Running reports

[Patrick]

One thing to keep in mine reading about the S52 engine, that was a US only engine which was horrifically choked down to meet US emissions standards. It's basically an M52 with slightly spiker cams IIRC.

[peterux]

Originally Posted by Patrick

One thing to keep in mine reading about the S52 engine, that was a US only engine which was horrifically choked down to meet US emissions standards. It's basically an M52 with slightly spiker cams IIRC.

OK, willdo,
thanks

Peter

[peterux]

It's April the 1st so I bought my road tax on line this morning and took the car out for it's first run in 2009.
The car ran faultlessly and driving with the windscreen fitted is much more relaxed and less dramatic than wearing the goggles.
More wind on the back of the head than flies in the teeth! although my wife reported it as "less exciting"
I had raised and set my seat mounting at an angle over the winter so that I can see over the top of windscreen surround and wiper blades and the seat postion is now much better, although I think I can tip the seat back another few degrees to be perfect. Pauline also complains that she can't see over the windscreen wiper so i'll have to raise her seat as well!
Wipers and washers all working OK.
One of my speakers doesn't work and the front left and rear right seem to be wired together but I supspect its just some crossed speaker wires so another session upside down with my head in the passenger footwell to fix that, oh joy!

Do the list of things to do ever stop??

........but the grin is back!!

[Patrick]

Less exciting? Fold the screen down or is it time to get that M52 in there and super charger it

In answer to your question: Do the list of things to do ever stop?? - not really, I'm looking forward to getting back on the road soon I've been missing the grin factor for a few months now.

[peterux]

I picked up one of these on eBay for £30. It is claimed to give 10-15 bhp improvement. I fitted it this evening and everything seems to work fine. It was already fitted to an old ECU so the swap was relatively quick. I took the car out for a two mile blast and it certainly ran well,smooth acceleration with no hesitation when I floor the throttle but my driving is not good enough to say whether the car is actually faster? Anybody know anything about these chips?
It's maked Prima power 0789.

Now I'm getting a little more adventurous with my windscreen fitted, I find the car goes light and 'jumpy' when I hit about 70mph so I think some suspension setting up is probably required. I've still got quite a lot of toe out that I set to get the self centering for the SVA, so maybe I need to go back to a more traditional 0.5 degree toe in?

Oh and I got all four speakers working, I had a couple of duff crimps!! (Shocking)

[Patrick]

The only chip I'd put into my ECU is one by Ant @ A-Tech I know that he knows what he's doing. Not saying there's anything wrong with the one you got though, some of the really cheap ones can lead to over fuelling and overly advanced ignition from what I've read. Chips tend to smooth out flat spots rather than add much in the way of BHP/torque on an N/A car. Normally I'd say take the claim, half it and you closer to the actual increase

edit: I'd have a search on e30zone see if there's any feedback on it.

As far as the steering goes, I just kept adjusting until it felt right rather than going for specific numbers. I'd also try fiddling with tyre pressures and the dampers

[Patrick]

google suggests these are the guys who make the chip: http://www.primaracing.com/serv_superchips.aspx they refer to them as super chip, I wonder if they use super chips but with their name on it?

[peterux]

Originally Posted by Patrick

google suggests these are the guys who make the chip: http://www.primaracing.com/serv_superchips.aspx they refer to them as super chip, I wonder if they use super chips but with their name on it?

Not sure. I found the same website but don't know if they are the same?

Anyway, it seems to be working fine so i'll run it for a while and see how it goes.........

Peter

[peterux]

I took the car out today to get the wheel alignment done.......

On the way home I hit a rather nasty pot hole with the front offside wheel. The shock caused the wing stay U clamp to snap. Luckily the other side hung on and didn't cause any damage to the wing or wheel. I had tightened them up last year to prevent rotation and obvisously a bit too tight! Not really happy with this clamp arrangement and an alternative will be sought.



Then.............

After todays run I noticed some tell tale 'oil' marks on my carpet. Further investigation with the digital camera shoved up the drivers footwell shows the problem. Looks like my master cylinder has sprung a leak!
I need to take some more photo's but from this one it looks like an alignment issue between the cylinder bore and the plunger. The mis-alignment (if real and not an optical illusion) may explain the premature failure?
My question is do I fit another aftermarket replacement (which i have in my spares box) or spalsh out on a genuine BMW part? Eurocarparts have an ATE version at £59 which seems expensive.



......and the list goes on!

Oh and by the way, they couldn't get the wheel alignment gear to fit the front wheels so no progress on that front, but it was great day for a drive!!

[Patrick]

I got an aftermarket master cylinder which has done its job up until I replaced it with the wilwood setup. The problem was down to the pedal box deforming rather than the master cylinder

[MartinClan]

Originally Posted by peterux

I hit a rather nasty pot hole with the front offside wheel. The shock caused the wing stay U clamp to snap.

I am not surprised about this. The problem is twofold IMHO.
1. The quality of the clamps varies tremendously. Even the better ones are made out of pretty cr&p stuff.
2. The Marlin design applies to much stress for the one clamp.

The best simple solution I have seen is to extend the clamp plate, that is part of the stay, to allow two clamps to be used. Then the load is spread and, if one fails it isn't going to fall off immediately!

Originally Posted by peterux

Looks like my master cylinder has sprung a leak!

