of conversations with friendly folk asking what
it was etc. Walkie talkies with a motorbike helmet adapter kit was brilliant, used all the time. I never knew how good a road trip was for figuring
out what you want to improve on your car. Diff gearing needs sorting out soon as it was a little high on motorways. I measured fuel economy once from
Greenock to Inveraray and was getting 46mpg.
The support car was a '97 Citroen ZX. It shares the same turbo'd XUD lump as my MK. 217k on the clock but she kept on going the whole
trip. A great support vehicle! When I do a Scotland trip again it'll have to be 2 weeks minimum. 1 is nowhere near enough
quote:Originally posted by Angel Acevedo
Hi Benzine..
Cool....
How did ypu end up with such tall gearlever?
And your detail of the tach (?) with the connecting rof is trally cool.
Best regards
AA
That's the standard gear lever from an LDV Pilot. It would normally be floor-mounted, I just kept it standard and liked it The con rod hold
the boost gauge. I don't have a tacho at the moment but am looking into sorting one out.
posted on 8/2/16 at 11:46 AM
"][/a] 