I would go for a decent aftermarket replacement. Master cylinders fail periodically anyway - its not necessarily a fault in the Marlin design. Mind you - while you are replacing it - it would be a good idea to check the alignment...

Robin

[peterux]

Agreed on both points.

On the clamp front, i've seen the double clamp mod and it is certainly one solution. I'm thinking along the lines of a 'u' shaped piece of steel that can be clamped with some high tensile bolts?

On the clutch master cylinder. It was dry fitted for a long time in a cold lock up garage which may have 'aged' the seals? Even so I'm surprised and disappointed at its early life failure so will look at the alignment when I get my head under the pedal box.
I'm looking for a good quality replacement....

cheers

Peter

[peterux]

I fixed my broken wing bracket today and finished replacing my clutch master cylinder. I've never been pot holing but I imagine it is a bit like changing a clutch master cylinder on a Sportster!
Crawling into the drivers foot well upside down with my feet in the air was OK'sh so long as you remember to take all the right spanners with you, but getting out again is another matter

The rubber dust boot on the old master cylinder was full up with fluid so it's been leaking for some time. I took it apart and there was no obvious reason for failure so i'll assume it was just a bad seal or poor manufacture? It had no manufacturing makers name on it, so I've replaced it with a branded aftermarket version sold in an ATE box so hopefully that's not a job i'll have to do again for a while!

[Rich]

Ahh the joy of lying upside down in the Sportsters footwell. Its fine for the first 10~15 mins, after that it get a little uncomfortable. I was ok with getting out when Patrick was around to help me out. When alone it was another story.

Maybe you could shorten the tubes that hold the master cylinder so it is more in-line with the top of pedal. Don't know if it will help, but there may be less twisting if its more inline?

[peterux]

Originally Posted by Rich

Maybe you could shorten the tubes that hold the master cylinder so it is more in-line with the top of pedal. Don't know if it will help, but there may be less twisting if its more inline?

Hi Rich,

On further inspection, i don't think it was an alignment problem. It's not exactly in line but not enough to cause any problems as the master cylinder has a kind of ball joint at the plunger end.

Let's hope my new one lasts a lot longer.........

Peter

[MartinClan]

I though I would post my experiences now that I have done a grand total of 50 miles!

Great fun with lots of smiles on the faces of passers by - but a few issues that need sorting!

The front wings stays are, err, not great. The wings bounce up and down scarily and one of mine managed to come undone on the way home from the SVA test despite the nylock nuts. I think I will be making some changes to these before I attempt any longer journeys. I think that they could do with a 3rd central stay and a better clamping mechanism.

My diff is whining - LOTS. Of course at the moment I have no panelling in the back so this doesn't help. Must check that it has oil in though :-)

Engine has a small oil leak - b*gger. I changed all the oil seals as well. Also, I must adjust the tappets - it sounds like a sewing machine on heat at the moment. Oil pressure also seems a little low when hot - about 40 PSI at 50mph in 5th - is that about right or is it a bit low?

Rear suspension has settled a huge amount - particularly on the drivers side. I can tweek up the spring mounts to compensate but I suspect I need some stronger springs. I will have to check the calculations I made now that I know the actual axel weights.

Still not convinced about the servo. The SVA man was looking at it suspiciously but as it passed all the tests he couldn't do anything about it.

Robin

[timbo]

Hi Robin
Yeah, my wing stays were very scary too, they bounced around so much I thought 1 might suddenly fly off! I was thinking of adding 2 short bars which also attaches them to the top bolt. Has anyone else got a solution?
Tim

[Patrick]

An M20 that doesn't leak won't have any oil in it! Mine is leaking tiny bit too. As far as I can tell it's normal.

My wings stays were scary too, but even my new light weight ones bounce about a bit. Just keep an eye the metal and welds ever so often.

If your diff open or LSD?

[peterux]

hhmmm.... this is now getting interesting to compare a 'clutch' of BMW Sportsters

Mine has the scary bouncing mud guard/wings and frequently came loose on my first long trip and one broke recently due to overtightening. Marlin weld their 'u' bolts to the upright but that is a pain if one fails as you'll have to grind it off and re-weld a new one.
Mine are currently serated and epoxy glued and the run up to Stoneliegh will be a good test of their suvivability.
We'll have to have a group design think tank at Stoneliegh this year and see what we can come up with!

Tappets, I bet mine were the loudest!! so make sure you've got the right feeler blade

Oil pressure... mine was low'ish and then dropped to zero. I put a new oil pump in and think I get about 50psi at 50mph. I supect it was the pressure release valve that goes or gets jammed rather than the pump itself, but just a theory.

Oil leaks... not a single drip since I first started it...(..note to self, better check if there's any oil...)

Diff whine... not noticed any at all, but i do have carpet and sound proofing in the boot space and my rear panels fitted so probably couldn't hear it above the noise of my tappets

Rear suspension...no issues....... I used Apex aftermarket lowered springs for a BMW e30. Ride height seems just about right.They come up on eBay regularly.

My brake light keeps comming on whilst driving along so probably another session upside down in the drivers footwell.

Happy motoring.......

[Patrick]

Brake lights, had the same issue - I put rubber padding on the pedal to fix it. During the pedel box rebuild Richard welded a little bit on the pedal to fix the rubber too. That's now completely sorted the brake light problem

Good your engine doesn't leak, that's a rare case with the M20 as far as I've been able to read!